(A/N Angelfire! Oh my god! I had completely forgotten about disclaimers! I just assumed that everyone would realize that I don't claim these characters and places as my own. Thank you for reminding me. By the way everyone! I don't own anything but the plot…or what is supposed to be a plot! And I'm really flattered that I have so many fans. I plan to be an author someday, so maybe you'll check me out if I ever get published? And polo13, I'm sorry if I misrepresented water polo, Kaleb was just supposed to say something offhand, like something she wouldn't see as a good time, but doesn't necessarily occur. I'm so sorry to all those who actually know something about water polo! I most certainly am not among you! Heh.)
Long before Madame Pomfrey was to make her trip to the Shrieking Shack to attend to Remus after his transformation, the Marauders, Lily, and Kaleb had returned to the Castle. Kaleb, Sirius, James, and Peter had all returned to their human forms…but Lily was having some difficulty.
Her wounds on her back from Moony's powerful jaws were deep, and caused the girl a great deal of pain. Due to this unhappy fact, Lily was unable to reach the necessary concentration to return to her human visage. Thus, the Marauders and Kaleb were faced with the prospect of sneaking a Lioness into the school.
It was NOT as easy as one might think.
First there was the issue of all those early-risers who strolled around the castle at simply ungodly hours. Then there were the Ravenclaws, who could never get to sleep for the constant stream of thoughts in their heads, and would walk around the castle in order to tire themselves out.
Then there was Mr. Filch, the caretaker, who seemed to have been born as old-looking and displeasing to the eye as he was presently. There was also Mr. Norris. (Yes, Mr., Mrs. Norris' predecessor.) Mr. Norris was a foul-tempered cat with half a tail, one eye missing, and an exceptionally acute nose.
Although this particular feline's nose was astute, and therefore extremely adept at detecting students, the lack of two functioning eyes robbed the beast of nearly all its depth perception. Thus, on the way to return to its master and lead him to students out of bed, it was prone to running into walls, statues, and people, which often left the cat unconscious, as it was given to random bursts of incredible speed.
Despite all of his cat's shortcomings, Mr. Filch was devoted to the feline, and placed complete confidence in him. This confidence was not completely misplaced, for the cat seemed to know where the Marauders were at all times, and having a lioness with them would not aid their endeavor.
So these four students and one lioness sat behind the statue of Vladimir the Voluminous, a very fat wizard known for his hand in inventing lemon drops. Who ever said they were a muggle candy? (A/N, I realize that JK Rowling has labeled them as such, but I say that they aren't)
They were about to attempt a rather tricky charm on the girl which would make her presence invoke a sort of short term memory loss, so no one would remember they saw her…but there were a couple of glitches. One, being that Lily was the only one of them advanced enough in Charms to actually CAST the spell, and the other being that they themselves would not be impervious to its effects.
Then Sirius had a rather wonderful stroke of genius. "Hey! How about we transfigure her into a marble, and simply carry her upstairs!"
"I don't know…transfiguring a person in their animagus form? I'm not sure we should risk Lily to your rather lackadaisical study habits." Kaleb said, biting her lip to keep from laughing at the predicament.
James chose that moment to blissfully remember what he had read on the subject. "It shouldn't be too difficult…" he insisted. "All you have to do is conjugate the infinitive differently…watch…"
Before Kaleb could protest the use of her best friend as a guinea-pig…or lioness…James had uttered an unfamiliar phrase in latin, and Lily was no more. That isn't to say that she died or anything, for she was quiet existent. She was in a spiffy marble form. A furry marble, but a marble nonetheless.
Sirius cocked his head to the side and looked down at the marble. "Should it be furry?"
James glared at Sirius's response. "It's FINE."
"Well, come on, let's go! As unquestioning as Madam Pomfrey is, I don't think that we could bring Lily in lioness form into the infirmary and expect not to get a reaction." Kaleb said, and picked up the Lily-marble. "Let's go, love." She said and dropped the marble into her pocket.
The trek up the stairs and into the Marauders' dorm room is rather uneventful, and leads Kaleb to believe that they really could have sneaked a lioness up there. She set the Lily-marble in the middle of James' bed and looked at him expectantly. "Ok, Potter. Change her back, now."
James smiled, nodded, and raised his wand. His mouth opened, but suspiciously no sound came out. "Uh…"
Kaleb's eyes darkened from blue to nearly black. "You don't know how to change her back?!" The low tone and intensity of her voice sent shivers down James, Sirius, and Peter's backs.
