Homonculous |Marauders Era

Chapter Sixty-Four

She skipped along until she made her way outside, then with the use of the shadows, made her way to the outside of the Forbidden Forest. A chilling sensation raced through her body as she stood outside, leaving her to shiver slightly. Truth be told, she wasn't exactly all that thrilled of having to be the bait to lure Lily in, she didn't really want to go against Lily's wishes, but Elspeth was finding herself quite desperate.

The pressure of the Wizarding World was resting on her shoulders and it was a lot for her to wrap her head around. She liked the idea of Lily and James just becoming really good friends, as she really couldn't see them as lovers due to the way their personalities clashed. But if it meant that the world would thrive, she liked to think that the two could learn to love each other and live happy lives even in the absence of their soulmates.

"Alright, El, remember, you're doing this for all Wizarding kind, that should be a big motivator for you," she whispered under her breath, "and if it isn't, I mean, you're about to enter the Forbidden Forest and check it out for yourself, so you have that going for you, which is nice."

Her little pep talk seemed to be good enough motivation for her to enter, but just as she went to take a step forward, she was stopped by the sound of her name being called. Quickly looking over her shoulder, she caught sight of Lily running towards her, looking fully prepared to scold Elspeth for going against what she had said.

"Sweet Merlin, she's scary looking when she's angry," Elspeth said before darting off into the Forest. Whatever looked in the forest probably would be less threatening than the redhead that was pursuing her at the moment.

But while it wasn't the initial plan, it definitely seemed to be working in Elspeth's favour because as she continued further into the forest, she could still hear Lily calling her name and it didn't sound distant at all.

Meaning that Lily was following her.

Before the plan was put into place, Elspeth and Sirius had come up with a spot where they could be found while she and Lily were "lost." And since she finally had Lily in the forest, Elspeth started heading in that direction, making sure to make loud enough noise so that Lily could keep following her.

"El, this isn't funny!" Lily's voice rang out. "In fact, you know what?! That's it, you're...you're getting a detention! I'm going to deduct points! You're going to be expelled! You're going to be...ELSPETH!"

"Come on, Lily," Elspeth called back to her, " you're already in the forest with me, live a little, will you?"

"How am I supposed to live when everything in here has the potential to kill me?" Lily huffed as she folded her arms as she came to a halt in place. 

"By loosening up-"

Lily jumped and let out a small screech of a sound as Elspeth's voice sounded behind her. Turning around, she looked plenty confused as she could have sworn that Elspeth had been heads in front of her.

"H-how? How did you get behind me? You were in front of me, I swear-"

"Don't worry about it," Elspeth waved her hand with a grin, "just relax, Lily. See? You're here and nothing bad has happened. It's definitely not as bad as you made it sound to be."

"But we're not supposed to be here, El," it was Lily's turn to whine, " it's Forbidden-"

"Forbidden Schmorbidden. Now come on, I think I saw a unicorn in that direction, let's go!"

"But-"

Given no chance to protest, Lily was grabbed by her hand and led forward further into the forest with Elspeth as her guide.

It honestly didn't seem as bad as Lily thought it would be when it came to be inside the forest, especially since she thought everything would have gone to shit within the first few minutes. Elspeth walked along, claiming to be hot on the trail of unicorns that she so desperately wanted to see, while she pulled Lily behind her. The area was scenic and peaceful, not what Lily was expecting when it came to a place labelled as Forbidden. The lighting wasn't the best through the thickness of the trees, but flowers still seemed to bloom and it was quiet with the exception of the chirping and murmur of the creatures that roamed about.

"This is pretty nice," Lily brought herself to admit, "it's actually beautiful out here."

"I told you it wasn't going to be bad," Elspeth said, " sometimes it's alright to bend the rules, Lily."

"It sounds like you've been spending too much time around James Potter," Lily said with a shake of her head.

Elspeth let out a snort and rolled her eyes, not that Lily could see that. "Trust me, Lily, I was breaking and bending rules long before I became friends with James," she said, " you can ask my parents about that. The times they caught me sneaking back into the house after going out for the night-"

"You snuck out of your house?!"

Lily made it sound like Elspeth had slapped her parents and her ancestors in the face with the way she spoke.

"Well, yeah," she shrugged her shoulders in response, " the parties I went to certainly weren't taking place in my house. My parents are amazing, but they can be a bit strict in some ways, you know? They're Aurors and they are pretty much by the rules in their own way. I get it, I guess, I'm their only child and they really love me. But being home all summer and not doing anything, you can't blame me for wanting to go out and stretch my legs?"

"So you would sneak out and go to parties? That's wild, I could never...I could never do such a thing. I've always been tempted to do something rebellious because everyone thinks I'm a goody-two-shoes but-"

She saw the look that Elspeth gave her over her shoulder before she started to laugh. "Alright, alright, so maybe I am one, but I don't like getting in trouble! I don't like people being disappointed in me."

"Is that why you strive to be as close to perfection as possible?"

The two stopped again and looked at each other as Elspeth's question brought Lily to look down at the ground. It definitely made sense and seemed fitting, even if Lily didn't really want to admit it.

"Yeah," Lily finally answered with a nod, " I guess so. My parents put that pressure on me without realising. Ever since I got my Hogwarts letter and learned that I was a witch, it's all they could talk about. It seems that all eyes are always on me in my house, I think that's why Petunia hates me now."

Elspeth was about to apologise, not wishing to bring up such an awkward discussion for her or put her on the spot. However, before she could open her mouth, the two of them heard movement from the side of them. Turning their heads quickly, the two girls jumped back as soon as they caught sight of centaurs approaching them and it definitely seemed they weren't approaching on friendly terms.

"Oh no," Lily said under her breath to Elspeth as she stood behind her, " El, this isn't good. I've heard the centaurs are really territorial creatures-"

"Then you heard correctly!" One of the centaurs called to her. "You are not to venture into this forest-"

Not willing to wait around for a lecture, scolding or anything of the above, Elspeth started backing away, pushing Lily back gently with her.

"On my signal, we should probably run," Elspeth whispered back to her."

"What?!" Lily whispered harshly to her. "Have you completely lost your mind? We can't outrun centaurs! They have four legs, we have two!"

"Just trust me on this, Lily-"

Suddenly, they were rushed by the head centaur, one with unruly red hair that busheled around his face as he glared in the direction of the two. It had started of them enough that Lily did as she was told and started to run, but as Elspeth turned to do the same, she tripped and fell.

Swearing under her breath as her hand was cut open on a sharp edge of a fallen log, she grimaced as she peered down to see that she had already started to bleed. The blood trickled down her palm where several large droplets fell to the ground, bringing her swearing to come to an end immediately.

Especially as she saw flowers suddenly bloom from where her blood had seeped into the ground.