Black Lily

Chapter Seven

Weaving

Lily blinked, and yawned. As she sat up, her leg screamed with cramp. She soon saw why. Sprawled around her were Falcon, Abby and Sev'. Huh, she thought absently, we must have fallen asleep talking. Typical. Stretching, she felt the skin on her left forearm pull painfully, stinging. She frowned, and yanked the long sleeve of her pyjamas off it. A chocked gasp of horror fell from her lips, and then she screamed in terror. Sev' and the others sat up with a jolt, staring at the pale redhead who clutched her arm.

"Lili? What's up?" his voice was groggy and worried. Shaking, Lily held out her arm. Burned into the pale flesh, was a jet black skull with a snake coming out of its mouth. Abby began to shake, and Falcon gulped.

"Lili... That... that's the Dark Mark." She glared at him, panicked.

"I know full well what it is! My god, why do you think I'm so frightened?? Where did it come from?? What am I going to do??" she began sobbing, dry gasps tearing from her throat and she clawed at the tattoo, trying to rip it from her flesh. Sev' grabbed her hands.

"Stop it; it will get infected." She trembled, staring at the Mark. Her bedroom door burst open, and James, Sirius and Remus practically fell in, swiftly followed by Peter.

"Lily! What's wrong? Why did you scream?" she looked at them with huge eyes. Slowly, she held out her fore arm, and flinched as James recoiled. Sirius stood still, staring at her arm.

"Fucking hell... Lily, you're not... are you?"

"Of course she's not." The sound of quiet Abby Bones spitting venomously at Sirius was enough to make them all look at her for a moment. Tentatively, Remus stepped forward, and wrapped cool fingers around her now burning forearm, and examined it closely. After a moment he nodded slightly.

"Well, this definitely is not a Death Eaters' Dark Mark; those are red, unless they're called, while this is black. I think we should go to Dumbledore." Just as James started nodding, Falcon and Sev' moved so that they were both protectively by Lily's side, Sev' with his arm around her waist, Flacon with his arm round her shoulders.

"What's this 'we' business? We're her friends, so we'll take care of her. Who asked you to interfere?" Sirius looked indignant, and advanced on the Slytherin, murder in his eyes, but Lily held up a hand.

"Leave it Sev'. They're just trying to help. Now, if you 'gentlemen' will go into my sitting room for a moment, Abby and I need to dress." When they didn't move, her eyes narrowed dangerously, and she growled deep in her throat, baring her teeth. The wolf in her howled with triumph as the boys left swiftly, Remus smiling slightly. Lily turned to find Abby staring at her.

"What?"

"... Fangs." Frowning, she raised a hand to her mouth. Where her canine teeth had been, a pair of elongated, sharp fangs protruded over her lip.

"Shit. So that's why they were scared." Closing her eyes, she concentrated hard on her old teeth. Her gums prickled uncomfortably as the fangs receded.

"Better?" her friend nodded. Rubbing her eyes tiredly, thinking that she definitely shouldn't have stayed up until the early hours, Lily walked over the wardrobe, and examined the contents that Falcon had left. All her old, 'frumpy' clothes were gone, some completely disappeared, other Transfigured into other things. She pulled out a pair of her favourite black jeans, a red tee shirt and a black button up shirt. She looked at Abby, who looked down at her feet. Lily smiled, and found a knee length denim skirt and an apple green fitted blouse that she had forgotten that she owned.

"Here, you can wear these. No, wait, you can keep them." She smiled, and began to root around in the bottom of her wardrobe. She pulled out a pair of trainers.

"And these. Look, I know they're not what you're used to as their muggle clothes, but..."

"Oh no, their perfect! I love them." She smiled quickly, clutching the clothes to her as though they were her first love. Lily smiled, shaking her head, as she picked up her own clothes and went into the bath room to dress, ignoring the throbbing in her arm.

~

James glared at the Slytherin, and continued stalking around the little sitting room, dodging around the ebony wooden furnishings and deep purple sofa and armchairs. It seemed, to his deep annoyance, that Falcon and Remus got on very well, and were sitting discussing some muggle book or other, Falcon draped over an arm chair, Remus sitting on the floor, leaning back on his arms. He pushed his glasses back up his nose.

