James felt his heart start pounding in his throat. Remus was still shaking his head and chanting, and Sirius was looking more grim than ever before. James turned to look at the point Remus's eyes were fixed upon as his head jerked from side to side.
Lily's limp body was lying at an unnatural angle on the dark, tattered sheets of the bed. Her cloak, which had obviously been exposed to the floor of the secret passageway, was looking severely worse for wear. Maybe it was the fact that he knew Remus was about to show up in a minute or maybe it was the fact that she always seemed to radiate power when she was awake, but James was suddenly struck by how small Lily Evans really was.
Slim, short and delicate. He could've scooped her up in his arms without much effort. The thought of what was about to happen to her was eating away at him. Sirius was clearly thinking along the same lines; James had never seen his friend look so sombre before.
A noise could be heard downstairs, obviously Remus was had just arrived for the night; James felt his stomach drop a feet metres. Then a thought struck him.
"How can we see this if she's still unconscious?" he whispered. As if in answer to his question, Lily groaned earnestly, from the bed.
"Okay… Ow." she murmured, with her eyes still closed. When they did flutter open she quickly snapped them shut again with a pained wince. Another loud groan issued from her as she pulled herself upright. The bed creaked loudly as she swung her legs over the side. One hand began massaging her temples slowly while the other reached to her waistband, where her wand had been placed.
The pressure on James's chest loosened very slightly, at least she had her wand with her. That gave her a chance. Not a very good chance but still.
There was a moment's silence and then they could hear someone leaping up the stairs. Lily was rolling her shoulders grumpily, muttering about 'Bloody Slytherins' when a stricken looking Remus came bursting into the room. Both Lily and Remus froze, staring at each other in shock.
"No…No… It can't be." alterna-Remus whispered, in a remarkable imitation of…er… himself. Or rather his future self… James felt his headache worsen as he tried to figure out that last sentence in his head.
"Remus?" Lily asked, her voice hoarse. "What are you… oh. You were attacked too?" she said, an empathetic expression on her face. When Remus didn't respond she looked concerned. "You weren't hurt were you? I mean I know I'm aching a bit, but you're all right aren't you? Remus? Earth to Lupin, come in."
Remus was mouthing wordlessly at her, his eyes wide. Suddenly, as though he'd just snapped to consciousness himself, he crossed the room and grabbed her arm roughly. More roughly than James had ever seen Remus do anything before.
"You have to go." the other Remus ordered Lily. "You have to go, you have to run. Now. You need to leave." He dragged her to her feet as she stared at him in alarm.
"What? Why? Remus what's wrong? Are you in trouble?"
"No, no, no. You don't understand." the other Remus croaked. "You're in danger and you… you need to leave. It's coming I can feel it and you won't… I won't remember. Don't you see? I won't know what happened. It's already too late and you need to leave before it comes."
Lily was looking thoroughly confused. Which James couldn't blame her for really, but he wished she'd stop asking questions and do what she was told for once. Remus was pulling her along the upstairs corridor forcefully but she was fighting him off.
"What's coming? Remus if something's coming for you then I'm not going anywhere unless you're coming with me. I won't just leave you." she told him firmly. James admired the loyalty she was displaying, however he was still yelling at her in his head. Sirius was swearing under his breath and Remus was looking at his past-self in horror.
"NO! Lily you don't understand! You need to run! Downstairs, through the passageway and back to the school. You're in Shrieking Shack and you need to run and you need run now. It's coming… It's coming… It's…" he stopped pulling Lily and paled a few shades. "Oh no… please no. No she doesn't deserve…" Lily's eyes were like saucers as he whirled and grabbed her shoulders violently. Remus's body went rigid. "No… It's here. Lily! It's-"
Lily seemed to be rooted to the spot watching her Potions partner with a mixture of dread and awe. James's heart was in his throat again as his friend's body began to change from man to wolf. His shoulders hunched, his body lengthened and hair began to sprout from his body.
