Part Two
September first found the Evans family again at Platform 9 3/4. Anetka was in tears once more at her baby's parting, and Petunia tried to make it appear to any passing strangers that she had never seen these people bidding farewell in front of a blank wall.
On the train the three sisters found Alice and Nicole in an otherwise empty compartment, and the second years spent the hours coaching the first year about the Sorting Ceremony and Hogwarts in general.
Mary couldn't understand why she felt so why she felt so nervous. She had told herself for months that she didn't care about Hogwarts, but now that she was en route there on its train – she really did feel jittery.
Mary was now, as she always had been, the most devout Practical Magic witch of the three. She knew the rules and spells up and down. Years ago she had asked Nicki if she could just not go to Hogwarts. He had come in danger of spontaneously combusting, and Mary had to act quickly to calm him. After that, she understood she was attending Hogwarts, but that was it. She considered those seven years wasted except for making friends and just growing up. She hadn't thought it was very important to her overall life. Maybe she could pick up a spell or two, but Practical Magic was her life. She couldn't care less about Hogwarts. Or that's what she had thought.
"It's unreasonable," she said, nervously rolling her new wand between her fingers. "I don't care about Hogwarts. I shouldn't be worried."
"You're going to be spending the next seven years of your life there," Alice reminded her. "It's okay."
A little while later, James, David, Sirius, Remus, and Peter showed up at their door. The friends spoke for a while, the boys giving Mary their own kind of advice. Finally they went back to their own compartment, leaving the girls to change.
When the Hogwarts Express began to slow down, Mary's face went several shades whiter. The five girls walked together out of the train, the four elder giving the younger final words of encouragement.
"Don't look so scared, we promise it won't kill you-"
"Mary, you're our sister, of course you're going to be in Gryffindor-"
"Don't fall out of the boat – there's a giant squid-"
"That's Hagrid."
The last one was accompanied with a point, wave, and greeting.
"How yeh doin', Rose? Hey, Lily!" the startlingly large man inquired, swinging a lantern.
"Fine, Hagrid," Lily answered, smiling. "This is our sister that we told you about, Mary."
"Pleasure to meet yeh," boomed Hagrid. "Right here into the boats, Mary, c'mon – Firs' years! Four ter a boat! Firs' years!" With a wave to her sisters and Alice and Nicole, Mary headed to the dock.
"Girls!" The four remaining second-years whipped around; they recognized that voice. Sirius stood in front of a carriage, his foot inside the door.
He waved them over. "I saved you it," he said, pushing the door all the way open so they could climb inside. "They're filling up fast."
"Thanks, Sirius," said Lily gratefully.
"No problem," he replied, closing the door and jumping into the carriage behind them.
Inside the Great Hall the nine friends had to hurry to get seats either next or across from each other. They waited impatiently for the Sorting, Lily and Rose fidgeting as they watched for their youngest sister. At last-
"Evans, Mary!" If she was nervous, she didn't show it. She walked forward to the stool and slipped on the hat. Several seconds went by.
"Oh, please," whispered Lily, "Please, please, please." Rose said nothing, but crossed her fingers on both hands, placing them on opposite shoulders and looked up with closed eyes toward the heavens.
"GRYFFINDOR!" Both Lily and Rose started to breathe again, and then joined the tumultuous applause from their section of the Hall.
The next morning classes began in earnest. Lily and Rose attacked them with their usual enthusiasm, and the boys with their usual sighs, even though they – with the exception of Peter – were as good as the girls were.
Mary, despite her scorn for nearly every class, did as well as Lily did, showing a special talent in Herbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Rose reached her twelfth birthday. She was the youngest Gryffindor second-year, Sirius being the oldest. He would turn thirteen in late November.
Two weeks into the school year, a notice appeared informing the pupils that Quidditch trials would be held in the stadium on Saturday for second-years and above, causing much rejoicing for nearly all the students.
On Saturday all the second-year Gryffindors and Mary were at the stadium, though all of them would not be trying out. Lily, Alice, Mary, Remus, and Peter stood at the side.
There were a lot of empty places on the team; a lot of the players had been seventh-years last year. The captain, a sixth-year girl, was a bit desperate, and was delighted with the number of try-outers.
James went for Seeker, David and Rose for Chaser, Sirius and Nicole for Beater. They all did very well, and Captain Chloe Shaw had trouble concealing a grin as she told them the results would be in tomorrow.
