"Oi! You're meant to be spotting me not falling asleep!" Sirius shouted down from the top of the ladder. It was true, James had been dozing off on the job, but it was half-past ten and they still had half the hall left to finish.
As Head Boy, James was expected to fulfil certain duties for the staff at Hogwarts, that included decorating the Great Hall. It was a duty Professor McGonagall was in charge of, she came up with the layout and they were simply to follow her instructions. Sirius was only helping because he was serving a punishment for Professor McGonagall - after skipping two classes early in November with no good reason why. James thought the punishment laughable as he was happy to have his friend's company.
Sirius was using his wand to guide the lights and ornaments around the tree, which was so large a ladder was needed to get to the upper portion of it. James was meant to be spotting the ladder Sirius stood on to prevent a slip - turned out he wasn't very good at that job, nor any other.
"How does it look from down there?" Sirius asked.
"Splendid! Now come on down for a ciggie break before we have to put up the garland."
"Merlin's beard, I forgot about the bloody garland. What is it? Midnight?"
"Ten-thirty actually," James informed him with a smirk.
They grabbed their jackets and made their way towards the main exit, into the courtyard. It was late November and outside the air was unforgiving. The first snowfall had come two days before - just a dusting - but it had left behind a frost in the air. Sirius pulled out a pack of Marlboros, as James had known he would.
"Mind if I bum one?"
"You're out?"
"Shocking, I know," James agreed, accepting the cigarette his friend graciously provided. "I'm trying to quit, for Lily's sake."
"You're quitting for your girlfriend?" Sirius couldn't hide his contempt. It was hard for James not to feel he was letting him down somehow.
"I know it sounds pitiful."
"No, it's...fine…" Sirius tried to disguise his feelings just the slightest. "I mean, you're a big softie now…"
"Oh bugger off," James shoved him, both chuckling.
"There's something I've been meaning to run by you," Sirius began after both boys had enjoyed their first exhale.
"Go on."
"Well, we'll be back home for the holidays in about two weeks and I was thinking, it might be time I started looking for a place of my own." That was the last thing James had expected him to say.
"Really?"
"I've just been thinking, you know, since Uncle Alph left me all that money," Sirius wasn't looking at James as he spoke, eyes focused on the cuff of his jacket. "I have the funds now, and maybe it'd be nice - to have a place of my own."
James hated the idea. He loved having Sirius in the room just downstairs, always available. James got the brother he'd never had and Sirius the safety of a good home for the first time in his life. Now it was all slipping away and James knew, better than anyone, that to force Sirius to stay for his own happiness was the wrong decision.
"You should do it," he encouraged Sirius, with as much enthusiasm as a disappointed man can muster. "We can go look at some flats when we're back."
"You're not mad then?" Sirius didn't sound very convinced. His grey eyes flickered up, droopy and begging for forgiveness.
"I'm not mad." Only sad is all. "I just wish it didn't have to happen so soon is all." One more summer together… that would have been ideal…
"Nothing's going to change," Sirius promised, tossing away the stub of his finished cigarette. James liked to think that was true, though the chances were slim. It seemed change was the only thing they could count on these days. He finished off his cigarette as well and, with frozen fingers, trudged back towards the castle doors.
Inside the hall, the boys began stringing up the remaining wreaths and garland that Hagrid had brought up to the castle that afternoon. By the time the job was done, it was nearing midnight and both James and Sirius moved sluggishly from the Great Hall, yawning.
"Ready for tomorrow night then?" Sirius asked.
"You mean our friend's furry little problem?" James and Sirius had been calling it that since they'd figured out Remus' secret.
"Have you given Lily an excuse yet?"
"She'll be going to the Slughorn's party," James sneered. He hated the Slug Club - mostly because he had never secured an invitation, despite being a top student himself. "If she happens to come looking for me I'll say we went down to the Quidditch Pitch to have some fun." It seemed an easy enough fix, for this full moon. What about the next? What about when Lily stopped falling so easily for his lies?
"That'll do I suppose," Sirius shrugged.
"It was easier when I didn't need to hide the fact that I'm an illegal animagus from my girlfriend." James rubbed at his eyes tiredly as they neared the fifth-floor landing.
"This is exactly why I refuse to commit to any bird."
"Sure," James snickered, knowing full well that Sirius' commitment issues ran way deeper than a single lie. They didn't talk about that though.
"What's Moony said to Leila, do you know?" James inquired.
