Falling

Remus stood in front of the enormous castle. He had told Lily to go first so no one would really suspect anything. Remus lingered outside until the sun had finally set and night began to fall. He looked up and saw dark clouds racing in from the south. He could hear the gentle chirping of crickets and the sound of the wind whistling through the trees. In the distance he could see fireflies chasing each other and in midst of it all, he, Remus Lupin, was on top of the world. He touched his cheek and realized he was still flushed from the kiss.

"Lily," he murmured softly. He looked up to the sky and saw the moon slowly begin to rise. He shuddered involuntarily. How he hated the moon. It was a clock, ticking away his time until he became... Remus gave another shudder. "A monster," he whispered. "A werewolf." His mind wandered and he thought about the day he had been bitten. 'If only I had stayed inside,' he thought. 'If only I had listened, if only the moon hadn't been so bright.'

His thoughts turned back to Lily and he wondered if he should tell her. Would she abandon him? He didn't want to take the risk. He sighed and with one last glance at the moon, he turned to go inside.

'Three more days,' he thought. 'Just three more days.'

"Oy, Moony! Over here!" Sirius called. Remus walked over to where his Sirius and James were sitting in the Great Hall.

"Hey guys," Remus said despondently. He sat down and began helping himself to some bread and a baked potato at the table. "Did you guys have a good detention?" Sirius gave Remus a curious look.

"What's wrong, Remus?" James asked although he was sure he already knew the answer.

"Three more days," Remus whispered as he mashed the potato to bits and shoved it around on his plate with his fork. He suddenly felt sick.

"Don't worry, Moony. We'll be with you," Sirius said loudly, attracting the attention of some nearby first years. Remus gave Sirius a warning look, but then he realized that Sirius was right. His friends would be with him. They were all Animagi and could be with him during his transformations. He cheered up considerably and began to eat the food on his plate.

"So have a good time in Hogsmeade, Remus?" James asked.

"Yeah, I got some chocolate from Honeydukes." Remus patted his bag that was bulging with Honeydukes' best. The three of them laughed.

"You're going to get sick of that stuff one day, Remus."

"Me? Never, chocolate is my life! Oh, and here I picked up some Dungbombs at Zonko's." Remus rummaged in his bag and pulled out a small package and handed it to James.

"Thanks, Moony." There was a slight pause.

"You didn't happen to see who Lily was with did you?" There was an uncomfortable silence. Remus looked at his friend the knot of guilt that had been pushed away during the day had returned and twisted tighter.

"No, I didn't see who it was, sorry Prongs," Remus lied. Sirius quickly changed the subject.

"Can you believe McGonagall? She made us scrub the entire castle!"

"Uh, don't you think you're exaggerating a little, Padfoot?" Remus asked.

"No!" Sirius and James shouted at the same time. The three of them laughed.

"Yeah, honestly, what has gotten into that woman?" James said angrily, temporarily forgetting about Lily.

"We should do something! This is our last year to wreck havoc, after all and we haven't done anything at all." Sirius contorted his face in concentration, obviously thinking about another one of his grand schemes. Remus spotted Peter entering the Great Hall and waved his arm to attract his attention.

"Hey guys!" Peter sat down, his face looking a bit flushed.

"Hey Peter, how were things with Amy?" Remus smirked.

"What? Peter had a date?" James asked in surprise. Sirius let out a barking laugh.

"I didn't know you had it in you, Wormtail!" Sirius slapped Peter on the back and then quickly retreated to his thoughts on how to create chaos.

"So how was your date, Peter?" James questioned innocently.

"Fine, thank you, James," Peter said coldly.

"We were just kidding, Wormtail," Remus apologized and then hesitantly Peter smiled.

"Things were actually better than fine. We went to the Three Broomsticks and then we walked around a bit. But then she decided to come back early and well, I've just come back from the Astronomy Tower." Peter gave a smile. The rest of the Marauders groaned in disgust.

"Uh, okay Peter. No need to go into all the details. We've already heard enough." James shuddered and then his face clouded as he saw Lily enter the Great Hall with her friends. "Why does she hate me?" The other three Marauders exchanged looks.

"It's because you're you. It's nothing personal," Sirius joked. But James only gave him a depressed look.

"No, really, I thought that with this whole Head Boy thing that she would think I'm more than just an immature prat. But she hates me more than ever." He stared hopelessly at Lily who had just sat down at the very end of the table, on the other side of the Great Hall. There was a long silence; no one knew what to say. James just shoved the food around on his plate while the rest stared at him.

"What's wrong with me?" James sighed.

"I've thought of the perfect prank!" Sirius said, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Not tonight, Sirius. I'm just, not in the mood." James got up, "I think I'll go up to sleep now. See you guys in the morning." He walked dejectedly up the stairs and out of sight.

"I'm really starting to worry about him," Sirius said his eyes on James' empty seat. "

"Yeah, this whole thing with Lily is really starting to get to him," Peter agreed. They both looked at Remus.

"What? What am I supposed to do? I've got just as much right to be with her as James does." Sirius looked around.

"Hey, maybe we should continue this conversation in the common room."

"Yeah, you're right, Sirius." Peter nodded and got up, Remus followed. They walked in silence to the Gryffindor Tower. Sirius gave the password to the Fat Lady and then they sat down in front of the fire in the empty common room.

