Summary: They were an odd pair. At times, it seemed they were more enemies than friends. But they trusted each other with their darkest secrets. They were Lily and Remus. Friends. An unlikely pair.
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A Most Unlikely Pair
Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another. 'What? You too? I thought I was the only one.'
~C. S. Lewis
If you asked either one of them at the age of ten if they would become best friends, they would have said no. Besides the fact that they didn't know each other at that point, Remus had never had any friends and Lily had only had her sister. Eventually, Lily would befriend Severus Snape and become more open to the idea of friends outside her family.
However, when they eventually did meet, Lily and Remus still wouldn't have thought they would ever be friends. Remus, who hadn't had friends, was far too focused on his blossoming relationship with James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. Lily was making her own friends, and was quickly growing an intense dislike for Remus' new friends James and Sirius. They were not friends, but that wouldn't always be the case…
The boys and girls stood in a large group, milling around a little aimlessly. They'd been deposited in the relatively small room only a few minutes before. The boat ride over had been absolutely exhilarating. They'd moved on their own, glided seamlessly across the water. Also, she was almost positive she saw a giant tentacle swoosh past just beneath the surface of water.
Now she and the other first years were waiting around for whatever it was that would happen next. Severus had explained the sorting ceremony to her countless times. Everything about the magical world fascinated Lily and she wanted to know as much about it as she possibly could.
"So sorry," a soft voice spoke to her right. It had been preceded by a soft bump on her left shoulder that had barely registered to the rosette. She turned, slightly curious, and found a skinny, almost sickly looking boy with light brown hair. He looked so awkward that Lily felt the overwhelming urge to wrap her arms around him and hold him close.
However, before she could react, a clam, slightly scratchy voice called for everyone's attention. A man stood in a doorway; he gave a brief speech, explaining the forthcoming proceedings. Then all of the first years were led into a hall filled with all the other students.
The sad looking boy had vanished into the crowd, but Lily quickly came to know his name was Remus Lupin. They ended up in Gryffindor together, along with several other girls and boys. And, aside from that initial interaction Lily and Remus didn't really have much to say to each other. Mostly, Lily had to fend off James and Sirius and their almost continual attacks on Severus. Remus was only just a blip on her radar that year. A fairly negative blip, but a blip nonetheless.
Based on their first year, Lily would never, in a million years, think that, in just a few years time, they would be sharing their deepest secrets with each other.
The thing that changed it all was schoolwork. Both of them spent more hours than the rest of their friends in the library. Eventually, after seeing each other there on several occasions, Lily invited herself to Remus' table. She didn't say anything at first, just sat across from him, working quietly.
Then, one day late into first year, as the pair was working away on their finals and their friends were out enjoying the warm weather, Remus finally broke the silence.
"What were the ingredients of the forgetfulness potion?" Remus asked, not looking up from his book. Lily snorted at the irony of Remus forgetting the ingredients of the forgetfulness potion. From that day forward, whenever Lily and Remus found themselves alone together in the library, they worked together, chatted amiably, and generally began to build a friendship. Of course, Lily was still apprehensive about it all as Remus was still extremely chummy with the two boys who were actively making her life a living hell.
They were friends, but only just. And then, Lily started to notice things. She'd always been good at puzzles. She looked closely at the details of things, and her brain was just naturally good at putting all the bits together and figuring out the solution.
With Remus, it was his frequent bouts of illness followed by extremely quick recoveries. It was almost cyclical, like it was a pattern. A pattern with the months, with the moon. And then it clicked.
By the end of the second year, Lily had spent so much time with Remus that she had figured out his deepest, darkest secret. Surprisingly, it didn't scare her away, but actually drew her closer to him. Now his almost near-permanent attachment to James and Sirius, the closest boys to him, made sense. It probably hadn't been easy for him to make friends growing up so when they were basically presented to him on a silver platter, Remus jumped at the chance and held on tight with both hands.
