Chapter 36: Third Year subjects.

When Easter arrived, the wet weather of the previous month was succeeded by warmer days, and, as April approached, many of the students who were staying at Hogwarts spent their Easter Holidays walking near the lake on fine days, or, for those old enough to do so, visiting Hogsmeade village. Many of the second-years were still discussing their choice of third-year subjects, for the time had finally come for them to choose.

Lily had been rather confused about what to take on. She and Severus had spent all the previous week discussing the various options. Both had decided to discard Muggle Studies, since they came from muggle backgrounds.

Lily told Severus that some of the purebloods in Gryffindor, like Alice walker, had chosen Muggle Studies because they lived rather secluded lives within their magical family, so that they hardly even knew how a light bulb worked. Others, like Peter Pettigrew, who was a half-blood, chose Muggle Studies as a 'soft option;' or perhaps because James and Sirius, with whom he tagged along sometimes, had chosen it, too.

Severus was quite clear about what he wanted: Ancient Runes and Arithmancy were top of his list.

Lily liked the sound of Ancient Runes – she imagined she would be deciphering ancient lost languages, or finally discovering what some old Library manuscripts written in runic script were all about.

Arithmancy sounded more daunting, but Severus explained it was about deducing many things about a person by applying the rules of magical numbers. She did not quite understand, but chose it anyway, just because he did.

The last two subjects were Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. Severus was more undecided between these two.

'I suppose I'll go for Magical Creatures,' he said ' 't would be more useful than Divination.'

'Sounds interesting,' Lily mused, frowning at the parchment in her hand with the list of third- year subjects. 'I guess we'll be looking after Unicorns and Phoenixes, and suchlike'

'Hmmm. Some of the rarest potion ingredients come from these animals. Yeah – I think that's what I'll choose.'

He marked the appropriate space on the parchment with his quill, using the Standard Book of Spells as a support. They were out in the courtyard, enjoying their break in the open air before they returned to their last classes before the Easter Holidays.

'What about Divination?' Lily asked, still looking doubtfully at her own parchment. 'Wouldn't you like to learn how to foretell the future? That's what it's all about, isn't it?'

'They say it's an imprecise branch of magic. Anyway, I don't think I want to be told my future …I'd rather make my own destiny, if you know what I mean…'

'It's funny, isn't it? If this divination stuff really works, then you shouldn't bother about controlling your future, because it'll just happen anyway!' Lily giggled.

'Maybe it doesn't. Maybe much of the stuff they foretell doesn't happen after all, and that's why it is so inaccurate. They say real prophecies are very rare, and the rest is just good guesswork.'

'Well, Thalia, Mary and Alice have chosen Divination, and you won't believe why they chose it! They want to learn how to foretell the future just so they'll find out who they're going to marry one day!' Lily rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. 'But I guess you're right, it would be pointless to know about your future, if you believe nothing you can do will change it! '

Severus looked at her thoughtfully for a second.

'Maybe you can. Maybe if you know early enough, you can change the course of events. That'd be useful!' he said. 'Tell you what – let's take it on, and then if it's a load of rubbish, or we can't keep up with the other lessons, we'll drop it. After all, most people have only chosen two or three subjects.'

Lily nodded and, using one of the stone columns in the courtyard as support, scratched out a mark next to 'Divination' with her quill.

'Done,' she said looking at her completed parchment. 'Now let's go in. After this, I only have double Herbology this afternoon and then … Holidays! What shall we do tomorrow?' she asked eagerly 'And don't say 'start our homework' –there's plenty of time for that!' she added with a pout.

'I wasn't going to,' Severus said, hiding a smile. 'We'll see when tomorrow comes, however.'

And with that they headed indoors.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

That night, Lily went up rather late to bed. Potter and Black were playing a raucous game of Gobstones with Jake Brodie and Remus Lupin, on a table in the corner of the Gryffindor common room. Chocolate wrappers and some huge half-eaten Easter eggs littered the table and floor around them, for Potter had received a huge hamper from home, and wasn't waiting till Easter Sunday to open them, but had shared them out immediately.

The noise from the corner got so loud that Sarah MacDougal, the prefect, had to get up and shush them, for some fifth-years were studying.

