A/N: Sorry for the delay. I had a mild case of writer's block and used that time to go back and edit the previous chapters. It's painfully amazing how many little mistakes and misspellings I found. I also changed the Potions teacher from Vinitreau to Slughorn, for obvious reasons.

Thanks to everybody who reviewed. Your words make me walk around all day with a big goofy grin on my face. I cannot continue to address every single reviewer, as that would take up too much space, but have confidence that I do read and re-read all of your comments.

Some things I wanted to clarify (kind of like a small F.A.Q.) -

aurelie1 : ...I didn't think Remus' attitude was very natural about Lily. I mean he should at least be tempted and should take a few more precautions before announcing he's a werewolf, shouldn't he?

Remus has never had any experience with girls - he's only thought about them and sometimes wished he had a girlfriend, so naturally he was completely blown out of the water and maybe even a little upset when Lily (very courageously) announced her feelings.

Keep in mind that the Lily/Remus thing isn't the biggest deal. Yeah, it's gonna contribute to the storyline, but there's lots more too! And I never intended this story to be a romance, just a general Marauders thing, although Drama with a capital D is lurking in the horizon...

Allacaya : Narcissa is younger than Bellatrix or they are in the same year?

Other way around. Narcissa's a seventh year, same age as the Marauders, while Bella is one year younger. The sisters, although they have a relatively good relationship, are quite different, which is why they're not in the same social group.

Mayachild : Are you planning to bring in some S/R?

Very good question. The answer, however, is going to be up to you to interpret. There won't be any blatant snogging or any of that, but Sirius and Remus do have a rather special relationship. Right now, though, Remus' love life is currently focused on a certain somebody else...

Thanks again to everybody - your words are well-appreciated!

The Ebony Files

Chapter Three: An Unlikely Partnership

September 6th, 1977

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

When you're anxiously anticipating something, a curious thing seems to happen to time. A second drags itself out much longer, there seem to be thousands of hour in a day, so on and so forth. In short, I could not wait for Friday's Potion class to arrive.

The days passed by at a snail's pace. Between stressful classes, ridiculous loads of homework and devoting all my free time to helping Peter with his schoolwork, I had no room for anything but academics. Night was a completely different story. Taking refuge in the Common was out of the question now, for many people seemed eager to give us a taste of our own medicine, and after James awoke with a lacy red bra glued to his chest and me with my feet transfigured into watermelons, we decided to give up and head back to our dorms.

But I soon came to discover that lying awake in the midst of a few dozen Severus Snapes was just as disconcerting. I'd managed to put a silencing charm on the lot, but their constant blinking and scowling were most unpleasant, especially in the dark. In these sleepless nights, I found my thoughts drifting to Lily...

Half of me was terrified that Lily Evans liked me. I knew for a fact that James would be upset if he found out. Well, 'upset' was an understatement - 'suicidal' was more like it. He'd probably grab the nearest Bludger at the upcoming Quidditch match, hurl it fiercely in my direction, and then dramatically throw himself off his broom, yelling on the way down "I love youuu Lilllyyy!" before crashing to his premature death.

Needless to say, I did not fancy that idea.

But the other half, the other half of me was secretly delighted, because Lily Evans liked me. I never would've seen it coming, not in a million years. Lily was the girl every guy wanted - she was intelligent, she was kindhearted, she was beautiful and she'd picked me of all people, of all the good-looking and popular guys who'd asked her out, she'd actually liked me all this time...

On these nights, I allowed my imagination to wander away, dreaming, pondering, thinking endlessly about Lily, and what it would be like if we were to act upon our desires, free from the whispers of other students, the stricken, betrayed look on James' face...

But in the daytime, especially when I was around James, waves upon waves of guilt crashed upon my conscience, and the little voice in the corner of my mind whispered that James was more important than Lily, he was a better friend, that I couldn't, couldn't even consider it...

Finally, after endless hours of anticipation, I stepped into the chilly Potions classroom alongside James, Sirius and Peter on Friday afternoon. A few Slytherins shot us sour looks as we passed, including Severus Snape, but Horace Slughorn, our enormous, mustached Professor, gave a loud cry of joy before we could return the favor to the Slytherins.

"Oho!" he exclaimed, rushing over to shake hands and pat us on the back. "Well, if isn't James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, the very Princes of Hogwarts themselves!"

I could sense Peter's deep scowl without even looking over. But who could blame him? Slughorn's affection for the well-connected and the talented was infinite, and poor Peter neither had Sirius' heritage nor James' Quidditch reputation nor my talents in the classroom to boast of. Consequently, he was always left out whenever the three of us were issued invitations to join Slughorn in private parties and meetings of 'The Slug Club', though truthfully, nobody really liked to go - James and Sirius always said loudly that it was a waste of precious time that could've been spent charming pencils to shoot up Snape's nostrils.

Slughorn's attention was suddenly parted from the three of us, for Lily Evans had just walked into the classroom with a few of her girlfriends. It was a well-known fact that Lily was Slughorn's treasure, his Diamond in the Rough, so to say. He lumbered over to her and immediately started chatting away loudly as more students filed in and the four of us took seats at the Gryffindor table.

