The Secrets They Keep

Lily's house, the next day

"You look amazing," Lily breathed as Remus came out of his room on the night of James' party. "A little too good, I think. I don't want some other girl getting the idea that you're free."

"Lils, it's only a shirt and shorts," Remus replied but smiled none the less; she could always have this effect on him, and he didn't mind one bit. "Besides everyone knows I'm enamored with you."
"Oh yeah?" she teased. "Prove it."
"I think I can manage that," he replied, putting his hands against the wall on either side of her face, essentially trapping her, then kissing her full on the lips.

"Yeah. I could get used to that," Lily sighed.

"You mean you're not already?" Remus teased back, yet kissed her again.

Lily closed her eyes, enjoying the moment. When she looked up again, Remus was staring back at her, his face still only inches form hers.

"You sure there's no way I can get you to come? It –"

"– won't be the same without me, and I'd get the chance to makes Potter's life hell?" she finished for him. "Mary and Alice already tried. I'll be fine. Besides I can start planning ways to make him always remember seventh year. Go; it'll be fun."

"Not without you, Lils. Who will I dance with? Who will be there to stop me from making a food out of myself with James, Sirus, and Peter?"
"Oh get out of here, you sap, before I regret even letting you go."
"Yes, mother!" Remus called from down the stairs.

"I wouldn't want to be your mother! That wouldn't be any fun!" Lily replied then heard Remus close the door behind him.

James' house, same night

It wasn't even time for the party to start when James heard a knock on his front door. He was delighted to see Remus when he opened it and led him in. They had tried to clear up any tension in the air form their fight the day before but avoiding the subject all together, and James was quite pleased to see Remus hadn't brought his girlfriend after all.

"Welcome, welcome, Moony," James greeted exuberantly ushering his friend further into the house where Sirus and Peter were finishing some last minute preparations. "So glad you could make it."
"The Marauders aren't complete if one of them is missing," Sirus threw in.

James shot him a glare for interrupting his speech.

"As I was saying, we're so glad you could come and help with all the last minute details." Remus raised his eyebrows but said nothing as James continued. "But how many times do I have to tell you you're quite welcome just to apperate in here."

"It's just as easy to walk," Remus cautiously replied before realizing his mistake.

"You said you wouldn't be home that much, and even if you are, that's a rather long walk."

"I'm not home, James, if you insist on this." Remus was trying to keep his tone friendly, but images of the invitation kept popping into his head. "It's the same as yesterday."
"You were at Evans' yesterday. How often will you be there?" James could be rather thick when he wanted to be.

"All summer. Her parents are vacationing in the states so she asked me to stay."

"How'd you manage that, you dog?" Sirus exclaimed. "I wish I could get with Mary all summer. And no parents! You lucky –"

"We're not doing anything, Sirus, so get your mind away from that," Remus said harshly, cutting him off. "I'm just spending as much time with my girlfriend as possible."

"Which includes snogging her."

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes, that includes snogging her. In fact –"

This time James but Remus off. "Can we change the subject? Something other than Evans."

"If it really bothers you that much," Sirus joked.

James just glared.

"Alright, alright," Sirus surrendered, putting his hands up in mock defeat. "If you insist."
James turned away and began to look over everything once more as Sirus inched next to Remus.

"You may get to spend the whole summer with your girlfriend," Sirus whispered so only Remus could hear, a large grin plastered on his face, "but mine will be here tonight, and I intend on taking full advantage of the situation."

"Take your own advice, Sirus," Remus hissed back, "and shut it."

Lily's house, much later that same night

Lily could hear the party at James' house in full swing later that night as she was sitting on a couch by herself reading Romeo and Juliet.

"This is insane!" she finally said, shutting the book just as Juliet was about to kill herself. "I can't even finish t his book without Potter butting into it, just like at school, just like always. Well, if Potter's going to ruin my night, I might as well have the capacity to ruin his." Something she knew her mere presence could do.

So grabbing her wand, she headed out to the field behind her house that ran parallel to their street. She had been walking alone for ten minutes, muttering to herself when a shadow in the distance caught her attention. Walking a little faster, she continued to quicken her pace until she heard a voice.

"Still talking to yourself, Evans?" Severous Snape asked as a greeting.

"Ah, you know me too well, Snape," Lily returned. "So what are you doing out here at this time of night?"

"I could ask you the same, but I'll assume we're both trying to escape Potter." He spat the name out with more loathing than even Lily could muster.

"Yeah, but at least you didn't get specifically excluded."

