But I Do Love You by iheartyou
Disclaimer: If I was J.K Rowling, I'd update more often.
(A/N I'm sooo sorry you guys. I know you hear that from me a lot but I really am. I totally meant to keep my goal of posting once a week, but my review thing didn't show your awesome reviews when you posted them so I thought nobody was reading so that I could sneak in a few more days! And then biggerstaff15 showed me that, yeah, I did have a reviews and I feel so badly! I'll do my best to make up for it by having lots of chapters for you after the christmas no-updates-allowed break. I loved all your reviews!! And I would've replied to them if I could've!)
Chapter 20: Disaster By Moonlight
In his haste, James practically dove through the broken window, and rolled onto the russet carpeted floor with a great thump. He ignored the pain from the impact and immediately jumped to his feet, all senses on high alert. He heard a long, low growl. His eyes searched the house; looking for the source. Yellow eyes glittered from the old staircase, captivating his own hazel ones with their intense glare.
James knew what he had to do, both to draw the werewolf to him and to alert Sirius of his presence. He picked up a chair’s leg that had snapped off in times previous. “Oi! I’m right here!” he shouted, chucking the hard wood at it. With a resounding clunk, it hit the werewolf smack in the face, and he watched as it jumped over the stair railing and came barreling towards him; teeth bared and snarling.
To James, the danger seemed all too familiar. Hadn’t he just faced this werewolf last May? And to save his arch enemy no less. But now he was in even more danger, and two of his friends’ lives were at stake.
He dodged out of the werewolf’s path and it crashed loudly into the wall, sprawling unceremoniously on the floor. When it turned, it no longer faced an inferior human, but a powerful stag. The stag lowered its antlered head at the werewolf. Large doleful hazel eyes pleaded for the man in the werewolf to come to his senses. James knew Remus was not the beast growling at him, angered that the stag would not let him pass to the humans stumbling hastily down the stairs.
~*~
As soon as Sirius heard James, he grabbed Raven’s hand, tugging her out of the room and down the creaky stairs. She seemed to be too shocked to protest, and he took advantage of her surprised state.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the familiar stag cornering the werewolf, not allowing it to pass. He saw the werewolf swipe at the stag with a forepaw. The stag backed off, but not fast enough, three lines of blood appeared on its side. James-the-stag stumbled for a brief moment and the werewolf sprang away, its demonic yellow eyes focused on Sirius and Raven.
Sirius whipped his wand up, “STUPEFY!” He bellowed, instincts taking over. A red jet of light hit the werewolf smack in the chest. For all the good the spell did, Sirius may as well have saved his breath, the werewolf paused for mere milliseconds, seeming more stunned by the bright light than anything else.
He pushed Raven away, and she went flying as he jumped away in the opposite direction, slamming into the torn-wallpapered wall. The werewolf skidded as it tried to turn after Sirius. He saw it squat, preparing to pounce, and started scrambling away, cursing as he went. The werewolf sprang forward, Sirius was vaguely aware of yelling out something incomprehensible as he squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the impact and dreading the sharp teeth which would be sure to rip him to pieces...
But it never came. While in mid-air the werewolf had been body-checked by the stag and the two went flying down the hall, into the living room, fighting furiously. Blood stained the stag’s originally glossy sand coloured coat as the werewolf’s claws and teeth bit into it.
Sirius staggered to his feet, and stumbled back away from the fight. His face fell when he realized that James and Remus were fighting right on top of the trap-door, blocking their escape route.
He didn’t have much time to stand and mull it all over though, the werewolf was already over-powering the stag, who wasn’t fighting as fiercely as it could have. Sirius could tell that James was hesitant to do real damage to a friend, even in Remus’s demonic state.
As he continued to back away, the sound of breaking glass alerted his attention to Raven. She was hard to make out through the limbs of the fighting creatures, but from what Sirius could see, she had used a spell to break one of the large windows. He saw her begin climbing out the window and felt relief wash over him. She’d be okay. She was escaping.
However, as she got one leg out the window, she looked back and their eyes met. She beckoned to him. He shook his head. He had to stay; had to help James, but he could not bring himself to reveal his secret to Raven.
“Don’t be daft!! COME ON!” She screamed at him, her eyes darting fearfully towards the tangle of werewolf and stag.
At the sound of a human’s voice the werewolf began fighting more frantically, trying to get to its prey. The stag was tiring, and losing the upper hand. Sirius felt as though he were frozen with indecision. Should he turn into a dog and help his best friend but give himself away in the process? Or escape with Raven? And it dimly just registered to him; where was Lily?
In the end, the werewolf made the decision for him. It landed a particularly painful blow on the stag, causing it to fall back. No longer blocked, the werewolf bounded towards Raven, who’s eyes widened in terror and began scrambling to get her other leg over the windowsill.
Sirius leaped at the werewolf, transforming as he went. The werewolf fell to the ground as Sirius, now a giant black dog once again, landed on its back. The force of his jump sent Sirius sprawling across the floor, but he quickly got up again and started barking at the werewolf, blocking its passage to Raven, who had fallen out the window in her haste to get out. He snapped his jaws at the furious werewolf, dodging its claws as it swiped angrily at him. He jumped up, nipping at the werewolf, enticing it to follow him away from the defeated stag, and up the stairs.
