Deer to Me

Chapter Twenty-One

Lily was busy putting the finishing touches on her parchment about the Unforgivable Curses when a shadow passed over her. She was about to tell off James Potter when she found herself face-to-face with his best friend.

"Oh, hello," Lily said. Sirius actually was her least favorite Gryffindor, as she'd like to believe that he was the one who ruined the rest of them, because some part of her wanted to think that James was good at one point. And after all, Sirius was a Black...

"Mind if I join you tonight?" Sirius asked, looking at the chair.

Lily stared at him dryly. "I'm not going to accompany you to your room tonight, Black-"

"No," Sirius laughed. "I just...I wanted some intelligent conversation tonight, and as my mates and I aren't speaking to each other..."

"Oh," Lily said. "Well, some of them aren't that smart-"

"Tell me about it," Sirius snorted. "I tell you, I don't think Pete would have passed fifth year if it wasn't for us-"

"I meant Potter."

"Oh," Sirius blinked. "What's he done?"

She glared at him. "As if you don't know."

"I probably do, but enlighten me anyways."

"I found out," she sniffed. "That he has been spying on me for the past year."

"Ah," Sirius nodded. "That would do it."

"I mean, and then the blighter starts talking about how he ‘saved my life, so I shouldn't be mad at him-'"

"How so?" Sirius asked.

"I'm..." she looked down and seemed a bit uncomfortable. "I'm not supposed to be talking about it to anyone. Potter hasn't told you?"

"About?"

"Someone used the Trifalsus potion on me," Lily said, quietly. She tried not to think about the incident itself, and was more focused on the discovery of James' spying on her, so when she was forced to think about it, it always sent chills up her spine.

"Someone what?" Sirius yelled.

"SHH!" Lily said, putting her hand on his arm. "In any case, Potter was spying on me when it took effect, so he...saved my life."

"You don't look to happy about this," Sirius said.

"He spied on me, Sirius!" Lily said, shaking her head. "I cannot forgive that."

"Seems a bit silly to me," Sirius said. "To not be speaking to him after he saved your life, simply because he spied on you..."

"Well, that sounds like something his friend would say," Lily sniffed.

"Too bad I'm not his friend at the present time," Sirius sniffed.

"Why?" Lily asked.

"What happened is a sensitive subject between Remus, James, and I," Sirius stated. "But all you need to know is that Sirius screwed up...royally."

"I see," Lily nodded. "And have you even tried to apologize?"

Sirius sighed. "Lily, this screw-up won't even partially be forgiven with a simple apology."

"Yes, but it's a first step," Lily said.

"Maybe you should take your own advice," Sirius said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you should maybe start to forgive James if he apologizes-"

"I'm not going to forgive what he did-"

"Oh bloody hell, Lily," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "The man just wanted to figure out how you'd like him back, can you give him a break?"

Lily stared at him as he stood up, annoyed and walked to the portrait hole, just as James walked through it. The two of them stared at each other for a minute, and then glared at each other.

"Lily?" James continued walking and came up to Lily. "The headmaster wants to see us."

"For what?"

"I can't discuss it here," James threw a nasty glance to Sirius, who rolled his eyes.

"Who said I wanted to listen?" he called from the portrait hole.

"Who said I wanted to tell you?"

"Please!" Lily interrupted. "Let's go, James."

James gave Sirius a triumphant glance and walked out of the Common Room with Lily.

"So what's this all about?" Lily asked.

"Revenge," James said, simply. That was all that was spoken until they reached the stone gargoyle and walked up the stairs. Lily was shocked to find Bellatrix sitting there, complacently, with Professor Dumbledore and a man she didn't know, but he looked nothing like a wizard she'd ever seen. He had the straightest part of hair and the most impeccable mustache that she was sure she'd nick her finger on it if she touched it-

"Miss Evans," Dumbledore interrupted her thoughts. His eyes weren't twinkling, but he was looking quite grave. "This is Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"Er...hello." Lily nodded. Crouch gave Lily a once over and then looked back to Dumbledore.

