Days in Avalon

Chapter Twenty-Two: A Frightful Night

Lily sat in the Great Hall enjoying the silent peace that came on Sunday mornings. There were only a few students up already, each minding their own business. Including one Severus Snape, who was hunched over in his seat reading a very large and old black book.

'Probably another dark arts book thought Lily, as she poured herself some more juice.

As Lily sat back and enjoyed her morning juice, her mind began to wonder to what happened the previous night in the common room.

(The night before...)

"So tell me about the muggle world," said James.

"Well...what do you want to know?" replied Lily.

"Anything. I've never really been in the muggle world. Well except when I go to Diagon Alley sometimes, of course."

"Of course. So...you don't know anything about the muggle world at all?" asked Lily with a raised eyebrow. She couldn't believe that in the six years she has known him; he hadn't learned or heard about anything in the muggle world at all.

"Only a few things. Most of the stuff I know, I heard about from Robin, or Andy. They're always talking about different things like this band of bugs and stones rolling or something like that.

"Bugs? Stones rolling? What are you..." said Lily not sure what he was talking about. That was until she remembered who he was talking about. "Oh...You mean 'The Beatles' and 'The Rolling Stones'."

"Yeah, that's it."

"There music bands. Both are pretty good, although you might enjoy 'the Stones' more," chuckled Lily.

"And why is that?" asked James with a wicked grin.

"Well...because their type of music consists of loud music, where as the Beatles are more...well girlish in some people's opinion. They sing more ballads and up beat songs," said Lily.

"So? How do you know I don't like ballads?" replied James in a slightly hurt tone.

Lily raised one of her eyebrows to him. She could hardly believe that a sixteen year old athletic guy would be interested in pop ballads.

"Okay you got me," laughed James. "But still you shouldn't just assume things about people."

"I'll work on it," said Lily smugly. "So what else do you want to talk about? Muggle wise I mean?"

"Well...what do muggles do for fun?" said James.

"For fun? Well...lots of things. Muggles pretty much do the same things wizards do. I mean they read books, play sports, listen to music. But one thing muggles do that wizards don't do is watch movies."

"What are movies?"

"They're moving pictures that tell stories," answered Lily. She could see that James was a little confused so she went further into explanation. "Kind of like, wizard pictures only on a really long strip of material called a film strip."

"Wait...by any chance is there one of these movies called "The Exorcist" or something?" said James.

"Uhh...yeah. Yeah it's a movie. A horror movie. How did you know about that?"

"I heard Robin talking about it with Andy recently about scary things. You know with Halloween coming up soon."

"Yeah, it's one of the scariest movies ever made. Well in my opinion anyway," said Lily with a shiver.

"What's it about? Witches and goblins or something like that?" asked James.

"No. It's about this little girl that gets possessed by the devil and does all these really freaky things and kills people. Then this priest shows up and tries to drive out the demon through an exorcism," said Lily.

"Really? Doesn't sound all that bad."

Lily huffed at his comment. "You should see it. I bet you after you see it, your opinion will change."

"Sure. If you say so Lil. Alright...well this is very interesting. So what is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you?" said James all of a sudden.

"Too me?" asked Lily pointing a finger at herself. James simply nodded in response. "Well I don't know. No one has really ever asked me that question before."

Lily thought for a moment to contemplate his question.

"Well...I guess the scariest thing that has happened to me was finding out I was a witch. I mean I didn't really know why strange things happened around. Books that I wanted would randomly appear out of nowhere. Things in the house would explode when I would get upset at my sister. It freaked me out not knowing why I was causing these things to happen. Yeah. I guess that would be the scariest time for me. Although there was this one time I got chased by a dog for four blocks when I was about seven. That was pretty scary as well," chuckled Lily.

James couldn't help but chuckle as well. He could just picture a seven year old Lily running down a street being chased by a big massive that dog. Although for some weird reason, the dog in his vision looked a lot like his best mate.

"What about you? What's the scariest thing that has happened to you?" asked Lily.

