Call On Me
Chapter Twenty Two-Remus' Choice
Thanksgiving was just around the corner. The snow had kept up and dumped at least 4 feet of snow on the grounds. The snow actually came up over the windowsills.
The castle was nice and warm except the dungeons where Professor Snape taught Potions. Remus wanted to talk to him to thank him for helping me the day Danielle had stabbed me in the shower.
We headed down to the dungeons where his office was. We stood outside his office door and Remus knocked on the door.
"Come in," he called.
Remus grabbed the doorknob and turned it. We stepped into the office.
"Professor Lupin, Andrews," he said looking up from writing on a piece of parchment. "What brings you down to my territory?"
"I just wanted to thank you for helping Caitlin that day when Miss Morgan stabbed her in the shower," Remus said.
"Oh," Severus said looking stunned. "Well, you're welcomed."
"She's pregnant too," Remus continued. "Had you not brought her to Madam Elkin she might not be here with us."
Severus got up from behind his desk and came over to us.
"You're pregnant?" he asked me.
"Yes," I said raising an eyebrow.
"By him?" Severus asked pointing to Remus with his thumb.
"Yes," I said indignantly. "What's your problem?"
He leaned close and his dark eyes were locked on mine.
"Another inhuman born," he said.
I couldn't help it. I slapped him.
"I really wish you would stop referring to Remus as an 'inhuman'," I snarled angrily. "You really are a jerk."
Severus seemed stunned for the moment.
"I appreciate you helping me," I continued. "But I don't appreciate you acting like a pompous jerk and I admit, James and Sirius were mean to you…but that's no excuse to have a chip on your shoulder now."
With that, I turned and stalked out of the office; Remus at my heels.
"Whoa," Remus said awed. "Amazing."
"He had it coming," I said angrily. "He's got to let the past go."
Remus chuckled.
"Did you see the look on his face when you slapped him? I thought he would need a new pair of underwear!"
I managed a grin as we headed upstairs.
Kelly seemed to be doing much better as well. She seemed a bit more like herself as well. Remus and I continued to let her know that we would be there for her if she needed us. Anytime, day or night.
Lily seemed to be doing okay as well. She had no more sudden outbursts. But she kept her distance from us though. I guess she was terrified of another repeat.
Thanksgiving rolled around. The Hall was decorated and everything. Some of the students had gone home but some stayed at the castle. Kelly was one of those people that had stayed.
Figuring it was a waste of time for four house tables to remain, Dumbledore stacked them against the wall and the students that had stayed sat at the one table. Kelly happily sat with us. She was sitting in between Remus and I. Across from us were Lily, Mario and another second year named Dawn Reed.
There were a mixture of 7th, 4th, 5th, 1st and 3rd year student sitting with us as well. A large turkey had been cooked and was ready for serving.
The turkey was served and we all began talking.
"Professor?" Remus asked looking up from his plate. "Did you have any luck with that 'project'?"
Dumbledore immediately caught on.
"Not yet, no," he said sadly. "I'm afraid we still don't know much detail."
Kelly looked confused, but continued to eat her dinner.
"Does the Ministry have any idea?" Remus continued taking a sip of his wine.
Professor Dumbledore shook his head.
"I'm afraid we're still in the dark about this one," Dumbledore said quietly. "But I assure you I plan to figure this out and put a stop to it."
Remus nodded.
I leaned forward to Kelly.
"How's classes coming along?" I asked brightly.
"Huh? Oh fine," she said smiling. "Your class if my favorite."
I grinned.
"You're doing really well,"
Kelly beamed.
We continued to eat our dinner. Lily picked at her food and didn't seem to have much of an appetite.
"You okay?" Remus asked her worriedly.
"Yeah," Lily replied. "Just not that hungry I guess."
I looked at Remus. He looked back at me and shrugged one shoulder.
We finished eating and then began heading out of the Hall. Kelly and Mario had seemed to have become good friends and they headed off on their own.
