From First to Last

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

"Nobody minds having what is too good for them."

- Jane Austen

James learned the hard way that Transfiguring himself was a lot harder than Transfiguring a teacup in class. Since having begun the practical bit of his training, he'd managed to give himself a pair of hooves and one antler; the antler having taken him two months to master. The other antler, very much like the first one, was rather difficult, and seemed to refuse to grow from his head as it should. Compared to this, Transfiguration in class was simplicity itself. James and Sirius found themselves top in their class, much to the dismay of one Lily Evans.

Every night, James would leave his dormitory to practice his Animagus transformation. He and Sirius had managed to find an old room on the seventh floor of the castle when they visited the kitchens at midnight and were evading detection by Filch. The room was located opposite to the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy getting clubbed by a number of trolls. Oddly enough, when they passed by the general area of the room the next day, to take their shortcut back to Gryffindor Tower, the door had mysteriously disappeared.

It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that James realized what this room was. He had been searching for a place to practice Animagi, pacing along the seventh floor, when the door popped up in the hallway. It looked exactly like the door to that old room in which he and Sirius had once hid. However, when James wrenched it open, he found that it led to a larger space, filled with books and a couch and a table of food that never seemed to go bad. It was intriguing, this room. It seemed to change every day. When James needed to go to the bathroom and couldn't leave simply because Filch was patrolling the seventh floor, a small bathroom popped up. This room was shifting to James' every demand.

James didn't tell anyone - not even Sirius. He learned that it was called the Room of Requirement (the inside of the entrance became branded with the words as soon as he 'needed' to know what the room was called. To James, it was an advantage. A way to best Sirius and Peter in his transformation - because they'd all laughed at him, after all.

Though his original plan was to keep the Room of Requirement a secret until the rest of the year, by which James was sure he'd have mastered his stag, he wound up informing his friends of it much sooner.

He'd been practicing on himself at two in the morning, attempting to force out a second antler from the right side of his face. The procedure was a complicated one; in order to become Animagus, one would have to transfigure each body part separately and then undergo a process to disconnect the transfiguration from the spell, enabling the transformation's wandless nature.

'Animagus,' demanded James into the space of the Room of Requirement. 'Come on - Animagus - ugh, nothing -' James sighed, collapsing onto the sofa behind him. James glanced around him, wishing the Room was able to give him the power of Animagus transformation. James flipped through his book furiously, searching for anything he'd missed, anything. Perhaps there was an instruction he'd forgotten, a helpful hint of some kind.

Nothing.

'Bloody - hell -' sputtered James, jabbing his wand in the air forcefully with each word, 'Animagus, Animagus, Animagus, Animagus, ANIMAGUS!'

The cracking sound that followed James' misused incantation was immediate, instantaneous and grave. Rather than doing nothing, as the spell had the first twenty times James had used it, there was a flash of blue light. And then James was yelling with pain.

'Augh - wha - urgh -' James dropped his wand immediately and clutched his with both hands, dropping to knees suddenly. When he lifted his head up and looked down at his hands, they were covered in blood. There was blood everywhere - dripping from his hands and onto the floor, trickling down his cheek.

James looked round him in panic, surveyed the mass of thick, red liquid. He was beginning to feel faint as he lifted his right hand and touched the spot on his head from where the blood was originating.

It was as though the spell had half-worked. There was a small fragment of a blood-covered antler emerging from his head, and the surrounding area was made up of dying skin that seemed to have been completely punctured in order to allow the antler to arise. The antler had cut through his scalp in order to make its appearance, when it should have been able to phase through it without causing damage.

The book had warned him of the consequences of attempting the spell without full, undivided attention.

James grabbed his wand hastily, aware of the fact that he was going to pass out very soon.

Medical supplies. Medical supplies! He thought frantically, searching the room. A first-aid kit was in the far corner of the room and James wasn't sure if he would be able to make it that far. And he wouldn't know how to close the wound in his skull anyway.

But Remus might. James clutched a hand over the wound to stop any further bleeding and stumbled over to the door. He'd have to get to Gryffindor tower and ask Remus to help him. He couldn't go to Madam Lambridge. There would be too many questions; how would he have gotten half an antler lodged to his head? And he didn't have enough time to hide the evidence; the Animagi book was as clear as day in his hands, and bloodstained, no doubt. No, going to the hospital wing was out of the question.

But James wasn't sure he'd be able to make it to Gryffindor tower either. He reached the door, a trail of blood following him, and shoved against it with all his might. It slammed open and James stumbled forward, his head literally beginning to split apart. He hadn't gotten very far before he collapsed onto the floor. His vision was beginning to cloud and black spots began to appear everywhere. James' wand slipped out of his hand and he began to blink slowly, feeling numbness around his temples. There were footsteps approaching, slow footsteps.

Please... Please...

James groaned, trying to shift his head to catch a glimpse of the visitor.

Please, he thought weakly. Please... don't be Filch...

'James? James, what are you - JAMES!'

The slow footsteps became rapid ones and James let out a slow, laboured breath. 'Sirius... thank... thank Merlin...'

'James -' Sirius got to his knees and put one of James' arms around his shoulder, so as to help him up. 'What happened, mate? Bloody hell, you're bleeding - James!'

'Sirius...' The last thing James saw before he passed out was his blood-covered wand on the floor, lying next to Sirius's foot.

It was incredibly lucky that Remus had learned by heart the section in the Animagi book called 'Healing: Fix your Blunders'.

'What were you thinking, you sod!' exclaimed Sirius, as early as four in the morning, as he, James and Remus crowded inside the locked bathroom of their dormitory. James had just come to.

James fingered the bandage on his head sluggishly. 'Thanks, Remus,' he mumbled.

'Bloody hell, James, answer me!'

'Shut up, Sirius,' input Remus' reproachful tone of voice. 'Frank and Peter are sleeping in the dormitory.'

'Remus, I found him on the floor in a pool of blood!' hissed Sirius furiously. 'There was half an antler sticking out of his head that obviously hacked its way through!'

'I know, Sirius,' said Remus calmly. 'But yelling is going to accomplish nothing but wake up our dorm mates. And James,' added Remus. 'Don't thank me just yet. That wound isn't fully healed. I only managed to get rid of the antler. You should be able to see Madam Lambridge without having to answer any odd questions. And you should hurry; it won't be long before the cut reopens.'

