Through the Darkness and the Shadows
'Through the mist, through the woods, through the darkness and the shadows.'
The day had dawned bright and clear. There was no wind, but the air was bitterly cold, unusual for this time of year. James Potter led his team onto the Quidditch pitch, looking around, testing the ground, and checking for wind.
"Honestly, James, it's only Hufflepuff," said Chaser Marian Rinckley. "I mean – their Seeker is Lockhart, for heaven's sake."
"Yeah, Allie can take him," said Stewart Ackerly, a Beater.
"True," said James, flashing a quick smile at the fifth year, "but we can't let down our guard." He began pacing around the team, gesturing wildly. "I've seen better teams than us go down because they were overconfident. We absolutely cannot let that happen to us. Play as hard as you would against Slytherin – always. Allie –" he paused to survey the Seeker, who was not looking intimidated in the least. "The only way Lockhart'll catch the Snitch is if it flies into his mouth. So I don't think you need to be too concerned, but you've got to watch out. The sun's bright, it'll be hard to see the Snitch, and we don't want this game to go on too long."
The Hufflepuffs were gathered on the other end of the pitch, occasionally casting nervous glances over their shoulders at the Gryffindors.
"Look," said Emma Dodds, the Gryffindor keeper. "They're all scared of us."
"All right, team. This game is ours, so let's go out and take it!"
The circle broke up, and the Gryffindors headed out to the center of the field.
~
"How can it be this cold?" demanded Esedora, wrapping her scarf more tightly around her. "It's early November!" The three girls were working their way up the steps of the Gryffindor box, trying to avoid looking in the direction of the sun.
"How are we going to watch without going blind?" wondered Asper, a hand over her eyes. They grabbed seats near the front of the box and waited for the game to start.
~
"And the game begins!" cried Taylor Petrucci, the fifth year who was doing the commentary. "Potter takes the Quaffle – no surprise – neat pass to Rinckley, Rinckley swoops around a Hufflepuff chaser – back to Potter – Potter dodges the Keeper – he scores!"
James did a few victory spins in the air as Lily rolled her eyes.
"Hufflepuff gains the Quaffle," continued Petrucci. "Flies towards Dodds – she blocks it – the Quaffle is grabbed by Rinckley – ah, she drops it, nice hit by the Hufflepuff Beater – Potter swoops underneath it, gains possession –" But James had to move up sharply to avoid being hit with a Bludger.
Twenty minutes into the game, he called a time out. "Where are you guys?" he demanded of the Beaters. "Those Bludgers have been blocking way too many scoring chances!"
"Sorry, cap'n," said Ackerly sourly, "but we can only be in so many places at once."
"Well, if this goes on, we could be in some real trouble. They've got fairly decent Chasers, and if we can't score…" He let his sentence trail off threateningly. "Let's get back into the air."
"The time out is over," announced Petrucci, rather needlessly. "Let's see if Potter can get his team into shape. He gains possession – nice hit by Ackerly – drops it down to Rinckley – she scores! The score is 70-60, with Gryffindor in the lead."
Gryffindor's Beaters seemed to have been spurred on by James' not-so-peppy-talk. Unfortunately, the Hufflepuff Beaters seemed to have the same idea.
"FOUL!" cried Gryffindor's stands, rising as one. Emma Dodds had gotten smacked in the stomach with a Bludger, allowing the Hufflepuff Chasers to score. It wasn't called, however, and Emma flew back up to the goals, looking slightly ill.
"That's got to make the Gryffindors pretty angry," declared Petrucci. It had indeed; James' face was set, his eyes narrowed. He intercepted a pass between two Hufflepuff Chasers and went haring over to the goal. He was blocked, however, by a ruby streak.
"What on earth," said Petrucci, leaning forward to get a better look. "He was blocked by his own team! No – wait – it was Allie Winger, going after the Snitch! Has she got it? Yes – yes, I believe she has!"
Allie was circling the pitch, the Snitch clutched tightly in the fist she had raised.
"Gryffindor wins!" cried Petrucci, and the field was soon swarming with scarlet and gold clothed students.
~
Later that evening, Lily was hunched over her Transfiguration book, trying to ignore the chattering mass behind her. It was rather difficult, as many voices in the throng were high-pitched and squealing things like, "Oh, Jamsie, you were wonderful!"
Lily rolled her eyes so high they seemed in danger of coming out of their sockets.
"I was worried, for a while there," James told the crowd, and they hushed, sensing that a good story was coming. "I was most afraid we would lose right before I called that time out. I think I can inspire the team really well, though, and they respect me enough to listen to what I say. I got ticked off by that foul against Emma – the one that wasn't called – and maybe that energy sort of spurred on the rest of the team."
Lily couldn't take it anymore. Slamming her book closed, she turned around, putting her knees against the back of her chair. "So, it was all you, was it, Potter."
"Well," said James, smiling in exasperation at a blonde sixth year, "I am the captain."
"You don't play all the positions, though, do you?"
"Well…no. But if someone couldn't make a game, I could fill in any position."
"Really," said Lily, raising an eyebrow. "Now that'd be a fun game to watch."
"Too bad my team needs me as Chaser," said James, sighing dramatically. "Otherwise, we wouldn't score any points."
Lily began to sputter. "You – you are the most – the most arrogant, conceited, haughty, egotistical, supercilious, bigheaded jerk –"
"Careful, Evans," said James, smirking at her. "We wouldn't want to corrupt the innocent first years, would we."
