Chapter Six
Tuesday morning found the Gryffindors huddled together inside the greenhouse along with the Slytherins. Sirius was happy to note that with all their attention focused on the damned plants in front of them, nobody was shooting Lily any kind of looks. He, James, and Remus had found themselves incredibly close to cursing the entire student body on more than one occasion. If it wasn't for Lily's happy smile whenever she was with them, he had no doubt that many more students would have been submitted to the same treatment as Evan Rosier. His punishment had been far too short for Sirius' liking, but Lily had pleaded that he not go after the scum again. Despite having nearly the entire school against her, his girl still managed to hold onto her tender heart.
"Remember: You must stun the Venomous Tentacula before you can begin pruning," Professor Sprout instructed, her dark brown curls bouncing about her round face.
"Diffindo," echoed from every students' mouth and the prickly plants froze.
"Avoid the spikes," Professor Sprout called out, walking around the room and observing.
"Damn straight," Sirius agreed under his breath.
"Been stuck before, Sirius?" Lily asked from her place beside him.
James and Remus were across from them, Alice was on Lily's other side with Peter on Alice's other side. James and Remus were talking amongst themselves as they worked, conversation being difficult across the tables, but Sirius didn't miss the way they kept glancing at Lily, checking to make sure she was alright.
"Once or twice. The damn things grow all around the Black family manor," Sirius grumbled, snipping at some of the dead and dying vines.
"Seriously? Your family keeps poisonous plants?" Lily gaped.
"Sure. How else are they supposed to keep out trespassers and the occasional disowned relative from visiting?" Sirius asked with a shrug.
"You're joking, right? Please tell me you're joking," Lily said, her disbelief obvious.
"Not even, Evans. Luckily for me, Mr. and Mrs. Potter don't mind me staying with them over holidays. If I tried to go home, I'm liable to find myself on the wrong side of a Dark Curse," Sirius told her.
While Lily stood gaping at him, he noticed that her plant had begun twitching slightly. Before he could warn her or whip out his wand, the plant had wrapped it's vines around her neck.
"FUCK!" Sirius shouted, grabbing for his wand.
The room seemed to explode with noise as everybody turned their attention to Lily. Her hands reached up to pull at vines as Sirius shouted a stunner at the damn plant.
Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one. Remus and James had shouted the spell as well. As a result, the poor plant exploded, sending its venomous bile onto Lily, himself, and Alice.
"Goodness! The three of you! Off to the Hospital Wing, now! Mr. Pettigrew, you will accompany them," Professor Sprout dictated.
"We'll go, too, Professor," Remus said, already racing around the table to take Lily's hand that had previously been protected by her dragon skin gloves.
James was right behind him and before Professor Sprout could offer up a protest, the six Gryffindors were out the door and hurrying towards the castle.
By the time they made it to the Hospital Wing, the bile had begun to burn and the three were in various stages of agony. Sirius insisted that the girls be seen before him and Alice insisted Lily get seen before her, seeing as how she'd gotten most of the bile and had the plant try to choke her.
Madam Pomfrey closed a curtain around the bed designated as Lily's and got to work. Sirius fidgeted as James helped him remove some of the bile and rub salve into the burns. Remus was helping Alice do the same. She'd been lucky and only had a few burns on her arms and a small one on her left cheek. Lily had been positioned to bloke most of the bile that would have flown Alice's way.
The screams started just as James was helping him apply salve to his face, making Sirius jump from his bed, ready to rush to Lily's side.
"Sit down, Pad. She's going to be fine," James insisted, pushing him back down.
"Damn it, Prongs. Don't placate me," Sirius snarled, attempting to rise once more.
"Leave it, Padfoot! Madam Pomfrey knows what she's doing," James said.
Sirius didn't miss the way his hands shook as Lily's screams continued, growing in volume the longer they went.
"Fuck, I hate this," Sirius groaned, falling back against his bed.
Alice began crying softly in the bed beside him, her eyes fixed on the curtain blocking Lily from their sight. Remus had finished helping her apply the salve and stood holding her hand as he too stared are the curtain.
Finally, after what seemed like forever but had really only been about ten minutes, Lily's screams stopped. A minute later, Madam Pomfrey stepped out, snapping the curtain closed behind her.
"Is she going to be alright?" James asked, practically pouncing on the woman.
"Miss Evans will make a full recovery after some rest. I suggest those of you who do not need my attention return to classes. You may return after my patients have gotten their rest," Madam Pomfrey insisted, shooing them from the infirmary.
