Chapter 3: Under a Moonlit Sky.
Lily was now happier than ever. James was her best friend and the Marauder's had accepted her and they trusted her. They would tell her of their next plan to pull pranks on any poor soul and they thought of her as a little sister. She did get a few envious stares from other girls as she walked with them down hallways laughing at their jokes. She even helped them with their grades for Charms, since that was their weakness, and all four helped her with Transfiguration. The teacher's were a bit happier to see that the crazy Marauder's became somewhat humane when Lily was around.
"Hey, could one of you help me with my Transfiguration assignment?" Lily asked the four boys.
"Lil, it's for NEXT week." Sirius said stressing the 'next'.
"Yeah I know, but it takes me ages to actually understand everything." Lily said quietly.
"Fine, we'll help. How about tonight?" James asked.
"Tomorrow night would be better," Lily stated. For some reason she saw Remus turn pale. Sirius noted that too as did James and Peter.
"Um…not too good, err, we've got Quidditch practice!" James said, and Sirius nodded vigorously.
"But it's Wednesday tomorrow, Ravenclaw have the Quidditch pitch that time," Lily said with an eyebrow raised.
"Did he say Quidditch? He meant detention! Didn't you Jamsie-boy!" Sirius nearly glared at James.
"Uh…yeah," James said scratching the back of his head.
"Ok, Remus, can you help me with it tomorrow?" Lily asked the blonde boy.
"Um…no…meeting with the Astronomy club." Remus said a little shakily but hiding it.
"Ok, then. Peter?" Lily asked nearly desperately.
"Lily, would you really trust me with Transfiguration? James and Sirius are the brains behind that." Peter said pointing at the now silent boys who were glaring at him.
"Fine, tonight it is then." Lily said.
"So, what colour should we turn Snape's hair today?" Sirius asked trying to change the subject.
After dinner they headed towards the common room. Lily would normally think they would look inside books for the notes, but James and Sirius managed to put together a little show so that she could understand what happens. She scribbled down the notes on her parchment. After about a half-hour, she finally managed to write up the assignment. She thanked them for their help, and started on other homework.
"Lil, how can you study more with all we've taught you today?" Sirius asked plopping down to one side of her on the couch.
"You can never study too much." Lily said smiling.
"Yes you can." James stated and plopped down on her other side.
"Well, I just like to get the work done." Lily replied.
"Great. James, we've got another workaholic, just like our boy Remmy." Sirius commented smirking.
"Remmy? Where did that come from?" Remus asked sarcastically and sat down beside Sirius.
"Just don't call me that ever again," Remus said and ran a hand through his hair.
"Sure Remmy," Sirius replied.
"Remus, I say we hex him." Lily whispered.
"Sure." He grinned.
"I know a really good one which makes you sprout slugs from your mouth," James whispered loudly enough for Sirius to hear.
"The world's against me." Sirius muttered.
They all threw a pillow at him, which resulted in a huge pillow fight where everybody was against Sirius. The poor boy.
The next day was pretty uneventful except from a few tricks played on Snape from time to time. Classes ended and she couldn't see the Marauder's anywhere. 'Probably up to some trick.' She smiled at the thought. She sat on a couch lay on a couch and was reading a book. Students soon went up to their dorms as it grew late. Lily just carried on reading as the fire of the common room slowly dimmed. She was nearly half-asleep when she heard footsteps coming from the 5th year's boy's dorm. She opened her eyes more and saw no one there. She thought she was just hearing things when she heard an angry voice.
"Watch it Wormtail!" said the first voice; it sounded strangely like Sirius'.
"Sorry!" squeaked a voice similarly to Peter's.
"Shut up! Both of you!" the hushed voice like James' spoke.
Lily was now alert but with the dim light, no one would be able to tell she was awake. She couldn't see anyone. She was the only one in the common room. But then she saw the portrait hole open up, and she heard the silent patter of footsteps walk out. 'What the…?' Lily thought. Curiosity overwhelmed her. She silently followed and stepped out of the portrait hole. She stayed within the shadows and the sound of footsteps and doors opening by themselves were her only clues as to which way to follow. 'I'm breaking every rule in the book? In should go back!' she thought, but her feet disobeyed her.
"Alohomora," she heard a hush whisper and saw how the big doors that lead outside opened. She slid outside and into the shadows so that no one would see her. Then from nowhere, she saw James, Sirius and Peter appear.
"Go back Lily," James said and turned to face her. He looked very serious, as did Sirius and Peter. Lily, surprised stood into the light.
"How'd you know I was here?" She then saw some parchment being stuffed into Sirius' cloak; The Marauder's Map.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked them.
"Helping a friend. Now go back." Sirius said.
"That's not a good excuse." She said wrapping her arms around her as the wind whipped them.
"Listen Lil, it's really dangerous. We don't want you to get hurt, so just please listen to us and go back!" James pleaded with her.
"If it's dangerous, why are you letting yourself go?" Lily asked.
"Say you have this friend, and he goes through a lot of hardship, you'd want to help him as much as you can, even though the risks are high. What would you do?" James asked.