'He's not going anywhere until he finishes explaining what the hell he was doing around the castle practicing his Animagi during the middle of the bloody night!'

James sighed. 'Sorry,' he mumbled.

'Sorry?' Sirius whispered; his voice was low and deadly. 'You're sorry? What do you think would have happened if I hadn't found you when I did? If I hadn't woken up and realised that you were out of bed?'

'Well then, I don't think we would be having this conversation right now,' joked James.

'James...' muttered Remus, his voice disapproving.

'That's right,' said Sirius, 'make jokes. You've just nearly escaped death and you're joking. You bloody prat...'

James suppressed the comment he was about to say: "Well, you're half right... I'm bloody, all right..."

James wasn't allowed to leave his dormitory alone at night anymore. They'd decided on a decree (James was overruled in the voting) that dictated that if one of them were to leave the dormitory in the dead of night to practice dangerous, illegal magic, they'd have to be accompanied by another.

As a result, Sirius went with James every night, and the two of them practiced in the safety of the Room of Requirement, with a small wall that separated the room into two distinct chambers; James was still keen on having the best Animagus between Sirius, Peter and himself.

On one of these nights, after their nightly practices and during the random escapades they took inside the castle walls afterward, James and Sirius discovered an odd mirror.

It was located in an unused classroom on the left of a narrow corridor near the kitchens. Desks and chairs were piled up against the walls and there was an upturned wastepaper basket. It was the item propped up against the wall facing them however, which had caught their attention.

James and Sirius gazed bewilderedly at each other at first discovery. How had they missed it? Had the corridor always been present? In front of them was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.

'What is that gibberish?' wondered Sirius out loud.

James took a slow, instinctive step toward the mirror.

'What the -!'

James whirled around, his breath catching in his throat. But no one was there. Sirius glanced sideways at him oddly.

'What's wrong?' he asked.

'I - I just saw -'

James turned back toward the mirror and gasped again. He looked over his shoulder - still, no one was there.

'What?' asked Sirius, beginning to sound annoyed. James ignored him, turning back to the mirror.

A girl was standing before him; dark red hair, bright green eyes. Beaming at him from through the mirror was Lily Evans.

'James!'

James blinked and turned to Sirius hastily.

'Quick, what do you see?' he asked, stepped aside to allow Sirius a place in front of the mirror. Sirius edged forward, and took a glance into the large glass. A moment later, blinked hard.

'Well?' prompted James, running his hand through his hair slowly and turning slightly pink.

'Blimey, this isn't a mirror, is it!' asked Sirius, looking bemused and cocking an eyebrow.

'No, doesn't look like it,' replied James. 'What do you see?'

'My family,' said Sirius, still appearing astounded.

James blinked, glancing behind his shoulder again. 'What?' he asked sharply. 'Are you sure? You don't see Ev - er - I mean, are you sure?'

'Yeah!' said Sirius, with a grin now. 'They're all Gryffindor's though... Bloody hell, is mum smiling...!' Sirius trailed off, gazing into the mirror in wonder.

James examined the inscription running across the top of the mirror, working through the letters and words backwards: I show not your face, but your heart's desire.

There was a loud shuffling outside the room and they both jumped. James whipped out his Invisibility Cloak and wrapped it around Sirius and himself, preparing to head back to their dormitory without being caught.

The end-of-the-term feast took place among decorations of scarlet and gold; Gryffindor House, thanks to its spectacular performance at the Quidditch Cup, had won the House championship that year. Consequently, the Gryffindor table was the noisiest of the lot, and the rowdy celebration only diminished as Professor Dumbledore stood to discuss with the students of the latest deaths announced in the Daily Prophet.

'As you have been made aware this morning,' began Dumbledore. 'There are four more unfortunate names added to our growing list of unfortunate victims of Lord Voldemort: Jo Weatherby, Shaista Hall, Jimmy Callahan and Amy Cinder. Let us take a moment of silence to pay respects to those who have been victimized by Lord Voldemort's wrath.

There was a quiet sob emitting from the end of the Gryffindor table; Lily couldn't forget Shawna Hall's tear-struck face throughout her entire journey back home on the Hogwart's Express.

On the train, Marlene and Kalah were in the midst of a spirited debate about Who-Know-Who and what he calls his followers; Marlene was advocating 'Death Eaters', while Kalah was almost certain they were called 'Death Sneakers'.

'If they were called Death Eaters,' reasoned Kalah, 'that would suggest they - er - well, eat death. Wouldn't that make them dead too? I'm sure You-Know-Who's minions would rather make themselves sound much more powerful than that.'

'Oh, and I suppose naming themselves after a morbid pair of running shoes gives them that sense of superiority?' countered Marlene, with a grin.

'Of course not,' countered Kalah. 'Death Sneakers. They sneak around killing people. It's quite simple, really.'

Lily remained silent throughout the debate. She learned about You-Know-Who in her first year, when Claudia Crawford's great cousin was found murdered in his bed; the article had caused a great sensation among the first years, especially the Muggleborns, whose parents had sheltered them from the growing dangers in the wizarding World. After their first Defence of the Dark Arts class, Lily realized Severus hadn't been entirely truthful when he told her that blood status at Hogwarts was irrelevant. The deaths that Dumbledore had announced at their end-of-the-year feast, was of relatives of known Muggleborns. Lily felt suddenly targeted.

It was only when Mary pulled out her Exploding Snap cards, when the witch came along with her trolly of sweets, that Lily put You-Know-Who and Muggleborns out of her mind and thought forward to her summer vacation at home.

'James! Come down here!'

James crumpled up his scrap of parchment and tossed it hastily toward the wastebasket near the window. After putting down his quill and closing up his ink bottle quickly, he headed downstairs towards his mother's voice at the front of the house.

'I didn't do it,' he said automatically, putting both hands up defensively before his mother could yell at him.

But his mother didn't appear as though she were going to yell. Next to her was one of her favourite visitors, and the delighted grin was plain on her face.

'Always with the guilty tone of voice, eh, Potter?' said Sirius Black in his gruff voice as he smirked amusedly at his best mate.

'Peter's coming next week,' said Sirius, as he sat himself down onto the chair by James' desk. James kicked the door closed as he followed with a plate of biscuits his mother had sent up.

'Yeah?' he said. 'I didn't even know you were coming this Summer!'

