Chapter 7 - Night time Wanderings and Confessions
It was four days before the Christmas Ball. Lessons had finished a few days ago but most of the school, from fourth years upwards were staying at Hogwarts. Lily should have been ecstatic. After all, she was going to the ball with the guy she liked, and she needn't see her sister for at least a few months.
But she wasn't. At least, not at the moment. She had seen James leave the common room a couple of hours before, but it was now 1 o' clock and he hadn't returned. She knew he had been out far later than this many times before, but she couldn't help but be anxious. James had a very annoying habit of doing this. Once or twice a month, he and the Marauders would disappear for the night, and then be asleep for the next day's lessons. Last year and before, she wouldn't have given a damn, but now things were different.
She tried to go to sleep but couldn't. She got up to go and get a drink, but paused at the window. It was a wonderful night. The moon was full and the light reflected of the frost on the ground and of the lake. Then she saw something that made her mouth drop.
It was a beautiful but enormous stag, and it galloped elegantly along the grounds towards the lake. But that wasn't all she saw. Close behind the stag was a wolf, a werewolf in fact. This shocked and confused Lily. Despite what people said, she knew that there were no werewolves living in the forest. But that meant it had to be one of the students! Dumbledore would surely never let a werewolf into Hogwarts. While she thought this through, she noticed something else. It was a huge, shaggy, black dog. It looked a lot like a Grim, but Lily didn't believe in those things, and had never taken Divination. She took out her telescope and looked through it, for a better view of the animals. She saw that there was a rat clinging on to the back of the dog, always looking like it was about to fall off.
The werewolf had stopped and began to drink from the lake. The stag moved close to the dog, as if having a conversation with it. Unfortunately, the stag's back was turned and the werewolf took the opportunity to attack. Biting and scratching furiously, the wolf tore at the stag, but almost at once, the dog came to its help, and managed to push the werewolf away, and it became subdued, almost apologetic. During the fight between the dog and the werewolf, Lily noticed that the rat had either jumped or fallen off. She turned her attention back to the stag. It was obviously severely hurt. She could see the blood dripping off it's back and a few moments later, it had collapsed. Forgetting the werewolf completely, the dog bounded over to the stag, and began to nudge it gently with its nose. Throughout this, the werewolf stayed quiet. The dog began to whimper, still nudging the stag with its nose, and after a few more minutes, Lily saw the stag start moving and get back on its feet. After a quick "conversation" with the dog, the stag began to move up towards the castle. Moments later, she heard James enter his room, and she immediately went to see him. James looked a mess. His hair was even more untidy than usual. His robes were ripped, and he had a cut across his cheek. She went up to him and hugged him.
"James, where were you? I was so worried. What happened to you?"
"Calm down, Lils," he said, trying to flash a smile, but it came out as more of a grimace, "I just got into a spot of bother outside the Hog's Head. It's nothing to worry about,"
"But-,"
"Please, Lils. It's late; let's just get to sleep. Don't worry about me."
He brushed past her and went into the bathroom. Lily went back to her bedroom, but as she looked down at her hands, she saw something on them and almost fainted.
Blood. James' blood.
She went to the bathroom, to confront James about it, but then she remembered the last time she had seen James in the bathroom and paused. Tentatively, she opened the door and peered inside. She flushed slightly as she saw James with no shirt on but he then turned his back on her and she put her hand over her mouth to stop herself gasping. There were many open wounds all the way down James' back, and further, obviously scratch and bite marks, by something with four-finger claws, and sharp teeth. James began to get undressed further, so she left and returned to her room, drifting into an uneasy sleep.
XXXXXXXXX
When Lily awoke the next day, her mind flew at once to James, and the incidents of last night. She immediately headed towards James' room to see if he was ok. She opened the door slowly, in case he was still asleep, but then the sound of her own name made her stop.
"No way James. We can't tell Lily," she heard Sirius' voice saying
"Look, it's only a matter of time before she guesses. She's the smartest girl in school. If we tell her, then we can persuade her to keep quiet about it at the same time," James said back.
