As DayDreamer so kindly pointed out I haven't done a disclaimer yet (I'm real bad at remembering that)so here it is: I don't own Hogwarts or most of the characters, this fic is just a tree that grew from a beautiful golden seed that is the pure genius of Rowling!
*looks at disclaimer* interesting, I can't even write a disclaimer normally, ah well you get the idea.^__^
Chapter 13: A Moonless NightLily stood in front of her wardrobe in her towel. She'd just showered and needed to change to get ready to go to the Astronomy Tower. Tonight there was going to be an eclipse of the moon and her astronomy teacher wanted them to see it. It wasn't a big class, only about ten in total, and that included all the houses in her year. This was probably because it was an optional class for those at the top end of the academic scale.
It was a cold night outside she could tell, earlier that day when they had walked to Herbology people had been commenting on how cold it was for the time of year. She leafed though her clothes trying to decide what to wear under her robes. Her hands found her tunic hanging at the back. She drew it out, she hadn't really looked at it since she'd hurriedly stowed it about a month ago. The material was smooth and silky, and would probably be quite warm underneath, she thought. She slipped it on over her head running her hands over the material, it really did feel good. Then she pulled her school robe over her head just in time. Saffron popped her head round the door.
"Ready to go yet?" she asked, a long blue scarf was wrapped round her neck and a beanie hat covered her rich chocolate brown hair. Her usual cloak had been replaced with a thick navy blue one lined with a creamy ermine layer.
"Almost," Lily replied, using her wand to quickly dry her hair and pulling her own winter cloak from the wardrobe. It was made from a dove-grey material on the outside and lined with white ermine, with a large hood and ornate silver fastenings; a present from her parents. Grabbing her knee-high brown suede boots on, she ran to join Saffron at the door.
The two of them ran down the stairs and walked along the corridors, chatting quietly. As they walked Lily couldn't help feeling a distant sensation of nervous anticipation. Something was just out the range of her senses and it wasn't a good feeling.
But she quickly dismissed it when they reached the Tower. Most of the others were already assembled. She and Saffron walked over to join James, Sirius and Remus sitting on the wall. Saffron had to introduce them again,
"Honestly, what is wrong with you?" Saffron asked impatiently, "is Lily really that unmemorable?" She frowned and then stopped realising something, "Oh," she reddened.
"What?" asked her brother.
"Oh, nothing much, I just realised something."
Lily gave her a warning look, and she looked huffily back as if to say, 'as if I would tell them!'
As Saffron and Sirius traded witty comments and Remus rolled his eyes at Peter who was laughing, Lily looked out into the night. James watched her, fixing his gaze on her eyes. They were thoughtful and he thought he could detect anxiety. He found that if he looked at anything other than her eyes then he soon lost interest. It was as if the rest of her was covered in this slippery liquid that his eyes slid over apart from her eyes. Magic was the only reason he could think of for this and he made a mental note to ask Saffron about it, something told him Lily wouldn't welcome his inquiries personally.
Sirius reached up and grabbed Saffron's hat from her head.
"Hey!" she protested, reaching for it back, "give that back!"
Sirius grinned and held it above his head so Saffron had to stand on her tiptoes to reach for it.
"You're so juvenile it's untrue!" Saffron told him, jumping for her hat.
Beside them Peter grinned and muttered a spell under his breath. Saffron's feet slipped from under her and she fell into Sirius' chest. The force of it pushed them both back to the wall, Sirius' hands reached down to steady her. He smirked at her and winked at Peter, acknowledging his helping hand.
"Are you going to let me go?" Saffon inquired, with a small smirk herself, not making any real attempt to extricate herself.
"Hmm, let me think about that one," he mused, a playful glint in his eyes.
"Don't think too hard, you might break something," she retorted, her eyes sparkling. Then she turned to James, "O brother of mine, are you going to tell you're cranially challenged friend to let me go before he breaks into an open declaration of love that I'll have to refuse, or will I have to make him?"
Remus smiled and shook his head. In his opinion the sooner those two realised how much they liked each other and stopped the games they were playing the better for everyone else. But in his experience Potters were notoriously blind about those that attracted them.
James leaned against the edge of the tower walls and scowled at his sister and best friend. "Well Sirius what will it be?"
Sirius put on a pensive look and hummed thoughtfully, knowing very well that he and James had a bet on that James couldn't go a whole day without fighting with him about Saffron.
Saffron snorted, "you're loss," she stamped hard on his foot and he jumped away from her hopping on one foot.
"Bloody hell!" he exclaimed, "that hurt!"
"Aww poor baby," Saffron commiserated sarcastically, "let me guess, you want me to kiss it better?"
"Well now you mention it…" Sirius stopped hopping and grinned.
"Oh please," Saffron laughed, shaking her head mockingly at him and turning to walk over to where Lily was still looking out into the distance. "What you looking at?"
"Hmm what?" Lily asked, her eyes scanning the dark grounds below.
"Earth to Lily, are you receiving me?" Saffron asked with a smile, gently prodding Lily.