Lily observed James sighing in what appeared to be despair.

"I was afraid you were going to ask me that," said James. He ran his hand through his hair, messing it up even more.

"Well...I guess what happened last year in the quarry was probably the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. Just, seeing her fall like that and what happened afterwards, that scared me half to death."

"You mean you were scared of getting kicked out?" said Lily a little confused.

"No. I was scared of losing one of my best friends, all because of me," said James seriously. He looked deep into Lily's eyes and she could see that the memory of it still haunts him to this day.

"I don't know what I would have done if she hadn't woken up. Or if something worse had happened to her."

"You really do care about her, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. She's probably the first girl that I ever really had as a friend. She's really the only one that doesn't really take any crap from me."

Lily nodded in silence understanding what he was talking about.

"Well...other than you," he added a few moments later, looking deep into her eyes. For some reason, the look in his eyes mesmerized her, and she couldn't help but stare deeply into them.

"Hey, Lily? Earth to Lily, come in Lily," said a voice far off in the distance.

"Huh? What?" said Lily dumbly as she finally saw someone waving their hand in front of her. She looked up and saw that the hand belongs to Felicia and that Andy and Kelly were standing next to her.

"Hello!" said Felicia.

"Geez Lily, where did you go? You looked like you were a million miles away," said Andy.

"No. No. I'm sorry, I'm here. I was just..." stalled Lily.

"You were just dreaming about a boy," said Kelly, in a matter of fact tone, as she sat down and reached for a muffin.

"I was not. I was just thinking about this new book I'm reading. That's all," said Lily.

"Right," said Felicia as she rolled her eyes.

"Sure Lil. We believe you," said Kelly, trying to contain a giggle.

Andy sat down and poured herself a glass of orange juice while trying to contain a smirk. She didn't know for sure, but she had a feeling that Lily was thinking about a boy. Just not the one that her other two friends were thinking about.

"What are you smirking for, Andy?" said Lily hotly.

"Nothing. Can't a girl just have a smirk on her face?" said Andy sweetly.

"Don't you start too," warned Lily.

Andy was about to add a snappy comeback when Karen and Remus walked over to were they were.

"Hey, gals! What's up?" said Karen brightly.

All four of the girls looked up and smiled at the couple before them... holding hands.

"Hey, Karen. There's nothing going on," said Kelly.

"Yeah. We're just teasing Lily as usual," said Felicia. Lily lightly smacked Felicia on the arm.

"So what's up with you two? What's going on with the whole..." said Andy waving a finger at Remus and Karen holding hands.

"Oh...well..."started Karen.

"We're sort of...well..."added Remus.

"Together?" asked Lily.

The couple before them couldn't help but blush and smile at the question.

"Well...yes. Remus just asked me to be his girlfriend this morning," said Karen.

"Oooohhh," said all four girls dreamily.

"That is so sweet," said Kelly.

"Congrats," added Andy.

"Thanks," chuckled Remus as he and Karen took a seat.

"Hey, Remus, what's that that you are wearing?" asked Kelly noticing something around his neck.

"What? This?" he said holding up the necklace around his neck. "Oh it's something my mother gave me when I was a kid. Suppose to bring good luck and protection...or something like that."

"Can we see it?" asked Felicia.

Remus nodded in response and took off his necklace before handing it over to Felicia. Lily leaned over and saw that it was a round gold like medallion. She noticed that on the medallion was a carving of a dog like creature howling at the moon.

"Wow! That's really neat Rem," said Lily.

"Thanks," smiled Remus as he put the necklace back on. At that moment, the rest of the Marauders came in laughing loudly as usual.

"Ahh...well I guess I should be going. I'll talk to you later?" he said turning toward Karen.

"Sure. I'll talk to you later," said Karen with her stars in her eyes.

With that, Remus got up and gave Karen a quick peck on the forehead before heading down the table to join his friends.

"Awwwwww," sighed Kelly and Felicia.

"Oh would you guys please shut up," blushed Karen.

