Sometime during his last few years in school, James finally found out how to win Lily's love. But something else happened during this time: James saved the life of another schoolmate, putting his own life in danger and risking expulsion. Perhaps to win Lily's love, James was driven to desperate measures.
The faint glow of the castle lit the grounds in a yellow hue, those who ventured outside cast stark blue shadows that preceded them wherever they wandered. The moon was full, the owls silent at roost.
James was breathing heavily, sprinting from the castle's most secret passageways into the open, cold darkness. He was pushing himself, his muscles burned – but he had to move faster before anything irreversible happened.
"Sirius!" he shouted, running further. There was no answer.
"Snape!" he tried, again greeted with silence. "Severus!"
Fearing it might be too late, he ran faster towards the tree. He paused a few yards from its base and glanced behind him.
Lily was on her way; she had been with James when Sirius had come to gloat in a half-drunken, gleeful stupor. James couldn't explain what was about to happen; he left with barely a word.
"Snape."
A small part of him wanted to wait until she arrived so that he could demonstrate his humanity. It was a younger, immature part of him – one that also felt that saving Snape's life was a waste of time. But with that, he pressed on. It didn't matter what Lily thought if someone was killed... and if he got expelled.
"Lumos," he whispered, using a long stick to navigate his way safely into the Whomping Willow. "Severus!"
Still no answer.
More fervently he ran through the tunnel, trying not to imagine what grotesqueries could greet him further down... but would it really be a tragedy?
"Snape! It's James!"
Could he take Lupin on his own? A stag was no match alone with a werewolf. And the chances of Sirius coming to his senses any time soon was out of the question entirely. He'd be on his own - and he was free either to risk exposing his animagus form to Snape, or to take on a werewolf with nothing but his wand. Of course, there was always the slight chance that Snape hadn't gotten there yet...
"Snape!"
James was getting closer and closer to the shrieking shack and as he did, his anxiety grew more rapidly. This could not only be the death of Snape, but his, too.
Something rustled in front of him.
"Snape?"
"Who is that?" James heard someone speak ahead. Both waited to reveal themselves; James' wand pointlessly shone on the ground.
"Snape, you have to get out of here," James warned, watching that his wand didn't shed any light on himself. Snape must have lost his wand, because surely he'd have had it trained on James by now.
"Potter?" Snape asked, fumbling in the dark, "You're not covering for him this time..."
"You won't like it!" James said, putting his light on Severus, "Come on." There was a brief pause; Snape immediately soured.
"You think I'll take orders from you?" he spat, "Expelliarmus!"
In an instant James' wand was in the air – in another, he was tackling Snape to get it back. After a brief scuffle they both pulled away; James sporting his wand; Severus, a split lip. Both had their wands pointed at each other.
"I'm serious, Snape."
"Sirius," Snape sneered, "was much more helpful."
They both froze as they heard another sound.
"What's that?" Snape asked, fearing the look on James' face. James stood motionless.
"Lumos," he whispered, pointing his re-lighted wand beyond Snape and into the darkness. They both remained motionless for a few seconds until the sound of panting became obvious; it was then that Snape began shivering with fear.
"Don't move," James mouthed, his hand falling slightly.
Suddenly very many things happened at once: Snape began to run (James had to jump out of the way just so he wouldn't be clobbered), someone shouted from outside the tunnel, and Lupin (no longer a human) lunged towards James.
"Impedimenta!" James shouted at his friend, leaping backwards. Lupin staggered for a moment, dazed, and James took his chance to escape. He was almost back out of the tunnel when he heard Lily's voice.
"James?" she shouted into the dark. She couldn't have been more than twenty meters away; her voice was close, loud, almost pleading.
"Stupid girl," he heard Snape say outside. Almost out of the tunnel. James was about to shout back something very rude when Lupin caught up to him.
There was a brief tussle between them but there was no question as to who was going to come out the better; in a few moments James found himself both with the wind knocked out of him and a tear in his arm. Should he try to transfigure? Certainly he couldn't-
"James!" Lily shouted again, this time more of a shriek. Lupin paused for a moment, considering his options. James realized what was about to happen and tried to regain Lupin's attention, but again it was no use. James watched detachedly, attempting to breathe as Lupin stood and walked out of the tunnel towards Lily. For the moment, Snape seemed to have disappeared.