Lily turned to look at her friend, "did you say something?"
Saffron laughed, "Never mind."
Sirius came up behind the two and jammed Saffron's hat over her head covering her eyes and then ran away laughing manically.
"He's such a fool," Saffron said, shaking her head and adjusting her hat so she could see again.
Lily turned to look at Sirius where he stood next to the others and couldn't help but smile when he grinned and winked at her, his good humour was infectious. She mentioned this to Saffron who replied absentmindedly,
"True, life would never be dull with him." Then she seemed to realise what she's said and added, "not that you'd really want to be with him anyway, he's such an egotistical maniac."
Lily hid a grin under her hand and forced herself to stop looking out over the edge of the tower. But it wasn't as easy as that, she could feel in the air something was definitely wrong even if no-one else seemed to sense it. The others around her were chatting with their friends, cloaks tightly clutched round then in an attempt to keep out the cold.
"Are you cold?"
She turned to see James standing next to her, her eyes widened in surprise, "sorry, what did you say?"
"Are you cold?" he repeated, with a smile.
"A little," she replied honestly, "I didn't think it could be this cold in November."
He smiled and then reached for her hands, positioning them out in front of her.
"What are you doing?" she asked with a smile, not resisting his movements.
He conjured a ball of blue flames in her cupped hands, "making you a bit warmer the normal way as opposed to the Sirius way." He gestured to Sirius who was trying to convince Saffron to let him hug her to make her warmer. Lily laughed and James grinned at her, "although he does get rather more success than he deserves with that approach. It makes the rest of us green with envy." He smiled and took a step closer to her holding out his hands over hers content to let the blue flames flicker over the palms of his hands.
"You don't look that green?" she replied with a small smile.
He grinned, "Well I guess that makes me the exception." He paused for a moment before continuing, "Perhaps it's because I don't really want to attract girls who fall for that kind of thing, do you know what I mean? I can't stand superficiality!"
Lily made a noncommittal noise to indicate she was listening but didn't add anything to what he said. He looked at her briefly before continuing, "I'm not saying that I'm immune to beautiful women, I'd be lying if I said otherwise, but there's just no attraction for me in a woman with no… substance." Suddenly he seemed to realise what he'd been saying and grinned ruefully, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to rant, you're just so damned easy to talk to! Looking up at me with those big green eyes…" He grinned again and shrugged.
She smiled and wondered briefly why he had just done that, in fact why did he always pay her attention? Wasn't the Mediocrity charm enough? Or was it something else? As she looked up at his face quietly watching her she looked down to hide her smile. The thing was she rather thought she enjoyed the attention.
"Ah Prongs, old buddy, old pal, I thought you said you didn't have a way with the ladies," Sirius said as he strolled along towards them, slinging an arm round each of them.
"Prongs?" Lily enquired.
"Nothing, just a silly nickname," James replied hastily, scowling at Sirius. He just grinned in reply and was about to reply when their teacher, Professor Faegles, called for their attention at the front of the parapet. Extinguishing the ball of flames Lily joined the others gravitating in the direction of their teacher.
He was a short , squat man with a voice that always gave the impression that he was irritated. The class gathered round him as he began to tell them about certain superstitions that arose because of the eclipse of the moon. Lily was at the edge of the group and found that her eyes strayed in the direction of the forest again. The professor's voice was reduced to a distant drone at the back of her mind as she focused her attention elsewhere. The air seemed to grow thick around her and she had the sensation of something closing in on her. Her heart started to beat faster and she strained her eyes to see into the impenetrable darkness of the forest. As she leaned her hands on the cold stone walls an inhuman scream pierced the clear night air. She froze.
"What the hell was that?" asked Sirius loudly.
The others started to mutter to themselves and even Professor Faegles looked a little nervous.
Again the same sound rang out around them, spurring Lily into action. She knew that sound, she realised with a jolt- she knew it all too well. It was time. She had known, just as they said she would.
Ignoring the others who were conversing in loud voices charged with nervous excitement she whirled round and pushed her way through the others, headed for the trapdoor. James grabbed her arm as she passed,
"What is it?" he asked, frowning slightly.
"Nothing, let me go," Lily replied, tugging her arm from his grip and pulling open the door and beginning to climb rapidly down the rope ladder from the turret.
"Where are you going?" Saffron shouted after her, climbing down too.
"You can't come," Lily told her firmly, her feet reaching the ground.
"What?"
"Just stay with the others," Lily said seriously, "I have to go." She turned and began to hurry down the corridor but Saffron ran after her and grabbed her arm.
"Lily," Saffron said a slight edge to her voice, "what are you going to do? What's going on?"
Lily sighed, she should have known that Saffron wouldn't be so easily put off, she was too smart. "I'll tell you when I get back," she said gently removing her best friend's fingers from her arms. But she wasn't entirely sure that she would tell Saffron, so far there was no-one else who knew her secret. It seemed the kind of thing that was important to keep quiet. It wasn't as if people even believed it to be true, The Moonlit Ones were a mere myth to most. Saffron might just think she was making it up and she couldn't bear the thought of her friend's reaction. She shook her head, dismissing these thoughts to the back of her mind. They could be dealt with later.
