Lily heard the crunch and the growl and moved to stand in between James and Sirius, her wand at ready. James looked at Sirius over the top of Lily's head. What was there to be scared of here besides Remus? Most other things, they could kill. Lily tensed, and then grimaced. Her shoulder stung, and had begun to throb. She was starting to feel woozy again, and she was worried she would not be able to fight. She hoped whatever was growling would show itself soon.
"James, Sirius, you guys better not disappear like you did last time" she hissed, elbowing James with her elbow. James messaged the spot. Her elbows were pointy.
"Don't worry Lily, we won't." Sirius promised, eyes still fixed on the bushes. Suddenly, a huge shape leapt from them and, knocking James over, it began to lick his face.
"Fang!" James exclaimed, trying to get up, but failing. The huge dog was very heavy. It took both Lily and Sirius to pull him off James, and soon after they had, Hagrid appeared.
"There yeh are!" he exclaimed, grinning broadly. "Soon as Professor Kerper returned and found out that th' creatures escaped, we've been lookin' for yeh!"
"They escaped?" James demanded, looking extremely angry.
"Or someone let them out." Sirius mused. Lily said nothing, she felt ill again, and they were becoming awfully blurry.
She started to walk off in the direction Hagrid had come from, pain in every shuddering step. Her robes were still wet with blood, and the gash on her shoulder was stinging as if someone had poured salt onto it. James, Sirius and Hagrid caught up to her.
"What's wrong?" Hagrid asked, bending down to look at Lily, whose faced was as pale as her name.
"I feel so sick, Hagrid. One of those things scratched me, and I feel, like I am going to…." Lily lurched to the side, and threw up again. Her throat burned and her eyes watered.
"Lily, shall I carry yeh back?" Hagrid asked. Lily shook her head.
"I am just as strong as Sirius and James. I can walk."
"It's not a question of how strong yeh are, Lily, it's more of a question of will yeh make it if yeh walk?"
"Yes. I'll be fine." Lily said. It was a complete lie, but she made it back to the castle before she collapsed.
Lily woke up to the sun shining on her bed. She smiled. She loved the warm feel of it, caressing her cheeks. It reminded her of her mother, who always opened the curtains to wake her up in the morning. This memory brought back the sadness Lily had been pushing away for the past few days. She rolled over, and buried her face in the pillow. Her shoulder thudded with a dull ache, but it didn't compare to the huge, sharp ache that consumed her chest, making her feel as if a dozen house elves were dancing on her heart. She couldn't cry, she had done it so often in the past week it didn't seem to mean much anymore. Against her own will, she started remembering her parents. Luckily, she was ripped from her thoughts by the loud voices of Angelica and Madame Pomfrey.
"What do you mean we can't see her?"
"She's hurt. She needs her rest."
"Just 5 minutes, no more. Please."
Madame Pomfrey sighed, but conceded. The next minute, Angelica had burst between the curtains surrounding Lily's bed. As Lily rolled over and opened her eyes, Angelica gaped.
"You look like shit."
"Angelica!"
"Sorry. But it's the truth. What did you and James do in those woods?"
"ANGELCA!"
"Sorry, sorry. What really happened?"
Lily sighed, but told her.
"Ouch" was Angelica's profound reaction.
"Yes. Ouch. Is she letting me out of here today?" Lily demanded, glaring in the direction in which Madame Pomfrey had left.
"She has to. We have to say the first part of the incantation today. Considering it's the last day of school and all." She giggled, and then stopped abruptly.
"Where are you going for Christmas?"
"Nowhere. I am staying here."
"I'd stay with you, but I have to go home. Mom expects me to."
"It's alright. I'll be alone for Christmas, but it won't be such a big deal. Just promise to send me letters at least 3 times a week."
"Promise. Now, come on Lily. There's fresh robes beside the bed. We have to get to breakfast."
Lily raised both eyebrows "I thought you said 5 minutes?"
"I lied. Come on, I've got McGonagall's permission."
Angelica left while Lily got dressed, and then they left for the Great Hall (after giving Madame Pomfrey a note from Professor McGonagall that Angelica had forgotten she had)
As they entered, and walked towards the Gryffindor table, the voice of James Potter rang out "Oi! Angelica, Lily, over here." Lily turned pink, but followed her best friend to the seats that James and Sirius had obviously been saving for them.
James looked at Lily with concern "Are you alright? I mean, your shoulder?" he asked. Lily flushed redder, and nodded, sitting down between Angelica and Ruby.
"That's good. So you can do the potion then?"
Lily's features hardened. "Yes, Potter. I can do the potion. Don't you worry." She said, and turned to spoon herself some porridge. So that was why James Potter was acting so concerned- a good mark in Potions class. And there she was thinking that he wanted to be her friend. Disappointment flashed across her eyes. But nobody saw. They were too busy talking.
"Alright. Now, these words are important and the saying of them is a delicate process." Professor Barre looked at his class sternly. "So I suggest you practice saying them together first."
"Alright, all at the same time then? Without our wands." James said. They all grabbed their text books, and began:
Aer
Ignis
Orbis
Aqua
Constrictio
Ita noster
Primitus pars
Appareo
With Lily coming in at the end behind the rest of them.