Lily had almost fallen asleep in front of the deserted fireplace in the ensuing quiet, before she finally decided to go to bed. She moved quietly, so as not to awaken Jenny Trimble, the only other girl remaining in the dormitory for Easter .But it seemed as though she had hardly put her head on the pillow, before someone was calling her name. Confusedly, she thought the voice was coming out of a whirling snowstorm, before she realised she had been dreaming.

The voice, however, was not a dream.

'Lily!' the voice said softly, from somewhere near her bed.

She recognised the voice and sat up suddenly. It was Severus. She fumbled around in the dark in the drawer of her bedside table, for what she now knew was the Two-way mirror calling.

She found it and held it up to her face.

'Severus?'

His face was reflected in the mirror, outlined faintly by dim candlelight. She glanced outside the window of the dormitory – it was still dark.

'What time is it? ' she whispered, hurriedly closing the curtains around her four-poster bed and lighting her wand.

'Half-past four in the morning. Listen - d'you want to come to the Forbidden Forest with me?'

'Now?'

'Well, yes, if you want to avoid being seen.'

'But if we're caught out of bed so late…'

'It's not late, it's early in the morning – there are no rules against rising early. Besides, I've been checking the corridors – no-one's around, not even Mrs Norris! Now's the ideal time!'

'Alright, let's do it!'

'I'm waiting at the bottom of Gryffindor tower. Be here in ten minutes, and get your cloak.'

Lily got a glimpse of his face as he brought a small candle to his lips to blow it out. Then the mirror reflected nothing back but darkness.

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, quickly threw on some clothes and wrapped the black cloak around her, making sure her wand was in her pocket. Moving quietly, she made her way through the deserted common-room and out of the portrait hole.

With a nervous look around her she set off down the corridor, not even daring to light her wand. She could hardly see, for the star-lit window at the end of the corridor provided the only light. However, she could hear gentle snores coming from some of the occupants of the portraits along the wall.

Suddenly, a few yards ahead, something moved. She froze. A thin, dark, shadow seemed to detach itself from the surrounding blackness and come towards her.

'Oh, Severus, it's you!' she breathed in relief, as his pale, solemn face came into view.

'Shh! Yes, follow me. I know a short cut down to the ground floor, but careful not to bump into anything. We don't want to wake up Filch.'

Silently, they made their way down several storeys to the ground floor. Lily tried to keep close to Severus, for whenever he moved too far ahead, with his dark hair and cloak, he seemed to merge as one with the shadows around him.

Finally, they crossed the Entrance Hall carefully and made their way down the dungeon steps.

'No-one's around this deep in the dungeon,' Severus said, lighting his wand, for they had already passed the torch-lit upper levels and now the passageways were in total darkness.

Lily followed suit, and their pale blue wand light lit up the way ahead.

'Are we going from the underground lake?' she asked.

He nodded. 'I've checked the lake too. Conditions are ideal – calm and misty. If we leave early enough, we'll have a whole day in the forest.'

'Oh good – a picnic! But I didn't get anything.'

Severus snorted in disdain. 'A Picnic? I thought of trying to find some of the so-called dark-creatures Professor Ironwood keeps telling us about. It's our only chance to learn anything about them since that old cow can teach us nothing but articles and sub-articles from her stupid regulations!'

'Oh, well. Let's hope we won't meet darker creatures than we can deal with! Alice said there's werewolves in there!' she said, apprehensively.

'Nah! We're not going that deep! Besides, I want to find some Griffonian Maggots and Knotgrass. It's supposed to be abundant there. Look - there's the lake!'

Before Lily could ask what he wanted the maggots for, he had hurried on to the water's edge and was already untying a boat from its moorings.

'Get in,' he said 'I've already put in everything we need.'

Lily noticed an old rucksack at the bottom of the boat as she got in and took her place beside an oar. Severus jumped in lightly, and pushed off from the small jetty. They rowed smoothly towards the hidden entrance at the mouth of the cave.

Remembering what had happened last time they were in the boat, Lily felt slightly edgy. But the water was calm at the mouth of the cavern, and the Giant Squid was nowhere in sight.

Once they had passed the narrow crevice, the lake was as smooth as glass outside, and a thick mist, palely lit by the starlight, hid the opposite shore.

