Hey! Thanks for all the awesome reviews! Loved them a lot! Here's a thanks to all the people that reviewed!
KariPotter12- Okay, email me your chapter! Can't wait to read it. I love the plot you have going with that story.
Livie- Aww....Remus only got 2 votes. Maybe he'll get more later on! Hope you liked the chapter.
Casscain Batgirl- I'm soo glad you like my story! I'm flattered, really lol. Hm....I thought it was getting a little too dramatic....but then again, a little drama never really did hurt anyone. Hope to see another review from you again!
Lilchocolatechip011- Wow, you reviewed a lot of times! I feel so special. thanks a bunch. I'm really glad you like the story, and as for the favor, it'll come up later on.
Lady Amarie- James will get around to telling them eventually.....unless Snape does it first. You can never be too sure of things these days!
MissBlueAngel- Their all in their sixth year. A lot of people seem to be voting for Sirius. Yay for him. Glad you love it. I'm still waiting for the update on your story. .
Kat- Yeah, maybe she'll hover between the two....then Remus and Sirius will make her choose.....then they'll both hate each other and try competing for her love! Then that'll be the end of the Marauders....hmm....not a bad idea actually!
Okay, I'm sure I've wasted enough of your time, on with the story!
On the way down
I saw you
And you saved me
From myself
And I won't forget
The way you loved me
On the way down
I almost fell right through
But I held onto you
-Ryan Cabrera "On the way down"
Chapter 16 Swim for safety"Moony, hand me the butter."
"I'm using it, Padfoot."
"Well then hand me the plate of bacon!"
"Wormtail's using it."
"What is Wormtail not using?!"
"The butter."
"Well then hand me that."
"No!"
"Why?"
"Because I'm using it, Padfoot! Wait for a second."
"Hey, Prongs, are you okay?" Wormtail asked quietly, while Sirius and Remus argued in the back round.
James looked at him. "Huh? Oh yeah, fine. Absolutely fine."
James began poking at his eggs. They were in the Great Hall for breakfast and James really wasn't looking forward to his classes.
Suddenly, Professor Dumbledore stood up, which was unusual, since he only gave speeches in the beginning and end of the term. Still, Remus and Sirius didn't notice, since they were still arguing for the whole Hall to hear.
"Moony! Hurry up!"
"Sirius, you can live without the butter for two minutes in your life!"
"Breakfast is going to be over by the time your done."
"Oh, sod off and go snog Emma."
"Hey!"
Dumbledore cleared his throat, making the two friends stop and look up. Remus turned a little red while Sirius just smiled.
"Sorry, Professor!" he called up, though sincerely.
"Thank you, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, for that interesting conversation." Dumbledore said with that famous twinkle in his eyes. "However, we have more important matters to attend to. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Bertie, has been terribly ill lately. While he is getting patched up, I would like to introduce to you your substitute, who came all the way from the Ministry to be with us. Please welcome, Professor Stanley Richardson."
A tall, fairly young man stood up, smiling at the crowd. He looked like he was in his late twenties.
"What do you think?" James whispered to Sirius.
Sirius grinned. "Let's see if this new Professor can deal with the Marauder's pranks."
"Knew you'd say that." James replied, grinning mischievously.
"We can't do anything tonight." Peter pointed out.
"We know. Full moon." Remus said quietly, and also a little moodily.
Suddenly, James's owl flew down and landed in front of him.
"Hey, Evans!" Sirius greeted, making the Marauders laugh. Even Remus chuckled at this. The story of how the owl got his name would never be forgotten among the four of them.
"I still can't believe you named him that!" James muttered, taking the envelope from his owl.
"How was I supposed to know it would respond to that name?" Sirius asked, still laughing. James opened the letter immediately and recognized the hand writing. 'John.' James though at once.
James,
I would love to answer your questions, but, unfortunately, it's too risky to send by owl post. Send me a letter telling me your next Hogsmeade weekend. On the morning of your Hogsmeade weekend, I want you to go to the Headmaster's office. Don't worry. I've already talked to him about this. I'll explain further instructions on that day.
