A/N: Yes….I finally got the second chapter for this story up….I have a few more chapters written but I seem to have lost my focus for this story. I hope that through your reviews, I can figure out the last few chapters…Fingers crossed!
October 15, 1976
The Marauders only separated every once in a blue moon. At least, that's what was being said around the corridors. The only time they had been completely at odds with each other was an incident in their fifth year that had left the entire school confused and paranoid that a gargantuan prank was on its way. However, no prank had come from it and the boys had somehow made nice. The incident was not talked about again.
Lily Evans however watched their patterns (after all she had gone to school with them for 6 years now, she did know some things about them!). She prided herself on knowing where each Marauder went to have some time alone.
Peter often snuck down to the kitchens and came back happier and full of fudge and cupcakes. Sirius would go to the Astronomy tower and sit on the roof where even the students coming in for a mid afternoon snog couldn't see him. James would go down to the Quidditch arena and sit in the stands, staring (usually broodingly) over the pitch. And Remus, well, he had been the easiest to find really. The lean, amber- eyed boy was much more often then not found in the library.
So, even though the weather was simply divine, with the sun shining and the leaves falling and not a breeze or cloud in sight, she found herself walking down to the library to find Remus and question him thoroughly. McGonagall had not answered her questions on why Dumbledore had made James Head Boy and had fixed her with such a disapproving stare that Lily had remained red in the face for weeks. Therefore, she had resorted to cornering each of James's acquaintances about James and his attitude. Unfortunately, they had been all more then happy to explain why James was such a great guy. Since this did not help her in any way, she ignored it (also, she knew they were just brainwashed fools, James was most definitely not any of the nice things they said of him!). His Quidditch team had not helped her, the dueling club had not helped her, heck, the other prefects had nothing mean to say about him! So she decided it was time to dig a little deeper; hence the reason why she found herself in the library on such a divine day.
Remus Lupin was found on the left side of the library. Hidden by the farthest bookshelf and reading a rather large tome named "The Benefits of Transfiguring oneself into Fruit". Lily seriously doubted that there were any benefits, but seeing as how Remus was reading such a large book on it, she figured there must be some. She gently tip toed behind the quiet Marauder and hesitated the briefest of seconds. This may not have been the best idea she had had all year, granted. Just as she was about to turn away Remus addressed her.
"Please, sit Lily. I promise I won't bite." She jumped at his words and in shock that he had heard her and watched the ironic smile twist around his lips as he lowered his book to look at her. This was the problem with Remus. He was guarded. No one ever caught him by surprise; ever. And he was always smiling in a bitter, ironic way that made you think that you were missing out on some sort of sick joke. Lily plastered on a smile and sank down into the chair across from him.
"Hullo Remus. Fancy meeting you here hm?" Remus tilted his head to the side in an animalistic fashion and contemplated the girl in front of him. He turned to look out the window to his left.
"It's a beautiful day outside Lily. Why ever are you in this musty old place?" He looked back at her with dancing eyes and she knew that he knew exactly why she was in there. Unwillingly, she flushed and Remus chuckled. There was no malice behind his laughter however and Lily found herself smiling back. Remus stretched his arms over his head and she heard his back pop in several different places. She grimaced at the noise and Remus shrugged sheepishly.
"Sorry about that. This time of the month makes my bones stiff and…well... What can I do for you Lily?" She took a deep breath and took this subject lightly. Remus was a good friend and she didn't want to meet another disapproving glance.
"If you don't mind me asking Remus…I mean, if it isn't too much trouble of course… I don't mean anything by it obviously, just for curiosity's sake…Why are you and James friends? I mean, it seems as if you have nothing in common with him. He and Sirius I can understand, but you always seemed too…gentle for their kind of activity." There it was again, that ironic smile. She hoped she hadn't overstepped any boundaries with the boy, and was relieved to see him lean back in contemplation.
