A/N: This chapter is for ellabell, LazyBoyGilmore, iluvreading, commando17, and Blonde Goddess, who are wonderful because they reviewed my last two chapters. This is a much longer chapter than normal, since ya'll seemed to want longer chapters, and this should tide you over till I get back in town on Wednesday. Please read the AN at the end of the chapter, because I have a question I want to put to you all, but it won't make sense till the end. So with that, enjoy!

At breakfast about a week after classes had started, Lily plopped down in a seat to the left of Remus, and across from James and Sirius. Peter was sitting on Remus' other side. They had about 20 minutes till Potions that morning, and so Lily was it a better mood that normal for that time of the day. Normally, when asked Lily would claim she was not a morning person. The exception was when she was either looking forward to something, or had been up very early and for quite sometime, resigning herself to the fact that she was going to have to be awake. This morning, while not quite excited for Potions, she had woken up earlier than usual and spent a little extra time getting ready and convinced herself that today, she was going to be awake and pleasant at 7 in the morning. So it was in a good mood, and with a high self confidence that Lily sat down to breakfast with her friends that morning.

"Morning Lily," said Remus as he scanned the Daily Prophet. "Ready for Potions?" he asked.

Lily smiled and before she could answer, Sirius had done it for her. "Of course she is. It has to be her favorite class, because she's Slugy's favorite student. His voice dropped to try to imitate their rounded professor 'And another perfect example from Miss Evans!'" He picked his fork up out of his scrambled eggs and pointed it at her, putting on a serious face. "I'd watch out if I were you, I think he fancies you."

He had said it in such seriousness that Lily couldn't help but giggle a bit in response. She didn't know what to say to that, so instead responded in kind. "Yes well, at least I don't encourage his affections, which is more than I can say for you." Sirius looked confused for a second and Lily elaborated. She held both hands over her heart as she imitated Sirius. "'Of course I wasn't getting in to trouble Madam Huely, I got this black eyes trying to save a little first year from getting too close to the Whomping Willow.'"

Remus started laughing from behind his paper, clearly remembering the incident when Sirius had gotten into a fight with the Lestrange boy from Slytherin at the end of last year. Madam Huely had demanded to know what in the world Sirius had been doing to get a shiner quite like that one.

"Yes but she secretly has a thing for James," he stage whispered behind his hand to Lily, while blatantly pointing his other hand at James, nearly poking him in the face with his fork.

James, who was in the middle of consuming a sizable cup of coffee and some toast, merely grunted at swatted at Sirius' hand. Lily reached for her orange juice. "A little tired James?" she asked casually.

"He's always like this," explained Remus.

Lily knew James wasn't a morning person, but neither was she. When she tried to explain that, she had hardly finished when Sirius let out a great laugh that sounded almost like a bark.

"If you, dear Lily, aren't usually a morning person, then James isn't usually an afternoon person," he explained.

Lily smiled. Putting on the most innocently curious face she could muster she asked, "Oh what's wrong, is Madam Huely not returning his affections?" The other three boys laughed at her comment while James gave her a glare across his coffee cup for her early morning teasing.

It was on a Wednesday morning during break when James pulled Sirius aside for a minute. "It's done today," he whispered excitedly. "We can do it tonight. We'll go at midnight, while Remus is gone." Sirius only nodded his head, but the excitement and determination shined through in his eyes. He'd pass the information on to Peter later.

All that day in class, James couldn't contain his excitement. At Quidditch practice he was a mess, and got yelled at multiple times by the captain Adam Bugsly, a tall lanky 6th year that played Keeper. Fortunately, for James, the practice had mostly been focusing on the coordination of the two beaters, because James' mind was somewhere else completely. In fact, James' mind was in a new room they had found last month on the 7th floor corridor, thanks to a few house elves from the kitchens that they knew well from their frequent visits.

Over the summer, James had found the potion that would be the first solid step to turning himself and two of his friends into animagi. They had started it after a few weeks back at school and three weeks later it was ready. The fascinating room they had found provided them with anything they required and had been incredibly useful in helping to hide the potion from Remus, as well as provide all the rare ingredients they needed. Sirius had christened it the "Room of Requirement" since, he argued, that was what it did.

The book that James was reading had warned him that it would take a number of hours to uncover their forms once the potion was consumed. This was because the potion induced a serious state of self reflection, causing each person to travel along their own personal journey, addressing their own strengths, weaknesses, triumphs, and fears in order to find out what animal was a true representative of each person. James was excited – and nervous. When he first entertained the idea of becoming animagi, he didn't realize that they would be doing something so intense as a complete and true inspection of themselves. There was no running from the things he found out tonight. Maybe that's why most kids never attempted this, he thought. Leave alone the complex magic that would follow.