James glared at the Slytherin. What ever Lily had done to fix his hair and nose, she had done good work, he admitted grudgingly to himself. Maybe Snape didn't know how to carry off looking like he had stepped out of a Play Witch calendar, but Lily had definitely done something to help him not look like the Hook Nosed Thing That Was. Not that he would ever tell any one that those were his thoughts. He still hated the bastard to distraction.

Lily sauntered in, dragging the Hufflepuff girl with her. Some of her old confidence was back, glowing out of her, from her meticulously brushed hair, to the dark clothes she wore. The black shirt swirled around her, the cuffs unbuttoned, as was the front. Black trainers shod her feet, half covered by black, much loved jeans. Falcon was staring at his friend, shock evident on his face.

"Lili... what have you done to your hair?" the red head smiled, and tossed her now just- over- shoulder length hair.

"Impulse action. I like it." She nodded at her friends, and raised an eyebrow at the Marauders. "Shall we?" Falcon swung his long legs off the arm chairs arm, and held out a hand to help Moony up. They all headed for the door, but Lily got in James's way as he stepped toward the archway. She looked at him steadily, until he had to repress the urge to hide from her eyes.

"Potter- James. I'm calling a truce. But," she stopped him before he could speak, "I don't want anymore of this talk about me leaving Falcon and Sev', or Abby. For one thing, Abby needs me, for another, Falcon needs some one to stop his impulse to shove his head up his arse about how wonderful his house is, and Sev' needs some one to make sure people aren't murdered by him. So, truce?" she held out a hand. James looked at her hand. Could he really accept that? Lily being friends with that Bastard, the Smart Arse and the Hufflepuff. But still, she would be his friend. Even if she wasn't anything else. He smiled, and took her hand, bringing it to his lips briefly.

"Truce it is Ulv." She raised her eyebrows, and James had the strange urge to chuckle.

"What does that mean?"

"Why, the Lily I know knows every thing." She glared at him, and he grinned before replying. "It means 'wolf' in Norwegian."

"So I have another nickname then?"

"Only from me." she sighed, grinned, and walked through the archway. James ran his eyes over her figure. He licked his lips and spoke softly.

"Mmm... god Evans, I know that I'm not supposed to do this but... DAMN you look good!"

~

What James didn't know, of course, was that Lily had heard him. She smirked, bouncing down the hall way with her friends and the Marauders.

"Hurry up James! Stop staring at my ass!" Falcon cackled, Abby smiled, and Sev'... scowled. Lily blinked, but cast it aside. After all, Sev' HATED James, and visa versa. She sighed, and walked over to Remus. He smiled at her tiredly. She smiled back.

"Hey Remus mate. How you doing?"

"A little tired, but otherwise I'm fine. How about you? That was your first transformation wasn't it?"

"Yeah. Amazing feeling though, isn't it? Being a wolf? Well, I guess it can't be quite the same for you, but it just makes my human form seem..." she wrinkled her nose with mild disgust, "Pitiful." He smiled sympathetically, and, to Lily's surprise, took her hand in his.

"Don't worry about it. I felt the same. I mean, once I had got over the whole oh- my- god- my- body- is- breaking- into- a- thousand- pieces- I- want- to- die thing." She smiled, and squeezed his hand. He looked at her thoughtfully.

"Look, Lily... you know about me now, so..." he cleared his throat, "If you want to, you can call me Moony. That's what the others call me." It occurred to Lily that he wasn't just asking a simple question; he was honouring her by allowing her the use of his personal nickname. She smiled brilliantly, and kissed his cheek.

"Of course I want to Moony! You must call me Lili. Or... or Ulv." Remus had turned slightly pink, but was grinning.

"Ok Lili. Oh god, what's the password?" they looked at each other. Lily swore under her breath.

"Some Head girl I make; I don't even know the password to the Headmasters office!" Falcon grinned. James rolled his eyes.

"Mint Humbugs." The gargoyle jumped aside. Lily raised her eyebrows.

"Oh, James, have you been such a perfect Head boy that you remember the password?"

"Get as many detentions as I do, love, and you'd make it your business to know the passwords around here." They walked up the stairway, and Lily started trembling. Her arm was stinging sharply again, and her head was beginning to spin.

'Lilith,' the voice was back. Lily moaned softly as they reached the top of the stairs. The others looked at her startled as she spoke in a croaked whisper.

"Oh no... Not you... any one but you..." a soft chuckle reverberated around her mind.