"I'll talk to you guys later. I have to ask Professor Sprout a question," she added as saw her professor walking in for breakfast.

"She really is smitten with him. Isn't she?" said Kelly.

"Yup. Guess she is," said Andy.

A few moments passed by as the girls at there breakfast, before they were greeted by another.

"Good morning, ladies," said Sirius smoothly.

"Hey sweetie," said Felicia getting up to give Sirius a quick peck on the lips.

Andy tired her best to keep herself from rolling her eyes or gagging.

"And how is everyone this morning?" said Sirius looking particularly at Andy.

"Fine," answered Kelly.

"Alright," said Lily.

"I've had better mornings," said Andy. She was still looking a little tired, but at least she didn't have a hangover anymore, since she took some of that potion she made a few months ago.

"Well that's nice to here," he replied. "So Felicia, what did you want to do today?"

"Oh...I don't know. Maybe we could just hang out or, we could spend some quality time alone together," said Felicia as she wiggled her eyebrows.

"Uh...please. People are trying to eat," said Andy disgustedly.

"I thought you were okay with us," said Felicia raising an eyebrow.

"I said I was okay with you two dating. I didn't say I was okay with seeing public displays of affection."

"Oh, what's a matter, Sparky? Can't find another flavor of the week?" said Sirius.

"Ha ha ha. As for your information, what I do in my personal life is none of your business Blackie," spat Andy.

"Okay that's enough. Come on, Sirius. Let's go before it gets too out of hand," said Felicia giving Andy a harsh look.

Andy simply just rolled her eyes and continued on eating her breakfast. She could feel Kelly and Lily's eyes on her.

"Don't you two even start," warned Andy.

"We weren't going to say a word," said Lily. At that moment she noticed Everett walking in and sitting down at his houses table.

"So how are things with Everett?" asked Andy noticing what her friend was looking at.

"They're fine. He actually asked me out the other day. He's wants to go out after the Halloween feast, on Friday," said Lily.

"Ooooohhhh...Halloween night. How romantic," said Kelly.

"He wants to take you out on Halloween? Hmmm...okay either he has something to tell you or he's trying to do something you don't want to do," said Andy.

"And what exactly it is that he wants to do that I don't want to do?" asked Lily.

"What every guy wants," said Andy raising both her eyebrows.

"Oh please Andy. This is Everett we're talking about," said Kelly.

"Yeah, that's true. But just remember to guard your carnal treasure," said Andy with a smirk.

Lily simply rolled her eyes and continued on eating her breakfast.

The week went by fairly well, save for a few pop quizzes and tests that the students had to endure. But by the end of the week, everyone was looking forward to the Halloween feast at the end of the week.

The feast was as spectacular as it had been in the past. There was a live band that came in to play, and Dumbledore conjured up a thousand bats that preformed a somewhat elegant dance in the air. All in all, went on without a hitch, until James and Sirius's little prank went off at the end of the feast. The two of them caused a monstrous hand to come out of the Slytherins goblets and pull their faces into them.

After the Marauder's prank, everyone headed off to their dorms, all except for a few people. Lily met up Everett at in the Great Hall, and the two of them ventured out onto the grounds covered in the moonlight of a full moon.

"Are you enjoying yourself, Lily?" asked Everett.

"Yes, I am," lied Lily. Although she enjoyed being with Everett, she couldn't help but have this feeling that they were being watched.

"You aren't scared are you?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Because you're sort of cutting off the circulation to my arm," said Everett. Lily wore a puzzled look on her face when she looked at him, until she noticed that she had a death grip on his arm as they walked arm and arm along the edge of the dark forest.

"Oh. I'm sorry," said Lily releasing her grip and looking at her feet.

"It's okay," chuckled Everett. "And trust me. There is nothing to be afraid of. All that talk that you've heard about what happens on the grounds at night is just talk. There are no such things as vampires or werewolves in there," he said added pointing to the forest.

"Yeah, you're right," giggled Lily. Just at that moment both of them heard a howling off in the distance. The howl caused the hairs on back of Lily's neck to stand up.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Probably a stray dog in Hogsmeade, or a regular old wolf," answered Everett.

