Previously: The Ministry passes a law that says that Muggle-borns are no longer allowed to hold positions of authority, and people suspect Minister Jenkins is trying to appease Voldemort. Severus invents "Muffliato". Severus wants to get back at the Marauders, but Lily tries to convince him not to stoop to their level. James realizes that Lily's very pretty – he's starting to develop feelings. In Stoughton's class, they are shocked by how blunt he is with what Dark wizards are capable of. The first years witness two sixth years dueling, and Lily is in awe of their talent.


Chapter 22: Clubs and Confrontations

"Did you see Malfoy, that moron?"

"Yeah, Hopkirk certainly showed him up – git finally got what he deserved."

"You know, I've been hearing from a lot of people that Sturgis has a pretty big crush on her."

"Oh, really? That's so romantic…."

"Screw romance. Where's that powdered dragon claw Vallender said he would get me?"

That was the only thing James heard as he and the other Marauders descended the stairs to the cool dungeons where their Potions class would soon begin, and they were all keenly talking about what had transpired before Hopkirk interrupted what had been proving to be a rather entertaining exhibition.

No doubt the rumors had already starting to spread at that moment as the students who had been part of the crowd detached from others to head up to classrooms and common rooms where they were undeniably yammering away with embellished tales of the duel that had just taken place – he was quite curious about how mutated the story would become by the time dinner came around. The first thing that he had learned when he initially entered the castle was that nothing in Hogwarts remained secret – and then of course that same "secret" that had already reached the ears of any and all students would be blown way out of proportion from the whispers of imaginative minds.

"Did you see that?" asked Sirius for the millionth time as they sat down at their table to begin the Potions class. "Just –" Here, Sirius made a pounding motion with his fist "– BAM! Ha, I never knew that Hopkirk could be such a bitch – it was awesome!"

"Yes, I did see that," said Remus with a wry twist to his mouth. "And I haven't heard about anything else since."

Sirius opened his mouth, no doubt to regale Remus with accounts of the duel that Remus had just explained he saw, but that was when Professor Slughorn entered the classroom, effectively quieting any conversation.

"Hello, hello, hello!" he said jollily as he wiggled through the space between the desks to reach the front of the classroom, just as vast as ever. "It's so good to see you all again after such a long summer – ah, Lily! How is my brilliant potioneer? Any interesting summer holiday stories?"

This was to Evans, who was currently sitting next to McKinnon. Though James admitted it only reluctantly, she was undoubtedly the best potioneer in second year – never once could James remember her ever messing up on a potion. It was easy to tell that Evans was one of Slughorn's favorite students as he had invited both her and Snape to his Slug Club meetings in their first year, which, according to James's mother, was very rare as she knew Slughorn liked to pick people after they had been in Hogwarts for several years to wait and see what they were capable of.

"I'm not sure you should know all the details, Professor – but I will say that the Invigoration Draught you let me make for extra credit would hypothetically be an excellent thing to put into my water bottle for my football games and dive meets," said Evans with a playful curve to her lips so to let the teacher know she was joking.

Much like James, Slughorn probably did not understand what football games and dive meets included, but he chuckled nevertheless and said, "No, as your teacher, I think it would be best to not know all the details."

Sirius leaned close to Remus and whispered, "What's football?"

However, Remus did not get a chance to respond since Slughorn had turned back to the general class.

"Today we will test how much you remember, shall we? For the next week, we're going to be focusing on the Sleeping Draught, which you'll find on page thirty-five of your textbook. I thought we would start off with the fun part since you're all most likely in a summer lag. You may begin," said Slughorn, flicking his wand where the directions appeared, and there was a ruffling as everybody opened their books to find the Sleeping Draught, James among them.

He had always maintained a fairly good understanding of potions and their ingredients given that it was a passion of his father's, but James soon found that he had forgotten most things over the fun-filled summer, and by the time Remus caught him from adding bat blood to his potion rather than the flobberworm mucus he was supposed to put in, the need of a refresher course became blatantly clear. Glancing around, he saw that many others were stumped as well.

