AN: Hey everyone! This is a lot later than I wanted to get this chapter up, but I have good news. I already have the next chapter written! You won't have to wait as long! And I am going to try and get the next next chapter finished before I post the next chapter. So I am a bit more on top of things. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. It's Lily's first detention, oooh!

Stuff you should know because it took me a year to update(luckily that is an exaggeration): Lily put James in the hospital because she pushed him into a book shelf and a book knocked him out, she has to serve fourteen detentions for it. Sirius got into a fight with his brother in the owlery about family stuff and is in detention with Lily for two nights. Regulus is up to no good with the Slytherins and Peter is on the outs with the gang.

I think that's it. :) Enjoy

Chapter Twenty: Punishment and New Beginnings

It was Lily Evans's first day of detention. It was the first time in her life that she was being punished by a teacher for something that she had deserved to be punished for. There had been this one time in primary school when her teacher made her sit on the bench during break-time because Wendy Alan had told her that Lily had broken her pencil but Lily had never touched the pencil. Now Lily knew that it had been magic that caused the pencil to snap but then she had found it completely unfair to have to sit and watch Wendy skip around the schoolyard while she was stuck on the bench.

This was different though, she knew that she deserved to be in detention and felt completely responsible for what had happened. After tonight she would have to serve thirteen more.

Honestly, she had been expecting detention to be a bit more brutal than this. All Professor McGonagall was making her do was write lines.

'I will not use magic on a fellow student unless in class unless instructed to do so.'

It had been shorter, simply 'I will not use magic on a fellow student' but Sirius, who was serving his detention with Lily, had pointed out that they were sometimes required to do so for class and McGonagall agreed with him.

Sirius was sitting a row behind her also writing lines. He was writing, 'I will not get into fights with my brother while in the Owlery.' His originally was, 'I will not get into fights,' but he changed his into something he said, "Was probably true."

Today was Tuesday. James had been released from the hospital that morning and the rumors had started flying. Luckily for Lily, most of the rumors involved some fight between Sirius and James rather than Lily and James. Sirius being in detention seemed to back up this story. Though some of the rumors were completely true. She could only guess that the people who knew the real story had heard it from one of the seventh year girls who had seen it happen. Why they didn't just keep their mouths shut was beyond Lily.

During breakfast Emery Brown had came up and sat beside Lily huffing and puffing but not saying anything. She didn't need to because Lily was getting the message. Emery had already yelled at Lily once for distracting James before a game. Injuring him before a game had to be about fifty times worse. She was actually surprised that Emery didn't say anything. The match against Hufflepuff was this weekend and, as Cleo had put it, "Emery was pulling her hair out."

In the corridor on the way to Charms, Lily was accosted by a group of third year Ravenclaws who wanted to know if it was true. That was all they asked, "Is it true?" When Lily asked what they were talking about one of them let out a giggle and another girl squealed, "It's definitely true!" And then they all walked away. When Lily asked Savanna what they were talking about, she tried to distract her with the homework they were going to hand in once they reached the classroom. Lily decided that this was Savanna's way of letting her know that she didn't want to know what they were talking about.

After Charms they had double Potions and Lily had to sit in the very front of the room to make sure she was as far as she could possibly be from James and Severus. She was avoiding Severus and she didn't care if he didn't know why, she didn't care if he looked hurt when she didn't return his, "Hello, Lily," she just didn't care today. Maybe she would talk to him tomorrow. Today she was just going to try and get through two hours of Professor Slughorn commenting on how Lily was sitting up front instead of in the back with her usual partner.

After lunch, they went to Herbology and Lily silently endured having bits of plant thrown at her by James who was trying to get her attention. She didn't get angry, but she did ignore him. She also ignored him when he tried to block the door after the class ended. She simply stayed at her seat and took a really long time putting all of her things into her bag until she heard him sigh and leave.

Dinner was a mess all of its own. All day Coral, Savanna and Mary had been keeping everyone away from Lily so that she didn't have to talk about what had happened, but by dinner Coral had stopped being the supportive friend and was entertaining anyone who would listen with the story of what had happened yesterday. Lily tried not to let it get to her, Coral just liked the attention that she was getting, but she was still the first to leave the great hall.

So when it finally came time to go to detention, Lily was grateful. She thought that her pathetic demeanor was what caused Professor McGonagall to give them such an easy task as writing lines. She was actually dreading detention ending. Going up to the common room, were most of the rumors about why James was in the hospital were true, was not something she wanted to do. The way she saw it, she had almost been punished enough today just by being forced to endure the rumor mill.