'I see you are not entirely pleased to hear from me Granddaughter. I must say, I am disappointed about that. I am impressed though, that you have mastered your transformations at so early a stage in our contact.' Lily closed her eyes, breathing rapidly.

"What do you want? Why can't you leave me alone?" a hand rested on her arm, and she shook it off, backing away until she was pressed against the wall. A soft voice said her name, but she shook her head, covering her ears with her hands.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!! I WON'T I WON'T I WON'T I WON'T!! NO!!"

'Calm your self Lilith. We will speak again in due course, and I hope to find you in a calmer state of mind.' Blissful darkness engulfed her, and she let herself slip happily.

*

"She's coming round I think. Bloody hell, that was frightening!" The voice sounded as though she was hearing it through deep water. Blearily, she opened her eyes, and winced as bright light almost blinded her. She moaned faintly, and dragged her arm out of some ones grip. Pressure was put on the fore arm, and she whimpered, struggling.

"Be still Lily, let me look at it." She slowly stopped pulling and writhing, and lay back, biting her lip. Finally, her arm was released, and she was helped to sit up two fingertips were pressed to her eyes, and when they were removed, left cool pools that spread to cover her whole face. Carefully, she opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief when she could see. Abby rushed over and Lily found herself in an embrace so tight hat she could scarcely breath.

"Oh my god Lili, never do that again, never never never..." Lily gasped for breath, speaking through the gasps.

"Er, sweetheart, Lili can't breathe." Abby pulled back slightly, and smiled shyly.

"You scared us there Lili."

"Sorry." Dumbledore smiled indulgently, and coughed quietly. She turned to look at him, and he smiled again.

"Miss Evans, good to see you back in the conscious realm."

"Good to be back sir. Though it did give me a moment's peace from this lot," She stuck her tongue out at Sev' and grinned at Falcon.

"Yes, peace is a wonderful thing." He sat down in his chair, and that was when Lily realized that she was still sitting on his desk. She swung her legs over the side and jumped off. The room span. A pair of strong arms wrapped around her, and she felt steady, and safe. She looked up, and blinked as her eyes met hazel ones. James grinned at her.

"You ok Ulv?"

"Y... Yes, I'm, I'm fine." Why was her heart beating so fast? And why did it feel as though the bottom of her stomach had gone with her consciousness? She pushed the thought out of her head, and separated herself from James, who cleared his throat loudly, and looked away. She turned back to Dumbledore, whose eyes twinkled madly.

"So... I think I'm right in guessing, Professor, that you know about... this," she lifted her left arm, and then dropped it quickly, as though the mere thought of the jet stain on her arm upset her. Which it did, immensely. Dumbledore nodded. Remus looked at him expectantly.

"So, Professor, was I right? It's a warning Mark, isn't it?" Dumbledore smiled slightly.

"Once again, Mr Lupin, you are entirely correct. That is, indeed a Death Eater warning mark," he looked grave, and offered Lily a dish of toffee by what he seemed to think a way of consolation. She patted her stomach and shook her head. Dumbledore set the dish down, and Lily heard Sirius sigh with disappointment. She smiled slightly.

"Professor, I believe that Sirius would like some though, even if I don't." the boy grinned, and took two large pieces from the proffered dish. Lily wrinkled her nose in mild disgust as he stuffed one into his mouth. Sev' sneered, and Lily winced as words poured out of his mouth that sounded just like his old self.

"God Black, I know that you understand that we hate the utter drivel that you spew from that gapping trap of yours, but must you disgust us while you block it?" Sirius's face turned faintly purple as he glared murderously at the black haired Slytherin. Lily raised an eyebrow at Sev'.

"Severus, please refrain from insulting every thing that moves; you don't want to make your self any more unpopular, do you?" The Slytherin winced, and Lily felt Abby draw back from the ice in her voice. Dumbledore coughed slightly, averting his eyes.

"Yes, indeed. Miss Evans, you do understand about this, don't you?" Lily grinned.

"Yeah, I do know that Sev' tends to open his nasty mouth every so often, but-"

"That's not what he meant Ulv." Lily sighed, and pushed her hands into her hair, bowing her head.

"No, I don't understand. Why me? I'm not special, I'm just a Muggle born." Her words were bitter and spoke of some one who was used to being treated as inferior because of who she was.

