November. The Forbidden Forest
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Lily Evans strolled slowly along the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest.
It was a quiet weekend morning, and in the distance she could faintly hear the shouts of the Quidditch team practising.
She took in her surroundings and walked a little further into the forest at a leisurely pace. There were no students in sight. Technically, it was off-limits, as the Headmaster reminded them every year, but upper years were tacitly allowed in so far, as long as they didn't cause a ruckus that would attract the attention of the adults.
Normally, she would have come with Sev, but he was preoccupied with his potions these days.
Lily snorted. Whatever the hell he was doing, it had become twice as hard to meet with Sev in the last month. He wouldn't come out of Professor Peverell's office after class on Fridays, the students' prime time. At first it was only on friday, then more and more, he'd disappear for an hour or two even on random days after class.
When she saw him in the library or at the lake, his eyes were very bright. Severus was usually a reticent one, but nowadays he gushed about the latest books or research papers he'd been reading in Peverell's office, and he could barely contain himself from bragging that it frankly annoyed her.
Yeah, he's become a favourite of Peverell. Good job. Being noticed by his favourite professor in his favourite subject would be like a lifelong wish come true, she supposed.
She didn't want to admit it, but she was a little jealous of Severus' neatly bound booklet of papers he'd carefully displayed before her like a treasure last month. Just a little.
Hmmm, now that I think about it, I should've recorded him on muggle video the last time he was whinging about being hated by Peverell and wanting to die. Having missed out on the blackmail material of a lifetime, Lily pouted her lips, but nodded indulgently after a moment.
Yeah, I bet this is what they call 'networking'. What can we do, Sev's got as little grounding in the wizarding world as I do, so he's got to make connections, ingratiating himself to the professors, she concluded.
Once Sev made a connection with the professor who was also a dual master, the information he often brought her was in fact useful, she admitted. The other day he revealed to her a very interesting spell of ancient origins Peverell mentioned in passing, and Lily immediately scoured the library for information on it.
It was a beautiful, useful spell that was almost surprisingly absent from the Hogwarts curriculum so far.
Lily took one last look around, then pulled out her wand. Slowly, fluidly, the willow wand traced intricate, graceful curves.
Faintly at first, then more clearly, magic pulsed through her body. The spell on Lily's lips, requiring an incomparable amount of power from her usual school-level charms, twisted and sucked at the magic in the girl's body. Lily barely managed to open her mouth as she felt the air in her lungs being sucked out.
"Expecto... Petronum!"
The magic in her body flowed out of her fingertips, down her wand, and into a beautiful waterfall of silver and white.
Lily breathed heavily, drunkenly, feeling enveloped in the sparkling waterfall for a moment.
She smiled; she got a much better result than from the last few days of secret practice in her dorm room.
She could probably practise once or twice more in this morning, considering her condition. Lily made a slow motion with her wand once more.
Her body, overworked from casting an adult-level spell once, was being swirled faster, the magic coursing through her, twisting and squeezing her magical core relentlessly.
Oh, the wild rush of Magic within!
Lily Evans, a 15-year-old girl, a Gryffindor, a Hogwarts student, born into a muggle family in Britain.
The power that leaves all that behind, the power that defines me!
The girl laughed out loud, without conscious will.
Yes, this is me! This is who I am! This is my life! This is my happiness!
"EXPECTO PATRONUM-!"
Something heavy poured out of her through her wand, forming a beautiful, silvery-white waterfall... and then, in a flash, it dispersed, coalesced, and formed a distinct shape.
Lily's mouth dropped open.
A silvery-white animal.
A slender, beautiful deer, about her own height, stood beside her, gazing at her.
"...A corporeal Patronus...?"
She knew what it was, from the books she'd read before practice. After a moment of consternation, Lily smiled broadly.
"Ah, yes! So you've come."
It was tall and slender, but still nearly a fawn. It was not a ghostly blur she'd vaguely imagined, but a substantial, surprisingly live-looking, silvery-white deer that didn't seem to be going away anytime soon. Lily could feel a line of magic connecting her to the doe.
With a sweep of her hand, Lily pointed into the forest.
"I'd like you to explore this forest for me, my Patronus!"
The deer didn't hesitate and nodded, running off into the woods and disappearing from sight.
Lily exhaled. The cold air of early winter filled her lungs. A sense of accomplishment washed over her.