"I'd try to help him of course. But help him without getting myself into trouble." Lily replied.
"That's exactly what we are doing. So don't take this the wrong way but, if you came with us, we'd be in deep shit." James said scratching the back of his head.
"Now go back. Take the invisibility cloak if you want," James said holding out the cloak.
Lily frowned a little and then slowly stepped up so that she could get the cloak. But just as she touched the material the clouds moved and bathed them in moonlight. The blood-curdling howl of a wolf could be heard; a werewolf.
"Shit! Why isn't he at the Shrieking Shack?!" Sirius cursed.
"Lily, go back to your dorm and stay there until the morning!" James ordered her. Then he ran down the steps - followed by Sirius and Peter - and across the grounds to the Forbidden Forest. Lily stood rooted to the spot. They were running in the direction they had heard the howl. Were they actually crazy enough to take on a werewolf? Her mind screamed at her to go back, just had James had told her, but once again her feet disobeyed her and she followed the boys. She ran, still holding the invisibility cloak. She reached the edge of the forest and the howling was louder and sounded full of anguish. It was then she saw a small grey rat run out of the forest. A few minutes later, a large black dog with smooth, silky fur exited. It saw her and barked out loud at her. Trying to warn her of something. Lily looked confused. A few minutes later she heard a low growl come from the forest. She slowly turned her head in fear. She screamed as she saw the large figure of a werewolf lash out at her. It pounced on her and pinned her down. Lily gasped for breath as she saw the gleaming sharp teeth in the moonlight, the spiky fur, and the red and black eyes stare menacingly down at her. It's claws started to cut through her robes and formed cuts on her shoulder. Lily couldn't breath with the weight of the heavy werewolf on her. It's paw started to reach her neck. She knew she would die instantly if it's claw would cut her neck. Lily was scared out of her mind. Tears spilled out of her green eyes as she saw it's blurry head lower on to her. About to bite her, and kill her. She closed her eyes, awaiting her death. But it didn't come. She felt how the weight was lifted off her and how her breathing was a lot easier. She opened her eyes and tried to lift herself off the ground. She then saw a stag. A silvery white stag. It was fighting off the werewolf that was lashing violently. She looked hard at the beautiful creature, fighting to protect her. Its eyes were black, with hints of the darkest brown. They looked familiar. And it had a tuft of messy fur on its head. The stag raised it hind legs to keep the werewolf at bay. The werewolf was kicked back, but its large claws started to lash out at the stag. After a few unsuccessful strikes, it had finally managed to create a deep lash on the stag, along the chest and one of its front legs. A look of pain was clearly evident on the stag's face. Lily saw the black dog run forward into the fight and lash at the werewolf, which was still making its way towards Lily. The stag could barely stand up, as the werewolf had created a fair few deep lashes at its legs. But it still tried to help at the fight. The black dog fought with all its might. The werewolf oversized him, giving it the advantage but it still fought. The rat just stood away, avoiding the fight at all costs. The age long battle seemed to last forever, until the clouds shifted. The moonlit Hogwarts ground darkened, and rain started to pour down heavily, making the wound of every creature sting. The werewolf went rigid and froze, it then started to shake violently. Lily watched in horror as it yelled in pain and shrank in size. The fur turned to skin, the eyes turned from red and black, to blue, the spiked fur around its head turned into silvery blonde hair and the claws shrank to neat human nails. The raging werewolf had turned back into the form of Remus Lupin. He stood there for a minute, and looked at everyone around him.
"S…s…sor…sorry," his voice cracked and he collapsed onto the floor in exhaustion. Lily ran over to Remus' form. He had his eyes closed, but he was still breathing. She then saw the stag collapse and stared at it. The silvery white fur was stained with red blood. It started to shrink in size. The white tufts of hair on its head turning black, it's fur turning to skin and ripped black robes, which were now stained with blood. Lily started to shake as the stag had now turned to James Potter; her best friend. The black dog ran up to James, turning into Sirius in the process.
"James! James! Speak to me!" he said while lightly slapping his face. James moaned in pain. Lily walked over to them teary eyed.
"I…to…told you…to….go back," he said huskily before loosing consciousness. Sirius looked up at Lily. The only emotion playing on his was disappointment.
"We warned you. Now, help me get them back to their dorms." Sirius said.
"We should take them to Madam Pomfrey…" Lily started but was interrupted by James.
"Oh yes that will work. She knows about Remus being a werewolf, but nothing about James, Peter and I being illegal animagus." He said, not angrily or sarcastically.
"Peter, you go into the school as a rat, you know the way up there. Lily and I will somehow cover ourselves with the invisibility cloak and James and Remus and go to the Gryffindor Tower." Sirius said.
Lily placed charms so that James and Remus would be lighter to carry. Sirius carried James over one shoulder and Remus on the other. He handed her the Marauder's Map to Lily so that she could tell when someone would be coming. The journey to the castle was long and silent and Lily had never felt so ashamed in her life.
