Chapter 7: Revelations and Full Moons

Two weeks had passed, and Lily and James' budding romance was the talk of the school. This was fueled to even larger proportions by the fact that James couldn't keep his hands to himself. He seemed to feel that any moment without Lily's hand in his own was a moment wasted. But Lily was quite happy with this situation. James was being perfect, and she was starting to think that maybe she might be falling in love with him.

"So Mr. Potter," she turned her head to look up at him from where she was nestled in the crook of his arm. "What is it that we are going to do tonight?" James looked hastily down at her, and then glanced over at Remus, who was watching James with a scared look in his eyes.

"Um, Lil, I can't tonight. The guys and I have plans." James guiltily avoided looking into her eyes. Which means he missed the hurt look that appeared there, the look of betrayal.

"Oh, okay. Well, I need to go work on some homework…" Her voice trailed off vaguely as she extracted herself from his arms and darted up the stairs.

"Lily?" James called desperately after her. Then he looked around at his friends. "What just happened?"

"Sorry James," Remus responded. "Sorry to put you in this situation. You don't have to come tonight."

"Moony, I have never missed a full moon, and I never plan on doing so. I'll just talk to her tomorrow and smooth it all out."

"Are you sure, Prongs?"

"Yes! Come on, it's almost time. I'll go get the cloak, meet you guys down here in five."

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I can't believe he just ditched me! Yesterday he is telling me how he loves me and can't stand to spend another minute without me, and today he is ditching me! Well I'm not going to take that! I'm going to find out what it is that they are up to, what it is that is more important than spending time with me… They had better not be pulling another prank on some poor unsuspecting kid…

Lily snuck down the stairs and caught sight of the four boys heading out of the portrait hole. She quickly followed them, only to see the four of them disappear underneath a cloak.

"What in the world?" she quietly muttered to herself. But her prey turning invisible was not enough to deter Lily Evans, she happened to be quiet a proficient student of charms, and so she murmured a quick spell, one that allowed her to hear the excited whispering of the four boys hidden underneath the cloak as if they were standing six inches in front of her. Smiling to herself, she stealthily followed their whisperings as they threaded their way through the castle and out onto the grounds. The boys led her into the shadow of that crazy tree they had planted her first year, the Whomping Willow. Then they disappeared beneath the roots of the tree.

Holy Cow! What are they up to! Oh my gosh! I'm dating a freak! Oh no! They are probably doing something illegal! Oh my goodness! What if they are thieves! What if they are hurting someone! Oh no! What have I gotten myself into? This is so messed up! I knew I shouldn't have trusted him! I knew he was going to hurt me, I knew it and I let myself get involved anyways. What came over me. Some silly guy tells me he loves me and I completely forget everything. I let myself get caught up in it all and forget to think. Oh, I am so going to kill him!

What if they are meeting some girls in there? What if he is cheating on me? Or even worse, if he doesn't love me anymore and he is going to dump me! I knew it! We have been together barely two weeks and he is already sick of me, just like he got sick of every other girl he ever dated. He is going to dump me and break my heart! I'm going to murder him!

Lily got increasingly angrier as the sun set beyond the lake and the full moon began to rise over the forest. She could imagine no good reason for the four boys to be where they were, and so her overactive mind made up a plethora of bad ones. Once she had exhausted all possible reasons for their being where they were she then proceeded to imagine exactly how she would yell at them when they emerged. This happened sooner than she was expecting.

As soon as the full moon had completely cleared the tree tops she saw movement at the base of the willow. She stood up, preparing to begin a yelling tirade, and then froze. The thing emerging from the tree was not the shape of any of the four boys. Instead, out bounded a dog, a stag, a rat, and… a werewolf!

Lily froze, unable to move, as she watched the werewolf slowly stop, sniff the air, and turn to look at her. A growl escaped from its mouth, and it slowly began to move towards her.

Suddenly she found her voice and began to scream hysterically as she frantically backed away. But she had no chance; she would never be able to outrun a werewolf. She was going to die, and there was nothing she could do about it.

But as the wolf slowly advanced towards her a frantic bellow erupted from the roots of the tree. The stag was charging the wolf and bellowing in frustration. It caught the wolf in the stomach with its head and dragged him back away from Lily. She watched, terrified, as they fought a terrific battle. The wolf was straining with every muscle to get to Lily and the stag was fighting back equally hard to keep him from doing so. Soon the large black dog joined the fight and succeeded in pulling the wolf back into the tunnel at the base of the willow. The rat followed the dog, but the stag remained where he was, and then slowly turned to face Lily where she was frozen in place.

Slowly, the stag changed shape, and turned into James Potter.

"James… but, how…" Lily sputtered, "I don't understand…"

"Lils, I'm sorry you had to find out that way. But I couldn't let Moony hurt you."

"Moony? Do you mean that was Remus?"

"Yes, but Lil, he didn't mean too. He's not exactly himself right now…"

"How could you? How could you keep something like this from me?"

"Lil, I…"

"No! Stay away from me! I can't believe you! You lied to me! How am I ever supposed to trust you again! I never want to see you again! You hear? Stay away from me, James Potter!"

James stared after her. He made to run and catch her, but instead he fell to the ground. As he slowly faded out of consciousness a whisper escaped his lips.

"Lily… but I love you…"

A/N: Any you all thought I made them get together too quickly! Although she may have admitted to liking him, Lily still has major issues to overcome before they can be happily ever after.

Also, I just had a strong desire to leave you with a cliff hanger…

I know that this doesn't seem to be very Lily like, but she has some issues that she needs to work through before she can completely trust James. And I couldn't make it that easy for James to get her.

RandomObsessivePsychoFangirl, Lily thinks that James lied to her. In her mind he should have told her that he was an animagus. That is a huge part of his life and he didn't share it with her. That and Lily has commitment issues.