Chapter Eleven: A Furry Little Problem

Looking back, even two weeks later, James still found it hard to process what he and his friends had gone through. He had fresh nightmares every night – of skulls and snakes, and sometimes even the odd bout of malicious laughter, but he always pushed them to the back of his mind. He did not want to remember.

James tried to pull himself together during those two weeks. He'd smiled and joked like his usual self when he was in class, but after it was over, when he was no longer under the caring eye of Professor McGonagall or any of his teachers, he returned to his solemn mood that he only showed to his closest friends.

He had not known Theodore Plant, and he wasn't going to pretend that he had known him. In truth, the conductor's death had affected him very little, and he was guilty that it did – Theodore deserved better, deserved to be remembered after all he had gone through. The Daily Prophet didn't help matters; they barely mentioned Theodore Plant, instead writing him off as the only casualty that had taken place in the attack. James suspected that the Ministry was behind this, seeing as they'd written about how Voldemort's attack was a failure, and that the Ministry had ultimately won. He did not much care about it.

As for what was going on inside the school – well, it was Hogwarts, after all, and rumours were bound to crop up. That Sunday, after the attack, Dumbledore had talked to the school about how he and the rest of his friends had been directly involved in what had happened. Ever since, James found himself the target of whispered conversations and pointed fingers, even though Dumbledore had explicitly requested the school not to bother him and his friends. He guessed that they were making their own theories as to why he had been targeted by Death Eaters. Again, he did not care very much.

Every evening after dinner, he and Lily would lock themselves up in the Head's Tower. They were inseparable these days, and though James wished that the reason for it was not so horrible, he was grateful nonetheless. While Sirius was – and would always be – the first person he would go to when he was feeling worried, he didn't want to bother him with something that he was also going through. It didn't matter very much; Lily was a good listener, and she'd promised that they'd get through it together.

Sometimes, James didn't even sleep in his own room. He did not dare go to Lily's dorm, for fear of being hexed – but she'd also caught on to what was going on with him, and had joined him in his long thinking sessions in the common room sofas. They didn't talk much during those periods. They didn't need to. She understood what he was going through, and he understood as well; the best they could do was to support each other, and move on.

"I see them, too," she said softly one night, leaning into his chest. "I'm tired of it."

"S'not so scary now," admitted James. "Kind of boring, really…"

They didn't say anything after that. James knew that she knew that he was only trying to lighten the situation, but she didn't comment on it. A moment later, Lily had fully relaxed, and her soft puffs of breath told him that she was asleep. He smiled to himself, suddenly feeling a great rush of affection for the witch snoozing on his chest, and he closed his eyes too.

Snow fell from the sky in the form of small, individual snowflakes, swirling against the windows; the end of the term was nearing, and with it, Christmas. James and the rest of the Marauders watched happily as Hagrid barged into the Great Hall on Saturday morning, carrying the last of the twelve Christmas trees. Garlands of holly and tinsel had been twisted around the rails and bannisters of the stairs; enchanted candles floated high up in the ceiling, forming a sort of aurora; live fairies of all sorts of colours flew about the room, flashing different lights that clashed magnificently with the candles.

The Marauders had taken it upon themselves to help with Christmas decorations, too. Just last night, they'd enchanted the suits of armour to follow around unsuspecting students, belching out merry tunes that James found rather annoying after hearing them for the umpteenth time. He'd made sure that the professors would have a hard time undoing the charms – he wasn't going to make it easy for them.

"I think we've tortured them enough, Prongs," said Remus wearily, as 'My Baby Gave Me a Hippogriff for Christmas' echoed around the Great Hall yet again.

James looked at him. The full moon was in a few days, and his friend wasn't looking too good. "Well, that's their problem now. They're just going to have to bear with it."

"Correction," said Remus, picking at a scar on his neck, "I think I've been tortured enough."

Sirius gave a bark of laughter. "The charms'll wear off in a few hours, don't worry. And stop touching that thing, Moony, it's never going to heal that way."

There was a great rush of fluttering wings at that moment; looking up, James saw the morning post owls swoop in through the upper windows. A black screech owl carrying a long, furled scroll landed in front of Sirius, who looked surprised.

The owl looked strangely familiar. Peter started to say, "Hey, isn't that…"

Sirius tried to tug the scroll from its beak. The owl looked at him reproachfully.

