Chapter 15
James sighed, massaging his head before jumping to his feet in the direction of where Lily ran off. He ran through the darkness, pushing past tree branches and manoeuvring over bushes, completely at a loss to where exactly he was, especially when it was a gloomy black. Smacking himself in the head for his stupidity, he grabbed his wand out of his back pocket and muttered a 'lumos.'
It wasn't any comforting to illuminate the dark forest he had somehow got himself into.
"Lily?" He called, still running the trail. "Lily, where are y—WAAAH!"
James felt something push on both his legs, making him fall forwards and onto his stomach. "Bugger it," he grunted, especially not in a good mood to have landed in a mound of leaves.
"Oh. So you fell over the same thing I did."
James jumped, instantly recognising the voice. "Lily?" He grasped for his wand that had fallen out of his hand and pointed it to the side of him. "There you are," he greeted her with a sigh of relief, then made a frown as he realised she was lying on the ground with her ankle in an odd position. "What are you doing on the floor?"
"I enjoy lying on the floor for amusement, James," she rolled her eyes, "My ankle's hurt, idiot!"
James cringed and got to his feet, luckily not having any injuries. "Wait, what thing did we both fall over?"
Lily pointed her finger and he followed his gaze with his wand over to a piece of string which was tied between two trees. Abruptly, James turned white - he knew that exact piece of string was a Marauder prank speciality; it was an old Muggle joke but it worked wonders in Hogwarts corridors on people like Snape or innocent bystanders.
"I wonder what twat put that up," Lily grumbled.
Like hell would James tell her it was one of the Marauders - however, he had to thank them. This had probably been their Plan B if the fireworks idea was unsuccessful, stopping Lily by any force, so much force that it tripped her up and sprawled her on the floor.
Lily made a painful hiss as she clutched her ankle.
"Can you walk?" James asked, kneeling next to her.
She shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno. I haven't tried yet." She put her hands flat to the ground to bend on her tiptoes, trying to slowly stand with weight off her left foot, but she flinched as James grasped her arm to help her.
She flicked her finger at his face.
"Ow!" James clutched his cheek. "What the hell was that for?"
"I don't need your help," she said stubbornly and elbowed his arm away.
"Fine," James backed up and smiled in amusement. He folded his arms in a parental way and watched Lily grumble painfully as she struggled to her feet. As her left leg was lifted, she slowly touched it to the ground and made a cry of agony, making another cry as she faltered and fell again.
But she wasn't worried. Because James Potter would be a gentleman and obviously catch her in his arms.
Too bad he didn't.
"Um..." James watched Lily lie on the ground making a sort of peculiar whimper. "Was that my cue to, er-"
"Help me up, you prat!"
James quickly hurried over to her and Lily tried for a second time to stand, which was successful but only with the help of James supporting her.
"We better get you to the Hospital wing."
"Great," Lily muttered, hobbling along with a limp. "Another night of Madam Pom Poms, another chance for her to drug me."
James laughed and they shuffled their way back through the path they had ambled into, until they suddenly fell over again.
"You didn't cut the string!" Lily shrieked, looking back to see the string still tied in between the trees.
James reddened. "Yeah...didn't think of that."
"God, how do you survive, James?"
"Merlin knows." He stood up again, raising a hand to ruffle his hair but remembered his tea cosy hat would prevent it. However, he felt his rock solid Snape tresses through his fingers.
That hat...had fallen.
"Oh my goodness," Lily spurted in between wheezing breaths of laughter. "You have Snape hair!" She pointed at him, cackling.
James folded his arms again. "You know," he observed her with a smirk, "You're awfully attractive when you mock me."
Immediately, Lily shut up and reddened. "Help me up," she ordered, reaching out her hand for him to pull, but to her horror, he had started walking away, leaving her in the darkness.
"Where are you going?" she said with a hint of worry.
James spun around. "Well, I don't really want to walk back to school with someone who's going to tease me." He made an evil smile and said a simple, "Ta-ta," exiting.
Lily's jaw dropped in indignation. "James, get back here!" She scrambled in her pockets for her wand but couldn't find it. She looked up again and was surrounded by gloom, not even seeing an outline of James or the light of his wand. His abrupt disappearance unsettled her.
Snap.
Her head flinched as she heard the sound of a twig breaking behind her. She sat up, clutching her ankle that throbbed.
"Who's there?" Lily demanded.
Suddenly a pair of hands grabbed her waist.
"AAAARGH!" she yelled, punching out her fists in all directions, her only means of defence. The smack of her hand into something solid was a sign that she'd hit whatever the creature was- extremely pleased with herself when it made a painful wail.
As a lit wand shone in her face and illuminated their own, she made a breath of anger.
"You arse face!" Lily smacked James in the chest, who didn't appreciate the hit when he was already injured.
James clutched at his bleeding nose as he tilted his head back. "You punched me!"
"I thought you were a rapist!" Lily yelled, but softened slightly when she spotted his bleeding nose that was trailing down his face. "Don't you ever do that again!" she warned him, trying to calm her quickening heartbeat.
"C'mon," James smiled, a hand still on her waist. "You didn't really think I'd leave you here, did you?"
"I didn't think you'd actually leave that string still tied between the trees but you somehow proved me wrong…" Lily eyed his hand with suspicion. She ignored the fact that it felt kind of nice and merely blamed it on the near concussion she had from two falls and a possible twisted ankle.
"Ah, Christ," James muttered in a squeaky voice, as his finger was held over his nose.
"You sound like a chipmunk," Lily stated. "Give me your wand," she said as more of a statement, grabbing his wand from his pocket. She pointed at James' nose, speaking a simple incantation that stopped the bleeding and left no traces of blood.