"That he's tutoring Peter for the night," Sirius rolled his eyes. "He's a bloody fool, I told him so myself. She'll see right through it of course, and then he'll be right back to square one with her."
"Maybe she'll keep her nose out of it." James knew it wasn't likely. Leila and Remus had been seeing each other for a little over two months and his strange moods, long disappearances and many secrets continued to plague their relationship.
"Maybe they'll break up and he and Griffith will get together," Sirius suggested cheekily. "She is single now…"
"Yeah, and heartbroken? She just got out of a three-year relationship. Besides, wouldn't he and Alice be faced with the exact same issue?"
They approached the Fat Lady, James providing the week's password: "lanspresado."
"Regardless, Leila seems too...proper…" Sirius said the word with such distaste, as though proper were the worst thing to be. The common room was empty, as was to be expected at such an hour, and the fire burnt down to embers.
"At the very least, Remus seems to really care about her."
"She's always causing him all kinds of trouble," Sirius added, always pessimistic, especially when it came to love.
"Just don't let Remus catch you saying those things." James knew he would take it too much to heart, thinking one of his friends disliked Leila.
"Hey, I'm a Black - hiding my true emotions is a genetic quality we all share."
James chuckled, the two boys separating at the top of the stairs.
Remus tossed and turned all night. He'd wake up, shaking and soaked in sweat, to find it was still the night before the full moon and he'd only had a bad dream (as always happened the night before, as though his body prepared itself by filling with dread). He'd been dealing with transformations once a month for twelve years yet still - the night before a full moon struck was always difficult. Tonight it was made worse by the fact that Remus was sick to his stomach with guilt about lying to Leila.
Remus could only lay there, listening to his roommate's snore for so long before giving up and making for the common room with a blanket over his shoulders and a book in hand. If he was to get no sleep at all, the least he could do was get some work done. As it turned out, Remus was not the only Gryffindor having a sleepless night.
Alice Griffith was sitting by the fire, as close as one could get without being burnt by it. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, her face buried against them.
"Alice?"
She looked up, brown eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Remus…"
"Couldn't sleep?" He plopped down on the couch a few feet away from her. "Me neither."
"I've had...nightmares," she confessed, "since my mother died." Alice wiped the tears from her cheeks and rose to join Remus on the couch. They were a sorry pair but Remus was grateful for the company.
"She didn't just die though, did she?" Alice sighed. "She was murdered."
"What happened to your mother was a terrible crime." Remus knew a thing or two about those.
"Perhaps it's for the best. She'll never have to see who I've become."
"On the fast track to being one of the most successful Aurors the Ministry has ever seen?"
"A liar. A cheat-"
"If we're going to throw a pity party, might I join?" They were greeted by a third voice, Marlene standing at the bottom of the stairs. Her hair was tied back and she wore a white nightgown, a green jumper pulled over the top.
"I too am a dirty lying cheat."
"How so?" both Remus and Alice asked at practically the same time. Even in the midst of their own sorrow, no one could resist a little gossip.
Marlene joined them by the fire, curling up comfortably in one of the plush orange armchairs. "I told Henry at the party that I wanted him to pursue me and then…" Marlene bowed her head in shame. "Well, I shagged another bloke that night... after he left..."
"What?" Alice gasped. "Who?"
"Just some Hufflepuff with a name I'd rather not repeat. It meant nothing."
"Then it's fine," Remus shrugged. "It's not as though you're committed or anything."
"No," Marlene nodded, still appearing uneasy. "I just…I feel terribly guilty about the whole thing. What if I've sabotaged a good thing before it's even begun?"
"If you want my advice, honesty is the best policy," Alice advised her. Remus couldn't help feeling like a hypocrite as he nodded along.
"Even if honesty loses me the guy?"
"Perhaps he wasn't the right guy in that case."
"What about you, Remus?" Alice asked, brown eyes flickering towards the silent party. "What's keeping you up?"
"I just...have a terrible stomach ache," he confessed, not quite meeting Alice's gaze. It was Marlene his eyes flickered to in a desperate plea for help.
"It's because you did that stupid dare," Marlene supplied. Remus nodded along, though no dare had ever existed.
"What dare?"
"Oh, Peter dared Remus to add a spoonful of cinnamon to his rice pudding at dinner," Marlene rolled her eyes, "idiots."
"You're a bloody fool Remus Lupin," Alice chuckled.