"Right," sighed Lily. The two of them continued on walking along the forest enjoying each others presence.

"Ummm...Lily? There is a reason I asked you out here tonight," said Everett. Lily stopped in her tracks and looked at him directly in the eyes. She could see that Everett was obviously nervous about something.

"Well, I mean other wanting to spend time in your presence," he added quickly.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I umm...well...that is to say...I wanted to ask you something."

"What did you want to ask me?"

"Well, I was wondering if you would ever consider...being...my...girlfriend?" stuttered Everett as he fidgeted with his hands.

"That sounded lame, didn't it? Urgh...I knew I should have done the other one I practiced," he added. Lily continued to stare at him in amazement and shock as he continued to berate himself.

"You want me to be your girlfriend?"

"I know it's way to early. Forget I even said anything," said Everett quickly.

"No, no, no...I mean yes," said Lily quickly.

"Yes to what?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, I'd like to be your girlfriend," said Lily with a bright smile.

"You would?" said Everett with wide eyes. Lily nodded vigorously as her smile got wider.

"Wow! Oh, Lily you don't know what this means to me," beamed Everett as he looked deeply into her eyes.

The two of them stood there looking at each other lost in each other eyes, while they unconsciously leaned toward each other. They were soon only a breath away from each other until Everett closed the gap with his lips, in a soft sweet kiss. Whey they pulled apart, Everett took a hold of Lily's hand and they continued on walking. Lily continued to grin after the kiss, but deep down she really didn't feel anything along the lines of what her other friends describe kissing their boyfriends. But of course she would never admit this.

As time went by, the two of them continued to hear the howls of some animal. Each time they seemed to be growing closer.

"Ummm...Everett...I think we should be heading back. It's getting kind of late," said Lily on the verge of freaking out.

"Yeah, maybe you're right," agreed Everett, starting to feel afraid as well.

As the two of them began to turn back around, and head back up to the school, they heard a rustle in the forest.

"What was that? Everett something's in there," whispered Lily as she clung to his arm.

"I don't know. Come on let's go before ," stuttered Everett.

Lily heard his stutters and saw his face turn white as a ghost. It wasn't until she heard a low growl that caused her to see what had frightened her new boyfriend. Standing in front of them was a grey and black werewolf with bright yellow eyes.

"Everett! Everett we need to get out of here!" squeaked Lily. She continued to stare wide eyed at the beast in front of her.

"Everett?" she said as she looked up at her boyfriend. As soon as she shook him, he passed out from complete fright.

Lily stood stunned looking at her passed out boyfriend, but was brought back to reality when the wolf let out a long howl. She snapped her head back to the wolf and just stared at its eyes. There was something familiar about them she thought. As she moved her eyes along the wolf, she noticed the distinctive snout of the werewolf, along with the ears and coloring. But it was something hanging around the creature's neck that grabbed her attention. From the looks of it, it was as if the werewolf was wearing some sort of charm on a collar or necklace.

'Where have I seen that charm before?'

As she pondered a bit more, she stared into its eyes again, and for a moment or two, she saw some form of joy and friendliness that was all too familiar to her.

Sensing that the girl was on to his identity, the werewolf's eyes turned harsh again and barred his teeth at her. Lily could tell the wolf was ready to attack and began to run for her life.

"OH CRAP!"

"Of all nights to patrol, why did it have to be Halloween night?" whined Andy to herself. She was currently walking down a deserted dark corridor, doing her nightly patrol that she had been assigned to do.

"Poor souls don't even have a chance if they even try and think about doing something. I'm not really in the mood to deal with want-to-be Marauders. Man why did I agree to cover tonight. I could be hanging out with Derrick, and those bright blue eyes of his," sighed Andy. Just thinking about her new little crush made her feel all warm and tingly inside. "Oh well."

She continued to walk around the castle checking out the third and fourth floors, making sure that no one was causing too much trouble that she would have to actually punish them.