My lip twitched.
"Seems like Kelly's doing fine," I said softly.
"Yeah," Remus said grinning.
Remus accidentally bumped into Lily, who was leaning against the wall slightly bent over.
"Sorry, Lily," he said. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Lily snapped suddenly. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"
I looked at her startled.
"We're just concerned because of the parasite," I said wide-eyed. "That's all. We just care about you."
"Well," Lily said straightening up. "Care a little less."
With that, she stormed off to the common room.
Remus and I decided to take a little walk on the grounds. The snow was still on the ground and stuck to trees branches.
I bundled my cloak up around me and linked arms with Remus as we walked.
"I have an awful feeling that that parasite is starting to become immune to that potion," Remus said gravely.
"Oh God, I hope not," I said shutting my eyes briefly. "That means we lost another person we care about."
"I might be wrong," Remus continued. "But the feeling is very strong."
I looked up at the sky. It was a full moon out.
"I think we should head back to the common room," I said quietly.
Remus and I headed back to the common room. It was quiet as most of the students had gone to bed.
I waited with Remus while he changed.
I curled up on the couch and soon dozed off.
Around midnight or so, I sensed someone else in the common room. I awoke with a start. Lily was leaning against the fireplace, staring into it.
"Oh! Lily! You scared me!" I said breathing a sigh of relief. I went to doze off again, but the wolf began growling at Lily for some reason.
"Moony?" I asked startled.
The wolf was standing rigid on all fours with his ears pinned flat sideways and his eyes were locked on Lily. His hackles were raised and the upper lip of his snout was curled backward revealing the white canines and incisors.
"Lily? Are you alright?" I asked looking from the wolf to Lily.
Lily didn't answer.
"Lily? Please reply…you're scaring me," I said nervously.
Again, Lily didn't reply. Instead she slowly bent over and picked up one of the long fireplace pokers. I slowly got to my feet and backed away.
The wolf continued to growl even more.
Lily held the fireplace poker like a bat and her head hung low. Her auburn hair was covering her face.
"Lily?" I squeaked out.
Lily raised her head and to my surprise and horror, took a swing at the wolf with it.
The hooked end nearly missed Remus. The wolf leapt sideways startled.
Lily raised the fireplace poker again and took another swiped at the wolf.
I could see the wolf wasn't trying to fight back at all. He was simply dodging the poker.
"Lily…stop!" I cried as I rushed forward and tried to take the poker away from her but she shoved me backward with near inhuman strength.
I landed on my back, the back of my head just narrowly missing the edge of the table.
I propped myself up on my elbows and watched as Lily continued to go after the wolf.
The wolf hid under the small coffee table and Lily brought the poker down on top of it. The hooked end was embedded in the wood. Lily struggled to remove it. The wolf was hunched down low to the ground as it scurried out from underneath the table. The wolf came over to me and stood in front of me protectively.
Lily was still struggling to remove the hooked end of the poker.
Finally, she managed to remove it and took a swing at the mantle piece shattering small little trinkets that were on top of it. She then began attacking the couch. Bits of stuffing began flying everywhere. The wolf scooted closer to me. She began destroying everything in site.
I was afraid that if anyone heard the commotion from the dorms, they'd wake up and see the wolf. I knew Kelly knew about it but no one else did.
"Lily please stop," I pleaded as tears began forming in my eyes.
Lily ignored me.
She turned around with the fireplace poker raised and took another swipe at the wolf. The sharp pointed end just came across my chest. I felt a stinging sensation and realized I had been cut.
The wolf remained protectively over me though. The tip of the poker caught Remus in the hindquarters. I heard him let out a whelp of pain.
I saw a small wound on his hip and blood was matting his fur. He still refused to fight back.
I knew though that if Lily caught him several more times, he wouldn't make it.
