Cleaning out some old documents, I stumbled upon this lil finished story that I had never posted - might as well put it up here, even if I have no idea at what point that I wrote it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ enjoy? (:
I shivered in the cold breeze coming off the lake, watching as the reflection of the huge full moon glimmered on the slight waves. Three AM in a Scottish October was really not the time for a swim in a frigid body of water. Stupid sleepover. Stupid truth or dare. Bloody stupid friends.
It was mostly Marlene's fault, but the rest of the lot hadn't been much help to me. If it hadn't been Marly's birthday, we wouldn't have been having a birthday sleepover in the Gryffindor common room. I would've been snug, sound asleep, in my wonderful, cozy bed. That was a place I would properly belong on this freezing October night.
Instead, I stood out here on the chilly grounds with only thin blue plaid pajamas to protect me from the elements. And soon I wouldn't even have those. My stupid friends had somehow cajoled me into accepting the dare to sneak outside and go skinny dipping in the lake.
"C'mon, Lily," they had whined, "it'll be easy for you to get out and back in the castle undetected. You're brilliant enough to manage that." Psh, maybe I did, but that didn't mean I found it fun to go outside the castle at this time of night!
"It's not even like you're going very far," Em pointed out with a winning smile. "It's just to the lake and back. Simple."
"If anyone can manage it, it's you," Mary added, obviously going for the ego. I had narrowed my eyes at her, and she just widened hers innocently back.
"C'mon Lils, this would be brilliant," Petra begged. She dared to use the pleading puppy dog eyes on me, her hazel irises behind horn-rimmed glasses making me instantly indecisive. The girls instantly seemed to sense that I was weakening, drawing closer and smiling cajolingly.
"How would you even know I did it? I could go into the hall and cast an aguamenti on myself, then come back dripping and say I did it," I pointed out desperately. I strongly doubted they planned on coming with me on this outing, so I didn't even really get why they thought it would be remotely entertaining to sit and wait for me to return from supposedly completing the dare.
"We'll use this to watch!" Marlene replied swiftly, whipping out a small purple object and brandishing it in the air with no small amount of triumph.
"What exactly is that?" I asked, unimpressed by the itty bitty gadget. It looked like a hairclip. How would a hairclip help in this scenario?
"It's called a SpyScoper," Marlene explained, handing me the hairclip-like object. "You activate it with a spell and then attach it to somebody, and it acts as a pair of eyes to see what they're doing. It's like you're standing right beside them."
"Are you going to play it back on a magical VCR or something?" I asked sarcastically.
I was met with blank looks, a reminder that all four of the witches who I sat with were raised in the wizarding world. Consequently, they had no idea what a VCR was or what it did.
"Nevermind," I muttered, inspecting the SpyScoper again instead. "I've never heard of one of these before."
"They're a prototype," Marlene replied, "one of my uncle's inventions. He sent me this one as a birthday gift." Marlene plucked the SpyScoper from my hand and neatly pinned it to the collar of my flannel pajama top. "It doesn't have any sound though, which is a shame. We'd love to hear your freezing gasps as you plunge into the lake," Marlene added sweetly.
I growled, grabbing my wand and standing without comment as they squealed happily as I made my way to the portrait hole. "Wish me luck then, you arseholes," I sighed, stepping through and wondering why I was actually doing this.
After some careful, stealthy, espionage-movie-worthy maneuvering, I was safely outside with the huge full moon glowing above my head and the lake lapping at my feet. I slid my feet from my slippers first, imagining my friends' gleeful giggles as they watched me from the SpyScoper clipped to the collar of my flannel pajama top. Sighing, I unbuttoned said top, folding it neatly and laying it on top of my loafers. Reluctantly following were my lovely cozy flannel pants, tossed aside before I could regather my wits and abandon this idiotic dare. The girls would never let me live it down if I got this far and then didn't actually get in the water.
I now stood there in only faded orange knickers, my favorite bra, and a cheap camisole. My toes were freezing in the damp grass, and I groaned as I bent down, clenching my wand in one hand and reaching to retrieve the SpyScoper. I would have to pin it in my hair or something for my sadistic friends to get a better view of their cruel and unusual dare. With a furtive glance towards the silent windows of Hogwarts, I reached down and started to draw up the hem of my camisole. Maybe I could cast a warming charm on myself before entering the lake to numb the effects of the frigid water.
Just as the hem of my camisole reached my ribs, a bloodcurdling howl made me freeze. Suddenly clumsy fingers slipped, and both my camisole and the SpyScoper dropped from them. My wand stayed clenched in a suddenly trembling grip, but I had no idea where the SpyScoper had fallen to in the long grass. I was more preoccupied at the moment with a more pressing question: what had made that godawful howling noise?
It sounded again, and my stomach condensed into ice and dropped to my feet. I was frozen in shock and fear instead of the cold now. What a lovely change.
Abruptly, a huge dark shape burst out of the Forbidden Forest. It came loping up the incline at a startlingly fast pace, headed straight for me. A long snout quivered as it pointed in my direction, and I trembled as I realized what the snout belonged to. Of course, I should've known already. Brilliant Lily Evans had overlooked one huge danger about her night outing. It was a full moon.
