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Alice looked up from her third book of the night and let out a small laugh. "This is ridiculous, isn't it?"
Opposite her at the library table, Sirius was threatening to fall asleep on a particularly dusty copy of Hogwarts: A History, and Pete was thumbing through Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them for the fifth time in as many days, trying to make sure he hadn't missed anything.
Since Sunday evening, the seventh-year Gryffindors had turned into amateur sleuths, with every spare waking moment spent keeping an eye on the Slytherin students involved in Lily's attack and trying to unravel the story of the Lobalugs and, more importantly, where their missing venom had gotten to.
"You don't have any proof" Lily had snarled at James in a heated discussion on Sunday evening "you don't know that it was Severus."
Needless to say, the agenda of the Marauders had been clear from the get-go.
Lily and James had ensured that the counselling sessions for muggleborn students were still active and, with the help of her friends, the Head Girl was making plans to step away from her workload to shadow Madame Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing for a few hours each night.
"Everything happens in the Hospital Wing" Remus had told her "you want to be a Healer anyway, but this is an even better way to keep an eye on things. If a muggleborn is injured, you'll be one of the first to know about it."
Gathering information had been chaotic at best, with the girls sticking pieces of parchment under the boys' door at all hours of the day and night. In turn, Alice had started to leave her window ajar for the owls they would send back, with a new scrap of information, or the log of a suspicious sighting tied to their leg.
And, of course, there was still the blackened piece of skin that Marlene had kept from everyone else, slipped between the pages of an old reporter's notebook and stowed in her locked desk at the Herald office.
Sirius yawned. "I think old Pincey's starting to get a bit suspicious" he admitted "I've never been in the library this much in my life."
"It was a surprise to all of us that you could read, Padfoot" Pete said dryly, flicking his own book closed with a resounding thud.
Alice rolled her eyes at the easy banter between the two boys. "I still can't believe Lily just went for it in Potions today. I was sure that Slughorn would know the answer."
They had been in the middle of their lesson on the potion for Dreamless Sleep when the Head Girl, her hands working on pulling stems of hellebore apart, had asked her favourite professor about the uses of Lobalug venom.
James and Sirius had clocked Severus across the room, watching eagerly for his sallow face to betray any emotion, as his house master pondered the question. Much like Lily, they didn't have any luck.
Slughorn had given a polite little cough, like he always did when he felt caught out, and told the class that he'd look into it. Lobalugs, he'd conceded, were incredibly complex creatures and, had he known there were some within Hogwarts grounds, he would have insisted on taking one for scientific purposes.
"I'm sure, Miss Evans, that they would be of great benefit to modern wizarding medicine, but the lack of access is, of course, a challenge in itself…"
They had all tuned out after that, watching on sympathetically as Lily had continued to make her potion whilst Slughorn all but perched on her shoulder for the rest of the lesson.
During weeknights, they were working harder than they'd ever worked before which, given Lily's recent breakdowns, probably wasn't the smartest move in the world.
Their detective work had to fit in with their schedules as naturally as possible, so as not to raise too much suspicion. In between Lily's new nursing duties, Marlene being back on the paper, and everyone's normal NEWT workload, Quidditch practice and Head or Prefect duties, there wasn't much sleep to be had between the seventh year Gryffindors.
Throw in an impending full moon and the Marauders were on their knees.
With Remus resting in the Hospital Wing in preparation – and an excuse fed to the girls about a migraine – the boys were working quickly to wrap up their duties for the evening before heading down to the Whomping Willow.
Across the castle, James and Lily were cocooned in the Head's office discussing the necessities of a new patrol schedule. Unbeknownst to the rest of the Gryffindors, Dorcas and Marlene had gone for a post-dinner drink at Hagrid's hut that evening, close enough to the Forbidden Forest to keep an eye.
"Girls, yer really didn't need ta come" Hagrid said, his cheeks flushed from the Butterbeer they'd taken with them as an offering "but thanks."
