"Remus isn't talking to us" was Peter's glum greeting on Sunday evening.
Lily and Sirius, who had helped James up an extraordinary number of stairs to the dormitory, exchanged a glance at the news.
Sirius couldn't control his eye roll. "Moony's such a drama drawers."
"He'll get over it" James declared, cheery in spite of the burning ache in the abdomen. He settled on his bed. "Anyone got any Chocolate Frogs?"
James had spent the weekend under the watchful eye of the Head Girl, who was now stood just feet away from his bed. After spending years steadfastly avoiding the boy's dorm, Lily was becoming more acquainted with the room by the day.
Sirius had popped by the Heads' Office to watch over his best friend when Lily had been doing her rounds in the Hospital Wing. For the most part, and a fair bit of teasing, he'd left the pair to it.
He'd ensured that they were looked after, though. To Lily's dismay, a House Elf called Gertie had appeared in the office on Saturday morning to deliver breakfast, and had continued to appear at regular intervals, without warning, to take care of food and cleaning. After her first visit, James had beaming from ear-to-ear. "Sirius knows she's my favourite" he'd said, his expression changing when he caught Lily's eye "not that you're meant to have favourites, of course."
"How much time do you spend in the kitchen, exactly?" Lily had asked him.
The Head Boy had declined to answer the question.
"Mister James" Gertie had tutted on Saturday evening, fluffing his pillows. "You get yourself into lots of troubles, Sir. No good, is it?"
Lily, head buried in her Charms homework, didn't disagree. She tried not to jump out of her skin when the matronly House Elf clicked her fingers sharply and disappeared with an audible pop.
In-between visits from Sirius, Peter and Gertie, homework, and Lily's trips to the Hospital Wing, their weekend had been spent in easy, companionable conversation. It was remarkable, really, how far their friendship had come since their train ride to school in September.
After being waited on hand and foot, James was forced, quite rudely, back into reality and Moony was being a prized prat and refusing to leave the Hospital Wing.
"He can't stage a protest forever" Lily assured a forlorn Peter, "Madame Pomfrey won't allow it."
Remus had barely looked at Lily when she'd popped into the Hospital Wing for her rounds that weekend. Out of a mixture of respect and annoyance, she'd kept her head down, and focused on taking inventory (and replacing some bottles of Blood Replenishing Potion that Sirius had acquired over the weekend) and, to her great joy, cleaning bedpans. Without magic.
Remus had gone one further and feigned sleep when she'd manhandled James into the Hospital Wing earlier that day. James had spent a whole day fighting her on it, insisting that her healing prowess had done the job. He'd be fine. If he went to the Hospital Wing, Remus would be expelled and exiled and the other three Marauders would be thrown in Azkaban by dinnertime.
But Lily held firm and, drawing a quick line with her wand, she'd sliced shallowly, cleanly, down her patient's original wound.
"Fucking hell, Evans, are you mental?" he'd howled, watching the blood blossom through his t-shirt.
She took his hand in hers, searing the cut shut with another flick of her wand. "Trust me."
Madame Pomfrey had eyed the hobbling Head Boy with suspicion. "What have you done this time, Potter?"
Lily had removed her arm from his waist to motion the nurse into an empty bay.
"It's a bit of a delicate situation" Lily had never felt this tongue-tied in front of her mentor before "I tried to fix it, but I just wanted to check that there was no lasting damage."
Madame Pomfrey sighed and flicked the curtains closed. "Quidditch accident?" she considered the way James was holding himself "does it involve your private parts, Potter?"
James tried to splutter a response, but Lily pressed a hand firmly to his chest. "It's alright, darling, it doesn't have to be embarrassing. I'm sure Madame Pomfrey's seen worse from wandplay."
The nurse groaned in despair. "Wandplay? Really, Potter?" she paused to gather herself. "If you've accidentally sliced anything important off, I hope you've brought it here on ice."
"I haven't-" James tried weakly.
"It was my fault, I'm afraid" Lily didn't even blush. James' mouth was agog as the redhead continued: "I'd read about it in Witch Weekly. You know, ten ways to use your wand to spice up your sex life. I suppose I just got slightly…enthusiastic."
