Feathers: The tale of the forgotten Marauder

Chapter 6

Lyra lost consciousness almost instantly. Her vision went black and let's just say she was lucky that James and Sirius were holding her up. Her legs collapsed beneath her as her brain stopped functioning.

"Oh no! Peter go and find Minnie, tell her everything...even if it gets us in trouble." James instructs Peter. It's almost impossible to move whilst Lyra is unconscious.

Peter leaves and Sirius helps to safely lay Lyra against a tree. James sits next to her whilst Sirius being as obnoxious as ever, walks over to a semi transforming Remus. The night must've gone quicker than they thought, if Remus was returning to a human again.

"Do you see what you've done to our friend? She's in pain and lost consciousness." He says firmly. It's almost like he's disappointed in Remus.

It's unclear whether Remus took on board what Sirius said but James swore he almost saw a look of regret crossing Remus' face. It was often rare to see Remus show much emotion but when he hurts one of the marauders he feels instant regret.

It felt like an eternity by the time Peter came back to the clearing with McGonagall. Her face was a frown of concern.

"Sorry James, I got lost." Peter says slightly out of breath.

"What on earth were you thinking?! Becoming illegal animagi. Honestly." McGonagall chides them as she gets down low enough to examine Lyra.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence in which James, Sirius and Peter were feeling very guilty. It would've been different had they not encouraged Lyra to join them in becoming animagi. A low groan comes from the tree behind them and the three boys turn to find Remus back to being a human.

He had a look of confusion on his face and tried to fight against the binds. Sirius went over to him to try and calm him down.

"What am I doing out here? And why am I tied up with the emergency binds?!" Remus asks, panic boiling in his throat.

Before anyone could answer, he happened to see Lyra on the floor, bloody and unconscious. His jaw dropped and he very slowly shrunk down the tree trunk until he was sat on the floor. McGonagall gave him a sympathetic look and turned to Sirius.

"Mr Black, could you kindly take Mr Lupin to the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey will want to do her check up on him as normal." She said calmly. Sirius agreed and unbound Remus, helping him to stand up and guide him back to the Hospital Wing.

James sat there on the forest floor, holding his sister's hand. He'd managed to tie his house tie around the wounds on Lyra's arm to halt the bleeding but it wouldn't hold for much longer.

"Professor, what are we going to do?" His voice was shaky and to be truthful, he was scared.

Professor McGonagall sensed this and she stood up. The expression on her face showed that she was still disappointed in all of them but she was willing to put that aside for now.

"We shall get her to the Hospital Wing and then once Miss Potter is awake, all four of you have some explaining to do." Her eyes had a steel glaze and there was a strict knot in her tone.

Eventually James, Peter and McGonagall got Lyra to Madame Pomfrey where they met up with Sirius and Remus. The latter of the two was still shaken by what he was seeing, and the fact that he had caused it.

"Hey, Moony, she'll be okay. I swear to you." Sirius says calmly as he puts a hand on Remus' shoulder.

"I hurt her. How exactly are we going to tell the others what happened to her and why she isn't back in their dormitory?" Remus whispers. He was wringing his hands together over and over. It's a stress relief movement.

"I don't know mate. But I think your bigger situation right now, is you need to check on James." Sirius states whilst watching James. It was an unusual sight to behold.

James was crouched down beside the hospital bed, holding Lyra's hand in both of his, pressing it against his forehead. He was trying not to cry and also trying not to be mad at Remus. It wasn't his fault, he didn't recognise anyone when he was in werewolf mode. Not when they're human at least.

Lyra is normally so excitable, and buzzing. The entirety of that Hospital Wing was a dead silence. They were already acting like there was no hope. Like she was already gone.

James felt a movement on either side of him and one on the edge of the bed. Looking up he saw Sirius sat beside Lyra on the bed, Remus on his right and Peter on his left.

"James, I'm so sorry..." Remus mumbled. He felt awful.

What Remus wasn't expecting was James to wrap his arms around him and to bury his head in his shoulder. Remus and Sirius shared a look of concern. This situation had broken James. So far that there was only one thing that might help him other than his sister waking up.

"Sirius, get your brother."