Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, but I do own her friends and love interests, who are a serious pain to write sometimes.

Dear God! This chapter took me probably about three weeks to write. It did NOT like me. But it's finally over :)

And again I feel awful with this being such a late post. I'm almost caught up again, so updates should be every week like usual soon.

XxXxX

"Merlin, Lily, sit still!"

Lily turned her head sharply to glare at Jacob.

Around them, the common room was loud and crowded, for the Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw Quidditch match had just ended. Jacob went unaffected by Lily's look as he slipped five Galleons into Hunter's hand. The two boys had made bets over which team would win, Jacob for Ravenclaw and Hunter for Hufflepuff, and in the match, Hufflepuff had, surprisingly, crushed Ravenclaw by two hundred and ten points.

"It's hard to sit still when everyone's staring at you!" she snapped at Jacob.

And it was true. Whenever she turned her head, Lily could see her fellow Gryffindors staring at her, confusion written across their faces. She was very tempted to move out of her spot next to Jacob, but she didn't, for she knew that she would have to get use to the looks if she was going to be near him so much, like she said she was.

She caught the eyes of a group of seventh years that included Will and his friends Gavin, Sebastian and Logan. Will's friends didn't act any differently with the news that Lily was often seen around Jacob now, and instead waved to her goofily, Logan clapping Will on the back when he only continued to stare at her. Lily knew that sooner or later she would have to tell Will some sort of reason why she was suddenly with Jacob, for she had already ditched him once to go meet Jacob somewhere else.

Lily gestured to Jacob's guitar that was leaning against the couch beside them. "Play me something, please. I need some sort of distraction from all this staring."

Jacob laughed. "Poor Lily. Shouldn't you be used to stares though? This isn't the first time you've been stared at so much. People stare at you everyday."

"You flatter me, really," she said dryly. "Just play something."

Jacob laughed but complied, picking up the black guitar and placing it on his lap. As he began to play, Lily relaxed, leaning back against the couch. It seemed that his playing lately had begun to sound much better than usual, but it was also maybe because she wasn't so distracted in trying to hate him so much. She sighed and looked to the side, watching Jacob's fingers move fluidly over the strings of the guitar, knowing just which ones to pluck and strum.

"I really wish I knew how to play," Lily said absently.

Jacob looked at her, but Hunter sat down on the couch on the other side of Jacob and spoke before he could, "No, you actually don't, Potter. It looks complicated. Plus, I think you'd look a little ridiculous holding a big guitar. Face it, you're small."

Lily rolled her eyes. Jacob stopped playing and was now laughing.

"Whatever, Payne, I could so learn," Lily retorted.

Hunter pouted. "How come all of a sudden, he's Jacob but I'm still called Payne? I thought we were friends now, Potter."

"Because you still call me Potter, that's why, Payne," she told him. "Besides, who ever said that I was your friend?"

"Oh, harsh, Potter."

Jacob placed his guitar down again, then threw his arms over both Lily's and Hunter's shoulders. "Now, now, you two, there's no need to be like this. No arguing over little ol' me!"

At the same moment, Lily and Hunter looked at each other, then flung Jacob's arms off of them and stood up, leaving him on the couch with a mock wounded look on his face. Hunter turned and headed over to where Aiden was sitting in one of the armchairs, Roxanne on a cushion on the floor beside it, staring up at him and listening to what he was saying intently. Hunter grabbed Aiden's hand as if to greet him, then wrenched him out of the chair and sat down in it instead. Roxanne began to snap at him, but stopped when Aiden ripped a cushion out from underneath Hunter and sat down on the floor beside her. She then grinned up at Hunter, who returned her grin with a wink.

Lily watched this from where she had started to head towards the girls staircase. It seemed that Rosalie wasn't the only one that knew about Roxanne liking Aiden, but the only person who was actually doing something about it was Hunter. That brought a wave of respect for Hunter over Lily, for she was sure that Hunter had barely ever spoken to Roxanne before.

"Lily, wait," Jacob said, standing up from the couch. He grabbed his bag as he approached her and began digging around in it. When he reached her he pulled a book out of his bag and pushed it into her hands. It was about an inch thick, leather bound with gold edged pages and a gilded frame on the cover. In the center of the cover was a gold crescent moon, a small star attached to the top tip of the moon. She suddenly recognize it as the book that Jacob had quickly stuffed into his bag that day that she had used the Severing Charm to keep him behind in class so she could talk to Hunter.

