A/N: This is supposed to be a few days after the inident where Sirius tells Snape to go into the Whomping Willow where he would fine Remus as Moony. Hope you like it! Oh, I'm also not J.K. Rowling. If there was any doubt :)

Lily Evans was snuggled in a warm blanket on the sofa in the Gryffindor common room, scribbling a poor attempt at finishing her transfiguration homework. She had never meant to leave it until the night before but, after a week of putting it off because it was, well, transfiguration, this was her only option. Lily's roommates were long asleep and she planned to stay in the common room that night so as to to disturb them. Anyways, the common room was warm and cosy with the fire crackling and creating a soft orange glow around the room.

Upstairs, there wasn't so much peace. James Potter lay staring up at the canopy of his bed, desperately trying to ignore the tension and awkwardness between his friends. Remus and Sirius had not uttered a single kind word to each other since Sirius had nearly let Remus kill Snape. At this point in time, the two weren't actually speaking to each other but conversation was stilted and forced - not at all usual for the Marauders. To be fair though, Peter had no idea what was going on, and that was pretty usual for the Marauders. James decided that maybe it would be best to just try and sleep in the common room, which would probably be blissfully quiet ad give him some much need alone time.

James came groggily down the stairs, ready to flop himself down on the sofa and forget about everything that had been going on, so it was quite a surprise for him when he caught sight of a blob of gold already in the spot.

"Potter?"

He recognised the voice before he recognised who was actually hidden beneath all that fabric.

"Evans?"

The two stared at each other blankly. Neither had the energy to start their usual bickering.

"I'm sorry," James muttered, turning to go back up the boys dormitory stairs "I wasn't expecting anyone to be down here this late."

Lily wasn't used to apologies from James, nor was she familiar with how defeated he sounded. Everyone in the school was aware that something was going on with the Marauders, though no one knew exactly what. There were theories of course - this is Hogwarts we're talking about, but all of them seemed highly unlikely to Lily. What teenage boys have a fight over who's Mother one of them is planning to run away with?

"No no, you can stay. I'm not getting much done anyways."

James quickly glanced back at her, doing a bit of a double take. He weighed up his options quickly before moving to sit down next to Lily, who shuffled up slightly, giving him a small smile.

The fire danced merrily in the hearth as the two settled into a comfortable silence. They both had things to do; Lily needed to finish her homework to sleep and James needed to mull over the rift between his friends. Of course, Lily's mind drifted to be more similar to James'. Why had the Marauders fallen out so badly after 5 years of friendship? Who was involved? Did James have anything to do with it? She glanced over him. He was sat on the far end of the sofa, an arm resting on the end which supported his head. His hair was as unruly as ever, but it softened all of the harsher angles of his face. His glasses reflected the light and his thoughtful eyes hid in the darkness behind. Lily had spent some much time with him riled up that she had never noticed how handsome he could look when calm. Handsome. Did her mind just call him handsome?

"Evans, you can stop searing a hole into the side of my head," James said, with a smirk gradually appearing.

Lily blushed ever so slightly before retorting.

"I was just wondering whether McGonnagall would give me extra credit for my homework if I managed to transfigure your head a few sizes smaller,"

He rolled his eyes at her before glancing down at her homework.

"You having difficulty there?"

Lily would have very much liked to tell him that she was doing just fine but it was quite obvious she wasn't. One, she was down in the common room working on it in the middle of the night and two, James knew she wasn't particularly good at Transfiguration. So, she sighed and nodded.

James moved a little nearer to see what she was writing about. It was an easy topic for him. Previously, he would have happily rubbed this in Lily's face but, judging by her current situation and mood, he thought it might be best not to. Lily prepared herself for him to either lecture her on Transfiguration or just tell her exactly what to write. Either was pretty demeaning. However, to her shock, he just helped her find the pages she would need in her textbook and explained the few things she really did not understand. He was patient and helpful and it was just what Lily needed. They finished it together within half an hour, when Lily had expected it to take at least another two.

"Thank you, James," she spoke hesitantly but looked him in the eye.

"No problem, it helped me too. Took my mind off of some stuff,"

Lily watched him curiously. Part of her wanted to just ask what the hell was going on but that was clearly exactly not what James needed. Instead, she just said:

"Well if I can return the favour in any way, I'm always here to listen,"

James knew what she was eluding to, and appreciated the subtlety. For the past few days, people had been incessantly coming up to him and asking what had happened. It was always obvious they were asking in hopes of getting something to tell their friends. James had no one to talk to about everything; the Marauders were the people he would have gone to. Sitting with Lily, he felt that he knew her well enough to know that she was not asking for the rumour mill. She had never been that sort. So he took a leap of faith and told her everything - within reason, of course. He referred to Moony's lycanthropy as a secret.

Lily's face didn't betray many emotions as she listened to the tale. Obviously, she wasn't understanding the gravity of the situation as she would if she knew about the furry little problem, but her face still looked serious.

When he finished, James ran a hand through his hair.

"And that's how we ended up where we are today."

Lily nodded slowly and rested her face against her hand, turning towards James.

"So how are you coping?"

He chuckled.

"I'm not, really. Padfoot and Moony.." Lily raised her eyebrows, "Ehem…Sirius and Remus have got to a stage of not talking to each other and me and Peter cannot recreate our conversations without them. In the Great Hall, in class, in the dormitory: we all don't speak because all the talking would just be awkward conversation between me and Peter. And, believe me Evans, if there's no prank to plan, there's not much worth casually talking about,"

Lily smiled gently but said nothing.

"I just…I just worry that things will never go back to the way they were, Lily. And they mean everything to me. What would Hogwarts be without them? What would the rest of my life be like knowing that I used to have friends like that? This could be the end of the Marauders and I can't do anything about it."

James choked up slightly and quickly tried to hide it from Lily. It's not cool having the girl you fancy watching you cry. Lily moved closer to him to rest her hand on his. James' heart leapt at the contact and glanced down at her small warm hand stroking his own.

"James." She said firmly, "I have never seen a friendship as strong as the one you guys share. And, as much as you and Sirius get on my last nerve sometimes, I can see how much Peter and Remus care for you two. Sure, this whole thing may look bad but, in the end, you are the Marauders. If someone had told me on the second day of school that you guys would die for each other, I would have totally believed them. This will figure itself out. Just keep being your loyal self and being there for both Sirius and Remus."

Her words made James smile and the certainty in her eyes made James believe her entirely. He turned his hand over to squeeze her hand back. They said nothing more to each other verbally, but sat together, just being there for each other. Together, they started to drift off to sleep and Lily eventually fell into James' side, easily moving into a comfortable position. The fire didn't die alone that night as Lily and James rested the best they both had in years.