Of Secrets and Stags
"Okay… now, all we need to do is wait for him to come through the Common Room…" Lily muttered to Alice as they waited on the couch.
"Can I make a suggestion?" Alice asked.
"What's that?"
"You. Leave," Alice said while pointing up the stairs to the Girl's Dormitory.
"…Why?" Lily asked, completely and utterly confused.
"To put it blandly, you scare him," Alice said in an all-to pleasant tone.
"Oh… I guess I came on somewhat strongly…" Lily muttered embarrassedly.
"Don't worry. I'll put in a good word for you to help make up for it, okay?" Alice said.
"Fine. I'll… go now," Lily said with a laugh as she walked up the stairs.
"Bye, Lilz!" Alice called up the stairs as she pretended to read her History of Magic book.
It wasn't long until the young first-year walked in the Common Room. For future reference, Alice noted that he had blonde hair, blue eyes and a thin frame.
'What a shame. He will be cute when he gets older, but… he's far too shy…' she thought to herself about the young first year. She had a habit of making such notes and predictions as well, even if the person was a complete stranger.
"Hey! You're the first year from the other night!" Alice greeted.
"U-uh hello, ma'am."
"You can call me Alice. What is your name, by the way?"
"Gilderoy... Gilderoy Lockhart..." he muttered shyly.
"Hey! No need to be so shy! C'mon, chin up!" she said happily.
He smiled and nodded energetically. "Is there something you need, Alice?"
"Well... I just needed to ask a few questions," she replied with a smile.
"About what?" he asked curiously.
"Well, when you pointed to the Head Boy for my red-headed friend, how many other boys were there with him?"
"Um... two..."
"What did they look like?"
"One had black hair, and the other had sandy-blond hair…" he said after thinking for a moment.
Sirius and Peter, then…"Anything strange? At all?"
"Well... Not really… I didn't see anything besides those two with the other guy…" he said after thinking for a moment.
"Thank you! That'll be all. If you need help with anything during your first year, look Lily or me up. Don't worry; she's really sweet, if you catch her in a good mood and not around Potter. You'll do fine--just remember, don't be shy and be as straight-forward as possible!" Alice said with a wink before walking off.
"... I think I'm in love..." Gilderoy muttered to himself as he watched her retreating figure.
----
"So… what we have here is a list of the people and the animals involved," Alice said before sliding the list over to Lily.
"James Potter… Sirius Black… Peter Pettigrew… stag… werewolf…" Lily muttered. "This doesn't give us much… How is the stag related to the werewolf? And what were Potter, Pettigrew, and Black doing there?" Lily asked aloud.
"I'm not sure… But isn't it possible that they were trying to control the werewolf?"
"Hey… Remus isn't on this list…" Lily muttered after rereading the list.
"Well, we have no proof that he was there," Alice said with a shrug.
"… What color… are his eyes?" Lily asked after thinking for a moment.
"I'll get back to you on that after I've stared at them for a little while," Alice said sarcastically.
"Right. Sorry. You've only done that with Frank," Lily said before smirking and suppressing giggles.
"Haha. So, what are we going to do? Ask Remus, 'Hey, if you don't mind, can we stare deeply into your eyes so Lily here can compare your eye color to that of a stag that your friends say came out of a dream?'" Alice asked even more sarcastically than before.
"You know, sarcasm is NOT becoming on you," Lily said after tilting her head to the side.
"I know. I can't help it. We're in a desperate situation here!" Alice said before throwing her arms up.
"Exaggeration doesn't really work, either. But it's better than sarcasm. Can't you just stick with optimism?" Lily asked.
"No. I need to try on new things," Alice said with a laugh.
"Right," Lily said while laughing, getting even louder than Alice was.
"Anyways, back to the topic. Do we know where Remus was at the time? I mean, it is possible for him to be either the werewolf or the stag…" Alice said after thinking for a moment.
"Remus can't be the werewolf!" Lily yelled aghast.
"Well… that's probably true. I mean, look at him. He's… too nice to be the werewolf. If anyone's the wild animal, that Black is," Alice said, muttering the last sentence.
"I beg to differ. Potter is the animal," Lily said with an icy tone.
"Haha. You'd think so. But… I'm sure there's a reason he was chosen for Head Boy, Lily," Alice said in James' defense.
Lily rolled her eyes before muttering, "Yes. Dumbledore is getting senile."
"That may be true, but… I dunno. Something just doesn't feel… the same as it was before with him, you know?" Alice asked.
"No. No, I do not know. He's always been an arrogant prick, and he'll always be an arrogant prick," Lily said stubbornly.
"An arrogant prick, am I?" James asked as he walked down the Boy's Dormitory stairs.
"We weren't talking to you," Lily said with a glare of intense loathing.
"But, aside from that, how much did you hear?" Alice asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Haha. I heard enough. I heard Lily call me a wild animal," and here he wiggled his eyebrows, "you talk about how much better I've gotten, and Lilykins call me an arrogant prick. You guys were discussing me!" James exclaimed happily.
'He's so dense…' Lily thought as she yelled, "Yeah! That's right! She is trying to change the intensity of my hatred for you!" Lily called up the stairs.
----
'Ow. That hurt… What to say back?' James thought to himself. "It's not that hard to get along with me, Lily. In fact, many of my ex-girlfriends will testify I am a much different person… Once you get to know me," James added with a wink.
"Over my dead arse!" Lily called back up the stairs.
"Language, my dear Lilykins," James said, holding back the statement, 'Or else I'll have to administer a spanking'.
See? He had changed, even if JUST a little bit.
"Like I'll ever listen to you," Lily spat out.
James shook his head and walked back upstairs, where everyone was laying on their own beds. Peter had fallen asleep, Remus was reading, and Sirius was hanging upside-down off of his bed, seemingly utterly bored.
"What happened?" Sirius asked, still in his upside-down position.
"I just heard my name. They were talking about me… or us," James added before flopping down on his bed once again to study for an upcoming Herbology assignment.
"Why don't you stop acting like a Moony and play Quidditch with me?" Sirius asked before sitting upright.
"I can't… I'm completely unprepared…"
"You've turned into a worried nerd," Sirius said with a sigh.
"I assure you, the change, no matter how small, is most likely for the best," James said with a laugh.
"Uh-huh. If you change into a Moony, I don't have a Prongs to hang out with!" Sirius protested.
"Peter can upgrade," James said with a shrug.
"Him? Yeah, right. He's like Moony—stuck how he is," Sirius said with a laugh.
"… Do you have to keep making references to me, Padfoot?" Remus asked.
"You just keep coming up, Moony," Sirius said with a shrug.
"I see…" Remus muttered as he flipped the page.
'Well, Moony has been coming up a lot lately…' James thought with an inward smirk.
----
"So, what's the conclusion?" Alice said as she folded her arms together and leaned forward towards Lily.
"… Remus is an unregistered Animangus. James, Sirius, and Peter were trying to control the werewolf, which they had noticed nearly escape the Forbidden Forest. Remus was the only one who could have transformed, and he saved my life," Lily said, giving her "obvious" conclusion to Alice.
After all, there was no way someone in their school could possibly be a werewolf, right?
A/N: Haha. They still don't really have much of a clue. The Sirius/Remus chapter is coming up, along with a few hostile/unsure feelings between the Marauders. It shall not involve Lily, Alice, or Frank in any shape or form. Okay, maybe a little. But that'll be… yeah.
Sorry, but this is going to be the last update before I go on a five day church trip. Thanks for reading, R&R please!