Disclaimer on first page (first chapter).
A/N: Revision of the chapter, added part at the very end.

Oh Dreaded Night!
Chapter Ten

Sirius had fallen asleep. His head, in addition to being pressed against the book he was once reading, was at the foot of his bed. A bead of drool slipped from his open mouth and splashed onto the open page. It was what Lupin called a typical late afternoon-Sunday-Sirius. He blamed Sirius' exhaustion on James' love for Quidditch. If James hadn't wakened them at such an early hour, Sirius might be his usual awake self, but indeed, James had cut off their already short sleep time (with much protest, even from Sirius whose love for Quidditch might rival James'). The boys had only gone to sleep three hours earlier. Saturday nights were often reserved for staying up much too late (or early, depending on how you viewed it).

Lupin blamed it on the sugar content of all the chocolate they digested. However, it could have been that they weren't able to calm themselves down after discussing their ultimate plan: covering the great hall in a great hill of snow and having toboggan racing tournaments. While Lupin favoured a non-enchanted toboggan, the other three argued that the sled needed to be enchanted so that one could ride up the hill as well as down. Or, if they couldn't steer the sled upwards, something akin to a ski lift would have to be installed in the room, as the hill would be far too steep to climb back up time after time. Other winter games included a contest for the best Snape look-alike snowman (which wouldn't be hard to accomplish because "Snape is even colder than snow") and a house-against-house snowball fight up in the air, on their brooms. And as refreshments, Bertie Botts would serve every flavour snow cones and everyone would avoid the yellow ones.

Peter gave a funny description of Dumbledore sliding down the hill with snow cone in hand, finding that he again picked a vomit flavoured treat (he told his Bertie Botts story to each Hogwarts attendee at least by their second year) and skidding off course and crash landing upside down, feet sticking up out of the snow. James added that he might knock down several Snape-men in the process. Sirius added that he might knock down Snape-men as well as Snape himself, vomit-flavoured snow cone knocked out of Dumbledore's hand, landing in the boy's mouth. Lupin pointed out, however, that Snape was the least likely person to attend, since he was not one for "social events", and while he might not have attacked his friend, he certainly did not defend him. After this realization surfaced, Lupin felt ill for the rest of the evening. The only thing that saved him the least bit was that no matter what he'd say to these three about how bad Snape actually wasn't – they wouldn't believe him. So maybe it was right in keeping his mouth shut.

The feeling had not disappeared yet, and it was now afternoon, and he might want to talk about this with Sirius but maybe it was a good thing after all that he was asleep. He knew this couldn't compare to the secret he kept about his own condition, but it was one of those things that was just as difficult to speak about. Snape. Perhaps the boys would just find out about his friendship with Snape and he wouldn't have to explain anything. Maybe they would be just as accepting. They had to be. Surely being friends with Snape isn't as bad as their friend being a werewolf. Or was it? The boys seemed fickle when it came to this sort of thing. They might become Animagi to help Lupin in future transformations, but how might they help him through the duration of his and Snape's friendship? By staying away? By becoming friends with him, too? By completely forfeiting their friendship with Lupin because of it? Could Lupin take that chance?

He watched Sirius sleeping for a few moments longer and then hurried out of the room and into the common room. James and Peter were playing a game of chess. Two fifth-years, a boy and a girl, were snuggled together on a large comfy chair, shamefully flirting by pulling each other's hair and gazing into each other's eyes. Two third-years were watching latter mentioned couple and were snickering. Lily was rolling her eyes, which were now away from her book about Muggles, either at the third-years or fifth-years – it was hard to tell, or perhaps it was both. She did notice Lupin, though, and motioned him to come over. He looked to James, who seemed to be too deep into thought on his next move to notice Lupin join Lily (who was sitting at the couch). Although, once he did reach Lily, he saw James out of the corner of his eye watching him.

"'Lo Remus."

"Hello there, Lily." He looked to James and Peter. Peter smiled, but James kept a straight face and returned to concentrating on his next move. Remus smiled back.

"You look tired. Up all night with your mates scheming something new?" She winked.

"Nah. Nothing like that."

"Hmmm. I hope it was a good enough discussion, then, to keep you up to all hours and lose sleep over."