"That's if she doesn't run around the tower shouting because she's terrified of me," Remus said, bitterly.
"That won't happen. Like I said, she's smart, and she'll know it's not your fault,"
"Stop letting your personal feelings get in the way, James," Sirius almost shouted,
"Sirius calm down. The final call stays with Remus. If he says so, we say nothing,"
"Well, I'll think about it. I know she won't mind too much but it's just, what if she lets something slip?"
"Come off it Remus," said James laughing, "if Padfoot can keep a secret about this for so long I think we can trust Lily,"
"I don't know, Remus," came Peter's voice for the first time, "the fewer people know, the better, that's what you said. If we tell Lily, she'll probably tell her best mates, and they can't keep their mouths shut." Lily boiled with anger. Who was he to criticize her friends, when he had tried to steal one of his friends' girlfriends? Well, nearly girlfriend. James leapt to her defence,
"That's bullshit, Pete. She wouldn't tell, not for all the gold in Gringotts'. I don't get you, Pete. In the last few weeks you've taken any opportunity to criticise Lily," Peter muttered something inaudible, but Sirius stepped in,
"And you've taken any opportunity to defend her," James hesitated before recovering himself,
"Well, it's your decision, Remus."
Lily moved away from the door, her head spinning. What were they talking about? What did she have to do with it? She thought for a few minutes, several unlikely thoughts flashing through her mind. However, one idea did stick with her, and she took it down to breakfast.
XXXXXXXXXX
While she was eating breakfast, the Marauders came in, looking a lot quieter and more thoughtful than usual. After a few minutes in silence, Lily decided to break it,
"I saw the most incredible thing last night, you know?"
"Oh really?" said James, sounding apprehensive.
"Yeah, I saw a stag, a wolf and a dog all running in the grounds. And they- ,"
"And a rat," said Peter indignantly. The other Marauders all groaned.
"How did you know?" Lily asked, but they saw the look of realisation on her face.
"So, how do we get out of this?" James asked the others.
"We explain," said Remus shortly. Sirius scowled
"Remus," he said, warningly, "I don't know if that's a good idea. What if she-,"
"She knows already, Sirius. Come on; let's use James' room.
---James' room---
There was a tense silence as the Marauders and Lily entered James' room. Remus spoke first, in a strong voice,
"Well, Lily. We need to tell you this. As you've probably guessed already, I'm a werewolf,"
Lily stayed silent. She had guessed that, but in a way, it still came as a shock. Remus continued
"That's the reason I never fly at Hogwarts. When I was six, I was flying around in a clearing in a wood, when I fell off and my broom blew away. Well, I followed and I eventually found my broom, but when I turned round, I was face-to-face with a werewolf. Of course, I screamed, and then the wolf attacked."
Remus lifted up his shirt, and she saw a set of jagged teeth marks stretching from his naval to the side of his stomach.
"My dad came out and saved me before the wolf could kill me, but from then on, every month I became a complete monster. My parents had to lock me in the cellar until the moon waned. God, it was painful. There was no one else around so I bit and scratched myself, as well as smashing everything I could find."
Remus paused. This was obviously very hard to talk about it, and he seemed to be reliving the pain he had been describing.
"I gave up any hope of ever coming to Hogwarts, but then Dumbledore got in touch and told us I could still come and study here, if there were a few precautions. Like the Whomping Willow. There is a passage underneath that, which leads into the Shrieking Shack. That house has never been haunted, it was all me. Whenever 'my mother was ill', I was just in the Shrieking Shack, as a werewolf. I never left the school at all."
Lily was in shock now and unable to say anything. I seemed so unlikely, but everything now made sense. Remus carried on with his story,
"But by second year, these guys were getting suspicious. There were only so many members of family I could have on their deathbeds at one time. It was the lesson on Boggarts when they finally realised what was going on. Remember how scared I was when I saw mine? It was the moon, but fortunately, most people thought it was a crystal ball. But Sirius and James thought otherwise and checked the lunar chart. They saw that whenever I was away, it was a full moon. And when they asked me about it, I was terrified they would desert me. But they didn't. Sirius knew that a werewolf was only a danger to people, so he came up with an idea. The only good idea Sirius has ever thought of-,"
"Hey!"
