DISCLAIMER: most of the words that start with X, Z, F, and E are owned by
me, but not all of them. A lot of the nouns are directly from JK Rowling's
lovely book series, especially Hogwarts, Magic, and the main characters of
this yarn. The seventies stuff is meshed from the stories my parents tell
me, Dazed and Confused, and other media portrayals.
Amos had taken their breakup fairly well, maybe because Lily was in tears as she spoke with him. She lied about doing the soul mate spell, but told the truth about not loving him. He asked her if she loved Potter, and was satisfied when she said no. It may have helped that a few minutes later they were frantically called back into the Halloween Feast to help deal with three bogarts that were terrifying most of the first, second and third years. The Marauders were given two weeks of detention and two hundred points were taken from Gryffindor by an enraged Professor McGonagall, while Professor Dumbledore thanked them for reminding everyone what they were afraid of on a "Holliday that celebrates overcoming one's fears".
She hadn't spoken to Amos in a week, since that day. Lily had to see him at the prefect meeting in half an hour and she had no idea how to deal with him.
She'd been depressed since they had broken up. If he hadn't been so unaffected, she could easily have remembered that she didn't love him, but when it appeared that he didn't love her, that he had been lying, it was difficult to remember that breaking up had been her decision. Of course the only one she spoke of this to was Prongs; Elizabeth was busy trying to figure out if Sirius actually liked her, or wanted someone to kiss. Several times, the girl made offers to talk with Lily about her breakup, even their other dorm-mates were willing to lend a sympathetic ear, but Lily just never seemed ready to talk about it. Consequently, everyone thought she was fine, and right now, she really needed a hug.
"You need to hop out of the doldrums, baby," James said, sitting down next to her. "A week is a sufficient mourning period, and you need to face him today."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, James," Lily said, looking at him uncertainly. He was announcing her private business to anyone in the common room who was listening.
"You're bumming, I was wondering what to do about it, then I realized that you gave me a shopping list on Halloween, whether or not you meant to." James grinned at her.
"Presents," she asked with a grin on her face. "Cosmic! You know, I think you might be right, I must be depressed." Her tone was sarcastic, but her eyes never left his. She didn't want to put on a performance for the entire room, but she was a little touched that he'd noticed.
"Yep," he smiled. "First, you told me to go to Hogsmead, so I got you a Chocolate Frog." He handed her a box of Chocolate Frogs. "Then, you told me to blow up a toilet." He took a toilet seat out of his bag and handed it to her, causing her to burst into laughter. "Then you told me to steal Severus Snape's underwear. I can't imagine what you would like it for, but here it is!" He handed her the underwear, carefully sealed into a zip lock bag. "His floor is so cluttered we couldn't be sure which boxers were his, so Sirius and I had to take the ones he was wearing to be sure they were his and not just some other Slytherine's."
"I refuse to ask how you managed to do that," Lily choked out while laughing. Her laughter turned out to be contagious, and the small group that had gathered around them began laughing as well. James decided he didn't need an invitation to tell his story, and he sent everybody into fits describing how Sirius had helped him get the underwear Snape was wearing without Snape noticing.
"Oh no," Lily exclaimed, suddenly sitting up, with a happy sigh that soon left her voice. "We're five minutes late for the prefect meeting James! It's a good thing I finished the agendas! Elizabeth, would you take my toilet seat and boxers up to our dorm? Please don't put them on my bed, though." James and Lily rushed out of the common room together, stopping only at the door to the classroom they were using, to compose themselves for entry.
"Thanks, James," Lily said softly, as she pushed the door open. Lily ran the meeting with James, and dealt with Amos in a perfectly friendly, if slightly reserved manner. Amos had exactly the same attitude toward her, and Lily knew then that everything would be okay between them, especially when he saw that she wasn't, and wouldn't be dating James Potter.
Toward the end of the meeting, Professor Dumbledore came in, to make a special announcement that he had requested time for on the agenda. "Well, I hope everyone in this meeting can keep a secret," he began, and a hush fell over the prefects immediately.
"This year, just after the Christmas Holidays, we will be having a Yule Ball. The teachers and I have decided that the student body will need something to focus on with the rise of Voldemort causing so much pain for so many individuals. I am afraid that by the end of those holidays we will very much need something to lift our spirits. So, I would like you to plan an extra special Ball, but you mustn't tell a single student about it until I announce it, otherwise the surprise will be ruined. The best idea would be to put it completely out of your mind if you are not asked by the head boy or girl to help with something. I have a pensive for just such occasions, if anyone would like to use it." When no one volunteered to do so, the headmaster took his leave of the meeting.
"Right," James said, "if you get a really good idea, feel free to come to Lily at any time, or me at any reasonable time." Lily smacked James with her agenda, and she noticed Amos' eyes narrow at them.
"I'm especially interested in any ideas for bands," Lily announced. "Dumbledore has given us a rather large budget to work this dance, so we can have pretty much anyone you'd like, although a muggle group would be rather difficult. James already requested we get The Clash. Dumbledore thought, however, that it would be rather difficult to pay them if we had to obliviate them, they would wonder where the money came from, and in short, no good would come of it. Well, I should say, no good other than having the Clash play at our dance." That earned Lily a few laughs from everyone.
A few prefects suggested different wizarding bands and Lily promised that she would look into all of them. They then discussed different possibilities for decorations, and food. After another half an hour of brainstorming, they adjourned the meeting.
"That went well," James said as they walked back to the common room together.
"Yeah," Lily replied with a smile. "Thanks for helping me with my nerves before hand, otherwise it probably wouldn't have gone nearly as well."
"Don't mention it," James said, a faint, but unnoticed, pink tingeing his cheeks. "Want to place bets on whether or not Sirius will ask Elizabeth out by the time the dance is announced?"
"Which way would you be betting," Lily asked with a glance at him.
"Probably for, he seems rather interested in her, although she might have dumped him by that point. He says she's a lot more distant than most of the girls he's dated." James smiled, knowing how much trouble he'd be in with Sirius if his best friend found out how much he was telling Lily.
"I'm sure half of that is Beth being terrified that Sirius is going to dump her at any minute, he is a Marauder after all. The other half is just Elizabeth, though. She doesn't really put her heart on the line much, she's afraid to lose people." Lily frowned, knowing that Elizabeth would immediately strangle her for saying something so personal, could she hear it.
"I know what that's like," James whispered. When he saw Lily looking curiously at him, he realized he must have said that aloud, so he immediately changed the subject. "Do you have a date for the dance, yet?"
Lily burst into laughter. "James, including the two of us, there are twenty four students who know about the ball, and they found out half an hour ago! So, no, nobody has asked me yet!"
"Right," James said, looking a little embarrassed.
"By the way, James," Lily looked seriously at him, "Those twenty four students had better be the only ones who know about the ball. I know you tell your friends *everything*, but it really will keep them from having as much fun in the long run. Planning a surprise is fun, as is knowing something before everyone else, and I know the four of you get a kick out of that, but wait a little while, or they'll die of anticipation."
"Chill," James said laughing. "I'm going to wait until a week before Dumbledore announces it to the whole school to tell them. They'll get the best of both worlds."
"Good," Lily said with one of her dazzling smiles, "Because I'm already dying of anticipation, and I don't want anyone else to suffer the same fate." They laughed and entered the Gryffindor common room.
"Well," Lily said, "I'll take my leave of you, then. I have to decide which wall to hang my trophies on!" James laughed as she ran up the stairs to the girls' dormitory, earning him an elbow jab from Sirius.
"I told you active pursuit was a good idea, did you ask her out," the boy whispered loudly.
"Whatever are you talking about, Sirius Black; I am simply acting as any friend would, especially since she is also the head girl. I couldn't have my co-star moping about, now could I?" James grinned at his partner in crime. "And the underwear thing was just a great idea anyway! I wish we could have seen his face when he realized he no longer had any on!" The two boys started laughing so hard they fell into chairs and didn't get up.
Lily used her wand to move the toilet seat to different walls until she found one she liked. She was debating whether to hang up Snapes underwear or return them to him publicly and ask why she'd had them sent to her, but she couldn't come to a decision.
Elizabeth came into the dormitory, and Lily asked her opinion. Elizabeth smiled like Christmas had come early. "They really are Severus' underwear. You should return them to him."
"Just what I was thinking," Lily said, with a malicious grin. Snape was polite enough to her in prefect meetings and when Professors were around, but he insulted her frequently, and she didn't like it one bit. Dinner would be interesting.
Lily was a few minutes late to dinner, to make sure everyone was already there and seated. She walked defiantly to the Slytherines' table, ignoring the looks she got from Gryffindors and Slytherines alike. She walked slowly; so many people around the hall were already watching her as she tapped Severus' shoulder, politely.
"I was wondering if I could have a word with you, Severus," she asked nicely.
"Yes, Miss Evans," he returned almost as nicely.
"Are you sure you want to talk here," she said almost nervously, causing most of the Slytherines to look up with a gaze of evil anticipation. Were they about to see the head mudblood get shot down?
"Anything that you want to say can be said in front of my housemates, I'm sure," he answered evenly.
"Well, Severus, as you know, I've recently broken up with my boyfriend, Amos," Lily noted said ex-boyfriend and many Hufflepuffs staring at her with unflattering disbelief.
"I was aware," Snape returned, not quite coldly.