The next day the following appeared on the billboard in the Gryffindor common room:
Gryffindor Quidditch Tryout Results:
Seeker: James Potter
Chasers: Chloe Shaw (Captain), Rose Evans, David Potter
Beaters: Nicole Adesanya, Sirius Black
Keeper: Andrew Mallahem
To say the least, the new Quidditch players walked around the school with grins on their faces for days.
Life settled down as it had last year, except for Quidditch practice and games. Gryffindor made a spectacular win the first game of the season, giving the house a definite lead toward the Cup.
Remus was still disappearing one night every month. His friends became more and more puzzled by it, except for Lily, of course. One Saturday in October, a couple of days after the full moon, Lily asked Remus to meet her by the lake after breakfast.
It was getting chilly; the giant squid was no longer near the surface to be subject to the students' experiments and whims. Lily and Remus walked around the lake as they talked. She got right to the point.
"Remus, how long do you plan to keep this up?"
He raised his eyebrows. "You think I have a choice in turning into a werewolf?"
She didn't crack a smile, but looked straight into his eyes. "No, but you do have a choice in lying to your best friends."
He winced and stared at the ground. "I wish you wouldn't put it like that."
"That's what it is," she said bluntly. "Remus, I told you your friends are clever the night I found out. Sooner or later – and it's starting to look like sooner – they're going to figure it out like I did."
He looked back up, alarmed. "What do you mean?"
"I told you," she said quietly. "They are not stupid. They are almost one hundred percent sure that your mother and aunt aren't ill all these times, and they are one hundred percent sure that there's more to it than you're telling them." She crossed her arms.
"But – they haven't thought that I'm a…."
She shook her head. "Not yet. But it's only a matter of time before they look back and realize that you were gone every full moon."
Suddenly, Remus' shoulders slumped and he sat down. "Oh, Lily, I don't know what I was thinking. I just wanted some friends, even for a short time, but I should've known better than to think it would last forever."
Lily knelt beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Remus, you are right in thinking that they will find out. But when they do, they're not going to not want to be your friend anymore."
"Paul..."
"Paul was an idiot! Your best friends are not idiots!"
He stood up abruptly. "Lily, maybe you're right, maybe you're not. I don't want to find out. I'll keep it up as long as I can, and I'll deal with them finding out when they do." And with that, he walked back to the castle.
Lily was left kneeling on the ground, rubbing her temples as she muttered about boys.
It was late November. Remus had just proclaimed his aunt ill, and a visit was mandatory. Sirius and David were sitting moodily by the window of the common room. Lily, Rose, Mary, James, and David were spread listlessly in the chairs in front of the fire. A light layer of snow had fallen earlier that day. James and Mary were starting their third game of chess – Mary had won the earlier two – when Sirius started and cried,
"It's Remus!"
"Well, of course," said James without looking up.
"No, I mean – he's not going to the train! He's with Madam Pomfrey!"
"He is!" David exclaimed.
The friends looked up. Lily was starting to feel nervous.
"What?" James joined his brother and best friend at the window. Everyone else crowded around.
"I'm – I'm sure it's just a detour," protested Lily. "And of course a teacher is going to escort him."
"No – look!"
Six of the seven friends watched with wide eyes, but the seventh closed hers. Lily had watched him one night after Rose had fallen asleep. Now Madam Pomfrey had taken a long stick and was prodding a knot on the trunk.
"What the..." David trailed off as the violent tree froze and Remus made his way forward.
"What – what's he doing?" asked Peter uncertainly.
"Well, I don't know, Peter," said Sirius sarcastically. "Why don't we wait and see?" Rose nudged him. Sirius always had the least patience with him, and unchecked he could be scathing.
"Wait – he disappeared!" James suddenly cried.
"He went into the corner of the tree." Mary whispered – she had the clearest view. "I think there was a hole or something."
Lily sat down in the nearest chair and put her head in her hands. It was over.
There was a pause of a few seconds while, Lily guessed, Madam Pomfrey walked back inside. Then James spoke.
"Well."
"Look at the moon," said Sirius suddenly. Everyone did so, except for Lily. "You think it's a coincidence?" There was a stunned silence.
"What?" David finally said. "You can't be saying-"
"Don't pretend you haven't thought of it before," Sirius cut in. "we've all thought about it. And it makes perfect sense. Haven't you noticed it's every full moon when he's gone?"
"What?" Peter said, though without the incredulous note David had. It was more of a puzzled one. "Oh – you mean he's a werewolf?"
