It was a late night out and Lily was patrolling, fulfilling her duties as Gryffindor prefect. She turned the corner and sighed. It was getting late and she had a lot of homework. It was nearing the end of her sixth year at Hogwarts and her demanding schedule was only getting harder. However, she needed to finish her patrols. She went to the end of the hallway and sat down at the window, peering out into the clear night sky. A full moon was high up, shinning upon the Great Lake and Whomping Willow. "Full moon. Oh poor Remus," she muttered to herself. She figured out two years ago that poor Remus Lupin was a werewolf after reading about them for a Defense Against the Dark Arts paper. She never told him she knew. She figured he wouldn't want to talk about it.
She sighed again and was about to move away from the window when she saw a black blur streak across the grass. She looked and observed the figure moving towards the Whomping Willow, which happened to be very still tonight. She sat up and moved to go alert a professor. A student shouldn't be out there tonight…not when Remus wasn't himself. She was about to move when she heard a howl. Forgetting about the professor, she raced down to the first floor and out of the double doors leading to the grounds.
She moved across the lawn and heard shouting. She quickly stepped behind some bushes to listen.
"Get outta here Snape! You shouldn't be here!"
"He's a werewolf! I knew you four were doing something stupid and dangerous. Move
Potter! Wait until a teacher hears about this!"
"You'll keep your mouth shut if you know what is good for you Snape! I will not have you ratting out my friend. How did you know to find us?"
"It doesn't matter Potter, I just want my proof." drawled Snape. As he said this, a low growling could be heard. A werewolf emerged out of the bushes, hair on end, teeth shinning in the moonlight.
"Shit, shit, shit," muttered James again. "See what you did you slimy git."
The werewolf paused and then lunged at Snape. James ran and slammed into Snape, showing him to the ground.
"Get out of here," he hissed.
Snape looking frightened put James between him and the wolf.
"You are crazy! I'm going to find Dumbledore and get all of you expelled!" And with that, he promptly ran back to the castle. The werewolf remained, looking at James.
"Okay, I need to get out of here," muttered Lily. "Ugh but what about James?" she thought. "Should I leave him here?"
But as luck should have it, as moved to get up, she tripped and fell through the bushes into the direct sight of the werewolf. She looked up and saw the werewolf take a step toward her.
"Lily?" asked James. "What are you doing here? Run!" He looked truly frightened now.
"Same goes to you Potter!" she whispered fiercely, never taking her eyes off the werewolf in front of her. As the words left her mouth, she heard the werewolf growl.
"Remus," she spoke slowly. "Remus, it's me Lily."
She started to back up but the werewolf lunged. She froze and began to wonder if this was the end of her. But out of nowhere, a huge stag jumped in front of her, taking the blow. The werewolf rolled on top of the stag and tore his teeth through his shoulder. He then reached up and slashed his long claws through the stag's stomach. Lily screamed. "Great going Lily" Lily thought to herself as the werewolf stopped and slowly looked up at her. Right when he was about to take a step, a giant black dog rammed into the werewolf. Now distracted, the werewolf took after the dog into the Forbidden Forest.
Lily let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She got up and looked back at the stag but stumbled back, seeing not the stag but James Potter lying there, bleeding from his shoulder and stomach. He wasn't moving.
"James," Lily breathed. She ran over to him. "James! James wake up! Oh Merlin, he saved my life and now he's not moving. James, James please wake up! Oh, what do I do?"
James' hazel eyes opened weakly.
"Lily," he breathed.
"James, thank Merlin. Ok I need to get you to the Hospital Wing. James? James? Are you listening to mmhh?"
James reached up painfully and put his hand over her mouth.
"Lily, please don't tell anyone about Remus or us. Especially Remus." He winced painfully. "He's going to feel so bad about all of this tomorrow. Please, we can't add more to this burden. I don't know how you know but please, don't tell anyone."
"I won't James," Lily whispered.
He smiled that famous James Potter smile and closed his eyes again. Lily stared at him memorized. Here he was, practically bleeding to death, and all he cares about is Remus.
"Wow Potter, maybe there's more to you than I thought."
Lily sat up slowly. She heard a branch crack and she whipped her head around, eyes wide in fear. Sirius Black stumbled up to her, looking white and shaken.
"Black! What are you doing? There's a werewolf out!"
"Got him into the Shrieking Shack" mumbled Sirius.
"You got him there? But wait you're…" she trailed off.
"The black dog, yeah" he replied. He conjured up a stretcher. "I just wanted to make sure James got to the Hospital Wing. Think you can take him? Just say he got into a Quidditch accident. That always seems to work."
"Yeah I can," said Lily. Sirius nodded and picked up James and gently set him on the stretcher.
"Heal up mate," he muttered.
"Sirius," said Lily. Sirius slowly turned. "Uhh thanks for, you know, saving me and Potter."
"Of course Evans."
With that she turned and pushed James toward the Hospital Wing. What a night it was for her. She wasn't aware of it, but that night would change the rest of her life.
