Geez, this is really depressing…about 35 chapters and only 14 reviews…I feel really bad now…please, if you have any kind of human in you, review this!  Just one would make me feel so much better!  Please!  Think of the joy added to the human heart when a simple little purple/gray/blue/whatever button is pressed!!

"Geez, what do you think happened?"
"How old was that guy?"
"I wonder how long it takes bodies to rot."
"I wonder how long he's been dead!"
"You think he's really dead?"
"He's a ghost, idiot!"
"No, I mean is his ghost dead?"
"Can ghosts die?"
"Get Dumbledore."
"Yes. James, go with her. I'll try to wake him up."
James and Lily broke into a run as they headed for Dumbledore's office. At the statue of the disturbingly ugly goblin, they stopped. Lily stemmed her fists in her sides.or Binns!"
His hand dropped from his robes.
"PROFESSOR!"
This time, as she shook his shoulder violently, her hand felt cold, as if she had just plunged it in a bowl of ice-cold water. Something started to dawn on her.
"Erm—Professor?" Meekly, this time.
"How are we going to get in? I don't know the password."
James gave his mischievous smile. "I do."
"How?"
"Remember when I told you I had a good excuse? I got to file papers in his office."
Lily scowled. "You little—anyway. Go ahead."
"All right. Butterbeer."
The goblin jumped aside as the two moved in the doorway, jogged up the winding stairs, and knocked loudly on the door, which swung open to reveal Dumbledore sitting at his desk, writing a letter. He looked up as they ran in, breathless and panting.
"Professor—we were in history of Magic—"
"Professor Binns didn't come, so I went to go check on him—"
"She went inside his office and found his body—"
"Headmaster, Professor Binns' dead!"
There was complete silence in the room after Lily came out with that statement, but after a good five seconds, Professor Dumbledore rose from his chair, beard and robes swaying. He left his office at such a speed that Lily and James had to run again to keep up. They rounded several corners and finally came to Professor Binns' office. The door was closed and locked.
Alohomora was a useful charm, and they opened the door easily. But the only thing they found was a blazing fire and a body in an armchair. Professor Dumbledore touched the form. It was still warm.
He straightened up. "James, please go fetch Professor McGonagall. Lily, come with me."
They left the room, James turning one way, Dumbledore and Lily another. They came to the classroom Lily had left a few minutes ago, and Lily was shocked to hear a familiar droning sound coming from the room. Dumbledore pushed the door open, revealing the entire class staring at their teacher in wonder, who apparently had risen from his armchair, walked into the classroom, picked up his notes, and started to read.
Dumbledore and Lily stopped at the door, a bit stunned. Collecting herself, Lily noted that Dumbledore was pushing her into the classroom, so she slid into her seat quietly. Professor Binns didn't even look up.
That evening, at dinner, everyone at Hogwarts knew about Professor Binns. They were all pointing and whispering at Lily, Sirius, and James, who were huddled in a knot, talking about that afternoon. It was Sirius' turn.
"Ok, so you two leave me, right? I yelled in his ear again, just for good measure, and he wakes up and tells me to get back to class! I tell you, that scared me! So I bolted and got into the classroom just as he was entering it through the blackboard. I wasn't the only scared one!"
"I can imagine."
"Ok, James, it's your turn now." James leaned closer. "I went to McGonagall's classroom to get her after Dumbledore told me to fetch her, and I walked in, but when I tried saying something, her class was too loud, so I had to yell, "PROFESSOR BINNS IS DEAD!" It shut them up quick as anything, and then McGonagall just stared at me, and when I didn't start to laugh, she swept out and banged the door loud. Next thing I knew, I was standing in front of his classroom and he was teaching, so McGonagall almost gave me detention, but then she saw him, and he was all ghostly and stuff, and she gave this really odd gasp, told me to get to class, and raced down to his office."
Lily and Sirius had a good, refreshing laugh as they helped themselves to the last bits of chocolate cake.
That night in the common room, hardly anyone was in bed. They were all discussing Binns' death, and for once, Serena had swallowed her anger and was as curious as everyone else. It was around two when the common room was halfway emptied.
The next morning, Lily woke up, exited about something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Then she knew. Defense Against the Dark Arts was their first class, and the first encounter she'd ever have with a dryad. She dressed hurriedly and was downstairs at breakfast before anyone else was, skimming through her new Defense Against the Dark Arts book for the sixth time. By the time Sirius and Eva took seats on either side of her, she was already halfway through.