The matron had paled considerably.
"It's just a cut, but it seemed quite deep at first" Lily confessed. James obediently loosened his arms to allow her to lift up the bottom of his t-shirt.
Madame Pomfrey considered the stitched line across James' abdomen. "Let me take a look at it" she conceded. "Potter, Evans, you know I'll have to inform Professor McGonagall of this…indiscretion."
"I wouldn't expect anything less" Lily said breezily. The lightness of her voice didn't match the churning sensation in her stomach as Madame Pomfrey began surveying James' wounds. She prayed that her magic, which had been cast last, would be the overwhelming identity of the wound. That they'd get away with it.
Madame Pomfrey finished her examination by forcing James to drink a Blood Replenishing Potion.
"Remind me to teach you how to suture properly next time you're here, Miss Evans" she sniffed "it's not a bad first attempt, particularly on the larger wound…"
Had they both imagined the knowing look in her eye? James and Lily avoided eye contact with each other, just in case.
"No lasting damage, but I'd recommend no Quidditch for a week, Mr Potter. Any sharp, sudden movements will set your recovery back considerably. That includes the activities that landed you in this mess in the first place."
"Thank you" James croaked.
"Two vials a day" she ordered "I'll get one of the House Elves to bring them to your dorm. I imagine Mr Black or Miss Evans will be able to assist you in the shower if you should require it over the next few days."
Lily's cheeks flushed for the first time since they'd entered the Hospital Wing. James tried not to think about the implications of the redhead in the shower with him, all lathered up and-
"I'd strongly recommend that you don't try wandplay again" Madame Pomfrey was on a roll "it's dangerous at the best of times, and I'd rather not host a school-wide assembly about safe sex using real-life examples. I'm sure you'd agree."
The rumour had, of course, spread like fiendfyre. As they'd passed through the Common Room this evening, several first-years had stopped their conversations to openly gawp at them.
"How did a prude like you know about wandplay, Evans?" Sirius asked, distributing Chocolate Frog boxes amongst the room before sinking onto his bed.
"Who's to say I don't have first-hand experience of wandplay, Black?"
James and Sirius let out identical snorts. Peter's entire body seemed to flush red.
"Evans, come on" James grinned.
"Pull the other one" was Sirius' contribution as he wrestled his confectionary into his gob.
"Fine. It was from Alice."
Sirius nearly choked on his Chocolate Frog. "Not the answer I was expecting" he admitted "good on her and ol' Franky boy."
"At least someone's getting some" James muttered, rubbing his abdomen. He caught Lily's eye, remembered himself. "Sorry, Lily."
"Yes" Sirius bowed his head mockingly "sorry Miss Evans with your ever-so delicate sensibilities. We usually save this disgusting talk for Marlene."
Lily stuck her middle finger up at him. It hung unspoken between them that she'd saved their collective bacon on Friday night, and it wouldn't ever be forgotten. Whether she liked it or not, she was part of their circle now.
When she made it back to the calm of her own dorm room, Lily was itching for some normalcy. Spotting that their friend had returned, Alice wordlessly popped four bottles of Butterbeer with her wand and the Gryffindor girls grabbed one each, raising a cheers to Lily's non-existent sexploits over the weekend.
"I'd like to thank Lily and James for giving us this week's lead article for the Herald" Marlene teased "Sex and Spells: Sensual or Absolutely Fucking Stupid?"
"Will you be anonymising opinions?" Alice asked. "Might pop an idea or two over…"
"I will give you twenty Galleons if you can get it past Dumbledore to be published" was Dorcas' promise, knowing that she had no-where near that kind of money.
"I can't believe I have to go and see McGonagall over something I didn't even do" Lily lamented, taking a solemn swig of her Butterbeer. "I'll probably get my first detention ever. Ever!"
The silence hung in the air for a moment or two. Lily's friends collectively waited to see if she would offer any more information about her weekend and, if she didn't, they knew that there was no point in pressing.
No matter how curious they were about her lost weekend.
