Potters, a History

Chapter 4. Bad Moon Rising

Lily Evans awoke with a start, beads of sweat forming like ominous dewdrops on her unusually pale brow. "James! James?" She looked around wildly, gasping, her head throbbing. "Got to find James. Got to warn him... oh God." And with that, she fainted dead away, back into a too-silent slumber.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Cripes, Lily, you look like hell this morning." Ah, the always sweet greeting of Sirius Black.

"Thanks, Sirius, you look like death warmed over yourself."

"No, seriously... you look like you didn't sleep a wink last night. Up late studying for the N.E.W.T.s again?" He looked at her, for all the world looking like a concerned father figure, then elbowed Peter Pettigrew, who was sitting on his left. Pettigrew jumped about six feet in the air as Sirius chuckled, "They're only, what, eighteen months away? We better get cracking..."

"No, actually," Lily said, her voice a bit steelier than usual. "I slept perfectly well. Perhaps a little less than I usually do... ow!" She suddenly put a hand to her forehead.

"What? What is it?" This time Sirius's concern was real. "Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, just a headache... nothing to be concerned about. At least, I don't think so..."

"Do you think you should go to the Infirmary? Pomfrey'll probably give you something to make it go away..." Peter suggested in his thin, reedy voice (which Lily had thought, on more than one occasion, perfectly matched his thin, reedy frame).

"It's probably nothing. Really. I appreciate your concern and all, but..."

"Well maybe if you eat something then. Let's go down to breakfast, I'm sure a nice cold glass of pumpkin juice would do you a world of good, and maybe you could have some toast too, to settle your stomach, and..." As Peter prattled on about all the food that would help her headache, she silently debated telling him that the best cure, at least at this point, might simply be for him to shut up. "... and d'you know what my mum always gives me when I have a headache? Chocolate Frogs!"

"For breakfast?" Lily said in mock horror. She was trying not to sound impatient, but she was very glad to be able to interrupt. "Peter, honestly. I usually don't have anything heavier than fruit, I think it would just make things worse... besides, we don't have all that much time before class, and I'm hardly hungry right now as it is."

"Oh." His face fell. "Well, it was just a suggestion, you don't have to take it of course, but..."

"Good morning, Lily. Did you sleep well?" Oh, sweet relief, in the form of James Potter. Thank God.

James cuffed the smaller boy playfully about the head. "Peter, you git, I thought you were supposed to wake me up after you were done in the shower. Making me choose between smelling bad and going off to class hungry... I'll hardly have time to eat before Potions."

"Oh, we were just headed down to breakfast, actually," said Lily, headache suddenly fading away. "Let's see if we can find a little something to eat before class."

James looked at her dubiously, and flashed her a glance at his wristwatch. The lone hand was already pointing at "You're late!"

"Please, James, you know if Cinna hears your stomach grumbling he'll give you three times as much homework as he normally does, probably have you write a five body-length scroll on appetite shrinking potions or something." The two were already halfway down the corridor before she turned around, oblivious to their looks of disbelief. "Sirius, Peter, aren't you coming?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The four arrived in Potions class with barely a second to spare, Sirius just managing to stuff his last piece of toast in his mouth as they entered the dungeon. Lily and James slid into an open bench near the back of the classroom, and quickly took their books out, hoping to look as though they'd been there ten minutes early when Professor Cinna came in.

Sirius, meanwhile, smooth-talked his way into an open seat next to Elisabeth Norris. Elisabeth was a rather pretty Ravenclaw who was constantly challenging James and Lily for the honor of best grades in the sixth year. So far, she had also been one of the few girls in their year who had yet to succumb to Sirius's charms, but he'd been working for some time to change that. From the look on her face, he had either just asked her for the answers to last night's homework, or had told her a rather dirty joke.

Peter, who had practically been running to keep up with his rather more long-legged friends, huffed and puffed into the only other open bench, where he usually sat with Remus. But Remus was nowhere to be found.

Lily would have noticed this, had she not had her nose buried in her extra-credit reading ("From Asphodel to Zephyr's Tail: Exceptional Draughts from Everyday Ingredients"). However, she did not become aware of his absence until Professor Cinna made his entrance. It was the first thing he noticed.

