For their first-ever Care of Magical Creatures class, Professor Kettleburn announced that he was bringing the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs into the Forbidden Forest, which made James more nervous than he'd care to admit. He'd only been in the Forest once before, on a dare from Sirius last year, and he had only gone about fifty yards in before a mysterious growling coming from the undergrowth had made him turn around and get out of there as fast as humanly possible.

That had been in the middle of the night, though, and he'd been all alone; now the sun was high in the sky, chasing away the Forest's intimidating shadows, and there were more than twenty of them entering together. So James forced himself to swallow back his nerves and follow the others into the Forest, keeping his eyes fixed firmly ahead of him.

"We've got a wealth of rare magical creatures hiding out in these woods," Professor Kettleburn said as they walked, waving his wooden arm around at the trees in the distance. "Acromantulas, Grindylows…even some unicorns. Who knows what we'll find today?" James and the others had thought Professor Kettleburn was pretty impressive, having tangled with dragons and whatever sort of beasts had managed to tear half his limbs off, but now James was thinking he was more than a little deranged. He certainly didn't want to be finding any Acromantulas on their walk.

"Are you sure taking this class was a good idea?" Remus murmured at James's shoulder, seeming to read his mind. He looked pale and fragile, trembling a little in the cold; the full moon had been only a few short nights ago, and this was Remus's first day back in class after. He would likely be no help against any attacking giant spiders.

"We'll be fine, Remus," said Lily Evans from just in front of them, giving him a little smile. Her eyes, James noticed, were greener than just about everything in the Forest. "Professor Kettleburn won't let anything happen to us."

"Well, he's let a lot happen to him," Peter pointed out nervously, gesturing to the professor's missing limbs. Unlike James, he was doing nothing to hide his fear, which was obvious in the sweat gathering over his brow.

"Come off it, Petey," Sirius said. "Lucky none of the Slytherins are here to see you wet your pants over invisible monsters."

"The Slytherins only bother with you because you bother them first," Lily retorted sharply. "If you'd just leave Severus and his friends alone—"

"All right," Kettleburn called from in front of them, cutting Lily off. "Split up into groups of three and head off to see what you can find. I'm looking for any strangely-colored animal fur or feathers, pawprints, or scratch marks that might help us identify some of the creatures that have been wandering around here. Stick with your groups, and if any of you run into trouble, shoot some sparks into the air from the tip of your wand. You all know the spell, correct?" The third years nodded nervously. "Excellent." He gave them all a slightly maniacal smile. "Off you go!"

James found himself in a group with Lily and Remus, while Sirius and Peter joined up with a pretty Hufflepuff girl named Fiona Sakai. With a quick wave to Sirius, James followed Lily deeper into the Forest, keeping one eye trained on Remus behind him. He wondered if Remus should have stayed in the hospital wing for another day; he sort of looked like he was going to faint.

Lily noticed, too—after a couple minutes of walking, she stopped and turned to face him concernedly. "Are you all right, Remus? If you're really scared—"

"He's fine," James interrupted. "Let's keep moving, so we can find something and get out of here."

"He doesn't need you to speak for him," Lily snapped, wearing the same haughty expression she always wore in the presence of James Potter. A smile tugged at James's lips; he kind of loved seeing her like this.

"It's okay, Lily," Remus said, sounding exhausted. "I'm okay. I'm not scared, I'm just a bit tired."

"Are you sick again?" she asked. "Is that why you've been missing class? I thought I'd see you in Arithmancy yesterday."

"Evans, he's fine," James said. "He doesn't need you fretting about him like a mother hen."

"It's called showing concern for a friend, James Potter," Lily said indignantly. "Something you wouldn't know anything about."

"You've no idea what I know, Evans."

"I know you and Black are a pair of slimy toerags who don't deserve the air you breathe, and I don't know for the life of me why someone like Remus chooses to consort with you."

"Well, I don't know for the life of me—"

"James," Remus hissed, stepping between him and Lily and pointing into the forest. "There's something watching us."

Startled, James spun around to see what Remus was talking about, a shiver coursing down the back of his neck. He heard the soft crunching of leaves coming from somewhere nearby, and as he peered into the brush, he swore he caught the momentary flash of a pair of yellow eyes.

