Chapter One

Lily Evans didn't like to stick her nose in other people's business. She didn't like getting involved in things that weren't her concern, places where she didn't belong. Unlike her sister, Lily had never felt an overwhelming need to know everything about everyone. However, there were some things which she just couldn't ignore, and James Potter was one of them.

It had always been that way with James Potter. No matter how much she liked or disliked him on any given day, she could not ignore him. Over the years there had been many occasions when that hadn't always been appreciated; for example, that time in fifth year after exams when he had been bullying Snape, or that time in fourth year before Christmas when he had turned Cynthia's arms into tentacles. Then again, there were also times when it had been appreciated, like when he had needed help with Potions but was too embarrassed to ask for it, or when he had missed class for helping a friend and she had covered for him. She really hoped that this time would fall into the latter category rather than the former.

It had been a month since The Incident. Of course, Lily didn't know what The Incident actually entailed, but she knew that it was an incident of some sort … hence the title. At the beginning of April, something had happened between James Potter and his group of friends. Since that time, the four of them had not pulled any pranks, disrupted any classes, injured or traumatized any students, snuck out after hours (that she'd heard of), thrown any parties, or done anything at all resembling their usual behavior. Instead, they sat quietly at mealtimes (sometimes together, sometimes not), walked silently to and from class, did their homework without fuss, and exchanged a good deal of puzzling looks. The tension between them was so thick that even the teachers had noticed it. Also, for some reason at about the same time, Slytherin had lost a good deal of points, and Sirius Black had been in detention every night (except Sunday) since then. And no, Lily was not stalking them. It would have been hard not to notice, considering that they lived in the same House and had almost every class together.

So Lily had finally decided to confront James about it. Originally she had considered speaking to Peter, since he seemed to be the most neutral of the group, but she didn't know him as well as she knew James. It was the middle of May, and Lily knew that if something wasn't resolved quickly, none of them would do well on their exams. And, more importantly, they would soon be separated for more than two months; if they didn't work out their issues before then, it was likely that they never would. And as much as those boys sometimes annoyed her, she hated to see them like this. She had always envied their fierce friendship, their easy camaraderie, their complete loyalty to each other. Seeing them this way was like seeing Petunia conjuring mud out of a wand: completely unnatural and wrong.

Thus, Lily found herself in the library during the free block she happened to share with James, standing between the bookshelves which contained books on Divination and Muggles, respectively. She idly ran her finger down the spine of Famous Muggles: A to Z, wondering how she would approach him. It was easy when she had to confront him about schoolwork or his attitude; she knew plenty about those problems and what she thought of them and how she could fix them. This, however, was completely new. This was personal. This was something in which she did not have a good reason to interfere besides her own concern. Would he be offended? Grateful? Annoyed? Angry?

"You know, Evans, I won't bite."

Lily jumped. She peered around the bookshelf sheepishly, only to find James watching her with an amused expression on his face. His Arithmancy notes were spread out on the table in front of him, surprisingly neat and covered with his spiky handwriting, detailed doodles of snitches, quaffles, and broomsticks littering the margins. He pushed out the chair beside him with his toe invitingly. Grateful that she didn't have to initiate contact, Lily took the seat as gracefully as she could, careful not to trip or disrupt his organized notes.

"How did you know?" She didn't have to clarify.

"I saw your reflection in the windows," he smiled. "And since I happen to be aware that you have no interest in Divination and already know everything there is to know about Muggles, I figured you must want to talk to me. I'm almost surprised it took you this long, actually. You've wanted to talk to me for weeks, haven't you?"

"Yes," she admitted, not ashamed of that, at least. "I have. I just wasn't really sure it was my business. I'm still not sure I should be butting in, but I can't help it."

"Well, butting in is one your special talents," he joked with a rather wary grin. "Go on, Evans, don't be shy."

"I just-" Lily paused and blew out her breath in frustration with herself. "I'm just worried, is all. About you and Sirius and Remus and Peter. I know it isn't really any of my business, but it's terrible to see the four of you fighting. It's so … it's so … so unnatural. You four have always been such wonderful friends – everyone wanted the kind of friendship you had – and now you're barely speaking to each other. It isn't right."

James gave her a small but genuine smile, clearly pained by the subject and not too pleased to have it brought up. "You're right; it probably isn't any of your business." He paused thoughtfully, fidgeting in his chair as he tried to decide the best course of action. "I – We – Let's just say that Sirius did something really stupid that hurt Remus. I had to jump in before he caused any more damage, and it was … pretty nasty. Poor Pete is caught in the middle; he really had nothing to do with any of it. I don't blame him for avoiding us right now – I don't think I've even spoken to him in a couple days. He's always disappearing somewhere. Remus is still upset with Sirius, as am I, and Sirius, I reckon, is upset with himself. Both of them try to avoid each other, pretty much leaving me by myself."

Lily nodded sadly. His explanation made sense. Sirius Black was often rash and thoughtless, occasionally even a little cruel, though generally a good fellow. Remus, on the other hand, seemed to really rely on his friends for support, and thus would be understandably upset and distrustful when one of his three supporting legs collapsed. Peter, who was naturally a peace-maker and wanted nothing to do with fights of any sort, would avoid all of them until they cooled down, probably approaching them on the side and trying to talk them into forgiving each other. And James, being James, would naturally be torn between his friends, for once unable to fix a problem. James was a problem fixer; in fact, Lily often thought that, no matter how much he drove her crazy personally, he would make a very good father. He was just the sort of person that you would go to when you were in trouble or needed help. She sometimes wondered how he didn't collapse under the pressure of bearing everyone else's burdens.

"I don't suppose it'll work itself out by exams, will it? I hate to think of you all going your different ways over the summer with things the way they are now."

James shrugged noncommittally. "I have no idea. I hope so. I don't know. Maybe a summer apart will do all of us some good," he said doubtfully. "Give us some time to cool down and screw our heads back on."

Lily chose not to call him out on that one. "Listen, Potter, I know there really isn't much I can offer to help, but I do have some free time. If you need to yell or talk or play a game or something while Sirius and Remus are avoiding you … I'm really not as busy as I like to let people believe."

She gave him a small smile and stood, pushing her chair back into its original place. "I'll leave you to your Arithmancy. Cheer up, yeah?"

Her hand briefly rested on his shoulder as she passed, receiving a rather surprised smile from the messy-haired boy, and she slowly made her way to the Gryffindor Tower.