Lily momentarily wondered, as her body collided with the floor, if this is what the cruciatus curse felt like. She knew that her Aunt Hermione had experienced it once, but her mother scolded her for even asking such a thing. But Lily wondered right now, if this was the kind of pain that Hermione had experienced. Her chest was burning where the curse had collided with her, her head was pounding and her back aching from the impact. When she opened her eyes, for a brief moment, her world was so blurred that she could only see swirls of colours, and then, when the initial disorientation had passed, her world resolved into a numbing pain and the bright light of an otherworldly sun, staring down at her.

Lily felt the ground beneath her, soft and new against her widened palms, it felt just like the grass around the burrow used to when she watched the stars with Roxanne. Lily turned her head to the side but all she could see was a world awash with trees and tall grass. Turning to the left she saw something else; wide open fields stretched out before her, running off into the sky beyond, and there, just over the hill that she was lay atop, stood the silhouette of a person.

Lily pushed herself upwards and sat looking towards the shadow making its way across the horizon. She wondered if she should call out to the person on the opposing hillside, but she decided better of it and clambered ungracefully to her feet. Lily turned on the spot, just to gather her surroundings; behind her was a rather large house, next to it a barn, with a road running up to it. The field she was in was enclosed by a long wooden fence that stretched the length of the hillside; in the opposite field stood several cows. The young witch turned again to see the person in the opposing field, they were moving, albeit haphazardly towards her. Surveying them closer, she noticed that their shoulders were slightly slumped and they were dragging their left foot along. Deciding that she could offer them some assistance, if need be, Lily began to walk towards the stranger in the opposite field.

"Hello," Lily called, as she got closer to the person. "Excuse me, sorry, but I'm afraid I've gotten lost. Can you tell me where I am?" It made Lily jump, the speed in which the person snapped their head around to survey her could be described as quite frightening. However, the speed that the man travelled towards her frightened the young witch more. It wasn't the speed in which he turned his head, or the speed that he advanced on the young witch, that made her yell out in fright, but the inhuman growl that came from its mouth. "Sorry…" Lily said, trying to remain calm "Didn't mean to interrupt whatever it was you were doing… I'll just be-um- Oh, Merlin!"

Lily stumbled backwards as she took in the full appearance of the man. His face, she now noticed, was covered in blood. His shirt was tattered and torn and what looked to be a large gaping bite stretched from his left side towards where a bellybutton should have been. Lily reached for her wand and pulled it from her pocket; she pointed it threateningly at the man- thing, which was coming towards her. She stumbled backwards a little and tried to sound as brave as she possibly could be. "Look, I don't want any trouble. Please… Just leave me alone and I'll go right away. Whatever you have done or whatever is wrong with you, I'm sure you can get help… but just not from me." Despite her reasoning, the thing still wandered towards her, growling and reaching out to grab her.

Lily retreated a few steps and yelped as she stumbled on the uneven ground. Falling onto her back she screamed as the thing came down next to her. It grabbed at her leg and snapped its teeth but Lily kicked it away. Lily snatched her wand from the ground as the thing came back for a second go at her leg; she aimed and closed her eyes. "Flipendo!" She yelled, feeling the grip from around her leg release and the satisfying thud as the thing hit the ground.

Scrambling up from the ground Lily heard shouts coming from off in the direction of the farmhouse. Lily glanced over at the thing that was slowly making its way back onto its feet and decided that the farmhouse was the best place she could go. She turned, not giving the thing behind her a second glance, and ran towards the farmhouse.

When Lily reached the fence she realised that her legs were shaking. She managed to hoist herself over the fence and begin to stumble towards the farmhouse where several silhouettes had emerged onto the porch. Other figures, at least four by Lily's calculation, were running up the dirt track towards her.

"Help!" Lily yelled at the advancing figures. "Help, please!" The four came to a halt in front of her and Lily caught the fence to steady herself. She tried not to look at the guns that were pointed in her direction.

"You been bit?" The one man, he wore a sheriff's uniform, one that looked similar to the American police shows that Louis watched with Lily a couple of summers ago.

"Bit?" Lily asked, confused. "No… no I was attacked. I haven't been bitten… there was this thing in the field, it attacked me. I was lost and it just- it just jumped at me…" Lily tried to compose herself but her voice came out in gasps and tears began to roll down her cheeks. "I'm lost," she sobbed, sliding down the fence, still keeping her hand atop it. "Please- please will you help me?"

There was a crunch of gravel as a woman walked over to Lily. Her hair hung loose over her shoulders and she didn't carry a gun like the others. "Lori," Said the man in the sheriff's uniform.

"Don't be stupid, Rick. She's just a child." The woman wrapped her arms around Lily's shoulders and helped her to stand. "Come on, we'll have Hershel take a look at you."

Lily took the woman's help gratefully and together they wandered towards the farmhouse, the three men following cautiously behind them.

I hope you liked this chapter. Hopefully they will get longer soon. :) Thank you for reading, reviewing and favoriting.