~

James stepped up beside her, and put his hand on her shoulder. She was obviously in emotional pain, for the way that she was sitting, hunched over, head bowed. Dumbledore nodded to him, in approval.

"Miss Evans? Lily?" slowly, the girl raised her head. James caught sight of her eyes, and felt as though he had swallowed ice; they were as cold and hard as stone. Dumbledore didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he chose to ignore it, as he continued to talk. "Ah, good. Keep yourself composed, I beg you. Do you have any idea how this happened?" the red head shook her head. She licked her lips, and spoke in a measured, even voice.

"I do have an idea of why its there though." She looked up at James, and then back to the head master. "He knows." Dumbledore bowed his head.

"I was afraid of that." James raised an eyebrow.

"He knows what? About Morgan Le Fey?" Dumbledore was about to answer, when Lily snorted in contempt, her voice dripped sarcasm like acid.

"No James, he knows my bra size is 34D. Of course it's about Morgan!" Sirius looked at her with interest.

"Your bra size is 34D?" James and Lily turned their heads at the same time, and shot almost identical glares at the Gryffindor. It occurred to Sirius that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference in venom. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled brilliantly; he was trying not to laugh.

"Lilith," Lily looked around sharply, "I believe that it is time for you to reveal what you have hidden." Confusion didn't describe what the words did to James. Lily looked horror stricken.

"No, you can't be serious. They can't know!"

"Lilith, it is too late! If Voldemort knows about who you are, why hide it?" this seemed to make sense to Lily. Her jaw tightened, and her face paled, but she nodded, once. Dumbledore raised his wand to her face. James started.

"Wait, what exactly are you-" White light flashed, blinding him.

~

Lily felt ice cold wash over her face, then pain encased her left eye. She screamed, gasping for breath. After a moment, it vanished, and she collapsed in her chair, hands instantly covering her face. Hands grabbed her shoulders.

"Lily! Lily, what's wrong?? Look at me!" slowly, hesitantly, she looked up.

~

James stared. Slicing through her eyebrow, over her eyelid and onto her cheek bone, was a pale scar. It was about half a centimetre thick, and pointed at either end. Lily looked down.

"It's horrible, isn't it?" Dumbledore sighed.

"You're a brave girl Lily. Not many could bear to have people see that."

"I can't bear to have people see it. But I'm going to have to, aren't I?" she sighed, and stood up, and turned to her friends. Snape's eyes widened, Abby's mouth formed a small 'o' of horror, and Falcon swore softly. Lily looked back at them, head held high, elegant hands clenched into fists. James thought that she had never looked more beautiful. Not that he could ever say it to her; she would never listen.

~

She ran up the rest of the stairs and into her room, throwing herself on her bed and sobbing. It wasn't fair! Her posters all cried out in concern, and the James Marsters poster even tried to leave the wall to comfort her, but to no avail.

"Stupid... bloody... BASTARD! Why me?? Why me?" her voice sounded choked even to her ears, but she couldn't stop crying. That scene from last year was playing over in her mind.

She struggled up, wiping blood away from her mouth. God, it was so dark. Too dark. Fumbling, she pulled her wand out of her robe pocket, and clutched the black wood tightly. She couldn't see Dumbledore or the other members of the Order, but they had to be here some where. They just had to be. Suddenly, Lily had the feeling that she wasn't alone. A cold hand touched the back of her neck, and she felt the sort of revulsion you get when you get hordes of insects crawling over your flesh.

"So. You are she, are you? Le Fey's only Magical ancestor."

"Let me guess; you were expecting some one taller." A cold chuckle sounded around her, and a cold, dry finger swept around her neck.

"I must say, you are a blooming rose, aren't you? Quite like Morgan was, I would say. Have the dreams started yet?" she tried desperately to see him, but she couldn't. And yet, even without her eyesight, she knew who it was; Lord Voldemort. He was still talking.

"... A power like yours is too formidable to be opposing mine. So I will give you an opportunity. An opportunity to join me. You could be great, you know. It's all right there, in your head. I could help you to greatness." Bile rose in her throat as that fingertip ran over her collar bone; she felt it even through her robes.

"Screw you Voldemort." A dry hiss reverberated in the air.

"I will give you one last chance. Join me."

