As always, I own nothing, am working on like, maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep 24 hours ago, so please (politely) let me know about any mistakes. The excerpt from the 'text book' is actualy copied straight from the HP wiki page on werewolves.
And thanks for reading.
James and his friends saw Lily a few more times over the summer and everything went well. He headed back to Hogwarts feeling even more in love with her, if that was even possible.
Lily was starting to reluctantly to admit she was enjoying his company. She was worried about what it would be like when school started again and James went back to strutting around and hexing people in the hallways so she was pleasantly surprised to see that, while he didn't stop completely he had toned it down a bit.
She sat beside her friend Callie Moore in Defense Against the Dark Arts taking notes while the teacher reviewed what they'd learned the past six years before they started anything new.
This year's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was a very knowledgeable man, but he was terrible at keeping a group of teenagers under control.
They were just beginning to go over how to defend themselves against a werewolf when Johnathan Dryer, a Slytherin boy sitting in front of Callie spoke up.
"The only thing I need against a werewolf is a killing curse." He announced.
Remus tensed and James, Sirius, and Peter all prepared to say something when Callie spoke up first.
"So you'd murder an innocent person?" She said, not looking up yet.
"No, I'd kill a werewolf, and it's no worse than what they'd do to me." He reasoned.
"But a werewolf doesn't know any better. They're not themselves when they change, you are and after the full moon was up you'd have taken an innocent life."
Beside her Lily was trying not to glance at Remus in the seat behind them, who she'd become increasingly suspicious was a werewolf himself, while the teacher tried in vain to silence the two students.
Jonathan rolled his eyes.
"What kind of life can a werewolf lead anyway? I'd be doing it a favor. Personally I think they should all be rounded up and taken care of for good." He smirked.
"That's sick!" Sirius yelled at the same time James exclaimed; "You're fucked in the head, Dryer!" And Lily said "You're terrible!" while Peter made a disgusted sound.
Remus sunk a little lower in his seat, still watching Callie and Jonathan silently, and Callie looked absolutely disgusted. On either side of him James, Peter and Sirius looked murderous but they knew Remus would be upset if they said anything more. He'd say it would put way too much suspicion on him and he already felt like his secret was always on the edge of being discovered anyway. So they exchanged a look that silently said they'd take care of him later.
"You do realize they're only a wolf one night out of the month, right? You're horrible."
The teacher continued trying to quiet them down but Lily could see her friend getting worked up and knew Callie wouldn't stop until she was finished.
"It's just my opinion. "
"You're calling that an opinion? That you would murder an innocent person for something that's not their fault? That's not an opinion, that's sick!" By now Callie and Jonathan were both on their feet glaring murderously at each other.
"You wouldn't be talking like that if a werewolf tried to bite that pretty little face of yours off." He smirked, making a biting motion with his mouth and reaching out toward her face. Callie roughly shoved him away and they both reached for their wands. Lily jumped up to get between them, though admittedly she was hoping Callie would get Jonathan before anyone could stop her.
"Maybe we should toss you out in the Forbidden Forest next full moon and see how you feel then, Moore."
He raised his wand first but Callie wasn't far behind and she was much quicker, casting a spell that knocked him backwards over his desk.
"Enough!" The teacher bellowed, knocking both their wands out of their hands and into his.
"Ten points from Slytherin and Gryffindor! Now sit down or you'll both be in detention all month. Callie, please continue reading from where we left off."
Still glaring, Jonathan got up and took his seat, followed by Callie, who began to read from her text book.
"A mixture of powdered silver and dittany applied to a fresh bite will seal the wound and allow the victim to live on as a werewolf, although tragic tales are told of witches and wizards begging for death rather than becoming werewolves. The Wolfsbane Potion, invented by Damocles, allows the werewolf to keep their human mind during transformation.
A werewolf cannot choose whether or not to transform and will no longer remember who they are and would kill even their best friend given the opportunity once transformed. Despite this, they are able to recall everything they have experienced throughout their transformation upon reverting to their human form."
When she finished reading Callie gave up on focusing and started doodling on her notes. Behind her Remus Lupin continued his own notes, though his friends noticed that his eyes kept flicking up to the girl in front of him more than the teacher.