Lupin smiled. "I guess it was."

"No loss then." She patted the seat next to her to invite him to sit. He hesitated for a moment, as he didn't want to remain standing there like an idiot.

"No, none at all."

There was a pause for a moment between them. Peter shouted behind them, "I win!"

James mumbled, "Good game." And stood up from the board and made his way back to his bedroom, head lowered.

Lily looked behind them. "Good job, Peter!"

Peter beamed. "It's the first time I beat James!"

"I find that hard to believe." Lily said without sarcasm.

Peter walked up to the couch, leaning over to rest over the back of the couch and to be closer to Lily and Lupin. "How is it hard to believe? Haven't you ever seen his marks?"

"I have seen them. However, I'm not one to believe that marks completely dictate one's intelligence. In some cases, good marks in class show the capability of memorization of facts. A chimpanzee could do just as well in that case."

Peter laughed at Lily's mention of "chimpanzee". "Oh, hello James."

Apparently, James had come back (or maybe never made it back to his room). James nodded at his friend, but it looked like he was barely able to speak. His face turned the reddest Lupin had seen since Snape turned James' tongue into a party favor. By the shade of red, Lupin could only guess that that prank was even less embarrassing than being compared to a chimpanzee. He turned to Lily, who was staring at James, rather unapologetically. He wanted to nudge her, so that she might say something, but the two just stared at each other. Lupin closed his eyes…

"Remus, why don't we go down to the library?" She finally spoke.

"I… uh…" Lily grabbed Lupin's arm and pulled him off the couch with her. He was being taken for a walk against his will. He couldn't even stutter out another word, her fingers dug into his skin so deep. She finally let go as they were heading down the stairs.

"I'm sorry, Remus." She looked down at his arm, her handprint beginning to show. "I just… he was standing there like a complete idiot staring at me. What is his problem?"

"I think he just wanted to join in the conversation." He rubbed his arm.

"Serves him right for just standing there without letting us know he was there. I might not have compared him to a chimpanzee if I knew he was still there. Although," she laughed, "maybe I would."

"He might not show it, but I think he just wants to be friends with you."

She considered the possibility for a moment. "Friends? With me? I don't think so, Remus."

"He does! He never has a bad word to say about you. In fact, just the other day, he was saying how you're the smartest girl in our class."

She smiled, but she quickly hid it. "Well, that's not exactly a compliment. It doesn't have to be, anyway. He could just be stating a fact. Er, I don't mean to say that I'm the smartest girl in our class, but…"

"But you are."

She blushed. "You're the smartest boy in our class," she whispered.

"That's not the point, Lily. Thank you, but that's not where I meant to go with this conversation. I think you should consider James as a potential friend, not a potential enemy. I know that he and Sirius can seem… immature… but really, I wouldn't be friends with them if they were as awful as you make them out to be."

"I don't know, Remus. They're awful to some of the girls in the class. Well, they're awful to everyone really; do you see how they treat poor Snape? I mean, I'm a not friend with the boy, but no one should be picked on as much as they pick on him. Aren't you friends with Snape? I… see you with him sometimes in the library. It's nice that you talk to him. I wouldn't, but it's nice that he has someone to talk to, nevertheless. Couldn't you say something to them? Don't they know that he's your friend?"

"Well… they don't exactly know that I speak with him. I'm not quite sure how they'd react. James and Sev—Snape… they're quite beyond repair at this point."

"But that's my point, Remus! They're going on as if they were six year-olds. If Snape doesn't have the sense to end it, you'd think James would. But he doesn't. Sirius only pushes him even further… I wonder sometimes if James does half of what he does because of Sirius. The boy has to be an awful influence on anyone he meets. Even Peter seems a little full of himself these days. I'm not sure what his influence is on you… other than keeping you from saying anything no matter what."

While Lupin couldn't argue with any of the points she had to make, he couldn't exactly bring up the fact that his friends were also very caring and understanding. Bringing up that fact would bring a few things out in the open that he was not at liberty to discuss. Even if Lily didn't press the matter, it would leave her curious as to why these seemingly careless and immature boys would care for their friend so much and for what reasons. But he wanted to. He wanted to point out all that they were doing for him. He wanted to point out that they loved him despite his great great fault. All he could say was that if she got to know them better, she would most likely get along with them.

