Two days later, Remus was being led by Madame Pomfrey through the village of Hogsmeade towards the Shrieking Shack. Since the incident with Severus the previous year, Madame Pomfrey had insisted that they could no longer enter through the passage way under the Whomping Willow as they were in plain sight of other students. Remus did not mind the walk through the village and often tried to imagine he was simply heading to The Three Broomsticks for a butterbear rather than to the Shrieking Shack to transform into a hideous monster.
Once they reached the entrance of the shrieking shack, Madame Pomfrey let Remus inside, gave him a sympathetic smile and told him she would be back in the morning to collect him. Remus settled himself on the dusty floor to wait for the moon to rise and for James, Sirius and Peter to arrive.
Remus' transition to wolf form was agony but this was not new to him, having gone through his first transformation at age five. In the hour before, he removed his clothes and locked them in the steel cupboard by the door. He had begun to sweat profusely and the twisting in his stomach had intensified to a throbbing pain as his organs' stretched. In the few minutes that preceded the moon rise a thick coating of hair grew across his body and he lengthened in size. Finally, his nose lengthened into a snout, his limbs stretched more, cracking and popping into place and his last human feature, his eyes, became wolfish slits. His transformation was complete.
Remus howled loudly, pacing the walls of the Shrieking Shack. The building, which had at one stage been a pleasant home in reasonable condition, had fallen into disrepair as Remus tore away at the walls and floorboards. Tonight, he broke through a floorboard on the first floor and settled to gnaw through it for a few minutes. When he found the taste of this unpleasant, in frustration, he began scratching and biting himself. This was horrid as even as a werewolf as Remus could still feel pain but with no human flesh to bite it gave his jaw something to do. It was in this position, with his leg in his mouth, that James, Sirius and Peter found Remus.
The large black dog approached the wolf first, giving it a gentle nudge with its head as though to say 'Come on buddy you want to be able to walk on that leg tomorrow don't you?' Remus reluctantly stopped chewing at his leg.
If any human had entered at that moment the situation would have looked very odd, a dog and werewolf were affectionately head-butting each other. A very large stag was standing by the passageway through which it had come, taping its hoof against the ground impatiently as though to say 'Come on, lets get this show on the road.' Beside the stag's hoof, was a plump mouse closely watching the actions of the other animals with its beady little eyes.
That night was a fairly uneventful one for the Marauders in the forest. Other animals shied away from the creatures who in truth behaved nothing like animals. The werewolf, stag and dog raced each other around the forest, with the small, fat rat trailing behind them. After several hours of flaunting their speed across the forest floor, James and Sirius returned to their dormitory, followed by a very exhausted Peter and Remus returned to the Shrieking Shack to wait out the last hour before the moon set and he transitioned back to his human form.
Severus found himself unable to sleep the night of the full moon. He was still reeling from his argument with James. Had Potter been lying to provoke him? That was highly probable. Did he think Lily would go out with the weasely git when he next asked her? He did not know. It was difficult to judge her feelings from a distance, now that they were no longer friends. He hadn't expected her not to accept his apology. Why had he had to lash out at her for helping him? He probably could have called Potter any number of names and she wouldn't have minded. They would have laughed about it later. Now, with that one word their friendship was over. Gone. It was unbearable. And who had she replaced him with. Potter. They were at least friends now, if not something more. James Potter was notorious for getting whatever he wanted and he had wanted Lily since fourth year, thought Severus bitterly. Now it seemed as though he would have her.
Lily had decided to forgive Marlene and Alice for what they had said about her moping. She was lonely without them, having only Remus to talk to and he was usually off gallivanting with the Marauders. When Lily sat down next to them on Tuesday morning, their heads snapped up to look at her.
'Decided to forgive us have you?' asked Marlene coldly.
'Yes, I'm sorry for what I said and for storming off,' said Lily carefully.
'We're sorry too,' said Alice immediately, she had missed Lily's company over the past few days and finding Marlene to be very self-absorbed and judgmental. As a result, she had spent more time with her boyfriend Frank but then Marlene had complained about Alice ditching her. Alice gave Marlene a gentle nudge with her foot under the table.
'Yes, we are sorry as well,' repeated Marlene.
'We understand that all this bullshit has been really hard on you,' continued Alice. 'And we wanted to be supportive Lily, really we did. It's just hard because we both really like James and we felt that the way Severus acted last year was really out of line, and not really a bad reflection on James,' her babbling trailed off.
