Disclaimer- I don't own anything that J.K. does.
The boys laid awake in their dormitory. Each one was replaying the night's events in their minds. Remus was the most confused. Cad had unsurprisingly taken the news of him being a werewolf rather badly. When he finally fell asleep all he saw was the look on her face. Was she that disgusted by him? Or was she just shocked?
"Remus, snap out of it." James whispered. Remus was having trouble concentrating and kept zoning out Professor McGonagall's instructions. Cad was working with Blair and Remus had joined James and Sirius. "Sorry." At the end of the period Remus was the only one who had not completed the assignment correctly. "Damn, I am so out of it." The trio was heading toward Charms.
"Yeah, I know." Sirius murmured. None of the boys knew what to say. They all had skipped breakfast to avoid questions. Charms was bound to be a hard class; Remus knew everyone would want to know what was the cause to the abrupt ending of their relationship. He took the seat in the farthest corner. Sirius, James, and Peter sat around him. They knew they had to protect him. Cad walked in with her head held high. She didn't even look in the direction of Remus. This made him even more upset. Lily took what was usually Remus' seat and looked back at them uncomfortably.
Cad faced forward the entire class. She felt childish. She knew that she had to face her problem, but all she wanted to do was run away. She had meant what she said; she had loved and trusted Remus. Part of her still did. After Charms Cad decided to skip lunch. She wasn't ready to face Remus.
"C'mon you've got to eat something." Sirius said through a mouthful of corn. Remus was staring blankly at the plate in front of him. "Hey, how are you doing?" Lily came and sat next to him. This made Remus happy, none of the other girls would even meet him in the eye. "Are you sure you're supposed to be talking to me?" Remus hated that he sounded so resentful. "Why wouldn't I talk to you?" Lily asked in her same concerned tone. "Oh, I don't know. Because you're Cad's best friend?" Remus spat, each word reeking with sarcasm. "I'm sorry, but I thought we were friends too." Lily got up, obviously hurt, and left.
"Moony, why'd you have to go and bite Evan's head off?" James said a little annoyed. He knew Remus was going through a lot, and knew he had to be patient. Remus sighed and followed Lily. "Lily, wait." He tried to grab her arm but she turned away. "Lily, I'm sorry, but you have no idea what I'm going through right now." Remus was about to give up. He started to walk away. "Are you so sure?" She said under her breath. "What?" Remus stopped. Cad hadn't told her had she? "Never mind." Lily said before walking away.
Remus went back to lunch. His friends looked up at him expectantly. "Just someone else who hates me." Remus answered the question they didn't have to ask. "You'll get used to it. She hates me most of the time." James said trying to cheer him up. Remus paid no attention to him. They all got up and started to head to their next class. All of a sudden Remus moaned. They turned to look at him. "I just remembered. I have to go spend two classes with the person who hates me most." Cad and Remus had every class together, but Care of Magical Creatures and Divination were the only ones they had alone. "You'll be fine, mate." James patted him on the back.
Remus trekked to his Care of Magical Creatures class alone. He always wondered why he took this class. He almost laughed at the thought that he himself was a Magical Creature. In a way it's kind of like Home ec. for a werewolf. His heart dropped when he saw Cad. She was standing outside of the group, actually where he had been planning to sit. Her normally perfect hair was disheveled, and she looked as if she had been crying. He wanted to comfort her, to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. For a moment he almost forgot that he was the reason she was crying.
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Lily laid alone in the girls dormitory. She usually wasn't one to skip, but she just couldn't bring herself to go to another Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Instead she lay crying, feeling like a child. She held her most recent letter from Max in her hand. Her eyes scrolled the words over and over.
Dear Lils,
I hate to think that you're so depressed, but trust me, things will get better. As much as I'd love to have you here, I'd hate to be the person responsible for taking you away from something you know you love. I'm sure your parents feel like this too, and I seriously doubt Petunia hates you. Christmas will come faster than you can imagine, and I can't wait. I love you and just want to see you happy; and you're happiest at school.
