A/N: Hey kiddies. Okay, there are some vauge referances to oral sex in this one and some minor comentary about sex in general. If you are easily offended just skip it or don't read it at all. Oh and remember, this is the 1940's so any mention of sex in conversation is sorta taboo. Enjoy and let me know!

Chapter 14: The Trouble with Werewolves

The day before their first quidditch match, found Lily exhaustedly dragging herself into Defense, and sitting down heavily in her chair. Between practice, schoolwork, and tutoring lessons with Fenrir Lily was exhausted. As she wearily took out her notes and began to read over them Lily fought the urge to scream. Quidditch, homework and Fenrir she could handle; Tom and Abraxas constantly fighting for her attention was another matter.

Well, fighting wasn't the right word. They didn't fight, they just got jealous. If Tom was talking to her then Abraxas would sit and sulk; if Abraxas was flirting with her - he never talked to her anymore, always flirted; at least Tom still talked to her - then Tom would sit there and glower at anyone dumb enough to go anywhere near him. It was a nightmare! And wizards called witches infuriating, ha!

Lily groaned and put her head on her desk. She supposed that had it not been happening to her she would have found the whole thing absurdly funny. Tom Riddle still had no idea that what he was feeling was jealousy and his confusion only added to the overall drama of the outcome. The head boy was proving that he reacted about as well to jealousy, albeit still unknown to him, as he did to competition. Not well.

"Hey Lily," Abraxas said as he sat down next to her, in the seat that she'd been saving for Emily. Her traitorous best friend had taken to sitting with her brother quite a lot lately. This gave Lily the instinct suspicion that she and Abraxas were being set up.

Lily groaned. Abraxas eyed her concernedly but said nothing. Sighing, Lily pulled out a piece of parchment on which to 'take notes'. Seeing that she obviously alright, Abraxas turned away to talk to Xander giving Lily the perfect opportunity to scribble in huge lettering across the page: "HELP!"

Tom had just sat down at his own desk and was conversing with Yaxley and Antonin when the latter of the two boys yelped.

"Whoa, Tom the parchment is talking to you!" Antonin said in surprise and mild curiosity, pointing to the previously blank bit of parchment on top of the dark wizard's notes.

Tom turned and saw the still wet letters glistening up at him. Looking up, his eyes scanned the room and landed on the desk two rows in front of him. Lily had her head down on her desk and Abraxas was talking to her in a worried tone. Tom blinked, Lily looked like she was about to cry in frustration.

Abraxas Malfoy seemed to have made it his goal over the last two weeks to talk her ears off. Actually, flirt would be the more appropriate word; he seemed determined to flirt her to death. Tom had noticed the strain on Lily's face about three days after their first practice. Abraxas seemed to have figured out that it was him that she'd been talking to in History that day and his reaction was not pleasant. At first he'd been disappointed but then he seemed to have taken it in stride and, with some encouragement from the twins and his baby sister, decided that he'd just have to try harder.

Tom knew for a fact that Lily didn't want to be courted. She wanted a friend, not a suitor. Tom had figured this out fairly early on. When they would talk, Tom would make a point to speak to her about interesting bits of magic that he'd heard or read about. Lily would respond in kind and they had passed many a lunch or free period doing nothing but talk.

Tom smirked as he recalled vividly the last conversation they'd had while everyone else had been in charms. Lily had told him that she suspected her friends were trying to set her up with Abraxas and that was why they always seemed to disappear whenever he was around. She'd been right upset about the whole scheme too. It was during this conversation that Tom learned that she was beginning to hate Abraxas, he was trying too hard and it was annoying her.

Sighing, Tom got up out of his desk and walked between the rows to where Abraxas sat. Glaring down at the blond boy he hauled the wizard up by the back of his robes.

"Hey!" Abraxas yelled indignantly, "What the bloody hell are you doing, Riddle?"

"I believe the lady is tired of your company," Tom said snidely as he pushed Abraxas back towards the main isle. Still smirking he sat down in the previously vacated seat and pointed to where he'd been sitting. "Sit," he commanded Abraxas.

The blond wizard glared reproachfully at him but did as he was told. Lily watched him go before turning to look at Tom, "Thank you," she whispered.

