Chapter six

Of Bathroom predicaments, Hogsmeade trips and Centaurs


"Lily?"

"Hmm?" she replied drowsily.

"Lils? Get up," a voice coaxed her gently.

"Mmm..."

"Come on, Lily. Time to wake up!" An arm rubbed soothingly on her shoulder and she sighed in content.

"Wakey wakey Lilybear!"

"Hmm...not now. Maybe later." Lily muttered.

"Come on, Lils. We have to get up now," James said softly, still massaging her shoulders gently.

"No!" she said stubbornly.

"LilyFlower!"

"Come back tomorrow," she whispered, snuggling into James' shirt, almost inaudibly.

James chuckled. "Come on, Lils."

"Shh," she said sleepily. "Penguins...tap-dancing."

James smiled, amused. "Really?"

"Hmm...and the frog...singing competition...qualified for the second round," she went on. She mumbled something which sounded oddly like a slightly muffled 'It's doing well' and smiled, as though satisfied.

James laughed, amusement and fondness evident on his face, as he caressed her cheek gently.

"Rise and shine, Flower," he said and moved back slightly to allow her some space to get up.

She made a sound of protest and snuggled more comfortably in his shirt.

She sighed. He smiled.

James ran a finger lightly through her hair and gently caressed the fiery red locks, looking at her sleeping form. Her hair was completely tangled and spread about messily. Her mouth was hanging open slightly, and one eyebrow was raised funnily.
She was still the most beautiful person he'd ever seen.

He stroked her cheek softly for a moment, and then prodded her gently.

"You need to get up now, Lils."

"Not now...too early...go away," she mumbled unintelligibly, pouting slightly.

"But it's Sunday!"

"But I don't want to!"

"And it's our Hogsmeade trip today! Hurry up or we'll be late!"

Not that this provoked any sort of reaction from the still sleeping seventeen year old red-head witch.

James leaned down, so much that he could feel her warm breath on his face sending tingles down his spine, and murmured her name softly. Her eyelids fluttered open instantly, as she looked around her. Well, there was only one thing she could see, right above her, staring her down.

"James! What the hell are you doin-oh. Right...hands...still stuck...yea," She could feel her face getting hotter by the second, as the events of yesterday night flashed through her mind. She couldn't, for the life of her, explain her actions. But then again, she reasoned with her herself, what was she to do when the boy was practically straddling her? I mean, it was totally and completely natural for her to do that, wasn't it? 'I mean, what could have I done? I just...rested my head on his shoulder which just happens to make a comfortable pillow! Psh!'

She was still feeling apprehensive, though. Clearly, there was something wrong with her. There had to be! James, oblivious to her internal batte with herself, looked at her.

"Well well, someone's finally decided to join those awake, huh?"

He grinned. She rolled her eyes.

"What time is it?"

"Uh...about ten thirt-Lily?"

"What?" she all but yelped. "Why didn't you wake me up before?"

He put his left hand above his heart and said solemnly, "I tried my very best."

He winked. She chuckled.

"Let's get ready," she said and made to get up.

They got up with some difficulty and Lily, still feeling awkward about the position in which she'd awoken this morning, started brushing some imaginary dirt off her shirt. She looked over and James, who seemed perfect at ease, content even, and felt her cheeks get slightly red. He didn't seem to mind the position in which he'd awoken.

"Hey...wait a minute. You said it was our Hogsmeade trip?"

"Yep," he replied, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Today?" she was sounding a bit hysterical now.

"Ye-es," he replied, clearly amused.

"We can't go," she said frankly.

"Why?"

"Because."

"That's not an answer!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Well, of course we can't go! The spells only worked when it came to cleansing! It's been almost a week since I last washed my hair! And no way am I going anywhere with this!" she said, pointing to the tangled mess that was her bed hair.

"Well, hate to break it to you Lils, but we have to go to Hogsmeade today. McGonagall said we'd have to arrange the Winter Ball, and we need to get the supplies tod-Lily?" he cut in abruptly, as she started banging her head against the table.

"We could just go another day?"