James started to climb down the ladder.
Lily glanced up at his descending feet a brief look of panic flickered across her face, she needed to go now! Time was moving on.
"Please," she said backing away, "trust me- and stay here!"
"You're worrying me," Saffron said, frowning, "What if-"
"If I'm not back when you wake up tomorrow then you can go to Dumbledore," she called back over her shoulder as she turned and fled down the corridor.
Saffron stared after her in bewilderment. Lily certainly had some explaining to do!
~*~*~*
Lily pelted along down the corridor, suddenly realising why she had put on her tunic. With some difficulty she pulled off her cloak, and then her robe, dropping them on the ground behind her as she ran. Then, thinking of the cold outside, summoned her cloak. As she pulled open the front doors she hesitated before dropping her wand on the steps. She didn't need it. Not tonight.
Setting off again she closed her eyes and increased the power of her mediocrity charm to make her invisible to any who saw her running across the lawn to the forest. Forgetting that there was more than one person to whom this made no difference to at all.
Her feet pounded along the ground, her hair and cloak streaming out behind her as she headed for the forest. Her mind was filled with foreboding, she didn't know what she was to face. But she knew that something, someone was waiting for her.
Suddenly out from the trees Ajax appeared, Lily could see the anxiety in his eyes, she had been right. The moment she had heard that cry- no before that- she had known.
"You are needed," he said to her, "they have been taken."
Lily didn't need to ask who. In her mind's eye an image flashed into view. Seven young unicorns with gleaming golden coats stood imprisoned within huge black crystals all stood round in a circle. In the centre lay a unicorn, its eyes glazed and lying in a pool of its own silver blood, which flowed along small channels out towards each crystal.
She moved to get onto his back but he shook his head, "Not this time. You must hunt on foot."
"But-" she began to protest, she'd be so much slower, too slow!
"Nonsense," Ajax said, reading her thoughts, "You are the Huntress."
And as the night filled with the sound of frightened screams again Lily let out a shout of rage and ran into the forest. Forgetting that she was not really athletic at all she urged herself to run faster and faster. Her eyes shone out brightly in her face and the trees seemed to murmur as she passed, drawing back their roots respectfully as she passed. With every step she took her pace increased until, before she knew it, she was running as fast as Ajax though the undergrowth. The forest was unusually silent and only muted starlight slanted through the dense overhead leaves and branches.
The very forest seemed to beat in her veins; its life and vitality coursed through her. Her mind was full of anger at the memory of those innocent foals and thirsty for vengeance. But there was another part of her- the more human part- that was afraid, terribly afraid. She'd never faced anything like this before she knew. Something great and powerful was waiting for her and she had no wand and no weapon to fight it with. Her heart quailed within but was soon stilled. She was the Huntress, this was her destiny. What was ahead she did not know exactly but the forest whispered that she was not alone, and the night was still young.
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A/N: Mwahaha I am evil! Mwahaha! Sorry, couldn't resist ^__^ (And if you thought that was a cliffy, you should have seen where I was going to break the next chapter off! But I relented and it ends ok in the next chapter.)
Thank you sooo much for all the wonderful reviews, you have no idea how great it is to receive such lovely compliments!
Don't you just love James?! If only more guys were like that *wistful sigh*. Anyway, since this is definitely AU now, I've decided to make him really different to how he is in most fics. Why should he always be just a muted version of Sirius anyway? Not that we don't love Sirius, but James deserves depth!
I think the only person who asked specific questions was DayDreamer (btw that was such a nice review thankyou muchos!). Right answers to your questions:
You're right, this will be L/J but I'm taking it slow, he'll be more important later, but it's unrealistic for me to force them together so quickly, especially considering that they didn't even know each other before. I'm glad you appreciate this!
As for the Marauders nicknames, not using them is purposeful. I thought that considering how secret the whole Animagi thing was that it might make more sense for them to be used only when the four of them are around. Hence James' reaction to Sirius' "slip". Just trying a different perspective on things again.
Unicorns are back in the next one:) but they do rather come and go as she doesn't live in the forest^__^
And yeah, I think you're right about the Animagus thing, I realised that after the time but thought it didn't make that much difference to postpone it a year.
You're probably right about the Voldemort thing, but I guess as it's AU then we can pretend that maybe Dumbledore didn't say exactly that, also it's not that bad a thing if James and Lily don't have Harry until they're 25/6, but either way it doesn't really matter right?
Ok well I thinks that's everything. Oh and also the more reviews I get, the guiltier I feel about the length between updates, it's funny but true! I walk around thinking to myself, 'hmm, there's something I should be doing but I can't remember what...' no laughing! Or at least, quiet laughing where I can't hear it!
Next chapter is called, 'The First Battle' and is just that, plus Lily receives her first artefact and it's not the bow that you guys have cleverly spotted in earlier chapters. Showdown time!