"Don't worry, mates. I'll keep an eye on them," Sirius said.
"We'll check in soon, Pad," James said, patting his pocket meaningfully.
Sirius nodded, subconsciously patting his own pocket where he kept his mirror. As soon as she had ushered James, Remus, and Peter from the room, Madam Pomfrey disappeared inside her office, muttering about contacting Slughorn for more salve.
Sirius was out of bed before her door was completely shut and across the room in seconds, slipping through the curtain. He groaned as he took in Lily laid out on the bed, her eyes closed in a forced sleep.
Boils covered her face, neck, and forearms. Despite the salve that Madam Pomfrey had applied, the boils were an angry red. Unable to walk away from her, Sirius slipped his hand through hers, grateful for the dragon-skin gloves that had protected her.
"How is she?" Alice whispered as she crossed the curtain.
"Bad."
"Oh, Merlin. Lily," Alice moaned pitifully, tearing splashing on the linen of Lily's bed.
"Don't cry, doll. She'll be fine," Sirius assured her, hugging her to his side.
Unwilling to leave Lily's side, he summoned a couple of chairs and he and Alice settled down for a long afternoon.
"Sirius. Sirius. Sirius!"
Sirius jolted awake as someone whisper-shouted his name. Looking around, bleary-eyed, he tried to see who had called him.
Alice was napping in her chair, her feet propped up on Lily's bed as she slouched in her chair. The curtain still hid them from the rest of the room and he was surprised Madam Pomfrey hadn't come over to tell them off yet.
"Sirius Black!"
The noise was coming from his pocket. Realizing James, Remus, or Peter were trying to contact him through the mirror, he dug around until his fingers touched smooth, cool glass.
"About bloody time. How's Lily?" It was James in the mirror, his face a mask of irritation and concern.
"She's sleeping, which is what I was doing before you so rudely interrupted me," Sirius grumbled.
"Come off it, mate. She's really alright?" James asked worriedly.
"She's fine. Her boils have already faded," Sirius told him, glancing across Lily's face and arms.
"Good. Listen, we're going to come by after classes, but if the old bat won't let us through, we'll sneak in later with the cloak. Any idea when you and Alice will be discharged?" James asked.
"Nah. Haven't seen Pomfrey since she disappeared into her office right after you lot left," Sirius said.
"Alright. Listen, if Lily wakes up…" James trailed off uncertainly.
"I'll tell her, mate," Sirius said, understanding what James couldn't say.
James nodded once before his face disappeared and Sirius was left staring at his own reflection.
He couldn't believe how quickly it had happened, but he finally understood why James had been chasing Lily since First Year. The girl had fire and spirit with a flair for sarcasm and humor. Not to mention she had a sweet side that made him want to keep her safe so that no one ever took advantage of her sympathetic nature. People like Snape.
If Sirius had his way, that little greasy-haired git would find himself at the bottom of the Black Lake.
"What do the two of you think you're doing?"
Alice jerked awake beside him, practically leaping out of her chair at Madam Pomfrey's shrill tone.
"We were just keeping Lily company," Sirius drawled.
"You should be in bed, both of you. How can you expect your bodies to heal if you don't give them rest," Madam Pomfrey scolded.
"We were resting. We were just sitting with Lily while we did it," Sirius said.
"Besides, Madam Pomfrey, we were a lot better off than Lily. My burns started fading right away," Alice said softly.
"Be that as it may, I told you to remain in bed and you directly disobeyed," Madam Pomfrey huffed.
"I'm sorry," Alice murmured, looking rather contrite.
"I'm not. That's my girl and I don't like leaving her when she's obviously hurting. I don't want her waking up thinking she's alone," Sirius said, refusing to feel bad.
"And I can appreciate that, Mr. Black, but there are other ways of going about it. I will remove the curtain and you may lie in the bed beside Miss Evans, but you will both remain in your beds until I give you permission to leave them. Is that understood?" Madam Pomfrey demanded.
"Yes, ma'am."
He and Alice moved onto either side of Lily as Madam Pomfrey removed the curtain keeping his girl from sight. The salve had gone a long way to healing the majority of Lily's boils, but there were still nasty burn marks all over her exposed skin. Sirius' own burn pains paled in comparison to the pain of watching his girl suffer. Even in a forced state of sleep, Lily's brow was wrinkled in discomfort.
