"So, the grounds tonight? What do you say Prongs?" Sirius asked James as they watched Peter transform into a rat.

"Yeah, I think Moony is getting a bit tired of Hogsmeade. Same smells, same sights." James said.

"Same with hogwarts." The small grey rat that had been Peter scrambled across the frozen ground and ran up the snow covered bark of a slightly fidgety whomping willow. The whomping willow stopped moving and Sirius walked forwards.

"I'll wait here and guard." James said. Sirius nodded and took the invisibility cloak.

"I'll put this in the usual place. Make sure there's no one around in about five minutes." Sirius told James as he disappeared down a small hole in the roots of the whomping willow. The small grey rat turned it's head towards James and followed Sirius. James sighed, he hated keeping this secret from Lily. He looked around the grounds to make sure no one was walking on the dark grounds. When he was sure there was no one about he began to transform into a magnificent looking stag. He shook his head as a stag and ran around a little. James, as Prongs, felt so much freer when in animal form. A few minutes later Wormtail gave a small squeak and Prongs turned to look. Wormtail ran up the trunk of the whomping willow and it froze again. Soon a large black dog came out and gave a happy bark

Hello again, Padfoot. Prongs thought.

Long time no see. came a reply. Prongs looked at Padfoot to see the dog give him a sort of grin. Prongs shook his head and walked a little way off as Padfoot was followed by a large beast, a werewolf, Moony. Moony gave a short howl and greeted Prongs like a friend. They started walking around the grounds. They headed to the forbidden forest where Padfoot and Moony playfully chased Wormtail. Prongs didn't join in the game. He normally would have but he had a strange uncomfortable feeling, like something was really wrong. They came to a small patch of forest that was a little distance away from Hagrid's hut. Padfoot was following an invisible trail in the frozen leaves at the edge of the forest and Moony was sitting on the snow staring lazily at the moon when a cold breeze blew over the snow caught Moony's attention. He started sniffing the air and his head shot to the left, away from Hagrid's hut. Prongs noticed this and stood up from his lying down position. Wormtail was resting in his antlers, he didn't really enjoy hanging around in the snow.

Moony let out a long howl and stood up. Padfoot came running over.

There's someone on the grounds, came an urgent thought in Prongs' head. Moony started running towards the Quidditch pitch, closely followed by Prongs and Padfoot. Wormtail, who couldn't run as fast was still nestled in Prongs' antlers.

Lily wiped her eyes with her cloak and pulled it tightly around her. She had been sitting on the bleachers of the Quidditch pitch remembering her parents. She stared at her watch, her vision was blurred from the tears but she still couldn't see her watch face.

"Lumos." She said weakly. A light came out of the end of her wand. It was nearly midnight, she should get back to the castle and start her usual patrol. She stood up and made her way down to the pitch. Lily looked at the deserted stands when she was on the pitch and thought about how amazing it must feel to play quidditch in front of the entire school. She had never really been interested in Quidditch but now she wandered what it must be like. She left the pitch and walked through the snow trail she had made earlier to go back to the castle. The light breeze that accompanied the snow blew her hair behind her and her cloak flapped lazily. She pulled her cloak tighter around her and stared at where she was going. Her hand was clamped tightly on her wand in case there really was a werewolf as April had said. Lily had no idea what she might do if she saw a werewolf, they had incredibly good hearing and a very good sense of smell.

Suddenly there came an eerie howl that pierced the air like a knife. Lily stopped dead, her eyes wide. Was that a werewolf howl or just a wolf howl? Lily turned to where she thought the howl had come from and stared into the dark.

"Lumos." She said again. The small circle of light danced across the snow and then it caught the gleaming eyes of a large wolf like creature. Lily jumped and took a step back and nearly fell in the snow. A werewolf. April was right. Suddenly the Werewolf was knocked to the ground by a large black dog. The dog tackled the werewolf and tried to pin it to the ground. Lily saw a large beautiful stag continue to run. A small grey rat hopped off it's antlers and joined the Dog. Lily started running as the stag ran faster.

"Oh merlin, I'm going to die" Lily muttered to herself. The stag over took her and stopped right in front of her, in her path. Lily stared at the stag and into it's eyes. She didn't know how she knew but she knew she had to get on the stag's back. She looked behind her to see the werewolf now, nearly beating the large black dog. Lily quickly grabbed an antler and pulled herself over the stag's back and the stag ran towards the Quidditch changing rooms. They were there in a few seconds. Lily jumped off.

"Alohamora" she said urgently pointing her wand at the lock. The door unlocked and Lily opened it. She turned to see the stag looking into the distance where the dog and Werewolf were still fighting.

"Thank you." Lily whispered. The stag turned to her and then before her very eyes started to change shape. Lily let out a scream but found a hand clamped over her mouth. She closed her eyes and tried to think of a jinx.