"Just give me a minute!" James said, defensively. "It's just slipped my mind, that's all."
A few seconds passed, and James' eyes lit up. "Oh! I remember it!" He said excitedly.
This was a very, very good thing for James. As Kaleb was about half a second from changing forms and ripping his throat out.
He raised his wand and uttered a phrase that sounded more Greek than Latin, and Lily was once again in lioness form, sprawled across James' bed, still bleeding from the wounds on her back.
"Good, now we can finally get her back to human form, right?" Peter said, relieved.
"In theory…" Sirius said, slowly.
"In theory?" Peter squeaked.
"Theory, nothing!" Kaleb said, rolling her eyes. "It's simple." She pointed her wand at Lily and uttered a numbing spell. Within minutes Lily had shifted back to her human form, and the spell wore off.
"Why didn't we do that outside?" James asked, arching a brow.
"I had forgotten about it." Kaleb said, flippantly.
During this short conversation Lily's breathing became increasingly heavy, her eyes were shut tightly, and her hands clenched into fists so tightly that she was drawing blood from her palms. She growled low under her breath, but made no noise other than that.
Instantly Kaleb was by Lily's side. She ran her hand lightly over the wound, checking how deep it was. Lily's natural reaction was, of course, to cry out. "Jesus!" She hissed.
"He bit me! The sod bit me!" Lily said, wriggling out of the way of Kaleb's fingers, which were trying to ascertain the damage. "And I can't even be mad because I should have known that he would!"
"God…" Kaleb said, sitting back, her face pale.
"What is it?" James asked, hurrying to check the wound for himself. "Christ…that's really deep, Lils."
"I could have told you that! Bloody wankers, the lot of you!" Lily grumbled. Tears were constantly welling up in her eyes from the intense pain. "I'll just take care of it myself." She said, defiantly, and began to rise to her feet.
She attempted to take a step forward, and the shifting muscles in her back caused her legs to give way, and she caught herself by grabbing on to Sirius' shoulder. A stream of curses that would make a sailor blush escaped from the redhead's mouth.
"Lily! I didn't know you knew those words!" Sirius said, feigning shock.
"Kaleb, what was that spell you used earlier?" James asked, looking for a way to dull the pain.
"Sorry, that one only works on animals." Kaleb said, biting her lip.
Blood was seeping from the wound, down the back of her pants and was coating her shirt.
"Should there be that much blood?" Peter squeaked.
"Just get me to the bloody infirmary, ok?" Lily said, gritting her teeth. Pain she could handle, but don't expect her to be pleasant while doing it.
Long before Madame Pomfrey was to make her trip to the Shrieking Shack to attend to Remus after his transformation, the Marauders, Lily, and Kaleb had returned to the Castle. Kaleb, Sirius, James, and Peter had all returned to their human forms…but Lily was having some difficulty.
Her wounds on her back from Moony's powerful jaws were deep, and caused the girl a great deal of pain. Due to this unhappy fact, Lily was unable to reach the necessary concentration to return to her human visage. Thus, the Marauders and Kaleb were faced with the prospect of sneaking a Lioness into the school.
It was NOT as easy as one might think.
First there was the issue of all those early-risers who strolled around the castle at simply ungodly hours. Then there were the Ravenclaws, who could never get to sleep for the constant stream of thoughts in their heads, and would walk around the castle in order to tire themselves out.
Then there was Mr. Filch, the caretaker, who seemed to have been born as old-looking and displeasing to the eye as he was presently. There was also Mr. Norris. (Yes, Mr., Mrs. Norris' predecessor.) Mr. Norris was a foul-tempered cat with half a tail, one eye missing, and an exceptionally acute nose.
Although this particular feline's nose was astute, and therefore extremely adept at detecting students, the lack of two functioning eyes robbed the beast of nearly all its depth perception. Thus, on the way to return to its master and lead him to students out of bed, it was prone to running into walls, statues, and people, which often left the cat unconscious, as it was given to random bursts of incredible speed.
Despite all of his cat's shortcomings, Mr. Filch was devoted to the feline, and placed complete confidence in him. This confidence was not completely misplaced, for the cat seemed to know where the Marauders were at all times, and having a lioness with them would not aid their endeavor.
So these four students and one lioness sat behind the statue of Vladimir the Voluminous, a very fat wizard known for his hand in inventing lemon drops. Who ever said they were a muggle candy? (A/N, I realize that JK Rowling has labeled them as such, but I say that they aren't)
They were about to attempt a rather tricky charm on the girl which would make her presence invoke a sort of short term memory loss, so no one would remember they saw her…but there were a couple of glitches. One, being that Lily was the only one of them advanced enough in Charms to actually CAST the spell, and the other being that they themselves would not be impervious to its effects.