"We just wanted to check in, Hagrid" Dorcas smiled. "I know that Mar's pretty shaken up, and it can't have been easy for you, either."
"Yer welcome anytime" the gamekeeper assured them, ushering the pair towards the door. "But it's late and Minerva'll kill me if-"
"We know" Marlene said, casting lumos. "We'll run back as fast as our little legs will carry us, and we'll be back to see you again soon, alright? Maybe we can go and look at those puppies Rosie's dad's selling at the Broomsticks soon?"
"Don' tempt me" Hagrid groaned. "Dumbledore's a good man, but 'e might not let me 'ave a dog."
"Ah, don't worry Hagrid, we can be very persuasive!" Dorcas joked, bidding farewell to him as she and Marlene stepped out into the night.
They were a safe distance away from Hagrid's before either of them spoke.
"Nothing" Doe propelled a heavy sigh from her lips. "Whoever it is, whatever it is, they must just be biding their time."
"Pretty gigantic balls on them, though" Marlene muttered "pull off one of the biggest heists in school history, and for what? It just doesn't make sense."
"And why leave them there?" Doe asked. "Why not throw them in the lake? Bury them? If they thought that no-one would ever find them, why leave them out for show?"
Because they were sending a message Marlene thought, not feeling the need to spell it out for her best friend. This is what I'll do to a dangerous creature that has something I need, so there's no telling what I'll do to you if you get in my fucking way.
Their visit to Hagrid's had, of course, been twofold. Not only could the girls keep an eye on the Forbidden Forest for the evening, but legend had it that the gamekeeper had an encyclopaedic knowledge of weird and wonderful creatures. If anyone would know what the black market would do with some Lobalug venom, it would be him.
They'd worked their way up to the subject, tiptoeing around the tragedy until the Butterbeer had started to work its magic. Although Hagrid usually had a fancy for stronger drinks, the warmth of the company had coaxed him to open up.
He'd spent an hour telling them about the illicit trading of highly dangerous creatures, who the right dealers were, who was just a fraudster. "Kettleburn" he'd said, downing another bottle in a single swig "does not mess about. 'E knows the right people ta go to, an' tha's where 'e got the Lobalugs from."
"O' course the Merpeople were furious when they 'eard. Dumbledore went down there ta hold meetings wi' 'em and all. Gossip travels fast, dunnit? They usually live together y'see, under the water. Use 'em in battle. It's a status thing – my Lobalug's got more poison than yours does. It's bigger, it's better, it's won me this fight, y'know?"
"The concentrations of poison in each one is different?" Marlene had asked, running a finger around the rim of her Butterbeer bottle.
"Tha's the thing, Marlene, no-one really knows" his answer had been infuriating. "They're praised as these great weapons in battle, but whether it's actually real or fable…"
He put his bottle down on the table. "One thing's for sure though, they wouldn't 'ave lasted long out of water. It's where they belong" he shook his head slowly, his dark eyes full of sadness "terrible thing, to do tha' to a creature. Jus' terrible."
Doe, sensing that the conversation would end in tears if they carried on, had switched to complimenting his new crop of pumpkins, which Hagrid had taken to with predictable delight.
Now, the two girls crossed the grounds back towards the castle under a sky of rich black ink. The full moon was high, and they could hear the splashing of the Giant Squid in the distance, the whistle of the wind through the trees of the Forbidden Forest, the occasional familiar thwack of the Whomping Willow.
"So, come on then" Marlene was desperate to change the subject. She pointed up at the sky "what can you tell me about the stars this week?"
Doe smirked. She, alongside Peter, were two of only five people in the school who had continued with NEWT level Astronomy. Her more level-headed friends didn't let her forget it. "You hate that stuff" she replied tartly "you don't believe in it anyway."
Marlene pretended to be shocked. "Miss Meadowes, I am positively stunned by that response."
"You once told me that the only thing the Astronomy Tower was good for was for messing around and not getting caught, and that planets were just a concept."
