His Final Year

Chapter Fifteen: Truths and Bastards

Word travels fastest at Hogwarts, something James and Lily learned the next morning at breakfast. They walked in later than everyone else, holding hands, not caring what the other students had to say. From moment they entered to the moment they sat down next to their friends all eyes were on them, everyone turning away after they sat down to discuss what everyone just witnessed with those around them.

Their fellow Gryffindors smiled or laughed, relieved that James had finally won Lily over. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were excited, knowing that they would make a great couple. The Slytherins sat, completely stunned. James and Lily could care less; they were together and that was all that mattered.

Breakfast turned out to be easier than expected, as did the rest of the day. Several people approached James and Lily throughout the day, congratulating them. It was a relieve to everyone, considering pretty much everyone at Hogwarts knew they would end up together eventually.

Dinner arrived faster than expected, the talk about the new couple still going strong. James and Lily sat with their friends, talking and laughing, nothing major occurring until Mel spoke up. "Guys, where's Remus at?"

Lily looked over, noticing that he was in fact missing. She turned to James who had locked eyes with Sirius the moment Mel brought it up. Sirius finally looked down, James turning to Mel. "His mom is sick so he's visiting her. She has some kind of disease or something, so he has to visit her often. He doesn't really like to talk about it so we don't know much. He'll be back tomorrow I think." James and Sirius both went straight back to eating, and Mel and Alex dropped it. Lily knew there was something more; she'd asked James about it later.

Dinner ended soon after and James walked Lily back to the Head dorm, stopping in front of the door. "I just remembered I promised Sirius and Peter that we'd have a 'guys night'. So I'm just going to bunk with them tonight, ok?"

"Yeah that's cool. Um…" she paused, unsure if she should go on, finally deciding she would. "…is there something about Remus or his mom that you didn't tell us at dinner?"

James tensed for a quick moment, relaxing after a second and laughed. "Not that I know of. Like I said, Sirius and I don't know much, just that his mom is sick. Why do you ask?"

Lily shrugged. "I don't know. Just wanted to check I guess." She smiled and kissed him. "Go have fun. Tell them I said hey." He smiled and kissed her again, rushing off to meet his friends. Lily laughed and called after him. "Don't get into too much trouble!"

Just as he was about to pass the corned, he turned back to her, still running. "We will…we're the Marauders!" She laughed and headed inside, deciding she'd relax and maybe take a walk later on.

Lily threw on her robes and headed outside. She was so glad it was Friday; no patrolling. Not that she didn't like it, but she might have had to do it herself, something she never liked to do. She exited the doors, glad that it was dark. She always loved nighttime better than daytime. She smiled and hugged her cloak tighter around her body as she exited the doors, deciding to just walk around the lake.She had just reached the lake when she saw something emerge from the Forbidden Forest. It was some kind of animal, one that Lily couldn't identify from so far away. She stopped, hoping whatever animal it was hadn't seen her. She slowly backed up, trying to be as quiet as she could so it wouldn't notice her.

Lily held her breath as it looked up. It looked around, its eyes stopping on her. It seemed to slink over slowly, trying to figure her out. She started moving faster and faster toward the castle. It broke into a fast run, going straight at her. She gasped as she realized what it was. She'd never seen a werewolf in all her life, and now as she had one coming right at her she wished it wasn't. It was faster than any animal she'd ever seen; she didn't even have time to turn around. It was less than ten feet away before she knew it, and she had no idea what she was going to do.

Before the werewolf could reach her, a huge animal darted out of the side of her eye, ramming straight into its sides. The werewolf was thrown several feet, a large, beautiful stag standing where it had been struck. Lily stopped dead, unable to move. The werewolf ran at her again, but the stag hit it in the side again.

After the werewolf got up, it turned toward the stag and howled. The stag stood ready to charge. The werewolf ran straight at it; the stag just stood there, its head bent down, two huge antlers striking the werewolf once it got close enough. Lily looked back toward the woods as she heard a loud bark. A huge black dog came running full force at the werewolf as the stag ran at the werewolf as well. The dog charged as fast as it could at the werewolf, fighting and biting at it. The stag turned to Lily, stared at her for a moment, then charged at her. She gasped as she saw it transform into a human, running straight at her. Her heart completely stopped beating as she saw whom it was.

"James?" James was running at her, not stopping once he reached her. He simply grabbed her around the waist and tossed her over his shoulder, causing her to shriek. He just kept running, finally stopping inside the doors. He turned and looked deep into her eyes.

"Lily, go straight up to the dorm. I'll be back later tomorrow. I've got to help Sirius." He turned away from her when he heard a deep growl and what seemed to be a struggle between the animals. He turned back quickly, kissing her forehead. "Go, I'll explain everything later." With that, he turned back into a stag and hurried off, back outside.