James admired her handiwork and touched his clean face. "Hey, you could be a good healer when you grow up."
"That's if you don't kill me first," Lily muttered dryly.
James moved his hand to under her arm to help her. "Shall we try this again, then?"
She mumbled a stubborn, "Whatever," and let him pull her along. "You know, if my ankle wasn't hurt I'd kick you one."
"You could always use the other leg."
"Good point."
"Ow! I was kidding," James clarified, wincing. "We can't have two people with bad feet. Don't make me leave you here."
Lily laughed, recognising the false threat.
James suddenly stopped in his tracks, feeling he need to justify something to Lily about the fireworks mix up, which was a bad move because Lily tumbled forward wailing her arms as she fell flat on her face for the third time.
James cringed again and quickly helped her to her feet.
"If I fall one more time, I will be using unforgivable curses," she declared, brushing herself off.
"I just wanted to say that the last message in the fireworks was not by me," James said seriously, looking her in the eye.
Lily kept her face unreadable and said a toneless, "I should hope so."
James raised his eyebrows, confused by her reaction. "It was Sirius who probably wrote it. Not me," he repeated again to get his point across.
"I should hope so," she echoed.
"Right." James opened his mouth in fluster. "Glad I...cleared that up, then."
Lily made a sigh as she noticed his obvious perplexity. "Look, I'm letting it go," she told him. "Do you want me to be mad at you?"
James shook his head vigorously, regretting it as his neck clicked. "No, of course not."
"Then stop complaining!"
"Um...okay!" James smiled at how well the situation was going; Lily not being mad at him was something he was not use to.
As they hobbled along pathetically, managing to reach the main street of the Hogsmeade village, James formed a smirk as he glanced at Lily next to him.
"What?" she demanded, noticing his giddiness.
He quirked an eyebrow and twisted his mouth to one side in an amused expression. "I'm growing on you, aren't I?" he said in a delighted, surprised tone.
Lily latched a hand on to his hair and gripped it hard.
At first, James thought this was a sign of lust and passion, but it hurt his head, and he realised she was actually causing him an inordinate amount of pain and trying to rip his hair off.
"Listen here, buddy," Lily hissed, thrusting his head towards her.
"Ow ow ow…"
"You get me back to Hogwarts soon or I will kick your arse! Do you understand me?"
"Yeah yeah yeah," James reassured her quickly, making a sigh of relief as she unlocked her hand. Lily replied with a satisfied expression at his fearful gasps of breath and carried on hopping along.
After a few minutes of more pathetic hobbling, they were starting to get impatient.
"This is ridiculous," Lily complained. "At this rate it'll take forever to back to school. Let's ask someone to help us," she pointed to the occasional witch or wizard that passed them on their late night shopping.
James hesitated but gave in because he was a pushover for Lily. "You stay here," he told her, propping her down on the ground. She was slightly annoyed by the way he had put her down like a rag-doll, but by this time was so tired from pain and walking that she didn't object and lay on her back.
James jogged over to a middle aged wizard in rather expensive robes who seemed to be walking in a hurry. The second James took in his appearance he thought maybe Lily's idea wasn't so intelligent.
"Um, excuse me?" James asked politely. The man took one glance at him and stepped around him. Annoyed at how rude the man was being, James caught up to the man again and stood in front of him so he could not pass.
"Excuse me," James asked again more forcefully. The man instantly started emptying his pockets, taking out galleons from his wallet. "No, I'm not going to mug you," James said with annoyance. The man looked at him with suspicion. "I was wondering if you could help-"
"Jaaaames," Lily drawled from the floor. He chose to ignore her and didn't turn around.
The wizard spotted her lying on the ground and made a deep frown. "Why is that young witch lying there?"
"Because a Hippogriff ran over the benches," he explained vaguely. "Anyway, can you-"
"Jaaaames!" Lily bawled with a tinge of impatience.
He finally turned around in confusion, wondering why she was calling him and interrupting their conversation.
"I'm hungry!" she complained, rubbing her stomach.
"Lily, can't you see I'm talking here?" James hissed.
Unfortunately, as James had spun around, he revealed his trousers with an extremely muddy stain to his bottom. To say the stranger looked disturbed was an understatement.
"Have you got any food?" she continued to drawl.
"I'll be over in a sec, okay? Just let me-" James turned around and found the man had disapparated. "Damn it! Now look what you did, Lily!" He stomped his foot and went back over to the famished redhead. "You calling my name in a seductive voice distracted me!"
"Sorry," Lily mumbled, making hungered whimpers. "Wait a minute, 'seductive'?"
James laughed nervously and decided to use this opportune moment to jog after another passing pedestrian; there weren't many to pick from considering it was late so he couldn't exactly be fussy.
"Hello, miss?" James tapped the shoulder of a small figure. Slowly, the woman spun around and James gasped.
"YOU!" The elderly witch pointed at him, wrinkles magnified as her teeth clenched.
James paled. "Um, sorry! I thought you were someone I knew! I have to go now," he made to run off but the old woman grabbed on to his shirt collar in quite surprising strength for someone who looked so frail.
"You're the boy who fell on me earlier! Do you know how many bones you may have broken?"
James eyed her up and down. "Well, considering you're healthy and standing, and have a mighty grip," he tried to pick off the fingers wrapped on his collar, "I'd say no bones were broken."
"That's not the point!" she scrunched her nose at him. "You younglings these days. No respect for your elders!"