Sirius grinned. 'Surprise, mate. I thought we could help Pete a bit with his Animagus given that -' Sirius gave a dramatic pause before adding, 'I've perfected my own.'

James appeared stunned momentarily, which only seemed to make Sirius even more pleased with himself.

'That's right,' continued Sirius proudly. 'I told you I'd perfect it first.'

James blinked. 'Who said you were first?'

Sirius' smug grin slid from his face. 'Er - you've -'

James nodded slowly; his and Sirius' stunned expressions mirrored each other until they both shouted, at precisely the same time, 'You go first!'

Lily was brushing her hair on a late August morning when her mother called for her.

'Lily! Tuney's back!'

Lily paused, coking an eyebrow. Surely that was her sister, who was blabbering away at top speed in the room next door? Where could she possibly be back from? Lily fluttered down the steps, two at a time, and strolled into the kitchen where her mother was flipping pancakes for breakfast.

'Mum, Petunia's upstairs on the phone,' commented Lily, grabbing a plate immediately and opening the refrigerator for syrup.

'I meant your owl, dear. Sure enough, Lily's silver owl was perched dutifully on the windowsill, hold out her leg expectantly.

'Tuney!' Lily abandoned her plate and approached the window eagerly. Tuney hooted pleasantly and allowed Lily to retrieve her letter. Lily patted her owl for a job well done.

'Breakfast's in your cage,' she murmured to her. 'Tuney nibbled on her ear and then flew across to the kitchen and up the stairs to Lily's room. Mrs Evans gave a short, shrill yelp of surprise at the sudden movement.

'Sorry, Mum,' apologized Lily.

Mrs Evans shook her head in disregard and smiled despite herself. 'Didn't run away,' she said, sounding proud as she tipped a couple of pancakes onto two separate plates.

Lily grinned and took her seat in front of a pancake-rich plate, carrying her thick envelope along with her.

'Call your sister for breakfast, will you?'

'Petunia! Breakfast!' Lily was already stuffing pancakes into her mouth.

There was a muffled sound, though Lily could hear the high-pitched nervous tone of voice behind it: 'Coming!'

'Who's she talking to, anyway?' asked Lily.

Mrs Evans began to pour syrup on each plate of pancakes. 'A nice young man from school. His name's Vernon.'

Lily wrinkled her nose. 'Vernon?'

'Shush, you... Don't you make fun now. What about you, Lily? Any boyfriends I should know about?'

Lily swallowed a bite of her pancake. 'No.'

'Come, now, I won't tell your father,' said Mrs Evans, winking.

Lily laughed. 'No boyfriends. Scouts honour.'

'What about that little James Potter? He seemed simply charming.'

Lily sighed and put down her fork. 'Mother, I understand that Potter is one of the only names you know of my classmates, but please - I'm having my breakfast.'

Mrs Evans put herself a plate of pancakes and sat down next to her daughter. 'That bad?'

Lily swallowed. 'Worse.'

'Would you not yell to call me down?' snapped Petunia in an aggravated tone of voice, as she walked into the kitchen with her nose high in the air. 'Vernon was startled. He almost thought I was being attacked. I expect he'd have rushed here to protect me if I hadn't stopped him.'

Lily snorted, receiving a disapproving look from her mother. Her sister had gotten quite prissy through the time they had spent apart. Lily put her fork down once more before prying her envelope open, fumbling with the seal of Hogwarts' crest.

She pulled out the letter - the annual school letter, she assumed it was - and read through it. Gradually, a furrow began to appear between her eyebrows.

'What is it, dear?' asked Mrs Evans anxiously.

Lily's eyes were wide as she held out the letter for her mother and reached into the large envelope again. Petunia's eyes darted between her mother and the letter. There was a moment's silence, and then Mrs Evans looked up slowly, shock registered over her features. Lily pulled out a badge.

'PREFECT!' squealed Mrs Evans, thrusting the letter into Petunia's hands and jumping up to hug her youngest daughter. 'Well done, Lily!'

Lily lay down on her bed and flipped through her fourth year Transfiguration textbook. It was best for her to keep the information fresh in her mind, even if she weren't permitted to use magic.

'So... Prefect, huh?'

Lily started, sitting up to find Petunia standing at the doorway.

'I should have known,' sneered Petunia.

Lily blinked, closing her Transfiguration textbook. 'What do you mean?'

'Of course you'd get the Prefect's badge. Little Miss Know-It-All.'

Lily frowned.

'You always have to show up and ruin things, don't you?' demanded Petunia. Her voice was getting progressively louder, progressively shriller.

'What are you -'

'We were just fine, but then you had to come back from your freak school and Mum and Dad have a new favourite daughter -!'

'Oh, for heaven's sake, Petunia -'

'And if it weren't enough that you had to be here, you had to change everything! In case you haven't noticed, Lily, owls don't fly into people's houses!'

'Well, they do for me -'

'Exactly, which proves my point that you're not normal! Just when I think this family could finally go back to normal, and we could live normal lives, you have to come back and ruin it all!'

Petunia was breathing hard and tears had sprung into her eyes.

Lily jumped up off her bed, her own eyes sparkling with tears that refused to fall.

'I am just as part of this family as you are,' she said in a low, deadly voice. 'I've got every right to be here... Don't you think that everyday I'm in school, I don't miss Mum and Dad and you? This - it's the only chance I've got to see you and you're trying to take that away too? Merlin, Tuney -'

Petunia gave a laugh of hysteria. 'You see? This is what I mean. 'Merlin'? No one says that! Not normal people anyway!'

'So I'm not normal then!' Lily found herself yelling now. She looked down and took a deep breath before looking back up at her sister. 'But you know what? If you don't want me here, then that's fine... Summer's over in two weeks. You'll only have to suffer that much time before I leave... I won't bother coming back for Christmas.'

Lily shut the door to her own room as she left without another backward glance.

Mrs Evans attempted to bridge the distance between her two daughters for the next few days. It was always the same thing:

'Lily honey, she's just upset - she didn't mean any of it.'

Lily looked at her mother steadily every time and shook her head. 'I've made up my mind, Mum.'

'Lily, think about this.'

'Don't worry, I'll be back for summer. I'll try to stay out of Petunia's way then, but I'll be here. If only because you and Dad want me here.'

'Of course we do, honey.'

Their repeated conversations always ended with a hug.

