Severus Snape looked around. Oh, where was Lily? He'd been waiting almost fifteen minutes, and there was not a sign of her.
Behind him came a soft footstep. He spun around. No one was there-- what could he have heard? The Whomping Willow creaked ominously as silvery moonlight shone down between the branches of the oak tree that he was standing under.
A spark! A reddish spark! Severus looked to his right-- there, underneath the Whomping Willow, which was mysteriously frozen, a fountain of reddish sparks appeared. "Who's there?" he called, gathering his courage.
Off to his left, there was a mournful howl. The sparks disappeared. Severus whipped around again, and caught a glimpse of a black stag with black eyes bounding through the forest.
He heard a chitter and glanced up. A rat with pale blue eyes was right above him in the tree. Severus yelled and jumped away-- he HATED rats. The rat dropped something on the ground and scurried around the trunk.
Hesitantly, he picked the thing up. It was a piece of parchment. Severus shook it open with one hand and read,
She is a violent girl. She plans to meet
tonight. Go back to where it is safe.
Misfortune will fall upon you if you
stay. You are for a great destiny.
Go. - The Red Daemons
Below it was a pawprint smeared with blood, a drawing of a black stag with bloody antlers, a red moon, and a sketch of a rat with red eyes.
Severus sniffed. The blood smelled: it was real. He bit his lip.
From the edge of the forest came a low growl. Severus looked up to find a huge black dog staring at him icily, paws planted firmly. Suddenly it lifted a lip.
The inside of its lip and its teeth were smeared with blood.
Severus stood, rooted to the spot. Literally. The oak had bent down and snared him in its branches.
"What the--" he cursed, trying to break free of the brittle grip. There came a harsh cry above him and the branches let go, catapulting him a small distance into the forest. There was a tremendous crash as Severus thudded through the top branches, rebounded of a maple, and fell into the underbrush.
"Hahahahahaaa!" Insane laughter echoed through the forest as a red haired figure hovered in the air over the spot where he lay. Just as quickly as it had risen, it zoomed away, riding through the air on apparently nothing.
Snape took off like a bat out of Hell, tearing out of the forest and back up to the school, not daring to look over his shoulder.
James watched him go with satisfaction and transformed back into his human self under the shelter of some trees.
"Okay, Remus, you can come down," he called as soon as the castle doors had slammed shut. Remus Lupin sank to the ground, riding James's Nimbus 1000 covered with an Invisiblity Cloak so it appeared he was riding on nothing.
"Whew," he said, taking off his wig, "these things are hot."
"You think so? I don't find them attractive at all." Sirius came crashing through the underbrush. "I don't think a girl would like it either."
"That's not what I meant," Remus laughed, digging an elbow into Sirius's ribs. "I meant tempature hot."
"Oh. That makes more sense." Sirius spat onto the ground. "Ick. Plain ketchup doesn't taste very good."
"It was your idea," Peter pointed out, materializing out of the gloom. "But when it comes to that, parchment doesn't taste very good either. Remus, I must congratulate you on that evil laugh. You've got that thing down pat."
"Thank you," said Remus courteously. "It's a good thing we used rotten berries to make that fake blood so we could mark the letter. Did you see the way he sniffed it? Regular berry juice would have smelled like berries."
"Good thing he didn't see the seeds," chuckled Sirius. "It's been a while since I've faked Mother out with mulberry juice."
"Where did you get the name Red Daemons?" asked James.
Remus grinned. "It's not original-- it's a muggle baseball team."
"What's the betting Snape'll be avoiding Lily completely for at least a week?" inquired Sirius. "I'll slap down a Sickle."
"You're on," said James. "I'm betting for less than a week... his memory isn't that great.."
"Your memory better be, though, Jimmy Sunshine, because you still owe me money from our last bet."
"FOR THE LAST DAMN TIME, MY NAME IS NOT JIMMY SUNSHINE!"
"That's what you think."
(Four days later)-- "Okay, fork it over," laughed James, holding out his palm. "It's only been four days and he's already mooning again."
"I don't think he'll try to meet with her in secret, though," chortled Remus. "We gave him a scare he won't forget in a hurry."
Sirius grudgingly surrendered his silver. "There you go, and not a Knut more. I hardly have enough money to go to Zonko's as it is."
Lily, Margaret, and Trina came over. "Have you guys seen Snape?" asked Lily innocently.
The four Marauders traded glances. "Why?" queried James suspiciously.
"Well," Lily blushed, "I know you're not going to believe me, but Severus has been sending me these really sappy love letters, and he said he was going to send one with a meeting place. I want to tell him it's off and I've already got a boyfriend."
The Marauders simply gaped at her. "You mean we've been WASTING our HARD EARNED time?" Sirius finally croaked.
"You KNEW?" James stared at Lily.
"What?" Lily was confused.
"A letter came from Snape the other day telling you he wanted to see you," explained Remus, beginning to chuckle, "and we decided to preserve your "maidenly innocence" and not tell you."
"And give Snape a good scare in the process, I'll wager," grinned Lily.
"Well, yes, but who wouldn't have?"
"Maidenly innocence, that's a good one....."
A/N: Well guys, just couldn't drag it out any longer. This is it, the end of this bizarre little tome... I wanted to make if four parts, but NO, I just couldn't quite do it... what can I say, my muse has strange ideas.. Is it just me, or are my climaxes actually slightly ANTI-climactic? (Please tell me I'm wrong...)
Oh, to all of you who didn't like Trina and Margaret being Lily's best friends ::glares at Julius:: they're not evil. Oh well, Julius (which is possibly the coolest name on Earth), I forgive you, because you've reviewed my stories faithfully... :::wink, wink:::: Merry Christmas, all!
-- The Lizyrd (Originator of the Jimmy Sunshine schtick). =)