A/N: This is a really long chapter. Thanks to all reviewers...

Chapter Eight: Fifth Year and Werewolves

James' POV

Well, our days at Vernon's were pretty cool. We pulled two pranks, one where Vernon's hair turned pink in the shower, and another where Petunia turned into a watermelon. It was pretty funny. You just had to be there to like it.

Anyway, we were entering our fifth year at Hogwarts and I wouldn't be seeing Lily too much over the summer. Oh well. I've got Melissa Hefson from Ravenclaw spending the summer at my house. She's pretty cute (and she keeps complimenting me). She likes my hair, my face, my...I'll stop there (I'm not supposed to be complimenting myself in this story). Anyway, she really fed me about myself. I think that's why Lily didn't like me anymore. She said I was being a "wee bit conceited" and she stopped spending time with me. When she does, she constantly talks about Sirius. God that is annoying. My crush on Renée disappeared when Remus told us all about what he thinks of her. I could easily have taken Renée before Remus, but I can find another girl just as easily, while Remus isn't so outgoing. When he makes up his mind, he makes up his mind. And there's no changing it.

My new crush is Lily. I hope she doesn't mind that. She's starting to hate everything I do. It really bugs me, but obviously I don't show it. Why would I? I've decided that I want to play a prank on her, to pay her back for all the things she says to me. Only a mild prank...I think I'll ask Sirius.

Sirius' POV

James asked me for a prank to pull on Lily. A mild one. I'm like, whoa! James likes Lily, why would he prank her? But James' mind works in weird ways so I decided to think about one for her.

Lily's POV

I don't know what happened to James over the summer! Maybe it was that stupid Melissa Hefson's fault. She's really knows how to kiss up to people. The thing that annoys me the most is that he ruffles his hair around me! I think he's just doing it to annoy me!

James' POV

I've decided not to prank Lily. But just then Sirius comes up to me with a huge smile on his face. "Got one!" he says.

"Got what?" I asked, completely confused.

"A prank, bludgerhead."

Oh right. I'd forgotten that I'd asked him. Look at my memory.

"Okay," stated Sirius. "This is what we'll do. When Lily first—"

"No, stop Sirius."

"Why? Okay, so when Lily first—"

"No, I mean, I don't want to prank her."

"Prank who? Anyway, so when Lily first—"

"No!" Sirius can be so stupid sometimes. "I don't want to prank Lily!"

"Who said we were pranking Lily?" asked Sirius stupidly.

"Well, who's your prank for then?"

"Oh! It's for Renée! Remus asked me to come up with a prank for Renée since she turned his face blue."

"So why are you telling me?"

"I dunno!"

"WELL?"

"Well what?"

"Why don't you go tell Remus?"

"Great idea! I don't know why I didn't think of that before! You're smart! Is this why you're the leader of the Marauders?"

"Just go tell Remus your little prank. And it better not have anything to get Lily hurt. I don't want to prank her."

"Sure."

And he went to talk to Remus who was doing Defense Against the Dark Arts homework.

I've decided to tell a few things about us, the Marauders. Well, Remus. He's a werewolf. For the first couple of years at Hogwarts, Remus just kept disappearing once a month. He just told us lame excuses like "My auntie is ill!" or "My cousin is having a baby!" or some other excuse.

They got lamer by the month. Sometimes he couldn't keep his excuses straight. Anyway, we realized that everytime Remus disappeared, it was the time of the full moon. Well, what else? He was a werewolf. But why didn't Remus tell us? That's besides the point. We decided that Remus shouldn't have to go through his transformations alone. So we decided to become Animagi. Werewolves are only dangerous to humans. We tried to become Animagi since third year. It hasn't worked yet. But I have a feeling that the next time we try, it will work.