"I doubt that. I know more about them than I want to know. We're in the same house; that's enough for me." They entered the library. Their choice of seating was limited to two tables: one that seated a group of Ravenclaws who seemed to be in a heated debate and one that sat a few scattered Slytherins and one Severus Snape. "Do you want to sit by Snape?"

"We don't have to. It's up to you where you want to sit. After all, you dragged me here." Snape noticed Remus, but noticed Lily with him as well. Instead of acknowledging him even further, Snape went back to writing on his parchment, which seemed to curl in an unusually long amount (for the History of Magic essay they were assigned for the weekend, anyway). Lupin sighed.

"Oh. Yes, sorry about that. I just needed to get out of there in a hurry. You might have decided to stick around with your mates instead, and well… I just wouldn't have that." She laughed. Lupin laughed as well. At least she apologized. As if he read her mind, they both headed over to the Ravenclaw table without a word.

They sat quietly, listening to the debate (which so happened to be about the topic of Lily's recent read). Lily had turned to watch the other students as they argued on, occasionally opening her own mouth as if she were about to speak but never did. Lupin watched the students when he wasn't looking at Lily or turning to see if Snape was still in the library. The boy remained, writing furiously on his ever-curling parchment, like a boy possessed. Lupin didn't know whether to find his friend's expression disturbing or funny, but he did left a smirk slip.

From behind him, he heard familiar voices. He didn't know whether his friends noticed him or not (his back was turned to them) but they didn't acknowledge him, either. Sirius moaned, "The only seats available are by Snape. You woke me up to sit next to Snape? I'm out of here."

James protested. "If he doesn't like us there, he can leave."

"Very well."

A moment later, Remus felt a piece of parchment brush against the back of his head, as well as the wind of someone leaving in a hurry. He could only guess it was Snape rushing to leave the library at the sight of the Gryffindor boys. He looked over to where Snape was once sitting and sure enough, the seat was empty. James sat in the chair next to the former sitting place of Snape and Sirius sat across from him, back turned to Lupin and head rested on the table as if he couldn't keep it lifted for very long. James stared back at Lupin without a smile or wave. Lupin knew he had to go over there and sort things out.

He tapped Lily's arm and she barely noticed, as she was so concentrated on the debate, still going strong. He said he'd be right back, and she nodded. He wondered if what he said she had actually heard, but decided to leave without another word in any case. He walked over to James and Sirius. He took the chair next to Sirius, who didn't move at the disturbance, as he was probably fast asleep again.

"What's her problem?" James was quick to say. He was watching Lily, still.

"Well, she's under the impression that you wouldn't want to be friends with her. Where would she get that impression from?"

Sirius lifted his head to turn it towards Lupin. "Who would want to be friends with her? No one said we wanted to be friends with her," Sirius spoke angrily.

"Actually, I do… want to be her friend." James admitted, shyly.

Sirius brought his head up to look at his friend. "Are you mad? Be friends… with Evans? Lily 'I'm-a-Muggle-and-everyone-needs-to-know-so-whether-they-like-it-or-not' Evans?"

"Yes," James whispered.

Sirius lifted his hand to James' forehead. "You feeling all right, Potter?"

James pushed his friend away. "I'm just fine. Let's just drop it. Please?"

A smirk appeared on Sirius' once tired face. "Oh, no. We will not drop it. I must find out the reason behind wanting to become Lily Evan's friend. Maybe you want to do better in class? You're a smart enough bloke I don't know why you could possibly… Or wait! Ha! You fancy her, don't you?"

"I do not!!" James' face burned red.

"You do. James Potter loves Lily Evans!" Sirius shouted over the already quieted conversation of the library.

"Sirius!"

Anyone who knew the two people mentioned by Sirius' outburst turned to look at James and then at Lily. The entire group of Ravenclaws dropped their argument and looked at the embarrassed girl at their table and snickered. Lily, completely horrified, ran out of the library and Lupin, not knowing who it was best to comfort first, ran after her.

"Lily! Lily!"

