Lost Legacy 39

Year 3: Chapter 39
Forbidden Flowers

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After returning from a full moon night in the Shrieking Shack, Remus had a bundle load of homework he needed to finish. And he sat alone in the Common Room, his only company books and parchment.

That was until Lily Evans sat down next to him.

“Hello, Remus,” she grinned pleasantly.

Remus grinned as well and decided o take the vacation from his work. “Hi, Lily.”

“I saw your friends attacking a poor first year,” Lily commented.

“Excuse me?” Remus questioned, wondering whether he had understood completely.

“Yes, outside of the Library. Potter and Black,” she repeated.

“Attacking?”

“Yes. They turned her hair purple,” Lily explained.

“Sounds harmless….” Remus mumbled, feeling like returning to his essay.

“Harmless?! Surely you don’t approve of such behavior?!”

“I’m not my friends’ keeper,” replied Remus.

“They were behaving like idiots,” continued Lily.

“Don’t insult my friends in front of my, Lily,” Remus said, a warning tone rising in his voice.

“I didn’t mean to insult them. But that doesn’t excuse their behavior-”

“If it bothered you so much, why didn’t you stop them or tell a professor?”

Lily paused. She hadn’t been expecting this remark. “I could have,” she regained her composure quickly, though, “but I didn’t see any. I thought they’d listen to you before any of the professors or me, though.”

“It’s not my place.”

Lily blinked in surprise. “Are you afraid to confront them? They wouldn’t drop your friendship over that, would they?!”

“No, of course not,” he answered. “I just think you’re turning this into more than it is.”

“Why are you even friends with them, then?! You’re nothing like them!” Lily’s voice lost the concerned tone it had bore before.

“I wasn’t aware you couldn’t be friends with people different than you,” Remus glared slightly at her, not caring remotely for where the conversation was taking them.

“You’re right,” Lily said quickly, “but if they ever pressure you into something you don’t want to do or you have to do something to remain friends with them, you’re always welcome to-”

“I do have a mind of my own, Evans! I can handle my mates! And I don’t know where you’ve gotten the impression I’ve been forced into their company!”

“We’ll be playing Exploding Snap in the Common Room tonight. If you could join us-”

“I already have plans,” Remus interrupted.

“In other words they won’t let you abandon them for the night?”

“I didn’t say that! How about you join us tonight instead? You can see they aren’t horrible people holding me hostage.”

The tables had been turned. “What?!”

“I’m not lying about having plans. And since you’re so concerned about why I spend my time with, why don’t you join us? Unless, of course, your friends won’t let you abandon them for the night,” remarked Remus. “I can promise it will be more exciting than Exploding Snap.”
Remus successfully hid his smirk as he watched the gears in her mind slowly turn. His proposal had definitely sparked her interest.

“Fine, I’ll come,” she replied to his challenge.

“Great. I’ll meet you outside the Common Room at eleven o’clock sharp tonight. Dress warmly, we’ll be going outside.”

“Outside?!” Lily repeated.

“Yes. Are you still coming?” he was teasing her. The Gryffindor in her refused to allow him think she was frightened. And she certainly didn’t want him thinking that.

“Yes!” she stood up and stomped away.

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Remus was so bogged down with homework that he decided to stay inside and finish it rather than attend the Quidditch match. He had never been a huge fan of Quidditch, but feigned mild interest when around his friends, all of whom were huge fans themselves.

As he finished writing his last essay, a great cheer came from outside the Fat Lady’s portrait. He knew that when all of the students came in celebrating, he would be unable to finish. And so he quickly collected all of his books and papers and ran the up to their dormitory. He shoved everything under his bed and went down to Common Room again, where the entire Gryffindor house was celebrating its victory over Slytherin. Remus scanned the heads for his friends and soon spotted the curly top of Peter.

The party continued well on into the night until McGonagall dismissed it and sent all of the students off the bed. Of course, the four boys had their own plans.

Remus told James, Sirius, and Peter to go ahead of him while he finished his essay. Sirius rolled his eyes, but the three left. Five minutes later, Remus was done with his homework and descended the stairs to the Common Room. He opened the Fat Lady’s portrait hole and climbed through the other side, where he quickly spotted Lily waiting for him.

“You’re five minutes late,” Lily smirked.

Remus shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter unless we’re not there at twelve sharp.”

“But I had to be punctually on time?”

“Remus shrugged again, smiling playfully at her.

“Where are the other, then?”

“Waiting for us outside. Come one, but we have to be extremely quiet or Filch or somebody will catch us,” Remus instructed. Lily nodded.

The two walked swiftly through the halls and thankfully didn’t run into a soul, not even a Hogwarts ghost. As they slipped outside onto the grounds, the chilly air nipped them and penetrated through their clothes easily. It was dark and foggy, the moon only partly visible. They just spotted the three at the edge of the Forbidden Forest because of their lit wands.

“What’s Evans doing here?” James asked suspiciously.

“You didn’t tell them I was coming?!” Lily asked Remus with equal suspicion.

“I told Sirius to tell James,” Remus stated calmly.

“Oh right!” Sirius grinned. “Remus invited Evans, James.”

