Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Chapter 19: Discovered

Things quieted down for a while after that. James stopped trying to dissuade me from going out with Ricky, just like he promised and Ricky had broken it off with Gina, just like he promised.

The news of James and Gina breaking up spread around the school like wildfire. There were many ridiculous stories of why and very few people knew the real reason. It didn't matter, though. James had moved on to the next girl and Gina was on the hunt.

One night, I was taking a walk across the grounds. It was a chilly night. I pulled my cloak around me tighter and headed towards the big oak tree near the lake. Frogs were leaping in and out of the moonlit water.

I looked up into the sky. It was a perfectly clear night, with a shiny full moon. I was half afraid of a werewolf jumping out at me, but I knew they never left the forest.

I walked down to the bank of the lake and crouched down, inspecting the frogs. They were unusual, and were only found in the Hogwarts Lake. They had bright yellow and purple spots on them and were black in color. I laughed as one of them leapt onto my head. I reached up and took it down to look at it closer. These frogs were said to have remarkable healing powers and could apparate. However, they had spells on them to make sure they wouldn't go anywhere outside of where they were born.

A gust of wind suddenly blew my hat off. I put the frog down and went to go get it. As I leaned over to pick it up I heard a sound behind me. It sounded like a footstep, very light. Then there was a sound like the whine of a dog.

I turned around slowly. It took all of my power not to scream. A gray wolf with long, sharp claws and teeth was looking back at me. Its snout was rounder than on regular wolves. It was a werewolf.

I stayed as still as possible, knowing that if I moved, it would attack. The wolf started to move forward. My heart was pounding in my chest as it started moving closer. I had no choice now. I had to make a run for it. As it stopped for a second I turned around and flew forward, toward the castle. The wolf snarled. I could hear its pounding feet behind me, as it advanced on me.

I was close to the door when I tripped on a rock. I went down face first onto the cold grass. The wolf slowed down and walked over to me. I covered my head with my arms and shut my eyes tight. I could feel its hot breath on my neck and got ready for it to bite me. It never did, though.

As I was lying there, waiting for the wolf to kill me or turn me into a werewolf, I heard another sound, besides the wolf's panting. It was the sound of hooves. I wanted to look up, but I was too afraid. Then I heard more soft footsteps (it sounded like whatever was making them was running), a squeal, and a thump.

When I thought it was safe, I raised my head. A large white stag and a big black dog (much bigger than regular dogs) were pinning the wolf to the ground. The wolf growled and swiped a paw at the dog's face. The dog whined and fell away from the other two animals. When it looked at me, I saw a large gash running from its right cheek right across its snout.

The wolf then threw the stag off of it and cut its side. The dog and stag were both bleeding a lot, but still they continued to try and fight the wolf. I wanted to help them, but there was nothing I could do, except tell Madam Pomfrey.

I ran inside the castle to the hospital wing.

"Madam Pomfrey!" I shouted as I burst in.

"Miss Evans! What's wrong?" she asked, rushing over.

"Outside! There's a dog, a stag, and a wolf in a big fight! The wolf's a werewolf and it almost attacked me but then the dog and stag saved me but now they're hurt!"

"Miss Evans, are you all right?"

"Yes! But we have to help the dog and stag! Come on!" I shouted and ran out again. Madam Pomfrey had no choice but to follow me.

We flew down the hallways to reach the Entrance Hall. Finally we got there and hurried outside. There was nothing there.

"Miss Evans, there's nothing here," said Madam Pomfrey.

"I know," I said confusedly. "But they were right here!"

"Maybe, but they're gone now. Let's go back inside and I'll give you something to drink. You must be shaken from this experience."

"No, but – wait! Look! Over there!" I said excitedly. There were a couple of puddles on the ground.

Madam Pomfrey lit her wand and bent down.

"It's blood," she said.

"We have to follow it! We'll find the animals," I said. We started to follow the puddles, but they led us to the Forbidden Forest.

"I'd really like to help these animals, but we can't go into the Forest. They'll be fine, Miss Evans, don't worry."

"But you didn't see the injuries! They're really bad!"

"I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do. Now, let's go back into the castle."

"But-"

"Miss Evans, please! Let's go!" Madam Pomfrey said anxiously.

"Fine," I grumbled. I wanted to help the animals so bad! They had saved my life!

But apparently, Madam Pomfrey thought they would be all right, so that means they would be.

Oh, right. I am so sure.

Madam Pomfrey grabbed my arm and led me nervously back into the castle, occasionally looking back at the Forest.

Probably to make sure nothing would jump out at us.

