Freefalling was something Lily had never experienced before, and now that she was experiencing it, she didn't find it as terrifying as it was always made out to be. There was no screaming or wildly thrashing about. Instead, she just stared up at the miserable grey sky, her field of vision framed by her dark red hair. It was more perplexing than it was terrifying. Then she somehow turned to face the ground. The trees of the Forbidden Forest rushed towards her faster than the fear clawed through her. She heard her own sharp shriek before knowing she made a sound
A hand suddenly gripped the back of her cardigan and a decent handful of her hair. Scalp stinging, Lily thought she had stopped falling for the slimmest of seconds. But she continued falling.
The tree tops roared closer. All Lily could think of was being slashed to ribbons as she fell past and through them. On some level, she was aware of someone wrapping themselves around and an incantation being shouted above the wind. Maybe it was repeated or maybe more than one was used. Lily closed her eyes so she couldn't see the ground and trees coming.
Strange reverberations trembled over her body as she lay spread eagled on the ground. Somehow, she had fallen in the one spot no branches blocked the path to the ground. Dazed, Lily couldn't figure out how to move again.
Until she heard groaning and movement just above her head that is.
Flashes of warnings about the forest came down on her like an avalanche. Werewolves, centaurs, vampires and any number of other creatures that could hurt her. In a rush, Lily scrambled to her feet, stumbling dizzily but desperately. Using a tree for support, she turned as she reached into her pocket for her wand. In the folds of her thick cardigan, she struggled. Maybe Sirius putting his through a hair bun wasn't so crazy after all.
The sight of James slowly getting to his feet stopped her actions. "Potter? What are you doing here?" she exclaimed in surprise.
James responded by groaning and trying to stretch the pain out of his back. "Bruising like a peach. That's what I'm doing."
Lily just looked at him in confusion so he elaborated. "I saw you fall off your broom so I tried to catch you. That didn't work so I put up a bunch of shields and moved the branches out of the way. Still hurt like the devil though."
"Oh. That was you yelling spells?"
"Yeah, you were too busy screaming to pay much attention to me."
"I was not-" Lily started to protest but stopped. She didn't remember falling well enough to know whether she actually screamed or not after the first shriek. She pressed her lips firmly closed and folded her arms.
"I don't get a thank you for saving your life?"
"You haven't saved it yet. We could still get eaten by a werewolf."
James' lips twitched into a bemused smile. "Oh there won't be any werewolves tonight" he said cheerily. "It's not a full moon. What we really have to watch for is vampires."
"Thanks. I'm so relieved" Lily deadpanned with a sarcastic and emphatic roll of the eyes.
"I'm glad" James said, deliberately not acknowledging the sarcasm. "Now… where are we?"
Brushing off his denim jacket (only transferring the forest litter to those stupid fingerless gloves he always wore at the moment), he looked about.
"We're in the Forbidden Forest."
"Funnily enough, I'd figured that part out for myself, thank you."
Lily was very tempted to stick her tongue out at him, but she resisted. That would only make him grin in that infuriating lopsided way. He took pride in dragging her down to his childish level.
"What else are you expecting to figure out? No one knows their way through the forest."
"Au contraire, ma chere. I know the forest very well."
"Of course you do."
"I will take that as a compliment" James said, looking about. "Ah. This way."
With the confidence of someone who actually knew what he was talking about, he set off through the trees. Lily had no choice but to run after him. She would rather be with an ass like James Potter than alone in the forest at night. She didn't see his grin as he heard her coming up behind him.
"You're very loud. Crack, crack, crack with every step."
"Shut up, Potter."
"Walk quietly, Evans."
Lily glowered at his back and once again felt the powerful urge to stick her tongue out at him. He wouldn't know. He had his back to her.
No. Be the bigger person. She huffed and shoved her hands deep into her pockets as she reached his side. "So where are we?"
"East side of the river about a forty five minute walk from the edge."
"That's…very specific."
"Like I said, I know the forest very well. Especially this part. It's relatively safe, even at night, but we still have to be careful not to attract too much attention."
"So no dramatic love duets like you and Sirius?"
"How do you know about those? Are you peeping in the boys' showers?"
