Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

James and Lilly- The Beginning 

It was a cold autumn day in our 5th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Winter was approaching fast and the rain was meeting with the ground as if they were hail stones and not simple raindrops. The weather was abysmal. My mood however was as gleeful as it could be. Padfoot and I were off to potions and Padfoot was, as usual, teasing me about how Lily would 'never' take me, as he put it. Apparently to her, I'm this overconfident, cocky and even arrogant bully. Another friend of Lily's, Severus Snape who was a young talented wizard, was a target for me in the eyes of my peers. I constantly used spells such as Levicorpus against him, no matter how much and how many teachers would badger me about it. But this didn't bother me. Despite Sirius teasing me I was still extremely happy. On the way to potions Padfoot thought it was time for him to investigate.

"Why are you so...happy? When I or Moony, or Wormtail for that matter tease you about Lily you always tell us to shut up and leave you alone. Why are you not mad? It just isn't right." Sirius posed the questions with a sound of shock weaved into his voice.

"Well, if you must know-" I started.

"I must know, tell me!" Sirius interrupted, eager to hear my answer. He also pivoted so he was walking backwards, me nearly dropping his books while doing so and almost knocking down a small group of first years as if they were bowling pins.

"Ok, ok. Calm down, I'll tell you." I said with a laugh. "If you must know, now don't interrupt" I hastily added, "I heard Lily talking to one of her friends, whose name escapes me, and she said some...well, good things about me." A huge smile now found a new home on my face and a shy and, I admit embarrassed laugh escaped from my smirking mouth.

"Wow...it's a miracle. Lily said something good about you." Sirius forced the words out while trying not to laugh.

"Haha, Shut u-oomph" I said as Sirius and I walked right by our classroom and into our potions master, who was anticipating us walking by the class. He treated it as us trying to ditch class, again. We'd ditched class once or twice before.

"Mr Potter, Mr Black. Take your seats in the CORRECT, classroom please?" He said. Our potions teacher was a rather generously built character, with short black hair and purpley-red robes. I always thought his 'poo eyes' as me and my friends called them were disproportionally small for his face though. I've never really liked him.

Potions went off without a hitch. Well actually someone epically failed and his potion sort of exploded and sent him half way across the class and he landed on another caldron with a huge thud and knocked over a girl's potion on landing, and it sent black gunk all over the floor and we had to evacuate the class. So yeah, it went off without a hitch.

Later, back in the common room, my friends and I were getting ready to go to the Great Hall for dinner. It was a special occasion apparently; we had a special guest joining us. I however spent the whole lecture he was giving, 'he' being The Minister of Magic, lost in my daydreams. I don't even know what he was talking about. I never really cared anyway.

I just couldn't get Lily off my mind. At first I thought that it was strange being in love and I tried to convince myself that I didn't actually love Lily, because my relatives and friends 'don't believe in love'. A lot of my relatives got divorced time and time again and I didn't want to go through the torment which they suffered. One of my aunts fell in love with this guy called Gerry who I didn't trust. Being brutally honest, he was quite fat and he had a habit of...well, I would like to use a more appropriate string of words, but again being brutally honest, he was a total drunk, fat, ugly, squishy-faced slob who doesn't care about how women feel. He just wants them in bed as much as possible. But guess what. She stayed with him through all the abuse he dished out to her because she truly loved him but even after all that, he simply left her with a note saying:

'_The times we've had together were great, but I guess you could call me 'Storm'. I'll pluck you up in a whirlwind and take you for a hell of a ride, but at the end of the day, no storm lasts forever. Good luck with your future, and goodbye.' _

She was a total wreck for months. I didn't want to go through that, obviously, so I tried detaching myself from the army of my thoughts of Lily. That was too hard though, because I didn't actually want to stop thinking of her and eventually the army of thoughts overpowered me and I realised that I really would go through anything for her, anything at all.

Later that night, back in the common room after I'd changed into more...casual clothing I guess you could say, Peter, Sirius, Remus and I were having a good old game of Truth or Dare. As you could guess, one of my Truth questions was 'Do you love Lily Evans?' Obviously I had to tell the truth or this boggart would come out of nowhere and scare you half to death, literally. So I said 'Yes.' They all laughed. I just looked out of the window and thought of Lily. I knew that I had to tell Lily I was in love with her before the others embarrassed me, so I said I was tired, let out a stifling yawn and went up to bed.

