A/N: Hey everyone! I'm sorry it has been FOREVER since I updated. A big thanks to GoddessMoonLady, Polkat, citrus scented, Kaydee, Andufeniel,irina, catgoddess13,Lone Songbird,The Elfin Child,and Alya1989262!
Kaydee - I think we should start a letter to JKR, maybe she'll write that book eventually. Though I guess she would have to finish all seven of the HP books so that she doesn't spoil anything.
Polkat - about the HTML message I gave you. Fanfiction has changed something so that the tags will only work if you write them in lower case. Wanted to let you know in case you try.
Here goes chapter three!
Disclaimer: All people and places you recognize belong to JK Rowling. If they belonged to me, I would be rich and famous, not sitting on my butt writing disclaimers. Enjoy!
It was war. That one harmless prank caused a landslide among the Gryffindor first years. Two distinct sides had formed, spearheaded by Lily and James. Sirius though just had too much fun being totally indecisive about his side. One day he would help Lily embarrassing the hell out of James, the next he would have some part in putting spiders in her bed, or gluing her books to her desk. Peter and James were both totally against Lily. Remus seemed too sick lately and didn't want to take any part in their petty behavior.
It had been almost two months since those very first days of classes. James and Sirius were neck and neck in number of detentions. The two boys sat in the common room and poured over a piece of parchment Sirius had received in the mail at the start of the term.
Lily walked into the room and slammed her books on the table, causing the two guilty boys to jump several feet in the air. "Your two had better have an explanation for this!" She thrust the top book from the table into James' hands.
"Oh I think that was one of our more brilliant ideas Siri, enchanting the book like that."
"Having the book sing nursery rhymes in the middle of my transfiguration lesson? Whose idea was that – wait, it doesn't even matter, I am going to kill you both anyways." With a wave of her wand, the couch holding James and Sirius was hovering several feet above the ground.
"What did McGonagall say?" Sirius choked.
"She gave me a detention on the spot, and can I assume that was your singing voice James? The dreadful singing might contribute to the reason that I got a detention."
"Oh did you like it? Allow me to serenade you, Lily, with my majestically moving voice." He pathetically warbled out a few notes from the textbook's song. He and Sirius laughed until their sides hurt.
"Moving? I am moving out of here!" She stormed out leaving James and Sirius still floating in the air. She climbed out the portrait hole and outside into the cool afternoon air.
"Aren't you ever going to grow up James? You can't fight like this forever." Remus said tiredly, hanging over stairs leading to the dormitory.
"Hey, how are you feeling? Did we wake you?" James asked.
"You woke the whole common room." Peter said walking down the stairs. "But I award you a chocolate frog for creativity." He tossed the box over to them.
"Thanks Peter! Hey Remus, are you going down to the Halloween feast tonight? It starts only two hours from now."
"No I think I'm going to visit Madam Pomphrey. I must have the flu or something." This certainly could have been the case. His skin was pale and ashen, and dark circles lined his eyes. He slowly and carefully lowered the levitating couch to the ground.
"I thought you just had the flu a month ago, Remus. You probably should see Madam Pomphrey, she can fix anyone up." Peter said, flopping onto a nearby footstool. Remus joined them from his place on the stairs.
"So, what's in the letter Sirius? You have been sitting there reading that one page of parchment all afternoon."
"I owled it to myself before we left for Hogwarts in September!" Sirius exclaimed. Then he lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper. "It has a list of prank ideas that we are going to pull, tonight."
Huge smirks were plastered across three of the boys' faces. Remus smiled at them. "I'll see you soon. Have fun tonight." He said and stepped out of the common room. The other three eagerly planned their attack.
"He's an imbecile I tell you!" Lily was screaming. She had run into Nichole and Andrew, who were quietly chatting outside near the lake. "A total idiot! Now I have to serve a detention on Halloween night!"
"Tell me something I haven't heard already Lily. It has been well established that James is a stupid prat." Nichole consoled. They took a seat near water's edge and watched it break upon the muddy bank.
