A stag stood in the full moons light as it sipped water from a small pond in the Forbidden Forest. A sudden crackling sound that came from not far off snapped the stag out of its drinking daze. Its ears twitched in search of a sound. The stag took a few steps toward the source of the noise, which was met by a large black dog that came running full force toward the stag. Yet it did not budge from its place, only to stand ever more firmly. When the dog jumped to attack the stag, it brought its antlers low and caught the dog, tossing him like a rag into the air.

Laughter broke the quiet evening air. "Nice one Prongs. You actually bloodied me a bit with that one," uttered a voice from behind the stag. Sirius ran a hand through his tangled curls and sat upon a large rock. Before Sirius' eyes the stag transformed into James Potter, who repeated his friend's actions.

"I wonder where Moony and Wormtail are," James said as he lay upon the forest ground," it's not like them to wander off so quietly."

"Usually you can hear Moony from the castle with his wailing and howling."

"I'm not sure if this is a good thing…" James trailed off and came to a realization. Both he and Sirius jumped to their feet and turned back into their animagus. They bolted off towards the western end of the forest in search of their cursed friend who may be in some sort of danger. Sirius came to a sudden stop causing James to almost run into a tree. He sniffed the air for a moment and turned towards the north returning to his rather swift pace. It took only a few more moments before they heard the commotion they were hoping not to hear.

A large beast that looked like a mix of both human and wolf was in a gripping brawl with two centaurs that were much large than the creature. James and Sirius did not sit and watch for long. Once the centaurs saw the two roaring towards them they left the werewolf alone and began to focus upon their new opponents. Sirius was never one to be passive when he was in his animagus form. He thrashed quite aggressively with the larger of the two centaurs, moving at a very quick pace and with gnashing teeth. James however attempted to just send the centaur away rather than beat it.

It wasn't long though before the werewolf was ready to join the fight again. A deep and rather fearful howl echoed through the forest, which had to have been heard at the castle. The centaurs stopped their attacks and froze at the sound. They rode off at a canter into the darkness, looking behind their shoulders as they left. James and Sirius both sat licking their wounds as their friend, still rearing for a fight, panted violently.

It has to be near dawn. I'm not sure I can handle another few hours of this. James thought as he licked at a wound on his front left leg. He looked toward Sirius who seemed to return his desires. They never regretted being friends with Remus, even with his furry little problem, yet sometimes it wasn't the fun they thought it would be. But quite often they would have great fun with Moony, as they had come to call him, with their adventures in the full moon lit forest.

James rose from his spot and began to head west again leaving Remus to wander the woods alone, which was not out of the ordinary. James thought he saw something rather peculiar the last evening they were out in the woods with Remus. He had always heard of strange occurrences happening in the forest but nothing he had seen had ever really shocked him. After awhile he noticed Sirius had not followed him, but this did not stop him. It did not take long until James noticed the stench that he had smelt the last time he was in this part of the woods. He deliberately slowed his pace to a walk to not attract attention if someone was there.

A small fire caught his eye as he grew closer, and soon figures of people came into view. They were all cloaked in black and had masks on so he couldn't quite see who they were. But there was one who was neither cloaked nor masked. He lay upon the ground with his whole body bound in rope.

"My lord, we have brought him for you to use to your bidding," said a rather high pitched voice from behind a mask. James knew it had to be a boy's voice, but they had to have been no older than fourteen.

"Excellent…. Excellent…. now leave me," came a voice that was much more fearsome than the last that spoke. James felt the fur all over his body stand on end as he stood stone still in the trees. The cloaked figures all dispparated and only one cloaked figure was left with the rope bound man before the fire. The man pulled a wand from his cloak and took off the mask upon his face. The face was as white as a skull and his hands were like the wispy limbs of a willow tree. James felt a sudden slash of fear run through him, even though he knew nothing of this man.

"Where is it?" the man asked as he ran his fingers along his wand.

The rope bound man gritted teeth and uttered, "You despicable-"

"Crucio!"

The man wriggled uncontrollably upon the forest floor and his face twisted into shapes that could only be brought upon a human by the worst nightmares imaginable. With a flick of the man's wand the wriggling stopped. A large snake came from out of no where and began to loosely coil around the wand holder's ankle.

"Now I ask again, where is it?"

