"Severus, can I talk to you please?" Lily was now behind Severus who was sitting at the Slytherin table. He turned around with great speed when he heard her voice. "Hi Lily, yes of course. Let me just grab my bag." He turned around and started to gather his stuff. Lily felt that the Slytherins were watching her closely. The pushed her chin up trying not to look intimidated. "What do you think that muggle wants with him?" She knew they were whispering, but just loud enough for her to hear. "Do you think she even knows enough magic to be here? You can smell the dirty muggle stanch miles away." Lily swallowed hard and kept her chin up, deciding to pretend not to hear them. Luckily Severus was done and they walked away. "Let's go in here." They stepped into an empty classroom. Lily sat down on a desk and Severus was standing a few steps away from her.
"It's been a while since we've seen each other." He says, but his eyes are fixed on the floor. "I know. I am sorry I didn't come to see you." Lily said softly. "Well, I just thought you might be mad with me." He let his hair fall down in front of his face. Lily felt confused. Mad? Why would she be mad at him? "Why would I be mad?" She asked. "I don't know. I asked you for help with Potter and Black and then the whole thing with Longbottom happened. I know your friend likes him and my friends went way too far. I just thought you might be mad at me for not saying to them they had to stop, since you hate bullies." Severus spit all of this out really fast and at once, trying to get it out. Afraid when he would stop he would not be able to finish the sentence. Lily looked at him. "I didn't know about that incident with Frank to be honest, up and until 15 minutes ago. And yes, that is part of the reason I wanted to talk to you as well. Alice said that you were there as well and I was just wondering what your part was. I cannot imagine you bullying anyone, let alone hang out with bullies. You got bullied at elementary school and you hate James and Sirius for bullying you as well. So it seems kind of hypocritical to me then. But I want to know your kind of the story. I care about you." Severus head shot up, looking with big eyes at Lily. "I know how it looks and I don't know what to say. My friends have these opinions about some students at school. They are not afraid to show it. But honestly, they seem rough in their way of showing it, they are nice and funny. They know so much about the world and life besides Hogwarts."
Lily felt a fire starting in her. She could honestly not believe this. Did Severus not know that their opinion about those other people also implied to her? Did he not know what they just said about her? "Sev, listen to me. I find it really hard to believe that they are funny and nice. Do you have any idea what they just said about me?" Severus shook his head. "They were asking themselves out loud if I had enough magic in me to be here. Since I have apparently this muggle stanch all over me, apparently." Lily saw to her content that Severus eyes grew big with shock. "But you don't have a muggle stanch on you. You smell amazing." Lily blushed. That was a little bit weird to hear from Severus. She decided to ignore this comment. "Well, they said all of that. And if they say that about me, someone else and do awful stuff to my friends, why should I believe that your friends are nice? I honestly thought that you would choose better friends and otherwise dumped them if they are awful people. Especially with your history and strong opinions about others. What is the difference between James Potter and Sirius Black and your friends?" Severus got a bit of a mad look in his eyes when she mentioned those names, but Lily continued. "I defended you against my friends. I said that you were not like that at all. But to be honest, I am kind of doubting myself right now. Are you still the same Sev that I got friends with? That I honestly care about?" Severus cheeks flushed red and he became nervous. He started fiddling on the end of his sleeves that were already a little bit raffled. "Yes, Lily please, yes I am. I know what it looks like. That is why I thought you were mad at me and I kept my distance towards you. I would not have blamed you if you had been mad at me. Sometimes I want to say something about their behavior and ask them to stop, you know. It is just hard, since they are with a lot more and they are in the same house. We have every class together, we sit in the same common room and eat at the same table. We are literally almost every minute together. But I promise you, I will do it now. You are right. I hate bullies and I should step up to them if they go out of line." Lily looked at him. His eyes were pleading for Lily not be mad at him. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Okay Sev, if you promise me you'll do that from now, that is okay. But honestly, I just want to know one more thing. Do you share those opinions?" Severus swallowed. "Not necessarily." He looked down now, his hair covering his face again. "What do you mean by that?" Lily asked. She sounded a little harsher than intended, but this was a vague answer.
"Well, I just think that sometimes somebody can be better at magic then somebody else and sometimes is has something to do with where that person is from. Maybe not necessarily a muggle family, but just general in our wizard kind. And it just happens that is usually the case for some people who are from a muggle family, maybe. I don't know really." Lily could not believe what she just heard. "You know that I am from a muggle family, right?" She shot at him. "I know and that is why I said for some people and not everybody. Not you, not you at all. You are one of the best witches I know." Severus sounded desperate. "Don't get me wrong, I don't mean you at all." Lily sighed. "But don't you see, Sev? You don't mean me because I am your friend. But what about somebody who is not your friend? What if we were not even friends? Would you still say the same thing? That's what scares me! You and your friends having these opinions about people and sometimes you even hurt people." Severus interrupted her: "No! I never did hurt anyone. I would never lay a finger on anyone unless they came for me first." Lily looked with narrowed eyes at her friend. "I don't know, Sev. You same to be blindsided. What is the difference between me and someone else?" Severus was quiet. "I don't know, Lils. I really don't. I just know that I missed you the past weeks. I would never hurt anyone and I know my friends seem like that. But it is a two-way street. Sometimes they start it, but sometimes they get taunted as well. I promise you that I will stand up to them from now on. I want to stay true to myself and you."