Now about Sirius. He comes from a family of total Slytherins, except for his cousin Andromeda and his Uncle Alphard; they were in Gryffindor. But Sirius has to cope with this Slytherin thing everyday. His brother, Regulus, was sorted this year into Slytherin (what a surprise) and Sirius has had a harder time than usual. He sent me a letter saying that he wouldn't be surprised if he spent next summer with me. I told him that it's fine and my parents would understand perfectly.

Peter. He's a wart. Just...a wart. That isn't to say that he's not a nice Slytherin. He isn't mean to people and he doesn't hex everyone (like me, I just have fun).

Now about me. I like Lily. She has beautiful emerald green eyes (emerald green is my new favorite color) and fiery red hair, just like her temper. The only problem is...she hates me. Suddenly. She doesn't like anything I do. She called me "an arrogant bullying prat who hexes everyone in his line of vision." Do I seem like that sort of person? No, but if I ever intend to win Lily, I'll have to change. ("Like that's ever going to happen," as Sirius kindly put it.)

So on Sunday night we sneaked off and became Animagi. I won't go into the gruesome details, but Sirius was a great, shaggy black dog, Peter was a squeamish rat, and I was a stag, but I don't know how I looked. Sirius decided that we should come up with names for ourselves. Like nicknames. So Remus's Moony, Sirius is Padfoot, Peter is Wormtail, and I'm Prongs. Cool names. Totally Sirius.

Sirius' POV

One day, Snivellus (A/N: Just for the people who don't know...Snivellus is what the Marauders called Snape) came up to me as I was walking. The other three Marauders had taken Moony to the Hospital Wing.

"Snivellus," I snarled.

"Well, I've just seen your Mudblood girlfriend, Black."

"You better not have hurt her."

"Actually I did. She wasn't prepared."

"What did you do?!"

"I disfigured her."

"Oh. My. GOD! She's gonna get her revenge I hope you know!"

"I know, and I'm prepared for it."

How dare that (bad name) hurt Lily?! She didn't do anything to him. All she ever did was stand up for him. And now he disfigured her. We've been disfigured before and it wasn't good. Lily will definitely have a hard time. I'm going to do something to him.

I ran up to him and he said, "Why were you taking Lupin to the Hospital Wing? Where does he go every month?"

"You really want to know?" I answered nastily. "Well, just go up to the Whomping Willow tomorrow night and take a long stick and prod the knot on the trunk. Then the whole tree will freeze and you run in through the hole and to the end of the passageway to find out." Maybe Moony will finish him off for us.

Lily's POV

I was completely disfigured. My leg was where my arm should be and my nose was where my ear should be and my eye was where my other arm should be and my body was all confusing. Luckily I could still talk. "RENÉE! EMILY! HELP ME!"

I was calling for a while, "ANYBODY! I KINDA NEED HELP HERE!" and then I heard someone coming up to me. I couldn't see properly at all so I just shut my eyes when they lifted me.

"Whoa Lily!" It was James. I could recognize that voice anywhere. "What happened?"

"I'll explain later," I rushed on quickly. "Just—just get me to the Hospital Wing fast!"

And he rushed over there and Madam Perry fixed me up quickly. She said all was fine and I could leave. On my way out, I spotted Remus on one of the beds. He was sleeping. I decided not to ask.

I barely walked out of the Hospital Wing when I bumped into someone. It was James again. He ran his fingers through his hair as soon as he saw me. That really irritates me. I tried to shove my way around him but he held my shoulders and asked, "How did you get disfigured?"

"Let go of me!" I shouted. He let me go immeadiately.

"So who disfigured you?" James asked earnestly.

"It was Snape."

James' POV

"It was Snape," said Lily.

"SNAPE?" I shouted. What did Lily do to him that made him curse her? All she ever did was stand up for him! How could he? Just then, someone tapped me on the shoulder. Guess who it was. I turned around abrubtly.

It was Sirius. "Don't worry Jamesie," he stated with a smirk. "I've already taken care of it."

I was about to ask what he did, but McGonagall came up and sent us to our dormitory. When we reached, I completely forgot about Snape.

