Of Secrets and Stags
Lily Evans always woke up slowly. She'd start by moving her hand ever so slightly and rubbing her eyes. She would then shift her legs in a sort of half-rolled over fashion. She would then yawn and finally, after all of this, open her eyes.
And that's why she screamed and nearly fell over when the first thing she saw was Alice's eyes and nose barely a half-inch away from her face.
"Alice! Don't do that again!" she shrieked as she instinctively pulled her covers, well, sheets, up to her ears.
"Sorry! I was just surprised that you woke up… I wanted to make sure you were okay… You were out for three days, for god's sake!" Alice said in a very enormously relieved tone. "These guys have also stayed by your bedside," Alice said as she jerked her thumb in James, Sirius, Peter, and Frank's directions.
"How sweet. How did I get…" Lily started before looking down at her cover. "No… No, that must have been a dream… How did I get knocked out like that?" Lily asked.
"Well, you were running down the stairs about to murder James when you tripped and fell down a flight of stairs. You hit your head on the wall, which knocked you unconscious. However, you just happened to be on a moving staircase, and you fell further down. James ran threw himself on the ground, allowing you to land on him. He fainted as well, but he was out for only a day," Sirius said matter-of-factly, as that story had been rehearsed to explain James' fainting as well as make him look just slightly heroic as well.
Lily, however, glared at James. "You did that just so I'd be on top of you, you pervert."
James raised his hands to be level with his head and waved his hands, signaling that that wasn't it at all.
"So, anyways, what was that dream you were talking about?" Alice asked curiously. For some weird reason, Alice loved hearing about dreams, even if they were completely dull or something weird.
"Well… I was… chasing James into the Forbidden Forest… It was a full moon and a werewolf attacked me… Suddenly, James seemed to disappear and the stag started protecting me… I think I heard a lot of barking and squeaks… At first, I couldn't cast spells…I was too mortified… And then… And then the eyes that the stag had… I dunno. They just looked familiar… and non-animal… They looked… human. They were these beautiful, chocolate eyes that… I sound like I'm in love with a silly stag… Anyways, what are you guys doing here, anyways?" Lily asked, addressing James, Peter and Sirius.
"Well, we were the ones who found you. We were just worried," Sirius said automatically. James nodded once with a smirk in affirmative, while Peter nodded about five times in a more scared manner.
Lily shook her head and sighed. "Whatever," she muttered.
"Ms. Evans! You're awake! All of you, leave, I have to do a full examination of her body for bruises or scrapes," Madam Pomfrey said as she waved the others.
"Aw... I want to stay, Poppy!" James protested while sending a pleading look back at Madam Pomfrey.
"YOU PERVERT! IF IT WASN'T FOR POP—MADAM POMFREY BEING HERE, I'D KNOCK YOU OUT WITH MY BEDSIDE TABLE!" Lily yelled back.
"… Mr. Potter, I suggest you leave," Madam Pomfrey said as she shoved James out of the door.
"Oh! Lily! After this whole hospital thing, want to go to Hogsmeade?"
"… We don't have a Hogsmeade trip for another month, and NO!" Lily yelled back at him.
"Aha! We'll have to make our own outing, then, won't we?" James asked while wiggling his eyebrows.
"In front of a staff member, no less…" Madam Pomfrey noted to herself as she pushed James out of the room. "Out you go!" she yelled before slamming the door shut.
"Jeez, some people are just being RUDE!" James yelled back through the door at Madam Pomfrey.
"Oh, well. Can't be helped. See ya later, Poppy!" Sirius called back at the nurse.
"C'mon, Frank. Let's go back to the Common Room before dinner!" Alice said brightly as she and her boyfriend walked back in the direction of the Common Room.
"Too bad Moony couldn't come… He'd be relieved to know that Evans thinks that it was all a dream…" James said with a sigh as they walked in the direction of the Great Hall for dinner, where they would meet up with Remus once again.
"Well, that's what happens when you have someone who decides that Lily wouldn't wake up in the short period of thirty minutes and would rather stay in the Library and research," Sirius said matter-of-factly.
"I think that he's trying to find something to research to fill the gap of being able to research about Animanguses…" James said with a laugh.
"That'd make sense, knowing our Moony," Peter said quietly in agreement.
"He's not ours. He's free to go anytime he wants," James said with a shrug.
"He'd better not. I'd follow him if he did. He's stuck with me… I mean, us," Sirius said, more serious than he had ever been in his life.
James smirked and nodded. So, Sirius does fancy Remus… I think I shall… Have to do a bit of research on this Moony, but ever so subtly and casually… James thought, trying to suppress his "evil smirk".
