Chapter 2: Outside and Barely Alive

"Ravenclaw smartass." "Better believe it, baby butt."

Vici: The party was going pretty well so far. Natalie and I had managed to avoid all of the Marauders the entire time, and it was actually not a bad party. I was told the drinks were good, but I don't really drink, and when I do, it's almost never stronger than Butterbeer.

I stuck with Natalie the entire time, because neither of us were planning on going to a corner and snogging someone for half the night, and if we didn't stick with each other, we'd both have a fair line of people (of both genders) waiting to get snogged, if we so chose. But we didn't, so we stayed with each other. I, personally, have seen Regulus stalking me like tiger since I walked in, but I know if I even glanced at him he'd have a lot more than kissing on his mind.

Either way, I really wanted to dance with Justin. Not snog in a corner, but just dance. I've grown a thing for him over the past four years. Ever since the first night I was here, after I got sorted. He put his arm around me, in a friendly way, but then not two hours later when Ben did it, it felt different, and foreign.

So, yeah, I have a thing for Justin.

Anyway, I knew I couldn't leave Natalie alone and sentence her to a grueling fate of bombardment and death by drunk partiers, so I had to resist the urge to slip away several times. The whole party passes in a fun, colourful, partying mirage, and before I know it, it's the end; the Marauders are up on the stage, giving the closing speech. I tune them out, uninterested, until they say something about special guests. I look up at them, knowing they mean Natalie and I. "What's going on?" I mutter, more to myself than anyone. Talking out loud helps me thing things through more slowly than in my head, and helps me understand things better.

"Bullshit, that's what." is Natalie's angry reply.

A small circle clears around us and people start to applaud, which only adds to my unease. Then Potter speaks up, who just makes matters worse by saying "Don't look so frightened." A clear indicator that we should be very frightened. He grinned. "It's your party after all." Wait what? "Lift your glasses one more time for Nat and Vici!"

I barely had time to register surprise at the nickname for my best friend before she all but physically spat "Natalie" at Potter in a low growl. I mean, really. I knew Potter especially had a deathwish, the way he tails Evans around, but this? He must be really drunk. Everyone in the school, even the teachers, knew that if you ever called Natalie anything but just that, Natalie, you had a suicide note coming your way.

That alone was enough to shock any theories of what was coming for the two of us from the Marauders, but the answer became quite clear when a boy in a quite convincing skeleton costume came up and shoved two steaming cups into our hands. My brain then made these following deductions in the span of, I'd say, three or four seconds.

-the drinks are spiked

-we are expected to drink the spiked drinks

-knowing the Marauders, it's going to be something extremely annoying

-knowing the Marauders, it's going to be something extremely funny to everyone but us, especially for them

-but knowing the Marauders, it won't be something extremely dangerous, or deadly With all of these in mind, thinking there's no harm in giving them a good laugh (cos I know we'll get them back later, and they know that too) I down the drink in one gulp.

The aroma of the potion hit my nose before the drink hit my tongue, and I immediately identify it as a laughing potion. What little panic I had left vanished. See? Harmless. I don't know how to make it, but I've seen the effects of it before, when I nicked some from my mom a few years back and slipped it into my sister's orange juice the morning before she had a date with this guy she really liked.

The potion hits my tongue and I swallow it quickly, not caring about the unfamiliar taste I detect as it goes down. I start to giggle, then laugh. Soon, I am doubled over laughing, and I can't stop. I'm not worried though.

I glance at Natalie. She obviously hasn't made the connection that, while the Marauders are pranksters, they aren't killers, and that the drink is perfe-

I stop mid-thought as a cough erupts, mixing with the laughter. This isn't supposed to happen. At least, it's not what happened with Gwen. I keep laughing, then another cough. Soon, I'm not laughing at all. Cough after cough raked through my body, like a fistful of scalpels carving themselves through my lungs and my stomach. And then came the blood.

My face was contorted in pain by the time that the blood came, spitting out of my mouth. I felt two arms wrap around me, shaking me slightly, talking to me, trying to get me to reply, but I couldn't tell who. All I could do is cough, and cough, as more and more pain tore itself through me. I hoped it was Natalie.

Tears were streaming down my face as I continued to cough and hack. The pain coursed through me, as though replacing all the blood I'm loosing by spitting it out. It was nearing unbearable when suddenly, I was fine. I was still doubled over, but I no longer felt any pain, nor did I need to cough. I touched my face. No trace of blood. I was still standing in a crowd of people, all wearing Halloween costumes. So I was still at the party, then.

I must've been out of it for a while, because now, everyone was crowded around something else. I heard coughing. My brain shot to Natalie. Did she drink the potion too? What if she had the same reaction! What if she's dying! I ran through the crowd, which strangely parted for me, even though nobody looked to see if I was there. When I reached the small circular clearing of people, I saw something very strange.

Natalie was crouching, on the ground, shouting something at the Marauders. She was kneeling, though. Kneeling beside someone in a red, old-fashioned dress, with a bloodred cape, who was doubled over, lurching and shaking, like she was coughing.

