Old Scars Future Hearts (JILY)

Chapter 14

James instructed Peter to take Remus and Sirius into Hogsmede and he wasn't to return until they were in a better mood. It was a tall order for Wormtail but James had to deal with Lily. He knew exactly how she was going to react. She wouldn't care about the actual fact that Remus was a werewolf, she would accept him regardless and help out however she could. But she would mad. Mad at him because he had lied to her for years. But she would understand, that it hadn't been his secret to tell, that he was trying to protect Remus. Or at least, he hoped she would understand.

He found her in an empty classroom, studying with Jen, Myer and Alice.

"Ah, there's my little doe." She briefly looked up when he entered, but quickly turned back to Alice and continued their conversation.

"Go away Potter." Jen sneered. "You Marauders are being assholes. We're not dealing with you today." Remus had ignored her and Sirius had antagonised her in every class they shared, so she was rightfully in a bad mood with them. James ignored her though, and made his way to Lily. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders, bent down so his mouth was by her ear.

"Come with me." He whispered.

"No." She said, but she didn't shove him away, that was encouraging.

"But I have the answers you so desperately seek." Her head snapped up, she searched his face, trying to figure out if he was lying. He gave her his best winning smile but she just frowned harder, she closed her book and stood up though.

"I'll be right back." She said to the girls, and then walked out.

"No she won't." James said with a wink and then followed after her. He tried to take her hand as he lead her down the hallways to their dorm, but she batted him away. The second they walked through the portrait she spun on her heel and placed her hands on her hips.

"Start talking." James couldn't help but stare at her for a moment - she was so sexy when she was mad at him.

"Why don't we sit?" He stepped forward and reached to take her hand, but she backed up.

"No James," Her voice was whiny, petulant, and James fought to keep the smile of his face. Merlin, he was so smitten by her. "Just tell what the fuck is going on. What actually happened last night?"

He took a deep breath. "Last night was a full moon."

Sh gasped loudly as her mind went to a worst case scenario. "Don't tell me you were stupid enough to go out messing around with werewolves."

"Well..." He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

"James Potter!" She charged towards him, hand raised as if to slap him, but he caught her wrist. "How could you be so stupid as to go looking for werewolves?" She went to slap him with her other hand but he caught that one too and she struggled against him. He opened his mouth to speak but she spoke louder. "That is so idiotic and dangerous. Do you want to get yourself killed? There is a fine line between Gryffindor bravery and Gryffindor stupidity. I thought you were smart enough to know the difference, but clearly not! WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU GO LOOKING FOR WEREWOLVES?"

He didn't want to shout at her, but he had to raise his voice to be heard over her. "I didn't have to go looking for werewolves Lily! Remus is one!" Lily stumbled back, slipping out of his grasp.

"What?" She whispered. She was going through emotions so fast, he couldn't place then as they flicked across her face.

"He was bitten when he was a kid, before he came to Hogwarts." Lily stared at him wide-eyed. He knew that it would hurt her that this had been kept from her for so long. "We, Padfoot, Wormtail and I, figured it out in second year. We spent a lot of time brainstorming ways to help him. Developing potions and experimentally with spells. None were as effective as we wouldn't liked them to be. So we decided that the best way to keep him safe when he transformed was to go with him." She gasped in horror.

"James that's so dangerous."

He shook his head as he steeled himself to tell her the next. This was the part that would undoubtedly piss her off the most. "Obviously we realised that protecting him as humans wasn't ideal, we'd just risk getting ourselves bitten and then the problem doubles. So we decided to become animagi. It took a long time to learn the skill, but since fifth year I've been able to turn into a stag at will."

She stared at him for a long time, not saying anything. At this point he thought he knew her quite well, but her face was impossible to read. He had anticipated anger. He knew she'd not actually care that Remus was a werewolf, she'd probably want to help too and she'd understand why he was scared to tell anyone. But he also knew she hated when he lied to her. And this was a massive lie. For five years he had illegally been learning how to become an animagus - a dangerous skill if not learned correctly. And in the past two years that he'd perfected it he still hadn't confined in her, not in all the time that they had grow so close. She valued truth and honesty and openness and what he done went against all of those things. She was right to feel betrayed. He just hoped she saw the bigger picture and understood why he had kept it a secret. Every lie and omission was to keep Remus safe and he wasn't going to apologise for that.

After an eternity she finally spoke.

"Show me."