"We're going to test our map," whispered Sirius, so only I could hear. I nodded. I was excited. This was our final test of the Marauder's Map. It was going to have all the secret passages and all of those. Also, it would show people moving around as little dots. Even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak. Tomorrow the Marauders minus Remus would test out this map by using it to get to the Whomping Willow.

It'd been four months since we became Animagi. (It was January.) We loved visiting Remus. Just recently we decided to go into Hogsmeade with him. Tomorrow would be our test. I went to bed eagerly awaiting the next day.

Lily's POV

Professor Dumbledore called a Prefects' meeting today. (Yesterday was the day I was disfigured.) Remus wouldn't be coming. (Remus and I had been chosen as Prefects). It was a Saturday, exactly one month before Valentine's Day. The Head Boy, Curtis MacMillan, from Hufflepuff and the Head Girl, Rose Janifer (Emily's sister), from Gryffindor, stood up. Curtis had brown hair that was cut short, and Rose had blonde hair and blue eyes like Emily.

Rose spoke first. "On Valentine's Day, four Saturdays from now, we'll be having a ball for fourth years and up."

"We will be having a Hogsmeade trip just the week before," added Curtis. "It will be a normal Hogsmeade trip for the third years, but it will be a chance to get anything you need if you're fourth year and up."

"Prefects will announce it to their house today," added Rose. "Oh, and by the way, Prefects will have to open up the ball, so for example, Lily, you'll open up with Remus but then you'd go dance with your real dance partner. Like, I would have to dance with Curtis to open up, but then I'd go to my soon-to-be-date Shawn Rosenthall." All the girls except me giggled. Apparently Shawn Rosenthall was a good-looking guy (I'd say so too) but he's a useless pretty boy in my opinion.

Curtis turned to me with a slight frown. "Be sure to notify Remus." I nodded.

All the Prefects left. I headed straight to the Hospital Wing, but Remus wasn't there. Whatever.

So I headed back to the Gryffindor tower. It wasn't so packed. Emily and Renée were chatting with James and Sirius. I stood up by the fireplace. I called attention.

"I have an announcement," I stated. "Four weeks from today, we will be having a Valentine's Day ball for fourth years and up." The third years groaned. "One week before that, we will have a trip to Hogsmeade." At this, the third years cheered up. "Also, the Prefects will open the ball and then dance with their regular dates." I glanced at Sirius with a look that plainly said, "Meet me ASAP." He nodded and I stepped down.

He walked up to me. "Are you alright? I heard you were disfigured."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I wanted to get to the point. "Um...will you come with me to the ball? Please? Just as a friend?" I added.

He considered it for a moment. "Sure!"

I smiled. But before I could say anything, he said, "Why?"

What was I supposed to say? "Just because..." I began. "Does there have to be a reason to take a friend to a ball?" He looked flattered for a moment, and then frightened.

"No," he said. "There doesn't have to be a reason. But I need to go."

"Can I come with you? Wherever you're going?"

"Um...sure."

I followed him to James, Renée, and Emily. "Where's Remus?" I asked curiously. No one answered. Emily and Renée were looking around as though they had just noticed that he was not there. James and Sirius were keeping suspiciously quiet. Obviously they knew where Remus was, but I wasn't about to put them on-the-spot. Suddenly James looked at me. "Will you go to the ball with me Lily?" He ran his fingers through his hair and gave me a Potter grin. That annoys me so much!

"No," I stated simply.

"Why?" he asked with a frown.

"I'm going with someone else."

"Already?"

"Yeah."

"Who?"

"Someone."

"Who?"

"Why do you care?"

"Just tell me who!" James yelled. Sirius watched fearfully.

"Sirius," I stated with a grin.

"WHAT?" James couldn't believe it. That's what he gets for being an egotistical prat. "When did he ask you?"

"He didn't ask me!" I snapped. "I asked him! And he agreed! Why are you such a moron all the time?"

