A/N: Sorry that took so long! Thank you for all of the wonderful comments, they were very helpful, as always. Enjoy this long chapter~
"Magnus Gero."
"A bit late, are we?"
"Just open, will you?"
"Anything you say, dearie."
The Fat Lady's portrait swung open, revealing a familiar passageway that led into the Gryffindor common room. Lily bit her lip and glanced nervously over her shoulder as Severus offered to help her up. Contrary to what Severus probably believed, this was not her first time in Gryffindor Tower, though she hoped that she could at least pretend it was.
Taking Severus' hand, she hoisted herself up and through the portrait. It closed behind her, trapping her in here against her will. She did not want the other house members to notice her— particularly Severus' lot— but how could they not? Her robes were splashed with green and silver, and nearly everyone would recognize her as a Slytherin, even if she had cloaked herself in their colours.
Noticing her nervousness, Severus put his hand on her shoulder. "You might be able to sneak up to the boys' dormitory. Just…stay calm and nobody will notice…"
Severus trailed off as they walked into the midst of the common room; everyone immediately looked up upon their arrival. He could sense they had been waiting for him, but they had not been prepared for a Slytherin to walk in as well. He looked at Lily from the corner of his eyes; she didn't look too happy with him.
"You were saying?" she snapped angrily as she tried shielding herself from the others.
"Oy, isn't she a Slytherin?" someone called out amongst the furious whispers between the Gryffindors.
"A Slytherin?" a familiar voice cried indignantly from a chair next to the smouldering fire.
Severus froze as James, Sirius, and Remus turned around to gawk at them as well. They had been too distracted with their chess game to notice Severus and Lily's not-so-unnoticeable entrance, but it only took a second for them to recognize Lily as an outsider.
Oh James, please don't, Severus silently willed his friend to stay where he was, but unfortunately he was too dense for telepathy to work on him. Sirius followed as well, but Remus was respectful enough to remain where he was.
Grinning as he walked up to them, James pushed Severus aside to get a good look at Lily. "Hey Evans," he drawled lazily. "I dunno if someone's blasted away your memory, but in case you don't remember, this is the Gryffindor common room."
"Shut up, Potter," Lily hissed crossly.
Sirius and James laughed. "Why are you here then, Evans? Did Severus decide to give his girlfriend a grand tour of the place?"
"He's not my boyfriend, you prat," Lily fumed.
James haughtily crossed his arms against his chest. "Well, just in case you're interested, I'm currently accepting applications, though I'm not sure I'd want to date a slimy Slyth—"
"Shut up James," Severus pushed him aside just before Lily could do anything to him that she might regret later.
"Umbridge was Petrified," he announced to the rest of the Gryffindors in the common room. This revelation was met by an astounding round of applause and cheering. In spite of herself, Lily had to smile; she didn't blame them for hating Umbridge.
"That's great and all, but that still doesn't explain what you're doing here, Evans," Sirius said loudly once the cheers had died down.
"Professor McGonagall, your Head of House, sent me here," Lily snapped. She didn't like that Potter and Black kept trying to return everyone's attention to her. It was bad enough knowing that she didn't belong here, but their continuous stream of prying questions made it worse.
"Did she really?" one of the prefects asked as he walked up to them. Lily recognized him: Longbottom.
"Yes," Severus said firmly. "She thinks the Slytherin monster or whatever attacked Umbridge might still be out there, so she sent us to the nearest place of safety."
Longbottom nodded smartly, then motioned for Lily to wait on one of the nearby couches until someone returned for her. Severus followed her and sat next to her, praying that James and Sirius wouldn't follow.
"Hey Evans—" Severus groaned as James vaulted onto the couch next to Lily, "—correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it called the 'monster of Slytherin?'"
Lily's eyes narrowed. "Why?"
James sat back and shrugged indifferently. "I'm just wondering why McGonagall's worried it'll attack a member of its own house. Slytherins usually prefer attacking people from other houses, don't they?"
"I could say the same for you," Lily spat as she stood up, shaking with rage. "I heard what you did to Peter and Regulus, Potter. Isn't bullying weaker and younger students a little low, even for you?"
"That was fun," Sirius snorted, clearly forgetting that Lily was standing right next to him.
"Ah Evans, 'bullying' has such a negative connotation. I personally prefer the term 'engaging in fair combat against the slimy little gits known as Slytherins.'"
