Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs…
That night, they all sat around the fire in the Griffindore common room, a lot warmer, and a lot tireder than they had been the night before.
"Where's Remus?' asked Lily. James and Sirius suddenly looked uncomfortable.
"He's got a cold actually, he's in the hospital wing. I think it was the cold last night, er, it got to him…" James trailed off. Lily was suspicious, however, it was nothing compared to how she felt when they told Ella she shouldn't visit him.
"Er, he was sleeping when we went earlier, I don't think he'd be awake yet." Sirius said quickly.
Lily raised an eyebrow at James, but he wouldn't meet her eye.
"I think Remus has the right idea, anyway," announced James, standing from his place near the fire and glancing at Peter and Sirius. "I'm heading to bed, you coming?" they too got up quickly, and headed for their dormitory.
"I'm going to bed too." Said Dani.
"Of course you are," said Lily, " Sirius is gone!"
"Shut up Lily, I don't even know what I think of him anymore!" she whined.
"Oh come on! You've fallen hard! Don't try and tell us that you don't like him anymore!" Ella argued.
"I don't know, we know him too well now, it'd be weird! And besides, I keep saying how much I hate him! It's not like he'd ever ask me out now!" she complained. The other two laughed. "Anyway, are you two coming to bed?"
"Yeah, I'm ready to collapse." Said Ella. They looked at Lily. She was about to follow, however, something was nagging at the side of her brain, and she was dying to know what the marauders were up to.
"No, I'm just going to stay here for a bit, I'll be there in a while." And she sat by the fire while the others went up the stairs to their dormitory.
The common room was almost empty when Lily noticed anything out of the ordinary. Only two fifth years doing assignments and two first year boys playing a game of chess were left in the room, and none were alert enough to notice that a chair across the room moved ever so slightly, all by itself. It was almost, Lily thought, as though an invisible hand was nudging it. She looked just past the chair, and onto the rug that covered the ground. Sure enough, the thick fabric of the rug showed three sets of footprints. Lily stood up, and the footprints seemed to get closer together, as it moved fasted across the room.
Lily knew that the marauders must be right there, under James's invisibility cloak, and she thought for a moment about ripping it off them, and laughing at the game.
This was her chance though. She could find out where Remus was, and where they were going. They could easily make up an excuse if she caught them now.
Lily watched as the portrait opened up, and closed again. The marauders were gone.
Lily dove for the portrait hole, and followed the sound of footsteps, ducking behind coats of armour whenever she heard them stop, and slinking along in the shadows. She hated to think of what Filch would do to her if he were to find her out at this hour. But a burning curiosity was inside her and she wouldn't rest until she had gotten it out.
The sounds of footsteps led her all the way to the castle doors, which, she noted, were unlocked, something that was extremely odd. When they were out of the castle, James, Sirius and Peter appeared, throwing the cloak off of them and stuffing it in James's pocket. Lily slunk away into the shadows. She pulled her cloak closer around her. She did not think that they would lead her outside.
They walked across the grounds, Lily growing more and more curious by the minute, and when they led her to the Whomping Willow tree that stood on the gourds she told herself, that if nothing happened, she would just turn back.
However, something did happen. The Marauders stopped before the thrashing tree, and Peter stepped forward.
Lily had to cover her mouth to stop from yelling out loud. Peter was shrinking at an alarming rate, and in seconds he was nothing but a rat, scuttling on the ground.
The rat darted froward, under the trees thrashing branches and the next moment, the tree had frozen, and the rat had vanished. Lily couldn't stand it anymore. She had to know what was below the tree.
Taking the chance while Sirius and James were whispering together, Lily ran forward from the other side of the tree and found the hole that Peter had disappeared down. A black staircase could be seen, and after that…nothing. Lily took the chance while she could, and ran down the tunnel. Peter must be miles ahead by now-she thought, and ran quicker than ever.
Lily had just reached a staircase, which she suspected must lead to their destination, when she heard it. A roar, like a person in agony, though it had a growl-like quality to it that sent shivers up and down her spine. Someone was in trouble. Lily put one trembling foot over the next, and ran up the stairs. When she emerged at he top of the staircase, Lily saw an image she had only ever seen in books.
A massive, wolf-like creature was thrashing around in the room, the short fur that covered its body longer at the top, and a tufted tail producing from it's back. The werewolf reared, and turned around to face Lily, ignoring the rat that sped around its heels. It's sharp claws bared, Lily looking into the beast-taunted eyes, and, in an instant, understood.
As fierce as the body of the creature was, as deplorable the appearance, and, as menacing the face as it reared down and struck her leg with it's razor like claws, the eyes of the beast were not as fearsome as the rest of the creature.
The eyes, that Lily recognised the moment she saw them, were still those of Remus Lupin, apologising to her ceaselessly, yet silently.
Lily let a scream escape her as she felt the flesh of her left leg tear open, and she scrambled back, the werewolf advancing on her helpless figure, until a stag came galloping into the room.