Marlene shrugged, sidestepping to avoid a boulder on their way back up the hill, "I've seen no evidence to the contrary so far."
Doe laughed. "You're infuriating."
"But you love me" Marlene insisted, linking their arms together. "Tell me about the stars."
Dorcas pulled them both to a stop. "Okay" she scanned the sky in front of her like a tapestry, and dropped her friend's arm. "It's interesting" she admitted, her face suddenly serious. "There are stars out tonight which aren't usually as bright at this. Maybe we're just really lucky."
"Which ones?" Marlene pressed, tilting her head up to follow her friend's finger as she pointed.
"Well, that one's always bright" Doe told her, tracing lines across the sky with her fingertip. "But you know that already, don't you? Canis Major, otherwise known as…?"
Marlene groaned.
"I don't hear your usual flair for class participation, Mar."
"Sirius" she grumbled.
"Ten points to Gryffindor" Dorcas beamed. "But this one's interesting" she drew a rough cut of an hourglass "I wonder if it's because it's a full moon? Come to think of it, we've never had a class on a full moon…"
She cleared her throat and continued. "That's Lupus, the wolf constellation. I'm really not sure if I've ever seen it so close before."
"Pretty cool" Marlene admitted. "Do they mean anything? Like when you read tealeaves?"
"They tell stories, you know that."
"So if that one" the blonde pointed back at Lupus "is brighter tonight, what does that mean for its story?"
Doe shrugged. "Fuck if I know. Werewolves?"
As if to answer their question, a long, solitary howl sounded in the distance. All the trees in the forest, and even the Whomping Willow, seemed to stand still for the noise.
Marlene cleared her throat. "We should probably get back to the castle."
"Great idea."
James had had an inkling that their second full moon of the school year was going to go badly.
First, Remus was stressed about NEWTS, and they all knew from experience that a frazzled boy did not make for a happy werewolf.
Second, James' Dreamless Sleep potion had blown up in his face when he'd added too much Flobberworm mucus earlier that day.
Third, every single one of the boys had been running late. For their usual crap timekeeping, they were always on time for a full moon, so that Remus didn't have to be on his own for more than a few minutes at most.
Tonight, however, he'd been caught up in patrol schedules with Lily, Sirius was being lectured by McGonagall about a prank involving exploding inkwells ("amateur hour!" he'd hissed angrily at the boys "as if she thinks that lowly of my pranking abilities when we completed it in first year…"), and Pete was being rushed out of the Restricted section of the library having snuck his way in without a pass.
And here they were, huddled under the Invisibility Cloak, pelting it down to the Whomping Willow, and problem number four were stargazing fifteen feet away from them.
The boys couldn't believe what they were seeing.
"Are they having a laugh?" James' jaw was slack "what are they doing here?"
They could hear Moony's howl echo out of the Shrieking Shack, travelling under the roots of the Whomping Willow and across the castle grounds. Sirius saw Marlene shiver and the girls continued making their way up the hill.
"It's okay" Pete tried to reassure him "look, they're going back up-"
"We need to make sure they get there" Sirius butted in. "If he comes out or they come down…"
"Agreed" James' voice was curt. "Padfoot, can you follow them up? Wormy, I'll go in first for playtime, you come back out and let Sirius in when you can, alright?"
Peter paled. "I don't like the sound of this" he admitted "we should all go in together, like always."
It was too late, the cloak had dropped in height as Sirius transformed, and the remaining Marauders watched as the shaggy dog went trotting up the hill.
Padfoot still hadn't reappeared by the time they reached the base of the tree. James steeled himself, ignoring the sour sting of dread in his mouth.
Calm down, you fucking idiot. He reasoned with himself. It's just a bad day. Nothing can get to you in the Shack.
Except, of course, the huge werewolf that was his welcoming party.
Soon, his hooves were clacking along the all-too-familiar dirt passageway. A jarring symphony of Remus' growls and yelps had overtaken the tunnel. James felt like he was surrounded by pain before he'd even reached the door.