I fetched my quill and some ink, jumped into bed and I started the long arduous task of writing my first ever Love Letter, hunched over like...well, a hunchback. I couldn't imagine the letter sounding good. I got about half way and screwed up the paper, threw it in the bin and shoved my head into my hands in frustration. I said to myself, "Why can't I get this right? AARRGGHH! I suck at this!"

By now it was dark and the hoard of raindrops kept dragging my thoughts away from me kicking and screaming. I couldn't concentrate at all. I retrieved the screwed up paper from the bin, threw it up in the air and uttered the word 'Incendio'. The paper deteriorated in mid-air in the middle of the room and the ashes momentarily floated up and fell as if they were fireworks.

I hopped back into bed, leaving the ashes to get acquainted with the floor, and thought to myself 'What if I just make a fool of myself? What if she doesn't love me back? What will everybody say about this? Oh well, I'm just gonna go for it..'

After a while of thinking to myself, sleep finally took me under her grip. I drifted off into my imagination and once more dreamed of the love of my life, Lily Evans. It must've been the millionth time I'd dreamt of her.


	2. Chapter 2

James and Lily-The Beginning 

The Secret Meetings

I awoke the next morning to find that there was a scrunched up piece of paper next to my bed. However, right as I was about to open it up and read it a huge roar surged through the dorm as the door flung open with immense force. I instantly jerked my head up and caught sight of Moony, who was already awake and dressed in his elegant red robes. He dashed into the room and dragged me out of bed and out the room before I could even say a word of protest.

"What the hell Remus? Where are you dragging me?" I screamed with distress clear in my deep voice.

Remus, now grabbing my arm with both hands as we started descending the staircase, said "I'm taking you...to a place." It was early in the morning so the stairwell was almost deserted.

"Well that's very descriptive and helpful. Do you- ow!" I wasn't able to finish the sentence as Remus abruptly turned a corner and forced my head into the corner of a cube base of a statue by the stair's side, knocking me unconscious.

I later woke, still in my pyjamas, with my head propped up against a medium sized rock. My vision was blurry so I had no idea where I was and being unconscious forced me to lose all track of time. All I could really see was a few trees. I could also just about make out the conversation of my fellow Marauders; Moony, Padfoot and Wormtail. They were already in mid-conversation so I didn't really understand what was being said or mentioned. All I knew was that they didn't want me to hear this stuff and that I may not want to hear it either.

"Peter! You're ideas are worthless. They'll end up with us getting expelled from school and James will kill us if we tell him that." Sirius huffed off with one hand on his hip and the other giving his head a place to rest. He trudged over to the nearest tree and propped his blurred figure up against it.

"Padfoot, calm down. You've got a point but there's no need to express your views so forcefully." Remus said as the epitome of calmness.

"I'm just tired." Sirius replied. "I didn't sleep well last night."

"Let me guess. Nightmares?" Peter inquired.

"None of your business Wormtail!" Sirius bellowed back, putting emphasis on the word _'Wormtail'_. Padfoot quickly jerked his head to face Wormtail whilst saying his name.

Peter turned slowly and took a few shy steps forward, trying to avoid any confrontation between himself and Padfoot and murmured the words "Yep, nightmares." to himself.

Remus continued "Anyway, back to the matter at hand. What's the plan? We've come up with a number of ideas but they either get us expelled, killed, or James gets angry, with reason, and walks away."

Peter pivoted on one foot and his arm shot up. "I...know...what we do." An evil genius' smile took refuge on his face. "First of all, we-"

"NOOOOO!" I decided I didn't want to hear any more of their devious plotting. I'd heard enough, so I decided to stop playing dead and take action. Bolting upright and stumbling to my feet I screamed the words "I don't wanna hear any more! I don't want to know what you're on about! Just SHUT UP! I don't wanna get angry, expelled or killed for that matter! And where the hell are we?"

After that I was panting like a greyhound after a race. I looked around with curiosity written all over me, threw my arms up in the air and scrunched my face up in disgust. I suddenly felt a throbbing pain on my forehead. The discovery of a small bump concealed by my fringe almost sent tumbling me back to the ground.

"Moony...what is important enough for you to drag me out of bed, literally just after I'd woken up, and knock me out too?" I queried while comforting my injury with a caring hand.