"Lily, it's me." Came a comforting voice. Lily opened her eyes to see James standing in front of her with his hand pressed against her mouth. He slowly removed his hand and put a finger to her lips. "Follow me." He breathed. Lily followed James to the Gryffindor changing room and James opened a locker that had J. Potter on it.

"Why are you-"

"Shush, point your wand here." James said pointing at the lock. Lily looked at her wand to see that it was still lit. She pointed it at the locked and James quickly unlocked the lock and pulled out a broomstick. He shut the locker door gently and grabbed Lily's hand as he took her out of the changing rooms through a back entrance. He quickly mounted his broom and pulled her on in front of him. He put his arms around her and held the handle tightly. There was a loud bark and James and Lily looked at where the dog was lying on the floor and the werewolf running towards them. James kicked the ground hard and the broomstick shot up in the air. The two rushed through the air quickly and soon they were several meters above the ground. Lily held onto James' body as best she could. As soon as they were in the air James made the broomstick hover in the air.

"What are you doing out on the grounds?" James asked angrily, there was a hint of worry in his voice but Lily wasn't listening. She turned on the broom holding onto James tightly, trying not to fall off.

"April was right, one of you is a Werewolf." Lily said scared. She looked at James and saw him differently. He had just changed from a stag into her boyfriend. "Merlin, you're an animagus" James looked at Lily and nodded sadly.

"I didn't want you to know." James said. "Moony was scared you were going to find out. He's going to give himself hell when he finds out." Lily stared at James. Their nicknames, Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail and Prongs. Lily thought for a moment, Remus was Moony.

"Remus?" Lily asked, "He's the werewolf?" James nodded. Lily stared at the ground where the werewolf was pacing. The dog was limping over to the werewolf and the rat was no where to be seen. "But he's so kind and gentle. He could never be the werewolf." Lily said looking back into James' eyes. James looked at her sadly.

"He was bitten when he was really young. He's been through this hell every year while he's been in Hogwarts. You know the Whomping willow? Well that was put there to protect Moony's hiding place. The shrieking shack" James told Lily.

"The Shrieking shack is haunted though."

"No, it's Moony." James said.

"Sirius and Peter? Are they animagi to?" Lily asked.

"Yes, Sirius is the dog and Peter is a rat but I'm not sure if you saw him."

"Take me back to the castle." Lily said. James looked like he wanted to explain more. "Now!" she screamed at him.

*    *    *    *

Lily stormed into the Gryffindor common room. There were only three people in the common room. Two fifth years who were trying to get their Astronomy charts correct and April. April was still up finishing off an essay that she hadn't gotten round to finishing. She still looked a little angry and looked up when Lily entered followed by James.

"Lily will you just listen to me." James said to her. He stopped by the sofa that April was sitting against. He was holding his broom in one hand. April and the two Fifth years turned to look at James when he said this

"No, you lied to me. You're not supposed to do that." Lily said spinning on her heel and facing James. "You're not supposed to keep secrets from me. It's like I don't even know you anymore James, did you expect me to be alright with your secret? Where you planning on telling me?" Lily asked, she looked quite hurt.

"No…yes" James said screwing up his eyes as he corrected himself. "I couldn't tell you because otherwise-"

"Why? I'm your girlfriend. I thought you loved me." Lily said crossing her arms.

"If you just let me explain." James said taking a few steps towards Lily and taking her hand. Lily jerked backwards, she was shaking from cold, anger and hurt.

"Stay away from me Potter." She said loudly. She turned and ran up the stairs to the dorm room. April watched the short exchange curiously. Did Lily just refer to James by his surname? This was not good.

"Shit." James muttered, he had obviously noticed as well.

"What happened?" April asked James as she got up slowly. James looked at the stairs to the girl's dorm. He walked over to it and when he went up a few steps the steps disappeared and turned into a stone slide. He fell to the floor in a pile

"James, what happened?" April said grabbing the back of his clothes as he was about to mount his broom.

"Nothing" James said.

"Sure." April said crossing her arms. "It looked a lot like nothing. Lily just gets angry with you all the time." James took another forlorn look up the slide from the girls dorm and turned to April.

"Tell her that I'm sorry." James said.

"I'm not saying anything for you." April said, "Unlike the other times you've pissed off Lily, this time you're dating. You've got to apologize yourself." April sounded very much like a mother scolding her teenage boy.

"What!" James said. He wasn't used to having a serious relationship, he had never had a relationship that didn't last more then a week.

"James" April said a lot quieter then she had been. "Is Sirius, Remus or Peter a werewolf?" she asked discretely so the fifth years couldn't hear them. James looked at April.

"Lily mentioned something about you saying that." James said. "If you must know it's Remus but don't tell anyone." James said, his voice was barely audible. "I've got to get back to Padfoot, he's trying to control Moony on his own." James threw his broomstick to April and headed out of the common room. "Look after that for me." James called back.