Lily heard footsteps out in the hall. Dinner was probably over. She looked at Severus and his pleading eyes. She saw how much he needed her and how much she also missed him. He was barely on her mind the last month or so, but somehow she felt a sharp sting in her. Lily thought back about their evening together back home, how he comforted her on the Hogwarts Express after her fight with Petunia and how he answered every question she had with patient. Maybe he just needed guidance again. Just like how he needed when she met him. Maybe it was also a bit her fault, she barely talked to him. They just had to hang out more and she had the perfect moment for that. "Okay Sev, thank you. I do believe that you will do that. You are strong and that is what I admire about you. And I missed you too the past month. We should hang out more, okay? Why don't you join me this Saturday? I got invited to a gathering that Slughorn is throwing and I could invite someone along. It would be great to be with just the two of us again." Severus looked relieved. "Yes, I would love that. Where do you want to meet up?" Lily laughed a little looking at him. He seemed just as excited as a little puppy. "Well, there was no need to eat. There will be food there. So maybe around 7 in the Great Hall?" Severus nodded. "Okay, great! I will go now, I still have some homework to do. But I will see definitely this Saturday. I am looking forward to it." She grabbed her back and started walking to the door. Before she opened the door, Lily remembered something. "Oh and before I forget, it is semi-casual. No need for a tux or dressrobe, but something a little bit fancy." She knew that Severus did not own anything like that and somehow she enjoyed his shocked expression too much while she closed the door. Somehow she still had to process all of this. Severus had changed and hopefully not for the worst. It was only a month or so since they really talked, so even if he thought differently about stuff, maybe Lily could maybe still help him. All she needed was some time. She was going to stick by her friend side no matter what. With this determination she walked to the Gryffindor Tower.
The last few days of the week flew by fast. Before Lily knew she was getting ready for Slughorn's party. She had borrowed a navy blue dress from Marlene and Mary was doing her hair. "Do you want a braid? It will show of your long, swan neck perfectly." Lily laughed hard. "My what now? A swan neck?" Mary put her face next to Lily's and said in a creepy voice: "Yes, your delicate and white swan neck." Lily laughed even harder now. Mary joined her as well and both of them were soon gasping for air. "I thought a lot of things about myself, but never did I ever think that I have a swan neck."
At that moment Marlene and Alice came in. "What are you two laughing about?" Alice asked smiling. "Oh no, Lily! Don't laugh so hard, if you cry you will mess up the make-up that I did." Marlene said. Lily said up straight again, patting her stomach. "Sorry, Mar! I won't mess it up, I promise! Where did you two go by the way?" Alice sat down on her bed. "The library. We tried to find some more information on that Transfiguration homework but I think that McGonagall just gave us our hardest subject so far." Marlene nodded. "All we found were two sentences in one book and it just said something about the incantation. I honestly think that she gave us this because of that prank that James, Sirius, Peter and Remus did." "Well, that wouldn't be fair. Then just give them detention and don't punish the whole class." Mary said while braiding Lily's hair. "I know, but somehow detention doesn't really seem to upset them that much." Alice laughed. "I don't know about that, to be honest. Remus seems pretty upset when he heard it. But then again, it is Remus we are talking about." The four of them all started laughing at the idea of a nervous, sweating Remus sitting in detention.
That evening Lily met Severus at the Great Hall, to the stairs descending to the dungeons. Severus was wearing his black pants, a white blouse and a tie. He looked a little lost, but he smiled when he saw Lily. "You look lovely, that dress looks amazing on you." He said. "Thank you Sev! You look really handsome as well. Are you ready to head down?" They were walking towards the dungeons when they passed some Slytherins. "Who, Severus! Way to go dude." The boys yelled while one of them was whistling. "Do you want me to stop them?" Severus asked. "It's fine." Lily said. "I will ignore them. They are just stupid. Tonight is going to be a fun night." Lily pushed those comments to the back of her head and focused on being with Severus. "So where did you get that tie from?" She asked. Severus smiled. "I borrowed it from Lucius." Lily snorted. "Let me guess, he has like 50 of those?" Severus laughed. "I think you are not far away from his actual amount of ties. He also had a fine selection of bow ties." Both of were still laughing when they arrived at the party.
"My dear Miss Evans! It is so nice to see you made it. And you brought a date. Mr. Snape, good to see you outside the classroom." Lily became a bit uncomfortable. Did she made it clear enough to Severus as well that she just thinks of him as a friend? "Yes, he is one of my best friends, sir!" Severus shifted a bit on his feet when she said this. "Well, who knows? You two are still young!" Slughorn winked at Lily. "Come in, come in! If you cross the room there is the food and there are drinks next to it. And please Miss Evans, come and find me at some point this evening. There are some people that I would love to introduce to you." Lily and Severus thanked Slughorn and walked to the table with the food. "Look at this!" Severus whistled through his teeth. "It looks even better than the food we get during dinner. This is like feast-food." Lily grabbed herself a plate and started loading some food on it. Once she and Severus were done they found a standing table. "Did he seriously invited Bertha Jonkins? Why would you want her on a party?" Severus said. "I don't know. She is quite nice. A bit nosy, but you always get the latest gossip when you're with her. Marlene hangs out with her sometimes. Her older sister is friends with Bertha." Severus nudged his shoulders. "Well, all that I hear is that she tries to sneak in alcohol a lot of times and when she success, she gets way too drunk. But hey, if she gets drunk tonight we might have a good show." Lily looked at him. Why was he being like this? Severus never said stuff like that. He would never enjoy someone's agony or misbehaving. "I don't think I would want to see that." She said stiffly and started eating.
