Disclaimer: I only own the plot!
A/N: I'm back from my vacation! Sorry for the inconvenience! This is the third time I've downloaded this chapter! The 2 times before, they were uploaded in one big block, I don't know why! I'm sorry!
On to the story:
Chapter 15: A near miss
Lily lay on her bed thinking and staring blankly out the window at the forbidden forest. Red, orange, green and yellow leaves were falling and scattering on the browning grass. The sun had already set. According to the watch on Lily's wrist, it was about 5:00 in the morning.
'I can't believe this,' Lily thought, 'I don't know if I should feel good or bad!'
Lily continued so stare out at the grounds.
'I mean, I'm so happy that I'm Head Girl, but...James is Head Boy!'
Her thoughts stopped abruptly when she saw 3 figures walking along the grounds.
'What,' She thought, 'are THEY doing?'
Lily wanted to get a closer look. She ran out of her dormitory and into the common room.
"I'm Head Girl!" Lily said to herself, trying to find an excuse for spying, "I should see if they're up to no good!"
Lily pushed open the doors into the Hogwarts grounds. She spotted them instantly, heading towards the whomping willow. Lily ran out to the greenhouses, so she could get a better view.
***
James and Sirius peered around, waiting for Peter to transform and touch the knot in the tree to freeze it.
"I hope nobody sees us. I wish I didn't lose my invisibility cloak," James said.
"Don't worry, It's almost night, it's too dark for anyone to see us," Sirius said.
"Exactly why we have to hurry," James chanted with a ghostly look on his face, "By this time, he would have transformed already."
"Well, it IS Filch's fault. If only he didn't patrol the Gryffindor corridor, like, every minute!" Sirius argued.
Lily watched in horror as Peter disappeared and a rat appeared, literally.
'Oh My! What just happened?' Lily thought desperately, 'Where did he go?'
She gazed at the boys again. One by one, they slipped down a hole near the tree's roots. Heart pounding, Lily grasped her wand.
'I MUST know what they're doing!"
She jogged down to the whomping willow where the boys once stood. Defrosted, the tree started to lash at her. Lily backed away cautiously, trying to spot the knot that froze the tree. She frantically spotted it and dogged the tree's branches. She reached out her hand and jabbed the knot. With much ease, Lily pressed the knot, the tree stopped abruptly. Suddenly, a great hole appeared near the roots of the tree. She slid down into it. When Lily reached the bottom of the slide, she peered around. She was in a tunnel; much like the one James had taken her in, but this on had a shallow ceiling. Lily heard a noise to her right.
'They must have gone this way,' Lily thought to herself as she started to walk along the dark tunnel, 'How I would LOVE to catch Potter red-handed in whatever he's doing...maybe he would get expelled...but I shouldn't get my hopes up...'
Lily bumped her head hard on the top of the tunnel.
"Ouch! Lumos." she muttered as her wand lit up.
About a few feet away, there was a set of crumbling stairs, covered in moss. Lily walked quietly up them and extinguished her wand right before she grasped the hatched above her.
The trapdoor swung open with a loud creak. Hoping nobody heard her, she looked around. In the room around her, there was moth-eaten drapery, dusty floorboards and furniture with chunks missing from it. There was an eerie silence in the room.
"What is this place and why would James, Sirius, and Peter be here? Why isn't Remus with them? What happened to that rat? What could they be plan-" Lily's thoughts were cut off by a loud crash and a howling noise in the room above.
Lily climbed out of the tunnel and up onto the rotting floor. To her left, was another staircase, it was not covered with moss this time, but various claw marks and scratches. She tiptoed up the stairs as quietly as possible, she wanted to scare the boys and catch them red-handed.
When she got to the top of the stairs, she was at the end of a dark, dreary hallway. There was a door ajar at the end. Lily made her way to the door and peered inside. To Lily's horror, she did not see 3 boys.
