Dates, Pranks and Marauders

Chapter V: The Full Moon

'Well, come on boy, it's time to go,' Madam Pomfrey said shortly as she grabbed Remus by the arm and began to cover him with the Invisibility cloak, which Dumbledore had issued to her specifically for smuggling Remus out of the castle. They both stepped beneath it and walked out of the hospital wing cautiously, even though Dumbledore often assured the both of them that he would see to it that no one would be where they needed to walk.

The journey from the castle seemed to take an eternity, and was riddled with the matron's harassing questions.

'So, Remus, are you feeling well enough this evening?' She seemed to ask dozens of times. Each time he responded with, 'as fine as I can be.' She really was all right, if you overlooked her annoying way of oozing sympathy. Remus preferred it when no one mentioned his lycanthropy, and didn't take any comfort from pitying looks or sympathy. Nobody at school had any idea how he felt.

Remus was particularly glum tonight, feeling sure that he was going to be alone once again, and the matron seemed to pick up on this quite a lot.

'Remus, you seem particularly glum tonight. Is there anything the matter?' she asked kindly, with a large amount of patience in her maternal voice.

'Nothing more than the usual,' Remus answered, sighing as they approached the Whomping Willow. What possible fun could he have tonight? He would be all alone, beating himself up.

'I've noticed that your transformations have been going much more smoothly. You've hardly beaten yourself up at all, recently,' she told him, trying to ease the tension they both felt.

'Yes, well, I have a feeling that tonight's is going to be more violent than usual.'

'Oh, well, I am sorry for you, Mr. Lupin. It's lucky that you're such a bright young man, or you'd fall behind in school.'

'Thank you,' Remus replied meekly, as he ran his hand along the ceiling of the passageway, causing clumps of damp earth to fall to the ground behind him. He felt very young, especially since he was facing his first solitary transformation in a long time.

When they finally reached the trap door that led to the Shrieking Shack, she looked at him one last time.

'Are you sure you're going to be OK?' she asked as she drew out the heavy, rusted keys that locked the old trap door.

'Yes, I'll be fine,' he told her sadly, trying to put on a weak smile.

As the door slammed shut he looked around at the familiar surroundings. It made him shudder to think that the broken furniture and clawed walls were his doing. Remus quickly stripped down to his skivvies, and then went upstairs to prepare for his transformation. He sat down on one of the large four-posters and looked out of the window, shivering in the chilly December air. He would have thought that the sliver of moonlight that glinted on the silver-white snow was gorgeous, but he was too busy dreading what was to come. Letting out a plaintive sigh, he got his mind ready for the worst.

'Oh, stop wallowing in your own self-pity already,' said Sirius' disembodied head, which was floating in the doorway.

'What are you doing here?! It is far too close to my transformation for you to be here. Get out! Leave before I turn!'

'Nonsense, Moony,' James told him, stepping out from beneath the cloak, setting down a small, plump rat.

'You didn't honestly think we'd let you go through this alone, did you?' Sirius said with a playful grin. 'This is far too much fun, anyway.'

'Well, I thought that-'

'Remus, we're the Marauders; we always stick together,' James said, looking sincere.

'But you need to transform, now-' Remus began breathing hard, and then stiffened, silhouetted in the winter moonlight.

'Er- James, we'd better hurry, he looks hungry,' Sirius said, transfixed by Remus. They had never seen Remus transform from human eyes, nor did they want to. With two small pops, a large stag and a shaggy black dog stood in their places. Even though Remus still twisted with agony as his joints and muscles re-arranged themselves, he couldn't help but smile inwardly at what wonderful friends he had.

****

A few hours earlier in the hospital wing, Lily had lay in her bed stubbornly staying awake. Two and a half days, yeah right, Lily thought to herself. James had left just before dinner and hadn't come back. Although she was still angry with him, and had no intention of speaking to him for at least a week, she still missed the company. The over-bearing matron had forced her to stay an extra day, just because her nose was still just a bit red. She couldn't believe that that woman had made her miss Binns' exam; it was James' fault really, but at least Remus would have to take it with her.

Remus had been very quiet for quite some time, and Lily wished he would come over and talk to her again, since the matron was contentedly humming in her office at the time. She wondered what was wrong with him anyway; he seemed to get sick a lot with some sort of migraine headaches, but every time she tried to ask anyone, they would just smile mysteriously.

As she heard the matron bustling over towards her bed, she screwed her eyes shut, and feigned sleep. Madam Pomfrey felt her forehead, set a glass of water next to her bed, then twitched the curtains shut around her. Lily opened her eyes again and sighed. She really was hungry, but didn't want to eat any of the things that James had brought for her.

