It felt like so much had happened since the confrontation with the Death Eaters. However, now Voldemort's followers weren't the only ones stressing Lily out. She was slightly terrified that Remus was going to eat someone come full moon. She liked Remus, he had always been the most responsible and kindest Marauder, but she couldn't ignore the fact that he was dangerous.
Lily wasn't prejudiced towards werewolves, but she was worried that she was coming off as such.
During the movie, no one mentioned Remus, other than Sirius telling Lily's friends that he would be staying with them for a little while. Other than Sirius' announcement, the movie was fun to watch, especially because of James and Sirius' constant outbursts about the moving pictures and wondering how the Muggles did it. (Of course they didn't say Muggles....)
The movie took her mind off of the current issues, but Lily still was skeptical about the whole plan. She was a fairly smart student, but she couldn't think of a single spell or potion that would help James and Sirius tame a werewolf.
Lily had woken up the next day much earlier than she usually did. It might have been the beam of sunshine that broke through the curtains, but she suspected it was simply the fact that she was too nervous to sleep any longer.
The clock read a quarter after six, so Lily decided to start getting ready.
She was about to pull on her snow pants when she realized that skiing might not be the best idea. After all, there were Death Eaters on the resort following them. Lily thought through all of her options. She could always pretend to be sick and make her friends stay inside with her. Of course, that wouldn't be a good enough excuse to last another few weeks. Another choice was to simply hope for the best and ski despite the dark wizards. Maybe she, James, and Sirius could wear disguises so they wouldn't be spotted. Her last option was to let her friends go on without her. Selwyn wasn't really a threat to her Muggle friends who were just like everyone else on the resort. The Death Eaters were only looking for Lily, James, and Sirius. But if anything did happen to Cassie, Bess, or Jill, Lily would never be able to forgive herself.
When she checked the digital clock on her bedside table, Lily noticed that she had spent nearly fifteen minutes worrying. She glanced down at her pants, which were still around her knees, and decided to take them off and replace them with her pajamas. Better safe than sorry, right?
Lily left her room and headed to the kitchen to make herself some toast and tea. When she got to the kitchen, she saw Jill, who had apparently fallen asleep on the couch in the next room over. Lily laughed to herself as Jill rolled over and almost fell onto the ground. It wasn't until Lily's toast popped out of the toaster that Jill was startled awake.
"Morning," Jill mumbled, more addressing the pillow rather than Lily.
"Hey," responded Lily as she spread a heap of butter on her breakfast.
Jill had finally managed to hoist herself off of the couch and was now searching through the cabinets to find the good cereal. "Ready for skiing today?" Jill asked while she poured herself a bowl. From the bright colors and cartoon characters on the box, Lily guessed that this particular cereal was packed with sugar. No wonder Jill seemed to always have so much energy.
"Um, no," Lily responded.
"No? You're not going skiing?"
"No." Lily looked down at her toast and watched a little piece of butter slide down the slice and onto the plate.
"What do you mean? Don't you want to ski?"
Lily just looked at her food, hoping that an excuse would come knocking on the door. Interestingly enough, it did.
"Open up, ladies!" called a voice from the other side of the front door. Lily let out a sigh and hurried to answer the door.
"Evans!" exclaimed Sirius. You're up early."
James stepped in after Sirius and waved at Jill in the kitchen. "How are you?" he asked.
"Just fine," said Lily. "Not really up for skiing today...."
"Neither are we," said Sirius. "Turns out our friend is arriving a day early."
Lily's mouth dropped open. Remus was supposed to be coming tomorrow. If he was coming a day early, then that meant today. She wasn't ready for this. She didn't want to have Remus come any earlier, reminding her of how much danger they would all be in when the full moon shown.
"Well, I want to ski," announced Jill.
"Then you can, if you want to," said Sirius. "We're just going to go pick him up at the airport at around one 'o clock."
"How about you and the others go without us," suggested Lily. This was turning out nicely, having an excuse not to go on the slopes.