"Come off it," muttered Sirius. He finally managed to pull it away; the owl nipped at his fingers rather aggressively and took off at once, making sure to clip Sirius with its wings.

Sirius unfurled the scroll, mumbling darkly, and began to read. The further down his eyes travelled the parchment, the more pronounced became his scowl. His grey eyes flashed dangerously as he finished reading.

"Sirius?" asked James uneasily. His best mate got up abruptly, not looking at any of them, and then left the table.

James stared around at his friends, who looked just as confused as he did. "What do you reckon?"

"I dunno, but we should let him cool off before we do anything drastic," murmured Remus, taking a bite out of his toast. "Must be something about his family."

That sounded quite reasonable. A moment later, a certain redhead and her two friends sat down across them, shooting him a disapproving look.

"What did you lot do to Sirius?" asked Lily. "He didn't even say hi to Marlene."

"We didn't do anything," said James. "He got a letter and then stormed off."

"A letter?" said Marlene, frowning deeply. "From whom?"

"That was definitely a Black family owl," said Peter, glancing at the vacant spot that used to be occupied by Sirius. "I've seen enough Howlers from Sirius's mum to recognize one."

James looked at the Great Hall's double doors; Sirius was probably far away now. When he turned back to the table, he found Lily was still frowning at him. His mind went into overdrive, replaying every conversation he'd had with her, trying to find what he had done wrong. Perhaps he'd said something last night without meaning to? Maybe she'd mistaken one of his jokes for actual opinions. He really should keep his mouth shut sometimes.

"What?" asked James, giving up.

"Aren't you going to look for him?" said Lily. James let out a small sigh of relief. "You're his best mate, after all."

"Nah," answered Remus for him. "He'll want to be alone for a while. Besides, Sirius gets moody easily, we're going to let him cool off."

When Lily still looked reproachful, James sighed and reached for her hand across the table. "Look, love. Sirius wouldn't want us to worry about him, he's just that kind of bloke." He glanced quickly at Marlene, and then added, "You shouldn't go after him, either. Let him take out his frustration. We'll check on him later."

"Oh, all right," relented Marlene, easing into her bench. "It's just – even after all this time, I can never tell how he's feeling."

"He'll come around," said Alice, patting her arm.

"I wonder what the letter was about," said Lily absently. "Maybe they're asking him to transfer to Slytherin or something."

"I don't think so," said Remus, knitting his eyebrows together. "He would've just laughed it off, he's been sent dozens of letters like that. Whatever it was, it was something big – and personal."

"Well, I just hope this gets resolved quickly," said Marlene. "He usually never gets upset, it's strange seeing him like that."

And she cast an oddly furtive look at James.

"Trust me, Marls, we're just as confused as you are," he assured her.

Sirius Black sat under the shade of the beech tree by the edge of the still-unfrozen-lake, holding his crumpled letter in a fist. His head was swimming with thoughts and emotions – guilt that he had ditched Marlene, and more importantly, his friends; contempt at the godforsaken piece of rubbish he held in his hands; disgust at himself for feeling like this. Mostly, though, he felt anger.

The nerve of that woman… Sirius swore, for as long as he lived, he would never speak to her again. His mother had that effect on many people, bribing and lying and flattering to get what she wanted, and then – boom, her true colours showed.

He balled his fist up even more, trying to ignore the heavy words that had been written in the parchment. She had confirmed what Bellatrix had said a few weeks ago – that he had been blasted off the family tree, and that he was no longer considered family. Not to her, anyway.

Even though he knew it was foolish to do so, he had secretly hoped that Bellatrix had been lying. He had hoped that his mother, insufferable as she may be, would find it in her black heart to admit that she was wrong, and apologise to him.

He'd underestimated just how nasty his mother could be. Aside from basically disowning him, she'd also demanded that he return the money Uncle Alphard had given to him, which was a new low. Not wanting to open the letter, he closed his eyes, and remembered his mother's words…

The Black family demands that the contents of Alphard Black's will, including the thirty thousand (30,000) galleons he has left you, be transferred to the Black family vault (Vault 711) no later than by March 1st. If the Black family does not hear from you, this case shall be promptly filed in the small claims court.