A second later the transformation complete. The wolf raised his head and flashed his yellow eyes at Lily, who was mere centimetres away. It snapped it's jaws. She screamed.
James watched her shove at the wolf with all her might, sending it flying back a few feet. Enough time for her to whip out her wand and cast a quick Impediment Jinx, slowing the wolf as he turned to attack again. She ran for it, as James had been silently screaming for her to do for the past five minutes.
She jogged down the stairs with her red hair flying behind her and leapt the last six steps. She looked to her right and saw the mangled remains of a sofa and immediately ran into the room. Noticing the narrow passageway she dove into it just as the werewolf reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Well this is good right?" Sirius asked as they pelted along after her. "I mean she's getting away!"
"No!" James panted. "No, she gets attacked by something. You saw her this morning. Come on!" He ran faster. The fact that he wasn't being actively hunted like an animal meant that he didn't have quite as much adrenaline as Evans seemed to and so keeping up with her was quite hard.
Or at least it was, until her foot got caught in a pothole. She crashed into the ground with a sickening thud and James braked abruptly. Sirius and Remus stopped just in time to avoid barrelling into his back.
Evans pushed herself up and started running again but it was too late. The wolf had caught up with her. It pounced, digging it's claws into her cloak and pulling her back. Lily kept trying to pull away and keep running, straining against it's powerful grasp. She reached up and undid the clasp at her throat. The wolf was still pulling on the cloak, with nothing left pulling against it, it went tumbling back a few feet.
Unfortunately, the change in balance also affected Lily. She fell to the ground once more. James was torn between watching everything and closing his eyes. He wanted to know what happened, he just didn't want to see it. His eyes seemed to decide that the 'watch everything' strategy was best, however, when they flat out refused to close.
Behind her the werewolf cast the cloak aside and let out a low growl, eying Lily hungrily. She pulled herself up into a crouching position but, to James's dismay, Evans didn't move. She and the wolf stared at each other for a few moments before the wolf snarled. It leapt at her, she ducked and rolled to her feet behind it and tore off back towards Shrieking Shack before the wolf knew what was happening.
With a sigh of relief James went after her. Remus and Sirius followed, but the wolf didn't. Evans seemed to notice this too as she slowed down, looking behind her. Finally she came to a complete stop with a frown on her face, Sirius voiced his anger at this move by calling Lily a list of names that would normally have resulted in James jinxing him. At the moment, however, he sort of agreed with Sirius's harsh words.
But Lily's eyes went wide with fear. "Back to the school…" she murmured. James got it. She didn't know that Whomping Willow was planted at the mouth of the passage, she thought that Remus would be able to get up to the school while people were still coming back from Hogsmeade. He looked at Remus who seemed to be torn between terror and relief at Lily's actions.
James knew he was remembering the time he'd managed to get past the tree in his wolf form but James really didn't think that would happen this time. He didn't think that the wolf would get up into the school grounds.
Lily, obviously, disagreed. She seized a pebble off the ground and ran after the wolf. When she rounded a corner and saw the werewolf growling at something or other she couldn't see, she wound her arm up and sent it flying. It hit the animal squarely it the back of the head. James knew that it had been growling at Whomping Willow but it was quite quickly growling at Lily again.
She smirked. "Come on then. Don't stop now." she called out to it. "You were so damned close as well." she said as she turned back towards the Shack. James, Sirius and Remus all gaped after her, open-mouthed. The girl was offering herself as human bait, to lure a werewolf away from the school. And judging by the gigantic, predatory shape that ran through Sirius, it was working too.
"Come on." James muttered, about to go after her. Remus grabbed his arm.
"Wait." he said quietly. "I can…" he flicked his wand and suddenly they were back in the living room at Shrieking Shack. They waited for a few seconds until Lily Evans's sweaty, pale and shaking figure came hurtling into the room, swearing creatively and promising to kill someone or other.
