A/N: I'm glad I have so many new reviewers. Yay. Happy Independence Day! If you're not in America you might not care. But if you're from Great Britain… I have a question. I've just always wondered. How do you all feel about USA's independence day? I don't mean anything by it…I just always wondered. Was it like "good riddance" or "Damn, we lost one!" Anyhoo. Read this chapter, I liked it. I hope you do too. No asshole's today. But only because it's 4th of July. By the way, I'm going out of town (unwillingly) the 5th-7th, so a lapse in updates may occur. I'm sorry, but I promise to update double when I get back!

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Secrets Revealed

The next few days passed through Hogwarts like shell shock. Although deaths had been taking place since Voldemort's rise five years ago and no Hogwarts students had even been injured in the attack, most of the students were left feeling unnerved and for the first time, like their lives had been in real danger.

"They still haven't caught those Death Eaters." remarked Lily while reading the Daily Prophet at breakfast Tuesday morning.

James took a sip of his pumpkin juice. "I'm sure some of the Aurors are on it."

Lily shook her head glumly. "There's a shortage of Aurors these days. They can't really spare sending a whole unit out to investigate when they're already behind on tracking Voldemort."

At the sound of Voldemort's name, an onslaught of forks and glasses were dropped and Lily was told to speak quietly. James nudged her as if to tell her she was in the right.

"Aren't they sending out anyone?" asked Remus. "Not the Aurors, but what about Magical Law Enforcement? This happened right near Hogwarts, you know. They have to send somebody."

"It says here." Lily replied. "That the Minister of Magic is unnerved by the present situation, but realizes there is a higher need for Aurors elsewhere (i.e. searching for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named) and that the Magical Law Enforcement is looking into the case, but hasn't been able to gain evidence involving the case or suspects in the killings."

"Stop reading." interrupted Allison. "You're making me depressed. This is the world we're going into after a couple of months, let's just enjoy our time inside these castle walls."

Lily looked at James who gave her a supportive smile, and she folded the paper and continued eating.

"How much longer do we have of this patrol?" James asked as they rounded yet another silent, dark, corner with nothing remotely suspicious going on around it.

Lily checked her watch. "An hour."

James let out a groan. "Really?"

Lily nodded her head and laughed. "Want to play a game?"

"What kind of game can you play while walking around deserted castle corridors?" James asked, with a bored tone.

"We tell secrets!" Lily explained excitedly. James, who was holding her hand, could feel the girlish excitement pulsing through her.

"Alright. But you start." James replied, smiling. "And I don't think this is a game, I think it's gossiping."

"It's not gossiping because the secrets are supposed to be told about yourself." Lily retorted, still smiling. "And it's a game when you tell them under water and have the other person try and listen and figure it out, but as we can't exactly go swimming at this hour…"

"Well we could." James replied, excitement dancing in his eyes at the thought of breaking rules, one look at Lily's raised eyebrow told him to not get out his trunks anytime soon. "We can play this way too."

"Alright." Lily said. "I'll go first." She thought for a brief moment then smiled. "I stole a sweet once."

James raised his eyebrow. "I can tell the pressure of keeping that one secret has had a great affect on you."

Lily playfully hit him. "For your information that was a very horrific experience for me. My mum wouldn't buy me this lolly, so I stuck it down my blouse and snuck it out of the store with the clerks looking at me funny, but not suspecting anything, or at least they weren't going to stop me. Before I could eat the candy it had all melted on my skin."

"How old were you? Sixteen, seventeen?" James asked, sarcastically. "I bet you winked at them and they just dropped their jaws and completely overlooked the fact you were shoplifting."

"I was five!" defended Lily, smiling. "And I did wink."

James laughed heartily. "Alright, my turn." He looked at Lily for a moment and grinned. "I'm terrified of Healers."

"Well there goes that career option." Lily replied. "Any reason?"

"Not really." James responded. "I think I might have had a traumatizing visit when I was little. But think about it…they always have cold hands. No matter what they're doing, they could have just washed their hands with hot water and their hands would still be ice, and they would still insist on touching you."

Lily laughed. "How did you ever make it through Hogwarts alive? The number of times you've been to the hospital wing is ridiculous."

