While waiting for his roommates to wake, Remus fell asleep on his bed. He had forgotten how much he liked his bed. Soft, but not too soft to where it make his back ache. Nothing like the cot he had in Dumbledore's office. Yes, the comfort of his room, his pillow, and his mattress sent him adrift into a dreamless sleep until his fellow Gryffindor's stirred.

"I think we should leave him be," Peter whispered. "He's obviously vey tired."

"Bugger that!" Sirius barked. "He's been gone for almost a week. I want to know what happened!"

"Sirius, I think Wormtail is right, we can at least wait until he wakes-"

James was not able to finish his sentence before Remus was roughly shaken by his shoulders. "Wake up, Moony!" Sirius demanded.

Remus snapped his eyes open and jumped in shock as three noses were inches from his. James, Sirius, and Peter crawled onto his bed with wide eyes and open mouths.

"Tell us everything."

Remus frowned. "What happened?" he questioned, rubbing his eyes.

"That's what we're asking you mate!" Sirius shouted. "'What happened' he says. Like he didn't just get murdered!"

"Well as you can see I am alive," Remus replied. "I just meant what happened while I was out? I'm still trying to piece things together and I'm missing a lot of time. I've been cooped up on a cot in Dumbledore's office."

"That's why we couldn't find you in the infirmary!" Peter gasped. "Madam Pomfrey banned us from going in there unless we were bleeding, dying, or oozing because we couldn't find you."

"We thought for sure they sent you to St. Mungos, but dad checked and said you weren't there either," James added quickly. "No one would tell us anything. Not Evans, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Murphy."

Remus sighed and laid back to stare at his canopy. Where should he begin? He could feel his heart thumping in his throat as he tried to bring himself to announce that he, in fact, kissed Lily and that she agreed to be his girlfriend for the split eight seconds before his attempted murder. Avoiding everyone's gaze and keeping his eyes locked onto the canopy of his bed, he began.

"Well..." he began slowly. "I took Lily to the clearing, you know, where we used to hang out in third year. We were reading a book aloud together when...w-when..." his stomach gave a huge twist and he cleared his throat and tried to proceed. "Uhm, Lily kissed me."

Against his better judgement he, he swept his gaze across the faces of his three friends. All three Gryffindors sat with their eyebrows raised. To Remus' surprise, James grinned widely.

"Nice," he said patting Remus' leg.

Shocked, Remus, Peter, and Sirius questioned in unison. "What?"

James shrugged and patted Remus' leg again. "I mean, it was only a matter of time. Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Sirius spoke first. "I thought you'd be devastated," he admitted through a puzzled expression.

"-Or angry enough to choke Remus out-"

"-Or at least hate me if you didn't hex me-"

James erupted in laughter and shook his head. "I got over that a while ago. I mean, Moony, you're my mate. I wouldn't hate you or be angry with you for being happy."

Remus felt a heavy weight lift from his chest and his heart stopped throbbing in his throat. He thanked James for his support.

"Of course," he nodded. "Besides, she's not the only girl in Hogwarts. Loads of girls would be lucky to date me. Handsome, Captain of the Quidditch team, Rich. What's not to like?"

"Exactly," Peter agreed.

"That great, mate, but how did you go from snogging to getting cursed?" Sirius questioned.

"That, I don't know," Remus frowned. "I asked her to be my girlfriend, she said yes, she got up to get another Danish and that's when it happened."

"When what happened?" Sirius pressed on.

"The attack, I guess," he shrugged. Remus continued to tell the about what his father and Dumbledore told him about the spells that were used, the investigation yielding no results, possible theories on who the attacker was, and his mother trying to force him home. When he finished divulging every scrap of info he collected from his stay in Dumbledore's office, he looked at the shifty gazes of his friends.

"What? What do you know?" he asked.

The three Gryffindors looked at each other before James decided to speak up first. "Well, we think we know who did it," he answered.

"Snape of course," Sirius added. "Who else at school is so deeply immersed in the dark arts? Who hates us? Who is obsessed with Evans? It would be just like him to hide in the bushes and hex someone while they were defenseless."

Remus shook his head in disagreement. "I told Dumbledore it might have been a Slytherin. He was very adamant that it was not a student. "

"Well, there's something else," Peter squeaked. "Evans went mental on him when she got back to the castle."

"Mental? What's that supposed to mean?" Remus questioned.