"Can you please let me go," James pleaded, "I have to get over to my, er, girlfriend! She's DYING-" he decided not to mention with hunger, "over there!" He was about to point to where Lily was but the woman had hushed him.
"I have the right mind to report you to the Ministry of Magic for your behaviour!" She breathed a foul stench over him. Unfortunately, James could not block the aroma.
"You smell like PRUNES!" he cried, near tears in his eyes.
"How dare you! You rude little boy!"
James had no other options, as the woman's fingers wrapped around his collar were the only thing preventing his escape; he had to do something. He couldn't exactly beat the woman up, so, he just bit her hand instead.
"AAARGH!"
James mentally cheered as the woman released him and put her hand to her chest, inspecting the bite marks. Slightly gagging, James ran over to where Lily was lying, who was oblivious to the whole scene.
"C'mon, we have to run," James pulled her to feet. He glimpsed over to the old woman who was slowly coming over, waving her wand in the air. "Crap, c'mon, Lily!"
"What's going on?" she said confusedly. She made a hiss of pain as he tried to quickly. "My ankle, you tosser! I can't hop that fast!" She glanced behind her. "Oh no, it's that old woman we fell on!"
James nodded. "I bit her hand, now let's go!" He pulled her along.
Lily took a step back. "You bit her hand!" She gave him a look that asked, 'since when have you become a cannibal?'. "Why?"
"Because she was trying to kill me! Can't you hop any faster?"
Lily narrowed her eyes. "Do you want me to grab your hair again, James?"
He looked again to the old woman who was barely feet away. "Come back here, boy!" the old biddy yelled.
"Old people like that should be locked up in homes," James said, "or just die already." He glanced at Lily whose steps were so slow that she seemed to stop time. "I'll have to carry you," he decided.
"I think I've had enough of the whole sling-Lily-over-your-shoulder thing."
James looked at her impatiently. "I'll give you a piggyback then!" he compromised. "C'mon." He lowered to his knees and waited for to get on his back.
Lily looked down at her clothes. "James, I'm not exactly dressed for piggyback rides." She made a mental note to never wear a skirt again, no matter how pretty they looked.
"Lily, I'm bending over for you, DAMN IT! NOW RIDE ME!" James yelled, and regretted his words as they sounded extremely dirty.
She made an uncomfortable cough. "Er, ride you?"
"Just get on."
Lily sighed, brushing off her hands, and was about to climb a leg over James' back when she froze.
"Er, James?"
"WHAT!"
"Are you aware that there's a brown patch on your jeans?" she asked, slightly traumatized.
James straightened, trying to look at his behind whilst feeling his bottom. He attempted to sniff it, but to everyone who knows and has tried sniffing their own butt; it's rather difficult. "I think it's mud," he reddened.
"Mud," Lily abbreviated with air quotes. "Muuud."
"It is!" James insisted. "I swear it—aah!" he broke off into a shriek as the old woman's spell shot passed his hair and slightly singed it.
"Please, Lily?" He bent over again.
"I did not picture this when I decided to go on a date with you," she grumbled. Tensely, she climbed onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. This would have been fun if she were six, not sixteen. Now it just felt embarrassing.
"Let's go, piggy," Lily smirked nonetheless, patting a hand softly on his Snape hair. James tried to ignore the fact that her fingers felt so smooth when they brushed against his skin, and focused on the old lady that was shooting curses at them both.
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Lily rested her head on top of James' shoulder and made a defiant 'hmph'.
"How much longer?" she whined.
Dragging his feet, James glanced at the Quidditch pitch they were passing. "Not long," he answered.
Lily squirmed. "Can you not make such giant steps? When you do that, you, uh, kind of thrust me into your back..." she trailed off, too embarrassed to explain any further.
James promptly made his steps smoother.
"Stop tapping my head."
Lily had been continuously tapping James' head for the past fifteen minutes, mesmerised by the severity of it, and the way her hand seemed to bounce off in impact.
"I can't help it." Lily's breath tingled on James' shoulder without her notice, though James felt like he was going to collapse. She made another violent smack at his hair. "It's just so damn HARD."
James made an entangled choking sound. "Please don't say that word in front of me," he murmured.
Lily was oblivious to his thriving hormones. "But it's so hard though," she repeated. "I mean," she tried to grip her fingers into his hair, but to James, her sharp nails massaging his head were making him extremely turned on. "It's like cement! What did you use?"
James tried to concentrate on what she was talking about. "Sirius' stuff."
Lily made a snort into his neck and he wobbled like jelly. "I wouldn't touch anything he owned with a barge poll," she laughed. "I don't know how you'll get this stuff to COME off."
"I can't do this," James stopped in his tracks, panting.
"What? What do you mean? We're nearly there!" Lily pointed to Hogwarts oak doors feet away.
"Okay," James tried to calm himself. "Just a little further," he whispered, taking a few hurried and stumbling steps forward.
"COME on. We're nearly there," Lily cheered him on; clueless to how her words were affecting them.
With a few more desperate sprinting steps from James, the couple finally got to the oak doors. James breathed a sigh of relief, letting Lily drop from his back to support her again as they walked over to the entrance.
The oak doors were shut.
"Crap!" James tried to push the door open with the tips of his fingers. "There's no way of getting in without a professor seeing us. And then we'll be in deep cack."
Suddenly, he made a delighted squeal as he felt something touch his buttocks. "Did you just touch my arse?" he asked Lily, raising an eyebrow.
She smacked him upside the head.
"I got your wand from you back pocket," Lily rectified, waving his wand in front of him. "You really shouldn't put it there. One day your arse could blow up."
"That'd be messy," James commented, pondering an image of Sirius' arse exploding in his mind.