Severus sensed that Lily was a bit annoyed. He looked lost for a moment before saying: "Hey isn't that the prime-minister?" Lily looked up. And indeed, it was Eugenia Jenkins. She was talking with Slughorn while sipping from a fancy, golden glass. Her robes were burgundy and her hair was in a tight bun. "Are you serious? What is she doing her? I have a million questions to ask her. Do you think she would sign something?" Lily was feeling a little nervous seeing someone who was so famous and powerful. Her whole aura was also one big powerful vibe. "You should go to her and say hi." Severus said. "No! Are you crazy? I can't just go up to her and talk? She is the prime-minister!" Lily said. "Of course you can! Why else is she here?" Severus said. He pushed her towards Slughorn and Eugenia. Lily looked back at Severus and he waved that she had to go. Lily pulled her dress straight and walked over.
"Excuse me, professor Slughorn and prime-minister." She started. "Oh goodness, Miss Evans! You scared me a bit there. Good to see you. Are you enjoying yourself?" But he didn't wait for her answer. "Well, it is good that you are here. I can introduce you to this lovely madam over here, our prime-minister Eugenia Jenkins." Eugenia Jenkins stretched her hand towards Lily and Lily shook it. "It is an honor to meet you, madam!" Eugenia smiled. "So polite, Horace. It is a pleasure to meet you. But I did not catch your name." Slughorn put his hand on Lily's shoulder. "This is Lily Evans. One of the best students I taught so far. She is extremely gifted in Potions, but when you see the rest of her grades you'll see it is not only Potions. She is the best of her year, by far." Lily's blushed hard. She had the feeling her cheeks were the same color as her hair. "Well, well! That is quite something if Horace something like this about you. He has a knack for seeing the most-gifted students. But more about you Lily, do you have any idea what you might want to do after Hogwarts?" Lily had never really thought about this. There were still several years to go at Hogwarts and she never really thought about her future after Hogwarts.
Before she knew she was a witch she always wanted to be a scientist. She had the dream of finding cures for diseases and help people. Maybe they had something similar here in the wizarding world. "Well, it is still quite far away, but I would love to maybe help sick people. But not necessarily be a doctor, but maybe more behind the scenes. Discovering the ingredients to a new potion or something." Eugenia nodded. "That is a really good cause, Lily. That is a lovely goal and career. Are you muggle-born, dear?" Lily blushed a bit, but she put her chin up hi and said proudly. "Yes, mam!" Eugenia laughed this time. "There was no attack there, dear. But I love how you are not afraid to show it. There is no need to be ashamed of your heritage and how you were raised. I figured since you used the word doctor. We don't have those here in our world. We have healers, but they kind of do the same thing. But usually young witches and wizards, with barely any experience in the outside world, do not know this term. But if you maybe want to be a healer, please be! If I could help you by the time you need to make a decision, please come to me. You can always ask Horace to contact me." Lily blushed again. "That means so much to me, madam. Thank you so much! I will keep this in mind. I hope I don't cross any lines, but can I ask you one more question?" Eugenia nodded. "You just did, but you may ask me a second one." Lily felt a bit blunt. "Well, I would never imagined that someone with your function and power would be here, at a school party. Why are you here?" Eugenia smiled and looked at Slughorn.
"Well dear, Horace and I go way back. We were both classmates and he helped me out a lot during Potions. And he invited me several times before, but usually I declined politely. But his determination to keep pursuing me to come and attend and his lovely parties are at one point too difficult to pass on. So I decided, why not accept? I don't think that the previous prime-minister would do anything like this, but we are all different. I might be the head of the wizarding world, but I started here at Hogwarts. Just like everyone else. I just want to show that you can make something of yourself, you can aim big and make it big. Even if you are just one of the many students here." Lily nodded. "That is true, madam. You are so right. Thank you so much for this conversation. I won't keep you longer away from the others. I do hope you enjoy your evening." Eugenia extended her hand once more. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Lily. I do hope I see you one day."
Lily returned so Severus. "Did you see that? I just had a full conversation with the prime-minister, Sev! I cannot believe this!" Severus smiled. "I am happy for your, Lils. What did she say?" Lily told Severus about their conversation. They continued that evening with eating, drinking and having fun. It was just like their evenings together in the summer.
It was their Charms class and the four friends sat down. There was a bit tension between the four of them. Sirius had found a spell in a book and wanted to try it. "Come on guys, this will be fun!" James nodded. He was on Sirius' side of course. Remus was the one who was being against it. "I don't want to have anything to do with it." He lowered his voice. People were coming into the classroom and Lily Evans and her friends just took their place in front of them. "Well you don't have to. I will do the spell and you can just, relax and see what happens. I thought this class was a good opportunity. Since we need to have our wands out anyway." Remus eyes grew big. "You cannot do it in here. You have no idea what it does." Sirius saw Lily shift in her seat and he lowered his voice. "You know I can do it in here if I want to." Remus nodded his head. "Sirius, please. Just listen to me this one time." Remus pleaded. At that moment Professor Flitwick came in the class and everybody silenced. Remus shot one pleading look at Sirius and turned around.
