Once upon a time, there was a girl named Lily, who went on a quest to find true love. All of her life she had dreamt of running off and finding her prince charming, like in all of her storybooks.
It all started 3 weeks ago, when I was sitting under the bridge of Prince Amos' castle, dreaming of what it would be like to live a life of such luxury. All the sudden, a fairy appeared out of nowhere. She was wearing a long white gown, and had hair so black; it seemed to be the color of night. Her angelic face was frantic, and she suddenly said, "I need you to go into the Black Forest, and save my son from the most horrible of fates! If you do this for me I will grant you one wish for anything you could possibly want." At first, I didn't know how to respond, the Black Forest was one of the most dangerous places even the most skilled of wizards could go. I looked up at her, and said yes. I don't know why I did, but it just felt right. "Why me," I asked her, but she just lifted me up and said, "You will know in time my dear; there is no time for questions now." All the sudden, I felt a lurching feeling in my stomach, and it felt as all the world was no longer there. Then, as quickly as it started, I was on the ground again, and the fairy was standing next to me. I looked to my left, and saw a huge forest. Bigger than any I had ever seen… The Black Forest.
"My son is in there, and I can't help him. You are my only hope now Lily." I looked at her grief-stricken face and said, "I'll do whatever I can to help you." She looked at me with a smile, and muttered a few words. All the sudden, a long sword appeared in her hands. She gave it to me and said, "Be careful Lily, the Black Forest is a dangerous place for a young girl. This sword will help you fight off evil, but you must rely on your mind more than weapons, for in the end, it is all you have." I nodded my head, and looked at the sword that she had placed in my hands. It was long and polished. It looked like any normal sword, except for the handle. It was incrusted with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. I had never seen a sword more beautiful. On the blade, I noticed the name James Potter inscribed onto it. I looked up to ask who this James was, but the fairy wasn't there anymore. "Ok, this will be… interesting." I said to myself. I took the sword and slid it through my belt and started into the forest. The second I stepped into the big mass of trees, it got dark. I clutched onto the sword for reassurance, and continued walking. It was the most terrifying place I had ever been, something about it just instilled terror into my mind. It had been about an hour since I had first entered the forest, and I was starting to get hungry. Suddenly, I heard a twig snap, and I knew someone… or something, was watching me. I pulled out my sword, and held it in front of me, ready to strike. In the trees in front of me, I saw something emerge, and I started backing away. Then the creature said, "Do not be afraid young girl, the fairy told me of your arrival. I am here to help you." I stopped moving. I felt as though I could trust this creature. I looked at him, as he was closer, so I could see him better, and saw what looked like a horse, except it had a human body from the chest up. He had a playful look on his face and long black hair. I gasped because I knew what he was. A centaur, one of the most intelligent creatures of all. I asked him, "Will you answer my questions?" He continued walking closer, and replied, "Yes Lily, I will." He suddenly stopped and said, "Ask away my dear." I bit my lip and asked, "Why did the fairy choose me of all people?" He smiled and replied, "Because she sensed that you had a will to survive, and wouldn't go down without a fight."
"What happened to the fairy's son?"
"He was just walking home, when a dark fairy, by the name of Bellatrix, captured him, and took him to her hideout in the Black Forest."
"But why can't the fairy get her son?"
"Because, Bella has a force field around her hideout, that lets no fairies pass through."
"That's strange. How do I save him?"
"You must follow this path until you get to a clearing. There it will be safe for you to rest. After that, you will go north, until you get to a small river. There you will follow it until you find the hideout. Do you have that so far?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Ok, once you get to the hideout, you will sneak into her house. Her son will be locked up in the room on your left. Then you will untie him, and try to escape without running into Bella."
"Ok, got it."
"Well, shall we?"
The centaur started walking forwards, so I followed. He called out over his shoulder, "By the way, my name is Sirius." I nodded my head, and continued walking through the forest. It felt as though we had been walking for hours when we came upon a clearing. I was surprised, because we hadn't run into anything even remotely dangerous. Sirius stopped in the middle of the clearing, and said, "Most creatures in this forest won't harm a centaur. That's why we haven't been attacked. But either way, this is a safe place. We will rest here tonight." I was a little shocked that he knew I was thinking about danger, but I figured I shouldn't be surprised. Centaurs are known for their intelligence. But then I got confused. "Well, if no one will attack us, why did the fairy give me this sword?"