"Albus, I'd much rather get this over and done with as soon as possible."

"Yes, yes, of course," Professor Dumbledore said. He turned to Lily and James. "Miss Evans, you were poisoned on the sixth of April, were you not?"

"Yes, sir," Lily nodded.

"And Mr. Potter, did you save her using an Engorgement Charm?" Dumbledore nodded to James.

"Yes sir," James nodded as well.

"And I attest to the fact that Miss Evans was suffering from the after-effects of the Trifalsus potion," Dumbledore said, quietly.

"Taken, Lily Evans was poisoned by the Trifalsus Potion," Bartemious Crouch said, hurried.

"Now, as for the culprit," Dumbledore turned to Lily. "Miss Evans, what contact have you had with Miss Black before the incident?"

"Not much..she's in my year but..." She looked at Bellatrix who was smiling smugly. "But the day of the incident, she...put something on my neck," Lily reached back and rubbed the back of her neck.

"And the day before," James said, speaking up. "She was wearing a foul smelling perfume, because I couldn't get it out of my nose for two hours afterwards."

"You can't prove any-" Bellatrix stopped short when Dumbledore procured two items; a perfume sprayer and a small vile.

"Traces of both a diluted Swelling Solution and the Drought of the Living Dead," Dumbledore explained. "These were found by an anonymous source in an anonymous place. Inside are traces of both the Swelling Solution in this perfume bottle and the Drought of the Living Dead in this vial, which are used in the Trifalsus potion."

"And why do you say those are mine?" Bellatrix sneered. Dumbledore waved his hand over the vials and two white figures (both which were identical to Bellatrix), picked up the bottles and used them; the perfume bottle on herself and the vial on a ghost of Lily.

After this display, Bellatrix's upper lip stiffened visibly.

"We also have five House Elves who are ready to testify that they saw you in the kitchens the day of April fifth."

"What importance was that day?" Bellatrix asked.

"That was the day you poisoned her, idiot," James muttered.

"With all of this evidence, do you wish to change your plea?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes hard. "If you plead guilty, you might receive a lesser sentence. And if you wish to divulge the whereabouts of Voldemort's next meeting spot, you might even be let free. Perhaps, you'd like to name a few Death Eaters?"

Bellatrix let out a loud, shrill laugh. "Me? Sell out my master? I would rather go to Azkaban."

Dumbledore sighed, gravely. "As I hate to see such youth wasted, but Mr. Crouch..."

"Gladly," Crouch said, shooting manacles out of his wand and chaining Bellatrix's hands together. Dumbledore handed him her wand and the three of them marched out of the office.

Lily and James, completely stunned, followed them out of the office but stood there and watched as Bellatrix was lead out of Hogwarts, chained and head held high.

"Oh my God....he was trying to murder me?" Lily let out.

"Yes, it's cause you're in the Auror Program," James agreed conversationally. Lily turned at threw daggers at him.

"And I suppose that you found this out listening to Dumbledore as your illegal Animagus form, huh?"

"Lily..." James was tired of everyone being so mad at him. He turned to her and put his hand on her arm. "Look, I'm sorry. I know what I did was wrong, and I'm-"

"Potter, save it." Lily growled. "I don't want your apologies."

"What do you want?" James asked.

"I want you to leave me alone!" Lily cried, turning and running down the hall.

After the talk of Bellatrix Black's grand arrest, and the pointing of the papers at how she was a supposed Death Eater died down, the school returned to boring, even more so since the Marauders were still not on friendly terms. The days sped by way too fast (as dates which are undesirable tend to do), and before any of the four knew it, it was the full moon.

Unlike past full moons, neither James nor Remus nor Sirius nor Peter had even spoken to each other. The only signs that any of them had remembered was the gradual peakiness of Remus' face with each closing day. Though neither of the other three spoke to each other, they all felt completely terrible at the prospect of Remus spending the night by himself and hurting himself, as he had used to do.