James whispered: "What a blow to the party. Are you still doing the spell? You know I won't stop you, right?" Sirius smiled. "I know. But I might sit this one out. Depends on how the class will go. If it is boring, we might need to make it a bit nicer. Don't you agree?" James nodded. "But doesn't that mean that we have to do that during every class?" Sirius laughed. "You are right, my brother. You are. But somehow this class doesn't feel like it. I hate when Remus is like this. And you, my friend, are one detention away from missing a few Quidditch practices. Just right before your first match." James thought about it. Quidditch was amazing so far. He was fitting right in the team; all the practices so far went great and there first match was slowly approaching. It was against Slytherin. The rivalry between the houses was at an all-time high now. James could not imagine what the team captain would say, or yell probably, when he would have to miss practices or even the match because of detention. "I guess you are right. They would probably chop my head off when I would miss a practice. Let alone the match. Let's just keep quiet for a while, okay? During class! We can still roam the castles at night with my cloak." Sirius eyes began to twinkle. The last few times with the cloak of invisibility was amazing. They visited the Astronomy Tower and watched the night with some food they got from the kitchens. They visited the library to find some spells that they could use for fun or pranks. And one night they visited the dungeons again with the mission to get revenge on Lucius Malfoy. But eventually they got so much more.
A week ago they were walking through the dungeons looking for the prefects. Ever since Lucius Malfoy almost caught them they were after him for revenge. While they were still discussing the finer details of their prank they had a good idea of what they wanted to do. "Let me perform the spell." Sirius hissed at James. "No, I will do it. I am better at this stuff! Just make sure that the cloak will keep us covered. And now hush, I think I hear something." They stopped dead at their tracks. James listened and heard voices around the corner. He nudged Sirius to follow him and slowly them creeped to the corner. And there was Lucius Malfoy and the girl prefect, Cynthia Bonesius. "Are you taking her to Hogwarts next weekend, Lucius?" Cynthia asked. "Yes, Narcissa needs some new quills." While the two of them were discussing what to do on their visit to Hogwarts, James got his wand out of his sleeve. Watch this! He mouthed to Sirius while grinning. "Wingardium Leviosa." He whispered and he points his wand at the sword of a suit and armor. The sword rose high up in the air and it took a few seconds before either one of the prefects noticed it. But Cynthia's eye caught something. She looked up and she screamed. "MERLINS BEARD, IT'S ATTACKING US!" And Cynthia dived down the corner. Sirius was just in time to grab James by the back of his robes and he pulled him with him to the back. Cynthia just passed them a few centimeters between them, this was really close.
And because Sirius pulled James he moved is hand down and the sword also dropped a meter or two. Lucius got his own wand and yelled: "Protego!" It seemed like the sword hit an invisible barrier and it just hang there. "Cynthia, get back here." Lucius said cold. "This is just a stupid prank. And I happen to know who did it." James swallowed. Lucius could not know that they were there right. He checked the cloak quickly, but they were still covered. Sirius looked with a nervous gaze at James. When they moved did the cloak lifted too much and revealed their feet? James thought the cloak had not lifted that much and that they were still covered the whole time, but now he was unsure.
Cynthia returned, shivering and with tears in her eyes. "W-who did it?" She stammered. "Peeves." Lucius said icy with his eyes roaming the air above him. "Let's go to Pringle. He knows what to do with him. Let me just get this sword back." James quickly broke the spell and let Lucius take care of it. Lucius waved his wand and the sword flew back to the suit and armor. "It will be alright. It was just a stupid prank of Peeves." He said to Cynthia. "You know what. Why don't you go back to the common room? Go talk to Narcissa. Tell her where I am heading and I will be back soon." Cynthia nodded and walked off, still shaking a bit.
Lucius started walking towards the staircase. James nudged Sirius again and suggested to follow him. Sirius shook his head and pointed at Cynthia, who just turned around the corner. Let's follow her, he mouthed. James saw a new opportunity. He gave his thumbs up and they followed Cynthia. They had to walk quite fast and still try to be as quiet as possible. Soon they were caught up with her and they were following her closely. She gave the password to the wall and there was a passage shown. She quickly walked through it and James and Sirius followed closely. As soon as they were through the passage the wall was a wall again. James grabbed Sirius at his sleeve and slowly stepped aside. He pointed at the wall, trying to tell him that they were blocking the entrance otherwise. Sirius nodded in understanding.
And now what? It was quite a big happening that they were in the common room of the Slytherins, but it was also quite dangerous. If they would get discovered they would be in big trouble. But they were under the cloak. As long as they are quiet and nobody bumps into James and Sirius they should be alright. James felt a nudge in his side. Sirius tried to get his attention and when James looked his way he pointed at the chairs close to the fire. There all unoccupied except one. James mouth curled into a smile. Snivellus he mouthed to Sirius. Sirius nodded and slowly they made their way over to the other side of Slytherins common room.