"He suggested that they become Animagi. It took three years, but eventually, they pulled it off and now, every month, they come out of the castle under James' cloak, and keep me company."
"Mooney," said James, indicating Remus,
"Wormtail," Peter transformed into the rat and back again quickly,
"Padfoot," and Sirius disappeared to be replaced by the huge dog she had seen last night,
"And Prongs," he finished, as he transformed into the beautiful stag, and back again. But she noticed that the cuts from the last night were still visible.
"Well, I did suspect a lot, but I had no idea it was this deep. You're all amazing friends. And I swear that I won't tell anyone."
"Thanks a lot Lily," said Remus. He left the room, followed by Remus and Peter. Lily went to James and hugged him tightly,
"What's this for?" he asked, smiling,
"You're absolutely amazing, you know James,"
"No I'm not. Remus is. To have to live with that, but he never complains about it,"
"It's still wonderful. What you're doing for him. I can't believe it. I saw what happened last night, with those scratches down your back," she said, tracing one with her finger. He grimaced
"Sorry," she whispered, looking at him.
They were still holding each other, standing close together. They looked into each other's eyes and slowly moved their mouths towards each other. They were inches away. Lily's eyes closed, waiting for the feel of his lips on hers..
"James," from Peter's voice from the door he had just opened, "James, are you comi-, oh, right," he stopped mid-sentence. Even he knew what had just been about to happen. Lily and James quickly jumped apart. James threw a glare of pure evil, which made Peter shake, before replying
"Yeah, I'm coming," and he left the room quickly, his face red, and his expression looked as though he had just lost a million galleons. Lily stayed in the room, tears brimming in her eyes, before finally leaving his room and going to find her friends.
It was four days before the Christmas Ball. Lessons had finished a few days ago but most of the school, from fourth years upwards were staying at Hogwarts. Lily should have been ecstatic. After all, she was going to the ball with the guy she liked, and she needn't see her sister for at least a few months.
But she wasn't. At least, not at the moment. She had seen James leave the common room a couple of hours before, but it was now 1 o' clock and he hadn't returned. She knew he had been out far later than this many times before, but she couldn't help but be anxious. James had a very annoying habit of doing this. Once or twice a month, he and the Marauders would disappear for the night, and then be asleep for the next day's lessons. Last year and before, she wouldn't have given a damn, but now things were different.
She tried to go to sleep but couldn't. She got up to go and get a drink, but paused at the window. It was a wonderful night. The moon was full and the light reflected of the frost on the ground and of the lake. Then she saw something that made her mouth drop.
It was a beautiful but enormous stag, and it galloped elegantly along the grounds towards the lake. But that wasn't all she saw. Close behind the stag was a wolf, a werewolf in fact. This shocked and confused Lily. Despite what people said, she knew that there were no werewolves living in the forest. But that meant it had to be one of the students! Dumbledore would surely never let a werewolf into Hogwarts. While she thought this through, she noticed something else. It was a huge, shaggy, black dog. It looked a lot like a Grim, but Lily didn't believe in those things, and had never taken Divination. She took out her telescope and looked through it, for a better view of the animals. She saw that there was a rat clinging on to the back of the dog, always looking like it was about to fall off.
