I do not own Harry Potter. JKR does.

In His Nature

Lily tenderly wrapped a bandage around Remus' arm. The two were sitting on a couch in the Gryffindor common room as she hummed in that soft, breathy whisper she did whenever she was concentrating on something.

"Remus…" she scolded softly. The sandy haired boy had fresh cuts all over his arms and face.

"I told you, it was the Slytherins…" he muttered.

"Really now?" she raised a red brow. He turned away from her.

"Yeah."

Lily clicked her tongue as she tightened the gauze around his arm before smiling at him. "All better, Remus. You really ought to go to Madam Pomfrey next time."

He nodded. Madam Pomfrey couldn't exactly make his condition any better but he appreciated the sentiment. "Thanks Lily…but why were you up so late as well?"

Lily tightly pressed her lips together. Remus could see the strained red lines in her eyes, how puffy her eyelids were. She had been crying, hadn't she? "It's nothing, Remus," she placed her hands on her lap, as he heard her gulp. It was something, but what could have made her so upset?

"No, tell me," he asked, wanting to get to the bottom of why Lily had been upset all night. Lily darted her eyes across the room. Even though it was the weekend, people would be waking up in a few minutes to get ready for breakfast. James, Peter and Sirius would be up in a matter of moments.

Remus narrowed his brown eyes, determined to figure out why Lily Evans had been crying. And if it were intuition, it finally occurred to him who the culprit was.

"It's about Snape, isn't it?"

She looked taken aback as she grabbed the arm of the couch, surprised he picked up on it so quickly. Remus Lupin; intellectual, good-natured and shrewd. He could have been great in Ravenclaw. She often wondered why he chose to hang out with James and his band of hooligans; he was too good to be seen around with those types of arrogant jerks.

"You're always in cuts and bruises, Remus," she mentioned, avoiding the Snape conversation entirely.

Remus blinked. "I get beat up, but James and-,"

"You're not getting beat up, and I know it," Lily furrowed her eyebrows, those vivid green eyes of hers focused on Remus' face, her eyes tracing ever slash over his nose and cheek. Remus remained silent.

"Lily, it's Snape isn't it? He's why you've been crying…" he trailed off but he knew he was right as Lily's concentration on his face broke and she swiftly looked over to the posters hung on the common room walls. "What did he do?"

His persistence won her over as she finally spoke, "Snape and I are not friends anymore. It was his choice."

Remus tilted his head. He had always seen Lily defend Snape in front of James and Sirius, always turning down James' offer of being his girlfriend. He rubbed his hair with the palm of his hand. Lily Evans, the perfect Gryffindor girl always stood up for creepy Slytherin git Snape. Even though he did not ever partake in bullying Snape, he was more of an observer really, he couldn't help but feel…ashamed. Ashamed he was lying to Dumbledore about his friends being unregistered Animagi for his sake, having to hide his werewolf status from everyone, and most of all: for not trying to stop his friends from hexing Snape.

"Sorry to hear that…"

Lily shook her head, a sad smile on her face. "No, Remus. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for ever having been friends with someone who…who…" her voice started to quake a little. Before Remus knew it, her lower lip was quivering and even though she was trying to bite her lip, trying to hold back from crying again, it happened anyway. "He's a hypocrite! He had the nerve to beg for forgiveness!"

Remus let out a 'Shh' as he awkwardly placed his bruised hand on her shoulder in a caring manner, not really sure as to how to deal with a pretty girl crying. He admitted it, she was pretty and it was no wonder James singled her out. However, he would never pursue any girl the way James did. He couldn't even get close to a girl because he feared the worst: she would find out about him being a werewolf and leave him because of it. Remus knew he was more than likely going to die alone.

"S-sorry Remus," she calmed down, although she hadn't been too hysterical or anything. "I don't usually get this teary eyed, it's stupid really…"

"No, no it isn't," he removed his hand from her shoulder as Lily gave him a look that he couldn't quite decipher. Did she actually enjoy his comforting gesture or was she annoyed he had even done that in the first place? Women were rather confusing.

"You're a good person, Remus. It means so much to me that you sit here listening to me being soppy about Snape."

He stifled a hurt chuckle. "It's no problem. I…understand." Of course he didn't, not really.

Lily rubbed her face with her fingers as she gave a small smile towards Remus and leaned in rather uncomfortably close to his face. He could smell the dried tears on her face as he clenched his teeth, not understanding what she was about to do. "I know you're a werewolf," she whispered with a concerned smile. And with that comment, she placed a simple kiss on his cheek and gave him a smile before heading up to her dormitory, leaving a slightly pink boy behind. Moments later, James Potter came bounding down the staircase with his partner in crime Sirius Black and tag along Peter Pettigrew, as both fifth years began pestering Remus about why he hadn't gone back to bed after running around all night. Their questions didn't really bother Remus as he touched the cheek where Lily had kissed him, a shy grin forming on his face.

"Moony, what's with the grin?" Peter asked but he received no answer.

I'm really fascinated with the Remus/Lily pairing and it's a shame there isn't more out there. Hope I didn't make Lily too out-of-character, I imagined her to be quite upset and angry after Snape called her mudblood.