Spotting the heavy, oak kitchen door she threw herself through it and slammed it shut behind her, muttering a quick "Colloportus." as she did so. With a heavy sigh she leant back against the door, trying to catch her breath. She leant back slowly, closing her eyes. A second later the door shuddered violently as the wolf flung itself against it. She didn't open her eyes but gripped her wand tightly. Bang. Bang. Bang.
Apparently the wolf was just throwing itself repeatedly. James was a bit disheartened to see that the hinges didn't look too terribly secure.
"Walk me home James?" Lily whispered an imitation of herself in a slightly breathless voice. "No. Don't be silly. I can take care of myself." BANG! BANG! BANG!
James felt his face twist into a sort of ironic grimace at her words. As the pounding against the door became more insistent Lily opened her eyes and pushed against it with all her might. Which, given her minute size, was not exactly a lot. Her face was still pressed against the smooth wood when the wolf finally broke down the heavy door.
It smashed against her jaw with a loud thud before sending her to the ground. James cringed as the huge, heavy oak door crashed down and landed on the arm her wand was held in with a sickening crunch.
She yelled out in pain and immediately began trying to push the door off of her. She didn't have much luck, it was too heavy. The wolf, who had been momentarily stunned by his success, quickly came to his senses and approached the trapped and defenceless Evans.
Lily kicked out at it's face and reached behind her with her right hand. She connected with something comparatively light and wooden; a barstool, and threw it at the wolf. It ducked out of the way and disappeared from view as the barstool hit the ground and shattered, sending jagged shards everywhere. James moved a bit to see what was going on underneath the door. Apparently her wand had rolled out of her hand and she was trying desperately to reach it.
With a mighty heave she lifted the door a few inches and tried to stretch far enough to get at her wand. As she did so the wolf leapt on top of the door and snarled at her. The door dropped onto her arm once more with a horrific snapping sound. She screamed in agony.
Her eyes flickered down to a leg of the barstool that had come near her. It's jagged end looked lethal. She seized it immediately, like a stake.
"Remus I'm so sorry about this." she told the wolf, her voice thick as she brought piece of wood down and stabbed it into the wolf's leg. It howled like a wounded animal (which, James supposed, it was) an leapt away from Lily for a second. A second was all she needed. She managed - barely - to pull her arm out from under the door and rolled to her feet.
The wolf had recovered and it lunged at her. She now wielded the chair leg like a Beater's bat and swung it at Remus, connecting solidly with his skull. Lily scrambled away. The only place she could go was back up to the bedrooms.
She scurried up the staircase on all fours like a cat. Or rather, on all threes as her left arm was hanging, limp and useless, at her side.
Two steps across the landing was the door to the bathroom which she darted inside. James admitted, Remus (as in wolf-Remus) wouldn't have much of a run up, so the chances of him actually being able to knock down that door were slimmer. Plus, the hinges looked a bit safer. The wolf had recovered and was scampering up the stairs.
James, Sirius and Remus, who were still standing at the foot of the stairway, exchanged a scared look and jogged up the stairs after it. They walked through the door that the wolf was now futilely battering itself against and saw Evans rummaging around.
"Come on… come on! They've got to have something here just in case…" she pulled open the cupboard above the sink and grinned. It wasn't her usual grin, the grin that lit up rooms and made her entire face look alive. This grin was a feral, triumphant grin that James had never seen and never really wanted to see again.
Not because she looked any less gorgeous or anything, but more because he hated to think about the circumstances it would take to put that grin on her face and the amount of pain she would have to go through.
"God bless you Remus!" she whispered. The three Marauders were quite surprised by this statement, given the circumstances. James got closer and saw her pull out a small metal box with intricate carvings all over it.
"What's that?" he asked Remus.
"It's an emergency first-aid kit." Remus muttered. "Dumbledore suggested I put it in just in case I was injured too badly to get back to the Hospital Wing. It can't be opened by brute force, just magic, so the wolf can't… you know." he made a violent gesture in mid-air.
