Deer to Me

Chapter Eight

If James thought that Remus's talk with Lily smoothed things over, he was wrong. In fact, Lily seemed more anxious about something. She spilled her newts toes all over the floor in potions and in her haste to clean them up knocked over her caldron as well. She burned a hole through her charms book when they were trying to undo the effects of oxidation and burns. Finally, in transfiguration, she successfully transformed herself into a fish, when they were supposed to be transforming into peacocks.

"Miss Evans, can I see you after class?" Professor McGonagall asked her. Lily nodded and continued to catch her breath from flapping about on the floor without any kind of air. McGonagall dismissed the rest of the class and they filed out, talking about the holidays and their parent's Christmas parties and such. Lily lagged up to McGonagall's desk and waited for her to arrive there as well.

"Yes, you too, Mr. Potter." McGonagall nodded at James, who was waiting in the doorway for what seemed no apparent reason. He mumbled something and left the room. McGonagall returned to her desk and sat down, taking off her glasses.

"Miss Evans, is there something the matter?"

"Excuse me, Professor?" Lily asked.

"You have not been up to par in any of your classes as of late." McGonagall gave her a probing glance. "Something the matter?"

"Well, it's my sister. She's getting married next summer." Lily explained. McGonagall gave a half-smile.

"I hardly think that's any excuse to be as absent-minded as you are now?"

"It's not just that." Lily slid into the first desk. "My sister, she...well she hates me. And I don't mean just a little sibling rivalry. She truly loathes me. And she's bringing her new fiancé home with her, and I'm sure he's just as horrible as she is."

"Miss Evans, I am sure this is less of a crisis than you are making it out to be. I suggest trying to mend things with your sister on the break and get some rest."

"Yes Professor." Lily knew it was hopeless to argue. She stood up and walked out of the room, her shoulders sagging visibly. She loathed being around her sister, who made Lily's coming home a completely terrible and horrible experience. The only thing that made her come home was the rest of her family, who were the complete opposite.

She decided to take some reading time in the library; it had been a rather warm winter as of late, but it had suddenly been chilly today. And if there was one thing Lily hated, it was the cold.

James wasn't too worried about not hearing Lily's conversation with McGonagall. He was sure after such a trying few days that she would be going to the Forbidden Forest and he would be there to lend a fuzzy ear. He decided to go right out there after he checked the common room and she was not there.

So here he was, waiting. It was colder than it had been this season, and he wondered if it was going to snow tonight. There hadn't been any at all.

Pawing the ground, James kept moving to keep warm. His fur coat was good, but it still didn't keep out all of the cold.

At dinner, Lily noticed that the Marauder end was uncharacteristically short one. And it wasn't Remus Lupin, either. She didn't ask any for the risk of seeming as if she was interested, but she hadn't seen him all afternoon.

And the food was excellent tonight. Roast beef with a thick gravy and mashed potatoes with a hint of garlic. Also there was a lush green salad with ruby red tomatoes and bright orange carrots along with dewy cucumbers and ripe onions. The Hogwarts rolls were always the best she'd ever had, and tonight was no exception. Even after all that, she still had room for a big piece of treacle tart (her favorite) and a steaming cup of bone-warming hot chocolate that topped off her extremely pleasing meal.

With a sigh of contentment, she ascended the stairs, past the roaring fires that were burning in the Common Room and into her warm, soft, always inviting bed with the heavy comforter.

Lily drifted off into a completely relaxed state of sleep.

GRRRRRRRRROOOWWWLLLLL

James stomach wouldn't stop making noises. He was transformed back into human form and sitting on a log. He was listening intently for any sound of footsteps approaching, but there was no sound.

Nothing.

Except the loud growling of James's stomach.

He transformed back from human form because the smells of the Great Hall were making the aching emptiness in his stomach even greater. He was half-inclined to give up, but the thought of Lily coming out here and he missing his chance to figure out what was wrong negated that.

Besides, he could always tickle the pear.

So here he sat, very cold and very hungry, staring up at the starlight and half-moonlight. He wondered if dinner was over, or even what time it was. Most of all, he wondered if Lily was coming tonight.

Getting up, he peeked out of the trees onto the castle. The lights in the Great Hall were out and so were most of the lights around the school. Frowning, James looked from side to side to see if there were any waltzing gamekeepers around.

There weren't any. So he dashed across the school grounds to the front door, careful to keep out of sight. It wasn't as if he had never gotten detention for being in the Forbidden Forest, but he didn't want one right before the Christmas holidays. It just wasn't something that would put him in the mood.

