Chapter 11

Remus idly wondered, as he made his slow progress back to Gryffindor tower from the hospital wing the night after the full moon, if his boyfriend was ever going to move out of the smotheringly-devoted phase. Sirius was at his side carrying the stack of books from Remus' sidetable in the hospital wing. There was every chance that this just was Sirius' personality, and that it wouldn't be a phase of the relationship. They were about two months in at this point, after all.

He'd be annoyed later, when his desire for independence gave him a streak of stubbornness and pride. At the moment he was too bone weary tired to mind, and having someone to lean on as he lurched up the stairs to their dorm room was pleasant enough. Sirius chucked his books less gently than Remus would have liked into his trunk, then flopped onto the bed next to him.

"You look peaky. You sure you were ready to leave the hospital wing yet?"

"I'd rather be in bed here than in bed there," Remus said.

"I guess that's fair. We can cuddle here, after all." Of course Sirius would latch onto that. Not that Remus minded…most of the time. He closed his eyes, a content little smile on his lips as Sirius curled against him in a manner somewhat reminiscent of devil's snare. Remus let his eyes drift shut and enjoyed the warmth of Sirius' body against his.

Then their pleasant little moment was abruptly ended by Peter running into the room and slamming the door shut behind him. He bounded over to his bed and pulled his curtains shut.

Sirius sat up on his elbows. "We weren't snogging or anything!"

"I'm hiding from Prongs, not you! Practice just ended and, well, you'll find out soon enough."

He'd barely finished speaking when James made his own noisy entrance. Remus leaned up from the bed as well, wanting to see for himself what was going on. James was still in his quidditch gear, spattered with mud and sporting a gigantic gash across his cheek. Sirius pulled away from Remus and crossed the room, at James' side in a heartbeat. "What happened?"

"Fifty points. That cow McGonagall took fifty points from Gryffindor just because I…because I…" He couldn't seem to get the words out, too flustered as he switched rapidly between shock and anger.

"What did you say?" Remus asked, keeping his tone as soothing as possible.

"I barely said anything!" James exploded. "I just asked if I might see her over the summer, and then Paglia grabbed Estrelle's bat and chucked it at my head and gave me this," Here he violently motioned towards his freely bleeding cut. "And then I landed clutching at my face, and I tried to end practice-"

"Wait, you asked Evans out in front of her boyfriend during quidditch practice?" Sirius asked. James shot him a dirty look. "Sorry mate, but that was pretty thick of you. Carry on. Why's McGonagall a cow again?"

"Urgh. So anyway, Evans came over to me and apologized for Paglia, and said that if I meant it as friends then she'd consider it. You know, because we have gotten a bit more friendly lately," James said lamely. He'd blatantly never meant the offer as friends, and the four of them knew perfectly well that Lily was really only friends with Remus.

"And I…I said something a bit stupid because I was still upset, and she smacked me across the cut and went to McGonagall…and she docked the house fifty points because apparently I sexually harassed Evans! She said if I did it again then I'd be banned from quidditch just like you, but that I'd also be dead because she's pretty sure I'm the only thing keeping us in the running for the cup, and she'll kill me herself if she has to lose it so I'd better learn how to respect my teammates."

A sound that may or may not have been laughter being muffled by a pillow was heard from behind Peter's bed curtains. Sirius looked at a loss about what to say. Remus decided to jump in; he was a bit more tactful than Sirius, after all.

"James…I'm really sorry. That all sounds terrible. You, um, did notice though, that Lily only went to McGonagall because you really upset her, right? That you've been making her uncomfortable?"

"I know Moony, I'm not a complete idiot," James snapped. He collapsed on the floor in front of his bed and put his head in his hands. "I'm just an idiot whenever I'm near her. My brain just kind of goes on holiday, and when I'm back to normal I realize I've done something unforgivably stupid and that she hates me more than ever."

"Well she has put that together, if it helps," Remus said. "She said she knows you don't mean to be as annoying as you are."

"Oh goody," James snapped sarcastically.

"I find it kind of flattering when I can visibly reduce Moony's IQ," Sirius put in. Remus scoffed, a scowl on his face, and James and Sirius snorted. "Oh come on Remus, you know what I'm talking about."

"I don't-you really-you do not turn me stupid," Remus insisted.

Peter pulled his curtains open for this one. "What about last week when he smiled at you and you walked into that suit of armor?"

"Or that time before you started dating when Pads complimented you and you got stuck in the trick step when we were on our way to Charms?" James added.

Sirius gaped at James. "I was doing it to him before we started going out? Could you have possibly mentioned that when I was pining over him and all depressed because I thought he fancied you? Git." Sirius thwapped James over the back of his head.

Remus laughed. "Alright, so I guess I do do some stupid things sometimes. But Lily doesn't find it as endearing as she might since it's pretty constant and, well…invasive and disrespectful. You've just got to tone it down James. I think she wants to like you, as a friend at least."

James nodded. "Thanks, yeah. I'll work on it. Over the summer, I'll keep repeating to myself 'stop making an arse of yourself in front of Evans'. I'll make it a mantra or something. Next year's my last chance, after all. Once we've graduated she'll be able to avoid me with ease."

"So she won't be trapped in a castle with you for the better part of a year anymore. I'm sure you'll find other ways to stalk her. You're a resourceful sort of bloke," Sirius said, clapping a hand over James' back. James glared at him, but he couldn't hold it very long. The four of them exploded into giggles, and when they calmed a bit Sirius healed the cut on James' face.

James jumped up and pulled some clean clothes out of his trunk. "Alright, enough feeling sorry for myself for one night. Anyone interested in a kitchen raid?"