"This is stupid. There is no one out tonight!" said a frustrated Andy into the night. "Hmmm...maybe I should go hang out with Derrick. At least that will be more entertaining than hanging out with the loser."

As Andy headed back down the hallway to the staircase, she saw someone come out from behind a nearby painting. It was Severus.

'Speak of the devil,' thought Andy.

"And just what do you thing you are doing?" said Severus smugly to his co-prefect this evening.

"What's it to you? Last time I checked you weren't my father, or my mother, or a professor."

"But I'm a prefect on duty," said Severus. Andy knew all he was trying to do was get a rise out of her, just so he could attack and claim self defense.

"Yeah so am I. What do you want? A cookie or something?" said Andy highly annoyed with him. Her patience was wearing down fast.

"No, but it's my job to know what others are doing. You know, to make sure that they aren't causing any trouble among the students."

"Yeah, other students, not other prefects. Now if you'll excuse me Snivellus, I need to be somewhere other than here with you," spat Andy.

"Oh, going to corrupt whatever flavor of the week you have now?"

"Excuse me?" said Andy highly offend by the tone in his voice. "That is none of your business."

"You know, I think spending so much time with Potter and this little gang has confused you your mind," said Severus as he leaned up against the wall cockily.

"Oh, really? And has being friends with James confused me?" said Andy crossing her arms in front of her.

"Well, the way you act, and going about dating guys, you'd think you were a player or something. But when in reality, you are nothing but a whore."

"Oooohhh...tell me you did not just call me what I think you did? Oh, those are mighty big words for someone who doesn't have any of his little friends to come and help him out," said Andy feeling her temper rising up.

"Are you threatening me, Starmenter?" said Severus with a crooked smile.

"I don't make threats Snivellus. Threats are made by Slytherins who have way to much time on there hands. I on the other hand make promises, which are always kept true, sooner or later," said Andy. She could see Severus's hand inside his pocket, apparently holding tightly to wand, ready to bring in out in a flash. Although it was true that Severus was good at the Defense Against the Dark Arts, he wasn't as good as a few other students in his year.

"Well if you are going to do, something, I suggest you do it now. I'll allow you one chance. Seeing as how you take at least three tries to get your aim right," patronized the greasy haired Slytherin.

If there was one thing that Andy hated above all else (other than being teased and harassed by Sirius), it was being patronized by stuck up Slytherins. She was about to pull out her wand, and hex him into the middle of next week, until something outside caught her eye.

A red haired girl was running through the foggy grounds being chased by a large dog like creature.

"What the...? Oh, no. LILY!" screamed Andy. With that she bolted down the stairs praying she got to her friend in time.

Lily ran as fast as she could toward the castle, but she knew that the werewolf was right behind her and gaining speed.

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!" she screamed. Suddenly an idea popped in her head, and she struggled to pull out her wand while running. Lily shouted out a number of curses and hexes, hoping to slow down the beast, but it seemed to doge every curse.

As she got nearer to the castle, she tripped over an uneven level of earth and fell to the ground face forward.

"Ow," groaned Lily as she hit her head. She rolled over on her back and saw that the werewolf was now a few yards away, growling, and ready to pounce on her. Lily closed her eyes tightly bracing herself for the end, when she saw the wolf beginning to charge at her.

'This is it! This is how I'm going to die. Death by werewolf,' thought Lily, but her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of something big galloping and whinnying.

Lily dared to open eye, and saw through the fog, a large creature with antlers having a stand off with the werewolf. The werewolf began to charge at Lily again, but the dark creature used it's antlers to toss the wolf back. A few moments later, a large, black, shaggy haired creature came barreling out of the woods and grabbed the wolf with its teeth by the tail as it tried to get back up. The two dog-like creatures began fighting and barking at each other, until the creature somehow managed to pull the werewolf back into the woods.