Moony sighed. "Knocking you out was accidental. Sorry. We meant to simply make you faint with a boggart but there was no need after giving you that bump." Remus let his head fall, manoeuvring past making eye contact with me.

I then turned to Peter, now etching anger into my voice. "So what are you gonna do Petey? SO WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?"

Turning back to Remus I took steps towards him, almost losing my balance and falling head first into a large cracked rock with jagged edges. Raising my hand and pointing my finger at him, I said with the same tone of voice I used against Peter "Why the hell did you drag me out to..." Looking around I pondered for the rest of my question as if trying to answer it myself. Putting my arm down I continued. "The Forbidden Forrest? It's dark, misty, deserted and I can just smell Peter's fear from here...so yeah. Why are we in The Forbidden Forrest Remus?" Folding my arms I glared at him with a fire in my eyes that I'd never had before.

Looking up and making eye-contact with me for the first time in what felt like ages, Moony eventually replied and indulged my curiosity as much as he could.

"We needed a place to be alone and think. I'm awfully sorry but I can't tell you much more than that at the moment, you'll just have to wait if you want to know more." He said, standing upright and relieving the tree of the burden of his weight.

Before anyone could get a word in edgeways I stormed off back towards the school in search of peace and quiet, something I rarely wanted or required.

I tried to avoid detection as I was still in my pyjamas. I managed to get to safety and took refuge behind a pillar in the corner of the courtyard, hidden from view of all of the current inhabitants. In the safety and innocence of outskirts of the school courtyard I saw people rushing in every direction, literally. People rushing off to lessons, back to common rooms, going down stairs they themselves had created somehow (How they actually did it I had no idea. Maybe some charm), and I even saw the novelty of a Slytherin levitating a defenceless girl belonging to Hufflepuff. Professor McGonagall quickly rushed over to the scene of this crime where a giggling audience had already begun to gather with people joining every second.

"A-what on Earth to you think you're doing Mr Gottle?" McGonagall bellowed whilst almost dancing her way over there with a sort of jig as opposed to a walk.

With a deep rough voice and a half hearted laugh, Gottle replied "This Prof, is how I entertain myself. Heh heh."

McGonagall, now bustling through the crowd, let out a huge roar killing all signs of any 'oomph's and 'argh's from students being shoved out the way. "Enough! I will NOT have any students picking on other students in any way." Having navigated the obstacle course of a crowd, she was now looming over the student who released his grip on the Hufflepuff girl. A small whimper came out of her as a thud could be heard throughout the courtyard, which was now deserted except from the crowd.

"Explain yourself immediately." McGonagall said with crossed arms and a very condescending figure.

"Err, well you see Professor, umm, I err, was..." Acknowledging defeat was inevitable; he said "I have no excuse..."

"Very well. Since you have no excuse, you will be cleaning every toilet in the school in your free time, for a month. You will report to Mr Filch every evening after dinner to start your evening shift, and you will also report to me tomorrow an hour before dinner for a detention. Is that understood or do I need to be more specific about your duties?" She explained, raising her eyebrows once she'd finished.

"I understand." He replied, before bowing his head in shame and fiddling with his wand.

"Away! Off to your lessons, now!" Professor McGonagall shouted while waving her arms in an attempt to shoo everyone away, before making her own way to her next lesson which she would be consequently late for.

As for me, I had a free period and so did Lily. I could easily guess she would be in the common room studying. Now that the crowd had dispersed I could safely make my way to the common room where I would have to try and avoid being seen by anyone in my pyjamas.

Looking up at the huge clock, I could see the time was now 2:03pm.

"Okay, time to move." I said to myself.

On the way back to the common room I could only think of three things; what the other Marauders were talking about, the incident I'd just seen, and of course, Lily.

After safely finding my way back to the common, Lily was, as I'd guessed, hunched over her books studying. She didn't even hear the Fat Lady's portrait slam shut, although that wasn't a surprise either. The dorm was unsurprisingly almost as barren as a desert.

I crept upstairs as quietly as was humanly possible, avoiding the embarrassment of being seen in my pyjamas by 'My Lily' as I'd so often referred to her as while thinking or daydreaming about her.