"And when do you propose we do?"

She groaned. He grinned.

"I don't know what the big deal is. I mean, it's not that the students haven't seen us like this 'til now."

"James,"

"Lily?"

"I need to take a shower. The simple cleaning spell won't work out today."

That wiped the grin right off his face.

"I-you-what?"

"Well, glad to see you're finally catching up," she said dryly, though a hint of nervousness could be detected in her voice.

"Um...right," was his intelligent reply.

She fingered the hem of her shirt, trying to keep her hand busy.

"Well..."

James cleared his throat. "So...which bathroom do...we use?"

"Heads' bathroom," she said and closed her eyes tightly for a moment.

He nodded slightly. "Right, well...we'll need to take our clothes and all..."

She sighed, closed her eyes briefly, raised her wand and cast the summoning spell wordlessly. A black colored jeans and a rather beautiful purple top, along with a pair of black sandals came flying towards her from the girl's dorm. She waved her wand again, and a cream colored sweater came zooming towards her. She caught it with her free hand and turned towards him.

"What are you going to wear?"

"You had that planned out?" he asked.

"Nah...they're the first thing in my cupboard, according to what I was thinking anyways. The sweater, yeah, that I had to match somewhat."

She shrugged. He grinned.

"Well, I guess you can try the same experiment with me too, then."

He shrugged. She grinned.

She pointed her wand towards the boy's dormitory, closed her eyes and said, "Accio!"

A pair of black colored trousers and a brown shirt, along with a pair of black shoes, once again made their way over to Lily. She handed him his clothes, before raising her wand again and summoning a deep brown sweater.

"How did you know I had a brown sweater? I haven't worn it much."

She shrugged. "I had a hunch."

With that, they made their way out of the common room, towards the Heads' lavatory. Thankfully, owing to the Hogsmede trip today, students were already in the Great Hall tucking away, which saved them a lot of embarrassment which otherwise was sure to come their way.

They turned a corner and found the staircase, but it was leading to another corridor on the fifth floor, in the opposite direction of their bathroom.

"Let's just get on. It's about to change anyways," James said, and sure enough, the staircase had started wobbling slightly.

She nodded in assent and they climbed. Just as James had predicted, after they had climbed about two steps, the staircase gave a sudden jerk and rushed towards the opposite side. The sudden jerk caused James to lose his balance and he fell straight on top of Lily.

They were sprawled across the stairs, legs tangled together in a rather awkward position and their clothes being the only thing to separate their bodies from touching completely.

His eyes locked with hers and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't take them off. There was something about her eyes...something about her that always held his eye. Always grabbed his attention.

She stared in his eyes, not being able to tear her gaze away. She noticed his eyes properly for the first time. They weren't the brown color she's always thought. Hazel. A rather beautiful shade of hazel. 'What is wrong with you Lily?'

Cheeks burning, she cleared her throat awkwardly. James, snapping from his train of thoughts, got off of her immediately, his cheeks the same color as hers.

"Sorry...I los-lost control-"

"Oh no...it's uh-alright."

"Stupid stairs," he grumbled.

"Yea..."

And with that they started climbing the rest of the stairs. Once in the corridor, they made their way over to the painting of Grapevine the Great.

"Password?" the uniformed man in the painting asked.

"Tipple Wipple," she said.

"Wrong. The password's been changed, Miss Head Girl."

"And who changed the password?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"Mr. Head Boy."

She turned towards James and raised an eyebrow. He cleared his throat meaningfully.

"Slytherin's Slime," he said clearly.

"Very well then," said the portrait and opened wide.

She looked at him incredulously.

"That has got to be the most stupid thing I've ever heard!"

"But true!"

"Fine. That has got to be the most stupid, but true, thing I've ever heard!"

He chuckled. She joined in.

"Honestly though, what were you thinking?"

"Well...it alliterated!"

She gave him a dry look.

"Plus, this ensures that the Slytherins won't be able to sneak inside the Heads' lavatory!"

He smirked. She laughed.

"Alright then genius. Whatever you say."