Hoping you are well,

Walburga Black, heiress of House Black

Sirius levitated the ball of parchment in the air, and promptly set fire to it. He imagined his mother's head in place of the letter.

"Careful, or you'll burn down Hogwarts. We're still not done putting up Christmas decorations."

Sirius whipped his head towards the source of the voice; he found James striding over to him, his hands in his pockets, and an apologetic expression on his face.

"Oh," said Sirius hollowly, "It's you."

James sat down next to him, leaning against the base of the tree. "Do you wish it weren't me?"

"No, no," he sighed. "I'm glad you're here."

The ashes from the parchment were scattered in the cold wind. Sirius picked up a small pebble and threw it across the lake, where it skipped once… twice… thrice, before it sank beneath the surface on its fourth skip.

"The letter," said James slowly, "what was it about?"

"Nothing, really," he said bitterly, preparing to throw another rock. "Just my dear old mum asking for my money. As if she hasn't got enough already."

"That inheritance from your uncle?" said James, looking at him. "But he said – explicitly stated – in his will that you were receiving it, not anyone else. If the Ministry follows their own laws at all, the money can't be taken from you…"

"I don't expect Mum will handle that very well." The rock didn't skip at all, instead plopping pathetically as soon as it landed on the lake. "I've been officially disowned, too."

"Doubt it," said James absently, using his wand to launch his own pebble into the lake. "Blood bonds are hard to break. Impossible, in fact."

"Just a few months ago, you were the one telling me that blood meant nothing."

"And I still stand by it," said James. "Blood doesn't mean family, mate. But when it comes to magic, you'd be hard-pressed to, er… sever the ties left by blood bonds. That's what my dad says, at least…"

There was silence between them after that. They engaged in a silent competition – whose pebbles would skip the furthest would receive bragging rights – and ultimately Sirius won, his record of six total skips impossible to beat by James.

"Did you mean what you said during my birthday?" he said after a short pause, turning to James. "About how you're tired of me living in your house?"

"Of course not," said James firmly. "I was just taking the mickey, you know that. My parents love you, you're a part of our family now as far as we're concerned."

"Oh," was all he could say, and he turned a pebble in between his fingers nervously.

"You can't seriously be thinking that we'd abandon you?" said James incredulously. "I'm hurt, mate."

"No, it's not that," he said quickly. "I was just thinking – well, I was reminded – since I've got a bit of money now, I could finally move out, get my own place…"

James appeared to consider the idea. "I mean, if you want to, you know Mum and Dad will always support you. I reckon they'd want to wait until after school, though."

"Yeah, I'm not in a hurry to live on my own," said Sirius. "We've got all the time in the world, anyway…"

"That we do," said James quietly.

A comfortable silence followed. Sirius felt better, much better than he had that morning; it was as though an enormous weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

To hell with my family, thought Sirius savagely. I'm disowning them.

"Let's get out of here," he said, standing up. "If anyone sees me, my reputation'll go down the drain…"

"I've got an idea," said James, accepting Sirius's hand. He pulled out a folded piece of parchment from inside his robes; The Marauders' Map. "I saw Mulciber and Wilkes all alone on the sixth floor, there's a chance they might still be there…"

"You read my mind," said Sirius, grinning. "Moony and Wormtail coming?"

James unfolded the map, his eyes travelling all the way towards the sixth floor, where two lone figures sat in an empty corridor. He grinned back. "You bet."

The following Thursday, after a long, boring day of classes, three-quarters of the Marauders were lounging in the Head's common room with Lily. James watched amusedly as his girlfriend and his best mate argued over Quidditch, once or twice grunting in agreement when they directed their questions at him.

"... you're mad if you think the Cannons are better than the Wasps, Black, I can't believe you'd say something so wrong and stupid –"

"It's not my fault the Wasps are a bunch of no-brainers with no talent!" interjected Sirius angrily. James and Peter shared an exasperated look, and then hastily avoided their gazes as Lily threw a pillow at Sirius.

"I can't believe my own best mate would say this," she muttered, covering her face with her hands as Sirius threw it back at her. "You don't deserve the title."

Before Sirius could retort, James stood up hastily, now seeing that the clock was about to strike nine. "All right, that's enough, both of you." He frowned at Lily, and suddenly feeling quite mischievous, added, "For the record, Lils, the Wasps are a bunch of idiots."