"Party-poopers," said Jill. She hurried off down the hallway to change and wake up Cassie and Bess.
"Wanna come with us?" James asked Lily after Jill was gone.
"To meet Remus? Isn't he just flying to your window or something?" asked Lily.
"Nah, we cant risk him being seen. Plus, all the Muggle technology muddles with the brooms. We're meeting him at a clearing about a mile from the resort."
Lily thought about whether or not she should go. She considered staying in her room and watching movies all day, but going to a clearing to meet Remus sounded much more exciting. "I'll come," she finally told James.
Sirius said it would take about an hour to reach the spot where they were picking up Remus, so they decided they would leave at twelve 'o clock. That meant that they now had about five hours to do whatever they wanted.
James suggested that they should go to the buffet for some breakfast. Lily had already had her piece of toast, but she decided that she definitely had room for the excellent waffles that were served in the dining room.
The three found themselves in the big hall with the long table of seemingly endless supplies of food. Lily nearly forgot about her measly slice of bread when she smelled the wonderful wafts of fruit and freshly cooked sausage. The trio quickly made a beeline to the pancakes and began to pile their plates.
Lily didn't remember how the boys had gotten onto the topic of electricity, but she found herself explaining everything she knew about light bulbs to them... which wasn't very much. Having only gone to Muggle primary school before Hogwarts, Lily only knew as much as an eleven year old would about the subject. Maybe she should have taken Muggle Studies after all....
"So then it just lights up?" asked Sirius.
"Basically," said Lily unsurely.
"No Lumos?" said James.
"Um, no. They just use a light switch.
"Well, that's just impractical," muttered Sirius. He was gazing at the giant light fixtures that were hanging from the Dining Hall's ceiling.
"Well," said Lily, "if you think about it, Muggles are actually more advanced than wizards."
James and Sirius just stared dumbly at her.
"You see, they discovered electricity and they have technology," continued Lily.
More staring.
"And Muggles have airplanes and televisions."
"Yes, Evans, but we have magic," said Sirius. James nodded his head.
"We can fly," added James.
"And our pictures move," continued Sirius.
"We have potions for almost anything."
"House Elves do all of our work."
"And they do it willingly," said James. "None of those silly revolts like in the Muggles' history."
"Oh, and we can turn into animals."
Suddenly James stiffened and so did Sirius.
"Turning into animals?" asked Lily, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.
"Erm... well, obviously... um, Sirius meant...," stammered James.
"Only Animagi can do that, of course," said Sirius quickly.
"Mmm hmm," Lily said while trying to figure out why the two boys were acting so strangely.
"Merlin. look at the time!" exclaimed James suddenly. "It's almost nine! Well, let's not waste our day away, eating. Let's do something."
"I want to do something," said Sirius, a little too enthusiastically.
"Any ideas?" asked James.
"Whatever is fine with me," Lily said.
"Brilliant! Let's...." James started tapping his foot and drumming his fingers on the table as he thought of what activity they should do next. "Swim! How about swimming! I haven't been to the pool yet, have you?"
Neither Lily nor Sirius had been swimming, so that's what they did. Lily quickly went back to her room to change and the boys did the same. This time, Lily decided to put a sundress over her bathing suit.
In five minutes, Lily heard a knock on her door and in ten more minutes, the three were at the side of the pool.
The journey down had taken a while. The usually reliable Elevator G only took them down to the Lobby and Elevator E turned out to be for staff members only. Elevator A led to the gift shop and Elevator C went to the laundry room. At last, it was Elevator B that let them off at the downstairs pool and spa.
The pool was in a decent sized room. It was very echoey and unbelievably stuffy. Lily felt like she would suffocate if she didn't get out of there soon. Luckily, James spotted a door that led to the outdoor half of the pool, so that's where they headed.
As Lily, James, and Sirius opened the door to outside, they were hit with a bone-chilling gust of cold air.
"Isn't it summertime?" asked Lily through chattering teeth.
"Maybe it's just a particularly cold day," said Sirius.
