A/N: The games begin... Enjoy!
Story rating: M
Chapter rating: M (mild blood and gore, mild language, dark theme)
Disclaimer: All characters, settings and the general fantasy world belong to JK Rowling. I claim no ownership or profits whatsoever. The only purpose of this story is for my own enjoyment, and hopefully the enjoyment of those who visit this site. The rhyme at the end of the chapter (Humpty Dumpty) does not belong to me either - although I added some of my own words/lyrics.
Rain spilled from the heavy, dark clouds, gushing down in silvery sheets. Water pounded relentlessly against the ground, stomping down on the grass maliciously. Gurgling mud slopped and slithered along, rapidly conquering the large plot of grass.
Blinding sparks flashed menacingly in the sky, their spidery claws scratching at the darkness. A man was suddenly revealed in its glare, and the wind advanced upon him mercilessly.
He sobbed, stumbling in his panic as he floundered through the storm towards the Forbidden Forest. Shadows crept behind him slowly, taking pleasure in the hunt.
His body was covered in gashes, clean and sharp so that the blood seeped out deliciously. The shadows wanted to lick it up; to taste it; to become entwined with their victim.
The man tripped over a root, his wand flying out into the black abyss. His only protection had deserted him and his body shuddered into submission, fisting his hands into the mud in one final attempt to cling onto the world. He whimpered, scrunching his eyes shut and waiting for the inevitable.
A piercing scream slashed into the night.
It was the first day of term and Lily was running late. She sat in front of the wall-length mirror in her bedroom, speedily pulling her wavy hair into a loose ponytail.
"Beautiful, deary," chimed a sing-song voice, "but you really need to do something about those freckles."
Lily scrunched her nose in response and stuck out her tongue for good measure. She giggled as the mirror gasped in outrage.
"Such behaviour from a young lady!"
After she had finished with her hair, she stood up and waltzed over to the wardrobe - the heart and soul of her new bedroom. It was the most beautiful piece of furniture that Lily had ever seen, with images of dragons and other mystical beings carved into it, their bodies swirling in the polished wood. The wardrobe seemed to give off an electrifying aura that caused Lily's skin to prickle whenever she got close to it. Lily made a mental note to do some tests on it at some point, positive that it must hold some mysterious properties beneath it's glossy surface.
Perhaps it could transport me to another realm, she thought wistfully, her mind wandering to faraway lands where war did not exist.
As much as Lily loved being a part of the magical world, it had brought her an immense amount of pain in the last year. Her very existence had caused so much trouble without her even having to lift a dainty, little finger. Lily knew that, if she were ever presented the choice, she would exchange her magic for a life of peace.
A light knock at the door promptly put a stop to Lily's daydreaming. She went to the door and opened it, wondering whether her friends had somehow made their way into the heads dormitory. Instead of Mary or Marlene, however, she found James Potter standing there, looking as though he was in a bit of a rush himself.
"Hey," he greeted her, his eyes widening slightly as though he hadn't expected anyone to answer, "I thought you'd have gone already."
"I slept in," admitted Lily, cocking her head to the side and regarding him curiously.
Why is he here? she wondered. Personally, Lily did not feel that one conversation in seven years was enough to justify James Potter standing outside her bedroom door. She pondered over the possibility of whether he had social issues.
"Me too," he cut across her musings, "Are you ready?"
Lily blinked at him. "Ready?
"Well yeah," he said slowly, looking at her as though it was obvious.
"Oh right," she breathed, surprised that he had assumed they would be leaving together on the mornings. "Just a second."
Lily hurried over to the side of her bed to grab her bag and wand. She then summoned the text books she needed from her bookshelf and shoved them into her bag.
"Right," she said, "Lets go."
"As you wish, Miss Evans," he replied smoothly, holding out an arm for her.
She looked at him as though he had sprouted antlers.
"Erm, no thanks," she said politely, referring to the overly grand gesture.
He laughed and winked at her, "Suit yourself."
They both walked down the small staircase that connected the Head Girl's bedroom with the shared living space. The head's common room was overly large for just two people, but Lily liked the fact that there was enough room to swing a cat - not that she would ever partake in such activity, but it was nice to have the option nonetheless.