He'd always had an attraction to her but after that it felt to him like it exploded into something huge almost instantly. He'd usually kept anyone he was interested in at a distance but he and Callie were already friends, and she and Lily were very close. James getting along better with Lily meant they saw much more of Callie than usual.
At lunch that day James dropped himself into the seat beside Lily, who was sitting across from Callie, who was drawing in a notebook now. Sirius, sat down beside him and Remus and Peter ended up beside Callie.
"So that was an interesting class." Sirius said, raising an eyebrow at Callie.
Remus busied himself with filling his plate with food as she looked up, blowing her chestnut hair out of her face and sighing.
"I didn't mean to get so upset, but Merlin did you hear him? The boys sick!" She shook her head. "God, I can't imagine being such a hateful little - ugh." She bristled.
"Do you know anyone who's a werewolf?" Peter asked.
Lily noticed that Remus's eyes went wide and he tensed instantly, glaring at his friend but Callie wasn't looking at him.
"No, I just don't think you should fault someone for things they can't help. And the way the teachers and our textbooks talk about werewolves, it's like they don't care that they're real people. I mean, how would you feel if you were a werewolf?"
Remus paled and nearly dropped his food but once again Callie wasn't looking at him.
"Forget about Dryer." Lily said, glancing quickly at Remus. "He's pathetic. Are you going to eat anything or are you just going to draw all afternoon?"
Lily pointed her fork at Callies notebook and she rolled her eyes but started filling her own plate with food.
"What are you drawing?" Remus asks and his friends all smirked, noticing how his attempt at sounding casual made him sound infinitely less casual. Callie pushed her notebook toward him so he could see a very detailed drawing of a phoenix.
"Wow, that's amazing." He mused.
Callie smiled at him. She'd always liked Remus. He was quieter than James and Sirius, but not like Peter was. He was more thoughtful but he could be just as mischievous, and very smart.
"So, Evans, " James smiled and Lily cast Callie a look.
"So, Potter." Lily mimicked.
James continued, nonplussed.
"I was wondering if you could help me study for potions this weekend?"
Callie smirked as Lily looked over at him and nodded. Almost as soon as they got to school Lily had talked her ear off about how confused she was by James Potter and how different he'd been over the summer. Callie said that maybe he was just maturing but made a point not to mention that Lily's feelings for James seemed to be evolving as well, since she had no desire to have all her hair hexed off.
"Yeah, alright. Saturday afternoon?"
James blinked in surprise, then smiled.
"Great! Yeah. Saturday afternoon." He nodded.
Lily continued eating her lunch, but she couldn't stop herself from looking over at James, who had rolled his shirt sleeves up to his elbows.
Merlin, he's got nice arms... she thought, trying to push away the memory of how they felt around her when they were dancing over the summer.
Now James Potter was fairly certain he was going crazy.
It had to be the only explanation for why Lily Evan was sitting so close to him right now. Sure, they were just studying for potions, but they were sitting shoulder to shoulder. When she moved her leg bumped his and Did she really just laugh at that joke?
He never thought studying for potions could make him so damn happy, but now Lily Evans was sitting beside him, giggling at something stupid and he could study for potions all day.
They had no idea that across the library Severus Snape was glaring at them over his own textbook.
"So, Padfoot thinks we should try to set Remus and Callie up together." James said.
Lily thought for a second, then nodded in agreement.
"Absolutely yes...James?"
Now that she had started using his first name sometimes James loved the sound of it more and more.
"Yeah?" He smiled, leaning on his fist.
"Where'd you guys get those nicknames from?"
She'd asked him once before but he'd insisted he'd only tell her if she went on a date with him.
"Oh." He took a deep breath. "It's...sort of a long story. I can't really tell you now but..." He hesitated for a second, then tentatively reached out and put his hand over hers. "Someday I will...Lily." He promised, using her first name for the first time he could remember.
Lily nodded, looking up at him and showing no sign of moving her hand away from his. Instead she smiled softly and continued on studying potions with her hand in his.
They were both too caught up to notice Snape slamming his book shut and stomping out of the library miserably.
