Inevitable

Chapter Eleven

Remus

To become animal, without ceasing to be a person - Miguel Angel Asturias (Men of Maize)

Okay... okay... You want to be a Healer. So you should be fine. This is no big deal for you. Merlin... I'm gonna be sick. I really am. Screw being a Healer, I'm gonna be sick.

Lily looked on as Madam Pomfrey attempted to take an enormous sting out of Pat's arm. Enormous and bloody, six inches long, pointy, black and covered in blood. Pat was close to passing out.

Lily had been leaving Study of Ancient Runes when James and Sirius ran up to her. Both had been rather out of breath, panting as they explained to her how Pat had been stung by some creature Lily had never heard of and couldn't pronounce. As soon as Lily had heard that Pat was in the Hospital Wing, she had sprinted off, leaving the two boys jogging in her wake, to be with her friend.

Now that she was there, watching the extraction, she felt that she would rather be back in class, deciphering markings from Greece and laughing with Garret over mistranslations.

Blood, Lily discovered, was not her forte. Neither was the pained look on her friend's face. She was going to have to avoid the Bloody Injuries Wing at St Mungo's, if there was such a wing.

Marlene rushed in just as Lily was forced to avert her eyes, while Pat whimpered in pain.

"Is she okay? I tried to find you, but Sirius got there first and I -"

Lily nodded, interrupting Lene's apologies. "She's going to be fine, Madam Pomfrey says she just needs to stay here for the night or two. Whatever stung her was poisonous."

The two girls stood on either side of Pat's bed, offering moral support. The area of her arm around where she had been stung was turning a nasty green colour; the poison was already doing its damage. Pat herself was only vaguely aware of what was going on. She had smiled weakly at Lily and wished her a happy birthday when she first arrived, completely overlooking the fact that Lily's birthday was in May.

Once the sting was out, Madam Pomfrey finally acknowledged the two girls. "Go on now, you can't do anything for her." She watched them impatiently, as though she expected them to leave. "I said go on now! Miss Moon needs her sleep!"

Startled, Marlene grabbed Lily's wrist and they left the Hospital Wing.

"That," Lily said, as they climbed a set of stairs, "was horrible."

Lene nodded in agreement.

They continued back up to the Gryffindor common room, both lost in thought.

I hope Pat's going to be all right. I wonder what it was that stung her...

*

Lily and Marlene were bored. Extremely, unnaturally bored. The kind of bored that makes drying paint more interesting than going over the latest Quidditch match one more time. The kind of bored that is only reached when every conversation topic had been exhausted and two people have absolutely nothing to say, even though there really is quite a lot to say. The kind of bored where one would look over at the other, open her mouth to say something, then change her mind and go back to staring blindly at her book. They were so bored, in fact, that they were in their dormitory, researching extra potions for their next class. Several books were scattered on the beds and vanity, and two rolls of parchment held bullet-point notes on what they had read.

"This," Lily stated finally, slamming her book down, "is ridiculous. We're two teenage girls, and we spend our Friday night researching potions."

"Well then," Marlene said, "why don't we make a potion?"

Lily had to admit that it sounded like more fun than sitting around doing nothing.

"What type of potion?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Here," Lene said, shoving a book toward Lily and pointing to the bottom of a page. "A temporary Love Potion. Perfect for a weekend then you're back to normal."

"Looks simple enough," Lily said, scanning the instructions. "Who do we use it on? I've already got a permanent date, so I have no use for it."

"Valentine's Day is coming up," Lene said matter-of-factly. "I want a date."

"And what might this date's name be?" Lily pried.

"If you must know," Lene said dramatically, "Sirius Black."

"Oh no," Lily said. "You can't do that to Pat!"

"Sure I can! Listen, Valentine's Day is on a Monday, so we have classes that'll waste most of the day. All we have to do is get Pat really mad at Sirius in the next week and a half, and voila! Instant date for Lene, and she doesn't care."

"You're horrible. You don't want to get him that way, messing with what he feels like that."

"Yes I do. Lily pleeeaaase..."

"No!"

"Come on Lil...."

"Since when do you call me Lil?"

"Since I decided that you need a nickname.'

"So...?"

"As of twenty seconds ago. Now will you please help me?"

"Fine, I'll help you make the potion. But if Pat's still going out with him, we won't give it to him. Why don't you just ask him out? It would save a lot of time, and it's not like he'd have a problem dumping Pat for you - even if that's mean and cruel and she'd never speak to you again and are you picking up the hidden message in this?"

Lene gave Lily an exasperated look. "If I ask him out and he says no I'll just be another member of the fan club. If he asks me out... that's different."

Lily scanned the list of ingredients. "Most of these we can get from the students stores, but this one we need from the greenhouse... and this one from Professor Hubert's private stores."

Marlene took the book back from Lily. "Alright then," she said brightly. "You go get the greenhouse stuff, and I'll get everything else."

Lily raised her eyebrow questioningly.

"You're Head Girl," Marlene explained quickly. "If you get caught outside they can't do anything, you can just say you were looking for students out of bed. If I get caught, well, you get in way less trouble being inside."

"I guess that makes sense," Lily agreed.