"Oh, Lily, m'dear, it's just as amazing as I remember!" exclaimed Slughorn happily as he glanced into Evans's cauldron towards the end of class. "If I could, I would give you some more Felix Felicis, but unfortunately, m'dear, there's only one bottle in a class's seven years."

Evans accepted the compliment with some witty remark that James did not hear as he was too busy staring moodily into his and Sirius's attempt at a Sleeping Draught, which was a rather dull orange – though he at least took comfort that it was not like Remus and Peter's, which resembled a dark grey sludge that was most likely, judging by his profuse apologies, Peter's fault. Remus neither accepted nor blamed him as he was very preoccupied trying to avoid the rancid stink leaking out from the cauldron.

~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1972 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~

Felix Felicis: Also known as "Liquid Luck", this magical potion bestows good luck upon the drinker. Its effects only last for a set amount of time, but during this stretch, the witch or wizard who makes this potion will soon find that all their attempted endeavors will succeed, though for this very reason Felix Felicis is banned from any organized competitions.

Those words from the borrowed library book, Book of Potions, filled Lily's head. Slughorn had given her and Severus the potion last year after brewing the best Boil-Cure Potion in the class, but she had tucked the little bottle away after that and soon forgot it entirely in all of her excitement in first year. Now that she knew what it did, there was an eagerness to use it but a pause to save it as well. What if she needed it even more later on…? Of course, right now she had more pressing matters to deal with.

"Hurry up, Lily, or we'll be late," said Alice, tugging Lily down the grand staircase (which was now devoid of dueling sixth years) and towards the Great Hall – she barely stopped to apologize to a tiny first year she had knocked backwards in her rush. Lily only very reluctantly quickened her pace since it was still almost eleven o'clock in the morning – about the time she should have been getting up on a Saturday, not already be ready to go.

"Remind me again: why did we have to get up so early?" grumbled Lily rather huffily as Alice led the way to where the Dueling Club would be held.

The advertisement had been posted up on the Gryffindor notice board since the start of the term, allowing all interested students to attend. Though Lily had been curious as to what had prompted such action, her inquisitiveness was cured when Marlene pointed out that Dumbledore probably wanted all of them to defend themselves before school ended and they would be at the mercy of the mysterious Dark Wizard and his cronies.

Alice rolled her bright blue eyes. "Because we want good seats – duh," she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, right, silly me," said Lily sarcastically. "Because getting good seats is better than getting good sleep."

She still retained some of her early morning grumpiness.

"You and your bed," sighed Marlene, shaking her head and sounding exasperated.

"Yes, me and my bed," responded Lily with a frown, but they nevertheless continued until they finally found themselves in the Great Hall, though it did not look like the Great Hall in the slightest – if she had not have just come from the Entrance Hall, Lily would not have known what room she was in.

The five tables had disappeared, replaced by an open area with one long, low platform at the end where the High Table had previously stood. Students of all ages milled around, and Lily recognized several familiar faces in the crowd: Severus was standing off to the side with his Slytherin friends; the Marauders were in the very front row, looking eager; Riley Wallows, star Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, waited patiently with a group of her friends that included Alexandra Hopkirk and Emmie Vance.

Beside Lily, Alice, who was a much bigger Quidditch fan than herself, gaped at Riley with awe. If any of them had anticipated Alice drifting closer and closer to the girl she seemed to worship, they would have stopped her, but as it was, Lily noticed and ran to get her friend a little too late. As if sensing somebody's – namely Alice's – stare, Riley Wallows turned around to see both Marlene and Lily trying to escape with a star-struck Alice.

"Can I help you?" she asked politely, though her voice retained a intimidating coolness.

Now that she was much closer to Riley than when she had witnessed her zooming around on a broomstick, Lily realized that Riley Wallows was much taller and more intimidating than Lily has originally thought.

"I thought Mark Woods was the Captain for Gryffindor," blurted out Alice, pointing at the shiny Captain's badge on Riley's robes, and the moment she realized that she had said something in front of Riley, she blushed a deep red.

However, instead of rebuffing the tiny second year, Riley chuckled as if she found Alice comical rather than irritating.

