Remus never enjoyed patrolling at night; the castle was draughty and the prefect pair would always split up. Donna Shacklebolt, his patrol partner, would always slink off about 10 minutes in, giving him a new excuse each week, leaving him to do the rounds on his own.
Just like usual on his Friday night patrol, he had to turf several students out of broom cupboards who were usually always half nude too; agreed, it's not the best way to spend his evening but someone had to do the job.
Also, in his Friday night patrol he became accustomed to finding a flash of red curled in a ball in a deserted corridor. Tonight happened to be one of those unfortunate nights.
"Lily? Oh Lily, what have they done to you now?" Crouching down beside the weeping Griffindor, he pushed a strand of auburn hair behind his fellow prefect's ear.
"Remus, please. I'll be fine. Just go."
Her voice was quivering, green eyes glistening and her hands clutching to her stomach.
"Sweetheart let me see, I.."
"Remus please! I don't want you to see me like this."
Not taking no for an answer, he sat beside Lily stretching his long legs out across the width of the narrow corridor. Gently and slowly, he pulled her towards him, resting her head in his lap.
"Honestly, Lil-bit, what am I going to do with you, hey?" He said softly as she curled in towards his stomach.
"Do you reckon you can tell me who did it this time?"
"Mulciber and Avery."
Fuming, he ranted to himself silently about the obscenity of attacking two against one. And not just that, but the fact they did it to a girl. Don't mistake his thoughts, he'd never treat a female as though she wasn't as talented as a male, or that she wouldn't be able to defend herself. It was just wrong, and in Lily's case it's usually an attack from behind. Cowardly and sick.
"Can I see it? Your stomach? I'll probably be able to heal it again, you know? It won't take long, Lil, I promise."
After a few moments of consideration she removed her hands from the abused wound, revealing them to be bloody, along with a soaked school blouse.
"Remus, it hurts." She whimpered tiredly, nuzzling her face into his stomach in order to hide her embarrassed features. Carefully inching Lily's blouse up past her belly button he was faced with a sight that made his stomach lurch.
Three gashes were just recognisable under the pool of blood smeared across her left hand-side where it had ran down due to her position. Most likely to have been caused by a slicing hex of some sort. One wound was much worse than the ones either side of it. It was raised, much wider and was producing a clear puss, making the inside of the cut almost visible.
"Mother of Merlin what did they do to you?"
"Not entirely sure. One minute I was fine... Next I was on the floor bleeding. Avery threw a few stinging hexes, they hit me straight where the other ones did. Can you sort it out?"
"Probably, it might take a few different spells though."
He began running his hands across the wounds muttering incantations wincing every time Lily did too. After a while he continued the process non-verbally so he could keep talking to his patient.
"You really need to tell McGonagall, you know? She wouldn't let this happen again, Lil. I can't keep doing this. I mean, I will, you're one of my best friends, but if they do this again then we have to tell someone."
"What are you going on about?"
"Mulciber and Avery. And the rest of the Slytherins actually. If they hurt you like this again then I'm not keeping to myself, Lily. If Slughorn knew what his house were doing to you he'd be beside himself. He'd put an end to it all. It's too dangerous, Lily. I'm scared of the day I come to late. Lily, I..."
"No, Remus, don't say that. I promise, okay? I promise that if they do anything like this again then we'll tell Professor McGonagall, okay? Just don't say that, Remus. Don't think about that, please?" He gazed down to look her in the eye.
He understood why James was besotted with her. She was beautiful. She had the kindest heart with a powerful mind, a burst of fire but world of care. She was intelligent and quick witted, determined but warm. She was far from perfect, but at the same time... she really wasn't. Her downfall was insecurity. Vulnerability. She wasn't either of those things, but she was afraid to become them, and because of that she tended to build a bubble around herself to prevent her from depending on someone, revealing her life to someone, and due to that, she prevented herself from falling in love with someone. She didn't do it on purpose, it's just who she is.
"That should keep it Lil-bit. If you get hold of some Dittany then use it, it'll help blend the scarring. You should try a sleeping Draught too if you can, it'll ease the left over pain."
Reaching a milky white hand up to his cheek she thanked him with a tired smile, but made no effort to move from where she lay. Sighing, Remus stood and carefully picked her up is a fashion that would resemble a newly wed couple, and carried her back to the Griffindor porthole. With a simple "Gillyweed" the portrait swung open and the boy holding the girl stepped through. He decided to place his friend on one of the larger common room sofas considering he couldn't take her to her dorm, and transfigured a pillow into a mattress for himself on the floor. They did this often now-a-days, whenever he'd find the redhead injured. They'd sleep in the common room all night and naturally wake up before the rest of the house to go separate ways for the day ahead if them. It was a comfort, Remus thought, to have Lily so close, to know she was safe. That's all he wanted for her; for her to be safe.