"What should we do about James, then?" Peter asked.

"There's nothing we can do, is there." Sirius gave Remus a look.

"I have just as much right to be with her as James does," Remus said, repeating what he had said down in the Great Hall.

"We weren't accusing you, Remus. We weren't. It's just, well, is Lily worth your friendship with James?" Sirius questioned.

"Why do you keep asking me that?"

"Because you never give us an answer," Peter replied.

"I just don't know, okay? I don't." Remus snapped.

"He's going to find out sooner or later, Remus. He's going to notice how funny you've been acting. He's going to see the way you look at her. He's going to see all that, it's only a matter of time," Sirius said slowly.

"Well I don't care. I don't care if he notices."

"Yes you do, Remus," Peter said softly.

"I don't. I don't," Remus repeated. They sat in quietly, with only the crackle of the flames to break the silence.

"I think we should get to bed, we've all had a long day," Remus said. The other two murmured in agreement and the three of them got off the couches and went up to their dormitory.

Two days later, Remus had spotted Lily in the library. He stared from the doorway, her hair was tied in a loose ponytail and stray strands of hair framed her face. He could feel his heart begin to quicken its pace as he approached her.

"Hey Lily," Remus said nervously. She turned around and gave him a broad smile.

"Hey Remus." He looked down at what she was working on. Professor McGonagall had assigned them to write ten rolls of parchment on Invisibility.

"That took me hours to do," Remus said, nodding to her notes on Invisibility. She groaned in frustration.

"I thought it would be easy, so I saved it for the last minute. I just don't get it; Transfiguration is just so needlessly complicated." She shook her head tiredly. Frowning at the passage she had just read.

"Need help?" Lily's tired eyes lit up.

"Some help would be much appreciated, Remus."

"Alright." Remus sat down next to Lily and reached for her quill. "Okay, it's like this" Remus began to draw out some complicated diagrams for Lily. Every once in a while his arm would brush hers causing them both to blush.

They worked steadily together and had just finished when Madam Pince came in and told them that they had to leave because she was going to close the library. They left and began to wander aimlessly through the corridors. They still had an hour or so before curfew.

"So, is there anywhere you want to go? Or would you rather just go back to the Common Room?" Remus whispered.

"I don't know, anywhere. It doesn't really matter, I'm with you." Remus blushed and reached for her hand. He led her up the stairs to an empty corridor.

"Wait here." Remus walked back and forth in front of a blank wall, and magically a door appeared. He gave her a small smile and held out his hand. "Welcome to the Room of Requirement, Lily."

He opened the door and inside the room was an extremely large fireplace with a fire crackling cheerfully in the grate. In front of the fire, there was a squashy emerald green couch with a large blanket draped over one arm. Remus led Lily over to the couch and conjured up some hot chocolate. He put his arm around Lily's shoulders and they sat together, bathed in the warmth and light of the fire. After a while, moonlight began to spill into the room casting eerie shadows. Remus looked nervously at the soft white light.

"Uh, Lily, there's something I need to tell you." Remus gripped his mug of hot chocolate tightly.

"What is it?" She was worried; she could feel him tense beside her.

"I have to go away tomorrow night."

"Why?" Lily was puzzled.

"It's my mother. She's quite ill," Remus said uncomfortably. He hated lying to Lily, but he couldn't risk losing her. He had no choice but to lie.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"I don't know. The Healers aren't exactly sure what's wrong." There was a pause.

"When will you be back?"

"By Monday evening, I hope."

"Okay, Remus. I'll still be here when you get back." She flashed him a smile that made his heart beat faster. He leaned over and kissed her gently. Lily at first look surprised but then gave another smile and pulled him in for another kiss; a deeper, more passionate one. Lily pulled back and then she frowned.

"Is there something wrong, Lily?" He asked, concerned.

"Oh, it's just that, well" Lily trailed off.

"Lily?"

"It's just that I think I'm falling in love with you." Remus was dumbstruck and stared at Lily with his mouth gaping. She looked nervous and quickly said, "Oh forget it, never mind, just forget I said anything" Remus silenced her with another gentle kiss and then another kiss on her forehead.

"I fell for you a long time ago, Lily."

It was well past midnight and well after curfew by the time they went back to the Gryffindor Tower. The Common Room was almost deserted save a few students with their heads on their desk, fast asleep.

"I had a good time tonight, Remus."

"I did too, Lily. Things are always better with you around, even if I'm slaving over your homework." She punched him gently in the arm.

"You volunteered," she countered jokingly.

"I know." They were quiet; they knew they should go to sleep, but neither one of them felt like going.

"Okay, you should go get some sleep. You look exhausted and what good is all that homework I did for you if you can't be awake in class to hand it in?" Lily chuckled.

"I'll go then; I can tell when I'm not wanted." She stuck her tongue out at him and began to climb the stairs to the girls' dormitories.

"That's really mature," Remus said. But Lily kept walking. "Hey wait." Remus caught her by the arm and gave her a kiss. "Goodnight, Lily." She smiled.

"Goodnight, Remus."

A/N: Sorry this one took a little longer to post and I know it's not even my best. Sorry about that, I'll make sure the next chapter is better. Again thanks to all that reviewed. :) -Jezy.