"Goddess of the moon," Remus said.

"Yes, of course. Artemis is a benevolent maiden, to those who believe," replied Nyctimus, nodding.

"Sadly, he has not much else to recommend himself," said Lily, shaking her head, still looking at Sirius and Dorcas.

"Is that so?"

"That is not true. Sirius is wonderful, you don't know anything," Remus said, pouting.

They chatted for a while, Nyctimus told them about his homeland of Greece, and how he had dropped out of school to become a pianist. Remus felt a fresh inspiration as he listened to him talk. Maybe the future isn't so bleak after all.

"Well, I must get back to what I am being paid for. It was nice meeting you two," he said, giving them a small bow.

"You too. It was inspiring, what you said earlier," Remus told him. Nyctimus winked and walked back to his piano.

"Look, I see Francois Antoine over there. Come on," she said, pulling at his arm. Remus groaned. Antoine from Ravenclaw, was not an interesting person. "All he talks about is Potions, Lily. And some potions. And more poti-"

"No, he doesn't! Stop being rude and come!" she said.

"He's so pretentious!" whispered Remus, as she dragged him over.

"Hello Evans, I must say, you look ravishing!" said Francois, and Remus rolled his eyes. "Hello Lupin." He offered them both some pistachios in a bowl.

"Hi."

"Hey Antoine."

"So, Evans, did you read the Prophet yesterday?"

"No, anything special in it?"

Antoine told them about an article he'd read, and Remus tuned out. It was almost like listening to Binns, except more annoying.

After about twenty minutes or so, Remus thought he saw James amongst the crowd. But then he disappeared. Then he reappeared again, looking frantic. "James!" he called and walked over to him.

"Moony! There you are, you must come quickly. Dorcas has been injured!"

"What! How?"

"Come, I'll explain on the way," he said, dragging him out of the room and towards the Hospital wing. They almost ran there. "We think it was a death eater! She kept saying he was walking oddly as if he was under Polyjuice Potion."

"What!"

"Yeah, Dumbledore has already contacted the Ministry. I reckon they'll be shutting down the party soon."

"What exactly happened, Prongs. Start from the beginning!"

"I'm not exactly sure. All I know is, I was patrolling the corridor outside Slughorn's office in my cloak, and a man walked out. He was walking slowly and warily. I saw Dorcas follow him out and I followed them from a distance. I think he realised that someone was following him, because he purposely led her to an empty corridor and whipped around. They started duelling and she got hit with some jinx, Moony! I stunned him from under my cloak, and ran over to her. She couldn't even stand properly. She told me he might be a death eater, and then she fainted! I carried her to the Hospital wing before coming to fetch you." James said, all in one breath. He was panting.

The two boys burst into the Hospital Wing and ran towards Dorcas' bed. She was still unconscious. McGonagall and Dumbledore were standing over her, talking urgently. James and Remus looked at each other gravely. They were both thinking the same thing. Death eaters in the castle. How is anyone safe anymore?
They sat beside her in silence for a long time.

"You know what? I'll go down and get Lily and Sirius up here. They'll want to know what happened," said Remus, getting to his feet. James nodded, and Remus went back down to the party.

He met a tempestuous Lily just beyond the doorway. "Remus! What are you doing here? I mean, let's go," she said, pushing him out again.

"Wait, I need to get Sirius too, something's happened," he said, pushing her hands away.

"What happened?" she asked, blocking his path again.

"Lily, what's the matter with you? I have to find Sirius as well," he said, trying to sidestep her, his eyes travelling the room. Then he froze. Sirius was on the dance floor with his arms around Amanda Wallace, and they were snogging. Passionately.

Lily followed Remus' line of sight and sighed. "Remus, let's go. Don't…" she said, pushing him again.

Remus blinked at them, the way Sirius was holding Amanda's body so close to his... it didn't look like he was doing it just because he was drunk or something. And then he couldn't watch anymore. He turned around and walked out quickly. He wanted to get as far away from that damn party as possible.

Lily tried to run after him, but her heels prevented her from moving fast, so she removed them and ran after him as fast as she could, not caring that the stone floor was as cold as ice in the Scottish Winter. "Remus! Remus, wait," she panted, catching up to him and pulling him to a stop. "Remus, he's not worth it."

"But I don't understand. I don't understand how I could have been so mistaken!" Remus said bitterly.