He winked. She shook her head.

"Will you two be entering anytime soon, or shall I wait here, open for anyone to just walk inside the whole day?"

They rolled their eyes simultaneously and walked inside. Lily pulled, well more like dragged, James to the rack near the bathtub. She opened the tap with hot water and let it fill the tub, while they kept their stuff on the rack.

James closed the tap once the water was filled to the brim. He had just peeled off his shirt when he noticed Lily hadn't made any sort of movement, and didn't look like she planned to any time soon either.

"Lily?"

She turned towards him. Her eyes widened as she saw him and, cheeks heavily flushed, turned her head as quickly as possible.

"Y-yea?"

Not that James was very comfortable about the whole situation either. Sure, he loved her. He knew it since last year. But he wouldn't ever push her into anything. He wanted her to love him too, of course. But not like this. How much he'd changed, how much he'd learned from her. He wanted her to see it, and love him back for who he was. Not because they'd been forced to spend time together.

"Uh...we'll have to-you know-make a start...I-"

"Right."

"Yea..."

"Well considering it's your right hand and my left hand which are attached, I'll just have t-to get in there first. I'll conjure a curtain, of sorts, in the middle. And then you can-yeah-get in and we can-yeah-just-", she made a random gesture with her hand, doing anything to keep the free one busy.

"Right. Yeah. Cool. That's a good plan. Smart. Brilliant even-"

"James?"

"Lily?"

"Shut up."

"Okay."

They looked at each other for a moment, before breaking down into peels of chuckles.

"Funny how our rambling can lighten the mood, isn't it?" James asked, still smiling.

She just shook her head, though her smile was still in place.

"Turn. Now. And. Don't. Face. This. Side. Till. I. Don't. Tell. You. To. Clear?"

"Yes ma'am."

He winked. She rolled her eyes.

"Git."

"I heard that!"

"Good!"

He laughed, just as he was pulled backwards, as she got into the tub. A little bit of scrambling and then he heard her mumbling an incantation. A few seconds later, he heard the sound of something being pulled across, and turned around.

"Okay, you can turn now."

"Who said I'm turning now?"

"James!"

"Kidding, kidding."

"Oh you better be," came a half irritated, half amused mumble.

"Oh, you better hope that I better be," was his cheeky reply.

"Potter!"

"Evans?"

"Oh forget it!"

He chuckled. She joined in.

He was standing in a rather uncomfortable position, half bent with his glasses almost flying off of his face. He took them out with his free hand gingerly and laid them on the little cabinet by the side of the tub. He undid the rest of his clothing and got into the tub, splashing water on the floor in the process; Lily had already turned on the water.

Their joint hands were right under the curtain, not moving an inch into his or her area.

James closed his eyes, felt the hot water burn his skin and sighed. He heard her opening the tap he knew was magicked to give a person's desired shampoo.

"Strawberry..." he whispered.

"What?"

"Nothing..."

"Right..."

He opened the tap, scooped up his vanilla scent shampoo and massaged it through his hair.

"You use vanilla?"

"Yeah, had a habit of using it since ten..."

"Oh..."

Silence, again. And very much uncomfortable. They were both extremely aware of their position. They were also extremely aware of just how close they were right now in said position.

'Fine James, relax.'

'Alright Lily, calm down.'

'Just forget that you're not alone...right, draw patterns. Good. Very good. Extremely-ugh! Stop it Prongs!'

'Alright Evans! You need to relax now! Distract yourself...'

She started humming softly, all the while trying to control the rate at which her heart was beating.

He heard a soft humming from his right, instinctively knowing it was Lily. Not because she was the only other occupant in the lavatory right now. No, that'd require rational thinking and considering the rate at which his heartbeat was speeding right now, he wouldn't be able to think properly any time soon. It was because it was the sweetest sound he'd ever heard. That was it. That was her. Lily.

"What song is that?" he inquired curiously.

"I...dunno. I've been humming it since as long as I can remember. It's just something I always hum when I'm-when I'm trying to...distract myself..."

"Oh..."

