Chapter 21 ~ In the Forest
The image of the shimmering black corpse outline, much like that the Muggles used on murder scenes, except for being decidedly magical, was drilled into her brain. She couldn't forget it; she couldn't stop thinking about it.
Not that there was much to distract her attention. Professor Binns was still going on about the ancient Greeks. Double History was not exactly an energizing class. James didn't seem to be having any trouble with what had happened last Monday night. He looked content as ever, sitting just as he did in every History class she ever remembered him in, angled away from the teacher and passing notes with Sirius. This was the Marauders most valuable planning time for their pranks. She couldn't imagine them not being up to something huge, this being their last year and all.
"Now class," Professor Binns began, his voice uncharacteristically loud, though not the least bit exasperated, considering nobody was paying attention. "The Greeks were a strong base for magic as it is today. The Romans too, of course, but much more the Greeks. They did it through math, mostly. Some of those in Arithmancy should know that. What is curious, though, is just exactly how they did all this magic." The Professor actually looked excited for once and a few people's gazes were perking up. "You should all know Pythagoras, Euxodus, Archimedes, and Euclid, or you should know them, anyways. It is basic first-year material." He sent a small warning look to the class. Nobody seemed to notice or care very much at all. Lily simply laid her head on her desk.
"Well, they were instrumental to the progression and evolvement of magic. Returning to the Arithmancy for a moment, for those of you ignorant of the subject," he stressed that rather rudely, "it's a rather simple form of divination. For all the Muggles know, the Greeks only used Arithmancy for petty things like who would win a battle. The more advanced form of Arithmancy can actually be used to foretell or find out how certain magical spells work. From the work of the ancient Greeks the very basis of organized magic was first made.
"Before the Greeks the magicks of prophesy through flames or bird entrails were obviously widely used. Shamans in Africa were already prominent by the time of these great Greek thinkers. But none rivaled this. This was founding magic, ancient magic. It is with this very magic that this castle is built. Nothing that is meant to withhold time can be made without founding magic," he stated simply. "If you want to live, of course," he added rather moodily.
Lily found her desk a warm alternative to Professor Binns, who seemed very testy today. Many others had already done the same. She slumped in her desk and performed a small pillow charm on the wall behind her. She leaned back and rested comfortably. There were some advantages to being a witch; she had never been able to doze in school before Hogwarts.
… A man with a knife chased her. He seemed to hover after her, gliding across the smoky ground. The very tip of the knife was one of two bright spots in the dreary landscape. The other was a wavering lantern up ahead. She ran towards it for all she was worth. Lily felt the presence of the man behind her falter, then vanish completely. She turned around and gray mist encircled her, the knife now suspended in midair, pointed directly at her forehead. It moved, tracing a design in the air, and Lily reached for the hilt. But the knife vanished…
Her eyes opened slowly, and she felt as if she had never had the dream at all. She rubbed her eyes to wake herself. 'Stupid dream,' was all she thought to herself. All she thought was to just ignore it, ignore it and it will go away. It reminded her of what her mum had always told her about bullies when she had been younger. To just leave them alone.
It never had worked.
But Lily sort of wished that it would work now. The dreams didn't even scare her, really. She regarded them as a nuisance. She even went so far as to wonder if she wasn't becoming accustomed to being frightened or threatened. 'I've just got the bad luck, is all,' she commented to herself.
With a forced sigh she turned to her bag and actually forced herself to do some of her Defense Against the Dark Arts homework. She was determined to keep her grades up until the end of the term. It didn't seem all that far away anymore. 'Well, June is really still quite far away, but everything has been going by so quickly lately,' she rationalized. Except for this stupid class of course. A year passed by every time she walked into this stupid, stupid classroom.
And boring History of Magic classes weren't the worst of it. Binns, who didn't seem to notice the difference between first and seventh years, least of all sixth and seventh years, was a minority. Well, actually, he was all by himself. Ghosts are natural loners, though.