It took James and Sirius almost a full minute to get there, while it was maybe a few seconds when you would walk freely. But they had to make sure that they were covered the whole time. They were one wrong move away from being discovered by some Slytherin students. James and Sirius were behind Severus and saw that he was working on his Astronomy homework. His greasy hair was hanging in front of his face and his quill was scratching on the paper. There was a table next to him. Severus' bag was resting against it and on it was one of his finished parchments, an extra quill and his ink. James immediately thought of an idea. He waited until Snivellus was busy writing again and slowly he moved his hand towards the table. He was just a centimeter away from the ink. "Hey Severus." A voice very close behind James and Sirius called. James felt Sirius freeze and he was also unable to move for a second. It was Avery and he was walking towards Severus and also towards James and Sirius. They had to move, right now. If they would stay where they were there was a big chance that either Avery walked into them or somehow Snivellus would discover them. James pushed Sirius a bit and they quickly they moved to the right, where the couch was. A few second after Avery stopped at the same spot where James and Sirius were standing. "Aren't you done yet?" Avery asked. Severus sighed. "Almost, but it took me two parchments. I made a mistake in the beginning and I needed to solve it while I was explaining the rest." Avery laughed. "You are such a nerd, Sev. Why not just start over?" Severus laughed. "I didn't notice the mistake until I was already halfway through. And I did not feel like starting over again. Give me 5 more minutes I am almost done." Avery touched his shoulder and left.
Sirius was pointing a bit furious at the door. You want to go? James mouthed to Sirius. He nodded. James shook his head and pointed at Snape. Sirius shook his head also and mouthed: We are way in over our heads! James shook his head sharp. There was no way he would leave now. He understood Sirius, he kind of wanted to leave as well. But this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Give me one minute. James mouthed to Sirius. He saw Sirius look through the room, look at the door and at Snape. Fine, he mouthed. He held up one finger. One minute! He mouthed. James gave him a thumbs up. Both of them slowly moved towards Snape again. James saw that Severus was reading something while slowly reaching with his quill for the ink. He was not paying any attention where his quill was going. James knew that this was probably his only chance to go through with his plan without raising any suspicion. He grabbed Sirius by his sleeve and dragged him a long a little bit faster.
Just two more steps. James was already reaching out with his arm to the ink on the table. This was all about timing now. He quickly checked if their feet were still hidden and he reached the ink at the exact same time as the quill. When Snape dipped his quill in the ink, James pushed the ink with his finger just enough to make it trip. The ink fell and quickly covered everything on the table. It was all over the book, quill and to James' delight also on the parchment that contained the first part of Snivellus homework. James quickly drew back his hand, felt Sirius' hand at his sleeve and a big tug. "SHIT!" Snape yelled. "No, no, noooo!" He jumped out of the chair, the other parchment fell to the ground. But Snape didn't notice. All the heads in the room turned to him. Avery and Rosier walked to him to see what happened. Sirius was tugging at the sleeve at James' like crazy. Yes, James thought, we will go now. But when he looked at Sirius he saw a sparkle in his eyes. Sirius had no plan of leaving anymore. He pointed at the parchment on the ground. Most of the students were busy again with their own work and Snape was too busy with Avery and Rosier to look at that parchment.
James nodded. Let's grab it! He mouthed. They shuffled quietly to the front of the chair now standing directly behind Snivellus. Sirius made the face that he smelled something terrible and he pointed at Snape. James grinned. He nodded. Yes that filthy git had indeed a weird smell. Avery and Rosier could not see the parchment since Snape was blocking the view. Snape as standing with his back to the parchment. Sirius and James were now directly next to it. Sirius quickly kicked a part of the cloak over the parchment. It was now invisible to anyone but them. Sirius picked it up and gave James a thumbs up.
They were just about to walk away when Avery, Rosier and Snape stepped in front of them. "I must have put my quill too hard in the ink and tipped it over. I didn't pay any attention." Snape said sadly. "No problem. Lucius will be back soon and he knows how to fix this probably. He can clean this spot without erasing your words. Same goes for your book probably" Rosier said. Snape nodded. He grabbed his stuff and turned around. "Wait a minute." Snape stood still. Looked in the chair, next to it and under it. "Where is my second parchment? It is not on the chair, so it must have fallen down. But I cannot find it anywhere." He moved the pillows around.
James decided not to stay around and see what Snivellus did. He now distracted Avery and Rosier. Sirius was thinking the same thing and quickly they walked to the door. They must have made a bit more noise then they wanted, because a few heads turned to where they were walking. But when they could not see anything they didn't pay any attention anymore. Okay, next difficulty. The door. There were two possibilities. They waited until somehow had to leave or come in and use that opportunity or just take the risk and open it. Sirius apparently already decided and opened the door just enough to slip through with James.
Outside the common room they quickly walked to the hallways to the stairs. Once they were upstairs they caught their breath. "O Merlin." Sirius whispered. "I have such adrenaline right now!" He was smiling ear to ear and looked down to his hand. "We got his parchment, James. We stole Snivellus his homework." James was breathing a bit harder than usual, but not as bad as Sirius. Quidditch gave him quite the endurance. "We did it mate. We were in the common room of the Slytherins. We caused some havoc and left before we even got caught. I cannot believe it!" But at that moment they saw someone coming out of the hallway they just got out from. It was Pringle and he was coming from the dungeons. "Who is there?" He said loudly. "I know that there are students here. Show yourself, there is no use in hiding. I will find you anyway." He started slowly making his way to the hiding spots in the hallway. Sirius rolled his eyes and sighed softly. "Let's go to the tower, we might run out of luck tonight." James whispered.
Slowly they walked upstairs and made their way to the Gryffindor common room. When they were in front of the portrait they took of the cloak. "And where have you two been?" The Fat Lady asked. "You know that you are not allowed outside anymore." Sirius rolled his eyes. "We forgot, I guess. Lost track of time. We were studying you know, in the library." The Fat Lady snorted. "Yeah right. At midnight? And now you expect me to let you in?" James smiled politely. "That would be great, if you could do that." The Fat Lady looked at both of them for a few second. "Password." She said shortly. "Coat of arms." James said and the portrait swung open.
