Only Time

Chapter Fourteen

James sprawled out on the couch near the fire in the common room, his feet propped up on a footstool and his arm around Lily, who was leaning her head on his shoulder, curled up on the couch at his side, a book of his that he lent her lying upside down on her lap, though she wasn't reading at the moment. For the umpteenth time, he wondered at his good fortune to have Lily there beside him, and not hating him anymore.

"What are you thinking about?" Lily asked him, looking up at him with her smiling green eyes, and James couldn't help but smile back in response.

"I'm being sentimental," he told her, "and thinking about what a lucky bloke I am to be sitting here with a girl like you."

Lily chuckled softly. "I'd never have thought you the sentimental type," she commented. James snickered.

"What, not even with the Valentines I sent you fifth and sixth year? I'm hurt," he sniffed, and Lily smacked his arm lightly.

"James, those so-called Valentines only said that you thought I was the only girl who could even come close to your perfection. I wouldn't exactly call them sentimental," she retorted, and James grinned.

"You're right," he said, and Lily raised an eyebrow. "I don't even come close to your perfection."

Lily ducked her head, hiding a smile, and James squeezed her shoulders lightly. Just then Peter approached.

"James," he said, "would you mind coming upstairs and helping me with Transfiguration?"

James frowned. "Get Sirius to do it, he's as good with Transfiguration as I am."

Peter shook his head. "Sirius is with Remus, remember?" And, with a small groan, James did. Tonight was a full moon, and Sirius was probably already in the Shrieking Shack with Remus, though the moon wouldn't rise for another half hour yet.

James reluctantly took his arm from Lily's shoulders, and she uncurled herself, sitting up on the couch. "Where is Remus, by the way?" she asked lightly as James stood up and stretched.

"Hospital wing," Peter lied quickly and assuredly, having said the same thing countless times over the past few years. "He felt sick earlier today. Sirius walked him down there about an hour ago, and I guess is staying with him for awhile."

Lily smiled. "That's nice of him," she commented, and James nodded, then leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.

"Good night," he said, and when she returned it, he and Peter left, going upstairs to their dormitory.

"You don't really need help with Transfiguration, do you Pete?" James asked as soon as the door was closed. "Because we have to be down there in half an hour."

Peter rolled his eyes. "I'm not the one that forgot," he pointed out. "And it's nothing that can't wait until tomorrow. It was really just a convenient excuse to get you away from Lily so we can get the Cloak and meet Remus and Sirius down there."

"I would have remembered," James grumbled as he dug through his trunk for the Invisibility Cloak, still a bit miffed with Peter for taking him away from Lily. Peter just rolled his eyes again and waited for James to find the Cloak.

Once James dragged out his Cloak from the bottom of his trunk, and Peter climbed up on his shoulder as Wormtail--even if there were only two of them, it was still easier for one to wear the Cloak--he swirled the Cloak over his shoulders and left the dormitory, carefully closing the door behind him. He walked down the stairs, past Lily who was still sitting on the couch, this time reading a book, and over to the portrait hole, where he waited for it to open. Luckily he didn't have to wait long before a couple fourth-years climbed in, and James quickly climbed out before the portrait could shut itself on him.

James snuck out of the castle without much trouble and hurried down the lawn towards the Whomping Willow, glancing up at the dark sky every once in awhile, making sure the moon hadn't started to rise yet. He prodded the knot on the tree trunk and walked quickly down the passageway, then pulled himself out of the hole and into the Shrieking Shack, climbing upstairs to find Sirius pacing outside the closed bedroom door.

"What took you?" he asked as James shrugged off the Cloak, hiding it in the normal spot, a cupboard off the hall which he then locked.

"I was talking to Lily when Pete came," James explained. Sirius rolled his eyes, muttering something about Lily, which James graciously decided to excuse, as Sirius was never himself on full moon days, especially after the whole Snape thing last year. James privately thought that Sirius still feared Moony's rejection of his friendship, which had happened last year for months until Remus grudgingly forgave him. He always seemed nervous that Moony would still reject him as a packmate, so he was afraid of doing anything lately that would make Remus unhappy or angry with him.

But Sirius was always edgy before the full moon rose, and James couldn't blame him. When they first started joining him, Remus stated implacably that he did not want them watching him transform, so they always waited outside until it was over, when one of them would open the door with their wand and then quickly change shapes before Moony could get more than a sniff of their scents. But James remembered the first moon they joined him in fifth year, the three of them waiting anxiously outside, not entirely sure how they would know when Remus was done transforming. They were totally unprepared for the screaming when it came, and Peter had had to restrain James and Sirius from leaping into the room, bent on stopping whatever was causing Remus pain. It was only belatedly that they realized it was the transformation itself that caused such agony, and James knew why Remus didn't want them to see it. Sirius especially hated it, since he didn't like seeing his friends in pain--one of the few times that James could remember him being gentle and patient with Peter was when they saw the bruises on his neck one year at King's Cross. But now they knew that when the screams, which would gradually change into yelps and growls, stopped, Remus was Moony, and they could be with him.

