"Leave him alone Bane!" I yell, not even close enough to see him through the trees.
"Lily Polaris Lupin, we have been expecting you." Bane says, as I come into view. I see that George is hurt, bad.
"George!" I say, trying to get to him. Ronan catches me. "Ronan! Let me go! He's hurt!"
"He wandered into our territory, you know what we do to trespassers."
"It's my fault! I made him get off! I forgot about the herd! Let him go! Or at least let me heal him!" I say, struggling to get out of the grip of the centaur.
"If you can heal him, have your best shot. Don't be surprised when we take ours." Ronan warns, letting go of me. I run over to him.
"Georgie, are you okay? Please tell me you're okay?" I say, seeing an arrow in his arm. I take it out and compress the wound. "Shoot, come on, come on, Episkey" I say, the bleeding stops. "Episkey!" I yell, the wounds all heal, I hear rustling behind me, "Protego" I say, the shield appears around is. "I'm so sorry George, I shouldn't have left you" I say, shaking.
"Krissy?" A centaur asks, appearing.
"Wake! Tell them to let us go!" I plead
"What happened? Who made you so young?"
"Nobody, I am Lily Lupin, Krissy's daughter."
"Krissy's daughter? Let them go Bane, Ronan. You cannot have forgotten what the Harpers and the Lupins have done for us." Wake says, the two older centaurs move away from us, dropping their weapons. I help George stand up and we start to walk out.
"Thank you Wake" I whisper, barely enough for the centaur to hear, but he nods and we walk out.
"I never meant for this to happen, I am so sorry, I will never be able to forgive myself, they were going to kill you and it was all my fault." I say, hugging George.
"Lily, it wasn't your fault."
"Yes, it was."
"Lily, if I hadn't been stupid, none of this would have happened"
"Good, we agree on something."
"Look, the castle,"
"Scourgify" I say, pointing my wand at his bloodstained robes. They become clean again.
"Thanks, but, how do you know all of these spells?"
"Easy, I got taught spells to help after transformations, pretty early on. I just have always used them wandlessly."
"That's insane."
"Not really, the ministry forgives magic done by underage witches and wizards that don't have a wand, so teaching wandless spells, genius really."
"Your mum knows how to cheat the system."
"That she does. But you have to remember that she runs a school, and takes care of hundreds of kids everyday. All year long."
"So, nobody goes home for the summer?"
"The Centaurs usually do, but not really, most werewolves aren't born into packs anymore, they're attacked, and usually, people abandon children after the first full moon, if the wolf hasn't killed the parents."
"Does that happen, often?"
"More often than not,"
"But, your parents,"
"Both had wizarding parents, both are orphans, all grandparents died at the same wand."
"Oh,"
"They were killed by you-know-who personally"
"Oh."
"George, do you think he will come back?"
"I do."
"When he does, whose side will you be on?"
"The Order of the Phoenix."
"Even if you had to kill me?"
"What?"
"If you worked for the order, and I was a death eater, would you kill me?"
"I would have to. I wouldn't want to, but if it was my mission, yes."
"Good,"
"What? How is that a good thing?"
"Loyalty before friendship, or anything else for that matter."
"What do you mean?"
"Be loyal to the causes you join, to what you know is right."
"I don't understand?"
"You don't have to, just, something to remember"
"You are crazy weird."
"I am a Slytherin after all"
"Oh, yeah. I completely forgot."
"I'm not going into the basement tonight."
"What? Why not?"
"The password, I'm not going to say it, no way."
"What is it?"
"Mud- it's mudblood" I whisper, so that only George can hear me.
"I'll see you in the room tonight."
"I'll see you in the room."
"Anyone else?"
"Hermione"
"Oh? I thought you hated her?"
"No. I don't hate anyone."
"Not even Ron?"
"Why should I? It's not like he has given me a reason to hate him."
"You have to hate someone."
"I do not hate anyone, the choices people have made, the things they have done wrong, the people that they have pushed away, yes, I hate that, I hate a person's actions, but not the person themselves."