A few minutes later, Slughorn reluctantly let Lily sit down (she shot me a slight wink as she passed, and I felt my lunch do a pirouette). He then stepped up in front of the class, beaming.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts," he said, clapping his fat hands together. "Hope you've all had yourselves a fantastic break - I spent two weeks in Bermuda with the Minster of Magic himself, not a chance you get every day, ladies and gentlemen, not at all. But ah, I digress," he chuckled to himself. "We're here to discuss something much - much more important. Something that will account for over sixty percent of your final Potions N.E.W.T. grade."

At this, the class sat up straighter. I glanced over at the Slytherins and saw that Severus Snape's black eyes were fixed hungrily on Slughorn, who was now pacing the room, obviously enjoying the effect of his words on the class.

"What I'm talking about, of course," continued Slughorn,"is your Potions Partner Project for this year. I see many of you look as if you've been hit with the Confounded Charm - I presume it's because you've never heard about one such project from your older classmates. That's because this is our first year trying it - Dumbledore's agreed to the idea, and it took ages to pass with the council, but once they heard that Horace Slughorn would be teaching...well, let's just say I have my contacts," he winked.

"Over the course of the next nine months, you shall be working with another student in an attempt to invent an original draught or potion. No, Sirius, I've already assigned your partner, so you can let go of Remus' arm, I'm afraid he'll lose feeling in that area if you hold on much longer. I have deliberated these assignments for a long time, and after ah, taking several outside influences into consideration," - his small eyes flickered towards Lily - "I've made my decisions."

The whole class was eerily silent, everybody's attention focused on Slughorn, who had taken a piece of parchment from the pocket of his splendid velvet robes and was now studying it, smiling teasingly.

"Yes, yes, I do believe I've made some very good matches here, it should teach you lot a thing or two. Without further ado, then. James Potter and Frank Longbottom, you two shall be contriving an Invisibility Potion..."

By now, I'd developed a shrewd idea of what Lily had requested from our Potions teacher. It was very obvious, really, Slughorn would've agreed in a second, and the two of us paired together would instantly give him a team to favor about all others. But that still didn't solve the problem of my lycanthropy, as Lily had hinted...

"Lily Evans, you shall attempt to create an antidote for basilisk poison with..." Slughorn announced loudly, and I braced myself, waiting for him to say my name.

"Sirius Black!"

Both James and I whipped around, him to stare accusingly at Sirius, and me at Lily. Consequently, we bumped our foreheads rather hard, and I felt my eyes start to water from the pain.

"Shut up!" James hissed at Sirius, who had of course witnessed our collision and was sniggering uncontrollably. "Damn, Moony, what d'you have instead of brains, cement in there?"

I was too busy looking at Lily to answer him - she'd mouthed, "Gotcha, didn't I?" and was smiling ruefully at me...

"Remus Lupin, my dear boy, pay attention now, you and Severus Snape have a rather difficult one...I want the two of you to come up with a potion to counteract the loss of the human mind during a werewolf's transformation."

Peter gasped loudly, James accidentally missed the bruised forehead he'd been rubbing and poked himself in the eye, and Sirius very uncharacteristically fell out of his chair.

Slughorn frowned, looking over. "Something wrong, boys?"

"No, sir." Sirius said, seating himself again. "Just lost my balance."

"Yeah, you put too much mousse on one side of your head, which unbalanced you," James muttered, rubbing his eye.

My first reaction, however, was to whip around to see Severus' reaction.

Taking into consideration that Severus Snape knew all about my "furry little problem", he should've recognised the irony of the situation - working with a werewolf on an anti-werewolf potion project - but from the look on his face, Severus didn't appear to be too humored. I saw that his thin, pale fingers were balled into tight fists, and his eyes definitely had a hardened look to them as he continued to stare at Slughorn. His Slytherin friends, however, were whispering loudly among themselves and shooting accusing looks towards me as if it was somehow my fault that Slughorn had put us together.

"Oy, Moony, that's just tough," Sirius grimaced.

I nodded distractedly as Narcissa was assigned to work with Alice.

"At least you'll have somebody to test your potion on," James grinned weakly.

"But it's Snivellus he's working with!" Peter pointed out unnecessarily.

I bit my lip and chanced a quick glance over at Lily. In the briefest of seconds, I saw something in her large green eyes that I did not recognise - was it just my imagination, or did she actually look guilty?

I had no time to think about this, for Slughorn was now speaking again.

"Now that you know who you'll be working with for the upcoming semesters, you must gain a deeper understanding of what you'll be doing. Because everybody's project is unique, I shouldn't want to waste your time, so without further ado, accio scrolls!" he flourished his wand.

A dozen colorfully sealed scrolls rose from Slughorn's desk and shot through the air, narrowly missing the heads of those sitting in front. One halted in front of me, suspended in midair. I quickly untied the black ribbon, unfurled the parchment and scanned its contents:

Remus John Lupin & Severus Snape

Objective: Contrive a potion whose effects would prevent a werewolf from losing his human mind at the full moon. Side effects should be kept to a minimum.