'Quick, you lot - only a minute and a half left!' called James past his shoulder as he dragged his cart toward the barrier of Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters, with Sirius, Remus and Peter following close behind.

'Why are we always late?' grumbled Sirius.

'Because you take marathon baths, you prat,' shot back James. 'Peter, hurry, you first,' he added to Peter.

Peter didn't waste time in charging toward the barrier and passing through within seconds.

'Perfect - Remus, you nex -' But Remus had already followed shortly after Peter with no intent to miss the train.

Sirius took a look around the station. 'You'd think the Muggles would notice people going out of their ways to run into a wall,' he mused.

'Shut up, Sirius. Half a minute left. You next.'

Sirius pushed his cart in front of him and ran toward the barrier in a savage manner, as though trying to attract attention. James, following immediately after him, managed to get onto the train only seconds before it departed for Hogwarts...

'We'll be in the back compartment, Lily,' said Alice, as she slouched sideways with the weight of her trunk. 'Find us there when you're done with your meeting, will you? Everyone's there.'

'Yeah, sure,' said Lily, waving goodbye with one hand, while patting her new luggage bag (with wheels!) with relief.

Her Prefect letter had instructed her to meet the Head By and Head Girl at the Prefect compartment as soon as she got onto the Hogwarts Express. Then, she was to patrol round the area a bit.

Lily turned on her heel, making for the Prefect compartment, but instead, found herself colliding with the body that had been moving in the opposite direction.

'Ouch -!'

'Oi!'

Lily stumbled as the trunk (with wheels!) in her hands tipped over with the impact and almost fell over until a hand steadied her at her shoulders.

'Sorry, Evans...'

Lily straightened up at the voice and met James' lopsided grin with an annoyed glare as she smoothed down her robes. When he still hadn't removed his hand from her shoulders, she glared once more. He quickly removed the hand, but the grin remained.

'Are you alright?' he inquired.

Lily patted the dust from her trunk. 'Yeah.'

James tilted his head, examining her as though he were seeing her for the first time. 'How was your break?' he asked.

'Uneventful,' lied Lily; her mind was still cast upon her latest encounter with Petunia, but she was eager to end the conversation. 'Now if you excuse me, I have to get to the Prefects' compart--oh, hi Remus!'

Remus raised a hand in greeting from behind James and received a grin from Lily. James glanced between the two of them slowly.

'Morning, Lily,' replied Remus. 'Ah, you've got the Prefect badge, did you? Well done, congratulations...'

Lily beamed. 'Thanks. And it looks like I'm not the only one. I thought you'd get that.' Lily gestured to the front of Remus' robes.

Remus glanced down at his own Prefect badge, as though he'd momentarily forgotten it was pinned onto the front of his robes.

Yeah, I did,' chuckled Remus.

'Hold on, Evans is Prefect?' demanded Sirius, as a compartment door slid open and he strolled towards them, with Greta Catchlove hanging onto his arm. 'Bloody hell, we won't be able to get away with anything!'

Lily smiled sweetly.

'There you are, Sirius,' said Remus. 'Where've you been?' When Sirius only grinned in response, James transformed his laugh into a very convincing cough.

'Hi, Lily,' chirped Greta, grinning sheepishly.

Lily returned the smile. 'Morning, Greta.'

'Where's Peter?' asked Remus, looking round. 'I haven't seen him since we boarded the train.'

'Looking for the witch with the cart of sweets,' replied Sirius with a shrug.

'Shall we go down to the Prefect compartment, Remus?' asked Lily.

'Yes, sure,' said Remus, taking a while to process the request as he yawned.

Lily nodded before turning abruptly to James. 'Potter, have I grown horns?'

James blinked. 'What?' he asked stupidly.

Lily glared up at him. 'You've been staring at me as though I've grown horns or something. Quit it, will you? It's creepy.'

And with that, she took hold of her trunk and disappeared through the doors to the Prefect compartment.

Sirius watched as she departed, giving a low whistle. 'Well, she grew something alright,' he commented offhandedly, seconds before receiving a blow to the head from James. Greta Catchlove appeared scandalised.

'I'll go patrol the back, alright?' said Lily. 'I promised Kalah and Alice I'd meet them there.' The meeting had taken roughly an hour to finish, and Lily departed with Remus afterward.

'No problem,' said Remus warmly. 'I've got to find James, Sirius and Peter anyway.'

Lily wrinkled her nose at the mention and bit her lip, thinking. 'Can I ask you a question, Remus?' she asked tentatively.

'Of course,' said Remus, shrugging.

'Why do you hang out with them?'

'Do you mean James?'

'And Black.'

Remus glanced sideways at her. 'They're my friends, Lily.'

'But they're--'

'--they're my friends,' he repeated, and the conviction in his voice was so sure that Lily did not want to press the matter any further. It was fairly obvious that Remus had quite a bit of loyalty towards them.

'Listen here, you titchy little git,' threatened James, 'all I'd have to do is raise my wand and you'd be tasting mud.'

The child, half his size, jutted his chin and looked up at him defiantly. 'There's no mud here, you wanker.'

The ends of James' lips turned up maliciously. 'I meant outside.'

The child was affected this time, and he took a step backward with slightly wary eyes.

'Potter!'

James whirled round, his free hand jumping to his hair. Lily was marching toward him, absolutely livid.

'What in Merlin do you think you're doing?' she demanded, advancing upon him.

'Evans-'

'You were going to attack this second-year?' exclaimed Lily, gesturing between James and the second-year boy, who did not appear very scared anymore.

'I wasn't actually going to do it--' defended James.

'But you did just threaten him, then?'

'Well--' James thought about it. 'Well, yeah--but the little berk cheeked me!'

'Oh, and that makes it all right now, does it?'

James grinned, stuffing his hands into his pockets. 'I knew you'd understand, Evans.'

Lily raised an eyebrow. 'Oh, I understand, all right. Detention.'

James' grin slid off his face. 'What!' he yelped. 'You can't give me detention!'

Lily smirked, tapping the badge pinned on her front. 'I just did. I'm a Prefect, Potter.'

James looked gob smacked as Lily walked past him to the second-year child, a Slytherin. She crouched down to level herself with his height.

'Are you all right?' she asked him kindly, reaching into her robes, pulling from them a rolled sweet and handing it to him. The child looked between James and Lily.

'Yes,' he whimpered.

James' jaw dropped.