"I've decided" Dorcas filled the quiet "that I'm going to get Emmeline a new set of Quidditch gloves for her birthday next week. Is that a terrible idea?"
"I like it" Marlene replied "practical but nice. And flowers?"
"Obviously needs flowers" Alice agreed. "And maybe something from Honeydukes? It's not like you've been together long enough for anything more serious."
"Is there any point in Honeydukes though? Her dorm's right next to the kitchens, for crying out loud."
"Not everyone knows how to get into the kitchens, Mar."
Lily was thankful for the distraction, and continued to sip her Butterbeer and listen intently as her friends moved on from birthday presents, to a new spell Doe had found for Duelling Club (complete with a terrifying casting stance), to complaints about their never-ending Charms homework.
Alice and Doe were drawn out of a heated debate about the ethics and practicality of Leglimency by a rapping at the window next to Marlene's bed.
Marlene beamed, recognising the owl, and threw the scrolled parchment over to Lily. "Loverboy for you."
Three words, with which the Head Girl ended her unpredictable weekend: Thank you, Lily.
She really wished she could've helped the smile that felt like it overtook her whole body, but she couldn't.
Boy oh boy, was she in trouble.
It had been three days since James had returned to the dormitory. Remus had set up camp with the Hufflepuffs and had steadfastly been ignoring James and Sirius at every given opportunity.
He'd exchanged polite nods with Pete and seemed to have avoided coming into contact with Lily, but it was like the other two Marauders were non-existent.
Instead of pairing with Sirius in Defence Against the Dark Arts that Monday morning, he'd volunteered to pair with Snape.
Sirius had been so furious that he'd charmed their shoelaces to knot together, so that the pair would be forced into close proximity for the rest of the day. He'd hoped that he could embarrass his friend enough to get a reaction. Unluckily for him, James spotted him, fixed the spell, and deducted ten house points from him.
"You're a traitor" Sirius had hissed. "You're just letting Moony get away with being an absolute cu-"
"I'll take ten points off you if that word comes out of your mouth" his best mate interrupted him. "Moony just needs to calm down. Give him until the end of the week, he'll get over it. Find something else to occupy your time with."
Sirius had tried it all – Quidditch practice with Marlene, actually putting effort into the detention he'd shared with the Head Boy and Girl on Tuesday night (washing up by hand after a particularly claggy school dinner of Shepherd's Pie for mains and rice pudding for afters. Lily had excused herself to vomit before tackling the remains of the latter), he'd spent an hour winding up Peeves when he should've been eating lunch, he'd even done his homework for goodness sakes.
But now it was Wednesday night, and he was getting progressively angrier. Who the fuck did Moony think he was? He didn't have the right to play the victim. Prongs had almost died that night, but they'd fixed it. They always fixed it. Everything was okay.
James had abandoned him to go and do patrols with a fifth year Hufflepuff Prefect and Pete had snuck off to the Hufflepuff Common Room to see Moony. Without the Marauders to annoy, Sirius had found himself waltzing into the office of the Hogwarts Herald.
It was empty apart from Marlene, who was hunched over a piece of parchment at her desk. That week's edition had gone out earlier in the day and – disappointingly – hadn't mentioned a thing about wandplay. After an impassioned argument with Professor Dumbledore about freedom of speech and the importance of sex education, Marlene had lost the argument, and had resorted to a lead story on the large amounts of goblin-made silver that was being exported out of the country so that it wouldn't be used as collateral in whatever conflicts were to come.
Ever the rulebreaker, Marlene and the team had snuck a small zine inside the paper about safe sex anyway, with several anonymous confessions about outrageous practices within the school. Sirius was sure he'd been quoted at least three times, and he'd been fascinated to read about something muggle women called 'the Pill', which sounded like it should definitely have a magical equivalent.
"All your other friends busy, Black?" the editor looked up and eyed him warily.
Sirius held up a hand to his heart, offended. "Am I not allowed to come and see my best Beater buddy on a beautiful Wednesday evening?"
"If you're coming in here to find out who wrote the anonymous confession about taking it up the arse whilst allegedly hanging out of the Astronomy Tower, I'm not telling you."
