Hi! I'm listening to "Phantom of the Opera" right now! Yay! I love that show! Christine is, like, my ideal role. I would LOVE to play her—too bad I can't sing that high, so just kidding. Curses, foiled again. Come on, you know it would be COOL to play Christine! Unless you're a guy… then never mind. You could be the Phantom, instead. Anywho, now that I've cast you all for "Phantom", we can get on with to story.

Would you believe that there aren't very many chapters left? Okay, so there's still quite a few—but we're getting there! J

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  

Chapter 28

The Hospital Wing

The next morning Lily awoke bright and early. The sun was sparkling down on the Hogwarts grounds and Lily wandered to the window, and pulled open the curtains to reveal a beautiful morning.

But something near Hagrid's cabin drew Lily's attention. Hagrid and Madam Pomfry were escorting someone out of his hut and up towards the castle. It took Lily less than a second to recognize that the person they were ushering was Joe.

Not wasting a minute, Lily pulled on her school attire, and raced out the door. She flew up the boys' dormitory steps, and into James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter's room. She pulled back Remus's bed hangings, and shook him awake.

"Remus! I have great news!" Lily whispered fervently.

"What is it, Lily?"

"It's Joe! They're leading him up to the school right now!" Lily exclaimed. "You have to come quick…"

"Now? He's awake?" Remus asked uncomprehendingly. But he shoved back his covers, and pulled on pants over his pajamas, and yanking a sweater on over his head.

"Yes!" Lily cried. "Hurry up!" Lily moved towards James's bedside, but Remus put out a hand to stop her.

"He hardly got any sleep last night. We can tell him later." He replied softly.

Lily looked at him. "Okay, but let's get moving."

"Someone's a little over-excited." Remus chuckled.

"Come on now, you know I'm just hoping to find out if he's all right… if anyone, you should be the one hustling down there…"

"I know, I know! I was just kidding." Said Remus. "Where do you think he is?"

"Probably in the hospital wing, or something." Lily said urgently. "Let's move." She said, shoving Remus out the door.

"Lily, you're going to wake up the whole tower…" Remus said.

But the two of them hurried down the corridors and down staircases until they reached the fourth floor. Lily peered into the hospital wing window, and saw Madam Pomfry getting Joe situated in one of the beds. Remus wrenched the door open, and held the door open for Lily.

"Lily?" Joe muttered softly. "Whatter you doin' here?"

"We came to see you." Lily answered, glancing awkwardly at Madam Pomfry, who scuttled out of the room.

"That was nice." Said Joe thickly. He paused and closed his eyes. His hands moved up to his face and touched some of his cuts, as though he was slowly remembering what happened. "Wait… you… you all were there…"

"What? Us?" Remus said nervously.

"Yeah. I remember… I came outside, and Lily was runnin' toward me, telling me to leave… then a wolf came and attacked me. Then it changed inta you…" He murmured, pointing to Remus. "Then I passed clear away…"

Remus chuckled fearfully. "What a crazy dream that was!"

"Remus!" Lily scolded. "He knows. We might as well just tell him."

Joe looked up at them apprehensively. "Tell me what?" Then he studied Remus's face and added, "You're a werewolf, ain't cha?"

Remus looked solemn. "Yes."

"But you can't tell anybody, Joe." Lily added anxiously. "No one can know, all right? It has to be a secret. Remus would have such a hard time if--"

"Do the teachers know?" Joe interrupted.

"Of course they do." Said Lily. "How could they not?"

There was an awkward silence during which Joe touched his face, and tried to determine the seriousness of his cuts.

"I'm really sorry, you know." Remus said softly, as though he really didn't know what to say.

"It was an accident." Joe replied softly. For a moment, Lily wondered if he really meant that. Joe pulled up his shirtsleeves to examine his arms. "Sure did get bloodied up pretty bad though, didn' I? Lookit me shoulder…" He announced as though he were sporting a war-wound.

