Emilee Huxton awoke the next morning to find her best friend missing. Lily's bed wasn't made, but as it never had been, Emilee didn't take this as a sign of anything wrong. It wasn't until breakfast that she started worrying.
James Potter wasn't there. And while that in itself wasn't enough to frighten her, it was the fact that none of his harebrained friends were there either that really made Emilee's stomach tie itself in knots. Usually the foursome was loud at breakfast, James hitting on Lily unsuccessfully while Sirius bothered the Slytherins. After Lily rejected Potter, the group left, off to find trouble somewhere else. But with both the group and Lily gone, Emilee didn't quite know what to do or how to respond.
Should she take it as a sign? Did Lily and James finally do something one of them would regret? No, then where would the other three be? They couldn't possibly be all together? But what could they be doing that would mean all five were absent for breakfast? A very dirty thought entered her head and she blushed.
Deciding that breakfast at this point was impossible, Emilee left to do a quick run through the castle. She checked all of Lily's usual hideouts, but to no avail. Getting frustrated and beginning to panic, Emilee stomped outside to search the grounds, the last place to look.
She ran face first into someone's chest as soon as she stepped out the door. Pulling back and rubbing her now sore nose, Emilee was about to snarl something rude to him when she realized who he was.
"Sirius Black!" She gripped him by the shoulders, Sirius' face turning to confusion and pain. She had a gripe like an iron vice when panicked. "I'm so glad I found you!"
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "If you wanted me that much, you could have sent an owl or something." His usual wit seemed stifled and even he didn't laugh at his joke.
Emilee rolled her eyes and ignored him. "Where's Lily?" She blurted out, too frantic to consider asking nicely.
"How should I know?" Sirius' eyes didn't meet hers. "Shouldn't you be the one to keep track of her?" He tried to move away, but stopped when he realized that she was digging her long fingernails into his shoulders.
"Look, either you can tell me where Lily is, or I can hex you until you're unable to have children." Sirius desperately wanted to step back, but he was beginning to lose feeling in his arms from her death grip.
He swallowed and made a decision. "Alright. But you have to promise not to freak out." He took her hand to lead her through the doors to the castle, but Emilee pulled away.
"Just because you're helping me doesn't mean that you get to…pull some sort of moves on me." She crossed her arms, uncomfortable.
Sirius blinked, smiling a bit. "You're paranoid." Emilee just shook her head; sure that she knew all of Sirius' tricks. "Do you want to see Lily or not?"
Emilee sighed and followed Sirius through the castle, stopping abruptly at the Hospital Wing.
"Stop wasting my time Sirius. Lily's not here, I've already checked the entire castle." Emilee turned to leave, but he grabbed her arm.
"You haven't been looking in the right places." Sirius nodded towards the stairs leading up to Madame Pomfrey's office. Emilee couldn't find the words to answer him, still trying to fathom how badly Lily was hurt. "Look, this is serious. I don't even know if they're going to let you in." Sirius looked distressed, an emotion that Emilee was surprised to find he had.
Emilee swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. "What exactly happened to her?"
Sirius wouldn't meet her eyes. "They're taking her to St. Mungo's."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Lily was dreaming of arms encircling her. She felt warm and safe, wanting to stay there forever. In the back of her mind she knew that her ankle hurt like hell, but while this warm feeling lasted she convinced herself the pain wasn't there. As long as she refused to acknowledge the throbbing nothing bad could happen to her.
She reluctantly opened her eyes, seeing nothing but blurry images. She didn't want to wake up, but the more she became aware of her surroundings the more she was awake. And the more she woke up, the more she was aware of the blaring pain in her ankle. She tried to move it and couldn't help but cry out in agony.
"Shh, don't try to move sweetie." Lily looked up to find her mother's face swimming before hers.
"Mum?" Her speech felt slurred, like her tongue wouldn't move the right way. Her mom, although blurry, seemed frazzled. There were tears forming in her eyes.
"Mum, what's wrong?" One of the tears escaped and rolled down her cheek. She put her hand over Lily's eyes.
"Just sleep." Lily's eyes were already crying out for her to close them. She gave in and soon was sleeping soundly, darkness enfolding her.
This time her dreaming was erratic, focusing one second on a number of spell she was supposed to have been studying for her test in charms and then moving on to a strange dream where James picked her up and carried her for some reason.
Lily hated dreaming about James. It was always so lovely, but it felt painful at the same time. She never dreamed about Remus, although she often wished she could. He had the most beautiful eyes.
Eyes. The wolf's eyes. Remus' eyes. They were the same, she knew it. But that wasn't possible. Werewolves weren't allowed in Hogwarts, everyone knew that. It was a simple matter of safety for the students and faculty. And Remus? Gentle Remus couldn't possibly in a million years be a werewolf.
But how else could one explain the Whomping Willow dominating the school grounds? Lily let her mind drift, picturing the tree's branches swaying like arms in the breeze. Why would the wolf be heading there? It didn't make sense. Unless the wolf knew where to go.