"But," Lily continued, "I'm just not ready for another relationship yet. I'm really sorry. Maybe you want these back." She got out the underwear, causing pretty much the entire hall to go silent and look at the two prefects. "I got them by owl this morning. I'm flattered, but like I said, I've only recently broken up with someone, and you're just coming on too fast. I'm really very sorry." Feeling as though she had to say something complimentary to make up for embarrassing him so much, she added, "But your name is stitched very nicely in them, did your mother do that for you?" The entire hall burst into laughter. Lily had only hoped for the Slytherines' attention, she was gratified, but she didn't say anything, she just turned, blushed crimson, and walked back to the Gryffindor table.
"Potter!" Snape shouted behind her, and she was surprised at how loud his voice sounded. Lily sat next to James, who was trying to give Snape a perfectly innocent look while laughing his head off.
"I realized what you were doing as soon as you started talking to him and put the Sonarus charm on both of you," James whispered to her. Lily blushed even more profusely.
"That's why my audience was so big," she replied with an attempt at a smile. "Oh, dear, I hope I didn't embarrass him too much, I was just hoping to get back at him a little in front of the Slytherines."
"Don't worry, he deserves it," Sirius Black put in from across the table. "You can't count the number of times he's called you a mudblood during your time at Hogwarts, and he's a filthy dark mage! You were long overdue, Lily. I'm delighted that you've got a little of your own back!"
"Thanks, Sirius," Lily smiled. "But even a prat like him doesn't deserve to be embarrassed in front of the *whole* school."
"Don't worry, a few professors haven't shown up yet," James said with a grin.
"Well that's okay then," Lily smiled back. Lily noticed Amos had started the Hufflepuff table into giving Lily a standing ovation. She blushed further and sank to where her nose was almost touching the table. The Marauders made it worse, by getting up and bowing, taking credit for the prank, and having the Gryffindor table applauding them as well.
Professor Dumbledore stood, his eyes twinkling merrily, "Yes, another spectacular trick played on Mr. Snape. The usual detentions will be given to Sirius Black and James Potter unless they object or the other Marauders would like to take credit for assisting them." No one spoke, although several Gryffindors laughed. "Very well then, twenty points will be taken from Gryffindor, and I suggest an apology is due to Miss Evans as she did not appear to be aware that her conversation was being broadcast. I would also suggest an apology was owed to Mr. Snape; however I do not believe you would take that suggestion."
"I'm sorry, James," Lily said when everyone had gone back to eating, "I didn't mean for either of you to get detention, I'll tell Dumbledore what really happened if you like."
"Don't you dare," Sirius exclaimed. "I still have to get ten more detentions by the end of the year to beat the all time record for any Hogwarts student."
"And Dumbledore would give us detention anyway, if you explained how you got the underwear. You still would probably get off, because you were just returning them to him," James said, while Sirius snorted back a giggle.
"Thanks, guys," Lily laughed, shaking her head. Then she finally started on her dinner.
Lily went to see Prongs that evening and she told him all about Snape's underwear and the Yule Ball. She also told him she wouldn't be coming to see him for a few days because the moon would be full and she didn't know whether or not there were wolves in the Forbidden Forest. She still didn't know whether Prongs actually understood anything she said, but she liked to talk with him. If nothing else, he was an open listener, he asked no questions and he passed no criticisms. She felt as though she could tell him anything.
That night, Lily had a peculiar dream. She was alone in the darkness of the Forbidden Forest and the trees were pressing in on all sides, almost as though they were attacking her. A silver light appeared, parting the trees as it sped toward her, getting larger as it came until it was bigger than she was and it stopped in front of her. It was a stag, not just any stag, her stag, Prongs. Prongs stamped his hoof and the trees surrounding them disappeared. She was so happy, she kissed his nose, and he bashfully nuzzled her shoulder.
When she woke the next morning to go to her Monday classes, she had no memory of the dream. The day was boringly average enough; she took scrupulous notes in her classes, answered every question correctly and preformed every spell admirably. She was Head Girl, after all. She advised Elizabeth to be a little more open to Sirius with her emotions and just tell her what she was afraid of when her friend started complaining. The high point of her day was when she transfigured her pineapple into a perfect replica of Professor McGonagall's desk lamp, but that was not the most exciting moment.
Lily was halfway to the library, where she went every day after dinner, when she was surrounded by a tall group of Slytherine boys. They didn't say anything, and they all had their black hoods up, so she couldn't see their faces. They simply surrounded her and walked, exactly matching her speed when she tried to vary it. She felt threatened and nervous although they did not say anything. Lily tried to speak, but her mouth was dry and no words would come out.
"Lily," a masculine voice called from behind her, and she stopped, causing the Slytherine directly behind her to bump into her.
"Oh, sorry," she said, turning back to face him, but he quickly moved and followed the others onward. James was standing there, looking puzzled.
"Hey, you didn't look too happy," he said. "Were those guys bothering you?" Lily threw her arms around him, not saying anything. "I take that to mean, 'Yes, James, they were.'" He smiled down at her and put his arms around her quivering form. She seemed so small at the moment, so vulnerable. "Hey, Lily, are you alright?" She still couldn't speak; she couldn't even look at him.
"I'm taking you to the hospital wing unless you tell me not to," he said, his voice laced with concern. Lily couldn't respond, she just squeezed him tighter, rooting him to the spot. "It's okay, Lily," he said, petting her hair. "I really think we should go to the hospital wing, though. Something is very wrong with you." James started to walk, but it was awkward because Lily wouldn't let go of him, and she whimpered pathetically when he tried to let go of her. It took him a very long time to get her to Madame Pomfrey, especially because he had to lift her over the trick stairs, she wouldn't listen to him when he told her she had to step up. In fact, he got the impression that she could barely hear him speak.
It took Madame Pomfrey almost five minutes to diagnose Lily after asking her and James nearly a hundred questions (Lily answered hers by whimpering). When she realized what had happened, the nurse stood up and looked appalled, exclaiming, "But that's very advanced dark magic!"
"What is it," James asked nervously.
"Terror," the nurse answered shortly. "I'll need the Headmaster to fix this, I certainly can't. I'll get him myself, Mr. Potter, you stay with Miss Evans. She needs you." James couldn't think of anything to do, so he held the terrified girl as tightly as he could.
Professor Dumbledore strode quickly into the room ahead of Madame Pomfrey only a few minutes after she'd left. His eyes widened with concern when he saw the state of the two teenagers, and James looked up at him helplessly.
"Lily Evans," he said softly, getting her to look up into his sparkling blue eyes. "Fear does not become you." She continued to shake, but she looked like she could understand what was being said now. "James," the Headmaster instructed, "I'd like you to speak, it doesn't matter what you say. Tell a joke; recite a transfiguration assignment or a recent prank on Mr. Snape. The only thing that matters is your voice, and Lily, I would like you to concentrate on his voice while I perform the spell. Think about how safe you feel with him. Nothing can hurt you in this place with the two of us here. Remember that."
"Um," James began, feeling pressure to speak and finding he had nothing to say. "The Animagus transformation is very dangerous and complicated magic. There are four really terrible things that could happen when attempting it. The first is, obviously, to be unable to transform back into human once you've become an animal. The second is to only make it halfway into your animal form, so you'd be stuck for the rest of your life with antlers, fur, a bent spine or any sort of other deformity. The third is to splice yourself in half, meaning forever after that there would be two of you, an animal self and a human self, only there would only be one mind. It would be like constantly daydreaming, because while you were in class you would also be chasing mice around at home. You would never be able to fully concentrate on anything unless both halves were together and it was something your animal self cared about, too." As James spoke, Lily let his voice flow over her. She could feel his chest vibrating with some of the words and she could hear his heart beating. She knew he wouldn't let anything bad happen to her. She also knew that the safest place in the world was wherever Albus Dumbledore happened to be, and he was standing right in front of her, wand flowing gracefully through the air. She had no reason to be afraid. She loosened her death-grip about James' stomach and felt every muscle in her body relax.
Professor Dumbledore sat down and smiled. James certainly knew a lot about the things that could go wrong with an animagus transfiguration, he was still talking animatedly. "That is enough, James," the headmaster smiled, and James stopped talking and held his breath. "How do you feel, Lily?"
"Mmm," Lily mumbled, "Just fine, Professor. How are you?" Then Lily squeaked and jerked away from James. "I'm sorry, that was incredibly rude of me," she said instantly. Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively.
"You seem to be fine, so I see no problems with saying so. I am happy that the counter-curse worked, it is a rather tricky one." The professor then got a serious look on his face. "They used the Curse of Dreaderrol on you; it is a very powerful piece of dark magic. Do you know what it does?"
"I should say so," Lily said with a small, sad smile. "But, yes, we covered it in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor. It causes a person to be completely terrified by everything and everyone until they die from either heart failure or lack of food and sleep. I was unaware that there was a counter-curse for it, although some have survived after being force-fed courage potions which they must take every six hours for the rest of their life."
"Very good," the Headmaster said with a smile. "I'd expect no less from the Head Girl. The counter-spell is something I developed very recently, I have only successfully used it once before because it requires the cursed one to have something that they are not afraid of, in your case, James Potter." Dumbledore's eyes seemed to be laughing at her. "You must trust him very much for the curse not to cause you to fear him."
"Well, um, that is to say," Lily stumbled over her words.
"You don't need to explain anything to an old fool like me," The headmaster said with a smile. "We understand things well enough." Then he became serious again. "I would like to ask you if you recognized any of the people who surrounded you. I will not tolerate dark magic at Hogwarts, and whoever performed this spell will be expelled immediately, although I daresay they deserve to be in Azkaban."
"I'm sorry, headmaster, they all had their hoods up, so I couldn't see their faces, although I'm positive one of them was wearing the green Slytherine tie. I'm also fairly sure that they were all boys."
"What about you, James?"