A dark shadow scuttled across the darkening grounds of Hogwarts, trying not to be seen by anyone. He wanted to get down to the Whomping Willow before Remus completely lost his mind. Even if Remus would never speak to him again, he didn't want to leave him to hurt himself.

He tapped the Whomping Willow's root and then slid through the doorway into the dark tunnel. He felt his way along the wall, breaking off bits of dirt that were packed into the wall. He felt as if he stepped on something and then tripped.

"Ow! Who's there?!"

"Prongs?"

"Padfoot?"

"Lumos," James whispered, and the light came on the two of them. Or, more accurately, just Sirius. James was still under the invisibility cloak. He shrugged it off of his head and stared at his former-friend.

"What're you doing here?" James asked.

"I'm gonna go see Moony," Sirius mumbled. "You, too?"

"Is it a good idea for you to be here?" James glared at him. "You may tell someone else how to get past it. Maybe have a party tonight?"

"Prongs, I'm sorry," Sirius said, sincerely. "I fucked up royally."

"Yeah, you did," James said. Sirius threw his hands up in the air and plopped down on the ground, putting his head in his hands.

"Prongs, you're my best mate," he said, softly. "These past few weeks have been hell for me without you and Moony. Oh yeah, Wormtail, too," he added as an afterthought. "I know what I did was wrong and all I'm asking is for your forgiveness."

"It's not mine to give," James said, not looking at him. "Padfoot, I want to forgive you, but I can't help as if I'm betraying Moony if I forgive you before he does."

"So that's it, then?" Sirius asked, hollowly.

"I guess, so," James nodded. Sirius took a deep breath and stood up again, marching towards the patch of light in front of him. James, confused, followed.

"P-Padfoot?" Remus stuttered when they came into the shack. "What are you doing here?"

"Moony, I'm sorry," Sirius said, walking over to him. "I am so incredibly-completely-totally- irreversibly-inescapably-please-please-pretty-please-with-a-Chocolate-Frog-on-top-forgive-me sorry."

"Padfoot, I-"

"And I promise I'll never lay a hand on anyone as long as I live. No more pranks, no more anything, I'll even help old ladies across the street."

"Sirius, wait-"

"And I promise that I'll make top grades now and I'll be nice to my family and I'll never touch another girl as long as I....wait," he reconsidered, "I'll never sleep with another girl unless I really fancy her, no, unless I really fancy her, or she's really drunk...no, that's not right-"

"PADFOOT!" Remus interrupted him. "It's ok."

"I-what?" Sirius did a double-take.

"What?" James asked.

Remus took a deep breath, and they could tell that it was paining him to breath. "Padfoot, I'm not...happy...with what you did, and I'll probably never forgive you for doing it-"

"But, Moony-"

"However," Remus said, louder, "I'm forgiving you as you, not for what you did...did that make sense?"

Sirius and James looked at each other and shook their heads ‘no.' Remus sighed and rubbed his stomach.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is..." he looked up at them with tears in his eyes. "I'm...I'm really glad you're here. I don't like being alone on a full moon...and I don't want you to hate me and-"

"Dear me, Moony's getting weepy and he's rambling incessantly," James sighed, a giant weight lifted off of his shoulders. "Sirius, I think that-"

"THANK YOU MOONY!" Sirius cried, running at his friend and tackling him to the ground in a hug.

"OOOOWWW!" Remus howled. Sirius sprang off of him and helped him up.

"So, sorry about that, Moony-"

"It's ok," Remus grunted. "I was so worried that you wouldn't come and then I'd be all alone again..."

"Moony, we'll never let you go through this alone," James said, plopping down beside him.

"You know, we'll always be here for you," Sirius patted him on the back, gently. "No matter what."

Suddenly, the door squeaked open and a rat ran through. The three humans laughed as Peter transformed and wondered, "What's so funny?"

The laughter ended when Remus went stiff and pain marred his face. James and Sirius nodded at each other and transformed.

The Marauders, though no longer the wild, boisterous boys they were before, were back in business.