Lily just sat there stunned and breathing harshly at what she witnessed. She was snapped out of her state of shock when the creature that saved her came trotting up toward her. She couldn't really tell what the being was, because of the fog. Yet the thing that captivated her the most wasn't its size or strength, but its eyes. She felt her self loose her bearings as she stared into the hazel like eyes of the creature. Lily wasn't sure, but she felt that she had seen those eyes before.

The creature took another step forward and took an unmistakable bow at Lily's feet. The deer like creature raised it's head a bit to look into Lily's bright green eyes. Suddenly the two of them heard howling in the distance and sounds of pain. The creature looked toward the forest and back at Lily again. He gave a shake of his head along with a snort like sound as a sign of apology before it ran off again into the forest.

Lily continued to sit on the ground watching the creature gallop away into the night.

"LILY! LILY ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" screamed Andy as she reached where her friend was. By the time she got there, she saw that wolf had left and her friend was sitting upright on the ground.

Andy shook Lily a couple of times to bring her out of her trance but to no avail. "Lily come on snap out of it!" Seeing no other choice, Andy did something that she knew she'd hear about it later. "Sorry Lil, but this is for your own good."

With that, Andy took her hand and slapped it across Lily's face not too harshly, bringing her back to reality.

"Huh? What? Andy? What happened? W-where am I? D-Did you just slap me?" asked a bewildered Lily.

"You can yell at me later. What happened to you? I saw you running from the window being chased by...whatever that thing was..." said Andy trying to calm down her friend.

Lily blinked a few times and was hit with the memory of what had just transpired. "Werewolf."

"Huh? What did you say?" said Andy not sure if she heard correctly.

"It was a werewolf. A werewolf was chasing me," breathed Lily.

"A werewolf? Are you sure?" asked Andy not really believing what she was saying.

"What's going on here?" said a new voice out from behind Lily. It was Professor McGonagall. Following her was Professor Flitwick, and Snape.

"Miss Evans? What are you doing out here at this hour?" asked McGonagall. Her lips were now a very thin line on her face.

"Professor she said that a werewolf was chasing her," said Andy, more concerned about Lily then McGonagall's lectures.

The moment Andy had said this, both McGonagall and Flitwick looked at each other with worried looks on there faces.

"Are you sure my dear?" asked Flitwick to Lily.

"Yes, it came out of nowhere and scared Everett and I half to death," nodded Lily.

"Where is he now, Ms. Evans?" asked McGonagall referring to Everett.

"He passed out over there, I think he's still unconscious," breathed Lily.

"Very well then, Professor Flitwick and I will go and retrieve him. But as for you, Ms. Evans I would like you to go to the hospital wing and get checked out. Are you able to walk?" said McGonagall sternly. All three students could see that McGonagall was obviously worried for everyone's safety.

"Yes I think so," nodded Lily.

"Good. Ms. Starmenter I would ask that you help her up to the hospital wing." Andy nodded in response.

"I'll go with you Professor," piped up Snape.

"No! You will return to the castle with Ms. Evans and Ms. Starmenter, and wait for me by the doors inside," said McGonagall in a tone that didn't need to be argued.

As Andy helped her friend up, Lily saw something bright shinning in the grass. It was the charm that she saw on the werewolf. She quickly grabbed it up and put it into her pocket as she leaned on her friend for support.

Within a few minutes, Lily and Andy had reached the hospital wing, and were waiting to hear about Everett. Madam Pomfrey quickly did an examination on Lily and decided she was fine, save for a few bumps and bruises, and a sore ankle, but just to make sure, Lily would stay the night in the hospital wing just for observation.

She handed Lily a pair of pajamas and left the room along with Andy to allow Lily some privacy. As soon as she finished buttoning up her shirt, McGonagall and Flitwick came in with Everett who was coming too now.

"WEREWOLF! WEREWOLF!" screamed Everett out of fright. Madam Pomfrey gave him a sleeping potion in order to calm him down and allow her the chance to check him over. After everything was settled, and in order, Madam Pomfrey allowed Andy the chance to see her friend, but only for a few moments.

"Lily are you okay?" asked Andy.