"It's Halloween, and I go to a school of witchcraft and wizardry. I am going to have a detention, probably tied to a stake outside of the Forbidden Forest waiting for some famished wild animal to come eat me. Sounds like something straight out of a horror story."
"No, the animals here don't like such quick-tempered little girls." Andrew smiled. Nichole and Lily punched him, hard.
"Oh what a relief!" Lily said wryly. There were several minutes of silence. Lily lay on her back and stared at the watercolor sunset. Through the pink and orange streaks stretching out as far as she could see, other witches and wizards were flying over the Hogwarts grounds. "Wow I wish I could fly." Lily said dreamily.
"We could always teach you. Andrew's the captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team and I am planning on trying out." Nichole offered. "I want to be a chaser."
"Yeah, that would be great. Don't we have the feast soon?" Lily said absentmindedly weaving blades of grass together.
"Yes and it's right now!" Nichole shouted. The three ran back to the castle as fast as their legs could carry them. They burst through the doors of the Great Hall into the buzzing room. There was so much excitement in the air. Lily, Nichole, and Andrew sat in their seats just as the feast was about to begin. James, Sirius, and Peter still had malicious smirks on their faces.
"Should I ask what is going on?" Lily whispered aside to Holly.
"We are insane, so there is no point in asking." Sirius remarked.
"Correction, Sirius is insane and it cannot be helped. He was dropped on his head as a child." James added punching his best friend.
"How long have you known each other?" Holly wondered
"Too long. Probably since we were three." James said.
"Which would explain why some of his insanity has rubbed off onto you? I still have that detention tonight!" Lily shouted tossing a spoon at James which he deftly caught and placed back on the table. Quidditch skill James called it.
"Don't let the lead-bugs bite!"
"That's bed-bugs Peter." Holly corrected.
"Whatever, I was never good with Muggle terms anyways."
"Or the vampires. What would you do if you were bit by a vampire while you were all alone in the woods?"
"Shut up Sirius." Lily said rather annoyed. "Hey it looks like Will is having tons of fun with his Slytherin friends." They looked over to the Slytherin table to see their fellow dorm mate sitting with the enemies.
Dumbledore tapped on his goblet and stood up to give a speech. "Here we are at another grand Halloween feast." The hall burst with claps and cheers. "Tonight should be a night of mystery, fun, and excitement for all witches and wizards."
"Especially those out in the cold, with the spiders." James grinned. Lily stifled a shriek with her napkin and kicked him under the table.
"Since this is the first year we are letting the older students go to Hogsmede Halloween night, I have a small warning for you." Dumbledore looked around and cleared his throat. "There is a small house called the Shrieking Shack. It is known to be – haunted on Halloween night. It is said those who go near the house will be cursed." His left this sentence hanging with an air of solemnity. "Fifth, sixth, and seventh years, I need you to meet me on the Quidditch pitch after the feast. Have a safe Halloween and don't get sick from all the sweets."
The food appeared on the plates again. Lily was getting more used to this after a month, but it still surprised her all the same. In the center of the table was a statue – made entirely out of sweets. There were more sweets than she had ever seen in her entire life. Sirius reached out and grabbed a handful. Of course his handful was from the bottom, which caused the entire statue to topple over onto him. Soon dinner had ended, and the older students along with many of the teachers had left the room.
"Are we ready?" Sirius asked anxiously staring back over at the Slytherins. The girls stared at him questioningly.
"What are you going to do? If you get us in trouble we'll lose points, and we can't really afford that considering we just recovered from the negative points." Tessa exclaimed.
"And then we would have fewer points." Chiara said after about five minutes. Everyone stared at her. She just basked in the glow of the attention; despite the fact that everyone thought she was crazy. Sirius slipped out of his seat and onto the floor in front of the table.
"Wingardium Leviosa" Sirius whispered with his wand directed at a certain Slytherin boy. Severus Snape rose into the air kicking and thrashing above the Slytherin table.
"Black, Potter, Pettigrew, if this is you I am going to kill you!" He shouted still flailing about. "Put me down already!" The students burst into laughter and the teachers remaining were too speechless to move.
"Peter, help me keep him in the air. James, time to initiate Operation: Broadway Slimeball."