And the creature coming towards me at a frighteningly swift speed was a werewolf.
So naturally, I simply stared as it came barreling towards me. In the back corner of my mind I heard a vague little voice screaming at me to do something, but I couldn't bring myself to actually act on it. My wand seemed suddenly clumsy and dormant in my cold fingers.
Snap out of it! I screamed at myself. I wanted to be in auror training next year! What kind of head girl couldn't even raise her wand to defend herself from a charging werewolf? A pathetic one, that's what. And I was not a pathetic head girl.
Gathering all of my strength and Gryffindor courage that I really hoped was still there, I raised my trembling hand and directed my wand towards the werewolf. It was only twenty meters away when the first spell I could think of garbled out of my throat in a strangled yell. "AGUAMENTI!"
Aguamenti? Seriously? Could I honestly think of nothing more effective than a splash of water?
Nevertheless, a whip of cloudy water spiraled from my wandtip, lashing forward to strike the werewolf in the face. Miraculously, it halted, pawing at its eyes momentarily. It was obviously flabbergasted by both my inability to think of a proper spell and the sudden presence of water up its snout, but its current astonishment probably wouldn't last for long. And once the werewolf started moving again, I was toast. I was utterly vulnerable if I couldn't come up with a good defensive spell in the next fifteen seconds, but for the life of me I couldn't focus enough to think of a spell that could drive off a werewolf.
For Merlin's sake, I didn't even have pants on!
Suddenly, the werewolf's paws dropped, and its liquid black eyes locked on mine. I gulped, unable to look away and unable to think. Heart lodged in my throat, I stepped hesitantly backwards.
And promptly wedged my left heel straight into a gooey pocket of lake mud.
The mud gave under my weight, and I stumbled spectacularly as I sank in up to my ankle. My swamped foot stayed rooted into place while my body tilted and fell backwards. This turned out to be a horrid combination, I found out shortly. My elbows had to land in a patch of pebbles instead of soft grass, obviously, scraping and jarring on the rough surface. My bum also hit the ground hard, my head jolting on my neck as I tried to keep my eyes on the werewolf. Additionally, an ominous crunching noise beneath my back let me know I had just successfully smashed Marlene's new SpyScoper.
Glorious. Simply glorious.
The worst was yet to come though. My left foot was still stuck in an upright position, and as I fell my leg crumpled with me at a sharp, odd angle. A sharp pain knifed through my knee, and I cried out as white fire flared across my vision.
This all happened in about two seconds. Before I knew it, the werewolf was lunging towards me again, wet fur glistening in the moonlight as I tried to blink away the pain and fear. I screamed incomprehensibly, trying desperately to scrape up some sort of attack spell. "Confundo!" I shrieked helplessly, brandishing my wand at the beast. Did a Confundus even work on non-humans? I couldn't remember, literally not even to save my life. I raised my free arm over my head in a weak attempt to protect myself, ignoring the flares of pain my knee was giving off with every minute movement. I couldn't look away as the werewolf leaped at me. I was about to die. I was about to die from a stupid dare.
Then a new roar burst through the night, and a huge black shape rocketed across my vision. It smashed head on into the werewolf, tackling the beast and rolling with it across the grass. I watched in shock as my rescuer wrestled with the werewolf, smacking huge paws at its snout and apparently trying to stun it. The werewolf snapped and growled, scratching at the- the dog. It was a monstrously huge, extremely shaggy black dog that had come to my rescue.
As I gaped idiotically at the dog and the werewolf's fight, a squeaking noise drew my attention to the left. A much smaller shape was perched just to the right of my loafers and pajamas, twitching its whiskers at me frantically. It was an unremarkable gray rat, but intelligence glittered in its beady black eyes. I stared at it unabashedly as the small creature clicked and squeaked at me, waving tiny paws in my direction. If I didn't know better, I'd have said that it appeared to be trying to tell me to flee.
Ah, fleeing! That sounded like an excellent idea at the moment, even if it did come from a random rat sitting next to my shoes. I sat up straight and tried to pull my left foot from the muddy prison it was trapped in.
Unfortunately for me, my newly injured knee did not like to be pulled. Pain flared mercilessly through my leg, and I actually cried out from the agony. Bloody hell, I had really messed something up in that fall. With tears biting at my vision, I leaned forward and tried to dig my foot from the mud with my fingers. Wet earth slid instantly up my fingernails, but I ignored the sensation as I frantically tried to free my swamped appendage. A little dirt was preferable to death.
I had just managed to carefully extract my foot from the mud, wincing in pain all the way, when the werewolf/dog fight came to a climax. The werewolf threw the dog off its back in one powerful motion, sending it sailing through the air down the grassy slope. The dog hit the ground yelling, scrambling to regain its footing in the slippery grass. Meanwhile, the werewolf turned back to me.
My little rat pal squeaked and disappeared instantly. What a trooper.