"No, I mean his family really are ill every month!" he shot at him. Peter flinched.
"He can't be!" David said, falling back into his chair by the window. "He would tell me something like that!" He really did look shocked.
"Not if he had a really good reason," James said slowly.
"Lily," said Rose suddenly. "You know something, don't you?" Everyone looked at the small redhead in the chair. She raised her head as she tried to think of a response.
"You do," said James, quickly moving in front of her. "What do you know about Remus?"
"Can't we talk about this in the morning?" she said finally. She had known this day – or night – would come eventually, but she still didn't know what to say or do.
"No," said James firmly. "Now."
"No, not now." said Lily, who was beginning to feel nervous. When she felt nervous, she got sarcastic. She was actually capable of making as scathing retorts as Sirius could, but she was usually too nice to.
"Lily," said David sharply, standing also. "This is important. If he's a werewolf, we need to know."
"No, you don't," Lily snapped. "Life would go on just as it has for the last year." James raised his eyebrows and glanced at his brother. But Sirius took it up.
"Lil, we were all friends long before we even met you. We ought to know about something like this."
"Oh, really?" she shot at him. "I agree. You should. Why don't you?"
Sirius was taken aback. He gave James the look the latter had just given David. Now James placed his hands on the armchairs, trapping her.
"Lily, we're not going to leave until you tell us. And we can wait all night if we have to."
"Like I did?"
James did a double take. "What?"
She sighed. "Boys are so blind. Last year, January. Rose, remember the morning you found me asleep on the couch?" She nodded. "I waited up for him. The entire night. But when he did show up-" Lily broke off. Just because the boys had found out didn't mean that she could break her promise. So they knew. She would leave it to Remus to explain the way he wanted to.
"Go on..." David encouraged. But she shook her head, her lips pressed tight. Now Rose stepped up.
"I don't any know more than any of you do, but leave Lily alone. If she doesn't want to tell you, then go ask Remus in the morning." Lily gave her sister a grateful look.
"Rose," said Sirius impatiently, "this is serious. It isn't just an exam or something like that."
"Glad you noticed," Lily retorted. "Now will you please get off me, James?" She didn't like him being so close. It made her uncomfortable. And nervous.
"No. Not until you tell us," he said stubbornly. Rose opened her mouth again, but Mary recognized it as her department. She stepped up to him, eyes narrowed and the threatening look on her face that the boys were learning to be very afraid of.
"Let her go," she said icily. James, as the redheads feared he would, chose the wrong response.
"Mary, don't you want to find out about Remus?" James asked recklessly.
Both Lily and Rose knew what came next. As a first-year not even in her third term, she didn't know much magic, and she didn't need to. In one swift move, the eleven-year-old and pinned the twelve-year-old's arms behind his back, knocked his feet out from under him, and had him flat on his stomach as she dropped to one knee, continuing to hold him down. He was too stunned to move. His four friends just stood there with their mouths open. Mary looked up calmly.
"Lily, you wanted to go to bed?"
She stood. "Thank you, Mary. Rose?"
"Coming." They stopped at the edge of the staircase, and Lily turned back to the boys and Mary. All the sarcasm and annoyance was gone from her now; her only intention was getting her point across.
"Listen, really. Don't tell anyone about this. I promise it will be explained in the morning. Come down at, er, six thirty. We can all go somewhere and talk it over. And please, don't do anything stupid between now and then. You don't know what you're dealing with!" She ended with a pleading look.
The next morning James, David, Sirius, and Peter came down the stairs at 6:45 to find Remus dead asleep on a couch, Rose and Mary sitting at his head and Lily pacing in front of them. As the last one appeared, she whirled to face them. She seemed to be in a fairly bad temper, which wasn't much for Lily.
"I can't believe you," she hissed, trying not to wake Remus. "You know how tired he is the night after, it's not fair of you to put him through this right now-"
"Hey, we weren't the ones that suggested talking in the morning!" Sirius protested. Too loudly. Remus sat up with a jerk. He took one look at the boys and groaned,
"Oh God, no," as he lowered his face into his hands. "I was hoping it was a nightmare-"
"It's alright," Rose whispered comfortingly, though she still had no idea what this was about. Last night Lily had explained to her sisters that she had sworn she wouldn't tell anyone, and they were going to have to wait until tomorrow morning to find out with everyone else.
Before anyone could say anything, Lily said, "Not here. Someone might come down." They walked silently out of the common room and to a nearby classroom.