"Ah, Mr. Lupin has not cared to grace us with his presence today." He flicked his dark grey eyes over to the lunar calendar that hung on the wall for just a moment. "Odd... I had expected him today."

This vaguest of references was enough to make James cringe. "You'd think he'd be a little more careful," he muttered to Lily under his breath. "You know Remus could be kicked out in a flash if any of the students found out and told their parents."

"I'm sorry, how rude of me to interrupt while you're talking, Mr. Potter. Did you have something to share with the class?" His front teeth, both silver (nobody knew why, and nobody had the courage to ask, either), twinkled as he smiled malevolently at James.

"Oh, no, Professor Cinna," James replied smoothly, "I was just asking Miss Evans if she knew whether beetle's eyes were an important ingredient in every shrinking potion, or just the ones we've been studying."

"And what did Miss Evans tell you?" Cinna said icily, the smile fading from his face. He knew that if anyone in the class - besides him, of course - knew the answer, it would be that damn Evans girl.

"I hadn't answered him yet, Professor," she said quietly, trying not to laugh at James's swift and rather clever lie. "But no, there are a few rare ones where the shells are used, rather than the eyes."

"Very good, Miss Evans. Five points to Gryffindor for your impressive knowledge of shrinking potions." Lily smiled. "And five points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter, for speaking out of turn." James turned to Lily and shrugged. He had managed to avoid a net loss of points; that had been his goal. He knew that Cinna disliked him immensely, but at least he was fair when it came to giving and taking from the House Cup.

"Now that you all know so much about shrinking potions, we're going to move on to restoration and engorgement potions. I know you've all probably learned the Engorgement Charm quite some time ago, but there are some subtleties that make these potions preferable to the charm, in some cases. Can anyone tell me why?"

Both Lily and James had their hands in the air - as did several of their classmates. "Yes, Miss Norris, do you have the answer for us?"

"I think so, Professor. Is it because one can tailor potions to the particular item to be enlarged?"

"Yes, that's it. Very good." Sirius winked at her, as if to congratulate her. Elisabeth rolled her eyes. "Now, today I'll have you mixing a rather elegant potion for the engorgement of these ladybugs, I expect that you all have some shrinking potions remaining from last week, yes?" A few students murmured; James nodded carefully, wondering how much shrinking potion an 8-foot ladybug might require. "Alright. You should have all the ingredients you need, the instructions are on the board, as well as in your text, page 671, I believe. Get to it."

The class worked in silence, initially, but after a few minutes, conversations began to break out here and there. "Good job you're a potions genius, Lily. I shudder to think of the consequences of losing another five points for Gryffindor this week." James's deep brown eyes twinkled rather merrily, and Lily returned his impish grin.

"Yes, well, good job I had just read that two days ago."

"Nah. I knew the answer anyway, if you weren't piping up, I would have told him you'd given it to me."

"Cheeky."

"You know it." He brushed her forearm lightly with his fingertips as he reached over to weigh out some dried nettles. "Ooh, did it say to add the nettles before the frog brains, or after?"

"Before," Lily answered, a bit flustered from his touch. He winked. "James..." she lowered her voice. "I really don't think it's such a good idea to be doing this in class. At least not in this class. Cinna could try something tricky with a love potion..." she shuddered. "Or even a truth potion. I'd hate the whole class to hear an exposition on what we did last weekend."

"Good point." James promptly slid himself, and all of his things, over to the far end of the bench. Lily smiled weakly and he slid back. "What's wrong, Evvie?"

Her smile grew broader at the pet name, but not much. "Oh... nothing really. I'm just a little worried about Remus, is all. It's not like him to miss class. I mean, not any more than he has to, of course. D'you think something's wrong?" She grimaced as she scooped a spoonful of the frog's brains into the bubbling, deep orange mixture that was boiling in the cauldron. "We have to take this off the heat in five minutes, can you do me a favor and conjure up a little timer while I clean my hands?"