After wishing Remus luck as he feigned sick as usual and left for the infirmary that evening, the three other group members wheedled away the time until midnight. By that time, most of the students were heading to bed, and Lily herself had left only 30 minutes earlier. They made their excuses and headed to bed, and waited a few more minutes (just to be safe) before sneaking out under James' invisibility cloak.

Twenty minutes later the potion had been spooned into three different cups and each person had added one of their own hairs to the potion. James held his cup tightly in his right hand, acutely aware of the clamminess of his palms against the glass as he looked to Sirius and to Peter as the sat in a triangle in the middle of the room. Sirius licked his lips a little nervously, but looked more wary of the potion than anything, like it was a potion that Madam Huely, the school nurse, had given him. He knew he should take it, but knew that because of that it would taste horribly. Peter's cup was held firmly in his left hand, and although his hand was trembling, his face showed no outwards signs of nervousness except his eyes. His eyes were wide, as if he wanted to step back and discount himself the responsibility of what he was about to do. But even James, whose idea it had been in the first place, realized that they had reached a point that they could not turn back from. Once they took this step, they were committed to this, one hundred percent. And not just for Remus, but for them. James had a strange feeling that the actions they took tonight, while obviously changing them, would make them grow up and accept responsibility for these actions, in a very adult way. And for three fourteen-year-old boys, this was a daunting task. But Remus had grown up more quickly than the rest of them ever had, and at a much younger age. And it was that fact, that gave James the confidence that it wasn't a bad thing, and wasn't a thing to shy away from, but a change – a change to embrace. And it was with that thought that he took a deep breathe, tilted his head back, and threw the small, 4 ounces of gooey potion down his throat.

Suddenly James was walking through a forest. He couldn't see or feel the sun, but it wasn't dark as night either. It was as if time didn't exist. The tree canopy above was thick and a lush, a dark green color that covered him like a blanket, but didn't make him feel trapped. The trees were of a species he wasn't familiar with, but ran tall and straight to disappear in the canopy above. He could smell the woodsy, moldy, comforting scent in the air. Damp from the lack of light, and the stillness of the air. The ground was soft under his shoes, a bit of dirt, a bit of mud, and a bit of mulch. There were few plants of the ground, but fallen logs occasionally supported bits of fungus. James could see no other signs of life. Or of animal life, he corrected his thoughts. For he could feel the life between the stillness of the trees, quiet, strong, unbreakable. He briefly wondered if perhaps he was supposed to be a tree. He took a few steps and began to walk in no particular direction, marveling at the sense of calm power he felt running through his veins. He felt in supreme control, as if he could calmly stand to anything, lead anyone. He approached one tree and laid his hand on the trunk. James didn't speak, he felt like it was inappropriate, and something told him if he tried to make a sound, he wouldn't have heard anything anyway. He felt the bark under his hand, smooth, soft, rough, and hard – all at the same time. Suddenly he felt a stillness wash through him and a content smile rose to his lips. His body stilled at he felt so at peace with himself, with the world. He felt for that moment that even if he had been in a crowd of people he could calmly keep himself in this state of still, content, blissful, happiness. And let the world continue, as if all was right, and everything was happening as its maker intended. Suddenly, something caught his eye. He walked again, something inside him panicking and began to run. James didn't know what happened, perhaps he tripped over a tree root, but he felt himself on his hands and his knees on the ground. He felt gripped with anger, as if his blood was running through his veins hot and boiling. His mind screamed and reeled at the injustice of everything and he literally felt consumed and overwhelmed by the passion coursing through him. His head dropped, the mulch pressing against his forehead as he beat his fist into the ground, as if that would make the world change its decision. James wasn't surprised when he lifted his head back up, to feel hot tears racing down his cheeks. He rose slowly to his feet, reaching up to feel the mulch that clung to his hair. He knew now for certain that he couldn't make a sound, and someone that infuriated him. He wanted to rage, and looking for a release he stamped over to a log, rotting on the ground. He kicked it with his foot, as hard as he could. A part of him knew that he shouldn't let his temper control him like this, that it was only going to hurt himself. But he took that consequence. So it was only seconds later that he felt the shock, when his foot wasn't pulsing in pain like he expected it to be. Instead the log had shattered, it's rotten pieces flying in every direction. For a moment James felt nothing but the shock. He hadn't meant it. Not really. He wanted to comfort the log, put it back together, because right now he felt like it was wailing, looking at him as if James had just broken the most sacred trust in the world. Again he dropped to his knees, and he felt the tears continue down his face, but this time it was different. This time he was grieving. His actions were unforgivable, and he felt more horrible with himself because he felt like the log was forgiving him anyway. He felt his head drop in repentance, and true recognition. A calm feeling settled over him again. But it was not the same calm as before. This time it was the sheer emptiness and relief of pure emotional exhaustion. James felt something soft and warm brush against his forehead and a warm breath in his hair. He relished in the strong sense of comfort and forgiveness and strength, the openness he felt in that touch before looking up. Standing in front of him was a beautiful stag. When James looked up, the stag lifted its head before taking a few steps back. James rose to his feet in a daze. As he took in the sight of the majestic stag standing before him he stood up a little straighter, wiped his arm across his eyes, and felt a sense of pride fill his body, and that calm sense of strength return. The stag looked eyes with him, and James felt a sense of understanding a calm pass between them, before things faded.

