Chapter 2 – Tailing the Marauders
It was an odd feeling for Lily as she crept as silently as possible through the corridors. Normally she would have walked down them as bold as she pleased and she would be the one on the lookout for students out of bed. Now she was the one who was doing what she shouldn't. She couldn't even cast a Disillusionment Charm as she didn't have her wand with her.
The school was quite creepy at night, she decided. During the the day the corridors were bustling with students and there was always a constant background chatter from the portraits hanging on the walls. Now however there was only silence, broken by soft snoring from the sleeping pictures. The only real light came from the moon outside and it glinted on the suits of armour. Lily found it quite beautiful and it gave her some measure of comfort as she made her way to the Fat Lady's portrait.
She hid in an alcove just out of sight of the Fat Lady and kept a steady watch. The thought occurred to her that maybe she was wrong and Potter hadn't come this way, in which case she was wasting her time. She decided that the best thing to do would be to wait for a while. If nothing happened then she would go back to her room. She settled in to wait.
...
Lily didn't have to wait very long. Barely fifteen minutes after she arrived at Gryffindor the portrait swung open. Lily kept very close to the wall as first Potter, then Black, Lupin and Pettigrew emerged from the portrait hole. Lily suppressed a gasp. She always thought that Lupin looked quite sick – his skin was always pale and his eyes seemed to sink into his head – but she had never seen him like this before. He was sweating, his face was white as a sheet, so white she almost thought he looked like one of the school's ghosts. She saw that he was being supported by Black and Pettigrew and looked like that he could collapse at any moment. They were whispering to each other and Lily strained to hear what they were saying.
"Have you got him?"
"Yes he's fine. Hopefully Pete won't drop his side again like last night."
"That wasn't my fault Sirius! I tripped on a flagstone."
"We were lucky no one came to look! Is the coast clear James?"
"It's like I told you everyone's in bed by now. Same as last night and the night before."
"We should check the map, just in case."
"No time! Look at him. It's worse tonight than before! I'm telling you it's fine!"
"Ready Remus?" Lily saw Lupin nod slightly.
The three of them helped their friend down the corridor, almost carrying him as he looked in no fit state to walk. The Fat Lady swung shut behind them. Lily heard her whisper after them "Good luck!"
Lily's mind was full of questions. Where could they possibly be taking him? To Madame Pomfrey? He certainly looked most unwell, but then again if so why were they sneaking around? And why now? No there had to be more to it than that.
Lily let them get about twenty paces down the corridor before she started to follow them. She had to take extra care not to make any noise which would alert them to the fact that they weren't as alone as they thought. Her task was made more difficult by the fact that the four people in front of her seemed to be making random turns left and right, along corridors she herself rarely travelled down even in daylight, never mind on her nightly patrols.
Even though she knew she was breaking any number of school rules Lily couldn't help but feel a flicker of excitement. She had never done anything like this before in her life! She had always been the perfect student, never putting a foot wrong, never going anywhere or doing anything she wasn't supposed to do. The four people in front of her, Potter and his friends or the Marauders as they called themselves – Lily snorted to herself. The Marauders! Who's idea was that? Probably Black's – he always loved the dramatic. Whatever, the four of them had a reputation for toeing the line. Whenever something happened they were always at the centre of it. Lily was starting to wonder if there was something she'd missed out on in her life, which she was only now discovering.
Lily snapped out of her reverie and noticed that Potter and his friends had stopped in front of a featureless section of the wall. She backed up against a wall and heard them whispering again.
"I still don't see why we can't go through the One-Eyed Witch passage. That's much easier." Pettigrew was saying.
"Use your head Peter! I keep telling you we can't risk suddenly appearing in Hogsmeade. Anyone could be about! That man who smells of goats for example!" Black lightly cuffed Pettigrew's head.
"Owwww Sirius!" Pettigrew rubbed the back of his head.
