Chapter II -- Moonlight and Muggleborns
Heavy footfalls rang throughout the forest and stomped the ground flat in their wake as an unusual group of beasts moved through the trees together. In the lead was a wolf; he was quite large, his smokey pelt shimmering in the high moonlight. Not two feet from his thick, tufted tail ran a great stag, tri-pronged antlers spiraling gracefully towards the canopy. Close behind the wolf and deer, a group of canines followed. A large, black dog's canines flashed in the low light; he glanced sideways at a golden Maned she-Wolf whose tongue lolled forth from tawny jowls. Taking up the rear was a light grey she-wolf, her ears back and tail whipping behind her as they all took a turn.
The group passed a pack of gytrashes, who sulked in the tree hollows from the moonlight. Thicket upon thicket was jumped and soon the group found themselves at a rickety shack set precariously on a hill. It looked ready to crumble into dust any day now. Regardless of the dangers, the odd group headed inside one by one.
Up the stairs they walked, hooves and paws echoing in the creaking fortress. The darker wolf, nearly foaming at the mouth after panting so hard from the run, collapsed onto a dusty old cot. He nosed his way underneath a blanket and a few of the other animals lay nearby.
"Another trip well made." The stag said aloud, dark brown eyes closing slightly as he came to rest on the dusty floor near the male wolf. There was no reply from the wolf on the cot, nor any sign that the wolf knew the stag was talking.
"Let's just hope tonight goes okay..." The grey she-wolf turned her grey-blue eyes towards the stag, her ears turned back, mouth open in a pant. The large black dog nearby grunted in agreement and turned to lick at an itch on his tail.
The golden and tawny she-wolf looked towards the dog. "Fleas bothering you again, Padfoot?" Her teeth flashed in amusement.
"No, Tyra," The dog looked her way and stared fixedly. "I don't have fleas."
Tyra's muzzle parted and she gave a toothy laugh. "Ohh, so Breen already gave you your flea bath?"
"Flea bath?" Padfoot asked with a slightly offended growl.
The grey she-wolf looked in Tyra's direction a bit obliviously. "What?" Her eyes narrowed slightly, muzzle curling up in kind of an accusing smile as she finally figured it wasn't anything she wanted to get her muzzle into. She knew she probably wouldn't have liked the comment or what was probably going to follow.
Momentarily, both the stag and the grey she-wolf blocked out Padfoot and Tyra's conversation, both with their minds on something. Breen turned, gaze falling on the still form of the wolf beneath the itchy, stiff blanket. She looked towards the stag briefly. "Hey, Prongs?"
The stag flicked an ear and looked in her direction. "Yeah?"
"I know it's not likely, but do you figure maybe..." How could she put this? The she-wolf rose to her feet and approached the cot slowly. "Do you think he can understand us when he's like this, deep down somewhere?"
The stag had never really thought about it. He'd always assumed the wolf couldn't, seeing as he didn't remember anything of his time as a wolf when he was human again. "No, why?"
"No reason." She answered casually before she returned to her spot on the rotting floor. She rested her head on her paws. "Do you think he feels alone? After all, he's the only one who's got to go through those transformations..."
"Why would he be?" The stag asked with a small snort. He flicked his tail, though it was hard to tell whether it was out of annoyance or nervousness. "He's got us."
The wolf closed her eyes before nodding off. "Half the time I don't think he knows it's us."
The next morning, Breen and Tyra awoke to the sound of wind howling through the shack. The sun had just begun to peek through the loose boards all around. They stretched, looking around at their friends. Moony had changed back into a human with the rising of the sun, but was still curled beneath the blanket. He was left the cot most of the time; his transformation was painful enough to endure, but sleeping on a hard floor might have made it worse. Some of them, however, could sleep on a hard wood floor and think it a cloud. The two she-wolves glanced over at a certain loud-snoring someone. Padfoot lay on his back, legs in the air, tongue hanging out.
"Is he alright? He looks kinda... dead." Breen commented to Tyra. There came a snore fit to wake the dead, but the only one that made any kind of motion was Prongs; he flicked an ear as if to shoo away a fly.
"They could sleep through anything." Tyra's nose wrinkled a little as she spoke loudly. Still no stirring from the animals nearby. "I bet they wouldn't even know if we were talking about Sirius and his FLEAS!" At the word 'fleas', the black dog jerked his head upward. An ear lay turned inside out, the other one half-covering his eye.
"Whuzz youtalkin bout my fleas for?" He asked groggily, fangs revealed as he struggled to right himself properly and straighten out his ears.
"You were dreaming again." Tyra laughed, tail wagging slightly. In a matter of seconds she morphed until a sleepy-looking Lauren sat in her place. "Nobody was talking about your fleas... But I'm glad you finally admit it." The dog gave a growl and stretched his legs.
There came a snort of a laugh from Breen, who sat nearby. An amused look gleamed in her eyes, but was soon apparent on her face when she, too, changed back into her true form.
