Chapter 13: Unexpected.

Rain. It splattered on the school like tiny dungbombs that didn't smell. The clouds thundered over the school and flashes on lightning could be seen in a mere distance, illuminating the sky in a ghostly glow. As pupils looked overhead in the Great Hall, the enchanted ceiling was rather frightening. The jagged light made shadows of everybody and created an eerie atmosphere.

Lily made her way to the Great Hall for dinner and sat down in a more shadowed area of the table, where no one could talk to her. She didn't jump every now and then when lighting flashed through the sky and thunder rolled overhead, as the other students would. She just sat there, with no emotion showing in her face as she ate her food all alone, that is, until James, Remus and Sirius entered. She cheered up when they talked to her and told her of their latest plan to prank Snape, Malfoy and any other person that had done something to annoy them.

"Where's Peter?" asked Lily after another flash of jagged lighting flashed through the sky.

"I don't know. But I think he's in that meeting with Madam Hooch," Sirius answered.

"I don't think so Sirius; Madam Hooch is sitting at the teacher's table," Remus said pointing her out.

"Well, maybe he's got detention?" James asked unsure, Peter rarely lied to them.

"Do you really think Peter's capable of getting a detention by himself? He usually get detention with one of us," Remus pointed out.

"Well, he's probably just in the library or common room. He's usually there when you three aren't around him," Lily said reassuringly.

At that moment a small plastic object hit the back of Sirius' head. He turned around and picked up what was thrown at him. It was his pack of Exploding Snap cards he had lost the past few weeks. He looked to see who had thrown it, but no one seemed to have thrown it.

"What's wrong Sirius?" James asked.

"Oh nothing, I found my Exploding Snap cards though!" he said cheerfully.

Just then some Slytherin's passed by them at the table snickering and whispering in hushed voices, if they were trying to look suspicious, they were doing a good job of it.

"What? No insult today?" Sirius asked his friends slightly surprised and with raised eyebrows. His friends just shook their heads exasperatedly and continued to eat.

Although, Lucius Malfoy had heard what he had said. 'Oh don't you worry Black. You and your friends will be joining us soon enough, then the insults can begin.' He thought and snickered. Just then, a flash of lightning passed by. And the rain seemed to get heavier, the clouds darker and the thunder, louder.

The four friends headed back up to the common room. Lily was just about to go back to her dorm leaving an excuse that she had to study until James grabbed her wrist and turned her around gently.

"You can't hide away in there forever Lil, just stay with us for a while. And you've studied enough as it is!" he said looking pleadingly into her eyes.

"But they'll all ask questions," Lily said shifting her gaze from James' eyes.

"No they won't. They didn't ask you any in the hall at dinner time, nor in class, and if they ask, I'll gladly put a VERY strong hex on them," James grinned. Lily laughed and gave in.

"Fine I'll stay," she said.

James whooped a little and held Lily's hand as they sat on a big red rug in front of the fire and with Sirius and Remus. They joked a lot and laughed quite loudly, earning a disapproving look from Molly Farthing, a 6th Year prefect.

"Ok, let's have a game of Exploding Snap, since I've found my pack again!" Sirius suggested. They all agreed. He sat there showing off his shuffling skills. They rolled their eyes as he grinned at his perfect shuffled cards. He started to hand them out equally amongst the four of them. One by one, and slowly. The storm raged on outside. More thunder rolled overhead and flashes of lightning became more frequent. Sirius finally finished giving each a card. As if in slow motion, all four, Lily Evans, James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, lifted their set of cards off the rug. The minute they laid one finger on their cards, a flash of lightning illuminated the room, and they saw in that split second, how they started to disappear. When everyone looked at the red rug by the fireplace, the four friends that had sat there had disappeared.

Lily… Lily! Wake up! That voice was ringing in her head. It was annoying her. She had a sore head and she felt like her hands had been burnt badly in a fire. Lily slowly opened her eyes and saw into the worried face of Sirius Black. But she wasn't in the Common Room, or her dorm, or even Hospital Wing for that matter. She slowly got up and felt how ice cold water pelted her face mercilessly.

"S-S-Sirius? What happened?" she asked eye wide as she looked at her surroundings.

It was dark, and cold, and wet. Trees had covered them and their dripping leaves bundles up the water, which slid off and hit the ground. The ground was bumpy and Lily saw that her head had rested at a tree root sticking up from the ground. Th canopy was so thick that the sky couldn't be seen. But lightning did light it up whenever it struck.

"The cards, someone rigged them. They turned them into a portkey," he muttered absolutely soaking wet.

"Do you know where we are?" she asked getting up on her feet with Sirius' help.

"I have a fair idea. We're deep inside the Forbidden Forest," he said and was very aware of his surroundings. Lily gasped.