A rat, similar to the one she saw outside, was scampering around a distressed 4-poster bed, a panting dog was chasing the rat, and a stag and a wolf were standing near the shadows. Lily did a double take. What seemed to be a wolf came out of the shadows. The wolf had a large drooling mouth, with long sharp teeth. His bushy brow was almost covering his red-glaring eyes, and his big paws were clawing the ground.
It was a werewolf. (A/N: Like you didn't already know!)
Lily's mind went blank with fear. A flood of shock jolted through her body like electricity. The werewolf must have smelt her fear, because within a flash, he had pounced through the door and pinned her to the ground. His mouth, full of drool, inched closer and closer to Lily's face. Her body trembled under the weight of the animal's body. The werewolf's jaw opened, as if to take a bit out of Lily's skin.
BAM!
The werewolf was flung across the hallway by the stag. The werewolf recovered easily, got up and charged towards the stag. The stag reared its hind legs and pushed off the wolf. Lily was still in shock to take in what was happening in front of her.
A voice was pounding in her head. 'RUN!' it said. So she did.
Lily bolted downstairs, just as the werewolf slashed the stag in the head. The stag stammered backwards into the wall, blinded by blood. From behind him, the great black dog started to take action and tackle the werewolf. Lily ran downstairs, flung open the trap door, and jumped down mossy staircase and into the secret passageway. From behind Lily, there was another crash; the werewolf appeared at the top of the trap door, blocking the light.
Lily ran as fast as her legs could carry her and tried to find her wand in her pocket, but with no luck. The werewolf was gaining speed. Lily threw herself up the slide onto the Hogwarts ground, panting heavily. She backed up slowly as the werewolf emerged from the hole beside the whomping willow.
The stag, still bloody by battle, jumped out of the hole, after the werewolf. The werewolf was preparing to pounce, but the stag was faster. The stag made to jump on Lily to get her out of the way, just as the werewolf took off from the ground to attack Lily. The stag was flying towards Lily.
She shut her eyes, preparing for the pain.
Instead of pain, Lily was gently was rolled out of the way. Lily's ears could hear the pounding of the wolf hitting the grass a few feet away. She lay there, for a moment, too scared to open her eyes. Something heavy was resting on her...
'The stag?' she thought, thinking weakly of what was on top of her.
Her eyes flashed open. What lay on her was not the stag, but James Potter. A bolt of butterflies shot up through her stomach and through the rest of her body. But then she noticed something...there were gashes across his forehead and torso, badly bleeding, just like the stags...
Her mind went blank...her eyes were growing heavy...she was so tired.
She turned her head to what was beside her. The werewolf had disappeared. Remus Lupin lay curled up; his hands wrapped around his knees. He was white and sweaty. Sirius Black was standing over him, attempting to lift Remus up, Peter Pettigrew was watching from a distance.
The sun was peaking over the horizon. Its rays glared into Lily's eyes. Her eyelids were getting heavy. Her last memory of the night was James's face. Lily fainted from exhaustion in James's arms.
***
Lily woke with a start. Her head was pounding with thoughts that flooded through her brain like rushing water.
'What happened?' Lily asked herself, searching her brain for information.
She fluttered her eyes open. It took a while for things to come into view clearly. She was lying in a bed, at the end of the Hospital Wing. Through the curtains, Lily could see Madam Pomfrey's back was turned away from her. The curtain was pulled around Lily's bed.
"Oh good! You're awake," Madam Pomfrey said, turning to Lily, "Drink this."
She handed Lily a goblet full of a steaming blue liquid. Lily stared at it cautiously.
"Don't be silly! It will make you feel a lot better! Oh yes...Professor Dumbledore has asked to see you, against my wishes of course. What you need is rest, not a lecture," Madam Pomfrey argued.
Lily gagged as she gulped down the blue mixture. Madam Pomfrey walked out of sight, but returned a few minutes later to check on Lily. "What you need is some sun!" She said and drew back the curtains to the nearby window, revealing light and walked away.