"Alohomora," Lily muttered, pointing at the door.
"Um, Lily, I don't think-"
"Aloh-bloody-omora, stupid door!" she shouted, swishing the wand again. As the door predictably did nothing, she groaned and rested her forehead on the oak door which forbade entry.
James rubbed his chin and said, "I think I've got a plan."
Lily lifted her head from the door and put her hands on her hips. "Let me guess: you want to go into the Forbidden forest and find Hippo the Hippogriff who escaped back into there earlier, and mount the magical creature where it will fly us to the Astronomy Tower, which we will then be able to depart and get into the school without any professors knowing a thing."
James nodded, "Pretty much."
Lily's jaw dropped. "I was joking!"
"Well, I'm not."
Lily shook her head. "But...but," she shrugged her shoulders, "Okay, 'but' was pretty much all I had," she said, defeated.
"Let's go then!" James said jovially, turning from the oak door and marching in the direction of the Forbidden forest. He took a few steps forward before a rock was thrown at his head.
"Ow," he muttered in confusion.
"Forgetting someone, piggy?"
James whirled round with a wince. Lily waved her hand to her ankle and her lack of moving fast.
"Right." He jogged back over to her, bending over as she climbed on to his back once more.
"Well, let's get going, piggy," she commanded, continuing back to hitting James' hair for amusement.
James grumbled, "Must you call me 'piggy'?"
"It's compulsory," Lily insisted. "This is a piggy back ride, so therefore you are the piggy."
"Wait," James stopped again, "Aren't you the piggy? Because I'm giving you the ride and-"
"Don't make me pull your hair again."
"Yes, miss."
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Lily gulped, holding James' wand in front of them, as James' hands were preoccupied by carrying her in the piggy back ride. She flinched again as she heard another sound of a rustle, tightening her arm grip around James' neck.
"Lily, you're choking me," he coughed.
"Sorry," she whispered, but did not lessen her grip. "I don't think this was such a good idea. I wouldn't even go in here in daylight. But I assume that it's probably still this dark here in daytime anyway."
"If it helps, I've been in here plenty of times and only got hurt about...twice."
Lily gave him an exasperated look. "How was telling me that helpful in any way?" she hissed.
James looked at her apologetically. "Don't worry," he reassured her in a whisper. "All we have to do is be quiet, find the Hippogriff, and we'll be out of here in no time."
Another rustle was heard.
Lily moved the wand of light around wildly. "There is too much rustling in here. It's not even windy," she said shrilly. "James? James, are you listening to me?" She nudged his neck.
He held a hand in the air to signal her to stop talking. "Shh," he hushed her. "Do you hear voices?"
Lily listened hard and could hear the faint sound of talking and hooves stomping the ground. "Hippogriff's don't talk," she murmured.
James formed a fearful nod of the head and squinted as he looked forward, seeing something in the distance of the trees. "Lily, put the wand light out."
She did not need telling twice, quickly flicking it off. She kept silent as James carefully took a few quiet steps forward; the faint voices slowly getting louder. Once James thought it would be risky to go any closer forward, he stopped behind the trunk of a tree.
They slowly poked their heads from behind it to see where the voices had come from.
"I've never seen them in the forest before," James murmured to Lily, her eyes fixed on the many horse-like creatures between the branches. "What are they?"
Lily gasped, half-impressed and half in fear. "Centaurs," she breathed.
Just as James was about to ask more, something twisted them around and clamped their mouths shut. The couple made a muffled squeal as they were faced with the astonishingly blue of eyes of a centaur.
"Do not speak," he whispered, "I will not harm you." He held his hands over their mouths for a few more seconds until he lifted them once he was satisfied they would not scream their lungs dry with hysterics.
James clutched his chest. "Bloody hell, I think I just pissed myself."
Lily pulled on his ear, "What did he just say not to do, idiot!"
The centaur hushed them again, peeping from behind the tree at his pack in the distance. "Please quiet your voices," he murmured again. He looked back at the couple and said a simple, "Follow me," walking in the opposite direction of the group of centaurs.
James and Lily watched with gaping mouths as the centaur walked away.
James tilted his head up to look at Lily. "I say we run for it," he whispered.
"What?" Lily hissed. "We can't run! We have to follow him! They are extremely intelligent creatures. I've read about them in the book-"
"Please don't get all Remus Lupin on me," James cut it, not wanting to hear any recited descriptions of the creature. "Look, if we just run-"
"Please follow me now," the centaur cut in, turning around to face them, "I do not want to use force," he warned.
James made a defeated sigh, hesitantly following the centaur whilst Lily clung to his back nervously. After at least five minutes of following the stranger through the forest, the centaur finally came to a stop.
"Mars gets brighter by the day," he said, tilting his head skywards.
James and Lily followed his gaze, squinting as they tried to see what he saw; it just looked like a bundle of stars to them.
The centaur finally remembered the couple was there after a few minutes of deluded stargazing. "Who are you?"
"Er," James fumbled, obviously still in shock that there was a talking 'horse' in front of him, and whether he wanted a character biography from them.
"I'm Lily Evans," she greeted him, "and this is James Potter. We're pupils from the Hogwarts School. I'd shake hands but I'd fall off his back."
The centaur's eyes seemed to widen at their names. "Potters," he murmured.
Lily furrowed her brow. "Er, no. Just one here," she said, noticing the duplicate.
"Right," he nodded, making a knowing smile to himself as if he knew something they didn't. He tilted his head to the sky again and said, much annoyingly to James and Lily, "Mars gets brighter by the day."