They took their places on the floor under the table. James whispered "Tarantallegra" Snape began to do a show stopping tap dance on the table.
"Wait until my father hears about this. I know it's you Gryffindors!" Snape said in the midst of a complex soft shoe step. Dougal got out of his seat and started walking towards the Gryffindor table. Immediately the three boys ran out of the room as fast as their legs could carry them. The Potions Master stopped the spells and had Snape return to his seat. By this time, every student in the room was on the floor laughing.
"I think it's time to go." Nichole said. Lily, Nichole, and Holly slipped quietly out of the room, passing a hilariously laughing Hagrid.
They entered the common room to find the three boys still panting on the couch.
"That…was brilliant…Sirius!" James said between breaths.
"I like the spell you used Potter. Tarentellegra was it? I'll keep that in mind the next time you try to hex my schoolbooks." Lily smiled. There was a small knock on the door outside the portrait. It obviously was not a Gryffindor, otherwise they would have known the password. Lily opened the door and pushed aside The Fat Lady, who began to yell loudly at her.
A small house elf entered the room and looked around. "Miss Evans? I is Bari, the house elf. Bari is supposed to take you down to see the professor miss. Please come with Bari." The small house elf took Lily's hand and led her out of the room. The others wished her goodbye on her way out.
"Don't let the spiders bite Evans!" James shouted down the hall.
Lily was being led farther and farther down dark hallways she had never seen before. The house elf opened a small passage which she had to crawl through. When they reached the other side, Lily set her eyes on an all too familiar classroom. This was Professor Dougal's classroom.
"Wait, I can't have a detention with him. Bari, you can take me back and I'll serve detention tomorrow, with someone else."
"Goodbye miss." The house elf said disappearing back through the passage in the wall. Lily ran over to it, but it sealed up before her eyes. She could hear footsteps coming to the door. The door opened and she saw the familiar loathsome face of the Potions Master.
"Good Evening Miss Evans. I am sure you will have a grand time on your detention tonight." He said every word emitted with the same biting sarcasm. She bit her lip and glared at him. "Come with me, the older students will need you out in the Forbidden Forest tonight." Lily tried to stand her ground but soon found she couldn't, it was almost like her feet were moving for her towards the front doors of the castle. He pushed open the doors and they walked onto the grassy lawn. Lily kept trudging on against her will. Her ankles were becoming soaked from the wet grass and mud but she couldn't turn back. Maybe it's to make sure I don't run. Teaches have their own mind games they play on students, and this one was not particularly fun.
They stopped at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Lily tried to ignore her shaking knees. She heard a piercing howl and her heart nearly stopped. "Your task," Dougal began to say. "Is not one that requires great magical talent. I need you to find the ignis plant. It can burn for three years. Go along quickly, come find me when you are finished."
Lily wandered out into the forest. She was brave. She had to be because she was a Gryffindor. How would she know what an ignis plant looked like? This was going to be a hopeless journey. She could hear older student screaming and yelling in the distance. She never knew exactly what they were doing in the forest anyways. She just slowly wandered on.
"Sirius Black! It is past midnight. What the bloody hell are you doing throwing pillows at me?" James sat up in bed and ran his fingers through his unruly dark hair.
"Peter it's pranking time!" Sirius whispered loudly. Will rolled over and continued to snore.
"We just pranked at dinner Sirius, you are going way out of hand." Peter said groggily. "I need my sleep, wake me up in the morning."
"No you're coming with us. We're going to get Dougal this time. And Snape, and the other Slytherins." They grabbed their wands and James's invisibility cloak, and quietly slipped out of the portrait hole.
"So what do you think he keeps in here?" Sirius said, examining a small silver bottle. They were in Dougal's dungeon.
"Potions ingredients. We're going to reorganize his shelves a little bit."
"Eww. Bat eyeballs." Peter whispered.
"Oh that's just gross." Sirius whispered. He picked up the jar and dropped it into a sack. In its place, he put a bottle of squished up guacamole. They both looked kind of green and squished anyways.