"Yes," he nodded, wishing a sore stomach were all that plagued his thoughts that night.
The day of a full moon always left Marlene on edge. She worried about the boys getting caught, or trapped in some sort of danger. Even worse, that Remus might get hurt, or hurt someone else while he was unconscious. Marlene always worried, James had teased her about it from the time they were kids, but the kind of anxiety which pulsed through her once they snuck out of the castle each month was unbearable, never certain if this would be the night it all went south. Marlene had never quite forgiven James for not allowing her to join them when they became Animagi.
It was only the afternoon, day of the full moon, and Marlene was forced to pretend, to every one of her closest friends, that it was business as usual. It was difficult, especially with Mary who seemed to only grow a better read of people as she aged.
They gathered in the Great Hall for lunch - Marlene sitting with Mary and Emmeline. She was grateful to eat a meal without the Marauders around - if not mostly because it meant she could put away her charade with Sirius, pretending that she didn't want to tear his head off for the way he'd humiliated her.
"Who's going to the Slug Club party tonight? Lots of schmoozing," Mary teased. "Though I feel I should, it being our last Christmas party to get a word in with contacts"
"Should I be offended that I've never been invited?" Emmeline pouted.
"Count your blessings," Marlene assured her. "It's bloody painful is what it is. I for one will not be attending."
"You have to! It's the last Christmas party we'll have!"
"The idea of spending my evening with Slughorn and his gang of fanboys makes me want to claw my eyes out."
"And yet, some of those fanboys have very good connections with The Daily Prophet…"
"She's right Mar, and it may be one of your last chances to get your foot in the door…"
"I've got a paper to finish for Transfiguration and homework from Potions, there's no time for a party."
"I never thought I'd see the day that Marlene McKinnon did not have time for a party."
"You've been weird Mar," Mary agreed. "All week."
"I've been busy," Marlene shrugged.
"Did something happen with Henry?"
"No! Well, I did receive a letter from him this morning."
"Really?" Mary's ears perked up. "What did he say?"
"He asked if I'd like to grab lunch with him on Saturday when the next Hogsmeade trip takes place."
"And you've said yes, of course?"
"I haven't responded yet." The truth was, Marlene felt ashamed going along on the date with Henry when she knew that had Sirius not changed his mind, it was him she would have been spending the day with. It seemed too crazy to be true, the idea of her and Sirius going on a date, and yet for one sliver of a moment it had seemed possible.
"Told you, something is off," Mary said affirmatively.
"Nothings off I just…I'm getting cold feet I suppose."
"First dates are nerve-wracking," Emmeline told her, reaching out to take Marlene's hand. "You like Henry though, you always have, imagine if you gave up on all that because of some nerves."
"You're right…" Marlene agreed though she failed to tell her friends the whole truth. It would only complicate matters and, once two people knew it was only a matter of time before the secret spread.
"I should go." Marlene had barely touched the roast beef on her plate but she didn't have much of an appetite anyway. It was hard when her whole stomach seemed scrambled.
"Come tonight!" Mary insisted as Marlene got up to leave. "I'll die without you."
Lily returned to Gryffindor Tower for her free period. She had planned to sit quietly at one of the tables by the window and catch up on her Transfiguration homework. When she stepped through the portrait hole she found James sitting in one of the armchairs by the fire instead, reading Quidditch Through the Ages.
"What are you doing here?" Lily asked, leaning down to kiss his forehead from behind him. He jumped, startled by her presence.
"What period is it?"
"Fourth - did you miss the bell?"
James jumped up, tucking his book into his bag in a scramble, his hair a mess from running his fingers through it.
"Professor Almeida is going to kill me for being late again."
"Divination?" Lily scoffed, dropping into the warm seat James had just vacated. "Shouldn't she have foreseen your lateness?"
"Don't knock Divination just because you can't master it," James teased in return. Lily had never much believed in the art form, perhaps a lingering effect of her muggle upbringing.
"I can't believe I'm dating someone who actually enjoys Divination."
"I enjoy the opportunity to talk to Sirius the whole way through it, yes." James kneeled down, kissing Lily quickly.
"When will you be in bed by?" she inquired.
"Oh, well, not quite sure honestly…"
"Can I meet you after the party?"
"No! I mean, I'll be back late and I would hate to imagine you waiting up. Lil - I've got to go before I'm beyond the point of no return with Almeida."
