Falling to the Darkness

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: We're doing this for the third time. Actually this is her first time, while this is my first time, because this is the first chapter I'm actually helping her with. :D But anyways, we do not own any of the characters…Right. Moving on.

Merlin. Three days without Moony. Why did this have to happen to me? I always thought that he would be there to support me, but it's like he's a different person from what I thought he was. I don't think I'll survive without him.

He was the one who was supposed to be sensible, but why won't he listen?

I was on my broom, just sitting. Too much had happened in the last few days, without any thoughts. Maybe it was a mistake to visit Lily that night. Maybe I shouldn't have risked everything I've lived for.

I looked up. The moon was swelled up, filling the grounds with her glow. From far off, I heard a wolf howl in agony. It was the first time since we became Animagi that Remus was all alone on full moon. The Marauders were split for the first time since we swore under the new moon in first year. Split.

This was getting out of hand. Lily was cutting, Remus hates me, and it's like Sirius and Peter have disappeared from my life. And yet I still held on to them. Why?

Why did life have to be so torturous to me? Indeed, it was Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail, not looking their best for once.

Their clothes were all rumpled. They all looked tired, as if they were dragged out of bed at this ungodly hour, but looks of shock were etched on their handsome faces.

Sirius kept looking back and forth from Lily to me. His chocolate eyes that made so many girls melt, were filled with none other then distress. I could literally hear his thoughts. Why the hell was James apologizing to Evans, the bitch? He was bare-chested, showing all his muscles that were earned under Qudditch, and he wore his infamous rubber-ducky boxers.

Peter raised an eyebrow, and I knew he was wondering if we consorting. Obviously, we weren't but they didn't know anything. I could tell that he was the one who woke everyone up, partly because he was holding the Marauder's Map in one hand. Dirty-blonde hair was shaken up and light blue eyes were glittering.

And last of all, Remus. He was a different story. While the others looked shocked beyond words, he was pale with anger. Of all the Marauders, he was hit the hardest when Lily supposedly "betrayed him", as Lily was closest to him.

She was the one who first realized that he was a werewolf. I still remember wondering what was going with them, when I saw her holding him, against the scenery. For weeks, they seemed separate from our group.

And then Padfoot and I figured it out as well. We told Peter, and we decided to confront him.

.:.Flashback.:.

"Remus, can we talk to you?" James said awkwardly. Lily raised her eyebrow, as she saw the suave James almost stutter.

Remus was immersed in his thoughts. He didn't notice the obvious sign, and nodded. Peter, Sirius, and James led him and Lily to the dorm, which they soundproofed.

"What are you-" Lily said.

"Shut up! Remus, we know you're a werewolf." Sirius bluntly said. James and Peter glared at him. Remus turned paler, if even possible, as the full moon was today. His shoulders slumped, as his messy sandy-blonde hair seemed to droop.

"What are you waiting for? Run! It's a werewolf! Hide!" Remus bitterly said. For some reason, none of the Marauders seemed to even make a move to run. Even Peter stood staunch-still.

"Remus, we don't hate you. The Remus we know, is not a werewolf that will be running around tonight. You're not the werewolf. You're Remus, one of my best friends" James insisted.

"So now you feel bad for me. Well you know what? I don't want your pity. Give it to those homeless people out in the world. But I do not need to know that you feel bad for me."

Silence hung in the air. James and Sirius continually opened and closed their mouths, but no words came out. Lily looked troubled, but she had so far said nothing. Peter stared on, observing our every motion.

Lily spoke with caution, "Remus, it's not that we pity you. We wouldn't care if you were a giant (Sirius opened his mouth before Peter clamped his hand over it). None of us pity you. We want to help you. And blocking everyone out isn't helping you at all."

"What can you do to help? There's no cure. No way out of this curse that's been laden on me. There's nothing you can do."

Peter spoke suddenly, "Yes we can. Aren't you lonely out there, going yourself? What if you had fellow animals to go with you? Didn't you hear what McGonagall said last lesson? We can turn into animals, by becoming Animagi. We can help you Remus. And we want to."

.:.End Flashback.:.

Lily was the one who helped the most, being the smartest one of us all. And not only that, she didn't have Quidditch weighing on her shoulders. Without her help, it would have taken more than two years to make the transformation.

Lily chose to become one as well. Her form was a peregrine falcon.

She supported him, when he felt horrible about hurting us. Whenever he just wanted to cry, Lily was there for him. She was the best person in his life. And then we found out she was just using us for popularity.

Boy was he mad.

Here he was now, seeing his best friend with someone who was equal to Voldemort in his life. I knew I was dead.

Eventually after a long moment of awkward and tense silence, Remus stomped off with Peter following behind, trying to calm Remus down, with Sirius following.