"Where is Remus and James?!" she suddenly asked.

"I don't know, they must have been separated from us when we were transported, we'll have to find them first and then head our way out," he said. Lily nodded in agreement.

Sirius transformed into his animagus form. A large black dog. Lily was strongly reminded of the Grim, an animal that was a death omen. She walked up to the large dog, it's head nearly reached her shoulder, and walked by it's side. It sniffed the ground for any scent of Remus or James or danger. Lily followed, just as alert for anything in the forest that might attack them. It was timed like these she really wanted Hagrid around. He knew the forest like the back of his hand. He would manage to get them out safely. Lily nearly tripped the many tree roots that were uprooted and she scratched herself many times with twigs that were sticking out at off angles. Padfoot was scratched a fair few times and winced a little but continued on his scent trail. His ears pricked up as heard noise far off, and a moan. He turned to look at Lily who seemed to read his mind. She nodded and the dog started to run, she followed the black dog, a little bit behind of his speed. Padfoot stopped to see James and Remus lying on the ground, robes slightly torn. James was the one moaning a little in pain. Padfoot went up to him and started to lick his face. James grew conscious and slammed his eyes open. He got up and acknowledged the dog. He heard more rustling and saw a slightly breathless Lily appear. Lily smiled when she saw James and gave a worried glance to Remus who was still unconscious. Padfoot went up to Remus and started to lick his face. Padfoot knew how much Remus hated being licked on the face. After a lot or groaning and angered looks from Remus, he got up. Padfoot turned into Sirius.

"About time you got up Remmy," said Sirius and laughed at the disgruntled look on his face. But his laugh soon stopped at the death glare he was getting from Remus.

"Seriously, we need to find a way out of here," James said.

"Do any of you, by chance have the Marauder's Map with you?" Sirius asked. The all shook their heads in a 'no.'

"Damn!" he cursed and tried thinking of a way to get out. The others looked around and started to think which way of the forest would lead back to the school.

"I don't think we should split up and look, even if it does give us a better chance of getting out," Lily muttered and sat on an uprooted tree root. They all nodded.

"Well, lets just go one way and then if the trees get thicker, we'll turn around and go the other way," Remus suggested.

"That seems a bit time-consuming," James said looking up to see only canopy, no sky.

"It's either that, or we split up and look," Sirius said.

After a lot of decision making, they headed in one direction as one group. The tress didn't get thicker, and they didn't get thinner, they seemed to stay the same all the way through. Rain hit them hard and even though the Lily placed charms to stay dry, they still seemed to get wet. After a half-hour of walking around in the forest, they started to see the trees get thinner. The clouds seemed darker than ever. They were nearly black, but they glinted an unusual purple. Thunder rolled continuously and lightning seemed to be brighter and hotter here. As the trees grew thinner, the four friends expected to see the outline of the Hogwarts castle loom in the distance, but it didn't come. They frowned but continued onwards until they came to an opening.

"What the-?" Sirius started.

"Where are we?" Lily asked uncertain.

The opening was a strange shape with trees dotted in between different areas. The grounds were cracked and dry and snakes slithered across the different plains, but what was most unusual about it was the green mist looming over it. It even had a large pond to one side, with slime bubbling at the top. The smell was different and wasn't pleasant. Hissing came from snakes, croaking from frogs and the sound of small crickets. Glowworms could be seen hovering about and they light flashed a lot whenever the lightning wasn't seen. The blackish purple clouds loomed over the place. This was definitely not the Hogwarts grounds.

"Um…this was never mentioned to us before," James said as he stared at everything around him.

"This place is worse than hell," Remus stated looking wide-eyed at the strange place.

"You can say that again," Sirius managed to say through his gawking.

"We should go back, this is definitely not Hogwarts," Lily started.

As she spoke, black figures started to appear from the back, walking in one long horizontal line, like an army. The sound of twigs snapping from behind stirred them. The four friends turned around to see more cloaked figures behind them. Instincts told them to run, but where could they run? The cloaked figures behind them shoved them onto the grounds and they all fell over from the force of the push. They were surrounded by these cloaked figures. Finally, they stopped marching and lifted up their left-hand sleeve. Sirius, Remus, James and Lily gaped at the tattoo that had been planted on their skin. It glowed black; The Dark Mark.

"Death Eaters?" Lily said fear plastered on her face.

"That's right my child," sneered a cold voice from no where.

When lightning flashed they say a large figure float down from the sky and touch the ground. The figure wore a hooded cloak with silver fastenings and a ring with a snake coiled around a green gem was seen on his middle finger. The figure bore a wand in his hand and his eyes were as red as blood. He took off his hood.

"Let me introduce myself. I am Lord Voldemort."