"Sorry headmaster, I was behind her and none of them ever turned to face me. Although I'd agree with Lily, they were all probably sixth or seventh year boys. I can't say anything for what house they were in, though."
"Very well," the headmaster said. He was not smiling. "I'll take my leave of you, then. Miss Evans, if, in the next week or so, there is something you feel you cannot deal with, do not be ashamed of it, simply tell the professor. I will inform them of your circumstances. You may not be completely well for a while. I am sorry to say that things may be more difficult when you are not in the company of Mister Potter."
"Thank you, Headmaster," Lily said. "And thank you for giving me back my mind."
"It was no trouble, Miss Evans, I am only sorry that you ever lost it within my halls."
Madame Pomfrey offered Lily the option of spending the night in the hospital wing, but she opted to go back to Gryffindor Tower. She was warned against attempting too much too fast and discharged. James carried her books for her, as though he was afraid she might break down at any moment, which, considering the circumstances, was not an unjustifiable fear. When they reached the common room, James sat with her and they did their homework in silence. Lily did not have to warn James against telling anyone or ask him to sit with her while she worked, she knew he would do both.
When Lily finished working and thanked James for sitting with her, he paused, wanting to say something but unsure of how she would take it. "If you have a nightmare, or get scared of the dark, you can come to the boys' dorm and wake me up. We could sit up in the common room until you felt better."
Lily smiled at him. "Thank you, James. I'm sure I'll be just fine, though. If I do have a relapse, believe me I won't hesitate to take you up on your offer. I'm in no way going to experience that fear voluntarily!"
James laughed, and Lily went up to the girls' dorm. When Elizabeth (who had been sitting on Sirius' lap on the other side of the common room) followed her fifteen minutes later, or so, Sirius came over and nudged James with his elbow. "So, you and Lily, doing homework, talking, laughing, all alone together over here? Why didn't you come sit with Peter, Elizabeth and my charming self? You sly dog!"
"Sirius," James said with a smile, "You're the dog, or did you forget? And I can't explain it to you, but believe me, there was a good reason for me to sit with Lily, and she didn't want to be distracted by you clowns, which I felt was justified."
"Did I ever say love wasn't a good reason," Sirius exclaimed. "I apologize; I personally think it's the greatest reason on Earth!"
"Whatever, Padfoot, moonrise is in ten minutes. I assume Remus has already gone out to the shack?"
"You know it. Go get your cloak," he ordered.
James moved to obey the command, muttering, "I hope Lily doesn't have any nightmares until the moon sets."
Lily cuddled closely to her sheets and squeezed her eyes shut tightly, but it took her a while to fall asleep, especially because she could swear she heard howling, and she knew it was a full moon. She didn't want to bother James just yet, however, because she knew she would eventually have to deal with the darkness on her own. Eventually, she did fall asleep, and she dreamed.
She was alone in the darkness of the Forbidden Forest and the trees were pressing in on all sides, almost as though they were attacking her. A silver light appeared, parting the trees as it sped toward her, getting larger as it came until it was bigger than she was and it stopped in front of her. It was a stag, not just any stag, her stag, Prongs. Prongs stamped his hoof and the trees surrounding them disappeared. She was so happy, she kissed his nose, and he bashfully nuzzled her shoulder. The silver light that surrounded Prongs shot up into the sky and became a full moon. There was a howl that came from within the forest, and although the frightening trees had given them meters of breathing room, Lily felt her blood run cold. Out of the trees stepped an enormous werewolf, snarling and salivating. It looked as though it would attack her at any moment, when Prongs stepped in front of her and slowly shook his head. The wolf closed its mouth and cocked its head to the side, looking like a tamed and intelligent dog. Prongs once again shook his head no, and the wolf sat down calmly. The silver moon set and disappeared from the sky, and the wolf slowly turned back into a man. The wolf slowly turned back into Remus. Lily looked at him in shock, then she walked over to him and gave him a hug.
Lily woke with a start in the darkness. She was suddenly overcome by an intense fear. She took a deep breath and looked at her clock and discovered that it was three thirty three a.m., and that seemed to be the worst of omens to her terror-addled mind. She got up and went to the window. The moon had set and the grounds were incredibly dark. Without the stars it would have been as if she was staring into pure blackness, and the thought of that frightened her even more. After all, it had to be called dark magic for a reason. Suddenly, she remembered James' offer and crept quickly out of her room. She managed to fight her fear as she crossed the common room, but every step up the staircase to the boys' dormitory was like fighting a werewolf without a wand.
When she carefully opened the door to the seventh year boys' room and saw James' peacefully sleeping form, all of her fear vanished, like shadow before flame. It now seemed silly to wake him, and she closed the door, discovering that the second she did that the terror came rushing back to her, so she quickly went through the doorway and shut it fast behind her. Lily had no desire to sleep on the incredibly messy floor, but she noticed that Remus' bed was empty, so she crawled in, hoping he was gone for the night and not just in the bathroom. As soon as her eyes were closed, however, she was afraid. 'This is ridiculous,' she thought, but she opened her eyes and looked at James. She could not sleep with her eyes open, but as soon as she closed them, she was too terrified to sleep.
Lily hoped she would wake up before the boys did, and she got up and crept into bed next to James. Figuring she'd better do the thing properly, she cuddled up against him and closed her eyes. Moments later she was slumbering peacefully.
Sirius was laughing loudly about something, but James was too tired to figure out what was so amusing. He pulled Lily closer and breathed her intoxicating scent, hearing her mumble something into his chest. He pursed his lips so they brushed ever-so-lightly against her hair before he allowed himself to fall back into unconsciousness. Then, something nagging caught in his mind. He ran over what he knew again. Lily was in his bed. He opened his eyes to peek and make sure. Yup, it was Lily, and she was snuggling against his chest, but he had no idea how she got there. He was going to close his eyes again when he realized that Sirius must have been laughing at him. He blinked and finally woke up. He saw Sirius, Peter and Frank all looking at him. Sirius must have gotten the other boys up, because they looked a little grumpy, if highly amused. Wait, James felt the need to go back to his first realization. Lily was in his bed. He lifted his arm, okay, good, he was wearing pajamas, and presumably she was, too.
She must have been afraid.
Luckily, when James moved his arm, he'd caused Lily to grow alert and make a similar set of realizations. Sirius was laughing. Sirius was awake and he had seen them. "Fuck," Lily muttered into James' chest.
"Did you," Sirius asked, in between giggles, "I really am dying to know."
"I hope you do," Lily said, sitting up. "You could have let me sleep a little longer." She knew the best way to deal with the situation was to simply ignore it and act like nothing had happened. Hopefully everyone else would cotton on.
"You always wake up around seven-thirty," Sirius said, smiling. "Unless you and Jamsie here had a late night last night."
"If what you're referring to had happened, Sirius," Lily said with a sweet smile, "I hope you would have heard some noise." That floored every boy in the room, even James. Lily was the Head Girl. She never, ever spoke like that. She stood up and swaggered out of the room, the boys watching her go before they all pestered James for an explanation. He just smiled.
"I didn't know she was here until I woke up and heard Sirius laughing," he answered honestly. "I'll confess under Veritaserum if you don't believe me." The boys all looked very much like they disbelieved him, but as they didn't have any truth serum, they couldn't exactly hold him to his word.
Luckily, all of Lily's classes were with James except divination. Through the entire day, he was never out of sight, but he didn't crowd her either. Even Sirius was forced to admit that although he'd found them in an incredibly compromising position, they didn't seem to be going out at all, even though they once again did their homework together in the common room. They would have worked in a group with their friends as they usually did, but they were also planning the Yule Ball, and their friends were not allowed to overhear their discussions of it. When Lily went up to her room, James stopped her for a moment.
"You can wake me up if you are afraid, I won't be mad," he said, wondering if her fear had prevented her from waking him.
"You looked really tired," Lily said, "I couldn't bear to wake you. Would you prefer it to the morning embarrassment?"
"I wasn't that embarrassed, I woke up with a pretty girl in my bed. They were just jealous, but I'd think you would prefer it to the embarrassment, and I have no objections to avoiding a laughing Sirius." James gave her a broad smile.
"Well, pick one," Lily said, returning the smile. "Do you want to be embarrassed or have your beauty sleep interrupted?"
"It can be your choice," James said. "But remember that I honestly won't mind a bit if you wake me."
"Thank you, James," she responded, hugging him. He could no longer resist saying it; he'd had it on the tip of his tongue for two days now.
"I'm just flattered that your trust for me can overcome dark magic," he said, returning the hug. She laughed at him, but didn't really answer as she walked up the stairs. He was a little sad that she still wasn't ready to tell him he was her soul mate. He couldn't wait until the full moon ended so she would tell Prongs what she was really thinking, and he felt a little guilty about that. He felt as though he was, as Prongs, betraying her trust by passing all of her secrets on to James Potter.
Lily had worked everything out within the course of the day, of course, and she was amazed that it had taken her seven years to figure it out. Of course, the Marauders were all masters of misdirection, and sometimes there had been months where they all went missing during the full moon. There were even full moons where Lily could distinctly remember Remus coming to class. Of course, his transformations probably hadn't been as bad those days. Lily could put three and three together, however, and the howls, the dream and the empty bed just made it too easy. She would have to tell him she knew the next time she saw him.
Of course, knowing that there was a werewolf living in Gryffindor Tower did not make it easy for her to overcome her terror and fall asleep, but eventually she did sleep, and she had the same dream she'd had the night before, down to every drop of saliva that fell from the wolf's mouth.