But every other teacher made classes harder and harder until Lily could barely manage to finish all her work every day. And it was only the end of the second week in the term! It reminded her of that time last year when she had broken down. 'Even that seems so far away,' she mused in a rare, relaxed moment. She had become obsessed with the end of the year, of Graduation Night, the dinner, the so-called Ball. She felt like a caged bird. Realizing this she began to let Apollo out more and more often. She felt empathy for the poor bird. He had been so quiet and unenergetic lately. She always hoped that a little exercise would perk him up, but she was never around when he returned. He was nocturnal, after all.
But now she had to turn back to her homework. Her teachers had been getting increasingly upset with her. Her Potions Master, who had always been more indifferent to her than anything else, was losing his temper with her. And Professor Malchite, who had always favored Lily, seemed annoyed with her every second of the day. 'I'll just work harder,' she promised herself.
Lily left class as soon as it was over.
"Hey Lily," Evelyn called. "Want to come out by the lake before dinner? We're all going," she added, motioning to Cecil and Laura. Lily shook her head.
"Sorry guys, I, uh, have to study now," she answered lamely. Cecil and Laura exchanged a look a shrugged.
"Whatever. You really shouldn't be so stressed you know," Cecil offered.
"Yeah, you should just relax about the work," Laura agreed. Lily just forced a smile.
"I can't help it! But I better be getting to the Library now. See you guys later," she said with a wave as she walked down the hallway. As soon as she got around the corner she stopped. After about a minute she followed her friends down the hallway they had just walked to get outside. Up a floor and two classrooms down on the left and Lily had made it.
Not to the Library of course. She wasn't an idiot. Nobody studies Friday after classes. Not without a series warrant for a social death wish anyway. She had been asked to meet here.
She stopped in front of a door hidden behind an illusionary wall that only disappeared when you hummed the first two bars of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". The door was composed of diamond shaped windows. She had to tap them in exactly the right order to enter.
"Okay, third on the left, second from the bottom right, fourth from the fifth row down on the left, and diagonally up three from the bottom right," she murmured, touching each one.
A face popped out of the door. "Sorry dear, but you aren't about to get in that way," it muttered disdainfully. "Surely you can procure a better solution."
"I really am sorry for disturbing you, but I need to get in," she said politely. The door frowned, and Lily smiled cautiously in return. Hopefully it wouldn't start screaming at her or anything.
"Well, all you really had to do is ask. All that poking it quite unnecessary and rather uncomfortable as well," he added bitterly.
"Why, thank you very much. That's very courteous of you," she added, pure sweetness. 'Maybe if I get on his good side,' she thought, 'I won't have to bother with all this difficulty again.' The mirror smiled crookedly.
"Those boys are never this nice. Thank you very much, miss," he said thankfully, and swung open for her. Lily walked in proudly where the Marauders stood, dumbfounded.
"No fair!" Remus exclaimed, laughing. The other Marauders flanked him, mouths wide open. "We were planning on letting you wait out there for at least another ten minutes before we came and got you."
"How kind," she said sarcastically, and scowled. "I wondered why you wanted to meet in such a random place for the Animagus meeting." They still needed to discuss a few things about their plan. As loosely as they had talked about it over the summer, the boys actually thought it would be fun to go through with it. Or 'something to take our minds of the boring soon to come,' as Sirius so eloquently put it.
"You have to admit," Sirius said. "It was a pretty good plan."
Peter snorted. "Yeah, if the door didn't have a sore spot for girls," he said gruffly.
"Well, I got in, didn't I?" she said. James was still standing silent, arms crossed over his chest. Looking at him made her feel awkward, and she rubbed the back of her calf with her other foot nervously.
Remus sort of noticed. "So at least we get to start early, right guys?" Lily kept her eyes on the floor, James kept his arm crossed. "Well, we don't have much to talk about this week in any event. We just need a few things from the Potions stores and your animal part and we'll be ready to go."
"And we worked the timing out. We'll give four weeks to grab the new ingredients we need, then you have the eighteen weeks brewing time to find your animal hair, or nail, or whatever. Then two more weeks for the final brewing" Sirius explained. "So," he started slowly, working the calculations out in his head. Twenty-four weeks – six months – that puts you as an Animagus around the middle of March, if there are no problems, that is." Lily smiled. 'March just seems so far away,' she thought, upset. But she soon brightened. 'But I will be an Animagus!' Her excitement was visible.