"Go on then," Lily urged him, watching James go sprinting out the portrait hole - a little too pleased to be let off the hook.
His behaviour left Lily uneasy. James had never given her cause for concern before but of course, what was one month together - a traumatic event right smack in the middle? Truthfully, she barely knew him as a partner and suddenly she found herself feeling fearful. Who was James? Could she trust him with her heart the way she had so blindly believed she could?
"Hey." Alice stood before her, book bag slung over one shoulder, her face sombre. "Are you planning to go to Slughorn's party tonight?"
"I figured I would," Lily shrugged, suddenly not caring very much about the Slug Club party. "You?"
"Not sure…"
Alice had been avoiding crowds, since her breakup with Frank. She made a point not to stick around the Great Hall or the Common Room for that matter. She was constantly hiding out, in the library sometimes or her dorm others. Lily hated it, she missed her friend, and Frank seemed to be fairing no better…
"What if we went together?" Lily suggested. "Girl's date?"
Perhaps it was exactly what Lily needed too - the company of someone other than her boyfriend. She was engulfed in her relationship with James - perhaps her suffocating need to be near him was what was causing him to suddenly pull away. She had been extra needy since the abduction.
"That would be lovely," Alice agreed, mustering what looked almost like a smile.
"Maybe we should also get drunk," Lily was only half-joking. "Terribly drunk."
"I hate how much I want to do that."
"Fuck it," Lily gave in, "that'll be the motto for the night."
Now, she got a real grin out of Alice - the kind of smile her friend had one worn often. At the very least, a night of silly behaviour might allow them both to forget their worries; even if only for a little while
Sirius had gone straight to bed after class. He hadn't planned to wake until James came to get him - as promised - before they were to leave. That would be once the Prewetts had gone to sleep - once Sirius might escape his bed without causing suspicion. Sirius was woken early though, the sun having only just set so that the room was basked in dull darkness. Someone opened the door and stepped inside.
"Oh," she muttered to herself, only her outline visible.
Sirius reached for his wand beside him and flicked on his bedside lamp. She jumped, startled by the sudden light and her cheeks flushed pink when Marlene realized who joined her in the room.
"I came to find Remus-"
"He's already left," Sirius informed her, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"When do you lot follow?"
"Once everyone has gone to bed - you know the drill."
"Right." She nodded, not quite meeting his gaze. "Well, good luck then."
"Marls!" He stopped her before she hit the door. Marlene winced at the use of his old nickname for her, something only they knew, with meaning for only the two of them. "Please don't hate me." It was all he could think to say - not the truth, not that he'd made a stupid promise years ago that he dared not breach.
"I could never hate you," Marlene told him, face turned to the side so that he could only see her profile, half of the heavy face she wore when discussing how he had pummeled her feelings in the ground a week ago.
"That's the problem though, isn't it?" Marlene sighed heavily and made for the door. She swung it open and squealed with fright.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" It was another girl who spoke.
"Are you looking for Remus?" Marlene inquired. Sirius had known Leila would come sniffing about, he'd told James as much, but Remus had been too much of a wreck all day to handle the situation.
"Well, yes actually. I didn't see him at dinner..." Sirius realized he wasn't quite sure himself what time it was.
Without much of an idea what he was going to say, Sirius joined the conversation, coming up from behind Marlene. Leila had on a Christmas themed jumper - which Sirius could not help but judge - and her mousy brown hair was pinned into tight curls.
"Sirius?" Leila's eyes widened in shock. "Is it just the two of you in there?"
"Yes," Marlene was quick about her answer, "Sirius is embarrassed to admit publicly that I tutor him in Potions."
"I thought you said you were a natural in Slughorn's class?" Leila chuckled. Sirius hated the joke but to deny the lie would only hurt Remus. "You can't blame him for not inviting you to the Slug Club." Sirius wouldn't have minded the snub on Professor Slughorn's behalf had it not been for Regulus' membership. One more thing he had achieved over Sirius.
"You've caught me," Sirius lied. "Please, don't tell anyone."
"Your secret is safe with me," Leila assured him before adding, "as long as you tell me something in return-"
"Remus is off with Peter, studying I believe."
"I know that's what he said he's doing tonight," Leila frowned, "but I saw Peter down in the Great Hall with James. Remus was nowhere in sight?"
Remus' excuse had been hole-ridden from the start but what was Sirius to do now? He had no choice except to defend his friend while he was helpless, alone and likely freezing in the Shrieking Shack.