-John
P.S. Your mother is doing well and sends her greetings.
James quickly took out a quill and parchment form his bag. On the piece of parchment, he scrawled one sentence.
Our next Hogmeade weekend is a week from today.
-James
"Here, Evans. Take this to John." James instructed. He tied the letter to the owl's leg and watched it fly away. His eyes then wandered over to a girl with red hair, who was talking in whispers to her black-haired friend.
"Hey, does anyone know why Lily and Emma haven't been talking to us lately?" James asked aloud.
"No." Remus said abruptly, though his eyebrows raised in thought. James noticed his eyes linger on Emma for a moment. James found himself smiling in amusement. 'It's about time Moony found someone he's interested in.' he thought.
"Come on, we have Defense Against the Dark Arts soon, I want to see how good this guy really is." Sirius said, standing up. The others followed suit, and together, they made their way to the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom.
The teacher wasn't inside, as the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were all waiting outside the class room. Sirius made his way over to Lily and Emma while the others followed.
"Hello, Emma. Lily dear. How are you two this morning?" Sirius asked.
"Fine." Lily replied shortly.
James raised his eyebrows. "Are you feeling okay, Lily?"
"Since when did you care, Potter?" Lily snapped. James was too taken aback to answer. 'What happened? We were fine over Christmas break. I didn't do anything!' James thought wildly.
"He's cares since he practically fell in love with your fourth year. Or was third?" Sirius said, then put on a look of mock concentration.
Lily opened her mouth to say something, when suddenly a voice filled the corridor.
"So sorry! I was talking to Professor Dumbledore about some things." Professor opening the door for the students to enter. James gave Lily one last questioning look, only to have her glare at him. He saw Emma whisper something to Remus, then run to catch up with Lily. As the Marauders sat down in the back of the room, Remus turned to James.
"Emma wants us to meet her in the common room as seven o'clock tonight. She said she's going to explain why Lily's acting so cold to us." Remus explained.
James nodded, somehow not able to speak. Then, Professor Richardson spoke.
"Well," he began, "As you know, I'm only taking over for your other Professor, who has suddenly become so ill. I thought it would be a good idea for us to start on something new. I was thinking of just going over the things you've already learned, so I know how advanced you are."
"We left off with the Protean Charm." James offered, getting bored very quickly. He didn't like sitting here in class, he felt like running to the Headmaster's office and demanding to see John right now. Professor Richardson just turned to James.
"Potter, is it? James Potter?" Professor Richard asked.
James nodded.
"Yes, I am very sorry for your loss. But, after hearing about the heroic day your fought the Death Eaters on Christmas Day, I daresay you would want to do something a little more advanced than the Protean Charm, am I correct?" Professor Richard asked.
Once again, James could only nod.
After that, they practiced little spells and hexes they learned, before James knew it, class was over and they were finally piling out of the classroom. Before they left, Professor Richard stood by the door, wishing them all a good day. When James passed by however, the Professor accidentally bumped into him, making his books fall to the ground.
"So sorry." The Professor apologized,
"Well, that wasn't too bad, was it?" Peter commented, once they were out of the classroom.
"Maybe not." Sirius replied.
"Remus, how come your so quiet?" Peter asked.
Sirius answered for Remus. "Full moon is just taking it's toll on him." Sirius said, clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"James, who was the letter from?" Remus asked, wanting to get some attention off him.
"John." James replied, he opened his DADA book to get it, but froze.
"What's wrong?" Sirius asked.
"It's not here!" James said, beginning to panic. Sirius noticed this and tried to reassure his friend.
"Hey, James, don't worry about it. What did it say?" Sirius asked.
"Just that he was going to talk to me next Hogsmeade weekend." James replied, trying to calm down.
"Okay, it's not really a big deal. It's not like there was some huge secret in it." Sirius reasoned.