Finally, at the end of second year, Lily built up the confidence and mentioned what she knew to Remus. It was one dark, quiet night in the library, of course. They were essentially alone and Lily felt then was the best moment for it.
"Remus," she began, deciding to just be direct about it and not beat around the bush. "I know about your um, condition." Remus almost imperceptibly pulled away from her, but Lily still noticed it. He was obviously trying to not react in case Lily wasn't saying what he thought she was saying. Lily began talking quicker, worried that if she didn't get out all that she wanted to say, Remus would run away and never talk to her again.
"It doesn't bother me or scare me or anything like that. I don't know much about it, admittedly. And I'm sure the muggle portrayal is way off base as most muggle things are. I've only read a few books about it and I know next to nothing about the prejudice that surrounds it all. What I do know is you, and that's all that matters.
"You are a smart, hard working, kind person. Aside from the awfulness with James and Sirius, you've never hurt someone and I choose to think of that as a fluke. So, in my eyes, you're still the same Remus Lupin, werewolf issues forgotten." Lily was out of breath by the time she finished her speech. However Remus, who had gone pale when she'd begun talking, now looked relieved and at peace, like he was no longer carrying around the weight of the world.
Without a word, Remus returned to his work, a silent acknowledgement that nothing was going to change between them. Except that it had. Lily knew his deepest secret and they were now so much closer than they'd ever been. Their friendship could only grow from then on.
Their next major relationship milestone happened in seventh year. After meeting, becoming friends, and acknowledging that crazy secrets and circumstances wouldn't change their relationship, Lily and Remus fell into a comfortable lull. They met up to work on schoolwork. Lily continued to be annoyed and exasperated at the Marauder's (as the quartet had begun calling themselves) antics, especially when they antagonized Severus.
"James sure seems like a new person," Lily casually commented to Remus one afternoon early in seventh year. She'd been contemplating this next step in her friendship with Remus for about a month. She knew his darkest secret, but she had always been a little leery about sharing her own darkest secrets lest they accidently get back to James or Sirius. But now, after being friends with the sandy haired boy for nearly seven years, Lily felt like she could trust him completely.
"Yeah, he went through some really life-changing experiences this summer. He's definitely more mature and grown up," Remus responded. Lily could tell that he was holding something back, but didn't press him. Remus was being a good friend, keeping private information just that. Plus, it didn't matter to Lily why James had changed, just that he had.
"It is quite the striking change of character. Almost makes you rethink your previous beliefs about someone. You know, going from hating someone to the bone to maybe fancying them." Lily tried to tiptoe around it, but as she looked at Remus she could tell he knew exactly what Lily was getting at.
Over the past few weeks, Lily had been developing feelings for the messy haired prankster king.
"That would be quite the excellent change in opinion and I'm sure it would be extremely well-received," Remus spoke, trying to keep to the same vagueness that Lily was using.
"Of course," Lily continued, "this change would have to be kept secret for the time being. Perhaps it isn't a real change and that could be potentially extremely embarrassing." She gave Remus a look that clearly expressed the amount of hurt she would visit upon the boy should her secret get out.
"What is said between friends stays between friends," Remus reassured her. And Lily knew that he would absolutely keep his word.
Remus and Lily were unlikely friends. Theirs was never a certain or expected friendship, but it was strong and loving nonetheless. They shared their most secretive selves, opening up themselves to the other with no worry about how it would be received.
They were close. So close that, when Lily died, Remus was devastated. Yes, her death came with the deaths of James and Peter at the hand of Sirius and Remus lost his family in one fell swoop, but the loss of Lily was perhaps the most devastating. She had always been the person that Remus turned to when he needed a level head to help him work through things. She was the first person, outside of his parents, to accept him unquestionably, fluffy little problem and all.
Her loss was hard to come back from. And it sent Remus away from the wizarding world and led him to live like the beast he truly felt he was.