Lily viewed her surroundings. There were curtains pulled around 2 other beds in the wing, other than that, nobody else was there. She wanted to know more, her mind was craving information.
'Where did the werewolf go? What happened to Remus.... what happened to James?'
A bolt of worry shocked through Lily's body.
'What about James?' She thought again. But Professor Dumbledore interrupted her thoughts again.
'Ms. Evans! I'm so glad to see that you're awake!" He said, while sitting down on the chair beside her bed.
"Professor!" Lily said eagerly, "Why do you need to see me?"
"Lily, I think you already know the answer to that!"
"I do?"
"We really must talk about the incident last night. Hmmm...Let's start from the beginning.
"Seven years ago, a family came to me. They wanted their son to attend to Hogwarts, yet there was a minor draw back to enrolling their son. You see Lily, not all people are what they seem to be," Professor Dumbledore began,
"Deep inside you Lily, I know you know what I'm about to tell you. I cannot say this in public. I know we are in the Hospital wing, but even the walls have ears.
What I can tell you, is to remember the last night's event. Remember not everyone is as they seem and think of the state of you fellow friends," He ended.
Dumbledore stood up and walked towards the door.
"Professor, I don't understa-" Lily began. But she was cut off my Dumbledore, again.
"And remember, Lily, no matter what is on the outside, it is what is on the inside that counts," and with those words, he left.
Lily sat in her bed, thinking madly of what Dumbledore meant. She was searching her brain furiously for clues and answers. It was like something clicked inside her brain, like someone was feeding information in her head.
'I understand!' She thought. 'Remus is a werewolf, THE werewolf. It is the only explanation of how the wolf disappeared and Remus appeared so quickly! It is what is on the inside that counts. Remus is a werewolf, but he is the nicest guy I know...
'...He enrolled in Hogwarts, the same year the whomping willow was planted. He was the draw back of enrolling. I understand now! Once a month, he freezes the willow to get into the passageway that leads into a house. That explains his disappearances! But which house? It was really grungy in there...which house is like that in Hogsmead? The shrieking shack! It all makes sense now! Poor Remus...
'...JAMES!' she thought urgently, 'How did James get there? How did he get hurt? Only the stag got hurt. James can't be the stag! That's impossible...or is it? How could he change into a stag? He's an animagus! James? No! I don't care if he's Head Boy, he can't be smart enough to transform into a stag. It's illegal! But why would James care if it's illegal? But there is no other explanation!'
Lily threw the covers off her legs, to reveal white pajamas. She quietly rushed out of the hospital wing. Trying not to make much noise; she would never hear the end of it if Madam Pomfrey caught her.
'I need to see Dumbledore!' She thought desperately. She flung open a few doors and rushed out into the hall. She was expecting to go to his office to find him, but no. Dumbledore was patiently waiting across the hall from the Hospital wing. His eyes were twinkling.
"Professor! Professor," She began, but what would she say? Lily wanted to ask so many questions. She understood, but she wanted details! "I know!"
'I know?' she thought, 'Is that all I really want to say? I need to know more! Will Dumbledore understand me?'
"I knew you would find out quickly! And I must beg you not to tell anyone his secret. If this ever was let slip, Mr. Lupin would be in grave danger." He warned.
"But I also know about James," She added.
"Ahhh...yes, James. Well, I suggest that you talk to him about his secret. Good Afternoon, Ms. Evans. Please get your rest." He suggested, and walked off.
Lily stood in corridor. After a while of pointless thinking, Lily turned and snuck back into the Hospital Wing.
***
A/N: Hey I'm back. I'm so sorry this took such a long time! I got back from my vacation a week ago; it just took me a while to get settled in. Please review! No flames! Thanks, Yours Truly, -orligrl
PS—this is the 3rd time I've downloaded this chapter. It keeps turning up on the site as one big block! I'm so sorry! If this continues, copy and paste it onto word and read it. It will be easier! Thanks, and sorry!