Again, Lily woke up and felt the fear close in around her. She looked at the clock, it was quarter to four a.m. She closed her eyes, and tried to go back to sleep, but the darkness was closing in around her and she was forced to leap out of bed. Once again, the moon had ducked beneath the horizon. She managed to be quiet as she exited her dorm and shut the door behind her, but she then ran down the stairs, through the common room, and up to the boys' room like a child fleeing a nightmare. Once she had the door to the boys' room shut tightly behind her, however, the fear left, and she felt like a fool. She knew that James was a crutch, and she should go back to her own room and face the fear. She also knew that she wasn't strong enough to do so. Instead, she noted that Remus' bed was empty, and she climbed into the bed of James Potter.
Sirius was completely confused when he woke and, for the second day in a row, saw Lily Evans sleeping comfortably in the seventh year boys' dormitory. Deciding that if James had actually managed to get Lily to date him, he would have been shouting it from the rooftops, and if James was Lily's boyfriend she wouldn't sleep in his bed, he ignored it.
"James," he said loudly, watching his friend. "You're going to be late for class if you sleep longer." James opened his eyes blearily.
"Okay, Sirius." The boy rose halfway in bed, then looked down at the sleeping girl he was holding in his arms. He kissed her head and shook her a little. "Come on, sweetie, we're going to be late." Lily opened her eyes and blinked up at him.
She kissed his cheek and said, "Let me sleep." She then rolled off of him and snuggled into a pillow. Needless to say, this woke James up immediately and caused Sirius to start laughing his head off. James was still blinking at Lily's sleeping form with a strange smile on his face when Peter woke up and asked Sirius what the hell he was laughing about.
"James' night time visitor came again last night," Sirius said, finally stopping. Peter looked at Lily and then at James.
"I thought you said you weren't dating and you didn't know why she came into our room." He half accused.
James didn't reply, which irritated Peter, who looked as though he was about to say something more when Sirius interrupted him. "Leave him be, Lily just kissed him and he doesn't know which way is up." Upon hearing this, Peter started laughing, which set Sirius off again, the noise waking up Frank and Lily.
The two sleepers simultaneously shouted "Shut up," and threw pillows in Sirius' general direction, then sat up immediately looking disoriented.
"Lily is here again," Frank asked.
"Crap, I slept in again," Lily exclaimed. She got up and proceeded wordlessly out of the room.
"Prongs," Sirius said, snapping his fingers in front of his friend's face. "Explain," he demanded. James came back to reality.
"Like I told you yesterday, I didn't know she was in the room until you woke me up. Although I'm starting to hope she appears tomorrow. I mean, she did kiss me, didn't she?" Suddenly, James looked as though he was unsure, and he turned to Sirius, and asked the question again. "She did kiss me, right? I wasn't dreaming?"
Sirius smiled at his friend, "No, Prongs, you weren't dreaming, but Lily most definitely was." James sighed contentedly and leaned back into his pillows.
"It still counts," he said softly. "She kissed me, and I was me this time."
Frank looked curiously at James' turn of phrase, but shrugged it off and left to go shave. Sirius waited until he was sure the boy was gone, then proceeded to smother James with a pillow. "Why don't you just run through the castle shouting 'I'm an Animagus'?"
"Do you think it would get Lily to kiss me," James asked, pushing the pillow off of his face curiously.
The day proceeded uneventfully, but it was the third and final day of the full moon. Everything proceeded exactly as it had the two days before, although Lily was concerned about Friday when she would go to Divination and James would not be there. She was fine for short periods away from him, when he was around a corner or in the bathroom, but she wasn't sure how she'd go over an hour without seeing him. She just hoped she didn't have to flee in the middle of class to run and find him. She felt a little like he was a drug. The fear wasn't something that existed without him, but a withdrawal symptom when he was taken away.
Lily had the exact same dream for the third night in a row, but she managed to fight the fear and stay in her room for a full fifteen minutes and thirty four seconds. At five past four exactly, Lily sprinted out of her room and ran to the boys' dormitory barely catching her breath as she leaned against the door. Sirius watched her through half shut eyes as she sat on Remus' bed for a few minutes, lay on it, then got up, shook her head, and slipped into bed with James. He didn't remotely understand what he was seeing, but he now believed James when he said he had no knowledge of Lily entering the room. She was very quiet about the whole thing.
Sirius woke groggily the next morning, and he certainly understood why Lily seemed so tired. Four am was rather late to be getting to bed. He sat up, hoping he'd caught her. She appeared to be waking up, so Sirius pretended to be asleep and watched her as she grinned over at his bed. She then kissed James' forehead and got up, exiting the room. Sirius bounced up and woke up his friend. "Lily isn't here," James said, and there was a glad tone in his voice that threw Sirius for a moment.
"She was earlier," Sirius said, suddenly unsure of how his friend would take the news.
"She beat you awake," James asked.
"Sort of, I pretended to be asleep to see what she did. It was weird, man. Last night at about four, she came in here huffing and puffing like she'd just outrun a pack of werewolves. Then she sort of sat on Remus' bed and looked at you a bit. She lay down, and I thought she was asleep, because you know I don't have the best view of his bed from mine, but then she sat up again, shaking her head. Then she got into bed with you and cuddled up, falling asleep." James smiled a little sadly.
"I guessed that's about how it was falling out," James said. "She obviously has a reason to be here other than the pleasure of my company. I'd imagine she'd avoid sleeping in my bed if she could."
"You haven't heard my best news," Sirius smiled, now sure that his friend would like what he had to say. "This morning she woke up and grinned over at my bed, which isn't that hard to find a reason for, she was happy I wasn't waking her up by laughing at her. Then she sort of looked down at you and smiled, and then. babababummmm"
"Get to the point, Sirius," James said grumpily.
"She kissed you! For the first time, Lily Evans, in what we can presumably be to be her right mind, kissed you without coercion on the forehead!" Sirius grinned at his friend who leapt to his feat and let out a whoop. Then James frowned.
"Why'd she have to do it when I was asleep," he grumbled. Then he smiled broadly again. "Who cares! I'm getting closer!"
Remus was at breakfast that morning, so Lily knew she would get a chance to talk to him. That almost made up for the fact that today was Friday and she had divination without James. Unfortunately, Lily didn't get a chance to talk to Remus before lunch and divination was Lily's first class after lunch. To the mild surprise of many Gryffindors, at the end of the meal, she got up and hugged James for a full four minutes before leaving. He did not seem to mind, causing several people to wonder if they were a couple. The news of the hug did not spread beyond the table, however, as most thought Lily was actually angry with James and trying to squeeze the air out of him as payback for something or another.
Lily managed to make it through Divination. They were crystal gazing, and she saw Remus under a full moon turning into a werewolf. She kept the vision to herself, however, not wanting to expose her friend if Professor Metoki didn't know his secret. Instead she said she saw Gryffindor flattening Slytherine in the next Quidditch match, and Peter cut in from the back of class that you didn't need an inner eye to predict that. Everyone laughed. Lily knew she was lucky that she always felt comfortable in the warm attic and that the class was her favorite. The fear did set in, but it wasn't that bad. When class was dismissed, she did leave at a sprint, but she found James waiting just outside for her. She hugged him quickly, and they waited for Peter before walking together to the common room to change their books before heading for Care of Magical Creatures.
After class with Professor Kettleburn, Lily pulled Remus aside and insisted that the other Marauders go on ahead. "I hope you're feeling better," she said. This threw Remus off; because he was pretty sure he'd been visiting his sick mother.
"Yes, I am, thank you," he replied.
"I hear the transformations can get pretty rough," she said sympathetically, not releasing her hold on his arm as he paled and tried to extract it. "I understand why you didn't tell me," she continued, "especially after my father's death. I'm not mad or anything, I just thought you should know that I figured it out."
"When," Remus asked, taking the hand that she had in his arm with his other hand as well and cradling it to his chest.
"Three days ago. I had a dream about it, and I'm pretty good with the whole divination thing excepting my block around Mr. Stag as my soul mate. It wasn't that difficult to interpret. I even saw it again in my crystal ball today. And I just put it together, in retrospect I'm kicking myself for having not realized earlier." Remus smiled at her. It was a perfectly Lily thing to say, she glossed right over the fact that he was a murderous beast and skipped to her inadequacy at putting everything together. She always knew how to make someone feel better.
Remus stopped and turned to face her. "I'll understand if you don't want to be around me for a bit," he said softly, looking into her eyes.
"How could you even suggest that," she asked, hugging him tightly. Remus saw James watching them with a strange look on his face and started laughing. He shook his head at his friend. "What is so funny," Lily asked, pulling away from him.
"Nothing," he said. "I'm just always so worried about people accepting me, and every single time someone's found out, they've become even closer friends with me. Well, not every time. Snape found out and it didn't exactly make us buddy-buddy."
"Snape knows and I didn't," Lily pouted.
"I'll tell you all about it later," Remus said, offering his arm to Lily with a grin. "Shall we, my lady?" Lily took it with a mock curtsy. Remus set a quick pace because he was trying to catch up with James before James started walking with some non-marauder.
When they caught him, they were almost inside the castle. "James," Remus said, grabbing his arm. "You're a hard guy to catch."
"What can I do for you," James asked without the warm animation that usually defied his voice. Lily's smile faltered slightly, but Remus' just grew.
"Lily has figured out Mooney's secret," Remus said proudly.
An enormous grin grew across James' face. "I told you she wouldn't shun you," he said, his voice coming alive again and letting Lily feel much better. "Lily is way too cool to be prejudiced, aren't you Lily?" Lily smiled and nodded. Then, James' smile faltered slightly, as though a thought had occurred to him.