Then Sirius had a rather wonderful stroke of genius. "Hey! How about we transfigure her into a marble, and simply carry her upstairs!"
"I don't know…transfiguring a person in their animagus form? I'm not sure we should risk Lily to your rather lackadaisical study habits." Kaleb said, biting her lip to keep from laughing at the predicament.
James chose that moment to blissfully remember what he had read on the subject. "It shouldn't be too difficult…" he insisted. "All you have to do is conjugate the infinitive differently…watch…"
Before Kaleb could protest the use of her best friend as a guinea-pig…or lioness…James had uttered an unfamiliar phrase in latin, and Lily was no more. That isn't to say that she died or anything, for she was quiet existent. She was in a spiffy marble form. A furry marble, but a marble nonetheless.
Sirius cocked his head to the side and looked down at the marble. "Should it be furry?"
James glared at Sirius's response. "It's FINE."
"Well, come on, let's go! As unquestioning as Madam Pomfrey is, I don't think that we could bring Lily in lioness form into the infirmary and expect not to get a reaction." Kaleb said, and picked up the Lily-marble. "Let's go, love." She said and dropped the marble into her pocket.
The trek up the stairs and into the Marauders' dorm room is rather uneventful, and leads Kaleb to believe that they really could have sneaked a lioness up there. She set the Lily-marble in the middle of James' bed and looked at him expectantly. "Ok, Potter. Change her back, now."
James smiled, nodded, and raised his wand. His mouth opened, but suspiciously no sound came out. "Uh…"
Kaleb's eyes darkened from blue to nearly black. "You don't know how to change her back?!" The low tone and intensity of her voice sent shivers down James, Sirius, and Peter's backs.
"Just give me a minute!" James said, defensively. "It's just slipped my mind, that's all."
A few seconds passed, and James' eyes lit up. "Oh! I remember it!" He said excitedly.
This was a very, very good thing for James. As Kaleb was about half a second from changing forms and ripping his throat out.
He raised his wand and uttered a phrase that sounded more Greek than Latin, and Lily was once again in lioness form, sprawled across James' bed, still bleeding from the wounds on her back.
"Good, now we can finally get her back to human form, right?" Peter said, relieved.
"In theory…" Sirius said, slowly.
"In theory?" Peter squeaked.
"Theory, nothing!" Kaleb said, rolling her eyes. "It's simple." She pointed her wand at Lily and uttered a numbing spell. Within minutes Lily had shifted back to her human form, and the spell wore off.
"Why didn't we do that outside?" James asked, arching a brow.
"I had forgotten about it." Kaleb said, flippantly.
During this short conversation Lily's breathing became increasingly heavy, her eyes were shut tightly, and her hands clenched into fists so tightly that she was drawing blood from her palms. She growled low under her breath, but made no noise other than that.
Instantly Kaleb was by Lily's side. She ran her hand lightly over the wound, checking how deep it was. Lily's natural reaction was, of course, to cry out. "Jesus!" She hissed.
"He bit me! The sod bit me!" Lily said, wriggling out of the way of Kaleb's fingers, which were trying to ascertain the damage. "And I can't even be mad because I should have known that he would!"
"God…" Kaleb said, sitting back, her face pale.
"What is it?" James asked, hurrying to check the wound for himself. "Christ…that's really deep, Lils."
"I could have told you that! Bloody wankers, the lot of you!" Lily grumbled. Tears were constantly welling up in her eyes from the intense pain. "I'll just take care of it myself." She said, defiantly, and began to rise to her feet.
She attempted to take a step forward, and the shifting muscles in her back caused her legs to give way, and she caught herself by grabbing on to Sirius' shoulder. A stream of curses that would make a sailor blush escaped from the redhead's mouth.
"Lily! I didn't know you knew those words!" Sirius said, feigning shock.
"Kaleb, what was that spell you used earlier?" James asked, looking for a way to dull the pain.
"Sorry, that one only works on animals." Kaleb said, biting her lip.
Blood was seeping from the wound, down the back of her pants and was coating her shirt.
"Should there be that much blood?" Peter squeaked.
"Just get me to the bloody infirmary, ok?" Lily said, gritting her teeth. Pain she could handle, but don't expect her to be pleasant while doing it.