Again, the couple tried to focus on what he was looking at.
"Do you think he's talking about the Muggle chocolate bar?" James murmured to Lily.
All of a sudden the centaur looked at them with a sober expression. "You must not be here; your lives are too precious. This forest is dangerous, its hides many dark things." He looked again to the sky. "Your time...is not now."
Lily frowned; James looked back and forth between the centaur and the sky. "Er, can you not do that looking-up-at-the-sky-saying-something-mysteriously-incoherent thing," he asked.
The centaur tried not to look thoroughly insulted. "Why are you here?"
"Look, mate," James said, "all we have to do is find this Hippogriff and we'll be out of here."
"You must leave this forest," the centaur said once again. He tilted his head upwards yet again. "Mars is-"
"Brightening. Yes, we know," James cut in.
Lily dug her nails into his shoulder, nearly making him drop her to the floor. "Don't be so rude," she rebuked him. "Maybe we should just leave-"
"No," he cut her off. "We're not leaving until we've found that Hippogriff." He turned to look at the centaur pleadingly. "Have you seen it?"
He hesitated to answer, even looking up at the sky as if for a confirmation to speak, and just when James was about to swear at him if he was going to talk more about bloody Mars, the centaur nodded.
He turned to his left and held out his arm in front of him. "I saw the creature resting back there. Keep walking north for around fifteen minutes. But I beg you," he looked them deeply in the eyes, "once you find the creature. Leave at once."
James nodded and said a grateful, "Thank you."
"I must go. My pack will wonder where I am," he said, inclining a head before walking away.
"Wait," Lily called out, "What is your name?"
The centaur turned around, white hair shining reflecting in the starlight. "Firenze," he said, before disappearing into the forest.
"Fire...enze?" James echoed with confusion, breaking the silence.
"What were you expecting, Bob?"
"Well," James turned in the direction the centaur had pointed to and started walking. "Do you think he's an arsonist in any way?
Lily rested her head back on James' shoulder. "My name's Lily and I am not a flower, am I."
James avoided a low tree branch. "Yes, but you have the characteristics of a flower."
Lily decided not to elaborate on that. "Maybe Firenze has the characteristics of fire," she shrugged.
"What, he melts skin?"
"This conversation is over," Lily declared with a sigh. "Now," she rubbed her hands together, "Back to your hair!" She whacked her hand at his tresses again. "It's just so damn HARD."
"I'll tell you what else is hard..." James muttered.
"What?"
He reddened, cursing his lack of lowering his voice in mutterings. "Um..rocks! Rocks...hard...rock hardness..."
After much walking and following Firenze's directions, they heard the sound of a squawk before them. Lily shone the wand in front of them as James climbed through the trees.
"Hippo," James breathed, spotting the Hippogriff resting on the ground resignedly. "Thank Merlin," he praised.
"She's still got the reins on her," Lily dropped off James' back, holding on to his shoulder to support herself.
"Let's ride her, then!" James said excitedly, dragging Lily as he bounded up to the magical creature without a hence thought.
Lily latched on to his hair again.
"Ow! What now?" James wailed, making a wince at how loud his voice had projected. If they wanted to live, they had to stay quiet.
"You're supposed to bow, remember!" Lily hissed, her gaze fixed on the Hippogriff that was eying them suspiciously. "You're not Sirius Black who is attracted by all animals."
"Right," James frowned, forgetting the bowing rule for Hippogriffs, and also by the fact that magical creatures could be thinking Sirius was handsome. In unison, the pair both bowed in front of Hippo, though their eyes looked up in caution. Hippo did not react.
"Lower," Lily whispered, kneeling.
James nodded, stopping himself from straightening and looking at her behind which would have the perfect position of her bottom. Hippo still did not react, looking even bored.
"Bend lower, James."
"Lily, my nose is touching the floor, for Merlin's sake!"
"Keep your voice down!"
The sounds of thundering footsteps made their hearts stop
Hippo finally seemed to react, tilting her head into a bow.
"Oh, now she bows," James said shortly.
The menacing thuds got louder.
James frowned. "What is that?"
Lily gripped on to his shoulder. "They're coming," she murmured. "The centaurs are coming."
James didn't seem to be too fazed by the news. "What's there to worry about? If those other creatures are anything like that Firenze bloke, then we'll be fine."
"But don't you see?" Lily said. "Firenze led us away from his pack for a purpose. They can't be the mostly cuddliest creatures in the forest!"
"This is the Forbidden forest, Lily. Nothing in here is cuddly...Oh, I see your point," James realized. He hurried over to the Hippogriff.
"Okay, Hippo. Um, we're going to climb on your back now. Don't buck us off or anything," he told the creature. Hippo remained flat on the ground, apparently in a daze and not at all bothered by the loud hoof pounding.
"Nice Hippo," Lily squeaked, climbing on the Hippogriff behind James, which she knew she would later regret because she would have to hold on to James' waist at one point and cursed herself for falling for that trick. They both sat down and expected some kind of movement from the bird-like creature.
There was none.
"Um, Hippo? Fly to the Astronomy tower!" James cried heroically, patting the feathers on her back.
Hippo squawked, nestling her head into the ground.
"Time is short, Hippo." He patted her again. "We'd like to go some time today, please."
"Oh no. We're going to die," Lily whispered, now covering her ears from how loud the centaurs pounding was ringing in her head.
"C'mon, Hippo!" James patted her feathers again. "Oh, I know! The insulting thing." He tapped his head, trying to think of an insult. "Er, your mother is so fat, the circus uses her as a trampoline."