Lily stopped her run halfway down the hall. She waited for Lupin to catch up with her. She didn't say a word, most likely because she was too embarrassed to even speak. They continued to walk, heading nowhere in particular, Lupin to follow her wherever she decided to go and hide.

Once they approached the Great Hall, she allowed herself to speak once, before bursting into tears, "I hate Sirius Black! But most of all I hate James Potter! I hate James Potter most of all!" Lupin didn't know why he was gravitating towards Lily, but he didn't stop himself. He wrapped his arms around her, and she gave into him, sobbing on his shoulder. He didn't know how to react other than pat her back and to lean his head onto hers. But when the realization that he too fancied her, maybe not quite as much as James did, but a good amount nonetheless, hit him, he all of a sudden wished that he didn't embrace her to console her. In fact, he became so nervous that he felt he might be sick at any moment. But the girl continued to cry and he continued to be the shoulder that she would cry on as long as she was crying. All he knew at this point was that he didn't like the sound of her crying… even if it was over something as small as this… her cries made him horribly upset. He wanted to make her feel better. What makes him feel better?

"Lily?"

"Yes?" She said in between sobs.

"Can I take you back to your room?"

"I don't know if I want to go back just yet."

"Well, let me know when you do want to. I have some chocolate upstairs that might make you feel a bit better."

"Chocolate?" She lifted her head and looked at Lupin with the saddest eyes, but containing that smallest amount of hope at the sound of that magical word, chocolate.

"Yup. All you can stomach."

"I hope you have a lot, then." She sniffed.

"Don't worry, I've got an excellent stash." He smiled, hoping it would make her do the same. And it did.

Sunday evenings normally weren't this quiet in the second-year Gryffindor bedroom. Lupin had just returned from handing Lily a good portion of his chocolate stash. He was sad to see that much chocolate leave him at once, but he knew it was going to a good cause. He nearly blushed again at the thought of Lily telling him that he was "so sweet". He tried not to make it too obvious, although he couldn't get rid of the grin on his face even if he tried.

James was lying in bed, facing away from Peter and Sirius (although Peter did nothing). His face was half buried in his pillow, when Lupin first entered, and then moved even deeper into the pillow once Lupin was half across the room. Sirius was asleep, again. Or, at least pretending to be. Lupin was convinced it was the latter, as the boy's eyes looked as if they would open at any moment if someone began to speak. Peter looked to be finishing his homework, oblivious to what was going on, still soaking in the victory of his latest chess game. He wasn't one to go on endlessly about such things, but the smile on his face, especially while doing homework, was easy enough to figure out.

Lupin placed his half piece of chocolate on his nightstand, and without giving it much of a thought, took out his lunar charts. The full moon was little over a week away; a fact that he already knew but again needed to check on. In another habitual movement, he reached for his chocolate and began nibbling at the small piece as if he was nervous. He wasn't exactly nervous, not more than he was wishing the full moon would go away this month. (As if he didn't hope this any other month.) Becoming closer to Lily and Severus only meant two more people that he had to hide his condition from. Perhaps this was what was making him nervous. Didn't Snape ask about his whereabouts last month? There would be no doubt that Lily might ask one of his friends as well… and now that they knew… now that they truly knew where he was… would they be able to keep the secret just as well as he had been able to do? Would Snape or Lily become equally as curious as his other friends and attempt to follow him? Snape certainly had the potential for that. He was caught in the act, in fact. Lupin took another piece of chocolate. He stared down at the chart as if he might burn a whole through the parchment.

Sirius let out a snore. Either the boy had been sleeping earlier, or he had finally fallen asleep with nothing else to do. Lupin couldn't blame Sirius for his outburst. Upon finding out about the girl that his best mate fancies, anyone might have the same reaction. James would continue to deny it, especially because of that remark, but it was only a matter of how long he could continue to. After today, it seemed useless. A good fraction of the school had heard it in the library and would, without a doubt, spread the word to anyone who would hear it. Romances at Hogwarts, or potential ones, were always a good subject of gossip. It didn't matter who they were or how ridiculous it sounded, word always spread like wildfire. James probably knew this. That was probably why his head was buried in his pillow like it was. He knew that James wouldn't stay that mad at his friend for that long. He gave it until tomorrow morning before they would be talking to each other again. It might even be as early as later on tonight (if anyone was awake at that point) that they would be talking and laughing and plotting something with each other. But for now, things were quiet. He shouldn't be complaining.