Tom nodded and took out his materials.

"Books away, notes away," Merrythought called as he entered the room, "Today we will be dueling."

Both Tom and Lily smirked. Fifteen minutes later the both of them were sitting in the back of the classroom watching the other students duel it out. Merrythought, and everyone else, had watched Tom and Lily duel each other for about ten minutes before the ageing professor had declared them both auror level and told them to sit this one out.

This was fine by them. Lily and Tom were currently talking about what Lily had begun calling 'The Malfoy Problem'. Tom suggested hexing him.

"Nah," Lily said with a grin and then frowned, "He might get the wrong idea."

"Oh," Tom quirked an eyebrow, "And what idea might that be?"

Lily smirked, "Probably something about how I 'like to play'."

It took Tom a minute to realize that she was talking about the universal favorite topic of all wizards: sex. Well this was a subject that they hadn't yet broached. "I'm surprised you know of such things," Tom said in earnest. He could count on two fingers the number of witches he'd met that could handle their own in a conversation such as the one it looked they were heading into.

Lily looked at him. He genuinely looked surprised that she knew of things that wizards discussed behind closed doors. Of course this was the nineteen-forties, what was talked about behind closed doors today was openly joked about between her cousins in two-thousand eighteen. "I could shock you with some of the things I've heard," Lily said teasingly.

Tom snorted, and leaned forwards. "Oh, I doubt it."

Lily flashed a grin. "Really? You know I once walked in on my cousin Ryan and his girlfriend," she looked at Tom and saw that the boy was looking at her in mild curiosity, "All I've got to say is that for the next couple of days I'm sure her throat hurt something awful."

Tom felt his mouth drop open as heat began to crawl up his neck. He was sure his face had just turned an elaborate shade of red. He stared at Lily; the witch had just alluded to something that most females knew nothing about. Well, Olive did but that was a different matter.

Lily smirked, "Told you I could shock you."

Tom blushed furiously. Lily smiled at him and turned away, watching their peers. Tom felt his temperature return to normal as his face went back to it's normal pallor. Clearing his throat, he studied the witch before him. She didn't look to be the least bit embarrassed by what they had been talking about; most witches would have slapped him for discussing such things. He began to wonder what other forbidden practices she knew of…or had done.

That thought almost made him yelp, but he squished the sound right before it could come bursting from betwixt his lips. He must have made some sort of noise however, because Lily turned back to him. Suddenly he had to know, he had to know if she'd…if she'd done anything. "Lily," Tom asked slowly and hesitantly.

Lily looked at him and saw the hesitation in his eyes, as well as the burning curiosity. She knew what he was going to ask, and she knew what it would cost him to do so. "No, Tom," she said softly watching at he halted, his features freezing, "I've never done anything."

Tom sighed in relief although he didn't exactly know why. She was untouched, and for some reason that made him incredibly happy. As the bell rang and their peers stopped dueling, Lily gathered her things before stopping and looking at him.

Her eyes were clouded and she looked as if she were trying to sort out something in her head. "I've never even been kissed," she whispered and Tom felt the flush returning, "Shame really."

'No, not a shame', thought Tom as he watched her walk away, 'Not for me'.

XXX

Evening found Lily and Emily in the corner trying to teach Fenrir how to transfigure a mouse into a snuffbox. In just a few weeks time the boy had become a permanent fixture to Lily's side. Lily had realized quickly that the legendary werewolf wasn't yet cursed with lycanopsy and was nothing more then a lightly inept, normal first year. With this realization her attitude towards the boy had improved and she found herself growing incredibly fond of the boy. His grades had improved and his attitude, indeed his whole demeanor had changed from that of a frightened child to a young wizard confidant in his own growing abilities.

Lily watched Fenrir flick his wand expertly at the caged mouse with a flickering of sisterly pride on her face. When the rodent turned into a handsome snuffbox the tiny boy turned, grinning, towards her and Lily bestowed upon him a smile that conveyed just how proud she was of him.

"See," Lily said proudly, "It's not so difficult. Just swish and flick."