Nearly everything in the room was decorated with a red and gold colour scheme, in recognition of Lily's and James' Gryffindor roots. Lily thought that this was a nice touch, and it made her feel as though she was still connected to her house in spite of the separate living quarters.
Against the back wall was a fireplace, outlined by an ornate mantlepiece where a small statue of a lion prowled back and forth across the top. A small sofa and several mismatched armchairs surrounded the fire, similar to the set-up of the Gryffindor common room. In the centre of the room, there was also a large oak table with lots of plum-coloured chairs dotted around it - Lily supposed this was to provide them with their own study area.
Her most favourite thing about the common room, by several galaxies, was the enormous bookshelf that covered an entire wall. Lily loved to read, and had spent most of her first night scouring the shelves and forming a list of the ones she wanted to finish by Christmas - an admittedly long list.
Lily and James exited through a portrait of an eccentric-looking wizard, who was busy concocting a complicated-looking potion. The portrait connected them to the main corridor and they walked down it towards the Great Hall. As they reached the entrance of the Great Hall, they saw swarms of students who were already filing out, making their way to their first lessons.
"Do you think we have time to quickly grab something?" asked James longingly, echoing the exact thought that had just been running through Lily's mind.
Before Lily could answer, the bell rang to signal the five minute warning for the start of first period.
"Damn it," James swore quietly, glaring at the well-fed students as they passed him.
The petite redhead abruptly stopped walking and swung her blue, canvas rucksack in front of her. She delved inside, biting her tongue in concentration as she rummaged around the mess of books, and eventually pulled out two packets of treacle fudge. Lily always made sure to pack emergency snacks into her school bag on a morning - she was just resourceful that way.
"Want one?" she asked, holding a vivid-green packet out to him.
"Are you sure?" he questioned excitedly, taking it from her as carefully as though it were the Holy Grail itself.
He immediately ripped the package open and wasted no time in taking a bite.
"Mmmm," he groaned after swallowing the first piece, his eyes closed as he savoured the taste. "I could kiss you right now."
Lily stepped away from him slightly, unable to stop the blush from spreading across her cheeks. She was painfully aware that a few people had overheard James' little comment, and she cringed when one or two sniggers reached her ears.
Mental note to self, thought Lily, never give James Potter food ever again.
"I'll hex you if you do," Lily threatened.
"I would like to see you try," James shot back, his eyes glinting mischievously.
Their walk slowed to a stop as they reached the classroom where the Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson was about to take place. Lily loitered in the doorway, searching the classroom for Mary and Marlene. When she spotted them, she walked over to the front desk where they were sitting.
"See you later, Lily," James called after her.
"Bye, weirdo," she muttered under her breath once she was safely out of hearing range.
The final bell rang just as Lily plonked herself down onto the stool next to Marlene. She quickly greeted her friends before turning her attention to Professor Greene, who's booming voice was already reverberating around the classroom.
"Good morning, class. I trust you all had a relaxing summer?" he paused, giving the students a moment to respond to his question. Some merely nodded their heads or smiled in his direction, whereas others muttered quiet responses.
"Fantastic!" he beamed, his crooked teeth only just visible under the handlebar moustache. "Well then, as you all know, we still have two more topics to complete before your final examination. "
He swished his wand and pieces of paper appeared on each student's desk.
"This terms topic will be on dark creatures. In front of you, you will find a module outline which gives you an overview of what you will be learning, plus details on how you will be marked. I shall give you five minutes to read through this information before we set to work on the first creature."
Loud rustling filled the room as everybody picked up the pieces of parchment that had just appeared on their desks. Lily was feeling quite excited about starting a new topic and pulled the parchment towards her eagerly to begin reading:
DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS
NEWTS PROGRAMME OF STUDY - DARK CREATURES
Summary:
The purpose of this module is to develop your knowledge of a wide range of dark creatures. You will learn how to defend yourselves against them effectively and safely, using your understanding of a creatures strengths and weaknesses. This topic will be worth 20% of your overall mark.
Assignment information:
1) A written paper on a dark creature of your choice
The paper must include:
. General information - physicality, temperament, habitat, diet
. A description of why the creature is considered 'dark'
. Strengths and weaknesses of the creature
. 3-4 defensive spells and an explanation of why these are effective
Weighting: 50% of module mark.
