Missmee: The horror is in there, you'll just have to wait. Hehe. Chapter 5 has horror in it and is my favorite chapter so far, so you'll see it when I update. Enjoy!
XXRoseDawsonXX: which other fic are u reading? Please tell me! It's like this huge secret or s.t. Lol. Well, it looks like you've caught on to my chapter titles. They will all be one word, sorry. And they will all be opposites as well. Because I'm just that awesome. Haha. XP! Luv ya, Meg!
Officemaxgluestick: I like your username! Lol. It's interesting. And it was my pleasure to write something different. In fact, it's my specialty. Haha. I hope I updated fast enough for you.
Selene romanov: Hmm… do u like gothic Lily? She's only gothic in her style, not her personality though. She's really just a sweet innocent little girl who needs to be loved. Lol. She doesn't listen to death metal or anything, either. In fact, I'm not sure what type of music she listens to. Probably classical, like Mozart or Beethoven. Haha.
InvisibleA: thanks! You have a cool username… what does it mean?
Demonstar: thanks! (-:
Thank you all for reviewing! You've made my day:-)
Chapter 4: Night
Cornelia Taylor was interested in nothing but James Potter's mouth at the moment, even while James was trying to have a conversation with his friends in the common room that afternoon. She would not give him a moment's rest it seemed. Finally, as she pulled back for air, he said, "Corey, please, can you lay off for a moment?"
Cornelia groaned but then started licking and nibbling on his earlobe.
"Ow! That hurts!" he exclaimed.
"Sorry," she said, pouting.
"Anyway, Padfoot, go on," James said. Sirius continued talking about his Potions partner. James listened intently while Cornelia sat next to him, stroking his messy black hair.
"I'm telling you, Lovegood's crazy!" Sirius said.
"I'm sure he's not as bad as my partner," said James.
"Who are you paired with?" Sirius asked.
"Evans."
"Oh, that weird girl? Good luck with her," said Sirius.
"Her friend Ezmerelda's pretty nice," said Peter.
"Well, Evans is nice too, but she's weird. She told me about her mum. The lady sounds like an obsessive freak!"
"Well I guess it runs in the family," said Cornelia.
"Evans isn't a freak… she's just different. I think she was forced to be the way she is by her mum. I mean, the girl hasn't ever talked to a man before besides her teachers!"
"Really? That is strange…" said Sirius.
"Why does she dress in black?" Remus asked.
"I don't know. I'll ask her."
"Don't. It's rude," said Remus.
"Okay, Moony, then you ask her," James said, "but anyway… hey, here she comes now."
Lily was indeed walking by as James gave her a quick smile. She blushed and kept walking, not looking back.
"Freak," said Cornelia, when Lily was out of earshot.
"Oh, leave her alone, Corey," said James. He got up to go follow Lily. "I'll be right back," he told his friends.
He caught Lily outside the stairway to the girl's dorms, where he could not go any further.
"Hey, Evans," he said.
"Hi," she said, not making eye contact.
"I, um, just thought you might want to get a head start on that project," he said.
"Oh. Okay. Um… did you want to… now?" she asked.
"Sure. If you know what to do to get a phoenix," he said. She smiled.
"I think I do. But we can't go now. People will see us. We can go at night. It's easier to see after dark, anyway…"
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"The Forbidden Forest! I once walked by there and I swore I heard the song of a phoenix. I think there's one living in there. But we need to go there at night," Lily explained.
"We're not supposed to be out at night," James reminded her.
"I know. But it's for a school project, and I thought, well, with you being Head Boy… Oh, I don't know! I'm sorry I suggested such a ludicrous idea!" Lily said.
"No, don't apologize! You're right. We can go after dark, since I'm Head Boy and it's for a good reason. We'll go tonight," he said.
"Tonight?" she repeated.
"Yes. We'll meet in the common room at 10. I'll see you then, Evans," he said.
"O-okay. See you." Then he left. Lily ran up to her room to find Ezmerelda and tell her the news.
"Wow, really?" Ezmerelda said after hearing the story.
"Yup. Oh, Ezzy! He's gonna sneak out with me! I've never done something like that before! I'm so excited!" Lily exclaimed.
"That's awesome, Lily! I told you the day would get better!"