I tried to hold my knee still in an attempt to stave off pain as the werewolf came charging at me again. Confounding it had obviously not worked, so I tried more along the lines of a spell for more physical damage. "Impedimenta!" I shrieked, my voice cracking as I whipped my wand at the beast. I prayed that this spell would work better than the last two.
Thankfully, it did. Unfortunately, it didn't work very well. Although the werewolf did trip and stumble, it only appeared to be slowed down as if it were wading through jello instead of actually halting its movement. After a few seconds of struggle, it even managed to break free of that.
I truly was a pathetic witch. Here I was, aspiring to be an auror, yet I couldn't even fight off a werewolf even when helped by a random monstrous dog! And as the beast came rocketing towards me, I stared defiantly in its huge black eyes and glared, helpless to move or fight but more irritated at my own helplessness than anything else. Was I really going to get killed by a werewolf in this fashion? Honestly?
Just when my courage was about to waver and I was seriously considering letting out another shriek for good measure, I was once again saved by a huge black shape leaping in the path of the werewolf. Although, this time it simply stood intimidatingly in front of me, acting as a wall as the beast crashed into it. I stared up at the huge stag that was now protecting me, watching in awe as the great racks of its antlers worked as a shield against the werewolf's paws. The stag's muscles strained as it kept its head down and resolutely shoved the werewolf away from me.
What was up with all these animals tonight? It was like I had an entire woodland bodyguard!
While I dazedly marveled at the oddities of my night outing, the werewolf spat and howled at the stag that still stood only about a meter in front of me. All of the wolf's attention was focused solely on the stag, so it certainly didn't notice when the black dog came barreling back onto the scene. The dog slammed into the werewolf's back again, smashing its massive shoulder into the beast and forcing it to keel backwards down the slope. I looked on in vague shock as the werewolf tumbled backwards, the dog watching carefully.
The werewolf snarled as it scrambled to its feet and glared calculatingly at the dog. Thankfully though, after a horrible moment where I expected another attack, it leaped backwards and darted out across the grounds, growling and howling all the way. The dog glanced at me for a moment, seeing the stag at my side and giving a strange, doggy grin. Lightning-quick, he bounded over and snatched up my blue plaid pajamas in his teeth. I had no chance to protest this thievery other than releasing a surprised yelp, because within seconds the dog had ran and followed the werewolf deep into the Forbidden Forest. In less than a minute I couldn't even hear either beast anymore.
I sat there in disbelief, wondering how the hell I had gotten myself into this situation and whether or not I was dreaming.
A sharp pull of pain from my knee made me gasp, letting me know that this was all too real.
The stag turned slightly at the sound, his huge liquid eyes staring at me intently. I gulped as I took in the majesty of his sleek fur, powerful build, and thick prongs of antlers. "Thank you," I rasped out, feeling slightly foolish at speaking to the animal. There was obviously something unusual about this stag, though, and a thank-you couldn't possibly hurt. "Thank you for saving me," I repeated, searching his glossy eyes for a reason why this animal had decided to help me escape from a predator like a werewolf.
The stag stepped closer until he was right at my side, his eyes never leaving mine. Lowering his head, the great animal nosed my shoulder. I smiled, taking that as a sort of 'you're welcome' from him. "I don't suppose you could help me stand up?" I asked dryly.
To my surprise, the stag nosed at my right arm until I lifted it, slipping its thick, muscled neck between my arm and torso and tugging upward. I blinked in confusion for a moment before understanding what was going on, then tried to stay still as the stag pulled me off the ground. Carefully, I leaned on the animal's slippery neck and hoisted myself slowly to my feet. My knee jarred a little as I stood, and I cursed under my breath at the pain. "Thanks again," I told the stag, rubbing its neck gratefully. "You're very intelligent for an animal, you know."
The stag stared at me for a moment, looking almost indecisive, if a beast could look so. "What?" I prompted, looking into its glossy dark eyes. "You've got something to say?"
The stag stared at me for another moment. Then without warning, its body morphed, condensing inward and upward. I'm ashamed to say I yelped a bit, staring in complete shock as my arm slung over the stag's neck suddenly lifted to become slung around the shoulders of a certain familiar teenage boy.
"My mum says I'm intelligent for an animal as well," James Potter informed me, hazel eyes serious as they stared me down. There was no hint of his usual cocky attitude even as he said that silly little reply, only slightly guarded caution.
I couldn't do anything but gawk for a moment, sputtering and gaping at the boy now standing beside me. "But- you were- but- stag- you- stag- but?" I stammered out, struggling to reconcile the elegant, protective stag with this goofball of a Gryffindor.
James didn't laugh, still watching me carefully as I attempted to speak properly. "Lily, I'm an animagus," he said slowly. Those big, serious eyes were searching my face, filled with a curiously undefinable emotion that made me catch my breath and realize I had stumbled upon a lot more than just a rogue werewolf on this full moon.
it's been a long time since I've been on this site, hehe. If you're CBT and reading this... don't judge me. if you don't know what CBT is, then carry on and I hope you like the story (:
P.S. this isn't the end =P
~TMI~