"I am not sure. It is possible she knows something I don't."
"Oh…" I began to wonder why she gave me the sword. And who James Potter was. I thought about it for a little while longer, but then decided to drop the subject for now. I looked at my surroundings, just to get a feel for them I guess. But then I looked at the sky. It was magnificent. The stars were the brightest I had ever seen them, it was almost as if they were alive. I smiled and walked over to where Sirius was laying. "Lily, sleep now. We have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow." I nodded and lay next to him. The second I closed my eyes, I fell straight into a fitful slumber. The next morning, I awoke to Sirius calling my name. I opened my eyes and noticed that it was still dark. Sirius looked towards the forest and said, "If we want to get to Bellatrix's hideout, we must start off now." I groaned and slowly picked myself up off of the ground. I looked up and saw that Sirius had already started walking towards the forest. I sighed to myself, and walked into the forest.
The day dragged on forever. It felt like it should have been at least a week by now. We continued walking for about another hour, I think at least, until we came across a river. Sirius had told me it was a small river, but now, as I stood right before it, it didn't seem so small.
"You can rest here for a little while. But we must leave soon." I walked to the shore of the river, and sat down. The water was slowly moving, you could hardly tell. I stuck my feet in the water, and sighed. The water was just the right temperature. I closed my eyes, and just relaxed in the sun. It was about ten minutes later when Sirius said we must go. I stood up slowly, and walked out of the water. I could feel the water dripping down my legs, so I used the bottom of my dress to dry them off. Then I broke into a slow run to catch up with Sirius. We followed the river for a while, and it slowly got darker and darker, until I could hardly see where I was walking. "Be careful, horrible things reside here. We are almost there though," Sirius called over his shoulder. Out of habit I nodded, even though he couldn't see. As we continued down the path, it seemed to get lighter. But it was an eerie light, strangely dark in a way. Sirius stopped suddenly, causing me to run into him. "Lily, this is where I will leave you. I dare go no farther. Just take one more step, and you will be there."
"What? But I can't do this alone!"
"You are stronger than you appear, Lily. You can do it. You just have to believe you can." And with those words, Sirius ran off into the forest. I gulped, closed my eyes, and took a tense step forwards. When I opened my eyes, I found I was in a strange place. There was no sign that I was even in a forest. The walls were dark blue, almost black. There was nothing there, except a relatively big purple house in the middle. I looked around, to see if there was anyone there, but saw no one. I took a few tentative steps towards the house, and when nothing happened, I broke into a run. When I got up to the front door, I peaked in a window to see if anyone was there. I saw no one, so I carefully opened the door and tiptoed in. I stood in the house completely silent, half to see if anything would happen, and half to think back on which room Sirius said the fairy's son was currently in. Nothing seemed to happen, so I assumed that no one knew I was there. All the sudden, it came to me. The room on the left. It was easy to remember. I took tiny baby steps towards the room, as to make sure no one would hear me. I put my hand on the door knob, and was surprised when I found out it wasn't locked. I opened the door and walked into the room. Sitting tied up, in the middle of the room, was a young man. He had messy black hair, that was all over the place and his eyes were the most beautiful blue I had ever seen. He was staring at me strangely, as to say, who are you? I closed the door behind me, and whispered, "My name is Lily. Your mother sent me to rescue you." He nodded. I walked over to him, and removed the gag from his mouth, and cut all of the rope tying him down. He looked up at me, and said, "Hello Lily. My name is James." I gasped and asked, "James Potter?" He nodded, and I pulled the sword out of my belt, and handed it to him. "I think this belongs to you." He looked at the sword in his hands and with a bewildered face asked, "Where did you get this?" I told him that his mother gave it to me before I started off. He looked at me for a moment and said, "This sword has been missing for about a year."
"Well, then how did your mother get it?"
"My mother can summon just about any type of item she wants. Trouble is, she can't choose which one. When she summoned you a sword, she didn't choose which one you would get."
"Well, why is it such a big deal?"
"Because, this sword was taken from me, by an evil witch. She told me that the only one that could give me this sword back… was my future bride."