Love,
Max
It was the sweetest letter she'd ever received, yet she hated what it said. She had been hoping he'd tell her to come home. That would be the final reason she needed. But no, he had to go and be all sweet.
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"Hey where's Lily?" Peter asked Taylor. "I have no idea." "Maybe she's still upset after what Remus said to her?" Blair suggested. "Well he's pretty upset right now." Peter stood up for his friend. "Well, so is Cad and Lily was only trying to help." Blair said defensively. "Both Cad and Remus have a reason to be upset. They had a good thing." Taylor said a little sadly. "Speaking of good things, what's the deal with you and Sirius?" Reese entered the conversation.
"I don't know. I guess we're more "Friends with benefits" than anything else." Taylor frowned. "I mean we hang out and do...stuff, but we're not a real couple." The two girls gave a collective, "Oh." Peter stared at the girls. What was the big deal? Did she want to be more than friends with Sirius? Peter just didn't get girls at all.
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"Uh oh, Padfoot." James said seriously. "I see a big, black, shaggy dog in your future." He laughed at the last part. They were studying crystal balls. "Really? Is it attacking a stag by chance?" Sirius answered sarcastically. "Yeah. Sorry mate, the stag won." James fake frowned, but laughed when Sirius playfully hit him. When they had stopped laughing Sirius asked a genuine question, "So what's going on with the stag and the hunter?" James thought for a second. "The stag has to be with the hunter to protect his friend. But the stag wants the flower-" "Who wants the muggle." Sirius cut him off. "Who wants nothing to do with the stag. Especially when the stag is with the hunter." James finished. "The dog would like to point out that everyone loves him." They both laughed. "Ok, mate. That was the weirdest conversation ever." James said through bursts of laughter.
When they had sobered, James continued. "It just hurts so much, you know?" Sirius nodded. "I like Reese. But I really like Lily. I know that sounds dense." "You have no idea." Sirius rolled his eyes jokingly. "Oh like you should speak. What about you and Taylor?" Sirius squirmed uncomfortably. "Well, we're friends." It was James' turn to roll his eyes. "with benefits." Sirius grinned devilishly. "What do girls see in you?" James said with a sarcastic sigh. "Oh, c'mon. You know I'm irresistible." Sirius said cockily. The class ended and the two continued to playfully bicker all the way to Care of Magical Creatures.
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Remus spent his Care of Magical Creatures class eyeing Cad. When the class ended, he debated whether or not to go to Divination. In the end, he decided that it would be best for both him and Cad not to be seated at the same table. He decided to hang out in the common room until dinner. He had expected to be the only one, and was surprised when he saw a certain red head in the corner. "Hey, Lily." He sat down across from her. She didn't answer. "Lily, I'm sorry. I hope you know that I do consider you a friend." He decided to try and right his wrong.
Lily looked up at Remus. She could see that he was genuinely sorry. "Oh, Rem, it's not that. I'm sorry, I'm just a little out of whack right now. That's all." She mumbled. "What's wrong?" "It's nothing." She nervously ran her hand through her hair. "I'm just, I'm going to go lay back down." She started to get up. As she did, a piece of parchment fell out of her pocket. She made a quick move to grab it, but Remus was faster. He quickly scanned her letter from Max. "Wait. Lily, this looks like you're, like you're planning on..." Remus trailed off. Lily just stood there and nodded. Remus reached up, grabbed her hand, and guided her to sit back down.
"Lils, you can't leave us." He said sweetly. "I just don't think I belong here anymore." She said as she started to cry. Remus put his arm around her. "If anyone belongs here it's you. C'mon, you have top marks in just about every class!" Remus said convincingly. "It's not enough." "Well then, you've got friends, and people who need you here." Lily let out a sigh. "Then why don't I see that? I mean, Blair and Taylor are always off with some guy, and it was you and Cad, and then Reese and James-" Lily stopped. Why did she care so much about Reese and James? Remus grimaced when she said the part about him and Cad. But push that aside when her heard her mention James.
