"Oh James," Lily's red hair was fanned out behind her as she ran on to the Quidditch pitch. Her green eyes were huge with excitement. "You were amazing."
James was in a pose of undoubted confidence, slouching to one side, with an easy smile on his face and his broom tucked cockily under his arm. His hair was perfectly messy, and he played with it a little to prove it to himself. "Well thanks, Evans," he raised his eyebrows.
She walked closer to him and her hair fell about her shoulders. "I can't believe that you can fly like that." She was looking up at him and breathing heavily with her lips parted.
"I'm glad you liked it, Evans."
She sighed, her eyes glazing over. "I really did like it."
James suddenly wrapped his free arm around her waist, pulled her roughly to him, and kissed her hard. She immediately went limp in his arm, but James Potter's arms had been strengthened by Quidditch and he held her up with no effort at all as he continued to kiss her, their tongues now tangling around in her mouth.
"James," he heard her murmur. "I've always wanted you to do that."
"HEY PRONGS!" James was awakened suddenly by the contact of a Charms book.
"Why would you throw that at me, Padfoot?" He muttered as he shot up. Rubbing his chest, he felt around for his glasses. "I do have to play Quidditch today."
"I know," Sirius said, loudly. "And you have to win, so you have to get up now."
"Hey James," he heard Peter say. "How badly are you going to kick Cade Bradley's arse?"
"Pretty badly, Wormtail," he answered, finally finding them, putting them on and rubbing a sleepy hand through his hair. He stood groggily and pulled a pair of trousers and a jumper out of his trunk.
"Nice hair, James," Remus said flatly.
James found a mirror and stared at his reflection. His hair was messier than usual, all of it spiking in the same direction. It looked nothing like it had in the dream.
"So…" Sirius had an evil smile on his face. "Having a good dream this morning?"
James glared at his best friend whose black hair looked annoyingly perfect.
"Such a huge smile on your face this morning James," Sirius coolly ran a hand through that perfect hair. "How is you imaginary Evans by the way?"
"Give him a break Sirius," Remus chuckled slightly, though somewhat nervously.
"Yeah," James muttered. "Leave me alone." He was rather annoyed at the sudden and rather unwelcome wake-up call he had received this morning. That coupled with his nerves at the upcoming Quidditch match had formed a knot in his stomach.
"Oh poor Prongs," Sirius mocked a sad face. "Did we wake you at a bad time?"
"Shut up Sirius," James began changing. "Where's Towler?"
"He went down to breakfast already," Remus said, pulling on his robes. "Said he was meeting Annabelle for breakfast."
"What?" James scowled. "I'm the captain; they should wait for me if they're going to have a strategy session."
Remus smiled slightly. "I don't think it was that sort of strategy session."
James scoffed. How had he missed the fact that one of his chasers and his keeper had started some romantic tryst? All he could think was that it better not affect their games.
"Let's go," he said in an annoyed voice when he had finished changing.
Luckily for James, Griffindor did beat Ravenclaw in the first Quidditch match of the season. Cade Bradley had stormed off the field in a manner of a five year old who had been told he couldn't have a biscuit. November soon turned to December and the castle grounds were covered with snow. It was now commonplace to see couples, all bundled up and intertwining gloved fingers, talking long walks around the lake. This annoyed James to no end. He had snapped at Annabelle and Owen countless times on their way back from the Quidditch pitch. Isabelle Stuart and Myles Ackerley were a permanent fixture near what James had thought was his friends' beech tree. The only thing on James' mind was Lily Evans and the fact that he wasn't walking around the lake with her.
"I don't think I'll be able to remember all of this," Lily threw down her quill on top of her half-completed number chart. "Honestly, how does anyone do well in this subject?"
Remus laughed, putting his own quill down less violently. "You did get an O on your Arithmancy O.W.L."
The two were in the Gryffindor Common Room studying for their winter Arithmancy exam next week.
"But this is Advanced Artithmancy," she sighed. "It's different." She looked up at him desperately and noticed a gash on Remus' forearm. "What happened?"
"Oh," he looked at his arm, trying desperately to cover the wound. "It's nothing… Care of Magical Creatures."
"Looks pretty nasty," she said, taking his wrist in her small white hand and looking closely at his arm. "Has Madam Pomfrey looked at it?"