She had no idea why she was telling all this to James. It was something only her close friends knew. It was a habit of her's which she preferred people didn't know. Yet, there was something oddly reassuring about his presence which made her tell him.

'How much time does a boy need to bloody shampoo his hair?'

'That girl needs to hurry up before I lose it.'

'Almost done...just relax!'

'Alright now...it's almost over...calm down Potter!'

"Are you done?" they both asked at the same time.

He chuckled. She joined in.

"Alright. Pass me my towel, Mr. Potter."

"Uh...how do you propose I do that, Miss Evans?"

"Just-I don't know-hand it over from-oh dash it all. Put a towel around you and then shut your eyes tightly!"

"Yes ma'am."

James got up, half bent owing to their hands' condition, and, with quite a bit of difficulty, grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his torso.

"Alright, you can come now," he said and turned around; well, as much as his body, given their predicament, would allow anyways.

Lily carefully peeped out from the curtain, and ensuring that he was facing the other side, hurriedly grabbed her towel and wrapped it around herself.

"Are you decent?" he asked.

"Look who's speaking!"

He laughed. She rolled her eyes.

"Honestly Lils-I-woah-uh...I mean...I-" he shut up quickly, turning sideways, hoping she wouldn't notice his heavily flushed cheeks. Doing so, he completely missed the fiery blush spreading across her face like wildfire too.

"Shut it, Potter."

He closed his mouth obediently. Merlin, this girl was going to be the death of him. What she she thinking, standing here in this short white towel like that?

"Right...you go first then," he said, in as much of a nonchalant voice as he could muster. He wasn't sure how long he'd be able to stand in their current situation.

"Yea, okay. You turn around. And no sneaking."

'As much as I'm tempted to,' he added mentally.

He heard her mutter an incantation, which he presumed magicked her top on her. A little bit of scrambling, and then he was bent forward, as she put on her pants.

"Alright, you go now."

It didn't take James more than a minute to pull his pants up his waist. His shirt, however, was a bit of a problem.

"Uh...Lily?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"I-well-I'll need some help with the shirt-I..."

Lily gulped and turned around slowly, trying to calm her breathing as much as possible.

'What's wrong with you woman? It's only James!'

She almost gasped when she saw him. Quidditch really had done him good.

'An appointment straight with Madam Pomfrey when you're out of here, Evans.'

James was staring intently at her. And somehow, for a reason she couldn't really fathom, she couldn't draw her gaze away from him either. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, until a portrait, namely the Great Spirit of the Shower Shadow, coughed blatantly.

They whipped their heads to see the portrait fixing them with a disapproving look, as though dissatisfied with the amount of respect they'd shown to his shower stretch.

'Well...if this is not humiliating enough...'

Lily waved her wand silently, and James' shirt eased itself onto him easily.

"Right..."

"Yeah..."

She sighed. He followed suit.

"Let's just go." she said.

"We should." he said.

"Right..."

"Yeah..."

She chuckled. He followed suit.

They exited the portrait, and James was just about to start walking when Lily stopped him. She turned towards the portrait and said clearly, "There will be a change in the current password."

"What? Why?" James asked forlornly.

"Because this one's too immature!"

The portrait, anxious to get back to sleep, was getting impatient.

"And that will be, Miss Head Girl?"

"Slytherin Sucks."

"Very well," and with that the portrait door closed shut.

He looked at her. She looked at him.

He grinned. She winked.


James and Lily hurried towards the coaches, well, coach, since the rest of them had already left, and this one was about to leave too.

To say that they reached just in time would be an understatement. They got inside the coach, panting, and almost groaned. A ride with the Sltherins. Oh, joy!

Fortunately, hey stepped inside to see that there were only two spots left.

Unfortunately, the two spots were right next to Mark Adams.

Mark Adams, a tall Slytherin with cold, grey eyes and an evil sneer always plastered across his sullen face, was known to harbor a crush on Lily, despite her being a Gryffindor. He did nothing to hide the fact that he had taken a fancy to the redhead witch, which would be quite sufficient to say that he and James weren't exactly the best of friends.

