Disclaimer-The wonderful and talented J. K. Rowlings created, and therefore owns, Harry Potter and his world, not I.

Chapter 9- The Whomping Willow continued

Lily ran towards the Whomping Willow as fast as her legs would carry her. Even though she didn't know why or how, she knew that James' was in trouble, she felt compelled by some strange force to make sure he was okay.

Lily ran to the tunnel that the aggressive giant tree was guarding just as it unfroze. She made it to the tunnel before the tree could deal her any serious damage.

She stopped once she was inside the safety of the tunnel and bent over to catch her breath. Lily wasn't in very good shape and knew it. She wasn't athletic, like James.

After she caught her breath, Lily started the long trek to find out where James' had gone and how she could aid him. She could hear footsteps ahead of her and starting jogging to catch up to who she hoped was James.

As Lily ventured forward, the tunnel got darker and darker. She pulled her wand out of her jeans pocket and whispered, "Luminos." A ball of light instantly appeared on the tip of her wand and lit the tunnel around her. She could see a dark shape in front of her.

Lily could tell it was James instantly. His messy hair was sticking up in every which way because it was still wet. "James!" she called out and he turned instantly.

"Lily?" James called out questioningly.

Lily ran to where James was standing. "Oh James," she grabbed his hands. "Come on, let's get out of here. This place scares me!"

"I can't go," James pulled his hands out Lily's, "but you have to. Go find Sirius and tell him to get here now! Tell him it's urgent. Go now!"

"No," Lily declared, "I'm not leaving you here."

"Lily, go!" James said in a slightly harsher tone. "I don't want you to get hurt," his voice softened considerably when he said this.

Lily grabbed his hands in her own once again. "No. Something bad could happen to you, though I don't know what."

James thought about this for a moment. He knew she was right. There was no way he could stop Moony, even in stag form, from attacking the person that came in without some help. "All right," he replied after a few moments consideration. "Make sure you have your wand handy. This could get ugly." With that, they took off at full speed towards the werewolf and his victim.

Along the way, James told Lily everything relevant about the situation they were now in. He told her about Remus the werewolf and how he, Sirius, and Peter were illegal animagi so that she wouldn't freak out when she saw either. Much to James' surprise she didn't start lecturing him about breaking the rules. Maybe it was because she was too scared at the moment, or maybe it was because she thought it was admiral reason. James didn't know which

As they drew closer to the Shrieking Shack, a low vicious growl could be heard, along with a high-pitched scream. Lily tightened her grip on James' hand and they both ran faster.

A black shape came bolting from the direction of the Shrieking Shack and plowed Lily down. Lily gave a terrified scream as her wand flew out of her hand and landed somewhere on the ground of the now dark tunnel. She got on her hands and knees and frantically searched for her wand.

James heard a low snarl coming at him and switched to stag form. He lowered his head and galloped towards where the snarl was coming from. His antlers connected with a solid form, throwing it backwards for the moment.

Lily smiled and stood up when her hand grasped the familiar wooden rod of her wand. "Luminos!" she shouted and looked over towards where the sounds of a battle could be heard. Lily gasped and stared at the beautiful chestnut-colored stag holding back a werewolf, whom she assumed to be Remus.

Lily was staring at the stag's beauty, but was shaken out of it when she realized the werewolf was coming straight at her. She panicked and did the first thing that came to mind. "Petrificus Totalus!" The spell hit its target dead-on, instantly petrifying the werewolf and therefore causing him to collapse on the ground.

James changed back to human form and looked at the wolf for moment. He saw Moony's eyes looking around frantically and then ran over to Lily and touched her cheek with his hand. "You're bleeding," he muttered, his voice full of concern.

Lily smiled up at him, "I'm fine."

James nodded and looked around trying to find the person they had just rescued. "Damn, he must've escaped while we were, uh, occupied." He had a pretty good idea of who the person was, but didn't know how he had known to freeze the branches like that.

Lily looked James over. He had a deep gash on his bicep. "James!" she exclaimed and ripped part of the sleeve of her shirt off. "You're hurt! Sit down!"

James obeyed and sat down while Lily kneeled down. "Can you hold this?" she asked handing him her lit wand.

He took her wand and grinned. "Lily Evans fussing over me, James Potter! Never thought I'd live to see this day."

Lily ripped the sleeve into two strips and dabbed at James' cut with one. She took the other strip and wrapped it around James' upper arm. "There, that should do it until Madam Pomfrey can have a look at it," Lily muttered, but didn't take her hand off of his arm.

James noticed this and grinned. He grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her beside him. "So why exactly did you follow me here? Didn't want anything to happen to me, eh?" He gave Lily a cocky grin.

Lily frowned and turned her head so she was looking into his eyes, their faces only inches apart. "You are the most arrogant bi-"

She was cut off by James who put his hand on the back of her head and pulled her into a kiss. They both felt the electricity when their lips met for the first time. They had both kissed other people before, but these fireworks were a new thing for both of them.