"I'm not a moron! Sirius knows that he had no right to go to the ball with you—"

"He has as much right as you have!"

"He promised me he wouldn't date you!"

"He's not dating me, you idiot! Stop acting so selfish! I'm just taking him as a friend so just—"

"No! Sirius promised he wouldn't date you!"

"He's not dating me! I just asked him to the ball! As a friend! Stop being a selfish, conceited pain-in-the-neck!" That's exactly what James was acting like.

The whole Common Room was looking at us. This was our first big fight. Yeah, we used to argue about little things but this...this was uncommon.

James looked at me. "You taking him as a friend?"

"Is there an echo in here? YES!"

"Then he has as much right as me to go to the ball with you," James whispered.

"That's what I've been saying." I looked at Renée and Emily. Neither of them had ever seen me so angry. Both looked equally frightened.

"Come on Renée, Emily," I called. I walked up with them to the girls' dormitory.

James' POV

I didn't know that Lily was taking Sirius as a friend. Sirius was looking at me. "What? Does the tree eat water?" I asked him. I didn't make any sense. He dragged me to the boys' dormitory.

"Lily asked me right after the announcement," Sirius explained. "Like she wanted to ask me before anybody else did."

"But why did you agree?" I asked him.

"Well..."

I didn't want to get in a fight with Sirius. We never had one before. So I kept my cool, even though he knew how bad I was feeling. But I shouldn't feel bad. I get rejected by girls all the time. It was just Lily. She was so beautiful. Well, I can't show it.

"I'm sorry," said Sirius suddenly. I forgave him. The moment was ruined by Arthur Weasley walking in.

"Where've you been?" I demanded.

"I was just...well..." he stammered.

"Was it Molly?" I interrupted.

He looked at me like "how did you know?" and nodded.

"HA!" yelled Sirius rolling around on the floor. "What did she do?" he asked suddenly.

"She...she..."

"Did you kiss?" I asked. I had kissed many girls before, but none of them felt right, so I stopped with the kissing in fourth year. I was saving my best kiss for the right girl (Lily).

"Um...yeah." He looked at me like "you're psychic!" and I gave him a look saying "I know I am." Sirius was laughing hysterically, rolling on the floor.

"It's not that funny Sirius," I called to him.

"I know!" shrieked Sirius. "I was just thinking of a Muggle joke Petunia told me when we first met!"

"Yeah?" said Arthur.

"Yeah! Why did the chicken cross the road?"

Me and Arthur looked stumped.

Then Sirius yelled, "TO GET TO THE OTHER SIDE!" and he was roaring with laughter, sprawled on the floor.

That wasn't that funny. Where do Muggles come up with these things? Suddenly, I remembered that we had Quidditch practice. "C'mon Sirius! Quidditch!" I was Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and I played the position of Seeker. Sirius played Chaser. He was actually pretty good. The other Chasers were Renée Morgan and Rita Skeeter. The Keeper was a fourth year called Jason Wood and he was the best Keeper I had ever seen. The Beaters were Gideon and Fabian Prewett, sixth year twins, and Molly Prewett' brothers. (Molly was the girl that Arthur is dating.) Both Gideon and Fabian had vivid red hair as well. They were awesome Beaters. The Gryffindor Quidditch team has won the Quidditch cup for three years straight.

The rest of the team was already there and so all I had to do was release the Snitch and Bludgers and Quaffle and we had an awesome training session.

Emily's POV

I have never seen Lily so upset. Renée and I tried to calm her down, but she still kept ranting on about Potter. "Why is that Potter always in my face? Why is he a moron? Why does he like me? I probably wouldn't be so mad at him if he stopped acting like such an egotistical prat who hexes everyone in his line of vision. Especially Snape! What did he do to them? What is Potter's problem!"

"Cool it!" I advised. She seemed to cool down instantly. She told me once that I'm like the only person that is able to calm her down. I didn't think that it would come in handy. Suddenly Renée got up and walked out saying, "Quidditch practice."