"What's the point of you, eh?"
She laughed then. "I'm guessing Remus is still ignoring you, otherwise you'd be over with the Hufflepuffs bothering him."
Sirius stayed nonchalant. "How much do you know?"
"Nothing, actually" Marlene admitted. "I know not to ask when Lil doesn't want to volunteer information, but I'm guessing it has something to do with whatever happened over the weekend. I also know that the Hufflepuffs are getting a bit tired of extending their hospitality and their collective Honeydukes stash keeps going missing so, for what it's worth, I'd imagine he's pretty miserable too."
"You have the weirdest fucking sources going, d'you know that?"
Marlene shrugged, playing with the parchment between her fingers. She'd been staring at it non-stop since the owl had arrived earlier that evening. "I just, um. I got this letter from a section editor at the Prophet. He wants me to write a pitch for him and if he likes it I'll go and do some work experience there over Easter."
Sirius grinned "Mar, that's wicked!"
"It is" she agreed, her voice uncharacteristically subdued. "I just don't feel like I'm writing anything great at the moment. There's this one story and I just can't get my head around it…" she trailed off and locked eyes with him.
"Sirius, we're friends, aren't we?"
He perched on the edge of her desk. "Course."
"Can I show you something?" she moved to her desk and removed a bound notebook. He tried to focus on what she removed from it – it was so dark it looked like slate, but it was so thin. He held out his palm and shivered at the texture.
"Is this…?"
"I think it's human skin" she said quietly. "I've been doing some reading about Voldemort and these so-called Death Eaters and, er, well…"
"Mar" Sirius' throat was so tight that he could barely speak "where did you find this?"
She avoided his gaze. "Where I found the Lobalugs."
"Why the fuck didn't you tell me?"
"I'm telling you now, aren't I?"
"So you think…" he swallowed. "You think this is from some sort of branding ceremony?"
"They call it the Dark Mark, I think. Yes."
Sirius knew what they called it. He'd seen it on his father's arm before he'd packed his bags for the last time, had heard the segregation sermons at their dining table. He'd felt sick to his stomach every time they'd started from his parents, and even more unwell when his brother, wanting to say something to fill the gaping silence, to finally get approval in that hellhole of a house, had joined in.
Reg. His mind went flashing back to their confrontation outside the Great Hall a few weeks ago. He knew that Lily and James had made him a Prefect since then, that they were trying to protect him. Could he have thrown it all away? Could he be…?
"Sirius" Marlene touched his hand. She'd known him for long enough to recognise the terror that occasionally sparked in his eyes. They never talked about what happened at the Black household and, although Marlene was a pureblood, her family had found solace on the fringes of that society, holding open-mindedness over hate with the help of people like the Potters, the Vances, the Weasleys. She knew that Sirius hadn't been so lucky. She was so stupid, she should never have shown him-
Sirius snapped out of his trance "have you taken this to Dumbledore?"
"No. I'd need more proof than this to take it to Dumbledore and I can't…I can't get out of the castle at night without being seen. If you tell me how you do it, then..."
Sirius let out a bark of a laugh "then what? You'll go and take on a group of wannabe Death Eaters by yourself? Splash it all over the Herald and wait for them to murder you? Outstanding plan, McKinnon."
"No, you fucking idiot" she hissed, snatching the sliver of skin from his grasp. "I'll take it to Dumbledore and then I'll put it in the Herald and send it to the Prophet."
He stared at her, agog. Undeterred, she continued: "Sirius, I think the Lobalugs are involved in this somehow. I don't know if they're used in the ritual, but the only thing that can activate the poison is saltwater. So I just need to split my time staking out the Forbidden Forest and the lake. That's not hard, is it?"
"You're mental, Mar. Don't you understand what these people can do?"
She tilted her head, as if to tell him that she understood perfectly, as if there was something he wasn't grasping. "I didn't take you for a coward, Sirius. I thought you were a real Gryffindor."
That bloody well did it.
"Fine" he snapped "you want to go and see what you can find? Then we'll fucking go."
Marlene scoffed "at what point did I say I wanted you to go with me?"