The nice thing about the brisk temperature, was that the actual water felt ten times warmer than usual. However, another downside was that every time Lily lifted so much as a finger above the surface, she felt as though a fine layer of ice was building up on the uncovered area. That's what you get for vacationing in the mountains.
But the nice thing about being in the mountains was the scenery. They were basically surrounded by incredible views. Lily's favorite part about swimming outside, though, was the thick mist that filled the air. It was so surreal and dream-like.
Lily, James, and Sirius splashed around in the pool for a while, but once Sirius spotted the hot tub, there was no going back to the normal water. It was much smaller than the pool, so they kept kicking each other, but so much warmer. Lily finally felt comfortable.
"Ah," said Sirius, stretching his arms, "this is the life."
"I could go for a Butterbeer right now," said James. He slowly sank underwater until only his messy hair was left floating on the surface. Lily laughed at how ridiculous it looked as it stayed there, above his head. Then she giggled when he shot up from under the water, gasping for breath. "Aw, now my face is cold."
"Oh, Prongs, what are we going to do with you?" asked Sirius.
"You'll figure something out, Padfoot." James was now running his fingers through his wet hair, styling it so it stuck straight up. "But yikes, look at my fingers! I'm turning into a prune. It's time to get out of the water, I think."
This was what Lily was dreading. She was so warm in the hot tub and the air was so cold. Logic told her that getting out of the pleasant water was a bad idea. Then again, she figured it wouldn't be too wise for her to waste away in the bubbles, so she reluctantly stood up. And then she groaned. It was as cold as she expected it would be, so she made up her mind to make a mad dash inside.
James and Sirius had been smart enough to bring their towels outside with them, something Lily hadn't had the brains to do. Unlike Lily, they took their time wrapping themselves up and walking back to the indoor portion of the pool.
"All right, Evans," Sirius said once he and James got inside, "the clock says it's forty-five minutes after ten, so we'll all get ready and then head out to get Remus."
It wasn't until it was half past eleven when Lily started to suddenly feel nervous about meeting the third Marauder. She was in the bathroom, drying her hair, (with a hair dryer, something she dearly missed at Hogwarts) when she started to wonder about what she would say to Lupin.
"Hello, Remus, I know you're a werewolf. Sorry bout that...," she spoke to her reflection in the mirror. That sounded horrible.
"Remus, how are you? Having a good Summer? I hear you're going to be transforming into a wolf-man next week. Would you try not to kill any of my friends? Kay, thanks." Again. It just didn't sound right.
She sighed and quickly braided her hair and covered her ears with her hat. She couldn't possibly see this going smoothly. Instead of fretting over it too much, though, Lily just grabbed her fleece and headed out the door.
Lily met James and Sirius in the hallway. "Ready?" she asked.
"Yeah, we're ready," said James, glancing over a the clock on the wall. Lily saw that it was almost noon when they finally left the Christophe Brazier.
It was chilly outside, but bearable. They walked down the road in silence, Sirius and James were huddled together as they studied the visitor's map that they had taken from the front lobby. "The map's upside down," Lily pointed out after a few minutes of watching the boys struggle.
"Oh," said Sirius. "That makes sense."
It turned out that they had been going in the wrong direction. James had told Remus to meet them in a small forrest preserve in the next town over. He said it would be safe there because he heard it was almost always abandoned. They soon found out why.
The Ahurewa Forrest wasn't overcrowded with bears or a hunting ground. It wasn't haunted or particularly hilly. However, it was icy. It only took the three around twenty minutes to get to the park, but the meeting place was in the heart of the woods, and the thick layer of ice that covered the ground would definitely slow down their journey.
As a child, her mother had signed Lily up for ice skating lessons at the local park district in Spinners End. She had only gone for a month before quitting. Something about gliding around on slippery ice, being supported by only two paper-thin blades made Lily extremely uncomfortable. Within those weeks of skating, Lily had face-planted and ran into more walls than any of the other kids in her class. When she finally broke her wrist, she knew she had had enough.