Fenrir was all but bouncing up and down with glee and Emily grinned at his exuberance over the top of his dirty-blond head. Crowning in achievement Fenrir hugged Lily fiercely before exclaiming, "Xander, I did it!"

Xander, who was playing chess with Antonin while Yaxley watched, looked up from moving his pawn across the board. He couldn't help but grin at the look of utter fulfillment and pride on the small boy's face. Fenrir had become a sort of little brother to Lily in the weeks since she had began tutoring him and, because of this, had been instantly endeared to the majority of the seventh year.

"Hey, that's great mate," Xander said proudly.

Fenrir basked in the open praise of the older student. As happy as everyone's commendations made him, the only approval he really needed was Lily's. Fenrir's mother had died when he was very young and his father had been so overtaken in grief that he had stopped caring for his young son. As a result he had been shuttered around from relative to relative, never staying in one place very long. No one had ever really given him and reason to think that he was worth anything, that he could be anyone. He'd been so scared to be sorted into Slytherin, his mother's house, knowing what the students would be like.

His first months at Hogwarts had been miserable. He'd been picked on and teased and even hexed once or twice. He'd been so scared of his peers and fellow housemates that his grades had plummeted and never recovered. Three weeks into term he'd made the mistake of bumping into Tom Riddle in the hallway. The head boy had strung him up by his ankles in anger and almost cursed him. Lily had saved him, he'd hid behind her skirts as she defended him from the over oppressive and terribly cruel head boy. She'd challenged him to a duel and from what he heard, she'd won. When Slughorn had pulled him aside to discuss his grades and offer the help of perhaps an older student, Fenrir had nervously requested Lily.

Needless to say he'd been surprised when she'd excepted. Lily had been cool towards him at first but had quickly filled the hole in his life that his mother's death had opened. She had become everything to him, he worshiped her. She was as an older sister in her friendship and protective like a mother when some of the older students picked on him. And because Lily Claire loved him, slowly the other students of the seventh year had began to form friendships with him. Avery had even named him the official Slytherin Team mascot after the first practice he'd attended.

Even the head boy, Tom Riddle King of Slytherin house, had began to treat him with respect. On more then one occasion a second or third year had ended up on the receiving end of Riddle's wand because of their continued mockery of him. Although, Fenrir rather thought this reaction of Riddle's had more to do with pleasing Lily then protecting him. Fenrir may have been only a first year but he'd noticed over the last two weeks that Tom Riddle seemed to go out of his way to please Lily; to make her smile, to make her laugh.

Fenrir was sitting quietly besides Lily, listening to her talk to Emily, observing. The head boy was, for the moment, putting the finishing touches on his transfiguration essay. Every five minutes or so he'd pause in his writings and glance across the room to Lily. Fenrir smirked as he caught Riddle in mid glance and the older boy gave him a look as if to say 'What are you looking at?'

Tom went back to his essay and Fenrir's eyes drifted to the other occupant of the common room that he often found himself watching. Abraxas Malfoy was slouched in a armchair by the fire, sulking. The Malfoy wizard was in love with Lily, Fenrir had realized after three or four days of spending time in the company of the seventh years. For the past two weeks it seemed, Abraxas and Riddle had been engaged in a battle of sorts. The prize was Lily's attention. While Fenrir figured that Tom wasn't actually in love with Lily, he supposed it was really only a matter of time. Of course, Fenrir also knew that Emily and her brother were planning some sort of scheme that had something to do with Lily and Tom. They wanted her to choose Abraxas.

Fenrir found himself hoping that whatever was going on, Tom won. Tom Riddle was not the same cruel, heartless boy that he had been at the start of term. Lily was changing him. He was still cruel, that would never change, put he was more particular with his cruelty. He only hurt those that had actually done something, usually against Lily. His entire being was presently geared towards proving himself worthy of her. Fenrir wondered vaguely if he was the only one that had realized this, or if it was as obvious to others as it was to him.

He didn't get to ponder for much longer because at that moment the entrance wall opened and Olive Hornby and her gang of distasteful sixth year girls came in. She looked like a predator as her eyes swept the common room before landing on the head boy. 'Oh no,' thought Fenrir, 'Trouble'.

