February 20, 1972 - Hogwarts

"You have to have more power in your spells, Cassie," Severus lectured. About once a week, they set aside time - an hour or two - to practice their magic. Defense, usually, as it was what Cassie struggled with, and Transfiguration - Severus' most difficult class. "You're getting better, so much better, but your spells are still too weak."

"I'm sorry," Cassie said, looking down. She tried, really, but seeing Severus' spells coming out well almost immediately, was quite discouraging. She knew why she struggled, and once would have told Severus immediately. After their fight, however, she worried that that was still the way he saw her - weak, and pathetic.

"Cassie?" Severus asked worriedly. She had probably been quiet too long. "Hey. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she smiled.

March 7, 1972 - Hogwarts

"Woah, Remus," Severus said, snatching his hand away. He'd only wanted to borrow his friend's book, and Remus had growled. Actually growled.

"Sorry, Severus," Remus answered, looking terrified. "I didn't mean to do that."

"Is there something wrong?" he asked, sitting down cautiously.

"No– no, not at all," Remus answered, clearly untruthful. His eyes darted to the side, and he swallowed convulsively.

"Remus…" Severus pressed on. He'd noticed, several months ago now, that there was something wrong with Remus, something off. Several times, he'd asked his friend questions, only for Remus to avoid or blatantly lie. He looked so uncomfortable that Severus had left him alone before, but he couldn't stand it now.

"There's nothing wrong!" the brown-haired boy shouted, wincing as soon as he realized what he'd done.

"Mr. Lupin!" Ms. Pince screeched. "No shouting in the library! I expected better from you!"

"I'm sorry," Remus said, coloring and glancing down. "Severus– I'm fine. Really."

"Stop lying."

"I'm not!" Remus protested.

"Stop lying, Remus."

"I'm–" Remus stopped and sighed, looking defeated. His eyes turned sad as he stared down into his folded hands. "I'll tell you. Just not– here."

Severus nodded, confused why Remus was making such a big deal out of this. He took out a piece of parchment, and continued his work.

"I'm a werewolf."

"What?"

"I'm a werewolf."

"No, Remus," Severus said exasperatedly. "What's actually wrong?"

"I'm a werewolf!"

"How–" Remus, sick every month like clockwork; agitated and high-energy the days before; looking dead on his feet days following the full moon. Growling. "You're a werewolf."

"I am," Remus whispered.

"I–" What on earth was he supposed to say? "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Us?"

"Cassie," Severus stated matter-of-factly. He needed to tell her this. And besides, he rarely kept secrets from her.

"No, no, no–" Remus shook his head, eyes pleadingly wide. "–Please. It's already bad enough that I told you - I shouldn't have. Really, really shouldn't have. Please. Nobody else can know."

"Why… not?"

"They'll hate me!" Remus shouted, agitated. He paced their abandoned classroom, gesticulating wildly. "You'll tell Cassie, and then she'll tell Aurora and then the whole school will know!"

"Aurora doesn't gossip," Severus defended.

"That's– It doesn't matter. They'll hate me, and they'll tell their parents to tell Dumbledore to have me expelled, and then you won't be my friend–"

"Remus."

"Yes?" he asked angrily.

"You know that I'm still your friend, right?"

"What?" his brown-haired friend asked, completely shocked by the idea. "But–"

"I don't hate you. I'll still be your friend," he reassured. "I will tell Cassie, though. She deserves to know. Do you know how worried she gets whenever you get sick?"

"Wh– I didn't think about that," Remus confessed ashamedly, still looking completely shocked. "I–I'm sorry."

"Forgiven," Severus answered, and the boy sighed in relief. Honestly, Severus would never hate his friend. He was wary, yes, and slightly unsure, but he knew that he still wanted to spend time with Remus.

"Thanks," Remus replied, blushing. "You're a good friend, Severus."

April 4, 1972 - Hogwarts

Severus, Cassie, and Lily were sitting in the grass near the Black Lake, all thankful for their break from school. During school days it was often difficult to find enough time to go outside and just relax, but the Easter Break provided a perfect opportunity.

"You know–," Lily said, leaning back against the three and sighing in contentment. "–we don't really spend so much time together, now."