And then it hit me: Natalie was kneeling beside me.

Once I got over the fact that I was outside my body, I focused on the situation. My face was turning purple. Natalie looked up at the four Marauders, who's faces had all paled enough to rival even Helena herself. Natalie looked murderous, and her voice cut through the four pranksters as she shouted at them. "What did you do?" she demanded. "What have you done to her!"

"We – we didn't know –" James stuttered.

"This wasn't meant to happen." Sirius cut him off.

"I don't care what was meant to happen!" Natalie shrieked, her voice quavering. The music had stopped, and her voice echoed throughout the Room of Requirement. "Tell me what you did."
Remus stepped forward, his eyes hurt. I had always known he had a thing for my best friend, her being my best friend, and me being the practically professional matchmaker that I am, but now it was more obvious than ever. Typical Natalie, though, missed the pained, sorrowful look he was projecting. He spoke up timidly, saying "We put laughing potion in your drinks. Strong ones that wouldn't wear off for days." 

Yeah, I knew that already. When was he gonna get to the important stuff? I needed to know the ingredients. Why was I reacting this way to what is normally just a harmless potion?

Natalie was thinking on the same lines, apparently, because seconds after I thought that, she screamed at them "What's in the potion? What are the ingredients?"

Lily Evans, brave as she was, stepped towards the raging fifth year. "Quills of a knarl, horseradish powder, billywing wings, and alihotsky leaves."

Oh.

Alihotsky leaves.

Shit. 

"Fuck." Natalie and I are on the same wavelength, it seems. She knows of my serious allergy to alihotsky leaves, which, depending on how much I consume, can be fatal. Deadly, even. That, mixed with the fact that they almost definitely used the strongest alcohol they could get their hands on, I'm probably gonna be in this limbo-ghost-conscious-state-thing for a little while. No less than five days, which means I'm missing a ton of classes. And I'll be stuck not being able to communicate with the world, which will drive me mad.

Natalie calls for people to help her carry me to the Hospital Wing, and smartly, Lily (who I know pretty well from her tutoring me in potions) goes up to the Marauders and puts them in their place. No one else does, but I see Remus's crestfallen face that he can't be by Natalie's side, apologizing, and comforting her. It's much more than a thing, then. I think he really loves her. Speaking of things-that-might-be-more-than-things, my heart drops when I don't see Justin with Natalie, helping her carry me, or at least blocking people's way, or clearing a path. I try to use magic, and see that, to my surprise, I can float around like a ghost can. But I'm not dead yet, am I? I'm not quite dead; I've just got...a flesh wound. It's just a flesh wound.

A possibly deadly, very painful, very bloody, internal flesh wound.

I hope someone gets me to Madam Pomfrey fast.

I'm high above the crowd when I spot him. He's pushing, shoving his way through the party costumes, and drunken fumes, but considering how dense the crowd is, he's getting practically nowhere. I am long gone by now. Natalie, Lucius, and a couple others (probably Regulus), have probably got me to the Hospital Wing. I fly down to Justin, and run, just ahead of him, to the door, clearing a path. He looks startled, but doesn't question it before sprinting through the empty space, and leaving the Room of Requirement.

He stumbles a bit on his way down to the infirmary, and I suspect he's a little bit drunk. I watch as he darts through hallway after hallway, not caring if he's caught. He proves this when he almost literally runs into Minerva McGonagall on his way down a deserted corridor.

"Prewett!" she yells at him. "What in heavens are you doing in the corridor at this hour?"

"Sorry Professor, I-"

"Prewett," she interrupts. "Is that alcohol I smell? Are you drunk?"

"Yes," he answers honestly. "And only slightly. I didn't drink much, Professor, but most of the drinks were spiked, so I'm not entirely sure-"

"Most of the drinks where?" she demands, even though I think she already knows.
"The Halloween Party, Professor. Ask the Headmaster, I'm sure he knew about it." This is true. Dumbledore knows pretty much everything that goes on here, no matter how good the Marauders think they are at hiding all their parties and pranks.

"Right. Well don't you use secret passages to get back to your dorms? Why are you running, partly drunk, through the corridors?"

"It's Vici, Professor. The Marauders made a special toast to Natalie and Vici, and I assumed, at first, that it was just a really strong shot, but then Vici downed hers in one gulp, and I got worried, because she rarely ever drinks, and never anything stronger than Butterbeer, and then she starts laughing, and then she starts coughing, and then she doesn't stop coughing, and by then Natalie was screaming at them, and it turns out that the drinks were spiked with a laughing potion which apparently has alihotsky leaves, which Vici has a huge allergy too-"

"Yes, I know of Miss Bonafante's allergy. Now I'm not going to question anything, although I should be giving you about fifty detentions. Just hurry, and get to the Hospital Wing. I know she would want you at her side." With that, the professor walked past a gaping Justin, and continued on her rounds. She's right, though. I do want him there, right at my bedside. I want him to sit with me, and to hold my hand, even if I can't feel it. I want him to be there.
I follow him down to the Hospital Wing.