Lily heard the matron talking in a low voice to Remus, so she got quickly up from her bed and quietly tiptoed as close to the curtains as she dared.

'Well, come on boy, it's time to go.' She chanced a peek from the curtains, and saw Madam Pomfrey holding a grim-looking Remus by the arm, then Lily quickly let the curtain fall back, the matron was a little frightening sometimes.

Go? Lily thought. Go where? She looked out again, but saw no one. Slightly puzzled, she listened intently, and heard two sets of footsteps, but still saw no one. Lily was now very confused, but since it seemed that the matron had left with Remus, perhaps she could get out of bed and stretch her legs. She made her way to the window, and glanced out at the sun peacefully going to rest beneath a blanket of snow.

As she looked out the window, her attention was drawn to the Whomping Willow. She had always been confused by its existence on Hogwarts grounds. Really, what purpose did it serve except to hit people violently, like poor Davey Gudgeon. His face was quite frightening now. At least Madam Pomfrey was able to save his eye...

She was watching the tree, when it started to creak noisily and flail its long branches. Lily looked around for whatever had provoked it, but saw nothing, that is, she saw nothing until Remus and Madam Pomfrey appeared out of nowhere some twenty yards in front of it. There was no mistaking the matron's large, starch white cap. She watched as the matron picked up a long stick from the ground, and prodded the tree near the bottom. The vicious tree froze in midair, and Remus and the matron approached the tree. Lily saw Remus disappear, and then the matron's white cap seemed to descend and finally vanish within the depths of the tree.

What is happening? Lily thought. What's really wrong with him? And where are they going? She decided to follow them, wanting to make sure that there was nothing life-threateningly wrong with Remus. He looked so sad and pale when they were leaving.

After checking to make sure that the matron had really left, Lily grabbed her cloak from her bedside table, put on her shoes, and quietly left the hospital wing. She silently hoped that she wouldn't meet anyone along the way, as she was wearing one of those awful, papery hospital gowns that were open in the back.

As Lily reached the Entrance Hall, she ducked quickly into the shadows of a suit-of-armour, because she saw the grand doors creaking open. As she peered out, she saw the matron briskly walking in the direction of the hospital wing. Lily heard her muttering under her breath about strange diseases and substandard housing.

When she was positive that Madam Pomfrey was safely back in her office, Lily quickly escaped from the hall and out onto the cold, darkening grounds. She walked, shivering, towards the old, gnarled tree. As she approached, she noticed a large, black dog emerge from the Whomping Willow, followed by a dark stag. Lily had never seen animals behaving like that. She knew that there were deer in the Forbidden Forest, but she wondered where the dog had come from. As she watched, a large, strangely shaped wolf joined the group, and Lily could have sworn she saw another, very small animal scurrying about their feet, though it was hard to tell in this light.

The wolf seemed to be sniffing the air and looking around, then it suddenly let out a howl that curdled Lily's blood and began to run towards her at full speed. The dog and the deer looked almost as surprised to see Lily, as she was to see them. It looked to her like the stag was giving directions to the other two, then he and the dog tore off after the wolf, and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck. Lily had stood transfixed by this, too frightened to move, or even scream, and it was not until the rat had scampered up to her that she moved at all.

It didn't occur to her that the rat was now gone, and Peter stood in his place, she just registered Peter.

'Peter? What are you doing here?' was all Lily could think of to say.

'I could say the same to you. You need to get out of here, now! It's not safe!' Peter said, pushing her in the direction of the castle.

'What's going on, Peter?' she asked him, looking around him at the wolf, struggling to get away from the vice-like grip of the dog's teeth, as the deer painfully placed his antlers in the wolf's side.

'Well, you see-er- that is...well, there was this wolf, and it got loose on the grounds, and, uh, well, me and Sirius, and James all are trying to catch it. And we caught it! See? And it's rabid, so you really must get back in the castle in case it gets away.'

'Really?' Lily asked interestedly. 'You mean James and Sirius are over there?' She stared at Peter incredulously for a moment, then, with realisation dawning on her face, she asked loudly, 'When did you all become Animagi? That's very advanced magic.'

'Animagi? We didn't become Animagi. You're making things up now, Lily.'

'But you just now said that James and Sirius and you captured the wolf. The only living creatures out here besides you and me are the wolf, the dog, and the stag.'

'Uh- I didn't say anything about James and Sirius, you're hearing things. I don't know what you're talking about.'

'Don't play stupid, Peter. You were the rat; I'll bet Sirius is the dog, so... James is the stag. But where did that wolf come from, Peter? That's not even a wolf, anyway, it's a werewolf, and- OH!' Lily's eyes went wide as she realised what was wrong with Remus.