He nodded quickly, pulling his arm away from her.
She looked confused by Remus' behavior, and continued on her chart. After a few seconds, she growled. "I am never going to understand this."
"Yes you will," he smiled. "I'll teach you how to study, since you've never had to before."
"I have too had to study," Lily said, offended.
"Alright," Remus smirked. "We'll pretend for a second that you aren't a complete genius who somehow absorbs everything in a lecture."
"I resent that," she said, picking her quill back up, and returning to the number chart in front of her.
He looked at her out of the corner of his big brown eyes, his eyebrows raised.
She giggled. "Fine then, Remus, teach me how to study."
"Alright" he smiled. "Well first you have to open this book." He reached down under the table and pulled out her Arithmancy book, flipping to the designated chapter. "And then, you read."
Lily laughed loudly. "Thanks," she said, smiling
"Hey Lily?" Remus asked after awhile.
"Yeah?" she looked up at him with bright emerald eyes.
Remus paused, their eyes locking for a second. Suddenly, he looked back at him notes. "Nevermind."
When the Advanced Arithmancy Exam finally rolled around, Lily was more nervous than perhaps at any other time in her life. She searched for Remus at the breakfast table, but couldn't find him anywhere. Figuring he must have been doing some extra studying, she ate her toast quickly, going over those tricky number patterns in her head for the fiftieth time. When the time came for the exam, she walked to the classroom, biting her lip the entire time. Dorcas gave her a quick smile from the back of the classroom. Remus still hadn't arrived. Lily looked at her watch and then at the classroom door. Where was he? Professor Vector shut the door and then passed out the exams. Remus still hadn't arrived. Lily raised her hand.
"What is it Miss Evans?" Professor Vector asked.
"Professor," she said, "I don't know if you noticed, but Remus isn't here."
"No, Miss Evans, I noticed. Work on your exam please, you have one hour."
Lily looked around her and then back at Dorcas who shrugged. Everyone was working on their exam. Finally she conceded and delved into Arithmancy, determined to find out where Remus had gone.
He returned three days later, two days before the end of term. The minute Lily saw him she noticed how pale and peaked he looked.
"Remus," she ran up to him as he entered the Gryffindor common room. "Where were you?"
He didn't answer and instead collapsed on the nearest couch. She sat next to him and studied his exhausted face. She looked around the common room. It was empty.
"Remus," she pleaded. "You missed the Arithmancy exam."
He looked into her eyes. Huge orbs of exhaustion and pain bored into her brain. "I'll make it up," he said.
"What is it?" she whispered, placing a supportive hand on his thin shoulder. She noticed a tear roll down his face. He rubbed at his face quickly.
"It's nothing," he muttered.
She scooted closer to him, wrapping a slender arm around his shoulders. "Remus," she said.
He looked away, staring instead at the glowing embers of the dying fire, and then closed his eyes tightly. His body was clenching up. Lily began to stroke his shoulder rhythmically.
"You can tell me, you know," she said softly. "Is it the attacks? Did you hear about the muggle massacre in Bath the other day, it scared me something awful…" She drifted off, her head turning to look at the floor. Then suddenly she burst back up, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Your family's alright, aren't they?" she asked manically.
He shook his head to dismiss the possibility. "It's not that. They're fine."
"Well then, what is it?" she asked, loosening but not releasing her grip on him. "It can't be that bad, Remus."
He chuckled sadly. "It might be."
She let go of him and they sat there for a few seconds, sitting so close that they were touching, and staring into the fireplace. Lily whispered, "I won't tell anyone, you know."
"Yeah," he nodded. "I know."
The silence permeated every corner of the room as they sat there for another long period of seconds. Remus wore a look of deep thought while Lily wore one of deep concern. She was just about to get up and go to bed when Remus sat up and looked directly at her.
"Do you really want to know?" he asked, a look of confused desperation on his face.
"If you want to tell me," she nodded, sitting up along with him.
He inhaled a huge amount of air, so huge that Lily thought he was going to hold his breath or something.
His face was screwed up, his eyes were tearing up. Lily placed a hand on his cheek in an attempt to comfort him. "What is it?" she asked.
"I'm a werewolf," he said in a low voice.
The surprise hit Lily like a ton of bricks and she took a breath. Then she did the only thing she could think of. She kissed him.