Chicken.

I barely slept at all that night. I kept thinking about what happened and wondering if the stag and the dog would be ok. By the time I was finally ready to go to sleep, I opened the curtains of my bed (to check my alarm clock to see what time it was) and I noticed it was already morning! 6:30. Great.

I rolled out of bed grudgingly. I had always been a late sleeper, so I was unaccustomed to being up so early. Since there was still a good half hour before I had to get ready for breakfast, I wrapped my blue blanket with snowflakes on it around my black short shorts and blue tank top and headed downstairs.

The fire was already burning and since it was November (I needed new pajamas) I sat as close to it as possible.

I stared into the flames, dancing around in the fire place. They were so…happy was the only word to describe it. If they were people, I knew they would be really joyful and carefree, just having a good time.

I was startled out of my thoughts by a creaking sound. I whipped out my wand and twisted my body so I could peek out over the top of the couch.

A very tired James Potter entered, followed by a fatigued Sirius Black, and a weary Peter Pettigrew. I furrowed my brows. What were they doing, coming in so late? Actually, early, I guess.

"What a long night," sighed Sirius.

"I know," agreed James. "Let's go sleep for the longest amount of time possible. Which, by now," he said, checking his watch, "is half an hour."

The other two nodded and they trudged up the stairs.

I turned back around and settled down again on the couch. Why were they up so late? What were they doing? And didn't they know today was a school day? How could they stay out all night?

I thought about it some more, but I couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation to any of those questions. I sighed and went upstairs to get ready.

Nobody's POV

Lily, Ylan, Jenna, and Andrea headed down to breakfast that morning after everyone was ready.

Lily was nearly falling asleep in the halls as she was walking. When they got in the Great Hall she plopped down on the bench and immediately poured herself some coffee.

"Lil? What did you do last night?" asked Andrea.

"Nothing, I just couldn't sleep," said Lily. She downed her coffee in almost one gulp and poured some more.

"You have to have something more than coffee," said Jenna and put a plate of pancakes in front of her friend.

"Mhmm thanks," Lily mumbled.

Andrea shook her head.

"She's gonna have a screwed up day today," she said. Ylan and Jenna nodded.

While Lily was falling asleep on her breakfast, James, Sirius, and Peter entered, each looking as tired as Lily, if not more. They saw the first empty seats nearest to them and fell into them. They happened to be next to Lily and her friends.

"What's wrong with everyone today?" said Ylan as James (who was looking strangely pale) fell asleep in his oatmeal.

"I dunno, we tiiiired," slurred Sirius.

Lily picked her head up and poured her fifth cup of coffee.

"Come on," said Jenna as people started to leave. "It's time for class."

"Yippee," mumbled Lily. She gulped down the rest of her coffee and followed her friends out of the Great Hall.

"Oh my God, oh my God, that was so exciting! The animal was, like, vicious! It almost bit the professor's hand off!" said Lily happily, skipping down the hall.

"Yeah, Lily, let's celebrate," said Jenna sarcastically.

Lily stopped abruptly at the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"FAIRY DANCES!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. The Fat Lady jumped backward as Lily nearly collapsed in giggles. Ylan and Andrea rolled their eyes at each other and dragged her inside.

"Come on, Lil, it's time for dinner. We have to put our books away," said Jenna, following her friends.

"Oh boy! Dinner! I can't WAIT!" shouted Lily and raced up the stairs. Soon she was back, while her friends were still walking up to put their books away.

Lily was dancing around the common room when Miranda, Megan, and Tina entered. They rolled their eyes and flicked their hair at her.

"Nyeeeeh!" screamed Lily as she stuck her tongue out at their retreating backs.

Ylan, Andrea, and Jenna came down the stairs soon.

"Come on, let's go," said Jenna and they left the common room.

Lily did a final twirl before running after them.

It was halfway through dinner and Lily was starting to calm down. She was relatively normal and was eating her food regularly. She was talking to the people around her, laughing slightly more than what most people would call a sane amount, but nonetheless, she was getting back to the way she should be.

The Marauders were sitting a couple of seats down from her. Remus and Peter were on her side and James and Sirius were on the side opposite her.

Dessert had just appeared when Lily noticed something strange on Sirius' face. A line, running from his left cheek across his nose, was suddenly appearing. She watched him for some time, before he caught her and gave her a strange look. Lily turned away, embarrassed, and looked back at her pie.

A couple of minutes later, she looked back at Sirius and noticed the line becoming more visible. It seemed as though he had tried to cover it up with a magic cover up spell but the spell was wearing off.