"Well, I'd assume he's gone off on his own then, to get a head start. Peter can be a very distracting study buddy you know."
Leila didn't look convinced. "Would you happen to know where he goes for this alone time?"
"Well, no, as he usually goes alone…?"
"The truth is," Marlene stepped in, "this is a very difficult time of year for Remus." Sirius' stomach sank anxiously. "You may have heard that a few years ago he was often travelling home to visit his mother who was sick. Well, it was this time of year when he received the first letter from her, telling him how ill she was."
"It was traumatizing," Sirius agreed quickly.
"So you have no idea where he is?" Leila didn't quit, Sirius could give her that much. Despite the plea Marlene's story had made for compassion her expression did not soften.
"No," both Marlene and Sirius replied.
"Remus just needs time to himself sometimes," Marlene tried to soothe the situation. "It's nothing to-"
"Well alright then." Leila gave up. With a final suspicious glare, she stomped back down the hall, her footsteps echoing as she stormed down the stairs, back towards the Common Room.
"How the hell did she even get in here?" Marlene was stunned.
"Remus must have given her the password," Sirius would remember to grill his friend on that one later. "Merlin, he'll be going through the wringer tomorrow, when he's at his worst."
"He's going through the wringer right now."
Sirius knew she was right and yet, there was nothing that could be done about it.
Lily had borrowed one of Emmeline's dresses for the Slug Club party. Powder blue with a modest v-neckline, long, flared sleeves, and a skirt which cut off a few inches above the knee. She wore her hair long and had a pair of blue Mary Janes she insisted upon wearing rather than the heels Emmeline suggested.
Alice had been dressed in Emmeline's clothing as well. Hers was a burgundy dress with floral print. It had the same v-neckline as Lily's and a short, pleated skirt. Her hair was swept to the side, as always, bright red lipstick painting her downturned lips. She looked beautiful, despite her air of melancholy.
"Al, I think you could use some more blush," Emmeline suggested, approaching her with a compact.
"Oh please, no more makeup," Alice begged. "I'll look like a clown."
Emmeline could not attend the party with them and so instead, she had become their personal stylist. She dressed and prepped them, wandering the room to touch up anyone's eyeshadow or lipstick.
"Alice, you look gorgeous," Mary assured her, sitting on the end of her bed strapping up her heels. Mary's dress was red, a great choice for Christmas, her sleeves long and tight but her neckline low. Lily wondered who she planned to impress at the party with her efforts - hair perfectly curled, makeup pristine.
"I'm jealous," Emmeline confessed, "I never thought I'd want to attend one of these bloody events."
"Oh, we're not going yet," Mary insisted. "You know I never show my face at a party sober." She pulled her trunk out from under her bed and from within it, produced a brown paper bag.
"Vodka," Mary announced to the room.
"Oh thank Merlin." Alice had never looked so relieved.
"Shots?"
Emmeline had glasses hidden in the drawer of her bedside cabinet and giggling, the four girls shared their first round of the night.
X
The party was, as anticipated, terribly dull. It was held in one of the large classrooms on the fifth floor. The desks were covered in red and green table cloths, covered in all sorts of food and drink (sadly, none were alcoholic). Alice and Lily had given up on schmoozing - turns out they weren't much in the mood for it - finding themselves instead, on one of the plush red couches along the back wall.
"This is not the grand night I was anticipating," Lily confessed. She watched Mary, across the room, standing rather closely to Reginald Cattermole as she whispered something in his ear. They were part of the pack surrounding Gerald Roy - a respected Healer.
"Nor I," Alice sighed. She'd been trying to avoid eye contact with Frank all night, who had arrived after them with Fabian Prewett. Fabian did his best to pretend Lily did not exist.
"Maybe we should head back to the dorms, see if Emmy is up for some trouble?"
"That is a wonderful idea," Alice agreed. The two made their quiet exit - not wanting to draw Mary from her much more enjoyable evening - and hurried down the hall, towards the nearest staircase. Lily stopped once they were far enough away not to fear being spotted and slipped off her shoes, which had begun to blister at the back. Lily was disappointed to find herself walking back to the dorms barefoot even when she didn't wear heels. Just as she and Alice began to walk again, the door to the stairwell flung open and there, rushing towards them, came Marlene.
"Mar?" Had she a last-minute change of heart about attending?