In my dorm I finally got dressed into my robes and remembered the scrunched up piece of paper by my bed. Thankfully it was still there, so I walked up to my bed side table and opened up the paper. It read:

_If you wake up in time to read this, Moony, Wormtail and I need you the Forbidden Forest. Just to make sure you're safe, we want to keep an eye on you. We'll explain later._

_Padfoot._

"I guess I didn't wake up in time then." I said with a little laugh. "Wait, keep me safe? Ok..." This unnerved me a bit but I shrugged it off.

After putting the paper in my draw I went downstairs to talk to Lily for a bit. I knelt down beside her armchair chair without her noticing and said "Hey Lily."

"Woah!" She exclaimed with a surge of shock running through her body. She instantly jolted upright, throwing her arms in the air sending her quill half way across the room, and turned her head to face me with her chin almost touching the floor. Yes, her mouth was open pretty wide.

"Woah, hey Lily, it's just me." I said, resting a calming hand on her arm. She flicked her view to my hand and back to my eyes again.

"You still gave me the fright of my freaking life James. Just don't do that again."

"I'll try, but I have no guarantees." I said with an innocent childish laugh.

"James..." Lily responded with a smile and a laugh that almost matched mine perfectly.

Taking my hand off her arm, now that she was calm, I fetched a chair and positioned it next to hers.

"So is that Muggle Studies you're brushing up on?" I asked.

"Errm, yeah, sure..." She said, while trying and failing to discreetly slip a piece of paper into her pocket.

"Wait, what's that? What did you just slip into your pocket?" I queried, pointing at her side whilst doing so.

She laid her head down on the table in front of her and a tear started its slow descent down her faultless face. Before any more could stream down, I put my arm across her body onto her shoulder and gently rubbed it. All else left my head. I just focused on cheering up Lily.

"What's wrong? Has something happened to someone in your family?" I inquired.

"No...It's just...I got hate mail..." Now nothing could stop the tears rolling down her face.

"What? Why would anyone send YOU hate mail? That's just not right. Looks like you could use a hug."

Pulling her head up, she rested it on my shoulder and I embraced her as she embraced me. We talked a little as we hugged each other, making some interesting enough conversation.

"Why anyone would ever send you hate mail I will never know." I whispered softly into her ear. "I mean, you're a straight A student, you're helpful, kind and friendly. You give great hugs too." I added, trying to make her smile and laugh with success.

"Yeah, I guess I do give great hugs." She jested.

"You know, I've got this place in the hills where I used to go when I got upset. When my parents got me my first broomstick I took it for a whirl and found this great calm place in the hills. It's not far from here. Maybe I could show you sometime during the holidays. They're only two weeks away. There's something there you might really enjoy doing as well." My proposition in place I awaited an answer.

"I think I might like that. It sounds like fun." Lily expressed her delight with a smile.

I thought to myself '_No 'Just me and you?' or 'How would we get there? I can't fly a broom' or any questioning at all. I must be getting somewhere. I should probably deflate my ego a bit though before the holiday. I need to show her I can be caring and considerate and not just cocky or arrogant...and I should probably stop hugging her now too.' _

I gently pulled away from the hug, as did she, leaving one hand on her shoulder and I asked "Are you alright now?"

Her reply being "Yeah, I'm ok now. ThanksJames." A wry smile emerged out what was misery. "I should, err, probably get back to studying. We have an exam tomorrow." She added abruptly.

"OK. You're welcome. I'm glad I was able to cheer you up and good luck with the exam tomorrow." I said.

"Thanks.", was the response.

I stood up and departed for the dorm. I had little time until my next lesson so I went up to the dorm and gathered the necessary books. I waited there for a bit and just daydreamed about what could happen during the holidays. I was filled with a subtle glee, hidden underneath my outer self.

The day went on as usual from there. We had another food fight during dinner, my fellow Marauders and I had a quick game of 21 Truth or Dare before bed and Padfoot and I floated notes over to each other as usual, because we were the last ones awake. Everyone else was asleep. We just talked about the holidays, and I tried not to mention what I had already grown accustomed to calling a '_date'._ Padfoot eventually drifted off to sleep and so did I, my dreams, once more, of Lily.


	3. Chapter 3

James and Lily – The Beginning

** (It might add to this scene if you listen to the Requiem For A Dream theme song by Clint Mansell. On YouTube search '**Requiem For A Dream - Theme Song**' and look for the lotr one. It's the best video of it I can find on YouTube. If you know any better then listen to that instead, but I recommend the lotr video. I'd get the video ready now if I were you.)

