You're Still You
Summary: A Lily finds out Remus is a werewolf and her response to it fic. James/Lily paring. One-shot.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to the wondermous J.K. Rowling. I bow to her greatness.
"You're hiding something from me."
"Listen Lily, I swear I'd tell you if I could but-"
"But what? You don't think I'm trustworthy?"
"No but-"
"James Potter you'd better not be cheating on me!"
The hazel eyes of the Gryffindor Quidditch player widened. "Merlin NO! Lily it's nothing like that!" he insisted. The girl was mental! He'd spent years trying to get Lily Evans to go out with him and now she's afraid that he's cheating on her?
"Then what is it? You, Sirius, Peter, and Remus are all hiding something from me." The red-head said, huffing a little. She was perfectly capable of keeping a secret. Everyone thought she was a snitch just because she was Head Girl.
James sighed, running his hand through his already messy black hair. "It's not my secret to tell." He said after a moment's thought. He didn't like keeping Lily out of the loop now that she was FINALLY his girlfriend. However, Remus had made all the Marauders made an Unbreakable Vow to never intentionally allow anyone to find out about his 'furry little problem' as James often put it.
Lily sighed as well, leaning back in her seat across from James and took another sip of Butterbeer. "So . . ." she said, leaning forward again with a small smile. "You've taken me to the Three Broomsticks . . . Got anything else planned for our date?" she teased lightly.
A grin crossed James Potter's face at the reminder. He was on a date with Lily Evans. Something that he had been working towards for years was finally taking place. He wasn't sure he was fully awake.
Lily had dropped the subject for now, but she would be sure to find out what the self-proclaimed Marauders were hiding.
000
"And where do you three think you're going?" Lily's sharp voice caused the three boys to freeze mid-step.
"Told ya we should have put the Cloak on before we snuck down Prongs."
"Shut up Padfoot." James Potter hissed, brining his foot down on top of Sirius's toes.
Sirius Black let out a very dog-like yelp as he jumped back into Peter Pettigrew, sending a death glare towards his best mate.
"There's nothing in the rules about being forbidden to come down to the Common Room with some mates, Lily." James said, ignoring Sirius for now.
Lily frowned. "It is when you're sneaking towards the portrait-hole, holding your stupid Invisibility Cloak James Potter. For Merlin's sake, you're Head Boy!" she said, green eyes glaring daggers into James's hazel ones.
"We weren't-" Peter started, picking himself up from the floor after falling when Sirius knocked into him, but he was interrupted as Lily noticed that one of the Marauders had gone missing.
"Where's Remus?" Lily asked, an accusatory glint in her eyes.
"At his mum's." came James's quick answer.
"During the middle of school, on a weeknight." Lily's skepticism could be heard quite clearly. Of all the Marauders, Lily liked Remus the best. Of course, she loved James, but Remus was the ONLY voice of reason amongst the four boys. That he was missing from whatever mischief the other three were getting into was worrisome.
"His mum's really sick." Sirius responded tersely, still a little sore with James for stepping on his foot. However, he still joined in the effort to keep Remus's condition a secret.
"So why are you three sneaking out?"
James just grinned a bit sadly. "Ah, Lily-flower, I'm afraid that's a Marauders' secret."
Lily scowled.
"It's to help Remus feel better." Peter piped up after a moment of tense silence.
Sirius nodded in agreement. "It's true, Evans. We're trying to help cheer him up." He said 'sirius-ly'.
James nodded as well. "Please Lily?" he asked, stepping forward towards the red-head.
Lily sighed, knowing she wouldn't be able to stop the boys from sneaking out that night. She truly admired the way the Marauders were so loyal to each other. "Fine, but if you get caught, I don't know any of you." She said, huffing a little as she turned and went back up to the Girls Dormitory.
It was only after she closed the door that she remembered that she had left her book down in the Common Room. In fact, the reason she had gone down there in the first place was to retrieve it when she had noticed James, Sirius, and Peter sneaking out. Sighing with mild frustration, she headed back down, stopping short when she noticed that the boys hadn't left yet and hadn't noticed her re-entrance.
"Hey Prongs, don't be idiotic. I'm sure she didn't mean that. Besides, we aren't gonna get caught, so there's nothing to worry about." Sirius was reassuring James.
"Except for making sure the werewolf of Hogwarts doesn't get into trouble." James said, his forlorn expression twitching into a grin.
Lily's eyes widened. Werewolf? Had she heard correctly? Her shock kept her frozen on the stairs.
Sirius barked out a laugh. "Riiiiight . . . Come on. We've kept Moony waiting long enough."
It wasn't until after the portrait-hole swung shut that the feeling returned to Lily's legs. She knew that Moony was Remus's Marauder name . . . Remus was a werewolf?