"Dumbledore made him the Head Boy this year. Mark decided he did not want to juggle both responsibilities, so I became Captain," she explained patiently. Beside her, Emmie's eyes sparkled with amusement at Alice's obliviousness, and Alexandra's lips twitched the slightest bit upwards.

"Ah," said Alice while Lily and Marlene tried to tug her back into the crowd, their progress was impeded by a boy about Riley's age who sauntered forward into the sixth years' little group, completely ignoring Lily and her friends. Marlene huffed angrily at him, but she might as well have huffed at the wall for all the response she got out of him.

"Nice to see you again, Wallows," said the boy, grinning in a way reminiscent of Potter and Black, and it was a grin that stuck up instant dislike within Lily as she silently observed from the side. "I was wondering when I would see you again."

"What do you want, Smith?" demanded Riley, expertly maneuvering around his thickly muscled arm that he tried to casually throw around her.

"Oh, come on, sweetheart…. Don't be like that," smirked Smith. "We Chasers should stick together."

Riley raised one skeptical eyebrow while Alexandra, another member of the Gryffindor Quidditch, made a noise like an angry cat before she snapped, "That's funny. I don't remember seeing you at practice – oh, right, you're too good to practice with us lowly real players, Mr. Jesse Smith."

Derisive scorn laced every syllable in her voice as she glared at him before switching to a flat, withering tone: "Get in line, buddy. Last I checked, it was Riley, Zach, and Gale who were the Chasers last year, not you."

Smith narrowed his eyes at Alexandra.

"And last I checked, you weren't in this conversation, Hopkirk."

He switched back to Riley.

"As I was saying before this hag interrupted us, I'm very sure that if you went on a little date with me, you'll see just how talented I am with my … Quaffles – though I will warn you, they are hard to handle at first."

Riley expressed a shockingly revolted look of disgust, and while Marlene was silently but still clearly appalled by Smith's behavior, that was when Lily made herself to the older Hogwarts students known by faking a retching noise at Smith's heavily suggestive and completely unwanted innuendo – not even Potter or Black had ever been so … repulsively and deliberately flagrant, which was saying something seeing as they … well, they were Potter and Black.

At Lily's disruption, Smith seemed to notice the audience of second years for the first time.

"Do you see something funny? I suggest you go play with your precious little dolls – now scamper, or I'll make you," he spat, pulling out his wand and pointing it to Lily.

"Smith!" gasped Riley. "What do you think you're doing – for Merlin's sake, they're second years!"

Smith was still glaring at Lily, who was looking at his wand slightly cross-eyed, as he answered, "They're just a bunch snooping little girls, Riley. Seriously, who gives a hippogriff's arse about second years?"

Whatever lingering pity for idiots Lily had vanished instantly, replaced by the revved-up anger, and when the infuriating Gryffindor glanced back at Riley, seemingly hopeful that the Chaser would be impressed, that was when Lily retaliated. In a flash, her willow wand was ready in her angrily trembling fingers and her favorite spell ready on her lips.

"FLIPENDO!"

The results? Simply glorious.

There was a faint bang and a bright flash of light that struck out at Smith from Lily's wand, and she gratifyingly noted that a summer away from magic had not dulled her jinxes one bit. The enormous boy soared through the air, not just back a couple yards, but rather a good fifteen instead. The only time she or the others winced was when Smith fell to the floor with a crash! He did not get up.

Whatever babble the Great Hall held was silenced by the show of the Knockback Jinx. As one, pairs upon pairs of eyes, slowly followed the unconscious form of Smith through the cleared path before finally settling on Lily, who still had her wand out. Choruses of whispers broke out among the assembled students as they pointed and gaped at her, and Lily felt flames under her cheeks as she blushed furiously under the heavy stares.

"What are you looking at?" challenged Lily finally.

Slowly, the chatty buzz that had previously been abruptly cut silent gradually broke out, though many still regarded her suspiciously, and her relief came when Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, tottered through the doors.