Lily pulled away consciously and asked, "Did you feel that?"

James just nodded and leaned in to kiss Lily again when he heard someone, Sirius he presumed, calling his name.

"James! James! Where are you, mate?"

"We're down here!" James called back.

A few moments later, Peter came into view with Snape behind him. Sirius was trailing at the end of the procession with his wand pointed at Snape's back.

"Lookie what I foundie, Jamsie!" Sirius exclaimed and pointed at Snape. "Old Snivelly wants to join our very posh party this evening!"

James stared at Snape. He had known it was him all along, but how did he know about the tree? "As pleased as I am that you could join us on this very fine evening, Snivellus, I have but one question. How did you know about the Shrieking Shack?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, Potter," Snape sneered.

"Actually I would."

Snape opened his mouth to reply, but a very anxious looking Sirius stopped him. "Prongs buddy, is that really necessary?"

"Not at the moment. First things first," James said and stood up. Once up, he held a hand out for Lily to grab onto, which she did gratefully, and hauled her to her feet. "Wormtail?"

Peter, who was staring at his feet, jerked his head up when he heard his name. "Yeah."

"Go fetch Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall," James commanded and then added, "and perhaps Madam Pomfrey," as an afterthought.

Peter nodded and ran down the tunnel to do his task.

Sirius muttered something that caused ropes to bind Snape's legs and arms together.

"Now Padfoot," James said and turned towards Sirius, "how did Snape find out about the Shrieking Shack?"

"I don't know," Sirius replied a little too quickly.

"Yes you do," James replied, reading through Sirius' lie.

"Okay, fine. It was all me," Sirius revealed red-handed because he knew James could tell he was lying. "I sent him a letter earlier telling him how to get in."

"Why?" was all James could manage.

"Because he got me two months detention!" Sirius defended.

"No," Lily snapped, "you got yourself two months detention. And it's probably because you're the one who caused this," Lily pointed at Snape's new attire.

Sirius glared at Lily. He knew she had a point, but he didn't want to admit. He had freely hexed Snape's clothes, and got the punishment he deserved.

James blew up in Sirius' face. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO REMUS? YOU KNOW HOW HE FEELS ABOUT THE WOLF! IF SNAPE HAD DIED, HE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO LIVE WITH HIMSELF!"

Sirius looked James' in the eye and softly said, "I know."

"Then why'd you do it!" James asked in a less harsh tone.

Lily intervened before Sirius could reply. "Uh, guys," she said in a shaky tone and pointed over at the werewolf who was now stirring when James and Sirius looked at her.

"Run!" James shouted and grabbed Lily's hand. They didn't want to be there when Remus was able to move.

Sirius pointed his wand at Snape, who was still bound in ropes, and muttered, "Leviosa." Snape levitated towards the entrance of the tunnel in front of them. Sirius, James, and Lily ran behind him.

Sirius, who had been in the lead, hit the knob that caused the tree's branches to freeze and ran through, still levitating Snape. James and Lily followed suit and ran after him. They made it through right in time because the branches came back to life and started swinging again.

James, Lily, and Sirius sat in silence for a few moments, trying to catch their breath.

"Damn," Sirius muttered once had caught his breath. He muttered the counter-charm to reverse the ropes binding Snape.

"Prongs! Padfoot!" a voice they all assumed to be Peter called.

"Over here," James called back.

Peter ran breathless over to where James' voice was. "Professor," he huffed, "Dumbledore says to wait here. And," he took a long breath, "that he'll be here ASAP."

"Thanks Wormtail," Sirius replied.

After a few moments, a loud bang sounded in the air and a golden feather was floating down at them with a letter attached to it. Lily grabbed the letter and feather and read it aloud. "The feather is a port key that'll transport you to my office. It'll activate within two minutes of you receiving this letter."

"Grab on everyone," James said because he was the first to realize what the feather meant first.

Everyone did what he said and there were instantly transported to Dumbledore's office.

A/N- I don't know how to spell all those spells like Petrificus Totalus. And I don't know if the effects of PT wear off or not, but in my story they do! lol. Now Lily and Snape know about Remus! That's where I was going with ch7 and James having to cancel their date. That's my evil scheme, if it really is evil.

After I finished this chapter, which amazingly took less than a day (wow, its amazing what the 80s can do for you-lol) I decided that the name The Whomping Willow fit it as well. So ta-da, you get a continued chapter!

tiffyrose- I will keep on writing because I am the best! jklol.

MissMrprk- :) Thanks for reviewing!

Pranks Are So Seriously Padfoot- I guess I didn't exactly lie to you. Because now James and Lily will have no secrets between them, or will they? And no, I guess I am not the queen of all things evil. Voldemort and Hitler beat me to that title, and plus who wants to be known as the Queen of Evil? lol.

insanelysexyjennifer- ummm....yeah. You're not insanely sexy, I am! Remember? ;) Good girl, just make sure to read the rest!

-ilovecaptainjacks