N/A: WOW, guys! Can I just say to everyone that's reading this: you rule! Siriusly (come on, we all love the Sirius pun!) I hope you enjoy this and all that sappy stuff! ^^ Thank you! Now on to chapter 7! By the way, I'm sorry about the layout, I still haven't quite got the hang of the website… Hehe.

#7 – Aftermath of Telling the Truth

Lily Evans woke up startled. She was sweating hard and her head hurt. She had a nightmare. It was James, as a stag, running around the Forest and a hunter chasing him a shotting him down. He was bleeding. The thought of that made her shake her head and get up really quickly. Ever since the boys told her about their secret, she had been having those dreams. Only about the stag, though... No rats, no dogs, no wolves... Just a stag. A beautifully majestic stag, with charming antlers and funny eyes.

She sighed as she entered the shower. Five in the morning, goddammit! She thought. Two hours til breaksfast and at least one hour before her friends got up. Lily decided to take a long shower, then, and let the water wash away her fears. She then chuckled when she remembered the scene of the Disney cartoon, Bambi, where the hunter kills his mum. She always cried at this scene... It seemed strangely familia to her now, with the whole situation, and she found it rather amusing.

After a half hour of watery bliss, Lily left the bathroom, changed, magically dried her hair and left. She sat at the Common Room and started reading the Charms textbook.

'Wow, Evans... We don't even have Charms today...' said Sirius Black, cominh down the stairs, with a sort of mockery tone in his voice.

'I'm just bored, that's all...' she whispered. He sat down next to her in front of the fire. As autumn went by and the winter approached, the weather was starting to get cold. Not that it wasn't always cold, since they were somewhere in the North of Scotland. The fire was dancing brightly and Lily couldn't take her eyes off of it.

'Evans... You seem... worried?'

'I am, Sirius.' She said, realising that it was the first time she actually called him by his first name. She had referred to him by it for a long time now, but never in front of him. 'I'm worried about all of you... That's all.'

Sirius looked at her. He nodded.

'Thanks.' He said. Lily shot him a weird glance. 'It's nice to have people worrying about my well-being, that's all...'

'What do you mean?' she asked.

'Well, my parents never really liked me all that much, so that was that. My cousins, aunts and uncles are from hell, except Andromeda, she's nice... They kicked me out during the Summer...' he said, calmly, like it was normal for parents to kick their sons out of their home.

'Oh my God...' she said, shocked. 'Where are you-? Are you ok?'

He chuckled.

'Yes... I told James about it and he didn't even blink. He told me to pack my stuff and move in... I've been living with the Potters since...'

Lily's eyes met Sirius'. She saw then how much he loved James. They were best friends... Brothers... They admired each other and they mocked each other... But most of all, they were always there for each other. And that was what the whole Animagi thing was about. Being there for Remus.

'You are really close, uh?' she said, smiling.

'He's my brother, Evans... That's why I was so harsh on you... He's helped me through all my family issues and he's done everything for me, accepted me and even took care of me when I had given up on myself. He took me back after that stupid prank and he gave me a home... I don't want to see him get hurt. Again, and again... As I have in the last few years. I hope you can understand that.'

Lily nodded. She did understand. But she genuinely wanted to be friends with James. And all of the other three, for that matter.

'Sirius, I really like you guys... You make my days brighter... I've never had that much fun in my life, ever! I just want peace...' she whispered again, looking at the fire. Sirius looked at it as well.

'Good, then we're ok, Lily...'

She looked at him and smiled widely.

'You called me Lily!'

'Sod off!' she pushed her by the shoulder like a brother would. Lily felt a warmth in her heart. The fact that he accepted her now somehow made Lily feel better. She giggled.

'Hello, children...' said James, followed by Remus, coming down the staircase. He gave them a weird look and smiled, realising what had happened. So did Remus. 'Shall we go for breakfast?'

'You go on, I'll wait for the girls...' she said.

'I'll wait with you... Em asked me to wait for her, so..'

'Whipped!' exclaimed Sirius, while he and James walked towards the portrait hole. They laughed.

... ... ... ... ...

Ok, she said she wasn't worried anymore, but that wan't quite true, was it? Everytime Lily looked at any of the boys, she remembered their bloody clothes and wounds. And she couldn't take the dreams off her mind. It was enfuritating.

'Lily? Lils?' she head Mary call her. Apparently she'd been daydreaming. 'Class is over...' she said.

'Oh, right...' she got up and went with her friends.

'What's with you lately? I know History of Magic is boring, but you never daydream... And even the Marauders were paying attention to this class...' said Hestia.

'I... hm... Just a lot of stuff in my mind, that's all...'

'Do you need to talk about it?' suggested Emmeline.

'Nah, I'll be fine.' She forced a smile and entered the Great Hall for lunch. The girls joined her and they sat next to the Marauders, where it was now their regular spot on the table. Of course, this alone gained them lots of haters throughout the school. Emmeline had actually got death threat letters just for dating Remus. Lily kept imagining what would happen if James or Sirius ever got a girlfriend. She might as well be a ghost, because they'd be dead in seconds. That made her giggle.

'Ok, Lily, you're very weird today!' exclaimed Hestia, lifting an eyebrow. The boys stared at Lily.

'Sorry! I remembered that evil letter that Em got and I try to picture what would happen if the others got girlfriends. I mean, James and Sirius, no offence, Pete.'

'Non taken.'

'What letter?'

'Hm... I forgot to tell you about that...' said Emmeline, smiling shyly then shooting a deaht glare at Lily, who shrunk at her seat. 'Some Ravenclaw girl thought it would be funny to kind of sent me a threat letter because I'm dating you and all that... It's no big deal, nothing happened...'

'WHAT?' his eyes got really wide and for a moment Lily saw the werewolf in there. 'Since when do girls care about me?'

