"Potter, is that really you?" she asked.
The stag nodded, then waved its head back. Lily didn't need any more encouragement. She climbed on, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. As Potter took off, she heard the werewolf howl again. She tensed, then quickly released the pressure. She didn't want to choke him.
It took all of her concentration to keep from falling off. This was nothing like flying. It was jolting, with too many bounds as James leaped over brush.
"Unbelievable," she whispered. Potter was an animagus. The others probably were too. But she didn't have time to contemplate this new discovery. She could still hear the werewolf behind them. Her fingers were wrapped around her wand so hard the knuckles were white.
They emerged from the Forbidden Forest. She surprised to see that they were further from the castle than before. She must have been running in the wrong direction. A branch snapped near the edge of the forest. She glanced back, and gasped as the werewolf charged out from beneath the trees, bearing down on them now that they were in the open.
"Potter, you have to go faster!" she told him. "He's gaining on us!"
He couldn't answer, but she felt him lengthen his stride. The ground raced by even faster. She didn't want to think about what would happen if she fell off. She tightened her grip, and shot a stun spell over her shoulder.
The werewolf growled, but dodged it just as easily as before. She took careful aim, then fired another one. It was even farther off target, and the werewolf was gaining.
Potter wavered, and Lily was shocked to find that he was slowing down. He must not have ever run this far before, especially not with a human on his back. "No, James, don't give up!" she cried. "We're almost there, you can make it! Just a bit farther!" But he was having trouble breathing. He wouldn't last much longer.
Lily looked back to find that the werewolf was almost alongside of them. He snapped at James' heels. As he grinned, she saw every single one of his teeth as if she were looking at a close up photograph.
She screamed, more out of anger than actual fright, as she fired another stun spell. It hit the werewolf right in the side. He only faltered for a second, but it was enough for James to pull away and for a large black dog to slam into it from the side.
She tore her eyes away from the battle. The castle was just ahead. James was barely galloping, and he stopped abruptly at the steps. She slid off and raced for the door, managing to pull it open before she realized that James hadn't followed her. "James?" she called, looking around.
He had collapsed at the bottom of the steps, and reverted to his human form. She tripped down the steps and knelt by him, shaking him slightly. "Come on James, we have to go inside." When he didn't respond, she began to pull him up the steps, panic starting to build in her chest as she watched the battle out of the corner of her eye.
She slipped a few times, but was only halfway there when the dog yelped in pain. She looked up involuntarily. The dog was lying in the grass, motionless, and the werewolf was headed for the castle.
Lily pulled James faster, determined to get inside before the werewolf reached them. She slipped again, and started half crawling up the steps. It was almost here. She opened the door wider. It reached the bottom of the steps. She pulled James through the doorway and slammed the door shut. Almost immediately the werewolf rammed into the door, but she breathed a sigh of relief. It couldn't get in here. Hogwarts was safe.
For the first time she noticed that she was covered in scrapes and cuts, probably from her fall through the trees. But they didn't matter right now.
She knelt down by James again. "Are you all right?" she whispered, but he was unconscious. She reached out a hand to move his hair off of his face, and realized that she was trembling.
The werewolf rammed into the door again.
"What's going on?" someone shouted.
Lily twisted around. A soft circle of light reflected on the walls was moving down the stairs. Filch, she realized with a frown. Compared to what was outside, she definitely felt that she could handle him.
There was a closet not too far from the doors. She pulled James over and pushed him inside, then stepped in herself. She didn't close the door the whole way, just in case it locked automatically.
She listened as Filch tramped down the stairs and crossed to the doors. As he opened them, she had a flash of an image of a werewolf loose in the school, but the image quickly vanished as Filch harrumphed and shut the door again. "It's nothing, my sweet," he told the kitten that followed him everywhere these days, who for some reason was named Mrs. Norris. "Probably just those nasty students playing tricks again."
And then he was gone. Lily breathed a sigh of relief, then turned back to James. He looked terrible, from what little she could see of him. If he didn't wake up soon she was going to have to take him to the infirmary. Luckily the nurse didn't ask too many questions.
An animagus, she thought. Incredible!