"Yeah." Remus said uneasily. "I really didn't mean to-"

"It's okay-- really." Joe assured. "You didn' mean tah."

"But what if you… become a werewolf?"

"I'll take it as it comes." Joe shrugged, but Lily saw a flash of terror rush across his face. 

At that moment, Madam Pomfry came bustling back in, reprimanding them. "Now, I'm afraid I must ask you both to leave my patient in peace… Really, he just arrived…"

"Madam Pomfry, he's not going to become a werewolf, is he?" Remus asked her, as she started to shove them out the door.

She paused, and looked at Joe over her shoulder. "Luckily, no. But only the next full moon will tell for sure."

"Thank you, Madam Pomfry." Remus said politely, as he led the way out. He gave a small wave to Joe and a meek smile.

"See you around, Lily." Joe said, grinning and making his cuts look far more prominent.

"Yeah. See you." Lily replied, closing the door behind her. "Well, that's fortunate, isn't it?" Lily added to Remus as they made their way down to Grand Hall.

"Very," He said. "I can't even express how relieved I am."

"Me either." Lily said happily. "Well, now you've got nothing to worry about, do you?"

"Nothing to worry about?" Remus repeated. "You must be joking! What if we can't trust him?! What is he going to tell his parents and friends? Everyone's going to find out…"

"No they won't, Remus." Lily assured. "I'm sure that Joe is trustworthy."

"You mean like Siverus?"

"We don't know for a fact that he was the one who told Voldemort about you." Lily said, though she doubted what she was telling him. "It could have been anyone!"

"Anyone?" Remus said again. "Anyone like whom? Like James, Peter or Sirius? Like you? No one else knows, Lily!"

"Okay… but still…"

"No, Lily. This is getting out of control." Remus sighed heavily.

"I guess you're right." She said quietly. "Maybe you could talk to Dumbledore! He might know what to say…"

"Maybe." Remus said uncertainly. "But I doubt it." He sighed.

"It was only a suggestion." Lily shrugged.

"And a good one." Remus smiled. "But I'm just not—I think we should bring James some toast or something from the Grand Hall." He changed the subject.

"Er, all right." Lily said, sensing the tension in Remus's voice.

They headed down to that Hall, and grabbed a napkin full of toast, and brought it back up to Gryffindor Tower.

"Why don't you take it to him?" Lily recommended. "I'm going to finish getting ready for class." She grabbed a piece of toast from the pile, and took a large bite.

"Okay, see you in Transfiguration, then." Remus said, heading up the boys' steps, while Lily turned up the girls'.

"Morning Lily." Belle said as Lily opened the door softly.

"Hey." She beamed. Then she noticed Madison brushing her long, shining black hair in the corner. "Hello Madison." She added stiffly.

"Evans." Madison acknowledged. But she simply shoved past Lily and Belle and slammed the door behind her.

"God." Belle remarked. "What's up with her?"

"Well, you know." Lily shrugged. Even though Lily hadn't spoken to Madison in over a week, Lily still hadn't found it in her heart to tell Belle why. "It's probably those Slytherins. I think they're having a bad influence on her."

"Yeah. I dunno why she hangs around them, anyway." Belle sighed. "I mean, we're way cooler than that lot."

"I know what you mean." Lily chuckled, thinking of Snape.

"And you know something?"

"What?" Lily asked, taking another bite of toast.

"Well, Madison's been acting really strange recently." Belle said in a hushed tone.

"More so than usual?" Lily joked.

Belle breathed heavily. "Yes, more so than usual. But really. She's left our dormitory late at night, like, four times."

"Really?" Lily asked. "That is strange…"

"Yeah. And then she's always hanging around Lucius and that Lestrange kid…"

"Well, I noticed that much." Lily rolled her eyes.

"Think we should tell McGonagall?" Belle asked Lily grimly.

"No. Let her have her fun." Lily scoffed. "Let's get to class." She said, and the two of them grabbed their books in silence, and headed downstairs.