When Justin reaches the Hospital Wing, he runs right in. I wait, preparing myself for what I'm about to face, first of all, my body. Second of all, my bloody, mangled, choking body. How the hell do you prepare yourself for something like that? Here's the answer: you don't. You just suck it up, and turn the corner, and-

And see your peaceful, resting body, in new clothing, cleaned of blood, and completely dormant. That is definitely not what I was expecting. Okay then. 

I see a blur and realize that it's Justin, all but sprinting to my bed. If I could, I'm sure I'd blush, but all I do is completely well with happiness. Justin is special to me, he always had been. I'm sure plenty of other people see it, I sure as hell don't hide it very well, but at the same time, he sure as hell doesn't see it. It's so annoying when he's always right next to me, but I know at any moment he can leave, because there's nothing keeping him there. I have no idea why he doesn't leave, but he never does, and that just makes me fear the day he eventually does leave even more. 

But now, the longer he stays, the less I'm sure he'll leave. Madame Pomfrey tried and failed many times to convince him to leave, but after the fifth or so time of him practically telling her to just piss off, she finally gives up, and goes back to her office. 

I sit with him for hours, long after he falls asleep, his body slouched, his arms resting on the side of my bed, and his head resting on his arms. It's a Sunday, so there's no worry of classes. When Madame Pomfrey comes and wakes him up, he barely even acknowledges her. He just mumbles something about staying, and she leaves him alone, a look of sympathy detectable on her face just before she turns away from him. 

He stays by me for breakfast. I can tell Natalie skipped, too, based on how she didn't even put on makeup, or brush her hair before coming down. I know her, and she'd never go out in public like that. 

At around lunchtime, Lily comes in, bearing two small plates of food, and two goblets of pumpkin juice on a tray. She must've known that they hadn't eaten, and she brought them food. Sometimes it marvels me how much of a genuinely good person Lily is. And she doesn't even try to be, she just is. She just is. Neither of them want to eat, but Lily stays there until both of them have clean plates and empty glasses, and then she stays a bit longer. When she's sure neither of them are going to throw up or something, she takes the plates and forks and goblets, satisfied. Before she leaves, however, she slips a book into my limp hand. Advanced Potions Making- Everything You'll Ever Need For All Your Tough and Tricky Illnesses and Injuries. I smile. Even if Lily can't tutor me, she still has hopes that I'll learn.

See? People like Lily Evans are very rare. They appear every one in five trillion people, magical and muggle alike. People like Lily Evans are very rare, and I hope to god that someday soon, James Potter's head will deflate enough to see that, and stop using those ghastly pickup lines on her, and ask her out on a proper date, for god's sake!

Sorry, got a bit carried away there. Anyway, it's nighttime now, my favourite time of day. Time to roam the castle! I'm completely invisible, can't make sound, and I've got no curfew. This is definitely an upside to being comatosed from an allergic reaction and overconsumption of alcohol.

I'm just strolling along a random corridor, when I hear a muffled thump from my right, followed by a distinguishable "Ow!" and a muttered "Watch it, Prongs, that's my foot!" "Sorry, Padfoot, I can't see it, it's too dark in here!" "That was your excuse last month, be more creative!" The back-and-forth goes on for quite a while, and we all reach the Whomping Willow by the time the petty "you started it" conversations are over. I wonder what we're doing there, when all of a sudden, a rat comes scurrying out from out of nowhere. An invisibility cloak, I realize. One of the boys must have one. That's why I can't see them. I've been curious. 

Anyway, the rat scurries through the grass to the Willow, and into it's roots.

Okay, firstly, you must know that there's a knot at the centre of the great tree that few people know about. If you press the knot, all the tree's branches will freeze where they are, and won't swing at you if you get too close. Now, me being one of those people, I find it hard to believe that a random rat that the Marauders let loose could find that hole that easily. Then, the real surprise comes when I heard Potter say "Yeah Wormtail!" from somewhere to my left. That's when it hits me. My first thought is What? Then No... Then Really? Then Well I wouldn't put it past them... Put what past them, you ask? Those silly nicknames make sense now. Wormtail, obviously meaning a rat. Padfoot, probably a dog. Prongs is tricky...wait, he's always calling Lily his doe... Could Prongs possibly mean a stag? It would make sense, with the huge, pronged antlers. But what's Moony... I look up at the moon, hoping to draw some inspiration from it. It's beautifully full tonight, lighting up the Hogwarts grounds, but it doesn't offer me any more insight into Lupin's nickna-

Wait.

Moony.

Moon.

The moon is beautifully full tonight.

Full moon.

Right on cue, I hear a howl.

Shit. 

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck.
In case you still haven't gotten it, Remus Lupin, my classmate, who is madly in love with my friend, and is actually one of my closest friends who aren't Natalie, Remus Lupin, who gets straight-O's, never gets in fights, always keeps his nose clean, madly in love with my best friend, yeah, that Remus Lupin?


Yeah. He's a fucking werewolf.