Lily made an inward groan, completely infuriated at how he was using one of Sirius' 'your mother' jokes when it was proved not to affect her.
"And you're ugly, Hippo!" Lily cried, hoping the creature would react as she did last time. Thankfully, Hippo got to her feet and made a kick on her front legs. Lily grabbed on to James' ribs, holding on for dear life.
"To the Astronomy tower!" James ordered once again, patting at her feathers. "Uh oh," he mumbled suddenly.
"What?"
James held out the Hippogriff's feathers that fell from his fingers - apparently he had patted a bit too hard.
"You didn't," Lily hissed.
"I did."
Hippo made an enraged squawk, and started breaking into a run, spreading out her wings in an I-have-nice-wings-and-you-don't fashion.
"I'd be admiring those wings if I weren't cacking myself right now," James squeaked.
They both made an intake of breath as the Hippogriff lifted into the air, leaving the pack of centaurs that gazed at them from the forest floor.
The centaur Bane looked on and returned to star gazing. "Mars is bright-"
"Oh we sodding know," another snapped.
----------------
Sirius giggled as he stabled himself on the Astronomy tower wall. "Your tongue is round," he gazed at her mouth, "Can I touch it?"
The dark haired girl slightly frowned, but merely thought he was just being his usual kinky self. "Er, not with your fingers." She pushed his hand away from her mouth. "You can touch it with something else though…" She licked her lips.
"My foot?"
The girl raised her eyebrows. "How drunk are you, Sirius?"
"Aren't hands strange? They're like...feet! But on your arms!"
The girl hushed him. "You shouldn't talk so much," she stated, pressing her lips to his.
"Mmdhfundhk," Sirius mumbled, still trying to talk as she kissed him. The girl suddenly broke away from him as she picked something out from her teeth.
"Ew, is the toilet roll?" She said in disgust, holding up the white piece of mush.
Squark!
They both turned their heads to the sound of flapping, their eyes widened as they saw a Hippogriff, straddled by two sixth years: Lily unbelievably pale as she looked like she was about to vomit and James incredibly windswept and hair more unkempt than usual. The Hippogriff landed onto the tower, closing her wings and kneeling down for them to jump off.
"Sirius?" James said, helping Lily off Hippo. "What are you doing here?"
Sirius' snogging partner took one look at the magical creature and screamed, running out of the tower with her arms wailing in the air.
"Hey, come back...you...you..." Sirius trailed off, placing a finger to his chin. "What is her name?"
James shrugged off Sirius' lack of remembering names and inability to keep his mouth away from girls -which he insisted that they kept on coming on to him and not the other way round- and said, "Padfoot, aren't you supposed to be at the SS?"
Sirius looked at him blankly - 'SS' were the simple initials for the Shrieking Shack and weren't too difficult to figure out. Lily could work it in a matter of seconds if she wasn't trying to control herself from emptying her stomach from the Hippogriff ride.
"S...S?" Sirius echoed. "Ssss...something sugary? Ssss...sexy Sirius? Ssss...sentimental sock?" He kept his mouth open, trying to think up of any other random words that weren't remotely close to the Shrieking Shack, until his eyes landed on the Hippogriff.
"Hippo!" He cried, ambling towards the creature with outstretched arms.
"What about me?" James said, quite offended that Sirius valued the creature's appearance then one of his best friends.
"You're an anal buccaneer," Sirius told him, then focused back on Hippo. The hippogriff instantly cooed as Sirius petted her feathers. "I've missed you, dear."
Lily gave him a disturbed look, about to insult him with the ending note of 'wanker', but asked instead, "Where is Remus?"
As if on cue, Remus tumbled in the Astronomy tower, doubled over as he leant on his knees as he gasped for air. He looked up, spotting James and Lily.
"Oh, hey guys. You're here. You haven't seen Sirius, have you? I lost him, but his trails of spit led here."
James instantly made a grimace at the too-much-information, pointing to Sirius and his future magical creature wife.
"Muh-hoony!" Sirius cheered, putting Remus in a 'friendly' headlock.
"Take him away, Remus," James ordered, "before he starts humping her. And before I castrate him for doing that bloody firework."
Remus gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry about that. I had my back turned for one second and he starts making erotic fireworks of seductiveness. Did you see the one about Professor McGonagall a few minutes later?"
Lily raised her eyebrows, "There was one about Professor McGonagall?"
Remus shut his eyes, purely too tired or horrified to explain the details. "Let's just say it involves McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore, and chocolate mud body paints."
"They're yummy on your tummy," Sirius mumbled sluggishly.
Remus managed to struggle free out of the head lock and said to Sirius, "Let's get you back to the dorm."
Sirius did not disagree and let Remus pull him along to the exit. "Sirius feels dizzy," he announced.
"You must be drunk if you're referring to yourself as a third person. Have more girls taken advantage of your drunken stability? Or should I say: lack of stability."
"I love being drunk. Do you love me being drunk?" Sirius slurred.
"Oh how I cherish the morning-afters where I hold back your hair whilst you try to vomit into the Toilet Bowl of Adolescence, yet you still manage to disgorge over my best trousers."
"The ones with so...so many pockets," Sirius murmured, his brain throbbing as he tried to remember the counting pockets on the Best Trousers of Remus Lupin.
"You know what's good about being drunk, Moony?"
"The possibility of being run over by a Knight Bus?"
"That Ernie should drive slower in Hogsmeade streets. Anywho's, a good think about being drunk is you think about things you wouldn't normally think about. Like how hard it is to spell the fruit banana. I mean, when do you stop? B-a-n-a-n-a...n-a...n...a...n...a-"
"Stop."
