Year Two – Lily
Lily shut her books with a sigh. Sev had been studying with her, but he left with Avery and Mulciber less than an hour ago and she couldn't focus anymore. Instead, she looked around the library. It was nearing Christmas, so most of the library was full of OWL and NEWT students who had more work than the rest of the school. Everyone else was probably outside taking advantage of the snow.
"Hey Lils," came a voice from beside her. She turned to find Remus standing awkwardly by her table. They often studied together, but when she was with Severus, as she was before, he usually sat a good distance away.
"Hey," she smiled at him. Remus was by far her favourite, if it came to comparing James, Sirius, Peter, and him, although she supposed Peter wasn't so bad either. The four of them had taken to calling themselves "the Maurauders" this year. Lily had no idea why they called themselves this, but she assumed it had something to do with their many nighttime wanderings. They had never really hidden the fact that they wandered around at night, but somehow, they never got caught either.
"D'you mind if I talk to you for a minute?" Remus asked quietly, slipping into a chair beside her.
"Sure," she said, shutting her book with a resounding thump. "I can't focus anyways."
Remus had become, other than Severus, her closest friend in their second year. Marlene was still her closest female friend and was planning on staying with Lily over Christmas (Lily would stay with her during Easter), but she was not often around at school, having made the Gryffindor quidditch team as a chaser even though she was only in second year. She had also gotten quite close with Sirius, whose company Lily could not stand.
Remus looked around, almost worriedly, and leaned in closely to talk to Lily. She knew what was coming before he said it; it wasn't the first time they had had this conversation.
"Do you really think I should tell the others about my…well, you know." He looked at her helplessly, but she knew what he was trying to say.
"You mean, that whole thing where you don't have a family member falling ill once a month, every month?"
Lily, of course, hadn't missed the signs that he was a werewolf. It had only taken her a few months to put it all together, but she wasn't particularly surprised. It explained why he looked slightly off a lot of the time. She hadn't confronted him about it, though, until the conversation she and James had had in first year about staying out of Remus' business. Ever since then, she'd been trying to convince him to tell his friends that he was, in fact, a werewolf.
He smiled wanely at her. "Yeah, that."
"You know I think you should, Rem. I don't like any of them much, but I know they won't care. You're they're best mate."
Instead of looking comforted, Remus looked even worse. "You don't understand, Lils," he said finally. "You're muggleborn, and that's not a bad thing," he added hastily when he saw her look. "It means you grew up without all the prejudices of the wizarding world. No one likes werewolves, Lily. It's a miracle Dumbledore even let me in. I already know I'm not going to be able to find a job after I graduate. No one will let me once I'm a werewolf."
"Right," cut in Lily, "but that's all to do with the future. You can figure that all out later. That doesn't have anything to do with your best mates."
"Yes it does," he responded, sounding desperate for her to understand. "Sirius and James, they're both purebloods. They'll have those prejudices because that's how they grew up."
Lily couldn't help but scoff at that. "Remus, think about it logically. They're not my favourite people in the world, but even I can admit that they're not all bad. They don't believe in all that blood supremacy garbage anyway. If they don't hate me for being muggleborn, why would they hate you for being a werewolf?"
"Because it's different," he responded with a moan. "Muggleborns are one thing, but at least you can still get jobs and you're not treated any worse to your face. Werewolves are, Lils. It's not the same." Remus had slumped so his head was resting on his arms, which were folded on the table. Lily slid over and tentatively put a hand on his back.
"You're right, Rem, it is different. But it's not because you're a werewolf. It's because, unlike the rest of the wizarding world, you're friends with them. They know you and they're not going to throw that away just because you turn into a wolf once a month. They're good people, even if they're idiots. I never thought I'd say this, but especially Sirius. He broke away from the beliefs of his entire family by himself, without outside influence. You really think he'd be bothered that you're a werewolf?"
Remus finally looked up at her and smiled slightly. "You're right, you know. I still don't know if I can tell them, though. Not yet."
"Why don't we set a goal?" asked Lily practically. "A goal with a consequence. That always helps me when I have to do things I don't want to do."
"So is that how you get through Binns' homework then," asked Remus jokingly.
"Maybe, but don't tell anyone. This is a very important Lily Evans secret that I'm letting you in on." She grinned.
"I won't, I won't," he responded, raising his hands in mock surrender. "What's my goal, then?"
"You have to tell them before the end of our second year. That gives you a lot of time to figure it all out."
"Fine, and what's my consequence?"
"What, wounding your Gryffindor pride isn't enough of a consequence for you?"
Remus laughed at that. "Please, Lils, I'm not James or Sirius. I can do with my pride being wounded every once in a while."
"Fine. If you don't, I'll tell them myself." Remus' only response was to grimace. "And I'll hex you," she added as an afterthought.
"Lily! That's not fair!" exclaimed Remus, loudly enough that Madam Pince, the librarian, shushed them loudly. "The first part was enough."
"Well then," she said with a twinkle in her eye, "I guess that means that you have double the incentive to not fail, don't you?"
Remus' only response was to groan.
"What's wrong with him?" came a voice from Lily's other side. She turned to see Sirius, smiling amusedly down at both of them.
"He's just suffered a very severe disappointment," said Lily, forgoing the use of the lofty voice she typically reserved specially for James and Sirius. She was determined to drop enough hints over the next year that Remus would be forced to tell his friends that he was a werewolf. And that could only happen if she was at least somewhat friendly with Black and Potter.
"And what sort of disappointment could bad enough to put Remus out of good cheer?" asked Black, a look of fake shock and horror on his face.
"I just found out that she – what was it, Lils? She thinks you're a good person." Lily turned to Remus in shock. He was grinning rather triumphantly. Comeuppance for the threat of a hex, she supposed. "Which is obviously bad for me, because how will I have time to study with Lily if we have you tagging along everywhere we go? Since, you know, she doesn't hate you and all."
Lily was glaring daggers at Remus. Sirius clearly noticed, but chose to ignore it and instead called, "Oi! James, Peter!" louldy enough to cause Madam Pince to "shush" them particularly violently. James and Peter emerged from behind a bookshelf, clearly arguing about something.
"What is it?" asked James, almost wearily. He was eyeing Lily as though she might explode at any second.
"Evans thinks I'm a good person," said Sirius, grinning as broadly as if he had just singlehandedly won the Quidditch Cup.
"How do you know that?" he asked suspiciously.
"She told Remus, and Remus told me. Just now," Black responded smugly.
James snorted in poorly disguised laughter and then turned to Remus. "So, if Sirius is a 'good person', what am I, 'a bloke of godly proportions'? The most amazing person Evans knows?"
Lily caught Remus' eye with a glare, but he just grinned back at her.
"She doesn't like you particularly," responded Remus blithely.
James' spluttering and Sirius' roaring laughter was enough have Madam Pince enchant their books to chase them out of the library. And while she would have liked to stay and study, Lily realized that maybe the Mauraders weren't all so bad after all.