"Fair?" Lily shrieked, her hand diving into her pocket to search for her wand. Regulus had nearly collapsed in her arms when she found him after Potter's assault and she was determined to avenge her friend's suffering.
"Are you going to hex me Evans?" James asked incredulously as he watched her search desperately for her wand.
"No," she said in an unnaturally calm voice as she slowly pulled her hand out of her pocket. "I lost my wand."
"Where'd you lose it?" Severus asked her, trying to ignore his friends' shouts of laughter behind them.
"I…I think I dropped it," Lily whispered, nodding to the portrait. "I have to go back for it!"
"Lily!" Severus grabbed her by the wrist just as she tried sprinting toward the portrait, her only escape from this madness. She struggled against his grip, but he was much stronger than she remembered, so she finally relented.
"Are you trying to get yourself Petrified? Why do you think McGonagall sent you here in the first place?"
He couldn't believe how reckless Lily could be sometimes. The thought of the monster still roaming through the castle didn't deter her at all; she just wanted her wand back. Her desperate desire to get it back was understandable, but the way in which she planned on getting it back was a bit too Gryffindor-style for her.
"Please Sev, I need it back. What if someone steals it?" Lily begged him as she tugged on his wrist, pulling him closer to the portrait.
"Well," Severus chewed on his lip. He knew the monster was supposed to attack Muggleborns, but what if James had a point? Why would the monster want to attack members of its own house? Melika Zula was a Muggleborn in Slytherin and she was completely unharmed so far. Was he just being paranoid when he assumed it was going after Lily tonight?
"Alright fine," he said finally. "But we can't just run out there. We need a plan—"
"What about Potter's Invisibility Cloak?"
"WHAT?!" James roared.
Lily inhaled sharply, at once realizing what she had just said.
"How does she know about that? Did you tell her?" James demanded.
"I…I don't remember," Severus answered, feeling just as puzzled as James.
"Well?" James demanded, getting so close to Lily's face that his glasses almost touched her skin.
"Sev mentioned it…a while ago," Lily stuttered as she averted her gaze away from Potter's enraged hazel eyes to Severus' calm black ones.
Still glaring at Lily, James finally stood back. She breathed a sigh of relief as he did so; Potter needed a few breath mints.
"I'm not sharing my cloak with her."
"But James, it's an emergency, just this one time," Severus begged him, unable to ignore Lily's sad, pleading green eyes.
James crossed his arms defiantly and shook his head.
"What if…what if I do your Potions homework for you?"
James peeked through his eyelid curiously. "How much?"
"A week's worth," Severus replied seriously, trying to make it seem as though a week's worth of extra Potions homework would actually be challenging for him. James was terrible in Potions, however, so there was no way he could possibly refuse this offer. It wasn't even going to benefit him at all, but he hoped this act of selflessness would give him an edge over Regulus on Lily's friendship meter.
"Deal," James said bitterly. He hated himself for agreeing to help a Slytherin, but he couldn't afford to decline Severus' offer to help his dismal Potions grade get up to at least an A. "But Evans can't come. You and I can get it."
"What? It's my wand!"
"So? It's my cloak."
"Lily, I think you should stay—"
"—oh, just because I'm not a brave and valiant Gryffindor, I can't handle it?"
"No, I didn't mean it like that—"
"—then I'm going."
"Good luck without a cloak!"
"What if the three of us go…together?"
Lily and James continued glaring at each other. Neither of them was particularly fond of the other, and the thought of them going alone without him worried Severus. He could only imagine what sort of trouble they'd get into on their own.
"It's just for a few minutes," Severus added exasperatedly, wondering how he had ended up with the two most stubborn people in the world as his best friends.
xXxXxXxXx
"It's just for a few minutes," James mocked Severus as the trio crept down the abandoned corridors underneath the Invisibility Cloak. "How convenient for you to have forgotten where you dropped it, Evans!"
As much as Lily wanted to lash out at Potter for being such an idiot, she stayed silent for their own safety. None of them knew if this monster could still find people under Invisibility Cloaks, and in light of recent events, she'd rather not find out.
"I might have dropped it in the hallway," she whispered. "Just before McGonagall found Umbridge."