"What about James? Aren't you glad he's stopped bugging you?" Remus asked. "Oh, yeah, of course, I just meant..." Lily said very unconvincingly. Remus raised his eyebrow a bit. "I guess, maybe I didn't hate it." Lily confessed. "So you like James?" Remus said weakly, he was really confused. "Not like that. I just don't like that he likes Reese." Lily said quickly. "Ok..." Remus was even more confused. "And that's part of the problem, I just don't feel like I fit in; at home, with Max, I do." Lily continued. She laid her head on Remus' shoulder. They sat in silence for a few minutes. "Lily I don't know what you think, but we need you here. Please don't leave." Remus said breaking the silence. She didn't respond. They sat in silence until the scheduled classes ended. Remus convinced Lily to go down to dinner with him. He was glad to focus on someone else's problem. It made it easier to ignore his own.
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Cad sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Her friends were encouraging her to eat. She stared at her plate. Everything seemed to run into each other, until it was one big plate of mush. She couldn't believe what she had been told the previous night. It all seemed surreal. She just wanted to wake up, and have everything go back to normal. "But it can't" Cad said under her breath. "What can't?" Taylor had caught her words. "Nothing. Look, I'm not hungry. I think I'm just going to go do some homework." Cad said quickly. As she got up she noticed Lily and Remus walk into the room. They both looked upset. She got angry. Why was her friend with him? If something was wrong, why didn't she tell her? Cad left the hall, determined not to look at either Remus or Lily.
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"Hey guys." Remus said as he and Lily sat down. "Where have you guys been?" Taylor asked. "I wasn't feeling too good." Lily and Remus answered concurrently. Their friends laughed. "We missed you this afternoon, Lils," Blair chimed in. Remus gave Lily a look. He didn't even have to say, "Told you so." She smiled.
"So what are you guys doing later?" James changed the subject. All answered with a collective "nothing" except Taylor. "I'm studying with Chris Miller." Sirius choked on his food. "That Ravenclaw git?" Taylor nodded. "Why don't you study with me tonight?" Sirius asked hopefully. Taylor smiled coyly and leaned in, "It's not really the studying I'm going for." Sirius' jaw dropped as Taylor got up. "Now if you excuse me, I have to go get ready." She walked away smiling.
After dinner, everyone returned to the common room to begin working on homework. Cad quickly relocated herself to the girl's dormitory when the Gryffindors entered. Remus sighed and sat down at a table with his friends. "Have you even talked to her yet?" James asked cautiously. "No." Remus answered as he took out a roll of parchment to begin his Potions essay. Remus had about half of it done when James and Sirius started goofing off.
"So Padfoot, looked like your beneficial friend was planning on being pretty friendly with someone else." James teased. "How's the dev- I mean Reese?" Sirius shot back. "No need to get all worked up, I'm just saying that I'm surprised. Being as you're so irresistible and all." "So, has your girlfriend murdered anyone yet?" Eventually the battle of words ended with all three boys laughing uncontrollably.
"For the record you are now up to 78." James said once he had caught his breath. "Oh c'mon. We haven't done that since fourth year!" Sirius argued back. He had a right to. The boys' ritual often left him with bruised arms. "I think it would be fun to bring back." James said. "Well then, 78? It can't be that high." "You know the rules. One punch for each time you make fun of my girlfriend. It's only fair." James said that last part with a hint of sarcasm. "Yeah, but 78? No way." They then spent the next hour debating over Sirius' offenses in the last week. In the end Sirius was right. It was 77.
"I knew it wasn't 78." Sirius said as he headed to bed.
A/N- Hey! Thanks for all the reviews! I start school on Monday. If you have me on your author alert list, you'll get the updates, otherwise when I post it will probably be at about 3:00. It may be kind of scattered though, so I'm sorry to anyone who misses the updates. With that said, I hope you liked this chapter, and I'll have the next one up after 10 reviews or in 5 days.
things to look forward to: detention, a James/Lily moment, yet another fight, and a traitor is revealed!