They agreed to go at once to retrieve the ingredients needed, and meet back in their dormitory in two hours. Lily was to retrieve a few seeds and petals from the greenhouse, while Marlene would get the rest from the student's cupboard, and break into their professor's.

Lily crept across the Entrance Hall, silently wishing that she had thought to ask to borrow James' cloak. As she stepped out onto the grounds however, that thought was forgotten. A huge, bright full moon shone over the grounds, illuminating everything in a silver light.

She went around to the greenhouses staying as close to the walls of the castle as possible - she didn't want to risk being seen out of one of the windows. As she looked out, she could see almost as clearly as during the day, Hagrid's cabin with a whiff of smoke coming out of the chimney, the greenhouses before her, the trees lining the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Getting the ingredients for the Love Potion proved to be much simpler than Lily had anticipated. The greenhouses were unlocked, and it didn't take long before she had found everything she was looking for. It had hardly taken her fifteen minutes, and she didn't have to be back for another hour and forty-five minutes. She had expected it to be slightly more difficult.

Caught up in the beauty of the night, the full moon and bright stars, Lily decided to take herself for a walk along the edge of the forest before heading back to wait for Marlene. She skirted along the edge, occasionally ducking behind a tree, occasionally spinning in circles in her sheer joy of being alive and in such a place.

As she moved closer to the lake, Lily could see something up ahead of her. It looked like three separate shapes, like two dogs and a horse. No, she reconsidered, it's too big for a horse, but those are two dogs. Why on earth would three animals be here, together like that? She moved into the trees, creeping closer to the assorted group of creatures.

Stopping, Lily crouched down and peered through a bush. The animals approached her, unaware of her presence, until one of the dogs stopped. Raising its nose into the air, it sniffed. Suddenly Lily felt afraid. They didn't look like dogs anymore, they looked like two wolves. As the sniffing wolf lowered its head again, it growled and lunged at the bushes where Lily was hiding.

She sprang up in surprise, pulling out her wand and rapidly thinking of a curse, any curse, that she could use. But then, miraculously, the horse was in front of her, blocking the wolf's path. The other dog-like creature grabbed the wolf with its teeth, wrestling it down, while the horse - no, it's not a horse, what is it? - circled them, but staying between the wolves and Lily.

Lily felt something scratching her ankle. Looking down, she saw a rat. She screamed. Running back towards the castle, Lily looked back to see that the dog had the wolf pinned down, and the other animal - it looks like a deer from here, yes, it has antlers - was still blocking the path, as though challenging the wolf to attack her again.

She leaned up against the front doors, breathing hard. She wanted to catch her breath and regain her composure before re-entering the school and getting a professor. Just as she turned to go in, she spotted something move out of the corner of her eye.

Peter Pettigrew came bumbling out of the bushes, wringing his hands and staring at her nervously.

"What," Lily said authoritatively, "are you doing out here?"

"I'm jus - that is, they thought I should make sure - you aren't hurt, are you?" Peter looked very nervous, more so than usual.

Lily was very confused. "What's going on?" she asked. "Who's they? I was just attacked by a wolf Peter!"

"A werewolf, actually," he said quietly.

Lily could have slapped him. "A werewolf! Here! At Hogwarts! This is absurd! And you know what's going on. Explain Pettigrew. Explain right now, or I'll give you a month of detentions for being out here!"

Peter glanced around, as if looking for someone. "Wait up in the common room," he said finally. 'We'll come explain soon. I think."

"You will explain," Lily said. She then turned away from him and slipped back into the Entrance Hall, confused and scared.

What's going on? Peter knows... If Peter knows then James knows. What the hell is going on! I get almost attacked by a wolf, then by a rat. Then when I get back Peter shows up, making sure that I'm okay. Then he says it was actually a werewolf I got attacked by. A werewolf! Someone has to explain all this to me!

She was still pondering when she arrived at the portrait hole. Giving the password to the Fat Lady tonelessly, Lily made her way to one of the couches by the fireplace, where she sat and waited.

Some time later she realised that she was alone in the common room. Marlene hadn't yet returned, nor had Peter appeared to explain.

Finally, the portrait hole opened, and Peter appeared, followed by James and Sirius. They sat around her silently, as though they had just had an argument. James put his arm around her as he sat, hugging her protectively. He kissed her forehead, not loosening his grip on her waist. Lily waited for them to begin, trying not to shudder. The fact that she could now be dead was settling in, and she was terrified.

Sirius gave Peter a very pointed look as he cleared his throat. Lily remained silent; she knew that they would explain if she let them.

"Right," Sirius began. "Right..."

"We've decided to tell you everything," James said. "But come with us first, we can be overheard here."

Lily stood, and they led her up the boys' stairs to their dormitory.

Lily remained standing while they each went to sit on a separate bed. Sirius waved his wand and muttered a silencing charm as James invited her to sit on the remaining bed. Feeling that she might be listening for some time, Lily sat.

"Lily," Peter said quickly, "you have to promise that you won't repeat this to anyone, ever."

"I promise," Lily said quickly.

"We're Animagi'," blurted James.