"Shut it you two!" Potter snapped as he felt around the wall. Grunting in satisfaction he stood back and the wall slid aside. Behind it was a passage leading into darkness. Potter lit up his wand and led the way, the others following him. Lily managed to dash inside before the wall shut again. She froze for a moment, making sure they hadn't heard her before slowly making her way down the passage.
If she thought sneaking through the dark school corridors was creepy then this was downright scary. Lily forced herself to move slowly, more so she could keep her footing than stealth. Not for the first time that night she wished she had gone back for her wand. She couldn't see five feet in front of her. All she had to go by was the faint light ahead of her from Potter's wand, accompanied by very faint whispers.
...
After what seemed like forever she finally emerged onto the side of a hill. Breathing the fresh air in deep she tried to get her bearings. Obviously they were outside the school, which in itself was an automatic two-month detention, weekends included, even for the Head Boy and Girl. Looking up she saw that the moon was obscured by a cloud and so was not giving much light. Peering into the darkness she saw Potter's light moving down the hill and so she carefully made her own way down, making sure that every step was onto solid ground. She didn't want to have to explain exactly why her leg had been broken when she was supposed to be in bed. Why had she thought this was a good idea? It would have been easier just to turn the lot of them in to Dumbledore. She had come this far though so she decided to see it through.
The four of them had stopped a short way from a tree which Lily knew very well. The Whomping Willow had been planted shortly after she had started Hogwarts. They had all been told that it was an endangered species and it would be useful for the school to have the tree available for study and research. No one went near it though as its flailing branches had caused many broken bones for the curious and foolhardy.
Lily hid behind a nearby rock and watched them.
Black was talking quietly to Potter. "How long do you think?"
Potter looked at the sky, then at Lupin. "Not long at all. We need to hurry."
Lily looked at Lupin. He seemed to be worse than ever. He was breathing deeply and his eyes were shut tight. He looked like he was grimacing, as if he was trying to hold something in. Lily had never seen this before and wondered what exactly was happening.
The tree shifted its branches menacingly. Potter flicked his wand and what looked like a small twig flew up and struck the tree in a certain place. The branches became still. Potter helped Black and Pettigrew guide Lupin into an opening in the roots of the tree. They looked like they were hurrying, but for what reason Lily had no idea.
Once they had disappeared Lily approached the Whomping Willow gingerly but it still looked like it wasn't going to move anytime soon. She crept to the opening in the roots and let herself down. She landed with a loud thud and froze as some dust and soil trickled down. She heard voices up ahead.
"What was that?"
"Don't worry it's probably the tree waking up again. Come on, we're nearly there."
Lily made her way forward. If anything this tunnel was more treacherous than the passageway leading out of the school. Here there were roots sticking out of the ground and in the ceiling, which was quite low. Her hair was caught a couple of times and she twisted herself free, biting back the pain as a few strands ripped from her head. She tried not to think about what she might be walking in as she felt her feet squish down into the ground. She hoped it was only mud.
This tunnel was even longer than the passageway and at some points became quite low, forcing her to stoop down to get through. Eventually though the tunnel started to go uphill. There was no sign of Potter or the others. Lily found that she was becoming afraid of what she might find at the end. She tried to tell herself that there was nothing to be scared of and she was only observing what the Marauders were up to but all the dark places and sneaking around had awoken some sort of primal fear in her.
The tunnel finally ended at the last thing Lily had expected – a trapdoor in the roof. The wooden planks formed a sharp contrast to the earthen walls and roots around her. Abandoning all attempts at silence and stealth she opened the trapdoor and quickly clambered up into a tall room with wooden walls. By now Lily was feeling quite terrified. No longer caring if she was caught she whispered "Potter? James? Are you there? Sirius? Anyone?"
There was no answer.