"I can't wait for tonight!" Lily said. Ezmerelda laughed.
"You're going into the Forbidden Forest, Lil. Relax."
"Okay." She giggled, lying down on her bed. Tonight would be perfect.
At quarter to 10, Lily got up. She brushed her teeth, brushed her hair, and washed her face. She did not put on any makeup. She put her hair up in a ponytail, something she rarely does.
She headed down to the common room. It was dark, but the fire was still blazing in the fireplace. She sat down by the fire to warm her hands. James was not there yet. Had he stood her up? She waited 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, and then 15… and finally James showed up.
"Hey, sorry to keep you waiting," he said.
"That's okay," she said, smiling. He looked at her, in the light of the fire.
"You look different," he said.
"Different?" she repeated.
"Yeah. You're not wearing all that makeup, and your hair's tied back… you have really pretty eyes," he said before he could stop himself. She blushed.
"Uh… thanks. We should get going," she said.
"Agreed. Put this on," he said, handing her a thin, shiny material.
"What is it?" she asked.
"It's my invisibility cloak. If someone sees us walking around at night, we'd get in trouble. Here," he said, throwing it over the both of them. They were so close together, and next to the fire, Lily felt really hot.
They walked together out of the common room. The fat lady woke up as they exited, looking around, trying to figure out who was there. But seeing nobody, she went back to sleep.
Once they made it safely outside, James took the invisibility cloak off of them. They headed for the Forbidden Forest, careful to be as quiet as possible.
"Well, here we are," James whispered.
"Yeah. Let's go inside," she said, walking to the entrance of the Forest. James followed her.
"You're not scared at all," he said. It was a statement, not a question.
"There's hardly anything that frightens me," she said confidently.
"So how do we find a phoenix?" he asked.
"Well, when everything's dark like this, you can see phoenixes better. They sort of have a fiery glow to them. They're nocturnal creatures, you know," she said. They walked around for a little bit, looking around them.
"So, Evans, why do you wear so much black?" James asked. But Lily did not answer him.
"Shh," she said, "You have to listen for the phoenix's song. That way we can locate it better."
"Oh, right."
They continued walking, but they didn't see anything. Then they heard something. It was not a song, but a rustling of leaves. Something was watching them. Lily looked around to see where the noise was coming from.
"Shhh…" James said, resting his hand on her shoulder, "It's alright. Just stay quiet. We don't want to alarm it."
"Do you know what it is?" she whispered.
"No. Just wait."
Suddenly, the rustling stopped. James had his eyes set straight in front of him. Then, in an instant, something big jumped out from behind the trees and stood before them. It was half human, half horse.
"A centaur…" Lily gasped. She was amazed by the creature's beauty, for it was a sight to see.
"What are you humans doing here?" The centaur spoke.
"Please, we mean no harm," James said as calmly as possible, "We were just looking for a phoenix. We need to find one."
"There are no phoenixes in this forest," the centaur said, "Go back to where you came from." It looked angry.
"A-are you sure there are no phoenixes here? I-I thought I heard one…" Lily stuttered.
"You heard nothing!" the centaur roared. It wasn't beautiful; it was vicious, and wanted nothing more than to kill somebody right now. It slowly came closer to Lily. James pulled Lily back and she stumbled into his arms. He held her so that she couldn't move.
"Please, will you just let us look around?" James argued with the creature.
"GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM!" It bellowed.
James did not hesitate. He grabbed Lily by the hand and they ran all the way back to Hogwarts, not even bothering to put on the invisibility cloak. They entered the common room, unseen by anyone.
"James… It was so beautiful," Lily finally said.
"Yes, but it would have killed us," he said.
"I'm sorry… I was sure that I heard a phoenix's song coming from the forest that one time. I guess I was mistaken," she said.
"That's okay. Just next time, let's try something less dangerous." Lily thought James was displeased with her, but he was grinning. She smiled.
"Okay."
"Good. Well, I'll see you tomorrow," he said, turning to go to his room. Lily went up to her own room where Ezmerelda was sound asleep. She laid down on her bed, smiling to herself. Ezmerelda was definitely right about the day getting better. Now she could only dream about what tomorrow had to offer.
Hooray for longer chapters! Lol. Well, I hope you liked this one.
Next chapter: Tomorrow