Title: ME: Trapt

Author: Seadragon

Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama/Humor

Rating: Pg-13

Summary: Hogwarts 5th years and up are off to a Muggle Camp. A Death Eater attack finds Lily and James lost in the woods, with no way to get back, and an army searching for them. Some people will stop at nothing to get what they want. Voldemort is no exception.

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AN: Alright. I have decided. Any one who has read The Last Stand [well, the first chapter anyway] must have realized that it is set in the same AU I have created for this story. I have had a lot of trouble deciding what to do, because, as you know, this story is part of The Never Ending Story. TLS, once named Miss Me? was also a part of that series, but I yanked it out, and made it a stand alone. Then I was confronted with the dilemma of what I was going to do with this, namely, Trapt, a story that, despite its lack of chapters, was started in July 2003. Now, I love this story, so I couldn't yank it, and just leave it out. But, it is a part of the series, and is mentioned several times. AND, it is the prequel to TLS, which is a stand alone, sort of. But now I have decided. It will be both. It will ride under its own banner, not under TNES, but it will remain a part of it. It will run in cannon to TLS. Please, anyone who has not read The Last Stand, and is reading this, I suggest you read that, and vice versa, they, though set years apart, are in the same AU.

Thank you, that shall be all.

Seadragon.

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Chapter Eight: Irrational

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James had eyes only for the forest right in front of them, the part that was illuminated by magic blue light he had created earlier. The surrounding area was dark and foreboding. The shadows crept up behind them as soon as the light moved ahead. He just kept watching straight ahead, almost looking for something, though Lily knew that wasn't possible. They were in the middle of a forest in the middle of the night, running away from people out to kill him, with no idea what so ever where they were going, and what they were going to do when they got there.

Lily, however, kept looking back over her shoulder, into the dark forest around them. Every once and a while her eyes would flicker back to James, and she would just stare at him. It wasn't out of admiration, or lust, but fear. Fear of what could happen if she turned her back. Fear for the powers that lay lurking far beneath his skin.

She had never seen anyone who could do the things he did, almost carelessly. It seemed like he wasn't even aware of it at times. She, for one, had never guessed there was something off kilter about James Potter, at least, nothing like this. She watched as his eyes seemed to seek out something in the darkness, what, she didn't know.

At last, she just had to ask.

"How did you do that?" She had been about to add Potter, but it just didn't seem right. He had just saved her life after all. Though, she couldn't quite call him James, that seemed like she was encroaching on territory held by his friends, of whom she was not one. She just settled for not addressing him by a name for the time being, at least until his saving her life wore off.

The way his head snapped towards her, in an almost startled motion, led her to believe that he had forgotten she was here, despite the way her hand was tightly clenched in his. She almost felt sorry for asking, when she saw the haunted look in his eyes. It reminded her of the expression on his face on the bus, when he had been fighting Wolset. She remembered what he had said to the other boy.

Quietly, almost timidly, she added, "I didn't know your parents are dead. I'm sorry." It seemed like the right thing to say, she couldn't say why. She truly was sorry after all, no one deserved to be orphaned at the age of sixteen.

"Why? What could you have done to save them? He had to kill them so he could have a free shot at me."

Lily winced.

"It's true. He's trying to kill me, and he has been for sixteen years. I've gotten used to it by now."

Lily fell silent again and stared at the ground in front of her feet. There wasn't much you could say in response to such a thing. She had met his father, the late Mr. Potter, even if just briefly. When she and May had gone to Diagon Alley together, May had dragged her off to find him, as he had been a famous Dark Wizard killer, an Auror. He had seemed like a very nice man, and a good father.

"And in response to your earlier question, I just can." He answered shortly, nearly snapping at her.

Lily bit her lip. Normally, she would have snapped right back at him, or yelled at him, but this was different. She couldn't exactly scream at him for being upset, they were trying to kill him, after all. Though, considering what she had seen, she didn't think they would be successful. And hadn't he said they had been trying for sixteen years? She shivered. It must be an awful feeling, to know that you are being hunted for something you can't control.

"We have to find somewhere to hide. We can't stay out in the open." James said, a couple minutes later. Lily nodded. She didn't like the prospect of sleeping in the forest, with Death Eaters chasing them down and all. It didn't exactly seem too enjoyable to her.

"Where, exactly?" Lily asked. Later she realized how accusatory it sounded.

"I don't know! Why don't you do something for a change?! I got everyone out of the cabin! I saved your ass from being burnt! I got you away from the army of Death Eaters! Why don't you do something for me?!" He had stopped and let go of her hand. They stood facing each other with identical looks of mixed anger and frustration on their faces.