The illegal aspect of this project never really affected her. 'I'm getting as bad as the Marauders!' she thought with amusement. Just then Sirius pounced on Peter and pinned him to the ground.
"Ha! Beat you that time, buddy! That's for this morning," he declared triumphantly. Remus and James were both laughing hysterically. Lily felt a little lost.
"Peter enchanted the toilet to keep flushing this morning while Sirius was in the shower and jammed the door shut," Remus muttered gleefully. "You should have heard the screams!" Lily laughed along with them.
"You boys are insane." Sirius, hearing her, bounded up off Peter.
"It only seems that way to a simpleton such as yourself who doesn't have the perception to judge the depth of our three-dimensional personalities. You and your girls are all really quite shallow, you know." He sighed theatrically. "It's a shame."
"A shame! I should think that if all you were saying was true you would be quite lucky. Girls wouldn't be able to see how annoying and immature you are." She smirked.
"You wouldn't happen to be implying that they flock around be for others reasons, now would you? Such as my dashing good looks?" He laughed.
Lily laughed too. "That's just ridiculous, Sirius. You should really get a grip." Sirius frowned. Watching the scene were James, Peter, and Remus. James was just about frothing in jealousy, Remus was happy to note, and Peter was simply delighted that Sirius was getting what was coming to him.
To prevent homicide attempts on the part of Lily, Sirius, or James (though he didn't really think he had to worry much about the first two) he decided to break up their little conversation. "Honestly Sirius," he said in a higher, breathy voice, "Get a grip! Cant you tell that Lily is just like, so totally not shallow?" Lily smacked him gently on the shoulder.
"Fine, fine," she conceded. "I get your point."
"Okay then," Peter declared diplomatically. "Let's get down to work."
"Yes," James affirmed strongly. "Let's." Remus noted in hindsight that perhaps his comeback hadn't been the best thing in the world to calm James down.
It had been rather fun, though, so it hadn't been a complete waste. He saw why Sirius got his kicks from flirting with Lily to piss James off. The outcome was rather amusing.
They all sat down at a table in the corner and discussed the ingredients that needed to be gathered. Peter took charge.
"Okay, we have a list of eight ingredients here. One can be found in the forest—that's the spiny poison oak leaves, easy enough—" Lily gagged, "and one can be bought in Hogsmeade, though it's pretty pricey. The other six," he said devilishly. "We get to steal.
"So, Sirius I trust you are capable of getting the leaves on your own, that can be your job. James, you can buy the Kneazle eyelash, it's pricey, but you can handle it, and—"
"NO!!" she broke in quickly. They all stared at her, and her cheeks burned momentarily. "What I mean is, I can get that by myself. I—I appreciate everything you are doing, putting yourself at risk and all that, but if it's something as simple as some money I will pay." She looked at James who stared right back. 'She doesn't even want me to do her a favor,' he thought bitterly.
"Well, then," Peter said, "I don't object to that. You and James work it out. Now—for the stealing," he said wickedly. 'This boy is a klepto,' she thought with a smile. 'A klepto plain and simple.'
"I assume that we follow the usual plan?" Remus asked.
"Of course. It is, after all, fool proof after our dozens and dozens of trials. What is the need for the change?" he said with an air of importance.
"Well, if Lily wanted to come we would have to rearrange some things, that's all."
A few things happened at once. Peter and Lily screamed "What?!?" and James and Sirius yelled "No!" Then they all continued to blabber until the door told them to stop.
"Please, dear," the door addressed Lily. "Would you mind hushing your rowdy little friends up? I wouldn't want for you to get caught along with them. They certainly deserve it, but seeing as this is your first offense in this little war council chamber, I am willing to forgive you."
"Oh, of course. I am very sorry, we won't bother you again. Please, eh, get back to what you were doing," she finished lamely, realizing how truly lame that last statement was. How many things did a door have to do all day?