"There's another one," Lily breathed from behind him. She had her wand lit and pointed into the woods ahead of her, her back to James's and her breaths coming in hitched little gasps. "They've got us surrounded."

A deep growl, eerily similar to the one James had heard the last time he was in the Forest, shook the bushes and ferns just to his left. He felt something freeze inside of him, stopping his heart—then he saw the glinting eyes again, followed by a giant muzzle filled with bared teeth….

"Get behind me!" he yelled to Remus and Lily. He threw his body between them and the monster, flinging out his wand and casting a Shield Charm to envelop them. "Stupe—"

"Don't hurt them!" cried a voice suddenly; James looked up to find Professor Kettleburn running frantically towards them. "They're just wolves—they aren't dangerous, I promise—"

The beast emerged fully from the undergrowth, its eyes fixed on James; it was, indeed, a wolf, big and lean and sporting a beautiful silver-gray coat. He heard Lily gasp behind him, and turned to find two more wolves stepping out from among the trees, both of them white-furred and golden-eyed.

"Werewolves," Lily whispered.

Professor Kettleburn had reached them at last, a trail of other students following in his wake. "Not werewolves," he said breathlessly. "These wolves are special—the descendants of two werewolves that mated under the influence of the full moon. But they are normal wolves themselves, unable to infect with their bites; Dumbledore keeps them here under his protection."

One of the white wolves stepped up to Remus—with a start, James realized that all three of them were focused on his friend. The descendants of werewolves…they must sense that he was like them. Something different, something not entirely human.

Hesitantly, Remus reached forward and laid a hand on the wolf's head. The animal gave a small growl, though this time James could tell it did not mean to be aggressive; it was trying to communicate.

Lily stood as still as one of the castle gargoyles, staring at the wolves with wide, unblinking eyes. Almost instinctively, James reached for her and rested his fingers against her wrist. For once, she didn't push him away.

"They like you, Remus," Fiona Sakai observed from the cluster of students behind Kettleburn. The silver-gray wolf had brushed past James and was now sniffing tentatively at the top of Remus's head.

"Most curious," said Kettleburn, who knew as well as any of the professors that Remus was a werewolf.

And then the wolves drew back, all of a sudden as if a silent signal had passed between them, and vanished back into the Forest, their steps as quiet as a ghost's. Remus watched them go with an unreadable expression knitting together his brows.

"Come here, you three," Kettleburn said, his eyes still focused on the trees. James, Lily and Remus obeyed as if in a trance, walking silently back towards the others with their heads down.

"Remus," James said quietly to the other Marauder, "you okay, mate?"

"Fine," Remus said tightly.

"Well, now, that was quite an extraordinary sight," Kettleburn said. He cleared his throat. "Certainly not what I expected to find out here today. How about we all head back onto the school grounds, and I'll tell you a little more about the history of the Forest's wolf pack?"

James let out a sigh of relief as they turned to leave. He fell back behind his friends, watching Remus as Sirius and Peter came up to speak quietly to him. Would the other students have found the wolves' interest in Remus suspicious? He was sure someone other than the Marauders had noticed Remus's frequent disappearances—what if they were able to put it together as they had, and what if they weren't as accepting as James was of sharing their Potions bench with a werewolf?

"Hey," said a voice at his shoulder; it was Lily. "That was actually kind of brave what you did back there."

James blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"The way you jumped between me and Remus and the wolf. Like you were going to defend us from it."

"I would have," he said truthfully. "James Potter isn't scared of magical beasts."

Lily snorted. "You looked plenty scared back there, trust me." She elbowed his side. "That's why I thought you were brave. Because you did it anyway."

James met her eyes, their green bringing out the fire in her lashes and the constellation of freckles that dotted her cheekbones. She really is something, he thought. "I can't believe you actually said something nice to me, Evans."

And then the spell was broken; Lily turned away from him with a gentle sigh and a roll of her eyes. "Don't get used to it, Potter." She left his side, hurrying to catch up with the others.

James couldn't help but smile after her. He was definitely going to ask Remus to let him join in on one of their library dates sometime soon.