"Oh sure, side with him, I see how it is now," said Lily sarcastically, crossing her arms in a very flamboyant manner. "Remind me how I ended up with you again?"

"Now that's a topic I can get behind on arguing," said Peter approvingly, ducking as James swatted his head.

"All right, that's enough, both of you," said Sirius in a near-perfect imitation of James. "Evans, isn't it past your bedtime? You should go to sleep."

"Don't tell me what to do, Black," said Lily, trying to sound cross, but then she yawned wide. "Bloody hell, you three're giving me migraines. I wish Remus were here."

"Well, he can't, can he?" James pretended to yawn, covering his mouth as he did so. "Poor Moony…"

"Ah, he'll be alright." Sirius rubbed his eyes, winking discreetly at him from behind his fingers. "He's strong, Moony."

"Shouldn't you two go to the Hospital Wing?" said Lily suddenly, all traces of sleepiness gone, and she was now eyeing Peter and Sirius carefully.

James shot Sirius a look that he hoped said, go along with it.

"Oh – yeah," said Sirius, glancing at Peter. "We've got to help Madam Pomfrey with the – er, process. Right, Pete?"

He elbowed Peter rather inconspicuously.

"Right!" squeaked Peter, attempting an unconvincing stab at airiness. "You'll join us tomorrow morning, James?"

"Definitely," said James quickly, grateful that he was able to have the final say. "You two should hurry it up, or else Filch'll do you in before you graduate…"

He shot them another significant look out of the corner of his eye; Lily didn't see it, and she nodded. "That's right, get out of here, you two. If you don't mind, I have something I need to talk about with your friend Prongs here…"

"We all know that you two value your privacy," said Sirius teasingly, but he grabbed Peter by the arm and pulled him towards the portrait hole. "Don't stay up too late, now… be good role models for young Wormtail here…"

The portrait swung open, and he heard the two wizards say a cheerful farewell to Sirius and Peter. As soon as it closed, he turned to Lily, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Something you needed to talk about, Miss Evans?"

She closed the distance between them; James leaned down, his face inches away from hers. She planted her hands on his neck and pulled him towards her, and he let her guide them, he let her set the pace; their lips met, brushing ever-so-slightly, and then they crashed onto each other, hungry and ecstatic; his hands travelled to the side of her face, his fingers tangling themselves in her hair, sweet-smelling and red, and she deepened the kiss, cupping him in her hands.

For a few moments their bodies were frozen, savouring the feeling, but then James pulled away reluctantly. Lily made a noise of disapproval, looking up at him with her bottom lip sticking out…

Oh Merlin, thought James, trying not to think of what he wanted to think about. If she kissed him again, he would probably forget all about his plans…

"I was enjoying that," muttered Lily.

"I ran out of breath," said James rather lamely. To keep her from saying anything, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in a hug. "Also, you're bloody gorgeous, Evans."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," mumbled Lily thickly, her face pressed against his chest.

"Won't it?" James squeezed her a bit tighter, and then he let go. Lily looked most displeased. "I'm quite tired, love. I'm going to bed."

"Oh, all right," she relented, and she gave him one last kiss before pulling away, her hair messy from where James had played with it.

James climbed the stairs and stayed in his room until he heard Lily's door close. When he was sure that it was clear, he opened his own door discreetly and glanced around.

The clock said that it was 9.07. Any later, and there was no telling what Remus would do to himself. Stuffing his Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map inside his robes, he went down the stairs, crossed the common room as quietly as he could, and, giving Lily's door one last careful glance, he slowly opened the portrait hole and stepped through.

He held up a finger to his lips as the two wizards opened their mouths sleepily. He made the motion of throwing away an object to the side of his mouth, hoping that the wizards understood. They bobbed their heads up and down, their eyes half-open, and shushed the other rather loudly – and, quick as lightning, they slammed the portrait shut.

The empty corridor echoed with the noise.

James raised his eyebrows. The wizards were already asleep, apparently not noticing that whatever they had done was not in the least bit quiet. Praying that Lily hadn't heard him, he rounded the corner and found Sirius and Peter leaning against the wall, looking quite annoyed.