A Surprise Visit

It was the Christmas holidays at last. The school was submerged in a white sea of snow, and even the highest towers weren't without their new temporary paint job. And best of all, NO LESSONS!

Lily and I had also arranged a date for the trip to the hills, the good old rolling hills. I called them that because there's a set of about 8 rolling, curved hills, but because of their shape I also called them 'The Titihaha Hills', to mock Lake Titicaca. They honestly did seem like breasts, breasts just...perhaps I don't need to go that far.

Anyway, it was 11am, a time of day I'm normally still letting my fantasies and imagination conquer my dormant mind with armies of endless dreams of Lily with soft piano music playing in the background, laced with the sound of the odd violin and the sweet sound of Lily's voice in my ear. The common but ever annoying sudden accompaniment of the rest of the Marauders, however, was not so enjoyable. Sirius was snoring like his growling animagus, and Peter and Remus were lying in bed discussing their updated lists of contenders for the '_Most Hated Teacher Award' _and the '_Best Teacher Award'. _We, being the little miscreants that we are, each year made lists of who we liked and hated the most and made little trophies out of whatever we could find in our immediate surroundings.

"And top of your list is, Moony?"

"Err, it is...drum roll please?"

Peter obliged with Moony's request and started a drum roll. As he started, his paper was ruffling and countless cries of anguish erupted from the paper. I may have just viewed it like that because I had just woken up and I was obviously tired. I craned my neck so I could grab my pillow from under my head and drown my face in it as well as scream into it.

"Woah, ok James?" Remus asked as he turned his head to admire my excruciated expression on my now emerged face.

"Umm, yeah. I'm fine. I just err, had nightmares." I replied.

"Wow. Did Lily tell you she didn't love you in the dream? Or in real life?" Wormtail inquired with a smirk.

Before I could even make a sound, Sirius shot up and slowly turned his head towards us as if he was possessed. A gaping smile was visible to all in the dorm, which were just us and a few other boys up chatting about what to do during the holidays.

He paused, so I took the chance to turn to Remus and Peter and say "Err, guys. Is he drunk?"

"I'm not drunk, but I'll tell you what I am; a genius."

"You, a genius!" I continued. "How are you a genius then? Enlighten us."

"3 words guys: Hogsmeade, Zonko's, prank."

"3 more words for you Sirius: you, are, a genius."

Peter being Peter, held up his hands and counted the words with his fingers, whispering the numbers as they came. "One, two, three, four. Hang on! That's four words!"

Peter managed to elect a laugh from us all with that.

"Well, it seems I've failed to deceive you and your immense counting knowledge. You really are, too skilled. Now why not take a bow?" I jested.

After another little laugh from myself and the others, Peter grunted out the words "Nah. I'm not in the mood for bowing."

"Were you trying to make a good dramatic line there Peter? Cuz if so, you sorta failed." I jested in return.

Peter just glared at me, forcing an apology.

"Well anyway, what's this plan for the prank Sirius?" Remus asked, injecting a sense of calmness and normality into the conversation.

"Looking at my clock I think it's best if I tell you after breakfast."

"You mean MY clock don't you?" Remus cheerily protested. "You broke your clock and have been admiring mine ever since."

"Admiring, yes, that's the word."

So we went down to breakfast and as usual Padfoot hovered up the food like a dog, while Remus licked his plate clean between the heads of two Gryffindor girls as a dare, giving them a fright and creeping them out and Peter and I had a food fight between the two of us. Peter was the victor on this occasion. This however gave me a chance to deflate my ego a little more.

After breakfast, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and I set off towards Hogsmeade in the snow. Padfoot explained the prank on the way. The plan was to cast Wingardium Leviosa on the chattering teeth that bark or scream or shout, or something of that nature, really loudly, lift them up to ear level of a victim after winding them up and then simply let the victim get the fright of their life and laugh our asses off.

It was about half past twelve by the time we got there and so we went to the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer and a snack each, running into a few other friends of ours who we invited to help with our pranking later on.

The time came for pranking. We invaded Zonko's with our 3 new recruits and positioned ourselves at various points in the shop amidst the many crowds inhabiting the store. The chattering teeth had been located so we each signalled to each other to pick a target. Our targets found, we moved onto the next stage: casing the spell and levitating the teeth close to each of our victim's unknowing ears.

