*~*~*~*~*~*

Flirting With the Enemy

By; Sierra Sitruc

Email: ChristmasAngel87@hotmail.com

Chapter 5 Arachanubas

Lily and James whirled around into the direction of the growl and saw something they never wanted to see again.

It was eight feet tall, 4 feet wide, scaly, black, slimy, two fangs that were three inches long, eight legs with 6inch razor sharp claws sticking out of them, a member of the spider family and eats its victims in its nest. It was an Arachanuba. It always stuck out in your memory because of the way it ate its prey- first it wrapped you up in a sticky material so you couldn't move, but were still breathing, then it bit off your head.

Lily was never much of a screamer, and her lungs were well rested, maybe that was why her scream was so loud, and managed to annoy the monster before them.

James being the Auror that he is; quickly dropped Lily and started to run in the opposite direction of the monster not caring that he probably wasn't on the path and hoped Lily followed him, but Lily didn't have her shoe and stepped on a rock and tripped, and since she was bound to James he was brought magically back to her.

Lily could only think of her fear, and the terrible fate ahead of her. She could hardly think straight, let alone think of an escape!

Before they could do anything they were both whacked with gobs of sticky ness, and the Arachanuba came over to them, and if it could Lily swore it was grinning. It picked them up and carried them to its nest. This was up in a tree, 15 feet of the ground.

James was trying his hardest to get to his wand, but the sticky substance had quickly dried and now it felt like brick and it was almost impossible to move. The situation seemed hopeless.

James looked at Lily, he could see her face- and she was still screaming bloody murder. James was trying to keep calm so he could get out of there. Although James had heard of plenty encounters with the Arachanuba; he'd never heard any survivor stories. So maybe he and Lily could be the first. They could be on Chocolate Frog Famous Wizard Cards, and on them it would say "First Survivors of Arachanuba!" it would be in all the papers. James looked around for something he could use.

He really couldn't see much of anything. The nest they were in was covered with the same black goo, that was on him self. James tried to move his legs and arm, but failed.

Lily wasn't looking for an escape; she was trying to get all the fear that had crept inside her; out. Her screaming was making her hoarse, so finally she stopped and started watching what the monster was doing.

As James looked around the nest he saw something sickening, and he prayed Lily didn't look above her, because right above her head was a headless body- more like its skeleton. It gave James the creeps just looking at it. What to do, what to do!? James thought getting desperate for something to do.

James' mind went back to Professor Kettleburn's class, 5th year.

"The Arachanuba saves its prey to eat until the moon is high in the sky and only at night. So I suppose it doesn't eat on the new moon. Nobody knows why it chooses to eat at this hour, it just does. So you'll be lucky if it catches you right a night fall and mind you that is the only time it can catch you. It is a night creature…"

James grinned slightly in relief; he had a few hours until he had to really be worried. The monster on the other hand was looking bored as it stared up at the sky- the moon couldn't be seen! It was cloudy and rainy!

As if an answered prayer- it began to pour down rain. It drowned out Lily's whimpers (that had been killing him in emotional pain) and soaked him, and while being soaked the rain softened the substance that held them.

James grinned, and looked at Lily who had obviously noticed too, she was trying to get away. James was having trouble getting loose, the black stuff was thick, and made it hard to get to what he wanted- his wand.

Lily was having more trouble then him, she had noticed the skeleton above her head, and her screams carried to him, even through the rain pouring into his ears.

The two struggled for hours with the black bondings, and were feeling distressed, as the rain poured on them, and the moon got higher in the sky. They couldn't see it, and either could the Arachanuba, but Lily and James had a feeling it would just know when it was time to…eat them.

The rain was slowing down, when James finally was loose enough that he could reach his wand. He grabbed it, and while the Arachanuba wasn't looked directly at him, stunned it.

He leapt to his feet- tripping over the clumps of black stuff in the process and climbed over to Lily who was still in a mess.

"James- help, help, help, help, help!" Lily whimpered, panicked and keeping her eyes on the Arachanuba. James started to pull the black stuff off Lily, who was pleading with him to go faster.

"I'm going as fast as I can Lily, don't worry." James said soothingly and Lily surprisingly Lily stopped whining.

"James Potter if I die here- I'd like you to tell my parents I love them and tell my sister- to shove a broom up her ass." Lily grinned at him, and that made him know she was joking, and knew they were going to escape.

The Arachanuba was coming out of its state of stupor, when Lily was free.

Now after a bad experience, some people are emotionally…how do I say this; well you all know what I'm talking about. Lily was the type of person who needed a hug. So as soon as she was free she gave James a hug.

He wanted to hold her forever, but the Arachanuba was waking up and so they hurried out of there. Climbing out of a nest 15 feet in the air isn't easy, but Lily and James did it in record time.