"Took you long enough!" muttered Sirius, accepting his end of the Invisibility Cloak. He wrapped it over his body, and Peter did the same. "If I hadn't known any better, I'd say you'd ditched us!"

"Don't be ridiculous," snapped James, extracting the Marauder's Map. "There's no harm in waiting a couple of minutes…"

Filch and Mrs Norris were inside the Transfiguration Tower, miles away from where they were. Glancing up, James pulled the two of them with him, none of them saying a word until they had reached the Great Hall.

"I take it from that little display Lily still doesn't know you're an illegal Animagus?" said Peter suddenly, struggling to keep his feet hidden.

"Of course she doesn't," said James shortly, glancing at the Map again.

"And just when were you planning on telling her?"

James ground to a halt, staring incredulously at Peter. "Can't we have this conversation later?"

"No, he's right," said Sirius, now appearing thoughtful. "Just when were you going to tell her?"

"I haven't gotten round to doing that, all right?" said James angrily, pushing the two of them forwards. They climbed out of one of the openings. "If I tell her, I'm going to have to explain that the two of you –"

"Personally, I'm fine with it," breathed Sirius as they entered the Hogwarts grounds. "If you expect this to last, you're going to have to tell her. Lily's a good bird. I trust her."

"Agreed," said Peter.

James growled in frustration. "You're one to talk, I'll bet my broomstick you haven't even thought about telling Marlene –"

"That's because we're not serious," said Sirius, jogging to keep up with him. "She doesn't ask stupid questions –"

"Listen," said James, trying not to let panic into his voice. He wasn't sure why he was feeling stressed. "We'll have this conversation later, all right? I'll tell Lily eventually, but right now, Moony needs us."

Peter promptly turned into a rat and scurried over to the opening in the Whomping Willow; for a moment, the tree froze, and James and Sirius transformed and went down the passage. They found Moony circling around the upper room of the Shack, foam forming in his mouth, gnashing his teeth. Even well into the night, Sirius and Peter's words came back to him. He knew that he would have to tell Lily eventually.

He remembered what Lily had said. A relationship is built on trust. We won't be getting anywhere if we keep secrets from each other.

Soon, he resolved, as he let Moony pounce on him playfully. He wanted this to last, it was too good not to fight for it…

The Marauders pranced around the forest, chasing each other until Moony tired.

I'll tell her soon.

Prongs, distracted with his thoughts, didn't notice Moony bite a little too hard on Padfoot's leg. His anguished howls snapped him out of his trance, and he saw Moony yelp in surprise and put his paws over his snout. If stags could sigh, he would have.

This is going to be a long night, isn't it?

They pushed Moony all the way to the Shrieking Shack as the first of Hagrid's roosters crowed. The sky above was still dark, but James was always one to trust chickens.

Sirius limped alongside him, growling and snarling as he nudged Moony's end with his snout. James concluded that he was cursing in whatever language dogs spoke in, and he couldn't blame him. The bite on his foot looked nasty.

Moony stayed silent, once or twice glancing behind with eyes James thought rather cute to be a werewolf's.

He used his antlers to hold up a loose beam in the Shrieking Shack; Moony and Padfoot slipped through, Wormtail holding on tightly to the wolf's fur. James turned his head to the side and squeezed in, trying not to get his antlers caught in anything. Padfoot gave him one last reproachful look and disappeared down the secret passageway.

Moony bayed.

James had no idea how to comfort a werewolf, so he gave him an awkward sort of pat to the back with his hoof. Moony curled up, apparently not wanting to be seen.

He and Wormtail followed Sirius quickly; if they stuck around any longer, Madam Pomfrey might discover them. In no time, they reached the Whomping Willow, and Wormtail scurried up to the opening and touched its roots; the tree became still, and James transformed and exited first. He helped Padfoot out of the hole.

"Pete, can you get my cloak and the map? Only I've got to carry this stupid dog with me –" he heaved Padfoot onto his back, where the dog clung to his neck like a great, shaggy rucksack. "They're in that bush – no, the other one –"

They hurried back to the castle, trying to stay low. Peter led the way, holding the map and covering their snowy footprints. The way ahead seemed clear, and Sirius transformed right after they climbed through the castle walls.

"All right, mate?" James said alarmedly; Sirius's injury looked even more gruesome without all the fur covering it. "That doesn't look so good."

