This is my first ever published story, so go easy on me, okay? :P I don't know if this is going to be a One-Shot or a series, depends on response or/and if I feel like the story just keeps on writing itself. I'm probably going to write another chapter and if it doesn't work out I won't publish it, if it does, then I think I will. I don't know how I want the story to be, but I will warn you that I might make this into something slightly M-rated but I'm not planning on it to be anything extreme if it's even in the story.
As you all know, I own none of the characters or the universe this is placed in although the story itself is mine.
Appreciate reviews but I'd like it to be both positive and negative and not just bashing down, since reviews are meant to be productive, right?
Thank you very much for reading! Hope you enjoy it!
The sky was filled with shifting colors. At the bottom by the Forbidden Forest it was a sort of orange, filled with bubbly light and the promise of a new morning. It moved upwards into pink that made you feel as if night was the greatest thing of all. The purple that followed was a gift, showing the difference between the fearsome dark and the one which made you dream of adventure or the love of your life. And then the dark blue took over the purple, still showing the world color. When the black came, all the colors went with it, and only the stars shone through it to reassure one that the darkness would not last forever.
It was absolutely beautiful. Lily sighed softly in content as she walked across the school grounds. James and his little crew were nobody to be found (and Lily was as happy about that as she were knowing that a new Hogsmeade visit was coming up) and she could spend a nice evening alone. Sure, she enjoyed her friends' company like any sane person would. But the days of nagging had made her sick of everything. If her friends weren't talking about it, it was James actually doing the deed of repeatedly in all different manners asking her out or flirting with her. And she always rejected him. Did that blow out the roaring fire that was his spirit? No. It burned everlasting.
After having walked for a while, Lily reached down, untied her shoelaces and took off both shoes and socks. The feeling of grass on her naked feet felt almost sinfully good and she revelled in its freedom. Why didn't people do this more often? Why did the dramas of the school world have to dominate their lives? Couldn't they just stand for a while and breathe in the aroma of a life with nothing to worry about?
To her surprise, Lily found that there was a real aroma. No, not aroma. It was a smell… a stench. A stench of blood and dirt. She frowned, cringing from the thought of an actual hurt person close. But she couldn't just ignore this potential threat/victim.
"Hello?" Lily called out hesitantly. There was no answer, except from the shiming of the different metallic objects Hagrid had put up in the trees around his cottage. Lily smiled to herself. She'd only imagined the fearful predator. However, she didn't feel like being surprised that she was right. After putting on her socks and shoes once more, she turned back to the castle. The sight before her was downright stomach-turning and yet strangely touching to the heart.
The figure that she immediately identified as James were holding another student up as if his life depended on it. His usually messy hair was twice as messy, as if he had been in a brawl. She could see one of his hands and how utterly bloody it was. Lily wanted to close her eyes and pretend to have never seen anything, as if nothing had ever happened. As if the two people before her had been the projects of her dreams and had nothing to do with reality. But she couldn't. Especially not when she recognized the greasy black hair of Severus.
"Potter!" she called out in almost panic. James stopped abruptly. She heard him curse under his breath before starting to walk again, absolutely determined (no doubt) to get out of there without dealing with a confrontation. "Potter, stop it, right now!"
But he didn't. He kept on walking. Lily did the only thing she could think off. She ran after them with all of her speed, and managed to get almost ahead of them. Then she truly saw them.
Severus was covered with gashes and wounds, barely holding on to consciousness. His lips were cracked and looked dirty from lying on the ground, he had a gash across his temple and a deep flesh wound to his stomach. He was desperately clutching onto James but at the same time too weak to actually hold on. James looked slightly ruffled up but the blood mainly seemed to come from Severus.
"Oh my God!" Lily exclaimed and stared at Severus in desperation. "What the hell happened!?"
"Not now, Evans", James said through gritted teeth, and came to a stop, lifting Severus up slightly since he seemed to be slipping out of his grasp. "Be a good girl and go to bed, okay? I'm sure you'll get a bit of the juicy gossip tomorrow anyway."
"No", Lily said defiantly and glared James right in the eyes. "Severus is… I can't just leave the both of you here. I'll help carry him."
Not taking no for an answer, Lily grabbed Severus and wrapped his other arm around her shoulder, carrying half of his weight. James, seeming to have given up on fighting her on the matter, started to walk forward again. Together, they managed to get to the Hospital Wing in record time, not exchanging a word in the meantime (mostly due to the fact that James from the beginning neglected any attempts from Lily to explain how the situation had erupted).
"Oh dear!" Madame Pomfrey said, having been startled from her sleep when they'd created a bundle of noise by James clumsily managing to walk into a metal vase, which had fallen onto the floor. "What on earth have you done!? What happened?"
"Can I tell you later? My arm's falling asleep", James said, with only a hint of his former cheerfulness in his voice. Madame Pomfrey nodded and pointed on one of the hospital beds. Together, Lily and James heaved the almost limp body onto the bed, and turned him around so that the nurse could examine him.