Having found Tom, Olive rolled her hips suggestively and sauntered over to him. "Tom," she whined as she sat down at his feet and leaned towards him, resting her hand on his knee.

Tom leapt away from the witch, the legs of his chair screeching in protest as they scooted across the marble floor. Standing hurriedly and putting the wingchair between he and the disdainful witch, he hissed, "Hornby, for the last time, leave me alone."

The other students had stopped whatever they were doing as they watched the familiar sense unfold. Olive Hornby was a slut who attached herself to whoever happened to be the powerful wizard in a room, area or entire building. Most of the time, in fact all of the time, that unfortunate person happened to he Tom Riddle. It was the only thing about the head boy that not a single person envied him.

Unfortunately for Tom, he had a history with the witch. Olive had been the first witch he'd ever slept with back in his fourth year. She was only good for one thing really and she had kept offering so, one day, he finally accepted the offer. He'd regretted it ever since. The bloody woman wouldn't leave him alone, she was always throwing herself at him. He'd only had her once, and that had been more then enough; she hadn't even been good. His other conquests had all bowed out quietly, knowing exactly when they had outlived their usefulness, but not Hornby.

The simple fact that she had been his first was enough to give her some power over him. She had been his first and at the time, she'd been far more advanced in the art of sex then he. Although even Olive would admit that Tom had instinctively been as good at sex as he was at everything else. Still, she'd taken his virginity and that meant that he couldn't outright curse her.

Tom backed away from the advancing witch, farther and farther away from the light and heat of the fire. Backwards towards the shadows in the corners of the underground room. With every step of retreat, Tom clamped down harder on his composure. He could feel his self control slipping as he fought the urge to just hex her and get it over with.

"But Tom," she pouted as she stalked him, licking her lips in a tasteless show of unconcealed desire, "What about us?"

Tom snorted, truly surprised by her gall. "There is no us, there never was. You served your purpose, at least have the grace to realize that," his words were harsh and soft, more deadly then if he had he shouted them.

"I am not a whore Tom Riddle!" Olive screamed, her pupils dilating in fury, "You can't treat me like one!"

"Oh really," came a voice from behind Tom and Olive froze. Lily stepped out from behind the head boy and crossed her arms, "Because a whore is exactly what you are acting like." Lily glared at the younger girl. Olive annoyed her, she even reminded her of Abraxas upon occasion. Lily felt sorry for Tom, knowing what it was like to be constantly pursued by someone whose affections were unreturned and unwanted.

Tom smirked as Lily planted herself in front of him. He knew that the flame haired witch had about as little patience for the slytherin slut as did he. The girls had bantered back and forth on more then one occasion and Tom knew that Lily thought the other witch was insufferable. Rather like Abraxas was being lately.

Olive glared at the other witch. She honestly didn't know why all the other seventh year slytherins worshiped her so much. What had she done that was so great? 'She's probably slept with all of them,' Olive thought snidely to herself. "You should know," Olive hissed back at the red haired girl, "If you want to see a whore I suggest you look in a mirror."

Olive knew the minute the words had left her mouth that it'd been the wrong thing to say. Lily's mouth was pressed into a thin line; Emily had reached for her wand; Xander, Antonin, Yaxley, and Abraxas had formed a half circle around her back, blocking her exit.

But it was not the other slytherins that Olive was worried about. It was Tom. The Slytherin head boy's face had gone stark white and his eyes had turned black, narrowing to slits. His fists clenched at his sides; Olive looked down and realized that his fingernails must be digging into his palms because a thin line of blood was running freely across his pale fingers.

"T-Tom?" Olive stuttered taking a step forwards. The wizard in front of her glared murderously at her before he took a step forwards, putting himself between her and Lily.

In one swift movement Tom reached forwards and grabbed Olive by the throat, his fingers digging into her perfect skin. "Never again," he whispered as she felt the blood drain from her face. Olive's eyes were wide with terror as Tom choked the life from her.

No one moved; the younger years were all to terrified of their head boy to do anything, the older students wanted to see this witch suffer for the insult she had thrown so casually at Lily Claire.