His leg was matted in dry blood that went all the way down to his ankle. Torn flesh and sunken pits from where Moony's teeth had clamped shut formed a sort of U-shape that never seemed to end. The whole area was blue and slightly swollen, and bits of dirty sleet seemed to have lodged themselves inside the wound.

"Blimey, I didn't notice," snarled Sirius, hopping on his good foot. He gripped James's shoulder for support. "Help me walk…"

"We need to get you to Madam Pomfrey," said Peter, consulting the map again. "No one's up yet –"

"Are you mad?" Sirius's voice was hoarse. "Pomfrey'll ask questions, she knows we're Remus's mates, and she probably knows how to identify werewolf bites."

"We'll get you to the Head's dorm," said James firmly. "We'll use the healing potion for emergencies."

"That's reserved for Remus," muttered Sirius.

"I think this qualifies as an emergency, Padfoot." Peter slung Sirius's other arm around him. "Come on, there's a good boy…"

"I'm going to turn you into a rat permanently, Pettigrew –"

"Wake the whole castle, will you?" said James irritably. "Let's hurry, it's not far from here…"

But it felt as though the Head's Tower was miles away. Sirius cursed and muttered under his breath. His face was starting to sweat, never a good sign. James half-considered conjuring a stretcher.

Finally, they reached the painting of the two sleeping wizards. James whispered, "Neverland!" and they swung open, not even a hitch in their snoring, and they staggered inside.

"Lily's still asleep," said James. "We'll get you out with the invisibility cloak, and if anyone asks we'll say that the squid got you –"

They stopped suddenly and abruptly as they entered the common room.

James's heart skipped a beat.

Sitting on one of the couches, a mug of smoking coffee in her hands, looking quite awake, was Lily. She looked at him expectantly, as though she had been waiting all night.

"Morning," she said absently.

James was too scared to say anything.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "You're supposed to say, good morning, Lily, after."

Next to him, Sirius's face was a brilliant shade of red, appearing very likely to match Lily's hair.

"You know, it's funny that you're here, James," she continued. "I could've sworn that you said you were going to sleep just a few hours ago."

Sirius groaned slightly; he gripped James's shoulders tighter. Lily sipped her coffee.

"Lily, I promise I can explain –"

"So imagine my surprise when I heard the painting open." Lily talked over him. "And I knew – either someone had gotten in, or someone was heading out. I concluded it was the latter, and so I waited, and I thought, surely, my own boyfriend wouldn't be stupid enough to go out on the night of the full moon?"

Sirius started to pant. James wasn't sure how much longer he could take.

"So why, James Potter," said Lily, her eyes like slits, "Why were you heading out on the night of the full moon?"

For a moment, no one said a word. James cringed slightly; he had never felt as trapped as he did right then.

"Lily, I swear there's a perfectly good explanation for this," said James, choosing to look at Lily's mug of coffee instead of those intense green eyes, "But Sirius needs help now. He's lost a lot of blood."

Sirius raised his leg helpfully, grunting and cursing as he did so; Lily stared at it, her face morphing into an expression of surprise, and then she said tightly, "Fine."

Taking that as approval, Peter pushed Sirius onto James's back and they climbed the stairs. His mind was numb; he could not fathom how Lily was feeling at the moment, and he did not want to think of what he would look like after Sirius and Peter left, but he pushed these thoughts to the side and set Sirius on his bed.

While Peter conjured bandages and wrappings, James rummaged around in his drawer, trying to find the healing potion. He had stuffed it into one of his socks, he was sure of it, why wasn't it there?

Giving up, James turned to his underwear. It wasn't there either.

Now slightly desperate, he searched once more through his socks, trying to convince himself that he had missed it. He double-and-triple checked each and every balled-up pair; still no luck. Sirius's muffled grunts were sounding more frequently, and in a last, wild grab, he flung open his bottom drawer – the stash of drinks.

A single bottle of Butterbeer rolled over to vision. Sloshing inside, he found that it was not the usual, bright yellow liquid that frothed at the top, but was instead a dark red substance, smooth and calm.

He seized the bottle. It was warm and beat slightly, like a heart; he uncorked the top and staggered over to Sirius.

"Here you go, Pads," said James weakly.