A/N: I'm back from my vacation! Sorry for the inconvenience! This is the third time I've downloaded this chapter! The 2 times before, they were uploaded in one big block, I don't know why! I'm sorry!
On to the story:
Chapter 15: A near miss
Lily lay on her bed thinking and staring blankly out the window at the forbidden forest. Red, orange, green and yellow leaves were falling and scattering on the browning grass. The sun had already set. According to the watch on Lily's wrist, it was about 5:00 in the morning.
'I can't believe this,' Lily thought, 'I don't know if I should feel good or bad!'
Lily continued so stare out at the grounds.
'I mean, I'm so happy that I'm Head Girl, but...James is Head Boy!'
Her thoughts stopped abruptly when she saw 3 figures walking along the grounds.
'What,' She thought, 'are THEY doing?'
Lily wanted to get a closer look. She ran out of her dormitory and into the common room.
"I'm Head Girl!" Lily said to herself, trying to find an excuse for spying, "I should see if they're up to no good!"
Lily pushed open the doors into the Hogwarts grounds. She spotted them instantly, heading towards the whomping willow. Lily ran out to the greenhouses, so she could get a better view.
***
James and Sirius peered around, waiting for Peter to transform and touch the knot in the tree to freeze it.
"I hope nobody sees us. I wish I didn't lose my invisibility cloak," James said.
"Don't worry, It's almost night, it's too dark for anyone to see us," Sirius said.
"Exactly why we have to hurry," James chanted with a ghostly look on his face, "By this time, he would have transformed already."
"Well, it IS Filch's fault. If only he didn't patrol the Gryffindor corridor, like, every minute!" Sirius argued.
Lily watched in horror as Peter disappeared and a rat appeared, literally.
'Oh My! What just happened?' Lily thought desperately, 'Where did he go?'
She gazed at the boys again. One by one, they slipped down a hole near the tree's roots. Heart pounding, Lily grasped her wand.
'I MUST know what they're doing!"
She jogged down to the whomping willow where the boys once stood. Defrosted, the tree started to lash at her. Lily backed away cautiously, trying to spot the knot that froze the tree. She frantically spotted it and dogged the tree's branches. She reached out her hand and jabbed the knot. With much ease, Lily pressed the knot, the tree stopped abruptly. Suddenly, a great hole appeared near the roots of the tree. She slid down into it. When Lily reached the bottom of the slide, she peered around. She was in a tunnel; much like the one James had taken her in, but this on had a shallow ceiling. Lily heard a noise to her right.
'They must have gone this way,' Lily thought to herself as she started to walk along the dark tunnel, 'How I would LOVE to catch Potter red-handed in whatever he's doing...maybe he would get expelled...but I shouldn't get my hopes up...'
Lily bumped her head hard on the top of the tunnel.
"Ouch! Lumos." she muttered as her wand lit up.
About a few feet away, there was a set of crumbling stairs, covered in moss. Lily walked quietly up them and extinguished her wand right before she grasped the hatched above her.
The trapdoor swung open with a loud creak. Hoping nobody heard her, she looked around. In the room around her, there was moth-eaten drapery, dusty floorboards and furniture with chunks missing from it. There was an eerie silence in the room.
"What is this place and why would James, Sirius, and Peter be here? Why isn't Remus with them? What happened to that rat? What could they be plan-" Lily's thoughts were cut off by a loud crash and a howling noise in the room above.
Lily climbed out of the tunnel and up onto the rotting floor. To her left, was another staircase, it was not covered with moss this time, but various claw marks and scratches. She tiptoed up the stairs as quietly as possible, she wanted to scare the boys and catch them red-handed.
When she got to the top of the stairs, she was at the end of a dark, dreary hallway. There was a door ajar at the end. Lily made her way to the door and peered inside. To Lily's horror, she did not see 3 boys.