Lily was shocked beyond words. She seemed to try to say something, but nothing except for a croak came out. I swept out of the girl's bathroom, not before seeing one small tear find its way on her pale face.

The common room was empty, except for Sirius. He sat on his favorite chair, just thinking, as he watched me come from the passage. I knew he was shocked by what we did, and he knew it was wrong. But he had to know the real story.

The only sounds in the room were the crackling crunch of the fire and our slow breathing. Strained conversation started and slowed.

"James, what the hell were you thinking? Why were you apologizing to Evans?"

"You don't understand. Sar was lying. Lily was telling the truth."

"You're starting to believe all her lies. And why did you suddenly start? Just a few weeks ago, you were the mastermind of all our pranks against her, and now you're telling me that you think she's telling the truth?"

"It wasn't Lily I heard it from. It was Athens"

"How so?"

"I heard her talking with Sneed, about how she just used us. They didn't see me, and from the way they were talking, I know she wasn't lying."

"But what was going on when Evans started treating us as if she owned us? That's just too big of a coincidence. And how she told us that she never had any friends before she met us? All those clues match us to what Athens said. Do you know what was going on when she continually went out without telling us where she was?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I was stupid enough to believe Athens. Remember how there were all those rumors about how she would do anything to take Lily's place? I shouldn't have believed her."

"It's not your fault. We were already suspicious about her before it."

"I know she'll never forgive us all. My mistake caused her endless pranks for 3 years. It's all my fault."

"Stop picking up that stupid habit of blaming yourself. We didn't know."

"Are you feeling at least a little bad?"

"What do you think?"

"No?"

"As much as Snape claims I'm a heartless bastard, I'm not. I feel bad. But I can't get it in my head that all her lies were actually the truth. It's going to take a while for us to remend this. And what about Remus? He hated her more than Peter, you, and I combined."

"I'll try to tell Moony. Wormtail should understand."

"He isn't going to listen to you. Remember how he almost told Dumbledore that she was an Animagi before we knocked some sense into him? If anything, he'll pretend as if you were never his friend. Peter will probably side with him, because Remus is probably pouring accusations into his head right now."

"But they have to know the truth. And what side are you on anyway?"

"James, you're my best pal. I won't let you down. But I think that Remus isn't going to speak with you for a long time. He won't get over it. From the way you were acting, it seems as if, almost as if you've turned traitor on him. And we all know how much he hates people who do that."

"I know, but I need Remus. He'll always be my sensible best-friend."

"Maybe he won't always be."

The next day was agony, to say the least.

People were shocked that the previously known inseparable Marauders were in fact, separated. I knew Remus was urged to say something to the rest of the people, so I would be shunned. But I suppose that it was Marauders's honor that kept him from doing so.

I'm assuming that Padfoot told Wormtail what was going on, because all they did, was talk quietly and point at us. When I tried to speak to them, all they would say to me was that they weren't getting involved. They probably thought that Remus and I would finally get to our sense at realize that we were fighting a girl. Of all the fights we had, it was never about a girl.

Moony was a different story. All he would do was flat-out ignore me or even when I got too persistent, would insult me. There was really nothing that I could do about it. In classes, he would take notes studiously and didn't even look in my direction.

Later, back in the common room, I decided to try the dorm to at least take a shower. When I sneaked in, Remus glared at me, but otherwise showed no sign that one of his best friends just came in. After I changed and had a shower, I decided try to talk to him.

Mistake number one.

"Remus. Answer me. We aren't going to get anywhere if you keep on ignoring me. You have to know the truth." I tried. The thing about Remus, is that he can no more hide his emotions from his face, than change into a fairy. His eyebrows raised at the truth part.

Finally, after me standing there for who knows how long, he spoke in an ice cold voice.

"What Potter?" He spat. It wasn't the tone that bothered me, it was what he said. Potter? Only Snape calls me Potter. And Malfoy. And the rest of Slytherin.

"Since when are we on last name terms?"

"Since you decided to go apologize to Evans."

"I can tell you why! She never used us!"

"I heard Sirius and Peter talking about what you did. I know it isn't true. They're not even sure if you're not making this us."

"It's true! If we got Athens here with some truth potion, then you can question her!"

"I will not waste my time on some fabricated words coming from you."

"The Remus I knew would have listened to me! The Remus I knew was sensible! But were you ever the Remus I knew?"

"Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. But as long as you still think that Evans never used us, we are not friends. I'm not friends with some person that believes that that bitch was telling the truth."

He promptly left the room. Somehow, I wasn't surprised that he had pushed me off.

That night, I gained the courage to sleep in the dorm. All night, I was twisting and turning. I was seeing my sister die again. I heard Lily scream that she never used us. And I felt Remus's anger upon me.