"You may have saved me, but what about your friends?! They, for all we know, could be dead!" Lily took a deep breath. "Are they even your friends? Or did you just frighten them into pretending to be?! You don't seem to care about them very much!"

James just stared at her for a second and turned around to walk away.

"You aren't going anywhere! You got me here, and you'll get me out of here!" Lily shrieked.

"I saved your god damn life!" James whirled around to glare at her. Guiltily, she noticed the tear tracks on his cheeks. She brushed it aside. "They would have killed you!"

That too, she brushed aside. "No they wouldn't have, they want you, not me, they would just leave me alone."

At that, James stepped for and grabbed her shoulders. He shook her furiously. "Do you even know who Voldemort is? He doesn't care who you are, he'll kill you. That's what they do, they kill innocent people, just for the hell of it! And don't even try to say you could have gotten away yourself. You don't have your wand, you've never really been a duel. Your life has never been on the line. You've never had to watch what you do, be careful who you talk to, for fear they will be killed. You don't know what it's like!"

"You aren't so important." Lily snapped. She regretted it immediately.

A perfect circle, with them as its center, suddenly burst in flame. Silver flames, at least ten feet high, surrounded them. They didn't give off any heat at all, just light. The grass beneath her feet exploded upwards in rapid growth. The delicate green tendrils would around her legs with unnatural strength. Trees all around them fell, adding a ring around the barrier of fire.

"No?" James said slowly. "Am I not?"

"Stop it! Stop!" The grass had completely anchored her legs to the ground, and was working up to her arms. Lily watched it nervously, jumping as the flames disappeared. The trees returned to their original positions, before James had tampered with them. Slowly, the grass unwound itself from her, and shrunk back into the ground.

"Are we in agreement that I can do whatever I want, and that you can do nothing to stop me? Including leave you here?"

Lily stared at him with wide eyes. She didn't doubt he would leave her. And if he did, well, the likelihood of her ever returning to the camp was zero to none. She prayed he wouldn't, looking at her feet awkwardly, fists clenched tightly.

"No, I won't."

Her head snapped up and she looked at him. He smiled slightly and tapped his head with one finger. "If you don't want me to know it, don't think it when I'm around you."

He was really scaring her now.

He sighed. "Come on. We still have to find some where to hide." He started walking and Lily stared at his retreating back for minute before running after him. He didn't seem to notice she hadn't been there immediately, nor did he acknowledge the fact that she had nearly run right into him, before slowing down to a walk. But if his little display earlier told her anything, he was just blocking himself off, he knew exactly what was going on all around him.

Lily walked a step or two behind him, watching her feet so that she wouldn't trip on a protruding root. Every once and a while she would take a miss step and slip, or stub her toe, but James remained silent, focusing only on what was right in front of his face. She knew he could tell what was going on, but had just decided to ignore her.

Slowly, Lily felt her eyes move up until she was staring at his back. He was wearing a faded black muggle t-shirt. It was ripped in places from the branches when they had run into the first from the Death Eaters. One rip, from his left shoulder to the middle of his back caught her attention. Through the hole in his shirt, she could see an angry looking red scar. Transfixed, she wondered where it had come from. It certainly wasn't new, because it looked healed, just sore.

As though he had felt her eyes on him, he spoke. "It's nothing." His voice wasn't angry like before, just weary, like he had the weight of the world on his back. Which, she concluded, in a way, he did. Embarrassed about being caught in the act, she blushed. Feeling abashed, Lily focused her eyes on the ground again, pretending to be interested in a strangely shaped root. He sighed and continued navigating through the trees. Did he know where he was going? She wondered, not for the first time. After before, she wouldn't exactly be surprised.

She felt bad for making him cry before. She hadn't intended to do so. She had never seen James Potter cry before, but everyone had a limit, and, she supposed, she had crossed his. She had been kind of out of line with what she had said, but, again, she wondered why he didn't seem to care. To afraid to ask him, or even think too much about it, she pushed it aside for more consideration later, like once they found somewhere to hide.

Instead, she looked at all the different kinds of plant life as they walked through the woods. Some of it she had never seen before, though that wasn't really surprising. Unlike James and his friends, she had never found it necessary to go wandering around in the Forbidden Forest, though, she had to wonder if there would be much normal plant life in there. It was probably full of all sorts of dangerous plants, like bushes that tried to swallow you whole and the like, after all, it wasn't forbidden for nothing.

Lily decided she must have lost her mind. Here she was, wandering around a muggle forest, with James Potter, no less, and thinking about killer plant life. She had really slipped. Though, what else could she do? She was, as before mentioned, wandering around a muggle forest, with a boy she hated, being chased by people who wanted to kill them. It wasn't exactly a window of opportunity.

They continued walking in silence. But, try as she might, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something, or someone, out there, looking for them. No, not them, him.