A/N: Enjoy!

Chapter 20

Severus's POV

"It's the full moon tonight," Sirius announced as he walked into the training room and flopped onto one of the chairs that had appeared.

I sent a quick glance at Remus and noticed that he looked like death warmed up. He'd gone to classes the day before, but had fallen asleep in most of them. Luckily, it was Saturday, so he would have chance to recover before classes started again.

"I think I should go with you," James spoke up, causing silence to fall over the room as we all turned to stare at him.

The Marauders had told Lily and me about being Animagi; it had been hard – impossible – to believe until they'd demonstrated. We knew that on previous full moons they'd kept Remus company to stop him hurting himself. James had always kept quiet on the subject when they brought up the next full moon and I, like everyone else, had just assumed he was upset that he'd be missing his monthly escapades.

"Are you crazy?!" Lily exclaimed, breaking the tense atmosphere.

"Probably," James and Sirius said at the same time, causing Peter to chuckle nervously.

"This isn't a joke," she hissed at them, glaring frostily at us as if we were the ones who'd put the idea into his head. "Going with Remus was dangerous before, it would be suicidal to try it when you can't even see if he's about to attack you!"

"Lily's right," Remus interrupted before James could reply. "I was against the idea before, it's far too reckless now, even by your standards."

"I just think we should try it," James argued stubbornly. "Padfoot will be there if anything goes wrong and Moony hasn't tried to hurt us in years."

"That doesn't mean he won't now!" Lily exploded and then blushed, turning to look apologetically at Remus. "No offence."

"Don't worry," he reassured her. "I agree with you."

"Back me up here, Padfoot," James twisted to face where Sirius was lounging in his seat.

"I don't know, Prongs," Sirius looked between Lily's furious expression and James's stubborn frown. "What if they're right? You could get hurt."

"That was always a risk we accepted," James said stiffly. "We agreed that you wouldn't treat me like glass."

"Maybe you should try it," I suggested, containing my mirth as everyone stopped what they were saying to look at me. "As long as you stay in the shack, there shouldn't be any problems. Sirius could distract Remus long enough for James to get out of the room if anything happened."

"Exactly!" James grinned. "We could leave the door open a little so I could get out if I needed to, and then I'd be fine."

"I can guide him out of harm's way if anything went wrong," Peter offered confidently. Since he'd started teaching James and helping out, Peter had become less unsure of himself. "It's not as if my animal would be any help against Moony anyway. Might as well be useful some other way."

"I don't like it," Lily sighed, glancing around the room in despair. She knew as well as everyone else that James would get his way in this case. It was dangerous, reckless, and plain stupid…but it was also something he needed to do.

"Neither do I," Remus agreed. "But it doesn't look like we have a say in the matter."

We spent the rest of the day going through all the what-if scenarios that we could think of. James transformed into Prongs and began to get used to his Animagus form when he couldn't see. He admitted that it was strange and a little disconcerting, but he was still confident that he could do it.

The Marauders used James's invisibility cloak to sneak Lily and me up into their dorm room, where we waited until it was time for them to leave. On our way there, we'd gone past Rosier who was wearing a dark scowl and a sign on his back that read 'Insult Me'. A group of giggling girls had been doing just that behind his back, and other people occasionally joined in. The Slytherin had lost his hearing at the beginning of the week. He was really having a string of bad luck; first his sight went and then once that came back he hadn't had long to celebrate before his ears stopped working.

As amusing as the sight of the prank had been, we were all still quite sombre when we arrived at the Marauders room. The smile on Sirius's face seemed strained and Peter kept fiddling with his robes nervously. James was the only one who looked to have no worries about the plan, but I thought I could see a hint of panic in his dulled eyes.

Lily was sat on James's bed with her legs crossed, watching the rooms inhabitants as they moved around. When it was time for the Marauders to leave, she got up and hugged each of them, giving James a kiss on his cheek as he left. She didn't say a word to them and ignored the puzzled faces, only sitting back down once the door had closed behind them.

"They're going to be okay," I murmured to her as she sat back down on James's bed. She looked lost and worried.

"What if something goes wrong?" Her voice broke on the last word and her body shook with suppressed sobs. Feeling my heart tighten at the thought of her distress, I crossed the room to sit next to her, manoeuvring us both until we were sat back against the headboard.

"Nothing will go wrong," I promised, sounding more confident than I felt. Her breathing hitched and she placed her head on my shoulder. I could feel her tears sinking through my robes. Without even thinking about it, I wrapped my arms around her in a loose hug.

There was nothing romantic about the position. There could have been, but I knew deep down that we weren't meant to be. It was clear to me that Lily cared for James, and that she loved him, even if she wasn't ready to admit that to herself. I would always love her, but if all she wanted was to be friends then that was what I would be.

"I'm so glad we're friends again," Lily hiccupped, burrowing her head further into my shoulder. I tightened my hold on her slightly and then loosened it again in what I hoped was a reassuring squeeze.

"So am I," I admitted quietly. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

I kissed the top of her head and we sat in silence for the rest of the night. We both felt too worried and stressed to sleep, but at the same time exhausting was weighing us down and making us feel like if we closed our eyes we could drift off.

At some point, we must have dozed off, because when Lily's stirring woke me up a few short hours later my neck was stiff from the position it had been forced into and my arm had gone dead. Lily blinked fuzzily up at me before checking the time, groaning when she realized that it was only around 2am.

Stubbornly, we remained awake for the rest of the morning; letting the worry we had for our friends chase away the drowsiness that still haunted us. I didn't move my arms from around Lily, even though one of them had gone dead and the other was on its way there. It was comforting to be holding her, even if I knew that I had to let her go…in more ways than one.

A/N: Short chapter, but it's still an update. Please review! :)