James, Sirius and Peter tiredly made their way back up the lawn to the castle, hidden under the invisibility cloak. The sky was just beginning to lighten.
Sirius yawned, "That was an exciting night," he said, "the creatures in the Forest were going wild! Did you hear the noise they were making?!"
"I wonder why," replied James, "they've never done it before."
"No," Peter agreed.
"But it's not like we've been able to go into the forest with Remus before is it? We've only been animagi for a while," argued Sirius.
"I suppose not," conceded James. Then he spotted someone walking up the lawn coming from the other side, "Look!"
The other two turned to look at the figure. It was Lily. For once, she was seen as she was. The events of the night had cancelled out her charm. Her hair was damp and curled naturally around her heart-shaped face, her cloak was drawn tight around her. Tired emerald green eyes looked out from her face, tilted towards the lake, looking past the three. Her feet were wet and bare. A light mist rose from the ground and hung heavily around her in the air.
"Who's that?" breathed James. He thought he was looking into the past, at someone belonging to another time altogether. And in a way he was right the Huntress did not belong to a specific moment in time, and never could.
"I don't know," replied Sirius, "but she's something else!"
"I've never seen eyes so green," Peter said.
"She goes to Hogwarts?" Sirius asked doubtfully.
"I guess she must," replied James, neither of them taking their eyes from the girl shrouded in mist. It was the first time he had seen her, really seen her and he had no idea how much this vulnerable looking girl would change his life.
Lily yawned and rubbed her eyes tiredly before breaking into a run, she didn't want to be caught. Cloak or no cloak, if the tunic was spotted then she'd have a hard job explaining it. And although she might not keep such a secret to herself for long, for the moment she wanted things to remain hidden.
She sprinted down the corridors, her bare feet making a quiet slapping noise on the flagstone floor as she went. Her cloak flew out behind her as she went showing her tunic underneath. As she passed, portraits whispered amongst themselves, some flitting from frame to frame and others bowing their heads to her as she passed, sweeping long feathered hats from their heads.
One particular portrait that hung in a corridor that was not regularly frequented smiled as Lily passed and curtseyed. Her long raven coloured locks tumbling gracefully around her perfect features. She was clothed in a short white toga and was pictured in the midst of a wooded glade. Behind her a small waterfall splashed down into a pool lit with the light of a full moon. As Lily passed round the corner the nymph left her portrait, something that she had not done since she was placed there by Rowena Ravenclaw one thousand years ago. But she knew Lily was the Huntress and there was someone else hidden deep within the castle walls, someone who would never leave her frame, who would want to know that the Huntress walked the earth once more.
Lily didn't notice any of the strange reactions from the paintings as she passed them, she was too busy trying to get back to the common room before she ran into a teacher. The wall slid aside to admit her and Lily walked quickly through to her dorm. Stumbling in through the door to her dorm, Lily changed quickly out of the tunic, hanging it at the back of her wardrobe, making sure that her other clothes hid it from view. Then she changed into her nightdress, yawning widely as she did so. A few minutes later she climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to her neck. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
****************
"Lily, wake up!"
She opened her eyes groggily, "what is it?"
"It's lunchtime, you've slept all morning!"
Lily sat up and turned to see who it was. It was Saffron, she was in the same year as Lily, but they had never really spoken much.
"You look different this morning-well afternoon," commented Saffron tilting her head as she perched herself on the edge of Lily's bed.
Lily jumped out of bed and looked in the mirror. Her charm had vanished. She sighed in annoyance and automatically reached for her wand.
"What are you doing?" asked Saffron, intrigued.
Lily paused, what was wrong with her this morning? "Emm, just a charm to fix my hair," she improvised.
"Oh, ok," answered Saffron, "I told McGonagall you were ill. She says that you don't need to go and see her, but you need to copy up the notes I made."
"Thanks," Lily smiled relived that no-one had guessed there was anything unusual about her absence; she couldn't believe she had slept for so long!
"Hurry up and we can go to lunch," Saffron said moving to the door.
Lily nodded, and why was Saffron being so nice to her all of a sudden? Well Saffron was always nice but she never really noticed her before-that was it, the charm was gone so now she noticed Lily. She hesitated, remembering what the unicorns had said to her the night before, did she really want to redo the charm?
"Apparacio media."
Yes.
Lily got ready as quickly as possible, washing quickly before throwing on clothes and running a brush though her hair. Then she ran downstairs.
Saffron glanced up as she came down then looked away. It had worked. But then she frowned thoughtfully and looked back, focusing on Lily's emerald eyes. Her own dark brown eyes looked thoughtful then she pulled out her wand.
"Revelio."
The charm fell away from Lily and she looked as she had when she woke up.
"Hey!" she protested. She turned back to run up and redo it when Saffron caught her arm.
"Where are you going?"
"To fix my charm," Lily said irritably. "The one you broke."
"I didn't break it exactly," Saffron replied, "I just made it so that it didn't affect me. Why do you do that anyway?"
"What?"
"The spell."
"Oh," Lily stopped trying to go upstairs, "I don't know. Habit."
"Look, I won't tell anyone about this and allow you to continue renewing the charm, provided you allow me to always be able to see though it," Saffron proposed, crossing her arms.
