It was Christmas at Hogwarts and all the students had gone home to spend time with their parents; afterall, with Voldemort on the rampage, it could be the last time they saw eachother. The only students who had stayed were four boys who couldn't go home. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, otherwise known as the Marauders. These very Marauders were leaving their dormitory to sneak out for a rave in Hogsmead as they came across a great surprise that would change their lives.
"Shh!" Came from an invisible bunch of boys on the stairs to the sixth year Gryfindor boy's dorms.
"Remind me again, Prongsie, why we're hiding when we're the only students in the castle?"
"Gotta keep up appearances, if you know what I mean."
All of a sudden the boys' conversation stopped as the looked at a figure of a girl, doubled over in sobs, on the arm chair in the common room. They exchanged glances and Remus stepped out from under the cloak and walked to her.
"Lils?" he asked while putting an arm around her. "What's the matter? Why are you here?"
She leaned into him, choking down her sobs.
"He killed them, Remmy, he killed my mum and dad."
The rest of the boys, who had been listening to find out what was wrong with the normally composed prefect, took that as their cue to leave. Sirius and James started up the stairs and took no notice to Peter attempting to stay behind until he wasn't invisible.
Remus pulled the crying girl into him. "Its okay, Lily, it'll all be alright."
"No! It won't! He killed them while Petunia and I were at the store, shopping for Christmas dinner. We came home and it was so quite, but I could see it in the window. The dark mark was floating in the living room and I knew what had happened. I knew he had come for me but took them instead."
She broke into uncontrolled sobs and clung to his robes tighter than she had been before. He subconsciously patted her hair and placed kisses on her head until she calmed enough to talk more.
"Now Petunia hates me. She's planning the funeral with her fiancé, Vernon, and I'm not invited. They won't even tell me when or where the funeral is. I can't even say a proper good-bye to my own parents!"
Remus stroked her hair some more and started rubbing small circles on her back, whispering comforting words in her ear. She fell asleep in his arms and he slowly and gently picked her up and carried her up the stairs to his dormitory.
James opened the door for him as though he'd expected them coming. Remus shot him a quizzical look while laying Lily on his bed. James held up the Marauder's Map as to explain everything. All he got was a nod in return, because the other boy was covering up the fragile girl on his bed and kissing her forehead. He closed the curtains around his bed and walked over to the other boys.
They sat on the floor in front of James' bed (noticeable with the lovely Quiditch sheets and quilt on it) for what seemed like ages. Finally, Sirius broke the silence.
"Remus?" Remus looked at him in acknowledgement, "When did you get so close to Evans? She won't talk to any of us but yet she told you what made her heart break in two."
He sighed. "Well, I guess now it doesn't matter. Its not like we were hiding it or anything, we just didn't feel the need for it to get around. Lily and I are cousins. We grew up together and were always really close. I guess we grew apart when we made friends here. She was hurt, when you guys put her down on the train, and she didn't want to force me to chose between family and friends so she made her own friends and we didn't talk much. We still spent summers together, though."
The boys did something then that they normally wouldn't do. They hugged Remus. Remus hugged back and stood up.
"If you'll excuse me, I have a firecall to make."
They nodded and Remus walked downstairs and grabbed floo powder. He tossed it in the flames.
"Petunia!" He said in a very dangerous voice. Petunia's head appeared, frightened, in the fireplace.
"What do you want, freak?"
"You are to let me know what Auntie Rose and Uncle Gerald's funeral is. I will be escorting Lily and if there are any objections, you'll find yourself unable to keep Vernon's attention with buck teeth, bushy eyebrows and irreversible, puke green hair."
Petunia, looking horrified, then scrunched up her face. "Fine. But you better not act like freaks. I'll owl it to you tomorrow."
Remus nodded and dismissed her. Then he joined the others in his dorm.
Lily had started whimpering shortly after Remus left the room. It had gotten really bad, so James undid the curtains and sat next to her, drawing her close and whispering calming words to her. She stopped almost immediately, and snuggled closer to him. Eventually, James fell asleep with her snuggling him. He wasn't use to falling asleep without the flutter of golden snitches across his body, but having her lying with him was so… comfortable and right that he didn't think twice and let himself fall asleep with his head resting on hers.
Remus looked at them once before looking around the room. Peter was snoring in his bed already and Sirius motioned for him to join in his bed. They had started a relationship about three months ago but kept it on the down low. Tonight, they would sleep together and risk the chances of being discovered in the morning. Remus snuggled into his lover and let the tears fall. Sirius just held him close and kissed him. They fell asleep like that.