'Oi, Evans!'

Lily barely spared a glance past her shoulder as she strolled past; term had officially begun the day before. 'What Potter? I'm late for Transfiguration.'

James grinned in response and fell into step next to her. 'Great, so am I. I'll walk you.'

Lily made a disgusted face. 'No, thanks.'

James leant in and swung an arm over her shoulder. 'Come now, Evans. We do have the same class together.'

Lily gave two pointed looks; one towards the arm around her shoulder and one towards the wand held up in her left hand. James grinned cheekily as a result but withdrew his arm all the same, depositing both hands into his pockets.

'Question for you, Evans - are you doing anything this Saturday?'

'As a matter of fact, Potter, yes I am,' responded Lily, picking up speed in the hope that Potter would take the hint and walk himself to class. Instead, James only picked up his own speed, matching her stride for stride.

'Yeah? What are you doing?'

'Well, I thought I'd go and meet Amos at his common room. We're going to do a bit of studyi -'

'What!'

Lily appeared momentarily flabbergasted at the outburst. 'What? We're allowed in other Houses' common rooms so long as they let us in, you know, I checked with Professor McGonagall...'

'Hold on -! Diggory?'

'Yes, Diggory!' said Lily, using the same frantic tone as James in mockery. 'And I suppose you've got a problem with that?'

'Well, yeah!'

'Well, isn't that just a darn shame, then,' replied Lily sarcastically. As an afterthought, she shot him a glare. 'I'm warning you, Potter, you'd better leave him alone. One hex and I'll -'

'When did he ask you?' interrupted James, ignoring her warnings and threats and speaking in a half-growl.

'Yesterday. In Charms.'

'The annoying berk. I'm sure he was perfectly charming.'

'Potter!'

'What?'

'I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong with Amos! So don't you hex him like you do any other innocent bystander!'

'Since when do I hex innocent bystanders?'

'Since always! I saw you on the train, Potter, ready to hex that poor Second-year; probably because he was a Slytherin, no doubt -'

'For the last time, Evans, I wasn't going to hex him,' exclaimed James exasperatedly. 'I was only trying to scare him a bit. And it wasn't because he was in Slytherin. He was being a git -!'

'Well then, I guess you know how I feel all the time.'

James blinked, appearing confused.

'What do you mean?'

'I mean - you're always being a gi - oh, forget it.' Lily picked up her pace again. James matched it once more.

'So, what's so special about Diggory, anyway?' he prodded.

Lily raised an eyebrow at him disbelievingly. 'Would you just drop it, Potter? Why is it that you always attempt to attack the people I go out with?'

James faltered as they turned the corner of the hallway.

'Because I - oi, I only attacked Aubrey! Wait a sec - you're going out with Diggory, then? It's not just a sodding study thing? Hold on ... people you go out with? I -' James quickly changed his tone of voice to one of indifference. 'Er - who else did you go out with?'

'Wouldn't you like to know,' drawled Lily, rolling her eyes before giving him another stern look. 'Honestly, Potter, leave Amos alone.'

'You already said that.'

'Yes, well, with your brains, I figured a couple hundred times ought to do the trick.'

'Oi!'

Lily smirked smugly as she strolled into class.

James kicked the dormitory door closed behind him as he, Sirius and Peter arrived at their dormitory after breakfast.

'I brought you some food, Remus,' said James, as he strolled over to Remus' bed and dumped an armload of food onto it. Remus sat up slowly from his bed - he had overslept that day in order to catch the sleep he'd lost on the day of the full moon that had occurred just before school started.

'You're missing Charms,' he said tiredly.

Peter shrugged. 'Don't worry, Remus. McGonagall cleared us.'

'Merlin, you lot,' I don't eat that much,' said Remus, gazing bewildered at the food that had been unceremoniously piled onto the foot of his bed.

'We know,' said Sirius, grabbing an orange from the pile and proceeding to peel it. 'Some of it's for me.'

Remus grinned in response, reaching for a wrapped croissant himself.

'By the way, Remus,' said James, falling back onto his own bed and reaching into his robes to withdraw a folded parchment. 'My mum's invited you over for next summer break.'

Remus gave James a sad smile. 'Tell Mrs Potter that I'm honoured for her invitation. But you know I can't come, James. The full moon comes out during the summer too, you know.'

'We're aware of that,' said Sirius, tossing the peels of his orange onto the ground.

Peter glowered from the mess on the floor to Sirius.

'Sorry, Pete,' apologized Sirius quickly, leaning down and picking up the peels swiftly. 'You can come over for a few weeks, at least, can't you?'

Remus shrugged casually, opening his mouth to speak before James cut him off.

'Still... let me have the honour of telling you that you will no longer have to suffer the pain of werewolf transformation.'

Remus scoffed. 'Have you found a cure, then?' he joked.

Sirius made a face at him. 'Mind the attitude, Remus, ol' pal. What James is trying to say is that you'll never have to suffer the pain alone.'

Remus paused, allowing the words to sink in. 'Hold on - have you -?' He looked from one grinning mate to another, but neither James nor Sirius nor Peter said anything.

Remus jumped out of his bed promptly. 'You did it? You're all able to transform into animals!'

'Shh!' chastised Peter. 'Keep your voice down before we get caught!'

Remus' eyes shone as they darted between his friends once more. 'W--well done!'

'James and I were ready by the summer,' said Sirius. 'It took us about two months to help Wormtail over here.' He jerked his thumb in Peter's direction, where Peter was eating a jam doughnut; Peter grinned cheekily.

The corners of Remus' mouth twitched. 'Wormtail?'

'Yeah,' said Sirius, grinning and sounding animated. 'See, the first time Pete managed to transform perfectly was in James' backyard. We had a shufty trying to find him; the little rat was scurrying all over the place. Then James reached down, thinking he'd grabbed Peter's tail. Turned out he'd grabbed a flobberworm instead.'

Remus burst out into laughter while James grimaced.

'Anyway,' continued Sirius, in a serious voice, though. 'I'd reckoned we ought to come up with nicknames for our Animagi selves. That way, if we were to discuss it in public, no one would catch on.'

'Good idea,' said Remus with a nod. 'So am I to assume you two have got codenames too?'

'All in good time, my good friend,' said James, getting to his feet. 'Oi, Wormtail, you first.'