Sirius gulped down the potion as he would any other drink. Trickles of red liquid dribbled down his chin, but he continued to guzzle it until it emptied. The bite on his foot smoked slightly, but it looked better.

"How does it feel?" asked Peter. Sirius merely grunted.

"Help me get up," he said, stretching his hand out to James. "And make me a Pepperup Potion if you can –"

"You can't possibly be thinking about going to class?" said James. "Just stay here, Padfoot."

"If I don't, Moony'll feel guilty," growled Sirius. "I'm fine, honestly –"

"No, you're not."

Lily stood in the doorway, blocking the exit. She had her wand pointed up. The reason why became apparent soon; two white bags labelled Hospital Wing came floating in a moment later.

"You're not going anywhere, Padfoot," said Lily. "You boys can tell me why you're like this while I work on your leg."

James and Peter glanced at each other nervously. Sirius tried to get up, but Lily pushed him firmly back on to the bed and raised her wand threateningly. He was reminded, quite stupidly, of Madam Pomfrey.

She flicked her wand and one of the bags opened; thin, black string slithered out from it, followed by something that looked like a pair of scissors. Another twitch, and a handful of cotton and cloth, as well as a white bottle labelled Alcohol, sailed out from the other bag.

Sirius made a noise somewhere in between a sob and a retch. "Wha – what're you going to do to me?"

"I'm going to stitch you," said Lily. "Unfortunately, a healing potion can't solve everything. You're still going to get an infection, especially if that's a werewolf bite –"

"You lost me at stitch," said Sirius, horrified. "You're not going to crochet me or anything, are you?"

"A more accurate description would be sewing your skin together," said Lily grimly. "I'll cast a spell over you so that you won't be awake. It won't hurt – at least during the process. Now stop being a baby and relax."

Before Sirius could protest, Lily pointed her wand at him and muttered a spell; in an instant, he'd gone limp and fell on the bed, his mouth hanging open.

"You lot better tell me how he got this bite, or I'm going to knock you all unconscious," muttered Lily to James and Peter.

With another nervous glance, James blurted out the story. Lily was silent as she worked, but he found that this was easier. He stared resolutely at his Quidditch posters as he told her how he and Sirius and Peter had found out that Remus was a werewolf. He started the story there; it had always started with Remus. And then, as Lily paused in her healing and rolled her hands in a go on gesture, he told her about how Sirius noticed how drained and sickly he looked after the transformations. He told her how Sirius had proposed the idea of becoming Animagi in their third year, and how they'd spent the next year cooped up in the library, going through the restricted section, practising the most complex Transfiguration spells and brewing the most disgusting potions until, after a fashion, they were confident enough in their abilities to start the process of becoming Animagi, finally able to transform during the beginning of their fifth year.

When he'd finished, Lily still remained silent. She waved her wand back and forth, willing Sirius's skin to get sewn back together. James waited.

"So you're an Animagus," said Lily finally, packing her medical tools back in her bag. "And – let me get this straight – you became one so that you'd be able to keep Remus company?"

"During the full moon," responded James.

"During the full moon," echoed Lily. She straightened up and turned to face him and Peter. James didn't like how he wasn't able to read her face.

"You don't believe us?" squeaked Peter.

"I don't know what to believe," muttered Lily, crossing her arms. "Only one way to find out, isn't there?"

James and Peter exchanged glances. "You want us to transform – now?"

"Obviously," said Lily stonily.

Peter eyed him nervously, a silent conversation being had between them. James took a step back, and breathed deeply.

"You might want to move, Lily," murmured James. Lily remained where she was, her face quite impassive.

Holding his breath, James cleared his mind of all but the image of Prongs, remembering his sight, his sense of smell, his great, powerful body – and he willed his heart to stop.

The second heartbeat grew louder.

The change was immediate, as it always was. He was standing on all fours; his head was heavier, much heavier; his vision sharpened, he didn't need his glasses anymore, and his sense of smell suddenly became a million times more powerful, he could smell Sirius's dried blood even when it had been washed off by Lily's alcohol –

Lily herself had fallen on the bed, her mouth hanging open in shock. She dropped her wand, which bounced on the bed and struck Sirius with a spell.