"I'm so sorry, Remus. This is all my fault," she said, wringing her hands.

"It's no one's fault but my own. He never said he likes me… he only said he cared about me. But I thought… I thought…" and Remus couldn't continue, he looked up at the ceiling in anguish.

"Oh, this is absolute pants! Just- just forget about him!"

"How? He lives with me..." he mumbled. Lily looked utterly dejected.

Remus rubbed his face and took a deep breath. "You're right. You're right. Let's go. I have to tell you what happened. A death eater was at the party, pretending to be someone else…" And he told her everything that James told him. "Thank Godric, James was there," he said, as they walked to the Hospital Wing.

"Yeah!"

Then he realised she was barefoot. "Oh, Lily, you'll catch a cold! We can slow down, put your shoes back on," he told her, but she shook her head.

"I couldn't have climbed up all those staircases in these heels," she said, showing him their length.

Remus gasped. "How the hell were you even walking in those?" he asked, and she laughed.

They entered the Hospital Wing and Lily put her shoes back on and ran towards Dorcas' bed. "How is she?" she asked Madam Pomfrey. She answered with the same thing she had told Remus earlier. Lily sighed as she brushed Dorcas' forehead. James watched her silently as she proceeded to undo Dorcas' braid and brushed her hair out with her fingers, and put all the bobby pins on the table beside her bed.

Remus removed her sandals. Some of her toes were scraped, and they assumed she must have tripped while duelling the guy. He showed it to Madam Pomfrey and she gave Remus a cotton ball with some Essence of Dittany in it. He dabbed the toes with it and the scrapes healed instantaneously.

Then Madam Pomfrey came back and ran some more charms over Dorcas' body, trying to find out her state. The three of them sat silently, watching her, and they heard the double doors open again. Thinking it might be Dumbledore with answers, they all stood up and faced him eagerly.

It wasn't Dumbledore. It was Sirius. He stopped abruptly and stared at them, looking distraught.

"Sirius, where were you?" James demanded.

"What are you doing here, Black?" asked Lily.

"I'm... I'm here to see Dorcas," he replied nervously.

"Oh, really? Can you be any more shameless?" she said, her voice rising in volume.

He didn't respond, just looked glumly back at her.

James looked between them in confusion. "What happened?" he asked.

"Oh, shut up! You're like two peas in a pod! Never giving a shit about anyone else's feelings but your own!" she said loudly.

Then Dumbledore was back, and he and Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey walked back to them. "Did you see what jinx he hit her with?" asked Madam Pomfrey.

"I didn't hear the incantation. I only saw a pink jet, like water from a hosepipe," James described, for what he thought was the dozenth time.

Dumbledore nodded and walked to a group of people Remus assumed were from the Ministry.

"Is she going to be alright?" asked Remus worriedly.

"When I know what kind of jinx it is, I will be able to treat her," she replied kindly.

Lily was beginning to look at Sirius angrily again, and Minerva quickly told Lily and Remus to shut the party down. Lily was seething as she grabbed Remus' hand and stormed out of there. Thankfully, the other two didn't follow.

Sirius and James watched them leave and listened as the sound of Lily's high heels faded away.

Not for the first time, actually it was probably the millionth time over the years, James asked Sirius the question. "What the fuck did you do this time, Sirius?" He sounded so exasperated that Sirius couldn't even think of answering. He just vaguely held up his hand.
James sighed. "Let's just go to bed," he said, and the two boys trooped back to the dorm.

Sirius lay in bed, feeling terrible. What happened? How the hell did this happen?
He tried to recollect everything, but for some reason, there was a memory blank. He tried to remember if he drank some unknown alcohol, but he hadn't. He'd had only one glass of wine. Then why couldn't he remember anything properly? There was no chance someone could have slipped something into his drink either, because he'd poured his drink himself. And why would Amanda do something like that anyway? She's not dishonest like that.
He just assumed he was one of those people who'd get drunk and snog the person standing right in front of them. And the thought made him feel disgusted with himself. Godric, I am so cheap.
Then he wondered if he was beginning to have lapses in memory like Aunt Lucretia's husband Ignatius. Or am I finally going insane like every other Black?
If this was the beginning, he shuddered to think of what would be coming next. All the stress and exhaustion eventually caught up to him, and he fell into a disturbed sleep, filled with dreams of being locked up in a madhouse.

