Strange Benefits (James Potter)

twenty two

note: thank you for the 3k reads!
warning: written and published under the influence of lots of alcohol loool

The following weeks played out as follows:

Monday morning saw Sirius getting caught in the Gryffindor girls' dormitories going through their underwear drawers, resulting in chaotic teenage screaming, nipple slips through skimpy nightgowns, and a month's worth of detention. It was a stupid dare James made him do, but still the sights he saw made it worth it.

Thursday the next week, Peter and two other fifth years were cleaning the all-too-messy, all-too-busy kitchens with house elves scolding everywhere because Finch walked in on them munching food made for a feast at a quarter past two in the morning during his "necessary" rounds inside the kitchen itself.

And finally, Wednesday evening (last night, in fact), Milla witnessed what she guesses was probably equally illegal as it is mind gobbling.

"You had horns," she sputtered out the next day as she stood over James' battered body in the Hospital Wing. Shaking her head with her mouth still open, she repeated her words. "You had horns,"

He shushed her and rolled his eyes. "They're called prongs and they are very handy, thank you very much,"

His nickname all of a sudden made sense to Milla. "A-and Sirius is..." she stuttered. "A dog,"

Sirius protested somewhere in a bed far right of her, but she proceeded to ignore his whining. "And Remus is a were..."

"You can stop now," James widened his eyes at her but she frowned at him.

"And Peter, where is Peter?" she asks, running a hand through her hair. "You lads have some major explaining to do later and I will personally see to it that I get the answers I'm looking for the minute you walk out of this infirmary, do you understand?" When no one responded, she repeated herself only much more sternly. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," they mumbled in unison, unable to meet her eyes.

The sight she witnessed the night before haunted her. At first, she was planning to take a much-deserved bath in the Prefects' bathroom but then she heard James screaming Sirius' name, his voice echoing in the otherwise silent hallways. Thinking the boys were in huge trouble as she had never heard such fear in the head boy's voice before, she decided to look for them.

His loud footsteps led her outside, the bright full moon taunting and glimmering against the pitch dark land. Milla watched as the two Marauders came to a halt near the edge of the forbidden forest, and in combined shock and amazement when their bodies began to morph and the strong sense of magic filled the air. Within a couple seconds, James has transformed into a huge stag and Sirius, a black dog. Peter was nowhere to be seen.

She was about to call them out, ready to demand an explanation when another figure made itself visible from the tall trees.

It was Remus Lupin, but not quite.

He was howling in pain, and dark tones start to stretch against the pale color of his skin. He scratched at his chest and screamed, fingernails turning into lethal claws and digging into his flesh. Suddenly the sounds coming from his mouth turned more animalistic, more... monstrous.

Milla almost had a heart attack at her realization.

Remus, the ever-studious, ever-the-gentleman Remus, was a werewolf.

The first thought that came to mind was poor Rem, because he didn't deserve to be cursed in anyway. He was one of the most likable and smart people Milla knew, and to have to endure such pain every full moon was a catastrophe.

Her wide eyes locked with the stag's brown, round ones, and it took a few steps toward her as a person would. That's James. She felt faint at the thought.

It was only when Remus growled in her direction that she ran the hell away from there, forcing herself not to look back to relive her eyes of such horrors.

When she woke up the next morning, she had a few minutes to ponder whether the night prior had been a very wild dream or if it was indeed reality. She couldn't help but think about how much of a relief it would be if it turned out to be the former, although it was admittedly wishful thinking.

It took a few questions with students who had the same classes to pinpoint just exactly where the Marauders where at, and when Milla found out they were in the infirmary, it wasn't a whole lot of surprise.

"Milla—" James tried to call her name when she began to walk away after demanding answers from all of them, but she whipped back and cut him off.

"Talk to me when you're no longer wincing with every move, then you can explain."

-

Thank you for all the comments and suggestions in the last chapter! i will try to incorporate every suggestion that i see fit in this story and i hope you can cope with me. this is, after all, a work in progress. there will be chapters, such as this one, that's not perfect and won't meet your standards, but please bear with me. i love you all ✌🏻 also, i am so drunk im sorry.