'_Now we wait.' _I thought to myself. 3...2...1...and off they all went. Barks and screams and loud growls roared and raced through the building, leaving a few people helpless from screaming with shock and smashing innocent faces with flailing arms as they felt fear surge through them with undeniable force. People tried to run away from the clamours but only ended up colliding with one another. The shop clerks didn't even attempt to stop the whole novelty show. In fact, I could just about hear one of them say in a commentators voice "Well that brings to total prank count to four pranks during the 8 days of the holidays so far. Stay with Zonko's Prank Watch to keep up to date with the pranks and see if the kids can break last year's record of 15 pranks. Thank you, for being pranked." After we'd left the crime scene I discovered Peter heard the same. It was one hell of a prank, and we were all pretty impressed with Sirius, offering him our congratulations.

After the fiasco, it was 2 o'clock and I felt like heading back to the castle. It had felt like ages since I'd been on my broom stick so I wanted to go for a bit of a fly, but we decided to do some sightseeing instead and have a snowball fight or two and bags of other fun things you'd expect immature 5th years to do.

It was getting dark and as we strolled back to the castle we saw a huge forest and as the children we are, we instantly turned to each other and at the same time and simply said "Hey guys, how about some good old hide and seek?"

We laughed at our own perfect timing and headed over a brick wall and into the forest.

"Ok, guys, who's on first?" Moony asked.

"I'd actually like to try out a new ip-dip sky blue thing if that's ok." I replied with an infectious childish smile. A similar smirk from Padfoot gave me the go ahead.

"Ok, feet in the middle guys. Ip-dip sky blue, on which of you did Snivellus poo?"

With a huge belly rumbling laugh from Sirius and Peter and a wry smile from Remus, my new little rhyme was accepted onto our list of 'Ip-dip Sky Blue Game Starter Things'. A very imaginative name thought of by all of us putting our minds together. As you can see, we were very lazy and immature, but proud.

"Ok Peter, since Snivellus pooped on you, you're on. Count by that tree. Count to...60."

As we went off deeper into the maze of various trees and plants we could just make out Peter muttering to himself.

"Why couldn't Snivy just hold it in for a few minutes? Perhaps I should poo on him and see how he likes it...Well that's our next prank." And upon hearing another laugh to add to this fun packed day, we were alone.

Left to our own devices for the next minute, we each scouted for the best place to hide.

When Peter said "Ready or not here I come!" we each heard a dark voice say the same.

"Ready or not, HERE I COME!" he screamed. We all heard tree branches falling and leaves rustling every single second. Then came an even worse, deafening call.

**(start the requiem for a dream music now )

"AAA-WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Things went quieter for a second before they gained momentum once more. The piercing cry was heard for miles around, striking fear and panic into the hearts of many, a recurring mission never failed. Then, one more call to set our hearts on fire rang out.

"READY OR NOT, HERE WE COME!" The particularly strong emphasis on the word 'we', set our pulses...racing. A call to arms...that's what we heard. Fearing the worst I jetted off like a gazelle as did the others. We could hear the footsteps of our foes behind us, rustling leaves and bushes and just about everything else. I even heard a dull thud and the cry of a baby animal right after.

Racing through the forest for our lives, darting between condescending trees with everything to lose, we fled for safety. I could hear more endless cries being hurled into the night sky with no holds barred.

"YOU'RE OURS' NOW! THERE'S NO ESCAPE!" one bellowed.

"YOU KNOW THE RULES BOYS! SURRENDER AND ACCEPT DEFEAT, OR DIE!"

"YOU KNOW HOW THIS'LL END, SO JUST GIVE UP WHILE YOU CAN!"

I heard the others shout out to me in desperation.

"JAMES! WHERE ARE YOU? DON'T WORRY ABOUT US! WE'RE SAFE! JUST SAVE YOURSELF!"

As I found an enclosed circle of tall bushes and trees to take refuge in, I heard our pursuers behind me, not very far behind me. They were closing in, and fast. I heard their leader shout a command to his subjects.

"Get them! Get the 'safe' boys! Now! James...is MINE!"

I heard the of noise their pounding feet grow quieter, and the pounding feet of my friends grow louder as they continued their flight away towards Hogsmeade.