Lily and Remus looked around Slughorn's empty office. There was a lot of food and drink still left over. They dropped into chairs. Remus sighed and picked up a bottle of mead.

"Good choice," said Lily, kicking her heels off. Remus laughed and took a long sip of mead and passed it to her.

"All these little bitches think they can control my life? So what if he kissed some girl? I couldn't care less! Why should I bother? I'm just gonna live my life, Lily!" Remus drawled drunkenly.

"Is that why you're drunk right now?" she asked and they both fell about laughing.

"James Potter and Sirius Black. The bane of our existence!" said Remus, holding up the bottle like he was giving a toast.

"Gimme that, Lupin," she said, grabbing the bottle and taking another sip.

"I just want you to know, that I really appreciate you, Lily. Everything you've done for me. You're a really good friend, you know," Remus told her.

"Oh! Remus!" said Lily, tearing up a little. She hugged him. But Remus didn't hug her back, he just reached for the mead in her hand, and took a sip. She hit him on the head and straightened up. Remus snorted.

Then, she looked around and spotted a plate of spring rolls, and grabbed it.

"Excellent! I love spring rolls," said Remus, putting five of them in his mouth.

"How many can you fit in your mouth, though?" she asked curiously.

Remus chewed slowly and then swallowed. "Why don't you try?" he told her.

"Eh," she uttered, and he gave her a huge handful of spring rolls. She fit one, two, three, four, five, six, tried for the seventh one but it wouldn't go in. Remus was giggling non-stop as he looked at her with six spring rolls sticking out of her mouth. Even she felt laughter bubbling up inside her, she tried not to laugh but in the end, she spit them all out and they were cackling loudly.

"What is going on here? Ms. Evans?!" they heard a voice say.

They looked towards the stairs, Slughorn was standing there in his pyjamas. He even had a cap on.

"Professor Slughorn! Did we wake up?" she asked, still giggling.

"Ms. Evans, are you drunk?!"

"Just a little bit, Sir," she said, smiling at him.

Slughorn smiled indulgently at her. He liked her, she was one of his favourite students. He would let this slide. "Well, off to bed now, you two! It's very late," he said shooing them out.

They grabbed some more spring rolls and the bottle of mead and ran out of there, still laughing their heads off. They didn't even know what was so funny anymore.

"Let's go for a swim!" Lily said dramatically, and started running.

"What!" Remus exclaimed. Then he realised she meant the Prefects' bathroom and not the Black lake, and hurried after her.

They reached the pool and Lily stood near the taps for nearly five minutes, deciding. Then, she opened one of the taps through which she knew, flowed clear, warm water, lightly scented with tuberose. They inhaled deeply.

"Let's get in!" she said excitedly and was about to jump in fully clothed.

"Lily, no!" yelled Remus, and she stopped, with a questioning look on her face.

"Oh!" she realised and started stripping.

Remus was so drunk, he completely forgot about his scars and took his clothes off. Now they both stood in their undergarments at the edge of the pool.

"Okay, three, two-" Lily stopped abruptly, looking at him with her eyes wide. "Holy Mary, Mother of God."

He looked down and suddenly realised, and tried to cover himself up. But it was too late. She had seen his scars.

"Remus, it's okay. I know you're a werewolf, remember," she said. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare."

He relaxed a bit and put his shirt down. "It's okay, even I stare sometimes," he said. Then he smiled at her and jumped into the pool. She followed him. It was the best feeling, the warm water soothed him as he floated around in the pool.

Lily took a sip of the mead again.

"How did you know Nyctimus is a werewolf?" he asked her.

"I overheard you two talking about being human or not... or it was something like that," she said, and he nodded.

"How did you know I already knew?" she asked.

"Your hand was trembling when you went to shake his," he said, smiling.

"Oh... yeah," she said, and smiled awkwardly. "He's a werewolf who worships Artemis, the goddess of the moon."

Remus nodded. "I liked meeting him, it's really given me perspective."

"Wait a second, that's why the Marauders call you Moony!" she squealed, suddenly realising, and Remus chuckled.

"Yes," he said. They grinned at each other.

"So what do the other names mean? Prongs…" she asked.

"Oh...those are just random…"

After a few minutes, Lily broke the silence again. "So, Remus…"

"Yeah?"

"Um, don't be mad at me... I know I've asked you a hundred times before, but the fight you and Black had at the start of the year-"

"Yeah, it was related to this. But listen Lily, you can't ever tell anyone. And please don't ask Severus about this either."

