Chapter Seven: To Wash the Black Dog
Snow began to fall heavier with each passing day, blanketing the school ground in a sparkling white snow. With the Christmas holiday looming and the bite of the bitter cold air, Lily would have preferred to snuggle up on a chair in the common room with a thick book and maybe some hot cocoa. Lily grumbled as she pulled her scarf around her neck. The third years were itching to leave for the last trip to Hogsmeade before the holiday, which meant Lily, too, would have to brave the cold.
Lily need not go; James should have been able to handle one trip with out her, but Lily really couldn't trust James to keep an eye on the other students. She sighed and figured that she could do what she always did when she was in Hogsmeade, attempt to find Blackie.
She had looked for him on all of her previous visits, and each attempt was met with disappointment. She wasn't in a rush, though, to get out to the cold. She knew she would have all Holiday to look for him. She hadn't planned to go home for Christmas this year. Her sister's husband seemed very unlikely to accept Lily. Alice had offered to host Lily for the Holiday, but Lily hadn't fancied living three weeks in an all magic household, either. It was just a bitter reminder of the life that Lily should have, but didn't have, at home.
Lily was surprised to find herself walking along the path toward the Shrieking Shack. She had walked deep in thought and hadn't been paying attention. She called for the dog futilely. She knew he would never come. He hadn't so far. Lily scooped up some snow and let it crumble in her hand. She was really beginning to despise the cold weather that drove into her bones and longed for spring.
She stood for a few minutes at the barbed wire fence that kept people out of the Shrieking Shack, hands on the top wire as she looked out at the house that had been built toward the back of the property. Lily had the eerie feeling that she was being watched and she looked around.
"Hello?" Lily called out cautiously. "Blackie?"
Lily request was met with the cold silence of the surrounding woods that chilled her into a shiver and she shrugged. She began to climb between the horizontal stripes of rusty barbed wire. The Marauders were there, watching at a distance, the three barely hidden under the cloak. They were signaling to each other, making sure each one understood that they needed to keep her away from the Shrieking Shack at all cost. Rolling his eyes, Sirius ducked out from under the cloak and ran at Lily.
"Woof? Woof," barked Padfoot as he ran up to Lily. Lily stopped trying to get in through the fence and instead fell to her knees to embrace the dog.
"Awe, Blackie, I knew I would find you," Lily murmured as she tucked her face into the fur on his neck. Sirius swallowed, not used to someone being that thrilled to see him. He couldn't remember the last time someone embraced him with such tenderness. With James watching so near, Sirius felt uneasy. He whimpered.
"Oh, Blackie, I nearly forgot," Lily said as she released him. She searched around in her bag, fishing out some beef jerky for the dog to enjoy. While he was eating, Lily slipped a collar around his neck and the dog nearly went ballistic as she begun to drag him back towards the school. The dog growled and struggled.
"Hush," Lily said as she tipped her wand toward the black dog. The dog fell silent despite its best efforts to bark. She knew exactly where she was going to take him.
Alone in the prefects bathroom, Lily filled the tub much as she had previously under James' watchful eye. She pulled the dog toward the water, but the dog struggled and refused to go into the tub. The door to the bathroom swung open hard, causing Lily to drop her wand when she was startled. She went to the door, blocking the dog an escape. She shrugged and fastened the lock on the door.
Remus and James huddled under the cloak, still barely hidden. The air in the bathroom had become humid, which a welcomed change compared to the chilly corridor air. They had no idea what Lily had in store for Sirius as the dog and they needed to be there incase things went bad; incase he needed their help. The black dog could hear James and Remus' breathing with his super sensitive ears and was thankful he was not alone in the bathroom with Lily. He feared what Lily had in store for him, and he feared more what he might be tempted to do to her in a bathroom if they were alone.
"Get into the tub," Lily coaxed sweetly to the dog. "You are a smelly dog, Blackie."
Lily gripped the leash and tried to pull him toward the bathroom. He sunk his claws into the stone floor, fighting Lily's efforts. The dog was very strong and he won, sending Lily flying backwards into the soapy bath, fully dressed in her complete winter school wardrobe. James and Remus nearly laughed aloud at the sight.
Sputtering and coughing, Lily climbed on her hands and knees out of the tub. Her clothes weighed her down immensely. She struggled and pulled off her scarf, throwing it into the hamper. She hoisted her heavy coat and robes off her body, eventually extracting all but her panties and her camisole off her body; what was left on her body was practically see through. She could see the dog staring at her quizzically as she threw the last of her clothes into the hamper. She watched him carefully out of the corner of her eye.
"Gotcha!" Lily said as she threw herself on top of the dog suddenly. Lily and the dog tumbled into the bath and she restrained him. Humming slightly, holding him against her breasts, she began scrubbing his fur with her hands. She cleaned his legs, paws, and underbelly. He bit her hard in the arm as she brushed what was to him a very sensitive spot. She jerked her arm back releasing him.
"Damn it, Lily," Sirius coughed as he climbed from the tub. The black dog was gone. Lily stood in waist high water, her arm bleeding, and a very shocked look on her face.
"You bit me!" Lily cried as she slowly climbed out of the tub.
"You nearly drowned me!" Sirius exclaimed.
"You were the dog, the whole time?" Lily asked as she stood there an arm reach away from him.
"Yes," Sirius said handing her a towel. He fought the urge to take in what he could see of her body, which was actually quite a bit in the state she was in, soaking wet with barely anything on her body.
"Do Remus and James know you are a dog?" Lily asked as she stood there, shivering. She held the towel in one hand, her arm bleed down the other. She hadn't moved to hide her body from his prying eyes.
"Yeah, we know," James said as he pulled off his cloak. Lily looked like she had seen a ghost. She pushed the towel to her breast. The reality of her nearly naked body slipped into realization.
"Oh," Lily said blinking stupidly.
"James was the stag in the forest," Remus explained. He looked at the blood that was running from her wound down her hand and dripping into a spreading pool of crimson red from her finger tips. He was concerned that Sirius had bit her pretty hard. She ignored the blood and looked at Remus.
"And you?" Lily asked as her voice etched up an octave. Her face was flushed now, embarrassed and feeling rather foolish and vulnerable. "Are you an anamagi, too?"
"No," Remus said quietly as his eyes searched her face, begging for understanding. "I am a werewolf."
"Oh," Lily exclaimed stupidly. Her face flushed with embarrassment. She backed away from the three of them slowly, heading toward the door to the bathroom. "I have to go."
"Lily, please don't say anything," Remus begged as he stepped toward her. She backed away, stumbling slightly. Remus, James, and Sirius advanced on Lily, but she had already turned around and fled the prefect bathroom. They chased after her, but all those summers she spent in the muggle world, running from people who would have done her harm or teased her had Lily sprinting like a mad woman, half naked, a good many feet ahead of the boys. Luckily, the school was nearly empty and Lily made it all the way up into her dorm room without encountering another person. She heard someone call her name as she disappeared behind her bedroom door.
Lily dressed in shorts and a shirt and assessed her wound. She didn't really know any healing spells, and she knew she wouldn't be permitted to leave without the Marauders attacking her, so going to the hospital wing was out of the question. She wrapped the towel around her arm, holding firm pressure. The bleeding ceased.
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