"Oh, dear," he said, gazing concernedly at a stirring Smith. "Did we get a little too overexcited? Ms. Wick, Mr. Fecks, Mr. Tiburon, would you three be so kind as to take Mr. Smith here up to the hospital wing?"

This was to a couple of Ravenclaws who, by the looks of it, were in their fifth year, and they obeyed, though Flitwick conjured a stretcher for them to use rather than having to labor over the heavy boy while he himself turned to the group assembled to start the meeting.

~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1972 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~

"Evans should yell at other people more – it's so fun to watch," said Sirius, scooping up bacon sandwich after bacon sandwich as the four Marauders sat down for their lunch that was, as usual, pristine and delicious.

It was only a couple of hours ago that they had all attended the first meeting for the Dueling Club, which itself had been entertaining enough, but James had to agree with Sirius: the little show Evans put on was indeed the most amusing thing to happen during the meeting. While it was common knowledge among the Slytherins and Gryffindors who shared Defense Against the Dark Arts with them last year that Evans was formidable when it came to the Knockback Jinx, it had still come as a shock to the rest of the Hogwarts population when she put on that entertaining preface, much to the Marauders' delight.

"Yeah, but that's probably not gonna happen," said James as he helped himself to a generous amount of chicken legs. "We're the only people she seems to consistently shout at."

"So maybe you should try following the rules for once – that might prevent any future shouting matches," said Remus, but unlike when he usually suggested jokingly that he and Sirius try compliance with soft but easily audible laughs, his chuckle was rather weak and feeble this time around.

"Remus, mate, you okay? You don't look so good," said Sirius in an uncharacteristically concerned voice.

"Fine, fine," dismissed Remus with a wave of his hand.

Peter was too busy scarping down his food to notice, but James caught Sirius's eye and raised an eyebrow. After a break that had lasted for several months, he had hoped that Remus's sickness would finally disappear, but apparently it was still there, just as strong as ever. No matter how hard James and Sirius would try, Remus had always remained tightlipped when the conversation turned to questions about the source of the mysterious but still regular bouts of illness, and James seriously doubted that Remus would spontaneously break his silence.

No matter how many times any of them voiced their concern throughout the day, Remus would simply ignore them while he carried it on with whatever they were doing at the time, deaf to many of Sirius's questions, and the day continued much the same – that is, it continued that way until into the night when the Marauders were all seated around Hagrid's massive table, catching up and retelling stories of many individual summer exploits that had happened over the holidays. Remus, who was looking sicklier by the minute, had excused himself from the table once Sirius got talking about how he practiced his Permanent Sticking Charm on the Gryffindor banners and Muggle posters in his bedroom at his parents' house, and the only words he had uttered were, "I need to go up to the Hospital Wing."

"But mate, I was just getting to the good part," Sirius protested as Remus stood up.

Remus, who's skin was now pale and clammy, looked ready to hurl as he managed to say, "And I'm sure it's a great part. Maybe you'll be able to tell me some other time – but right now I really think I need to see Madam Pomfrey."

"I'll go with you," James volunteered.

"No!" yelped Remus, and James, who had just started to get out of his seat, froze and stared at his friend.

Remus must have realized how strong his response had been because he tried to cover it up with a nervous chuckle and said, "I'm fine, mate – really. You don't have to come with me. I'll just see you guys later. Bye, Hagrid. Thanks for the tea."

"No problem, Remus. Come by anytime," replied Hagrid as Remus quickly exited the hut, the large door slamming shut behind him.

Hagrid busied himself with the dishes, not looking the slightest bit concerned with Remus's forcefulness just a few moments ago. However, James, who had by now sat back down in his seat, stared at the door Remus had just exited with concern. Sirius seemed to be of the same mindset.

"Okay, something is seriously wrong with Remus," Sirius stated, looking around as if daring them to challenge him. "This has been going on for over a year – nobody's that sick that often. He needs to get somebody from St. Mungo's to take a look at … whatever that is."

"Or maybe he's already had somebody look at it," Peter quietly suggested. "Maybe whatever he has is a chronic illness, and Healers just don't have a cure."

"What?" said Sirius, frowning at Peter.