"Are you deaf or just stupid? Screw- you- Voldemort." Light seared through the room, and stung her eyes. A man stood before her. His skin was almost white, and his black hair stood out in sharp contrast. His eyes were a green brown, but seemed to be tinged with crimson; they chilled her blood. His hands were pale spiders, one clutching a wand, the other caressing her throat. This was Lord Voldemort. He sneered at her as she raised her chin defiantly.

"Yes, I was right; you are a beauty. What a pity." A tinge of fear trickled down the back of her neck.

"What's a pity?"

"That I have to ruin it." He raised his wand. Dull yellow light flashed in her eyes, and pain covered her face, pouring over her. She wanted to scream, to let it out. But she bit her lip hard, so hard it bled; she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that he could break her, because he couldn't.

And then it was gone. She felt blood trickling down the side of her face, into her eye. Voldemort stepped up close, until he was only an inch away from her.

"Things are going to get very interesting, petite fleur." He suddenly pressed his lips against hers, hard, then swept away. Lily retched faintly, then collapsed.

She could still feel it, a year later. The cold feeling of his lips against hers. The utter disgust and humiliation swamped her again. She sat up, hair tumbling over her face.

"I will not loose. You will not beat me." she stood up, and ran to the balcony. She swung her self up onto the rail, and stood, holding her arms out wide, head tossed back.

"You can't beat me! I am a Le Fey! I am better then you! No one can touch me!" the wind picked up, screaming around the castle. Throwing back her head, she howled with a fierce triumph.

She lost her balance. Just as she fell forward, a pair of hands wrapped around her waist, and hauled her back.

"I know that you think you're spectacular, but you can't fly without a broom stick, alright?" Lily rolled her eyes, and turned to face James.

"I know that. As stupid as I look, I am honestly quite smart."

"No, really? Gosh." She slapped his arm, smiled, and wiped her eyes. James put his head on one side, and traced a line down her cheek.

"You've been crying." Lily snorted softly.

"No shit Sherlock." He looked at her with those annoyingly smart eyes.

"Why were you crying?"

"Because of this," she ran a fingertip over her scar, "because of how I got it." A pair of eyes flashed across her vision, the crimson stain in them menacing her. She pushed it aside. James ran a warm fingertip over the white line.

"Do you want to tell me how you did get it?" did she? Did she want some one who wasn't Dumbledore to know? Could she trust him? Slowly, she shook her head; she wasn't ready to speak. He nodded, and stroked the scar again. She turned her head away.

"Don't; it's ugly."

"No it's not." She turned her head back to stare at him. How could he say that it wasn't ugly?? He smiled at her. "It just adds some thing else to your face. Some thing special. How ever you got it, it effected you; badly." She stared at him, incredulace. He understood. He, James Potter, under stood in some small degree what it was. A spell swept through the back of her mind. She knew what to do. Curling her hand around his neck, she pulled his head down, rested her forehead against his, and whispered the words. The images poured through her mind, and into his. She watched as his eyes widened with horror. Finally, she let him go, and he staggered back, gasping, clutching his eye; he had seen every thing as though he was her.

"Oh my god... Oh my god..." she sighed.

"I could have told you it wasn't pretty." He looked at her, wide eyes wild.

"Not pretty?! My god... how can you say that as though it was just a casual thing?? You, you saw him, he, he..." he trailed off, shuddering. Lily shrugged.

"Hey, it actually happened to me, it wasn't just a transferred memory." James strode back over to her and swept ewer up in his arms, holding her tightly. Just as she had felt safe before, she did now.

"God Lily, I would have done any thing to have spared you that, any thing." She clutched him tightly, burying her face in his chest, screwing her eyes tightly shut. She could still hear his voice echoing around in her mind. "Lily... I love you." The words, his voice, still made her tremble slightly.

"I know." He pulled back, and looked at her. He smiled softly, and pressed his lips gently to her eyelid.

"I don't think it's ugly; nothing that was you could be ugly."

*

Lily took a deep breath, and stepped into the Great Hall, James following her directly. One of the Hufflepuffs looked up, and saw her. He yelped, and fell of his chair. She glared at him.

"Think there's something odd about my face, do you?" he shook his head quickly. "Good." She swept across the room, and threw herself gracefully into a chair. She waved her hand pitifully at the coffee pot. Abby handed it to her silently, smiling slightly. Lily licked her suddenly dry lips, and poured out a mug of life giving caffeine, liberally added milk and sugar, and sipped it. With a groan of pleasure, she slid down in her seat. Sev' burst out laughing at her morning ritual. Lily opened her left eye, and grinned. Falcon smiled.