“Thanks for telling me, Sirius. I really appreciate it,” James rolled his eyes sarcastically. “I suppose she has to come now. Lets go.”

James led the way into the Forbidden Forest, but Lily remained rooted to her place.

“We aren’t going in there, are we?” she asked.

“Uh…yes,” James nodded.

“Why? Scared, Evans?!” Sirius teased.

“No!” And to prove her point, she was the first one in the Forbidden Forest.

James led the way through the trees, sided by Sirius. They spoke to one another in hushed tones. Peter struggled to keep up with the two; they were walking quickly. His eyes would dart to the left and right of the path, as if waiting for something to attack him. Remus and Lily brought up the rear of the party, neither speaking a word to the other. Lily still seemed apprehensive, though she was trying to hide it.

“Don’t worry. We’ve been through here before,” Remus commented. Lily nodded nervously.

A loud screeching noise caught them off of their guard as a large creature swooped down on them. They all dropped to the forest floor, covering their heads, for it had flown rather low.

“Hoot! Hoot!”

“It’s only an owl!” James exclaimed, pointing to the tree branch the bird had perched on. They all laughed about it, but kept closer together than they had before, this time James chatting with Lily and Sirius with Peter. They continued this way, as the trees became thicker and less light mad it through. James then led them off of the path they had been following, straight into an area of shrubs and thorns. They each complained to themselves as the thorns tore their skin and twigs caught themselves in their hair.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Lily asked suspiciously.

“Positive,” James nodded as he cleared the shrubs and thorns. He stopped, as did Sirius, Peter, and Lily. Remus was the last one to pass through the shrubs and thorns, but once he did, he stopped with them and stared in awe.

Straight in front of them was a large patch of flowers, all of the same sort. But these were no ordinary flowers, for they all glowed and twinkled with the colors of the rainbow.

“Whoa,” Peter stared at them, dumbstruck.

“Sit down,” James nodded toward a log placed front row and center, as if for them. They all sat on it and waited patiently for James.

“What is this?” lily asked.

“Watch!” James pointed to the flowers. They all looked at them again as they began shooting seed pods up into the air that exploded in bright colors, sending the colorful, fluorescent sees everywhere. It was like their own private firework show, though without so much percussion as the pods only made a small popping noise when they exploded.

“Where’d you hear about this?” Peter asked James, never taking his eyes off of the sparkles for a second.

“My dad told me about them and where to find them,” James explained. “It’s their way of pollinating. It’s always at midnight during the second week of October.

“Of course you can imagine my mum was less that pleased when she found out he told me,” James added, laughing.

They continued to watch their tiny fireworks for another hour until they were done. Disappointed it was over, they all stood up to stretch from sitting so still in the cold for so long.

“Stay close,” James ordered, and the five walked through the shrubs and thorns again. The path started right at the end of that, too, and they began walking back to Hogwarts. It had grown even foggier since they left and so they walked in a single file line: James in the front, Lily in the back.

“So what did you think, Lily?” Remus asked her, but she never replied. “Lily?” he asked again. Nothing. He turned around to see what was wrong, but she wasn’t there.

“Lily!” No one answered. “Guys, Lily’s….” he turned around again, but only Peter was there. “Where are James and Sirius?”

Peter shrugged. “They were here until I turned around to see what was the matter with you.”

“They couldn’t have gone far and besides, they know their way. We need to find Lily,” Remus stated. He and Peter started in the reverse direction, calling out for their lost companion.

Lily screamed. They ran to help her, worried of what may have found her. They only hoped they weren’t too late.

They found her sitting on the ground, her back facing them. James and Sirius were there, too, laughing.

“That wasn’t funny!” she snapped up at them, pulling her foot out of the tree root.

“Lily, there you are! You must have veered off the path or something. Are you alright?” Remus asked as he began to help her up.

She shoved him away and stood on her own. “Am I alright? Am I alright?! Ask Potter and Black!” She didn’t wait for Remus’s response, but ran away from the boys. They protested that she come back so they could help her safely find her way out of the forest, but she ignored them.

“What did you do?” Remus turned and quickly faced them angrily, his wand raised at them.

“We just snuck up on her a bit. Nothing really,” James answered, looking warily at the poised and ready wand. Sirius nodded.

Peter looked back and forth between the two parties, not sure whom he should side with.

Still glaring at the pair, Remus lowered his wand and silently led the group out of the forest.

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Remus met Lily in the Great Hall the next morning. He sighed and sat down across from her. “Lily, I’m sorry about what happened last night, but I hope you understand it was only a joke.”

“Well it wasn’t very funny.”

Remus sighed. “If I would have known they would do that, do you honestly believe I wouldn’t have stopped them?”

“I don’t know what I can believe from you anymore,” she frowned at him, truly hurt.

“It was nothing personal, they’re just like that. No harm done-”

“‘No harm done?!’ I could have twisted my ankle! I thought something had eaten you all!” Lily hissed.

“The dark creatures of the forest generally leave students alone, as long as they don’t bother them,” Remus corrected.

Lily rolled her eyes.

Remus sighed again. “So you’re angry then?”

She stood up, breakfast unfinished. “Obviously, Lupin.” She walked away.

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