I began sobbing because I knew what Remus had to do. He had to defend himself. This wasn't Lily anymore.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as the wolfs ears pricked forward suddenly. He seemed to be making up his mind about something. I knew sooner or later Remus would be killed if he didn't defend himself. I knew he was trying not to because this was Lily, but it wasn't really her anymore.
I huddled in a corner and drew my legs up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them.
Overwhelming grief took over and I continued to sob uncontrollably.
Remus took another blow to his shoulder this time. The same wound appeared there as he had on his hindquarters. He whelped in pain and staggered sideways for a bit before he regained his balance. Then, he pinned his ears out sideways, retracted the top lip of his snout exposing the white canines and incisors and he began snarling at Lily.
She took another swipe at Remus but Remus clamped his jaws on the fireplace poker and the two of them began a tug-of-war.
Remus finally managed to yank the fireplace poker from Lily's hand and he tossed it sideways. It landed in the fire itself. Lily picked up a second one and swung it at Remus.
Remus yanked that from her hand and jumped on Lily, knocking her backward onto her back. He stood over her, his massive forepaws on each of her shoulders pinning her down.
Lily struggled to get out from underneath him, but he was a bit more powerful than she was.
Lily's hand was inches from the fireplace poker that Remus had pulled from her hand. I saw her frantically trying to claw at it. I saw her hand close on it.
It all happened in slow motion. Lily raised the fireplace poker as Remus continued to snarl.
The poker raised more. Then just before it connected with the side of Remus' head, he parted his jaws and clamped them on Lily's throat and bit down.
I saw warm blood flowing. The arm that held the poker froze in mid-air and slowly, weakly began lowering until it was lying beside Lily's body lifeless.
Remus let go of Lily's throat. Lily let out a gurgle and then was completely silent. The wolf came over to me and collapsed on top of my lap.
I screamed and then blackness swallowed me up.
"She's coming to," a soft voice said from somewhere above me.
I groggily opened my eyes and stared into the faces of Madam Elkin, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall and Remus in human form. Warm sunshine streamed through the windows. I realized I was in the hospital wing.
"What happened?" I asked groggily as I slowly pulled myself into a sitting position on the cot. I had a blanket and the sheet pulled up to my chest.
"You were passed out," Professor Dumbledore said gently. "You've been out for 4 hours."
Suddenly, all the memories came flooding back.
"Lily…" I said frantically looking around hoping that what I witnessed was nothing more than a horrible nightmare.
"I'm afraid she's gone," Professor Dumbledore said gently and kindly. "It wasn't a nightmare."
It was if he could read my mind.
Remus looked absolutely horrible. He sat down next to me on the cot and put his hands on my shoulders.
"I had to," he said his voice cracking and it was dry and hoarse. "She would've killed me as well…and she wasn't herself. I had to stop her."
"I thought the Vocis Potion was working," Professor McGonagall said looking at Snape and Dumbledore.
"Apparently, it just bought her time," Dumbledore said patiently. "It eventually took over. I guess there is no stopping it."
"She went mad," Remus said not taking his eyes off of me. "She was just absolutely mad."
"Unfortunately, we never saw the full effect with Sirius. He could've very well had the same thing happen to him," Professor Dumbledore said kindly. "Miss Evans was the example of what this parasite really is."
"Has anyone checked the Three Broomsticks?" Snape asked.
"No," Dumbledore said shaking his head. "But I'm alerting the Ministry again and have then conduct a full search. I thought this was over several months ago…but apparently some of those parasites managed to sneak back."
He turned to me next.
"I want you to get some rest. Remus will be allowed to stay with you,"
He gently put a hand on the top of my head before leaving. McGonagall gave me a gentle hug before she too, left. Only Snape remained.
"The baby's fine," Madam Elkin said. "I checked you over. There's no damage done."
Remus just nodded as she followed McGonagall.
Remus moved his eyes onto Snape.
"I'm so sorry," he said quietly. He left right after that.
Remus had tears in his eyes as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against him. I burst into hysterical tears and pressed my face into his chest.