"Mental!" Sirius exclaimed. "She was rambling, crying, and covered in blood. Snape was in the crowd that formed by the entrance hall when Dumbledore and McGonagall were levitating you into the infirmary, and she jumped on him and started knocking his teeth in!"

"What?" Remus gasped. "Lily attacked Snape?"

The three Gryffindors nodded in unison. "Savegley," James said. "It took a blast from McGonnagall's wand to get her off of him.

"Did he say anything?" Remus continued to question. "Did he say anything to make her think he did it?"

"No idea," Sirius said. "She was frantic and inconsolable. Snape didn't do anything except slither away with a bloody nose."

Remus frowned further. "Dumbledore didn't say anything about Snape or Lily at all. The only thing he said about her was that she was in the infirmary for shock but was otherwise unharmed."

Sirius sighed. "I bet it was Snape. Evans wouldn't go after him like that unless she was sure, too."

Remus wasn't convinced. "I think it may have been the trauma for the attack. There's too many other variables to consider. We could have been overheard talking to McGonnagall. They could have been targeting her since she's a muggle-born. They could be after me because of what my dad is doing."

James shook his head. "I wouldn't be so sure, mate. Snape is a snake. An evil, oily, shite. He could be capable of anything. And Evans, of all the times she's lectured us about not stooping to his level and protecting him all the time? There's no way she would just beat on him."

Remus bit his lip as he thought about the possibility. James was right, Lily continuously tried to spare Snape from harm. What would make her suddenly snap?

"Hang on, that doesn't make any sense," Remus interjected. "Snape was already in the entrance hall when we arrived, right? There's no way he could have gotten from the clearing to the castle before us."

"Uh, moony? Did Dumbledore tell you that you were dancing with death when they found you?" Sirius asked. "Rachel Murphy has a bracelet that burns white hot when the wearer of the twin is in danger. She followed the bracelet in the direction it pulled. When she found you and Evans she screamed until someone found you guys. By the time Dumbledore got to you and brought you to the castle, almost everyone was back."

"It was frightful," Peter whimpered. "You really looked dead."

Remus didn't know what to believe. Dumbledore was almost angry when he tried to press the issue about the culprit being a student. He wanted to speak to Lily to find out what really happened, but was afraid to face her. What if she didn't want to see him again? And if, by small chance, she did, did he really want to risk it by grilling her about Snape?

"How is Lily?" Remus asked quietly, carefully picking at a loose thread on his sheets.

"Traumatized," Sirius snorted. "I saw her coming up the steps and it wasn't pretty. She was shaking, talking a mile a minute, and looked like she had jumped into a pit of red tar."

"McGonagall had her sent to infirmary, but she hasn't been in class or in the common room much," Peter said. "Rachel says she's in the dormitory and refuses to come down until she knows you're alive."

"Well I suppose you all can tell her I made it. I doubt she will want to see much of me anymore," Remus sighed.

"What on earth makes you say that, Remus?" James questioned. "Didn't you just say she agreed to be your girlfriend?"

Remus scoffed. "Do you think she would still want to go out with me after I doused her in my blood and nearly got myself killed not even two feet away from her? Sirius said she's traumatized. The sight of me will probably send her through another episode of shock." He sighed deeply. "Remus Lupin. The sickly, accident prone, scarred up, idiot of the castle."

"Don't talk about my friend that way," James snapped.

"Oh come off it," Remus sneered. "You're rich, captain of the quidditch team, handsome. I'm diseased and pathetic. I'm sure most of the castle is pissed at me. 'Remus Lupin is the reason we can't go to Hogsmeade. Bastard'."

"I said Don't talk about my friend that way!" James roared, jumping to his feet. "It's not like you to act this way. Who gives a fig if people are mad? They shouldn't want to go to some stupid tea shop with a killer on the loose! And in case you haven't noticed, I'm not the one with a girlfriend, you prick, you are!"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Not anymore," he muttered to himself. He couldn't imagine that Lily would want to still be with him. Even if she did still want to be his girlfriend, she was smart enough to realize that he was nothing but trouble. Someone wanted him dead and it could have easily been her that was cursed and left to die. Who would want to be next to someone who was likely being hunted?