Lily watched him go, standing there for a moment after he left. She quickly hurried back inside, running all the way to the dorm. She ran straight over to the window, furious when she couldn't see anything. She walked over and sat on the couch, breathing heavily. She wrapped her robes tighter around her body, lying on the couch. She had no idea what had just happened and she didn't care. All she cared about was if James was all right. She didn't stop thinking about him, even after she finally drifted to sleep.

"Lily. Lily, sweetheart wake up." Lily slowly opened her eyes, realizing it was very late in the afternoon. She sat up and saw James, Sirius, and Peter, James and Sirius looking very tired and drained. Sirius was standing over her, yawning. James was kneeling by her, smiling at her. "Hi."

She smiled for only a moment, slowly remembering what happened last night. She sat up, realizing she slept on the couch. She looked both James and Sirius over, almost checking to make sure they were really there. "Are you guys ok?"

They both nodded, and Lily threw her arms around James. He laughed, wrapping his arms around her and rubbing her back. "We're ok, I promise." She finally let go of him, only to give him a kiss. She stood up and hugged Sirius, who hugged her back.

Sirius cleared his throat once she let go. "Um…about last night…we…well we actually…" James laughed slightly, almost as if to try to lighten the mood.

"We know that last night was…confusing." She chuckled and nodded. "But we can explain everything. Just not here ok?"

Lily nodded as James took her hand. Sirius led the way, followed by James and Lily, still holding hands. Lily had no clue where they were going. She got very confused when they stopped in front of the hospital wing. "What…"

Sirius opened the door. "Just wait." They walked in, peering around. No one was there…until Lily noticed Remus. Madam Pomfrey must have been in her office; there wasn't a sign of her anywhere. Remus looked over at them, his eyes barely glancing at Lily before turning away.

James looked at her and led her over, putting her in a chair next to his bed. He sat next to her, Sirius and Peter both pulling up a chair on the other side of Remus. Nobody spoke for quite some time, James finally chuckling to break the silence. "Did anybody think it would be this hard?"

Everyone else chuckled, agreeing with him. No one really knew what to say; last night was very hard to grasp. Remus sighed, realizing he had to be the first to explain. "Um…I didn't want James or Sirius to talk to you because I felt that I needed to do it." He looked down, unable to look her in the eye. "When I was little, I was in an accident. I…was bitten by a werewolf."

Lily's eyes became huge. Remus still hadn't looked her in the eye. "It was so hard; I became a monster once a month and I couldn't control it. Dumbledore sorted everything out and I got to come to school, which was probably the hardest thing. I had no idea what would happen, what people would do. Well I met this lunatics," James and Sirius grinned. "And eventually, they found it all out…and they…"

James smiled. "Sirius, Peter, and I became Animagi." He chuckled. "Took us five years, but we finally did it, and we've been sneaking out ever since to be with dear Moony here every time he transforms."

Lily was in pure shock; it was a lot to take in. Remus looked scared and embarrassed. Sirius and Peter looked worried. James, on the other hand, looked relieved, almost as though he had wanted to tell her all of this years ago. "Hunny I know it's a lot to swallow and it's really difficult."

Lily looked at him and smiled. She reached over and hugged Remus, who tensed up. He slowly relaxed, unsure of what to do next. She let go and he finally met her eyes. "You're not scared of me?"

Lily burst out laughing. "Are you kidding? Remus Lupin, you are far too sweet to scare anybody, I'm sorry." The other smiled, as did Remus. "It's ok. It's not your fault anyways."

"But I could have really hurt you last night. I mean…I could have killed you." He looked down again, causing Lily to smile.

"But you didn't. Everything ended up ok. And besides…" She looked at Sirius and Peter, her eyes stopping as she looked at James and smiled. "I figure if these guys can live through two years of this, one little night of terror isn't so bad." Remus looked up and laughed. He reached over and hugged Lily again. "I'm glad you told me."

"I'm glad I did too. But please don't tell anyone; I don't' want the whole school to get freaked out and they kick me out of here." Lily nodded.

"I think you should tell Alex and Mel. Especially Mel." He turned bright red. "They care about you; they'll understand." He sighed.

"I'll tell them. I just…don't know when." They smiled at each other, causing Sirius to break the moment. He started wailing and rushed over, sitting on top of Lily and hugging her.

"Aw our Lily is so great! Isn't she just darling?" Remus and James started laughing as Lily struggled to breath. Sirius stood up and really hugged her. "You really are the greatest Lily." He turned to James. "Lucky bastard."

James turned to Lily and beamed. "Aren't I though?" They smiled at each other, finally leaning in for a very sweet kiss on the lips.