Peter put down his doughnut and wiped the dust from his hands onto his trousers before getting to his feet slowly. He glanced toward the dormitory door. 'It's locked, yeah?'

Sirius waved his wand once with a mutter under his breath. 'It is now,' he confirmed.

'First for what?' pondered Remus.

James blinked. 'I'm sure you'd like to see what it looks like, the transformations?' he clarified.

Remus grinned. 'Yeah, of course!'

Peter scrunched up his face. 'Er--James, I haven't practiced since--I'm not sure I can still--'

'Sure you can,' cut off James briskly. 'You've done it tons of times. This is no different.'

'Don't worry about it, Wormtail,' assured Sirius. 'You've even got three brilliant wizards here in case anything goes wrong.'

Peter chuckled and stepped back so that he was standing at the middle of the room, with James, Sirius and Remus all huddled round Remus' bed. He closed his eyes and screwed up his face in apparent concentration.

Remus could see it turn red underneath the head of mousy-brown hair.

Then something happened. Peter began to shrink--slowly, at first, but then his height loss picked up speed. His hair shrunk into his scalp and darkened, and his nose shot out. His fingernails became claws and a long, worm-like tail emerged from his behind. There was a slight 'pop' and then suddenly, Peter had become a rat.

'Great Agrippa!' exclaimed Remus, jumping to his feet again; his eyes trailed Peter's figure as it scurried across the floor. 'Well done, Peter! That was great!'

James grinned at him in amusement. 'You're impressed fairly easily, aren't you?' he asked. 'If you thought that was great, wait until you see the rest of ours.'

'I'm next,' said Sirius, jumping up as the small rat transformed back into the shape of Peter Pettigrew, beaming with accomplishment on the floor.

Sirius made a show of strutting toward the middle of the room. He waved at his friends with a grin and in a far quicker 'pop' than Peter's, had transformed into a large, black dog.

Remus' grin was permanent on his face. Sirius bounded over to him with his tail wagging, his tongue hanging from his mouth.

'Good technique,' praised Remus appreciatively as Peter laughed at the expressions on Sirius' new dog face. 'You've managed to increase your muscle,and decrease your mass...That's a really stable shape.'

'We call him Padfoot,' said James, scratching Sirius under the ears.

Remus laughed. 'Why's that?'

'He stepped in ink when he first transformed at my house this summer. And, well, you know what happens when you walk round with ink on your feet... We got to see what a dog's foot-print looks like.'

Remus nodded with a smile. 'Padfoot,' he told himself mentally.

Sirius transformed with another 'pop' to a beaming, crouched heap on the floor.

'Fleas, fleas,' he muttered. 'I can smell them.'

James and Peter roared with laughter. 'You should have seen Padfoot at my place,' said James, answering the confusion on Remus' face. 'The fleas followed him like Peeves does Snivellus.'

'Yeah, yeah,' muttered Sirius darkly, in response to Remus' chuckles. 'Laugh it up.'

'Right,' said James, jumping up as Sirius straightened up. 'My turn. Best for last, d'you reckon?'

Sirius snorted and Remus rolled his eyes. Peter laughed jovially, reaching for another doughnut on Remus' bed.

James surveyed the space around him slowly.

'I think it's enough,' said Sirius, watching him.

'Yeah?' inquired James, 'OK...'

James positioned himself at the middle of the room and lifted his arms in a grand manner. Seconds later, after a slight 'pop', a large stag stood in the midst of the fifth year dormitory.

Remus jumped again, evidently startled by James' size. 'Brilliant! James, that's - that's really good!'

James bowed his head, thoroughly pleased. Peter gazed at James in admiration.

Remus observed the stag. It was large and brown, with enormous antlers that emerged from its head, and thick, glossy brown fur covering its body.

'The detail... it's amazing,' said Remus, walking round James. 'It's really well practiced!'

Sirius held his arms up. 'May I present to you... Prongs!'

Remus nodded, the corners of his lips twitching. 'Let me guess... the first time he transformed, he knocked down a pile of things with his antlers?'

Sirius grinned. 'Not quite. Let's just say it involved his prongs and my behind...'

Remus laughed and stepped back as James transformed back into his human form. 'Wow, James... I've got to admit, you've pulled it off.'

James smirked. 'So do I win?'

'What do you mean?' inquired Remus.

'Don't think I've forgotten you lot poking fun of my choice of Animagus,' said James in a dignified voice.

'Oh, right,' said Remus, appearing slightly embarrassed. 'Yeah, I'd say you won.'

James pumped a fist into the air. 'Yes!'

'There's only one thing left to do,' said Sirius, ignoring James' enthusiasm, and getting to his feet. 'We need a nickname for Remus over here...'

James wiggled his eyebrows and rubbed his hands together mischievously.

Remus put his arms up. 'Oi, I don't have an Animagus, remember?'

'So what?' said Peter. 'You still transform into something. You're still one of us, Remus.'

Remus smiled in spite of himself.

'I've got it! We can call you Moony!' said Sirius with a snap of his fingers. 'I mean, if we're basing these names on the first time we transformed, Moony makes sense, doesn't it?'

'That's right,' agreed James. 'After all, it is the full moon that has you transform anyway.'

'Moony it is,' said Peter, cheerfully patting Remus on the back.

'When's the next full moon?' asked Sirius in cheerful anticipation.

'About two weeks from today,' replied Remus, and for the first time in his life, he was actually feeling a bit enthusiastic for the appearing of the full moon.

'First Quidditch practice next Saturday,' announced Kalah at breakfast as she sat down across from Lily and Alice, holding up the announcement with a wide smile plastered across her face.

Lily squinted at the poster from above the planner through which she had been flipping idly. 'Hm, so it is.'

'It's Will Johnson's last year,' said Kalah with a sigh. 'He wants to play Quidditch professionally so the Gryffindor team's going to have to play really well if he's got any chance of a scout hiring him.'

'Shall we go down to breakfast?' asked Alice, double-checking her rucksack to make sure she hadn't forgotten her Potions textbook as she usually did.

'Oh, bugger...' Lily glanced at Kalah, a look of panic painted on her face.

'What's wrong, Lily?' asked Alice as she zipped close her rucksack.

'I forgot,' hissed Lily, bringing a hand up to her mouth in shock. 'I promised Frank I'd help him study Potions tonight.'