Finally James sucked in a breath of air and pulled himself from the ground, his bleeding arm shaking under his own weight. Outside he heard a brief scream; Lily.
He was up in a second; already transfiguring, preparing to go after Lupin as Prongs. Right now his identity didn't matter – although he risked exposure from Lily, would that really be so bad after all? Surely she'd appreciate his help more than she'd scorn his ways as long as he saved her life...
There was another scream, this time more desperate. James bounded out of the tunnel at Lupin who stood only a few meters away. The Whomping Willow was strangely quiet now – but James didn't notice. He ran at Lupin, head lowered, forcing him to retreat from Lily lest he be impaled. James watched as she retreated back to the castle, but quickly reverted his attention back to Lupin who was now coming back for another attack.
James knew that he couldn't fight Lupin head on – he instead turned and ran for the forbidden forest. Here it seemed even darker; though he knew this forest well a sense of foreboding prevented him from enjoying its solitary beauty. Someone could die tonight. He was only slightly beyond the treeline before he heard the heavy shuffling of Lupin behind him; yet it would only take a few more seconds until –
There was more pounding of hooves and James knew that the centaurs were on their way; soon both he and Lupin were surrounded by them, all looking somewhat aggravated. Lupin paused, knowing the danger. It looked like the centaurs were at a loss as to how to proceed – it wasn't common for them to find a buck (though even at first glance they could tell this was no ordinary animal) and a werewolf in their forest, let alone together.
"Shall we kill them both?" One asked, spear at his hand. Some nodded, others held blank stares. Lupin was feeling cornered and James was considering making a break for it.
"Shall we first ask them?" A younger one asked. A few of the older centaurs gave him a stern look and he retreated to the back of the group. Suddenly Lupin lunged forward at the retreating centaur and was immediately pierced through the leg with a spear. James watched with dismay as the centaurs prepared to throw again. Lupin would be killed in an instant. James could imagine the funeral: quiet, melancholy - and it would be all his fault for leading him into the forest! He wished he could scream out to them to stop, but it was impossible. Lupin stared at his injured leg for a moment, then screamed in a mixture of pain and anger.
Instead James gathered all the strength he could and returned to where Lupin stood, screening his body from the centaurs and standing in defiance. Of course, the second he realized his actions he immediately regretted them; not only would the centaurs disregard him, but Lupin would probably attack him from behind, as well. He stood for a moment, waiting.
There was a sound behind him and James instantly took the cue to run; the centaurs were caught off guard by the movement and Lupin was not sure who to chase. After a few seconds James realized his error and turned back, but the forest looked uninviting from here. He grazed his horns against a tree, hoping that it would draw Lupin's attention away from the centaurs who, by now, were probably hoping to end him there.
There was a bark; James looked around in recognition. But how could Sirius have come back so early? Certainly...- James' gloom darkened. There were only two possibilities for Sirius' appearance: either he was still drunk (which was even more of a danger to all three of the marauders) or someone had cast a disenchantment charm on him, meaning that their secret was out. At the moment, he wasn't sure which was worse. He looked in the direction of the sound and sure enough, Sirius had arrived. The centaurs, momentarily confused by the addition of another creature into their forest, didn't stop Lupin when he changed direction to chase after his friends.
Soon they could only hear the soft thump of their feet on the now dewy grass; they only thing they could see was a black tree line against the even darker sky. Now they knew what to do; they were back in their element. It was already early in the morning, but by three they had successfully re-imprisoned Lupin for what little time of the night was left. It had been a disastrous night, but they were alive – at least for now.
A/N – First of all, comments are appreciated. This is my first HP fic and though I've written extensively in other stories, I'm no great writer by ANY stretch of the imagination. I'm not sure whether to continue this; I guess feedback will be mainly how I'd judge that. So leave me a message if you'd like to hear more about this – there's more formed in my head, it just needs to be written. Thanks guys!!