They got down, chose a direction (since they had no idea where they were) and took off running like the wind.

They didn't stop running for a long time, finally they collapsed in a clearing where they weren't any trees. They looked around once they'd caught there breath, and discovered there was a large house sitting smack dab in the middle of the clearing.

"The Hopkirks!" James shouted, pointing.

Lily looked at the house and her heart dropped. From one danger to another she thought miserably. "All right let's get going." She said and they started trudging toward the house.

"Err Lily?" James said stopping their walk.

"Yeah?"

"I hate to do this- but since you're a death eater and everything- they're going to want you to be- restrained."

"Oh." The two had to stop while Lily was once again bonded by straps, and James took the binding charm off. James felt strangely empty with out it.

"I'm really sorry Lily, really I am." James said looking at her as he floated her towards the house.

"Really? Aren't you supposed to hate me, and want to kill anyone like me?" Lily asked getting angry.

"Uh, yeah- but-." James stuttered, he had something he wanted to say but Lily was making it difficult.

"James, really we're on different sides of this "war" as some people call it. We can't be friends, or anything else. I don't want to make you feel sorry for me. I'm going to Azkaban, your taking me, and that's that okay?" Lily said, but her thoughts were a different story. This is so unfair! I finally meet a nice guy, who's sweet, funny, smart; perfect for dating, and we're enemies! No fair!

James looked hurt, but tried to hide it as best he could by looking away. Lily felt like her heart was being ripped apart, slowly.

"Fine, if that's the way you want it-." James started.

"Yes." Lily said firmly. The rest of the trip was silent, they entered the Hopkirks house and were met by Hanie, she was a bit older then James and when she saw Lily her eyes popped out.

"Oh my God! You're alive!" She screamed at James and ushered him inside. "What the Hell happened? OH you have to tell me!"

"Hanie, all I need is your fire place and some floo powder; I have to get the prisoner to headquarters." James said the word prisoner, like some swear word.

Hanie led them into her living room, all the while rambling about how they were in the news- ("Top story everyday! No one knew where you were; they thought You-Know-Who had gotten you!") Lily was surprised that they were in the news and all the wild theories they had come up with. The one that stood out the most in her mind was one that said she'd seduced him and gotten him to trade to the Dark Side. Lily could never do that- it wasn't of her nature.

James bid Hanie a VERY fast good bye and went through the fire by floo, and arrived at the Ministry Headquarters. As soon as they got there they were met by a rush of workers who whisked Lily off away from James, who looked disappointed to see her go.

James was confronted by Sirius, Remus and Peter who clobbered him with manly hugs. All were very relieved to see James alive.

"Honestly you guys think she could have killed me? How could you doubt my power?" James said pretending to be hurt, but at the same time looking in the direction Lily had been taken.

"No of course not, uh James- what's all that stuff on you?" Remus asked noting the black smudges up and down James; it had clung to his clothing like dry mud.

James tried to change the subject. "What are you guys all doing here so late?"

"We wanted to see you if you came by- we thought you were DEAD!" Sirius told him, "Now what is the black stuff- it's disgusting!"

"Oh, I had a run in with an Arachanuba." James said as casually as he could. He didn't feel like telling them the whole story that had happened only a few short hours ago. James quickly recounted what had happened, and his friends were shocked that he'd escaped alive. James wasn't into the story at all his thoughts had wandered…

James was worried about Lily- he knew she was going off to have a very- "Pleasant" meeting with Dementors, he hadn't warned her about it, he figured she knew. The Dementors would keep her in check when she went places. Keep her chained at all times. An all out horrible experience. James hated the Dementors, and the thought that they had Lily made him feel sick. She would be questioned very soon, probably by Arabella Figg. He wondered if he'd ever see her again…

"Earth to James Potter, Earth to James Potter!" Sirius was saying waving his hands in front of James' face like a maniac and finally James snapped out of his thoughts of Lily.

"Oh Sorry, I was just thinking is all." James said, but his friends weren't stupid.

"Uh James did something happen? I know it was a while you were gone- what? Four days?" Remus asked.

(A/n I don't know if that's right, I sort of lost track…)

"Yeah, so?" James asked rudely.

"What Mr. Moony is trying to say is- do you have feelings for the little Death Eater or what?" Sirius put in.

James' mouth dropped open in shock. What are they thinking!? Of course not, not Lily- sweet, smart, funny, beautiful- DEATH EATER! I don't like her of course not. James told himself.

"No I don't like her, but she wasn't as bad as I thought she would be…" James' voice trailed off.

"Did she t-tell you things?" Peter asked nervously.

"Some things, but not a lot, she didn't like talking about it.' James answered.

"Probably because she didn't want her master to mistrust her." Sirius muttered.

"I actually don't think she's a bad person- she just got tangled up in a mess of some sorts." James said thoughtfully.