"What's this for?" she asked, holding up the book.

Jacob's eyes widened and he hastily shoved the book back towards her. "Don't let anyone see it. It's a book Professor McGonagall gave me as soon as she found out…you know. It's all the research and information that's ever been gathered about…them. I just think that if you're going to be dealing with me – with this – then you should know what's happening."

Lily flipped through the pages of the book. "This is it? This little book is all the research they have?"

Jacob shrugged. "It's not so easy to study us you know."

She turned to the table of contents of the book.

Part One: Origins of the Lycanthrope...5 – 11

Part Two: Lycanthropes Among Wizards...12 – 21

Part Three: Folklore of the Lycanthrope...22 – 37

Part Four: Infection...38 – 45

Part Five: Description and Common Attributes...46 – 62

Part Six: Monthly Transformations...63 – 80

Part Seven: Behaviour of the Lycanthrope...81 – 94

"This is rubbish!" Lily said, snapping the book shut. "It's not even a hundred pages long!"

"Welcome to my world," Jacob sighed. He glanced up the girls staircase when there came the sound of snarling.

Lily followed his gaze and saw Blanca standing on the fifth step, watching Jacob intently, hissing and spitting. "Oh, hush you!" Lily told her impatiently, scooping her up into her arms, avoiding the reaching claws of the white cat. "Suck it up and deal with it!" she said, holding Blanca out towards Jacob, who looked amused that she was arguing with her cat. Blanca hissed though and squirmed until she fell from Lily's hands and flew back up the girls staircase.

"Pretty sure she just doesn't like me because of what I am," Jacob said. "Cat versus dog thing."

Lily shook her head. "Whatever, all you really need to deal with now is your little problem."

"Lily, you can't do anything about me being a –"

"Not that!" Lily interrupted. "I meant the little problem – as in your best friend Hunter. Are you ever going to tell him about what you are? I mean, he's your best friend, Jacob. Don't you think that counts for something? And trust me, he knows something's up and he's worried."

Both Lily and Jacob looked over to where Hunter was sprawled out in the armchair, Rosalie and Phoenix now sitting with them, Rosalie on the arm of the chair, Hunter's hand on her waist as if to steady her.

Jacob turned back to her with a frown on his face. "You know I can't do that, Lily. I explained it to you. He's a pure-blood. He wouldn't be as…understanding as you are."

"Not that it isn't true," Lily said with a slight shrug that made Jacob crack a smile, "but still. He's your best friend. He'll understand. You two are so similar sometimes that it's scary – and annoying, but we'll leave out that part for now. It's irrelevant."

Jacob rubbed his forehead. "Why do you have to make me do the right thing? I hate doing the right thing. It sucks."

"Oh, trust me, I know it sucks. It'll be worth it though," she said to him.

"There's something in this for you, isn't there?"

Lily grinned. "How could you tell?"

"You're grinning like you won a Quidditch match," he pointed out.

"I just want you to do this because I'm sick of having to make up reasons to Hunter about why I'm suddenly hanging around you so much. I've already lied to Phoenix and Rosalie, and I never lie to them. Now I also have to think of something to tell my boyfriend so I don't want to have to be making excuses to your best friend as well. It's killing me!"

Jacob nodded, but slowly. "I-I'll tell him."

"When?"

Again, Jacob looked over to where Hunter was, content and relaxed in his chair. "Tonight," he said, looking back at Lily. "It's probably best if I get him when he's in a good mood. So maybe after dinner."

"Good," Lily nodded. "And while you're dealing with him, I'll be fixing my own problems."

"Which are…?"

"Will," she said, forcing herself not to turn around and look at him. He would no doubt be staring at her back with that same confused look that had been on his face a lot in the past week. Instead she focused on Jacob, whose eyes drifted over Lily's shoulder in the direction of Will. His eyes turned back to her and she could see that he was itching to say something, but refrained. He had been good since they had made the deal. He had slipped up once two days ago when he caught her and Will, then just looked like a deer caught in the headlights and hurried away.

"Right. Schell," he said, his gaze dropping to the floor. Then he sucked in a large breath and knotted his hands together behind his head. "We've got a busy night, Lily."