"Potter," Mark sneered, glancing at their intertwined hands with contempt.

"Adams," James snarled, his tone enough to send a shiver down anyone's spine.

"Well well, Evans darling. Won't you sit down?" Mark asked, indicating the spot right next to him, which Lily would have to take, since he was sitting on the extreme right. And given their current hands' situation, there really was no other option.

Lily squeezed James' hand reassuringly, seeing as he looked ready to strangle the Slytherin.

They sat down grudgingly, but James immediately pulled Lily to his side, pressing her body against him. His free arm went round her stomach, holding her protectively. No mater how awkward the whole position was, Lily couldn't help but feel touched. He really did care about her.

Mark, on the other hand, seemed a lot less pleased about this. His eyes were burning a hole in James' forehead, and the look on his face was that of pure loathing.

Lily, looked up at James, and gave him a big smile. James couldn't really help but smile back. and just like that, they were engaged in a staring contest yet again, with neither making any move to break eye contact.

To say that this totally ticked off Mark would be an understatement.

He cleared his throat harshly, and the two were snapped out of their revive, but they still didn't pay him any attention.

"So, Evans. What're you doing today?"

"Nothing I'd like to share with you."

"Oh, feisty much, aren't we today?"

She smiled sweetly. "I'd love you give you a firsthand experience, Adams."

This promptly shut him up. Gryffindor or not, nobody doubted Lily Evans' dueling skills.

James smirked. Mark glared.

The ride came to a stop. James and Lily were the first to get up. They shuffled out of the coach, before James lost his cool.

"Alright. We made it till here. Alive. Let's try to stay that way 'til evening, yea?" Lily said optimistically.

James grinned. Lily smiled.

"So...where to first?" he asked.

Lily consulted the list McGonagall had given them. "Hmm...McGonagall's got the decoration stuff covered. Let's start with music."

"Alright, then."

And so they made their way towards Dominic Maestro's music shop. It was, as the name suggests, run by Dominic Maestro, a middle aged man.

The door creaked open, and the two stepped inside. Just what a typical music shop would look like. Rows and rows of instruments, some they'd never even heard of. Stranger yet for Lily, as wizarding instruments were quite different from muggle ones. Records were hung in layers on the far end wall. Their host came towards them with a pleasant smile.

"Hello, there. I am Mr. Maestro."

"James Potter." he said and shook hands with the man.

"Lily Evans." she smiled and shook his hand. Maestro held it for a moment, until James cleared his throat meaningfully, giving the man anything but a "that's my girl" look.

Maestro chuckled. Lily rolled her eyes. James relaxed.

'All good.'

"So, how can I help you two?"

"We need to select a few tracks for the Christmas Ball." Lily replied.

"Ah, yes. Minerva told me something about it. An excellent idea. So, choose away then."

They made their way into the shop, looking at the various records on the wall.

"The Weird Sisters' Christmas theme...when did this come out?" James asked, surveying the track with a photo of the eight members of the band.

"Oh, quite recent, this one is, and quite nice too, if I must say so myself." Maestro said.

"Alright, put that as one then." Lily told the shopkeeper.

And then they searched. It took about forty minutes more until they were finally done with the tracks. And they had taken almost all of them. Blodwyn Bludd, Celestina Warbeck, Lorcan d'Eath, Madame Bletchley and all the others. James had insisted upon The Hobgoblins' famous fifty hits, and Lily had picked the Spellbound's latest seasonal number, saying that it was quite rare that they made a song not inspired by any recent scandal.

And that was it. The music department, looked into.

"Well, that will be..." Maestro broke off to calculate the amount of their total purchase, "thirty seven galleons, if you please."

Lily took out the amount from the bag McGonagall had given them for the expenses, and handed it over to the shopkeeper.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Maestro," she said as they exited the shop.

"My pleasure, dear."

James had refused Lily to carry either of the two bags, being the gentleman that he was.

"So...let's head to Gladrags Wizardwear then. Seeing as we'll have to-you know- go together...we'll need to mach our robes and all."