Lily knew. Of course they liked Remus... A small share of them, put it was a fair number anyway. He was smart, funny and kind. Besided, the fact that he was handsome helped a great deal. He light brown hair fell messy but tidy at the same time, it wasn't elegant like Sirius' or unruly like James', and it had a goody-two-shoes air to it. His eyes were light-coloured and sparkly, and they always seemed to smile. Remus was a very handsome boy, but he was the only one who didn't see it. Apparently the self-hatred because of the whole lycanthropy thing affected his entire life.

'Because you're amazing, that's all...' Emmeline said, smiling. Remus blushed.

'Awn, aren't they adorable?' said Sirius through a mouthful of potatoes.

'Manners!' said James. Sirius jumped on his seat.

'Could you be less like your dad for once?'

'Nope.' He laughed. Sirius rolled his eyes. Remus and Peter smiled.

There was probably something special about James' father, but the girls were oblivious.

'Anyway! Lily! Weird!' said Hestia, trying to get back to the conversation and figure out what was going on with her friend.

'I'm not weird... I just haven't got much sleep lately, that's all...' she said in a small voice. 'Maybe... maybe you're weird!' and she pointed at Hestia like a 10-year-old.

'Wow. That was... Just... Wow.' She couldn't find the words to describe the weirdness of her friend.

The others laughed. Soon dinner was over and they were able to go back to the Gryffindor Tower.

'I'm beat. G'night, fellas!' said Emmeline, kissing Remus and leaving. She was followed by Hestia, who said she needed her beauty sleep. Only the Marauders, Lily and Mary were left. Lily really wanted a chance to talk to the boys alone, but she didn't want to throw her best mate out of the Common Room. She looked nervously around the room. James picked that up and got up.

'Hey, Lils, can I talk to you?' he asked. 'In private?'

Lily nodded furiously, following James out of the portrait hole. Their friends seemed confused, but shrugged.

'What's going on? You have acted weird lately...' he said, looking into her eyes.

She sighed. 'I'm worried about you. All of you!' she said. 'I know I said it was ok and all that, but I'm having a real hard time getting over the image of your wounds and blood and all that...'

James looked down.

'I'm sorry... I shouldn't've told you...'

'No! I'm glad you did! Now I feel like I can protect you... It's just... I've been having these dreams...' and she looked down. Lily really didn't want to tell him about the dreams. She wasn't sure how he would react or if he'd go back to his cocky, arrogant, 5th-year self.

'What kind of dream?' he sounded genuinely concerned and, looking into hi eyes, Lily realised that that person had been just a façade, a mask, and it wasn't a reality. She could trust James. Hell, she did trust him. With her life, if anyone asked. But of course, she'd never admit. Since they were only friends.

'Well... It's that scene from Bambi where the hunter kills his mum... But it's you intead... As a stag. And it's on repeat. Same dream...' she said, shyly, staring at her shoes.

'Oh...'

'I'm probably more worried about you because I'm closer to you than the other two... So—'

'Yeah, of course. I don't like you worrying about me... I'm not going to run through the meadows like a real deer, Lily... I just transform for the full moon...' he said, his voice pained with the regret of telling her and letting her be worried. That was the last thing he wanted. For Lily to be worried. Well, it did feel good, to have her worrying about him, but he didn't care for her being all woozy and weird and sad.

'Sorry...' she said, her voice coming out a little shaky.

'No worries... It's good that you care. It means you have a good heart, Lily... Come here...' he pulled her into a bear hug and she let out a relieved sigh.

'Thank you for not being mad at me for seeing you and waiting in your dorm and making you tell me a risky secret... Well, thanks for trusting me...' she said, burying her face in his chest just like she did when he told her. He smelled of cologne, good, expensive cologne... But not too much, just a small touch not to hide his natural boyish, incredible scent. She felt his chuckles.

'It's the price of being friends, I reckon...'

'Yeah... We're friends...' she pushed away from him. 'I'm friends with James Potter...' Lily laughed.

He laughed too. 'Indeed you are, my dear... Meet your doom!'

They both laughed for a few minutes before calming down and looking at each other.

'Let's go in?'

She nodded. They entered and the room was empty.

'Well, off to bed so I can enjoy a wonderful day of classes tomorrow fully recharged!' he said, smiling broadly.

'Good night... Have sweet dreams...'

'You too... Stop dreaming about animals from the wilderness, will you? I want you fully awaken for patrol tomorrow night...' he said, smirking and going to his dorm room.

Lily shook her head. 'Insufferable...' she muttered, smiling, and going up her own stairs.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

N/A.: well, that's that for this one... I do hope you're enjoying this... Not much tension here, as you can see – first because I suck at writing tense stuff, second because it's too early for that! We still have the x-mas break, Easter, summer, seventh year... so much! Oh, dear! Anyways, R&R, if you like, which I would really like if you did, you see, because any feedback is great! Or ideas! I don't need to write this by myself, you can help! Yey!

On our way to chapter 8! Trying to think of a cool catch phrase... Marauder-out! Oh, that was lame...

Ah! In case you want to know, I'll list here my dreamcast for the Marauders and friends:

Alice – Kate Winslet (with short hair!)

Frank – Andrew Garfield

Hestia – Olivia Wilde

Mary – Leighton Meester

Emmeline – AJ Cook

Bellatrix – Rachel Weisz

Snape – Trent Reznor (with the hair! Right? Oooh! So much alike!)

Mulciber – Kurt Cobain

[I do not know why the bad guys are singers... it just hit me...]

Lily – Karen Gillan

James – Matthew Gray Gubler

Sirius – Ben Barnes

Remus – Arthur Darvil

Peter – Kyle Gallner

That's it! Yey! Ok, bye now!