James sighed. "I still cannot believe that we actually got away with it last week." Sirius laughed. "So that is where you were with your thoughts. You were far away." James shrugged. "Can you blame me? This class is so boring." James looked at Professor Flitwick. "There are so many more interesting spells than the ones they teach us in our thirst couple of years. To be honest, give me one afternoon for each spell and I know I can do them properly. And here spend several weeks to them." James said while looking bored at Flitwick. Sirius snorted. "Yeah sure, mate. Keep telling yourself that! Maybe should teach locating spells for missing homework. I bet Snivellus would have been happy last week if they had taught us something like that." James laughed. "I bet he would be, yeah! But that would have been our exposure I guess. So I am happy that he didn't know anything like that. Now we still have that piece of homework he needed so badly." Sirius sat up straight. "We should hang it up on our wall, as a token of our victory. Put it in a nice frame. We either do that or we make sure that we give it back to him once we know he doesn't need it anymore." James was already making a plan in his mind. "Well, we know for sure that this Saturday he must have had Astronomy already. It is either today or tomorrow. So maybe we can give the homework back to his rightful owner this Saturday." Sirius started smiling. "I like that! And I like that you have the 'I am cooking up some crazy scheme' look in your eyes." The rest of the class Sirius and James were discussing what the best ways were to give Snivellus his homework back.
But then during Defense Against the Dark Arts something interesting happened. They were discussing how to treat werewolf bites and halfway through the class Remus just stood up and left. "Is he feeling sick?" James asked Sirius, who was sitting next to him. "He seemed fine just five minutes ago. He looked more upset than sick, to be honest." Sirius answered. And all of the sudden it dawned on James. Why Remus left so upset. He would have done the same thing if the whole class was talking about it and could find out. "What is it, James? Why are you looking like you just have seen a ghost?" Sirius asked James. "Sirius, I think I just discovered why Remus is heading home so often. Or at least, he says he is." Sirius looked at the door where Remus just left through and frowned. "I am feeling like I lost you, mate. Tell me!" "I will, just give me a minute to know how I can phrase this right." James felt shocked. Could it really be true? Could it really be that one of his best mates was a …?
It would explain a lot of things. The visits to his house so often, his physic state when he returned and it especially explained his behavior just right now. James went with his hand through his hair. Shit, could this really be true? And if it was true, what would happen? They could still hang out right, or would that be too dangerous? That is bull, James thought. As long as I know Remus he left every month for his mum, so he is one for at least as long as I know him. And I never ever felt unsafe around him. So why couldn't he hang out with him? But could he still attend Hogwarts if people found out? Did teachers know? Does Dumbledore know? Whoever knew, James knew they should be careful with this information. If it is true it meant that nobody could know about it. "Mate, please. You are killing me with your suspense here. What is it?" Sirius asked him urgent. "Peter, listen!" James said. And Peter turned around from talking to Lily Evans and her friends. James continued with a low voice. "I think I figured out what is bothering Remus, but I don't know if this is the right place to talk about it. And we have to especially talk to him about it. If it is true, I want to hear him say it with his own words." James said. Sirius rolled his eyes. "Why so dramatic, mate? Just spit it out already." James shook his head. "No. Not here. Class is almost over and then we'll go to an empty classroom. After that we should find Remus and talk to him." Sirius sighed. "Fine. Once you have something in your head you would never change that anyway. I just hope this class is over soon." Peter nodded. "I just hope he is okay, you know. He might have gone to the Hospital Wing. Maybe he felt nauseous all of the sudden." James shook his head. "I don't think that is it, but he could have felt sick all of the sudden."
After ten long, dragging minutes the class was finally over. The three of them rushed to an empty classroom. "Okay, spill your beans mister." Sirius sat down on a table. Peter sat down on a chair and James leaned against a desk. "Okay, this might sound crazy but hear me out. As long as we know Remus he left almost every month right?" Peter nodded. "Yes, we talked about last time. I joked about him having a period, like a girl." Peter chuckled at his own joke. "Continue! I don't want to imagine Remus using any pads. Thank you for that image, Peter." Sirius said. "This is quite serious, mates. You have seen in what state he is in when he returns right? He looks awful. Like he lost weight or got beaten up sometimes. But what if he is? Not because of someone, but because of himself?" James saw that Sirius and Peter had lost him. "Just say it already alright. I don't feel like guessing." Peter said irritated. "Fine, but don't blame me when I sound too harsh. I tried to ease you into this." James said. "But I think, and I am 99% sure." James was silent for a moment, held his breath and then spat it out. "I think Remus is a werewolf." He looked at Sirius and Peter who were looking back at him. "Just think about everything I just said and the fact that he all of the sudden left during class today. We were discussing the exact thing that he is. He probably had the feeling that somebody could figure it out or something and he was afraid. I would be!" Peter was shaking his head and was whispering to himself. Sirius looked lost in thoughts.