"Nope, Prongs," Remus said, as though a similar thought had occurred to him. "Don't worry about it. Mooney's secret is safe with Lily." James simply nodded and took Lily's other arm, and they walked into the castle together.
Amos had taken their breakup fairly well, maybe because Lily was in tears as she spoke with him. She lied about doing the soul mate spell, but told the truth about not loving him. He asked her if she loved Potter, and was satisfied when she said no. It may have helped that a few minutes later they were frantically called back into the Halloween Feast to help deal with three bogarts that were terrifying most of the first, second and third years. The Marauders were given two weeks of detention and two hundred points were taken from Gryffindor by an enraged Professor McGonagall, while Professor Dumbledore thanked them for reminding everyone what they were afraid of on a "Holliday that celebrates overcoming one's fears".
She hadn't spoken to Amos in a week, since that day. Lily had to see him at the prefect meeting in half an hour and she had no idea how to deal with him.
She'd been depressed since they had broken up. If he hadn't been so unaffected, she could easily have remembered that she didn't love him, but when it appeared that he didn't love her, that he had been lying, it was difficult to remember that breaking up had been her decision. Of course the only one she spoke of this to was Prongs; Elizabeth was busy trying to figure out if Sirius actually liked her, or wanted someone to kiss. Several times, the girl made offers to talk with Lily about her breakup, even their other dorm-mates were willing to lend a sympathetic ear, but Lily just never seemed ready to talk about it. Consequently, everyone thought she was fine, and right now, she really needed a hug.
"You need to hop out of the doldrums, baby," James said, sitting down next to her. "A week is a sufficient mourning period, and you need to face him today."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, James," Lily said, looking at him uncertainly. He was announcing her private business to anyone in the common room who was listening.
"You're bumming, I was wondering what to do about it, then I realized that you gave me a shopping list on Halloween, whether or not you meant to." James grinned at her.
"Presents," she asked with a grin on her face. "Cosmic! You know, I think you might be right, I must be depressed." Her tone was sarcastic, but her eyes never left his. She didn't want to put on a performance for the entire room, but she was a little touched that he'd noticed.
"Yep," he smiled. "First, you told me to go to Hogsmead, so I got you a Chocolate Frog." He handed her a box of Chocolate Frogs. "Then, you told me to blow up a toilet." He took a toilet seat out of his bag and handed it to her, causing her to burst into laughter. "Then you told me to steal Severus Snape's underwear. I can't imagine what you would like it for, but here it is!" He handed her the underwear, carefully sealed into a zip lock bag. "His floor is so cluttered we couldn't be sure which boxers were his, so Sirius and I had to take the ones he was wearing to be sure they were his and not just some other Slytherine's."
"I refuse to ask how you managed to do that," Lily choked out while laughing. Her laughter turned out to be contagious, and the small group that had gathered around them began laughing as well. James decided he didn't need an invitation to tell his story, and he sent everybody into fits describing how Sirius had helped him get the underwear Snape was wearing without Snape noticing.
"Oh no," Lily exclaimed, suddenly sitting up, with a happy sigh that soon left her voice. "We're five minutes late for the prefect meeting James! It's a good thing I finished the agendas! Elizabeth, would you take my toilet seat and boxers up to our dorm? Please don't put them on my bed, though." James and Lily rushed out of the common room together, stopping only at the door to the classroom they were using, to compose themselves for entry.
"Thanks, James," Lily said softly, as she pushed the door open. Lily ran the meeting with James, and dealt with Amos in a perfectly friendly, if slightly reserved manner. Amos had exactly the same attitude toward her, and Lily knew then that everything would be okay between them, especially when he saw that she wasn't, and wouldn't be dating James Potter.
Toward the end of the meeting, Professor Dumbledore came in, to make a special announcement that he had requested time for on the agenda. "Well, I hope everyone in this meeting can keep a secret," he began, and a hush fell over the prefects immediately.
"This year, just after the Christmas Holidays, we will be having a Yule Ball. The teachers and I have decided that the student body will need something to focus on with the rise of Voldemort causing so much pain for so many individuals. I am afraid that by the end of those holidays we will very much need something to lift our spirits. So, I would like you to plan an extra special Ball, but you mustn't tell a single student about it until I announce it, otherwise the surprise will be ruined. The best idea would be to put it completely out of your mind if you are not asked by the head boy or girl to help with something. I have a pensive for just such occasions, if anyone would like to use it." When no one volunteered to do so, the headmaster took his leave of the meeting.
"Right," James said, "if you get a really good idea, feel free to come to Lily at any time, or me at any reasonable time." Lily smacked James with her agenda, and she noticed Amos' eyes narrow at them.
"I'm especially interested in any ideas for bands," Lily announced. "Dumbledore has given us a rather large budget to work this dance, so we can have pretty much anyone you'd like, although a muggle group would be rather difficult. James already requested we get The Clash. Dumbledore thought, however, that it would be rather difficult to pay them if we had to obliviate them, they would wonder where the money came from, and in short, no good would come of it. Well, I should say, no good other than having the Clash play at our dance." That earned Lily a few laughs from everyone.
A few prefects suggested different wizarding bands and Lily promised that she would look into all of them. They then discussed different possibilities for decorations, and food. After another half an hour of brainstorming, they adjourned the meeting.
"That went well," James said as they walked back to the common room together.
"Yeah," Lily replied with a smile. "Thanks for helping me with my nerves before hand, otherwise it probably wouldn't have gone nearly as well."
"Don't mention it," James said, a faint, but unnoticed, pink tingeing his cheeks. "Want to place bets on whether or not Sirius will ask Elizabeth out by the time the dance is announced?"
"Which way would you be betting," Lily asked with a glance at him.
"Probably for, he seems rather interested in her, although she might have dumped him by that point. He says she's a lot more distant than most of the girls he's dated." James smiled, knowing how much trouble he'd be in with Sirius if his best friend found out how much he was telling Lily.
"I'm sure half of that is Beth being terrified that Sirius is going to dump her at any minute, he is a Marauder after all. The other half is just Elizabeth, though. She doesn't really put her heart on the line much, she's afraid to lose people." Lily frowned, knowing that Elizabeth would immediately strangle her for saying something so personal, could she hear it.
"I know what that's like," James whispered. When he saw Lily looking curiously at him, he realized he must have said that aloud, so he immediately changed the subject. "Do you have a date for the dance, yet?"
Lily burst into laughter. "James, including the two of us, there are twenty four students who know about the ball, and they found out half an hour ago! So, no, nobody has asked me yet!"
"Right," James said, looking a little embarrassed.
"By the way, James," Lily looked seriously at him, "Those twenty four students had better be the only ones who know about the ball. I know you tell your friends *everything*, but it really will keep them from having as much fun in the long run. Planning a surprise is fun, as is knowing something before everyone else, and I know the four of you get a kick out of that, but wait a little while, or they'll die of anticipation."
"Chill," James said laughing. "I'm going to wait until a week before Dumbledore announces it to the whole school to tell them. They'll get the best of both worlds."
"Good," Lily said with one of her dazzling smiles, "Because I'm already dying of anticipation, and I don't want anyone else to suffer the same fate." They laughed and entered the Gryffindor common room.
"Well," Lily said, "I'll take my leave of you, then. I have to decide which wall to hang my trophies on!" James laughed as she ran up the stairs to the girls' dormitory, earning him an elbow jab from Sirius.
"I told you active pursuit was a good idea, did you ask her out," the boy whispered loudly.
"Whatever are you talking about, Sirius Black; I am simply acting as any friend would, especially since she is also the head girl. I couldn't have my co-star moping about, now could I?" James grinned at his partner in crime. "And the underwear thing was just a great idea anyway! I wish we could have seen his face when he realized he no longer had any on!" The two boys started laughing so hard they fell into chairs and didn't get up.
Lily used her wand to move the toilet seat to different walls until she found one she liked. She was debating whether to hang up Snapes underwear or return them to him publicly and ask why she'd had them sent to her, but she couldn't come to a decision.
Elizabeth came into the dormitory, and Lily asked her opinion. Elizabeth smiled like Christmas had come early. "They really are Severus' underwear. You should return them to him."
"Just what I was thinking," Lily said, with a malicious grin. Snape was polite enough to her in prefect meetings and when Professors were around, but he insulted her frequently, and she didn't like it one bit. Dinner would be interesting.
Lily was a few minutes late to dinner, to make sure everyone was already there and seated. She walked defiantly to the Slytherines' table, ignoring the looks she got from Gryffindors and Slytherines alike. She walked slowly; so many people around the hall were already watching her as she tapped Severus' shoulder, politely.
"I was wondering if I could have a word with you, Severus," she asked nicely.
"Yes, Miss Evans," he returned almost as nicely.
"Are you sure you want to talk here," she said almost nervously, causing most of the Slytherines to look up with a gaze of evil anticipation. Were they about to see the head mudblood get shot down?
"Anything that you want to say can be said in front of my housemates, I'm sure," he answered evenly.
"Well, Severus, as you know, I've recently broken up with my boyfriend, Amos," Lily noted said ex-boyfriend and many Hufflepuffs staring at her with unflattering disbelief.
"I was aware," Snape returned, not quite coldly.
"But," Lily continued, "I'm just not ready for another relationship yet. I'm really sorry. Maybe you want these back." She got out the underwear, causing pretty much the entire hall to go silent and look at the two prefects. "I got them by owl this morning. I'm flattered, but like I said, I've only recently broken up with someone, and you're just coming on too fast. I'm really very sorry." Feeling as though she had to say something complimentary to make up for embarrassing him so much, she added, "But your name is stitched very nicely in them, did your mother do that for you?" The entire hall burst into laughter. Lily had only hoped for the Slytherines' attention, she was gratified, but she didn't say anything, she just turned, blushed crimson, and walked back to the Gryffindor table.