Peter as Wormtail hopped off James's shoulder, and James quickly changed into Prongs, just in time to see the moonlight start to seep into the corridor from a window, and to hear harsh panting and whimpers from the next room as the transformation started in. Sirius gritted his teeth and his pacing quickened, though he stopped abruptly when the noises in the other room stopped. Then he took a deep breath and sent sparks at the door, his shape twisting and becoming Padfoot before the door had even swung open all the way.

Moony padded into the hall, stopping for a moment and staring at the Animagi before him before he remembered that they were his pack and bounding forward to join them. Padfoot turned away and led the way down the stairs and into the passageway, quickly followed by Moony, then Wormtail and Prongs. They squeezed out of the roots of the Whomping Willow, Prongs will some trouble as his antlers got caught in roots and branches, but with a few deft twists of his head, he was out and catching up with Padfoot, who was herding Moony away from the school and the village with little nips and other invitations to play. Then he turned a ran straight into the Forbidden Forest, Moony hesitating for a few seconds before following him.

Prongs let Wormtail climb up on his head and settle between his antlers before cantering off after the two canines. He entered the forest and walked behind Moony and Padfoot, who had their noses to the ground, sniffing as they went along. Then, all of a sudden, Moony's ears perked up, he raised his head, and before Prongs could blink, he was off and running further into the forest. Mentally cursing, Prongs galloped off after him, Padfoot at his heels.

The three Animagi raced off after their wayward werewolf friend, Prongs leaping gracefully over short ditches and racing through the underbrush as Wormtail clung tightly to his antlers and Padfoot ran ahead, nose twitching as he stayed on Moony's tail. If Prongs had been looking straight ahead rather than at his hooves, making sure he didn't trip over any roots or anything, he would have seen that he was very quickly approaching a lit-up clearing that Moony was sitting right in the middle of. But as it was, Prongs was looking at his hooves, so when Padfoot skidded to a halt right in front of him, Prongs could barely check his momentum enough to stop hitting the dog Animagus. It was only then that he looked up, and took a few steps backwards in surprise.

And he saw centaurs. Two of them, in fact, one that seemed to be roan and another black. But it wasn't the fact that there were centaurs there that surprised him. He knew very well that centaurs lived in the Forbidden Forest, because some of them were Hagrid's friends and he would talk about them every once in awhile. No, what was surprising was that the roan one was scratching Moony's head, without getting his hand bitten off, and that Moony's tongue was lolling out. Prongs knew, in the back of his mind where James was looking out of his counterpart's eyes, that Sirius, when he wasn't Padfoot, would be reminding Remus of this moment at every available opportunity, and a few that weren't.

"You are surprised," stated the roan, looking up at Prongs, though without stopping his head-scratching, which Moony obviously appreciated. Prongs blinked a few times--how could a centaur know if he was surprised or not? For that matter, how did the centaur know he wasn't an ordinary stag?--when the other centaur elaborated.

"We know that you are not-beasts," the black said, and Prongs snorted, saying without words that that wasn't helpful. He stamped a hoof impatiently, looking at the roan and communicating that he would like to know how he could still have both his hands when he was scratching a wild werewolf.

"He is a werewolf," the roan said, and Prongs was about to snort again because he knew that, when the roan continued. "As a werewolf, he is a magical creature. We centaurs are also magical creatures. Werewolves do not attack their own."

Padfoot yipped and wagged his tail, which was his way of saying, Yes, we get it, now how did you know we're Animagi? Not in those precise words, of course, but that's what Prongs took them to mean, because he was wondering the same thing. And that's what the centaurs chose to answer, so if it wasn't what Padfoot had originally meant, no one cared.

"You are not-beasts," the black repeated, and Prongs had to stop himself from snorting again. What is it with centaurs and stating the obvious...? They either state the obvious, or state the obscure. How useful that is... "True beasts, especially of three different species, do not run around with werewolves."

Prongs considered this, and reluctantly decided that centaurs were rather smart after all. Or at least that their eyes weren't glued to the stars all the time, anyway. Padfoot yipped again, which Prongs took to mean, Okay, that's all right then. Let's go now. Prongs looked to Moony, who was far more adept at understanding Padfoot's canine signals, but Moony was still drooling on the leaves below his paws as the roan continued to scratch him, so Prongs decided that either Padfoot's yip hadn't meant what he'd thought it meant, or Moony was just ignoring it.

They waited around in the clearing for another few minutes, but the roan showed no signs of stopping, and Moony showed no signs of getting tired of the scratching and wanting to leave, so Prongs stamped a hoof impatiently.