At the end of June, you are expected to give a formal presentation in front of many important figures in the Wizarding community as well as hand in a 175-foot manuscript on your project. Attached is a list of books you will find helpful in your research. Materials not available here may be ordered with permission.

Then, at the bottom, Slughorn had scrawled in his crooked handwriting:

This is, by far, the most challenging project I have assigned to any partnership in the class. If you wish to, at the end you may submit your project to be approved of and patented by the Ministry of Magic. I have complete faith that you two shall succeed. The best of luck!

I glanced over at Sirius. He was frowning deeply over his parchment, which was tied with a lavender ribbon. James had on a similar expression as he began to whisper anxiously with Frank, and Peter, who'd been assigned to work with Kingsley Shacklebolt, was staring at his sheet, silently mouthing "One hundred seventy five" with an incredulous look on his face.

Murmurs now filled the classroom - to my horror, everybody was starting to talk with their partners, and the awful scraping of wood on stone rang out as students relocated themselves. I wondered if Severus expected me to move over to sit with him, but another glance at the expression on his face told me the immediate answer.

I spent the rest of the class sitting in my seat, feeling immeasurably stupid. Seeing that Severus also sat unmoving at his desk, I almost wanted to laugh aloud at how immature the situation was - two seventeen year-olds blatantly ignoring each other like toddlers who'd squabbled.

When the bell finally rang, I was the first to exit the classroom.

"Lily, what were you thinking?" I whispered fervently. Two hours had passed, and I now sat facing Lily in the same table we'd last met, trying to contain my voice from the sharp ears of Madam Pince, who was prowling around the bookshelves behind us.

"What do you mean? You were the one ignoring him! Honestly, Remus, you're just as bad as James and Sirius!" Lily fired back.

"Nobody in their right mind would've gone within ten feet of him when he had that look on his face!"

"What did you think he was gonna do, hex you right in front of Slughorn?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he did!" I yelled. Madam Pince was now making loud shushing noises at us while flapping her batlike arms.

Trying to maintain a straight face at the sight of a grown woman doing this, I lowered my voice. "Look, he's got it in for me, okay?"

"Don't be stupid, of course he hasn't got it in-"

"James tricked him into the Shrieking Shack during a full moon last year!" I blurted out. "Of course he hates me, I almost killed him! Or worse, bit him!"

Lily's eyes had narrowed. "James did that? He let Snape in on your secret and put him in mortal danger?"

"Well, he got cold feet at the last minute-"

Lily was looking at me very hard, her eyes steely. When she spoke, her voice had a definite edge to it.

"Remus, I've been meaning to ask you this for a while now - why in the world are you friends with James Potter? Sirius, he I can understand, he hasn't even got decent parents, but James has everything and yet he still chooses to act the way he does. How can you put up with it?"

"I don't, sometimes," I replied honestly. "If I hadn't held the two of them back from doing some things, I doubt whether they'd have made it alive into their seventh year. But for all his stupidity, James is still one of the bravest, funniest people I know. The good outweighs the bad, Lily, and nothing will change that."

She didn't look too convinced.

"Look, James doesn't matter right now, okay?" I said shortly. "This isn't about him at all, this is about-"

"Us." Lily finished for me.

I nodded. "And now I want an honest answer from you. Why didn't you just convince Slughorn to put us together? It would've made this whole thing so much easier."

"Well, Remus, think about it." Lily said quietly. "Did you see the way James looked at Sirius when Slughorn announced he and I were assigned together? The last thing I want is for James to find out about any of this. And besides, you and Severus are easily the best at Potions-"

"No, you're better than me-" I interjected.

"-so you two are going to do great on this project. I know it."

I sighed. "Apparently, Slughorn thinks so too. How'd you manage to convince him, anyway?"

"Oh, I can be pretty persuasive about what I want, you know." Lily grinned.

"That's very obvious."

There was a slight pause in the conversation - I still had a billion things to say, but somehow it seemed like none of them were important anymore-

"So you're willing to do it, then?" Lily's voice broke the silence. "Take a stab at creating this potion with Severus?"

"It's not like I've got any other options."

"Yeah, that's true." she said lightly. "So then, after all this pointless bickering, I think we've finally come to a decision point. Is there anything you'd like to say to me before this evening is over, Remus John Lupin?"

I took a moment to look hard at the girl sitting across from me. Her eyes were fixed unwaveringly back at me, and as the seconds stretched out, I realised that the guilt of being around James, the frustration of being partnered with Severus...those things were trivial, really, they were a small price to pay if in return, I could be with Lily Evans.

And when I told her this, she only smiled.

A/N: Wow, you have no idea how difficult it was for me write that conversation. I thoroughly hope it was realistic, because I've gone over and fixed it so many times that I never want to read it ever again. Remember, I am the car and your thoughts and comments are my overpriced gasoline, so let's keep this engine running! XD