Ten minutes later all three were sat in Dumbledore's office. Fawkes was perched on the arm of Dumbledore's chair, beady eyes fixed on the three students. The Headmaster had gone to fetch a potion from Madam Risper and had left them to their own devices for the moment, after saying he thought it best if they remained in silence. Snape was slouched back in his chair, arms folded across his chest, glaring angrily at the floor. James was staring absently out the window, a thoughtful expression on his face.
Lily was seated in between the two boys and felt decidedly uncomfortable. She wanted to understand what this was all about. Snape had implied that Remus was a werewolf. She was struggling to get her mind round it. She supposed it made sense really. The pressure he had put on her not to go out, the comment he had made about not wanting her running around during the full moon, the periods of sickness he had. Now she thought about it, she wondered why she hadn't seen it all before.
And then there was Snape. James, she supposed, had been told by Remus about his condition. But Snape, how did he know to go to the Whomping Willow? And what had happened to get the two of them so injured before she and Dumbledore arrived?
She shifted in her seat, impatiently awaiting Dumbledore's return. Waiting on someone like this reminded her just how much older she felt she was most of the time. While she was of age, her seventeenth birthday having passed in October, in her opinion the outside world treated all Hogwarts students as children until they graduated. But since she had realised what a huge responsibility she had, Lily had felt older, less childlike. She made her own decisions and had to live with the consequences of them without having someone just behind her waiting to pick up the pieces if everything went horribly wrong. And as she sat here, knowing there was nothing she could do until the Headmaster got back, she felt that, for once, she was just an ordinary student. Waiting, just like the others, no initiative available for her to take.
The door opened, closing behind Dumbledore as he strode into the room, magicing two small beakers from the air and pouring a small amount of the potion he held in his hand into each, before handing it to the two boys.
"To clear your heads," he told them, taking a seat behind his desk, stroking Fawkes with one hand while he waited for the boys to drain their drinks. "Very good," he said, as they deposited empty cups onto his desk. "Now," he peered over his spectacles at them all seriously, "I understand there are going to be a lot of strong feelings about what we are about to discuss, but we are civilised people and we are going to keep quiet while the other person speaks and wait for our turn. Is that understood?" Three mute nods. "Very good. Now, Mr Snape, if you would be so kind as to go first, what were you doing at the Whomping Willow?"
"Black and I-"
"Sirius?" interrupted James.
Snape glared at him, "of course!"
Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"Sorry, professor," James muttered.
"As I was saying," Snape continued, his lips a thin line, "Black and I were having a…disagreement earlier today, and he told me to go to the Whomping Willow tonight at ten, using a stick to prod the knot to get to the tunnel at the roots."
James went white, what on earth had Sirius been thinking?
"I see now, Mr Black will have to be sent for in the morning to give an account of his part in this," Dumbledore paused for a moment, then continued in a reasonable tone, "Mr Snape, you appear to have made several conclusions about the nature of what you saw tonight, am I not right?"
"Lupin's a freak- a werewolf!" Snape snapped back, "he shouldn't be allowed to be here!"
James flushed with anger and turned to Snape to defend his friend, when Lily placed a restraining hand on his arm. He opened his mouth to say something, then caught Dumbledore's eye. He took a deep breath and clenched his fists in his lap, but he didn't say anything.
Snape sneered at him, "What company you choose Potter, a werewolf and a malicious delinquent. I wonder what abomination Pettigrew really is."
That was it.
"Shut up gitface!" James shouted, jumping to his feet and losing his grip on his temper, "Don't you-"
"James," Dumbledore said sharply. James glared furiously at Snape, but he didn't say anything more. He just stood there, taking deep breaths through his clenched teeth. Dumbledore sighed, "I see that perhaps it would be better to speak to you individually. Mr Potter and Miss Evans, you may return to your common rooms. I will expect to see you tomorrow, an owl will contact you with the time. Mr Snape, I believe you and I should speak now."
James and Lily filed out the door and down the revolving staircase. James muttering insults under his breath all the way down. Lily, a few steps behind, was quiet, thinking things over in her mind. As they reached the bottom she reached out a hand, placing it on James' shoulder.
"James?"
He turned round to face her and raised an eyebrow questioningly, his face still showing his barely contained anger.
"Does Saffron know? About Remus."
He paused, considering something for a moment, his temper slowly ebbing away. Then he nodded.
"Why did no-one tell me?" she asked, her tone one of curiosity rather than offence.
"Look Lily," he said, taking her hand, "you mustn't think that he never told you because he didn't trust you. Heck, we were his best friends and he never even told us- it took us three years to work it out." He ran his other hand through his hair, looking slightly distressed at having to have this conversation with her. It was clear that he thought she was offended by her boyfriend neglecting to mention something as major as this to her.
Lily was about to explain that she understood when he spoke again.
"Don't think too badly of him. He's really going to need you in these next few days. I can only imagine what it's going to be like between him and Sirius in the Tower-"
"-James," she interrupted with a small smile, "it's alright, calm down. I'm not mad at him. I understand that sometimes, no matter how much you care about someone, there are some things that you can't always bring yourself to tell them. I don't know when he'll be back with us, but if you see him before I do, tell him…tell him nothing's changed."
He looked sceptically at her, "you're not mad he didn't tell you?"
She shook her head, "I understand why he didn't. That doesn't mean I wouldn't have preferred him to have told me, but I really don't feel remotely annoyed at him."
"Then he's lucky to have you."
She smiled and they stood there for a moment, just looking at each other. Then footsteps sounded behind them and they looked up to see Flich walking down the corridor, muttering to himself. They'd been at school longer than he had, him having joined the faculty in their second year, but he was just as bad tempered as their other caretaker, which had lead some to wonder whether it wasn't part of the job description.