Trudging through the Ahurewa Forrest was kind of like ice skating.
"Lily, are you okay?" yelled James as Lily screeched. She had slipped right onto her backside and was slowly sliding down the foothill. James quickly turned around and glided down (much more gracefully) on his feet to where she was now laying.
"Urgh, yeah," mumbled Lily, slightly embarrassed, "I'm fine. I'm just a little clumsy on ice."
"I wouldn't have guessed." said James as he put his arm around her shoulders to help her to her feet. "You're a fairly good skier."
Lily knew that she wasn't a bad skier. She had thought that her abilities on the skis would have made her balance a little better, but she had thought wrong.
James kept his arm around Lily, keeping her from slipping again, as they continued through the thick crowd of evergreens.
"So," said Lily, "you two haven't told me how you plan to deal with Remus on the full moon."
James and Sirius exchanged glances. "We have our ways," said Sirius.
"And Remus trusts you with your 'ways?'" asked Lily. She knew that Remus was not stupid. If he thought that whatever it was that James and Sirius were planning was safe, it probably was. Probably.
"Yup," said Sirius and he suddenly slipped. He crashed right into James, who brought Lily down with him and all three of them started sliding forward, down the hill. Lily squealed as they gained speed, heading towards a clearing at the bottom. She scrunched her eyes shut, preparing for a collision. She had expected to hit a tree or a bush, but instead, James, who was in front of her, hit something else and she fell right onto him.
Lily moaned as she lay with her head on James' heaving chest. It took her a minute to recover, but after she saw James smiling at her as she rested her cheek on his stomach, she quickly sat up, a small blush creeping across her face.
"Lily?" asked the thing that they had just run into. She looked up to see Remus, holding a broom in one hand and a suitcase in the other. "What- what are you doing here?"
Out of all of her rehearsed greetings she had practiced, literally running into Remus was not her first choice. "Hey, Remus. What's up?"
"What- how? When did you- why are you... James? Sirius?" stuttered Remus.
"James," said Lily, "did you not mention to Remus that I was here?" She raised her eyebrows, waiting for a response.
"Surprise?" said James cautiously. He gave a measly crooked grin as he wiggled his fingers at his friend.
"James, Sirius, could I talk to you in private?" said Remus and he pulled them behind a tree.
Lily sat down in the icy snow. How could James not tell Remus that she was here, too? Why would he keep that a secret? She felt so embarrassed, like she wasn't supposed to be there. Plus, Remus must feel horribly awful. He didn't know Lily would be there, so he probably wasn't planning on revealing his secret. How was she going to tell him that she already knew what he was?
When the three boys came back from behind the tree, Lily felt even worse when she noticed how ill Remus looked. He was pale and a bit scruffier than usual. Lily just tried to smile as they walked back to her, despite the fact she felt awfully sorry for the situation that Remus' friends had put him in.
"So," said Remus, "you... know?"
Lily nodded. "Yeah."
"And...."
"And I'm sorry. Sorry that you were bitten, sorry that I'm here, and sorry your friends aren't very good planners."
Remus smiled at her. He always seemed to be able to cheer up, no matter what. "Don't worry, none of that was your fault. I'm glad to see you. How's your summer been?"
This was why she always got along with Remus. "Well, so far, my summer has been spent with these baboons. How about you?"
"Sorry you've been stuck with them," said Remus, pointing at Sirius and James who were lying on the ground and making snow angels.
"It's been fine. I have some of my Muggle friends from Primary school with me to keep me sane."
"Muggle friends? So they don't know about...?"
"Magic? No, they don't," said Lily.
"That's interesting," said Remus. "Where are they now?"
"Oh, they're skiing, back at the resort."
"Resort?" asked Remus, a surprised expression on his face.
"Yeah, the Cristophe Briazier. That's where we're staying," said Lily.
"At a ski resort?"
Lily wasn't sure why Remus was suddenly so confused. "Yes, it's a ski resort."
Remus suddenly spun around and headed towards James and Sirius. "A ski resort?!" he yelled at them. "A Muggle ski resort?"
