Lily's happy mood, however, didn't last where James was concerned. Remus glanced up from his potions homework as Lily Evans stomped into the common room and sat down in front of the fire across from him and Sirius. "Your friend James," she said, "is a prat."

"Well, we know that," Sirius said.

Remus elbowed him in the ribs. "What happened?"

"We've been planning this date for weeks, and then all of a sudden 'Oh, I just realized I can't do it tonight.' Which, of course, if something important, but he says he can't tell me. And then we had a huge row and …" She trailed off and took a breath. "Is he seeing someone else?"

"Oh, Lily, no, he's crazy about you," Remus said. "There must be a reason."

Lily shrugged. "Maybe he hasn't told you."

"Nah," Sirius said. "I'd know." He received another elbow in the ribs for his trouble.

"When was the date?" Remus asked.

"Thursday," Lily said. "It was supposed to be … Well, never mind, it doesn't matter," she said, blushing. "I'm off to bed. Goodnight."

"G'night," Sirius said, but Remus barely heard them. Thursday night, that was the next full moon …

As soon as Lily shut the door, Sirius turned to Remus and took his hand. "I know what you're thinking," Sirius whispered, "and it's not your fault."

"It is, if Lily thinks James is cheating on her," Remus said. He glanced over his shoulder at the staircase Lily had just disappeared behind, feeling a mix of guilt over the argument he'd caused and amazement that James wouldn't miss a single moon, even for Lily.

XXX

After a rather quiet breakfast where James pushed his food around a bunch on his plate and sent wide-eyed, pining glances at Lily, Remus caught up with her on their way to Arithmacy. "Can we talk later?" he said. His heart was running marathons in his ribcage.

"Of course. After dinner okay?"

Remus nodded and they walked the rest of the way together, Lily chattering on about some funny story Dorcas had told them at breakfast. Remus nodded and laughed in all the right places and didn't really listen to a word.

Remus found Lily after dinner and the two of them headed up to the Astronomy Tower. "I understand why you lot hang out here," she said. "It's really beautiful."

Remus sat down beside a telescope. "So, that thing I wanted, uh, I wanted to tell you something –"

"It's about James, isn't it," Lily said, sitting across from him. "It's okay. Whatever it is, I can take it."

"No, it's not about James," he said. "Well, sort of. But, well, what you have to understand is that James is an incredible friend. Like, he never wants any of us to feel like we're alone and, uh …" He took a breath. "So I'm a werewolf." He waited for Lily to say something, to scramble away and run as fast as she could in the other direction, but she just waited. "Well, uh, the next full moon is Thursday and James and Sirius and Pete, they're all, well, illegal Animagi. They stay with me and I, I didn't ask him to. I didn't even know –" He cut himself off when he realized Lily was laughing. "I don't, I don't understand what –"

"I'm sorry," she said, catching her breath. "This is just not what I expected."

Remus gave her a small smile. "Yeah, I can imagine."

"What kind of animals?" she asked, still grinning.

"James is a stag," he said. "That's why we call him Prongs. And Sirius is a dog, and Peter's a rat."

Lily snorted. "None of those really surprise me, for some reason."

"Look, Lily, I'm sorry I didn't say anything –"

"No, Remus, I'm so glad you told me, of course, and I love that you trust me enough to say something, but of course you don't have to tell anyone if you don't want to."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay," he said. "Thank you for understanding."

"I do," she said. "It must be terrible, to keep a secret like that."

Remus smiled. "Not when your best friends know," he said.

XXX

Lily cornered James on his way back from the library and grabbed his arm. "Hey, you."

James turned and looked at her, his eyes narrowed in confusion. "Hey?"

"I'm not mad at you anymore," she said. "You're a really good person, you know that?"

"Lily, what the hell is going on?"

She glanced around. "Talk with me in here?" She gestured to an empty classroom. James followed her in and closed the door behind him.

"Remus told me everything," Lily said, sitting on a spare desk.

"Oh, uh, what exactly –"

"He's a werewolf," Lily said. "You're a freaking stag. And you keep him company during the full moon."

James stared for a minute and then, "He really told you?"

Lily nodded. "So I wouldn't be mad at you," she said. "I'm glad he did, though."

"I'm sorry I didn't say anything," James said. "It just –"

"Don't be. It wasn't your secret to tell." She grinned at him. "And you're a good friend." She took James' hand and pulled him closer to her. "Next week," she said, intertwining her fingers in his. "Next week, we'll have our date."

James kissed her softly, and then with more force. They didn't leave the classroom for a while after that.

XXX

James came up to Remus in the dorm later that night and threw his arms around him. "I bloody love you, you amazing werewolf," he said.

Remus laughed. "You were about to throw your relationship away for me," he said. "It was the least I could do."

"Still," James said, gripping Remus' arms in both his hands. "Thank you. You didn't have to. And I never in a million years would have asked you to."

Remus shrugged, but he could also feel himself flush. "I know."

Sirius snorted from his bed, where he and Peter were swapping Chocolate Frog cards. "If you lovebirds are quite finished, you're missing out on all the best cards. Re, I already stole some from your pile."

Even though he had all the chocolate frog cards at home, Remus joined them and James on Sirius' bed, still amazed that after nearly seven years, he still had friends like these.