The leader closing in, I knew I had to continue moving and not stop, or else I would die. Death was not something I wanted. I sprung up from my hiding spot and ran. I didn't turn back, not once. Whether he could see me I didn't know. Whether I would die was still an unanswered question.

I saw a pair of badgers and leaped over them, trying to get distance and speed in my jump. My legs were going as fast as possible, but just about 3 or 4 seconds after landing; I heard the dying breath of a badger. He'd smashed one of their heads in with his foot, demonstrating his power and telling me he was really closing in and he was intent on catching me.

The chase continued. I quickly turned a corner and tried to lose him and run to safety somewhere else. My heart was pounding and I knew my chances of survival were slim, very slim. I heard a loud growl, and tumbled to the ground, unaware of if he'd seen me. If he had, I was dead. I shot up and saw a circle of green with a speck of black in the middle just behind me as I turned my head. Panting like a dog, I didn't have to worry about him seeing me as much as hearing me.

I saw legs drenched with hair. A werewolf was after me, and I was all alone. My friends gone, it was just me and a determined werewolf in a dark forest. I was as good as a deadman.

I had no choice but to run. He was right behind me now, and I could hear him breathing and I could almost feel his breath too. I was tired but I had to keep my life. I continued my fleeing and my panting only grew louder. He was right behind me and I could hear him growl as if it was me growling. He swiped my legs and I collided with the ground. I quickly turned round, and as he kneeled down to admire his catch, I launched my leg into the air and connected with a kick in the face. The force of the kick caused him to spin round and lose his balance. As he fell, I got up and ran. I ran for my life, not thinking, just doing.

Soon after though, stunned and shocked, I slowed down. I heard him getting more relaxed. He knew he would catch me. He was faster and seemed to know exactly where he was going like he owned the place.

Eventually I stopped. I knew my luck had run out. I was rooted to the spot, and he was walking up to me, an arrogant and unnervingly confident walk. I waited what seemed like ages for him to speak.

"James is it?"

I didn't reply. I didn't know if I it was an act of defiance or if I was just scared. Maybe it was both.

He stopped right in front of me, so close I could smell his revolting breath. I looked down.

"LOOK AT ME!" he snarled, making me jump. I continued to look down.

"Alright, we'll talk when you're a little more willing. But for now..." He put a bag over my head and threw me over his shoulder. I was contemplating stunning him, but if it didn't work he'd probably have bitten me. That was a good question though, why hadn't he bitten me?

He took off the bag from my head and I saw Hogsmeade, but few people. The people I could see were unknown to me, other than my friends and two people from school. Georgia, a Gryffindor with flowing golden-brown hair and freckles, and Beatrice, a small slouching Slytherin with black hair. Everyone was rounded up and put into a small pen created by the werewolves themselves who were muttering amongst themselves. Although I only heard 3 or 4 in the forest, there was about 10 there now, guarding about 20 people. I was shocked by what I saw, but at least my friends were alive.

It was eerily quiet, and only the weeping of a small boy could be heard. I was forcefully shoved into the pen and didn't move an inch towards the guarding werewolves.

Standing alone in a position of power in the middle of the street, the head of the pack started a small speech.

"Do you know who I am?" No response.

"I am Fenrir Greyback." This brought out a few gasps from the new prisoners. That's what we were, prisoners. "I'm sure you've heard of me and my exploits in The Daily Prophet, and other garbage like it. You see-"

"Of course we've 'eard a ya. You killed that family not two weeks ago!" A brave northern man spoke out.

"They didn't cooperate. It was their own fault."

"NO. Their deaths were your fault! Weren't no one else's. Don't deny it!"

"Do you _want _to die old man?"

"No, and I'm no' old, I'm 56 years young. Now tell us, why are we here?"

"You're here for either one of two reasons. You're here to be recruited...or if not...you're here to die. As for you my...I would say 'friend', but I don't like people like you. Your disobedience disgusts me." He spat on the floor in the man's direction.

"Recruited? What for? And you're no' that appealing either buddy."

"Well, for our army of course you impudent whelp. The war's coming. Didn't you know?" He said in the most patronising voice possible while speaking through his teeth.

"And if we don't want to be recruited, then what happens?"

"Well, as I said OLD man, you die." He started slowly walking up to the man in the front of the crowd. Face to face with each other, Fenrir concluded. "As for you..." turning to one of the nearby werewolves he gave the command. "Kill him."