"Did we not mention that?" asked Sirius innocently.
"No, you didn't! You mentioned that you were staying in a small hotel in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by forests!" Remus shouted. Lily felt very awkward about being there as they yelled at each other, so she quickly turned her attention to a nearby bush and plucked at the branches.
"Don't worry, Moony, there's plenty of trees for us to run around in. We can go all around the mountains," explained James.
"Don't Moony me, James," said Remus, ignoring Sirius' giggles.
"Oh, come on. Trust me, we'll all be fine," said James.
But something about what James was saying struck funny in Lily's head. Why is he saying 'we?' What does he mean when he said, 'there's plenty of trees for us to run around in? Lily's head was rushing as she pieced it all together.
"Um, James?" she piped up. All the boys turned to her. "Or, Prongs? So you and Sirius- or Padfoot- are going to be running around with Remus on full moon? Just answer me this. How many feet will you be running on?"
"How many feet? What are you saying, Evans," said Sirius. He sounded confident, but it was clear that he and his other two friends were quickly becoming more and more shifty by the second.
"I'm saying that when you run around with Remus while he's a werewolf, are you running around on two feet or four?" said Lily. Her curiosity was drowning her.
Nobody spoke.
"So you're Animagi," said Lily slowly and clearly.
The boys just stood there, looking at Lily in with surprised expressions on there faces, so she took that as a "yes."
Then she shocked them all by asking, "Could I see?"
"Wait, what?" asked James, his mouth gaping.
"Could I... could I see your Animagi forms?" she asked again.
The boys exchanged glances, but eventually James nodded.
"I guess," said Sirius as he shrugged his shoulders. And in one swift movement, James and Sirius leapt forward and transformed before her eyes.
It was strange to look at. There were two beautiful creatures standing before Lily and even though they were only animals, she could almost sense their shyness. One of them, James she assumed, was a stag. He had moppy fur, much like James messy hair, and his head was tilted to the side. The big, black dog, who had to be Sirius, was panting with a big grin on his face and a wagging tail behind him. He had this mischievious look in his eyes that Lily recognized.
She hadn't even thought about it, but before she realized what she was doing, Lily was petting Sirius' head. It seemed like the right thing to do, he was a dog, after all. Then, James the stag walked over to them and sat down. He bowed his head and nudged her with his antler and Lily could almost see his lop-sided grin as she reached her hand out to pat him, too.
Remus was chuckling behind them. He probably thought it was comical seeing Lily pet his friends, but he didn't say anything.
At last, Lily stopped and took a step back. "So," she said, "you're Animagi. Illegal Animagi?"
In a blur, James shifted back into himself. "Yeah, but how could we tell? We do it to protect Remus."
Sirius returned to his human form, too and added, "The Ministry would never let us do it."
"It's awfully dangerous," said Lily.
"It's not that bad," said James. "Werewolf bites don't affect animals, so we're safe. We actually have fun."
"And we can control ol' Moony this way," said Sirius.
Lily sighed. "So, this is what you're going to do on the full moon next week? You'll run around the mountains as animals?"
All three boys nodded.
"Okay," she said quietly.
"Really?" asked James. "You're all right with this?"
"No, I wish you wouldn't to it. I don't want any of you getting hurt, but," she took a deep breath, "I really respect your loyalty to your friend."
James smiled at her and Sirius let out a whoop.
"Thanks, Lily," said Remus.
"Whoa! Would you look at the time? We have to head back. The girls are going to be finished skiing soon," said James and he headed off into the forest.
Snowflakes by The_Dream_Team
Chapter Notes: Wow, sorry this took such a long time. I've been really, really busy... But I hope everyone enjoys chapter 13, it's a long one! =]
Chapter Endnotes: Thanks so much for reading! Again, I'm super sorry this took so long to update... things have been very busy. I'll try my best to get the next chapter up as soon as I can. In the meantime, please leave a review! I love the feedback and I really appreciate your thoughts =] Thanks again, you guys rock!