Padfoot grumbled softly to himself in Dog as he struggled to resist the urge to scratch again. His right hind leg began to kick with urgency at the persisting itch, so he followed the girls' examples and changed quickly into his human form. "I'll be right back," He said gruffly. "I've gotta go."
"Yeah, you've gotta go alright." Lauren called after him as he walked briskly down the stairs. "Gotta go scratch those fleas of yours!"
As the girls' laughter subsided, a groggy groan sounded from nearby. Remus had turned to face them on the cot. Sitting up, he rubbed his face with his hands. "Morning." He said, still partially trying to wake himself up. "I feel like I just ran a marathon. Anything interesting happen last night?"
"We did take a run..." Lauren raised her eyebrows ever so slightly.
Remus laughed lightly. "That would explain why I feel to so sore."
"Nothing much else happened." Rosemary shook her head. "It was murder trying to keep up with you, though."
With that, Sirius re-entered the room and Prongs began to stir. The young stag gracefully got to his feet and nodded to each student in turn. He, too, stepped down the stairs with a clatter of hooves on wood. Within a few minutes, James appeared, trying to smooth down his messy hair as he approached the small group. "Anyone got a comb?" He asked. None of them did. "We ought to be on our way, then. Don't want anyone becoming suspicious of our absence."
"Since when are you concerned about being found out?" Sirius asked James as they headed through Hogsmead towards the castle.
"Since Miss Evans has started lightening up on him." Remus said, a hint of amusement in his tone. "He reckons she fancies him, I guess."
Sirius scoffed and gave James a half-smile. James stood proudly, taking a moment to ruffle his hair again. "You really think that's why she hasn't been as hostile towards you," Sirius asked.
It was Lauren's turn to say something. "I think she's just too tired to bother anymore. After all, how many years have you been after her?" Her eyebrows raised as she awaited the answer.
"Try since first year." Sirius laughed, the tiniest bit of sarcasm in his voice. "Ever since he saw those sparkling emerald eyes on the train, framed by that fiery red hair she's somehow managed to tame, he hasn't taken his eyes off her."
James gave Sirius a slightly smug look. "You reckon she really does fancy me?"
"Sure," Lauren answered sarcastically. "After all, who could resist all that blatant arrogance, not to mention those amazing Quidditch skills."
"You have to admit, though," Rosemary looked to Lauren. "His arrogance has faded ever so slightly. Not much, but still..."
As they approached the entrance to Hogwarts, James caught sight of a bright red beacon heading their way. He waved in the student's direction. It was obvious that she hadn't noticed him until just then because she suddenly hurried in the opposite direction, behind some bushes. It wasn't a good enough hiding spot, however.
"Good morning, Lily." James said with a flourish. "How fortunate to see your beautiful face on such a day."
"What do you want, Potter?" Lily asked, her tone not quite as annoyed as the look she tried to keep on her face. She appeared quickly from behind the bush to face James and his friends.
"Just a simple 'good morning' to make my day complete." He was really laying it on thick this time.
Lily gathered up her books and stared at him a moment. The corners of her mouth curved upwards ever so slightly for a few seconds before she returned to the usual look she gave him. "Good morning, James." Without another word, Lily turned and walked off to join a group of fellow Gryffindor girls not far off.
"Wow." Sirius watched as she went before turning back to James. "I think you're right, Prongs. She never calls you James."
Remus suddenly had a worried look on his face. "Scary."
"I think you've got a pretty good chance," Rosemary turned towards James. "She nearly smiled there for a minute. That's a good sign, I'd say."
Lauren agreed. "Just don't go getting arrogant about it again. You might scare her off."
For the rest of the day, James looked as though he was about to burst with pride. In Potions he thought he caught her looking his way. When confronted about it, she claimed that she was looking for one of her friends. James pointed out that all of her friends were standing nearby her the whole time and were not anywhere in his direction (he would know; he hardly took his own eyes off of her to do the lesson). She tried making it sound as though she thought he was one of them; he hardly looked masculine, she said.
Even this didn't put a damper on his mood. He knew the truth, and she couldn't tell him anything otherwise. His overly chipper air was starting to make three of his friends a bit worried, and annoyed a certain Slytherin among them. He hardly stopped to prank an innocent first year or give a Slytherin some snide remark.
"I'm worried about you, mate." Sirius pulled James off to the side of a hallway as they passed towards the Great Hall that night for dinner. "This could jeopardize our whole operation as Marauders."
James scoffed. "I haven't felt so alive since she returned my mistletoe last year and I stole a kiss before she could do anything." Much to Lily's dismay.
"Yeah, but you also haven't taken a lick of time to do anything Marauder-like since this morning. Snivellus nearly tripped you after Potions for crying out loud and you didn't do a single thing about it!"
"Look, nothing is going to happen if Lily and I start going out." James answered. "We'll still go on our runs and prank everything in sight. It'll be alright, you'll see." With that James proceeded towards the Great Hall in a cloud of merry thoughts.
Sirius turned towards Remus, Lauren, and Rosemary who were standing nearby, listening to the whole talk. "If this is affecting him this badly, I'm afraid we may have to do something about it."