About twenty seconds passed and Sirius finally said something. "I think you are right, James. It all makes sense now. But how could we not have noticed this earlier?" James shook his head. "I don't know. I feel kind of bad. Why does he have the feeling he has to hide it for us? We are best friends for Merlin's sake." Peter stood up. "But what if his mum is a werewolf?" James was surprised. "What? Where is this coming from?" Peter nudged with his shoulders. "Well, he says his mum is sick, right? What if he didn't lie about it? What is she is the one who changes into a wolf every month." Sirius was thinking about it. "Well, that is a possibility. But why would he be home during her transformation? Isn't that dangerous? You would think you would leave the house if someone was turning into a flesh-eating animal, right?" Sirius said airy. James shook his head. "That could be true, if it wasn't for his bruises when he returns. I really think that he is the one who is going through that transformation. And also think that he isn't going home. Why put your parents in danger? No, he is going somewhere where he can transform in peace." Peter grabbed his bag. "Well, there is only one way to find out for real, right? Let's go and ask Remus."
James, Sirius and Peter first visited the Hospital Wing. But he wasn't there and Madam Pomfrey said that he also didn't visit her. Then they visited the library, but Remus wasn't there either. They searched through several more pars of the castle. They even skipped dinner looking for Remus. "Merlin, what is this castle big." Peter huffed after their fifth staircase. They checked the Astronomy Tower, but no one was there either. "Well, I officially ran out of ideas right now." Peter said while he was trying to control his breathing. "There is only one last place that I imagine him going." Sirius said. The three of them nodded and walked to the door of the Great Hall. Once they were outside they walked to the tree near the waterside where they usually did their homework during their first year when the weather was nice enough. There was a silhouette of a small boy sitting underneath it. Once they got closer they saw it was Remus indeed. "Hi mate, how are you holding up?" James asked him. Remus didn't look up. "Fine, I guess. I just felt not well all of the sudden. But the fresh air helped a lot." James sat down next to him. "We need to talk, Remus." Remus looked at James. He had a pleading look in his eyes. "No, James. We really don't. Can't we just go inside and eat dinner?" James shook his head. "You missed dinner, Remus. And we do need to talk." Sirius sat down on the other side of Remus. "Whatever got you going off today, it is fine you know. You know you can tell us everything, right?"
Remus looked at the lake. "What if it is something that I can't tell anyone? Sometimes confessions can change everything for the worse you know." James felt something so much compassion for Remus at that moment. There was no reason for him to punish himself like this. "But sometimes it changes for the better. Sometimes things happen for a reason. Sometimes you don't have to go through stuff alone." Remus shook his head. "No, no, no. That isn't always the case you know? What if it is something so big, so dangerous that it is better when there is nobody around?" Peter sat down in front of him. "Listen, Remus. We are friends. Nothing dangerous, big or scary will change that. But you need to trust us." Remus shook his head even harder now. "No, sometimes you have to suffer so nobody else around you does." Remus said more to himself this time then to his friends.
Sirius sat up straight. "Listen to me, Remus. Let's cut the crap right now. We know. You know we know. And we know you know that we know that you know. So, what does it takes for you to just tell us? Because I can, no we can, promise you that we will not stop being your friends. We will be by your side. We discussed it this afternoon. For us it makes no difference. But we need to hear it from you first, okay?" Remus looked at Sirius. James saw that he was thinking about everything that Sirius just said. They needed to act quickly, before he would change his mind. "Sometimes you can let people in. A little bit of danger is sometimes just what makes life exciting you know. Sirius is right. We will not stop being your friends. There is nothing that could change the way we see you. We know, okay? We just want to hear it from you."
Remus made up his mind. He sighed. "I can't believe I am about to do this. But fine, but not here. I will tell you three everything and then we will see if you still want to be friends with me. I knew it would happen one day. And that might it be the end of my education at Hogwarts. I just hoped that I would have had more than 1.5 year at this school." Remus stood up. "Let's go the tower."
When they entered the common room Remus seemed surprised. "It is busier than I expected." Sirius stood next to him. "No excuses mate. You promised us you would tell everything." He walked to a couple of chairs and couches on their left and sat down. Remus hesitated, but sat down. He was looking around if someone was close enough to hear him. "Come one, mate. You said you would tell us in the tower. Now here we are, where else can you bring us?" Remus shrugged and was counting the pieces of parchment on the carpet. Sirius threw his hands in his hair and leaned back. But James was giving him a different approach. "Mate, if you don't feel comfortable talking here, that is fine. I get it. Let's go to our dorm, okay? For sure we have privacy over there." Remus nodded while Remus gave was rubbing his back a bit. "Okay, off to the dorms I guess. We first searched the whole freaking castle for him, then we found him and now we still have to wait for this. The more time we give him, the more he might reconsider it and we might never hear it from him." James gave his friend a kick in his shins. "Shut up, Black. This is hard enough as it is for him. We need to support and not take a piss out of him." Sirius shrugged. "Fine, let's just go."
They stood up and went upstairs. In their dorm everybody sat down on their own bed. Sirius shifted a bit. "Remus, I want to apologize for my comments earlier. You know I get a bit grumpy when I don't eat. But James is right. I cannot imagine what a burden this must be on you and I am not helping you right now." Remus looked at Sirius. "I understand it, you know. I would be mad also if one of my best friends kept a secret for that long. And I know that you would never judge me, Sirius." Sirius nodded. "Well, now that we have that out of the way. What is this big, dangerous secret you are talking about?" Sirius smirked. "You always know how to lighten the mood, don't you?" Peter laughed. They all laughed out loud.