"There it is again! A door that fancies a girl!" Peter exclaimed. "I daresay that you are the first person to be able to claim that right, Lily." She sighed sarcastically.
"Oh yes, and I am so excited, I must go run off and tell all my friends!"
"Shallow friends," Sirius corrected.
"Oh shut up."
"What's a synonym for shallow? If I am going to keep this up I must vary it a little bit. Wouldn't want to bore myself with it, otherwise it would be no fun."
"NO!" she said forcefully before the others could answer. "If you do, I will be forced to severely hurt you. Got it? Good." She calmed down and readjusted herself in her seat. "Now, back to the stealing," she said peacefully.
"Right," James started. "I just don't think that Lily should come along. We are the Marauders after all." Lily faltered. 'I didn't do anything to deserve that,' she thought.
"If she wants to help then I think she should have a go at it," Remus said.
"It's okay, as long as she is willing to take the blame if she gets us caught," Peter said. Lily smiled thankfully.
"Thanks Peter. Fair's fair. But I don't know if I even want to go. I don't see the point, if I'm not welcome, that is…" She was going for the pity play, hopefully it would work.
"Its not that we don't want you there, Lil," Sirius started (James's ears perked at the use of her nickname that he considered solely his) "but, let's face it, you don't have nearly as much experience in pilfering as we do. It would be harder with you there." Lily sighed, he did make sense.
"I don't know if you will understand this, but I guess that this is why I sort of want to help: I'm sick of having other people do things for me. And when we are doing something as important as this, it's basically a matter of self-pride that I do at least some of it by myself. Part of the fun of this is getting away with doing it," she explained. "I'm sure you could have saved and bought your own potion of the wizarding Black market, or something, but it wouldn't have been as much of a thrill, don't you think?" she said. They didn't exactly respond, making her immediately self-conscious.
"I guess I didn't expect that to make sense of any sort, but at least I tried. Just tell me what you guys decide, okay?" she said in a rush, preparing her things to stand up and leave. She got to the door before a hand on her shoulder stopped her. James.
"Listen, Lil, its fine by me, okay? We'll work something out. You can come along," he said quietly. Lily broke into a grin. She grabbed James's hand and squeezed it in thanks.
"Thanks James!" She looked at her watch. An hour had passed since classes let out! "Hey guys, I better get going," she said, thinking of her friends. "Got a date by the lake." She opened the door and waved. "Bye!" she said happily.
James's shoulders sunk. He, of course, as well as the other Marauders, didn't know that Lily meant only a meeting with her roommates. "Aw, it's okay James. Don't let it get you down," Sirius said in a sympathetic voice, tinged with whimpering sarcasm. James stalked over to a couch and fell into it.
"I don't know what you are talking about," he said dejectedly.
* * *
Sirius met Lily in the hallway later that evening. He could sort of tell that she felt a bit slighted that she wasn't included in the plans for the Animagus potion. He could understand why she wanted to be a part; the reason why he played pranks was for the thrill of the accomplishment. So he had worked out a way to get her more involved, and, as an added bonus, for him to get out of some pesky busy-work.
He crept up quietly behind her and nudged her in the back. She squeaked, her books dropped, and he laughed.
Some things just never got boring.
"Sirius!" she whined slowly. "Have you come by for some purpose or was this simply a visit to grace me with your abominable presence?" she said sarcastically.
"My presence is always a grace, Lily. You simply cannot comprehend it."
"Right, right, we have been through this already. Third dimension and whatever else you rambled on about," she muttered. "You certainly do have a lot of sense!" Sirius ignored the blatant cynicism.
"And charm. You can't forget the charm," he added with laugh.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, falsely acting surprised. "Grace and charm! You certainly are accomplished, now aren't you? Though you haven't got a bit of manners, have you?" she added superciliously. "The least you could do is pick up my bag like a gentleman." He stared at her blankly.
"Gentleman? I'm not familiar with that term," he said, scratching his head in apparent thought. He was good at pretending to think, though, seven years of mundane classes and teachers had taught him that much. And Lily could sense the façade.