James opened his mouth to argue, but Sirius stopped him. "Alright, everyone calm down. Remus has had a rough go of it so just give him some space." Sirius turned to Remus and pointed a stern finger at him. "Quit thinking that way. You're not pathetic and if anyone here is diseased, it's Wormtail with the damn fleas and ticks. So get some rest and knock it off."

Remus nodded and stared at the canopy while his friends dressed for classes and left. He didn't mean to snap at them. He knew they were only trying to help. But it was all too much to take in. Having to be levitated into the castle. Being found in a pool of his own blood. Being the reason trips to the village were now cancelled. Being the reason that Lily shut herself in her dorm, refusing to come out. Having his girlfriend (what a weird thing to suddenly be able to say) see him lifeless, bloody, and unconscious. Who knew nearly dying could be so embarrassing.

Not wanting to be a spectacle, Remus waited until he could no longer hear the footsteps of his fellow Gryffindors down the dormitory stairs before he decided to head down to the common room. Much to his dread, he saw the flaming red hair of his possibly ex-girlfriend swing behind her as she paced back and forth in front of the fireplace. Before he could announce his presence, Lily sprinted toward him with her arms outstretched to embrace him, but quickly stopped in her tracks and grabbed his hands in hers.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to hurt you. Are you okay? What am I saying, of course you're not! How are you feeling? Will there be any-"

Not paying attention to a word she sputtered, Remus placed his hands on either side of her face and pulled her into a kiss. Although more scarred than he was before, deeply disturbed by his brush with death, and thoroughly embarrassed that Lily was there to witness it all, he attempted to put as much answer in his kiss as he could. He wanted her to know that he was, for the most part, okay and very glad that she was not harmed. Unfortunately, Lily stood rigid as a board. Disheartened by her lack of response, Remus pulled away with his face burning with embarrassment. Of course she didn't want to kiss him. How could he be so stupid? She thought better of hugging him, why would he think a kiss would be welcome? But before their lips parted, Lily seemed to have come to her senses and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

A week he laid on the uncomfortable cot, trespassing on the headmaster's privacy, daydreaming about about the kisses he shared with her before he was savagely mangled by the unknown. The way her lips felt against his, how he was able to let his hands roam over her body. How she moaned when he gripped her ass when she straddled him. He thought for sure that would be the last he saw of her and began to accept that he would have to treasure the memory instead of ever getting another chance at snogging ever again. While even up to only a few minutes ago he was certain that Lily wanted nothing more to do with him, he was glad he was wrong.

Lily untangled herself from him, much to his disappointment and wrapped her arms around his middle. Remus rested his chin on her head as she sobbed into his chest.

"Oh dear," he frowned, gently rubbing her back. "I didn't know my kissing was bad enough to bring you to tears."

Lily snorted despite herself and pulled away from him. "Stop it, its not funny," she chortled. She walked over to the sofa with her reddened face in her hands. Remus followed her and resumed caressing her back silently. After a few hearty sobs, Lily wiped her tears on the cuff of her sleeve and cleared her throat. "Sorry," she smiled weakly. "That was highly undignified."

It was Remus' turn to snort. "Not as undignified as bleeding all over your date."

"That isn't funny," she snapped. "Do you remember much?"

"Well, I remember telling you to run. That's about it. Next thing after that is I woke up in Dumbledore's office heavily bandaged and wearing an eyepatch."

"Yes, I was sure you'd be blinded in that eye for good," she frowned, nervously rubbing her palms against her thighs. "Did Potter and Sirius tell you what happened?"

He thought carefully for a moment before he answered. He wanted to ask her about her attack on Snape. He wanted to question her about what she saw, if she saw anything, and why Snape had been on the receiving end of her fists. He wanted to know if she had voiced her suspicion of Snape to Dumbledore or even McGonagall. However, he could not bring himself to ask. In addition to questions about Snape, he also wanted answers on how she handled his near demise. She, too, lived through his near death experience and though she might not be physically scarred as he was, he wanted to be there for her to easy any mental strain the ordeal may have brought on.

"Just that they couldn't find me in the hospital wing or St. Mungo's," he answered carefully. "They also told me you've shut yourself up in your dorm."

She wiped a tear that ran astray down her cheek. "Yeah, well. I tried to go to class, but I couldn't focus. Whatever Professor Slughorn or Professor Newman had to say just wasn't as important as finding out what happened to you. I didn't know if you were even alive. No one would answer my questions. Not Professor McGonagall, not even Hagrid. I thought for sure that after three days of no news that you...were..." she hid her face in her hands again and shook her head furiously as if to shake out the negative thoughts. Regaining her composure, she continued.