Dumbledore soon stood up. As he was talking and making announcements, Lily couldn't help but notice the line becoming more and more prominent. It was red, and looked almost like a cut.

Dumbledore was finished and Lily stood up with everyone else to head back to the common room. When she got there, she plopped down onto one of the couches, suddenly exhausted. Sirius sat down across from her.

"Hey, Evans," he said. "How come you were staring at me all through dinner? Got a little thing for me, huh?"

Lily rolled her eyes tiredly.

"Save it, Black. You had frosting on your cheek."

Sirius' hand flew up to his cheek. Lily noticed that when he brought it back down, there was some red on it. It looked like blood. And that was actually no surprise when she looked at the cut. She gasped. It was more like a gash than a cut, and it was bleeding slightly.

Sirius cursed and leapt up. He nodded at James (who was just coming in) and flew up to his dorm.

James made his way over to Lily and sat down where Sirius had just been.

"What's up, Evans?" he said.

"Nothing," said Lily stiffly.

"Listen, I've got a question."

"No," said Lily automatically.

"It's not what you think it is," he said. "It's about school."

Never wanting to miss a chance to show off her smarts, Lily turned to look at James.

"Ok. What is it?"

James smiled slightly and continued.

"You know how if a werewolf scratches someone or bites them or something, they get turned into a werewolf too?"

"Yeah," said Lily.

"Well, does that apply to animals?"

"I don't know. Why do you want to know?"

"It's for extra credit."

"Oh yeah? What class?"

"Just general extra credit," said James. "McGonagall said Sirius and I could do it to get a few extra points. Just because our grades were slipping," he added quickly, remembering that Lily might go to McGonagall to ask to do it too.

"Then why don't you do it yourself?" asked Lily.

"We searched in the library and everything but we couldn't find it."

"Well, I guess I could," said Lily.

James beamed.

"BUT this is only because I'm interested to know too," said Lily.

"Of course," said James standing up. "I got to go. Thanks so much, Lily. See ya."

"Bye."

James went up to the dorm, leaving Lily sitting on the couch by the fire. She was deep in thought.

"This is strange…" she said to herself. "Whatever, I might as well go start looking now."

She got up and headed to the library.

The next day was Saturday. Lily was reading a book in the common room waiting for James and Sirius. She had found the answer to their question.

Soon they came in, along with the rest of the Quidditch Team. They were muddy and wet (it was raining outside) and many of them were grumbling.

"Couldn't have picked a better day for practice, James," grumbled Sirius. He shook his head like a dog, and all the water came flying off of him.

"Hey, guys," said Lily, relatively friendly. Sirius looked at her strangely (since when was she nice to them?) and headed over with James.

"Hey," he said. "What's up?"

"I found an answer to your question."

"Really?" asked James excitedly. "What is it?"

"Being bitten or scratched by a werewolf will cause a human to become one, but not animals."

James and Sirius looked really happy all of a sudden.

"However, if they're animagi," Lily said and James' and Sirius' faces fell, but barely noticeably. "It will affect them."

"How?" asked Sirius, his voice squeaking slightly.

"They won't develop any werewolf traits and they won't become one, but they will become slightly more irritable and aggressive near a full moon. Not as much as a real werewolf, though."

"That's it?" said James.

"Yeah," said Lily. "So if someone is an animagus and they get scratched or bitten by a werewolf, it won't affect them that much."

"Cool! Thanks so much. We owe you one," said James. Sirius nodded and they ran up the stairs.

In about half an hour, they came back all showered and clean. Remus, Peter, Ylan, and Andrea were all there now. Jenna had a detention for being late to class.

Sirius sat down next to Remus and sighed.

"I'm so tired," he said.

"I know," said James, stretching.

"It's your own fault," said Sirius.

"Yeah, shut up."

Lily suddenly noticed something. James had a large gash running down his side. It wasn't bleeding but it looked really red, like it had just been bleeding. She looked at it in shock. Sirius had one on his face – which was covered up again, she noticed – and James had one on his side. What was going on?

And why were they so happy when they found out about the werewolves and how they affected animagi?

She thought about it for a long, long time. All through the conversation her friends and the Marauders were having, and all night long.

At about four o'clock in the morning (thank God she could sleep in that day – otherwise she would collapse from two nights of no sleep) she finally had an answer.

But no, it wasn't possible. It was extremely difficult to do – no one as young as the Marauders could have managed it. But it all fit.

The cuts were identical to those of the stag's and the dog's. They were worried they would turn into werewolves also. It all made sense. James and Sirius were the stag and the dog. They were animagi.