Severus was hoping she wouldn't say that. Of all the places in the castle, why did she have to drop her wand in the very corridor Umbridge had walked down before meeting her fate in the final room on the right?
At least the monster only Petrifies people, Severus thought reassuringly. There's a cure for that, at least…
"There it is!" Lily said excitedly just as they came around the corner. It was lying in a crevice below the statue of gambling trolls. It was so well-hidden that had she not pointed it out, Severus would have missed it altogether.
Just as she started to pull herself away from the cloak, James harshly yanked her arm back and hissed, "Look!"
Lily and Severus gasped. Down at the end of the hallway, Madam Pomfrey was pushing a floating stretcher out of the room on the right; on top of it laid Umbridge, her body thoroughly solid and unmoving. Her piggish eyes were wide open in trancelike horror, as though she had seen her worst nightmare come to life.
Standing at the doorway were McGonagall and Dumbledore. The old headmaster had looked up immediately upon the trio's arrival, but other than a strange nodding gesture he might have intended for McGonagall, he gave no indications that he had seen or heard them.
James, Lily, and Severus waited anxiously in place, thinking about the punishment that awaited them if they were caught. Pressed in between the boys, Lily could feel both of them shaking. From fear or excitement, she didn't know.
"What are we going to do, Albus?" McGonagall's faint voice floated over to the trio. Against better judgement, James tugged Severus and Lily closer so that they could eavesdrop. Lily grabbed her wand and hastily stowed it in what she thought was her invisible pocket as they walked past it. They only stopped when they were a mere ten strides away from the adults.
"These are indeed troubling times," Dumbledore said softly as he ran his pale wizened hand along Umbridge's arm. "What I cannot explain is why it attacked Darcy."
McGonagall frowned. "Albus…?"
He looked away from the Petrified body and up at her. "Darcy Umbridge is the result of many ancient wizarding lines, many of which are related to the house of Slytherin. She is a pureblood. If you remember correctly, young Myrtle was—"
"—a Muggleborn," McGonagall finished for him, nodding her head slowly. "The monster is supposed to attack Muggleborns?"
Lily muffled a shriek. Dumbledore and McGonagall's heads jerked up at once, but luckily James and Severus had quieted Lily just in time. If they hadn't been invisible, they would have been discovered by now. Dumbledore continued peering straight at the cloak for some time, but it surely wasn't possible for anyone to see through Invisibility Cloaks, was it?
Even if she couldn't see it, Lily could feel James' heated glare. Right now, she didn't care. She suspected that Severus had known the truth about the monster all along, and had decided not to tell her. Any good friend would have told her about the danger she was in, not hide it from her in an effort to pretend that everything was going to be okay!
"The castle is clear," Slughorn wheezed as he slowly jogged up to McGonagall and Dumbledore. "No sign of any monster."
McGonagall's shoulders relaxed at once, and she sighed quietly. "I ought to fetch Miss Evans, then. Do you think she will make it back to her common room safely, Albus?"
"I think it would be wise to escort her."
McGonagall nodded and immediately set off for Gryffindor Tower.
"Come on!" Severus hissed urgently to his friends as they continued standing there, not exactly comprehending what was going on. If McGonagall reached the portrait before they did…well, Severus didn't want to think what sort of punishment lay in store for them if that happened.
It was hard keeping their three bodies fully concealed beneath the cloak as they ran at top speed through the castle, trying to get to their destination before their fifty year old, arthritic teacher did.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Lily nearly shouted once she was certain that there was nobody else around to hear her.
Although he couldn't see her, Severus knew she was speaking to him. He wasn't sure if he felt guilty or not by hiding the truth from her: if he had told her sooner, that would have only scared her, but at least she would have been more cautious during these little late night adventures. He still didn't know what the monster was— nobody did, really— but he still could have warned her about the Muggleborn part.
"Why didn't you tell me it was attacking Muggleborns?" Lily hissed, forgetting James was there.
"I— it's not though. You heard Dumbledore, Umbridge is pureblooded and it still got her—"
"What if it just missed the intended target?" Lily demanded furiously in between gulps of air. They were sprinting so quickly that her lungs burned from the effort, but she was determined to crush the truth out of her friend before they were no longer able to speak.