After a time, she could feel her Patronus, the doe, returning to her. Lily turned, smiling in welcome.
Then her eyes widened.
What on earth is THAT...?
Behind the lightly trotting silvery-white deer, another deer was approaching.
A real deer this time.
It was a young buck with new antlers just beginning to settle in nicely. When the silver doe paused, it paused, and when it ran, it ran; it was clearly following her Patronus.
"Uh..."
Lily's mouth dropped open. Her doe seemed to take in her surprise, pausing for a moment; the doe looked back and cocked its head. Like a curious animal, it circled the stag at a little distance.
All the while, the stag remained frozen in place, staring down at the Patronus. It was obvious that he didn't want to spook the doe.
Lily couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. The stag blinked, then looked in her direction. Her Patronus leapt toward her with a light movement.
Lily grinned and poked the doe in the nape of her neck.
"You're more capable than I thought. You must be quite a beauty in the deer world, to have a real young stag follow you!"
The doe cocked her head, leaned down to wrap her neck around hers, and the next moment was gone, absorbed into Lily.
Lily smiled at the rush of fulfillment.
Meanwhile, the stag stood frozen in place, staring first at the Patronus, who disappeared, and then at Lily. Lily gathered her courage and gently approached the animal. Instead of running away, he gazed at her.
"...You are quite a handsome stag, too."
Lily complimented him sincerely. It was a young deer, with antlers not yet fully grown, long slender legs and a couple of white spots on its flanks, but it was taller than Lily and looked down at her, still surprised but not frightened.
"They say the deer are the lords of the forest; you're already looking mighty impressive, but when you're older, I bet you'll have the majesty of a real lord."
Lily chuckled. Was it her mood? The deer shrugged, and seemed to almost preen smugly.
Perhaps it wasn't only her mood; he lived in a magical forest, so it wouldn't be surprising that he even understood human speech. The thought made her feel a little embarrassed, so she waved goodbye to him.
"Goodbye, handsome deer. See you next time, and I'll show you my patronus again!"
The stag nodded, pranced near Lily a few times, and then turned and ran off into the woods, disappearing from sight. Lily smiled happily and began to make her way back to the castle.
As she left the forest and walked along the path overlooking the lake, she saw someone walking towards her.
It wasn't a student's cloak. It looked like an adult's silhouette. And it moved a little too fast for a leisurely stroll.
Lily paused and cocked her head. Isn't that Professor Peverell? What's he doing in a weekend morning?
The professor must have seen her as well as she did, because he hurried toward her.
"Professor?"
"...Miss Evans."
The young professor tilted his head as he came closer. Lily reflexively glanced back in the direction of the Forbidden Forest from where she had been coming, and smiled awkwardly.
"...Uh, morning, Professor. Taking a... walk?" She looked up at the professor with a hopeful glance, silently asking, 'you're not doing the unnecessarily diligent task of student patrol on a weekend morning, are you?'
Peverell looked off into the woods, then at Lily, and smiled wryly.
"Firstly, may I state the self-evident rule, Miss Evans, that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden to students."
"Yessir, of course sir," the girl nodded solemnly. Seeing the expression on her face, which never strayed from the posture of a model prefect, Peverell smirked.
"Forget it. My karma would be too great if I reprimanded you for this. You're already an upper year, and you're fine if you remain on the edge of the Forest. The things on the outskirts of the forest-"
"Are deer at best, Professor."
Lily said, with a broad smile, then closed her mouth when she saw the Professor's startled face.
Peverell was staring down at her, eyes wide.
"A deer...you say? Did you see a deer in the woods, just now?"
Lily nodded hesitantly. "Uh... Yeah. A young'un, and... oh, that reminds me."
Lily couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing. It wasn't an exact analogy, but she couldn't help but feel as proud as a mother at her child's debut.
"...Would you mind taking a look, Professor?"
Lily swung her wand in an intricate curve. The magic swirled through her body, violently, but much more easily and quickly than before.
"Expecto Patronum-!"
A silvery-white doe slipped smoothly out of the tip of her wand.
"...Ah..."
Peverell's mouth fell open. Lily blinked at him. It was a look she had never seen on the professor before.
The professor stared at the doe wordlessly. His lips were quivering.
The silver-white doe stared back at the professor, then slowly approached him. The professor held out a trembling hand. The deer bowed her head and placed it in his hand, and the next moment she was gone, shining as bright as the moon.
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