"Before we begin…Evans, what happened to you?" James chuckled slightly and sat down next to me on the couch. Before I could ask him what he meant, he cupped my chin gently and examined my bleeding lip. The mere fact that our faces were inches apart from each other and he was gazing at my lips made my heart thud loudly in my chest, regardless of the fact that my hair was most likely a mess and my face was gory and repulsive.

"I had a little run in with the Whomping Willow," I replied quietly, feeling my already rosy cheeks blush profusely.

James smiled and searched his pockets. "Padfoot, where is the dittany?"

"'Dunno, ask Peter," Sirius mumbled. He was staring out the dingy window, looking at the moonlight field with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Right here, James," Peter announced timidly and handed it to him before retreating back to his corner to anxiously chew on his fingernails .

"Bare with me, it'll sting a bit," James warned with a feeble look on his face. The only lamp in the room cast dark shadows over his face, making him look very…appealing, so to say. Annoyed at the thought, I reached out and grabbed the dittany from his hands.

"I know, I can do it," I claimed indignantly and began to dap the dittany on my lip. A sharp pain shot through me and I tried my hardest not to cry out in pain. "Carry on with the story, then."

James grinned crookedly for whatever reason and stood up, running a hand through his hair. "Where to start, where to start…"

"Never thought we'd be telling Evans while we're still at Hogwarts," Sirius admitted and sat down on a rocking chair that looked as if it could break at any moment.

The realization of what he said made me smile slightly. "You were planning on telling me?"

"'Course, it'd be hard to keep it from you once you and James-"

"How about we start from the beginning?" James interrupted, and I had a feeling he didn't want Sirius to complete his sentence.

Sirius snorted, probably thinking the same thing. "Brilliant."

"Well, our first night as Gryffindors way back in 1st year was an awkward one. Sirius and I had already befriended each other on the train, and Peter was more than happy to join in on our camaraderie, but Remus tried to distance himself away from us," James explained as he paced the couch in front of me. "We'd invite him to help plan some pranks or study, but he'd always make up some excuse."

"The only thing we knew for sure about him was that he had the immune system of a pansy," Sirius included blatantly. "Every month he'd go missing and we'd find him in the Infirmary refusing to have visitors."

"And because he wouldn't tell us what was going on, we decided to find out ourselves," James smiled deviously and continued. "By our 2nd year we had figured it out. I had suggested we leave it alone, because obviously being a werewolf isn't the lightest of subjects, but Sirius, being the bodacious fellow he is-"

"-Jumped Remus during Christmas break and forced him to confess," Peter giggled from his corner. I had almost forgotten he was there.

Sirius grinned at the memory. "I must say, Remus isn't as weak as he looks. We wrestled for a good ten minutes before I finally pinned him down."

James chuckled. "Remus told us how only Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey knew, and the reason that that blasted tree was ever planted was to conceal the trapdoor leading to the Shack. He would come here every full moon by himself, and because there was nothing to hunt, he would almost kill himself every month!"

"That's horrible," I concurred with a frown, feeling sick to my stomach at the thought.

"We swore on Merlin's beard we wouldn't tell anyone, and Remus began to trust us," James continued and sighed proudly. "And thus, the Marauders were born."

"We protected his secret and defended his disappearances, but it didn't feel like we were doing enough for the kid." Sirius smiled artfully. "It was in our 3rd year when I decided to pay a visit to the Restricted Section."

"Let me guess, invisibility cloak?" I presumed and their eyes widened. I grinned at their stupor. "Exceptionally observant, remember?"

A wide smile grew on James' face. He almost looked impressed. I felt a flutter in my stomach. "It's mine, family heirloom."

Sirius coughed. "So I found the book that would assist us in helping Remus, and we got to work. It took us two years thanks to Peter's inability to succeed under pressure, but we entered 5th Year with the gift of the century for our dear old Moony."

"And what would that be? The stupidity of thinking you could spend the night with a werewolf without being seriously injured?" I inferred sardonically and Sirius glared at me.

"We don't have to be telling you this, you know," he pointed out sharply.

I frowned in defeat. "I'm sorry, go on."

"In a way, you're correct." James shrugged. "But this is our second year 'spending the night' with Remus and we aren't dead yet."

I rolled my eyes. "So, what's the big secret?"

"Can we show her?" Peter chimed in. "It's more fun."

My heart start picking up it's pace in anticipation. Sirius laughed. "Excellent idea, Wormtail!"

"Merlin, we don't want to give her a heart attack!" James cried in protest.

"No, show me," I declared, wanting to convey to them how I wasn't some cowardly schoolgirl.

James sighed. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Before I could reply, he started...changing. It happened too fast for me to make out the distinct transformation, but where James once stood now stood a stag, proud and strong.

I screamed in surprise, but instantly regretted it when I heard Sirius' bark-like laughter. Except it sounded much more bark-like than usual; looking over, the rocking chair that previously held a confident prat was now occupied by a panting, black dog. I screamed again, despite myself.

"You're Animagi!?" I exclaimed, unable to stop staring with wide eyes. It all started to make sense...the successful disappearances, the animal tendencies, the nicknames…

Merlin's beard, the nicknames!

"Prongs..." I muttered as I stared at the antlers on the Stag-James' head. "Padfoot...and Wormtail?"

