Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter, but I love her wizarding world.

Love Never Ends

By Aepple

Chapter 2: A Curious Rescue

Lily Evans mirrored her mother in beauty with bright green almond shaped eyes, fiery dark red hair, in intelligence, and above most things in curiosity. She intensely desired to know everything about anything around her. At school this quirk received encouragement with her Professors teaching her counterspells to almost any situation she encountered. In the Muggle world, however, her slips did not go unnoticed, as she was forbidden to use magic. She would simply smile, leave the mess where it lay, and accredit it all to ghosts and hauntings. This summer she determined her few days in the Muggle world would be peaceful. When the opportunity arose to visit a wizarding home, invited or not, she could not resist, and took it as an opportunity to escape.

"I'm going up the road to the house on the hill," Lily told Vernon and Petunia after dinner. They sat on the couch in the living room holding hands, and watching the tube.

"Don't do anything bizarre while you're gone," Petunia said yawning.

"What could happen?" Lily replied. In reality she would try her best, but also understood if the house on the hill truly belonged to wizards she had nothing to worry about. She felt at ease. After all she had turned 17 back in April, and as long as no Muggles followed her, she could fix anything that happened.

Nearing the massive structure, she instantly felt warm, missed sister, and wanted to go home. All of these feelings indicated to her that a magical barrier did in fact guard the house from intruders. A faint purple glow illuminated the house, an identifying mark that allowed her to break its concealment. She recited a few words, flicked her wand, and yellow sparks emerged. The trees changed to their normal dark green, and the house to its natural stone grandeur illuminated only by the moon through the trees.

She approached the door of this newer version of the house, and knocked rather loudly. She waited. She knocked again. No one was home. Not wanting to admit defeat she walked around to the back of the house. She could see that the basement lights were on. She knocked on the back door, and again was greeted with no answer. Peering through the basement window she could see a table for chess, a few lamps… and a dark haired boy. She couldn't tell who it was until he started talking. She'd know that voice from anywhere. It was James Potter, the arrogant, bullying, toe-rag from Hogwarts who thought he was the world's gift to women.

James Potter, her sworn enemy, constantly prattled around scrunching his messy black hair, pulled pranks, and found his way into & out of trouble. Of course he would live in a mansion and of course his family would have money. She thought to herself. It was all too apparent in his demeanor. He excelled at everything: Quidditch, Transfiguration, even Potions. He matched her top marks effortlessly in everything, but Charms. He bragged incessantly, and every girl swooned when he passed in the halls & would die to have their hands all on him, except her. He wouldn't stop incessantly asking her out, to this or that. Come to my Quidditch match, Come to Hogsmeade with me, he'd demand. It annoyed her, and if he'd just grow up maybe he'd have a chance with her.

He always tried to impress her by transfiguring her friends' things into lilies, roses, jewelry, soft mittens, and even her favorite books. She had to admit he had tack. He had everything, but she'd made her decision. She stubbornly wasn't going to let him win her as well. She couldn't stand him. The sound of his voice annoyed her and she began to walk away, which turned into a trot, and then a run deeper into the forest. She ran for a while, because she heard the door open, and his voice call out, "Who's there? If it's Sirius, I'm on my way." She could sense the smile in his voice, and it peeved her even more.

Great, she thought as she ran deeper into the now deep green forest. Sirius is around here somewhere too. Sirius Black, his companion in trouble, matched James' good looks, intelligence, and strange sense of humor. She ran a little deeper into the forest, not wanting James to see her. What were the chances that the Dursleys lived in Potter's hometown? He's not going to find me, she told herself. Besides she'd be gone by morning if she could find her way out of this forest.

During her hasty departure from Potter's residence, she forgot to exit the enchanted environment, which she would soon find only protected her from what lay in the forest. She ran until she came to a clearing, a meadow, where the moonlight shone brighter than ever. Ever so quietly she peered through the trees. She saw tall grass, violet flowers, and a large black dog standing in front of a large grayish brown werewolf. She blinked. Nothing changed.