James opened his eyes slowly. Sirius was sitting to his left, looking at the floor, a mixture of shame and strength on his face. His looked up at James as if noticing he was awake for the first time, and James saw a look of acceptance in his eyes that he was sure could be found in his own. Sirius gave him a curt nod of acknowledgement, both of them retaining the silence they had experience in their visions. James glanced at Peter, who was still in a trance and realized he felt exhausted. His both and his mind were both inexplicably tired, as if he had just lived a lifetime in a few short hours. Unbidden, his mind began to accept and evaluate the things he had learned and experienced about himself. His sense of strength and calmness that he had felt at first, in which he found self confidence, and with which he found the confidence to lead others, and to stand up for things he believed in. The deep river of passion that ran through him, that caused him to fight passionately for things he believed in, and the injustices he felt existed in the world. But it was the same river of passion that fueled his temper. James had known to some degree before that he was a person who believed strongly, and felt strongly, but he hadn't know the degree of it before tonight. He realized, as he reflected, that he was someone who lived his life passionately, and emotionally, but not always exuberantly. He enjoyed the strong sense of calm and of peace that he felt at the beginning, the sense that all was right in the world, that everything was fine just in that one moment. And the sense of pride that had filled him when he realized that he was proud of that person that he truly was. He had faced some of his faults that night, and had been proud of the person he was anyway. James came out of his thoughts and looked over to see Peter blinking his eyes, just coming awake again.

Peter looked much less accepting that James felt. James almost asked Peter what was wrong, realizing even as the thought crossed his mind, that he couldn't. Whatever Peter had seen, just as whatever Sirius and James had seen. Would stay with them and with them alone for the rest of their lives. But Pete looked uncomfortable, James decided, like he wasn't the person he wanted to be, or that he was afraid of the things he had experienced. His eyes were pulled away by Sirius' voice, sounding strange in the dead silence of the room.

"Come on."

As a group they rose and walked back to the common room. It was about five in the morning according to the clock in the room of requirement, and because of the hour and their sheer exhaustion they didn't even bother with the invisibility cloak. Not another word was said as they stumbled into bed, knowing that they would talk about their respective animals later.

The next morning James, Sirius, and Peter trudged into breakfast a little later than normal. Remus was still in the hospital wing after his transformation. As Sirius and Peter dropped into seats across from Lily, and James into a seat beside her, she looked up to greet them. Her words however seemed to fall on deaf and grumpy ears. Now Lily knew that James wasn't a morning person by any standards, but that was why she and Sirius had so much fun in the mornings poking fun at him. She sat there for a moment in silence, wondering what in the world was going on? She was about to say something when she felt James' head drop onto her shoulder. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to see that he was asleep. Sirius was across the table, his spoonful of oatmeal never quite making it to his mouth.

"What's up with you guys?" she asked.

Sirius just kind of shrugged his shoulders at her, still holding his spoonful of oatmeal just above his bowl, too tired to playfully banter with her like he usually did in the mornings. "We were up late," he said in a vague way of explanation.

"How much sleep did you actually get?" she asked, glancing at Peter, who was staring at his toast sitting on the table as if he was unsure of what to do with it.

"Two hours maybe?" he asked himself.

She glanced at James against and rubbed his back. "James," she said.

"Hmm. What?" He was dazedly awake.

"Where's Remus," Lily asked suddenly, realizing he was missing for the first time.

"He's sick, he's in the hospital wing," explained Sirius, his oatmeal still not having made it's way to his mouth, despite his capacity for speech.

Lily heard James mumble something that sounded like "Good thing too," from his place of her shoulder in response to Sirius' response. She glanced back at James before turning to Sirius again.