"At first I thought you were having a seizure. You were convulsing, and your eyes were rolling back. But then, you started thrashing like crazy and your arms and legs were bending in the most unnatural positions. I didn't know what to do, but before I could think of anything you stopped. But then, you let out this horrible, terrible, scream and then you were sliced open." She sobbed again. "I tried to mend it with magic but the wounds kept bleeding. I thought about running for help but I didn't want to leave you alone. I could never live with myself if I just left you there to die. I screamed for help and tried to hold pressure on the best I could but..."

She buried her face in his shoulder and started bawling. "I didn't know what to do, Remus! I was so scared! You l-looked at me and I could see the light in your eyes fading. Rachel found me with the gift she just gave me and was horror struck. She couldn't stop screaming. One of the inn keepers found you and sent a Patronus to Dumbledore."

Remus frowned and pulled her into his lap. He told her everything that happened while he was in Dumbledore's office. How his mum wanted to pull him out of school, how St. mungo's healers, Professor Sprout, and Dumbledore all had a time trying to find a counter-curse to keep his wounds shut. How the investigation was yielding no results at all and how Dumbledore refused to believe a student could be capable of such magic.

Remus twirled Lily's hair between his fingers and she nestled into his neck. He thought very carefully about his choice of words.

"Do you have any idea who it could have been?" Remus questioned quietly.

"No," she replied. "I've been trying to rack my brain. Trying to recall any detail that may have been out of place but I just can't."

Remus frowned. "I heard you attacked Severus Snape as soon as we got into the castle."

Lily pulled away from Remus with knitted brows. "What are you asking me?"

"Why did you attack Snape?"

Lily's neck and face started to redden. "One of his foul Slytherin cronies thought I was injured since I was covered in blood. He said I was getting mudblood all over the castle. When you came in on the stretcher behind me with Dumbledore, Severus said 'Even though it'll be belated, Lupin's death would be the best birthday gift of all.' I didn't care about Traver's comment towards me, but when Snape said that about you it just got to me. I didn't even realize I was smacking him about until we were blasted apart."

Remus wished he could have been conscious to view someone giving Snape a proper knock about the ears. "You don't think he could have done it, could you?"

Lily shook her head. "I've never known Snape to attack anyone without provocation."

Remus scowled. "You're joking! Snape wouldn't hesitate to jinx Sirius or James!"

"Notice I said 'without provocation'," Lily snapped. "Black and Potter can never leave Severus alone. It doesn't matter what he does, those two will always find a reason to go after him."

Remus didn't know what to say to this, since he knew Lily was right about James and Sirius always tormenting Snape. But he could hardly agree that Snape only ever used spells defensively. "Did you tell Dumbledore what Snape said?"

"No, it didn't seem relevant," she answered, looking quite annoyed.

Another scowl crossed Remus' face. "Snape made a comment about how he wished I was dead while I was just about lifeless and you found that irrelevant?"

"Yes, I found it irrelevant!" she shouted. "Just as I found Traver's comment irrelevant. They're a rotten bunch who live to get under people's skin by saying the most terrible things."

Remus did not find this comforting. He opened his mouth to retort but it was Lily's turn to grab his face into a kiss. The distraction worked for a good three or for seconds, but Remus regained his resolve and pulled away.

"Don't you think that-"

"Oh, give it a rest, Remus!" Lily shouted in exasperation. "You said yourself that Dumbledore doesn't think any student could have been able to execute such horrible magic. Look," peppered a few more pecks on his forehead, his cheeks, and his nose as she continued to speak. "It's your first day back and I've missed you."

Remus did not want to give it a rest, but found his resolve diminishing as the vivacious redhead led her trail of kisses down to his neck.

If it wasn't for the lunch bell Remus wouldn't have any sense of time. Leisurely stretched across the sofa, Lily laid on Remus' chest and gave him arguably the best day of his life. Locked in each other's embrace, they spent the morning exploring each other. Remus loved to slide his hands up her skirt and grip her thighs as she straddled him, and he could not suppress a moan as she delicately nibbled on his earlobes. He noticed that her heart beat exponentially faster whenever he kissed her bare collarbone and she let out audible gasps whenever he kissed the crook of her neck. Remus, though extremely excited he could enjoy the intimacy and company of a girl, wanted to remain respectful. He knew Sirius would be disappointed in him if he could see that Remus didn't even go for an over-the-bra boob squeeze or try to slip her underwear off for 'safe keeping', but Remus was lucky enough to get this far and did not want to push it. Besides, he didn't want Lily to get the wrong idea about him. He genuinely cared for her and did not want her to think otherwise.

