Chapter Fourteen: The Romping Moon

Lily woke me the next morning. The dorm had already emptied of girls and when I looked at the clock it was well into breakfast.

"Madam Pomfrey is waiting for you downstairs with Remus," Lily said as I sat up and wiped the sleep from my eyes. When I looked at her with cleared vision I could see the worry on her face.

"What's wrong?" I asked, my stomach falling like it was dropped off the Astronomy tower.

Lily looked incredulous. "Oh, nothing," she said sarcastically. "My best friend is about to go through something painful and scary and I can't be there for her, but why should I be worried?"

I frowned, unsure what to say. She was right, but I didn't know what I could say to stop her from worrying, if that was at all possible.

Lily smiled suddenly. "Listen to me, when you're the one who has to go through it."

"I think I'll get used to it eventually," I said, more to convince myself than her. "But it is still a shock."

"Well, don't keep Madam Pomfrey waiting," she said. Once I was dressed and had my things, Lily and I walked down to the common room. Remus and Madam Pomfrey were just outside the portrait hole. We all waved goodbye as Lily headed for the Great Hall and we went the other direction for the Hospital Wing. Remus smiled shyly at me and I returned it, my heart fluttering. Neither of us paid much attention to Madam Pomfrey as we walked along.

The day went much as usual, but the usual heavy foreboding I felt had dulled considerably. I did find it hard to focus on schoolwork with Remus just beside me, and often I caught myself gazing at him while he read or wrote, pushing sandy hair behind his ears, or chewing on the middle joint of his right index finger while he thought. It was during one such moment that something occurred to me.

I opened my mouth but closed it again, uncertain if now was really the time. But finally I decided to go for it. "Remus, can I ask you how you were bitten?" My voice was barely louder than a whisper but he was able to hear me.

He stopped writing instantly and looked up at me. At first, I thought he was going to refuse, and then he said, "I've never told you?"

I shook my head.

Remus set his quill in its inkwell and turned more bodily toward me. He was silent for a moment, and then began slowly, "I was almost five. The werewolf forced his way into my room while I slept. My dad was able to drive him away, but it was already too late." He sighed, the memory obviously still quite heavy. "My parents tried everything to cure me. Nothing worked."

I felt cold, and sick. He had been barely a child. "Who would do such a thing to a kid?" I whispered, holding back the lump wanting to form in my throat.

"Fenrir Greyback would," Remus replied darkly.

I almost gasped. I didn't expect to hear a name. "You know who it was?"

He nodded solemnly. "My father works for the ministry, so when he told the minister he believed Fenrir deserved nothing less than death, he took offense."

I swallowed the apology I was about to utter, feeling the words were too cheap. I struggled for something more meaningful to say.

But Remus removed the need by asking, "I know you were bitten over the summer. Will you tell me what happened?"

My heart thudded as I summoned up the memories. It felt like it had both happened just last week and a very long time ago. "I go camping with my uncle and cousins, Maddy and Marta, every summer. Uncle Howard places protection charms on our campsite, but I snuck out in the middle of the night to go down to the river." My cheeks flushed and I averted my eyes from Remus. "I…was skinny dipping when I was attacked. My uncle heard my screams and came running, fighting the werewolf off, rushing me to St. Mungo's." When I looked up at him again there was a twinkle in his eyes I hadn't seen before, and he was smiling and blushing slightly.

"Skinny dipping?"

My face flushed so hot I thought my skin was going to combust, but I squared my shoulders. "Clothing gets in the way of a good swim."

Remus's smile grew and he reached out, cupping my cheek in one hand. For a moment he just gazed at me, gently rubbing the pad of his thumb against my cheekbone, and then he slowly leaned forward to kiss me.

I could hear my pulse in my ears, feel heat coursing through me in ways I had never felt before. I gripped his wrist on the bed between us, leaning into the kiss. His lips were soft, and the beginnings of a mustache tickled my lip.

Needless to say, our schoolwork went neglected for several minutes until finally we pulled away, smiling sheepishly with kiss swollen lips.

The first night of the full moon went mostly as usual. There were moments when I was aware and could move my wolfish form, but the hunger and rage that coursed through my veins both agitated and frightened me, and I blacked out once again. When I awoke I had new scratches on my body as usual, but this time I had marred my face.

Madam Pomfrey bandaged the claw marks along the right side of my head, cutting into my ear and nose and across my jaw. I had no idea how I would explain this to others, especially Jodie. It stung badly and made it hurt to speak. Remus was quiet and austere all day, so I didn't have to try to talk much.