"Potter!" Snape shouted behind her, and she was surprised at how loud his voice sounded. Lily sat next to James, who was trying to give Snape a perfectly innocent look while laughing his head off.
"I realized what you were doing as soon as you started talking to him and put the Sonarus charm on both of you," James whispered to her. Lily blushed even more profusely.
"That's why my audience was so big," she replied with an attempt at a smile. "Oh, dear, I hope I didn't embarrass him too much, I was just hoping to get back at him a little in front of the Slytherines."
"Don't worry, he deserves it," Sirius Black put in from across the table. "You can't count the number of times he's called you a mudblood during your time at Hogwarts, and he's a filthy dark mage! You were long overdue, Lily. I'm delighted that you've got a little of your own back!"
"Thanks, Sirius," Lily smiled. "But even a prat like him doesn't deserve to be embarrassed in front of the *whole* school."
"Don't worry, a few professors haven't shown up yet," James said with a grin.
"Well that's okay then," Lily smiled back. Lily noticed Amos had started the Hufflepuff table into giving Lily a standing ovation. She blushed further and sank to where her nose was almost touching the table. The Marauders made it worse, by getting up and bowing, taking credit for the prank, and having the Gryffindor table applauding them as well.
Professor Dumbledore stood, his eyes twinkling merrily, "Yes, another spectacular trick played on Mr. Snape. The usual detentions will be given to Sirius Black and James Potter unless they object or the other Marauders would like to take credit for assisting them." No one spoke, although several Gryffindors laughed. "Very well then, twenty points will be taken from Gryffindor, and I suggest an apology is due to Miss Evans as she did not appear to be aware that her conversation was being broadcast. I would also suggest an apology was owed to Mr. Snape; however I do not believe you would take that suggestion."
"I'm sorry, James," Lily said when everyone had gone back to eating, "I didn't mean for either of you to get detention, I'll tell Dumbledore what really happened if you like."
"Don't you dare," Sirius exclaimed. "I still have to get ten more detentions by the end of the year to beat the all time record for any Hogwarts student."
"And Dumbledore would give us detention anyway, if you explained how you got the underwear. You still would probably get off, because you were just returning them to him," James said, while Sirius snorted back a giggle.
"Thanks, guys," Lily laughed, shaking her head. Then she finally started on her dinner.
Lily went to see Prongs that evening and she told him all about Snape's underwear and the Yule Ball. She also told him she wouldn't be coming to see him for a few days because the moon would be full and she didn't know whether or not there were wolves in the Forbidden Forest. She still didn't know whether Prongs actually understood anything she said, but she liked to talk with him. If nothing else, he was an open listener, he asked no questions and he passed no criticisms. She felt as though she could tell him anything.
That night, Lily had a peculiar dream. She was alone in the darkness of the Forbidden Forest and the trees were pressing in on all sides, almost as though they were attacking her. A silver light appeared, parting the trees as it sped toward her, getting larger as it came until it was bigger than she was and it stopped in front of her. It was a stag, not just any stag, her stag, Prongs. Prongs stamped his hoof and the trees surrounding them disappeared. She was so happy, she kissed his nose, and he bashfully nuzzled her shoulder.
When she woke the next morning to go to her Monday classes, she had no memory of the dream. The day was boringly average enough; she took scrupulous notes in her classes, answered every question correctly and preformed every spell admirably. She was Head Girl, after all. She advised Elizabeth to be a little more open to Sirius with her emotions and just tell her what she was afraid of when her friend started complaining. The high point of her day was when she transfigured her pineapple into a perfect replica of Professor McGonagall's desk lamp, but that was not the most exciting moment.
Lily was halfway to the library, where she went every day after dinner, when she was surrounded by a tall group of Slytherine boys. They didn't say anything, and they all had their black hoods up, so she couldn't see their faces. They simply surrounded her and walked, exactly matching her speed when she tried to vary it. She felt threatened and nervous although they did not say anything. Lily tried to speak, but her mouth was dry and no words would come out.
"Lily," a masculine voice called from behind her, and she stopped, causing the Slytherine directly behind her to bump into her.
"Oh, sorry," she said, turning back to face him, but he quickly moved and followed the others onward. James was standing there, looking puzzled.
"Hey, you didn't look too happy," he said. "Were those guys bothering you?" Lily threw her arms around him, not saying anything. "I take that to mean, 'Yes, James, they were.'" He smiled down at her and put his arms around her quivering form. She seemed so small at the moment, so vulnerable. "Hey, Lily, are you alright?" She still couldn't speak; she couldn't even look at him.
"I'm taking you to the hospital wing unless you tell me not to," he said, his voice laced with concern. Lily couldn't respond, she just squeezed him tighter, rooting him to the spot. "It's okay, Lily," he said, petting her hair. "I really think we should go to the hospital wing, though. Something is very wrong with you." James started to walk, but it was awkward because Lily wouldn't let go of him, and she whimpered pathetically when he tried to let go of her. It took him a very long time to get her to Madame Pomfrey, especially because he had to lift her over the trick stairs, she wouldn't listen to him when he told her she had to step up. In fact, he got the impression that she could barely hear him speak.
It took Madame Pomfrey almost five minutes to diagnose Lily after asking her and James nearly a hundred questions (Lily answered hers by whimpering). When she realized what had happened, the nurse stood up and looked appalled, exclaiming, "But that's very advanced dark magic!"
"What is it," James asked nervously.
"Terror," the nurse answered shortly. "I'll need the Headmaster to fix this, I certainly can't. I'll get him myself, Mr. Potter, you stay with Miss Evans. She needs you." James couldn't think of anything to do, so he held the terrified girl as tightly as he could.
Professor Dumbledore strode quickly into the room ahead of Madame Pomfrey only a few minutes after she'd left. His eyes widened with concern when he saw the state of the two teenagers, and James looked up at him helplessly.
"Lily Evans," he said softly, getting her to look up into his sparkling blue eyes. "Fear does not become you." She continued to shake, but she looked like she could understand what was being said now. "James," the Headmaster instructed, "I'd like you to speak, it doesn't matter what you say. Tell a joke; recite a transfiguration assignment or a recent prank on Mr. Snape. The only thing that matters is your voice, and Lily, I would like you to concentrate on his voice while I perform the spell. Think about how safe you feel with him. Nothing can hurt you in this place with the two of us here. Remember that."
"Um," James began, feeling pressure to speak and finding he had nothing to say. "The Animagus transformation is very dangerous and complicated magic. There are four really terrible things that could happen when attempting it. The first is, obviously, to be unable to transform back into human once you've become an animal. The second is to only make it halfway into your animal form, so you'd be stuck for the rest of your life with antlers, fur, a bent spine or any sort of other deformity. The third is to splice yourself in half, meaning forever after that there would be two of you, an animal self and a human self, only there would only be one mind. It would be like constantly daydreaming, because while you were in class you would also be chasing mice around at home. You would never be able to fully concentrate on anything unless both halves were together and it was something your animal self cared about, too." As James spoke, Lily let his voice flow over her. She could feel his chest vibrating with some of the words and she could hear his heart beating. She knew he wouldn't let anything bad happen to her. She also knew that the safest place in the world was wherever Albus Dumbledore happened to be, and he was standing right in front of her, wand flowing gracefully through the air. She had no reason to be afraid. She loosened her death-grip about James' stomach and felt every muscle in her body relax.
Professor Dumbledore sat down and smiled. James certainly knew a lot about the things that could go wrong with an animagus transfiguration, he was still talking animatedly. "That is enough, James," the headmaster smiled, and James stopped talking and held his breath. "How do you feel, Lily?"
"Mmm," Lily mumbled, "Just fine, Professor. How are you?" Then Lily squeaked and jerked away from James. "I'm sorry, that was incredibly rude of me," she said instantly. Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively.
"You seem to be fine, so I see no problems with saying so. I am happy that the counter-curse worked, it is a rather tricky one." The professor then got a serious look on his face. "They used the Curse of Dreaderrol on you; it is a very powerful piece of dark magic. Do you know what it does?"
"I should say so," Lily said with a small, sad smile. "But, yes, we covered it in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor. It causes a person to be completely terrified by everything and everyone until they die from either heart failure or lack of food and sleep. I was unaware that there was a counter-curse for it, although some have survived after being force-fed courage potions which they must take every six hours for the rest of their life."
"Very good," the Headmaster said with a smile. "I'd expect no less from the Head Girl. The counter-spell is something I developed very recently, I have only successfully used it once before because it requires the cursed one to have something that they are not afraid of, in your case, James Potter." Dumbledore's eyes seemed to be laughing at her. "You must trust him very much for the curse not to cause you to fear him."
"Well, um, that is to say," Lily stumbled over her words.
"You don't need to explain anything to an old fool like me," The headmaster said with a smile. "We understand things well enough." Then he became serious again. "I would like to ask you if you recognized any of the people who surrounded you. I will not tolerate dark magic at Hogwarts, and whoever performed this spell will be expelled immediately, although I daresay they deserve to be in Azkaban."
"I'm sorry, headmaster, they all had their hoods up, so I couldn't see their faces, although I'm positive one of them was wearing the green Slytherine tie. I'm also fairly sure that they were all boys."
"What about you, James?"
"Sorry headmaster, I was behind her and none of them ever turned to face me. Although I'd agree with Lily, they were all probably sixth or seventh year boys. I can't say anything for what house they were in, though."