James nodded, convinced. "Right, there was just a load of rubbish in it."
Sirius smiled at being right and the four continued toward Charms class.
James collapsed on in his dormitory, yawning. The day was finally over and James had come up to the dormitory to fetch his Invisibility Cloak. It was getting late. Remus had already been taken to the Shrieking Shack and was probably waiting for the others. James grabbed the Marauders Map and Invisibility Cloak, hid it under his robes, and dashed down to the Common room.
When he got there, he spotted Sirius and Peter talking to Emma. Sirius was frowning and Peter looked worried. James walked over.
"Hey, what're you three talking about?" James asked.
"Emma was just about to tell us." Sirius said. The three looked at her expectantly.
Emma sighed, looking at the three friends standing in front of her. "I thought I should tell you why Lily has been so sore to you. See, she's been in a bit of a right state right now about her parents and everything. She feels really guilty about what happened to James parents and blames herself. She's not the only one though." Emma explained.
She looked at their faces, waiting for them to say something. When they didn't, she continued. "It was reported in the Daily Prophet that you three and your parents came to Lily's house to help us. Every girl in Hogwarts has been blaming Lily for James being so upset. We could just be walking down the hall and a bunch of girls came up taunting Lily and saying that she was a mess up for leading James and his parents to that kind of danger. Before we to the common room a girl came up to us and told Lily that her parents got what they deserved because of James dad being taken. Lily got upset and ran away. I hexed the girl pretty badly. I expect she's in the Hospital Wing right now." Emma finished, somewhat proudly.
James, Sirius, and Peter just stood there, mouths open.
"Their blaming Lily?" James asked in disbelief.
Emma nodded. "And me." She said in an afterthought.
"We'll take care of them." Sirius said menacingly. Emma looked at Sirius, as though wishing there was something he really could do.
"Their being really horrible to us. I don't now where Lily ran off to." Emma said in a worried voice.
James looked out the window. It was getting dark, the full moon was almost visible between the clouds.
"Listen," James said urgently, "there's something we need to take care of. If we find Lily on the way we'll tell her to be back there. But we have to go. We'll talk to both of you about this tomorrow."
James caught Sirius and Peter's eyes, he then gestured out the window. Sirius turned pale, he knew they had to get out of their and to Remus. Who knew what they would do to himself if they weren't there.
"No, you should let her calm down first. She really is in a right state. I'll let you know when it's a good time to talk." Emma told them. James nodded. Sirius said something about having to go, and the three of them dashed out of the portrait hole. They ran through the corridors, but James stopped at a window.
"The full moon already appeared! He's transforming now." James whispered.
"Come on." Sirius said hurriedly, pushing James along. They threw the Invisibility Cloak over themselves and ran toward the Oak doors. They pushed in opened and sprinted to the Whomping Willlow.
Peter turned into a rat and pushed the knot on the old tree, making it freeze. James dropped his Cloak and map outside the tunnel, and ran head first in the tunnel. James turned into a stag, making him Prongs, while Sirius turned into his dog form, Padfoot.
Prongs, Padfoot, and Wormtail rushed in the Shack, to find Moony tearing himself apart. It took awhile, but they finally got him to calm down, and they four animals began to wander the Hogwarts grounds.
Lily's POV
Lily sat near the lake, just near the Forbidden Forrest. This was the border of the forrest and school, to get across, you had to swim over or go all the way around. Lily walked all the way around and sat down, trying to hold back tears.
'Get a hold of yourself Lily! Don't cry over what that girl said. Stay strong. Don't listen to her.'
'But what they said was true!'
'Don't listen to them! Don't cry, stay strong.'
'I still feel horrible. Just to make things worse, I'm being a complete prat to James!'
Lily continued to argue with herself over it, until she heard a growl behind her. She whipped around and to her horror, came almost face-to-face with a werewolf. Lily screamed.