Slowly, she took a step backwards. Hearing the crunch of the ground, the two figures turned their heads. She stopped. The dog growled, the werewolf howled and suddenly began running in her direction. After emitting a high pitched shriek, her body took over forcing her into a run that caused her to trip over a small vine. She could hear the footsteps of the werewolf approaching, and began to panic. She tried unsuccessfully to untangle her feet from the vines. Suddenly he was there, the werewolf, tall with sandy brown hair.

She fumbled for her wand and recited, "Protego Totalum!" Faint blue sparks emerged as it cast a shield up around her. Although holding for the moment, given her strength she knew it would not protect her forever. She quickly pulled herself together, untangled her feet, stood to her feet, and began to run.

She hadn't gotten far when she heard another set of footsteps behind her. Pulling out her wand she quickly turned around. "Who's there?" she whispered.

Amidst the greenery she saw another brown animal. Time stood still to her as she gazed into its hazel eyes. Little did she know that this was the first time she'd ever let James look her directly in the eye, the first time she would let him in, the first time she'd trust him. She knew he would run her to safety. Gently walking towards it, she pulled herself onto its back, clasped its neck, and let it run her the remainder of the way out of the forest. A smell of chestnuts and old spice filled the air as she rode. His run was gentle, but commanding. As they emerged from the woods, he continued to trot to the doorstep where she had seen Potter, which took her by surprise. Did James Potter's stag just rescue her from a werewolf? She asked herself. She dismounted perplexed and in awe.

Her wonder and amazement were interrupted as her sweet, beautiful, gentle stag transformed into no other than the tall messy haired obnoxious James Potter.

"Lily," he said kindly opening the door for her. "Wait in here; I'll be back."

She gaped at him motionless. She heard a faint howl from the forest and snapped out of her trance.

"Wait!" She grabbed her muscular well defined arm. "Now is not the time for heroics," she said stubborn and not moving.

He smirked with a witty reply, "Evans, I can't be hurt as an animagi." Grabbing her hand, he swiftly placed her over his shoulder, and securely inside his basement.

"James! Stop!" she yelled, blocking the door with her body. "You can't go back out there."

Looking directly into her eyes and closing the space between them he said, "I didn't know you cared so much." He knew she would in fact back down. She never had held his gaze for long. He didn't understand why fully.

The intensity of their eye contact grew, until Lily, looking down, whispered, "I don't."

Grasping her hands he said, "I'll explain more later, but I need to lead it further into the woods. One hour tops. Stay here. I'll be back." She relented and moved her to the side as he changed back into a stag and ran again into the forest.

No doubt, there was chemistry between Lily and James. Everyone saw it, even Lily herself, who refused to acknowledge it. If they weren't going to snog each other to death, they would bicker incessantly, even about something as serious as a werewolf. Lily paced the room too absorbed in her thoughts to take in her surroundings.

James is as stuboorn as ever, she thought. Does he really think he can take on a werewolf alone. Of all the stupid, inconsiderate, thoughtless things… Her thoughts went on like this for a while until she tired and sat down at the chess table. Sirius's jacket lay inches away and it smelled of garlic. Embroidered on its back were the names Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, the nicknames of James' crew. Padfoot, Lily thought. Within a few moments she knew. Remus was the werewolf, Moony. Sirius was the black dog, Padfoot. James was the stag, Prongs. Peter Petigrew, another member of the group collectively know as the Marauders was Wormtail. They were all animagi.

Author's Note: Thank you for all the reviews! I appreciated them! I plan to update weekly on Thursdays. The story line is written, as are a few of the chapters. During the week I go back, edit, and rewrite chapters to make them more fluid, detailed, and better written. If a chapter reaches 3000 words, I chop it in half. This happened to Chapter 1, as it also happened to this chapter. The original Chapter 1 will now span Chapters 1-3. Don't worry. Chapter 3 will be up next Thursday as it is mostly written.

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter, but I love her wizarding world.