"Go back to bed," she said. Sirius looked confused for a moment. "We've got History of Magic this morning and you guys will just sleep through it anyway. I'll take notes for you and see you in Transfiguration after break."

Sirius looked like he could have hugged her and promised her anything she wanted for the favor, and after making sure that James wasn't going to drown in his cereal, Lily picked up her books and headed off to class.

On a Sunday afternoon a few weeks later, Lily was lounging under a tree by the lake, trying to get the last bit of her homework finished before class the next day. She was actually spending more time lying in the grass and enjoying was possibly going to be the last pleasant day of the season. But the weather wasn't what was distracting her from getting her work done. No, Lily had something on her mind. Suddenly, a paper airplane came and hovered just above her nose, blocking her view of the sky through the branches of the tree. She grabbed it from the air and unwrapping it, saw it was blank. Knowing what that meant and who it was from, she grabbed her quill.

Yeah?

Where are you?

By the lake. Are you done with practice?

Yeah. You staying there for a while?

Probably, it's just so nice outside.

I know. I'll come find you.

Alright.

A few minutes later, she saw James walking up. She was glad she was going to get to talk to him. Her mind was heavy and it was bringing her down. As he got closer she stood up, and suddenly feeling a need for comfort she walked towards him. With no pretenses she held her arms out as she got to him and he hugged her. She let out a sigh as she felt that now familiar sense of comfort wash over her. They were such good friends. He was always there to help her when she needed it, and now was one of those times she was so thankful for the friendship she had.

"What's up?" he asked. He didn't know something was wrong, but he felt that maybe something was bothering her a bit.

"Just thinking," she said. She gave him a half smile as he released her. Come on, come lay with me.

He eyed the ground before stretching out on his back. "I would have thought there would be more leaves under this tree, what with Halloween in a few days."

"There were," she replied as she settled her head on his stomach, also looking up at the half bare branches above her. "I banished most of them when I got here so that I could lay on the ground. He nodded at the felt his breathing slightly. They talked for a few minutes in an unforced and unrushed conversation. She asked about how his Quidditch practice went, and he asked how her Transfiguration essay was coming along, knowing she had been having trouble with the spell in class that week. After a few minutes a comfortable silence fell, before Lily shifted a bit. "James," she said.

"Mhmm?"

She exhaled, unsure of how to say it, and just choosing to dive right in. "Remus is a werewolf isn't he?" her voice was soft, resigned, as if she already knew the answer. His stomach muscles clenched under head immediately and she knew without a doubt that it was true.

"How long have you known?" his voice wasn't accusing, or upset, but sad. Sad for the reality of the situation, for the reality of the conversation they were having, and resigned to the fact that despite anything he could do, that statement was, and always would be, true.

"A few weeks," she admitted. She was almost whispering now. She could almost feel the tears in the back of her eyes. She couldn't believe the injustice of it. But it was what it was, and that resignation kept those tears from falling. She stared up at the sky as the wind rustled the few leaves around them. "I wish there was something I could do."

"There will be," he assured her. "And I'll be able to do something too." He sounded so sure, Lily thought.

"But what?" she asked desperately.

"I don't know. You'll have to figure it out in time. Each person will be able to help him in different ways."

She nodded. He had relaxed again under her, his stomach muscles providing the contact with him she desperately needed in this moment. Not knowing what else to ask. "What will you do?"

He sighed and was silent, though he didn't tense up again. He already knew, or at least had an idea. She could tell. But something told her it was too close, that he couldn't dare voice his idea to her, or possibly even to the world just yet, so she asked another question.

"Do you know how you're going to help him?"

He was a little unsure still, of how helpful he could be. He didn't even know if he'd be able to perform the magic needed for the transformation, or if it would be any real help to Remus. He'd probably hate the idea actually, mused James. But he would be damned if he didn't at least try. So it was with a little bit more confidence than he actually felt that he replied.

"I think so."

A/N: Ok, so I hope you guys really enjoyed that cause it was really fun to write, especially the vision scene. I vision scenes for Sirius and for Peter and I think they're really neat because they show quite a bit about each character, especially Peter. But because of the way I wrote the chapter, and because of how long it already was, I didn't feel like they quite fit in the shorty. Should I find a way to work them into later chapters, or should I just post them as seperate one shots? Do you guys even want to read them? I'm leaning towards posting them as one shots, but only if people actually want to read them. If not then I'll just let them sit on the back burner in my mind and just stick with this story. Anyways, let me know what you think? Because your opinion will decide! Thanks!