Peter cleared his throat before repeating, "A chronic illness – it means something that lasts for a long time and won't go away. Maybe Remus has –"

"Yes, I know what the word chronic means," snapped Sirius. "That's something Muggles have to worry about – wizards have magic to cure everything. Remember?"

Peter flushed bright red at that, so James swooped in to defend him and said, "Not necessarily, Sirius. Magic isn't some cure-all. The only chronic illnesses it can fix permanently are the ones that aren't some sort of magical ailment. It may not be as common as it is in Muggles, but I'm sure it happens."

Peter shot him a grateful look.

"Well, I suppose that could be what's going on … but why would he hide it from us? We're his friends!" exclaimed Sirius.

That was when James noticed that Hagrid had been uncharacteristically silent throughout the entire exchange, which was out-of-character for somebody as boisterous and noticeable as Hagrid. Instead, he appeared to be very focused on putting away the dishes and not getting involved in the dispute.

"Do you know what's going on with Remus, Hagrid?" James questioned.

"'Course not," said Hagrid gruffly, though he refused to meet James's eyes. "Why woul' I know?"

Both Sirius and Peter had caught on by now and were also looking at Hagrid expectantly. Sirius had actually turned around in his chair, resting on his knees while he leaned forward against the top of the chair.

"C'mon, Hagrid," prodded Sirius. "Aren't you and Dumbledore like best mates or something? Since Dumbledore must know what's going on with Remus, that means there's a pretty good chance you know what's going on too."

"I told yer, I don' know nothin' 'bout that," protested Hagrid, still not looking up.

"You know, you're not a good liar, Hagrid," pointed out Sirius. "Look, we just want to help Remus. That's it! We're his friends and –"

"If Remus want's ter tell yer, he'll tell yer, Sirius," interrupted Hagrid. He finally put down the dishes and turned to face the three boys. "Otherwise, it's none of yer business to be proddin' everybody for information – even if he is yer best friend. Now yer three best be getting' back ter the castle. Filch will be lockin' the doors soon, and it won' do nobody no good if yer caught out after curfew."

Hagrid's dismissal was crystal clear, and it was a mark of how preoccupied James was when he did not even try to defend his sneaking abilities to Hagrid. Instead, he just cast quick glances at his equally morose friends before gathering his things and dutifully shuffling out the door.

Peter accidentally missed a step descending Hagrid's porch, but thankfully both Sirius and James were right there to catch him. Other than Peter's mishap, they made it outside without much problem. James glanced over his shoulder once more, hoping for even a tiny hint as to what was going on with Remus, but Hagrid only offered up his usual good-bye wave before quietly shutting the door behind them.

Sirius gave an audible sigh as he said, "We were only trying to help Remus."

"I know, mate," said James, clapping his best friend on the shoulder as the three of them made their way up to the castle entrance. "Believe me, I know."

The normal hubbub of students racing to and from class had died down considerably by now. James spotted a couple of study groups dotted here and there, but the castle was mostly silent now that the majority of students had retired to their common rooms. As they passed the library, he was unsurprised to see Evans scribbling away on a piece of parchment, though he noticed with a jolt that Snape was sitting across the table from her. A part of James was tempted to jinx Snape before anybody noticed him, but the other part was too caught up in whatever was going on with Remus to bother.

But before he could make a decision, a small hiss from something close to his feet distracted him.

Mrs. Norris, Filch's new cat, had noticed them, and just like Crackerjack seemed to reflect Evans's personality, Mrs. Norris appeared to have taken on Filch's dislike for the Marauders.

"Leave us alone, stupid fur ball," snapped Sirius, trying to nudge Mrs. Norris out of the way with his foot.

That was a mistake.

"Oi, don't touch my cat!" barked Filch as he suddenly appeared from behind statue and hobbled over to them. When he finally seemed to register who the three were, he stopped and narrowed his eyes at them.

"What're you doing 'round here?" said Filch in a low voice,

"Walking," James responded innocently. "I wasn't aware that was a crime."

Filch chuckled darkly before saying, "I don't believe that for a second – you four are always up to no good."