"Tough" was Sirius' response. "The only way you can get out of the castle is without me, and you know it. Just don't blame me if one of us ends up half-dead. I've had enough of that to last a lifetime."
"Fine" Marlene slipped her bounty back into her notebook. "I'll let you know when it's time. I've got to put my ear to the ground first."
"With your great sources?" he sneered back, pushing himself off of the desk. "We could be waiting all year for that, couldn't we?"
"Now who's being reckless, hmm?"
Sirius couldn't think of a dignified response.
By Friday, Lily had had quite enough of James and Sirius moping.
James hadn't explicitly said anything about Remus but his head had been all over the place this week – she'd had to re-do his patrol rotas after he'd put together three completely inappropriate pairings, and he borrowed notes off of her every day that week. He'd simply forgotten to pay attention in class. In Duelling Club, Alice had managed to upend him with a simple trip jinx.
Sirius had continued as the class clown for the most part, but she could feel the anger vibrating around him. On top of the Remus issue, he'd been pulled aside by Marlene between classes, and the pair had been having heated, whispered discussions with a lot of aggressive hand gestures.
The world was off-kilter outside the castle – Lily wasn't going to let that be the case inside it as well.
That was how she plopped down at the Hufflepuff table for dinner on Friday, shooting a sweet smile at two sixth years, who read their runes and quickly scarpered.
Remus, who had been deep in conversation with one of them, was surprised to hear the noise of a plate being settled next to his own.
"Don't try and ignore me, because that would be unreasonable" Lily huffed, sticking her fork into a pile of mashed potato. "Can you pass the beef?"
"Lily-"
The Head Girl looked up from dolloping horseradish onto her plate. "Two slices, please. I'm starving."
Remus took her plate and filled it. "Has anyone told you Gryffindor girls that you're incredibly emotionally manipulative?"
"I actually overheard Doe say something to Marlene this morning. It's the close ties to Slytherin, you know."
"If you're here to ask me to make up with them-"
Lily cut into her beef. "Remus, we're always honest with each other. I need to tell you that you're being an idiot."
Remus felt the tips of his ears turn pink. He lowered his voice so she was the only one who would hear him in the bustle of the hall. "Lily, I could have killed James."
"I know. He knows, too" she was surprisingly calm about the situation.
"And Sirius, and Pete-"
"So what's the alternative?" Lily was curious "you just act the martyr and go through it all on your own for the rest of your life?"
"Something like that."
"Remus" Lily settled her cutlery down with a sigh "don't be such a dickhead. They took a stupid risk trying to be brave, and they won't do it again. Regardless, they think you're worth the risk, okay? Make a new plan, make sure everyone sticks to it. You're all absolutely miserable and you're all too proud to apologise to each other" she speared a piece of meat with force "honestly, the testosterone is exhausting to be around."
"What if the Hufflepuff dorm is comfier and I don't want to come back?" Remus was just being petulant now.
"Firstly, the amount of soft furnishings in that place is enough to make anyone want to strangle themselves. Secondly, if you don't come back I'll pull out my secret weapon."
"Which is?"
Lily smiled sweetly. "Ah, deducting 100 house points from Gryffindor. You can do that for extended periods of dissention, you know. It's a really old rule, dates back to 1743, but I'd be more than happy to crack it out just for you."
"You're impressive and very, very cruel."
"It's for the best" Lily assured him. "Plus, now I've officially become part of the gang by stitching James back together and keeping everyone's secrets, I can always referee the inevitable Sirius Black tantrum later this evening."
"Last time I ignored him for a few days he broke three windows" Remus confided in her. "I'm a bit scared the dorm might be set alight."
Lily moved her last piece of beef around her plate. "We can go together, if you like? Now?"
Remus smiled. "Thank you, Lily."
"No problem" she stood and wiped a spot of horseradish from her skirt. "Friends are here to make things easier, not harder."
When Lily immobilised Sirius on walking into the dorm and allowed Remus to settle his box of belongings on his own bed for the first time in a week, he couldn't help but notice how lucky they all were to have someone like her around to look out for them.
Well, that, and the stupid look on James' face, of course.