Feathers: The tale of the forgotten Marauder

Chapter 5

It was a very windy and cold afternoon on the grounds of Hogwarts. The ground was still squelchy and muddy from the previous night's heavy downpour. Lyra and Lily were on their way to Care of Magical Creatures when the topic of tonights situation gets brought up.

"So, Lyra, are you going to help the boys with tonight's...um, you know?" Lily asks quietly. In the marauders, they use a safe word for Remus' lycanthropy. All the boys and Lyra became animagus to help Remus through the full moon, he always found it difficult as a child.

"I have to Lily, you know that. I chose to do this." Lyra whispers as they get closer to class. Lily just rolls her eyes in disapproval and continues walking to class. Lyra couldn't help but sigh in resignation as they finally enter class.

Unfortunately for the two of them, today's lesson was theory and on....werewolves. Lily and Lyra share a glance and panic slightly. They can't show that they know too much about lycanthropy otherwise it might raise some suspicion.

The day went faster than any other, partially due to the impending concern for what will happen during tonight's expedition. Lyra joins James, Sirius and Peter outside the Great Hall expecting to find Remus so that they can join the Halloween Feast.

"Where is he? It's better for him to eat before he goes out- oh Merlin's Beard." James starts. Lyra and the others turn to see Remus walking with Madame Pomfrey.

"Already?! Quickly, out the side door, we need to be on the forest edge for when Poppy leaves the passageway." Lyra says as she leads the others in a quick dash to the side door of the entrance hall.

They all ran as fast as they could through the grounds to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Making sure that they are hidden in the shadows, the four of them transform into their animagus forms. James turns into a brilliant brown stag, Sirius becomes a night black, shaggy dog, Peter turns himself into a small rat and Lyra turns into a snow white dove.

Waiting and watching as Poppy leads a disgruntled Remus through the Whomping Willow passage way, the marauders wait for Poppy to return. As soon as she comes out of the passage, the four marauders slowly make their way to the entrance of the passage way.

This passage leads to the Shrieking Shack, famously named because of these full moons. Lyra takes up her usual position on guard by the tree. It's silent for about three minutes before the loud shriek of an animal comes from the passage and a blur of grey comes dashing past.

Lyra's heart races as she watches Remus' wolf lurch towards the forest. This isn't how the full moon is meant to go. She hesitated for a moment too long because James' stag makes a sudden movement to her, telling her to follow Remus.

Flying into the tree line, Lyra tries to track down the werewolf that is her best friend. It takes her a few moments to track him down. Once she found him, it was easy to keep an eye on him. What concerned Lyra most was when Remus stopped moving. He just stood still.

Being the 'act first and think later' girl, she flies down into the clearing and turns back into a human. Big mistake.

"Remus, it's me Lyra...we need to get you back to the shack." She says cautiously. Her hands are in front of her and she takes slow steps towards him.

Remus didn't seem to recognise her. It happened so quickly that she didn't even register what had happened until it was already done.

Remus had moved so quickly and slashed her arm leaving a deep cut and blood spilling over her robes. Lyra stumbled back and landed on the floor. Remus' werewolf form lurked over her and bared its teeth.

Lyra's heart was racing, from fear or the fact she was slowly losing consciousness, she wasn't sure. She couldn't see much, her vision was blurry and her breathing was getting quicker.

The grey shape above her lurched out the way as a brown figure knocked it to the side. Lyra could hear two male voices to her left and realised that the boys were using their back up plan. They had a material that could hold Remus back for the rest of the night.

James turned back into a human and crouched beside Lyra, helping her sit up slightly.

"Hey, Feathers, you okay?" He asks, concern coating his voice.

"Do I look okay?" She responds sarcastically, indicating to the massive three cuts in her left arm.

"Merlin's Beard! We need to get you to the hospital wing." James states worriedly.

"How exactly do you propose the reasoning behind the claw like marks on my arm?" Lyra says almost out of breath.

"Maybe we should get you there, you're not okay, Peter will find Minnie and explain everything, we can trust her." James says as Sirius comes over and helps to support Lyra between them.