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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.”

“Shut it! Both of you!” Peter was squinting into the dark, and a worried expression came over his face. “Over there. Quick.” They moved and ducked behind a large brush.

They waited, and for a long time it seemed to be nothing and James was about to say as much when there was a crack and a branch broke before his very eyes. Something was moving through the trees, though none of them could see a thing there, the branches were moving and breaking all around them. “Thestrals,” whispered Lily. “I’ll bet it’s the thestrals.”

James whispered, “Oh great. We’re running away from killer spiders and now we’ve been surrounded by invisible death ponies! What’s next?”

ARRRRRRRRRRRRROoOOOOoooOOOoOoo!!!!

“For duck’s sake! That wasn’t a CHALLENGE!” James exclaimed, smacking his forehead.

Lily’s eyes were wide as could be. “Was that a wolf?” she hissed.

“Well it certainly wasn’t a butterfly, was it?” James asked.

Peter’s face was as pale as Nearly Headless Nick’s and he wheezed, “N-n-n-now what?”

“Which direction did it come in?” James asked.

“That way,” Lily pointed through the trees.

AAAAAA-AA-ARRRRROOOoooOOoOoOOOOooooooOOOoo!!

It was louder that time. Closer.

James got up, “C’mon. We gotta move.”

“But that’s the way we came!” Lily exclaimed as James jumped back off the path and into the dark.

James shrugged, “Which do you feel like playing against? An oversized bug or a werewolf? Personally, I’m taking the bugs.”

“Oh hell!” Peter shook his head, “This is the stuff nightmares are made of!” He was in tears.

Lily hesitated.

AAARRRROOOoooOOoOooOoOoOooOooOOoooo!

She dove into the trees and James turned, leading the way back through the woods. Lily was careful to keep Peter between them so he wouldn’t get lost if he tripped and fell, which he kept nearly doing and she kept having to catch him and pull him back to his feet. They dove through the woods, James blindly trying to figure out what way to go, feeling the pressure of knowing all their lives were at stake. He glanced over his shoulder to be sure both of the others were there.

With his face turned, he misstepped and his foot caught on a rock and he toppled over himself, falling through the brush and onto the path himself, scraping his face on the dirt and giving himself a bloody nose. He pushed himself up and, despite the pain shooting from his chest throughout his body, he realized that he’d literally fallen onto the path back to the castle. “C’mon!” he cried, “C’mon. We’re nearly there now!” He waved for Peter and Lily both to pass by him and he followed after them with a slight limp to one side where the rocks and dirt had ripped his trousers at the knee scraped his skin raw under his robes.

AARRRROOoOOOoOOOooOO!

The wolf wasn’t far behind now. James pushed Lily and Peter forward, “Movemovemovemove,” he cried, and he looked back, he could see the yellow eyes gleaming in the darkness. “Oh blimey, move!”

But suddenly Peter stopped short, slamming into the huge form of Hagrid, causing Lily to run into Peter and James into Lily, like a set of reversed dominoes. They toppled ot the floor of the forrest in a heap at Hagrid’s feet. “Wolf!” James cried, “Werewolf!” he added.

Hagrid looked up.

AAARRRRRROOOOOOOO!

And suddenly Newt Scamander was at his side, appearing from where he’d been standing behind Hagrid in the path, and he fumbled hurriedly into his vest pocket, pulling out a silver chain that gleamed in the dark. At the end of it, hung a long silver tube and Newt brought the instrument to his lips and his cheeks puffed up with the strain of blowing through it - though not a single sound seemed to emerge.

There was a great yapping of pain a few feet away that blossomed into howling agony, followed by the sound of a retreat.

After a few tremulous moments, during which Newt Scamander stood, still blowing on the instrument above them, and the three kids gathered their wits about them, Hagrid bent down and held out his hands to pull them up. Newt lowered the instrument.

“What is that thing?” James asked, awestruck.

“Werewolf whistle,” Newt said, “Made of pure silver. From the mountains of Albania at the edge of the Black Forest.” He turned it over and examined it, “Most impressive, I’ve never used it before.”

Peter said, “Well that’s handy.”

“Yes, lucky you had it on you,” James added.

Newt tucked the chain and whistle back into his vest pocket carefully, “Yes… well… uh… never know what’s in the forest, after all.”

Hagrid shook his head, “He’s quite right yeh know…” Then his brows sank into a look of concern, “What was you kids doin’ out in the woods at this hour? Tryin’ ter git yerselves killed?”

Lily looked ‘round at James and Peter. James looked down at his trainers and Peter turned a particular shade of scarlet that came quite close to matching the thick Gryffindor scarf round his neck. Lily looked up at Hagrid.

“Well?” he asked.

Lily fabricated quickly, “We… we saw Newt leave and we - we were curious if he was working on cataloguing some of the interesting fantastic beasts in the Forest and we couldn’t resist! We wanted to see what else Professor Kettleburn has in here,” she said. Her cheeks were hot. She was sure Hagid or Newt or both would see right through her lie. “We’re all so very interested in magizoology…”

Hagrid’s eyes softened.

Newt stammered, “Well we - we can’t hold it against the girl for being interested in fantastic creatures…”

Hagrid looked bleary eyed.

“Please don’t give us a detention, Mr. Hagrid!” Lily said thickly.

She’s good, thought James, looking at Lily so gooily you’d think his eyes had gone heart shaped. She’s real good.

“I weren’t goin’ ter punish yeh!” Hagrid said weepily. “I was goin’ ter tell yeh not ter be out in the forest at this hour! There’s too many dangerous things in the forest - and you bein’ unarmed and so young… Promise me you lot won’t go sneakin’ ‘round the forest again!”

“We promise!” LIly said quickly, though James kept his mouth very firmly shut.

He couldn’t promise such a thing.

Newt Scamander shivered and looked around, “We should, uh, be going - back ot the castle. Back to Hogwarts. The wolf whistle will only fend them off so long before they come back too hungry to care if it’s blown.”

As they walked back to the castle, Hagrid leading the way, James asked, “What were you doing with those big nasty spiders?” he looked up at Hagrid.

Hagrid smiled happily, “Oh yeh mean Aragog! He’s me friend.”

Peter looked wild eyed, “With friends like that, who needs enemies?”

“Was intrer’ducin’ ‘em to Newt,” Hagrid explained, “They was real excited like to see him… then we heard the commotion from you lot and we had ter run off ter try an’ find where yeh’d gone off ter… I’m sorry yeh didn’t get ter visit with Aragog longer, Mr. Scamander.”

Newt didn’t look very sorry he’d been taken away from the horrid things too soon. “It’s, uh, it’s quite okay, Hagrid,” he replied.

When they’d gotten safely back to the castle, Hagrid insisted on walking them right to Gryffindor tower. Newt Scamander hurried to go and talk to Dumbledore - saying he had to inform the headmaster about the incident with the werewolves in the woods. Hagrid made sure the three of them were all the way to the portrait hole before he turned and lumbered off. Lily turned to look at the other two the moment that Hagrid was out of earshot.

“That wolf in the woods,” she said thickly, worriedly, “It wasn’t… It wasn’t Remus, right?”

James said, “No, it couldn’t’ve done. Remus never would’ve chased us like that.”

“In his wolf form, he might,” Lily pointed out.

“It had to of been Veigler,” said James, refusing to believe for even a moment that his gentle, soft spoken friend could ever be as vicious looking as that wolf had been as it had charged up the path behind them before Newt had blown his werewolf whistle…