"What? Why ?" Lily asked suspiciously.
"Why do you think, I don't want to keep being made to ignore you. I'm perfectly capable of deciding what I think about you myself," Saffron replied a little snappily. "Besides," her voice softened, "you can't go shutting people out forever."
Lily blinked and looked away, "fine," she said in a small voice.
Saffron broke into a broad smile, "Great! Now come on, let's go get lunch." She grabbed Lily's arm and they ran down to eat.
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As they sat at lunch Lily picked at her food. It wasn't as if she wasn't hungry, it was just she had so much to think about. Her back felt slightly stiff and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. What had he done to her back? She'd forgotten about that, but it wasn't as if she could see for herself. She needed mirrors and that meant-
"Lily, you better eat faster than that if you don't want to be late for Potions," Saffron said, interrupting her thoughts.
"What?- Oh, right," she bolted down the rest of her lunch and rose, the sign on her back would have to wait.
The dungeons that housed their lessons were dark and damp even in the hottest times of year, but in the winter months they were freezing. The class sat shivering at their desks. It seemed today was going to a theory lesson, and that meant the only source of heat came from a small fire at the front of the room.
"I'm dying," Sirius moaned melodramatically from where he sat in the row behind her.
Catching Lily's eye Saffron rolled her eyes and made a face.
"I saw that Saffron Potter," Sirius said, she turned to face him.
"So?"
"Well, I was just wondering whether you wanted to come and warm me up?" Sirius grinned and winked at her.
"In your dreams," Saffron retorted and turned her back on him.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to hit on my sister?" demanded James, "it's so…creepy!"
"Only to you," Sirius replied with a grin, "I think she's gorgeous, I'd love to run my hands through her long glossy-"
He was cut short by James clapping his hand over his mouth, glaring mutinously.
Lily laughed softly and he looked up.
"Ignore my brother and his mentally disturbed friend," Saffron told her, a shadow of a smile playing about her lips. "They have some interesting delusions that should under no circumstances be encouraged. One of which belonging to Mr Black, concerns the mistaken belief that I would ever go out with him."
"Pay attention!" snapped Professor Okney, turning to glare at them, "another word and it'll be detention for the lot of you!"
The room fell silent and for half the lesson the only sound that could be heard was the scratching of quill on parchment as they laboriously copied out the notes Okney was writing on the blackboard. Lily shivered and put down her quill to rub some heat into her arms, it was so cold! She stared at the tiny fire.
'If only it was bigger,' she thought, 'a blazing furnace.' She closed her eyes and imagined what that would feel like, she could almost feel the warm waves of heat rolling over her…
Suddenly she heard screams and snapped open her eyes. The tiny fire had erupted in a huge ball of flames. Long tongues of fire snaked out lashing around in the air. Professor Okney was busily putting out the small fires that had ignited on his desk and were now eagerly devouring his notes. The room was ablaze with heat and those at the front desks had scrambled hurriedly backwards to stand near her and Saffron who were close to the back.
"Who did that?!?" Okley was yelling furiously.
Lily, blanched and inconspicuously closed her fist, imagining that the fire was a ball in her hand. The fire went out.
Okley stared at them absolutely livid. "Leave all your wands here," he ordered, "we'll soon see whose last spell was to make the fire…explode and that unfortunate person will be serving the rest of their lives in detention!!"
"But professor," James said, stepping forwards, "no-one touched their wands, we were all busy copying down the dictation."
"If I want your opinion Mr Potter then I will ask for it," Okley returned coldly, "Get out! Get out all of you! And leave your wands on my desk as you go. They will be available for collection from me after dinner."
Muttering under their breaths the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws dropped their wands onto the desk as they filed out the room. Once outside several of the Ravenclaws turned on Sirius and James.
"So which one of you did it?" they asked accusingly.
"What?"
"It wasn't us!" they protested.
"When there's trouble in this school it isn't always us," said James innocently.
"Just mostly," added Sirius with a grin.
Lily clenched her hands to stop them from shaking. She knew it wasn't them, it had been her. She just hadn't thought about it. But it couldn't happen again, she'd have to keep a better hold on her power. Turning she walked quietly away from the others, leaving them to argue. If she had done that by accident then imagine what she could do if she really wanted something. She shuddered, it wasn't as exciting as it sounded though. In fact, she was terrified. What if she forgot and another accident like that happened? She'd been lucky this time and no-one had been hurt, but next time…Maybe next time she wouldn't be so lucky.
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A/N: Ah I love you guys! Such wonderful reviews deserve longer chapter, well I think it's longer then normal.
Shinning Crystal, I'm so flattered you think I could go professional, I'd really love to, but at the mo I'm practising styles to see what kind of thing works best for me. If any of you have read all my stories I think you'll see they're pretty different. I think Sarai Ice-Elf is the only one who has (to which I am highly indebted). Any comments anyone has about which style they prefer would be very welcome. Anyway enough about me.
Larka, if I get a chance I'll check out your fic, but at the mo I'm rather busy, got exams L
Anyway keep up the good work ppl and help me to feel better about writing this instead of doing revision^__^