"I'm pretty sure his invite didn't include, what is it – 'greasy-nosed, slime ball Slytherins'."

"True, but…" and Lily proceeded to tell him about James' invitation. "So I should be dancing with my boyfriend right now, or at least be with my friends…"

Snape scoffed. "Boyfriend."

"Yes, Sanpe, my boyfriend, Remus Lupin."

"Yes, the resident werewolf. You sure he won't make a mistake and bite you one of these days?"

"Lay off him, Snape. You missed your chance when you got involved with all of that nonsense. Your blood's not much purer than mine."

"It's not only about that, Evans."
"Come on, let's just drop it. We were having such a good Potter-bashing session."

The two of them returned to staying anything and everything behind James Potter's back, but the tension in the air could not be cleared. Despite that fact, however, they made fun out of an otherwise boring, lonely evening.

Lily's house, very early the next morning

Lily and Severous were sleeping on Lily's back porch, and it looked like they had fallen asleep staring up at the ceiling. Lily had her hands pillowed under her head, but Severous was still on his back, facing the ceiling, hands behind his head as if to cushion it. The noise from the party across the street had finally quieted down some as people began to leave, and crickets could finally be heard again. However, that was not the sound Lily woke up to; she didn't open her eyes, but it sounded like someone was throwing stones against a window.

They better not break the screen, she thought absent-mindedly before rolling on her back to try to go back to sleep.

"Lily!" she heard a voice call.

"Lily!" a second one called even louder.

She mentally swore and tried to wake herself up enough so that she would have the coordination to stand. Please don't wake Snape up, she thought, almost running into her yard where, sure enough, Alice and Mary were throwing stones against her bedroom window.

"Lily!" they cried in relief when they saw her rushing up to them.

"Guys," she whispered harshly, "shut up. What are you two doing here?"

"We came to give you Remus back," Mary explained in a whisper, catching the mood. Only then did Lily see that the two of them were dragging Remus behind them. He was looking utterly miserable and wouldn't lift his eyes from the ground.

"What happened to him?"

"Sirus spiked the punch, and the water, and, well, everything," Alice explained.

"But Sirus always does that! He, of all people, should know to stay away from anything liquid if Sirus is around!"

"I think he's just drowning in self-pity, personally. Would you mind dealing with him, Lil? I'm not in the spirit for mope-y boyfriends tonight."

"Sure, Mary. Thanks for bringing him back."

Mary didn't reply, only waved along with Alice as they headed back to James' house. Lily took Remus by the hand and led him back to her house through the porch.

"You're not going to die on me tonight if I leave you alone, are you, Rem?" Lily asked playfully but really quite concerned.

"I'm not drunk, Lils," Remus replied in a voice that didn't completely convince her.

"But you were drinking. Shouldn't you know by now that Sirus spikes everything?"

"What else was I supposed to do? Everyone else was…busy."

"Why stay then?" Lily asked, lowering her voice as they entered the porch.

"I didn't want – Snape?" he interrupted himself catching sight of the Slytherin sleeping on the ground.

"Hush," Lily commanded, pulling Remus over to the house. "I don't want you to wake him up. He…doesn't sleep well."

"I thought you two weren't friends anymore. You aren't two-timing me, are you?"

"With him? Only in his dreams." She muttered the second part so low that even Remus standing next to her couldn't hear. "Why don't you go upstairs and sleep this off. He'll be gone before morning."

"And what if I really don't want to leave you again?" Remus asked, sitting on the ground right next to where Lily had previously been sleeping.

"Have it your way." She really wasn't in the mood to argue the point. Snape would leave as soon as he woke up, no matter if Remus was next to her or in a room above, she just really didn't want to add insult to injury by having him with her.

"You know, I always thought it'd be Potter who'd get you," Severous had said last night as they were walking in the direction of her house. "He's been drooling over you his whole life."

Lily brushed the thought out of her head as she laid down next to Remus. Potter had always made her life miserable.

"So what were you and Sne – Snape doing?" Remus asked, wrapping his arms around Lily's waist as he laid down then proceeded to make them comfortable.

"Potter-bashing," Lily replied simply, really just wanting to sleep.

"Old habits die hard, I see."

"Exactly what he said."

Remus and Lily lapsed into a comfortable silence. The night outside was finally still, and Lily was just about to drift off to sleep when Remus' voice jolted her back to consciousness once more.

"James showed me the invitation." Remus paused but continued when Lily made no response. "We got into a huge row about it. He hates that I always defend you."

Lily was still silent but replied after a moment. "Thanks, Rem."

He pulled her closer in response, and they both fell asleep.