"Severus? What does Severus have to do with this?! Oh, I just knew he was directly involved!" she exclaimed. "The way he was talking to me today just-"

"What do you mean the way he was talking?" asked Remus worriedly. "Why were you discussing this with him?!"

"Remus it's okay-"

"Is that whom you were saying you had a disagreement with, earlier?! Severus?!" he asked.

"Yes."

"What exactly did you talk about?" he asked her worriedly.

Lily hesitated a little. Then she said, "First tell me how exactly he's involved."

"Why didn't he tell you himself?" he asked.

"He said he wasn't allowed to tell anyone what had happened," she said.

"Oh," said Remus. Severus was a man of his word after all. "Okay, so you remember how he had taken to following us around last year?"

"Yeah, he was nearly stalking us. It was weird. He still denies it."

"Well, he followed me this year too…" And Remus told her everything that had happened that September. How Severus had found out, how James saved his life, and the Whomping Willow hitting his head.

Lily remained silent for a long time. He let her process the information. "I didn't think it was possible to hate Sirius Black more than I already do, but apparently it is." Remus smiled sadly.

"Before I can be happy that he's accepted you, he goes and does things like this! Oh, he's such a dog, Remus!"

Remus chuckled at the unintentional pun. "I don't think he meant to do that one, Lily."

"You mean, he didn't mean to accidentally kill Severus?!"

"No, he didn't mean to. I… I think he was mad at me."

"Mad at you?! Whatever the hell for?"

"Okay, so you know the fight Sirius and I had last year?"

"Oh, you two fight so much. Yeah, what about it?"

He proceeded to tell her everything that had transpired then.

"But what does that have to do with this?"

"James told me that he'd been in a really bad mood the whole day, after he'd spoken to McGonagall."

"Oooh. So you think she must've mentioned the letter or something like that?"

"Yes, and he must've guessed that I told her everything."

"That's still not a very good reason to do that to you."

"You don't know about the letters. They're really awful. If the letters are so terrible, just imagine his home conditions... I'm sure he's abused at home. He just never tells us. He must've remembered all that and then gotten angry at me. He definitely wasn't in his right mind when he did that."

Lily stared at him, trying to make herself see sense. "This is all really complicated, Remus."

"Tell me about it."

"But what about tonight? I hate him for what he did tonight."

Remus sighed and took a large sip of mead. "But what did he do though, Lily? I mean, he's never told me he liked me. I'm the one who likes him. He merely kissed a girl he likes. That's all."

"Yeah, right! Keep telling yourself that, Remus."

"I have to, Lily. Because I can't afford to wallow in self-pity again."

Lily bit her lower lip as she nodded. "Yeah... Yeah."

"You know what I never realised?" said Remus.

"What?"

"How pathetic I am."

"Oh Remus, I hate it when you undervalue yourself like that," she said a little vexedly, and he smiled.

"That's exactly what James always says too," he said, and Lily rolled her eyes.

"You know what, you are pathetic. Your standards are so low, they are practically underground. To think you still like Black after everything he's done."

Remus splashed water on her face, and a splash-war ensued.

James woke up at around 3 am to the sound of incessant giggling and some wonderful heady perfume. He peered from his curtains and saw Remus and Lily walk in, supporting each other. They appeared really drunk. He watched in surprise as they fell on Remus' bed.

"Ow, Remus! There's something under my bum!" said Lily, she wasn't bothering to be quiet.

"Shhhh! Lily, be quiet! James is a very light sleeper!" Remus replied, but he wasn't being quiet either. James laughed to himself.

"James is a-Wait a second, why am I… why am I in your dorm?"

"I don't know. I think it was because … yours is in the top floor and ours is on the first... ugh I forgot.

"Remus, I have no energy to pick myself off your comfortable bed and climb all those stairs."

"Just sleep then."

"Remus, you are so warm."

"Lily, I said sleep. Shut your eyes."

James lay back down onto his pillow, smiling to himself.

"Oh, by the way, I'm glad you told Charlotte Briggs and her gang about my girlfriend back in the village, thanks," he heard Remus mumble.

Lily chuckled lazily. "You're welcome."

James blinked in the darkness. Wait, what? Remus has a girlfriend?! What the fuck is going on?!

Author's note: Thank you LapisLazuliRose, for your review!