Chapter Two

Somebody knows more than she should

As always, the first week of school was brutal. And being in NEWT year seemed to make the teachers think it was okay to send them the amount of homework they normally sent for winter holidays every day, starting the first day. By the end of the week James and Sirius were both behind on so much homework it made their brains want to explode. James knew that the normal response to this was simply to ask Remus or Peter for help, but he couldn't help but think of the opportunity that it presented. Lily was Head Girl, so obviously she was really smart. He had tried asking her for help with his homework several times in the past, and she had always blown him off, but he was feeling good, so he decided that that afternoon in the common room he would ask her for help. He walked out of the great hall after breakfast and decided to wander around the common grounds for a while. James couldn't have been more pleased when he saw Lily Evans sitting under a tree with the first year girl she had been talking too the first day. The girl's hair was a flaming red now.

I should go talk to her, he thought. He checked his breath, straightened his tie, and tried to fix his hair, but it seemed impossible. He started walking towards her, but before he got there he noticed another figure stalking towards her. He groaned.

Wonderful, he thought. Now he wants to talk to her.

He took a few steps towards Lily and Snape, but stopped when he realized that he could hear them easily from the tree he had come to. He sat down and listened.

"Come on Lily, please?" said Snape.

"No, Severus," said Lily. "Please leave."

"Okay, okay . . . What if I told you something? Something only Dumbledore and a select amount of students know." Lily looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.

"You honestly expect me to believe that you know something that only the headmaster and, like, three other students know? How would you know something like that?"

"Let's just say I was at the right place at the wrong time. Unintentionally, of course," muttered Snape.

"Well, if it's about your new friends, I don't want to hear it. You know how I feel about them, especially about Bellatrix."

James couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was Lily jealous? No, she couldn't be. She couldn't like Snape. She had to like him. Him!

"I don't like Bellatrix either, I told you that," said Snape, sitting down beside her. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Please," she turned away.

"Lily, don't be this way, I'm begging you! You're my best friend, and I can't stand not talking to you."

"I'm your best friend am I? Me, the mudblood you didn't need help from in fifth year."

"I thought we'd already been over that."

"Me, the non-death eater."

"Now that's a very judgmental statement right there . . ."

"Me, the girl who likes . . . Never mind."

"Oh, so you were serious about that, were you?" said Snape.

"I was," said Lily.

"Well, just to let you know, I don't approve of that. At all."

"I don't need your approval, Severus," said Lily.

"Fine, I don't care, do whatever you want," he replied, standing up. He then paused for a second and then knelt to whisper something in her ear. Lily's eyes widened and Snape stood up again and turned to leave.

"You . . . you aren't serious, are you?" she asked. "This is a trick to get me to turn against him. I mean, you know he's one of my best friends . . ."

"Do some research. If you don't want to believe me, that's fine. Just don't tell anybody else about it." And with that, he walked away. Lily sat there, staring at nothing.

"Lily?" asked the first year.

"Oh . . . yes, Tonks?"

"What was that all about?" asked the girl.

"It was nothing . . ." said Lily unconvincingly. James stood up, ready to go talk to her, and started walking towards her.

"Hey, Evans," he said, winking at her. Lily stood up and looked at him in the eye. James raised an eyebrow seductively, but then realized that Lily's eyes looked frightened and uncertain.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking concerned. Lily shook her head and walked past him.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"To the library," she called back, and James suddenly found himself alone with the first year.

"Hello," she said, smiling. James smiled back awkwardly.

"Hey."

"I'm Tonks. Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm James Potter," he answered.

"Cool. See you around, James Potter," she said, and then she ran away, leaving James alone. Alone, and very confused.

"No. No way," said Remus as James walked into the common room. Sirius was sitting in front of him, at one of the tables, looking annoyed.

"Oh, come on, Moony! You know I can't do this stuff! Professor McGonagall just likes assigning hard stuff 'cause she knows I can't do it."

"Yes, Sirius, McGonagall assigns difficult homework because she knows you can't do it, and because she hates you, and not because we're in NEWT year," said James, sitting down beside Sirius.

"See, James gets it. Thank you, James," said Sirius, nodding at him, and James patted his back.

"Anytime, buddy."

"No, Sirius," said Remus, standing up.

"Remus," whined Sirius, and Remus turned around, chuckling.

"You're honestly whining?"

"Why yes, I am," said Sirius, sounding almost proud of himself.

"Remus, you should just do it already. You know what card he's going to play next," said James. Sirius nodded.

"Not the 'if you were really my friend' card! That's not fair, Sirius, you know I can't refuse that," said Remus looking whiny. Sirius smirked.