2) Practical examination - defence against dark creatures
Examiners will be looking for:
. Efficient and effective spell use
. Confident decision-making
. Safe practice
. The ability to stay calm under pressure
Weighting: 50% of module mark
When the five minutes were up, the Professor called the class back to attention.
"Does anybody have any questions about what they've just read?" he asked, peering around the room in search of any uncertain or puzzled faces. "No? Right then. The first creature we will be looking at is a glymp."
The greying professor performed a zig-zag motion with his wand, which caused an image of a glymp to appear on the chalkboard. Lily resisted the temptation to scrunch her face in disgust, as she observed the evil-looking creature with sagging skin and beady, blood-red eyes.
"Can anybody tell me what a glymp is, and what it is known for? Mr Lupin?" he pointed towards the back of the room.
"It is an elf-like creature that harvests the blood of witches and wizards. They use the blood to increase their own magical powers," Remus answered.
"Well done, Mr Lupin. 10 points to Gryffindor. Now let's see," the professor paused here and smoothed out his moustache thoughtfully. "Speaking of their similarity with elves, does anyone know how to spot the different between the two?"
A girl from Hufflepuff, sitting at the opposite side of the classroom, tentatively raised her hand to answer the question.
"Yes, Miss Davies?"
"Its the eyes - I think," she said uncertainly, "don't glymps have smaller eyes that are red?"
The professor nodded encouragingly, "That is certainly one of the differences. Ten points. One other difference is that a glymp has a green tinge to their skin, whereas elves do not."
He stopped there and made a sharp jab with his wand. The picture disappeared from the board and was replaced with a brief description of a glymp. Lily quickly got a piece of parchment and a quill out of her rucksack and copied the information down.
"We are now going to move on to a glymp's weaknesses -"
Lily's hand darted into the air, preempting the question that was to come. Professor Greene chuckled at Lily's readiness and motioned for her to take over.
"A glymp's weakness is electricity, sir."
"Can you tell us why?" the professor prompted.
"The unnatural mixing of blood means that the molecule bonds are weak. If you used an electricity spell, the bonds would easily break because of the aggressive vibrations, eventually causing them to fry from the inside," answered Lily confidently.
"Excellent, Miss Evans! Another ten points for Gryffindor."
He jabbed his wand into the air again, and Lily's answer appeared on the board word for word. Lily hesitated before copying it down, feeling rather silly at quoting herself in her lesson notes.
"For todays and tomorrows lesson, you will be learning a variety of electricity spells that could be used to defend yourself against a glymp. You will be practising on each other, so please refrain from placing too much power behind the spells. The first one I want you to practise is Erangio."
The phonetic pronunciation of the spell appeared on the board: Eh-rang-ee-oh.
"The wand movement is as follows. Watch carefully now."
Professor Greene performed the wand movement slowly, before magicking a visual representation onto the board. He then clapped his hands twice, causing all of the desks to disappear.
"To work!" he boomed, and the students immediately began to form into groups.
Lily, Marlene and Mary practised in a three, taking it in turns to electrocute each other. It didn't take long for all three girls to perfect the spell, and they spent most of the class chatting amongst themselves whenever the professor was looking the other way.
It seemed as though only seconds had passed when the bell rang for the end of the first period. The rest of Lily's day continued in the same vein, her lessons flying by in a surreal blur, and her head already buzzing with thoughts of exams and coursework. Although she was happy to be back at Hogwarts, Lily predicted many a headache in her future.
Lily was physically and mentally drained once the time finally came round to dinner. She looked around the Great Hall dreamily, feeling as though she was watching the scene from behind the veil of another world. Candles floated idly by her, their flames dancing erratically. Lily watched the flickering fire and felt her eyes droop slightly, exhaustion creeping upwards through her body.
The exhaustion was soon replaced with shock when Marlene clapped loudly in front of her face.
"What the hell?" exclaimed Lily angrily, nearly falling backwards off the bench.
"I was talking to you but you were in Lily land."
"Oh, well in that case," Lily replied sarcastically, glowering at her friend.