James filled up the toad's blood with ketchup and then went off to enchanting the Slytherin textbooks. Sirius quickly hexed the sleeping paintings to insult every Slytherin who passed within a ten foot radius. They heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Peter quickly reshelved a bottle of lacewings and threw the invisibility cloak over the three first years. They ran out of a door on the other side of the room and latched it behind them.
They were outside, it was rather cold, but they continued to run on to the forest. "Think it's safe yet?" James whispered.
"Yes, but now we are in the Forbidden Forest geniuses." Peter remarked.
"Hey I wonder if Evans is still out here." James said quietly. "They can't leave her out here can they?"
Lily was shivering. She had finally found the plants that Dougal was looking for and tried to warm her hands by the small flames they emitted. She didn't know how to start a fire yet. By now, the voices of the older students were long gone. Lily was slowly retracing her steps back to the castle. Her legs felt like lead as she dragged them slowly behind her.
She heard a low growling noise, the same one as when she had entered the forest. She lit her wand and walked with it out in front of her. Then from the distance, Lily could hear a loud thumping noise. As she walked closer, she could see it was the Whomping Willow thrashing its branches around. A long howl pierced the sky. Lily quickly turned around and stared right into a pair of shining yellow eyes. The figure snarled and growled at her threateningly. "Lumos!" she shouted blinding the creature just long enough to climb into the high branches of a tree.
She looked down at the animal snapping at her below. It was a werewolf. She tightly gripped the branches until her hands turned white.
"It's a good thing it seems you can't climb trees. I am not a particularly delicious witch so you can go back home now." Maybe she was psychic. This scene seemed like déjà vu. Or maybe it was because she guessed that some wild animal would try to eat her a few hours ago. At least she wasn't tied to a stake. Or maybe she was just crazy since she was trying to talk to a wolf.
It was very early in the morning. Daylight would approach in a matter of hours. Lily's mind raced for other options. "I would like to go home wolf. I'm sure there are plenty of other animals you could eat." Her voice came out shakily. She scolded herself for not knowing a spell to get her out of this predicament. Her mind was yelling to run. If she ran as fast as she could, maybe she could reach the castle in time. It couldn't be that far from the Whomping Willow; she'd seen it on her way to Herbology. Running for her life would be the only way out.
No, running wouldn't work, within seconds she would be a goner. Now Lily was inwardly screaming panic. She leaned over just far enough to see the creatures' razor-sharp jaws twisted into a terrible sneer. The piercing yellow eyes were still fixed on having her for breakfast. She dug her nails into the tree bark and screamed. Panic had won. She couldn't be a true Gryffindor. Her sorting was all a big blunder.
"I'm sorry! It's a mistake, it's a mistake." she cried. "James if I ever see you again, you will be so dead for this! Help me someone!"
"Talking to yourself Evans? I guess detentions can do that to you sometimes." James yelled jovially. A small wave of relief washed over her.
"There's a werewolf here you prat." She yelled acidly. She was going to get him for this. "Come get me out of here." She continued to yell as she was quickly growing anxious.
"Say please!" Sirius yelled.
Lily sighed and hesitantly shouted back. "Sirius! This isn't a joke! I need your help please!" The boys carefully walked over to the clearing and saw the wolf still hungrily staring at Lily.
"Here comes your rescue team." Sirius yelled again. The wolf came after them instead. They ran as fast as they could through a passage in the Whomping Willow which seemed to have been opened by someone. Peter slid in and closed the opening just moments before the werewolf would have torn his legs off.
"Okay, my knights in shining armor just ran away." That short moment of relief disappeared as fast as it had come. Still gripping the tree branch tightly, she began to lower herself down from the tree until just her legs were dangling. The moon began to slip behind a cloud and it became darker. Lily quickly swung on the branch, and jumped feet first into a nearby stream. The cool water splashed over her head as she swam to the top. By now, the wolf had jumped into the water. Lily scrambled out of the stream and ran. Her legs still ached and her heart pounded in her chest. She was shivering even harder after having jumped into the lake. She listened to the twigs snap under her feet and longed to see the Hogwarts castle in the shadows ahead.