"Of course not!" Lily exclaimed, turning a crimson to match her hair. "Remus told me about the Snow-White duet."
"Sirius does a convincing falsetto."
"I can't say I've had the pleasure of hearing it."
"You're only saying that so I won't think you've been peeping in the boys' room" James said, giving her a grin so she knew he was well aware he was being an ass.
She huffed out a breath and shoved her hands deeper into her pockets. "Just get us out of here before we die."
"Do you have any suggestions as to how I can do that? I'm probably leading us in the right direction."
"What do you mean probably?"
"Theoretically, this is the right way."
Lily gave him an exasperated look. "Just answer the question properly, you ass."
James laughed in that infuriating way. She still wasn't sure whether he was mocking her or genuinely amused. She didn't have time to decide on that particular occasion before he answered. "I usually have much better eyes at this time in this part of the forest."
"Then turn into the bloody stag and get us out of here" she snapped. The stretching shadows and dropping temperature were starting to weigh on her nerves. She wasn't convinced the sky wouldn't suddenly erupt into storm and make the situation all the worse. Every shadow and sound harboured a danger. She couldn't tell if anyone was watching them. She'd never gone more than a hundred feet into the Forbidden Forest – only as far as the first clearing where all the parties were.
James looked at her and could see the nerves clearly written across her face. He forgot that others weren't as familiar with the Forest as he was. And a good student like Lily certainly wouldn't venture in this far. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to mess around with her like he usually did. She wasn't in the mood.
"Okay, okay. No need for cursing. I'll get us out of here" he said as soothingly as he could – which granted wasn't all that soothing. "You just won't get any of my sparkling conversation."
Lily was about to fire back exactly what she thought of his conversational abilities but was distracted by the transformation. She had always thought it would be more of a folding in on oneself and then emerging as the new form. But that wasn't what she observed in James. Instead, he seemed to stretch out, his features disappearing, hair fading in colour as his skin darkened to match. Then, only taking a little longer than the time it takes to blink, James was gone and a stag stood in his place. He paced briefly, adjusting to the new form and shook his head before adopting the same majestic pose she remembered from Bambi's father.
"Stop showing off" she said.
If he could have given her an offended look, he would have. Instead, he just started off through the trees, forcing her to chase after him.
"Hey! Slow down, I can't keep up with you and your prancing."
James stopped and swung his head around in a wide sweeping motion. Before Lily had time to react, she found herself scooped up by the antler and deposited on his back. She blinked a few times before realising she should hold on. Quickly, she gripped the smooth coat as best she could. It wasn't long enough to get a proper hold, especially not with him moving.
"I can't believe you just did that. I'm pretty sure that is covered under that 'non-consensual touching' that the teachers keep going on about."
James made a noise deep in his throat. It was hard to tell, but she was pretty sure he was offended.
"Though I can't exactly tell on you. If I did, I'd have to explain that not only was I in the forest, but you are also an unregistered animagus. Not that I have a problem with you getting into trouble. You're well accustomed to it."
There was no response but the steady drumming of his steps. Each sound was soft and muted by the forest litter, yet nothing seemed to notice his passing. That was good. Maybe everything more dangerous would ignore their passing as well. So long as they didn't notice his passenger. Swallowing, Lily leant a bit lower over his neck so she wasn't so obvious. There was nothing more she could do.
James flicked his head slightly at the feeling of her breath on his skin. If it had been Sirius or Remus, he would have thrown back his head to whack them one. But it was Lily so it was different.
Lily was just getting used to the way he moved when he suddenly stopped. Mid-step and head raised, he stared at something she couldn't see.
"What is it?" she whispered.
James seemed to take offense to the whisper in his ear and immediately tipped her into an ungraceful heap on the ground.
"Hey!" she exclaimed, flicking her hair out of her face. A hand clapped over her mouth and she realised with a start that he had changed back into himself.
"Quiet" he hissed. "You'll scare it away."
Only then did he remove his hand.
"I think I'm quite okay with scaring away anything in the forest thank you very much" Lily said, shoving away his efforts to help her to her feet.
"Trust me, you don't want to scare this one away" was all he said, motioning for her to follow.
