Disclaimer: However much I might wish I did, unfortunately I do not own any of these characters… They all belong to JKR.

Chapter 2 – Transformations

"Snape is such a git!" James proclaimed to his three best friends. They were sitting in the Gryffindor common room. The sun was very low in the sky casting an orange glow around the Hogwarts castle before it sunk into the dark depths of the forest only to return again next morning.

"And it just took you 'till now to work it out? Looks like Lily was right about you after all. You really aren't that bright." Sirius was sitting next to James on the comfy sofa close to the fire.

"And that's another thing," James carried on with a glance at Sirius – do we actually know who she's going with?"

"Dunno, lets check the map." Remus put a marker in Hogwarts, a History and turned to the table on which numerous books lay. Herummaged around in the pile of parchment stuffed in a book and came up with the folded treasure.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He tapped the parchment and scanned it for the name Lily Evans. He jerked his head towards the staircases that rose to the dormitories, "She's up in the girls' dorm? I thought she said she had a date?"

James sat up as if burned and snatched the parchment out of Remus's hands, scanning it with a murderous look on his face, hoping the map was playing up. No, there it was, Lily Evans. He looked up at the stunned look on his friends' faces. He didn't notice that the label Lily Evans was moving closer to the labels James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. "So did I! Maybe she just said that so I'd leave her alone 'till tomorrow?"

"No she didn't," a girl's voice said behind them, "and she'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about her behind her back. How did you know I wasn't at the dance yet anyway?" Lily skipped the last step of the staircase and sauntered towards the fire, her long red hair swaying partly over her shoulder as she came closer.

"Erm-" the boys faltered. James surprisingly found his voice first, "Ok I admit it I was here watching for you to see if you had changed you mind" He spread his hands in an open gesture and smirked a lopsided grin at her.

"Well, no I haven't," She raised one hand to conceal a mischievous grin while the other hand was propped on her hip, "I'm meeting Lucius a little after the dance had started. We want to make an entrance." The Marauders's jaws dropped open.

"Lucius?"

"You know, tall, blonde, Slytherin. All about inter-house unity, right?" She dropped her cloak over a sofa and revealed a short, green dress with gold glittering at her neck, earlobes and wrists. "Have fun – er sitting here all night!" She called as she swaggered out the door.

Lily's POV

Haha the look on Potter's face! It was worth me going with Lucius just to get that look! Oh well, onto the dance. Much boredom and snide comments to come. I still haven't worked out why he should ask me to go with him – we've always had an unspoken agreement- he ignores me if I ignore him. Her thoughts were interrupted by a silky drawl,

"Ahh, Lily," there was a smirk on Lucius's face, but Lily thought that that was nothing out of the ordinary. A smirk represented all his emotions except anger or frustration and even then, only his upper lip curled into a snarl.

"Lucius," She said as she accepted his offered arm, " before we go in, why did you ask me, I'm a - I'm not a pure blood? You know that."

He bent down and whispered, "Let's just say I've realised your, ahem, full potential."

In the Great Hall…

"Welcome," was Dumbledore's opening as he outstretched his arms as if welcoming his students into a hug, "welcome to the five hundredth anniversary of Hogwarts hosting and winning its very first Trwizard Tournament." Applause rang out, "Also a welcome to a band I've found responsible for some out of tune humming in the shower – two spectres and a werewolf!" He gestured to the performers, while the students clapped and cheered, "All I have to say now, is don't step on you partner's toes!" He raised his hands as light flooded the platform where the teacher's table was usually, and the band started to play while students began to lead their partners onto the dance floor. Dumbledore looked up at the hall's ceiling, mimicking the weather outside. He beckoned to Professor McGonagall and they disappeared through the side door.

The Great Hall doors were kept open though people stared as two figures; an unlikely couple walked through the massive archway and walked half the length of the Great Hall to stand in the middle of the crowd of Slytherins that had parted to let them through.

Back in the Gryffindor Common room…

"Lucius?" James repeated his brow was furrowed and his eyes flashed with anger, sensing that something was amiss, "Why would he ask her? One, she's a Gryffindor, two she's not a pureblood, three -"

"Okay, stop yelling at us. Malfoy's up to something, we understand you." Remus stooped down to pick the map up after it had fallen through James's fingers. He tapped it and muttered, "Mischief managed." Before picking up his book again and returned to his armchair next to the fire.

Sirius grimaced as he looked at the notice board that now held an enlarged version of the note that had fallen out of Snape's dress robes, "Moony's right. However, may I point out that you've only got the rest of this week, then the summer holidays, then it'll be our last year of Hogwarts; your last year to win fair maiden's heart." James sank his head into his hands.

The portrait opened again and the Marauders looked up to see Professor McGonagall walking through the portrait hole with the Headmaster. "Lupin," she said, her eyes fixing on the group by the fire, "Lupin, it's time to go." Remus stood up and started putting his books back in his bag. Meanwhile Dumbledore looked around at the other Marauders, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Not at the dance, boys? Surely such famed pranksters as yourselves could have gotten yourselves a date?" The Marauders looked at each other uneasily.