"Yeah. Let's get this over with," she said.

James hid a smile. He knew very well that Lily had no liking whatsoever to fuss over clothes.

They went inside the store, and were immediately greeted by the shopkeeper.

"Mr. Potter and Miss Evans. Yes, Minerva has told me all about the ball. Now, if you two would step this side, I'll show you the most recent designs. Head Students do deserve a little special wear, don't they?", he winked and moved along to the back of the shop.

He moved aside a curtain, and led the two to a room full of robes. Some quite magnificent, some simply strange.

"There. You two try on and decide, then." Gladrags, the shopkeeper, winked and left.

She turned towards him.

"What color would you like?" Lily asked, actually curious.

"Hmm...green. Emerald green. It'll go perfectly with your eyes..."

He smiled. She grinned.

She walked towards a stand laden with shirts. She looked through them for a while, before extracting a deep emerald colored shirt. It was classy, nothing extraordinary, but a good choice. Lily magicked it on him, and grinned.

"Perfect! It'll look good with any regular tux. You have it?"

"Yeah."

James gave himself a once-over in the mirror.

"Indeed. I do look quite handsome, if I say so myself."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's find me a dress and be done with this before your head becomes too large to fit inside the place," she said, but there was a teasing glint in her eyes.

"Yes, your highness."

This time, James walked over to the other side of the room. Dresses, of all colors, types and designs, were hung on various stands.

He skimmed over various designs, before stopping at one. He took it out and handed it over to Lily.

"Try it," he said decidedly.

"Well...turn around then."

He turned. Lily undressed herself and then magicked the dress James had selected on her using an incantation.

"Well...?"

James turned around, and swore his breathing stopped for a moment.

The dress was a rich emerald green color, knee length and off shoulder, with a belt around the stomach. It fitted her perfectly. It wasn't much of the dress...but how it looked on her, that had rendered James speechless. She looked just exquisite.

"You...you look...amazing," he said, finding his voice back.

She turned slightly red, with the way he was staring at her, like she was the best thing in the world, but smiled.

"I think we're through, then."

"You-you don't want to see?"

She met his eyes.

"Well, I trust you."

He turned around again, but not before Lily caught the huge grin spreading across his face. She couldn't help but smile either.

'Maybe we should go to the pharmacy after this.'

She turned back into her clothes, and together, she and James, made their way back towards the counter.

Since James' hand was already occupied, Lily held the bags which contained their robes.

They payed for their respective clothes, and walked out into the bustling street. Well, bustling with visitors, at least. Hogwarts' students were nowhere in sight.

"Hey...wait a second. Why haven't we seen the rest of them 'til now?" Lily asked, slightly suspicious.

"Sirius told me they'd be going to the Shrieking Shack. And they'd all have left by now anyways. It's past curfew for Hogsmeade." James said.

"How come we took so much of time?"

"Well, I have no idea. But we need to hurry up. We still haven't taken care of the refreshments."

"You're right. McGonagall will kill us if we go back without everything," she rolled her eyes. "But how will we go back?"

"Secret passage, I guess. You know all about them, right?" James asked.

"I've known all about them since third year, James. Me and Eva...you know us. Always moving about. Stumbled across so many of them, here and there..."

She winked. He laughed.

"Stumbled? Or got lost?"

"Hey! That was only in first year, okay!"

"So, you know the passage from Honeydukes' cellar?"

"Yeah. That's the one we stumbled across in first year."

"What?" James looked flabbergasted. "You visited Hogsmeade in first year? That's a year before us!"

"Well...not sad are we, Mr. Potter?"

"Yeah, yeah. Very, Miss Evans. Shall we?"

"I wish I could say after you, but...",she glanced down at their joined hands, mock sadly.

He laughed. She grinned.

"Come on. We need to hurry up."

That said, they made their way towards Honeydukes, the sweet shop. It was Lily's favorite place in the entire village. Yes, she was a big chocoholic.

Her eyes lit up, as they entered the shop. She smiled, which couldn't have been avoided anyways. Hello! There was chocolate everywhere! Literally.