"Is there something you could give her to help numb the pain?" Sirius asked, a tight feeling in his chest as he watched Lily suffer.
"I would thank you very much, Mr. Black, if you would leave Miss Evans' healing to me. I do know what I'm doing," Madam Pomfrey said defensively.
"Obviously not if you can't see that she's still in pain," Sirius snapped angrily.
"If you cannot control yourself, Mr. Black, I will have you removed from this wing," Madam Pomfrey warned.
Despite wanting to go toe-to-toe with the old bag, Sirius bit his tongue and sat back against his pillow. He was determined not to let Madam Pomfrey separate him from Lily. At least not until the other Marauders could break free to come be with her.
From the other side of Lily's bed, Alice shot him an angry glare, her blue eyes flashing dangerously. It reminded him so much of the Lily who used to stand up to James that a physical ache settled in the pit of his stomach.
Despite having worked with the others to keep Lily's desires satisfied and her constant companion feeding her potion after potion, Lily's fire had dimmed considerably. Sirius wasn't sure how to go about bringing back her spark, but, as a Marauder, he was determined to find a way to give Lily a little piece of her old life back.
Pinpricks of pain seem to radiate from the bones in her face and arm outwards, making everything hurt. Even before Lily opened her eyes, she knew she was in the Hospital Wing. She could remember Sirius' panicked expression as the plant wrapped it's tentacles around her, the sound of all three of her men shouting stunners at the thing, and the resulting explosion covering her in the poisonous bile. She'd known she would be in the Hospital Wing as soon as the bile hit. The walk to the castle was hazy and everything after that a complete blank.
She could feel them, though, around her, all three of them.
Fingers threaded through her hair and gripped the strands, gentle but strong enough to make sure she knew they were there. She opened her eyes to find Remus leaning over her, the moonlight shining through the windows high above.
"Hey, sweetheart. How are you feeling?"
"Sore," Lily croaked.
"I bet. That's what happens when you don't pay attention around poisonous plants," Remus scolded with sweet concern.
"Not funny."
Her voice was raspy from sleep, making her sound huskier than normal.
"Damn straight it isn't. You are never allowed near poisonous plants again," James snapped from her other side.
When she tried to turn her head, Remus' hand in her hair prevented her.
"And if you ever, ever, turn your back on a dangerous plant, person, spell, anything again, I'll have you over my knee so damn fast, your head will spin," Remus practically growled.
Lily didn't even try to hide the shiver that snaked down her spine at the dark tone of his voice. There was absolutely no way to hide the fact that his voice, all deep and dark, sent a rush of arousal straight to the juncture between her legs.
Remus' smirk certainly didn't help anything.
"I thought so," Remus murmured, leaning in close to kiss her nose. "You and I, sweetheart, are going to have a talk about that soon."
"Not sure I want to," Lily said breathlessly.
"It's not about what you want. It's about what you need and I will be giving it to you," Remus assured her.
"Merlin, Moony. Do you really have to show your freaky side right now? Let her go," Sirius griped from nearby.
His hand eased from her hair, smoothing the strands briefly before moving away from the bed and allowing her to see James and Sirius standing on the opposite side of her bed. James smiled brightly, leaning down to kiss her sweetly, his lips brushing across her forehead, cheeks, and lips.
"You had us worried, babe," James said against her skin.
"Sorry," Lily sighed.
"Do you need a potion for the pain?" James asked, rising.
She nodded against her pillow and as James moved away, she got her first real look at Sirius.
"Sirius! You're hurt." She tried to rise from her bed, but two sets of hands kept her down.
"I'm fine, Evans. You're the one we've been worried about. I just got a few minor burns on my arms," Sirius assured her.
Lily took hold of his arm and traced her fingers over the fading marks left behind by the burns. He stood still under her scrutiny and when James returned with a potion for her pain, she took a gulp to satisfy her men and then promptly began dabbing the potion on Sirius' scars.
"Is Alice okay?" Lily asked, noting that her friend was nowhere to be found.
"Madam Pomfrey released use after dinner. She's back in the Gryffindor Tower," Sirius told her.
"How did you get here?"
"Invisibility cloak," James said from his place behind Sirius.
She stopped rubbing the potion onto Sirius' burn marks and just stared at her rather messy-haired man.
"Come again?"
"I have an invisibility cloak. It's been in my family for generations. My dad gave it to me when I came to Hogwarts," James told her.
"An invisibility cloak? You have an invisibility cloak? But… they're so rare. And they never work for generations. That's unheard of," Lily insisted, feeling her inner nerd come out.