"You could be right James, but I'm telling you it's not likely at all." Remus said, shaking his head at his friend.

"It's true then, she seduced you!" Sirius announced loudly and several ministry workers looked his way.

"Shut up Sirius!" James shouted. "I don't like her, she didn't seduce me- we just talked!" James said quieter.

"Uh huh, right…" Sirius said.

"Come on James you need to get some sleep it looks like you haven't slept it days! Well you probably haven't, but anyway you need sleep." Remus told his friend, who truly hadn't had much sleep that week.

"Yeah, I'm tired but-." James stopped himself from saying 'I don't think I could sleep', he would be too busy worrying about Lily. True she'd kind of told him off, it couldn't change how he felt for her. It's only friendship. James told himself firmly. Though a small voice in his head said there was more.

"Come on Prongs, it's off to bed!" Sirius said, and his friends all apparated to James' flat.

"Ah, home sweet home- damn it stinks! Sirius what did you do!?" James asked looking around his home- it was covered in trash.

"OH don't have a fit!" Sirius said and cast a quick spell and all the trash was cleared away.

"Thanks." James said flatly and fell on his couch where surprisingly he fell straight asleep. Remus Sirius and Peter looked on at their friend and left him there to go into the kitchen to talk.

They sat around the kitchen table wondering what had happened; James had seemed reluctant to talk about it.

Finally Sirius voiced what they were thinking. "What do we do? I think he really likes her!"

"I don't know, most likely nothing. He'll get over her-."

"What if he loves her?" Sirius asked.

"How can you fall in love with someone within a few days?" Peter piped up.

"You can Pete, I just hope James didn't, or he's in for a world of pain." Remus said shaking his head in pity for his friend.

"Yeah, it would suck to have some one you cared about go to Azkaban." Sirius said. (A/N winces as she writes)

Remus shuddered. "Those Dementors give me the creeps; they are definitely on the dark side."

"And yet they handle Death Eaters." Sirius said chuckling softly.

"So do you know when they're taking James in for questioning?" Peter asked. (A/n what an intelligent question!)

"Probably tomorrow morning. I bet they've already started questioning Lily. I still can't believe she was a Death Eater, she was so sweet in school." Sirius said.

"I know, everyone liked her- even Snape!" Remus said laughing at the memory of Snape.

"Really?" Sirius and Peter asked, totally appalled.

"Yeah, he was head over heels for her- I wouldn't be surprised if he followed her into becoming a Death Eater!" Remus laughed, and soon they all apparated to their homes, except Sirius who lived there.

*~*~*~*~*~*

~Ministry Headquarters, a cell in the basement~

Lily looked around her, and she felt despair. She saw a few familiar Death Eaters who were getting ready to be sentenced, the same ones from the night she'd gotten caught.

Lily all of a sudden felt fear and sadness sweep over her, and knew immediately that a Dementor had come to collect her.

Actually it was two of them.

They entered the place where Lily was held, and picked her up by her arms, and tugged her to follow them.

Lily whimpered as all her horrible memories hit her; again and again.

Her mind drifted to the night Voldemort had finally caught up to her: the worst night of her life. Then to the memory of the Arachanuba and being captured by James then surprisingly saying good bye to him. It hadn't been much of a goodbye anyway.

Lily had only been in the cell for an hour, she was tired but couldn't sleep in there. So when she entered the questioning room she didn't notice the familiar face of Dumbledore sitting there along with Arabella Figg, the questioner.

She did however notice the vile of Veritaseum sitting on the table.

Lily gulped; she heard that those potions were painful. Lily fought the tears stinging her eyes, and the Dementors forced her into a chair and then left the room. Lily hadn't noticed they had chained her into the chair as well.

"Miss Evans?" Dumbledore asked her calmly, he showed compassion in his eyes, but Lily barely noticed it- because of the fact that she was overly tired and scared out of her wits.

"Huh?" Lily asked.

"We would like your cooperation for this, please." He said and Arabella appeared with the potion in her hand and gave it to Lily who drank it willingly, but quickly regretted it.

Lily felt a burning feeling go down her throat like fire. Then it entered her system, and Lily lost all control of what she could and could not say. Lily felt helpless and vulnerable in this state, and wanted it to end, but it went on.

It's a miserable feeling having no control over your self. Lily looked drowsily up and Arabella.

"What's your name?" Arabella asked.

"Lillian Mary-Ann Evans the 4th." Lily answered- her family was big on tradition.

"Good."

"Are you a Death Eater?"

"Yes."

"What is you prisoner number?"

Lily didn't know this, but somehow it came right out of her mouth. "122587."

"It seems to be working Professor, would you like to have a go?" Arabella asked kindly.

"Yes, thank you."

*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter 6--