♥️ 𝒥𝒾𝓁𝓎 ♥️

【Lilys never been one for sitting idle...】

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She first saw him stagger, late, through the portrait hole covered in blood when she was in sixth year and utterly swamped in essays and homework assignments.

"Potter!" She cried, jumping up from the settee she was perched on and instantly awakened from her stupor of healing potions and non-verbal spells.

"What?" Potter was looking rather worse for wear: his shoulder had an ugly gash across it down to the back of his shoulder blade, his shirt utterly mutilated and his left eye looked like some kind of special effect makeup they use in the Muggle movies that Mary loved so much.

"What?!" She cried, scurrying over to him to get a better survey of his damage, "you look like you've been bitten by something out the Forbidden Forrest!" She paused then, fixing him with a look hard enough to kill on site.
"You didn't get bitten by anything in the Forbidden Forest, did you?"

James chuckled, shaking his head awkwardly and trying to shift past her but she sidestepped back on front of him.

"Something like that." He murmured.

"What were you doing?!"

This time James didn't answer. And as most people know: no answer leaves more room for curiosity.
"James?" She threatened.

"Nothing! It was an accident, okay? Now can you let me past I'll fix myself up once I have a shower."

Lily, to say the least, was mortified.
"You can't have a shower before that's cleaned! It'll be agony!"

"Yeah, well, I've had enough practice-" as soon as this was out his mouth it was clear that it was not an accident, like he had previously described but, in fact, something else. He was starting to regret opening his big mouth.

"I'm sorry, Potter, I cannot -in good morals- let you take a shower when that is what your shoulder looks like. I just can't!" Lily took his hand gently and lead him down onto the settee she had been occupying a minute before on her own. The voice telling her to hate James Potter had muted itself as soon as she saw the ugly slit in the poor boys shoulder.

"Shirt off. If I'm going to fix this I need to see it."

James snapped his head round to glower at her, "what?! No!"

"James. I'm not going to tell you again. Do you want me to help you?"

"No I do not."

"Tough! Shirt off or I'll stitch your jumper into your skin!"

This seemed to do a lot to convince James to pull his jumper over his head and turn to show her his shoulder, hissing during the whole process.

Lily tutted, studying the injury for a few moments. "It would help if you could tell me what this is from. It's easier to fix if you know what caused it."

James didn't reply, the fire was the only sound in the empty room; it felt like the whole of Hogwarts were asleep in that moment. Nothing seemed to be alive but them and their silence.

"If I tell you it'd be much worse for both of us," he whispered, finally his voice coated with a sort of trepidation in replace of his usual dexterity and debonair.

"I'll bet that's not true. It's not illegal is it?"

"Highly."

"Then why aren't you bragging about it?"

Even with his back turned she could feel her eyes roll, it was practically life threatening.
"It's not that sort of illegal."

When Lily laughed it wasn't melodic and mellifluous like it usually was. It was bitter and he didn't like it one bit.
"I won't tell."

"Neither will I."

"Fine!" She snapped, whipping her wand out with more force than necessary, "apologies in advance."

She proceeded to carry out her mission of fixing and stitching and patching up James' back and shoulder while he sat and hissed, doubting her healing abilities with every wave of her wand. He flinched and yelped far more than he would care to admit but something about Lily Evans made him constantly on edge.

"Is it Remus?"

He yelped again.

"What?!"

Lily proceeded calmly, "Remus. He told me he was a werewolf. Anyone that cared enough about him -or in some cases, hated him enough- would be able to figure something out. But he told me."

This had floored James more than anything Lily had ever said or done. More than her insults, more than their fights, and even more than the time ten minutes ago when she insisted on fixing the ugly gash in his shoulder.

"Oh."

"So?"

"If I tell you something would you promise never to breathe a word of it to a living soul ever again?"

"No."

James gave her a warning look, seemingly trying to tell her this was not a matter for piss-taking. Lily picked up on his frown and sighed.
"I promise heart and soul." She even crossed her heart with her finger.

"Watch." He stood up carefully and made his way to the middle of the room, leaving his wand on the table, he was practised enough not to need it.
Seconds later James was gone. In his place was a magnificent stag: Prongs.

He cantered around for a moment, seemingly trying to show her he was real before transforming back into James and sitting in the couch, nervously, Lily hadn't found the strength to move (or indeed blink) since he'd transformed.

He was going to wait for her to speak but after a moment's hesitation he relented, "yeah. I don't like staying in the hospital wing and making a song and dance about it, you know? It makes him feel bad."
James watched in a sort of stupor as Lily sighed compassionately. Without thinking she threw her arms around his neck, careful to avoid his shoulder.

"That is probably the single most courageous and lovely thing I've ever heard anyone do for a friend."

He blushed furiously, dipping his head onto her shoulder and feeling grateful she couldn't see his burning face.
"So you're not going to tell anyone we broke the law?"

He felt her shake her head against his body.
"Of course not."

"Thank you Lily."

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A year later Lily sat in the heads common room. Staring nervously at the portrait hole James was due to emerge from in the next half an hour or so.

Since James had told her the lengths that he and the marauders had went through to protect Remus something about just visiting him in the hospital wing didn't quite seem like enough. And so, being Lily Evans, she decided to correct the issue.

James chose that moment to interrupt her thoughts and come frolicking in the entrance, looking completely exhausted and clumsy. When the Head Boy spied her, he almost fell back out the portrait and went tumbling down the stairs.

"Lily! Merlin's pants, I almost had a heart attack!"

She stood up and rushed over to her newly formed friend and guided him to sit down.
"You look like shit. Let me fix you up, okay?" Too tired to argue, James nodded; allowing her to run her wand over his bruises and sprained ribs until he felt almost completely fine (minus the fatigue).

"Thanks," he mumbled, his eyes closing a little bit, fluttering like they weighed ten tonnes and a grain of sand all at once.

Lily tapped his shoulder, "I need to tell you something?"

"Can't it wait? Sleep is calling."

"It can't wait." She pressed, rocking his shoulder this time to help wake him up. "If I don't tell you now then I might never find the courage."

These words seemed to perk up James as he sat up, etched with worry?
"What is it?"

"Well. I think it's best I just show you." She stood up, just like James had done a year ago, although she needed her wand as she was much less practiced.

Seconds later there was a doe in her place, a little smaller than Prongs but absolutely beautiful. James found himself smiling before the shock. It wasn't as if he didn't know she was trying to be an animagus- he knew first hand exactly what it entailed. (No one loses their voice for a whole month unless they have a mandrake leaf in their mouth.)
Then the shock set in. She was a doe. A doe! He knew exactly what that meant and Lily must have known too because the little fawn was wearing a nervous look in her eyes.

He wasn't sure words were competent enough to express how he felt and so he stood up and allowed himself to morph until he was Prongs once again. Now they were both deer they seemed to be able to communicate in a way humans couldn't, they seemed to know each other's thoughts like telepathy.

Prongs made his way over to the little doe very carefully, asking the fawn's permission to come closer without verbally making a sound. The deer nodded and took a step closer to Prongs. Then another, then another, and another until finally their noses touched and they rested there for what felt like an age. It was magical, like nothing they had ever experienced before. A new sort of closeness.

Neither wanting to change back, the little fawn trotted over to the fireplace (a little uneasy on her feet) and curled down, Prongs followed and they soon drifted off to sleep.

Of course it would be rather difficult to explain why two deer were in the heads common room snuggling come sun rise but neither thought of that and so they slept quite contently, without a care in the world.
If only humans were that simplistic.

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This oneshot idea goes to Firewreath , hope you liked it (: