The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

Happy Mew-mories

Happy Mew-mories

It took some time, quite a lot of maneuvering to steer the wolf in the opposite direction of Lily Evans and a good deal of nipping and growling from Sirius to get Rey back to at least being under Sirius's control as Alpha-Beta. For over an hour Sirius and James worked together to herd the werewolf back through the forest, back to the Shrieking Shack, where Sirius got the wolf inside and James used his antlers to tug the door shut.

The moment the door closed - the wolf within, the dog and stag without - Sirius popped into his human form and he lunged at the still transforming stag, clutching at James's half-changed jumper-covered chest and he shook him, "POTTER! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!" he yelled and he slammed James against the wall of the house. "You know how Rey is! He's going to bloody blitz when he hears what he's done, scaring Evans like that! You bleedin' idiot! He could've killed her!"

James's transformation completed, his face smooshing into shape, the texture of his nose returning to normal and tears hot against his cheeks. "I DIDN'T DO IT ON PURPOSE!" James shouted the instant he could, "YOU THINK FOR A SECOND I'D PUT LILY EVANS IN DANGER?! FOR EVEN A SECOND?!"

Sirius's eyes softened as James's distraught features came into focus... the wrinkles 'round his forehead, the abject pain in his eyes... "Oi... Mate, what happened?"

James's glasses were still broken on one side, his nose and cheeks pink from crying, his eyes nearly crossed from stress and exhaustion... He slid down the wall until he'd landed on the porch floor, his legs sprawled out before him and he leaned back so he was looking up at the ceiling. James tried to remember how to breathe like a human being. It was a lot harder than it should've been.

"Occulus reparo," Sirius said, taking his wand from his hair, so the mane cascaded down his back in a great swoop, and tapping the frames of James's glasses and at least ending one small bit of his suffering.

Inside, the wolf was scratching at the door, growling and trying to get out. Sirius kicked the door. "Shut up in there! You've done enough marauding for tonight, you great drooling muppet!" he called out. He turned back to James. "What happened?"

"I told Evans." James covered his eyes. "She didn't take it well."

"You don't say?" Sirius said sarcastically. "I worked that much out."

James muttered, "She hates me. Worse than before. Like actually officially hates me now."

"You've just saved her life, though, so she sort of owes you a bit, I reckon."

"I was far more in her debt than she'd ever be in mine," James said, shaking his head. "I could save her life a thousand times over and I'd still owe her one." He stared at his feet. "I was an idiot for not telling her before."

Sirius sighed.

The wolf was still bouncing against the door, his growls becoming more vicious the longer he tried to escape, the longer Sirius was out of his dog form. But as long as he was bouncing off the door, then he wasn't biting himself so Sirius let him have at it. He sat down next to James. "What in hell made you tell her tonight, on a full moon? In the ruddy woods?"

James looked at his knees, "She... she was being friendly. She came to the try outs and... she waved at me." James looked at Sirius with sad eyes. "And after, she came down on the pitch and... she actually said I did a good job."

Sirius's eyebrows raised, "Lily Evans said that?"

James nodded.

"Specifically to you?"