XxXxX

After dinner, Lily was able to pull Will away from his friends without too much complaint.

"Come on, Potter!" Sebastian yelled across the Great Hall as she and Will began to leave, her hand clasped inside his much larger one. The tips of his fingers were rather cold against the back of her hand, for it was rather chilly in the Great Hall, what with the beginning of December being only a day away.

"Sorry," she called back to him with a grin.

"You've been stealing our mate too much lately, little girl!"

"I'm not little!"

"You're a heck of a lot smaller than me."

"And me," Gavin and Logan added in unison.

"Oh, shut up."

Out in the Entrance Hall, Lily pulled Will off to the side, away from the view of the Great Hall. Will's stare was like he knew what she was going to say, like he knew that Lily was going to explain why she had been with Jacob so much.

"Look -" she began, but Will placed his hand gently over her mouth.

"You don't need to explain it to me if you don't want to," he said with a soft smile. "I really don't care. I mean, yeah, maybe I care a little, but that may just be because I'm a little jealous and -"

"Jealous? Why the heck would you be jealous?"

Will regarded her as if she was insane. "How can I not be? I've seen you and Winchester over the past six years. I remember you two in your first year. You two were…intense, to say the least. And even after your first year, you two still got on well. When you weren't fighting with him, that is. But then, even your fights were intense - like scary intense. I can't help but feel jealous that you're hanging around with Winchester again, but I can't just tell you to stop either. It would be just awful of me to deny you a friend that made your first year so….so…"

"Epic?" Lily supplied with a grin of her own. She had to admit that with Jacob - and Hunter, she guessed - her first year was an ultimate introduction to Hogwarts students and staff. Everyone had known who Lily, Jacob and Hunter were within the first week of school after they had caused the explosion in the Potions classroom, which had been a prank gone wrong. They had only meant to Charm the chairs to let off loud farting sounds whenever someone sat down in one, but it had also only been their first week of school, which meant that they had struggled with the charm and ended up blowing one of the chairs to pieces. One large piece had ricochet off the door and knocked over a cauldron full of an acid green potion, which blew up as well when the liquid inside met with a puddle of water that had been collecting in a small indent in the middle of the floor from the then leaky ceiling. When they had left the classroom after receiving a week's worth of detentions, Hunter had ripped the camera out of Lily's bag and turned to her and Jacob, snapping a picture of their first ever prank.

"Yes," Will said with a slight laugh, "let's go with epic."

Lily took hold of Will's hands. "You don't have to be jealous of Jacob, really."

"When you're calling him Jacob instead of Winchester, I think I have a little bit of a reason."

"No," she said firmly, "you don't. Believe me. We just…had sort of an agreement last week. I'm giving him a chance to be my friend again, as long as he never hits on me. He was always a good friend, but he just lost sight of that over the past years. Soon, all he'll come to see me as is a friend. I would never want him anyways. I've never wanted him."

She took a deep breath, her eyes dropping to the ground, staring at his black loafers and her Mary Jane's. "It's you I want, Will." A flush crept up her neck. She could feel the heat in her cheeks. "You've been my friend for a couple of years now, and I really like you. Nothing's going to change that." She lifted her eyes to his, seeing nothing but warmth in his turquoise eyes. "Nothing. And especially not me being friends with Jacob. It's only you. I know it seems a little too soon to be saying this, but I've honestly never felt this strongly for anyone before."

It was all true. She knew that she wasn't in love with him yet, but everyday she was feeling more and more for Will and his warm eyes, his dark hair, his bright smiles. He wasn't someone flashy like all the other boys she had dated, but he stood out all on his own. He was handsome, but he had his flaws, like his fear of attention and his competitiveness and those were things that made her feel better about her own flaws. She didn't have to be perfect with him like she had always tried to be with old boyfriends.

"Merlin, Lily," Will breathed out, but a brilliant smile lit his face. Lily eagerly met him halfway when he began to lean down. The kiss was soft at first, slow, but it began to escalate. Lily's hands tangled themselves in his hair, his clutching her waist, pulling her closer. The voices floating out of the Great Hall sounded rather muffled in her ears, but she was able to make out the sounds of people approaching.