"Generally, yes, we are up to no good," said Sirius cheerfully. "But we currently have no plans right now, so unless it's now against the rules to breathe, then you have nothing to hold us on, I'm afraid."

Filch seemed to have realized that too, and though his scowl said that he certainly wanted to give them detention for breathing, he could not do anything. Satisfied, Sirius strode past Filch with a smirk on his face, pausing only to hiss once more at Mrs. Norris. James quickly followed suit, pausing only to grab Peter, who was nervously chewing his nails while trying to avoid looking Filch directly in the eye.

"I'm keepin' my eye on you four," growled Filch before sulking away, no doubt to try to catch another troublemaker.

"He really needs to get a hobby," whispered Sirius as they ducked behind a tapestry that hid one of the many shortcuts within the castle. An image popped into James's head of Filch sitting in his office on a rocking chair and trying to knit while Mrs. Norris chased around a ball of yarn, and James chuckled.

"Think of it like this: the more that stupid cat follows us around, the more opportunities we have to entertain ourselves," said James.

Sirius grinned at that, staring off in the distance as if imagining all the fun things they could do with Filch's new cat.

It did not take them long to reach the Fat Lady, who had been hosting her friend Violet. Judging from the empty firewhiskey bottles and the way they both held onto each other for support, James suspected they had been indulging themselves for quite some time. Neither of them noticed the boys at first – they were too busy laughing loudly at a joke the old monk in the picture next to them had said – and after Peter tried and failed to get their attention three times, Sirius decided to do away with niceties and stepped in.

"DRAGON BREATH!" he yelled.

The Fat Lady nearly toppled over, to which Violet just laughed harder, before slurring, "Y-you have dragon … dragon breath."

She and her friend just laughed harder, but she was thankfully sober enough to comply and open the door.

"Your face has dragon breath," muttered Sirius as the portrait closed behind him.

~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1972 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~

"Everyone's talking about how you showed Smith up on Saturday," said Alice happily as she plopped down on Marlene's bed, where all four girls huddled for the night before they would soon each depart for their own four-poster. She had enjoyed the elevated status that came with being best friends with the current gossip subject around Hogwarts, even occasionally correcting some people's stories about the Dueling Club incident.

Whispers had trailed Lily as she had continued throughout the day, starting off as little, sporadic mumblings about the incident with Smith, but by the time she was yawning in front of the Gryffindor fireplace, those mumblings had turned into lengthy conversations that repeated tales of things she was nowhere near capable of, such as saying that she had stolen his wand and now held it ransom or that – as one imaginative first year had said earlier – she had Transfigured him into a polecat

Lily rolled her eyes.

"I wish they would just stop. I mean, it was only a Knockback Jinx and –"

"And it was awesome!" interrupted Alice. "C'mon, Lils, that was a wicked show of your jinxes. How many other second years can knock big sixth years like Smith flat on their butts? I mean, even Riley Wallows was impressed – the Riley Wallows, star Chaser and the brand-new Captain for the Gryffindor Quidditch team to boot …"

She babbled all the way down to the Charms corridor, still in awe of both Lily's mini-duel and of meeting Riley Wallows up close and personal.

"I think somebody's in love," teased Marlene in a light, sing-song voice.

She was visibly getting tired of the repeated conversation, much like Lily was, and was far more interested in waving her wand to conjure various sparks with colors ranging from a bright red to gleaming silver.

Alice went pink.

"So, um … did she mention when she was holding tryouts or anything," she said in a much more mature voice as opposed to her previous worshipful tone, clearly wanting to not look like the obsessed twelve-year-old fan she was while still hoping to hear more.

"You were there, Alice," pointed out Lily. "We didn't talk much about anything, let alone Quidditch tryouts – wait, why do you want to know anyways?"

The pink in Alice's cheeks deepened to a bright red, and she tucked a stray curl behind one ear before stuttering in a quiet voice, "Well, I … just … uh – I'm curious, that's all."

Lily grinned at her best friend's embarrassment.

