betty – taylor swift

"you heard the rumours from inez
you can't believe a word she says
most times."

Friday
7:14pm

Lily wouldn't say she usually had murderous tendencies. But she was going to kill Ella Wessenberg. That was just a fact of life now. The next time Lily saw that tiny bint, she was dead.

Lily didn't want to fucking go to prison for murder though, that's why she was doing everything in her power not to run into Ella.

But the train was leaving soon, so it would be impossible to avoid the witch for much longer.

Lily sighed. She should back up.

This mess had started Monday morning. (Well, if you wanted to get technical it had started a lot earlier but that was too long a story). James Potter's little gang had thrown him an eighteenth birthday party in the Gryffindor common room. Which Lily was determined to ignore. Not only because she knew that as long as she didn't see the alcohol they'd bring, she'd have plausible deniability if they got caught, but also because she really did not want to be forced to see James outside of their shared duties.

Something that her friends understood. Weren't happy with it, but understood. So her fellow roommates had gone off to the party and left her to do homework in the dorm.

Then her friends, being her friends, had decided that it was no fun getting drunk without Lily and brought the party to the dorm. Lily had caved. A decision she very much regretted in retrospect. She'd shared a few drinks with the girls, let her hair down, if you will.

It was stupid, now that she thought about it. They'd run out of alcohol and Lily had been bamboozled into venturing out of the dormitory to get more. Then one thing had led to another and she'd ended up making out with one Adrian Miller in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory. Really Adrian had kissed her but Lily hadn't exactly protested, she might've even encouraged it a little if she was being really honest.

Lily had been pretty sure no one had seen them at the time but now apparently somehow Ella fucking Wessenberg had found out.

It's not as if Lily had anything to be ashamed of though. Both her and Adrian were single and they could snog each other if they damn well pleased! And honestly, she hoped James Potter had heard about it!

Agh no, she chided herself internally. James Potter had nothing to do with this, he had no influence over her choices or feelings. She would not let him occupy her mind any longer. Absolutely not.

Lily kicked a nearby rock and huffed. She wasn't even sure exactly where she was anymore. Leaving for this trip on Wednesday had done a good job of making her not think about what happened Monday night, until now of course.

The annual camping trip for Seventh Years was only open for those taking their Care of Magical Creatures or Muggle Studies NEWTs. The Magical Creatures students—such as herself—were supposed to use the trip to study the vast array of creatures in their natural habitats, and the Muggle Studies kids were supposed to learn about how Muggles survived in the wilderness without the aid of magic.

And they did do all of that. But they also just... had fun. Played games, made bonfires, hung out. The location of the trip changed every year and this year Dartmoor had been chosen, which was just fine even though Lily personally had (unsuccessfully) lobbied for Snowdonia.

She hadn't even really wanted to come on the trip in the end. She'd let her friends convince her. Come on, Lily, it's our last chance to have some fun before the NEWTs come around. You'll regret it if you don't go. It's our last year. Yeah well, look where that had gotten her.

She had had fun, she couldn't lie. They'd seen a bunch of magical creatures and told spooky stories and Adrian wasn't here so she didn't have to worry about a confrontation. And then, just as they'd been packing up to leave, Melanie had nervously come up to Lily and told her that Ella Wessenberg was spreading rumours about Lily and Adrian.

And now she couldn't even let herself be fully upset because it meant admitting there was a reason for her to be upset over the situation—a reason beyond the obvious invasion of her privacy.

Lily had no idea Ella was even in Muggle Studies. She knew James was in the class, and she'd prepared herself mentally for it, his presence had barely affected her during the whole three-day trip. What she hadn't expected was having to deal with Ella Wessenberg prying into everyone's business, as per usual.

Footsteps approached from somewhere behind her and Lily's jaw set. She really didn't want to speak to anyone at the moment.

She turned, with her arms folded over her chest only to find James Potter standing there looking at her like she was a bomb he was about to try to defuse.

"Did you follow me, Potter?" Lily scowled. She hadn't called him Potter in a while, and if that wasn't warning enough of what mood she was in, she didn't know what was.

"You looked upset. Just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Lily almost let out a frustrated cry because why did he have to be so fucking nice and thoughtful nowadays? After everything.

She took a deep breath. She didn't want to snap at him and ruin the streak of cool civility towards each other they had going. "I'm okay."

James nodded, not looking very convinced. "Is this because of what Ella said about you and—"

Lily's gaze snapped up to his. "She told you?"

James rubbed the back of his neck. "Well... she didn't tell me exactly."

Lily's throat tightened uncomfortably. "So she told everyone."

James looked sheepish. "I'm sorry."