"You should have seen me first year." James replied, shuddering at the remembrance. "Madam Rider had to hold me down while giving me a potion. And it's only in the last couple of years that I've felt anything close to comfortable there. Madam Rider is different, I guess."

Lily smiled. "I better not become a Healer then. You'll never hold hands with me again!"

"If you really wanted to be a Healer I would wear mittens." James replied, smiling down at her.

"How sweet of you." Lily grinned. "My turn."

"Well then please, reveal yourself." said James, rubbing Lily's hand with his thumb.

"I want a tattoo!" Lily answered in excitement. "Not a big, gaudy one. But a small one put where not too many people could see it. Like my ankle or something."

"You really want a tattoo?" James asked, aghast that Lily, perfect, sweet, innocent Lily, would want such a…rebellious piece of art printed on to her soft, white skin.

Lily nodded with sincerity. "I always thought they looked so neat. My mum will go completely mad if she knew I wanted one, I could only imagine what she would do if I actually got one. So I suppose I'll have to wait till I'm out of the house."

"If you really want one, Sirius knows some great places. He's gotten a few done." replied James, still somewhat in disbelief that he was giving Lily tattoo referrals.

"Really? I don't think I've ever seen them."

James laughed. "Well I doubt you would have, I don't think they're in places he usually shows off to the public. And I don't mean ankles."

Lily giggled as they continued to walk. "Your turn."

James took a deep breath. "I love you."

"I love you, too. But you have to say something the whole planet doesn't already know." Lily flirtatiously replied.

"I want to be an Auror."

Their stroll came to a complete halt as Lily stopped dead in her tracks.

"Really? I thought you were opposed to that career… because of your father."

James shrugged. "I want to be one, I really do. But---do you remember that conversation, or argument we had the first day of school, after we got out of Dumbledore's office?"

Lily nodded reluctantly, she was trying to forget the days she despised James.

"Well you said that you couldn't stand the fact that I was going to be able to go through life with things just handed to me."

Lily shook her head. "James don't pay attention to what I said, or yelled. I was angry, and I don't mean any of those things, because they aren't true, you work hard."

"It is true." James confessed. "If I apply to the Auror Academy in March, they won't even look at my application. They'll see the name James Potter, and they'll send me an acceptance letter."

"Even if your name wasn't Potter, they would have to let you in. You are the most brilliant wizard I've ever seen. You have such amazing raw talent that could never be taught. You're amazing, James, they would be completely foolish not to accept you, with or without your name."

James smiled and bent his neck and gave her a soft, sweet kiss on the lips. "If you think so."

Lily grinned then rolled her eyes. "I think I might have inflated your ego even more."

"It's at a safe level." James replied, grinning. "Don't worry."

They continued to walk until Lily saw a window overlooking the gardens and rushed towards it and looked out.

"What are you looking at?" James asked, bewildered at Lily's interest to look outside, while coming up behind her.

"The stars are always so pretty at Hogwarts." Lily replied, calmly. "Mars is bright tonight."

James laughed. "You sound like a centaur."

Lily turned to him. "How do you know what centaurs sound like?"

"I've run into several. That's all they talk about, the skies, Mars…real beautiful creatures. But never tell them that. And never, never ask for a ride." James shuddered.

Lily smiled and continued to look out the window. "It's a full moon."

"No it isn't. That's tomorrow." James replied without even thinking.

"How do you know? It looks like a full moon to me." Lily replied, pointing to the most certainly full looking moon.

James took her hand and drew out the slight curve in that made the moon slightly less circular. "That part comes in tomorrow."

Lily turned and kissed him on the cheek. "Well aren't you just the smart one. How do you know all of this?"

"I don't take NEWT level Astronomy for nothing." he replied easily. "We've had to do loads of lunar charts."

"I knew I should have taken that class." Lily smiled sarcastically. "I do miss doing those lunar charts."

"Wormtail you stay under the cloak!" Sirius warned.

As they could no longer all fit under the cloak, James had decided to let Peter wear it on their full moon expeditions at the beginning of the year. He and Sirius were smoother when it came to using the map and hiding from teachers who were out late at night. Peter was just plain clumsy.

"Want to go to Hogsmeade tonight?" Sirius asked. "We could go out to the countryside, I'm in the mood for a late night run."