"Alohomora," Lily muttered. Everyone entered, and Remus crashed into the nearest desk, his elbows on the desk and his face in his hands. Lily sat next to him, and everyone else gathered around.
Remus was hurting. His head throbbed – all of him throbbed when he thought about it – and he was ready to curl up and die. He couldn't remember having a worse reaction to the night. And the knowledge that in a few seconds he could very well lose his best friends didn't help at all. But he had to do it. Remus forced himself to look up.
"Please, no one say anything until I'm finished. I – I know I should've first told you back when we became friends, but – I didn't want to. I was scared of what you would think, and I just wanted some friends for a while." He paused. This was a million times harder than he had ever dreaded it being, which ground against the general rule. He felt like he was about to be sick. But he had to. "So – if you don't want to talk to me or anything anymore, I understand. I don't expect different." In his mind, there was a painful flashback of Paul, scared and angry, backing up as he screamed,
"Get away from me, werewolf!"
Remus had to swallow before continuing. "You see – the reason I leave every month is because - I'm a werewolf." There was a pause, and Remus closed his eyes, preparing for the worst. But he wasn't prepared for what they did say.
"And..." David said, gesturing that he was waiting.
Remus' eyes popped open. "And what?"
"And...what's the big secret that we're not going to talk to you again for?" finished David.
"Yeah, now I'm curious," Sirius said, sitting on top of a desk. "How bad can it be, really? Do you have a crush on a Slytherin or something?"
Mary giggled. "As long as it's not Snape."
Remus stared. Didn't they get it? Or had he not even said it out loud?
"Didn't you hear me?" he said, looking from face to face for the reaction he had been expecting. "I'm a werewolf! Aren't – aren't you mad or something?"
"Oh yes," said James quickly, folding his arms. "Very. I can't believe you didn't tell us before. What kind of a friend are you?"
This was insane. They were supposed to be angry and scared, yelling at him and stomping out of the room. But they were acting like it wasn't a very big deal, asking him what kind of a friend he was. It was insane. Remus started to laugh.
"Uh-oh," Sirius said, raising his eyebrows. "He's officially lost it. Everyone, do not panic. We have a deranged werewolf on our hands."
Lily grinned. "What did I tell you, Remus?"
The following discussion went very well. Remus couldn't stop laughing, so he managed to convey to Lily that she should give the entire explanation. She did so, including the story of Paul, which sobered everyone up (Mary wanted to know where he lived), except for Remus, who just laughed harder than ever. It was really starting to scare his friends.
"So are we going to tell Alice and Nicole?" Rose finally inquired. Remus immediately stopped laughing.
"No," he said quickly. "Definitely not."
"Remus!" Lily shrieked. "Don't you learn the first time?"
"I did the first time," he snapped. Everyone got quiet.
"But Remus," Rose objected. "Nicole and Alice – like us – are different."
"I don't care," said Remus, but more calmly. "Look, if they find out, then explain. But don't go out of your way to make sure they do. I don't want to risk it."
David blew out his breath. "Fine. Your secret, Remus. But I still can't believe you didn't tell us..."
December 26 the twins celebrated their thirteenth birthday, and ten days later Mary had her twelfth one.
The students started their third term, and one afternoon in early February Sirius burst into the common room and ran up to James, David, Remus, and Peter, were sitting at a table, working on Transfiguration homework. He dropped a large book in the center of the table. All of his friends jumped.
"I got it," Sirius said breathlessly. "I got it."
"What?" James asked, staring at it. "The world's largest book?"
"No," said Sirius impatiently. "The way to help you!" He looked excitedly at Remus.
"Sirius," Remus said kindly, "I'm glad you want to help, there's no way to help me. Believe me. I've checked."
"Not like that-"
"Keep your voice down!" whispered David. Sirius, realizing the wisdom of this, pulled up a chair to the table and continued in a low voice.
"Remus, I know I can't do anything to really help, but I think this can sort of help."
" 'One, Two, Three, Animagi!' " James read the cover of the book. "Animagi – that's a person who can turn into an animal, right?"
"Brilliant, Sherlock," his brother said, rolling his eyes. "And you claim to have a one hundred percent in Transfiguration."
"I do," James said defensively.
"That's not the point," Sirius cut in. "Look," he whispered, glancing around to make certain no one was listening, "don't you get it? As animals, we can't get bitten! We can stay with him."
"Inside the Shrieking Shack?" Remus questioned. The title was new; the Hogsmeade residents had just begun to refer to it as that. "It's a bit small."
