A. N: Hey guys! Sry for the slight delay, I've been busy lately. And I had a bout of writers block, but I'm better now! anyways, thank you reviewers, I'm still trying to figure out how this whole website thingy works. anyways! Enjoy!

Yes yes, I don't own anything in the Potterverse, yada yada.

The next day, Lily awoke feeling pleasantly well rested.

"Morning!" she called to Emily, who had just pulled back her hangings. She blinked sleepily at Lily.

"Lily… you're showered and dressed, and it's only…" she checked her clock, "seven thirty! What's up with you?"

"Monday, Emily," Lily said with a smile, and opened the dormitory door.

"But you hate Monday!" Emily called after her.

As Lily entered the common room, she spotted Remus sitting by the fire, doing some homework.

"Good morning, Lily," he said as she sat down next to him.

"Hey… do you want to go down and grab some breakfast?" she asked.

"No thank you, I've already eaten. James and Sirius are in the Great Hall, I believe. Perhaps you would like to join them instead?"

"Maybe I'll just… wait for Emily to get ready…"

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"So how did you find that essay that Slughorn set us?" she asked.

"Brutal. You?"

"Well, I found it quite easy, myself."

"Ah, well we all know how much he loves his little Lily Evans," Remus joked.

"Now now! What's that supposed to mean?" she asked playfully.

"Come on, we all know you're his favorite, even if you are in Gryffindor."

"Yeah, I guess. I'm a crap potion brewer compared to Snape, though."

"Snivellus? He botches every potion he brews because of him dripping grease into it."

Lily wrinkled her nose in distaste. She could never like Snape if she could help it, but at the same time he had never really made a deliberate attempt to permanently harm her.

"Well then he'll just have to deal with it then," she said. "Hey maybe I'll head down to the Great Hall after all, I'm famished."

But just as she made to get up, Sirius and James burst through the portrait hole.

"Evans!" Sirius called.

"How do you do?" James asked her, doing an extremely fake imitation of a gentleman.

Lily rolled her eyes and smiled. "Quite well, and yourself?"

"Not too shabby," he said, ignoring the look Sirius shot at Remus. James had, of course, told them all about his and Lily's conversation the previous night.

"Hungry, Evans?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, we nicked some food for Moony here," said James.

"Really," said Lily. "I thought you already ate!"

"Yes, well, it's really best for me to stay away from people for awhile… just until it… dies down," said Remus.

Lily looked at him sympathetically.

Sensing this, Remus said, "And I don't need your sympathy! It wont help things one bit."

She averted her gaze and accepted a piece of toast from Sirius.

"Hey Lily, you ready for that Transfiguration test tomorrow?" asked James.

"I'm not too sure," she replied, munching on her toast. "I'm having trouble shrinking body parts, I can't always get my hand the right size on the first try."

"Really?" James said, raising his eyebrows. "How about I help you out in our free period, just before lunch?"

"Charms. How about this evening, after supper?" Lily ignored the fact that he had apparently memorized her timetable.

"Brilliant," he said, smiling. "I'd best be off, Quidditch trials to organize for tomorrow."

"So, Lily," said Sirius in a businesslike tone. "Care for a little jaunt before classes begin?"

"Erm…"

"Excellent, we'll be back soon, Moony," said Sirius.

"Right," said Remus, too busy concentrating to look up.

Neither of them said anything for a moment after they exited the common room.

"Moony…" said Lily, thinking.

"What d'you think it means?" said Sirius, with a smile that simply said I know something that you don't!

"Well, it's obviously because he's a werewolf," said Lily. "But the others… Wormtail… Padfoot… Prongs. Rat, dog, and… something with antlers, I'm assuming?"

"Yeah, a stag."

"But… why? Are they shapes of your Patronuses?"

"Good guess," said Sirius. "But a werewolf is what Moony turns into, not the form that his Patronus takes."

"You don't mean…"

"Yep."

Lily looked at him incredulously. "But… why... how... when?"

"Last year. That way we can be around him and not worry about being attacked. Werewolves only crave human blood."

"Sirius, that's… that's unbelievable!"

"Oh yeah?" said Sirius. He looked around the deserted hall, turned into a dog and back again, and shot a grin at Lily's amazed face.

"Do you have any idea how illegal that is?" she asked frantically.

"Of course. But we pulled it off, over and done, no biggie." He smiled at the petrified look on her face.

"I should have known you four were up to something stupid like this! So that's where you're off to every month?"

"Yes ma'am. But you have to understand; we did this for our friend who needed us! Our becoming Animagi wasn't for attention or anything, it was so that our good friend Moony didn't have to go through such horrors alone."

Lily considered this. "I guess you've got a point."

"It's just that the whole story doesn't really make sense without knowing this. Where do we go each month? How did Snape see James while he was in the Shrieking Shack?"

"Right. So why are you telling me this?"

"Well, it's just, we like you. We trust you. Of course, we consider you one of our good friends, even if you have planted a decent hex on us now and then," he said with a smile. "So now that you know, you're one of us. Sort of."

"What do you mean, sort of? I did get Remus back to you guys all by myself, didn't I?"

"Well, yes, but you're not quite an Animagus."

"Oh, right. Well, I guess this is good enough then!" Lily wasn't too intent on becoming an Animagus; she shuddered to even think about the horrors that could happen if the process went wrong.

A bell sounded in the distance.

"Transfiguration," said Lily. "If only McGonagall knew about this, she'd probably worship you."

"I wish," said Sirius, and they headed off to class.