They rowed in silence for a while- the only sound was the soft plop of the oars as they dipped in the water. Mist swirled around them as they aimed blindly for the opposite shore.

After a while, the darkness around them began lift slightly, and the light that precedes dawn started to turn the mist into a pale whiteness of diffused light.

Suddenly, the dark shapes of the trees of the forbidden forest loomed out of the mist ahead, and a minute later, their boat bumped gently on the opposite shore. They leapt out and dragged the boat ashore, hiding it in the undergrowth.

'How'll we find it again in this mist?' Lily asked, sounding worried.

'There's a big oak tree that stands out from all the rest. I've marked it days ago. You can see it from miles away once you get to the shore. That's a good place to start, I think. Let's go.'

And hitching the rucksack on his back, he set off in the direction of the oak tree.

They walked on in silence for a few minutes. With the dawn, the mist lifted a bit, so that they could see for some distance around them, and almost immediately they found themselves in a clearing overhung by the thick, heavy, branches of a very ancient oak tree. Wisps of mist still drifted around the gnarled trunk of the old tree. Lily found the sight eerily beautiful, but Severus was already kneeling down collecting something from the forest floor, rucksack by his side. She was about to wander off when she noticed something move about half-way up the oak tree. She went for a closer look.

She couldn't see anything at first, then she froze as she saw two tiny eyes glaring back at her. The eyes seemed to belong to a twig. Suddenly the twig slashed at her with sharp claw-like projections.

She gasped and jumped back in alarm.

'What is it?'

Severus was at her side, wand out. She shakily drew hers out too.

'I don't know. The tree attacked me! Look- there!'

It took several seconds for Severus to find the little twig-shaped figure, for it blended in well with the rough bark of the trunk.

'Is it a Forest Imp ?' asked Lily looking at the small stick figure still looking belligerently at them.

'No, I think it's a Bowtruckle. They're tree guardians! This oak must be wand quality!' Severus said excitedly.

'Yes. Now I remember. Professor Ironwood mentioned them. Is it another case of her harmless 'dangerous' creatures?'

'Think so. They're mentioned in books of Wand lore, but not as being dangerous in any way – only as indicators of wand-quality trees.'

'So they're harmless.'

Lily made as if to step closer to the tree, but Severus held her back.

'They can still take your eyes out – careful of their claws. There's a way of getting them out of your way, but I can't remember.'

'You'd think Artemesia Ironwood would've told us that, given that she teaches DADA, wouldn't you?' Lily said, irritated.

'When has she ever given us useful information? All she did was classify them as dangerous creatures under I don't know what sub-article, just because they've got claws!' Severus said derisively, eyeing the majestic Oak above their heads.

'Anyway', he continued 'This is why I wanted to come here. Next time we come, I'm going to be prepared for that Bowtruckle - I want some bark out of that tree!'

'We'll do it next time. Let's go somewhere else, now.' Lily was looking apprehensively at the stick-man, who had folded his legs under him as if preparing to jump at them.

Severus reluctantly picked up his rucksack and followed her out of the clearing.

They walked deeper into the forest, Severus stopping every now and then to turn over a moss-covered stone, or collect strange ferns and fungi. The trees were growing close together now, and were mostly the evergreen firs they had seen further down the lake when they had entered the Forbidden Forest from beyond the Gamekeeper's hut.

Most of the mist had lifted now, but under the thick canopy of trees only a dim, greenish light filtrated through. Lily noted that even the morning birdsong, so evident in the clearing where the oak tree grew, was inaudible here. She could only hear the faint rustling of their cloaks on the dead leaves and pine needles of the forest floor. Was it her impression, or was this part of the forest so deadly quiet that it was unnatural?

She looked back to see if Severus had noticed anything, but he was engrossed in trying to prise off a large gob of amber resin from the trunk of a large tree.

At that moment, while still looking backwards, she walked into something springy and soft. For a split second, she thought she had walked into a large fern, but then realised in horror that it was a spider's web – a really huge spider's web! It was at least two meters high, thick and pearly white with droplets of condensation from the mist, stretching between two tall tree trunks.