A door led to a rickety looking staircase which led up and up, with other doors leading from it. All the walls looked like they were made of the same sort of rotting wood and Lily could distinctly feel the whole structure gently swaying, as if buffeted by wind. Plucking up what was left of her courage Lily crept up the staircase, wincing at each creak as she put her feet down. She tried the first room. It was empty. The next one was empty as well and fairly soon she had looked into every room. There was no one there. One room had a couple of chairs and another had a bed so it looked like someone could live there.
"Maybe Potter and his friends come to visit whoever lives here." Lily said quietly to herself, speaking out loud so that she didn't feel quite so lonely. The sound of her voice still came as a shock to her in the eerie silence.
The building seemed familiar to her, even though she had never actually been there before. It was nagging at her mind, something she was missing. She made her way back down the creaking stairs. At the bottom was a door which looked like it led outside. It was slightly ajar, as if whoever had gone through it hadn't closed it properly. Lily opened the door and looked outside. The house was standing in the middle of a field on top of a hill. In the distance she could make out the shapes of houses and realised that it must be Hogsmeade she could see. How different it looked in the dark! The clouds had gone now and the sky was clear – she could see stars and automatically began naming the various constellations, more as a way of holding off her fear than anything else. The ground around the house looked quite bright. The moon must be out she thought. At least she wouldn't have to find her way back in total darkness.
She stepped outside and turned to look up at the house. She instantly knew what it was, having seen it from a distance on her visits to Hogsmeade – The Shrieking Shack. She had heard the stories of how people had heard moaning and screaming and everybody said it was haunted. Well now it seems to be empty she thought to herself.
Lily tried again to call as quietly as she could. "James? Are you there? It isn't funny anymore James!" Still no answer and she could see no sign of them. Where were they? It was as if they had completely disappeared off the face of the earth! Lily decided to walk around the house, keeping close to the walls. Maybe they were on the other side of the hill?
Lily moved as slowly as she could. Even though she seemed to be all alone there was no telling what could be out here, especially at this time of night. She knew about some of the creatures who made their homes in the forest near Hagrid's hut and she wouldn't have been surprised to see similar beasts up here, especially given this building's reputation.
Lily turned a corner and saw the moon, out in full and shining at its brightest. And silhouetted against it she saw a shape. It was roughly man-sized and had two arms, two legs and a head so Lily decided that it must be one of the Marauders. Possibly Sirius. It would be just like him to want to make such a spectacle of himself. Lily walked towards it.
She got about halfway when she heard something that made her blood run cold. The shape tipped back its head, which Lily now noticed seemed to be rather elongated, and howled. The sound awakened a new terror in her as she now recognised what the figure was, having studied them in her third year.
A werewolf.
Lily couldn't believe it. Sure she knew that such things existed but here? Where had it come from? The village? And was this what Potter and his friends were up to? Were they trying to get rid of it? All these questions took second place to the first thought that was dominating her mind – escape.
Lily backed up, making her way towards the house, when she stepped on a twig. The snap sounded loud in the stillness of the night and Lily knew that it would not have gone unnoticed by the beast up ahead.
Sure enough the wolf-like creature slowly lowered its head and turned to face her. Even from this distance Lily could see the hunger in its eyes. It opened its mouth and growled at her loudly.
That did it. Lily turned and ran for the house. She hadn't gone ten steps when she tripped over a small clump of grass and landed heavily on the ground. Winded, Lily tried to get up but her foot had become caught. She struggled to free herself but her foot would not budge.
Lily looked up. The werewolf was bounding towards her, its claws out and its teeth bared, the saliva dripping from its mouth. It closed to the last few metres and then leapt.
Lily screamed.
A/N Dun dun duuuuuun. Of course we know (or at least I hope we know) what's going on here but I tried to make it as realistic as possible from Lily's point of view.
Someone asked why Lily would never have noticed over the seven years of school but as far as I can see she wouldn't have bothered about what the gang were up to, even disappearing every few weeks. She would probably have just put it down to one of their many pranks. Well now she's learning the reality is a bit different.
Next Chapter - Fight and Flight