Kalah frowned. 'But I thought McGonagall asked you to -'

'I know!' cried Lily. 'What am I going to do? Frank needs help writing the essay due Friday and -' Lily paused, her eyes fixated on Kalah's face.

Kalah leant back slightly. 'Might I remind you I barely scraped by Potions last semester with an 'A'?' she offered with a small voice.

'But you finished your essay already!' protested Lily.

Kalah sighed. 'I'd help, Lily, but I'm on older-sister-N.E.W.T.-duty. Neera's taking the NEWTS this year, and I've been conscripted as her study coach.' She made a face. 'Honestly, she's such a child. I don't understand why she can't study herself--we all manage do it, don't we? In any case, Mum and Dad said they'd get me the Lighting 500 racing broom if I help her--and hell, I really want it.' Kalah paused, her eyes bright with eagerness before she turned to jerk her thumb at Alice. 'What about Alice, though? You're good at Potions, aren't you, Alice?'

Alice blinked. 'Me?'

'You did finish with an 'E',' agreed Lily. 'I promise I'll make it up to you if you could tutor Frank today.'

'I do have a spare period,' said Alice, putting a finger to her chin delicately as she thought through her timetable. 'Well... alright. Don't worry, Lily. I can take over for you--go to your meeting with McGonagall. It's just--I've got nothing planned. I'm not a very good tutor, you see.'

'You don't have to be,' assured Lily. 'You've just got to help him with his essay. I'm sure he's got plenty of questions to ask anyway.'

'OK,' said Alice, sounding unsure.

'Thank you, Alice,' chirped Lily, swinging her rucksack over her shoulder and rushing out the Great Hall. 'I owe you one!'

'Witch Weekly is selling a new perfume!' chimed Alice to Lily's retreating figure. Kalah sniggered next to her.

'Right, Moony, here's the plan,' said James. 'You'll go with McGonagall to that room first - what is it they started calling it?'

'The Shrieking Shack,' said Sirius, grinning. 'Dumbledore's going round announcing that the place is haunted and that that's where all the scary noises are coming from. I suppose he figured it'd easier than letting everyone know, that, well, Moony's a werewolf.'

Remus smirked in response.

'Frank's getting tutored by Alice Prewett tonight, so he shouldn't be back for awhile,' continued James. 'I'll charm our curtains closed and make it so that the sound of Padfoot snoring is the first thing he hears. He'll figure we'll asleep and head off to bed.'

'We'll stick around a bit after you've got with McGonagall to tell everyone where you've gone,' said Sirius.

'Yeah, you've really got to come up with a better lie than 'my mom's sick',' agreed James. 'Did you see Claudia Crawford last month with the questions? You're worrying people.'

'Nah,' said Sirius, smirking. 'I reckon Crawford just fancies our little Moony.' Peter sniggered. 'She even stops him in the corridors to talk.'

'For the last time, Sirius,' came Remus' exasperated voice. 'Claudia and I are only friends. We're Prefects -'

Sirius imitated him, resulting in a loud laugh from Peter and a glare from Remus.

Ignoring the two of them, Remus turned to James. 'James, I know you lot are set on this... but I dunno, I've been thinking lately--don't you think being around a werewolf is... dangerous?'

'Gee, Moony,' said Sirius, sounding bored. 'We hadn't realized.'

'Sirius--'

'Remus,' said James, cutting him off. 'You've been trying to stop us from doing this since second year. How's that worked out for you so far?'

'Not very well,' chimed Peter, answering for him.

'What if something goes wrong?' asked Remus desperately.

'Trust me, Moony,' said James, sounding cocky now. 'I think we can handle a werewolf. We're even bringing our wands.'

'That's right,' added Peter. 'You're not taking this away from us--we've trained for too long.'

The door suddenly swung forward. Sirius and Peter jumped at the sound.

'Oi, Longbottom!' called Sirius with a cheerful wave.

Frank appeared preoccupied, as he rushed straight for his trunk and began to rummage through his things. He glanced up, however, and offered a wave.

'Hey, you lot. I'm late for tutoring--Lily said she'd help me write my Potions essay, but I walked all the way down to the library before I realized I'd forgotten my textbook. Thick, eh?' Frank chuckled as he continued to rummage through his trunk.

Remus' face scrunched up in thought. 'Lily's tutoring you?' he asked. 'But I thought Lily was helping Professor McGonagall tonight.'

Frank blinked, looking up from his trunk. 'Professor McGonagall needs help with Potions too?' he gasped.

Sirius gave a bark of laughter. 'No, mate, McGonagall asked Evans to help her out with something--Prefect-related, no doubt.'

Frank's expression became one of panic. 'Then how the bloody hell am I going to finish this Potions essay? If I get anything less than an 'E' on this paper, Mum'll go mad--she'll send me Howlers, she'll--'

'Oi, calm down,' laughed James. 'Don't worry, Frank--Prewett told me to tell you that she's taking Lily's place--she'll help you with the essay.'

Frank thought for a moment. 'Alice Prewett?' he asked, fishing his Potions textbook out finally.

'You know Alice,' said James. 'Gryffindor? Blond hair?'

'About yay high?' supplied Peter, holding up a hand.

'Yeah, yeah,' said Frank, waving a hand dismissively. 'I remember her. I just haven't seen much of her since second year, see. They split houses up after third year and she wasn't in any of my classes.'

'Well,' said Sirius jovially as he checked Peter's wristwatch for the time. 'There's nothing like a nice, awkward reunion of old friends, as I say. Er--shouldn't you get going, mate?'

Frank jumped up abruptly. 'Yeah, I should,' he said. 'See you later, mates!' Tucking his textbook under his arm, Frank hurried out the door. When the door slammed shut, Sirius turned to Remus.

'All set for werewolf time,' he said with a grin. 'Quit making that face, Moony, it's happening. Tell you what, though--if we get our limbs torn out tonight, I'll let you say 'I told you so'. How's that sound?'

Remus appeared as though he were going to be sick.

'She's gone,' said James, whipping the Invisibility Cloak off Sirius, Peter and himself. 'Alright Wormtail, you're up.' He stuffed his Invisibility Cloak into his robes. There was a small 'pop' and Peter had transformed.

James watched as Wormtail slipped underneath the swaying branches of the Whomping Willow and prodded the knot that froze it. He turned to Sirius and nodded for him to go ahead in front of him.

Sirius obliged, ran forward and slipped through the tunnel, with James following closely behind.