James had four smirks: His sexy, irresistible smirk that only Lily was unaffected by, his victory smirk, his sort of half-way smile smirk, and his "evil smirk", which let his friends know when he was plotting against someone or had a prank in mind.
---
"Moony, we have sensational news," Sirius said happily as they arrived back in the Common Room after dinner. Trying to tell a secret at dinner, or even implying that you had a secret around others, especially about something as classified as Remus' transformations was obviously just plain stupid and a most definate "no-no".
"Is it news that can be heard in here, or do we have to go to the Dormitory?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow. Normally, "sensational news" meant a prank or a new girlfriend. However, the latter hadn't happened lately for either Sirius or James, for somewhat obvious reasons, and never to Peter.
"Dormitory. It involves a certain person's "time of the month"," James said with a smirk.
"Ooooh," Remus said with an interested tone before they climbed upstairs.
Once they arrived to the correct Dormitory, Remus looked around and asked in his usual, no-nonense tone, "What's up with my transformations?"
"Well… Lily thinks that it was all a dream. As time goes on, I truly believe that she'll forget it," Sirius said happily.
"Though…there's one thing that bothers me… Do I have "amazing" eyes?" James asked, pointing to his eyes.
Sirius tilted his chin up, knowing exactly why he asked, while Remus just looked on, completely and utterly confused. "They… are the color that Lily described… Chocolate brown… They do look like the ones in your other form, and I guess… I guess you'd better not allow her to stare "deep into your eyes"," Sirius said with a nod.
"What the bloody hell…?" Remus asked, confused.
"Well, Lily saw the stag's eyes, and, like the underlying romantic soul I know she has, she fell in love with them, even though they're just… brown," James said with a shrug.
"You think she has an underlying romantic soul?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Who else but a romantic soul can fall in love with something, even an animal, based on something as insignificant as eyes?" Sirius asked with a laugh in James' defense.
"Right…" Remus said while shaking his head slowly, though he wore a small smirk of his own.
----
"Earth to Lily…?" Alice asked, waving her hand in front of Lily's face as the two girls sat on Lily's bed. They had been talking, but Lily kept falling in and out of the conversation as she got herself lost in thought.
"Huh? Oh, sorry… I zoned out while you were talking…" Lily admitted before biting her bottom lip.
"What's up? I haven't seen something bother you this much since that last unworthy wanker dumped you…" Alice asked.
"Well… This is going to sound really stupid…But… That "dream" felt… Too real… And the eyes that the stag had… They looked familiar…" Lily admitted, slowly spilling her guts to her best friend, knowing that she'd probably be able to give reasons and help to the problems Lily had. She was always there for things like that.
"Hmm… Maybe… Just maybe… It wasn't a dream. Did you feel any pain during this so-called "dream"?" Alice asked.
"No… The stag protected me…" she admitted with a laugh. "As silly as that sounds, the stag protected me from any harm… Like it knew the werewolf's attack could hurt me…" Lily mused.
"How much detail was there in the "dream"? Is it hazy, or are the details crystal-clear?" Alice asked, pressing the matter and getting more and more into it.
"Well… No, it was crystal-clear… But it was weird…" Lily admitted.
"I have no clue…" Alice began, but Lily cut her off.
"Wait! That boy!" Lily exclaimed.
"That… boy…? Oh! Him! The first year! That's right… he pointed to James going into the…" Alice looked shocked and glanced out the window. "I… remember… I was too worried to think about… that boy…" Alice said quietly to herself.
"So… what the bloody hell does this mean?" Lily asked, confused.
"I have no clue. But somehow, that werewolf and the stag are related to James, Peter, and Sirius…" Alice said quietly.
"What the hell does this mean?" Lily asked again, this time more desperately as she hid her face in her hands.
Alice put her hand on Lily's back in comfort. "Hey, at least… At least the stag protected you…" Alice said as a form of consoling.
"True…" Lily muttered.
A/N: Sorry it took so long. Haha. It's moving a bit fast… But yeah. I don't know how much longer this story is going to last. After all, Lily is smart, and I'm sure Alice isn't a dummy, either. So they'll figure it out pretty quickly. And the story will only last at the most, three chapters after she finds out. Also, I'm doing a Sirius/Remus chapter. I have to after laying on the possible relationship this thick. Or should I keep it completely Lily/James centered and just keep it as a "hey, it could happen" thing in the background? Anyways, review, please.
P.S. Oh, also, I've already got a good idea about the next chapter. SO, it shouldn't be TOO long before I get it out. I just had some… inspiration. –shifty look-
P.P.S. Note - I would have had this chapter out MUCH sooner if the document manager didn't decide to hate me.