"You know, that look has definitely been improved by that scar. It's a statement. I rather like it. Can I have one?" some people would have been upset by this, but Lily knew it was just Falcon's attempt to cheer her up.

"No, it is strictly a Lily Evans look."

"One which I hope won't be repeated." The drawling voice made Lily sit up, take a deep gulp of her coffee, and then put down the mug. Remus looked over her head, and growled.

"Malfoy." The Slytherin sneered, but ignored the werewolf.

"What happened to your face Evans? Did you get in a fight with one of Hagrid's' beasts? Or is it something all Muggles have? Or just a mudblood thing?" any one who knew Lily would know to stop when the muscle in her jaw started ticking, but Malfoy didn't know that. The tall Slytherin laughed.

Lily sat perfectly still, staring straight ahead of her. Remus looked at her eyes, and knew instantly what was going on; he knew that look. She remained seated. Lucius Malfoy looked at her, the sneer on his face magnified.

"What's the matter Evans? Too scared to talk?" a snarl passed over her face, and in a flash, she had knocked her chair over, grabbed Malfoy by the front of his robes and lifted him off the ground. She snarled into his face, her voice growling, and wolf shining through her eyes.

"Get this straight Pureblood; I'm not afraid of you, or any one. Get that?" she spoke the word pureblood the way that he said mudblood. Malfoy nodded, terror in his eyes. Lily dropped him, and wiped her hands on her jeans as though they were dirty.

"Good. Now get out of my sight." The Slytherin scrambled up and was gone. Lily breathed out hard through her nose, like a canine sighing, and pulled her chair back up again. She picked up her mug of coffee, and sat down, draining it. She looked at the others as they stared at her.

"What?" Remus sighed. She didn't understand.

"You can't just do that Lily. You have to show some decorum when it comes to what comes with your wolf." Lily cocked her head to one side.

"So... I can't use it to stop arrogant bastards like Malfoy picking on the Muggle- borns of the school?"

"Not in such an obvious way." She sighed heavily, but nodded.

"Fine. If you think that that's for the best, I will try." She sighed, and ran a finger down the scar. Things were going to take a while to get used to.

*

Outside, it had begun to rain, but for the group of people sitting under a tree, that was irrelevant. A pile of tiny elastics and wooden, glossy beads lay between Falcon and Sirius, and each held a small plait in their hands, plaiting deftly, before flicking their wand at a bead and threading it onto the end of the plait in Lily's hair, and then tying it off with an elastic, before starting again. Sirius Black had found a new way to relax; doing Lily's hair. Lily's eyes were half shut, head tilted back as Falcon deftly did slender French plaits over the top of her head; he called it Cane Rose or something. What ever it was, it felt nice. He had really gently hands. Abby sat cross legged on the ground, doing some piece embroidery or other. Remus was lying back against the tree, eyes shut. Sev' was reading a huge book that Lily had had to carry as it was to heavy for him, though he would never have admitted it, Peter was struggling with a piece of homework, and James was catching a snitch that he hand stolen in his fifth year idly. Lily began to hum, and then sing softly.

"Close your eyes catch your breath,

Take my hand and follow my soul,

Leaping deer, swimming otter,

Dancing skylark, rolling wind,

The entire world is my garden,

The rainstorm and the river are my brethren,

The wind and shining sun are my fathers,

Join me in my world, cry to the moon with the wolf,

Call to the rain with the soul of the sycamore,

Listen to the Earth; sing with the voice of the wind,

Paint the colours of Nature, but never will you capture the truth,

I am connected to them all and they to me,

A circle of life, we are all part of,

But only when we know..." James had stopped playing with the snitch, Peter had abandoned his home work, Abby's needle had stopped moving, and Sev' had stopped reading. Even Falcon and Sirius had slowed in their plaiting. A soft wind was encircling them, and the smell of rain and promise of new life to come was scenting it. Remus sighed happily, inhaling deeply. Lily sighed, and shifted slightly into a more comfortable position. Activity resumed. After a moment, Sev' raised his head and looked up at the castle.

