Sometimes Remus Lupin felt a surge of guilt for all the pranks they played on Snape.

He would rather drink a gallon of flesh-eating slug repellent than admit that to James or Sirius though. It's just… neither of them understood what it was really like to be the outsider, to have people flinch away from you or pretend they couldn't hear you when you tried to strike up a conversation. But not Snape. Remus should have seen it earlier, but he supposed he'd been deliberately turning a blind eye, pretending not to see the obvious.

Remus knew all about being lonely though. And if he ever forgot…well, the full moon would come around again soon enough, and he would be bundled out of the castle, away from prying eyes. Away from the people who laughed at his jokes and cheered him on at the parties where he and his friends smuggled back firewhisky from Hogsmaede.

His friends. For the first time in his life, Remus felt like he belonged. James and Sirius and Peter all knew what he was, yet they didn't turn their backs on him when they found out. Instead, they acted as though it wasn't a big deal to have a best friend who happened to be a werewolf and they looked for ways in which to make life easier for him. So as guilty as he felt about their treatment of Snape, Remus decided it wasn't worth saying anything. The other boy would survive whatever James Potter threw at him. Remus couldn't be so sure that he would survive losing his friends over Snape.

Well Snape did start it, he told himself, time and time again, whenever it seemed as though James and Sirius were going a step too far. And that might even have been true, but it didn't excuse everything they'd done.

He might have kept feigning ignorance, until Lily Evans slammed her books down at his table in the library one night.

She took one look at the red prefect badge glittering on his robes and sneered.

"You're a terrible human being, you know. You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

Remus felt his cheeks burn, but he kept his head down, pretending to be absorbed in his copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5.

Only to find it yanked away from him. He made a noise of protest as Evans held it behind her back, out of his reach.

"What's the matter, Lupin? Am I bothering you?"

"I'm trying to revise," he said, keeping his voice calm.

Evans let out a shrill little chuckle.

"That's a shame. Didn't seem to bother you when you were taunting Serverus the other day."

Steeling himself, he forced his eyes to meet hers. Lily's huge green eyes widened a fraction, caught off guard. Although they'd shared classes for the last four years, Remus could never remember either of them saying more than a handful of words to one another. Usually their interactions revolved around James shouting something at her, and Lily threatening to turn him into a slug.

Up close, she smelled of flames. Remus suspected she'd been spending time in Slughorn's classroom, practising potions before their O.W.L. next week.

He tilted his head to one side, a small frown on his face.

"I didn't do that," he pointed out.

Evans shook her head. Most of her anger seemed to have evaporated and now all that remained was the soft sadness of disappointment. "Yes, but you didn't do anything to stop Potter though, did you?"

Remus felt her words like a slap. He had forgotten all about his textbook, though Evans held it limply by her side. All he wanted was to get out of the library and as far away from her as possible.

But he knew that wouldn't happen. Like him, Lily Evans wore Gryffindor robes. If he left, he could be sure that she would follow him back to the common room, chipping away at him all the way. Besides, he figured that his friends would be holed up in there, practising hexes on their fellow students. Which would only annoy Evans even more.

Best not to chance it.

Before he could say anything else though, she let out a huge whoosh of breath and sat down beside him, her shoulders slumped.

"Why is he such a moron?"

Remus' eyebrows twitched up. "I'm sorry I-"

"Potter," she hissed. "He's always out trying to impress everyone. Swanning around as though he owns the castle, constantly going on about his stupid quidditch triumphs. As though anyone actually cares."

Knowing he was about to start sniggering, Remus held a hand up to his mouth until the urge died out. He didn't want her to think that he was making fun of her. Although, truth be told, the exasperated tone of her voice did make it a little funnier.

If only James was here. What would he think about Lily Evans talking to one of his best friends about him? James pretended his crush on Lily didn't mean much, but they'd all noticed the side-long glances and the dazed smiles which appeared whenever she sat close to them in class.

"He's not so bad," he replied, in a mild tone of voice.

Evans snorted.

"He isn't. Not once you get to know him."

She didn't say anything in return, just picked up her textbooks and strode out of the library, her bag swinging at her hip. Remus reached for the only book she'd left behind—his book—and tried to find his place.

He'd almost found it when he heard the shuffle of footsteps behind him.

"Next time you want a place to hold a conversation, don't even think about using the library," Madame Pincer hissed at him.

Remus sighed and got back to work.