She looked behind her only to see that the wolf was gaining. She whipped her head back around to see ahead of her but only too late. She stumbled over a tree root and spilled over the forest floor. The wolf caught up to her and sniffed its prey. All the while it continued to grow darker. It's a mistake. She saw those razor-sharp teeth glinting in the small bit of moonlight that remained. Its cold yellow eyes were only inches away from hers. Lily shut her eyes tightly. This was not the way to die. It's a mistake. She waited for several seconds and noticed that she wasn't dead yet. She cautiously opened one eye in fear of what she would or would not see. The werewolf had stopped suddenly and looked around. Before her eyes, the claws and hair disappeared, and the teeth shrunk back to normal size. Slowly the werewolf began to look like – Remus.
"Oh my-" Lily began to say.
"Remus? You're a werewolf?" James interrogated, appearing from the passage in the tree. Remus had the same shocked expression on his face as the rest of them. Sirius and Peter crawled out close behind. They all just stared and waited for Remus to speak. There were several minutes of silence. Remus refused to make any eye contact with any of the glaring faces.
Lily could see that he was holding back tears. He gripped his fists tightly "Yes…I am a werewolf." Remus said slowly. He looked up at Lily with red rimmed eyes. His face was rigid and cold. "I can't believe I just tried to eat you." He looked even sicker than before, as if he was going to collapse. He still refused to cry. "Please don't tell anyone." He begged. "The parents of the other students will get me kicked out of the school. I won't have anywhere to go."
"Remus?" Lily stared bewildered. Her expression could have been mistaken for someone who had seen corpse come back to life. I could be dead, she told herself. She noticed that his arms and face were covered with scratches. He slowly and stiffly limped towards her.
"Just come up to the hospital wing with us. You don't look so well." James said. "We'll talk when you're ready to."
Remus was still staring at Lily's cold expression. "Lily? Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry. I don't care if you ever speak to me again, just as long as I know you're alright."
"Remus, stop it." Lily said solemnly. "It was obviously out of your control. It would be silly to blame you. If you're a werewolf, there is nothing you can do about this. I forgive you Remus."
"Thanks Lily." He whispered. A small smile brightened his face. James and Lily wrapped their arms around his frail shoulders for support. He clung to their waists as the group slowly walked up to the hospital wing together. Sirius and Peter lit their wands to help guide them on their way back. Madam Pomphrey didn't ask for any details and took Remus in. Then she shooed the others away as they were not to wake her patients. They said goodnight and walked back up to the common room.
As soon as they had slipped past the sleeping portrait of the Fat Lady, Sirius stopped them. The four Gryffindor first years sat on the floor by the warm glowing fire. Lily could feel the sensation returning to her blue fingers. She still could not eliminate the feeling of pure terror.
"Lily, are you alright?" Sirius said worriedly. Lily had snapped out of her daze and noticed the three boys staring at her. Sirius' face was very concerned, a face she would have laughed at as being so unlike him on any other day. Peter sat there wide-eyed. The thought of nearly losing his legs had scared him enough. James silently stayed to himself.
"What were you doing out at this hour anyways?" Lily questioned.
"Does it matter? We saved you didn't we?" James said.
"James Potter! If you think that is saving me, then I would like to know what killing me is." Lily seethed.
"What kind of detention was that?" Peter muttered.
"The worst Sirius and I have had to do is polish the Quidditch hoops, three times." James reflected. "Dougal really hates you Evans. I'd watch out in Potions on Monday."
"Sounds like Monday will be adventurous. I brought you a present Jamesie." She put the ignis branches on the table and reached into her robe pocket. Into James' hand, she dropped something small, orange, and black.
"I got you a spider. Now you can be out in the cold with a spider whenever you want too." He smiled, rolled his eyes, and placed it into a jar.
A/N: Another very long chapter. I'm sorry these have been taking so long. I am actually supposed to be studying for exams. I like to try to make sure I don't have many errors so it takes me a long time to edit this. Things should go faster soon
Tell me what you think. If I get flames, I shall use them to roast Dougal on an ignis fire (it should last three years). I hope you like it. Please Review. Constructive critisism welcome ~North*Star
And please tell me whether you like the change. (or if it even makes sense)