Eventually, much to her dismay, it was time for Lily and Sirius to go back. Lily sighed and followed behind Sirius as slowly as she could. Dragging her feet and running her hand along the wall.

"Walking slowly isn't going to do much you know. You're still going to have to go into the common room." Sirius said, smirking at her.

"Walking slowly," Lily said in as strong a voice she could muster. "Will give me more time to gather myself."

"What parts of yourself are you gathering." He laughed.

"Just leave it be, Sirius."

"Oh come on, Red. Relax." He fell back so that they were next to each other. "So, how was your first detention?" Lily looked over at him and sighed. She didn't know if he was trying to tease her or just asking so they had something to talk about.

"It wasn't that bad." She said.

"Lines are actually one of my least favorite."

"Why? They're easy."

"They're bloody boring."

"I suppose." Lily allowed.

"I like the detentions where Filch is there yelling over my shoulder." Sirius laughed. "It's so easy to get him all wound up."

"That sounds absolutely thrilling." Sirius nodded with a goofy grin on his face.

"Would you get upset with me if I asked you about what happened in the library?" He asked, still smiling.

"Would you get upset with me if I asked you about what happened in the Owlery?" Lily countered, squinting her eyes into slits.

"No." This took Lily by surprise.

"Really?" She asked, finding this hard to believe. Sirius didn't seem like the open book type.

"I wouldn't get upset." Sirius said. "Why would I?"

"Okay." She bit her lip. He had acted really strangely when Professor McGonagall had been asking him what had happened between Regulus and himself, and Lily was rather curious. Besides, James was Sirius's best friend. James had probably already told him all about what had happened in the library. It wouldn't be as if she was telling him things that he didn't already know. "I suppose you can ask me about it."

"Why did you attack him?" He asked. "I mean, I know that he was a berk and sent you about a dozen letters on Christmas day, and you do have quite the temper but did it really bother you enough to injure him?" Lily started swinging her arms at her sides. She wasn't going to tell Sirius about what Mary had told her and that she had been angry with Severus, but it was a fair question.

"If I had seen James on Christmas Day, I would have been angry enough." She said.

"But this was about a week later."

"Can I just say that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You can, but you'll have to elaborate."

"Okay. I had just… heard about something that had happened a few days ago and it made me really angry. Then James walked over and asked me if I liked his letters."

"And you snapped?"

"Obviously." They were quiet for a while. "It's your fault actually."

"This should be good."

"No, really! He came over because he was looking for you." Lily said.

"Lily, if he wasn't looking for me, he would have been looking for an extra quill or a text book or Merlin."

"What?"

"He just wanted an excuse to talk to you." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, Lily just stared at him, then it seemed to click into place for her and she shook her head.

"Oh right!" Lily laughed bitterly. "I forgot. It's because he's in love with me."

"Yeah. So it's not my fault."

"Alright, my turn. Why were you fighting with your brother?"

"Just because."

"That's not an answer."

"I said I wouldn't get angry, I didn't say I would give you a good answer." Sirius said. Lily hit his arm. "Ow! Maybe you need attitude adjustment or something. First you attack James and now you're hitting me."

"That was a mean trick."

"You only asked if I would get upset. I didn't lie to you, did I?"

"You still tricked me."

"Did you ask me if-"

"I shouldn't have to be so specific." They were walking along the fifth floor now, only two floors to go.

"My brother and I don't get along very well, so we fought. That's about it."

"Why don't you and your brother get along?" Lily pressed.

"I don't know. We just don't."

"I have a sister." Lily said quietly.

"Fascinating." Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"We don't get along either."

"You don't seem to get along with anyone." Lily hit his arm again.

"She's a muggle." Lily went on. "I think she's angry because I'm a witch and she's not. I mean, I would be upset too, if it were the other way around. But she doesn't even write to me and when I'm at home, she can't even stand to be in the same room as me."

"You don't have to talk to me about this. We're not friends." Sirius said.

"Sorry. I know." Lily was now feeling completely awful. Not only had they reached the Fat Ladies portrait, but now she was thinking about her sister too.

"I can walk in ahead of you and scare everyone off." Sirius offered.

"I think that would draw even more attention. I'm just going to try and sneak up to my room. If James is in there though, you could distract him for me."

