The Marauders: Year Three | #Wattys2016

The Stuff Nightmares Are Made Of

The Stuff Nightmares Are Made Of

"Incendio!" James shouted, throwing a jet of red light over Lily's shoulder. He grabbed hold on her robes and tugged her backwards into his arms, dragging her away as the giant spider's legs flailed in pain. Peter cried out as another descended from behind him, too, and James waved his wand, "Incendio!!! Keep blasting them Peter. C'mon." He reached down, scooping his second arm beneath Lily's knees, lifting her up from the ground. She let out a shriek of surprise as he ran, carrying her, ducking carefully through the trees. James could hear voices shouting behind him - probably Hagrid and Newt Scamander, Merlin bless their souls - and Peter's panting breaths as he struggled to keep up with James's fast pace.

They were quickly lost in the tangled branches of the deep forest, but James didn't know how to correct it, either, nor was he sure whether he had time to pause and try to figure out what way they needed to go. He only knew he needed to get them all as far away from those monsters as he possibly could.

"I think we've outrun them!" Peter said finally, after they'd been going for some time. The woods were completely dark again and there was no sign of the path they'd come in from, no sign of Hagrid or Newt Scamander anywhere - but also no sign of the giant spiders.

James came to a stop and he looked around, keeping his back against Peter's back. "Put me down!" Lily whined. James had almost forgotten he was holding her at all. He lowered her quickly and she shook as she drew her wand from her robes and stood so they formed a triangle, each staring a different way into the darkness surrounding them. "Where are we?" she asked.

"Dunno," James answered.

"Check on your little map, why don't you?" she said.

"The map doesn't come this far," James answered, "It ends at the edge of the grounds to the castle."

"Well what good is it then?!" Lily cried.

Peter said, "Shh - what was that?"

"What was what?" Lily squeaked.

"That. That sound."

They were all silent for a moment, listening, trying to hear what Peter was hearing. There didn't seem to be anything.

"It's so cold," whispered Lily.

James turned and ran his hands on her shoulders, "Here."

Lily was torn between liking the heat his hands were generating and wanting to push Potter off her.

"No, listen," whispered Peter.

They listened again.

"You're hearing things, mate," James hissed.

Peter shook his head, "No. I hear it..."

"I should've just gone to bed and left you two to it," Lily whispered.

"Don't be a baby, Evans," James hissed.

"I'm not a baby!" Lily snapped, "I just don't have a death wish!"

"Nor do I, but Newt Scamander needed help and --"

"And what were we to do against a whole roost of King Kong spiders?!" Lily cried, "We should've gone to Dumbledore!"

"We didn't have time!" James said.

"Well we're doing really well for ourselves now, aren't we?" she asked. "Lost in the woods and not a clue where we are."