"And how you smell of books: musky with a tint of chocolate aroma."
"Stop smelling my arm, it's grotesque."
"Your tongue is pointy like a lizard's. Can I touch it?"
"No-get your fingers away from my mouth, Sirius! Aargh! Mmdfhdcmn!"
They finally left the tower, leaving James and Lily to slightly ogle after them.
"I don't know how Remus puts up with him," Lily said.
James shrugged his shoulders. "He kind of grows on you...Like a disgusting verruca."
Lily glanced at him," You can remove those, you know."
"A permanent disgusting verruca."
They went over to Hippo who was getting ready to take flight off the tower. "Thanks for the hugely accelerated and woozy ride, Hippo," Lily patted her neck, "Let's not do it again sometime."
"And Lily didn't really mean the whole 'and you're ugly' thing," James told the creature. Hippo made a squawk, pecking at his hair in what he thought must have been a playful way.
"What do you think she's really saying?" James asked Lily, wondering what her squawks actually meant.
"To step off her hooves."
James glanced down, realising his foot was standing on hers. "Crap! Sorry!" He quickly stepped away before Hippo tried to head-butt him.
Hippo made a departing screech and broke into a gallop as she opened her wings. The pair watched as the Hippogriff circled in the air before returning back to the Forbidden forest.
----------------
"So, here we are, then," James announced to Lily, who was still on his back for the whole duration of the walk to the Hospital Wing.
"Yep. Here we are."
They both stared at the double doors with silence.
"Maybe you should get off my back now, Lily."
"Oh, yeah." She tried to hide her flushing behind her red hair as she climbed off his back for the last time.
"Well," James said, facing her closely. "I guess this is good night?"
"Right. Er, g'night."
All James could think about was how Lily's head upturned head looked so angelic.
All Lily could think about was how James could have found that tea cosy hat because his Snape hair was distracting her.
Suddenly, they both got the aggressive urges in them to kiss each other and lunged towards one another.
And collided heads.
"PAIN," Lily wailed, clutching both hands at her head.
"You cause me so many afflictions in many ways!" James cried back, checking if his forehead was still in tact.
After recovering from the soreness, they both tried to hide their humiliation.
"Well, that was embarrassing," Lily admitted.
"Much awkwardness," James nodded. "So...want to try again?"
She shrugged, "Sure."
Again, they both got the dynamic urges inside them and -again- plunged their heads towards each other.
And bumped noses.
"AGONY," Lily wailed again. She crossed her eyes, trying to look at her nose to see if it hadn't flown off in impact.
"I think you squashed my nose INTO my FACE!" James cried again, tapping his nose to see if the nerves were still working.
Furthermore, there was much hiding of humiliation.
"Maybe we shouldn't try again," Lily said weakly.
"Yep," James said.
More silence.
"You want to try again, don't you?"
"Yep."
"Me too."
For the third time, they closed in one another. But this time, had the common sense to do it slowly.
Thirty seconds of the head moving and still not reaching each other's lips...
"Maybe we should quicken it a bit," Lily suggested.
James nodded, "That we should do."
Finally, going at a speed that wouldn't cause head butting and repositioning noses so they wouldn't collide: they kissed. As expected, James melted and felt his legs go numb, and strangely, Lily couldn't stop her arms hooking round his neck to deepen the kissing. Eventually after much of stroking hands, they broke apart for air with startled eyes and ruffled hair - except James' was rock solid so Lily's hair was uncharacteristically messy for once.
"Woah."
"Woah."
"I was hoping it wouldn't be that good," Lily murmured.
"Your saliva is on my lips." James puckered his mouth in perplexity. He blushed as Lily looked at him oddly. "Er, pretend I didn't say that."
"I was really, really hoping it wouldn't be that good," she murmured again.
James grinned, "Well," he brushed off his chest, "My kissing technique is rather envied by others. Mainly Sirius. He said to prove it but we couldn't find a way of proving it without us...y'know. And I am NOT going there."
"Thank goodness," Lily muttered. She looked at him deeply in the eye and gasped. "You were right! You are growing on me!" She pressed a hand to her gawking mouth.
James smiled roguishly. "I don't think it really had ever grown. It's always been there."
Lily crossed her arms stubbornly.
"Come on, it was pretty amazing for our first kiss."
"What did you say?"
James felt his windpipe tighten. He did not say those deadly words, he did not say 'first kiss', it was just too much of a perfect moment to be ruined by his slip of tongue again.
"I said, come on it was pretty amazing and then I just STOPPED TALKING." James panicked and looked around for anything to hide his face of deceit but there were no hovering objects so just settled for his hands.
"What do you mean, 'first kiss'?" Lily interrogated.
James gulped. "You know," he emphasised, and begged in his mind that Lily would indeed 'know'. "The first kiss that was er, proper? You know. You do...know, right? Right?" He leaned in for more smooching but Lily smacked him upside the head.
"What are you hiding from me? There's something you're not telling me."
James' eyes shifted uneasily. "I'm not hiding anything."
"You just did it again!" Lily yelled. "You're lying to me."
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"No you aren't."
"Yes I am—DAMN IT!" James cursed. "I hate that trick!"
Lily smiled evilly, "Works every time. Now, I want an explanation," she ordered.
James bit on his lip, "Okay, I'll tell you," he said hesitantly, "But you have to promise you won't hit me."
Instantaneously, Lily punched him in the arm. "Just tell me!"
"So much for the not hitting," James muttered. "Okay," he took a deep breath, "Have you ever wondered why I was naked under the robe when I, er, kissed you."
