Lily stormed down the corridors, stupid James, stupid Sirius…
Keeping secrets…
Black was a classic for keeping secrets, and she saw no reason to learn them, but her boyfriend, HER BOYFRIEND keeping secrets from her, lying point blank, straight to her face. It was enough to make her blood boil.
The corridors were quiet and her shoes clicked at every step, peace and quiet, as the hallways should, especially at this time of night. Lily paused, mid step. The moon was beautiful, the waning moon.
Her patrol of the 7th floor proved no movement. But she wasn't finished yet; a quick check of her watch told her that there was at least 20 minutes left. She turned on her heel and took off the way she came.
A sound of walking came from down the hallway. Lily spun around to find…
"Remus, why are you here" she said surprised
"I needed to talk to you" he replied. "It's really important and rather urgent"
Remus indicates to Lily to follow him, they go down a secret passage and come out in the charms corridor, they went into a classroom.
Remus locked the door, then he pointed his wand at the door, "muffliato" he whispered
'It must be important', thought Lily ' for him to go through measures like this'
He finally stood back and leant on a table. Lily stood confused,
"Is this about James's consistent lies" she guessed,
"Partly, Lily this is really important. What do you think about werewolves?"
What ever Lily was expecting, it defiantly wasn't this.
"Why"
"I need to know, what do you think of werewolves"
At this answer, Lily saw Remus's circles under his eyes, his absence from Transfiguration and Potions, McGonagall's muttering of "away" after Remus's name on the register. The muttering had an underlying tone of deep sadness and sympathy. Her classmates wouldn't have noticed. She suddenly felt the air of exhaustion that hung around him. She looked out the window at the waning moon.
She chose the next words carefully, but spoke the truth.
"I think they are tortured creatures."
He smiled, a ghost of a smile that she saw only a week ago
"You are a werewolf," Lily said
Remus exhaled deeply, he closed his eyes and nodded his head, only once
"That's why I disappear every full moon, I go to the shrieking shack"
"And the others"
"They're animagi," that caught Lily's attention
"What!" she said flatly, and there was another lie James hadn't admitted to.
"Hey" Remus said softly, "They kept those secrets for my sake, James couldn't tell you what happened last night because it was my secret to tell, and now I'm telling you"
"Oh"
"What are you going to do" Lily looked up, Remus had tried to be calm and confident, but Lily could see the terror in his eyes.
Lily had made up her mind, she would not go through her life fearing somebody who could not help it.
"I am going to stand by you, you are my friend, and nothing is going to change that"
Remus couldn't say anything, his eyes were welling with tears.
Running was heard from the floor above.
"I should go and handle that" said Lily "good luck Remus" she gave him a hug a left the room.
Remus still couldn't say anything, he was shocked, yes, but he was relieved.
His face broke into a smile, a real one that hadn't been seen for 3 days.