The werewolf had stopped and began to drink from the lake. The stag moved close to the dog, as if having a conversation with it. Unfortunately, the stag's back was turned and the werewolf took the opportunity to attack. Biting and scratching furiously, the wolf tore at the stag, but almost at once, the dog came to its help, and managed to push the werewolf away, and it became subdued, almost apologetic. During the fight between the dog and the werewolf, Lily noticed that the rat had either jumped or fallen off. She turned her attention back to the stag. It was obviously severely hurt. She could see the blood dripping off it's back and a few moments later, it had collapsed. Forgetting the werewolf completely, the dog bounded over to the stag, and began to nudge it gently with its nose. Throughout this, the werewolf stayed quiet. The dog began to whimper, still nudging the stag with its nose, and after a few more minutes, Lily saw the stag start moving and get back on its feet. After a quick "conversation" with the dog, the stag began to move up towards the castle. Moments later, she heard James enter his room, and she immediately went to see him. James looked a mess. His hair was even more untidy than usual. His robes were ripped, and he had a cut across his cheek. She went up to him and hugged him.
"James, where were you? I was so worried. What happened to you?"
"Calm down, Lils," he said, trying to flash a smile, but it came out as more of a grimace, "I just got into a spot of bother outside the Hog's Head. It's nothing to worry about,"
"But-,"
"Please, Lils. It's late; let's just get to sleep. Don't worry about me."
He brushed past her and went into the bathroom. Lily went back to her bedroom, but as she looked down at her hands, she saw something on them and almost fainted.
Blood. James' blood.
She went to the bathroom, to confront James about it, but then she remembered the last time she had seen James in the bathroom and paused. Tentatively, she opened the door and peered inside. She flushed slightly as she saw James with no shirt on but he then turned his back on her and she put her hand over her mouth to stop herself gasping. There were many open wounds all the way down James' back, and further, obviously scratch and bite marks, by something with four-finger claws, and sharp teeth. James began to get undressed further, so she left and returned to her room, drifting into an uneasy sleep.
XXXXXXXXX
When Lily awoke the next day, her mind flew at once to James, and the incidents of last night. She immediately headed towards James' room to see if he was ok. She opened the door slowly, in case he was still asleep, but then the sound of her own name made her stop.
"No way James. We can't tell Lily," she heard Sirius' voice saying
"Look, it's only a matter of time before she guesses. She's the smartest girl in school. If we tell her, then we can persuade her to keep quiet about it at the same time," James said back.
"That's if she doesn't run around the tower shouting because she's terrified of me," Remus said, bitterly.
"That won't happen. Like I said, she's smart, and she'll know it's not your fault,"
"Stop letting your personal feelings get in the way, James," Sirius almost shouted,
"Sirius calm down. The final call stays with Remus. If he says so, we say nothing,"
"Well, I'll think about it. I know she won't mind too much but it's just, what if she lets something slip?"
"Come off it Remus," said James laughing, "if Padfoot can keep a secret about this for so long I think we can trust Lily,"
"I don't know, Remus," came Peter's voice for the first time, "the fewer people know, the better, that's what you said. If we tell Lily, she'll probably tell her best mates, and they can't keep their mouths shut." Lily boiled with anger. Who was he to criticize her friends, when he had tried to steal one of his friends' girlfriends? Well, nearly girlfriend. James leapt to her defence,
"That's bullshit, Pete. She wouldn't tell, not for all the gold in Gringotts'. I don't get you, Pete. In the last few weeks you've taken any opportunity to criticise Lily," Peter muttered something inaudible, but Sirius stepped in,
"And you've taken any opportunity to defend her," James hesitated before recovering himself,
"Well, it's your decision, Remus."
Lily moved away from the door, her head spinning. What were they talking about? What did she have to do with it? She thought for a few minutes, several unlikely thoughts flashing through her mind. However, one idea did stick with her, and she took it down to breakfast.
XXXXXXXXXX
While she was eating breakfast, the Marauders came in, looking a lot quieter and more thoughtful than usual. After a few minutes in silence, Lily decided to break it,
"I saw the most incredible thing last night, you know?"
"Oh really?" said James, sounding apprehensive.
"Yeah, I saw a stag, a wolf and a dog all running in the grounds. And they- ,"
"And a rat," said Peter indignantly. The other Marauders all groaned.
"How did you know?" Lily asked, but they saw the look of realisation on her face.