"Shut up, Evans," James grumbled to her right. They were almost to the portrait, just one more corner to go. "You're going to give us away again…and since when do you care about Muggleborns, anyway? I thought Slytherins only cared about the 'high and mighty' purebloods…"
Severus and Lily were silent for several seconds, wondering how they could possibly explain this to James. Just as Severus opened his mouth to speak, he tripped on the bottom edge of the cloak, sending their three suddenly-visible bodies flying to the ground. Lily and James' skulls connected as they tumbled to the ground, creating a rather painful-sounding crack before their bodies finally met the earth and silence enveloped them once more.
"Boys!"
With shouts of surprise, Severus and James leaped to their feet at the sound of McGonagall's voice coming toward them, but Lily remained on the ground, moaning in pain.
"Potter…you've got…the thickest skull…I've ever…seen," she said deliriously as Severus quickly helped her to her feet.
McGonagall glared suspiciously at the boys. "What is going on here?"
"We were just—"
"Don't bother Potter, it's quite obvious what you've done."
James cringed. Oh, they were in for it now…
"Get inside," McGonagall said sternly to the boys, pointing at the portrait. "I will escort Miss Evans back to her dormitory and deal with you two later."
The boys immediately did as they were told, leaving Lily alone with McGonagall. She peered up at her Transfiguration teacher nervously, awaiting the verdict.
Astonishingly, McGonagall merely sighed. "Miss Evans, don't you believe that I was only looking out for your safety when I asked Snape to take you into the Gryffindor common room?"
Biting her lip, Lily nodded glumly. She and Severus had betrayed McGonagall's trust, and while retrieving her wand was a rather good excuse to disobey, they had been stupid for sneaking out when they knew there was a monster on the loose. She supposed Potter's love for adventure and Severus' inability to say no to her were the only reasons they had agreed to go. If something had happened to them, it would have been all her fault.
xXxXxXxXx
"You must be one of the only outsiders to have ever been in Gryffindor Tower!"
"Yeah…perhaps," Lily mumbled as she darted a don't-you-dare-say-anything look at Regulus, who winked at her.
McGonagall had returned her to her own common room half an hour ago, and as soon as she was gone, everyone had bombarded Lily with questions.
"Is it true? About the monster?"
"Is Snape really the heir of Slytherin?"
"Is it true Umbridge is dead?"
"What was the Gryffindor common room like?"
"Which portrait did you go through?"
"Do they really have their own hot springs in their common room?"
After a while, Lily managed to tell her own version of what happened, and much to the Slytherins' disappointment, Gryffindor Tower was not nearly as exciting as they had believed it to be.
"I also overheard them talking—Dumbledore and McGonagall," Lily said slowly, hoping she wouldn't give herself away with this. Regulus was the best at reading her facial expressions; she could only hope that she would fool him this time. "— they said that…the monster attacks Muggleborns…but…it seems as though it keeps missing its target."
Lily didn't know why she was telling them this. So she could appear as though she was just as biased as the rest of them? Or was it something else? She briefly looked up at Regulus, who was observing her carefully, but making no indication as to whether he detected her nervousness or not. Laika and Narcissa didn't look too impressed; they probably already knew a little about Slytherin's monster from their older siblings. However, they didn't look suspicious either, which was all that Lily could hope for.
Only one other person was frightened by this piece of information besides Lily: sitting in the corner, shaking uncontrollably, was Melika. It seemed that her mind was permanently damaged by the attack a few months ago, but apparently she could still comprehend small parts of conversations. Lily wondered if she knew how much danger she was in.
"Hey Melika," Laika softly called out to the deranged girl. "I heard they're looking for volunteers to feed Salazar's pet…they're only accepting Mudbloods at the moment, so you'd be perfect!"
The entire group laughed. Lily had a sudden urge to scream at them to stop, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. If she told everyone the truth, then it would be her, not just Melika, sitting there, forced to take whatever verbal assaults flew her way.
You're so weak, Lily told herself silently. You're just scared it'll be you sitting there, flinching at the invisible demons.
"Lily? Are you alright?"
Of all people to focus on Lily instead of Melika's public humiliation, it just had to be Regulus.
Forcing her quavering lips to curl into a thin, strained smile, Lily nodded. "I'm…fine."
xXxXxXxXx
"The library is closing in five minutes."