"Well, Sir," Peter fidgeted nervously, "James is licking his wounds so to speak, and Sirius didn't want to go on his own."

Dumbledore winked at James, "Patience is an admiral asset, as is courage" he added with a knowing smile, "Prized high above conceit. And yourself?" he looked at Peter.

"Umm, I never really excelled at dancing, Sir."

"Ah." was all Dumbledore said. He turned towards the portrait followed by Professor McGonagall and Remus.

Sirius waited until they had definitely started down the corridor before, "Wands?"

"Check." They held up their wands.

"Cloak?" James reached under the armchair.

"Check."

"Let's go." They set off down out the portrait and followed Remus until Dumbledore paused outside the Great Hall. It was almost as though he was waiting for something. James threw the cloak over himself and his friends. They were positioned near enough to the doors that James was able to catch a flash of red with white blonde – he caught sight of Lily dancing with Lucius. They were pressed close together in the middle of the dance floor and his head was bent low as he whispered something in her ear. She drew back and smiled as she nodded. James's fists were clenched so much as to turn white and he felt a monster roar inside his chest. He longed to crash into the hall and smash Lucius into a thousand pieces. He felt Sirius's elbow in his ribs before he realised he was emitting a low growl.

"Press on, Minerva; I've caught my breath now." Through the crowd, James just managed to catch sight of Lucius reach for Lily's hand as he led her off the dance floor and walked slowly toward the doors. Their progress was slow as couples stopped talking to watch them walk by, wondering how the unlikely pairing had come about, sometimes with an occasional whistle or comment. However, James felt a push in the back and he once more followed Remus's trail.

As usual, they were headed in the direction of the violent tree in the Hogwarts grounds; however, tonight they had to make a detour. The Marauders's nostrils filled with the scent of roses that accompanied the maze of hedges that conceal the owners of muffled laughter. Clearly, for some people, the dance was a success.

When they were just out of range of the tree's giant, sweeping branches, Dumbledore stopped to take out his wand. He aimed it at the base of the tree where a knot was made visible by the light of Professor McGonagall's wand. Dumbledore mad a small jabbing motion and the tree froze, it's branches no longer fussing. The three Marauders waited for the Professors to be well on their way back to the castle.

"Well, here I go." Peter ducked out from under the cloak and closed his eyes an expression of concentration etched onto his face. Slowly, he began to transform. He shrunk as his clothes disappeared to reveal a tail, four furry paws, and a pointed face with whiskers. Wormtail had done it. The rat darted in between the swishing branches, the huge tree unable to keep up with the agile rat. James and Sirius ran through the tree, James stuffing the cloak into his robes. They jumped down the hole followed by the rat. The tree sprang back, its branches swirling about as if the tree knew that it had been cheated.

James threw open the door as shrieks filled the air. Remus was transforming. A black bear-like dog hurled itself at Remus and jumped down to circle the werewolf. The wolf snarled and his eye flickered in anger. Sirius sprang again at the werewolf and growled a low, defensive growl as if to dominate himself. After the wounds the werewolf took from Sirius, it backed down and accepted him. The stag however was another matter. James lowered his antlers at the werewolf, but was caught with a huge paw instead, throwing him into a corner. The werewolf advanced on the stag and was about to strike again, but a snarl form the huge black dog made the werewolf stop. Sirius jerked his head towards the door. If it weren't for the piercing pain James felt and the danger of the situation, he would have found the sight of the dog jerking its head at the door funny. The stag limped to the door, and then scampered out of sight. James focused hard and managed to transform back into his human form. The rat followed him to the entrance to press the knot on the tree before James darted away from the howls that tore through the air.

James collapsed on a bench in the hedges as he felt blood drip down his jaw line onto his robes. He hung his head in despair. He was over there while Sirius and Peter were with Remus. His thoughts of self loathing were abandoned as he saw a familiar flash of red run past him, not noticing his lean form in the shadows. James threw his invisibility cloak on and crept round the hedges past couples entangled with each other until he heard sobbing. He tracked the sound down until he saw the mane of red hair surrounding the form on the ground.

Lily sat on the cold, hard ground with her knees brought up to her face, her hair falling all around her shoulders. She rubbed her arms as a chill wind swept over her. She was startled by a movement in the trees in front of her. If this is him, coming to haunt me after that-

"Lily?" A dark form appeared out of nowhere. Lily could see by the light of the glowing fireflies fluttering around that she was still safe. "Lily?" James's voice ached with pain. There was something in his voice that made her looked into his hazel eyes. She let out a gasp as she saw the bloody slashes on his face. He pulled her into hug before she could say anything.

James let her go only to sit himself on the ground before lifting her into his lap, his shirt absorbing her tears. He felt her shiver as his arms enveloped her. He wrapped a cloak around them. The invisibility cloak.

Before they could say anything, a crowd came into their private clearing. One of the boys had long white blond hair. He recounted the events of the dance to roaring laughter. As he went further into the story, James held onto Lily tighter.

He knew why she was crying.

A big thank you to Mei Queen xXx

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