Picking out refreshments wasn't a difficult job. They basically picked out a generous amount of assortments from each and every category of sweets present in the shop.

Lily bought quite a number of sweets for themselves too. Most of them were chocolates. But James had picked out a rather-um-wild set of assortments too. One of them was a blue colored package, that shrieked if it was to be stored in any condition lower than room temperature. Another, an orange color pack, known as Fireball's Fury was meant to spit out fire if not kept in frozen condition, along with providing a rather bad breath. "Otherwise, if kept in proper conditions, it has to be one of the sweetest thing you'd have ever tasted", the shopkeeper had assured.

They paid and left the shop.

"Well, that would have been an easy getaway. But there are a lot of people back there near the cellar right now. I don't think we can risk it." Lily said.

"And I don't have my cloak either!" James mused.

"What cloak?"

"Uh...keep a secret?"

"Sure."

"My invisibility cloak. Family heirloom." James told her in a hushed voice.

"An invisibility cloak? That's really rare. Oh...wait a minute! So that's how you've been sneaking all around the school isn't it?"

"Oh, well...you know me..."

He winked. She rolled her eyes.

"Well...how do we get out of here then? It's getting late. If that oh so creepy caretaker-" James snickered,"- of ours found us entering this late, we're going to be in big trouble."

"Well...that one by the old shop-" he broke off.

Standing in front of them, was the biggest hellhound, and hellhound it was, they'd ever seen. What it was doing in the streets on a perfectly normal afternoon, and just how it could have escaped...wherever it came from, was beyond them. And what was worse? It seemed to be heading right towards them.

"Uh...I don't think we have time to think of any passages right now..." Lily said nervously.

"Right. Run!"

And so they did. Not that they were alone. Wizards and witches, visitors and residents, everyone was running around in a chaos, trying to get away from the beast. However, the hellhound seemed to be interested only in James and Lily.

It would be safe to say that they had absolutely no idea where they were running. How such a normal day could take such a turn they had no idea. Also, the weight of the bags was slowing them down.

They had been running for quite some time now, and there was no market to be seen. The hellhound was nowhere in sight, but for safety sake they ran into a little clearing.

They knew where they were going, right? Wrong. Well, on the brighter side they were away from that...animal. On the other side...

"Where in Merlin's name are we?" Lily asked.

"Let's find out!"

"Oh great," she muttered.

This place was definitely some kind of forest. They wandered along for some time in silence.

"How did that...thing get in there anyway?" James asked.

"No idea. But it was coming for us. I can't help feeling that someone-"

"Deliberately put it on our tail, yes. I've been thinking about it. But that was just-"

"Creepy. Yeah, I know."

Suddenly James stopped. There was some shuffling from somewhere ahead them. And then suddenly, a creature stopped in front of them, grinning luxuriantly.

"Well well...looks like we have some company, then."

Well, at least now they knew where they were.

The Forbidden Forest.


"You should not have come here, humans." One of of the centaurs said.

"I told you! We didn't have a choice!" Lily snapped.

"Quiet, human. You have dared to enter our territory."

"Oh, come on! What is it with you?" James whined.

"It'd best be for you to be quiet, boy. I'm still lenient. Our caption may not."

"Lenient. Right." Lily murmured.

The centaur holding her squeezed her arm. "Ow! You, Mr-well-whatever! Watch your hands!"

"How dare you-" James started furiously.

"Don't you dare me, human." The centaur holding Lily warned.

"Or what, huh? Why you little-"

"James! Leave it!"

"But-"

"Yes. Listen to the girl, if you want to stay alive for a little longer." The centaur leading the group said.

They were being carried by the centaurs, but not too far away, owing to their hands' situation.

Their bags, thanks to Lily's quick wit, had been magically shrunk and hidden in her socks. But they knew that it would be pointless, if they didn't think of something soon.

And then Lily had an idea. A rather stupid one, but it seemed like the only possibility at the moment. She looked at James, and fond him staring right back at her. His gaze kept flickering from looking concernedly at her, and then looking angrily at the centaur holding her. She hid a smile.