"Very well," the headmaster said. He was not smiling. "I'll take my leave of you, then. Miss Evans, if, in the next week or so, there is something you feel you cannot deal with, do not be ashamed of it, simply tell the professor. I will inform them of your circumstances. You may not be completely well for a while. I am sorry to say that things may be more difficult when you are not in the company of Mister Potter."
"Thank you, Headmaster," Lily said. "And thank you for giving me back my mind."
"It was no trouble, Miss Evans, I am only sorry that you ever lost it within my halls."
Madame Pomfrey offered Lily the option of spending the night in the hospital wing, but she opted to go back to Gryffindor Tower. She was warned against attempting too much too fast and discharged. James carried her books for her, as though he was afraid she might break down at any moment, which, considering the circumstances, was not an unjustifiable fear. When they reached the common room, James sat with her and they did their homework in silence. Lily did not have to warn James against telling anyone or ask him to sit with her while she worked, she knew he would do both.
When Lily finished working and thanked James for sitting with her, he paused, wanting to say something but unsure of how she would take it. "If you have a nightmare, or get scared of the dark, you can come to the boys' dorm and wake me up. We could sit up in the common room until you felt better."
Lily smiled at him. "Thank you, James. I'm sure I'll be just fine, though. If I do have a relapse, believe me I won't hesitate to take you up on your offer. I'm in no way going to experience that fear voluntarily!"
James laughed, and Lily went up to the girls' dorm. When Elizabeth (who had been sitting on Sirius' lap on the other side of the common room) followed her fifteen minutes later, or so, Sirius came over and nudged James with his elbow. "So, you and Lily, doing homework, talking, laughing, all alone together over here? Why didn't you come sit with Peter, Elizabeth and my charming self? You sly dog!"
"Sirius," James said with a smile, "You're the dog, or did you forget? And I can't explain it to you, but believe me, there was a good reason for me to sit with Lily, and she didn't want to be distracted by you clowns, which I felt was justified."
"Did I ever say love wasn't a good reason," Sirius exclaimed. "I apologize; I personally think it's the greatest reason on Earth!"
"Whatever, Padfoot, moonrise is in ten minutes. I assume Remus has already gone out to the shack?"
"You know it. Go get your cloak," he ordered.
James moved to obey the command, muttering, "I hope Lily doesn't have any nightmares until the moon sets."
Lily cuddled closely to her sheets and squeezed her eyes shut tightly, but it took her a while to fall asleep, especially because she could swear she heard howling, and she knew it was a full moon. She didn't want to bother James just yet, however, because she knew she would eventually have to deal with the darkness on her own. Eventually, she did fall asleep, and she dreamed.
She was alone in the darkness of the Forbidden Forest and the trees were pressing in on all sides, almost as though they were attacking her. A silver light appeared, parting the trees as it sped toward her, getting larger as it came until it was bigger than she was and it stopped in front of her. It was a stag, not just any stag, her stag, Prongs. Prongs stamped his hoof and the trees surrounding them disappeared. She was so happy, she kissed his nose, and he bashfully nuzzled her shoulder. The silver light that surrounded Prongs shot up into the sky and became a full moon. There was a howl that came from within the forest, and although the frightening trees had given them meters of breathing room, Lily felt her blood run cold. Out of the trees stepped an enormous werewolf, snarling and salivating. It looked as though it would attack her at any moment, when Prongs stepped in front of her and slowly shook his head. The wolf closed its mouth and cocked its head to the side, looking like a tamed and intelligent dog. Prongs once again shook his head no, and the wolf sat down calmly. The silver moon set and disappeared from the sky, and the wolf slowly turned back into a man. The wolf slowly turned back into Remus. Lily looked at him in shock, then she walked over to him and gave him a hug.
Lily woke with a start in the darkness. She was suddenly overcome by an intense fear. She took a deep breath and looked at her clock and discovered that it was three thirty three a.m., and that seemed to be the worst of omens to her terror-addled mind. She got up and went to the window. The moon had set and the grounds were incredibly dark. Without the stars it would have been as if she was staring into pure blackness, and the thought of that frightened her even more. After all, it had to be called dark magic for a reason. Suddenly, she remembered James' offer and crept quickly out of her room. She managed to fight her fear as she crossed the common room, but every step up the staircase to the boys' dormitory was like fighting a werewolf without a wand.
When she carefully opened the door to the seventh year boys' room and saw James' peacefully sleeping form, all of her fear vanished, like shadow before flame. It now seemed silly to wake him, and she closed the door, discovering that the second she did that the terror came rushing back to her, so she quickly went through the doorway and shut it fast behind her. Lily had no desire to sleep on the incredibly messy floor, but she noticed that Remus' bed was empty, so she crawled in, hoping he was gone for the night and not just in the bathroom. As soon as her eyes were closed, however, she was afraid. 'This is ridiculous,' she thought, but she opened her eyes and looked at James. She could not sleep with her eyes open, but as soon as she closed them, she was too terrified to sleep.
Lily hoped she would wake up before the boys did, and she got up and crept into bed next to James. Figuring she'd better do the thing properly, she cuddled up against him and closed her eyes. Moments later she was slumbering peacefully.
Sirius was laughing loudly about something, but James was too tired to figure out what was so amusing. He pulled Lily closer and breathed her intoxicating scent, hearing her mumble something into his chest. He pursed his lips so they brushed ever-so-lightly against her hair before he allowed himself to fall back into unconsciousness. Then, something nagging caught in his mind. He ran over what he knew again. Lily was in his bed. He opened his eyes to peek and make sure. Yup, it was Lily, and she was snuggling against his chest, but he had no idea how she got there. He was going to close his eyes again when he realized that Sirius must have been laughing at him. He blinked and finally woke up. He saw Sirius, Peter and Frank all looking at him. Sirius must have gotten the other boys up, because they looked a little grumpy, if highly amused. Wait, James felt the need to go back to his first realization. Lily was in his bed. He lifted his arm, okay, good, he was wearing pajamas, and presumably she was, too.
She must have been afraid.
Luckily, when James moved his arm, he'd caused Lily to grow alert and make a similar set of realizations. Sirius was laughing. Sirius was awake and he had seen them. "Fuck," Lily muttered into James' chest.
"Did you," Sirius asked, in between giggles, "I really am dying to know."
"I hope you do," Lily said, sitting up. "You could have let me sleep a little longer." She knew the best way to deal with the situation was to simply ignore it and act like nothing had happened. Hopefully everyone else would cotton on.
"You always wake up around seven-thirty," Sirius said, smiling. "Unless you and Jamsie here had a late night last night."
"If what you're referring to had happened, Sirius," Lily said with a sweet smile, "I hope you would have heard some noise." That floored every boy in the room, even James. Lily was the Head Girl. She never, ever spoke like that. She stood up and swaggered out of the room, the boys watching her go before they all pestered James for an explanation. He just smiled.
"I didn't know she was here until I woke up and heard Sirius laughing," he answered honestly. "I'll confess under Veritaserum if you don't believe me." The boys all looked very much like they disbelieved him, but as they didn't have any truth serum, they couldn't exactly hold him to his word.
Luckily, all of Lily's classes were with James except divination. Through the entire day, he was never out of sight, but he didn't crowd her either. Even Sirius was forced to admit that although he'd found them in an incredibly compromising position, they didn't seem to be going out at all, even though they once again did their homework together in the common room. They would have worked in a group with their friends as they usually did, but they were also planning the Yule Ball, and their friends were not allowed to overhear their discussions of it. When Lily went up to her room, James stopped her for a moment.
"You can wake me up if you are afraid, I won't be mad," he said, wondering if her fear had prevented her from waking him.
"You looked really tired," Lily said, "I couldn't bear to wake you. Would you prefer it to the morning embarrassment?"
"I wasn't that embarrassed, I woke up with a pretty girl in my bed. They were just jealous, but I'd think you would prefer it to the embarrassment, and I have no objections to avoiding a laughing Sirius." James gave her a broad smile.
"Well, pick one," Lily said, returning the smile. "Do you want to be embarrassed or have your beauty sleep interrupted?"
"It can be your choice," James said. "But remember that I honestly won't mind a bit if you wake me."
"Thank you, James," she responded, hugging him. He could no longer resist saying it; he'd had it on the tip of his tongue for two days now.
"I'm just flattered that your trust for me can overcome dark magic," he said, returning the hug. She laughed at him, but didn't really answer as she walked up the stairs. He was a little sad that she still wasn't ready to tell him he was her soul mate. He couldn't wait until the full moon ended so she would tell Prongs what she was really thinking, and he felt a little guilty about that. He felt as though he was, as Prongs, betraying her trust by passing all of her secrets on to James Potter.
Lily had worked everything out within the course of the day, of course, and she was amazed that it had taken her seven years to figure it out. Of course, the Marauders were all masters of misdirection, and sometimes there had been months where they all went missing during the full moon. There were even full moons where Lily could distinctly remember Remus coming to class. Of course, his transformations probably hadn't been as bad those days. Lily could put three and three together, however, and the howls, the dream and the empty bed just made it too easy. She would have to tell him she knew the next time she saw him.
Of course, knowing that there was a werewolf living in Gryffindor Tower did not make it easy for her to overcome her terror and fall asleep, but eventually she did sleep, and she had the same dream she'd had the night before, down to every drop of saliva that fell from the wolf's mouth.