"In such a hurry, young not-stag?" the roan murmured, not looking up. "It is a good thing you are doing for your friend here. These nights, which would normally be such a torment for him, are transformed into some of the best nights he will ever have. Don't be in such a hurry to move on, not when you have something good right now."

Prongs cocked his head, considering the centaur's words, and mentally shrugged, deciding they might as well stay there for awhile. He folded his knees under him and carefully lay down. Padfoot trotted over to him and plopped down next to him, laying his head on his forepaws and giving his tail a short wag.

They stayed like that for another few minutes when the black suddenly spoke up again, causing Prongs's drooping head to fly up again in surprise.

"Things will not all be as they seem," the centaur said abruptly, and Prongs rolled his eyes, a decidedly human gesture in an animal body. Since when are things always as they seem? But the centaur just ignored it. "They will affect you especially, you four not-beasts. You must be wary in whom you place your trusts, and remember that even affable exterior can hide an unfriendly soul."

If Prongs had been James, he would have said something like, "Well, thanks for the advice. Can't say I've never heard it before, but thanks all the same." Or at least, he would have said something like that if he didn't care about possibly offending the centaurs. Therefore it was a good thing that James was Prongs, because Prongs couldn't speak and possibly get himself into trouble.

Then finally, as if the centaurs had said all they wanted to say and did all they wanted to do, at least in regards to the four Marauders before them, the roan stopped scratching Moony's head. Moony whined and thumped his tail on the ground, but didn't protest beyond that, and with one last nod of goodbye, the centaurs galloped off out of the clearing. Moony and Padfoot leapt to their feet, and waited courteously for Prongs to lever himself up.

For the next several hours, they just explored the forest some more. Several times, Moony would stop and his ears would prick up, and the other three would tense up in case he bolted again, but then the ears would come down and they would continue on their merry way. At one time, Prongs saw a patch of mushrooms that were a violent purple, and as he stepped over them a sickly sweet smelled drifted around him and wrapping his brain in fog, but he shook his head quickly and the foggy feeling in his head dispersed. He reminded himself to avoid all violently purple mushrooms in the future, and moved on.

The sky was beginning to lighten, and Prongs looked up through a gap in the trees, seeing the moon start to set. He shared a significant glance with Padfoot, who leapt in front of the exploring Moony, and with a few gentle nips, herded him back the direction they knew Hogwarts was in. Moony allowed himself to be herded, though after they'd gotten to the edge of the forest and he saw the Whomping Willow, he made as if to turn around and run deep into the forest again. But both Prongs and Padfoot moved around to block his path, and, snarling, Moony reluctantly slunk out of the forest and towards the Willow. Padfoot nipped his sides a bit to get him to hurry, and Moony picked up his pace, dashing into the Willow, the other three following him.

Now Moony appeared to know what he was supposed to be doing, because he went straight to the bedroom, and not a moment too soon, because just as he crossed the threshold, the moon set, and after another agonizing few minutes, Moony was Remus again, collapsed on the floor. The other three resumed their normal forms, Sirius and James picking Remus up and setting him in the bed. Once Remus was settled under the covers, yawning, James looked up at the other two.

"You don't mind if I go now, do you?" he asked hesitantly. "There's a prefect meeting later on today that I have to be at, and as Remus is getting his own sleep right now, I need to get some too."

Sirius just waved his explanation off. "It's okay, Prongs. You go get some sleep so your Lily-flower doesn't have an excuse to rag at you during the meeting. Pete and I will catch up to you later."

James nodded. "I'll leave you two the Cloak and the Map for when Pomfrey comes."

The others nodded, except for Remus, who was already asleep, and James left the Shack, hoisted himself out of the hole between the roots of the Willow, and set off for Gryffindor Tower, mentally readying a few excuses for any teachers or Slytherins he might happen to meet on the way. But one person he did not have an excuse ready for was Lily, who was waiting for him in the common room, despite the early hour.

"Good morning, James," Lily said neutrally, and James stopped as soon as he saw her, mentally groaning. "Mind telling me where you were last night?"

"I...er..." James said, unwilling to lie to Lily, but also unwilling to tell her what he was doing. Lily nodded and sighed.

"That's what I thought. Playing pranks on the Slytherins?"

James shook his head, relieved that it was the truth, and Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? Then where exactly were you all night? And don't tell me you just got up early; I looked in your dorm room to return that book of yours I borrowed, and none of the four of you were there," Lily said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I...can't tell you, Lily," James replied, and cringed as Lily just looked at him, a slightly disappointed and hurt look in her eyes. James bit his lip; he hated to hurt her, but he promised he wouldn't tell anyone, not without Remus's permission, and he wouldn't.

"Oh. All right then, James," she said coolly, the tone of voice she'd used whenever she turned him down, and James cringed again. But she stepped aside and James started up the stairs to his dormitory, fervently hoping that she wouldn't break up with him over this. He'd tell her later, if Remus said it was okay. Yes, later...he closed the door behind him, and was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.