~*~
James waited until he heard the last creak of a stair as the werewolf followed Sirius to the second floor, before picking himself up off the floor, still in his stag form. He ached all over from his confrontation with the werewolf, but was relieved that Raven had escaped unharmed, and that Sirius was now safe in his animagi form.
He trotted the short way to the same window Raven had disappeared out of, hooves clunking on the wooden floor. James transformed into himself again, and then climbed through the window, back out into the cold night, his feet crunching in the snow. His body was just as wrecked as the stag’s had been. Blood seeped from cuts all over his body, though thankfully his robes covered the majority of damage from sight. The only visible cut stretched from a point behind his left ear and disappeared under the collar of his robes.
A loud howl erupted from the Shack behind him, ringing loudly into the night. Lights turned on in the second-floor rooms of a few of the tiny houses along Hogsmede’s main street. Rubbing his hands together in the hopes of generating some heat into them, James trudged through the snow, unconsciously following the footsteps already imprinted there. He repeated silently in his head the things he knew he had to do; get Lily, return to school, find the headmaster, think of a good explanation for everything... he had the feeling he was forgetting something...
“James!?”
His head snapped up upon hearing his name. Raven stood in the cold not ten feet away from him. She wasn’t shivering uncontrollably like her was; she’d brought her winter cloak with her. How he hadn’t noticed her would remain a mystery to him for a long time after. “Hey,” he responded, as though they were at breakfast in the Great Hall and he’d taken a seat beside her. “You’re okay,” he added relieved, but sounding slightly stupid. He watched dully as she ran up to him.
“We have to get out of here! There’s a werewolf in there! It’s not safe!” She grabbed onto his sleeve and began pulling him away from the house. James followed until they reached the bushes and then he jerked away, running towards them and to Lily. He hoped she hadn’t frozen to death as he nearly was at that moment.
“What are you doing?” Raven hissed at him as he dropped to his knees in the snow. She, of course, couldn’t see her best friend lying unconscious, the bushes blocked her view.
James ignored Raven, knowing full well that she’d find out what he was doing soon enough. He couldn’t help wincing when he saw Lily’s frozen form; her lips were blue and her skin was so pale it seemed to blend with the snow, her fiery red hair was a vivid contrast to her otherwise colourless appearance. Quickly, he used a heating charm to warm her body, suspecting she wouldn’t allow him to once she was awake. A pink tinge slowly came to her skin and the snow around her melted slightly, steam rose into the air.
“James! We have to... Lily!?” Raven had finally stomped her way over to him.
“Enervate,” James muttered. Instantly, Lily’s eyelids opened wide, revealing her emerald eyes that had captivated much of the male population, James included, of Hogwarts.
For a moment she seemed confused and disoriented, but it was only a matter of seconds before everything came back to her and with an angry yelling she lunged at James, as though she were tempted to throttle him. Only quick reflexes saved him; Lily’s hands closed on thin air.
“Of all the stupid, arrogant, selfish things to do!” she raged at him, her face turning a fierce shade of red with anger. “Potter, I can’t believe you! Who do you think you are?!”
“Look, I can honestly explain“” James tried to interrupt, knowing it was useless.
“EXPLAIN!?” Lily shouted, and then laughed humorlessly and bitterly, “You mean there’s more to it than your giant bloody ego!?” She pushed herself up off the ground, and as she did so she finally caught sight of Raven. She blinked for a moment in surprise; caught between being furious with James and a feeling of complete relief at seeing her friend alive and well. She settled for shoving James away from her hard on the chest (hurting him more than she knew, for the pressure on his cuts was agony) and hugging Raven quickly. She grabbed the confused girl’s arm and began pulling her away, back towards the school.
James, who had kept his balance, barely, attempted to stop her in the only way he knew how; by grabbing onto her arm. But he’d hardly even closed his hand over her wrist before there was a blinding flash of light and he was forced to let go, or have his hand burned off. Lily’s skin had surged with inexplicable heat.
“Would you let me explain!?” James burst out angrily, finally losing his temper at the severe injustice of it all.
“Explain what? That you’re so pigheaded and full of yourself you actually believe you can take on a fully transformed werewolf all by yourself?! No, Potter, I don’t think so,” she said his name as though it left a nasty taste on her tongue, “You’re exactly who I always thought you were. You haven’t changed!”
“This isn’t about my ego! I could handle the werewolf and I did!! I should think Raven’s proof of that!” James said fiercely and looked to Raven for help, but it was no good; Raven’s eyes flashed nervously between the two of them, uncertainty freezing any words in her throat. He narrowed his eyes in a glare and then looked back to Lily, exhaustion fueling his frustration with her and the whole situation, he continued his tirade, “If anything I think this is about your pride Evans! You know you would’ve just gotten in the way!”
He knew, when Lily’s face went dead white and she gaped at him like a fish out of water that he had gone too far. Tears of fury sprang to her eyes, making them sparkle like the stars in the night sky, but a lot more foreboding than any burning ball of fire. Even Raven seemed shocked at James, but it was too late and he was too mulish to take back what he’d said.
And that time, when Lily turned and stomped off, Raven right beside her, he didn’t attempt to stop her.
(A/N: Any constructive critism is welcome. Ladeedah (sorry if I spelt that wrong) am I doing better description-wise? I tried to really keep it in mind for this chapter, but I know I probably forgot it at some (or many) points.
Love you all! Happy Holidays!!)