Lily forced a smile that did not quite reach her eyes. 'All is forgiven,' she said kindly. 'I really missed you guys.'
'Well, now that that's settled, we can discuss more important things,' said Marlene eagerly, her tone turning gossipy. 'Do you have a date to Hogsmeade Lily?'
'Not really,' said Lily politely.
'Oh,' said Marlene lightly. 'You had better find someone quick then, because Alice is going with Frank and Sirius asked me last week. You don't want to be the awkward fifth wheel on our triple date, do you?'
'I don't think it would be that awkward,' remarked Alice quietly. Marlene gave her a pointed look, as though to say, 'I don't want her coming unless she finds a date.'
'Ok,' said Lily. 'I'm not really in the right headspace to be going on a date with anyone but that's ok you guys go and have fun, I have to work on non-verbal spells for Transfiguration anyway.'
Alice opened her mouth to protest but Marlene silenced her with a sharp look. Marlene thought that if Lily came without a date, Sirius would not pay any attention to her and spend the entire afternoon trying to convince Lily to go out with Potter. She was not half wrong either; the main reason Sirius had asked her was that he was hoping that Lily would go with James. This seemed unlikely at the present moment as Lily and James were not at all on friendly terms, and Sirius was now dreading spending the afternoon with Marlene.
After charms that day, Lily was packing her books into her bag when Fabien Prewitt approached her. Lily had never really had much to do with Fabien as they were in different houses. She knew he as Ravenclaw's seeker, a talented Quidditch player and quite a bright student. He was also reasonably tall and rather good-looking. Lily wondered he could possibly want from her.
'Err… Hi Fabien,' she greeted him.
'Hey Lily,' he smiled warmly at her. 'I was wondering if I could walk you to your next class?'
'Um sure,' replied Lily, curious as to what Fabien wanted.
They walked along the charms corridor in silence for a few seconds before Fabien asked, 'I was wondering if you would like to come to Hogsmeade with me?' his voice rattled with nerves.
'Hogsmeade?' Lily asked shocked.
'Yeah, there's a trip this weekend and I was thinking we could go as a date,' Fabien said hurriedly. 'As long as you aren't already going with someone? I wouldn't want to…'
Lily interrupted him, 'I'm not going with anyone and yes I would love to.'
'Great! I'll meet you in the entrance hall on Saturday,' said Fabien enthusiastically. They had reached Lily's next class Ancient Runes.
'Yeah I'll see you then,' said Lily trying but failing to match Fabien's enthusiasm. She watched him walk away she thought that going out with Fabien was probably better than struggling over her transfiguration practise. What was the harm, she thought. He was attractive, they were both single, she wouldn't have to be the awkward fifth wheel with Alice and Marlene and their dates or sit in the common room by herself while the rest of the year was having fun in Hogsmeade. Lily briefly wondered what Potter would think, she had always refused his numerous offers to take her to Hogsmeade on principle, but she had never gone out with anyone else. She resolved not to care about James Potter's feelings on the matter. After all, they weren't even friends.
The news that Fabien Prewitt was taking Lily Evans to Hogsmeade spread through the Hogwarts castle like wildfire. It was not long before it reached the ears of Peter Pettigrew, who hurried back to the boy's dormitory to relay this valuable information to James, Sirius and Remus.
'Lily has a date,' Peter tried to say through panting breaths.
'Lily has what?' asked Remus, as no one had been able to understand a word of what Peter had said.
'What about Lily?' James asked joining the conversation.
'Lily has a date,' Peter repeated this time much more clearly.
'With who?' asked James flabbergasted.
'Fabien Prewitt, in Hogsmeade this weekend,' answered Peter, still wheezing.
'That git,' said Sirius joining the conversation. 'He only asked her because he knows it will mess with James' unbeatable quidditch form.'
'I doubt that's the only reason,' said Remus level-headedly.
'What other reason could there be?' asked Sirius astounded.
'Lily's the most gorgeous girl in our year for a start,' James interjected dully.
'Yeah, I mean she's alright, I guess,' replied Sirius. 'But mate you can't let this mess with your game, our first match is against Ravenclaw and its only two weeks away.'
Sirius continued to rattle on about Quidditch and how much of a git Fabien Prewitt was, with Peter nodding and mhmming whenever he took a breath. James sat quietly, mulling over the news he had just heard. He did not feel angry with Fabien or Lily, but rather deflated by the news. He had no business telling Lily who to date. He wished that the situation were different, that it was him and not Fabien Prewitt who was taking Lily to Hogsmeade on Saturday.