"And why would I do that for you?"

"Because if you don't, I'll hit you." Lily threatened. Sirius sighed.

"I guess I can try." He agreed. "So, until detention time tomorrow."

"Until tomorrow." Lily agreed. And then Sirius walked through the porthole. Lily didn't see how waiting outside was going to help her so she followed him after a moment. It wasn't as awful as she had imagined but it still wasn't great. People were whispering and pointing and Lily didn't like it. She saw Savanna and Mary in their corner get up and walked towards the stairs.

"Hey." Savanna said when she reached them. "Are you OK?"

"Well, I'm still alive." Lily tried to give her a convincing smile. "Actually it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be."

"I told you that detention wasn't going to kill you." Mary said smiling. Lily shook her head.

"I suppose I should listen to you more."

"Now if only I can get everyone else to think like that."

"My mum sent me a tin of sweets, so you want to go and have some of them?" Savanna asked. The offer was tempting because Savanna's mum was probably the greatest chef alive, but Lily wasn't really ready for it. Staying up and eating sweets meant staying up and talking and if they stayed up and talked, the other girls would want to join in. Lily didn't want to talk to the other girls.

"Actually, I just want to get some sleep. Maybe tomorrow."

"I want some sweets." Mary pouted. "I love the things that your mum sends."

"I asked Lily, not you." Savanna teased. Mary put on a show of pretending to be offended.

"Well," Mary said after she had finished, turning to Lily. "If you're just going to sleep, we're going to stay down here a bit longer and work on Professor Sprout's homework."

"Okay, goodnight." Lily waved to them and walked towards the stairs. She had almost reached them when she heard her name being called and turned around. As soon as she had, she wished that she hadn't.

"Hey!" James said, jogging up to her with a smile on his face. "I didn't think that you were going to stop." She was about to snap at him when she remembered that she sort of owed him and apology and the sooner she did it the less painful it would be for her pride. "I actually came over here to apologize." James said, suddenly looking more serious and completely sincere. Lily was shocked. "I shouldn't have sent you all those letters and annoyed you like that. I really didn't mean to upset you so much and I'm sorry. I suppose I can get a little carried away."

"My mum read most of them." Lily said hoping that it would embarrass him.

Instead of blushing, James just laughed. "Great, so now she thinks that I'm a menace?"

"If she did, she wouldn't be wrong." Lily said. There was no way that she was going to tell James that her mother found the letters endearing and was probably going to have them framed.

"I suppose not." James frowned. "Well, that's it I would think. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." He turned to walk away but Lily reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him. He looked up at her in surprise and she pulled her hand away as though she had been burnt. They stood in awkward silence for a moment before Lily cleared her throat and forced herself to spit out the words.

"I want to apologize too." Lily said. "I really shouldn't have hexed you yesterday. Or shoved you into the bookshelf." James shook his head and smiled.

"You don't need to apologize, I was being a-"

"No, it wasn't your fault." She said, finding it easier than she had thought it would be to apologize. "I mean I was upset with you, but I was more angry with- about something else. If yesterday had happened sooner after the letter incident, I probably wouldn't feel so bad about it. You were there and I took it out on you. It wasn't fair and I'm sorry."

"Well, I forgive you." James smiled.

"I forgive you too." Lily smiled back. Surprisingly, this wasn't very hard for her to say. And for some reason it made her feel better. She was still going to have to serve detention for a while, people were still going to whisper about her, she still had to have an awful conversation with Sev, and he sister didn't like magic but forgiving James made her feel better somehow. She guessed that it was because she didn't have to be angry with him any more. She really didn't like being angry, it took a lot of energy.

"Good." James said, looking only slightly too pleased with himself. "Goodnight, Lily."

"G'night."

oOoOo

"What exactly are we hoping to accomplish?" Regulus asked in a jaded voice. "I don't see how anything we do here, especially here, is going to do anything."

"It's not about what we do here, Black." Rabastan said through gritted teeth. "We just have to prove ourselves to him. That way, when we are old enough to leave school, he will know that we are loyal and allow us to join him."

"And who is this man you keep talking about?" Regulus asked, leaning forward in his seat. They were all gathered in the Slytherin common room and it was almost two in the morning. Regulus and Rabastan were not the only two there. Severus, Evan, Charles, and Antonin were there as well. They were all hanging on to every word that was being said between the third and the first year.

"I told you, we do not speak his name."

