Selenophile // Marauders

|63| The Prank, Fifth Year

Riley walked up to the Gryffindor common room. She opened the door to the girl's dormitory. Lily was crying on the corner of her bed. Marlene and Dorcas were sitting next to her. 

"I hate him!" Lily said with her voice breaking as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I should've known! I should've known he was gonna be like them!"

'Yeah, you should have...' Riley thought in her head. 

"Look, he had no right to call you— that— but he insults everyone like that..." Marlene said. 

"Think of it this way, the sooner you got away from him, the better!" Dorcas said. Lily chuckled. 

"And Potter too!" said Lily. "He thinks he's any better than Sev— Snape. He is the same! That arrogant, bullying, immature, toerag! Showing that snitch around thinking he's the best at everything..." 

'Of course, he's better than Snivelly,' Riley thought. 'At least he isn't a racist...'

"Don't get me wrong Lil," Riley started. "But I'm happy you aren't friends with that greasy git anymore. Look, I'd never want you to be upset in any way, but this was gonna happen at some point," she said softly.

"No, you were right!" Lily said. "You were right when you said he was going to join them one day! I was too naive, I was blinded!"

Mary entered the dorm with a frown on her face. 

"Ugh— Snape is in front of the portrait asking for you..." she said. "He was practically begging the Fat Lady to let him in... What a creep!"

Lily stood up very fastly and quickly rushed out of the dorm. 

"LILY! NO!" Dorcas screamed behind her. 

"Ooh! Maybe they'll finally fight and Lily will beat the shit out of him!" Riley said and walked out of the dorm. 

The sounds of the two 'friends' rose from in front of the entrance to the common room. Riley didn't exit the common room not to make everything even worse.

"I thought we were supposed to be friends?" Snape was saying. "Best friends?"

"We were, Sev, but I don't like some of the people you're hanging 'round with! I'm sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber! What do you see in him, Sev, he's creepy! D'you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald and Riley Spade the other day?"

Lily had reached a pillar and leaned against it, looking up into the thin, sallow face. Little did she know Snape also helped them...

"That was nothing," said Snape. "It was a laugh, that's all—"

"It was Dark Magic, and if you think that's funny—"

"Potter and his mates do all that sort of stuff for fun!" Snape said. Riley had a hard time keeping herself from going there and punching him in the face. 

"They don't use Dark Magic!" Lily shouted. "Honestly, I'm wasting my time talking to you, Snivellus..."

Lily walked back to the common room and the portrait closed right behind her. 

***

The Transfiguration OWL was the last exam left. It was a Friday, a nice sunny day. Everyone left the examination hall and went outside after the last OWL was done. 

"The exams are finished!" James shouted. "No more studying in the library!"

"History of Magic didn't go very well though..." Sirius complained. 

"Nothing went well but at least they're done!" Peter said. 

"The last three could've been better. Especially Potions, I probably failed that..." Riley said quieter than the others. 

"That wasn't your fault," Remus said softly. "You got cursed the day before Potions."

"Is it the full moon today?" Sirius asked. 

"Yeah," Remus answered. 

***

James, Peter, Remus, and Riley walked down to the Whomping Willow. The three were under the invisibility cloak while Madam Pomfrey assisted Remus. She then went back to the castle after Remus went inside. 

Peter turned into a rat and pressed the knot, allowing the others to also go into the Shrieking Shack. James and Riley threw the cloak off of themselves and went up the stairs, next to Remus. 

Remus was pacing around the shack, nervous. He kept cracking his knuckles, biting his fingernails. 

"Where the hell is Sirius?" he asked. James went next to him to stop him from pacing. 

"He should be here any minute now—" Riley said. 

"He's never late," Remus mumbled. "There must be something wrong."

"He probably got detention or somethin', no big deal," Peter said. 

Riley and Peter turned into their animagi forms. The rat ran around the room as the fox just sat there, waiting. She just wanted to sleep, but she couldn't leave her friend alone. 

"It's starting," Remus said. He then paused and the transformation started. James went under the invisibility cloak and quickly got away. Remus screamed in pain, his bones cracked, his feet and jaw grew. Then the wolf howled.

Riley looked around, trying to see where James was. She went right next to Remus and tried to stop him from attacking the rat. She let out a small howl and the rat climbed to the fox's head, but then fell out of fear. 

The wolf had focused on something else. The fox looked at the wolf which was now trying to get to the door of the shack, howling. He pushed the fox away aggressively into a wall and the fox cried in pain but then got up. 

The werewolf was stopped by someone, an invisible force. Then the cloak fell off James. The wolf scratched his arm but James didn't fall down. Riley peeked through the door and saw someone else with black hair and the school robes. But it wasn't Sirius, it was Snape.

"Go! NOW!" James shouted as he pushed the wolf into the shack. 

"Is that—" Snape stuttered in fear. The wolf tried to get back to Snape. 

"I SAID GO!" James shouted and Snape fled the Whomping Willow. 

He pushed the wolf back into the shack and the fox quickly closed the door. Snape hadn't seen them transform, there was no way he could suspect them being animagi. 

***

Remus had fallen asleep in the shack. Not fully asleep but his eyes were closed. He had transformed back into his human form and he was under a blanket. Riley sat in the shack along with Peter and James, none of them speaking. 

"How did he find out?" Peter asked quietly. 

"Dunno," Riley answered whisperingly. 

"Did you see Sirius last night?" James asked. 

"No, he never came..." Riley said. It was him, he had told Snape about the Shriekking Shack. 

"You don't think—" she said in realization. 

"I do..." James said.