Again, Lily woke up and felt the fear close in around her. She looked at the clock, it was quarter to four a.m. She closed her eyes, and tried to go back to sleep, but the darkness was closing in around her and she was forced to leap out of bed. Once again, the moon had ducked beneath the horizon. She managed to be quiet as she exited her dorm and shut the door behind her, but she then ran down the stairs, through the common room, and up to the boys' room like a child fleeing a nightmare. Once she had the door to the boys' room shut tightly behind her, however, the fear left, and she felt like a fool. She knew that James was a crutch, and she should go back to her own room and face the fear. She also knew that she wasn't strong enough to do so. Instead, she noted that Remus' bed was empty, and she climbed into the bed of James Potter.
Sirius was completely confused when he woke and, for the second day in a row, saw Lily Evans sleeping comfortably in the seventh year boys' dormitory. Deciding that if James had actually managed to get Lily to date him, he would have been shouting it from the rooftops, and if James was Lily's boyfriend she wouldn't sleep in his bed, he ignored it.
"James," he said loudly, watching his friend. "You're going to be late for class if you sleep longer." James opened his eyes blearily.
"Okay, Sirius." The boy rose halfway in bed, then looked down at the sleeping girl he was holding in his arms. He kissed her head and shook her a little. "Come on, sweetie, we're going to be late." Lily opened her eyes and blinked up at him.
She kissed his cheek and said, "Let me sleep." She then rolled off of him and snuggled into a pillow. Needless to say, this woke James up immediately and caused Sirius to start laughing his head off. James was still blinking at Lily's sleeping form with a strange smile on his face when Peter woke up and asked Sirius what the hell he was laughing about.
"James' night time visitor came again last night," Sirius said, finally stopping. Peter looked at Lily and then at James.
"I thought you said you weren't dating and you didn't know why she came into our room." He half accused.
James didn't reply, which irritated Peter, who looked as though he was about to say something more when Sirius interrupted him. "Leave him be, Lily just kissed him and he doesn't know which way is up." Upon hearing this, Peter started laughing, which set Sirius off again, the noise waking up Frank and Lily.
The two sleepers simultaneously shouted "Shut up," and threw pillows in Sirius' general direction, then sat up immediately looking disoriented.
"Lily is here again," Frank asked.
"Crap, I slept in again," Lily exclaimed. She got up and proceeded wordlessly out of the room.
"Prongs," Sirius said, snapping his fingers in front of his friend's face. "Explain," he demanded. James came back to reality.
"Like I told you yesterday, I didn't know she was in the room until you woke me up. Although I'm starting to hope she appears tomorrow. I mean, she did kiss me, didn't she?" Suddenly, James looked as though he was unsure, and he turned to Sirius, and asked the question again. "She did kiss me, right? I wasn't dreaming?"
Sirius smiled at his friend, "No, Prongs, you weren't dreaming, but Lily most definitely was." James sighed contentedly and leaned back into his pillows.
"It still counts," he said softly. "She kissed me, and I was me this time."
Frank looked curiously at James' turn of phrase, but shrugged it off and left to go shave. Sirius waited until he was sure the boy was gone, then proceeded to smother James with a pillow. "Why don't you just run through the castle shouting 'I'm an Animagus'?"
"Do you think it would get Lily to kiss me," James asked, pushing the pillow off of his face curiously.
The day proceeded uneventfully, but it was the third and final day of the full moon. Everything proceeded exactly as it had the two days before, although Lily was concerned about Friday when she would go to Divination and James would not be there. She was fine for short periods away from him, when he was around a corner or in the bathroom, but she wasn't sure how she'd go over an hour without seeing him. She just hoped she didn't have to flee in the middle of class to run and find him. She felt a little like he was a drug. The fear wasn't something that existed without him, but a withdrawal symptom when he was taken away.
Lily had the exact same dream for the third night in a row, but she managed to fight the fear and stay in her room for a full fifteen minutes and thirty four seconds. At five past four exactly, Lily sprinted out of her room and ran to the boys' dormitory barely catching her breath as she leaned against the door. Sirius watched her through half shut eyes as she sat on Remus' bed for a few minutes, lay on it, then got up, shook her head, and slipped into bed with James. He didn't remotely understand what he was seeing, but he now believed James when he said he had no knowledge of Lily entering the room. She was very quiet about the whole thing.
Sirius woke groggily the next morning, and he certainly understood why Lily seemed so tired. Four am was rather late to be getting to bed. He sat up, hoping he'd caught her. She appeared to be waking up, so Sirius pretended to be asleep and watched her as she grinned over at his bed. She then kissed James' forehead and got up, exiting the room. Sirius bounced up and woke up his friend. "Lily isn't here," James said, and there was a glad tone in his voice that threw Sirius for a moment.
"She was earlier," Sirius said, suddenly unsure of how his friend would take the news.
"She beat you awake," James asked.
"Sort of, I pretended to be asleep to see what she did. It was weird, man. Last night at about four, she came in here huffing and puffing like she'd just outrun a pack of werewolves. Then she sort of sat on Remus' bed and looked at you a bit. She lay down, and I thought she was asleep, because you know I don't have the best view of his bed from mine, but then she sat up again, shaking her head. Then she got into bed with you and cuddled up, falling asleep." James smiled a little sadly.
"I guessed that's about how it was falling out," James said. "She obviously has a reason to be here other than the pleasure of my company. I'd imagine she'd avoid sleeping in my bed if she could."
"You haven't heard my best news," Sirius smiled, now sure that his friend would like what he had to say. "This morning she woke up and grinned over at my bed, which isn't that hard to find a reason for, she was happy I wasn't waking her up by laughing at her. Then she sort of looked down at you and smiled, and then. babababummmm"
"Get to the point, Sirius," James said grumpily.
"She kissed you! For the first time, Lily Evans, in what we can presumably be to be her right mind, kissed you without coercion on the forehead!" Sirius grinned at his friend who leapt to his feat and let out a whoop. Then James frowned.
"Why'd she have to do it when I was asleep," he grumbled. Then he smiled broadly again. "Who cares! I'm getting closer!"
Remus was at breakfast that morning, so Lily knew she would get a chance to talk to him. That almost made up for the fact that today was Friday and she had divination without James. Unfortunately, Lily didn't get a chance to talk to Remus before lunch and divination was Lily's first class after lunch. To the mild surprise of many Gryffindors, at the end of the meal, she got up and hugged James for a full four minutes before leaving. He did not seem to mind, causing several people to wonder if they were a couple. The news of the hug did not spread beyond the table, however, as most thought Lily was actually angry with James and trying to squeeze the air out of him as payback for something or another.
Lily managed to make it through Divination. They were crystal gazing, and she saw Remus under a full moon turning into a werewolf. She kept the vision to herself, however, not wanting to expose her friend if Professor Metoki didn't know his secret. Instead she said she saw Gryffindor flattening Slytherine in the next Quidditch match, and Peter cut in from the back of class that you didn't need an inner eye to predict that. Everyone laughed. Lily knew she was lucky that she always felt comfortable in the warm attic and that the class was her favorite. The fear did set in, but it wasn't that bad. When class was dismissed, she did leave at a sprint, but she found James waiting just outside for her. She hugged him quickly, and they waited for Peter before walking together to the common room to change their books before heading for Care of Magical Creatures.
After class with Professor Kettleburn, Lily pulled Remus aside and insisted that the other Marauders go on ahead. "I hope you're feeling better," she said. This threw Remus off; because he was pretty sure he'd been visiting his sick mother.
"Yes, I am, thank you," he replied.
"I hear the transformations can get pretty rough," she said sympathetically, not releasing her hold on his arm as he paled and tried to extract it. "I understand why you didn't tell me," she continued, "especially after my father's death. I'm not mad or anything, I just thought you should know that I figured it out."
"When," Remus asked, taking the hand that she had in his arm with his other hand as well and cradling it to his chest.
"Three days ago. I had a dream about it, and I'm pretty good with the whole divination thing excepting my block around Mr. Stag as my soul mate. It wasn't that difficult to interpret. I even saw it again in my crystal ball today. And I just put it together, in retrospect I'm kicking myself for having not realized earlier." Remus smiled at her. It was a perfectly Lily thing to say, she glossed right over the fact that he was a murderous beast and skipped to her inadequacy at putting everything together. She always knew how to make someone feel better.
Remus stopped and turned to face her. "I'll understand if you don't want to be around me for a bit," he said softly, looking into her eyes.
"How could you even suggest that," she asked, hugging him tightly. Remus saw James watching them with a strange look on his face and started laughing. He shook his head at his friend. "What is so funny," Lily asked, pulling away from him.
"Nothing," he said. "I'm just always so worried about people accepting me, and every single time someone's found out, they've become even closer friends with me. Well, not every time. Snape found out and it didn't exactly make us buddy-buddy."
"Snape knows and I didn't," Lily pouted.
"I'll tell you all about it later," Remus said, offering his arm to Lily with a grin. "Shall we, my lady?" Lily took it with a mock curtsy. Remus set a quick pace because he was trying to catch up with James before James started walking with some non-marauder.
When they caught him, they were almost inside the castle. "James," Remus said, grabbing his arm. "You're a hard guy to catch."
"What can I do for you," James asked without the warm animation that usually defied his voice. Lily's smile faltered slightly, but Remus' just grew.
"Lily has figured out Mooney's secret," Remus said proudly.
An enormous grin grew across James' face. "I told you she wouldn't shun you," he said, his voice coming alive again and letting Lily feel much better. "Lily is way too cool to be prejudiced, aren't you Lily?" Lily smiled and nodded. Then, James' smile faltered slightly, as though a thought had occurred to him.
"Nope, Prongs," Remus said, as though a similar thought had occurred to him. "Don't worry about it. Mooney's secret is safe with Lily." James simply nodded and took Lily's other arm, and they walked into the castle together.