"You're insane."
"I would prefer you use, optimistic"
"Nope, insane works."
"George, no. Have you ever seen someone who is insane?"
"No?"
"I have. And I would much prefer you not use the same word to describe me."
"Okay, I won't"
"Thank you, now we should probably get into the castle before someone realizes we are missing and we have to make up an excuse that we probably shouldn't"
"I agree with you on that one, let's go" He says, running up towards the castle. I follow him running as well. When we get back up to the castle, I see Percy tapping his foot and looking very angry.
"Where were you?" He barks
"Relax Percy, we were down by the Hippogriff herd" I say, knowing this won't calm him down.
"And who took you? Lily, you know better than most not to go down to that herd alone."
"Hagrid, you can go ask him if you don't believe me."
"And why do you have blood on your robes?"
'Shoot, I forgot to clean my own robes' I think, instead I say, "Run-in with Bane and Ronan, we're fine though"
"I think Madame Pomfrey should be the judge of that" He says, grabbing my left arm and George's right. He drags us up to the matron witch's office, where he explains exactly what I told him.. Once he leaves she looks me over, "This isn't even your blood" She says.
"I know, I didn't get touched, well, with an arrow, at least."
"Oh? Whose blood is it?"
"Mine." George whispers, barely loud enough for her to hear. I snigger as she drives him into the bathroom, armed with a hospital gown. I walk out, still laughing. On my way to the library, I see Hermione.
"Hello Hermione"
"Hello Lily, where are you going?"
"Umm, the library? I assume you're going there too?"
"Yeah"
"What are you looking for?"
"A little bit of light reading"
"If it weighs more than ten pounds, it's heavy reading."
"Very funny, what are you looking for?"
"Books on Hippogriffs, what do you expect?"
"Why the obsession of Hippogriffs?"
"Why are you not? I want to become a Magizoologist or a Care of Magical Creatures teacher."
"Hippogriff is a weird place to start"
"I like to think outside the box"
"Have you noticed anything, off? About Quirrell?"
"Actually, I have, the room smells less like garlic now, I can swear he was trying to mask a scent. It smelled a lot like blood, hatred and evil all rolled into one."
"Your sense of smell scares me."
"And they aren't even fully developed"
"And now I'm scared."
"You should be"
"And now I'm less scared"
"Oh no, how will I ever recover?"
"Why do you want to be a magizoologist?"
"Because I would get to help people-humans, understand that just because someone is different, they shouldn't be treated like that, I mean, I can't stand being called a half-breed, somehow it got better, being in Slytherin, Pansy knows, so does Draco, they have accepted me, not just as a half blood, as a half human. Plus they know I bring them chocolate"
"Is that a werewolf thing?"
"No, it's a Lupin thing"
"Oh,"
"What do you want to do?"
"Hmm? Oh, I don't really know yet"
"You would make a mean minister of magic"
"Really?"
"Well, yeah, as long as you loosen the restrictions on werewolves, centaurs, and pretty much every non-human, being or beast."
"You really hate these restrictions, don't you?"
"Yes. I do"
"To be fair, I would too"
"Do you mind coming into the Room of Requirement tonight? George and I will be in there"
"Do you mind who I bring?"
"As long as they won't snitch, not really."
"Oh. Why do you want me?"
"Because I guarantee otherwise people will think I am a bad person, remember that I told you George would be there?"
"You know what? Just bring your annoying brother! I don't like you and I don't want to waste time with one of your lot" She says, I can only look at her, shocked.
"If you feel that way, I hope our paths never meet again, for your own sake." I say, walking away.
I walk towards the picture of the fat lady. "Password" She asks, thinking I don't know the password.
"It's cabbaged draconus, but I don't want to get in, I just want to talk with my friends"
"Names?"
"James Lupin, George Weasley, Aguria Stone, Harry Potter and Ashlie Greyback."
"Why do you want to talk to them?"
"I wanted to show them something. I know a few of them could use the cheering up."
