Chapter Four: Burning Solutions
It had taken Lily a long time to catch some sleep that night; but she could not think why. Sounds came from other beds in the dormitory and she was trying almost too hard to ignore them all. As the breathing sounds slowly became more and more peacefully regular, she drifted off into a restless dream. . .
She was in a house, a nice house at that. Upstairs. . . she felt strangely at home here, but at the same time knew that she had never been here before previously. It was oddly hazy; she wanted to make out the surroundings but found that when her pupils attempted to define the shapes around her, they only became hazier. This was very frustrating. She turned sharply at a noise behind her, almost a creak. Someone was in the room with her. She could make out their shape, yet, like the house, knew almost instantly that this person would not harm her. In fact, she wouldn't ever be safer with anyone else. . .
The other figure was shouting. She couldn't make out exactly what was being said; the voice was muffled, fairly similar to the objects in the room. She got the gist, however, that the voice was anxious. Willing her to do something, or not something. The figure suddenly turned, and left down the stairs out on the landing. Lily felt horror suddenly creep up her spine. The person couldn't leave! She was only safe as long as she was with them. Now she felt vulnerably unprotected and weak; she hated feeling weak, as she knew that she was not.
Someone else entered the room, and she felt, for a fleeting second, that she was safe again. But something was wrong. . . it wasn't the same person. With a horrible jolt of anxiety, she knew the other person must be gone. . . all was lost. . .
"Lily? LILY!"
Someone was shouting at her. It was a horrible experience to not have the knowledge of whether you are awake or still dreaming. When she was shaken by the shoulders, she realized happily that she must have materialized back into the real world at some point. For this, she was glad. That dream had been so chilling. . .
"Oh for Merlin's Sake, will you get up!" shrieked her friend, Marietta.
Lily groaned. "Oh, God, ok!" She looked up at the girl with curly hair in front of her. "I thought you weren't talking to me?"
Marietta blushed. "Oh, I'm over that now anyway. Come on, we're going to be late for Transfiguration! No time for breakfast!"
Lily pored over her Transformation Book 6, willing herself to understand the gruesome diagrams that were supposed to be helping her to write her essay. It wasn't working; her brain was still on the dream. Instead, she glanced around the room. Everyone had their heads down, Snape most of all it seemed. His nose was almost touching the page as he read, and Lily was strongly reminded of the joke that James and Sirius had played a few days ago. Snape sensed someone was watching him and looked up sharply in an almost spider-like fashion. His black hollow eyes flashed at her, and she looked quickly away. Her eyes fell on the only other people in the class that weren't looking at the textbook.
James was leaning forwards, forced to whisper so as Professor McGonnagal didn't hear. She was looking very critically at their previous essays, her mouth forming the thinnest of lines, her glasses half way down her bony nose.
"If we use the Invisibility Cloak, like last time, we can wait until we're out in the grounds and then transform just before we're in the Shrieking Shack."
Lupin nodded. "OK, just make sure you do it before you're in this time. That was a close shave last time, Padfoot. I nearly ate you."
They snickered softly and Sirius said, "Oh yeah. That was funny."
"You may laugh about it now," Lupin said sternly, "But if it happens again, you may not be so amused."
"Alright, alright. I tell you what, we'll transform first, there. Are you happy now?"
"I'm never happy before full moon. We'll get caught one day, you know. Snape is. . ."
"Please tell me you meant to say Snivellus," said James in a ringing tone.
"Whatever," Lupin snapped. ""He's very curious where we go each month you know. He'd love nothing better than to catch us in the act. Especially you, Prongs. You know how much he hates you."
"Oh, just think of the possibilities," murmured James dreamily. "I could trample him to death and he'd never know it was me."
"JAMES POTTER!" shouted McGonnagal. He winced. "Could you kindly give me a plausible reason as to why you are not reading with the rest of the class?"
"Um. . . ." James contemplated a good excuse and found none. "Actually?. . . No."
"I thought as much. Now if you do not get on with this, I will dock points. Yes, Potter, from my own house!"
They carried on in silence. James scrawled a note to Sirius. ("Shall we go into the forest tonight as well?")
Sirius scribbled back, ("Plan!") and James thought that was enough to keep him happy during the pointless reading of the textbook he could have written.
Over the other side of the classroom, Lily frowned at the Marauders. "What are they up to?" she said aloud to herself.
"What was that, Miss Evans?" said Professor McGonnagal suspiciously.
"Oh. . . I. . . nothing. Nothing, Professor."
James caught Lily's eye and winked at her. She ignored him, but the fact that Snape also kept glaring apprehensively at them, she had the nagging suspicion that something was going to happen that night.
Something also happened later that day that would completely change the events as they would have happened. During Potions, easily one of the most difficult lessons of all, Wormtail somehow managed to slop a flesh dissolving potion all down his front and stared in horror as his chest rapidly began to evaporate.
"AHHHH!" he yelled. "IT BURNS! STOP IT! GET IT OFF!"
James grabbed Peter by the arm that was not dissolving and rushed him off to the hospital wing amidst shrieks of pain before the Potions Master could so much as object.
The rosy cheeked Madam Pomfrey managed to stop Peter's entire torso from dissolving, however, he was wrapped in many bandages and resembled the appearance of an unhappy Banshee rapped in toilet paper.
"Oh, Goodness," said the Matron later. "I don't know what would have happened if it hadn't been for you, Mr Potter! If you hadn't got him here fast enough. . . well I dread to think."
James beamed at the praise as the other three Marauders visited Wormtail later that evening. When Madame Pomfrey left to fuss over a girl in the corner with a bad case of boils, Wormtail spoke in a hushed, yet miserable voice.
"I'm so sorry about tonight, guys. You still go though. Go on, go without me."
James cut him off. "What? Don't be ridiculous!"
"Yeah, Wormy! We can't go without the prime rat! It wouldn't be right!" said Sirius, backing up his best friend. Wormtail smiled feebly.
"I'm sorry, Moony. I know the only thing that makes it bearable for you is us."
Lupin waved a hand impatiently. "Oh, don't be silly. It's only one night. I'm going to have a whale of a time on my own. Plus, the next adventure's only a month away!"
"Exactly," said Sirius.
Wormtail turned his mousy brown head towards James. "Thanks, Prongs, for getting me out like that."
James beamed. "No problem!" he turned quietly to Sirius. "Was she watching?"
"Who?"
"Evans!"
"Oh! Well, no not exactly. She was talking to Professor Dimwit. (James's face fell.) "But I'm sure they'll be other opportunities mate!" said Sirius encouragingly.
There was a period of silence for a few seconds. Until . . . "By the way, Wormtail, how exactly did you manage to slop the entire solution down your front?" asked James.
Peter's face suddenly became twitchy. "Ah. . . well. . . I wasn't going to tell you, but. . . promise you wont do anything stupid?" he looked to James. "Prongs?"
James looked affronted. "What? There is a reason why stupid is not my middle name, you know."
"What is it, Peter?" asked Lupin seriously.
"Well. . . it was. . . it was Snape."
"WHAT?"
"Well, he kind of banged into me and. . . well it's only 'cos I laughed at his hair, but. . . he pushed me and. . . well." He signalled to his chest. "Voilla."
"I don't believe it!" said Lupin.
"Git," said Sirius. But James was already out of the door.
"PRONGS!" shouted Wormtail. "YOU PROMISED!"
"No, I didn't," said James quietly as he left the hospital wing in search of Snape.
"Uh oh," said Peter who sunk down in his bed, waiting for the blow to fall.