She pulled away from Will and began to try to fix her always messy hair. Will didn't even protest when she broke away from him, for he had learned by now how much she hated for others to see things like her snogging. Instead, a goofy grin was plastered on his face, an ecstatic look in his eyes as he looked over to the door of the Great Hall, where Sebastian, Logan and Gavin were now exiting. They all smirked knowingly when they saw Lily and Will, but said nothing as they approached.

Sebastian clapped Will on the shoulder and shook his head patronizingly. "Oh, Willie…"

"Will," Gavin greeted him, then nodded to Lily. "Girlfriend of Will."

Logan rolled his eyes. "Anyways mate, we're heading up to the library to finish the essay due for Transfiguration tomorrow. Do you want to come?"

Instantly, the look on Will's face disappeared to be replaced by horror. "The essay is due tomorrow? You're just pulling my leg, right? Please tell me that you are!"

"Afraid not, mate," Gavin said.

Will turned to Lily. "I have to go, is that okay?"

Lily laughed. "I'm a big girl, Will, I can make my own way up to the common room. Go. I don't want to hear tomorrow that Professor Lamia murdered you in class over a stupid essay."

"Thanks, love," he said quickly, pecking her on the cheek, then heading up the staircase with the other three. Just before they disappeared up the stairs, Sebastian turned around and gave her two thumbs-up.

Lily grinned. Love. She liked the sound of that. None of her boyfriends had ever made it to the stage to be able to call her love without her feeling awkward, but it sounded smooth and lovely coming from Will's mouth. With a slight laugh to herself, Lily turned towards the Great Hall, intending to find Rosalie and Phoenix, but found her path blocked by Elodie Sinclair.

Lily groaned. Elodie stood in front of her, attempting to look intimidating with her hands on her hips, but her bright yellow headband just made her seem a bit ridiculous. Especially today's headband, for it had a large yellow bow on it.

"What, Elodie?" Lily asked impatiently.

"You think you're so perfect, don't you, Potter?" Elodie snapped, her pale face turning red.

"What are you talking about?"

Elodie scoffed. "Don't act stupid, Potter, it's not attractive. You're leading them on. Both of them. Will and Jacob. You're toying with both of them, letting Will think that you really like him and dangling yourself in front of poor Jacob, knowing he can't refuse you."

"As always, Elodie," Lily said slowly, as if talking to a toddler, "you have no idea what you're talking about. Mind your own business."

"I will, don't you worry," she said with a triumphant grin. "But sooner or later, those boys will come to their senses and realize that you're nothing like what they always saw you as."

Lily nodded, her lips pursed. "Of course, Elodie, you're right, as usual."

"Don't you - Oh! Hi Jake!"

Lily turned. Jacob was descending the stairs, his eyes jumping from Lily to Elodie and back again.

"Did you tell him?" Lily asked immediately, ignoring Elodie completely.

Jacob's eyes rested on Lily. The light of the torches in the Entrance Hall reflected in the dark blue of his eyes. He shook his head once, his hands delving into the pockets of his pants.

"Jacob, you said you would!" Lily complained.

"I tried," he said. "We were up in our dorm, just hanging out after we had eaten, and I was about to tell him, but I couldn't. I'm just not ready to yet."

Lily sighed but nodded. "I won't push you. This is a big thing. But you do know that you'll have to tell him sooner or later. He feels left out, and you know how much he hates being left out of things."

Jacob agreed reluctantly. He moved towards Lily and she put her hand on his shoulder, turning to head back into the Great Hall with him. Elodie said Jacob's name a few times from behind them, but Jacob paid her no mind. He looked at Lily and asked, "Did you say anything to Schell?"

"Didn't need to," she told him. "He understands that he doesn't need to know everything."

"Schell is just so perfect," Jacob muttered to himself, but Lily heard.

"Jacob, don't, please."

"Sorry. Old habits die hard, I guess," he said, though it didn't sound sincere.

They headed through the doors of the Great Hall, spotting Rosalie's bright, white blonde head. They left Elodie behind them, dropping her waving hand slowly, a devastated look on her face. They didn't see though, and didn't care either.

It was only Elodie, after all.

XxXxX

Damn you, Jacob. Suck it up and tell him. He's so complicated at times :(

So, I'm thinking of writing a chapter in Phoenix's point of view, because I want to focus on my other characters as well. Would you like that? Or should I just stick to Lily?

Anyways, review and tell me what you think! PLEASE!