A few gasps, but no one said a word of protest out of fear. The man closed his eyes, and awaited his imminent death. With a growl, the werewolf pulled the man out so all could see. He breathed in, savouring the moment, before letting out a booming battle cry and quickly slicing through the man's throat with his sharp claws. The man collapsed, his blood staining the snow a crimson red. After a few stuttering gasps, he was dead. There was no remorse.

"Anyone else gonna join him?" Fenrir asked aggressively.

Beatrice, after a long silence, plucked up enough courage to say "I won't join him...but I'll join you."

"Good. You'll have a bright future. Come out here." And she did.

I knew we had to escape somehow, but how? I looked towards my friends and discreetly mouthed the word 'confundo' and nodded. Remus nodded back and told the others who weren't looking at me. He turned back and nodded once more.

"Anyone else want to join the army and fight? Or do you all want to die like the Geordie?"

3...2...1... "CONFUNDO! CONFUNDO! CONFUNDO!" We each cast at different werewolves and stunned then momentarily. We still didn't have long to get everybody out so we had to hurry.

"Guys, run! Go! Quickly! We'll fend them off! Go!" I shouted shooing them away, and as they heard me, they hastily followed my instructions. Weeping could still be heard from the small boy but his mother reassured him and took him away.

"Don't worry Billy, those hero boys just saved us. It's gonna be ok."

Upon hearing this I congratulated myself. "Hero, hmm, I could get used to that."

Most of the others had run off into the distance, but the slower ones required more time to escape.

"CONFUNDO! CONFUNDO!" Peter and I shouted as some of the werewolves came to. Just at that moment, who would've shown up but Dumbledore, our headmaster. We didn't see him much, but Slughorn was with him which we knew meant something good.

"AWAY!" Dumbledore shouted to us. We all instantly turned our backs and ran.

The epitome of calm, Dumbledore said to Slughorn "It is imperative you contact the ministry Horace."

"Ah-ha yes, I shall do so right away my friend."

Walking down the deserted street, Dumbledore bellowed "AGUAMENTI!" shooting a jet of water towards the enemy. Morphing it into a sphere, he captured 3 confused werewolves, then catching 2 more in quick succession. 6 others got away, including Fenrir. 5 however, were now held captive in a prison of water. Ahh how the tables had turned.

We had started running to the castle and the others were in front of me. I had decided to stay and see how it panned out in the end so I sat on a nearby brick wall. It was almost pitch black now and the Ministry agents had just arrived to arrest the werewolves. I saw Dumbledore and Slughorn come my way and I knew they'd talk to me about what happened, so I muttered "Lumos." and I was off back to the castle.

I got back quite late and the others were in the dorm waiting for me. Strangely enough though, before I got to my friends I saw Lily waiting expectantly in the common room. She left her seat and walked towards me as I walked towards her.

"Is it true James? Are you a hero now?" she said looking into my eyes.

"I guess you could say that." I replied proudly.

"Well you must be very tired then if what the others told me is true."

"I am a little tired actually, and yeah, it is true. I'd be happy to tell you the whole tale tomorrow on the way to the hills if you'd like."

"Can't wait." Lily said with a subtle smile. "Ooh, James! What did you do to your arm?" she said, screaming softly into her hands while stepping back slightly.

I looked down and saw a streak of blood. It seemed to be a relatively large cut so I was surprised I hadn't noticed it.

"Umm I don't, know." I said with a yawn.

"Oh, you really are tired. We should talk tomorrow. Go and clean that nasty thing up and get some sleep, go on."

"Ok, I will. Sweet dreams then Lily. See you tomorrow." I said, patting her shoulder lightly with my bloodied arm. The blood almost dripped onto her, forcing a sharp intake of breath and turning her into a statue which made me chuckle a bit.

"Sorry Lily." I offered the words with a grin.

"It's ok James. Just go to bed."

"Ok, night."

"G'night."

And with that we each departed for our dormitories. I quickly cleaned my mess up and hopped into bed wondering how I got the cut in the first place. The others tried to start a conversation but I politely refused. They said it was a good time to tell me why they dragged me out to the Forbidden Forest, which did tempt me to stay up and talk but I was tired and Lily said sleep so I did just that. I had a big day ahead of me, so I slowly nodded off to sleep and waited to see Lily once more.


End file.

Harry Potter, Fantasy, Romance