James shot her a cocky grin and pulled out a silky fabric before whipping it over his shoulders and disappearing right before her eyes.
Lily knew she probably looked like a fish out of water with her mouth gaping as she stared at the place James had been seconds before, but she couldn't seem to find it in herself to close her mouth. At least, not until a pair of invisible fingers slipped under her chin and forced it up.
"Believe it now?" James asked and she could hear the laughter in his voice.
Unable to form words just yet, she nodded.
He was still wearing that grin when he slipped out from beneath the invisibility cloak and stuffed it back in his robes. The past five years suddenly made so much sense to Lily.
"That's how you do it. Sneak around the castle and pull your pranks. You use the cloak," Lily whispered, completely awed.
"Well, the cloak and the map," James admitted, looking over at Remus.
From his back pocket, Remus pulled out a blank sheet of parchment paper and set it down on her bed. Taking out his wand, he placed the tip in the middle of the paper and spoke, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
Black ink spread from the point of his wand outward until the entire parchment was covered in intricate designs. The words "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prong, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP" scrolled across the page.
Wordlessly, Remus opened the map to show the Hospital Wing. Lily could barely believe her eyes when she saw four dots with the names "Lily Evans", "Sirius Black", "Remus Lupin", and "James Potter" hovering above them. As she watched the map, the dot labeled "James Potter" began moving. She looked up and, sure enough, James had moved across the room to stand by the Hospital Wing door, just like the dot on the strange map.
"When did you… how did you…?"
"We finished it Fifth Year, but we've been working on it since Third," James said as he moved back across the room to stand beside Sirius once more. He touched the tip of his wand to the map and said, "Mischief managed."
The map disappeared before her eyes, fading until there was nothing left but blank parchment.
"Holy Merlin," Lily breathed, falling back against her pillow.
"We realize this is a lot to take in, but we really don't want to keep these secrets from you. You're a part of us now and we want you to see that no matter where you are, we'll always be able to get to you," Sirius told her.
"There are a few other things we need to tell you if you feel up to it," Remus said slowly.
"I already know, Remus," Lily said, steadily meeting his gaze.
"I figured you might, but you probably don't know about James, Sirius, and Peter," Remus smiled wryly.
"Oh, Merlin. I don't know if I want to know," Lily groaned, peaking over at the other two.
"It's not that bad, Evans. Don't look at us like that," Sirius grinned.
"If you can accept Moony's furry little problem, you should be able to accept this," James said.
The two began shifting right before her eyes. Some of their bones elongated while others shrunk until they were forced to drop onto all fours. In the span of thirty seconds, Lily found herself face to face with a stag and a black dog.
"Oh my God," Lily gasped, reverting to Muggle slang in her utter and complete shock.
With a happy bark, Sirius launched himself onto her bed, sitting on her feet and wagging his tail. James snorted and shook his antlers at the wriggling beast, but moved to nuzzle her palm. Not quite over her shock, Lily absentmindedly stroked the stag between his antlers as Sirius stretched out over her legs.
"As you can see, Sirius obviously enjoys his Animagus state."
"It suits him," Lily said, beginning to smile.
It was true. Sirius' happy nature was reflected perfectly in his Animagus form. She briefly thought about the dog her neighbor had, a small terrier thing who had a tendency to hump whoever happened to be closest at the time. She giggled as her mind replaced little Chippy with Sirius' much larger form.
"Are you okay with this? I mean, I know there really isn't much of a choice, but you know you can't tell anyone about this," Remus said, sounding slightly unsure for the first time.
"I know. I can't believe you managed to pull this off. It's incredible," Lily said.
"They finished the transformation last year. We've been working on it since second year when they found out about my problem," Remus explained.
"It's amazing. And they can join you like this, right? So you're not alone?" Lily asked, looking up at him.
"Yeah. At first the wolf wasn't too sure about them, but I have less injuries when they're with me, so they must be doing something right," Remus said with a wry shrug.
"You three are so amazing. How did I get so lucky?"
"I'm sure that if they were able to speak, they would agree with me when I say that we're the lucky ones. Thank you, sweetheart," Remus whispered before kissing her.
As his lips moved across hers, Lily fought back tears as she realized the pressure she felt in her chest had absolutely nothing to do with the potion or the curse. She wouldn't say it yet, but in that moment she knew she had fallen irrevocably, impossibly in love with three Marauders.