"Oh, grow up!" she answered, finally giving in and picking up her bag. She started waking down the hall. He followed, "You know, I actually came to talk to you for a reason."
"Really Sirius? I was beginning to think you just liked ambushing people in the hallway," she replied, smirking.
"Oh, cut it. I came to offer you a chance to help with the, well… the project," he whispered. Lily stopped, looking quickly for anyone who might be near.
"What do I have to do?"
* * *
A bush whacked her in the face. A thorn had already ripped her robes. She was sure there were rocks in both of her shoes and at least three different rashes forming on her arms. And she wasn't usually one to complain, but this was getting to be too much.
This sucked.
This wasn't her idea of helping out. The Forbidden Forest was not only dangerous, but completely uncomfortable and uninhabitable as well. Sirius pranced through the bushes happily, obviously at home with the bugs and flies of his brain level, Lily thought vindictively. He simply wanted her to come with her and find some of his little oak leaves. 'Oak leaves!' she thought desperately. 'I will never look at an oak without vengeance ever again.'
"Are you all right back there Lily?" Sirius called back.
Lily growled. "Oh yes, Sirius! I'm just PEACHY!!!" she yelled, her voice hoarse. Suddenly, though Lily couldn't understand how, Sirius was right behind her with his hand over her mouth.
"Keep it down, Lily, or else we'll get caught." He fished through his robe pocket. "Here," he said, pulling out a piece of paper, "this is what we are looking for. See, it should be reddish, with a bunch of pointy things. Not too difficult, right?"
"Right, sure. Not difficult at all. What kind of tree is this exactly?"
"Oh, a northern red oak, Quercus rubra," he added with a horrible accent.
"I thought it was a spiny poison oak tree we were looking for?" she asked, confused.
"Oh, Peter just calls ot that to keep it interesting. He finds the name northern red oak rather boring." Lily stared at him oddly before deciding to brush that aside.
"Well, we are in the north. This shouldn't be too hard to find, right?" Sirius was silent. "Right?" she tried again. "Right?!"
"Sort of. It is in the north, commonly found there, actually. It's just, well, in the north of the United States," he finished lamely.
"Are we ever actually going to find it!!!? Did you just lead me out into this unpleasant forest for no purpose whatsoever?" she said with exasperation.
"Calm down, we'll find it. The Forbidden Forest has everything in it, especially trees. I would say that there is at least one tree of every species in this forest," he said.
"One tree. ONE tree. Do you honestly expect us to find perhaps the only one northern red oak in the entire forest? This thing is huge!"
"Fine. Turn around and walk back to the school then. Don't help. Just sit around like a helpless girl while we do everything," he said airily. She glared.
"Just give me the damn piece of paper." She grabbed it and stalked ahead, not even waiting for him. 'Seems she forgot she didn't like the forest,' he though with amusement. A head popped out from the bushed behind him.
"Hey Sirius."
"Hey Remus," he answered, "James, Peter," he added, knowing that they too must be behind the bushes. Where one Marauder goes, they all go. Eventually, that is.
"That was a pretty good show, Padfoot," Peter added, disengaging a whining thorn from his sleeve. Those stupid things never did shut up. "Boy, did you ever get her riled!"
"It's a gift," he answered, grinning.
"Are you just going to let her wander off by herself in the forest?" James asked huffily, making Sirius want to laugh.
"She can't have gone far, Prongsie. I wouldn't worry your pretty little head over it," Sirius said, adding some cooing baby noises as he pinched James's cheek. James swung Sirius's hand away.
"I'm not kidding! She could get hurt."
"Then go run after her, James. No one is stopping you," Remus said coolly.
"Fine. I'll go. Not because I want to, but because you all are too lazy to do it yourself." And he was gone through the bushes. A few seconds later, James's friends were all laughing their heads off at their friend's plight.
* * *
"Stupid oak leaves," Lily grumbled. "Sirius is such an ass." She mucked her way through some grasping tendrils of an unhappy looking vine.