'Sev - Sev, I'm stuck!' she said, trying to keep the panic from her voice, for this was no ordinary spider's web - it was very strong and extremely sticky, and she could not brush off what felt like some sort of unbreakable gum.

In a second Severus was at her side, his eyes widening at the sight of the enormous web.

Lily held out her hand and he tugged hard until she finally came free.

'What on earth made that web?' she asked, shaken, as she peeled bits of the sticky substance off her cloak.

'Dunno. But I'm guessing its no ordinary spider.'

He was peering anxiously around, trying to see through the gloomy half-light between the trees. His wand was in his hand.

Lily didn't need to be told. She took her wand out of her cloak.

'If – if it behaves like ordinary spiders do, then I guess my getting entangled in its web must've alerted it…'

The silence around them seemed to deepen. Not even a leaf moved. Lily shivered and moved closer to Severus.

'Perhaps it's not here.' She realised she was whispering.

It was then that they heard it: a clicking sound coming from a few feet above their heads. Looking up, Lily let out an audible gasp of horror – it was a huge spider, hairy, large, and close enough for them to see that its eight shiny, black, eyes were trained on them. It was at least a yard in diameter from one hairy tip of its legs to another. The clicking sound was coming from its lethal-looking black pincers.

'It's –it's a Tarantula!' gasped Lily.

But Severus shook his head. 'No Tarantula is that big or weaves that web!' His wand was pointing unwaveringly at the creature. 'It …it must be something else…Perhaps…but no, it can't be!'

'Can't be what?'

Lily did not remove her eyes or her wand from the large spider. Perhaps it was her impression, but the creature seemed to be following the wavering tip of her wand with its many eyes.

'Well, I know that there are dark creatures that look like spiders called Acromantula, and they're extremely poisonous, but they're not found in Britain. Besides, they're much bigger than even these things.'

'Perhaps these are babies! Perhaps they found their way into Britain, somehow! Sev, I don't like the way that thing is looking at us, and if it's poisonous ….!'

Her words were interrupted by more clicking sounds, but this time it was not coming from the creature above their heads, but from all around them! They watched in horror as more of the creatures appeared, some creeping along the forest floor, some from the trees above.

The clicking noise intensified as they drew nearer, and now they could distinguish another sound, like a sibilant whisper:-

'Food!' the hissing voice said, and it was echoed here and there by many others.

'Sev, they're talking! The spiders are talking!' Lily knew the tone of her voice bordered on the hysterical now.

She felt Severus clasp her hand, in a steadying, cool, grip. She risked a quick glance at him and saw he was pale, but calm. She knew, somehow, that he was planning something. He moved suddenly, waving his wand in a curved line.

'Serpensortia!' he cried, and a huge, green, snake erupted from his wand and landed in front of them.

At the same time, his hand contracted around hers and pushed her backwards. She correctly interpreted this move and turned her back on the spiders, running in the opposite direction to the broken web, where there were yet no spiders. She saw from the corner of her eyes, before she turned, the green snake rearing up, hissing angrily, and the spiders moving surprisingly quickly, gathering around it.

They were running blindly now, whipping past low branches of trees and shrubs, their cloaks getting caught on thorns and twigs.

'Stop! Lily, stop! I think we've lost them!'

She slowed down and Severus came panting up behind her.

'Where did you learn to conjure a snake?' she asked, her breath coming in ragged bursts.

Severus did not answer her. She saw he was still carrying his rucksack despite their frenzied run. She shivered. 'Anyway, I hope it escaped too… Nothing should have to face such –such monsters!'

'It'll disappear eventually, when the magic wears off, unless they get it first' Severus said vaguely, apparently quite unconcerned about the fate of the serpent he had conjured. To her amazement, Lily saw he was looking at tree trunks again.

'We've just escaped Merlin knows what monsters a minute ago, and you're looking for potion ingredients?' she asked exasperatedly.

'No. I'm trying to find out which way is north,' he responded tightly. 'If you haven't noticed, I think we're completely lost!'

'Oh.'

She looked around her. She had been so eager to escape the spiders she hadn't thought about which direction she was running in. This part of the Forest seemed even darker, the trees more dense, than the one they had just left, and the mist was either re-forming or else it had never lifted from this part of the Forest.