Lily watched the eyes of her peers and realized how much loyalty she truly had. They wanted to see Olive suffer, they wanted her to cry out in pain, to beg, all because the silly slut had insulted her. Suddenly, Lily knew that if Tom were to kill her no one would stop him. Even Fenrir, who didn't have a mean bone in his body, was watching the witch choke to death in sadistic glee.

Lily knew what it did to a person's soul every time they killed. Quite unexpectedly, Lily found herself caring what state Tom's soul was in. She knew he had killed before, she knew his reasons. But killing someone with magic and choking someone to death with your bare hands was not the same thing. If he didn't stop he would live with it for the rest of him life, and she couldn't let him do that. Not for her.

"Tom," Lily said softly, stepping to the side and placing a gentle hand on the head boy's arm.

Her voice wouldn't have stopped him but her hand upon his arm sent tendrils of fire coursing through his body, melting the ice. He looked at her and his eyes softened and he released Olive.

The sixth year girl crumpled on the ground at Riddle's feet. Hurriedly her fingers reached up to her throat before she lifted her head and stared at her former captor.

But Tom Riddle wasn't looking down at her. His eyes were fixed on Lily. Olive found herself frowning at the closeness of the two; Lily's hand was placed over Tom's heart and she was standing about three inches away from him.

Tom looked down at Lily's hand and then back up to her eyes. They were shinning as though she were about to cry. "Not that, Tom," she whispered, "Not your soul, not for me."

Tom felt himself nod to her as she removed her hand from his chest and turned back to Olive. "Go to bed, Olive," Lily whispered.

Olive didn't argue but glared at this girl that dared to give her an order. As she walked back to her dormitory she vowed that she would make Lily pay. One day when Tom wasn't around to save her, she would make the treacherous witch pay dearly. Then, then Tom would see that she was nothing. Just a weak, pathetic little trollop, certainly not worth his time or his affections. Tom Riddle cared for Lily as he had never cared for her and for that Olive would make her pay.

Fenrir, Lily's almost brother. Hurt him, destroy Lily. Olive felt herself grin maliciously as she settled down in her dorm to wait. She would wait until the others went to bed then, then she would take her revenge.

XXX

Tom had continued to stare at Lily from across the common room for several hours before the slytherins finally began to head to bed. Lily had been one of the last to go, looking over her shoulder at him as she climbed the stairs.

Tom sighed and gathered his books and parchments. Locking the door to his bedroom he threw himself down on his bed. If Lily hadn't stopped him he would have killed Olive tonight. The slytherin witch had dared to insult Lily and Tom had meant to make her pay. He had killed before, but killing with magic was not the same as choking the life from someone and Lily had known that.

If he hadn't been stopped it would have damaged his soul beyond repair. He'd have lived with that stain until the end of his days. Lily had stopped him because she hadn't wanted him to destroy a piece of his soul. Not for her. The realization that she cared enough for him to save his soul brought a smile to his face.

Tom fell asleep and dreamed for the first time in many years. He dreamed of Lily. However, they didn't last long. He was awakened not two hours later by a loud knocking on his door. Grumbling to himself he got up and stepped hurriedly into a pair of pants before stumbling towards the door.

Dumbledore, the very last person Tom had expected to see, stood there. He looked worried. "A student has gone missing. We believe him to have been led into the forest as a prank. The student responsible has not been caught but one of his dorm mates noticed he was not in his bed," Dumbledore paused and looked at the half dressed boy in front of him, "I need you to go and fetch Miss Claire. She will wish to look for him."

Tom looked at his transfiguration teacher as a horrid sense of dread filled his heart. Lily was not a prefect, it was not her job to look for wayward students. If her presence was requested then it had to be a student she knew, that she cared about. The only student young enough to fit that description was Fenrir.

Slowly, Tom felt himself nod. Dumbledore turned to leave, "Its Fenrir isn't it," Tom asked and the old wizard turned back to him and gave him a pitied look, "Yes."

Closing the door, Tom got dressed; throwing his clothes from yesterday on and shrugging into his wool cloak. Without any attention to his hair or anything else, Tom left his room and began the unusually long climb up to the seventh year girl's dormitories. Normally the stairs would have turned into a slide preventing himself or any other boy from entering the witch's rooms; but Tom was head boy.