The second night I was aware for longer. The overwhelming feelings of aggression surged through me but I pushed back. I fought the blackness edging my vision, regaining control of myself.

I noticed the window, the moonlight shining through it, and was at it in a second. The full moon was high in the sky, unobscured by clouds or fog. I tried to resist the instinct to howl, but failed and slipped into darkness again.

On the last night of the moon I went in with a plan. I bore the transformation's pain, urging myself to keep a hold of my senses. I focused on a knot in the wall, chanting to myself, "Embrace the wolf, don't resist it, embrace the wolf, don't resist it…"

When it was over the wolf's madness rushed through me, but I was aware. It was like being awake in a dream. I saw the world through the wolf's eyes, could feel the old wood peeling beneath my claws.

There was a howl in the woods near the shack and I jerked around, ears standing up. The world was an explosion of smells and sounds, from the sunkissed grass rippling in a gentle breeze outside to the snuffling of a mouse in the walls.

The howl came again and I felt an inexplicable need to join the other wolf, who I knew was Remus somewhere in the back of my mind.

I looked around the empty room—I had long since entirely destroyed the lone armchair once present—and noticed my door was open. I bounded through it immediately. I tore through the woods, following a most interesting trail of scents with the other wolf, the alpha wolf. Sliding into a clearing, I stopped and stared ahead at the group before me.

If more of my human mind was in control I would have been at least confused to see a werewolf, a dog, a stag, and a rat—who sat on the dog's head—all gathered together like it was the most natural thing in the world. But since it wasn't, I merely set off at a run after them through the forest at top speed.

We crashed through bushes, hunted rabbits and gophers, and once ran along the shore of the lake splashing water, the glittering lights of Hogwarts beyond looking no different from the stars above. We ran and romped and wrestled, and when the moon began to drop below the trees we returned to the Shrieking Shack and collapsed upon the floor, panting and tired.

For the first time I was able to walk myself back to the castle the next morning. After a few hours in the Hospital Wing taking Madam Pomfrey's usual cocktail of potions for strength and health, we were free to join our classmates for lunch. But first we went to the common room for showers and a fresh change of clothes.

Halfway there I decided to ask, "When did James, Sirius, and Peter learn to be animagi?"

Remus smiled at me, like he had expected me to figure it out and he only wondered when. "It took them several years. They finally managed it our fifth year."

I nodded, considering the information carefully. "So…they learned to be animagi to join you during the moon."

Remus's smile was soft and fond, his gaze no longer seeing the hallway but instead all of the memories he had made with the others flashing before his eyes. "Yes, that's precisely why."

I was suddenly acutely aware of what good friends James, Sirius, and Peter were to Remus. I had been more privy to it all year and yet it was just now that I seemed to realize it. When had I stopped considering them nothing more than jokers? At some point in the last several months, I had come to consider the infamous marauders good friends.

I smiled up at Remus, slipping my hand into his as we walked along. He returned the expression, and squeezed my hand.

The cold moved in quickly over the next month, driving the students indoors during their free time. I got several questions about the scratches on my face, but Lily had been able to lessen the marks enough that a fall down the dormitory stairs mollified them.

Shaking Angelique was much easier now that our ruse was real. Once Remus and I snuck a kiss between the bookshelves in the library and I turned to see the French girl marching haughtily away. She increasingly stole Lily away to talk, and while Lily wouldn't disclose exactly what they spoke about, I had a feeling I already knew.

Quidditch practice was not much fun in the cold, but our match with Slytherin was fast-approaching. Jodie had everyone running through their paces until they were perfect, and then a little more. She was so fierce even James and Sirius were staying out of her way, especially after Jodie had found the dung bomb in the locker room. She'd thrown James, Sirius, and the dung bomb into the broom closet and locked the door. The boys smelled like poo for the whole week leading up to the game.

I wasn't nervous about the game until the morning of, when I woke up with chest pain. I knew the pain was being caused by nerves so I laid still and breathed deeply in and out, my eyes closed. Slowly the tightness unwound and the pain went away, but it didn't take all of the anxiety with it. Breakfast went by in a blur, in which I think I ate something and I think Remus said something to me, but before I really knew what was going on I was in the locker room, changing into my uniform.

Jodie closed her locker and turned to me, grinning. "Are you ready, Lace?"

"I feel like I swallowed a pixie."