It dove in front of Lily, and threw Remus back with its prongs, sending the wolf toppling onto the four-poster bed that lay in the corner. A large, black dog also came bounding into the room, it's padded feet pounding the dusty floorboards as it leapt off the floor and launched itself onto the werewolf's back. Lily sat in the corner, trembling. These animals were going to hurt Remus…all because her stupid curiosity had gotten the better of her.
"STOP IT!" she yelled, tears pouring down her face, which was flecked with blood. The stag drew closer still to the bed.
"NO! STOP HURTING HIM!" she yelled, cursing herself. How were animal's meant to understand her? Lily hoisted herself onto her good leg, and limped across the room, throwing herself at the stag as it stooped its head, readying it's to hold Lupin down.
The stag stopped, feeling Lily grab onto it, and turned its head to face the girl who was on its back.
"STOP HURTING HIM NOW!" she roared, louder than ever. Everything in the room seemed to stop. The big black dog stopped pawing Remus, and turned its shaggy head to face Lily. Even the rat, scurrying around on the floor turned its head up to look at her. She started at their reaction. "HE DOESN"T KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING!" she cried, and collapsed onto the ground, her bad leg giving way. She couldn't stop them anymore. Lupin was going to die and it was all her fault. They had him cornered.
James stopped when he noticed that Lily was holding onto his back. He had thought that she was worried for the stag's life, screaming for the werewolf to stop, but here she was, defending the creature that had just torn her leg open…
Lily felt something soft brush against her cheek. The stag's front knee was bent, and it had levelled its head with her. She looked into its eyes and gasped. She knew those eyes…they were…
Suddenly it all made sense, and James lowered his hind legs to allow Lily to climb on Sirius leapt off Remus's back, and pounded out the door, Prongs and Lily quick after him. Lupin lay, exhausted, on the bed, and did not follow. Peter, predictably, was first out the door.
When the tunnel narrowed James and Sirius transformed back, and they stopped, looking at each other, before facing Lily.
"Listen, what happened back there…" James started softly.
"I wont tell a soul." She said in reply. James smiled at her, and lifted her up.
"You cant carry me still! I'll walk, I'm fine." She said weakly.
"You cant! It's all my fault, I should have told you, then you wouldn't have followed…" James said. Lily put a hand on both boys' shoulders, and looked them in the eye.
"Listen. This is no one's. No ones. Fault." She said, glancing back the way they had come. Sirius and James smiled at her genuinely, knowing how much it would mean to Lupin that she didn't care about, as James liked to call it, his fury little problem.
"Now, can you help me walk?" she put her arms around their shoulders and limped on.
"So, when did you three learn how to do that?" she asked as they walked.
"Fifth year. We can keep him company as animals, you know. Tonight wasn't one of his best nights." James told her. Sirius snorted.
"Ok you two, you're marauders, you can help me." She said promptly. They looked at her inquisitively.
"With what good lady?" asked Sirius mockingly.
"I need a good, ready made excuse! Why am I returning to the dormitory at 2 in the morning covered in blood with a great gash on my leg?" she said, laughing slightly.
"Um…family emergency?" Sirius suggested. They glared at him, and he grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry, it just reminded me of how my family emergencies used to go down…" he said.
"Who said anything about going back to your dormitory anyway?" James said. "We have other plans, don't we Sirius?" Sirius looked blank, and Lily vaguely registered that they had stopped walking, even though, to her, this looked just like every other patch of wall had done.
"This is a little something of our own creation Lily…" James begun, turning to the bit of wall next to him.
"It's the only passage way that we have actually created ourselves." Sirius added, catching on to what James was talking about.
"You should feel really privileged that we're showing it to you, we don't want to know what would happen if anyone found out we had such a clear route into Hogsmeade." James added.
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs." He whispered to the wall. Lily stared at him blankly for a moment, thinking that he was faking, but moment later, the wall split open, and revealed a long passageway, which faded quickly into darkness. Sirius had the tip of his wand lit, and shone it down the passage. James turned to Lily.
"Listen, it's much narrower down here. Please, just let me carry you. Or Sirius even, just don't walk on that leg." He said. Lily relented at last, and allowed herself to be lifted up in James' strong arms.
The three of them walked in darkness for about an hour before the floor began to rise. It sloped upwards, and Lily could see that the path was beginning to get lighter. They came out at a shrub, where light was filtering through the thin foliage, and Sirius looked out first, to make sure that the coast was clear, before hoisting himself out of the hole and onto the ground.
"Where are we going to go no?" asked Lily, who was getting very tired, and the pain in her leg was throbbing horribly. James noted the pain in her voice, and held onto her even tighter.
"Cassandra's?" James asked Sirius delicately. Sirius nodded.
"She never asks too many questions, best not ask Rosmerta, her and Dumbledore talk a bit, Cass is a lot safer."
Lily didn't have a clue who they were talking about, but they didn't sound panicked, so she knew that she shouldn't be worried. James would do the right thing for her; she just had to trust him.