All thoughts of sleep or studying left her head. She ran back up the stairs and instantly started searching for her calendar. Lily ignored the sleepy protests of her roommates. She had found the calendar and she was going to try and prove to herself what she heard.
000
The next morning, neither Remus or Lily were at breakfast. While the Marauders weren't too upset about Remus's absence, the fact that Lily was gone worried them.
The three Marauders, James especially, whispered amongst themselves about the missing Head Girl.
"What if she's sick? What if it's something deadly?" James had fallen into a worse-case-scenario state of mind. "What if she's been abducted? Ack! What if she followed us last night and-"
"Shut it James!" Sirius hissed, glancing around worriedly. James's voice had been rising with every fear. "Don't you think I would have known if she was there? Padfoot's senses are highly developed." Sirius said with the smallest of smirks.
"Maybe we should ask one of her friends?" Peter suggested in a small voice.
James's eyes lit up. "Wormtail, you're a genius." He muttered quickly, causing the mousy boy to flush. "OI! Vance!"
A seventh year girl looked up from her chat with another girl with an eyebrow raised. "What do you want Potter?" she asked, clearly a little suspicious about why, exactly, James Potter would call to her across the table.
"Do you happen to know why the lovely Lily isn't at breakfast this morning?" James asked, not at all put off by Emmeline Vance's suspiciousness.
However, before Emmeline could answer, another seventh year Gryffindor who was sitting closer to the Marauders spoke up. "Lily? She's probably still asleep. She was acting quite odd last night. Woke us all up to look for a calendar of all things. Kept muttering something about full moons. Really I don't know what – Hey! Where are you going?" For James, Sirius and –a bit more hesitantly- Peter had gone running out of the Great Hall, looks of horror on their faces.
Emmeline shook her head with a sigh, not bothering to even try to understand the boys' reactions. "You're such a gossip, Marlene." She said with a bit of a smile.
"What? What'd I say?" Marlene asked, blinking rather cluelessly.
000
"She knows mate! She knows!"
"I know she knows Prongs! So shut up! We've got to explain things properly to her now! Dammit! I didn't think-"
"Shut up yourself! Humility!" James Potter snapped out the password, which Lily had chosen as a bit of a joke on him.
The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and the three boys scrambled quickly into the Common Room before stopping short at the staircase to the girls dorms.
"What do we do? We can't get up there . . ." Sirius was frowning.
"Lily? Lily! Hey! Evans! Come down!" James was shouting.
"Um, James . . ." Peter's small voice came just as the messy-haired boy was going to try running up the stairs.
"What?" James snapped, not wanting to be distracted. However, what Peter was pointing at caused the color to drain from James's face. A letter was sitting not-so-innocently on the table. On the front was James's name in the handwriting that James Potter knew only too well.
With shaking hands James opened the note and read it aloud.
Dear James
I borrowed your invisibility cloak. Hope you don't mind, but I don't think Madame Pomfrey will let me visit our mutual friend otherwise. I'll return it when I get back.
Love,
Lily
"Shit." Sirius muttered as the letter fluttered to the floor, James already running out of the Common Room.
000
Lily suppressed a gasp as she saw Remus's condition. The boy had gashes up and down his arms, and from the way he winced as he sat up to drink the potion Madame Pomfrey gave to him, Lily was willing to bet that he had similar gashes along his chest.
Once Madame Pomfrey had returned to her quarters, Lily cast a quick Muffliato Severus had taught her before their falling out and then removed the Cloak.
Remus Lupin, resident werewolf of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, jumped violently at the sudden appearance of Lily Evans.
"L-Lily!" Remus yelped, his eyes wide, very self-conscious of his condition.
"Hey Remus." Lily said with a kind smile, pulling up a chair so she could sit by his bed. "You know, I really should have figured it out sooner . . . I guess you just don't put the pieces together when you aren't expecting it."
Remus winced. She knows . . . he thought, though he decided to play dumb just in case.
"Um . . . what pieces? Are you talking about James?" Please let her be talking about James!
Lily's eyes narrowed slightly as she frowned at her friend. "No Remus. I'm talking about you. How log have you been a werewolf?"
Remus felt as though he'd been punched in the gut. Lily knew. She was going to hate him now. Even if she didn't hate him for being a werewolf –though he certainly wouldn't blame her if she did- then surely she'd hate him for keeping such a dangerous secret from her.
"Since . . . Since I was a small boy." Remus said, avoiding looking at Lily. He couldn't stand seeing the disgusted or hateful expression that he was sure she would have. He couldn't bare seeing the moment she decided not to be his friend. "I won't blame you if you hate me." he added in a rather broken whisper.