"Good Lord, Lily, are you that obsessed with making a three hundred in that class? Give it a break!"
"I don't want to make a fool out of myself, and besides, this is interesting. Did you know that dryads were over fifteen feet tall originally, and that their hair type changes with every season?"
Sirius nodded. "I knew the last part. Dorvan has leaf-type things in her hair."
"Oh, really?" Lily peered at the teacher's table. "I didn't notice that!"
Eva laughed. "What kind of tree do you think she is?"
"I don't know. I'm about to find out." Lily flipped a page, running her finger down the indents.
"Either an oak, a beech, a chestnut, or a pine. I'm inclined to cut the oak out, though, because they're mostly male."
James pointed at the page. "She's also half-human, and look here—" His finger traveled to a picture of a twig—"This isn't what her fingers look like. They're more sturdy."
Lily nodded. "So she isn't half-beech or oak."
"Right. I'd say she's a pine, as a matter of fact."
Lily twisted in her seat so she could stare at him. "Why that?"
James pointed at the teacher's table. "Look. She's really stately; she's got long, dark hair—sorta needly. Can't you see that?"
Lily nodded, slowly. "Now I can." She could, too. The green robes of the welcoming feast had been changed to solid black, with a sort of shimmery shine to them. She couldn't think of how she had missed the resemblance to the pine tree Lily's mother had planted in her backyard.
The bell rang, and everyone, especially the Gryffindor fifth years, rushed to class. They were all in their seats by the time the bell rang, and when Professor Dorvan drifted in and shut the door softly, even James and Sirius had, for once, shut their mouths. With a sort of husky, deep, windy, rustling voice, their teacher began to speak as she seated herself on the edge of her desk. Just now Lily realized how tall she was; even sitting down, one could see her height. Liquid black eyes gleamed with an excitement on either side of an average nose; a practical mouth with a hint of a smile to it fastened her cheeks together. Her hair was pulled into a loose side ponytail to the side, and several branches of hair fell into her face and covered her ears.
"I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year; hopefully for several years, if I fulfill my duty. I am not your average professor; I was born in the Forbidden Forest—" here Lily caught James and Sirius exchange delighted glances—"and know the habits and fears of almost every creature there. I will not be requiring you to do much bookwork; I shall be teaching you many practical things." She cleared her throat. "Please get out your wands."
They did so, still quietly. Her voice, soft yet hard, low yet overpowering, had the ability to keep a class quiet without an effort on her part.
"I suppose you all know I am a half-dryad. And if you know that, I assume you also know that, when angered, dryads can be the most dangerous creature this Earth can hold." She went on to explain the scientific reasons behind the unnatural madness dryads were capable of, the reasons why they could not easily be overcome, and the spell that could hold an enraged dryad at bay.
"I shall be asking you to test this on me. Please, now—wands out, and repeat after me." They obeyed. "Flueroticis Dranyada Muerotnics Pourtevn."
They stared at her; she had pronounced these words with a mixture of a German, French, and Russian accent, which seemed almost impossible for them to imitate. She repeated her words, slowly this time.
"Flueroticis Dranyada Muerotnics Pourtyen."
This time the class responded. "Flueroticis Dranyada Muerotnics Pourtyen."
"Excellent." She clapped her hands lightly, and her sleeves fell from her arms, exposing bark-like skin. "Someone, now, come up here. I just want you to concentrate on what you're saying." Her eyes roved over the crowd. "Miss Evans, come here, please?"
Lily stepped forward, sweaty palms grasping her wand. As forewarned, Professor Dorvan's eyes slitted in anger, her hands raised in branch-like clawing motions, and as she dashed for Lily, the class all gave a stifled gasp.
Lily held her wand up, not shaking, though she dearly wanted to. As if on impulse, without any nudging from her brain, the words broke forth from her throat.
"flueroticis Dranyada Muerotnics Pourtyen!"
Immediately, the half-dryad was frozen in position; she stopped as something began curling about her feet. The class drew back as a smoky twirls gathered around their teacher's feet, then, transforming quickly to brambles, she was entwined in vines and tangles. It lasted for a minutes; then it dissolved. Lily had let her wand fall.
Professor Dorvan straightened up, clapping lightly. "Excellent! Wonderful! Anyone else care to try?"