That was it, the wolf was obviously intelligent. But still? Remus? Lily shook away the thought and drifted further away from where her mind had been heading. She was falling into a field now, full of bright flowers. Too bright. The red ones hurt her eyes. She shut them to block it all out, but she couldn't keep the image of Remus' eyes out of her head. Those bloody beautiful eyes.
Then suddenly there was an excruciating pain in her ankle, one she recognized. She screamed as those eyes turned menacing once more as abruptly teeth began to bite every bit of flesh available. Her body was on fire and she couldn't move one inch to relieve the pain.
Lily awoke with a start, her body nearly sitting completely up as she woke. Every muscle screamed out in agony as she breathed heavily and struggled to remain upright. The room was dark; she had to let her eyes adjust to see anything.
She slowly realized that she wasn't in the same room as before. Her mother was also gone. As her breathing returned to normal and her eyesight adjusted she heard a soft whimpering coming from the corner.
It was too dark to see that far away and Lily fumbled around for a bit, hitting her wrist and smacking her ankle simultaneously as she struggled to find the edge of the bed or at least her wand nearby. She finally found a way out of the bed without doing any further damage to herself.
Walking was quite possibly one of the hardest things Lily had done since she was teething. She made it to the misshapen hulk in the corner only to collapse at its feet. She gripped a knee and tried to stare it dead in the face, only to discover that she knew this hulk very well.
"Lily? What're you doing?" Remus looked down to find her grasping his left knee as if it were her life support. "Get back in bed!" He reached for his wand and brought light into the dark room.
The light revealed just how badly Lily looked. Remus winced and mentally began to count every scar and gash he had inflicted on her. Instinctively he reached out and cupped her face, stroking a particularly nasty mark softly.
"You saved me." Lily rasped at him, her voice sounding like her vocal box had been run over a few times by a dump truck.
Remus started, his hand frozen on her jawbone. She really couldn't remember? "Lily…"
"I knew you would." Lily rested her head on the same knee her hand was still gripping. "I always knew you would and not…" Her eyes closed as Remus quickly pulled his hand back. His entire body was unsure of what to do. One part of him wanted desperately to crawl on the floor with her and hold her until she healed. Another part thought she smelled so amazing that he contemplated whether or not biting her was actually a bad idea.
Then there was the other third of his brain that was quickly overtaking the other two. It told him that he was a jackass for doing this to her, that without him her life would still be normal. He had condemned her, and for that sole reason she could never be his.
No matter how much he wished he could have her.
"I'm going to kill him. I swear to bloody fucking Merlin, I will." James paced back and forth across the room that he shared with the three other marauders, holding his wand and occasionally using it to throw things across the room.
"I'm sure it's some kind of mistake." Peter mumbled, quite sure that it wasn't at all. He ducked as an alarm clock came whizzing past his ear.
Sirius sighed for the third time in ten minutes. "I've told you before, Prongs. You can't put a brand on Lily when she's never been yours. You have no claim on her! Remus can do whatever-"A pillow was zipped into his chest, knocking the breath out of him.
"She is not some fucking animal, Sirius! Stop talking about her like she is." James's eyes were slightly wild behind his glasses. It gave his face a kind of maniacal quality that was beginning to frighten both Peter and Sirius.
The door slowly opened and Remus stepped in, wearing the type of face that a guilty child would wear when trying to hide something from his parents. He shut the door just as slowly as he had opened it, letting the click last practically a full minute before it was shut tight.
James wouldn't look him in the eye, which gave Remus the courage to look at him. "It was an accident, James. I swear."
Peter and Sirius retreated to the walls as they recognized the look in James' eye that meant he was about to send something large and heavy flying at Remus' face.
"How do you accidentally kiss someone? Let's hear you explain that, hmm? Were your lips magnetically pulled towards each other?" Peter stifled a giggle in order to live.
Sirius grinned. "Actually, there is this one spell-"
"Shut up, Padfoot!" Sirius winced and recoiled back to his in the open hiding place.
Remus stood his ground. "She kissed me."
"And that's any better how?" Peter moaned, shaking his head. James' wand sent his potions book through the room, slamming itself into Peter's nose.
"You've made it perfectly clear since day one that Lily is yours, James." Remus had the decency to look guilty as he spoke. "She doesn't want me. She's only using me, honest to Merlin." He shifted uncomfortably under James' gaze.
Silence ruled the room as James processed this, mentally compiling a judgment. Peter rubbed his nose, hoping it wasn't broken. Sirius wanted to sigh again, but couldn't break the stillness.
James spoke quietly, lowering his wand. "Did you enjoy it?"
Yes-the first word that entered Remus' head. Absolutely. Was the best thing that had happened to him since he was accepted into Hogwarts. It was a dream come true, something he never thought would happen to him in a million and one years. But outwardly, he said what James wanted to hear.
"No," The moment he said it James visibly relaxed. "I'm not encroaching; she's yours." James smiled faintly and the four felt like best friends again.
"Sorry." James said quietly and he moved toward the bathroom shutting the door behind him, eager to get out of the room.
Remus made his way to his bed as Peter picked up the potions book, still rubbing his sore nose. Remus didn't look at the other two until Sirius' voice broke the silence.
"You'll never forgive yourself for that."
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