"As I was saying," Marlene began with an amused smile, "it was interesting to see you and James coming into class together this morning."
Lily looked down at her food and stabbed at a roast potato moodily, "you clapped in my face for that?"
Mary patted Lily on the back, "Now, now Lily. Don't dwell on the past."
"Whatever," Lily grunted, irritation seething in her stomach.
"So," Marlene prompted, "what's he like?"
Lily stared at the roast beef on her plate with such intensity, that one would think she was trying to dissect the meaning of life from it's meaty strands. Eventually, she looked up at Marlene, a perplexed look on her face.
"He is okay, I suppose," said Lily thoughtfully. "He does creep me out a bit though."
"He creeps you out? In what way?" questioned Marlene, leaning across the table eagerly.
"In a variety of ways - but mainly in the 'monster hiding under your bed' way."
Marlene looked unimpressed by Lily's assessment, and physically slumped in disappointment. Lily was not sure what Marlene had wanted to hear, but it was obvious that 'creepy' did not fit in with her wild and wonderful fantasies of the mysterious James Potter.
"He can be the monster hiding under my bed any day," Mary piped in, raising her eyebrows suggestively.
"Mary!" exclaimed Lily, as Marlene choked with laughter.
"What? He is unnervingly attractive."
Lily didn't respond to this but silently agreed. She found her eyes drifting down the table to where James was sitting, currently in conversation with Sirius Black. As though sensing that someone was looking at him, he turned around and caught her eye.
She felt her face flush slightly at being caught but, despite the embarrassment, she found herself unwilling to look away. He smiled lightly at her and mouthed 'hello'. Lily smiled and waved back at him, before forcing herself to turn away. Try as she may, she couldn't quite concentrate on her friends' conversation after that - too much of her energy was being spent on controlling those pesky wandering eyes of hers.
As the end of dinner approached, several strange things happened.
Just as Lily's plate of food had disappeared, a barn owl swooped down and settled in front of her. The appearance of the owl was a shock in itself, due to the fact that post was usually delivered in the mornings. The second shock came when it released a single rose from its claws before promptly taking off again.
The rose was a beautiful red-orange colour, not far from the shade of Lily's own hair. It had no thorns along its smooth stem, and Lily was surprised to see no marks showing where they once existed. Midway up the stem, a small piece of parchment was held in place by a blue velvety ribbon.
She unfastened the ribbon, picked up the note and read:
Our gift to you.
Lily frowned. It was such a short and ambiguous message, clearly meant to keep her up at night. She turned it over in search of more writing, but not even a stray ink splodge could be found.
Well that's interesting, she thought.
She looked up to tell Mary and Marlene about her interesting gift, but the words died in her mouth when she noticed that they were both fixated on something across the hall. In fact, now that Lily was paying attention, she became acutely aware that everyone was looking in the same direction.
Lily followed the line of attention curiously, stopping when it reached the Slytherin table. Being quite small, Lily couldn't quite make out what people were staring at behind the mass of heads. She was just about to ask Mary what was happening, when an eeiree voice suddenly filled the room.
Cygnus Black was feeling quite sore
Screams suddenly erupted from the Slytherin table, as though the resounding voice had kickstarted time again. Lily immediately stood up and rushed towards the table to see what was happening, drawing her wand as she went.
He had bloody gushing from every pore
As she approached, she spotted what the source of the trouble was. All eyes were focused on three students - Severus Snape, Carina Avery and Cepheus Mulciber. In front of each of them sat an opened box, and whatever was inside these boxes seemed to be causing them great distress. She wondered what terrors the boxes contained.
Voldemort's horses and Voldemort's men
Lily warily walked towards Mulciber, who was nearest to her, and peered over his shoulder. She felt faint at the sight, and nausea built rapidly within her.
Good luck putting Cygnus together again
The world faded into black.
A/N: I hope people understand what happened there in the end. I was going for subtle, but I'm not sure if I crossed the line into EH?! territory.
Now a question for you lovely readers: The thing I find most challenging about writing is progressing the story whilst still making sure it flows. If anyone has any tips, or better yet wants to be my beta to help with this, please PM me.
Thank you for reading!