"I suppose that is a fair question" he murmured softly whilst staring out the window and onto the grounds below them. "James is…I am…" he sighed as his words seemed to escape him and leant forward so suddenly that Lily backed away, startled. She had the impression that whatever the boy was about to say was very important, so she listened as carefully as she possibly could.
"There are many things about myself that, while I do not like them, I have come to grudgingly accept. I do not fancy myself anything other then what I truly am, at the base of myself. I am ugly and devastatingly terrifying and…I am not gentle, in any way of the word. I am not what everyone truly sees me as. Do you understand?" He searched her eyes for something, his gaze a little too hard and a little too probing. She nodded furiously, although she really had no idea what he was talking about. Remus nodded back slowly and leant away from her, turning out the window again.
"James…James knows this. He has seen me at that very…primal moment that I try desperately to hide. And James does not fancy me anything other then what I am. He knows, and he has a certain amount of both respect and fear for that. But out of all of them, James was the first to accept it. Accept me." He amended his speech and looked back at Lily to see if she was following. Seeing that she was, he continued.
"The day after they confronted me on my…other side, I was terrified. As a child I had always been lectured to hide my…faults, away where no one could see them. I was informed that should any one discover I was not as…genteel, as they supposed, they would shun me. I was worried then, obviously, when they confronted me. And although they assured me that it was fine, I could see the fear in their eyes and in their words. At breakfast the next morning, I came down last and sat in our usual spot where an awkward silence passed between us, no one sure what to say. And James…" here his speech was punctuated by quiet laughter,
"James looked me straight in the eyes and asked me if I preferred sausage or ham. After I told him that it didn't matter, as they were from the same animal, he looked so put out. And he said 'Bugger, you'd think they'd give meat lovers a little more selection, wouldn't they?' And he spent the rest of breakfast coming up with various, and quite disgusting, types of meat to be served. Most of them involved Mrs. Norris, the mice that lived in our room at the time and Severus (although he quickly decided that not even Fang would eat the git). It was thoroughly ghastly to listen to, and afterwards I went through a vegetarian phase but he showed pure acceptance to something he didn't quite understand. That is the kind of friend James is. It doesn't matter what or who you are, he will take you as you come and never show a hint of regret at what he has gotten himself into. James Potter is as loyal as they come, and where I am from, Lily, loyalty is hard to come by."
Lily blinked when Remus was finally finished. She thought she finally understood what Remus was trying to tell her. She just couldn't believe that James had been the first one to extend his loyalties to Remus. That was certainly…civil of him. She smiled gently at Remus and patted his hands softly.
"Oh Remus…Thank you for telling me that story. It makes me happy to know that you trusted me with this information, that you consider me a good enough friend." Remus gave her a small smile. "That was such a touching story…Though…Are you sure it wasn't Black that said and did all those things you are talking about? Potter certainly couldn't manage that amount of civility if his life depended on it the egotistical, self absorbed, infuriating…" she continued in a rant of unimaginable proportions and Remus was forced to hide his laughter behind his giant book, finally saved when, (speak of the devil) James Potter poked his head around a book shelf.
"Oi! Moony! That's where you've been hiding! Com'on, Me, Sirius and Pete are planning a mini Quidditch game! I promise you won't have to play on Pete's team this time..." He came up to their table as Remus stood and smiled down at Lily apologetically. "Oh Hullo Lily-Flower. How goes it?" She rolled her eyes at him, and remained stubbornly silent.
"Good Bye Lily" Remus waved slightly and began walking out of the library with the sauntering James who threw an affectionate arm over the smaller boys' shoulders, laughing. Lily watched them go curiously, but her anger towards the bespectacled boy ebbed only slightly watching them walk away.
'Well, I never would have expected it, but just look at the way he's so casual with Remus. You'd think he'd be uncomfortable, Remus being a poof and all. Shame, those Ravenclaw girls will be so devastated when they hear the news….' Lily shrugged and turned to Remus' forgotten tome, concocting new ways to get the dirty news on James Potter.