In fact, now was the perfect time to put in an order for Christmas presents for his friends. He had a very limited amount that he could spend, but he absolutely had to get something for his friends for the holiday… every one of them. He took out his owl order catalogue and flipped through the pages, wishing he had more money to get his friends better presents than he could afford. But it's the thought that counts, right? He would need to convince himself a little better than that.

"You never told me you were into Mudbloods, Potter." A rather smug Severus Snape approached his shared desk with James. Lupin had not yet left James' side, as his friend was showing, from a catalogue, what he planned to get Peter for Christmas.

"Stuff it, Snivellus." James barely looked up from the catalogue.

"I find it endearing… it's as if you've taken pity on the poor girl, by fancying her."

"I do not fancy her!" He continued to deny it.

"You don't have to deny it. The entire school knows by now, thanks to your friend Black's large mouth."

"There's no denying he has a large mouth," James spat. He had not gotten over Sirius' outburst just yet. "But I do not fancy the girl. Kindly shut your mouth at any future comments about it. I'm not in the mood to get in trouble over you today, and I swear if you don't keep it shut I'll turn you into something so horrible – even for yourself."

"It won't be candy corn, will it?"

"So… when it came time for Snape to hand in his assignment he burst out, 'Potter ate my essay!' Oh, I don't know what was funnier, Snape's excuse or the expression on McGonagall's face of pure disbelief."

"She really doesn't like Snape, does she?" Sirius laughed.

"I don't think so. At least, she makes it seem like she doesn't. But she gives everyone an equally difficult time in that class. At least she's fair in that respect. Well, aside from the fact that she takes more points away from her own house than from any other one. What in Merlin is that about?"

"So, what did it taste like?" Peter asked, completely disregarding the comments about Professor McGonagall.

"It looked like a candy corn, felt like a candy corn, but sadly it tasted like parchment… with a hint of ink."

Lupin laughed and asked, "How do you know what parchment tastes like?" His friend blushed.

"Snape. Leave." James had come up to the table that Lupin and Snape were sharing in the library. Snape appeared to be rewriting his Transfiguration essay and Lupin had an open History of Magic textbook in front of him. Otherwise, there seemed to be no signs that the boys had even spoken to each other, let alone bothered one another.

"I was sitting here…" Snape hissed back. He held onto his parchment as if he was protected it from James.

"I don't care. You're bothering my friend. Now leave." James would not sit down until he knew that Snape was out of his site. He probably wouldn't stop bothering him until he was out of his site, as well. He added, "I don't care where you sit as long as it's not here. As a matter of fact, it would probably be best if you left the library all together."

"He wasn't…" Lupin started, but Snape interrupted.

"It's all right, Lupin, no use in getting through to his thick skull. I'll leave." Snape left the table quickly.

James quickly forgot about the person once sitting there. He sat down next to Lupin and immediately asked, "How is she? How is… Lily? Is she okay? Did you make sure she was okay when you left us?" He asked this as if it had been bothering him all day long.

"I think that's she's all right. Horribly embarrassed, and rightly so." He turned to follow Snape out of the room, when all Snape did was change tables. He sighed and returned to following James' eager questions.

"Sirius is such an idiot! Why did he have to go and do that?" James looked upset.

"Why is this bothering you so much if you don't fancy her? Just get on with things. Worse things have happened and you haven't let them effect you as much as this."

"That's true. But… ever since Sirius let those words out I've been thinking. Maybe I really do fancy her. Maybe that's why I've been letting it bother me." Lupin was astonished at James' confession. He had known all along, really, but he didn't think that James would admit to it so soon. He smiled, and was just about to comment on his friend's confession when an arm reached out between James and Lupin. It was Snape.

"Sorry, forgot my quill. Must say I came back at just the right time, though… just in time to see how thick James Potter really is. Admitting the obvious…" Snape snatched his quill from the table. "Really Potter," he said rather loudly, "You shouldn't go about the school denying your feelings for Lily Evans when you're really fond of her."

