Of Secrets and Stags
"Just go!" Alice said, nudging her up the stairs.
"Well, can't I just tell him on his way out?" Lily asked in a loud whisper.
"No! Now!" Alice yelled and stopped pushing Lily when she relaxed and sighed.
"Fine. I'll go… Can't you go for emotional support?" Lily begged.
"No. Only two can fit on the stairs," Alice said with a laugh.
"… If I hide in front of you…" Lily began.
"No! Just go!" Alice yelled.
Lily finally sighed and trudged up the stairs as if she were asking James to judge whether or not she deserved to live.
She knocked slowly on the door, which was normally kept open, to the Boy's Dormitory. She bit her bottom lip as the doorknob turned, but pretended to relax when James leaned out.
"L—Evans?" He asked curiously, hoping that Lily didn't catch his falter.
"Well, James… I just want you to know… You're excused of duty tonight. Both Alice and I… know the truth. When Remus is out of the Hospital Wing, you Marauders, Alice and I can all… talk… about it," Lily said, holding back a blush as much as she possibly could.
James let out a wide smile and hugged Lily briefly before turning around and grabbing a cloak. "Thanks!" he cried out as he dashed down the stairs and out the Portrait Hole. Lily stood slowly; still somewhat mortified at the friendly hug James had given her before shaking her head and descending the stairs.
"Okay, Gryffindors!" Lily called out with a clap of her hands. "Are the two Prefects from Gryffindor present here?" she asked. Jonathan Wood and Monica Jordan stood up and turned to Lily.
"Yes?" Monica asked, having always been the less shy Prefect.
"I'm sorry, I know that it's not your night for patrol… But, could you two help me out? James can't make it," Lily explained briefly. They nodded and walked with Lily outside the Portrait Hole and down the dark corridors.
----
The four (actually, five) walked quickly towards the Whomping Willow. James motioned for Peter to transform into his Animangus form, as did Sirius and James. Remus stood back, waiting for Peter to push the knot so they could rush down the Whomping Willow's dark tunnel.
Peter, more slowly than normal, pushed the small knot and began to race down the dark tunnel in his rat form, making it unable to discriminate him from the other rats in the tunnel. Sirius sprinted down the tunnel beside Remus, and James galloped towards the end of the tunnel, ahead of all three of them. Snape watched in awe as Remus began to transform before his very eyes. He glared in their directions before thinking to himself about his next plan of action.
'It would be best not to hang around them all day. In fact, I'll approach them after Lupin has fully recovered… I should go ahead and quickly brew that anti-Obliviate potion for when I confront them, so that they don't try to remove it from my memories. Thank you for once, Father, for teaching me that secret Snape family potion…' Snape thought to himself with a smirk before he ran back towards the school, making sure to touch the knot on his way out. 'And thank you, "Marauders" for teaching me this little bit of important information,' Snape added to himself as he left the dark, damp tunnel of the Whomping Willow.
----
"Great! No causalities once again!" James cried out in the Hospital Wing as he, Sirius and Peter walked up to Remus with huge smiles on their faces.
"Yeah, and Poppy said you could get out of the Hospital Wing tomorrow," Sirius said with a happy smirk.
"That's a record!" Peter gasped out. Remus laughed and nodded at him with a smile, knowing how amazed Peter must be.
"Hiya, Marauders," Alice said with a small smile as she, Lily and Frank walked up to them leisurely.
Lily waved at them with an unconvincing smile. She stood next to Remus' bed and handed him a small, parchment wrapped box.
"A… present?" Remus asked with a laugh.
"Yeah, well…" Lily said with a small blush and a shrug.
Remus tore the box open and laughed. "Chocolate Frogs. You'd make a good medical witch, Lily. You know the perfect medicine already!" Remus cried out happily. Sirius, James and Alice laughed lightly.
'This is strange… We're all laughing like this, despite the fact that Remus just made his transformation last night…' Lily thought with an inward chuckle.
"Sorry we can't visit for longer. Lily wanted to drop that off for you, Remus. It's her last one, and she decided that you could use it," Alice said with a smirk.
"I already told you, it's not like that!" Lily cried out in frustration.
Remus did his best to hold back a laugh as James and Sirius burst out laughing.
"Anyways, we'll speak to you guys in your Dormitory tomorrow night after Remus gets out," Lily whispered to James quickly before she bid them all farewell.
Just at that moment, Snape walked in and glanced around, before he saw them and smirked. He strode over to them slowly, making every single one of them tense. "Excuse me, but we have something to discuss now. I've got Madam Pomfrey occupied at the moment, so there's no worries," he said, a strange glint in his eyes.
"What could you possibly have to talk to us about, Snape," James spat out at him.
"Let's just say… It involves last night," Snape said, folding his arms over his chest and smirking, if possible, even more maliciously.