"Come to think of it," Lily frowned, "I never really asked about that. Why exactly were you wearing no clothes?"
James cringed, "I can't really answer that question because...that wasn't me."
Lily's eyes widened. "It wasn't you? But it had to be you," she tried to convince herself, "I'm sure I saw the guys earlier that morning and they'd turned back to their normal bodies...Oh my God, It wasn't Sirius was it? Oh, hell! Ew, ew, ew!"
"No, it wasn't Sirius."
"Oh, thank goodness," Lily breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh no, it must of been Peter! Eurgh! Euuuuurgh!" She started rubbing at her mouth.
"It wasn't Peter, Lily."
"Phew," she breathed another sigh of relief. "But there's only Remus left, and I definitely saw him because he carted you away. But you said that wasn't you...I am so confused," she declared.
"It was Whiskers," James said finally.
Lily grimaced. "Whose nickname is that? I mean, I know you guys have that weird nickname thing. Prongs and Padfoot and whatever. But Whiskers? I've never heard any of you call each other that. That's actually quite funny, because Alice's cat is called—no!" She gasped in realisation.
"Yes..." James said weakly.
"No!"
"I'm afraid, yes."
"But...No no no!" Lily shook her head furiously. "The only way of that happening would be if Whiskers drank the Polyjuice potion."
James trembled. "Well, the potion was spilled on the dormitory floor and-"
"You just leave POLYJUICE POTION on the FLOOR?"
"Our dorm is pretty messy," James tried to defend himself. "Guys don't know how to clean. It's not in out genes. We live in our own filth. It's true."
"I kissed a cat..." Lily murmured, pointing to her mouth. "A cat kissed me...and I liked it! Oh, God!" She started pulling at her hair, trying to rip it off her scalp.
"You liked it?" James said, trying to stop his mouth curving upwards. "Well, I'm sure Whiskers would be pleased with that information."
"WHY are you making JOKES? THIS is NOT FUNNY!"
And James predictably burst into chuckling.
"Stop laughing!"
"Oh, c'mon, Lils," James said lightly. "You have to admit, it is a little funny. Don't make this out to be a big deal."
"A BIG DEAL!" James winced. "I thought I'd kissed you but I'd kissed a cat! A cat! Oh, God!" She continued back to trying to claw at her own scalp. "Were you there? When Whiskers was lying on top of me?"
"Well," James said, "Er, technically, um...yes, but-"
"Why didn't you get him off me, then?" she continued to scream.
James raised a hand in the air, "I have three very thorough and detailed explanations for that."
Lily folded her arms. "Do tell."
"Okay," James held up a finger, "One: I am an idiot." Lily rolled her eyes. "Two: we were both in pretty much shocked states of mind. I mean, you were shocked because you saw me on you naked, and I was shocked because I saw me on you naked. And I was recovering from a heart attack, and you looked like you were going to get sent off to St. Mungo's-"
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, you looked radiantly surprised but as pretty as always," James feigned a smile. "And thirdly: I wanted to...see how you would react..."
"WHAT!"
James winced again. "Well, personally I've never had the guts to just jump on you and kiss you. So when I saw Whiskers do it, I just held back and wanted to see what your reaction would be if you actually thought it was me doing it."
"You made a cat do your dirty work!"
"I suppose you could kind of say that. You're pretty," he added, hoping flattery would get him somewhere.
"I hate adulation," Lily stated.
Too bad James didn't know the definition of the word. "Er, you're still pretty?" He made a cheesy smile which was not returned. "Let's just forget the whole cat-kiss thing, okay? Please...? You're so pretty."
Lily shook her head. "I can't just forget it, James."
"Was it that good?"
Lily burst in anger. "You're an idiot!"
"A loveable idiot?" James suggested.
"No, just an idiot."
James squirmed, "Please, I don't want us to go to bed angry."
"WHAT! You think I'm going to go to BED with you now, do you! You PERVERT!"
James blanched. "Oh, Merlin, no! I didn't mean that! I don't mean one bed together! I meant sleeping separately, I swear! You're pretty?"
"I cannot believe this is happening," Lily muttered.
"Lily." James took her hands in his. "Please, just promise me that tomorrow you won't ignore me or hate me and we'll be doing this again," he pointed to his and her mouths, "because our lives depend on it."
Lily's eyes blazed and she was about to erupt into a wave of curses and insults, but the Hospital Wing doors opened.
"Madam Pomfrey," Lily greeted her in embarassment, snatching her hand away from James' with a glare.
The witch looked sceptically between the two teens, eventually making a comforting smile to Lily. "Miss Evans, an injured ankle I see," she diagnosed, focusing on Lily's foot; she was surprised by how quickly her injury was identified.
"Come in, dear," Madam Pomfrey ushered her inside. James was about to follow but the woman stopped her.
"You're not injured, are you, Potter?"
"I've got a broken heart..." James mumbled.
Madam Pomfrey smiled sadly. "I'm afraid I cannot mend those." She put a hand to his shoulder. "I suggest you go back to your dormitory and sleep. You can see Miss Evans tomorrow morning-"
"I DO NOT WANT TO SEE ANY VISITORS TOMORROW!" Lily's voice cut in from behind the door. "ESPECIALLY NOT JAMES BLOODY POTTER!"
Madam Pomfrey winced. "Well, maybe visit her when she's asleep….or maybe just not turn up at all?"
"Thanks, Madam Pomfrey," James grunted, before dragging his feet to Gryffindor Tower.
"Hmm, tomorrow's plans," he talked to himself. "Jumping off the astronomy tower, or maybe drowning in the lake?
He'd always liked water.