"I need your help," she informed them urgently. "I need…" Marlene bent over, hands resting on her thighs as she took deep breaths, steadying herself. She'd come in a hurry, Lily could see.
"What's happened?" Lily rested a hand on Marlene's back, rubbing circles into it, a soothing gesture inherited from her mother.
"There's something I have to tell you," she confessed, looking up. "Something bad has happened and I need your help to fix it. Will you follow me?"
There was no question, both Lily and Alice nodded and followed Marlene.
Marlene, knowing that there was no chance of sleep for her, made her way up the Astronomy Tower with a blanket, a thermos of tea, and a freshly rolled spliff. It was the only way she might get through the evening without tearing her hair out and, perhaps, from her high vantage point she might even lay eyes upon the boys.
She had brought with her the letter from Henry, the one that had arrived just that morning. It was the kind of letter Marlene had dreamed of receiving from the time she'd met him - then, just a young girl with frizzy hair and a big mouth. Suddenly, now, when Henry wanted her back, she wasn't so sure that she could do it.
Not due to lack of interest of course but rather her overwhelming sense of guilt. Every time she remembered their kiss, the one which they had shared at the party, it was Sirius' look of betrayal that immediately emerged in her mind. The one he'd worn as he stomped from the room, Marlene chasing after him like a fool. She could be such an idiot sometimes.
Marlene hadn't even had the time to light her spliff before she heard the door slam shut from below. She grabbed hold of her wand instinctively, rising to greet the owner of the frantic footsteps, racing up the stairs.
"Mar!" came Sirius' voice, winded, as he approached the top of the staircase. "It's me!"
"What the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be-"
"We - have - an - emergency."
"What kind of emergency?"
"Leila followed Peter."
"What?"
"He went early to keep up Remus' excuse that they were together, and she…" Sirius wiped sweat from his brow. "She followed him."
"How do you know?"
"Because she screamed when he transformed."
"Holy shit. Where is he now?"
"In James' dorm, losing his bloody mind. He thinks Remus will hate him."
"Where is she?"
"We don't know."
"Is she still out there?"
"Maybe-"
"For merlin's sake Sirius, Remus is likely in wolf form by now and she could be in danger! We have to go get her."
"The thing is, if one of us goes out there it only looks more suspicious."
"What does it matter? We have to do something!"
Sirius agreed. "Yes," he nodded, "we need to make her forget."
"Forget?"
"Yes, we need someone who can perform a strong memory charm, something that'll target the evening. She'll go to bed and never know the difference."
"Sirius…" Marlene couldn't justify wiping someone's memory simply because explaining the truth was… complicated. They could still convince Leila that what she had seen was not as serious as she believed. They could blame James' invisibility cloak, say that Peter had thrown it over his shoulders and disappeared.
"We have to," Sirius insisted, "for Remus' sake. It's what he'd want us to do if he had the ability to say so."
"But he doesn't and this seems a rather large decision to make in his stead."
"What do we do if she goes running to one of her friends and tells them where she saw Peter disappear? What if one of them just so happened to overhear a nasty piece of gossip, spread by Severus Snape, about strange occurrences near the Whomping Willow." Now, it all made sense.
"You're afraid that Remus will blame you?"
"No—"
"Because of what happened last year with Severus?"
Sirius had been shunned by the boys for months because of his behaviour. He'd been in a nasty state all week after a letter from home. His mother railed right into him for his choice in friends and his younger brother's much more successful academic career. Sirius been dying to make someone pay for his misery and Severus Snape had just so happened to be the man for the job.
Severus had always been sniffing about the boys, looking for something he might use against them. So it had been Sirius who provided him with the opportunity - when he informed him that if he were to go down to the Whomping Willow the tree bore a secret entrance. It was James who had stopped the whole thing just short of tragedy - warding Remus away in stag form so that Severus could off with only a scratch.
"Remus forgave you for that mistake a long time ago," Marlene reminded Sirius. "This is not your fault."
"Will you just help me?" His eyes rounded with desperation. "Please."
"Fine, what do you need from me?"
"I need you to get Lily." Marlene's face fell. "It was James' suggestion - she has performed the memory charm better than anyone else in the class, you've heard Flitwick."
"But she'll need to be told why."
"James says she can handle it and I think he's right - we know we can trust her."
"It's not about who we can trust, it's Remus' secret."
"And this charm will be for Remus' protection," Sirius argued.