Lily got up and stalked to her room, pausing to hiss, "I hate you," into James' ear.
~
"We've got no time to lose," said Sirius, shaking his head sadly. "The longer we wait, the more she hates you."
Remus rolled his eyes. "You could try and annoy her a little less."
"What?" James defended himself. "I annoy her by living!"
"Why do you like her, anyway?" asked Remus. "I mean, she obviously hates you."
"Yeah," said James morosely. "But I can't help it. She's just so – so – and it's so easy to fight with her – and the way her eyes flash –"
"They're just eyes, Prongs," said Peter.
"Have you ever seen brighter green?" demanded James. "They just – sort of pull me in – and –"
"What is it about the green ones?" asked Sirius, sighing loudly.
~
"Lily," said Peter, standing at a window and frowning, "isn't the Forbidden Forest off-limits to students?"
"What?" she asked, quickly walking over to the window in time to see a figure disappear into the forest. She groaned. "This has been such a long day. Maybe I'll find Potter to take care of it."
"Um," said Peter nervously, "he's…not…here…"
"What do you mean he's not here? Where is he?"
"I think he might have, er, gone to talk to a teacher or something."
"Fine," sighed Lily, grabbing her cloak. "I'll get the kid myself."
She hurried out the front doors of the castle and headed towards the forest. She didn't hesitate, but stepped into the darkness of the Forbidden Forest.
"Well, this is just marvelous," she grumbled. "Just where I want to be." She heard a howl, far-off, and clutched her wand a little more tightly. "Where the heck is that kid? Little idiot!" She ventured farther into the forest. She was slightly startled when shadows were no longer passing over her head, but it was only because no light at all was getting through. "Lumos," she muttered.
The sound of a branch cracking behind her made her whirl around. Seeing nothing, she took a step backwards, tripped on a protruding root, and fell. She shrieked, clutching her ankle, and looked around wildly.
"Lily? Are you all right?"
"Does it bloody well look like I'm all right?" Lily demanded. Suddenly realizing who she was seeing, she said, "What are you doing here, Potter?"
"Probably the same thing as you," he told her. "Trying to find that kid that ran in here." He tried to pull her to her feet, but Lily's ankle couldn't hold her weight. "It's no good," he said, shaking his head. "You can't walk anywhere. We'll have to carry you."
"Don't you dare – we?"
"Moony here came along," said James as Remus stepped from behind a tree.
"Forest's getting pretty crowded of late," said Lily, rolling her eyes. "But I will not be carried."
James also rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said. "You want to stay in here?"
Lily gave him the most disdainful look possible. "Don't be an idiot. Oh wait, I forgot. It's you. Anyway, if you and Remus could sort of act like crutches, I can get out of here and up to Madam Pomfrey?"
The boys stared at her blankly. "What are crutches?" asked James with a bewildered expression.
"Honestly!" cried Lily in exasperation. "They're things Muggles use if they can't walk on one foot!"
"Why wouldn't they be able to walk on a foot?"
"Because they broke it!"
"Can't a, um, what's the word –"
"Doctor," supplied Remus.
"Yeah. Can't the doctors fix it?"
"Well, yes, but it takes time… I can't believe I'm having this conversation! In case you guys had somehow not noticed, which wouldn't surprise me, we're kind of in the Forbidden Forest. So could we move, please?" Lily, by putting a hand on the shoulder of each boy, managed to hop her way out of the forest, albeit very, very slowly. "What about the kid?" she asked.
"I think that's him," said Remus, pointing to a black-haired student heading into the castle half a mile ahead of them.
"I'm going to kill him!" cried Lily. "It's his fault I've got this broken ankle!"
Remus and James exchanged nervous glances.
"Come on," said Remus, helping her up the steps. "We've got to get you to Madam Pomfrey."
~
Madam Pomfrey let out a shriek when she saw Lily Evans appear in the doorway. Disheveled, with twigs in her hair, she was sporting an ankle that was rapidly turning purple.
"She, um, fell," said James, helping her to hop over to a hospital bed.
"Don't you worry, my dear, we'll have you fixed up in a moment. I thank you boys for bringing her in, but you had better get back to your common room now."
"Bye, Lily," they said, and hurried out the door.
Madam Pomfrey began making tsk-ing noises as she inspected the ankle. "Does this hurt?" she wanted to know, turning Lily's ankle around.
"Yes," gasped Lily. "Can't you just fix it?"
"We don't want any infection, now, do we," said Madam Pomfrey, spreading an ointment over the foot and ankle that both lessened the pain and turned her ankle back to her normal color. Taking out her wand, she tapped it against the ankle and muttered a few words Lily couldn't make out. "There," she said, and Lily saw her ankle spring back to a normal position. Testing her weight gingerly, she too went back to the common room.
~
"That didn't really go as well as I'd hoped," said James morosely.
"She wasn't supposed to break her ankle!" said Sirius, trying to defend his plan.
"Yeah, well, you go ahead and tell her that. Thanks a lot, Padfoot. Now she probably hates me even more."
"Why should she?" pointed out Remus. "She doesn't know it was just Sirius running into the forest."
"Good thing, too," said Sirius nervously.
Remus continued, "She doesn't know that it was a just a plot."
"She does now," said Lily in an ominous tone, standing over them.
Author's note: Oooh, cliffhangers are such fun. Another short chapter, but the next one is coming soon. Hopefully.