James' POV

Lily and the ball were driven out of my mind by Sirius reminding me about the full moon. "Oh yeah...." We collected Peter from the Slytherin dungeons, crawled down to the Entrance Hall and checked the Marauder's Map. There was a little dot hurrying across the grounds. It was Snivellus! What was he doing? "Sirius," I choked, "what's Snape doing?"

"Oh, that git?" Sirius said carelessly. "I told him how to get to Remus. He was interested. I told you I got payback for Lily."

"You WHAT?" I roared. Sirius was the git in this story. I threw off the Invisibility Cloak and grabbed the Marauder's Map before either could stop me. I chased after Snape. I saw the Whomping Willow in the distance. It was whacking its arms everywhere. Suddenly, it stopped. I was getting closer. I could make out Snape entering the little hole in the willow. I ran as fast as I could. Snape couldn't see. He wasn't allowed to see. To know. I had to stop him. He could get hurt, or bitten. I ran like my life depended on it. Finally I reached and I entered the Whomping Willow.

I still ran until I saw Snape walking towards the door. I could hear Remus howling, clawing, scratching...I yelled to Snape, "No!" because he was about to turn the knob. I grabbed him away but I knew he had seen...Remus was coming. I levitated Snape before he could protest and I ran back to the castle. I checked the Marauder's Map. Remus was stuck in the Whomping Willow; he hadn't got out of the Shrieking Shack. I checked the Marauder's Map again, more slowly in the castle. I levitated Snape to Dumbledore's office on the second floor. Snape was flailing in every direction.

"Stop your yapping before I transfigure you into a teapot," I snapped.

I ran to Dumbledore's office. There was a stone gargoyle, no doubt concealing the entrance, but there was no need for me to figure out the password, because Dumbledore, Sirius, and Peter were standing, waiting for me.

Dumbledore recited the password to the stone gargoyle ("sugar quill!") and led the four of us inside (Snape was still levitated yelling for me to let him down). He sat down at his chair and motioned for us to sit too. I dropped Snape and he fell on his bottom on a chair.

"Mr. Snape, what did you see at the end of the tunnel?" asked Dumbledore calmly.

"I saw—I saw...a WEREWOLF!" yelled Snape. "Remus Lupin is a WEREWOLF!"

"Now, Mr. Snape. I need to impress upon you the consequences of this. You must not tell anybody. You must—not—tell—a—soul. Now, you will receive two weeks of detention."

Snape mouthed wordlessly at Dumbledore. But Dumbledore was looking at me. "I must thank you for going into that tunnel and bringing out Mr. Snape. The consequences would have been disastrous if Mr. Lupin had gotten to Mr. Snape first."

"You're welcome," I said.

Dumbledore turned to Sirius with a look of disappointment on his face, the usual twinkle in his eyes was gone. Sirius looked to his shoes. "Mr. Black, I hope you understand the consequences of your actions. You have done some thing extremely serious—" the twinkle appeared for a moment and then disappeared, "—and Mr. Snape could have been killed. You shall have to receive some punishment. You shall be suspended from school for two weeks. And you shall lose 150 points from Gryffindor."

Sirius looked like he didn't expect anything less. But I can't believe he would do something as dangerous as tell Snape how to get into the Whomping Willow.

"Mr. Snape, remember...do—not—tell—a—soul."

And with that, Dumbledore dismissed us from his office.

Lily's POV

I heard that Snape almost got killed for something Sirius told him to do. I almost decided to not go to the ball with him, as punishment, but then I heard that he had been suspended for two weeks. Poor guy.

And Emily told me that Renée heard from Remus who had it from James that Sirius only told Snape because Snape disfigured me. So I figured...why not go with him?

Sirius came back a day before the Hogsmeade trip. We were all so excited to see him again, we gave him a small welcoming party.

A/N: Did you like that chapter? Personally, I thought it wasn't that great of an ending. Oh well. Please read and review.