The man on the floor panted in an attempt to catch his lost breath. "I don't know… I thought… I thought it was in the castle but I couldn't find it."

"Crucio!"

The thrashing continued once again yet the man began to cry in agony this time around. Another flick ended the whimpering.

"Did you check the room?

"It won't let me inside. I've tried over and over yet the doors will not reveal themselves to me."

The white faced man raised his wand again but before he could command the words again his prisoner yelped in fear. "Please! No! Not again! I will try harder! I can get inside I swear! Please!" The snake let out a loud hiss, jeering at the pathetic man upon the ground.

"This is the third time you have be unsuccessful in your attempt to retrieve it, and you expect me to pity you? Lord Voldemort pities none." The man let out some sort of hideous sound and the snake uncoiled itself and began to slither towards the enslaved man. "Nagini has not eaten in a few days. She shall enjoy the taste of human flesh once again."

James did not wait to see the snake feast upon the man, but ran off without worrying about the sound he made. A small spark of light rose in the east, helping him to see where he needed to go. He did not see his friends before he made it out of the forest, but he did not choose to wait. James changed back into his human form and whipped out his invisibility cloak. As the sun slowly rose in the east he ran with his heart beating out of his rib cage back to his dormitory to escape the horrors he saw in the forbidden forest.

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"Where'd you go this morning mate? You got me kind of worried," Sirius said before he jammed a large portion of eggs into his mouth. Remus did not join them for breakfast, which was not out of the ordinary after nights like the last. "And where the hell were you last night?"

Peter seemed to be awakened from a daze when Sirius spoke. "Oh I just felt like being alone. Got a lot on me mind I guess," Peter hastily returned to staring at his empty plate. Sirius shrugged and then returned his attention toward James.

James too stared at an empty plate," I'll talk to you about it later." James got up from his seat, tossed some pieces of toast and fruit into a napkin, and made his way back to the common room to mull things over. When he got to the Gryffindor common room he was surprised to see so many people. He had gone done for a late breakfast, and there were still quite a few people who had not even headed down for their own breakfast. Wanting to be alone, he headed up towards the dormitory.

Remus lay silently sleeping in his four poster bed when James walked in. His body was covered in the usual cuts and bruises, yet there were some bruises that were much larger than usual. Stupid centaurs James thought silently as he placed the food on the stand next to his friend's bed. Out of habit James pulled his map out from under his mattress and began to peruse its many pages. He scoffed at the sight of Severus Snape sitting alone at the end of the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. What a tosser.

It didn't take long for James to succumb to his thoughts and his eyes fell upon the Gryffidor common room where Lily Evans sat along with Hannah Cunnington and Ann Marie Turvis by the fire. I should have stayed down in the common room, James thought aloud.

"But if you were in the common room you would neither make a move on Lily nor would you be here to have a lovely conversation with me," came the weak voice of Remus Lupin beside him.

"Moony! How're you feeling? You had a rough night, the last."

"Roughed up. But it'll pass. Luckily it's a Saturday so I don't need to go out much." He grabbed one of the pieces of toast from his stand and took a bite. "So where did you go off to last night? When Sirius and Peter hauled me up here we couldn't find you. Got me sort of worried that it was something I had done."

" No, I just wanted to look into that western part of the forest," James said as the images of the night before raced through his mind. "Have you heard of someone by the name of Voldemort?"

Remus stopped mid chew and directed his glance toward James. "You don't read the prophet much do you?"

"Well I have heard stories but I wasn't sure if they were true or not."

"To answer your question, yes I have heard of him. Why do you ask? This isn't normally a conversation starter in the morning."

"Well, something happened last night on that western border of the forest that kind of worries me. And Voldemort was there."

Remus dropped his toast back into the napkin and turned to face James. "James, what did you see? This man, this beast, is not one that a person sees on their trip to Diagon Alley each week. He is a wanted man. Many are no longer calling him by that name in fear. They have resorted to names such as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or You-Know-Who."

James went on to tell Remus everything that he saw and heard the night before. Remus listened closely with a very somber look upon his brow. "You need to tell the headmaster about this James. This is a very serious matter before us."

But James had stopped listening as he saw the spot on the map that said Lily leave the common room to join Snivilus outside of the Fat Lady's portrait.

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Sorry they are short. More to come though! Review and comments are appreciated. Thanks.