"Distract them" she mouthed.

"Why?" he mouthed back.

She rolled her eyes.

"Just do as I say!" she said.

"What was that, girl?"

But before Lily could answer, James had kicked a nearby rock, aiming at the centaur who was leading the group. It hit him square in the back. He turned around furiously.

"You will pay for that, human," he snarled.

He started approaching James, with all the centaurs in tow. Even the centaur holding Lily's grip slackened. And that's when she dived. Like, literally.

She pushed him off her, and jumped to the other side, taking out her wand in the process. She couldn't jump too far away though, without dragging James along as well. The centaur's leader looked around, confused, but James called out-

"Hey, horseback!"

The centaur whipped around again and snarled. He was about to advance on him, when suddenly he was pulled back, ropes tying themselves all around his body. Lily stepped forward, wand drawn.

"Now," she started calmly, "who else wants to fight here?"

The centaurs all retreated a step back. If their leader had been overthrown so easily, they didn't exactly want to mess with them, humans or not.

"Very good. Now, you will lead us back to Hogwarts."

"And what makes you think we'll agree, human?" a mean-looking centaur asked.

"You could fight us, if you want to." Lily said, glancing at James, who'd drawn his wand too, clutching her hand tightly.

Grumbling, the centaur who had been carrying James started moving, mumbling a short "follow me" in his wake.

"And don't try anything funny!" James warned the others, as he and Lily stepped forward.

No longer were they out of earshot of the centaurs, that James pulled Lily to him, nearly crushing her. He exhaled slowly, his grip on her tightening. She moved her free arm around him and closed her eyes.

"Those bloody horses!"

"Honestly, James. I'm fine! Really."

But he kept grumbling. He was a little too over-protective when it came to Lily.

She pulled back slightly and cupped his chin with her free hand. He looked at her and she smiled slightly.

"I'm fine, okay!"

"This is probably the third time you've smiled at me today. You are definitely not fine, Evans."

She laughed. He grinned.

"Let's go before we lose him," she said.

They jogged a few steps ahead, where their centaur guide was running ahead.

"Hey! Slow down there!" Lily yelled.

He grumbled some more, but slowed his pace.

They trudged for about half an hour more, before finally they saw the old palace. Man, had they ever been more happy to see it?

The centaur nodded towards the castle, and then galloped away, back into the forest.

Lily and James walked towards the castle, then the dark sky, knowing they were stuck.

They entered through the oak door, and were just about to thank their stars when a familiar, and not very pleasant voice stopped them.

"Well well. What do we have here?" Apollyon Pringle, their caretaker sneered.

Lily and James sighed.

"Out of school, out of hours. Detention for both of you. Tomorrow evening, seven sharp. Trophy room."

And with that, he walked away. Well, limped away. He always walked funnily.

"Great! Just great!" Lily gritted.

They walked off towards the Heads' dormitory in silence. Upon reaching, James gave the password and the two went inside the portrait hole.

Lily bent down and took off her shoes, effectively dragging James along in the process, who took off his as well. She extracted the little bags from her socks and returned them to their original side, and threw then on the couch lazily.

Next, she conjured the two sleeping bags and changed their clothes into their nightwear.

And with that, both of them promptly collapsed in their bags.

"Night James," she whispered sleepily.

"Night Lils," he whispered back, as sleep finally claimed the two.


There! Here you have it, chapter six! Alright alright, so it took a LOT of time. Yes, I know. I'm very sorry. Exams going on, so many chapters...can't really help it can you? :P

BUT it's vacation now! Which means I'll be updating sooner. :D
Coming back to chapter six, the update was sorta hasty, as it'd been a long time since my last one. So the chapter isn't all that good. But then again, when I am ever satisfied? ;)

I really want to thank you all for your reviews. They really do encourage me.
As for the next update, I'll try to make it as soon as possible. And hopefully, better.

For the time being, REVIEW! :D
I always love to know your opinions. :)

Cheers,
RainHolly