I woke up to Saturday, also a Hogsmeade weekend. For once, I had no date, so I was free to go on my own. Moony was already out the door before I had even gotten out of my bed. Somehow I was happy that there wasn't going to be an argument in the morning.

A few hours later, I found myself in Hogsmeade, while it was snowing. Christmas was coming in about a month, but I was in no mood for shopping.

God. Christmas. I had always shared the joyful day with the Marauders, laughing and talking. But it didn't seem as if I would ever be able to have that this year. We wouldn't have our traditional prank on Snape or planning that out in our dorm. Maybe we wouldn't even have a snowball war.

I was already feeling the effects of having no friends. Even one day with them was enough to make me feel incredibly lonesome. At least Sirius had Peter. I sighed.

When I went to Three Broomsticks, I found that the whole pub was filled with friends or couples having fun. And for the first time in years, I sat alone, just watching them enjoy everything. I had never felt so lonesome in my life.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. Tonight was full moon. We were letting Moony down. As much as he hated me right now, I couldn't just let him handle his night alone. Remus needed us to help him.

I wondered what Padfoot and Wormtail were going to do. Maybe they would help him, because Moony wasn't mad at them.

As if on cue, they both came in, whispering darkly, which was so unlike their natural personalities. When they ordered two Butterbeers, I decided to make my move.

Sirius shook his head and pointed out the door. So he thought I was going to talk about something private.

When we all went to a forest clearing, he said, "Prongs, I don't want to hear anything about-"

"What is Moony going to do tonight without us?" I interrupted.

Wormtail and Padfoot paled. Obviously, I wasn't the only one who had forgotten about it. They looked unsure.

Peter decided, "I guess we'll go, right Sirius?"

"But what about me?"

"James, unless you want to be murdered by Moony, I wouldn't suggest you go."

"He won't remember who I am in werewolf form. I need to help him. Please? He needs me."

"He'll kill you James."

"He's still my friend."

"Apologizes will not mean anything to a dead Prongs."

"I will not die! Just let me come to help him!"

"No! He needs us. Don't come today."

"I will."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

How did Sirius and I always get in these arguments?

Suddenly, I noticed a couple of footprints in the snow, that did not belong to us. Someone was listening to us. Padfoot followed my gaze and pulled off the Invisibility Cloak off Remus.

What was he doing, spying on us? Did he not trust us? He looked very disgruntled at being caught.

He spoke softly, "You guys do not need to pity me. If you come tonight, I'll kill you all."

So that's how I'm on my broom tonight, just seeing dawn come. The Shrieking Shack was literally shaking with the howls. Remus was probably going to feel his worst tonight, with no one to help him take him mind off his torture.

A broom came up to mine, and Sirius told me, "Lily's in there."

.:.Authors Note.:.

Woah. I cannot believe that I got 6 reviews. Thank you so much!

Just to clarify something for last chapter that I forgot to put in. The tapestry is blocking the view of the passage way, so therefore, James could not and does not see the Marauders until he opens up the tapestry. And also, they did not hear very much. But they do know that he was apologizing. Since I'm too lazy to change that chapter, please note this. Does it make sense? No, but at least I tried.

And by the way, stupid EvanescentLife refused to help. Jerk. Please throw flames at her. And she'll be writing the next chapter, because I'll personally kick her ass if she doesn't. Her writing style is very different from mine, so expect the next chapter to be much happier. I think.

InsomniacBoarder: Remus will finally realize everything sometime. Maybe next chapter or two more. Sirius and Peter know the truth, but it is kinda hard to apologize to Lily for pranking her for three years for no reason whatsoever. Thanks for the review!

ZombieGurl98:Thanks. I'm a really slow writer because I'm too lazy to work on a story for more than thirty minutes at a time. And I think this chapter is pretty long, by my standards at least. Hope you liked this one!

Amour-Lily Did you like this chapter? I thought this chapter was one of the best I've written. I'm a very angsty writer.

Xuanii:Angst is wonderful. The other writer disagrees with me though. I'm trying to make this story more original, but I think that it's heading in a typical direction. But I do like cliché things.

RandomFrizzHead: Does everyone think this story is sad? I thought I was doing a horrible job with attempting to even make is sad. Thanks for the review!

Whereowhere-is-my-rabbit: Thanks. Did you know that it's literally impossible for me to write anything but angst? My teachers didn't seem to happy about it though.

I feel so proud. Both my reviewers from the last chapter actually did it again. Because of that, I would like to dedicate this chapter to both of them. I know it's kinda late, but thanks Amour-Lily and whereowhere-is-my-rabbit!

I can hope, at least, that we'll have the next chapter up in a few weeks. Since both of us write slow, don't expect it to come up quickly. Also, I assure you that it will be shorter then this chapter.

Please Review!