She had little choice but to follow. James went several paces before crouching down behind a tangle of bushes. Wordlessly, he pointed as she crouched beside him.
"What am I looking for?"
"Just wait."
Impatiently, Lily did as he said. She didn't have to wait long. Splitting the darkness apart like a wedge, a pure white creature moved into view. It took her only a moment to realise it was a unicorn.
"Wow…" she exclaimed softly, leaning forward to see it better.
It moved gracefully and silently. Despite the darkness, shadows didn't appear able to touch its coat.
"How lucky are we, huh? In all the time I've been in the forest, I've never seen a unicorn" James said, then gave her a teasing nudge. "You must be pure enough to attract one, Evans."
"Sod off, Potter" she responded, but she was smiling.
As she continued to stare at the unicorn, James found his eye caught by something shimmering dully near his feet. Several unicorn hairs had been caught on the tangled branches. He knew they were unicorn hairs because they were untouched by the shadows and reflected the dim moonlight. He grinned to himself as he carefully pulled them free and tucked them into his pocket.
It was the perfect discovery with Lily's birthday coming up. He was sure he could convince her friend Astraea to incorporate them into a bracelet or something to make the perfect gift. Maybe then Lily would agree to go on a date with him.
But in order for the gift to remain perfect and unique, he had to make sure she didn't come across any unicorn hairs herself.
"Come on, we should keep going" he said, pulling her back to her feet. "At least we know this area is safe. Nothing else will come anywhere near a unicorn."
"Do you still know where we are?"
"Of course" he said, somewhat offended. "We're pretty close to the lake now."
"Maybe we should move a lot faster then" Lily said. Despite the comfort of the unicorn, she certainly wasn't eager to spend any additional time in the ever darkening forest.
"I can do that" James said, and in a moment, he appeared as a stag again. Kneeling, he allowed Lily onto his back. Even walking, he moved much faster than her. Setting off at a brisk pace, he covered ground rapidly. Lily focused on holding on and not slipping off. At least if she ever rode a horse, it would be extremely easy in comparison, she thought.
Finally the trees thinned and the lake opened out in front of them. On the other side, the castle's silhouette was speckled with window lights. Dinner would be long over and everyone in their common rooms. At least she had some snacks in her room somewhere. And one of her friends might have saved her something once they noticed she was missing. Otherwise it would be a very hungry night.
It took her a moment to realise James had stopped. "Am I supposed to be getting off?"
He nodded so she did.
"Thanks for not just tipping me off."
"I figured I'd only get away with that once" he said, straightening his jacket and messing up his hair.
"Why do you always do that?"
"Do what?"
"Never mind" she said. It wasn't really her business if he liked to mess up his hair and make himself look homeless.
He set off around the lake, stifling a yawn. He looked for subdued, his movements slower and almost dragged out. She followed him quietly, tired and bruised. Now that they weren't in immediate physical danger, she was able to realise exactly how tired and bruised. She had absolutely nothing to spare for conversation so they entered the castle in silence. The only time either of them spoke was when James gave the Fat Lady the password.
Lily was startled to catch sight of herself in a mirror. "Oh Merlin, I look like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards" she said before rushing up the stairs to wash.
"Bye then" James said to her retreating back before going over to where Sirius was.
Sirius was lounging over most of a couch with Astraea on his lap, ignoring him for a book. That didn't stop him trying to get her attention with a variety of methods. He was distracted from his latest attempts when James flopped down in the opposite armchair.
"Where have you been, mate? You missed dinner."
"I was in the forest with Evans."
"Why were you in with Evans? Did she lure you out there to kill you?"
"Nah, she fell off her broom and I failed to catch her and fell too."
"No wonder you look like death."
"Thanks, mate."
"No worries" Sirius said with a grin. "Remus saved you a plate of food. It's up in our room if you want it."
"I'll just sit here a moment. I changed four times so I don't think I'd even be able to get up the stairs."
"Four times? That's two too many."
"You're telling me" James said, taking off his glasses and closing his eyes. Within moments, he was asleep.
Upstairs in her room, Lily was sprawled out on her bed asleep as well. She never made it to the bathroom, but at that moment, she couldn't have cared less.