Disclaimer: HP is still not mine.

Year Four

In which secrets unravel and a seed of /something/ is planted

"Lookit, mate," Sirius whispers to James as they enter the common room. It's past two AM, and the normally busting room is deserted. Well, practically deserted. There is one person still in the room, and she is the one that Sirius is pointing to with the hand that is not balancing the tray of treats from the kitchens.

Lily Evans, asleep on one of the overstuffed chairs by the fireplace, transfiguration textbook lying open on her lap, dark red hair fanning out behind her and catching the reflection of the flames, like a fiery halo.

"She does look rather nice, when she's not trying to bite your head off, James," Peter pipes up, carrying a humongous tankard of Butterbeer in both hands. Remus isn't with them tonight; it's the first night of the waning moon, so he's still in the hospital wing, recuperating. That's why the rest of the Marauders were in the kitchens this time: gathering rations for when they celebrate his return in the morning.

"Ah, shut it, Pete," James murmurs distractedly, forcing himself to tear his eyes away from Evans. She looks so... peaceful. Defenseless. She never looks like that in her waking hours, at least not when she's near him, anyways.

"Now's a good chance, mate," Sirius winks at him, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. James stomps on his foot – hard.

"Chivalry, man, chivalry," James admonishes

"I thought that was overrated!" Sirius pouts as James steps out from beneath the invisibility cloak and shoves his own tray of chocolate-y goodness into Sirius's other hand, resulting in an annoyed squawk from his best mate.

"I'll meet you guys in the dorm," James ignores the taunt. He can't see his two friends, obviously, but he can imagine the look they're sharing right now. He feels the air shift as they walk by him, and sees the doorway leading to the boys' dorms swing open and shut.

He pulls out his wand and taps one of the scraps of parchment left lying about the common room, and it transfigures into a large, fluffy quilt. He turns to drape it over the sleeping girl, and realizes that her eyes are wide-open, staring at him, luminescent and almost cat-like in the half darkness.

James yelps, and drops the quilt as his hands instinctively jump to his hair.

"Evening, Potter," she sounds amused, which he takes as a good sign.

"Evening, Evans," Be cool, be cool, be cool, he chants mentally as he lowers himself into the chair opposite her, "You wouldn't have been just pretending to be asleep this whole time, would you? Because if you were waiting to catch me alone so you could ask me to accompany you to the Hogsmeade next weekend, you could have just-"

"Not a chance, Potter," she throws a cushion at him, but he catches it handily. He hopes she appreciates his Seeker-quick reflexes.

If she does, the only sign of it is in her rolling eyes. But her lips are still curled slightly upward. He'll take what he can get.

"Well, if asking me on a date isn't why you waited for me to walk in, then what is?" he tries to keep his grin under control, but he's failing miserably and he doesn't care. Evans stayed up to talk to him. He feels like the luckiest wizard in Britain right now.

"I..." for the first time in a long time, she looks unsure. But then she steels herself, and nods a little as she makes up her mind to do what she came to do, "I wanted to thank you, actually, but I didn't want to have to deal with Black, and you're always with him, so I figured this was the best chance I'd get."

"What's wrong with Sirius?" James frowns, because this is his best mate they're talking about, and he won't let anyone – not even Evans – speak badly of him.

She arches one eyebrow, "I came here to thank you, not to quarrel, Potter. But just because he's your best friend doesn't give him the right to try to murder mine."

"Sirius wouldn't-" James begins, but catches himself, "Okay, fine. But really, he's like an overgrown puppy chewing on your favorite pair of slippers. He's a great big bundle of energy and not one whit malicious, Evans, which is more than you can say about Snivellus..."

He trails off as her eyes narrow dangerously, "I said, I came here to thank you, not to quarrel, Potter."

"Well, you're doing an absolutely brilliant job of it," he mutters, so she throws another cushion at him. But she's smiling now, however reluctantly, so it's a win in his books.

Lily takes a deep breath, "Thank you for saving Sev, Potter. I know you don't like him, obviously, but you saved him anyways. What you did was very... brave. And very... noble."

He blinks twice. Lily Evans just thanked him. Lily Evans just called him brave. Lily Evans thought he was the noblest wizard since Merlin's Camelot. Lily Evans just told him that he is her hero and asked him to kiss her. Well, okay, he's getting ahead of himself a bit. But still.

She looks at him as if she's expecting him to say something, anything, but he's momentarily lost his grasp on basic English, so she just grins and says, "Don't let it swell your head, Potter. If it gets any bigger, your broom won't be able to lift off the ground anymore, and then what'll happen to us in the Quiddith Cup finals?"

"Hey!" he says, because he knows an insult when he hears one, even if it's said teasingly. Then, a thought occurs to him, and it feels like all the happiness is draining out of the room, "Wait, no one's supposed to know about what happened. Was Snivellus the one who told you? That slimy little git swore he wouldn't tell anyone about -"

Lily cuts coolly across him, "Severus didn't tell me anything, Potter. He didn't get far enough down into the Shrieking Shack to see anything conclusive, anyway. That is, if you're referring to Remus's... little problem..."

"Little problem?" James is momentarily taken aback by the choice of words, but he likes the sound of it, "His furry little problem..." he muses, before snapping back into the present, "Wait, Evans, you know about-?"

"About his 'furry little problem'" she makes quotation marks in the air with her fingers, "Yes, Potter. I've known for almost a year now. I'm not completely dense, and I can see how he gets every month, just like you can."

His hazel eyes for once are completely serious, "Evans, listen, have you told anyone? Not everyone's as batty as the blokes and me, or as kind and open-minded as you are. If they knew about Remus..."

"I know," she is serious too, and it distantly occurs to her that this is the longest conversation she's ever held with Potter without feeling the urge to strangle him, "Remus is my friend too, Potter. I don't want to see him hurt. I don't want to see any of my friends get hurt, if I can stop it."

He nods in complete understanding, and something swells inside Lily at that moment. This is a side of Potter – serious and capable and caring – that she's never seen even an inkling of before. Maybe she has more in common with him than she thought.

She stands, abruptly, "You're still an arrogant toe-rag, Potter," she says with as much dignity as she can muster in her dressing gown, "but you can be a half-decent arrogant toe-rag, when you want."

"Does that mean you'll go to Hogsmea-"

"No," she interrupts him emphatically, not even bothering to turn around from her march to the girls' rooms.

He calls out from behind her, "Well, I had to at least try!"

She can't fight the half-smile inching its way up her face, "Go to bed, Potter."

His laughter is the last thing she hears before swinging the heavy wooden door shut behind her.

A/N: I think Lily would have found out about Remus, because lycanthropy is an awfully big secret to keep from an awfully bright witch. Also, the way she just completely shuts Snape down and changes the subject when he brings up his "theory" seems to confirm that she is trying to protect Lupin. I also think that Lily had a strong enough sense of justice to approach James and thank him when Severus was obviously not about to, and that maybe she would realize that there was a *reason* she and James were both Gryffindors, that they had very similar cores. Just my thoughts.

Let me know how this chapter was! :)