"Sorry? Didn't catch that last part," she said, tilting an ear in the girl's direction.

Alice cleared her throat.

"I was going to go out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team," she said loudly, but she was plainly nervous as well.

There was a confused moment among the other girls before Mary broke the silence.

"But Alexandra Hopkirk is the Seeker for Gryffindor right now. She's probably going to get the spot again this year – why even try?" she asked in that sweet but blatantly honest way of hers.

Those words were effective in stopping Alice's previously cheerful mood as she looked down towards her feet, muttering something that nobody could hear, and for her lack of tact, Mary earned a quick jab in the ribs from Lily's elbow, whose owner gave Mary a stern look and silent warning to shut it before casting down Alice's lowered enthusiasm even more.

That was when Marlene thankfully took over to repair the situation.

"Look, Alice, I know that there's no denying that Alexandra will be trying out this year – she is a very talented Seeker after all and has only lost four matches since her second year."

"Gee, thanks, Marley. That makes me feel so much better," muttered Alice sarcastically, falling back on the old nickname they would sometimes use if wishing to tease her.

"But my point is," said Marlene, ignoring Alice's interruption and instead pressing on, "that you can still try out. Show Riley and Gryffindor just what you're capable of! You'll still be better than a lot of those other idiots who show up – they can't do jack compared to you, Al. Who knows if you're better than last year's reserve? At the end of the day, the only thing that really matters is if you love Quidditch or not, so you might as well go all out or nothing."

Gotta hand it to her, thought Lily as she silently watched the exchange, wisely choosing not to interrupt the well-dictated pep talk. Of all of the Gryffindor girls, Marlene was the best when it came to speaking words of encouragement and advising on certain matters, which came in handy since Mary often talked before thinking, a trait which had led to several distinctively uncomfortable conversations.

Alice brightened a little.

~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1972 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~

James half-heartedly bounced his Bawling Bouncy Ball against the wall while Sirius occupied himself with enchanting a couple of Muggle paper airplanes – Remus had showed him that skill back in first year – to race rather violently around the dormitory while arguing with Peter over the best way to break the rules now that Filch had two sets of eyes to watch the corridors. Peter seemed to be in favor of figuring out the best ways to avoid Filch and his cat first while Sirius appeared relish the idea of running into Filch's cat.

James would have had no problem joining in the fun, but his mind was elsewhere, pondering….

Why was Remus always so sick? Sure, bugs and illnesses spread through Hogwarts like wildfires, only to be stopped cold by Madam Pomfrey, but it was not even the normal flu-like symptoms that Remus suffered from. The pale skin, the fatigue, the moodiness … if Remus was not a bloke, then James would have recommended he see Madam Pomfrey for help with some nasty girl stuff – he found it too mortifying to say out loud, however.

"… so bad about it, Pete? We've been in the forest before."

Sirius's voice slowly drifted to James ear as he stared out the window. The sun had already set, but some of the dusky lightness still remained, which had made the moon and stars a tad more difficult to see than they would be in a couple of hours.

Peter quivered.

"But tonight is the one time we shouldn't, Sirius. I've heard students talking and there are …" – here, he glanced around once before dropping his voice to a terrified whisper – "trolls and werewolves in the Forbidden Forest. It's a full moon, Sirius, we really shouldn't."

Something clicked within him at those words, and James twitched his head in Peter's direction.

"What did you say?" he asked a little more sharply than was necessary.

As usual, Peter flinched and gave his signature squeak of fear before saying, "Th-that we shouldn't go into the forest?"

His sentence came out as more like a question.

"No, no – before that, what did you say?" said James in a rather distracted-sounding voice. He stared at the moon that glittered in the sky without ever really seeing it. It was just something that Peter said, something that struck a chord…. Maybe it was that the haze started to lift, or maybe it was not, but whatever was happening, the puzzle that was Remus Lupin slowly began to unravel in James's mind.

Now Peter looked bewildered – something else that was a very common occurrence. "Trolls and werewolves. Why?"