A rat, similar to the one she saw outside, was scampering around a distressed 4-poster bed, a panting dog was chasing the rat, and a stag and a wolf were standing near the shadows. Lily did a double take. What seemed to be a wolf came out of the shadows. The wolf had a large drooling mouth, with long sharp teeth. His bushy brow was almost covering his red-glaring eyes, and his big paws were clawing the ground.
It was a werewolf. (A/N: Like you didn't already know!)
Lily's mind went blank with fear. A flood of shock jolted through her body like electricity. The werewolf must have smelt her fear, because within a flash, he had pounced through the door and pinned her to the ground. His mouth, full of drool, inched closer and closer to Lily's face. Her body trembled under the weight of the animal's body. The werewolf's jaw opened, as if to take a bit out of Lily's skin.
BAM!
The werewolf was flung across the hallway by the stag. The werewolf recovered easily, got up and charged towards the stag. The stag reared its hind legs and pushed off the wolf. Lily was still in shock to take in what was happening in front of her.
A voice was pounding in her head. 'RUN!' it said. So she did.
Lily bolted downstairs, just as the werewolf slashed the stag in the head. The stag stammered backwards into the wall, blinded by blood. From behind him, the great black dog started to take action and tackle the werewolf. Lily ran downstairs, flung open the trap door, and jumped down mossy staircase and into the secret passageway. From behind Lily, there was another crash; the werewolf appeared at the top of the trap door, blocking the light.
Lily ran as fast as her legs could carry her and tried to find her wand in her pocket, but with no luck. The werewolf was gaining speed. Lily threw herself up the slide onto the Hogwarts ground, panting heavily. She backed up slowly as the werewolf emerged from the hole beside the whomping willow.
The stag, still bloody by battle, jumped out of the hole, after the werewolf. The werewolf was preparing to pounce, but the stag was faster. The stag made to jump on Lily to get her out of the way, just as the werewolf took off from the ground to attack Lily. The stag was flying towards Lily.
She shut her eyes, preparing for the pain.
Instead of pain, Lily was gently was rolled out of the way. Lily's ears could hear the pounding of the wolf hitting the grass a few feet away. She lay there, for a moment, too scared to open her eyes. Something heavy was resting on her...
'The stag?' she thought, thinking weakly of what was on top of her.
Her eyes flashed open. What lay on her was not the stag, but James Potter. A bolt of butterflies shot up through her stomach and through the rest of her body. But then she noticed something...there were gashes across his forehead and torso, badly bleeding, just like the stags...
Her mind went blank...her eyes were growing heavy...she was so tired.
She turned her head to what was beside her. The werewolf had disappeared. Remus Lupin lay curled up; his hands wrapped around his knees. He was white and sweaty. Sirius Black was standing over him, attempting to lift Remus up, Peter Pettigrew was watching from a distance.
The sun was peaking over the horizon. Its rays glared into Lily's eyes. Her eyelids were getting heavy. Her last memory of the night was James's face. Lily fainted from exhaustion in James's arms.
***
Lily woke with a start. Her head was pounding with thoughts that flooded through her brain like rushing water.
'What happened?' Lily asked herself, searching her brain for information.
She fluttered her eyes open. It took a while for things to come into view clearly. She was lying in a bed, at the end of the Hospital Wing. Through the curtains, Lily could see Madam Pomfrey's back was turned away from her. The curtain was pulled around Lily's bed.
"Oh good! You're awake," Madam Pomfrey said, turning to Lily, "Drink this."
She handed Lily a goblet full of a steaming blue liquid. Lily stared at it cautiously.
"Don't be silly! It will make you feel a lot better! Oh yes...Professor Dumbledore has asked to see you, against my wishes of course. What you need is rest, not a lecture," Madam Pomfrey argued.
Lily gagged as she gulped down the blue mixture. Madam Pomfrey walked out of sight, but returned a few minutes later to check on Lily. "What you need is some sun!" She said and drew back the curtains to the nearby window, revealing light and walked away.