Sirius was too stubborn to be dissuaded, especially if he'd already had his plan approved by James. No, Marlene wouldn't be able to change his mind.
"Fine," she agreed. "I'll find her."
Marlene had provided Alice and Lily with as little detail as possible. Alice couldn't help feeling like she was stepping onto a battlefield unequipped and blind. Leila had witnessed something bad (something Marlene insisted would make sense later). The girls needed to reach Leila outside, if she was still outside, where Peter had last seen her (why Peter? Alice couldn't help wondering). All Marlene could do was promise over and over that if they helped her she would provide all the answers later.
"And what is it you need from us?" Alice had finally gotten to that question as they approached the main doors, leading out into the courtyard.
"I need you to make her forget," Marlene stated plainly. "Forget everything she saw tonight."
"What did she see?"
Marlene stopped dead in her tracks just outside the doors, checking around the courtyard, quiet as a graveyard, before she began to speak.
"There's no time for questions. I'll give it to you straight and we can talk, after…" there was no choice but to agree.
Marlene took a deep breath and began. "Remus is a werewolf. It is a burden he has borne because of an enemy his father made when he was just a boy." Alice could feel the colour draining from her face. "Tonight is a full moon and a few years ago, the boys figured out how to transform into animagi. That is what Leila witnessed tonight, Peter, transforming into his animagus."
"Are you serious?" Lily's voice cracked.
"We don't have time," Marlene insisted once more, "please." Alice barely thought twice, rushing forward, and Lily followed, the three of them rushing down the grassy hill and left, towards the Whomping Willow.
Leila was not easy to find. She had hidden in the bushes and didn't come out until she heard them calling her name.
"How did you know I was here?" She demanded, emerging from the greenery in nothing but a sweater. There was snow on the ground and the air was unforgiving.
"Leila, please - let's get inside where you can warm up," Alice suggested, doing her best to diffuse the situation. She'd learnt a lot about that during her summer program in the Auror department.
"Peter was supposed to be studying with m-my boyfriend and h-he just… disappeared," she pointed towards the spot it had supposedly taken place in disbelief. Alice couldn't quite believe it herself.
"I know," Marlene nodded, eyebrows kneaded together with concern. "It's confusing but we can explain."
"Where is Remus?" Leila demanded, tears filling her eyes.
"Remus is with Peter," Marlene spoke calmly "and you just came out to see the full moon."
"What-"
Lily caught on to the act quick enough.
"What're you talking about?"
"Obliviate."
For a moment, Leila was simply vacant, eyes glossed over and face blank, but after a few seconds, she looked simply confused.
"What're you doing out here?" She looked around herself, clueless. "What am I doing?"
"You wanted to see the full moon tonight," Marlene reminded her. "We ran into you on our way back from the Slug Club party and joined."
"Right…" Leila nodded along mindlessly, the rest of her evening erased as though it had never happened.
"Should we all head to bed?" Marlene suggested.
Leila was more than willing and they made their way towards the castle, Marlene leading Leila ahead with an arm wrapped around her shoulders, as if they were old friends. The whole thing was still rather confusing, even more so when Alice realized that Lily wasn't following them, she had stopped dead in her tracks and was standing a few feet away from a large stag.
"Lily?" Alice approached cautiously, not sure whether the animal would charge. It didn't. In fact, it turned its head towards her, staring at her with recognition in its brown eyes. Lily approached him. It wasn't until then that Alice remembered what Marlene had told them earlier - the boys were illegal animagi.
"James?" Lily asked. She reached out to stroke the deer's brow, his head bowing towards her. Behind him a black, shaggy dog trotted towards them, tongue hanging out.
The Stag nuzzled its nose against Lily's cheek, she giggled, and then he backed away, standing beside the dog just before the Whomping Willow. Alice felt as though she were dreaming as she watched the tree freeze. The branches on the tree paused and the two animals turned around and rushed into a hidden hole at the base of the trunk, disappearing into the tree before its branches began their movements once more.
"Did that really happen?" Alice asked when it seemed everything had returned to normal.
"It was them," Lily said, both girls awe-struck as they turned back for the castle. "The stag and dog—"
"James and Sirius," Alice agreed. "Where was Peter I wonder?"
"No clue must've been the one who got the tree to stop moving." Lily shivered as a cold wind bristled against them. "Either way, this was way better than the Slug Club, I must say." That, Alice, could most certainly agree with.