Heading down to the Great Hall hand in hand with swollen lips, the two Gryffindors were grinning and giggling all the way. Once they reach their table, Rachel jumped to her feet and gripped Remus into a back-breaking hug that lifted him at least four inches off the ground.

"Good God, Lupin, Am I happy to see you!" she screamed, squeezing all the life out of him. "Oh shit. Oh my. Oh Merlin's beard. Thank the heaven's you're alright!"

Remus would have usually come up with a witty and off-color retort but knew that if it weren't for Rachel, he would most likely be a corpse. "T-thank you," he said breathlessly. "It's nice to see you to-oo, Rachel."

Rachel seemed to realize she was hurting him and quickly dropped him. "Sorry, mate" she muttered. "Just glad to see you sewn back together."

"Thanks," he replied. As he settled into his seat next to his girlfriend, Peter came rushing behind him.

"Moony, We need you in the library," he panted with his hands on his knees.

Seeing as Peter wouldn't run even if the devil were after him, Remus sensed the urgency and sprinted off to the library with him. When they got there, Peter collapsed in the nearest chair and attempted to catch his breath.

"What's going on?" Remus asked, pulling up a chair to sit with his mates.

"Did Evans say anything about Snape?" Sirius questioned, not bothering to look up from the book that hid his handsome face.

"Not really," Remus grumbled. "Just that he made a foul comment about me and that's why she attacked him. The more I tried to question her about it, the more agitated she got."

"Figures," Sirius snorted. "Whenever I tried to talk to her about it she told me to bugger off and leave her alone or else I'd be next."

"We were thinking about something in Charms class," James informed him. "What if tracked Snape?"

"Track him?" Remus repeated with raised eyebrows. "How?"

"Homonculous Charm," answered Sirius. "It's what the cartographer's at St. Mungos use to keep track of patients in different wards. It won't just track Snape. It will track everyone in the castle. We can keep an eye on all those worthless slimy gits in case anyone tries to attack you again."

"But, that's not possible," Remus said, putting the nearest book on the table toward him. "Hogwarts is unplottable. Everyone knows that."

Sirius waved his hand dismissively. "We've already found a way around that. It's unplottable if one is trying to map it away from the castle and showing Hogwarts in relation to other places. We are inside the castle and we're not mapping out anything other than the inside of the castle. It won't be a problem."

The four Gryffindors lowered their heads and continued to discuss how to map out Hogwarts. If Dumbledore was going to be so blind and underestimate the capability of his most horrendous students, at least his friends would be able to catch the culprit in case of another attack. Remus did not fancy adding cartography to his list of hobbies, but the reward as too great to pass up.

They spent the rest of the afternoon with their noses stuffed in the crevasses of many different books. While in theory creating a map shouldn't be that difficult, it was the actual plotting that seemed to be the most difficult. There were so many elements to the castle that they didn't even know about. The four boys did pride themselves on knowing the secret passageways, but was that all of them? What if there were more? Would passwords to portraits be in the legend? It would be pretty pointless to have the passageways listed without the magic word to enter them listed somewhere. They weren't going to be able to map the common rooms because the passwords to the portraits changed almost biweekly. What if someone found their map? Should it be written in Gobbledegook or ancient runes? But then, none of them spoke Gobbledegook and the only one who took ancient Runes was Remus.

More and more questions kept cropping up as they put more thought into the map. Poor Peter seemed lost and ready to give up and stated that becoming an animagi was much less work than creating a bloody map. While the lot didn't agree on many answers that were tossed around, the did agree on one thing.

It would be called "The Marauder's Map".

A/N: Howdy. It is I with another update! Hope it was welcomed and enjoyed despite the filler-esqe quality!

I hope there are people who are still reading and enjoying this story. If so, please leave a review so I can keep track of how many followers are still active! I still do intend on writing the Christmas scene I skipped, so do not worry about that.

Hoping all of you are well in this crazy time.