"Well I know she's hurt." Sirius said in surprise. "But you'd think she'd pay a bit more attention to escaping rather than fixing herself up."
Lily was muttering things to herself and trying to open the box. Her eyes flashed in annoyance as she threw it against the wall. "Goddamn you! OPEN UP!" she yelled. However she seemed slightly surprised when it did, in fact, open up and send it's contents across the tiled floor. It's contents which, James was astounded to note, included a small silver knife for potion making. 'Simple logic tells you to keep silver away from werewolves for Merlin's sake' he thought.
"Er… I thought you said brute force wouldn't do it?" James queried as the contents of the box continued to roll around the floor.
"Well… It won't. Her magic must've just done it on reflex or something." Remus told them.
The wolf was throwing himself, enthusiastic as ever, against the door but Lily didn't seen to notice. She was scrabbling around the floor looking for something.
She grabbed a small glass tumbler and placed it on the side of the bath and quickly seized a miniature tub of orange powder and dumped it into the glass. She then rummaged around for something else, spotting what she needed behind the toilet bowl. A second later she immerged with a tiny bottle of purple liquid which she hastily unscrewed with her teeth, since her arm was still useless. That too was dumped into the tumbler as she went off looking for something else but James noticed that she slipped the empty bottle into her pocket.
"What's she doing?" Sirius asked in bewilderment.
"I… I'm not sure." Remus replied, wincing as his werewolf self whammed into the door once more.
"This is taking forever." Sirius muttered. "Moony, can we just go forward and see what happens when that door finally opens?"
Remus looked alarmed. "What makes you think that-"
"Moony it's got to open one way or the other." Sirius cut his friend off. "Either the wolf breaks it down or Evans walks out, either way it'll open."
"I… Prongs? Do you think we should?" James nodded. Not so much because he was impatient but more because he couldn't stand watching Evans on the floor, pale, shaking, bruised and flinching every single time the werewolf hit the door.
"I think we should." he whispered. With a heavy sigh Remus waved his wand once more.
They were still standing in the bathroom. Apart from the (now empty) tumbler on the side of the bath, the contents of the metal box had been cleaned up. Apparently Evans was finished with them. "Er… where's Lily?" he asked uncertainly, looking around.
"There." Sirius pointed at the shower cubicle on the other side of the room. The door was open and James moved nearer to Sirius and Remus to see what was in there.
What he saw was Lily Evans, curled up in a tiny ball, rocking back and forth and staring at the door. The werewolf was still hammering against it, but it was doing so with much less strength. James glanced at Lily's watch and saw why.
"My God…" he whispered. "It's after midnight. She's been in here for at least six hours!"
Remus paled and gulped, looking at the terrified girl. Sirius took the more direct approach of "Bloody hell."
James looked at the red-head. She was still shaking. The dark circles on her pale skin just served to enhance how wide her eyes were. She was clutching something in her hand but he couldn't see what. James was slightly alarmed to see the small silver knife next to her hand and obviously ready to be snatched up at any moment.
In a kind of horrified trance he moved closer to her. He frowned.
"She's saying something." He noticed. She was. She was whispering something over and over again. But James couldn't quite make out the words to her mantra. He got closer still.
"Come on. Come on. Break it down. Do us both a favour and break it down already. Come on, come on, come on. Come on Remus. Come on and break it down…"
He repeated her chant to Remus and Sirius who both frowned. Sirius was first to speak. "Why on Earth would she want it to-"
The door snapped off it's hinges, interrupting him. As the colossal beast began bounding towards her Lily threw whatever was in her hand directly at it. There was a sound of tinkling glass and a thick cloud of purple smoke immediately engulfed the wolf. Lily seized the silver knife and got to her feet but she needn't have bothered.
The wolf swayed on the spot for a few seconds as the purple cloud faded away. Then with sort of half-hearted yelp it collapsed in the middle of the floor, unconscious.
