Chapter 15: Whispers and Lycanthropy

Over the next few days, James and Sirius kept a close watch on Remus, observing his reactions to things and all the while doing some research secretly. Lily and Gladys had nearly gone to Hospital Wing when they saw the two boys come in with volumes of books on curse wounds.

"What are you doing with those?" Lily asked incredulously. Sirius turned and grinned at her.

"Thinking of how we can give Slytherin's one of these babies!" he opened one of the books and it showed her a pictured of a wizard that had a particularly nasty gnash on his back. Both Lily and Gladys looked at each other a little worryingly, would those two really go as far as doing that to Slytherins?

***

The autumn soon came to pass as winter. The trees were stripped of their leaves, and the tumbling grey clouds overhead promised snowfall within a couple of days. Lily climbed up to the roof of Gryffindor tower, a cloak and scarf at hand. She laid her back on the ancient tiles and watched the sky overhead. It was midday, lunch would be served soon.

Although she lay there, her mind wandered back to the dream she had that morning. Woods, trees, a forest, a dark foreboding forest. The trees, they had eyes, chasms of darkness staring at her, stripping her down, seeing inside her, seeing her soul. Cold eyes, dripping with a black sap, it was evil. She shouldn't have been there. And a whisper, a voice.

Li…………

Lily shut her eyes, keeping the darkness at bay.

……ly……

It was haunting.

…Lil………

Repeated over and over again.

…ee………

A cold, whisper, it would freeze you to the bone.

……………Lily……

Her eyes snapped open. She had heard it. Not thought it, not imagined it, she had heard it. She sat up and she faced the forest behind her. Her green eyes skimmed over the canopies, hopefully searching for the source of the voice.

………Lily………

Her eyes glazed over.  She stood up and faced the forest. One foot in front of the other. Walking up the slope of the tower, towards the spire, eyes never blinking, watching the forest before her.

……Lil……

"Lily! Where are you?"

She snapped out of her reverie. Her eyes seemed to start focussing again and she suddenly wondered why she was clutching at the spire of the tower. Hadn't she just been sitting on the tiles? Lily felt a little dazed and started to shiver. What had happened? She wrapped her cloak tightly around herself.

"Lily?!  It's lunch time. Better come down soon!" Gladys' voice sounded. The red haired girl carefully climbed her way down to the window. Gladys waited for her, at the bottom of the staircase.

"Are you ok? You look a little pale." Gladys asked her friend, a little worriedly while taking helping her friend with her cloak. Lily didn't answer for a while. But then smiled indifferently.

"I'm alright Gladys. Just thinking that I had forgotten my Aunt's birthday." Lily said lamely.  I Gladys bought the excuse, she didn't show it.

"Well let's go get some lunch, get some colour back into your face."

***

Days came and went. It was soon time to go home for Christmas. Lily's parents had insisted on her being home for Christmas, since last year's had not been so successful. Lily didn't have the heart to refuse. Gladys was going home as she had promised o do so every Christmas for her family. James and Sirius however, had decided to stay for the Christmas holidays. James' mother Nancy, had been asked to go to a laboratory for further developments for work, although she was pretty peeved at having to spend the holidays away from her only son. But James had told her mother that he was fine staying at Hogwarts and that Sirius and Remus were staying for company. Peter was going to visit his grandmother again, as was tradition for his family.

That evening, the common room was so quiet. Only the three boys and a few 6th Years had stayed in for the holidays. As the night wore on, the three played chess and exploding snap and gobstones. IT wasn't until quite late that Remus stood up.

"I'm not feeling too well you guys. I'm going to go to Hospital Wing." Remus said indifferently.

"Do you want us to come with you?" James asked, concerned.

"No, I'll be fine. It's probably just a stomach bug," Remus smiled at his friend and left the Common Room. Once he left, James and Sirius headed for their dorms. They closed the door and looked solemnly at each other.

"So it's true." James said to no one in particular.

"It's a full moon tonight." Sirius replied, confirming it.

All the signs led up to it. The slight mood swings, the alert senses, the illnesses, the symptoms, and most importantly, the eyes. No one, no matter what creature they were, had amber eyes, except werewolves. And in a bedside photo Remus had had, his eyes then hadn't been amber.

"I can't believe he has lycanthropy." Sirius muttered sadly.

"Yeah, no wonder he was so thrilled when he got his letter for Hogwarts. And I remember when I first met him, he used to be kind of subdued and never really wanted to mix with others." James remembered the pale boy always standing away from the crowds.

"He's been keeping it secret for so long. He was probably afraid we'd abandon him if he told us."

"I wish we could help his some how."

The stood in silence for a while, thinking of their friend. They skimmed through the books of werewolf activity, and had wondered how their best friend had managed to go through such torture. Sirius opened a book  - 'Beast of a Creature.' It had basically every single type of beast-like creature possible to imagine, and he opened it on the Werewolf section.

Werewolves can be calmed in the presence of animals. It's cravings for man-flesh is at its weakest point when with animals of a different species.

Sirius' brow got lost somewhere into his hairline. He read and re-read the line over and over. As if each word was the most sacred word ever created. He looked at the school emblem engraved on his bed, a badger, a raven, a snake, a lion.

He suddenly grinned so widely, his face could have spilt in half.

"James, would you like to become animagus?"

***

A/N: Wooo! I'm on a roll! Getting more chapters up and whatnot! I know the chapters are kind of short, but I really want to get this story moving, it's been lingering here, unfinished for too long, and I have to get through 7 bloody years! Argh…why do I do this?...you can remind me in your reviews! (hint)

Crystra-Astra: James is NOT seeker. He was only made a seeker in the film to make it all the more poignant. But JKR did say in an interview that James was a CHASER. So you get your facts right sweetie before you start ranting off to people with false information.