'Werewolf? Is that what that is? Well, aheh heh heh, that explains why it was acting like that... but that's not James and Sirius. I am out alone... for a walk under the full moon...next to the Forbidden Forest... with a werewolf...' Peter trailed off, realising how unlikely his story was becoming.

'Just give it up Peter. I know everything now. But poor Remus! That explains where he goes every month, doesn't it?' Lily said, more to herself than to Peter.

'You're wrong!' Peter burst out. 'Remus isn't a werewolf!'

'Then where is he?' Lily asked, already knowing the answer.

'He's in the hospital wing... with you...with, with you!' Peter said, trying to make his story work. James and Sirius were dragging Remus back towards the tree. Lily winced as one of the longer branches hit James, but he seemed not to notice.

'I was just in the hospital wing, and I saw Madam Pomfrey take Remus down into that mad tree. I know what I saw.'

'Madam Pomfrey is the werewolf!' Peter told her wildly. 'And then Remus is...well he's back up in his dormitory!'

'Alright Peter, that's enough. If you don't quiet down I'll curse you 'til your face looks like mine did three days ago,' she said, dragging him by the arm towards the castle. 'Now you're going to tell me everything, Peter.'

****

James dragged himself up to the Gryffindor common room with Sirius at his heels. That had been awful. Poor Lily had nearly been eaten by Remus, and now there was no hope of her ever talking to him again. Remus had been particularly violent after smelling human blood, and had beat up him and Sirius quite a lot on their way back to the Whomping Willow. They had remained with him until the moon went down again, and then left him for Madam Pomfrey to collect. They hadn't seen Peter again, and hoped he was OK.

'Hydra,' James muttered, clambering up into the common room, with Sirius following. Expecting it to be deserted, James was surprised to find, upon entering, Peter cowering and whimpering on the floor, with Lily standing over him, her wand pointing at his chest.

'You'd better tell me, you little rat, or I'll give you another dose of Rictusempra! I mean it Peter, I know you're not telling me the whole truth and-'

'I am, Lily, just please don't do it again,' he wheezed.

'Oh, no you're not. I know that you and Sirius and James are Animagi and- Oh! Hi James,' she said, blushing as she noticed them entering.

'Well, James, it looks like she found out our little secret. Perhaps we'll have to memory charm her,' Sirius said, grinning.

'Lily! Are you alright?!' James asked, ignoring Sirius and running over to her. 'You could have been killed, or eaten, or bitten!'

'I'm fine James. But you were so brave, saving me from Remus like that. And look-' she told him, gently touching his forehead, 'you've been hurt.'

'OH HO!' Sirius scoffed. 'And I suppose I did nothing? That's it Peter, let's go.' Sirius picked Peter up off the floor and dragged him angrily up the stairs.

'Lily, I'm so sorry that you were almost killed. I should have never let that happen,' James said, looking intensely into her eyes.

'It's alright, it was my own fault. And you saved me. I should be apologising for getting you hurt.' She looked back at him, softly stroking his forehead, where a bruise was now blossoming. James slowly put his fingertips on her cheek, and they looked at each other for a moment, very caught up in their own little romantic world.

'I don't believe you! Taking all the credit for the things that I did! You didn't even really doanything. I'm the one who had to grab his neck with my teeth. All that you did was prod him along with your pansy antlers! What's with your stupid horns anyway, all they do is get in the way- oh, hello Lily, I hope you're quite alright- and what about my gums, eh?!' Sirius yelled, having bounded back down the stairs, now ferociously bearing his teeth and pointing to his "sore" gums. James sat on the couch, staring in amazement at just how intrusive Sirius could be. 'I'm going to the hospital for some painkillers. The matron usually doesn't ask too many questions,' Sirius continued.

'I think I'll go with you, Sirius,' Lily said, looking sadly at James. 'Madam Pomfrey doesn't know where I went, and I think I'll get off easier if I go back.'

'But-,' James sputtered. 'But you just got here, you don't have to leave!'

'Oh, come off it James, it's not like you were going to kiss the girl or anything. Come on, Lily, I'll escort you,' Sirius told Lily.

James stood, mouthing angrily at Sirius, not sure what to say. He finally moved, and walked up the spiral staircase, furiously gripping the railings all the way up.

'I'm going to kill him!' James said, entering his dormitory with a slam of the door.

Author notes: Thank you so much to everyone and anyone who reviewed our story! Keep reviewing you guys! It makes us want to update much quicker. This chapter ended up being a little darker than the others, but we think we met all the darkness with humor. (At least we think so...) Again, review please! We like to know what you think :)
-Hillary and Jess