I just explained all about Remus and his illness. Well, it just so happens that that very night was a full moon. And we indulged. Sneaking out wasn't so hard as it used to be, we knew the passages and secret doors in the castle like the back of our hands… or at least Sirius and I did. We slipped outside and had Peter transform into a rat to scamper and slip between the thrashing limbs of the ugly Whomping Willow so that us two could slip into the hole between the great roots. Peter squeaked and Sirius met my eye. We were late. The gap we were in was too small for me to transform, big enough for Padfoot. He slipped into his huge dog form and he padded ahead of me as I struggled through the dark, cursing Padfoot's sight in the dark. My footstep suddenly echoed on a wooden floorboard and, in the dim moonlight, I looked around the inside of the Shrieking Shack. Yep, you got it. The fabled haunted Shrieking Shack. I guess people always assumed that the horrible howls they heard was some miserable ghost. Nup. Just Remus.

A howling figure bounded toward me. Concentrating, I slipped into my new body and reared back, my front right hoof striking Moony firmly on the snout. He backed up and whimpered then, suddenly behaving no worse than a friendly puppy, he bounded in circles around us, yipping gleefully.

That night, I can't remember much of. I know somewhere along the line we trashed Old Man Featherwhip's garden, stacking and Petrifying the gnomes in his garden into a replica of the Eiffel Tower. I also vaguely remember Padfoot heading us off at the edge of the grounds to Hogwarts and making us go another way because he'd seen a student sized figure snooping over the grounds towards the willow. That's about it, really.

So, four bleary eyed students staggered out of bed after an hours sleep, grumpy, no homework done. And sniping at every student. So it was no surprise that I snapped at Evans when she decided to crack a funny at my expense. I guess that was the final straw, the last chapter in the book of Why Lily Evans Despises James Potter. Bitch.

So, my glaring eyes were locked on her swinging curtain of fire as she walked in front of me, head high. She was nothing special. She never wore makeup, she wasn't loud, she never bitched about anyone. But Merlin, that bitch had a sharp tongue when she was pissed. And it seemed like Padfoot, Moony, Wormtail and I weren't the only students lacking in sleep.

From where I was walking, my half-closed eyes couldn't see the swaying pile of books in her arms. Of course, she dropped one. Now, I would have thought what I did was quite chivalrous. No, I didn't get down on one knee and pick up the book. I automatically Levitated the dropped book. Too fast. And smacked the girl in the face. With what just happened to be a leather bound copy of 1,000,001 Ways to Become a Leader.

'Oops… I-.'

'Potter! Can you not just back the hell off for once!' She turned her blazing green eyes on me, looking up at me with such venom that I actually staggered backwards. 'You march up here, thinking you know best and almost break my nose! Merlin, you're so useless, you couldn't do a thing right, you're just a stu-.'

'WOULD YOU SHUT UP ALREADY?' I think half the population of the school froze when I snapped. Even Sirius took a slow, careful step backwards. 'You think I'm conceited? That I'm an idiot, that I don't actually think for myself? That I'm a complete waste of space? WAKE UP, EVANS!' The entire hallway jumped. 'I'm NOT useless, I'm NOT conceited and you don't know the first thing about me! So shut your fat loud mouth, swallow your own head and stay the hell away from ME!'
She stood, stunned, during most of my speech but, at the end, she exploded. And Merlin, she did look pretty when she was pissed off.

'I don't? I DON'T? You think I'm so blind that I can't see what you're like? You rich, arrogant, stubborn, stuck up, arrogant-'

Sirius leaned in between us, raising a disapproving finger. 'You said arrogant twice-.'
She hissed at him. She actually hissed. I threw up my hands and glared down at her. 'Just get f-.'

'MR POTTER! MISS EVANS!'

Fudge. McGonagall.

'Detention.'

Oh crap.