"I cannot get them."
"Fine! I'll get them to come down myself!" I shout, creating a small ball of water in my palm and walking away to an unused corridor.
"What's up Lily?" Harry asks, appearing in the water.
"You, Auggie, Ashlie, James, George, I have something to show you guys."
"Where do you want us to meet you?"
"The humped-back witch."
"We'll meet you there" He says, the ball of water disappearing. I walk towards the statue, knowing of the secrets behind it, how couldn't I? Being the owner of the Marauder's Map, and the daughter of two marauders. I wouldn't say anything to anyone about the tunnel though, I know better.
"What's wrong Lily?" Ashlie asks
"Yeah, it better be worth it. I was trying to convince Wood to let me on the quidditch team" James says, crossing his arms and pretending to be angry.
"You have that option next year you insufferable dunderhead" I remind him
"Very funny. But what's wrong?" Harry asks me, looking concerned.
"I think it's time for you non-werewolves, to be introduced to the Whomping Willow." I say, James laughs before realizing I am serious.
"Are you kidding? That thing almost killed Peter! On more than one occasion"
"He wanted what he got besides, earth, remember?"
"Yeah, but it doesn't seem safe"
"Oh, it's not."
"Thanks for your vote of confidence Lily" George says, rolling his eyes.
"You still got on Skye" I remind him and he turns as red as his hair.
"That was different," He explains.
"No, it showed that you trust me. Thank you for that"
"How do we get past the willow?" Aguria asks, clearly getting uncomfortable.
"Thanks for asking Auggie, come on, all of you." I say, taking the lead, James and Ashlie on either side of me, what is to be expected, seeing as the werewolves are trying to show the humans how to get into our territory. I don't mind, but I think James feels differently.
"James, you don't want me to do this, do you?"
"Not really, no."
"Change of plans guys, I have a better idea." I say, turning around. "Harry, cloak as many people as possible, everyone else, grab onto my arms" I order,
"I don't have my-" Harry starts,
"Accio Invisibility Cloak" I say, the cloak flies into my hand, where I give it to Harry.
"Wicked! That's a fourth year spell! I couldn't manage that!" George says. I blush, turning away.
"Maybe I'll teach you sometime." I say as we enter the forest. I clear the ground before stepping on it, and I make sure everyone does not get hurt. The path I make is perfectly straight. I look around the forest until I get to a very small clearing, smaller than most, absolutely smaller than an inhabited clearing. I walk into the middle of the clearing and wave my hand, the branches move away from the top, creating light at the ground. I walk into the clearing, "James, Ashlie, stay, Harry, take everyone else away and don't come back unless I send you a water ball."
"Okay Lily, but, where?"
"Follow the path, and Harry, try not to let Snape catch you."
"But what if he sees the path?"
"He can't, it only shows up for us."
"Us as in,"
"One of us who is here right now."
"Oh."
"And don't think about showing this to anyone."
"Done." He says, they all walk out.
"What are you doing and why do I feel like this will end badly?"
"Because this will end badly James. They always do" I say, closing my eyes, imagining the same scene I have thousands of times before, a tree house, almost fit for someone to live in, except, without a kitchen. Two bedrooms, one for girls and one for boys each with a bathroom, and a large area in the middle, with a few cauldrons and almost any potion ingredients anyone could think of. A few sparring dummies, a chess table, and a ladder up to the flat roof which holds a few telescopes. There are desks along the side, and plenty of light coming through the windows, which are covered in light layers of leaves, the tree is large enough to support it, and there is a library that would rival Hogwarts' own. Madame Pince would have a field day. I open my eyes as my brother stares at me in shock.
"What? Jealous much?"
"Umm, yeah? What do you expect that was amazing" James says, shocked
"I know I am."
"Oh whatever," He says,
I lift my hand up and let a small ball of water appear. "You can come back now, nobody will get hurt" I say, Harry laughs and disappears. I hear footsteps in the forest, though not following my trail. I don't have time to disguise the tree, He's seen too much already.