"You can go outside. I'll call you in for further questioning in a minute", Madame Pomfrey said after a minute of looking at Severus and softly touching him. "Go!"
They both left without another word and sat down on a bench right outside. For a moment, they remained in an awkward silence.
"What happened?" Lily whispered after a minute or two. She felt absolutely sick. The entire way she'd been worried to death. And she didn't even know why she was worried, or more specifically, why she had to be worried. What could possibly have created those sorts of injuries?
"It's very, and I mean very, complicated. I can't tell you", James said and looked away, refusing to meet her eyes. "Why would I tell you, anyway?"
Lily chewed on her bottom lip for a second. It was incredibly childish of him, but she understood the reason why he'd refuse her this pleasure, this relief when she'd done nothing but reject him for the past years. "Because I care about him. I want to know, I deserve to know. Please don't let whatever it is that is between us affect that."
"I can't tell you anyway. It's concerning a dear friend of mine and if I told you-"
"I'd never tell anybody else! I'll lie to Madame Pomfrey!" Lily almost called out. "I can tell her anything. You can tell me anything. You can say that you're friends with a freaking vampire for God's sakes."
"You're not that far off, Evans!" James almost yelled back, standing up, starting to pace back and forth. "Believe me, I want to tell you. I want you to trust me and I want to be able to trust you back… and I do. I trust you. I trust you'd never tell, but it's not right by my friend to just give it all away because I believe in you. They should be the judge of that, not me."
She understood him. Deep down she truly did. But she didn't care. Severus was in mortal danger and what James thought was morally wrong didn't matter at that point. "Please, James. I won't tell your friend that I know. I won't tell anybody. But I need to know this… Please", her voice cracked at the end, hitching into a sob.
"Hey", James said softly and sat down, hugging her tightly, somehow holding her together. "He'll be fine. I promise."
"How can you promise something like that?" Lily got out between sobs, tears running down her cheeks. She swallowed them all down, keeping it together for a second. Finally she whispered; "Tell me… Please."
For a second James was absolutely quiet, no doubt contemplating if it was worth it. After about a minute, when Lily was certain he would be silent forever, he groaned. "Damn you and your puppy eyes."
Lily grinned, but still remained cautious. He could change his mind any second and she knew it.
"Remus is my special friend. At his second year here at Hogwarts, me and the rest of the gang started noticing small signs of him. He'd disappear once every month, in the evenings. Dumbledore would take him away and nobody would tell us why. Not even Remus, who we by then considered our best friend. Until one faithful night when we came with him. This was strictly forbidden of course, but as you know, we've never been known to follow the rules. We saw him… change. Into a beast. A werewolf", James said and swallowed, cautiously observing her every face. She felt shocked, surprised. She'd known there was something special, maybe even alien-like about Remus. But never that. But she didn't let it show. Because strangely… she was fine with it.
"Soon enough we started go into the study of becoming animals as well. We'd already told Remus who thought it was a stupid idea. But we wanted to be there, so that he didn't feel so damn lonely every time. We all became something I think you're aware of. I'm an animagus. I can turn into a stag. Sirius into a rather fierce dog and Peter into a rat. And we all helped. Peter would get us there, he was effiecient that way but I can't tell you how, some secrets are best kept hidden. I wouldn't want you to get hurt… which is what happened to Severus. He followed us one day. To the Haunted House, where Remus is kept hidden. I won't tell you how to get there. But Severus found out. He followed, probably wanted to see what was happening himself. Remus got too close and he was already a werewolf, or at least in the transformation. We couldn't help very much. Both Peter and Sirius are still with Remus, but I left with Severus who was… injured, to say the least", James continued nervously.
They both fell into silence for a long time. "Okay", Lily finally said. "What are we going to tell Madame Pomfrey?"
"That I found him in the Forbidden Forest and that he got attacked by a wolf", James said immediately. "We've got to make the injuries… possible. I can just say that I managed through spells to get the wolf off of him, I did anyway."
Lily nodded and then looked at him compassionately. "Thanks for telling me. It's really brave, what you do. And it was down-right heroic, what you did for Severus."
James chuckled and closed his eyes for a second. "Yeah, right. James Potter, the great and majestic hero. The prankster who saved a life."
Lily laughed and soon they were both laughing hysterically. Perhaps that's what happens to two people when they've just been through something traumatic. The rest of the night turned into a blur, mostly consisting of Madame Pomfrey finally saying that she couldn't allow them to see Severus. Even after having begged, she blew them off. But Lily went to bed with a smile that night. Because she'd seen a completely different side of the douche bag who wouldn't ever give up on asking her out. She'd seen the Stag. The guy who'd sacrifice so much time just to comfort his friend. The guy who'd save the life of his greatest enemy.