He could see the familiar claw marks buried deep into the wall outside the door, where Remus almost hadn't made it into the room in the spring of fifth year. They'd all been new into their routine, and Poppy had fallen behind schedule. It had taken the stag and the dog to barrel him into the room and force the door closed.
James checked behind him one last time. Still no sign of his missing packmate, but Wormtail squeaked encouragingly near his feet, urging him to go in.
Prongs' front hoof dug into the dirt nervously, before he threw open the door with his antlers.
The room, as always, was in complete disarray. The walls were battered, the wallpaper gashed, and the nice piano they'd salvaged from a market in Hogsmede had been destroyed, the keys pulled out of the wood by Moony's teeth, and spat across the room like discarded chicken bones.
He'd caught himself in the piano's innards by the time Prongs reached him. His eyes were yellow slits and his fur was filled with deep slashes, large sections of his coarse hair matted together with his own blood.
It always amazed him, to think that his quiet, calm best friend could do this much damage to himself.
Moony pounced straight at Prongs, his huge teeth gnashing angrily at the open air between them. The stag offered him an antler to the gums instead, causing the wolf to whimper and become even more irate.
They toppled over one another, Moony's claws striking out at every part of the stag he could reach. Some, James knew from experience, were just scratches, but others were going to sting in the morning.
Prongs threw Moony into the wall, causing the now-defunct piano to shake and emit a long wheeze, which would serve as the soundtrack for what was to come.
The werewolf came back at him, pitching over the top of him, and digging his claws into his rump. Prongs' back hooves shot up in shock, and he continued to buck furiously until his friend could hold on no longer.
It seemed to go on forever, this to-ing and fro-ing. Prongs was used to it but, without Padfoot, and with Wormtail mysteriously absent, he was tiring quickly.
After another round, he'd managed to shake off his Remus' grip using his antlers, and now they were facing one another, ready to do battle again.
Thinking he heard the door creak open behind him, Prongs turned expectedly, stupidly, only to be wiped out by the werewolf.
Moony pinned him down by the side of his body and dug his claws into the tenderness of his stomach, effortlessly ripping through flesh and fur.
Prongs tried to stand, but couldn't. James could feel an odd, warm sensation coming over him. He tried to shake it off and was swatted by Moony's mighty paws, which felt a lot larger than they had just moments ago.
The room suddenly felt a lot smaller, the breath in his chest cavity wasn't doing as much as it should have been, and he could feel his muscles pulling together like they were made of tightening elastic. James knew, with horror, that he was shrinking out of his Animagus form and back into himself, but he was powerless to stop it.
The hunger in Moony's eyes said it all.
James Potter was going to die in the Shrieking Shack.
He could have sworn he heard a familiar, feral growl from behind him, before exhaustion claimed him and everything went black.
Lily didn't know how Peter had found out the password to the Head's Office, or how he knew she'd still be in there at two in the morning, but by the look on his face she didn't dare to question it.
"P-potions" the colour had drained from his face as he repeated his plea. "Lily, please" he gasped "healing potions…James…"
"James is hurt?" the Head Girl asked sharply. "What's happened?"
"No time to explain, Evans" Sirius rushed into the room, carrying something she couldn't quite see in his arms. She watched in confusion as he kneeled down next to the sofa and revealed James, as naked as the day he was born, and with half of his stomach hanging out.
Lily's brain was taking a few seconds to catch up with the rest of her. "Wait, is that an-"
"Invisibility Cloak? Yes. Dying Head Boy? Also yes" Sirius locked eyes with her, and she could see that his clothes were covered in his best friend's blood. "Evans, fucking hurry up."
The redhead cast a quick Silencing Charm within the confines of the room. "Peter" she said quickly "I need you to go to the Tower, get one of the girls to bring down my potions drawers and bag. Now."
He didn't waste any time and was out the door like a shot.