Lily looked down at the ground. "It's fine," she exhaled. "I don't care."

She would not fall prey to Ella's ploys. She was determined not to care about it. She started walking again.

"Aren't you coming back to the camp? The train's leaving soon."

Lily halted. "I just want to be alone for a while. I told my friends I'd head to the train early."

James nodded once. "This isn't the way to the train though."

Lily scowled. "Of course it is."

James made a face. "I don't remember the path being this rough."

Lily looked out to what lay beyond them. The terrain was rough, the trees and vegetation started to get a lot thicker and she couldn't even quite see what awaited them just a few feet away. Shit. This was not good. Maybe James was right. She wasn't about to admit that though. She kept walking. "I can find my way."

Lily didn't make it two steps further when she felt her foot give out from under her. The rocks beneath her feet were shifting and they were taking her with them. She let out a yelp and James ran over to her, startled. She could just feel his hand grab onto hers when she dropped along with the rocks and the dirt and whatever the hell else.

She had no idea how far down they fell. All she could see was mud and rocks and debris and all she could feel was her stomach churning and the hard surface of the rocks jabbing against her skin.

It couldn't have been more than a few seconds but once it all finally stopped, it felt like they had been falling for ages.

She took a jagged breath and immediately regretted it as a hacking cough rose from her throat to try and expel the debris she had breathed in.

Her heart was beating so fast, she started to feel lightheaded. She tried to move and realised she was lying on something soft. James.

He had a cut across his forehead and tiny pieces of rock and dust covered his tan skin. His glasses were filthy but miraculously hadn't cracked. Lily shook him and quickly realised he was unconscious. She shook him harder. "James! James, wake up, please."

He woke with a start and grimaced. He looked at Lily for a second. "Are you okay?"

"I feel like I just got pummeled with a thousand tiny rocks in a landslide but other than that, yeah, I think I'm okay. You?"

Before he could answer, Lily tried to roll off of him and he grunted in pain. She froze.

"I think my arm is caught in something," he said.

Lily planted her feet on the ground beside him and very carefully lifted herself up so she could have a better look at him. His forearm was caught under a rock the size of an owl. "Shit. Okay, okay, let me just get my wand."

She reached for her wand in the back pocket of her pants and felt her heart stop as her hand wrapped around the slender piece of wood. She pulled it out gingerly. She didn't see it, but she heard three sharp plops hit the ground. She looked at her hand, which held the fourth piece of her wand and let out a stifled gasp.

"Fuck," James muttered in a low voice.

"Did yours make it?" Lily asked in a shaky voice.

He took a second to answer. "I don't have my wand on me."

The blood drained from Lily's face. "What?"

James spoke louder. "I don't have my wand with me."

Lily felt her eyelid twitch. "Why the fuck not?"

"We're supposed to be acting like Muggles the entire trip! I put it away at the start of the trip. It's with the rest of my stuff back at the campsite."

Lily felt light-headed.

"Come on, I bet if you help me, we can lift it."

Lily's heart picked up speed as she looked at the rock, James's arm underneath. She took a breath to try and calm down. "Maybe it's better if I go get help. I don't want to end up hurting you more."

Somehow, James remained mostly calm. He sighed. "Lily. I don't mean for you to get alarmed when I tell you this but... do you have any idea what direction the camp is in?"

Lily tensed. Very slowly, she turned to look around her and found that she did not even remotely recognise the area of forest they were in. She felt like she was going to throw up.

"Don't freak out, Lily. We can get back. You just need to help me lift this—goddamn rock."

Alright. Maybe focusing on a specific task would prevent her from having a full-blown panic attack. She nodded. "Okay."

Lily placed her hands on the sides of the rock and carefully, with James's help, managed to roll it off his arm.

The cut on it wasn't too bad really. And at least nothing seemed broken or intrinsically wrong. Lily dug through her backpack.

She pulled out a bandage.

James looked closely around the area they were in while Lily bandaged his arm. Lily sincerely hoped he had a better sense of direction than her.

When she was done, James stood gingerly and nodded. "Right. We'll be back in no time. Just... follow me."

Lily looked at him in worry. "Are you sure? Maybe we should..."

James raised a brow expectantly.

"I don't know what we should do," Lily huffed. "But are you sure you know where you're going?"

"Lily, relax. As I said, we'll be back in no time."

Lily looked around at the dense brush and trees that surrounded them. It was hard to even see anything beyond a few metres. There was an awful feeling in the pit of her stomach. James better be fucking right, she thought.

AN: Hi, it's me again. I saw a tweet about Jily the other day and it made me emotional and remember how much I adore them, so I dug up this story I'd started writing some time ago and started editing, and here we are! I hope you enjoy it, if you're here