Chapter Thirteen: Tracing
"Nimueh?!" Lily clambered to her feet in shock, she had been studding alone by the great lake, when she happened to notice a somewhat familiar face that didn't look as if it quite belonged there emerging from the forbidden forest. "What, how, what are you doing here?" She ran over to the confused looking young woman.
"I'm not even sure, by the way, have you seen James?" Nimueh asked sounding as confused as she looked. "Oh, and the not dead one."
"He's over here." Lily lead the elder woman over to where James Potter was chatting with Fred Weasley (the alive ones) and tossing an apple seed up in the air and then catching it. "Oi, James."
"Lily, wha-NIMEUH!" James jumped up, startled. "What, er, what happened? I mean, you know what I mean, ugh."
"Hey James, I just um, I'm not sure, I was looking at um, something in Borgin & Burkes and I picked it up to examine it closer, not the most brilliant idea, besides, I hadn't even looked at what the sign said it was, so I um, appeared here! Well not here exactly, the edge of the forbidden forest." Nimueh said in quick breath.
"Portkey," Lily and James echoed each other as Fred just sat in the background looking confused.
"Pork-a-what-key?" Nimueh mumbled looking at them in confusion.
"A portkey is an object enchanted to instantly bring anyone touching it to a specific location." Lily muttered, hoping with all her might that she didn't like a know-it-all.
"Oh, so that means, great." Nimueh had a tiny conversation with herself, and then sat down. "Hi, I'm Nimueh, who are you?" She asked the only person that had yet to join in with the conversation.
"Fred junior," he stuck out his hand and Nimueh shook it. "So, your James' friend eh?"
"Somewhat, we had a strange er, funny encounter a while back." Nimueh chuckled as she remembered the story.
"Well then, it's certainly a pleasure to meet you." Fred nodded, and then laid back down in the grass, relaxing.
"Maybe I should enroll in the school." Nimueh suddenly announced.
"Enroll in Hogwarts, that sounds brilliant!" Lily cheered, someone to stop James from being a git.
"Yeah, that would be really radical." Fred nodded, and James turned to face him.
"Did you honestly just use the word 'radical', Fred?" He spluttered, shocked.
"Yea, it's a radical word," Fred smirked, and Lily took this as her moment to slip away unnoticed.
"SEPTIMUS!" She shouted and hugged him tightly when she finally found him. "I needed to get away from my family, sorry." She giggled a little bit.
"I can tell," Septimus laughed and kissed her cheek. "What were they doing now?"
"Fred was using the word 'radical' and one of James' friends showed up." Lily smiled brightly at him, and then sat down for lunch, realizing that she was really hungry. "Oh hey Scorpius, why you all gloomy?" She asked him, nearly bursting with happiness.
"Why you are all optimistic and happy?" Scorpius snapped, and Lily just laughed and poked his nose.
"You need to cheer up." And with that the finished making herself a corned beef sandwich. "So, what's up, well, in your case, down?"
"Rose and I had another fight." Scorpius finally said and Lily laughed harder, nearly spewing her food all over the table. "It's not funny Potter, so stop laughing."
"It is to me, you guys are so funny." Lily said after she finished swallowing her bite of food. "Oh Merlin, I left my school bag by the lake, be right back." She jumped up from the Ravenclaw table (they had better food then the Slytherin one) and skipped off back towards the great lake. When she arrived there she noticed that Nimueh was all alone, muttering to herself, eyes closed and walking in oddly shaped circles. "Hey, what are you doing Nim?" She asked out of curiosity. "And where did Fred and James run off to?
"In all honesty, I am tracing my footsteps inside of my head, sorry I may seem a little insane, and the two boys went off to go chat with McGonagall about accepting me this late into the year." Nimueh gave Lily a quick grin and then continued with what she was doing.
"Well good luck and all, with everything." Lily nodded and then began to walk away with her school bag.