So he crept up to the door and put his hand on the handle and pulled.

Nothing happened.

A cold wave of fear passed over James, or maybe it was the wind that had just chilled his bones. He tugged harder on the door, but nothing happened again. Putting his foot on one of the doors, he pulled as hard as he could, but ended up falling backwards and tumbling down the stairs to land face-down in the dirt. He pulled himself up and chewed on his lip (spitting out the mud he got in his mouth).

This is not a big deal, he thought to himself. I can just magic the door open and sneak in.

However, when he went to retrieve his wand, he found himself grasping at only his skin. He cringed when he remembered that he had left his wand upstairs on his bed because he didn't need it to become an Animagus and if he had it lying around, Lily might find it by accident.

James looked towards the Quidditch pitch and had a moment of dumbness. He could just get his broom from the lockers, fly up to his window, and bang on it until Sirius or Remus or Peter let him in. He was so embarrassed that he hadn't thought of it before; he was the Quidditch captain.

He jogged towards the pitch because there was no need to run, everything was solved. However, he found the door locked to the Gryffindor locker rooms, and without a wand, it was going to stay locked. Trying every other locker room, hoping for an irresponsible captain, James realized that Madame Hooch had, indeed, picked responsible captains for her teams.

Except ones who were stuck outside after hours with no wand and no way inside.

James walked out of the pitch with a determined face on, and saw Hagrid's cabin. He, who was so anxious to miss the gameskeeper before, raced towards the cabin with no lights on, hoping that Hagrid was asleep or with a big-boned lady friend, anything except that he wasn't there.

But, James was not in luck.

Walking back to the stairs, James gave the doors one more tug and turned to the Gryffindor tower. Well, if he couldn't fly up, he might try climbing up. He examined the stones and could see that they might make pretty good hand holders.

So he began to shimmy his way up the tower. Problem was that every time he'd get three feet away from the tower, all of the rocks suddenly became slick and he fell back down to the earth with a big pain. After the sixth try, he was completely sure that he had not only bruised or broken his tailbone, but was stuck outside for the night.

"Well, Prongs old buddy," James spoke aloud, "at least it's a fairly warm night."

Then something fell out of the sky and landed on James's nose. He would have thought he was dreaming, but more and more little white dots began to fall. Add to that the thick clouds he could barely make out rolling in and the biting wind that was picking up and bringing even more white dots to the ground, James kicked the wall in frustration.

And now, to add to his difficulties, had a broken toe.

Lily was less than thrilled the next morning to see a very thick blanket of snow covering the landscape. She liked to look at it sure, but hated to be out in it.

She came down to the common room to see Sirius, Remus, and Peter playing Exploding Snap by the fireplace. They were the only ones in there, as the rest of the room was outside playing in the snow. James was still no where to be found. Lily swallowed her pride and asked them about it.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Sirius said, completely immersed in the game. "He's been missing since yesterday afternoon."

Lily tried to keep her feelings of worry to a minimum. "I'm sure he just spent the night in some girl's room."

Sirius laughed, "Unless it was with you, I doubt it." Lily was halfway into his next move when the portrait door swung open with a bang. All three's jaws dropped.

James, completely covered in snow, staggered into the room with blue lips and chattering teeth. He ignored all of them and rushed in front of the fireplace.

"Where the blazes have you been?" Sirius asked, though his laughter.

"O-O-O-Out-t-t-t-s-s-s-id-d-d-de." He was about to jump into the fire.

"All night?!" Remus was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Y-Y-ACHOO!" James sneezed into the fire and it hissed and crackled.

"Why on earth were you outside?" Lily asked. James couldn't think through his frozen haze. He opened his mouth and no sound came out. Instead, his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell into a dead faint.

"James, that ploy is not going to work," Lily said, through pursed lips, even though she was a bit worried about him. "What do you take me-"

"Lily, I think he really is sick." Sirius reached over and put his hand to James's forehead. "He's burning up. Come on, Moony, let's get him upstairs."

"Don't you think you'd better take him to Madame Pomfrey?" Lily asked. Sirius picked up James's arms and Remus grabbed his legs.

"Nah, James is terrified that she'd molest him in his sleep and I'm half-inclined to believe it myself."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Not everyone is enamored with him."

"Yeah," Remus said, "But you don't see the way her eyes light up every time Gryffindor has a Quidditch match."