Disclaimer - JKR owns all.

As James' feet pounded the stone floor, the only thing he could think of was the manic look on Sirius' face as he said "Guess where Snivelly's going now?" As the words had left his lips, Sirius' eyes flicked to the moon out of the window: bright, full, ominous. James had known where immediately, and barely waited for confirmation before he vaulted out of the portrait hole.

Making fun of Snape was one thing, but sending him to his death? James had thought even Sirius was above that. Obviously they didn't like Snape, he was a greasy budding Death Eater, but they were better than him; they wouldn't sink to his level. But apparently Sirius already had.

Throwing open the heavy front doors – thank Merlin they weren't locked yet – James hoped that Sirius was joking. He had to be.

He wasn't.

In the distance, James caught a glimpse of a grey sock and scuffed black shoe disappear into the depths of the still Whomping Willow.

"Snape!" screamed James as he pushed himself to run faster. "Get out! Come back or you'll die!"

The vicious tree started thrashing again, forcing James to start searching for a branch long enough to jab the knot. He spotted the one Snape must've used, and grabbed it off the floor as soon as he got close enough.

"Snape!" James tried again, but either Snape couldn't hear or he was ignoring James' warning.

A branch came swooping down at James; he dived forwards and pushed the branch as he went. The tree stilled.

Breathing heavily, James edged his way into the dark passage, wishing he hadn't accidentally left his wand in the Common Room. Crouching down, he stumbled forward blindly as fast as he dared until he could see a small light. Snape was only a few metres in front, holding his wand high, his head bent forward.

"Snape," hissed James.

Snape jumped knocking his head on the muddy roof, apparently too transfixed in the tunnel to hear James previously. As James reached forward to pull the scowling boy back, a tremendous snarl erupted from the other end of the tunnel. Both boys whipped their heads to the source of the noise. James' hand clamped down on air.

Snape had run towards the sound of the noise, but stopped dead after a few strides with a sharp intake of breath. When he reached Snape, James realised why. The end of the tunnel was in sight, and the werewolf's beady eyes were looking directly at them.

Cursing to himself, James pulled Snape behind him and ordered him to run. The Slytherin needed no further persuasion and sprinted, James hot on his heels.

Snape burst out of the tunnel first without pressing the knot to make the tree still. From inside the tunnel, James watched Snape get smacked with a branch before pressing the knot himself and walking out safely.

James hoisted the moaning Slytherin up from the ground, resisting the urge to kick Snape, to kick the tree, to kick himself.

"I knew it," said Snape. He tried to push himself out of James' grip but realised he couldn't fully support himself and grudgingly leaned on his enemy. "I've known it for years; I can't wait to tell everyone."

James spun round and pushed Snape away from him, steadying him with one arm so he wouldn't fall over and using the other one to clench his fist under Snape's face. "You're not telling anyone."

Snape's face lost any colour it had left. He didn't respond, but looked defiantly at James.

James sighed. He could deal with that later. Pulling Snape towards him, he continued walking quickly, desperate to be rid of the greasy leech. As soon as he pushed open the doors to the hospital wing, he shoved Snape in the approximate direction of a bed and left.

Perhaps it was time to face Dumbledore.

James knew the password; Peter had been sent to the Headmaster's office the week before and bestowed the secret password on the rest of his friends. Even so, James had to repeat the words "Mint humbug" several times before the gargoyle would let him pass.

Taking the stone steps two at a time, James called out, "Professor Dumbledore!"

When his knock on the door received no answer, James let himself into the dimly lit office. "Professor?" he called, a little louder.

"Mr Potter," announced Dumbledore as he appeared on the balcony overlooking the rest of the office. He started down the stairs which would bring him level with James. "I must ask you to refrain –"

"This is important," stated James calmly; he had used the walk up to the office to slow down his thoughts and realise the immediate danger was gone.

The old man's face suddenly changed. He no longer looked like slightly disgruntled from being woken up, instead his eyebrows were knitted together and he looked as awake as ever. "Is anyone hurt?"

"No, no," James said quickly. "Well, not really."

Some tension seemed to drop out of Dumbledore's shoulders. "The full story if you will, Mr Potter."

James took a deep breath. "Si – I told Snape that if he went down to the Whomping Willow…"

The words were barely out of James' mouth before Dumbledore was striding out of the office, muttering to himself.

"Sir," shouted James, following Dumbledore down the stairs and through the corridor. "He's not injured. Remus didn't even get near him."

Without breaking his stride, Dumbledore looked at James. "We'll have to save the conversation over you knowing about Remus' condition for another day. Now, tell me what happened to Mr Snape."

James was almost jogging to keep up. "He got hit by the Willow after I pulled him out, but apart from that he's fine."

Dumbledore stopped dead in his tracks and turned to fully face James. "You pulled him out?"

"Yeah, then I took him to the hospital wing."

"All of this after you told him information that could have got him killed?"

James met Dumbledore's disbelieving eye. "I changed my mind."

Without replying, Dumbledore returned to his quick pace, and within moments they had reached the hospital wing. James hesitated at the door, causing the old man to turn back to him. "I suggest you go and get some rest."

"Aren't you going to punish me?" James asked for the first time in his life.

"Whilst I think your actions towards Mr Snape were immensely honourable, I myself am not going to honour your desire to maintain Mr Black's innocence. Do not be surprised if he is not present in lessons tomorrow, nor for the rest of the week."

James sighed, defeated. He'd tried – Sirius deserved punishing anyway. "What about Remus?"

"Mr Lupin will not be punished for something out of his control." The headmaster cracked open the door to the hospital wing and peered inside. "Off to bed now, James, you've had a long night."