"Sirius" she approached the sofa cautiously. She could hear James' breathing was tight and closer to a gasp, his whole chest rattling with the effort. They didn't have much time. "I need to know who, or what, did this to him."
Sirius shook his head, his eyes full of tears. "Can't" he croaked.
"Sirius" she was sterner when she spoke again "some injuries are cursed, and if I treat this the wrong way, James will die. I'm guessing there's a reason you haven't taken him to the Hospital Wing."
Sirius' hands were shaking as he tried to hold James' head back. "Werewolf."
"Okay" Lily kept the screaming in her head at bay and thought for a moment. "I need you to keep holding his head straight like that for me. I-" she took a deep breath "whatever I do, this is probably going to scar, Sirius, and if I can't fix it, we have to take him to the Hospital Wing."
"Agreed."
Lily cleared her mind and began moving her wand over James' stomach, forcing herself to think about it should fit back together. "Vulnera Sanentur" came out as a command, and she could see the blood flow from his wound begin to lessen.
Sirius nodded encouragingly, not taking his hands off of his friend's neck.
Lily repeated the incantation, watching in wonder as the Head Boy's entrails began folding themselves neatly back into the gaping hole, and the flesh of his stomach began moulding around it.
She pulled a small bottle of dittany from her pocket and applied it liberally to the skin of James' stomach. "Vulnera Sanentur" she repeated firmly, praying that it would work.
They both watched in silence for what felt like hours as the wound began to sew itself up, pulling separated skin back together and knotting near James' bellybutton.
"You bloody brilliant witch" Sirius breathed as the wound finished stitching itself.
"Not over yet" Lily warned him, trying hard to ignore the crimson stain on her hands.
Peter slipped in through the door, a small set of black drawers under one arm, and a medical bag under the other. Lily accepted them with a thanks and got to work, with Sirius holding James' head up and pinching his nose to force him to swallow.
First, four bottles of Blood-Replenishing Potion. Second, the Dreamless Sleep Potion she'd brewed earlier that day, so he wouldn't wake up during anything potentially painful. Lastly, she mashed up some Shrivelfig leaves with a generous glob of spit, which she hoped would stop any internal swelling.
By the time she was finished, almost three hours had passed, and James was regaining colour in his face. She thanked God that his breathing, although still laboured, was no longer the death rattle that he'd greeted her with.
Sirius had watched her in silence the whole time, gently repositioning his friend at her instruction. Lily knew he wasn't going to leave the room easily, but she'd need him to if she wanted to get this last part done.
"Sirius, I'm going to need at least twelve more Blood Replenishing Potions" she admitted. "Madame Pomfrey keeps fifty in the Hospital Wing at any given time. They're in the drawers near her office, the ones under the mirrors? Can you get them for me? And then maybe you could get James some clothes?"
"You want me to steal for you?" Sirius smiled for the first time all night.
Lily didn't bother responding to his question. She turned her attention to Peter, who was sat a safe distance away on James' desk chair. He'd bitten his nails down to the quick. "Pete, I think you should get some sleep. I'd imagine that Remus will want to see you when daylight comes" she looked at the clock above his head pointedly "which means you can get a few hours' sleep, doesn't it? I'd like to clean up in here."
"Thank you, Lily" Sirius said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I knew you could do it."
When she spoke, Lily's voice was quiet and full of venom. "Don't ever put me in that position again, Sirius."
"Trust me" came the reply "I didn't want to put you in it."
When she was finally alone, Lily let the tears come. Once they started, she wasn't sure she'd be able to stop. Her hands, which had been so steady when she'd needed them, started to shake as she gently levitated James to clean the blood from the sofa beneath him.
She used a quick Cleaning Spell on Sirius' cloak and wrapped it over the Head Boy like a blanket. Then she sat next to him and held his hand in hers, listening intently to the sound of his breathing.
"When you wake up" she said softly "you owe me the truth, James Potter."
In response, he gave a small grunt in his sleep.