Lily's eyes widened in shock. "No you're not," she said in disbelief.

"Peter," Sirius said in an offhand voice, waving.

Lily's attention was directed to Peter, and he promptly changed into a rat, and then back into a human. He was pouting slightly, he obviously didn't like being the demonstration.

"You're an Animagus," she gasped.

"We just told you that," James said calmly. "Peter's a rat, Sirius is a dog, and I'm a stag."

"So that means the wolf was..."

"The werewolf was Remus," explained Sirius. "He's fine when he's around animals, so we learned how to keep him company."

"Hence the names," Peter continued. "Remus is Moony, James is Prongs, Sirius is Padfoot, and I'm Wormtail."

"That explains a lot," she said quietly, blinking slowly and trying to remember to breathe. My boyfriend is an Animagus. James can transform into a stag. Does he have any idea how advanced that is! Does he have any idea how much trouble he could get into!

Remus attacked me. Remus Lupin, my friend, the prefect, he attacked me. I don't care about your goddamn nicknames Peter - Remus tried to attack me!

"We're the best pranksters in the history of the school, we know the castle and grounds better than anyone," Sirius said proudly.

"Probably even Dumbledore," Peter added.

Lily remained dumbfounded, trying not to burst.

"When?" she managed to ask quietly.

"Fifth year," James replied, obviously torn between pride and concern.

"And that's all you really need to know," Peter said loudly, but he was soon silenced by glares from both James and Sirius.

"We feel really bad," James muttered.

"And so does Remus," Sirius said quickly. "He just couldn't help it, he can't help attacking humans."

How am I going to face him again?

"Anyway," James continued, "we made a map."

"A map," Lily repeated. "A map of what?"

Yes, show me the map. Distract me from what just happened.

"The school," Sirius said in a casual way. "Where is it?"

"My trunk," James answered. He hopped off his bed and went around to his trunk, rummaging through its contents until he pulled out a square piece of parchment.

Where have I seen that before?

"This," Sirius said, "is the Marauder's Map."

"It's blank," Lily said.

Sirius grabbed the parchment from James and gave him a look. He raised his wand and tapped it saying, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Lily couldn't see what happened, but when he passed her the parchment there was most definitely a map there. A map of all of Hogwarts, complete with secret passages, and a rather large title, so that no one could miss the tribute to the four.

Messrs. Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers

are proud to present

THE MARAUDER'S MAP

"Very modest," she said, rather unsure of what she had just found out.

"We thought so," James said, sitting down beside her. "Look," he said, pointing, "here we are."

At the spot where James was pointing were several dots, each labeled. As Lily looked over the map, she saw that there were hundreds of such dots, each labeled with a name.

"Peeves is in the Astronomy Tower,' she said randomly, trying not to appear as impressed as she felt.

"It is pretty amazing, isn't it," James said, reading her thoughts. "Took over a year of work, but we finished it last May."

Lily nodded, trying to forget about the fear she had felt. It wasn't working. She shuddered involuntarily. The idea that Remus had attacked her - that Remus was a werewolf - was horrifying.

Sirius and James exchanged a significant look. Sirius sat on Lily's other side, and took her hand as James put his arm over her shoulder.

"We should have told you," James said, "at least about Remus."

"We're sorry," Sirius muttered.

Lily nodded. She tore her eyes away from the map and looked from one boy to the next. James looked ashamed of himself; once again she could tell what he was thinking from his eyes. Sirius looked worried, although whether it was for her or for Remus, or both, was unclear. Peter just looked annoyed, as though something had been spoiled.

"I have to go," Lily said quietly, standing up. "Lene's expecting me back."

She was walked down the stairs by all three of them. As they reached the bottom, James stayed with her while the others headed back up.

"Are you okay?" he whispered, stroking her hair gently.

She nodded, but didn't say anything. Now that her shock was wearing off she had never been so scared, so angry. Then, when they were supposed to explain and comfort her, they showed her a map. A stupid map!

Okay, she admitted to herself, an amazing map, but still...

James hugged her. "He's really sorry," he murmured. "He didn't want to hurt you." He paused, stroking her hair again as her eyes filled with tears. "He's so sorry." He paused again. "I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," Lily said in a strangled voice. "You and Sirius saved me."

"We shouldn't have had to." James muttered.

"I'm okay," she lied. "I should go up to my dormitory, Lene'll be back by now."

James studied her face carefully before resting his forehead on hers. "I was scared," he whispered, so that she could barely hear him. "I love you."

Lily felt herself smiling. "I love you too," she whispered. She kissed him lightly before turning and making her way up to her dormitory.

When she crept back through the door, after wiping her cheeks, Marlene was waiting for her.

"What took so long?" she asked through a yawn.

"Sorry," Lily said, depositing her plants in an empty cauldron. "The greenhouses were locked, and I didn't know which one would have the plants we need."

Lene looked satisfied with her lie. "It's too late to get started now, why don't we do it tomorrow? I almost got caught by that stupid Hufflepuff fifth-year. What's his name?"

"Kyle," Lily said, trying to hide the relief in her voice. She changed into her pyjamas and flopped into bed, trying to forget the image of Remus jumping at her.