"Let's try it again, shall we?" Remus said, smiling helpfully at Lily, who shrank under the glare that Severus was giving her. James kicked him under the table, and they tried again.
This time, they got it right, and so they all stood up around the cauldron.
"One, two, three." Sirius counted them in, and they recited the incantation. The liquid started to bubble. Lily looked away, she didn't want to see anything in the cauldron.
"Woah! Lily, you have to look!" Angelica tugged at her friends arm, but Lily refused.
"Hey! Who's the girl?" demanded Sirius, leaning in close to the cauldron.
"How are we supposed to know, Dogbreath. Figure it out for yourself." James said, straining to look at the face that had appeared in the cauldron.
"You may begin to see things in your cauldron. This is merely a side affect, and should not be thought of as true." Professor Barre said loudly.
"Hey! Lily, it's you! I'd recognize that face anywhere." Angelica exclaimed. "There's that tiny mole by your left eye! Why are you floating in the potion, Lily?"
Lily had to turn and look. Sure enough her face floated in the cauldron. It grinned, and winked at them. Then it wiggled it's eyebrows.
Lily grabbed her textbook "You may see people you recognize in the Potion" she read to them "Don't be alarmed, usually, it's the person on one or more peoples minds. The Potion merely takes the most common thought, and shows it to you."
"How odd. Who's thinking about Lily?" Angelica said, looking around the circle, grinning. No one answered. The Lily in the picture laughed at them, stuck her tongue out, and rolled her eyes.
"I was thinking about me." Lily said suddenly "I was thinking about being a little girl, pretending to be a witch. I used to say that thing from Macbeth.. you know, double, double toil and trouble- dad taught it to me." She smiled, her eyes over-bright.
"Um, who else was thinking about Lily?" asked Angelica, as the picture changed. It was Snape, his face was melting like a candle.
"That's my fault too" Lily said, smiling.
"Me also." James admitted.
Finally, the potion settled into a purple-black color. Lily smiled
"We finished this step successfully!" she crowed, and began to pack up her stuff.
Christmas vacation started the day after, and Ruby, Chelsea and Angelica all left. Normally, Lily would also go home for the holidays, but since she had no real home, she opted to stay. She moped around for the first two days and finally took a book of advanced charms out of the library. It was interesting, and Lily was so absorbed in it, she did not notice James Potter sit down beside her on the couch in the common room.
"Hello Lily Evans. What are you reading?" Lily glanced up warily, and then turned slightly pink.
"Advanced Charms" James moved closer so he could read what the book said and Lily felt her face turn red. She wondered why James was paying so much attention to her when she hadn't even known he was still at school.
"Interesting. Very interesting, Lily. Who're you planning to use this love charm on?" he asked, pointing to a spell rimmed in red and gold
"I was reading the other one."
"Oh. Eruch. Who're you planning to use that on?"
"You if you keep interrupting my reading." Retorted Lily
"Oooh! Feisty aren't we?" James teased, poking her arm.
Lily grinned. This made James smile too. It wasn't that he liked her, he just couldn't stand having Lily so scared of him.
"Listen, Lily, Why are you so scared of me?" The question came as a surprise to Lily. She turned fire engine red, and quickly turned a page in the book.
"Well-" she said, then stopped.
"Yes?" James prompted
"Ummmm"
"Lily, don't be scared of me. Just tell me."
"Fine. But you can't laugh. I am really…nervous around people. Especially guys" Lily stopped, blushed redder, and rushed on " Because I completely way the srong things-er-say the wrong things! See, I hate this!" Lily threw up her hands, and hid her face in the book.
James laughed "Don't worry Lily- but don't be scared of me just cause you think you'll say something stupid. I am friends with Sirius, and half of the words that leave his mouth are stupid. Shall we be friends?"
"Ummm.."
"We're friends with Angelica."
"So we hang around together. That counts for-"
"Not. It's not the same. Because you never talk, and your scared to talk, and friends aren't scared to talk to friends. So are you my friend?"
Lily grinned again, and looked at James. Remember about you decision, Lily? She thought Now would be a good time to practice it! He wants to be your friend, accept it! Don't be stupid!
"Yeah. Friends" Lily said, reaching over to shake his hand.
"Great" He sure seems happy about it.
"So, James, now that we're friends, what are you getting em for Christmas?" she asked, all innocence.
"Getting you?" James gulped, looking nervous.
"Yeah. Friends get friends gifts for Christmas" Lily said, as if he should know that.
"Really? Well, I mean, I got Sirius something, and Remus, Peter, but I didn't buy anything for any of my girl friends, I mean, my friends who are girls."
"Kidding, Potter. Just kidding." Lily turned red, as if making a joke was something embarassing.
James grinned. This had certainly turned out well.
"See you at the feast, Lily." He said, and got up.
"Bye James" Lily said, and returned to her book.
Ack! That was very mushy. Oh well, it's late, and I was struck with inspiration, so I had to write it. I have no idea how they will "get together" as of yet. Or what the potion is. Any ideas? Once again, sorry for any spelling errors. More in the next week, I'll try to squeeze in. I've been reading/writing to much HP fanfiction. I had a dream where I was Harry. My wand was a gray magic-marker. Oy vey!