These characters all belong to the talented JK Rowling, i'm just borrowing them as it were.

Chapter 1

Staring up at the aging tree, I realised this was what I wanted to do, no, needed to do. This was probably the only time in my life I was certain about my decision. Generally I was indecisive and according to my friends, irritatingly laidback, which is rich coming from Sirius. But in this moment I knew this was the right thing to do and absolutely nothing could stop me from doing it. My hamstrings were tingling with anticipation, unfortunately my stomach was twisting from the nerves.

Gaining confidence I held out my slightly, shaking hand and felt her delicate fingers intertwine with mine. At this point all potential chances of backing out suddenly rushed from my body, which I was glad about because they had starting to build up on my mind quickly.

"James?"

Her voice shook me back into the present, I realised we'd been stood in the same spot for at least 5 minutes which must have been uncomfortable for her.

"Come on," I said in what I hoped was a confident yet calm voice.

Taking bold strikes I walked Lily closer to the Whomping Willow, only stopping to pick up a tennis ball sized rock. I threw it into the passage as I did quite frequently, I found the Shrieking Shack was a good place to collect my thoughts. Luckily the branches which had been flailing about, had now frozen into place. I noted this was the first time the rock had hit the nook first time and I guessed it was Lily's presence which made my aim so good.

Steadily I started walking towards the entrance but moments later stopped as I realised that Lily had yet to move.

"Lils?"

"What… what did… how did?"

I laughed to myself remembering this was the first time Lily had seen the Whomping Willow out of action. It was also the first time she was speechless which I hoped was a good thing.

Walking towards the gaping red head I held out my arm and wrapped it around her shoulders being careful not to tug on her hair.

"This my dearest, is only the beginning." I outstretched my free arm and swiped it across the tree ahead.

Obviously regaining her voice Lily looked up at me and questioned "how did you do that?"

"I'm what you'd call… magic."

Receiving a gentle punch to the chest and a snide remark of "idiot", I began to walk again this time with Lily in tow.

Deciding I should go first I ducked into the passage and scrambled my way through. We crawled in silence and I assumed Lily was still trying to process where we were.

As we reached the end of the tunnel I dusted my robes off with my hands and watched Lily do the same.

Grabbing her hand again I showed her into the room where it all happened. Sitting on the bed and urging Lily to do the same I began to compose my explanation in my head. Remus had been the one to get me to tell Lily and there was no backing out now.

"Lily, what I'm about to tell you, I've never told anyone and that is why I would prefer it if you could not question me until I've finished explaining."

"Okay" was her reply although I could hear slight fear in her tone.

"Remus, well…" boy was this harder than anticipated. I decided to say it quick because like a plaster the quicker it's done the less painful it is.

"Remus is a werewolf but don't worry he's not going to hurt anyone and he's really self-conscious about it and don't judge him too harshly and remember he's still your friend and…"

"I know, James for goodness sake breathe."

Realising I'd stopped breathing after the long waffle and was yet to inhale the necessary oxygen, I followed her instructions.

"James I know Remus is a werewolf and I'm not going to hate him for it. I'm a bit annoyed you thought I would be."

"Lils I didn't mean to imply that."

"I know, why did you bring me here to tell me though?"

"Oh, I've not finished my explanation yet."

When Lily didn't respond I began to explain.

"So because of Remus' err, furry friend as it were, he needs somewhere to, you know, go through the transformation without the risk of harming another student."

As she nodded I continued.

"Sirius, Peter and I are kinda unregistered animagi."

"WHAT!" Lily exclaimed shock overtaking her previously calm expression.

"Look Lily there is a reasonable explanation and like I said I need to finish it before you question me." I said holding my hands out in a way that made me look like I was surrendering.

She nodded her head and her face lost the look of surprise slowly.

Hoping it was safe to continue I began to explain again.

"We became animagi in order to be there for Remus in his time of need. This is where we come and wait it out."

I decided it wouldn't be a good idea to tell her about our wandering off in the Forbidden Forest, seeing as we put ourselves in even more danger and I didn't think she could take any more worrying thoughts.

"Okay you can ask me anything you want now."

"I only have 3 questions."

"Shoot" I said surprised that there were so little.

"How did you manage to become animagi when that magic is complicated and not to mention illegal!"

"Sweetie you just mentioned it." I pointed out but immediately regretted it, when she shot me a warning look. I decided to just answer her questions seriously.

"When you have an incredibly charming smile like mine and Sirius Black as your best friend you can persuade people into getting the right information. Rita Skeeter dug out an old book showing us the correct magic- you know how sneaky that girl is. The only condition was that we helped her become an animagus too, without any questions being asked."

"Clever. So my next question is how does you being an animagi help Remus?"

I liked the fact she was always straight to the point.

"Well, Peter turns into a rat and pushes the nook to freeze the tree. As for me and Sirius, we're a stag and a dog, so we can stop Remus from attacking, but also entertain him in a way."

"Wow, you are dedicated friends. I respect that. My final question is why did you tell me this?"

Truthfully I replied with the only thing I could.

"Because Lily Evans I love you too much to lie to you,"

The next thing I knew she was embracing me into one of her hugs and whispering in my ear, "I love you James and thank you for trusting me with this."

I walked into our dorm after spending a few hours with Lily, thankfully talking about everything other than Remus' lycanthropy. I flopped onto my bed, praying that no one had been woken up by the strange groan that had escaped my lips.

"Prongs is that you?" a husky voice I knew all too well asked.

"Waiting up for me again hey Padfoot, I've already told you I'm with Lily. Do I need to tell you again?"

"The more you insinuate I'm attracted to you, the more likely it is I will try and make something happen!"

"How about I never mention it again, if you promise to never to try anything?"

"How homophobic of you Prongs. I'm sure there's a small bit of you that totally digs me." He said smirking.

Cringing at his choice of words I changed into my pyjamas and climbed into bed. I shut the curtains slowly, in order to not wake the others and finally let my head fall into the fluffy pillow.

"I'm not" I muttered, just about audible.

"Not what?" Sirius questioned sounding even more tired than me.

"Homophobic."

And with that the dorm fell silent.

Thank you for reading, please review with any opinions or ideas. This is the first fanfic i've wrote so please let me know how it is. I'm going to try and update once a month at least.