Tom stopped before the broad ebony door that he had stood in front of only once before, when he had come to fetch Lily for quidditch tryouts. Now he had come to tell her that her 'little brother' had gone missing. Sighing in dread at her reaction he raised his fist and knocked three times upon the hard wood. When there was no answer he steeled himself and opened the door.

He was greeted by semi-darkness and silence. Casting 'Lumos' over the room he looked around until he spotted Lily's blood red hair fanned out across her pillows. He walked quietly to her bedside and looked down. She was laying on her back, her face turned towards him. She looked so beautiful and so very peaceful that Tom hated the thought that he had to wake her.

Crouching down so that he was eye level with her, he whispered, "Lily," at the sound of her name Lily moaned softly and shifted, but did not wake. Tom fought down a groan as the green coverlet slipped down as she moved, revealing a creamy white and very bare, shoulder. Tom gulped "Lily!" he whispered louder.

Lily's eyes flew open and locked on Tom. She sat bolt upright, clutching the coverlet to her chest, and let out a quiet shriek. "What in Salazar's name are you doing in here?"

Tom smirked at her invocation of his ancestor's name, and stood. Crossing his arms and looking down at her he said, "Fenrir's gone missing. You've been asked to help look for him."

It only took about thirty seconds for Tom's words to sink in and for Lily to leap out of bed. "What!" It took another thirty seconds for her to realize that Riddle's eyes had glazed over and he now had a very foolish grin on his face. Lily looked down at herself; she was wearing nothing but a very risqué negligé that left nothing whatsoever to the imagination.

She looked up at Riddle, who at least had the decency to look embarrassed. "Tom, I need to get dressed," she whispered.

Tom didn't move.

"That means you leave," Lily said with a smirk. Tom looked blankly at her and then seemed to snap out of whatever he was thinking because he turned bright red and left very quickly.

Lily smiled to herself as she shrugged out of her nightdress and got dressed in her dueling robes. They were the only robes she had that were even slightly suitable to be tramping around outside in. Magicking her hair into a suitable braid she exited the dormitory and joined Tom who was waiting just outside the door.

Lily looked at him; he was still a bit pink around the ears. She smirked and then calmed herself for the task at hand. Without a word the two students made their way up from the dungeons to the great hall. When they found no one they moved out of the castle proper and followed the witch-lights down to the gathered people on the edge of the forbidden forest. The teachers had organized into parties and as Lily and Tom approached a group of seventh year prefects, Dumbledore hailed them.

"Miss Claire, Mr. Riddle so glad you're here," he said solemnly, "I will be leading this last group of students into the woods. I trust the two of you will be fine on your own?"

Tom noted the look of shock on the faces of two Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaw head girl. Tom smirked. "Yes, Professor," he said with confidence.

"Good," Dumbledore said with a nod of his head, "Lily," he said looking at the girl before him with a penetrating gaze, "Stay with Mr. Riddle."

Tom glanced sideways at his companion as she nodded her affirmation. Tom had no doubt that if she'd been able, Lily would have gone racing off into the darkness on her own. As it were, however; as they entered the foreboding darkness, the soft light from their combined wands only reached a few paces in front of them.

Together they moved through the fog and gloom deeper and deeper into the darkening trees. After some minutes of walking Tom finally muttered, "What in Salazar's name possessed him to go wondering in here?"

Lily didn't answer for the longest time, but when she did her voice was hard and cold. "I bet Olive had something to do with it. She's hated me since that day in the library, and last night she wanted revenge on me for what you almost did to her."

"So she tricked someone you care about into doing something stupid," Tom said with anger, "God damn her. I'm the one that almost killed her."

Lily stopped and turned to Tom. "She'll never blame you, she loves you. Or at least she thinks she does."

Tom stared at her. "How do you know that?"

Lily glanced at him before she started walking again. "I can tell by the way she looks at you. It's the same way Abraxas looks at me."

Suddenly Tom realized how much Abraxas Malfoy was hurting her. He had been her friend first and now he was throwing himself at her in the same manner that Olive had always done to Tom. His mind wondered back to their current problem.

"Why attack Fenrir?" Tom asked quietly, not really talking to anyone.

