Chapter 14: Emerald Snake

The hall was dark and silent. Lily held her baby close to her chest. Suddenly an explosion rumbled the house, Lily jumped and ran into his bedroom and shut the door.

"You think a door will stop me??" a voice boomed behind it. Scared, Lily turned her body away from the door, shielding her son.

Another explosion plowed the door down and the flash of green light hit her body.

"NO!" Lily screamed her last words.

"NO!" the sudden outburst startled James. Running into the cave he saw Lily thrashing and screaming.

"Lily!" he grabbed her arms, holding them and attempting to stop her sudden movements.

"Lily! It's James, wake up!" she gasped, taking in a huge breath of air, as if being submerged underwater and finally coming up for that breath of life. Tears ran down her cheeks and she shivered as if they were in the mountains.

"James," she whispered.

"Hey," he stroked her sweaty brow, "I'm right here, nothing's going to happen to you."

She opened her eyes and took in the surroundings.

"Where are we?" she was still breathing heavy, that dream was almost like reality.

"We're in a cave a couple miles east of Natalie's house. Do you remember what happened?"

She closed her eyes and went back; Christmas, James, explosion, Riddle…

Her eyes snapped open, "Riddle. What happened? Is everyone ok?"

"Yes, we're all fine, just a few cuts and bruises. Besides you, Natalie has a severely sprained or broken ankle, but we're fine. Just waiting for you to open your eyes…" he kissed her forehead.

She smiled, feeling completely safe with James here now. But that dream…it felt so real, like she was actually there, actually feeling what was happening…

"How do you feel now? Any pain?"

"I don't think so…," she sat up slowly, "OW!" James chuckled, "Ok, maybe not better yet..."

"Let me see," his hands moved around her body, feeling all the cuts and bruises, "well you've stopped bleeding that's good…" He paused, concern written all over his face.

"What?" Lily questioned scared, "James?"

He turned over her arm, searching completely, "How long have you had this?" Lily sat up and looked at her right arm. A symbol was etched into her skin, an emerald snake, the same jewel tone as her eyes. It curved around a dark black pole and looked straight out at them with blood red eyes and its tongue out.

"I've never seen that before in my life," Lily looked up at James and all of the sudden a burst of pain shot up her arm.

"JAMES!" she screamed, "Make it STOP!" James was utterly confused, one second she was talking and completely fine and the next she was writhing in pain on the ground…until he looked at her arm. The snake was glowing and moving. He touched the mark and it burned his fingers.

"James!" Alice suddenly appeared and very disheveled, "what's going on?"

"I don't know! I found this mark on her arm and she was fine, but then she started screaming about pain and the mark is moving and glowing. I don't know what to do!" he looked at her troubled.

Alice grabbed some water which the girls had found and brought up after arriving and put Lily's arm in it. The water sizzled and ceased Lily's screaming into panting.

"What is this?"

"Come on! We don't have time!" Alice whispered. James picked up Lily and followed her to the back of the cave.

"What's going on Alice?" James whispered but Alice silenced him. Not moving, James held Lily close and listened. At first he couldn't hear anything, but then there were voices.

"I thought you said she would be here,"

"This is the way they went Master, she is here I know it!"

"Maybe I need new people to help me, huh Lucius?"

"She was marked though! The mark never lies."

"Search the perimeter, find her, keep her alive, and bring her to me,"

James looked at Alice then down at the now sleeping Lily in his arms. What to do? Riddle and his followers were outside looking for them right now and there was no way that he was going to let them touch Lily. Stroking her cheek he smiled at how beautiful she was sleeping and how much he truly loved her.

Alice motioned for them to follow. They wound through darkened and damp tunnels in the cave that James didn't even know existed. Finally they arrived in another open end where everyone else had disappeared to. Natalie was propped up against the one dry wall, Remus attending to her, and Sirius and Peter playing wizards chess…where did they get that?

"Prongs!" Remus noticed him, "How is she?"

"Getting better, but we found this on her arm and Riddle was just outside the entrance. What do you think of it?"

"It's a tracking charm. You can place them anywhere on a person and the spell causes the castor to be drawn to their presence and know where they are at all times."

"Well Riddle and Malfoy were just outside the cave looking for her," James sighed, "is there any way we can get it off? Soon?"

"There's a spell…but I can't remember it right now…"

James was flustered. After realizing the one person in his life was almost dead, healing and finally awake, she was now being tracked by one of the most notorious killers we have ever seen. What was he going to do? Could he protect her forever?

"What's the plan, Remus?"

"Well we have plenty of brooms…we figured we could just fly out when the coast is clear…we don't know where yet, maybe to Hogwarts so we can talk to Dumbledore. Both Natalie and Lily need healers so we should probably leave as soon as possible…"

"I'm going to check if they're still here," James laid Lily down softly.

"Oh no mate," Sirius got up, "You're not going anywhere without us."

The tunnel was incredibly dark but they refused to light their wands. It was also incredibly quiet…almost too quiet. Even the water that ran down the sides of the walls was hushed.

"Something's not right…" James whispered to the others, "Come on!" They all ran outside, wands raised, but no one was there.

"James, where are they?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know…" suddenly a bright light and a scream echoed from inside the cave. The four boys ran inside.

"No…"

"Nice to see you too, Mr. Potter," Riddle smirked his wand pointed at the now awake Lily's throat.



A/N: sorry this has taken so long, with me writing is fun but also hard when you lose your train of thought and want to make it good for everyone!  I hope you like it and I will try to update as much as possible! Thanks and please submit reviews they really help!