"I would go the other way," James said from behind her, making her turn around. "Those vines can get pretty temperamental." Lily, after absorbing the fact that James had simply appeared from nowhere, thanked him.
"I wouldn't be in such a mess, but Sirius just got me so angry." Grabbing his offered hand, Lily jumped over the vines. They shot out to grab her foot, but missed. "My temper still gets away from me sometimes," she added a little forlornly. James, not knowing what to say, didn't say anything. "I still have to find those leaves though," she added. "One tree," she muttered under her breath.
"What?"
"Never mind." In silence James joined Lilt in her search for the leaves. Remus, Peter, and Sirius were all but a few steps behind. They were entirely audible, though Lily guessed they thought themselves completely silent. Sighing as they whooped in laughter, she suddenly spotted a familiar-looking reddish leaf on the ground. "I found it! James, I found some!" She reached down to gather the leaf she had seen, realizing there were many already lying there.
Before she picked them up, though, she took a long, critical look at them. These leaves were already dark red any dieing, a little early for northern red oak, she considered. And the leaves didn't look quite right. She fished the paper she had stolen from Sirius earlier and read it.
Northern Red Oak
Quercus rubra
Bark: Steel-gray with ridges and furrows, often mingled with flattened gray areas on the larger branches and main trunk.
Foliage: Alternate, simple, 4"-8" long, 7-11 pointed lobes, leaves emerge reddish, become dark-green in summer, and turn variable reds in fall.
'Well, its fall now, I guess. Maybe the leaves just fall early in autumn.' She scooped down to pick them up, but her finger was immediately buzzed, as if a child's (or the Marauders's) prank toy had just gone off in her hand in the middle of a handshake. "Stupid bugs," she grumbled after yelping her pain. Her finger was red and sore. She quickly turned over the leaves to reveal the bug, but again she was painfully buzzed. "OW!!" She waved her finger to halt the burning feeling.
The boys all came walking up and Lily immediately stopped waving her hand—she didn't want to seem dumb—even if it did still sting horribly. "Did you find it?" Remus questioned.
"Mm-hmm," Lily mumbled incoherently her agreement, biting her tongue to arrest the pain on her fingers. She pointed to the pile of leaves with her elbow and Remus peered down at it, James not far behind. The leaves rustled briefly, Lily wondered if the bug was still underneath.
"Remus is that…" James whispered. Remus gulped. "Yes.
"Oh no… not again… not again…" Sirius and Peter began whispering conspiratorially and Lily watched them all with confusion. What was going on?
"Listen guys, it's just a little bug bite, I'll be fine, I'm sure." Peter's eyes widened.
"You—you touched it?" Lily frowned.
"Well, I didn't just sit there and let it bite me!" she said angrily. "Please, tell me what is going on." She looked at them all, but they were all trying to avoid looking back at her.
"Lily," James said, "we have to leave." Lily rose slowly, but James just grabbed her arm and pulled her along. "Now."
"We'll take care of it," Sirius assured him. "Just like before, right? Simple enough," he said, pulling out his wand. Lily wondered absently why they hadn't just done a tracking or locating spell on the oak tree. James started walking, but Lily planted her feet.
"Now wait a second," she said loudly, drawing four pairs of eyes to her. "I don't understand what is happening, but I think you'd all better tell me. I deserve to know. It's my finger after all." Shed looked at her fingers; the first had already started scabbing over. She gasped, and looked up slowly.
"Just trust me, Lily," James said. "I need to get you up to the castle right now. Unless you aren't particularly fond of your fingers, that is," he added jokingly, though she had the sinking feeling that he really wasn't kidding at all.
"Okay, I'll follow you, but I demand a full explanation tomorrow. A good one," she added for emphasis.
"Of course," he replied mechanically and dragged her along. They ran, quickly, desperately, through the forest and up to the castle. He never did let go of her hand.
* * *
Okay, there you go; FINALLY I got out chapter 21. Hopefully you like it and can understand why it took so long. I am starting chapter 22 right as soon as I post this so that t can be up as quickly as I can manage. Thank you!