"Because none of the other people I care about would have listened to her," Lily answered. She had stopped walking again and as Tom got closer he realized that she was crying. "Emily and Xander both know her for what she is, Cassy hates her about as much as I do, and I really doubt that you'd go along with anything she told you to do."

Tom feet stopped moving and rooted themselves to the ground beneath his feet. Olive had chosen Fenrir because he was the most gullible, because none of the other people she cared about would fall into a trap like that. Lily had just included him in that list. His heart beat sped up and he took a step towards her, placing a hand on her shaking shoulders.

"We'll find him, Lily," Tom whispered using his forefingers to lift her chin so that he could look at her. Slowly he reached out to her and wiped a tear from her face. "We'll find him I p…"

A small, shrill scream pierced the darkness and made his hair stand on end. He froze, his hand hanging in mid air where Lily's cheek had been not seconds before. Lily had whirled around, desperately trying to penetrate more of the darkness with her wand.

Another scream followed by a howl and Lily was off and running through the darkness away from Tom.

"Wait, Lily. Wait!" Tom yelled, but to no avail; she was gone. Cursing himself he took off in the direction he had last seen her. Not five minutes later he heard another wail and ran towards the sickening sound.

The scene that met him would haunt him for the rest of his days.

Fenrir was struggling to get away from the beast that was baring down on him. The frightened first year rolled to his left only to have his arm seized in the powerful jaws of the attacking werewolf.

The creature flung him around and advanced, coming in for the kill. It's fangs and muzzle were bright with blood in the pale moonlight, it's right paw held Fenrir to the ground; it's claws digging into his shoulder.

Tom felt himself frozen in place. Fenrir struggled weakly and looked wildly around, desperately looking for away to escape. Tom watched as his eyes alighted on something in the darkness to his left. The wolf snarled viciously but was drowned out by the terrified boy's desperate shriek.

"Lily! Lily, help!"

Tom's head snapped up in the direction of Fenrir's gaze and saw Lily standing betwixt two enormous trees. The light from her wand eliminating her blackened eyes, fire dancing dangerously in their depths. Wand drawn she advanced towards the darkest of creatures and snarled.

"You will not have him you vile creature!" she screamed, sending a bolt of red light at the wolf knocking it off it's feet. The werewolf leapt up and jumped at her.

Lily feinted to the right and landed back on her feet facing the angered and flesh hungry creature. Tom stood and watched in horror as the dark creature lunged towards her, rearing up on it's hind legs, and pinned her to the tree behind her.

The wolf opened it's jaws in anticipation of another victim and then let out a howl of pain as Lily plunged a sharpened rock into it's left eye. Raising her foot she angrily kicked the wounded creature away from her.

The wolf retreated and Lily ran towards Fenrir, dropping down to her knees besides the badly bleeding boy. Still clutching her wand she scooped him up and held him to her, a howl brought her attention back to the circling predator. Supporting Fenrir with one arm, Lily turned her wand towards the wolf just as the maddened creature let loose a great howl it leaped at her.

Tom felt his stomach turn to ice as he watched in slow motion as Lily gathered her strength for a spell. She didn't say a word, her lips remained frozen in a snarl of anger, her perfect teeth flashing wildly. Tom stared in horror as a bright green flash erupted from the tip of her outstretched wand. The bolt of blinding green energy shot through the cold night air and pierced the heart of the advancing wolf. Such was the power of her spell that the creature was thrown through the air, it's skull cracking against a bolder some ten paces away and exploding.

A shower of blood and brain matter bust upwards into the air and then rained down upon the clearing. Tom blinked in horror. Lily had just cast an unforgivable, and she'd done it without saying a word. So angry were her thoughts and emotions that they had poured forth and erupted from her wand.

Lily Claire had cast the killing curse without saying a word. Tom didn't want to think about what kind of power that took, but however much it was he didn't have it. He could never do that, not with such ferocity that it shattered the victim's skull. Still frozen he watched as Lily cradled Fenrir to her like a mother would a child. See the trouble with werewolves was that if they bit you became that of your attacker.

Lily had killed one wolf, and now she was cradling a wolf pup in her arms as he cried.