"Move along," he said, looking at them with suspicion. He was itching to punish them for being out after curfew, but they looked as though they had just been to see the Headmaster.
Both nodded and with a quick goodbye to the other, they separated, making their way to their respective common rooms.
When she got back to the Ravenclaw common room, everyone else was in bed. The embers of the fire glowed faintly in the grate. Lily made her way up the girls staircase, hoping that Saffron would still be awake. Fortunately, she was. Saffron was scribbling away in her diary under the faint light of the candle on her bedside table. As Lily walked in, she glanced up and put the book down,
"Are you alright?" she whispered. From where she was sitting, she could see from Lily's face, outlined in the candlelight, that something had happened.
Lily glanced at the other two girls and motioned with her hand for Saffron to follow her downstairs. With a quizzical frown Saffron got out of her bed and wrapped a dressing gown round her as she followed Lily back to the common room. They settled down on the rug in front of the fire and Lily recounted the events of the night to her friend.
"Sirius is such a fool!" exclaimed Saffron as Lily's narrative drew to a close. "What did he think he was doing?"
Lily shrugged, "you know him better than me, what do you think?"
"I…I don't know him that well," she replied somewhat stiffly.
Immediately Lily picked up on this, "What is it? What happened between you two?"
"What makes you think anything happened?" replied Saffron neutrally, pursing her delicate mouth.
"Come on Saffron, I can tell something's changed." She waited expectantly.
Saffron sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly, "Alright, alright. Earlier today I…ran into a spot of bother with Snape. Sirius happened to come by and-"
"What do you mean 'a spot of bother'?" Lily demanded, "did he try to hurt you?"
Saffron avoided her eye, "Well…"
"What did he do, Saffron?" Lily asked anxiously, taking her friend's arms to make her turn towards her.
Cheeks flushing, Saffron reluctantly told Lily what Snape had said and done earlier. Quickly moving from that to the part where Sirius had to save her.
"I hated that I had to have someone to save me," Saffron said bitterly, "I hate always having to be the weak one; the one who always needs to be protected and rescued."
Lily didn't know how to respond to that. She just put an arm round her friend's shoulder. Saffron sighed and continued with her story,
"…and then we…kissed. But I pushed him away, I don't want us to become an us!"
"Why not?" Lily asked tentatively.
Saffron shook her head. "I don't know, it doesn't matter," she replied evasively, it was a stupid reason anyway.
"You know," Lily said slowly, trying to piece together all the stories she had heard. "I think I have an idea what happened."
"You do?"
"Well, when Snape was telling us about how he came to find out about the Whomping Willow, he mentioned something about a disagreement he had with Sirius earlier. Supposing that disagreement was the fight he interrupted between you and Snape. Suppose Sirius was so angry about that that he dared Snape to go to the Whomping Willow tonight."
Saffron thought about it. "You know, you could be right, but why would he be as stupid as that? Didn't he think about how Remus would feel being used like that? I'd be furious if it were me."
***
The next morning Lily made her way to the Hospital Wing, having had an early breakfast. She still had an hour before her first class of the day and was hoping that Remus might be back by now.
She pushed open the door and walked through. Madam Pomfrey was walking from a curtained bed in the corner, carrying an empty tray. As she saw Lily she paused,
"Can I help you Miss Evans?"
"I was wondering if Remus Lupin is here," she replied, her eyes scanning the room.
"Lily?" a familiar voice called to her from the far end of the room.
Madam Pomfrey sighed, "Very well, you may see him. But don't tire him out. He's already had a visit from the Headmaster, which has left him in rather low spirits."
Lily nodded her understanding and walked over to the curtained bed in the far corner. She walked round it and smiled at the pale boy lying under the white sheets, his face almost the same pale hue. She walked over to perch on the edge of his bed, he looked at her worriedly, his youthful face already showing the stress of life. He didn't seem to know what to say.
"So…so you know then," he said eventually, looking away from her.
"Yes," she replied quietly.
He hazarded a look at her, "I suppose you're mad at me-"
"-No!" she interrupted vehemently, "I'm not!"
"You're not?" he looked surprised, and for a moment he forgot the awful horror of what his supposed best friend had almost brought about the previous night. "You're not angry at me for not telling you I'm…I'm a werewolf."
She shook her head. "It hasn't changed a thing between us Remus." She smiled, "except perhaps I'm not mad at you for telling me not to go out at the full moon anymore. So I suppose it's improved our relationship."
"Improved?" He repeated incredulously, this was a reaction he had never expected.
Lily laughed and leant forward to hug him, "Remus, being a werewolf doesn't make you any less. It shows me just what a strong person you are, that you can cope with all this and still smile and go on with life just like anyone else." She kissed him on the cheek, "you're one amazing guy, Remus."
He flushed and grinned embarrassedly, not sure what to make of her praise. In the end all he could manage was, "thanks Lily, you don't know what it means to me to hear you say that." He hugged her tightly, resting his chin on the top of her head he closed his eyes, gathering comfort from her warmth, pushing all other thoughts out of his mind. He knew he would have to face them later. But later was not now.
As she lay in his arms she willed him her strength to deal with the day ahead. For she knew it was going to be one of the toughest he'd had yet.
***A/N: Well, I think that answers a lot of the questions about 'how is Lily going to react to the news etc'. And, like some of you anticipated, because she's hiding secrets too she responds differently to how she would if she were someone other than the Huntress. Anyway, some of you have expressed impatience about seeing more of the Huntress thing, but patience guys, you can't have both Lily/James bits and Huntress at the same time, there are a lot of issues and complications with that idea. Anyway, not going to say anymore about that, but she does use her power a bit more in the next chapter in a really cool way-well I think anyway. It's called 'Shadows and Dreams'