Inch by inch, the dots started to connect at those words, and James gazed back up to the moon, but there was a difference this time: he saw it, but this was the first time he recognized the luminescent orb for what it was, clear as a crystal and faultlessly contrasting against the inky black sky. It was taunting him from the heavens, just begging him to unite all the little clues that piled up around him.

Without another word, James strode over to where his trunk lay amidst the jumble of clothes, carelessly throwing the lid back to reveal the mess inside. He immediately attacked it, tossing useless things to the floor while Sirius and Peter watched, looking confused and slightly worried for his sanity, but James paid them no mind in his search. He simply continued to dig through the mixture of clothes, potions ingredients, books, and all his other supplies for school until his fingers finally closed around the silky material of his prized Invisibility Cloak.

"Gotcha," muttered James under his breath, extracting the cloak with a flourish.

"Um, James? What're you doing, mate?" quizzed Sirius.

"Nothing," he replied dismissively. "Just a little midnight wandering is all…. Don't mind me, now."

And on that final note, he hastened to the exit, pulling the cloak over him as he went until he was nothing more than an invisible phantom gliding down the staircase.

There was nobody in the common room save for a couple of seventh years huddled in a corner. They appeared to have been studying, but since two of them were flat-out sleeping and the other was struggling to keep her eyes open, James was not too concerned about them. The only thing to notice James was Evans's judgmental cat, Crackerjack, who's eyes narrowed in his general direction, but James ignored the pesky furball as best he could, pushing past him to the portrait hole.

James felt like a ghost as he glided through the castle corridors, now eerily quiet and empty as opposed to the hustle and bustle that normally accompanied him during the daytime hours. He sometimes passed patrolling teachers, prefects, and ghosts, once nearly colliding with Professor Slughorn's massive belly, but like the true Marauder he was, he neatly ducked around them. The only effort he made to take another route was when he came across Peeves on the fourth floor, where the poltergeist was sprinkling Madam Japes Non-Evaporating, Eternally Slippery Goo across the stones – that had to be the bottle that had been stolen from Peter's trunk earlier in the week.

Finally, he had arrived at the Hospital Wing. Though the gap in the slightly ajar doors was not big enough for James to squeeze through without attracting attention, he could still see though the slit. Generally, the Hospital Wing was quiet during this late hour with only the slow breathing of patients who were forced to stay overnight to fill the void of silence – James could not help but smirk when he noticed that Jesse Smith was still out cold – but tonight there were two figures towards the back of the Hospital Wing who were still not asleep.

One of the figures was clearly Madam Pomfrey, and she was bending over a small, slight figure with a goblet full of some kind of concoction that emitted a dark smoke. They were too far away for James to hear their voices, but he was almost certain that the figure was his friend. He watched as Remus took the smoking goblet and downed it before allowing Madam Pomfrey to help him to his feet. It took James several moments to realize that they were heading for the doors, and he hastily backed up so that they would not run over him.

"… tonight, then you have an entire month to rest before the next full moon," came Madam Pomfrey's kind voice as one of the doors opened, revealing that the figure was indeed Remus, though he barely resembled the boy James had come to know during his two years at Hogwarts.

Remus's skin was a sickly white and covered in a light sheen of sweat – much worse than it had been in Hagrid's hut – and the shadows under his dark, feverish eyes stood out by a mile. Remus winced as Madam Pomfrey shifted her grip on him to quietly close the doors to the Hospital Wing and clutched his side, where James could see that several tremors had developed. A small cry of pain escaped his mouth before he quickly hunched over, but thankfully the matron tightened her grip before he could fall to the floor.

"I know, dear, I know," said Madam Pomfrey, rubbing his shoulder in a soothing way. "Let's just focus on the transformation tonight and get through it."

They hurried past where James stood, never once suspecting that he was there, invisible, but that did not matter to him – because now James knew beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Remus Lupin was a werewolf.


Note: I changed the character to Smith because as I was trying to figure out future boyfriends for Lily, I was looking up birth years of possible candidates, and when I saw the year that Cormac McLaggen was born, it gave me a really good idea that I just had to use. So, I changed it in this chapter to Jesse Smith (as in Zacharias Smith).