"We don't speak it, or no one's told you?"

Rabastan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "We don't speak it. You can call him the Dark Lord."

"The Dark Lord?" Regulus asked skeptically. "Are you sure you're not making that up?"

"I am sure." He sighed. "Any more questions?"

"Yeah. Who put you in charge?" Regulus asked boldly. "Shouldn't your brother run these meetings or Jonah Henson?"

"They don't want to be in charge of babysitting you lot. Now, moving on to the agenda,"

"Did your brother give you the agenda?"

"Shut up, Reg." Evan said, pulling on his sleeve so that Regulus fell back into his seat.

"First, we have to build up our inventory of spells. We aren't going to get much done with the stuff the professors teach here, so we need to teach ourselves." Rabastan said in a loud clear voice. It was as if Regulus's questions had turned on a switch and he now felt the need to prove himself a leader. "This isn't going to be easy. We are going to have more late night meetings, but we obviously can't be practicing spells here in the common room, so we will need to find places to meet. Evan, Severus and Charles, you three can be scouts. If you find somewhere that you think would work, you can come and find me.

"Antonin, you can be in charge of recruitment. If you think that someone is interested in joining the cause, run the name by me and then if they seem suitable, you can invite them to join us.

"We also need books from the restricted section. Regulus, that will be your job." He knew that this was his job because whoever had to get the books from the library was most likely going to be caught. This job was his first punishment for asking questions.

oOoOo

Peter was shaking like a leaf as he walked through the large oak doors. His shoes seemed to make more noise than usual and he was actually wishing that he hadn't have eaten such a large breakfast because he was starting to feel it come back up.

The door at the other side of the room seemed closer far faster than normal, like it was going to meet him halfway. He paused and bent down to retie his shoe again. When he stood back up, he straightened his robes and slid his bag up his shoulder. Madame Pomfrey was standing off to the side, pretending that she didn't notice Peter but watching him out of the corner of her eye.

Peter took another few steps and reached the door to Remus's room. He paused there. Should he knock or just open the door? Should he even be here, would Remus even want him to come in?

"Just go in dear, he's eating breakfast." Madame Pomfrey said gently, walking by with a stack of fresh laundry. Peter found his tongue to be abnormally dry so he just nodded and tried to smile.

His hand was shaking as he reached out for the doorknob and slowly twisted it. The door opened and Peter gave the handle a squeeze. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You can do this." He thought. "It's just Remus."

He took a step into the room and jumped when he heard Remus's voice.

"I thought you two said that you couldn't- Oh." Peter turned around to face him. Remus was sitting in his bed with his arm in a sling and a bandage wrapped around his head. He had a long thin cut across his neck and his bottom lip was swollen. Peter gasped and took a step back, running into the open door.

"What happened to you?" He asked in shock.

Remus hung his head and muttered something that Peter couldn't hear.

"Did somebody do this to you?" Peter asked, getting closer to Remus.

"I did." Remus said quietly. "Last night."

"Why?" Peter's eyes were the size of saucers.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Remus said quickly. "The- you know- It happened when I-"

"While you were a werewolf?" Peter asked, the look of shock still on his face.

"Yes." Remus said, looking nearly as shocked as Peter just because he had said 'werewolf' without flinching and as if it were completely normal.

Peter then realized that he didn't feel so afraid any more. He had been expecting something as frightening as a werewolf to be in the room when he came in and instead he found Remus battered and bruised from something that he couldn't control.

Everything seemed to fall into place for Peter in that moment. Remus was still Remus, the wolf was something that he couldn't control or help. It wasn't fair to behave as he had been. He wouldn't want his friends to desert him if something like that happened to him.

"Remus, I'm sorry." Peter said.

"For what?"

"For being a prat. James and Sirius were right about me, I am an awful friend." Peter said shuffling his feet. "But I'll make it up to you. I will." He looked at Remus in earnest. "Well, if you'll let me. I understand if you don't want to be my friend any more. I wouldn't want to be my friend if I were you. Actually, I guess I should just go-"

"Peter!" Remus shouted, smiling at the babbling boy. "Of course I want to be your friend."

"Really?" Peter asked. "That's great!"

"It is great." Remus agreed. They smiled at each other for a moment, but then Peter's smile fell.

"I don't think that Sirius and James will think so."

"It'll be fine. They won't give you any trouble."

"I hope you're right."

Tell me what you think in a review. There's a Quidditch match in the next chapter!