Sirius woke instantly, sitting bolt upright, his eyes zooming in on his foot. He let out a very un-Siriuslike squeal and rounded on Lily, who was still eyeing James with a mixture of fascination and disbelief.

"What the bloody fucking hell did –"

"He's an Animagus," whispered Lily hoarsely, massaging her temples. "James Potter is an Animagus…"

Sirius's outraged face became amused once he saw James, and he rolled his eyes. "Stop showing off, you great prat. I'm literally dying over here."

Lily turned to him quickly, as though she had just noticed he was there. "And you – Sirius, what –"

Sirius grimaced and promptly turned into a dog. Lily jumped, and then stared at him.

"Wait a moment," said Lily slowly. "You're – you're Snuffles? What –"

James transformed back and ran a hand through his hair nervously. The memory swam hazily to the front of his mind – there he was on a fine autumn late-afternoon, taking a stroll along the lake with Lily, and for the first few minutes they were alone, gloriously alone… and then his precious time was destroyed as Sirius came bounding up to them, licking their faces –

Sirius turned into his normal, handsome self, looking sheepish. "Yeah, about that –"

"You kissed me," stammered Lily, a look of horrified realization dawning on her face. "You – the dog – kissed me."

"Technically, I licked you," said Sirius, in spite of himself. "And let me tell you, Evans, you wouldn't believe the look on old Prongsie's face –"

His words were drowned out by an otherworldly bellow. Somewhere on the floor, there was an odd, squeak-squeak-squeak as Wormtail the Rat laughed heartily.

"Hello, Moony," said James brightly, traipsing through his friend's bed-curtains.

"Hello," said Remus hollowly. He wasn't meeting his eyes. "Er – I wanted to ask, is Sirius –?"

"Evening, Moony." Sirius and Peter appeared out of thin air, drawing back a silky, silvery cloak. "What's up?"

"I'm sorry!" cried Remus ruefully; over in her office, Madam Pomfrey squinted at them. "I'm sorry, Sirius, I swear I didn't mean to, it's just – Moony – I mean, me – I didn't think I'd lose control again –"

Remus buried his face into his fingers. He seemed quite deflated, as though he'd been bottling his emotions for the entire day.

"Hey – it's alright," said Sirius, patting his hand awkwardly. "Werewolf bites don't affect animals, remember?"

"Yes, but the pain's still there," said Remus thickly, his voice muffled by his hands. "I can't imagine –"

"Actually, it's not," said Sirius happily, pulling back his robes to reveal his leg. It was not swollen nor bleeding, and looked relatively normal except for a thin scar with strands of string-like material crisscrossing at certain intervals. Remus peeked through his fingers.

"It took a day of magical sleep, but I was able to heal up," continued Sirius. "Can't complain, I haven't done Flitwick's essay yet. I tell you, Prongs, your girlfriend is an actual angel…"

"She most definitely is, she even stopped Marlene from barging into your room to check on you, Pads," said Peter, smirking. Sirius gave a bark of laughter.

"Wait," said Remus slowly. "Wait, wait, wait… Lily did this? She healed you?"

"Sure did," said James proudly, before Sirius could answer. "Did a fantastic job, if I say so myself."

"She's passed out in the Head's Tower, that's why she isn't here with us," chimed in Peter.

"I – passed out?" said Remus incredulously. "What exactly did she do?"

"It's probably from shock," said Sirius, rubbing his healed leg. "You know, from finding out that we're illegal Animagi."

Remus let the words sink in before his jaw dropped slightly. "You – you told her?"

"Yep," said James happily. "She won't tell a soul, you know how Lily is."

"I mean – it's your decision, after all, and I trust her –"

"Good," said Sirius, breaking a chunk off Remus's chocolate bar lying next to him. "Because now that she knows, she won't have to worry about your furry little problem that much anymore…"

This was very fun to write, I thought a lighter chapter would be nice after that last one. I'm very sorry for the slow updates; I have my midterms, they'll be finishing on the 15th so after that it's back to my regular scheduled programming. I'll admit I haven't been studying much, I've been using most of my free time finishing Rick Riordan's final CHB book Tower of Nero, as well as rewatching BNHA (chapter 287 just came out and it's pretty nice) and replaying The Witcher 3. There isn't much else to do where I live.

Aaaaanywho, read and review, as always, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!