Jodie laughed loudly, patting me on the shoulder with a heavy hand. "Just play your best and we've got this, all right?" She held up her hand in a thumbs up and winked.

She was so corny I couldn't resist a laugh, shaking my head slightly. "Yeah, all right." She bounded off to gather up the team outside and I followed, starting to feel less nervous and more excited.

Entering the field with the team was exhilarating. The crowd whooped and hollered, the stands a juxtaposition of a gold and red sea against a smaller green and silver one. The cheering was absolutely deafening, and the two Marauders were eating it up. Despite still smelling faintly of a recently used bathroom, James and Sirius waved to the crowd with award-winning grins.

The match went by in a bitterly cold bluster of snow flurries and red and green uniforms. My goggles continued to fog up and I had to wipe them quickly and repeatedly. Several times I cleared my vision just in time to deflect an oncoming bludger.

"A beautiful save by Jodie Foster!" shouted the commentator, Leland Jordan. "Gryffindor remains in the lead by fifty points!"

I heard the next bludger before I saw it, because my eye had just caught one of the Slytherin Chasers tailing Abby Middlefield, who had the Quaffle under her arm. I maneuvered my broom and struck the bludger. It whizzed so close to the Slytherin's nose it was remarkable it wasn't broken. He pulled up on his broom sharply and Middlefield soared ahead like she'd been fired from a cannon.

"Score by Abby Middlefield! Marlo Kellerbin was just too slow!" cheered Leland. Being a Gryffindor himself, it wasn't hard to figure out who he was rooting for to win. "Gryffindor is still leading, seventy to fifty now!"

I didn't like those numbers, the Slytherins were catching up quickly. I scanned the pitch, first locating the bludgers. I climbed higher, drawing the attention of one. Making a quick check of the Slytherin Keeper's location, I readied my bat.

There was a deafening crack as bludger and bat collided. At the same moment James shot by underneath me, the Quaffle in his possession and two Slytherin Chasers on him.

The bludger found its mark, nearly knocking Marlo Kellerbin off his broom. James didn't slow his broom as he approached the goalposts. He tossed the Quaffle through the hoop and swerved sharply, diving downward. The Slytherins pulled up on their brooms and almost collided anyway.

"WOOHOO!" I shouted, pumping my fist into the air. The rest of the team whooped back. I caught a flash of gold out of the corner of my eye and turned.

Hovering mere inches from my nose was the Snitch, fluttering like a curious hummingbird. I sputtered and started to shout for Andrew as it shot away, but he had already seen it.

"Quibby has seen the Snitch!" Leland yelled, his voice booming around the Pitch. My ears popped as the crowd's cacophonous roar reached new volumes. All eyes were on the racing red streak that was Gryffindor Seeker Andrew Quibby. He was joined by a green blur, fast approaching.

"They're neck and neck! Quibby is reaching for the Snitch…now so is Malfoy…it's too close to tell and…and…QUIBBY GETS THE SNITCH! One hundred fifty points and Gryffindor WINS! Two hundred thirty to fifty!"

Boos rose from the sea of silver and green but was soon drowned out by the ensuing cry from the three other houses. I joined the rest of the team on the ground where we clustered around Andrew. James and Sirius lifted him onto their shoulders and led the way back to the locker rooms, Jodie fluttering around them asking "What are you doin'? I don't trust you, put my Seeker down!"

Once changed I joined James and Sirius outside the locker rooms and we made our way up to the castle with the rest of the students still filing out of the Pitch. There was a shout and we stopped long enough for Lily, Remus, Peter, and—to my chagrin—Angelique, to catch up to us.

Sirius immediately fell back to walk beside her, pushing his thick dark hair back with a smooth gesture. "What did you think of the match, Angelique?"

"Ew!" she cried, pinching her nose with one hand and waving the air in front of her away with the other. "You smell like caca!" And she relocated herself to walk on the other side of Remus.

I instinctively took his hand but did not say anything. He squeezed it.

"Surely you find such sport indelicate, Remus," Angelique said in a pouty voice, holding the "e" out in his name like she always did. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Could I wolf out when it wasn't the full moon? "Next game ve should spend it together."

"Actually," Remus said quite calmly and evenly. "I thought the match was brilliant. Lacelin's first match and she was an exceptional Beater." He turned his head to smile at me and I beamed back, my heart skipping several beats.

Angelique turned down the next corridor we passed, snatching Lily by the elbow to drag her away with her. I had to suppress a laugh as she was carried away from the Great Hall and food with a look of despair.