"So, how do we get out of this?" James asked the others.
"We explain," said Remus shortly. Sirius scowled
"Remus," he said, warningly, "I don't know if that's a good idea. What if she-,"
"She knows already, Sirius. Come on; let's use James' room.
---James' room---
There was a tense silence as the Marauders and Lily entered James' room. Remus spoke first, in a strong voice,
"Well, Lily. We need to tell you this. As you've probably guessed already, I'm a werewolf,"
Lily stayed silent. She had guessed that, but in a way, it still came as a shock. Remus continued
"That's the reason I never fly at Hogwarts. When I was six, I was flying around in a clearing in a wood, when I fell off and my broom blew away. Well, I followed and I eventually found my broom, but when I turned round, I was face-to-face with a werewolf. Of course, I screamed, and then the wolf attacked."
Remus lifted up his shirt, and she saw a set of jagged teeth marks stretching from his naval to the side of his stomach.
"My dad came out and saved me before the wolf could kill me, but from then on, every month I became a complete monster. My parents had to lock me in the cellar until the moon waned. God, it was painful. There was no one else around so I bit and scratched myself, as well as smashing everything I could find."
Remus paused. This was obviously very hard to talk about it, and he seemed to be reliving the pain he had been describing.
"I gave up any hope of ever coming to Hogwarts, but then Dumbledore got in touch and told us I could still come and study here, if there were a few precautions. Like the Whomping Willow. There is a passage underneath that, which leads into the Shrieking Shack. That house has never been haunted, it was all me. Whenever 'my mother was ill', I was just in the Shrieking Shack, as a werewolf. I never left the school at all."
Lily was in shock now and unable to say anything. I seemed so unlikely, but everything now made sense. Remus carried on with his story,
"But by second year, these guys were getting suspicious. There were only so many members of family I could have on their deathbeds at one time. It was the lesson on Boggarts when they finally realised what was going on. Remember how scared I was when I saw mine? It was the moon, but fortunately, most people thought it was a crystal ball. But Sirius and James thought otherwise and checked the lunar chart. They saw that whenever I was away, it was a full moon. And when they asked me about it, I was terrified they would desert me. But they didn't. Sirius knew that a werewolf was only a danger to people, so he came up with an idea. The only good idea Sirius has ever thought of-,"
"Hey!"
"He suggested that they become Animagi. It took three years, but eventually, they pulled it off and now, every month, they come out of the castle under James' cloak, and keep me company."
"Mooney," said James, indicating Remus,
"Wormtail," Peter transformed into the rat and back again quickly,
"Padfoot," and Sirius disappeared to be replaced by the huge dog she had seen last night,
"And Prongs," he finished, as he transformed into the beautiful stag, and back again. But she noticed that the cuts from the last night were still visible.
"Well, I did suspect a lot, but I had no idea it was this deep. You're all amazing friends. And I swear that I won't tell anyone."
"Thanks a lot Lily," said Remus. He left the room, followed by Remus and Peter. Lily went to James and hugged him tightly,
"What's this for?" he asked, smiling,
"You're absolutely amazing, you know James,"
"No I'm not. Remus is. To have to live with that, but he never complains about it,"
"It's still wonderful. What you're doing for him. I can't believe it. I saw what happened last night, with those scratches down your back," she said, tracing one with her finger. He grimaced
"Sorry," she whispered, looking at him.
They were still holding each other, standing close together. They looked into each other's eyes and slowly moved their mouths towards each other. They were inches away. Lily's eyes closed, waiting for the feel of his lips on hers..
"James," from Peter's voice from the door he had just opened, "James, are you comi-, oh, right," he stopped mid-sentence. Even he knew what had just been about to happen. Lily and James quickly jumped apart. James threw a glare of pure evil, which made Peter shake, before replying
"Yeah, I'm coming," and he left the room quickly, his face red, and his expression looked as though he had just lost a million galleons. Lily stayed in the room, tears brimming in her eyes, before finally leaving his room and going to find her friends.