James jumped from his seat and pulled out his wand, face to face with Snape who was also pointing his wand at the other boy. Lupin jumped up just as quickly and attempted to separate the two by getting directly in the middle. He faced Snape and angrily mouthed the word, "Leave." After the boy backed away, frightened, Lupin then faced James, holding back the urge to push James into the table. There was two things holding him back from actually touching James: the fact that they now had an audience and the look of terror on James' face. James followed Snape in exiting the library, which left Lupin by himself despite the onlookers. He didn't know whether to sit back down as if nothing had happened or to gather his things and leave the library just as quickly as his friends did. He didn't know where he would go though, as he had a bad feeling that he just spooked and frightened away two of his friends. Although, how he did, he didn't know.

"I know the wolf can't jump out of you at any time, but in that moment I thought it might." James tried to explain.

"I admit I was rather upset," was all he could say at this point. He didn't let James know, but he was actually furious with his friend. He was upset that Snape could elicit such a response from James (always ready to stick his wand in the boy's face). He was confused as to why Snape could elicit such a response from himself, as he was ready to protect Snape as he would any of his other friends. He was embarrassed that James had seen this side of him, but he had the feeling that James really didn't notice, or if he did notice, he just did not care. Lupin thought it might be the latter, as James did not seem to care to split Lupin and Snape up as they were very obviously sitting together.

"You should just let me handle Snape from now on. I think he's getting the impression that you're his friend, or something."

"Well…"

"What, were you studying together?" James asked, suspiciously.

"We do, sometimes."

"You do? I hope it's Potions you're studying, at least that is where he seems to exceed."

"He does exceed at Potions."

"Ugh. Well, I don't see how you could sit at the same table as him." James looked revolted. "I don't think I'd sit there if it was the last seat available in the room. I'd rather stand or sit on the floor." What Lupin wanted to say was, Sorry you feel that way. But he only considered what James had to say for a moment and nodded. "Besides," James continued, "He only left his quill at the table so that he could come back for it and sneak in our conversation."

That much, Lupin thought, was true. He didn't blame for James getting upset for him at that, or for the words said to James. Snape knew by now that Lily was a tender subject for James at this point in time. He had purposely said those words to get James upset. But what he didn't understand was the reason he bothered to do this in front of Lupin. Did he want a response from Lupin as well? Did Snape get the response that he was looking for?

"You'd like for all of us to get along, wouldn't you? Wouldn't that be lovely? Remus Lupin, the dreamer. Because that's all it really is, Lupin, a dream."

He looked to James and knew by the look of disgust on his face that peace amongst the boys would not be possible. Although James continued to remark upon how much he hated Snape and how much Snape was out to make his life miserable, Lupin disguised his face to make it seem like he was actually listening and agreeing with his friend. When really, he was counting down the days until he could have a few weeks peace at home away from his friends, away from everyone.


Reviewers/Readers: I have decided that this story will go on for two more chapters (or three, depending how I plan to end this). At least, I think that's what is going to happen. I really think that I can go no further with this story. I have developed whom and what I wanted to and there's nothing left to do but let time takes its course. I hope to start a fic focusing on later years of Hogwarts. I also have a shorter fiction in the works, which might come some time before the next full story. The Thief Kuronue: Snape is rather likable in this fic, I think, even when he is being annoying and hopelessly sarcastic and bitter. In my universe, Lupin and Snape were rather good friends during school… perhaps more than they'd like to admit. I hope this comes across all right in this story. Neoma: Thank you for your comment. I'm happy you think it was original… I was really concerned over how I'd present it, because it's been written so many other times that it's quite possible something similar exists. While it might, I have yet to run across one. The idea popped in my head one night, and I found that way of discovering so much more exciting that Lupin just straight out telling them or some of the other ways. MissPadfoot92: I hope you continue to read and find out the answers to the question you were asking ;)

Please, Please, other readers who might be reading but not reviewing review!!! I need feedback. Or just to know that someone out there is reading this story. Also, I have another story in the works, unrelated to this, Here At Dark Corners please take a look at that too. Thank you. :)