"Potter! Where are you taking me?!" Lily Evans yelled, cursing herself for agreeing to go see 'something'. Yet, she couldn't shake the feeling this was important somehow. And besides, shouldn't she trust her boyfriend?

"You'll see. Stay still, though. I need to put a charm on you," the boyfriend in question replied. She came to an abrupt halt in an attempt to protest that no, she did not want some experimental charm laid on her.

James made use of the opportunity by waving his wand around, speaking an incantation unfamiliar to her. It went somewhat like a 'Confundo' charm, but also contained elements of human-to-animal transfiguration.

"What are you doing, James?" Lily asked again. He didn't answer the question, but instead told her:

"When we go in, Lily, you have to remain silent. If you make any sound at all, he'll see through the charm. If anything goes wrong, get out and wait in the tunnel."

She nervously nodded. Why was she getting the idea that this was very dangerous?

Crossing the grounds, the pair eventually arrived at the Whomping Willow. The witch looked at her boyfriend, incredulous.

"It's not what you think, flower. Wormtail?" Lily glanced at their surroundings. As far as she could see, they were alone. Well, except for a rat.

Moments later, the Whomping Willow stopped moving.

"From now on, keep quiet and remain calm, no matter what you see. Oh, and don't provoke him," James cautioned her, entering a tunnel hidden between the tree's roots. Before following, Lily pointed her wand at herself, whispering:

"Silencio."

"Smart," said James. She just nodded. If speaking was that dangerous, it was better to take some precautions.

"I'm going to transform," James mouthed at her. Transform...?

Suddenly she was face-to-face with a stag. Lily was smart enough to understand the stag was actually James in his Animagus form.

A seventeen-year-old Animagus. God help her.

Walking forward, Lily laid a hand on James's back, gently stroking it. Her boyfriend was an Animagus. Probably an unregistered one at that, but she'd yell at him later, when she had her voice back.

James nuzzled her for a moment, and then transformed back.

"Okay, seems it hasn't happened yet," he whispered. They were standing in front of a very firm-looking metal door. Tapping his wand to it, James murmured:

"Alohomora."

After entering, he closed it, and placed several wards on the thing. Lily recognized them; they were ones that could easily be undone with a single tap of your wand, but were impossible to get open without magic.

"Prongs, you didn't..." a voice groaned from behind her. Startled, she turned around.

Remus was lying on the floor, only a threadbare blanket covering him. Pale and sweating, he looked very ill.

Next to him, a huge black dog growled at them. Lily backed up a step, only to bump into James.

"Padfoot, stop it. We agreed," he said. The dog stopped growling, but still stared at her with strangely familiar eyes. At her sharp intake of breath, James sighed.

"Yes, that's Sirius. Where's Wormtail?" he asked, addressing the dog, who just gestured in the direction of the stairs with his head.

"Ran off again, did he? WORMTAIL!" her boyfriend bellowed.

A grey rat appeared at the top of the stairs.

"No one's going to eat you, Peter," James sighed. "Come down."

The animal – which, apparently, was Peter – scuttered of again.

"Bloody rat!"

"Get Lily out of here!" Remus hoarsely shouted from behind them.

Instead of complying, James transformed into a stag.

"Bloody hell," Remus cursed. "Get her out of here!

Carefully inching closer, Lily laid her hand on his forehead.

"You do know what's going to happen?" he almost begged.

Warily, she shook her head.

"Fuck. Fuck, I'll kill Prongs. You have to get out of here, Lily. It's-"

She'd never know what it was, for at that moment, Remus's entire body went into a series of spasms. Stepping back, Lily leaned onto her stag, hoping he knew what he was doing.

Ten second later, she realised what was going on. Cursing herself for not recognizing it earlier, Lily slapped James on his muzzle, mouthing: 'Werewolf!' The stag just rolled its eyes, as if to say she should've caught on earlier.

Cautiously watching the werewolf, she noticed the transformation seemed to be over. It was not moving, though.

The dog stepped forward, pushing his nose against the werewolf's shoulder. The latter lifted its head.

Lily held back a gasp as she noticed the colour of its eyes. Those were Remus's, the green closely resembling her own. What was even more surprising, however, was its behaviour. Getting up, the werewolf hid itself behind Sirius, the dog's large frame completely obscuring it from view.

A laughter-like bark punctured the air. Sirius gently stepped aside, revealing the cowering wolf. Unlike what she had read, it did not attempt to bite her.

Instead, the wolf turned its head and tore a chunk of flesh from his shoulder, blood oozing from the wound. James immediately rushed forward, helping the dog to restrain the wolf, who let out a high-pitched whine but did not try to fight them off.

Giving the wolf one last push, as if to say: 'don't do that again," they let it go.

Stag on one side, dog on the other, the three animals walked toward her, the wolf continually trying to either hurt itself or hide behind the others.

When they reached her, it gently pressed its nose against her leg, looking up at her with those impossibly human eyes. She carefully held her hand out, and the wolf rubbed up against it.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see James beaming at her, and she narrowed her eyes, knowing she'd get him back for it later.

Remus was afraid to open his eyes.

If he did, who knew what he'd find?

"Remus, we know you're awake," Sirius said, poking him in the side.

Coughing up blood, Remus brought out:

"Prongs...kill..."

"Should've done that last night," Sirius laughed.

"Not funny, Padfoot," he groaned, wearily opening his eyes. No dead bodies were in sight, so that was good, he guessed.

Sirius just smiled, putting a blanket over him.

"JAMES POTTER!" someone shouted from upstairs.

"What's happening?" Remus asked, wincing at the noise.

"Lily is trying to hex James. Guess why?"

"Because he brought her here? Merlin, I'll gladly hex him into oblivion myself for that!"

"Hey now, no need to be so dramatic!" James complained, running down the stairs.

And landing on his face after tripping over his own feet. Both Sirius and Remus snorted.

Lily calmly descended the stairs, deftly stepping on James. Remus anxiously looked toward Sirius, not wanting to see the disgust on her face.

"What happened to my shoulder?" he inquired, noticing the large hole in it.

"Same as always," Sirius sighed. "We really should tie you up or something."

"It doesn't hold." At their confused looks, he added: "I already tried that."

No one said anything. Remus resolutely did not look at Lily.

"What charm did you use?" the witch asked her boyfriend.

"It's an aura-morphing Confundo charm. It makes any non-humans perceive you as an animal."

"That doesn't exist."

"We invented it," James cheekily grinned.

"What animal am I?" she asked.

"A doe," Remus mumbled without looking up. He remembered vague flashes of last night, and Lily was always present there as a female version of James.

James beamed brighter than the sun.

"You see? We're meant to be together!"

"No one got hurt?" Remus softly questioned.

Sirius rolled his eyes. James –who had stopped pretending to be a rug – gave his best friend a shove.

"What?!" Sirius protested.

"It's a valid concern in his mind," James sighed.

"Only in my mind?" Remus sputtered.

"You were rather timid," Lily remarked.

"Timid?!"

"Kept hiding behind us, that one," Sirius smirked.

"And when you stopped being shy, you behaved like a lapdog," James added.

"You always do," Peter piped up.

"Great," Remus muttered, "I'm a pathetic werewolf."

Everyone burst out laughing.

A/N

My take on how Lily finds out about the Marauders's secret.

It's something I really just wanted to write.

I imagine the wolf as being a reflection of Remus's own personality, and therefore shy and gentle.

Well, as long as there aren't any humans nearby, of course.

Comments are greatly appreciated!