Chapter 12: Confessions
"No time to explain, Harry. I need your help." Lily hurried over to the motionless forms on the forest floor where the creatures had fallen. "Hurry!" she urged, waving them over.
Neville and Harry hastily hurried to Lily's side. As Harry knelt, he recognized the his father's unconscious form, deathly pale. "Dad? But how?"
"Ennervate." Lilly muttered, pointing her wand at her husband's chest before doing the same to the other. Harry gasped as he realized the other form was Sirius, just as pale.
"I don't understand…" Harry sounded confused, as Lily twirled hear arm. Strands of bandages materialized out of thin air, winding around James's side, binding tight. She did the same with Sirius.
"I promise, I will explain it to you once they are in the hospital wing." Lily looked up at him, fear making her eyes look huge in her freckled heart-shaped face.
Harr reluctantly nodded. Lily conjured two stretchers out of thin air. She used her wand again to levitate Sirius and James onto the stretcher. "Neville, can you light your wand? I need light to see where we're going." Lily asked, looking to Neville.
"I can do that." Neville nodded, his own face as pale as James and Sirius as it illuminated from below from his wand.
"What about me, Mum?" Harry asked anxiously, fear creeping up inside him.
"Walk along the stretcher. You dad might wake up while we transport him, I don't want him to pani." Lily stood up, her wand aloft as she did so. She used a hover charm on the two stretchers. With the two stretchers following them, Lily led them through the forest and back up to the castle.
"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey hurried to meet them as Lily brought the stretchers into the hospital wing.
"Stunned while in their Animagus forms and stabbed, I think. I saw something flash." Lily explained as Madam Pomfrey took over the care.
"Excellent job on the bandages, Lily." Madam Pomfrey complimented as she examined Sirius's wound. "Kept it from bleeding too much. Can you bring me some blood replenishing potions."
"Of course." Lily went Pomfrey's office and returned with a large white unmarked bottle.
"Is he going to be all right?" Harry asked, staring at his unconscious father.
"I'll do the best I can, but I'm not knowledgeable in Muggle weapon wounds." Madam Pomfrey bent over Sirius, to examine the wound. "You bound the wounds?" She inquired of Lily.
"Yes, ma'am. I learned a few tricks from my parents. When someone is bleeding, apply pressure to the area." Lily nodded.
"You know about as much as I do on the subject, so you're hired. Can you take care of James?" Madam Pomfrey asked. She looked up at Harry and Neville as she paused in her work. "And what do you want to do with the boys?"
"Someone needs to escort them to their dormitory." Lily answered at once, bending over James, her long fiery red hair hanging close to her husband's body. She impatiently brushed it away.
I'm not leaving." Harry said at once.
"Oh yes you are, Harry James Potter. I can't help Madam Pomfrey with you in here. And you must be dead tired on your feet. I will come to you when I have any news." Lily said firmly without looking up at him as she worked. "Now go."
"C'mon, Harry." Neville muttered, tugging on Harry's robe. When Harry stayed put, Neville tugged harder. When Harry finally followed him he said, "They're going to be all right."
"How do you know?" Harry snapped. "They could be dying in there and I can't be with them! And it's all my fault they got hurt."
"Of course it's not." Neville said automatically, though he didn't entirely believe it.
"Neville, they came after me to rescue me. That makes it my FAULT!" Harry shouted, forgetting it was in the middle of the night.
"Potter, Longbottom, what are you doing shouting in the middle of the hallway?" Professor McGonagall asked, approaching them. She looked stern, a contrasting appearance to her tartan dressing gown and nightcap.
"My dad and godfather got injured." Harry admitted to Professor McGonagall, hanging his head in shame.
"I know. I was asked to escort you back to Gryffindor Tower." Professor McGonagall responded promptly.
"How d'you-?" Harry gaped in shock. Then he recovered. "In the office…" He sighed.
"It matters not. Your mother has your best interest at heart. Follow me, both of you." Professor McGonagall turned on her heel and led them back to Gryffindor Tower.
Harry and Neville could not sleep at all that night. They were still awake at the sunrise, when the dormitory door opened. Lily entered the dormitory finally, dark shadows under her eyes and her vivid red hair tousled. "Mum? How's Dad and Sirius?" He asked, rising anxiously to his feet.
Lily gave him a small smile. "They're both going to recover just fine. Madam Pomfrey and I worked all night to get them stable." Before Harry could ask, she forestalled him with, "You can't see them. Madam Pomfrey said they need rest to recover. You can see them later, I promise."
Harry hurried to his mother and hugged her tightly. She held him close, stroking his raven hair. "I'm sorry I caused all this."
"You did not cause this." Lily assured him. "The animosity between your father, godfather, and Snape are deeper than you can influence. They would have done anything to stop him from hurting anyone he targeted. It just happens that you chose to put yourself in that situation. They are grown men and therefore responsible for you." She knelt down so she was just a little lower than he was. "Harry James Potter. I do not want you to feel guilty for what they did last night. They went after you, knowing the dangers."
"I can try." Harry sniffed, wiping his wet eyes. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course. Let's go down to the common room so we don't wake your dormmates." Lily got up and headed down the stairs with Harry and Neville following. With a flick of her wand at the grate, Lily lit a fire within. She sat down in one of the armchairs, gesturing to two others. "What do you want to know?"
"Are you an Animagus?" Harry asked. "How did you become one? Does Dad know?"
Lily raised a fiery eyebrow. "That was more than one question."
"Sorry." Harry answered sheepishly.
"Very well. I'll answer all three of them. Yes, I am an Animagus. I take the form of a doe, the same as my Patronus. I took the complicated steps that is required to become an Animagus and have been registered. And no, your father doesn't know. I have been afraid of what he would think if I told him. I've never transformed in front of him."
"Then why did you tonight?" Harry asked at once, blushing as he realized he blurted it out.
Lily smiled, folding her hands in her lap. "To answer that, I'll have to explain what went on tonight. You see, Sirius woke up last night and found you and Neville had disappeared. He used his method of contacting James to inform him. James checked the Marauder's Map, the map you discovered in the common room, and spotted you in the Forbidden Forest. He also spotted Snape on the map, and was so furious he bolted from the house without much more than a 'I've got to save Harry!' to me. I discovered that he left the map behind and saw what had made him leave so quickly. I brought Autumn over to Augusta and made my way to Hogwarts. I made my way toward where Snape was, which coincidentally was directly at you. I was so furious at the idea of him hurting you I transformed, charging through the forest. I scared him off, startling you, and you know what happened afterward.
"So you did exactly what they did? You came to my rescue?" Harry asked, almost awed.
Lily nodded. "I couldn't lose my oldest son."
Harry smiled a little at this, feeling very fondly toward his mother. Then a thought occurred to him. "Mum?"
"Yeah?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.
"If Dad and Sirius knew Snape from school, did you?" Harry asked, curious.
A shadow passed over Lily's face at this question. "I did. A long time ago. But he chose the Dark Arts, and I could not accept that." She said quietly.
Harry waited for more information, but Lily didn't elaborate. Finally, she stood up. "You should go back to bed, Harry. You look like you didn't get any sleep."
Harry looked resigned but followed Neville back up to bed.