"I'm thirsty. I'm going to get a drink, ok?" before Lily could mention that they had a rather large flask of hot chocolate with them, he had stood up and left, striding up to the castle. James raised his eyebrows.

"Must have wanted some thing cold."

"Must have." With a sigh of satisfaction, Sirius and Falcon finished the last two plaits, and flexed their stiff fingers. Lily straightened, and rolled her shoulders.

"Ok, really stiff..." Remus opened an amber eye.

"Having trouble?"

"With my bastard muscles; yeah." Remus rolled his eyes.

"Come here." Lily grinned wolfishly, and shifted so that she sat with her back to him, the small of her back pressed slightly against his crossed legs. Remus cracked his knuckles, sniggering softly as Abby shuddered. Applying just the right amount of pressure, he began to massage Lily's shoulders. Lily wriggled slightly, and growled softly. It wasn't that there was anything going on between the two; wolves are pack creatures, and Lily showed a lot of the same tendencies that wolves did when it came to physical contact; she craved it. Remus quite liked having some one else around who understood him. One of the things that they both liked was when Lily snuck up behind him in the corridor and jumped on him, and then he would grab her and swing her around, both of them laughing. No one made fun of them, not even Malfoy; after the incident in the Great Hall three days ago, he didn't dare insult Lily. Well, not to her face any way.

For a moment, James glared at Remus, and then stopped; he couldn't begrudge his friend a Soul Sister, could he?

Remus tickled the back of her neck where she loved to be tickled, and poked her shoulder.

"I'm not doing any more. You want some one to do your back, ask James." Lily grinned at the werewolf, and winked. Well, why not? She wriggled over to James on her stomach, and looked at him pleadingly, making her eyes as big as they would go. James raised an eyebrow.

"Do you want something Miss Evans?" she smiled at him, flashing white teeth.

"Please James?" he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, can those eyes get any bigger? Alright." She smiled, and rested her chin on her hands. Then sat up and removed her outer shirt, leaving her tee shirt between his hands and her skin, then lay back down. His hands were warm, and strong, she acknowledged lazily. She wriggled slightly, and sighed happily, closing her eyes. Her skin tingled wherever his hands had been, and little shivers ran up and down her spine. She bit her bottom lip, and wriggled again. It was like small parts of her were on fire, where ever his fingers hand been. She took a deep breath, and sat up. Swallowing, she smiled shakily at James, and grabbed her shirt, pulling it on quickly.

"Thanks." She smiled, and the others and stepped out from under the tree into the rain.

She was soaked almost instantly. Cold water drummed down on her, and she raised her arms, relishing it. She turned, grinning and beckoned to the others. Abby shook her head, laughing, and Peter just shook his head. Remus jumped up, and charged out from under the tree, grabbing Lily around the knees and tossing her over his shoulder. She screamed with laughter, pummelling his back with her fists as he ran towards the lake. Sirius ran after them, grabbed her arms, and yanked her right over Remus's shoulder and, scooping her up in his arms, raced back up the shore. She arched her self upward, and then dropped down, forcing his arms open so he dropped her. She rolled, then jumped up, laughing, rain water pouring down her body, making her clothes cling to her. She didn't notice the way James's eyes glazed over as he saw her while he was wrestling with Sirius, or the way Sirius licked his lips for a moment, before jumping on James. She looked around, then pounced on Remus, throwing her arms around his neck, squealing and he swung her around in circles, arms clasped behind her back. When he put her down, she staggered slightly, giggling. Then froze.

"You are popular with the young men, aren't you" her eyes widened, the whites standing out sharply from the green irises, her pupils shrinking to pin points.

"Oh god... Can't you leave me be?" Remus looked at her, and then realized what was happening. He grabbed her shoulders.

"Lily! Lily, can't you hear me? Look, snap out of it!" she couldn't hear.

"I see that you are once again not pleased by my presence. That does sadden me you know. I do wish that we could get along."

"How could I get along with you? You're like evil incarnate in female form." A dry chuckle echoed in her skull.

"You flatter me. No, I'm not quite that. My dear, I do wish that you would listen to me; I think you might be interested in what I have to say."

"I'm not interested in anything you have to say."

"If you insist. I shall be back in all due course." Lily slumped against Remus, struggling for the first time against the darkness beneath her as a scene passed before her eyes, of standing in darkness with the Dark Lord.