Lily let out a shuddering, ragged breath and leant against the wall. The silver knife clattered to the floor loudly as she looked down at the wolf on the floor.
"I'm sorry Remus. I'm so sorry…" she whispered, taking deep breaths. Sirius gawked. James gawked. Remus looked so far beyond stunned that he'd lost the ability to speak. Lily, for her part, stooped and picked up the knife. She slid it into her robes and crept forwards, towards the door.
"What- what did she just do?" James asked. Potions had never been his strong suit and he had to assume that what Evans had just done had fallen into that category.
"I don't… it looked like a sleeping potion but I've never seen it administered like that before. I didn't know it could be… I'll have to ask her about this." Remus seemed utterly intrigued. Sirius wasn't paying attention, he was looking at Evans as she crept soundlessly across the floor and shaking his head.
"Padfoot? What's wrong?" James asked.
"Her!" he said, gesturing at Lily as she manoeuvred her way past the slumped body of the wolf. "She's completely wasted! Did you see that little display?" he said, gesturing angrily at the room.
"Er… yeah. What about it?" James asked his friend, a little concerned about his mental health.
"She could've done wonders for our side! She could've been one of the greatest mischief makers of all time! Look at her! Completely soundless and on a tiled floor, in high heels as well. Not to mention inventing a sleeping potion grenade on the spot! And what did she do? She went and became a prefect. Complete bloody waste!"
As Lily moved out the door and down the stairs, James looked at Remus. They both burst out laughing. Both stopped abruptly, however, when a series of loud bangs emanated from the hall. All three Marauders ran out of the room and to the top of the stairs, looking panicked.
Lily Evans was at the bottom in a crumpled heap. She'd fallen down the stairs. But rather than bursting into tears and having a temper tantrum (as James was fairly certain he would've done by that point) Evans just threw her head back and sighed.
"Yeah…well… that just figures." she muttered as she pulled herself to her feet. James and his friends jogged down after her as she disappeared into the kitchen. She was wrestling with the door under which her wand was still lying.
A part of James had to appreciate just how difficult it had to be for her with one arm useless, the other fairly badly beaten around, and her entire body still quivering from tiredness, fear and general badness. But the girl was still stubbornly pushing and heaving at the thing five minutes later. Finally it moved enough for her to grab her wand.
James watched in amazement as she conjured up a sling for her arm and then trudged back upstairs. She conjured ropes and bound the wolf's beaten and semi-broken body and levitated it into the bathtub.
With a few simple incantations she'd healed most of the damage done to the creature (who, James had to remind himself, was one of his best friends). She partially healed the wound in it's leg and set about repairing it's concussion.
When she'd got it into a passable state she walked out the doorway. A quick spell and the door was back on it's hinges, perfectly intact. Another quick spell and she'd made it see-through. Looking around with a yawn she called "Accio chair." a straight backed wooden chair came flying down the hallway, stopping at Lily's feet.
She sat down on it and stared at Remus. Her eyes were sunken and tired, but a glint of watchfulness was still dancing in them. She yawned once more and decided to conjure up some tea, apparently forgetting about her own injuries that needed seeing to. As she sipped delicately from the white porcelain cup James was surprised to see her laugh slightly to herself.
"Guess what Remus?" she said quietly. "I've been thinking about those monthly meetings with McGonagall. And do you know… I've decided, it could be worse."
James sent a stunned looking Remus a sly grin. Sirius looked like he was about to burst out laughing. "Perhaps we should uh… fast forward till when he wakes up?" Sirius suggested.
Remus nodded dumbly and waved his wand. James had been telling him for years that nobody who knew him could possibly blame him for things the wolf did, but he hadn't believed him. Remus was now stood, staring at a girl who he'd hunted down for over six hours and nearly killed at least three times during the course of the evening. And she was engaging his unconscious self in light banter over tea.
It made James quite impossibly happy to witness it.