Doe Foe
The wind howled violently in her ears and burned the tips bright red from the winter's chill.
But Lily Evans had become indifferent to the nipping cold.
The blazing heat across her forehead and neck was enough to keep her feeling uncomfortable under her thick scarf. Lily had trudged out of the Great Hall with such vigor and emotion she was surprised she hadn't left scorch marks in her wake.
The nerve.
The audacity.
That unfailingly stupid nobility.
Lily scoffed loudly and with great force she almost slipped off her seat on a stump.
The dots had finally connected and while she had experienced the similar rush after deciphering a complex rune, the feeling had turned for the worst rapidly. The heat had welled in her stomach at first, where a lump of humiliation had fed the fire of her ego. It didn't take long for the smoke to reach her ears and the growing fire making it difficult for her to think or reason clearly.
How could she not have pieced it together on her own?
And to find out between Peter's chewing only fanned the flame inside her.
An animagus.
Her boyfriend: an animagus.
'Wait…hasn't James told you?' Peter's watery and nervous eyes found her reddening face.
'That's why we call him Prongs. He—he's a stag. I thought he'd told you by now since you—you know—you knew about Remus.' A piece of toast had tumbled out of his mouth mid-whisper.
Her eyes had found James briefly, taking in his pale and rigid posture before she rose loudly and angrily.
The warmth was returning to her face.
Lily thought about marching right back up to the castle and unleashing the string of reasons why James Potter was now unworthy of her time.
She had lost track of time of how long she had been sitting in the middle of the forest. After mapping out the perfect argument, where she would first open with his reckless behavior and conclude with her disappointment that he would ever keep such a thing from her, Lily stood up abruptly and determinedly.
But before Lily could begin her campaign for a scolded James Potter, a loud snort sounded behind her.
Frozen and stiff, the anger was quickly ushered away.
Turning slowly and with her hand on her wand, Lily had come face-to-face, not with an angry centaur or a ravenous wolf , but a tall and antlered creature. Green eyes wide and stunned, the creature stared back while chewing greedily on a piece of moss.
Lily mouth opened and closed a few times before frowning and furrowing her brow.
"If this is your way of apologizing for your reckless and inconsiderate behavior, I'll have you know I'm not amused." Lily bit. Her hands had quickly found her hips and the snow crunched beneath her new angry posture.
The beast continued to stare at her, chewing slowly and pathetically.
Lily found its hazel eyes and her frown deepened. If James thought he could easily scheme his way out of this one by trying to amuse her or shock her he was sorely mistaken.
"You can't just transform into your animagus state, James Potter." She scolded incredulously and took swift and confident strides towards to him. "It's not cute and you can't use your charm to back out of this. Now, change back!" Lily demanded with a pointed finger. Her cheeks were red from the burning snow and mild embarrassment that she had been ultimately impressed.
She had to hold her ground.
But James did not turn back.
Instead, he reached around a nearby stump, craning his large and furry neck to get more moss. The amount of questions firing in Lily's mind could not keep up with her need to remain upset and reprimanding.
Did he enjoy eating moss in his animagus state? Or was that just an act too?
"Fine!" Lily called after realizing James was not about to change back any time soon. "If you're not going to have a proper and mature conversation like a normal person—er, stag, then you're going to stand there and listen to me."
And so, Lily recounted all the reasons why James had been wildly irresponsible, the laws he had broken, and most importantly how he had wounded her trust in him. If Lily did say so, she thought it was a rather sound and reasonable argument.
But James said nothing except snort once more and reaching forward for more moss.
Lily's pale eyebrows knitted.
"I beg your pardon. What's that supposed to mean?" Slightly offended and feeling silly talking having to talk to the nonresponsive beast, Lily's patience was being tested.
But James did not repeat the noise he had made earlier.
"Hmph. That's what I thought." Lily muttered.
Her eyes ran along his thick brown coat that was littered with snow patches and she found herself faintly smiling.
The heat had started to quell and she could start to feel February's bite at her nose, ears, and hands.
"Well," she sighed defeated. "It is pretty wicked," and a large grin spread across her freckled face. Gently, she moved forward and tentatively touched his fur. His thick coat was coarse and warm under her freezing fingers.
He made no motion to move and instead continued to chew on some frozen grass. Lily continued to graze her fingers through is coat.
"You're a rather handsome stag," Lily chuckled, "But this doesn't mean I agree with what you di—"
The beast's stance tensed, his face turning to look behind Lily.
"Lily?"
She froze.
Absolutely froze.
Mortified, really.
The beast she had once been caressing started taking greedy steps into the forest and away from her.
For the second time that afternoon, Lily felt herself rooted to the cold earth beneath her from the sudden unprecedented sound behind her.
As she turned, her eyes met the handsome, furless face of a messy haired, spectacled guy.
Her guy.
Her green eyes widened as she stared at his amused expression.
"I've been looking over an hour for you! What were you—" and suddenly his amused expression had darkened as the realization dawned on him. James' thin lips pursed in the manner Lily had grown to know was not a good sign.
"J—James? I—were you—I thought—"
Where had the once eloquent, structured, and argumentative Lily Evans gone? She was now replaced with a babbling, hot faced, and flustered school girl.
"Did you think that was—?" James asked, an edge in his voice.
Flustered Lily looked behind her shoulder in hopes to find an explanation in the absent beast.
Nothing.
"I thought you were up to something like you usually are!"
"I'm a stag, Lily!" The tightness of James' pursed lips could no longer hold back how offended he felt, "Not a moose."
Mortified.
Absolutely mortified.
A moose?!
"Well, what's the difference between stags and mooses—meese—er, you know what I mean!" Lily huffed angrily out of desperation.
"Simple. A stag is not a moose!"
"How was I supposed to know?"
"You were petting it, you seem confident enough to know." He bit back.
James whirled on his heels before trudging angrily through the snow at the thought of his girlfriend, who had just moment's ago condemned him for being an animagus, petting the wrong animal and one that was not him.
"I thought it was you!"
"I am not a moose!" James called behind his shoulder.
Lily scrambled forward, all reason abandoned with the Prongs Imposter who was probably safely away searching for more moss.
"James wait!"
"No! Save it for your moose-friend."
Although Lily tried to contain her giggle at James' irrational outburst, the overwhelming humiliation of incorrectly identifying her boyfriend's animagus form was one that was going to cost her at least a month of on-demand back scratches.
A/N: Here's something that came to mind when my best friend and I saw a moose on the ChromeCast idle screen. I thought it was a stag, but was sorely mistaken. We then proceeded to giggle what would happen if Lily were to accidentally mistake the two. I hope you enjoyed it. It is rather short, but it gets the point across. Cheers!