James pulled out his wand, casting a quick series of spells. "Existo momenti!" - a wispy, smoky clock materialized in front of them - "Quinquies!" -set itself for five minutes past twelve - "Reverso momenti!" - and promptly began keeping time backwards. "All set." He sighed. "I'm really not sure what's wrong with Remus... he seemed healthy enough yesterday. But if it's something else, then I wouldn't know, as he hasn't really been talking to me for a few days now."

"What do you mean? He's been perfectly nice to you. We all eat dinner together, remember?"

"Sure, but have you noticed he hasn't been talking directly to me if he can help it? And anytime we're alone together... he's like a bloody brick wall. You'd have better luck asking Sirius, I think... honestly, you'd have better luck asking Peter."

Lily's eyes widened. Peter would know what was going on better than James? That was saying something. "Well, I will ask Sirius, then. Keep an eye on this for a bit, will you?"

"Naturally." He sighed inwardly, watching her graceful stride across the classroom. He was almost surprised at how quickly she had blossomed into the girl of his dreams. He remembered meeting her in Diagon Alley - her gorgeous hair and startling eyes had caught his attention even then, but she'd been a bit gangly for his taste. Now, of course, she had filled out a bit, and in all the right places. He knew he hadn't been the only one to notice that... she was still on the tallish side but very slender - he often joked that her wand was made of willow to match her build. In some ways, though, she reminded him of a doe. He found that rather ironic, given his Animagus form, but he wondered if somewhere, in his subconscious, she hadn't figured into the animal he thought he'd most like to be.

He liked to think that he'd had a hand in her maturing personality, too - she'd grown from a shy, rather bookish girl to a witty, playful young woman, and James fancied that letting her in on some of the Marauders' pranks (those she was not the target of, anyway) had something to do with it. She'd gone from study buddy to best friend to... did he really want to think this?... practically his soulmate. And being with her now... he smiled. There was only one thing that could be better, and that was being with her and NOT having one of his closest friends livid with him.

He sighed, then looked up at the timer he had conjured. Oops, almost time to take this off the fire...

Lily approached the bench that Sirius and Elisabeth were sharing, trying not to laugh at the effort Sirius was putting forth in getting the clever Ravenclaw's attention. "Oops, I seem to have dropped these frog brains on your robe, here, let me clean them off..." he bent down, as if to wipe something off her leg. Lily cleared her throat loudly and he jerked his head up, banging it on the bench in the process.

He roared in pain, letting loose a string of curses that would have made a sailor blush. As it was, he elicited a "MISTER Black, I will kindly thank you to keep your baser thoughts to yourself..." from Cinna.

"Sorry, Professor." He rubbed his forehead. "Son of a Slytherin, that smarts." He grinned, noting that he had finally succeeded in getting a giggle from Elisabeth. "Can I help you, Miss Evans?"

She was direct. "Sirius, why isn't Remus in class today? And why isn't he talking to James?"

"Which one first?"

"Either."

He frowned at her. "Alright, well, second one's easiest, I can answer in one word: You." She arched one delicately shaped eyebrow but said nothing. "First one... well, seems a bit of a mystery. He wasn't in bed when we left the tower this morning, I assumed he'd just gone to breakfast early or something. Wasn't a surprise that he wasn't at breakfast, since we were so late... but I thought for sure we'd see him here."

Well, you're no help, Lily thought, a bit irately. "He didn't mention anything out of the ordinary yesterday? No hints of a prank, perhaps?"

"Not a word. Besides, you know Remus, even if he was planning a trick, he'd probably keep it to himself. Especially as it's would probably be on you and James."

Her heart sank. "He's really that upset?" She hadn't meant to cause such a rift, but then what had she expected? It was bad enough to go off snogging someone who wasn't your boyfriend at the moment, worse if he was your boyfriend's best friend, and infinitely worse if your boyfriend was already prone to bouts of self-loathing due to his lycanthropy. Honestly, she thought, dating at Hogwarts was next to impossible... then, she gasped.

Sirius looked at her, horrified, apparently thinking the same thing she was.

"Oh God. We've got to find him."