"B- b- but I mean, she was probably just trying to… well I don't know. But… does that mean we are to be wed?"
"She cast a spell on that sword. If we weren't meant to marry, then you wouldn't have even been able to touch that sword."
"But… this is all so… fast. I need to sit." My mind was going crazy. I was to marry this man? I've only known him for about 15 minutes. James looked over towards me, and said, "I'm really not that bad of a guy, you know… We don't have to marry if you don't want to." I smiled, and looked over at him. "I----" but I was cut off.
"Sorry to interrupt this nice little like, love fest, but, you're like so not supposed to be here." I looked towards the door, and there stood a tall girl. She had long, perfectly straight, dark purple hair, and was wearing a tight purple dress. Her face was all made over, and had a know-it-all look plastered all over it. I looked at her and said, "Are you supposed to be the all mighty Bellatrix?"
"What is that supposed to mean? Are you trying to say I'm not powerful or something?"
"If you ask me, Bella, I think your just a huge fake."
"You are gonna regret saying that." James, who had been creeping towards Bella the whole time, was now right beside her. He said softly, "You touch her and you'll regret it Bella." She jumped and turned to him. "What did you say, you little maggot?" Bella's whole appearance suddenly changed, and she looked wicked. Her hair turned jet black, along with her dress. Huge black feathery wing sprouted painfully from her back, and her face held a glare that would make any child burst into tears and run away. She walked straight towards me and slapped me across the face. I slowly brought my head up, looked at her with the evilest glare, and then punched her with all the strength I had. Bella stumbled back from the impact, and clutched her face. "Get the hell out of my house. I don't want any stupid human lovers on my property." She ran out of the room and up the stairs. James was just staring at me. I asked him, "Why did she leave? I thought she was one of the worst dark fairies ever." He smiled, and replied, "Bella normally expects people to run away when she transforms. She doesn't expect for anyone to fight back, and that's her weakness." I rolled my eyes at how stupid Bella was, and said, "Well, now that we have defeated her, not that it was hard, of course, but we really should get out of here." He smiled, and walked over to me. "Yeah, we probably should."
Up in the highest room of the house, Bella sat looking out the window, holding a tissue to her nose. A black cat jumped into her lap, and she laughed cynically. "Oh my dear Thomas, everything is going perfectly according to plan. Soon they will marry, and you will be the ultimate lord." The cat jumped off of her, and transformed into a man. He had a penetrating look and he walked over to the window. "Bella, soon the world will be under my control. Who thought it would be this easy?" Bella and Thomas looked at each other and laughed. Soon they're plan would be perfected, and Thomas would have ultimate power. Out the window you could see to figures holding hands walking away from her house.
When we walked out of the "net" around Bellatrix's hideout, I noticed that it was a full moon. I loved when the moon was out, because you could see everything in the sky. I pointed it out to James and he tensed up and told me that we needed to hurry up. After a hour or so I heard a howl in the close distance. James seemed to hear it too, because he stopped, and seemed to listen for something. I suddenly heard branches break, and out of the trees a furry creature popped out. James held me back and told me to climb on his back in a minute. I looked at him in confusion, but it wasn't him I was looking at. Standing in front of me, was a beautiful stag. I smiled and climbed onto his back, and he broke into a run. He stopped running at daybreak, and I noticed that we were at the clearing me and Sirius had rested at. I climbed off of James, and transformed back to himself. We both decided to sleep, and we cuddled up next to each other.
In the morning, I awoke to the bird singing, and James' handsome face. I smiled, and woke him up so we could leave the forest. It took about two days, but we finally got out of the damned place. He took me to his mother's house, so we could tell her everything was fine. Right as we were leaving, his mom called out, "Oh, Lily, I almost forgot! You saved James, so I owe you one wish." I looked at her and smiled. "Well, when you first asked me to save your son, my wish was to have someone I can fall in love with. But now, as I'm standing here today, that wish has already come true. So, I don't really need a wish. I'm perfectly happy with how things are now."
So, here we are, 3 weeks after James' mom asked for my help, and things are still perfectly fine. James and I are to be wed in the winter, and I can't wait. But now, I am sitting on my bed, and my candle's light is fading, so I must end my story of how I found my true love.