"Frank, could you leave for a little bit?" Alice asked quickly, a pleading look in her eyes.
Frank looked shocked for a few seconds before smiling lightly and nodding. "I'll see you tonight," he said tenderly to Alice before turning to Snape. "Do anything to harm her and I'll kill you," he said with a glare. He turned to James and gave him a look that plainly said, "Please look out for her" before he walked out of the Hospital Wing.
Lily suppressed an "Awww" before she turned to Snape and glared. "How do you know about that?" she asked acidly.
"Incidentally, it was you and your girlfriend who told me. Let's just say that you should be careful what you say, even if you're sure no one is around," Snape said, laughing at Lily's shocked expression.
"Why, you…!" James cried out before lunging at him, only to be held back by Sirius and Peter, who could read his movements. Sirius held him back as he glared at Snape, while Peter held him back and stared at James. "Let me go! I'll kill him painlessly, I promise! Just one quick little spell and it'll all be over!" James yelled out, struggling against his friends' hold. He eventually stopped thrashing and they released him.
"Now, let's see…What can I do with this vital piece of information? Oh, I know. I can tell the entire school… Unless you stage a false fight, in which I miraculously win. And I get to go out with Evans for the remainder of the year," Snape added as an afterthought.
"Damn you!" James hissed. It wasn't the first bit he was concerned about—it was the second part.
"Who's to say I just won't Obliviate you, right here and now?" Lily asked menacingly, pointing the wand at Snape's head.
"Go ahead and try it. I've already taken the anti-Obliviate potion," Snape said with a laugh.
"Fine. Stupefy," Lily said, replacing the Obliviate spell with the Stunning Spell.
"So, what in bloody hell are we going to do?" James asked.
----
"I'm… I'm really sorry…" Lily said once again to Remus, Alice nodding in agreement. The three of them were in the Hospital Wing, just before curfew, while the Marauders were in the Common Room talking.
"It's okay…" Remus replied for the thousandth time.
"We… No, it's not okay! We… We gave away your secret…!" Lily cried out dramatically.
"Like I said, it's okay. We've already got a plan," Remus said, once again dismissing their apologies.
"A plan? What plan?" Alice asked with her right eyebrow raised in curiosity.
"Well, James is… He's going to replace Snape's memories of finding out with James telling him to meet him in the forest, his memories of my transformation with James saving his life from a werewolf, and his memories of our experience in the Hospital Wing with him confronting James only to decide to be silent about the whole thing, since James saved his life," Remus said with a shrug.
"He… He did that…. For me?" Lily whispered in shock. She turned back to Remus. "Was… J--Potter really the stag?" she asked, an amazed look in her eyes.
"Yeah. He was. I'm sorry for that, as well, Lily… I could have killed you," Remus said, a very sad expression on his face.
"It's no problem. I'm fine, thanks to James…" she said, trailing off at the end.
"Something wrong, Lily?" Alice asked, putting a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder.
"Yeah… my judgment, apparently," Lily said sourly as she stood up. "I have to tell James something… Tomorrow, when you get out, I still want to talk to you guys… But, I want to talk to James first," Lily said, standing abruptly and racing out of the Hospital Wing.
"Um, I'll go after her. Good night, Remus. Sweet dreams," Alice said, waving and walking out of the Hospital Wing at a strolling pace as opposed to Lily's dashing speed.
"Good night, Alice. Am I to understand that the Marauders and you two are on first name bases now?" Remus asked with a laugh.
"It appears so!" Alice said with a huge smile. Remus laughed lightly, looking out the window as she walked out.
'My favorite phase of the moon… Gosh, I love the new moon…' Remus thought happily.
"Okay, bed!" Madam Pomfrey called out as she walked quickly towards Remus. "Take this and go to sleep. You're getting out tomorrow, so be thankful," Madam Pomfrey said as she handed him a glass of syrupy-looking medicine.
"The sweet stuff? You only give this to me on special occasions," Remus said as he sipped at it tentatively before gulping it down.
"It is a special occasion. You getting better this quickly is pretty special. Besides, it's your last year. What other werewolf student can I give it to?" Madam Pomfrey said in a sweet tone.
Remus smiled at her and yawned, knowing that the medicine had sleeping medicine in it. "True… Thank you, Madam Pomfrey…" Remus said as he fell asleep. Madam Pomfrey looked at him with a soft, loving expression before covering him up completely with his cover and laying him in a more comfortable position.
"Goodnight, Remus," she whispered before preparing for bed herself.
A/N: I got rid of the Snape angle as soon as I could. I didn't want him to be in my story for more than two chapters. -growls- ANYways, I tried to make up for how long it took to get it out by making it longer. I can't write much while my dad's girlfriend's family is here—too many distractions, especially when her darn grandson comes… -glares- Thanks for reading, please review!