Lily was dumbstruck. Hate him? Before she realized she loved James, Remus was the only Marauder she felt remotely close to. She had been excited when she learned Remus was the other Gryffindor prefect in their year.
"Remus?" she asked gently. There was no response except for the brown-haired boy to tighten his grip on the blankets. She sighed. "Remus, how long have I been your friend?" Silence. "Since first year, that's how long. Maybe not as close a friend to you as your fellow Marauders, but I certainly got along with you better than the others. Now, were you a werewolf that year?"
There was a pause as Remus considered the question. Of course he was a werewolf then! Or did Lily think he was bitten sometime during their early years at Hogwarts? He gave a stiff nod.
"Were you a werewolf the year we became prefects?" Lily asked, trying to get Remus to realize what she was getting at.
It wasn't working. Remus was sure now that Lily was trying to make him feel guilty. Well she had succeeded. His throat felt tight as he fought back tears. He was seventeen dammit! He shouldn't be crying! Just because Lily would never want anything to do with him again and would surely make James choose between being friends with him and dating her, and James would of course choose Lily, and Sirius would follow James in his decision, as would Peter, of course, and Remus would be alone in the world and the full moon would once more become a hell . . .
Lily saw the tears falling from Remus's face and she bit her lower lip, realizing that her approach wasn't working.
"Listen Remus." When the other didn't respond, Lily grabbed his shoulder and forced the boy to look at her, wincing as he did. She didn't want to hurt him.
"Remus! Listen to me! Why would I hate you because you're a werewolf? What I'm saying is that it doesn't matter! You're still you! So what if you change into a beast once a month? Hell, girls do that all the time!" Lily couldn't help but smile at the weak one that twitched to life on Remus's lips. Good. Maybe he'd understand that she didn't hate him. "I won't lie and say I wasn't shocked when I found out, but once I got past the shock, I realized it doesn't matter. I just wanted confirmation."
Suddenly, Lily's smile vanished and she hit the werewolf upside the head. "That's for thinking I would hate you. Honestly, Remus, I thought you were smart." She said, a teasing smile creeping onto her lips.
Remus broke out into a wide smile as he rubbed his head. "Sorry." He murmured, feeling much better knowing that he wasn't going to lose his friends.
"Bloody helly Evans, you nearly gave me a heart attack." James Potter said, almost looking more relieved than Remus.
"James! How long have you been there?" Lily yelped.
James smiled hesitantly. "Erm . . . since your whole speech thing and I think I should run now." He murmured before doing just that.
"JAMES POTTER!" Lily thundered. She wasn't too happy with her boyfriend at the moment. She got up and chased him out of the Hospital Wing, determined to put him in there as a patient once she caught up with him. She wouldn't really, but the thought was tempting.
Remus was left behind with the Invisibility Cloak that Lily had left on the floor. With an amused shake of his head, the boy forced himself to get up out of the bed and retrieved the Cloak, hiding it under the mattress. He had just gotten back under the covers when Madame Pomfrey bustled back into the room.
"How are you feeling dear?" she asked with a kindly smile. She disliked having anyone in the Hospital Wing, she'd feel much better if none of the students got hurt, but Remus couldn't help what happened month after month. And the wounds had become less severe ever since his fifth year . . .
Remus grinned up at Madame Pomfrey, surprising the witch.
"Excellent. Really excellent."
A/N: Damn. My longest one-shot ever. Of course, it's Harry Potter of which I have been a fan since the first book came out in America . . . My first Harry Potter story too . . . Well, yeah, this thing had been dancing around my brain for many a night so I finally decided to write it down. Literally. I took a pencil and paper and I wrote this whole thing down. Of course, I edited it once I typed it up, but yeah, took me a few weekends to think this up. Doesn't help that I'm super busy this semester. Gah. Full-time college student no fun. Anyways, I think this is a wonderful way to return to fanfiction. I know I haven't written anything in a while. To be honest, I have no motivation towards any of the previous stories I had. I may finish them one day, I may not. If I ever finish them, it will be under a revised version. Except maybe two stories. I probably won't revise my vampire one, and I don't think I'll revise my owl one. Of the stories I will be revising, look for the Danny Phantom one before the InuYasha fic. However, I DO have an InuYasha story dancing around my head at the moment. Haven't written it down yet. Don't know if I'll ever write it down. I have a lot of ideas dancing around my mind. So far, Lily Evans/Potter and Sirius Black have been better muses than the ones I originally had. They haven't really been very active in my mind anymore. I wonder if something happened to them . . . Anyway, please pardon my little rant, I needed to get it out of my system. College is really fun though even if it's keeping me away from writing fanfiction. Maybe I'll do more if I take a Creative Writing class next semester . . . Hmm . . .