"Yeah," Cassie sighed. "It's difficult, but at least we get to see each other in classes. Speaking of, how are you doing?"

"Oh," Lily smiled. "Charms are just wonderful. That session with Narcissa really helped– I actually think it's my favorite class, now."

"She's a great teacher, isn't she?"

"Yeah. I'm still jealous you got to go to that ball, though. Especially having her design your dress. She has such a good fashion sense."

"And your friends don't?" Severus asked, arching his brow.

"Severus!" Lily mock-admonished. "Marlene is very fashionable! And Alice– well, Alice is just Alice. But she's very sweet."

"I still don't understand how you can be friends with such a horrid girl, Lily," Severus replied. Marlene hadn't gotten any better since their first meeting – in fact, her constant 'teasing' had gotten worse.

"And what about your Slytherin friends, Sev?" Lily asked defensively. "That Avery boy is just awful."

"Auberon, you mean," Severus replied angrily. "We barely speak to each other– how is he my friend? And he's not awful."

"Have you heard how mean he was to Marlene?"

"Because she insulted his father!"

"And he called her a poor excuse for a human being who can't manage to go a day without projecting her own insecurities onto others!"

"Because that's what she is!"

Cassie stood between the now-standing pair, her eyes flicking uncertainly between them. What should she do? She didn't want her friends to fight–

"What's going on here, Lily? Is Snivellous being mean to you?"

The unwelcome, and sure-to-make-everything-worse voice of Sirius Black sounded out as he walked towards them. He swaggered, hands in the pockets of some muggle jeans that he'd smuggled in from somewhere, and a charming smile on his face.

"Do you want me to get rid of the slimy snake?"

Lily and Severus turned to face him simultaneously

"Leave me alone, Sirius."

"Go to hell, Black."

The two of them stared at each other, before Lily smiled contritely. "Sorry. Didn't mean to shout at you."

"Me neither," Severus answered, and Cassie sighed in relief.

"Friends?"

"Friends."

The two smiled for a second, before being interrupted.

"You could do so much better than him, Lily," Sirius added. "Like me."

"I swear to Merlin–"

May 16, 1972 - Hogwarts

"It's not working!" Severus shouted angrily, as the potion cooled into a sludge once again. He was trying to create a salve which would ease Remus' pain after his transformations - the scratches and bites he did unto himself while in his wolf form. Unfortunately, each of his experiments seemed to fail, for seemingly no reason. The salve healed scrapes and cuts - on them. But it did nothing for Remus' injuries. He'd even gotten Slughorn to look it over - and was told that his formula seemed fine.

"Severus. It's fine. Remus doesn't expect anything," Cassie said, placing a calming hand on his shoulder. She sighed. "I do wish we could be taking arithmetic this year. Or at least that Professor Vector could know about Remus'... problem."

"I just hate that it keeps going wrong. It's so confusing, though - why doesn't it work on him?"

Cassie hopped up onto a table, swinging her legs. "Let's run through it, then. What's different between us and Remus?"

"He's a werewolf," Severus laughed.

"Ob-vi-ous-ly. Anything else?"

Was there much else? "Er… He's a Gryffindor?"

Cassie frowned. "I don't think there's a plant that judges you based on your house."

"That would be cool, though."

"He has brown hair?"

"Again, no ingredients,"

"He likes Alice?" Severus asked, smirking.

"Severus!" Cassie scolded. "He is kinda obvious about it."

With a bolt of realization, Cassie realized what Severus had just said. "Wait! Does that mean you don't like Alice?"

"Of course not!"

"Sev–"

"She's not my type," Severus answered, blushing, and Cassie's heart started to beat faster, rising into her throat. "Can–Can I tell you something?"

"Of course," Cassie breathed, but Severus didn't notice. She didn't dare to hope– she was just about to be–

"I think I like Lily."

Disappointment and sadness crashed into her, sending her reeling. She blinked the tears back from her eyes, and swallowed through the lump in her throat.

"That's wonderful," she whispered.

"Really?" Severus asked hopefully.

"Of course. I'm glad you're happy."

"Cassie. He's a werewolf!"