Early the next morning, Lily confided in her friends. They all sat on Arabella's bed, legs crossed, doing each other's hair and fooling around with useless makeup. Lily opened her mouth to start what she thought was going to be a very long conversation.
"Guys, I know that Alice already told you that I had another nightmare last night." Her friends nodded, all looking slightly guilty. "Good. Because that makes what I have to explain a whole lot easier." Their expressions switched from guilty to curious in an instant, though none as quickly as Tina, who looked very out of place in her silk green and silver pajamas. "Well, none of you know the entire story. Alice knows that I have some kind of "Gift", but she gathered that on her own. Do you remember the 'bed-wetting incident' in third year?"
Lily'd hoped that this would trigger some kind of light feeling to come over the group, but they all just nodded slowly and waited for her to continue. "That was really a vision. I guess I that I should have told you then instead of screaming for Dumbledore, but I've got to tell you now. I'm a Seer."
Complete and utter silence followed this announcement. Lily continued. "This vision I had though, it wasn't normal. Not for a first-time Seer, in any case. I saw…myself. I look about twenty or so. I'm holding the most beautiful baby boy in my arms, and I look happy. There's this issue with the baby though. He has my eyes, but that's it. He looks almost exactly like someone we know, but I can never remember who."
"Hold on for one minute," interrupted Tina whose hair was now scarlet and gold, clashing horribly with her nightwear. "What do you mean, the baby looks almost exactly like someone that we know, but you can never remember who?"
"Just that. I never remember names until they're said. Except my son's. His name is Harry." Lily looked around and, satisfied that her friends knew enough, continued. "I had another vision last night, but this one was on a different scale. The boy- Harry was a lot older. About 15, our age I guess. I saw the vision from two different perspectives. His and his friend Hermione's.
"When I was seeing from Harry's view, I only saw the room he was in. It was quite dark, and Harry was leaning against a wall. He seemed depressed. Then there was a knock on the door and a girl's- Hermione's voice said 'I know you're in there.' Harry got up to open the door and then I switched to Hermione's point of view. They had an argument. It was like Harry was avoiding his other friends because of something that they'd heard earlier. Hermione'd only just arrived and was trying to sort out everything between them and get them on some kind of level ground."
Tina, whose p.j.'s were now matching her hair, said "You got all of that from a vision?" Lily turned to her, a slight fear in her emerald eyes.
"No," she whispered, shaking her head slightly. "I gathered all of that just now." She felt her eyes fill up.
'Why am I crying?' she thought confusedly. She got off of Arabella's bed and put on her robe and slippers. "I'm going down to the Common Room. I really need to think about this." She left the room, leaving her friends in a stunned silence.
Descending the staircase slowly, Lily listened for any signs of life, human or otherwise. Hearing none, she continued her leisurely stroll down the steps. She quickly walked over to the chairs by the window, hoping to watch the sunrise. She plopped down into the nearest chair nosily.
"You're an early bird too, huh?" Lily's heart skipped a beat, but no shock registered itself on her face.
"Hey Remus," she said, turning to face him. "What are you doing up this early?"
"I'll tell you if you'll tell me," he said, turning to face Lily as well.
She sighed and swung her legs over one of the arms of the chair, slouching a bit. "Well Dr. Lupin," she began, looking straight into Remus' clear blue eyes. As Lily began her story, Remus began playing with her slippers. Every so often she'd kick at him in an effort to get him to stop, but Remus was very adamant in his new game.
When she'd finished, Remus looked up from her feet and, realizing it was his turn, began his story. It turned out to be nothing more than one of his roommates was talking in his sleep about the girl he liked again and, due to the fact that his other three roommates slept like logs, only Remus was driven to the brink of insanity.
When he was done, Lily got up and went over to 'comfort' him. She pushed him off of the chair and jumped onto him tickling him. He looked shocked for a moment, but started squirming in efforts to get Lily off of him. "What…why…"
"This is payback for what you, James, and Sirius did to me on the first night back!" Lily yelled joyfully.
"That's not fair!" he yelled back. "You should punish them too!"
Lily stopped and looked thoughtful for a moment. "You're right. Oh well. You're the closest!" With that she pounced on him again, and the tickle fight turned into a tickle war. "Remus Lupin!" Lily screamed when he pinned both of her arms behind her back.
"I demand a truce," he said quietly, still slightly out of breath. Lily glared at him before muttering a sullen "Fine."
Suddenly, the first trickle of students came down for breakfast.
"We should set a date to do this again," Lily whispered as they watched everyone pass by.
"Speaking of dates," began Remus as they got up and dusted themselves off. "Would you do me the honor of allowing me to be your escort to the Halloween Ball?" he asked formally.
"Wow Mr. Lupin, you sure know how to make a girl feel special. Of course!"
Remus grinned as he stood up from his mock bow. "Now, to bed with us!" he said.
"Not the same one, I hope?" said Lily. Remus looked shocked by the very idea.
"Miss. Evans! Calm yourself! There'll be plenty of time for that later!" Remus muttered the last part in an undertone.
"Later Remus!" Lily called as she ran up her staircase.
"Till then Lils," he called back as he went up his.
Both were oblivious to the crowd of Gryffindors that were watching them with interest and the boy that was watching them with jealousy burning in him.
James Potter slipped into his room and into his bed with startling stealth and ease. He whipped the curtains around his four-poster bed and flopped down onto his bed. Remus and…Lily. Remus and Lily. The words were burned into his mind over and over again. He sighed heavily.
'What does Remus have that I don't? We both play Quidditch, most of the female population of Hogwarts is in love with one of us, we both get good grades, we're both good friends, and together we make up half of the Marauders. I don't get it. Why does she like him and hate me? What's it about Remus that makes even girls like Lily Evans go head over heels?
His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the dorm door opening and closing. Remus wasn't even making an effort to be quiet. James started snoring and put his glasses on the desk next to him quietly.
Remus shook his head. He heard James shift in his bed and the delicate sound of metal hitting wood. Then he noticed the tune of the snoring. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and walked over to the bed. He ripped the hangings open and said "James. Up. Now." James rolled over and glared at Remus, not even bothering to feign sleep anymore.
"What?" he snarled.
Remus didn't look too surprised at the venom in James' voice. "I need you to know who I'm taking to the Halloween Ball."
"So you came to rub it in!" James said, with the air of someone that has just figured out the most obvious thing in the world.
Remus sighed. "No I'm not. I'm just telling you that I'm taking the girl you like to the Ball because she is my friend, because I thought you knew that you could trust me and so you won't have to worry about her going to the Ball with someone like Lockhart. I'm also letting you know this instead of keeping this from you so you'll know that you can trust me James."
Remus walked over to his bed and dropped his robe. He walked over to the window sill and sat on the built in window seat, looking at the mass of disoriented colors that was the rising of the sun.
He heard James close the hangings around his bed and mutter "Next time you get a date to a ball, just make sure it is a girl your best mate isn't pinning for."
"Only if I can help it James," said Remus quietly. "Only if I can help it."
A/N: Aww! James and Remus! It's so hard to decide which to side with, isn't it? Lily and James. Lily and Remus. Well, it's a Lily and James story, but there had to be other people, right?
Evil Konny! (Yeah, I know. My friends tell me constantly.)