Normal POV
Padfoot, Wormtail, Moony, and Prongs were walking near the lake. Prongs looked at a lone figure sitting near the lake and....was it crying? James got a little further, saw red hair....realization dawned upon him. 'Lily.' He thought.
He looked frantically around and the werewolf, hoping he didn't see. He had no such luck. The werewolf howled, then sprinted toward the girl. Prongs heard Lily scream. Padfoot darted forward and tackled the werewolf before it could get Lily. James looked around wildly.
He did the most stupid thing he ever did. He ran behind a tree and transformed back in his human self--James. James ran full speed toward Lily. 'Stupid! If Moony sees, he'll attack you! I hope Padfoot can keep him in line.' James thought. He came up and helped Lily up.
Moony scratched Padfoot, making him whimper in pain. The werewolf started menacingly toward James and Lily. James got a strong hold of Lily and looked around. There was no way he could run all the way around the lake without getting caught. He took a huge breath, tightened his grip on Lily, and jumped in the lake. When they surfaced, Lily sputtered.
"James?" she asked, fear in her voice.
"It's okay. Your safe. It won't get you in the water." James replied. He resisted the urge to say 'Moony' since if he did, Lily would know right away who he was talking about.
Lily suddenly fainted. Sighing in frustration, James began to swim toward the other side, dragging Lily along with him. Before he reached the opposite side, he took one last look behind him. Padfoot managed to keep Moony under control. Moony just howled, then looked at James with that hungry glint in his eyes, something that sent shivers up and down James spine.
James finally made it. He pulled himself out of the water, along with Lily. He stopped to catch his breath for a moment. James instantly realized that was a mistake. Seeing that they were finally out of the water, the werewolf began to run around the bank.
James panicked. If the werewolf got to them first-
Without sparing another thought on it, he picked Lily up and ran as fast as he could toward the castle. He was a lot slower than he thought because as soon as he was halfway there, Moony came bounding into sight. Padfoot was behind him, trying desperately to stop the werewolf.
James, however, didn't stop running. He finally reached the castle steps, Lily still in his arms. He heard a howl of pain, meaning Padfoot had finally managed to stop Moony.
Almost fainting out of relief, he pushed open the Oak doors. He ran full speed to the Hospital wing. When he reached it, he opened the doors with a huge bang, which echoed down the corridor.
"MADAM POMFREY!" James yelled, running in. Madam Pomfrey came out, still in her night clothes, looking annoyed.
"Potter! What is the meaning of this?" She asked sternly. James wasted no time. He placed Lily down on a bed. She was pale and soaking wet.
"Oh dear! What happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked, her voice now filled with concern.
James panted. "Found her....by the lake....must've fell in....went in to save her....then....came here." James said, panting heavily, water dripping from his soaked clothes.
"Alright, Potter. That was very brave of you. You may go to bed, I'll take care of everything here." Pomfrey stated. However, James didn't move.
"Can't I stay? Just for a little while?" James asked. He also wanted to stay because he knew Remus would be coming in here soon, after all the damage he probably did to himself.
Madam Pomfrey sighed. "Yes, Potter, you may stay. Only for a little while though."
Not having the energy to argue, he just nodded. He sank down onto the bed next to Lily, sweating, panting, and very pale. He looked out the window, knowing somewhere out there, Moony was biting himself, as punishment of not getting his prey.
A/N. Like it? I know, I know, tons of stories have the whole 'Moony attacked Lily and James saved her' kind of thing. But I thought it would work. And, well, just to let you know, Lily isn't going to find out about Remus. That's all I'll say. Also, so far, Sirius is winning the poll so far. I'll let people vote for one more chapters, maybe even two. I don't want to give too much away. So, here's the poll...
Who should Emma fancy and go out with?
1) Sirius
2) Remus
3) hover between the two
(People didn't seem very keen on the idea of making her stay single)
Don't forget to review, say something nice or tell me who you want with Emma, either way, works for me!
Love ya,
Amour Lily