A squeak came from the floor. A very fat rat was sitting on his hind legs, sniffing the air. How had I not deciphered the nicknames before? It seemed so obvious now!

"And Moony, the werewolf," I breathed, completely astounded from how they had kept this a secret for so long. "But Animagi...that's really complex magic! As in, McGonagall is an animagus. No wonder you're so good at Transfiguration, McGonagall probably automatically gives you good grades knowing what your capable of."

The Stag shook it's head and I frowned. "But the Ministry must have told the school, so she probably does know...the Ministry does know, right?"

The Stag shifted on it's feet and the dog suddenly became very interested in scratching it's ear. I gasped in horror.

"YOU'RE UNREGISTERED?" I cried in disbelief. "Of all the idiotic things you've done over the years- that's bloody illegal! You could go to Azkaban!"

James must have changed back during my tangent without my notice, for his calm voice tried to interject me. "Lily, relax-"

"DOESN'T THAT MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU, THAT COULD GO TO JAIL?"

"Only if we get caught!" a newly transformed Sirius cried as if it were obvious.

"WELL, AS YOU'RE ALL IMBECILES, IT'S A MIRACLE A DEMENTOR ISN'T KISSING YOU RIGHT THIS SECOND!" I shouted, fear fueling my rage. The thought of James, or even Sirius or Peter, alone in a darkened cell was a terrifying thought that could easily become reality with the slightest slip up.

"Lily, please calm down. We've been careful, honest," James reassured me and placed both his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to sit back down. "I know it seems bad, but we wouldn't be able to be with Remus if we registered, which is the whole reason we went through the process in the first place."

"Aren't you scared you could go to jail?" I asked him, trying to find some sign of worry in his composed, comforting face.

He grinned infectiously. "Evans, am I mistaken or do you care about what happens to me?"

I felt my cheeks grow hot at his suggestion. I ripped my shoulders away from his grip. "No, wh-what, er...never-"

"Don't you worry Evans, the day I go to Azkaban is the day my brother renounces his prattish ways," Sirius proclaimed and leaned back in the rocking chair confidently.

"So that's it then, for the past two years you've been running around as unregistered Animagi with a werewolf?" Merlin, it sounded even crazier when you said it out loud, if that were possible.

The three boys nodded. "Seems about right," James agreed.

"Because we're with him, Remus doesn't hurt himself in werewolf form, and he's started to act more like Remus, too," Sirius elaborated. "We wrestle every now and then. It's quite fun."

"Granted, it hasn't all been rainbows and butterflies. We've had our mess ups, like tonight for example…" James trailed off.

"Or the Hogsmede villagers," Peter added.

"Or Snivellus last month." Sirius rolled his eyes.

I scoffed in disbelief. "Severus was here?"

"Followed us just like you, no wonder you are- er, were friends."

"Were," I emphasized for my own reassurance, shuddering at the memory of what happened at the lake last year.

"Personally, I thought the grease ball deserved to get chased by Remus, but James just had to be the hero and save his arse," Sirius mocked.

I looked at James in surprise. "I thought you hated him?"

"Hate is a strong word. I certainly don't like him after what he said to you at the lake last year- er, because no one should ever say that to anybody, but that doesn't mean I could just let him get killed," James told me, his brown eyes not breaking contact with my green.

One of the main reasons I hated James for so many years was because of the way he treated Snape. Granted, preventing him from getting attacked may not make up for the past five years, but it did show that James had the integrity to change. I made such additions to my list.

How James Potter Has Changed From An Arrogant Toe Rag To A Decent Human Being:

5. Does not dwell in the past

And while I was at it,

6. Is able to perform complex magic, such as becoming an animagus

I left out the unregistered part, though.

Sirius clapped his hands together. "So Evans, there you go, our biggest secrets are now to be entrusted with-"

A loud howl echoed through the Shack, following by an eerie silence. I looked at James but he was already telepathically communicating with Sirius, while Peter tried to find something to chew on, as his nails were no longer there.

"Peter and I will go see if we can find him, distract him," Sirius announced suddenly and started emptying the pockets of his jacket. He pulled out a cloak, a yellowing piece of parchment, and a candy bar from Honeydukes. I raised my eyebrow quizzically and he shrugged. "Remus' favorite."

"Be careful, Padfoot. I don't think there is any Remus left in it's mind," James told him and took the contents of Sirius' pockets before putting them on the table in front of me. "I'll stay here with Evans."

Sirius nodded and looked over at Peter. "Coming, Pettigrew?"

Peter nodded reluctantly and was instantly replaced by the fat, ugly rat once more. Sirius saluted James and morphed into the panting black dog. It barked once and then jumped out the window he had been staring out of all night, the fat rat scurrying behind him through a hole in the wall underneath said window.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked, feeling very nervous being alone with James all of a sudden.

James ran a hand through his hair for what seemed like the hundredth time that night and stared out the window, watching two shadowy figures make their way across the field towards the forest. "We wait."

Thank you so much for all your kind reviews! I won't be able to update for a week because I'm leaving for a mission trip, but I will update as soon as I can (and it'll be a good one, promise!)

Up next: Lily refuses to be the damsel in distress, but realizes she may be getting more than she bargained for when the hunt begins.

PLEASE REVIEW IF YOU'D BE SO KIND :D