"I think so. I'm still a little shaken up, though," said Lily.

"What were you thinking of being out at night on the grounds with Everett? That's not like you Lil. That's sounds like something...well I would do."

"Yes I know. But there's something that I have to tell you though," said Lily.

"What is it?"

"I think I know the werewolf."

"You hang out with a lot of werewolves, Lil?" said Andy trying to lighten up the mood.

"No," said Lily sternly. "What I mean is I think I know who the person is that turns into the werewolf," she said in low whisper.

"How?"

"Well I saw this charm around it's neck, and then right before we came in, I saw it laying on the ground. Look familiar?" said Lily as she pulled out the necklace from under her blanket and handed it over to Andy.

Andy took the gold charm and black cord and inspected it. "This is Remus's necklace. The one his mom gave him. So?" said Andy not really getting what her friend was getting at.

Lily raised her eyebrows and gave her friend a look that told her to think about it.

"Wait a minute..." said Andy as she caught on. "You think that Remus is a...werewolf?"

Lily nodded in response.

"Remus? Remus Lupin? Guy about this tall with sandy hair? Really nice guy that hangs out with a bunch of Quidditch junkies? Our friend Karen's new boyfriend Remus Lupin?" said Andy in disbelief.

"Yes that Remus. How many other Remus's do we know?"

"But...no...Rem can't be a werewolf. He's too nice to be one."

"Just because he's a nice guy doesn't mean he can't be one. Come on think about it. He's always looks sick every couple of weeks. He's always making some sort of excuse for why he's so tired or so sick. And he's also gone at least one a month, and I bet you if we look back it's always around the time of a full moon."

"Oh my..." whispered Andy as she thought about and saw that everything did add up correctly. "Rem's a werewolf. Boy Karen can sure pick 'em."

"Andy come on. This is no time to joke," said Lily.

"Who said I was? It's just hard to believe that our friend Remus is a werewolf," stated Andy.

"Yeah I know."

"And to think that he could have..." said Andy. "Man, if he did, it would have killed him."

"I don't want to even think about it."

"Okay. Yeah sure of course. But I have one question. If Remus was after you, and chased you down...why didn't he...you know...have you for a snack?"

"Well, he would have, had it not been for that deer or whatever it was."

"Excuse me?"

"This creature, animal...I don't know...this thing came out of nowhere and fought off Remus and was trying to protect me. Then this black dog came running out of the forest and pulled Remus back into the trees."

"Really?"

"Yeah...but there was something familiar about that creature. It's like I've seen it before. Like in a dream or something of that sort. But those eyes," said Lily in a dreamy like tone.

"Geez, Lil...I didn't know you felt so fondly to forest creatures," teased Andy.

"Oh stop it," blushed Lily.

"Okay Ms. Starmenter, that's enough now. You can see Ms. Evans in the morning when she is released," said Madam Pomfrey.

Andy bid good-night to her friend, and left the hospital wing to head off to bed, with her thoughts still swimming.

'Whoa, Remus a werewolf. Well it does add all up. Just never thought he would be the tear you to pieces and eat your heart type of guy. But apparently he's made some friends in the forest. At least that should keep him in check.'

As Andy neared her dorm, she thought more about the subject of the creatures that came and saved her friend. Remus's friends.

'Nah, it couldn't be. They wouldn't be that stupid,' thought Andy as an idea popped into her head. But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

She remember that a few years back, James and Peter coming to her asking to borrow books she had about transfiguration she had in hopes that she could better understand it. She also remembered James asking help in pronunciations of certain words dealing with animals. Then she also thought about how recently, the boys seem to disappear at least once a month for an entire night.

She remembered going to their room to return a broom polish to James, and finding the room completely empty at eleven o'clock at night. She noticed them sneaking out a couple of times already this year underneath James cloak. And it did always seem to happen around the time Remus made his monthly disappearance.

"Those little buggers," said Andy in amazement as she walked through the porthole into the common room.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except this story and the characters I made up. The rest belongs to J.K. Rowling.