It was the next afternoon and Lily, James, Remus, Snape, Sirius, Peter, Maggie, Piper Tryst and Torrence Clay were all squeezed into Professor McGonagall's office. Piper Tryst (a Slytherin 5th year), Torrence Clay (Torn for short a Slytherin 5th year) and Snape were all called to McGonagall's office for some unexplained explosions and rearranged furniture in the Slytherin Common room and dormitories. James, Remus, Sirius, Peter and Maggie were there because of their predictions in Divination. And Lily was in the office because of her "assault" on Venus.
"It's the first week of school and you have all disappointed me. I would expect nothing like this from the prefects, James Potter, Lily Evans and Severus Snape. You will all serve detention this Tuesday with Mr. Filch and Hagrid. Now Professor Auryl says that you lot" Professor McGonagall pointed to Remus, Peter, Sirius and Maggie, "came up with the same predictions involving Snape. Unless these predictions are true, which I highly doubt, this means that you collaborated on your homework. You have detention on Tuesday also." Professor McGonagall eased back into her chair.
"But Professor McGonagall, the Slytherins would never purposely set off dung bombs and hang beds on the ceilings in their own dorm room." Snape contested.
"Do you expect me to believe that someone broke into the Slytherin common room? Twenty points from Slytherin, along with the other thirty I have chosen to take off for your behavior. I suggest that you say no more Severus. Sixty Points from Gryffindor, ten for each of you. That will be all."
The nine of them all stepped out of McGonagall's office. "I know it was you who broke into our house. You'll pay for this Potter." Snape's black eyes glared at James.
"No please, spare us." He laughed. " I hope you do get us back at least I won't feel so bad the next time we get you in trouble." James turned and walked towards Herbology the rest of the Gryffindor's followed.
At promptly 10 pm the same nine students who were crammed into Professor McGonagall's office all marched in a single file line, led by Filch. "Now mind your step, I don't want any whiney, broken students tonight." Filch growled. Just as Filch growled, Torn slipped on the grass wet from dew and quickly grabbed Piper's robes. Piper lost her balance and toppled over. Snape, not watching where he was going tripped over them both and lashed out to grab the closest thing to steady himself, Sirius
Sirius who had witnessed the whole ordeal jumped back quickly, "Don't touch me you idiot!" Snape's hand grasped nothing but air and slammed on top of Piper and Torn. The six Gryffindor's burst into laughter and left the Slytherin's struggling to regain their composure. They reached Hagrid's hut and waited patiently as the large man gathered all the supplies for their detention.
Hagrid twirled his bushy beard and said, "Alrigh' I'll need. let's see 2,4,6. Yes thas' righ' I'll need 6 of em, Argus n' you can 'ave the res'"
Filch turned to the students "Three of you come with me, we'll be working in greenhouse 3, and the rest of you will go with Hagrid into the Forbidden Forest."
Snape's eyes instantly grew wider along with Torn and Piper's. "Mr. Filch, If I might say, I've had a bit more experience in the greenhouses than some of the others, I'm sure my expertise will come in handy." Snape squeaked with a nervous tone.
"Right, I'm sure your expertise will come in handy tonight, we're ridding the greenhouse of gnomes. Nevertheless I'll take the three Slytherins and you can have the rest of 'em. Filch motioned for the Slytherins to follow him and the four stalked towards the greenhouses.
"What are we doing in the Forbidden Forest Hagrid?" Lily asked as they made their way to the entrance of the forest.
"Well really I could have done this by me self but. But I though' you lot would enjoy it" Hagrid winked
The forest grew darker and darker as they traveled deeper into it. They left the main path and followed a less visible one until they finally reached a clearing. The trees had parted and left an opening where the half moon shone down on the silvery grass covering the ground.
"You'll need to be quiet an' still." Hagrid warned. Within a few minutes the leaves in a tree across the clearing began to rustle and out pranced two figures. The students were immediately entranced by the figures. They were shadowy so the group couldn't make out their exact features, yet they seemed to glow a soft purple color. The duo danced around each other, circling the clearing. As they grew near to the group, enchanting music filled the air. As the two figures grew closer, James could see that their eyes were deep black. They stood as tall as a regular student at Hogwarts. One of them, a girl, had long flowing hair that flickered with each dance step. The other, a man, was slightly taller and more muscular.
The music grew louder as the dance intensified. The dance was no longer a simple courtship but it had gone to an extreme. They seemed to be dancing with all their might.
James heart was beating so hard that he could feel it in his throat. His ears were ringing. The music that had once been enticing had become overwhelming. James thought his head was going to explode. The students one by one began to cover their ears with their hands. Lily sank to her knees. She thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest. She gave a pleading look to Hagrid.
All of a sudden, the music stopped and the couple disappeared. James rushed over to Lily and helped her up. The others gave sighs of relief as Hagrid tried to explain to them that this had never happened before. He had watched them dance before and thought that the students would enjoy it. But something had gone wrong, it was if the two figures had known about the intruders and were punishing them for watching something so sacred.
"I'm awfully sorry. I jest thought it would be summat fun to do rather 'n workin' with Filch." Hagrid said. "Are you alrigh' ?" The group was shaken up a bit but they were fine so they headed to the entrance of the Forbidden forest.
James put his arm around Lily, who was still weakened from the whole ordeal. They walked directly behind Hagrid and the rest of the group followed. When they had been walking for about five minutes, Lily spotted something out of the corner of her eye. The rest of the group must have also because they all stopped. Just ahead, about five minutes from the entrance of the Forbidden forest stood a massive tree. The trunk was a deep burgundy color. And extending from its limbs were shiny, glittering leaves. The leaves ranged in colors from emerald green, crimson and ruby red to royal blue. At the very top of the tree was a cluster of glimmering golden leaves. One of the golden leaves broke off and drifted down to the group Lily picked up the leaf and put it carefully in her robes.
"Maggie aren't they so pretty?" asked Lily.
"Those are so beautiful, why don't more people have those kind of trees in their yards? Asked Peter as the group continued their trek towards the Hogwarts school grounds.
"It's a sign of very powerful magic. It's fed by complicated spells. My grandma tried to grow one but she kept getting the spells wrong and it turned brown like a regular tree." Said Remus.
The lights were still on in the greenhouse when the group passed. "They're still at it?" asked Peter.
"Better them than us." Snickered Sirius. The students were all tired from their exertions in the Forbidden Forest so they didn't stop at the common room; they just went straight up to their beds.
James couldn't fall asleep so he threw his invisibility cloak on and crept into the Girls Dormitory room to see if Lily was still awake but he was distracted at how peaceful she looked, he couldn't disturbed her.
Lily rolled over and looked at the leaf she had collected. Light from the candle on her trunk glistened off the leaf onto her face. James sat on the trunk watching her while she sleepily dropped the leaf at the side of her bed and nodded off to sleep. James picked the glimmering leaf and placed on her pillow next to her face. He softly kissed her forehead and crept out of the room.
Just as he made his way to the common room and was about to go up the stairs to the Boy's dormitory, James heard footsteps so he threw his invisibility cloak back on and backed up against the wall. Maggie drowsily climbed down the stairs from the Girl's Dormitory and straight out of the common room. She had a dazed look on her face, which intrigued James. He had no idea what she would be leaving the Gryffindor Tower at this time of night. He figured she was just sneaking out to meet some guy or to play a prank. So he crept up to his bedroom but as he passed the window, he missed the shadowy figure walking in the moonlight to the entrance to the forbidden forest.