Of Secrets and Stags

"Lily, hurry up! We've got patrol duties tonight!" James called up the stairs. Sirius, Remus, and Peter had already left for the forest, and he had to hurry.

"I'll be down in a minute, Potter! Leave me alone for just ONE more minute!" Lily yelled down the stairs, tired of James' impatience.

And so, James then bolted out of the Common Room. "Careful, or I'll leave without you!" he called back up before closing the entrance shut.

"You will do no such thing!" Lily yelled back down. "He's just saying this to get me to hurry up…"

James ran through the hallways, sneaking through the crowds of students trying to make it back to their Common Rooms before curfew. He looked around, making sure that no one was watching him.

James smirked as he moved a statue aside that, despite how heavy it looked, was actually quite light. It was a secret tunnel down to the Forbidden Forest that only Remus and Dumbledore were supposed to know about. However, once James, Sirius and Peter found out that Remus was a werewolf and they could transform into their Animangus forms, Remus told them about the tunnel. As per Remus' request, they also did not include the entrance on the Marauder's Map.

"There might be someone else who gets a look at the Marauder's Map… They may come into contact with werewolves, and them knowing a secret entrance to the Forbidden Forest would be putting their lives in danger," Remus said, stopping James from putting the tunnel on the map.

"But…" James began.

"Keep it off. It pains me to say this, but… Remus is right," Sirius said, serious at the moment.

"Right,' James muttered before erasing it off the map, using the pencils that Remus had supplied them.

He opened the trapdoor and crawled inside before shutting the trapdoor. The statue snapped back into place after the trapdoor was closed, and James climbed down after being sure that it had been set into place.

He worked his way down the ladder before he was in the dark, damp tunnel. He continued down the tunnel by feeling his way along the right wall, knowing that otherwise, he'd get turned around. The tunnel had been so enchanted that few people could get out of it without ending up back where they started or in Dumbledore's office. Also, in the tunnel, magic didn't work. This way, no one could use a spell for light to find his or her way down the tunnel.

"Finally…" he muttered as he climbed out of the dark tunnel. He looked up at the sky, hoping it wasn't time for Remus to transform just yet. "Not quite, but I'd better—" he began before looking in shock at the front of the forest.

"Moony! Moony! Get a hold of yourself! Not quite yet!" Sirius was bellowing.

"I…I'm TRYING!" Remus bellowed back. Peter was currently leaned against a tree, cowering in fear at the transforming lycanthrope.

"Padfoot! Get Moony father back into the forest! We're not going to make it to the Shrieking Shack if we just stand here!" James called out as he ran towards them.

"I-I-I don't th-think we're gonna make it to the Sh-Shrieking Sh-Shack at all…" Remus muttered.

"Then hurry and get him farther into the forest!" James called out as he ran, closing in on them more and more…

----

"Where the bloody hell is he?" Lily demanded of a First Year.

"W-W-Where is who?" he asked, already scared of Lily, as she was bigger than him and obviously really, really mad at a certain "him". She was now towering over him in a completely threatening, malicious way. She was glaring at him, expecting him to know the exact location of James… And if he didn't know or remember, she would force him to through fear.

"James Potter. He's the Head Boy," she said in an even more impatient tone.

"U-Um was he the one calling you from down here?" he asked, still unsure.

"Yes. Did you see where he went?"

"Is-Isn't that him, out t-t-there?" the little boy asked as he pointed out the window. James was running towards the Forbidden Forest, where Lily could also see Sirius and Peter.

"Yes, that's him. And now, he's dead," Lily muttered menacingly. She nodded at the boy before leaving the Common Room and slamming it shut.

"Here. You need this more than I do," Alice said as she gave the boy a piece of chocolate.

"T-Thanks… I feel like I just faced a Dementor and was nearly kissed…" the boy muttered, half-crying.

"Ah, don't we all when she's mad?" Alice asked with a laugh. "Now, you go to bed. You need your rest after something as terrifying as that," Alice said, completely serious.

"Yes ma'am," the boy said politely before wearily going up the stairs.

"So young…" Alice said as she turned the page in her book and leaned closer to Frank.

----

When James finally got to Sirius, Remus, and Peter, Remus had already almost lost full control. "We need to go ahead and trasnform, Padfoot," James said as he stood beside Sirius.

"Right," Sirius said with a nod. They were halfway into the forest, despite the fact that Remus was half-transformed the entire time. James and Sirius transformed, keeping Remus from running out of the forest. This was always the emergency plan in case that Remus was transforming early. The rule was to keep him from getting ot the other students.

It had worked up until now. Sirius' sensitive dog ears picked up the sounds of yelling. "POTTER! YOU ARE NOT BLOWING OFF YOUR PATROLING DUTIES TO RUN AROUND IN THE FORBIDDEN FOREST!" came the voice of none other than Lily Evans.

All James could think of was that he had to keep Remus away from Lily to both protect Remus' secret and to keep her safe.

----

Lily ran into the forest, unknowing of the danger that she was in by calling James' name. Remus, at the moment a werewolf with superior hearing abilities, tore away from Sirius and James. Peter was hiding somewhere in his mouse form, as usual.

Remus dodged through the trees to get to the girl who was yelling. James galloped, trying frantically to be the one to see where she was first in order to protect her and possibly hide her from the werewolf.

"JAMES POTTER! GET OUT HERE NOW!" she yelled, her screams for him reverberating through the trees.

'Coming, my dearest Lilykins,' James thought sarcastically as he jumped over a bush, towards the path of her voice.

And there she was. Standing there, yelling for him. "JAMES!" she called one last time before she noticed the presence of the stag and the werewolf. She took an involuntary step backwards towards the stag. She screamed as the wereolf lunged towards her.

'Sorry, Moony,' James apologized mentally as he stepped between Lily and the werewolf.

The werewolf snarled at him before lunging at the stag. The stag managed to dodge most of the attacks while staying in front of Lily, but his main goal was to stay in between the werewolf and the redhead—no matter what.

----

'It… It's protecting me from the werewolf… But… But why? Why would a stag, a wild animal, put itself into danger to save me…? It makes no sense! Stags would usually run away from danger, from things like werewolves… So… Why…? Maybe… Maybe it's not really a stag… And where the hell is James? Running off to fight werewolves? What's WRONG with him? Damn him! If I live through this, I swear I'll fustigate him to a bloody pulp!' Lily thought as she watched in amazement as the stag fought the werewolf.

'Why the bloody hell doesn't she whip out her wand and give me a hand!' James thought mentally in anger as he took another hit from the werewolf. It was a deep hit, and the cut had managed to hit his chest area, though it was far enough from the heart and the neck not to make a difference in that manner.

'I've… I've got to do something! I can't just stand here… I just can't stand here like a coward!' Lily screamed inwardly. She grasped her wand and pointed it at the werewolf, still not sure which spell to use.

"Incendio!" She cried out randomly, hoping that the fire spell would help. The werewolf burst into flames and retreated to the dark confines of the forest.

Lily, who had used up most of her energy, fainted as the werewolf ran away. The darkness closed in on her as the stag leaned over her collapsed body. The stag's eyes shown brightly with worry and concern as Lily collapsed and passed out. 'Those… Those eyes…' Lily thought before she gave into the darkness.

A/N: A cliff-hangerish ending. XP The enxt chapter will show the aftermath of this, of course. Not much else to say here… Review, please:D They keep me going faster. Each review is like poking me in the side to update. )