James smiled as they approached the Whomping Willow and Peter turned into Wormtail and scurried to freeze the tree. "Yeah, we haven't had a good run in a while."

Following Peter, they walked through the dusty, dark pathway that led to the Shrieking Shack where Remus would await them, preparing to transform.

"Why hello, Remus!" Sirius greeted, smiling. "It's a nice night tonight, not a cloud in the sky."

"I wish you weren't so chipper on these evenings." Remus grumbled. "I like the clouds. The moon seems to come out slower. He gazed out the window. "You all better transform."

Sirius and James nodded and quickly transformed into Padfoot and Prongs.

Soon the full moon was out, and Remus began to go through the painful transformation into a werewolf.

Lily was calmly reading by the fire in the Heads Common room when she heard someone enter through the portrait hole.

"James?" she called. "Are you back already?"

To her surprise, it wasn't James that walked in, but Ellie, and she looked terribly worried.

"Ellie?" she looked up, with a puzzled expression at one of her best friends. "How'd you get in here?"

Ellie walked over and sat down next to Lily. "I remembered the password from the sleepover."

Lily nodded. "Oh yeah." she smirked. "I knew I should have changed it."

Suddenly burst into sobs. Lily shocked, held on to her friend. "What's wrong, Ellie?"

"I can't find Remus anywhere. Is James here?" she sobbed.

Lily smiled. "They're all out…with Sirius and Peter tonight, didn't he tell you?"

Ellie sat back and wiped her eyes. "No, no…he didn't. I just went up to see if he would like to take a late night walk, like we sometimes do…you know."

"It's ok; he's just out with them tonight." Lily consoled.

"Why wouldn't he tell me?" Ellie asked, somewhat rhetorically. "This isn't the first time, it's happened once before…I just figured, you know, that he forgot to tell me he was out with the guys."

"Well maybe he forgot again." Lily tried optimistically.

"Maybe." agreed Ellie. "But I don't think so."

"I don't think Remus would lie to you." Lily replied. "He's always very honest."

Ellie shrugged hopelessly. "I get the feeling that he's hiding something from me. I mean he's always with his sick mother on odd days and he looks kind of sick every once in a while, and he's just real touchy when asked certain questions." She let out a sigh. "He's going to go see his mother tomorrow, early in the morning…so it's not like I'll be able to see him and talk about it."

Lily's green eyes perked up. "Just ask him when he gets back, Ellie. I'm sure he'll be honest with you, and I'm sure it's nothing serious."

Ellie nodded and gave Lily a watery smile. "Well, thanks for listening to me. I better go, I don't want to be out too late past curfew."

"Alright. See you bright and early tomorrow morning." Lily grinned.

She watched Ellie walk out the door and decided that she was going to wait up for James. She had some questions to ask about his whereabouts, and Remus's.

At five in the morning, James stumbled into the Heads common room, shocked to see his girlfriend, yes Lily Evans was his girlfriend now, awake, sitting on the sofa, reading a book, and looking fairly exhausted.

"Er, Lily?" he greeted as he walked in, yawning.

Lily looked up from her book and yawned as well, she checked her watch. "Good morning."

James looked at her. "Have you been here…up all night?"

"Yes." she replied, giving him a faint smile and yawning.

James frowned. "I told you I was going to be out all night with the guys, you didn't have to wait up for me."

"I wasn't planning on it." Lily replied, calmly, and honestly. "I got a visit from Ellie, James."

James's eyebrows went up and Lily could tell she had his full attention. "What did she want?"

"She went to find Remus for a walk or something and he wasn't there, in the dormitory, and then she came here, and she just has questions. She's worried sick."

James shrugged. "Remus isn't out doing anything she wouldn't approve of, she has nothing to worry about."

Lily raised her eyebrows now. "She doesn't?"

James nodded. "She doesn't have anything to worry about at all."

Lily took a deep breath. "James, Ellie needs to know Remus is a werewolf."

Thanks to chikichiki, IAMSOAP, blufiresprite, whitecamellia, jullybean90, 2005girl, Lily Evans 4 Life, X.Little.Black.Cat.X for being fantastic reviewers and loving my story. Hearts to all!