The Other Marauders

New Friendships

ROWAN POV:

"You never told me you liked James!" I exclaim at Katie and she shrugs apologetically.

"Well it doesn't matter anyways. He's only got eyes for Lily Evans..." I would argue, but it's nothing but true. James has been after Lily since our first year at Hogwarts, but she absolutely hates him. I stand up and rub Katie's back.

"I'm sorry, Kate," I say sympathetically but she just shrugs.

"It's alright. So what about you and Remus?" She giggles.

"He knows I like him, so it's only a question of if he likes me back or not." Katie smirks.

"He does, Rowan! Trust me on this one."

*********

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The Marauders Map reveals itself. I watch it for a while until my eyes fall on four people moving across the page and towards the whomping willow. The names read: Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew. What in the world are they doing? They seem to be walking rather fast... My curiosity gets the better of me as I make the stupid decision to follow them. If they catch me I'll just say I was taking a walk or something.

"Lumos," I mutter, flooding the staircase with light. I get numerous complaints from all the portraits I pass, but continue on, following the people I see on the map. I follow them to the edge of the grounds and they're just in view now. I can see them conversing as I sneak closer to them. I follow them into the Whomping Willow cautiously and stop when I hear Remus cry out in pain. The cry of pain soon turns into a howl as I wonder what I'd gotten myself into. I can just see the shadows of James, Peter, and Sirius as they morph into different shadows. One a stag, one a dog, and one a rat. What in the world is happening? I hear numerous howls and barks and finally decide to see what's going on. My heart beating so hard in my chest, I creep around the corner to see a hunched over, wolf like figure with a big, black dog, a stag, and a tiny rat surrounding it. I gasp and all the animals turn to look at me. The werewolf goes nuts. It lunges for me, but the black dog steps in front of me, protecting me from the werewolf. Pure adrenaline is pulsing through my veins as I debate if I should leave or not. They brawl for a while until the black dog lies on the ground whimpering in pain. The stag stands in to help the dog while it slowly crawls towards me. I force myself to move, even though I still feel rooted to the spot and take pity for the black dog, who could possibly be Sirius, Peter, or James. Either way it saved my life and I owe it. I have no idea where Remus is and seriously hope he isn't the werewolf. Carefully, I scoop the dog in my arms and run out of there like my life depends on it (which it probably does). The dog whimpers as I run, but I keep going until I'm out of sight of the whomping willow and the shrieking shack. Panting, I put the dog down and take time to catch my breath, then I pull out my wand.

"Episkey," I mutter, fixing some of the wounds. Blood makes me feel dizzy, so I take a minute to look away, feeling as if I might pass out.

"Rowan, are you alright?" I jump at the familiar voice and turn to see Sirius in the spot of the dog.

"Yes, but-you were-the dog-what?" He chuckles.

"Yes, I'm the dog. I'm an Animagus, and an unregistered one at that so it would be nice if you kept your mouth shut about it," he suddenly groans and clutches his arm, laying down on his back. I curse under my breath because of the bad healing spell.

"Shhh, shhhhh, it'll be alright," I comfort him like he's a small child. I mutter more healing spells I learned and his face relaxes a little bit. "Better?" He nods smiling with his eyes closed. "Now, are you going to tell me why there's a bloody werewolf in the shrieking shack?!" He shakes his head and I sigh, laying on the damp grass next to him. "Thanks, by the way, for saving me like that. It was stupid for me to follow you like that. I guess I was just REALLY bored..." He chuckles.