James looked Remus in the eye. He gave him a smile and a nudge with his head. Remus inhaled deeply. "Well, my story starts when I was just four years old. My dad was working on the Ministry of Magic and somehow they arrested a…" Remus stopped talking. "They arrested a real werewolf. They found him with a pack of werewolves, but he was human. Fenrir Greyback. That is his name. He convinced 99% of the office he was just a muggle tramp. That he was at the wrong time in the wrong place. Little did they know they caught one of the most dangerous of all of them. Only my father had a suspicion. He tried to convince to keep Greyback there until the full moon. And the next full moon was only 24 hours away. But his colleagues made fun him. They said that he was working too hard, seeing things that weren't there. My father got himself so worked up and after a heated discussion he said that werewolves were soulless, evil, deserving nothing but death creatures.
He was dismissed from the room and Greyback was released. An employee walked him to the exit and somehow Greyback escaped without having his memory removed. Usually after questioning someone they erase their memory, but Greyback was smart, very smart. And he was mad at my dad for saying such bad things about werewolves and he wanted revenge. So the next night, he transformed, forced his way into my room and bit me." Remus his hands started to shake now and he was unable to look his friends in their eyes. He took a deep breath and continued the story. Somehow it seemed easier for him to tell it now. "I barely remember anything from that night anymore. I just know I heard a lot of noise outside, looked at the window and saw the most terrifying thing I had ever seen in my life. But by then he was already inside and bit me. My dad was in the room next to me and was alarmed by all the noise. He was in time to get Greyback off me and save my life, but…" Now Remus looked his friends in their eyes one by one. James held his breath.
He could not imagine what Remus must have been through all these years. "But my dad was too late. He bit me and I was contaminated with lycanthropy. I am a werewolf. I transform every full moon." He sighed deeply and James saw a tear falling down Remus his cheek. "Can I ask some questions?" James said. Remus nodded. "Isn't it dangerous for humans to be around when you are in your werewolf form? Where did you transform during your youth?" Remus smiled a little bit. "That is a good question. When I was younger it was enough to lock my door and put a silencing charm on my room. But when I got older, I got stronger and bigger. So soon I could take down my door and windows. My parents put bigger and difficult spells on my room and so far it worked." James nodded. "So you go back home for your transformations?" Peter asked. Remus shook his head. "No, I actually stay pretty close to school. But that is part of a bigger story. The story of how I still got to go to Hogwarts."
Sirius made the gesture to continue with the story. "This is actually quite funny and weird. Before my eleventh birthday somehow Dumbledore found out that I was bitten. He visited our home and before my parents knew it, he was already inside talking to me and asking me stuff about my hobbies. My parents never dreamed of me going to Hogwarts with my condition so they were over the moon when Dumbledore told them I could attend and I would have a safe spot to transform every month. And that spot is in that house outside Hogsmeade. They call it the Shrieking Shack. Above it is that tree that is hitting you when you get to close? They planted that for me, so that nobody would come close when I am in there. And so far it worked."
James had to process all of this information. "Dumbledore knows? Who else does?" Remus shrugged. "As far as I know only Dumbledore, McGonagall and Pomfrey know about it." James nodded. "And now we do as well. How do you feel?" Peter said. "I guess I am happy that I don't have any secrets for you anymore, but I am concerned what you think of me now. I would understand if you would not want to share a room with me anymore, or maybe even a school." Sirius shook his head. "Are you out of your mind? Why would we think that you are dangerous all of the sudden? We are friends since the very first day we met on that train. You never put us in any danger. Do you know who did put me in danger? This guy over here!" And Sirius pointed at James. "Hey, I never did anything without your permission. And 9 out of 10 times you came with the idea." James grinned. "That might be true. I might not recall every moment of the start of every genius plan we had, but it does sound like me to come up with one." Sirius smirked.
"So does this mean that you are not afraid of me? Or think that I am a monster?" Remus asked shyly. "I heard what some classmates said today during the class. And are they wrong? Did you know that I felt pity for Greyback? I thought that it was all a mistake that he attacked me. He was probably just as confused as I was and hurt. When you transform you are in an animal state of mind, nothing like I am now. So I thought that he was too close to our home when he transformed, he didn't get to make it out in time. But then when I was accepted into Hogwarts, my dad told me everything. He said he owed me the truth. He told me that it was no mistake. Since Greyback bit me, my dad was hunting on him. Along the way he gathered a lot of information about his work. How he chooses to be around humans during full moons, hoping to injure as many as he could. He wants an army. Greyback turns people into werewolves and brainwashes them with lies and wrong information. That is his way of recruiting more people to hopefully, maybe overthrow the wizards at one point. He is a sick bastard and I am one of the victims." Remus sighed.
James felt furious. "Well, we will never let him hurt you again. And we are going to help you. We will make sure that you are not alone during those awful transformations. I don't know how yet. But we will be there for you, right next to you." Remus somehow found the power to laugh out loud really hard. Probably because no one in their right mind would want to be close to a werewolf in general, let alone during full moon. "Don't you know how dangerous it is for humans to be right next to me when I am a werewolf?" And then James said with a devilish grin. "Well, maybe we shouldn't be humans then when we are right beside you."
Authors note: Sorry guys for the long wait! I was on a holiday to my family in Israel, swamped at my internship and now busy with studying for my re-sit. I need to pass this time! But this one is extra long and kind of special! Becaaaauseeee...
They finally know that Remus is a werewolf. I hope I did justice to the story! I loved writing it! I am halfway through the next chapter already and I try to finish asap. Please review and follow/favorite. In that case you will be updated when the next chapter is out!