Lily viewed her surroundings. There were curtains pulled around 2 other beds in the wing, other than that, nobody else was there. She wanted to know more, her mind was craving information.
'Where did the werewolf go? What happened to Remus.... what happened to James?'
A bolt of worry shocked through Lily's body.
'What about James?' She thought again. But Professor Dumbledore interrupted her thoughts again.
'Ms. Evans! I'm so glad to see that you're awake!" He said, while sitting down on the chair beside her bed.
"Professor!" Lily said eagerly, "Why do you need to see me?"
"Lily, I think you already know the answer to that!"
"I do?"
"We really must talk about the incident last night. Hmmm...Let's start from the beginning.
"Seven years ago, a family came to me. They wanted their son to attend to Hogwarts, yet there was a minor draw back to enrolling their son. You see Lily, not all people are what they seem to be," Professor Dumbledore began,
"Deep inside you Lily, I know you know what I'm about to tell you. I cannot say this in public. I know we are in the Hospital wing, but even the walls have ears.
What I can tell you, is to remember the last night's event. Remember not everyone is as they seem and think of the state of you fellow friends," He ended.
Dumbledore stood up and walked towards the door.
"Professor, I don't understa-" Lily began. But she was cut off my Dumbledore, again.
"And remember, Lily, no matter what is on the outside, it is what is on the inside that counts," and with those words, he left.
Lily sat in her bed, thinking madly of what Dumbledore meant. She was searching her brain furiously for clues and answers. It was like something clicked inside her brain, like someone was feeding information in her head.
'I understand!' She thought. 'Remus is a werewolf, THE werewolf. It is the only explanation of how the wolf disappeared and Remus appeared so quickly! It is what is on the inside that counts. Remus is a werewolf, but he is the nicest guy I know...
'...He enrolled in Hogwarts, the same year the whomping willow was planted. He was the draw back of enrolling. I understand now! Once a month, he freezes the willow to get into the passageway that leads into a house. That explains his disappearances! But which house? It was really grungy in there...which house is like that in Hogsmead? The shrieking shack! It all makes sense now! Poor Remus...
'...JAMES!' she thought urgently, 'How did James get there? How did he get hurt? Only the stag got hurt. James can't be the stag! That's impossible...or is it? How could he change into a stag? He's an animagus! James? No! I don't care if he's Head Boy, he can't be smart enough to transform into a stag. It's illegal! But why would James care if it's illegal? But there is no other explanation!'
Lily threw the covers off her legs, to reveal white pajamas. She quietly rushed out of the hospital wing. Trying not to make much noise; she would never hear the end of it if Madam Pomfrey caught her.
'I need to see Dumbledore!' She thought desperately. She flung open a few doors and rushed out into the hall. She was expecting to go to his office to find him, but no. Dumbledore was patiently waiting across the hall from the Hospital wing. His eyes were twinkling.
"Professor! Professor," She began, but what would she say? Lily wanted to ask so many questions. She understood, but she wanted details! "I know!"
'I know?' she thought, 'Is that all I really want to say? I need to know more! Will Dumbledore understand me?'
"I knew you would find out quickly! And I must beg you not to tell anyone his secret. If this ever was let slip, Mr. Lupin would be in grave danger." He warned.
"But I also know about James," She added.
"Ahhh...yes, James. Well, I suggest that you talk to him about his secret. Good Afternoon, Ms. Evans. Please get your rest." He suggested, and walked off.
Lily stood in corridor. After a while of pointless thinking, Lily turned and snuck back into the Hospital Wing.
***
A/N: Hey I'm back. I'm so sorry this took such a long time! I got back from my vacation a week ago; it just took me a while to get settled in. Please review! No flames! Thanks, Yours Truly, -orligrl
PS—this is the 3rd time I've downloaded this chapter. It keeps turning up on the site as one big block! I'm so sorry! If this continues, copy and paste it onto word and read it. It will be easier! Thanks, and sorry!