"G'night, Sir," James murmured before turning away.

Upon entering the common room, James did a quick scan. Empty. He then pulled out the map. As expected, the dot labelled Remus Lupin was nowhere to be seen, and the dots of Dumbledore and Snape were close together in the hospital wing. James quickly located his dormitory on the parchment, which showed 'Sirius Black' perfectly still in bed – James scoffed at the unfairness – whilst 'Peter Pettigrew' paced the room.

"Remus is fine," James announced to Peter on entrance. "Same for Snape. Sirius, however, not so fine."

Peter stopped his pacing and relaxed. "Thank Merlin."

James' eyes fluttered involuntarily to Sirius' bed. James expected to see nothing more than a lump under the duvet, but was met with Sirius awake, looking at him through the darkness.

"He'll be lucky to get away with suspension." James addressed Peter but kept his eyes, narrowed, on Sirius.

"He won't get expelled, will he?" Peter asked.

James shrugged, his icy glare fixed on Sirius. "Hell if I care." He turned back to the door. "Now if you don't mind, I'd rather not share my room with a would-be murderer."

After slamming the door behind him, James thought he heard Sirius call his name. If Sirius thought he would turn back, thought James, then his best friend didn't know him at all.

Flinging himself onto the nearest sofa with a grunt, James closed his eyes, ready to be rid of this day. Maybe he'd open his eyes to realise it had all been a dream.

Before he could even get to sleep, James heard a yawn. "James?" questioned a familiar, tired voice.

James didn't bother opening his eyes. "Get lost Evans, I'm not in the mood."

A moment's pause, then, "Is Remus okay?"

At that, James cracked open an eyelid. A few feet away from him, a dishevelled Lily Evans was sat behind a table covered in papers, textbooks and quills. From the ink imprints on her cheek, James guessed she'd fallen asleep doing late-night homework. "What makes you say that?"

"You know…" Lily nudged her head to the window behind her.

At last James opened both eyes to look through the window, which framed a full moon, as it did merely hours previously. "You know?"

"You literally just repeated what I said. But yeah, I know."

"How?" asked James, sitting up.

Lily laughed quietly. "'Furry little problem', really, James? I think everyone else must be stupid if they haven't made the connection."

In normal circumstances, perhaps James would've cracked a smile. "Why would I know if he's okay?"

"Stop getting so defensive," sighed Lily. "I'm not gonna tell anyone – I've just noticed that the three of you are always gone as well whenever it's a full moon, except tonight."

Tiredness left him immediately and James stood up. "You have told someone though, haven't you?"

"What? Of course I haven't."

"Then how come Snape was suspicious?"

Lily moved along the sofa she was sat on, as if to get away from James' foreboding figure. "What's this got to do with Sev…erus?"

As the pieces slid together in James' mind, he stepped towards Lily. "You told Snape, so Sirius told him to go to the Whomping Willow. You caused this whole mess," he accused.

Lily got to her feet and backed away. "James," she said carefully. "I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't spoken to Severus since last year. What mess?"

James took a deep breath, collapsing into the sofa Lily had just vacated. Of course it wasn't Lily's fault. It was Sirius'.

"I'm sorry," he said with his head in his hands.

Gingerly, Lily sat next to him. "It's okay, James, you're clearly upset."

"Everything's just gone to shit," James groaned.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No."

After a few minutes of silence, James cracked and told Lily everything from Sirius' gleeful announcement to Dumbledore entering the hospital wing. His head was still in his hands the whole way, but he could tell that she had that look of concern on her face the whole time – the look where her jaw tightened and her nose scrunched.

She didn't reply straight away after he'd finished the tale. He looked up and there it was, the exact expression he knew she'd have. Not that she'd ever graced him with that look before.

"Don't mind me, feel free to run along to the hospital wing to check on your boyfriend," James said bitterly.

Lily exhaled sharply. "Didn't I tell you before that I haven't spoken to Snape since last year? I'm glad he's okay but I certainly don't want to go anyway near him with my dirty blood."

"Don't say that," warned James.

Lily shrugged. "I'm more worried about the rest of you."

"Sirius'll be fine."

"Not him. I'm disgusted at him. Imagine how Remus will feel when he realised he could've killed Snape, and one of his best friends made that possible."

James leaned back, resting his head on the back of the sofa and training his eyes on the ceiling. "I can't even think about that right now."

"Okay, then, we won't talk about that."

James closed his eyes.

Once again, Lily's voice ended his chance of sleep. "You know what I can't believe?"

"What?" he mumbled. "That Sirius would end up a murderous scumbag?"

James felt the back of the sofa indent as Lily leaned back next to him. "Well that, but even then it's believable. He is a Black."

Turning his head to Lily, James opened his eyes. "Don't say that. He's nothing like them."

Lily bit her lip, letting silence fall until James leaned back and closed his eyes again.

"I can't believe you," Lily confessed.

"Why? What have I done?" It wasn't as if he was the one sending classmates to their deaths!

"Don't worry, it's a good thing. Not many people would've gone after Snape, especially with the history you two have."

Eyes still closed, James scrunched up his forehead. "You're kidding me, right? Any decent person would've done that."

"See, that's where you're wrong. You won't find many people who would sacrifice themselves for their friends or family, never mind their enemies."

"I didn't sacrifice myself," James protested tiredly.

"The way I see it you did," retorted Lily. "You're a true Gryffindor, James."

James could feel himself drifting off, the night's events finally taking their toll on him. Just before he succumbed to sleep, he opened his eyes a fraction, found where Lily's hand was resting, took it in one of his own and squeezed.