Sirius bounded back over to Remus' bed and landed just in front of him, exuberantly enough to bounce him on the bed. "Sorry, I've got a knackered werewolf to keep company."

"You can go if you want to. I'm probably just going to sleep," Remus murmured.

Peter was already rooting around under his bed looking for his trainers, while James was trying to remember where he'd put the cloak last. Sirius leaned over and ran his hand through Remus' fringe. "I missed you. You've been in the bloody hospital wing all day you know."

Remus groaned. "We saw each other all last night-"

"We were transformed. Conversation left a lot to be desired and much as I enjoy Moony's kisses, Remus' really blow them out of the water."

"And we were together for most of yesterday as well."

"Yes, in classes. And when we weren't in class you were revising for that Transfiguration test."

"Trying to revise. You kept stealing my book and sitting on it."

"Well it was a stupid test anyway. I know I aced it, and I'm sure you did too."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Sirius, how do you plan on surviving the summer when you're this clingy and we're not going to be trapped in a castle together anymore?"

"Pads and I will clearly have to start a support group," James said, looking up from his trunk with a grin on his face. "Lily Evans and Remus Lupin fanciers anonymous. Has kind of a nice ring to it."

"Bet you anything if Evans finds out you've named a club after her Gryffindor will lose another fifty points," Peter said. James threw a pillow at him.

The next morning, the four friends made sure to head down to breakfast together. Sirius and Remus flanked James on either side, Peter trailing just behind, all hoping to prevent him from saying or doing anything to unwittingly bring more wrath upon him. All the recent fiascos with the quidditch team had been interpreted by their fellow students as a direct result of James' captaincy (which was sadly true, though the others refrained from saying so), and even though he'd always been popular, sabotaging quidditch was something even a charming, witty genius from a privilidged and respectable family couldn't entirely overcome.

A lot of dirty looks were shot James' way when they approached the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. James tried to send a little wave Lily's way and smiled apologetically at her, but Lily's best friend grabbed her arm and steered her to the other end of the table, going so far as to growl at the group of boys.

James' shoulders slumped. Sirius patted him on the back. "Don't worry too much mate, Estrelle's always been a bitch."

Cleo Estrelle had also replaced Kamala Goyal as beater for Gryffindor, after much pleading from Lily and Tony. The situation would only get worse if the girl resigned the team out of hatred for the captain (and, as one of Severus Snape's only friends and an odd kid to begin with, Cleo had never really liked James at any point).

"This sucks." James plopped down sulkily on the opposite end of the table from Lily. Peter sat down next to him and started heaping food onto his plate, pausing for a brief sympathetic shrug before getting down to stuffing his face. Remus and Sirius sat opposite them, but Remus gazed down the table towards Lily.

"Her eyes are red. I wonder what happened?" Remus mused. He chewed on his lower lip. "I hope she's alright. No offense James, but I don't think she's been crying because of you."

James rolled his eyes. "I know...it's not like I'd want her to anyway."

Sirius leaned around Remus and peered down the table as well. "Paglia's not there. You don't suppose they broke up, do you?"

"She definitely wasn't happy about Paglia attacking James," Peter put in. James brightened at that, and the other three scowled and rolled their eyes.

Before they could remind James that Lily and Paglia might not have broken up and it was just a guess, the post arrived and disrupted most of the conversations in the hall with its usual disorderly flurry of activity. James and Remus were both taking the Daily Prophet now, wanting to keep an eye on the "Situation" outside of school (the Ministry still wasn't admitting it was a war yet, but they weren't fooling anyone). Sirius leaned on Remus' shoulder and scanned the headlines with him, while Peter continued eating and waited to be informed if anything big had happened.

Suddenly, the mood changed dramatically in the Great Hall as the students who read the paper found the most notable headline at the same time. A wail went up from the Hufflepuff table, and two professors went to comfort the poor girl and remove her from the hall. Two students from the Ravenclaw table pulled a distraught second year from the room, and there were quieter cries and gasps from the room at large. It only took a moment for the buzz of hushed conversation to pick back up.

"What happened?" Peter asked.

"Killings," Remus whispered. "Muggle killings, but they got...they got the families of some Muggle borns." His hands were shaking, and he slowly set down the paper.

"Moony, what is it?" Sirius asked.

"T-the biggest one was in Lily's neighborhood. I didn't recognize any of the names, but..."

As one, they turned and looked at the other end of the table. Almost the entirety of the Gryffindor table was staring at Lily, because she was sitting with her head in her arms quietly crying, and unlike with the vocally distressed students, no one had taken her out. Cleo was gaping at her, looking lost.

Before anyone else could react, James got up, went to Lily and gently touched her shoulder. "Come on Evans."

Cleo unfroze and stood up, intending to yell at him from the looks of it but she stopped in her tracks at the look on his face. He had an expression of grim determination, and something that may have been heartbreak from seeing Lily in such obvious pain. He touched her arm and she slowly stood up. James wrapped a supporting arm around her and ushered her out of the Great Hall.

Sirius, Remus and Peter watched them leave, then slowly turned to look at each other.

"Well, that was something," Peter said weakly. Remus nodded.

A/N: Howdy all. I know it's been months (literally) since my last update and I wanted to apologize. I've had a particularly brutal semester that has robbed me of any and all free time. I won't be doing that again next semester, which will be my last as an undergrad! Anywho, expect steady but not regular updates on this hereon out. I've got plenty of ideas, I've just got other fics I'm working on at the same time.

And thank you to everyone who's reviewed. I really do appreciate them :)