Severus jerked awake at the sound a woman's shrill voice to his left; he hadn't realized he had fallen asleep. Groaning tiredly, he flipped through a few more pages of the book in front of him, finding nothing but theories and wild speculations about Salazar Slytherin's so-called 'monster.' He figured nobody but Salazar himself had ever seen the thing, though perhaps it was just a carefully crafted myth that began during the Founder's time and lasted through the centuries due to the frightening, yet exciting possibility that a horrible creature lived deep within the castle. Still, there had to be an explanation for these attacks. Determined to protect Lily— and himself, seeing as the culprit was going after people from every background— Severus had been researching nonstop for the last several hours, to the brink of exhaustion.
Furious with his lack of results, he aggressively whipped through a few more pages, clinging onto one last speck of hope that he might find what he had been looking for all along. He reached the final page, and still, nothing.
Just before he could slam the book shut, however, one of the pages caught his eye: Werewolves.
Intrigued, he relaxed his grip on the book's cover and hurriedly read down the page. Two minutes until the library closed…
"The werewolf is a creature that exists only for a brief period around the full moon. At any other time, a werewolf is a normal human. However, the term werewolf is used for both the wolf-like creature and the normal human. A person becomes a werewolf, when bitten by a werewolf in wolf-form…"
Severus chewed on his lip nervously. Remus never told him how he had received the bite, but he did know that his friend had gotten it before coming to Hogwarts. He didn't want to imagine what it must have been like, to be so young and receive such a terrible curse, one which would haunt him for the rest of his life…
"…once this happens, the person must learn to manage the condition. Nothing discovered in the wizarding world can completely cure a werewolf. Most werewolves live outside of normal society and steal food to survive…"
Severus cringed at the idea of society banishing his friend for a condition that wasn't even his fault. Would that happen to Remus when he leaves Hogwarts? Severus knew he couldn't possibly allow him to live like that, he would find a way to help Remus…someday…
"…the werewolf's bite is harmful only for humans, and the aftereffects are only prevalent when the bite occurs during full moon. The bite from a werewolf has no effect on magical creatures and other non-magical animals…"
Severus stared at the text below him. New thoughts were assembling in his head by the hundreds, trying to digest what he had just read. Any other person would have simply skimmed through the rest of the page and put the book away. However, Severus caught what no one else would: werewolves have no effect on magical creatures and other non-magical animals.
So there was a safe way to be around a werewolf during full moon. The only problem was that Severus was born a human, not an animal. Perhaps he ought to get Remus a pet.
Thinking of the potential consequences, Severus shook the idea away at once. He'd offer to give Hairy to Remus, but what if, instead of biting the cat— which would bring no harm to the hairy git, according to this book— the werewolf just swallowed it whole? Severus shuddered. As much as the cat annoyed him, he didn't want it to become werewolf-food…not yet, anyway.
What if…no, that would never work, Severus laughed at the absurdness of the idea. As advanced as magic was these days, it surely wasn't possibly for humans to…
Of course not. Stop trying to change reality, Severus told himself firmly. Humans couldn't possibly become animals, could they? It was such a foolish hope that he felt embarrassed to have even brought it up.
Then again, there were plenty of things that merely seemed impossible, but could actually happen. From a Muggleborn's point of view, surely flying broomsticks seemed nothing more than a childhood Halloween fantasy? And Malfoy becoming a Death Eater before he even reached seventeen…who could have seen that coming? The biggest surprise of all was James Potter and he, Severus Snape, becoming…friends. After the miserable train ride just before their first year, Severus thought he'd rather be struck by the Avada Kedavra than be Sorted into the same house as Hogwarts' royal gits, Sirius and James. Now they were actually friends. Close friends.
I'll ask McGonagall about it tomorrow, Severus thought with renewed hope, feeling a little less idiotic about the animal idea as he closed his book and ran out of the darkened library before Madam Pince could catch him in here afterhours.
A/N: I'm not sure who thought of the Animagus idea first (in canon), but I thought it would be appropriate if Severus comes up with the idea first in this story. I know some people were hoping Severus would help Remus in a different way, but trust me when I say the boys becoming Animagi will be far more interesting than Severus merely inventing an advanced potion for him.
Anyway, the next chapter will be up within a week, probably after I post chapter one to my new story, "The Guardians Next Door" (it's a Snape-rescues-Harry-from-the-Dursleys story, but with a slightly different twist than most of those types of fanfics).
Reviews are greatly appreciated, as always :)