James and Sirius sprinted through the tunnel and caught sight of Peter scurrying along as well. The tunnel was very long, but short in height. James had to duck so that head did not continuously scrape against the ceiling.

James sighed.

'Quit sighing, Prongs, you've been sighing all day.'

Peter transformed into his human form to join the conversation.

'What did Evans do this time?' he asked.

James blinked. 'What makes you think it's about Evans?'

'It's always about Evans,' said Sirius. 'Even in the summer.'

'What do you mean?' said James, clearing his throat.

'Please, I saw those crumpled up Dear Lily drafts all around your room - don't look so shocked, Prongs, you knew I'd find them.'

Peter laughed as James' face heated up.

'You're way too hung up on her, mate,' continued Sirius, 'you even start acting like an idiot whenever she's around.'

'And you start grinning like one too,' piped in Peter.

'Shut up,' grumbled James, finding himself turn red.

'What'd she do?' asked Sirius.

In his embarrassment, James didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then:

'Diggory, Padfoot!' he blurted. 'She's going out with Diggory!'

'Diggory!' choked Sirius. 'Are you kidding me? The bloke in Hufflepuff with the tight pants?'

Peter sniggered and James nodded miserably.

'Don't worry, mate,' said Sirius, clapping James on the back. 'If I know Evans, she'll drop him in about two weeks.'

'But you don't know Evans,' reminded Peter gently. Sirius waved him off.

'Minor details, minor details. Trust me, Prongs... I know Diggory. Don't ask, it's a long story. But that bloke'll have Evans running in a week, two tops. And in her distress, she'll come running back to you.' He grinned at James.

James couldn't help but feel a grin crawl up his face.

'There, that's it,' said Peter, pointing at James. 'That's the face he gets whenever Evans is around.'

James shot him an annoyed look.

The passage went on and on, and it seemed to have no end. And then it began to rise. Finally, it twisted, and James could see a patch of dim light through a small opening.

James and Sirius edged forward, and saw a large room.

'That took long enough,' said Sirius, dusting off his robes and straightening up. Peter rubbed his back in pain.

The room was large and disordered. It had scratches all round and the walls and the furniture were mostly broken up--as though somebody had scratched them. The windows were boarded up with thick planks of wood and the room was lit up with glowing orbs of fire attached to the ceiling.

'Moony?' called James. 'You here?'

There was a shuffling from the ceiling.

'Damn,' cursed Sirius. 'The moon hasn't fully come out yet, has it?'

'No,' said James firmly, eyes focused on the staircase. 'I'm sure we wouldn't still be alive if it had.'

Peter whimpered. There was a moment's silence.

'Oh, you've made it!'

Peter jumped violently, his head whipping around to the source of the sound. Remus appeared at the top of the staircase with the largest grin James had ever seen on him.

'Nice place you've got here, Moony,' said Sirius cheerfully. Truly enough, other than the eerie appearance, the shack seemed as though it would have made a cozy home.

Remus played along, holding his arms out in a presenting manner. 'Home sweet home,' he said.

Peter laughed. 'How much time have we got?' he asked.

Sirius checked his watch. 'About five minutes, I reckon.'

'Great,' said James. 'How about you give us the grand tour?'

'Not much to show,' said Remus, his tone light. Then, in a more nervous voice: 'Are you lot sure about this? You know, I won't be offended if any of you change your minds--'

'Remus, did I ever tell you that you remind me of my mother sometimes?' asked Sirius, his voice bored.

Remus looked taken aback. 'I thought you hated your mother.'

'Not that part,' said Sirius, waving his hand carelessly. 'I meant that you both have this annoying habit of repeating the same things over and over again. I believe we already clarified that yes, we are sure we want to be here, sure we want to keep you company as Animagi and sure we won't get caught or die?'

Remus blinked, caught off guard by the gravity of Sirius' tone. 'Well--'

'Well nothing. We've got all this figured out, Remus. We're not stupid, you know. We know how this is going to work.'

'He's right,' put in James gently. 'We've done more than read the Animagi books, you know. We know that you won't be able to recognize as soon as you transform, not for the first bit anyway.'

Remus' face registered shock and fright.

'But you won't kill us either,' said Peter quickly. 'You'll recognize our scents.'

'We'll just have to keep you subdued for a bit until you do,' added James.

Remus sighed. 'Alright,' he breathed.

'And if the situation gets too under control,' added Sirius, his voice lightening up once more, 'we can always escape through that door. We've all got our wands, and no offence, Moony, but even a werewolf isn't a match for good ol' Sirius Black.'

Remus beamed.

Peter glanced down at the thick watch around his wrist. 'Let's transform, you lot,' he said, his voice gaining pitch.

James grinned, and separated himself from Sirius and Peter before transforming. There were three distinct 'pop's and then the shack was no longer inhabited by four boys but a rat, dog, stag and a shaky Remus instead.

'Thanks, you lot,' he said quietly. 'This really does mean a lot to me.'

And then he went rigid. His limbs began to shake. Prongs, Padfoot and Wormtail braced themselves.

Moony began to snarl loudly. His head and body began to lengthen and his shoulders hunched. His hair began to visibly sprout on his face and hands--hands that were curling into clawed paws.

The werewolf reared and snapped its long jaws. There was a moment's pause, and then a loud howl filled the air.

Moony whipped round immediately at the scent, this foreign scent in his territory--his constraining territory. Blinded by an inexplicable rage, he bounded toward the mixture of scents, his teeth bared.

But his claws never made contact with the skin he so longed to tear as two large figures collided into him, pounding him backward and crushing him against the wall in restraint.

Moony began to panic and his limbs thrashed about wildly. This was an attack--these odd scents were attacking him. His survival was in question. Moony's jaws snapped closed and open as he attempted to free himself from the massive figures' grasp.

Then there was a sharp pain on his right forearm. Moony flinched and saw a small creature on his forearm, scurrying away in fear of attack.

But suddenly the scents did not seem so foreign. And the massive figures had yet to attack him after having restrained him.

Moony took a tentative sniff of the air, allowing his nose to filter through the layers, separating it into three distinct and almost familiar scents.

Moments later, Remus slackened his muscles, and slid against the wall onto the floor. He let out low rumbling sound from the depths of his stomach. There was a quiet voice speaking in his head; it repeated the same words over and over again.

'They're my friends...'