"No," Sirius said, growing more excited by the second. "Don't you see? If we can turn into animals big enough to control Remus, than we can leave the Shrieking Shack!"
A shocked silence. Then Remus exploded-
"Are you insane?! What if you lose me?"
"We won't," said Sirius confidently, flipping through the book. "We can turn into any kind of animal! An elephant! A rhinoceros! A giant squid!"
"Oh yeah, that's really going to be useful," said Remus sarcastically. "Sirius, do you have any idea how much trouble we can get into?"
"Only if we get caught," replied Sirius, grinning.
"Does the word 'illegal' ring a bell with you?" Remus said angrily.
"Only if we get caught."
"Remus, calm down for a minute, okay?" James broke in. "Sirius, you might have a good idea here." He turned the book to face him and began to skim through it. "Remus, think about it. We can go all over Hogsmeade and Hogwarts."
Peter spoke for the first time. "I – I think Remus is right. What if we get caught?"
"We won't get caught." There was a glint in Sirius' eye that was only seen whenever they were up to mischief. "It's not like we're doing it every night. Just once a month."
"It will take a lot of work," David said slowly, moving behind James and carefully turning the pages.
"Is anyone listening to Peter and me?" Remus asked desperately.
David looked up. "Remus, don't you get it?" he asked quietly. "If we become Animagi, your nights can become less of a nightmare. We're doing this for you."
Remus couldn't speak. He understood, and was overwhelmed. For them to make such a sacrifice – take such a risk – was far beyond everything he had ever dared hope for.
"But-" Peter protested.
"Oh, Peter, grow up!" Sirius snapped.
"Either you're with us or you're not," James said, looking straight at him. "This is for Remus. Are you going to help?"
Peter swallowed, looking at each of his idols nervously. He had to. He couldn't not stick with them. Peter took a deep breath. "Count me in," he said, as determinedly as he was able to.
The next night, the boys told Lily, Rose, and Mary to stay in the common room until they were alone. At last it was only the eight of them, and the boys shared their secret, asking them if they wanted to become Animagi too. Lily said no.
"I'm sorry, Remus," she apologized, "but Anetka and Nicki have this perfect image of us, and I don't want to shatter it. Plus, it's just too dangerous."
"It's alright, Lily," Remus assured her. "I wasn't expecting you to."
As they spoke, Mary was leaning over One, Two, Three, Animagi! like a starved person would lean over a plate of food they cannot eat. Lily saw the look on her face, and touched her shoulder.
"Mary," she promised, "the second you become of age, I will personally inform the Ministry of Magic that you wish to become an Animagi."
Mary smiled shakily. "Okay," she sighed. "But doesn't it have a sort of appeal to you to become one in secret, when nobody knows?"
Lily tilted her head. "Yes, it does. But going to Azkaban for being an illegal Animagi does not."
"We aren't going to prison!" Sirius protested.
"You will if you get caught," Lily warned.
"We're not going to get caught," James said firmly.
"You better not," said Rose.
"You'll be the convicts Anetka always says you are," Lily laughed.
Gryffindor won the House Cup again that year, despite having the Quidditch Cup fall, by a very narrow margin, into the smug hands of Slytherin. The boys had been heartbroken by their defeat in Quidditch, while it was all Snape could do to keep from laughing in their faces every time he saw then. The enmity between them had grown at an alarming rate the past year, supposedly because of Quidditch. Snape had tried out for Seeker on his own team, but had fallen a few seconds short to a fifth year. After that, any confrontations between Snape and James, David, or Sirius usually had disastrous results. Lily and Rose never partook in these fights, but watched from the sidelines – as they had the first time – with wide eyes. Mary, however, threw herself into the ranks of James, David, Sirius, and Peter with such fervor that it wasn't long before Snape counted her to be as much of an enemy as any of the boys. Her older sisters didn't worry about Mary fighting this knowledgeable twelve (and before long, thirteen)-year-old. She could handle herself.
For one reason or another (Lily and Rose suspected it was all the Animagi work the boys had been doing) James had inched behind on his schoolwork, so Lily was titled top of her year. When the girls got home, Anetka and Nicki went crazy over Lily, and celebrated for the entire month of June. She had turned thirteen in early May, and her parents were very proud of their teenage witch. Lily, as usual, was a bit embarrassed of all the attention doted on her and none to her three other sisters. Rose and Mary, as usual, didn't care. Petunia, as usual, was furious.