With an effort, Lily pulled her joints into working positions. "I'll pass."
The dryad laughed woodily as she pulled Peter up to the front. "Come on, dear, your turn!"
Peter went a sort of nervous green. "I don't have a very good foreign accent."
Lily laughed, too. Only hers didn't sound as if she were locked in a thicket; it had more scorn to it. "Well, you can pronounce Latin stuff, can't you?"

"No."
"Oh, come on! What language do you think Petrifocus Totalus is?"
"Uhh…jibber?"
"Latin, you dope. Come on."
"All right." He rolled up his sleeves and brandished his wand as Lily deftly stepped out of the way and Professor Dorvan rushed at him.
It all would have gone well, Lily later reflected, if Peter hadn't insisted on standing there, frozen in the most idiotic position you could ever not wish to be seen in. The summary of it was that he got attacked by an enraged tree that almost strangled him with its branches before Sirius, James, and Lily jumped for their wands. Professor Dorvan was thrown off, and as she hung onto her desk, shaking a bit, she wasted no time in giving Peter detention.
"When I tell you to curse me, do it! I can't control myself when I get angry; I told you that! No dryad can! You could have been killed! Two weeks' detention, Mr. Pettigrew!" James, Sirius, and Lily were slinking into their seats, and the rest of the class was trying to hide behind opened books. "Don't ever disobey me again! Who knows what could happen if you ever land in the Forbidden Forest and don't know this spell—I could lose my job!"
The class tried hard not to laugh at this, but it couldn't be helped. The bell rang, leaving everyone trooping off to second period in a much more comfortable mood than they had been earlier. Though Divination was next, they managed to get through it without receiving any major injuries; i.e.: falling off of their chairs and cracking their skulls open on the table because of intense drowsiness.

That weekend, the whole common room was practically deserted except for Lily, Amanda, and several other Muggle-borns that hadn't the slightest interest whatsoever in Quidditch. They had settled themselves on the rug in front of the fire, taking a dreary sort of pleasure in the empty common room, which, for once, was free of noisy explosions and sparks but full of the whiplash sound of rain lashing the windowpanes. The cheerful chatter of the girls, telling each other about their summers and their first days back, was almost drowning it out, but not quite, which was nice, for the noise of the rain that couldn't come in was a satisfying sound; it made them feel rather safe and warm. Which they were, as a matter of fact.
Amanda dealt the Exploding Snap cards for the fifth time, yawning a bit. "Lily?"
"Hum?"
"Don't you wish we could have gone?"
"Nope." Lily shook her head. "Quidditch is all right, but it isn't my dream sport."
"I know that, Miss Fencer."
"You should. WATCH OUT!"
The warning came too late. A faceful of smoke and singeing sparks had hit Amanda full in the face.
"Oh, wonderful. Isn't this great?"
Lily shrugged. "Go wash your face. I'll get Minky to get us some hot chocolate."
"No coffee?"
"You obviously haven't asked Minky to bring up coffee yet, have you?"
"No; why?"
Lily scrunched up her voice in a high and crinkly imitation of the small house-elf. "Miss is too, too kind to wish Minky to do a service for miss, but Minky has heard from several reliable sources that coffee is bad for miss! Will stunt miss' growth and stain miss' teeth!"
Amanda laughed, but Lily only shrugged again. "I swear; that's her voice. She will go on for hours like that."
That afternoon, Amanda was in her dormitory, trying to rest; the other Gryffindors were either sleeping, wandering aimlessly around Hogwarts, or playing chess in the common room. Lily was in her dormitory, toying with the idea of the Alendoren Cove.
She hadn't been there in ages, she told herself, and she missed Svordsja and Litharelen, and of course Tom. It was perfect, just perfect…but was this even allowed at Hogwarts? This continual vanishing and and and….Sighing loudly, Lily kicked her covers aside and opened her jewelry box, pulling out the flashing gold and midnight blue necklace. She fastened the chain around her neck, grasped the pendant in her left hand, and hit it against the bureau.
With a small thump, Lily landed on all fours in the familiar white, glittering sand of the Alendoren Cove. She shook the sand and hair out of her ears—something was wrong. Then she knew.
The Alendoren Cove was usually the most peaceful place she had ever encountered, with the sun glittering on the waves and a lazy elf-nymph usually flopping onto a stone, or moonlight bathing the beach in a silver glow; there was hardly any noise. But now—now—now—