"If you were really my friend . . . "

"God, fine!" said Remus, sitting back down at the table.

"Okay guys, get this. I was just roaming the grounds, being awesome . . ."

"As per usual," added Sirius.

"And I happened to notice that Lily Evans was somewhat alone."

"Somewhat alone?" asked Remus as Sirius handed him a quill and some parchment.

"Well, there was this first year with her, but—"

"I'm not doing all of it for you," said Remus, handing the quill and parchment back to Sirius.

"Remus," Sirius whined, but Remus shook his head.

"No way. You start it."

"Fine!" grumbled Sirius.

"May I continue, with your permission?" asked James. Sirius nodded. "Thank you, Sirius. So, I was going to go talk to her, but then . . ." He explained everything to them. By the time he was done telling them everything, Sirius had handed the parchment and quill back to Remus.

"What do you think he told her?" asked James.

"Sirius, you only wrote your name and the title of your essay!" said Remus, glaring at Sirius.

"So? It's started, right? That's what you wanted! Why are you complaining?"

"Well, first of all, you spelled 'transfiguration' wrong . . ."

"Whatever," shrugged Sirius.

"Guys, what do you think he told her?" said James, trying to get their attention, but they were gone.

"No, not whatever. How in the world do you plan to pass your NEWTs?"

"I don't. I plan to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, be blamed for some huge murder thing and be sent to Azkaban for the rest of my life. Either that, or I'll be a game keeper. Maybe Hagrid will take me in as his apprentice."

"You're nuts," said Remus.

"No, I plan for the future," said Sirius.

"You honestly want to get blamed for a murder you didn't commit and get sent to Azkaban where the Dementors will slowly suck your soul out?"

"Uh, they don't slowly suck your soul out, Remus. They feed off of every good memory until all you're left with is your worst experiences. Geez, I thought you were smart," said Sirius. "They only suck your soul out when they perform the Kiss, and I doubt that's very slow."

"I don't like your tone," said Remus.

"Oh, sorry father."

"That's Mr. Moony to you," said Remus.

"Would you just do my essay for me?"

"No!"

"But if you were really my friend . . ."

"I hate you," grumbled Remus.

"Love you, too."

James sighed, exasperated. He was relieved to feel a tap on his shoulder, and he turned around.

"Oh, thank God." His heart stopped when he saw Lily standing behind him, her lips pursed. She glanced at Remus and then back at him.

"Hey, Potter, could I um . . . talk to you? For a second?" she asked. James shrugged.

"Sure. Be right back, guys."

" 'Kay," said Sirius, grinning.

"Don't sit there enjoying this," said Remus, and Sirius started saying something else, but Lily pulled James out of earshot of the rest of the common room.

"Look, Potter . . ."

"No, it's okay, I already know what you're going to say," he said.

"Uh, no. You don't," she said, looking annoyed.

"Yes, I do."

"Okay, so what is it?"

"You just wanted to apologize for how horribly you've treated me the past six years, and tell me that now you realize what you've been missing out on. You also have decided that you wanna snog me to infinity and beyond," he finished proudly.

"Not even close."

"Dammit."

"Now, will you listen to me? This is serious," she said, putting a hand on his wrist. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine. What is it?"

"Um, well, I heard something really . . . interesting, earlier today and I was wondering if you, along with the half an hour of research that I just did could help me confirm this thing that I heard."

"Is this what Sniv—? I mean, go on," he said, feeling as though he had just made a big mistake. Thankfully, Lily didn't seem to catch on.

"Okay . . . um . . . I don't know how to ask you this . . ."

"Whatever you ask, the answer is yes," he said, winking.

"That's kind of what I was hoping you wouldn't say"

"You WANT me to reject you? You're strange," he said, shaking his head.

"I'm not telling you that I like you or asking you out!"

"But you don't deny the fact that you like me."

"Yeah, I actually do. Will you just let me ask you my question? This is weird enough for me already. I kind of wanted to ask Remus about it, seeing as him and I are closer than you and me . . ."

"So, why didn't you?"

"Well, I wouldn't know how to approach him. It kind of has to do with him."

Suddenly it clicked in James head what she was going to ask. He covered his mouth with his hand.

"No way, he did not! I cannot believe that little rat!" he almost screamed.

"What? Rat?"

"Snivellus! What did he tell you?" he asked, grabbing Lily by her shoulders. Lily bit her lip.

"Okay, well, you're probably gonna think I'm crazy for kinda believing this but . . ."

"Just spit it out!"

"Well . . . I have reason to believe that Remus Lupin is . . . a werewolf."

A/N ok, so it has come to my attention that James was apparently head boy, not Lupin… sorry for that! Hope it doesn't ruin the story for you (: