Behind the Shadows [Lily Luna Potter Fan Fiction] (On Hold Indefinitely)

Chapter Elf: The Quidditch Match

Lily woke, but many hours later; alone. No trace of Tom existed, besides the jacket he left behind. Lily picked it up and put her nose against it, inhaling deeply. A soft scent of cologne and peppermint tickled her senses. She sighed, wrapping it around herself. It felt right. It felt...normal.

Stifling a yawn, she began descending the spiral staircase. The beauty of the world outside was more spectacular than Lily could have imagined. A thin mist clung to the dark, luscious grass and a bright sun peaked delicately through a gap in the trees of the forest. As Lily stepped towards the thicket of trees, a booming voice stopped her in place. 

"I wouldn't go 'en thur eef I was you. Tahrible beasts in them woods."

Lily looked back at the half human. 

"I...I know, Hagrid. I wasn't planning on it. Honest," she said, her face sincere. All the while, she was lying inside.

He nodded, his black beard billowed, shining in the bright morning sun.  

"So where a'best you headed?" He asked, scratching the scraggy beard.

"I-just," Lily stuttered, looking up at the bright, white pillows of clouds that were contained in the baby blue sky. "I want to go somewhere. Somewhere else. I want to get away from here. Away from everything I know of.  Away from, sanity!" She looked back at Hagrid.

He gave her a grim frown. "I'm efraid that ain't near possible, now is it? Not with me having to look after you for your fahther, and ohl," he said, wincing at the last line. "I should not have said that."

"For my father? You are supposed to look after me for my father? Pathetic..." Lily said, kicking the ground.

"Now, now. Eenuff of that, thur. I offered to. As did a few other professors," Hagrid spoke.

"A few? A few others? What are you talking about, Hagrid?"

He looked worried, for he knew he had said far too much. "I have got to go. I'll see ye around," he quickly shuffled away, leaving Lily alone on the grounds. Leaving her to her thoughts.

By now, it was nearly Thanksgiving, a holiday only Americans celebrate. But Lily and most everyone else at Hogwarts still acknowledged the holiday.

Lily, exhausted with following the rules, took one last look at Hogwarts before sprinting across the castles grounds and into the thick area of trees. She ducked under a branch and hopped over another. She side stepped to avoid a stump, and jumped yet another. Tom's jacket got stuck to sharp branches along the way, but Lily made sure to not let it rip. Her tennis shoes against the twigs on the forest floor, made a loud crunching noise. But Lily doubted that anybody would hear her. She doubted anyone was even out here. 

It wasn't until Lily herself heard another crunching sound, that she stopped. She ducked down behind a stump and froze, the footsteps nearing. Her pulsating breath produced a light fog in the dense, cold November breeze. Her heart beat up through her ears and for a moment, Lily was absolutely petrified. Her inner monologue screamed at her to get up. To go back. To run home. But she couldn't.

The figure stepped out from the darkened woods across from Lily. It was tall and hooded. Another figure joined him, coming from another part of the forest.

"Have you got it?" Figure number one spoke, pulling down his hood. He sported thick, black, messy hair and dark, menacing eyes.

Lily instantly recognized the voice. It belonged to one of the men that had chased after her, that day in  the hidden corridor. It was one of the men conspiring against her father.

"Yes, I have it," the second spoke plainly.

"Well, Caelum. Can you take it out? Can I see it?"