A/N: I'm not going to be able to update next weekend, I have to go to a party for one of my cousin's college graduation... Oh joy... All I can say about that is thank god I've got two brothers and two sisters to pass the time with. Anyway, since I'm not giong to be updating for two weeks I've made this chapter a bit longer than usual... Enjoy:)

Truth and tears clear the way to a deep and lasting friendship. True friendship is never serene. – Mariede Svign

It takes two to speak the truth, one to speak and one to hear. – Henry David Thoreau

Chapter Eight

James pulled Lily back slightly, "Lily, Marlie is going to get over this, once she comes to her senses and realizes that she's mad over house points."

"She's not mad over house points James, none of them are, annoyed perhaps, but not mad." Lily replied, looking up at James. "She's mad because I know why we lost the house points and I won't tell her anything about it."

"Yeah, but, she was looking for a fight when we sat down."

Lily took a deep breath and shrugged, she was still fuming, and knew she'd have felt better if Marlie hadn't walked away and they'd been able to have a proper row. "I guess."

James grabbed Lily's hand and tugged, "Come on."

She fell into step with him, "Where are we going?"

"For a walk."

"James, I don't want to just walk around. It's cold and it looks like rain."

James looked up, "Yeah, it is shitty today, but that fits doesn't it."

"So, let's go in then."

"No, we're going for a walk."

Lily felt her blood begin to boil again, she tried to yank her hand away from James, but he held tight. "I told you I don't want to go for a walk." She said slowly.

James shrugged, "Well we're going." He smiled to himself when she hissed out a breath. He knew that if he got her pissed enough she'd forget about Marlie for a little while.

"How dare you." Lily hissed, "Who're you to tell me what to do?"

James stopped, pulled Lily to him with enough force to have her let out a muffled, "Oomph." Against his chest.

"I'm the guy who's in love with you. Now I'd suggest that we go for a run, but neither of us is dress for it at the moment. You need to work off your mad, so we're going for a walk until you calm down a bit."

Lily looked up at him and blinked, she could feel some of her anger draining away. "How do you know me so well already?" She muttered softly.

James wiped a tear off her cheek; he doubted she knew she was still crying, "I've been in love with you since I was fifteen."

Lily sobbed again, "James, I'm sorry. I know that you were just trying to help. I wasn't really mad at you."

"I know." He cupped her face in his hands, looked into her eyes for a bit, "Come on, let's go for that walk."

Lily let out a breath, "Alright."

They'd walked halfway around the grounds before either of them spoke again. "I want to tell Peter and Gideon." James said suddenly.

Lily sighed, "I thought you might."

"Are you okay with that?"

Her brow furrowed, "Why are you asking?"

"Because this involves you too. I'm going to tell my roommates, but you can't tell yours. I want to know if you're okay with that before I tell them."

Lily stopped walking and turned to James. "What if I said no?"

He blinked, "Then I'd have to tell you that I'm sorry, but I'm going to tell them anyway. They already know about Remus, and that's why Dumbledore told us not to tell anyone. Besides they deserve to know, it affects them more than your roommates."

Lily smiled slightly, "So, I guess it's a good thing that I don't mind then. And that I think you're right, they do need to know."

James stared at her for a minute, narrowed his eyes, "Then what the hell was that all about?"

Lily shrugged, "I wanted to make sure you wouldn't put me ahead of your friends when it came to something important like this."

"Is this about what Sirius said earlier?" She didn't answer, just shrugged again. "Lily."

"Okay, maybe. But…"

"Stop, you shouldn't listen to him when he's mad. Sirius has a nasty temper when he gets really angry, and doesn't always think about what he's saying." James said. "Lily, you're important to me, but so are my friends, and this has nothing to do with that. They need to know because it's the right thing to do."

Lily smiled at him slightly, "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have tested you like that. I just didn't want to come between you and anymore of your friends."

"Lily, don't worry about it. Alright?"

"Alright."

"So, no more tests?"

"No, no more tests."

"Okay, good. Now, I think that you should come with me." James said.

"Where?"

James shook his head slightly, "You know for one of the smartest witches in our year, you can be very slow sometimes." But he kissed the side of her head gently to take the sting out of the comment. "To work out how to tell Gideon and Peter."

"That wasn't nice." Lily replied. "You want me to come with you?"

"Yeah, you where there and I wasn't. I'd rather them not hear about it second hand. Plus you should get to tell them yourself."

She looked up at him again, "Yeah, okay. Do you want to go tell them tonight?"

"Maybe, we need to get them alone, and everyone is going to be in the common room now. But, I think we should take a while to work out what we're going to say to them. This is going to be a delicate situation to say the least."

It was the last day before the break ended before James and Lily found their opportunity to speak with Gideon and Peter. They were sitting near the fire talking about their latest transfiguration essay when they saw Sirius storm down the stairs. He shot them a furious look before walking out of the portrait hole. "Lily, this is our chance. Peter and Gideon are the only ones up there right now." Lily nodded and they both quickly walked up to James' dorm.

They walked in to find Gideon lying on his bead reading a book and Peter sitting on the floor at the foot of his bed writing an herbology essay. They both looked up when James and Lily walked in. "Er, should we be leaving?" Gideon asked looking uncomfortably from James to Lily.

Lily blushed bright red, "No, James and I want to talk to the both of you."

Peter sat up, "Is this about what's going on with everyone?"

Lily looked at him and felt terrible, she knew that it had to be tough on the two of them; the strain was starting to show on their faces, and wished she could have told them sooner. "Yeah, it is."

Gideon closed his book, "I though you guys said that you couldn't tell us."

"You already know about the thing that makes it why we can't talk about it to anyone. And you deserve to know." James answered.

Peter looked pointedly at Lily, "I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe you should explain it to me later."

Lily smiled at Peter and his attempt to keep her from learning about Remus. "It's okay Pete, Lily knows."

Both Gideon and Peter gaped, "You told her?" Gideon asked shocked, "Is that what this is all about?"

"No. I didn't tell her." James replied. "Lily, I think that you should start at the beginning."

Lily took a deep breath and nodded as everyone turned to her, "James and I had seen Snape around the Whomping Willow last week."

"The day of the full moon?" Gideon asked.

"Yeah, the day of the full moon. And James had gotten really angry over it, I didn't know why, and frankly I didn't care overmuch, I just wanted Snape to get smacked around a bit, which he did, by the way." Lily said with enough smugness that Gideon grinned and Peter snickered a bit. "Anyway, later that night I had rounds; I was just about finished when I heard two people talking. I was about to tell them off for being out of bed, but I saw that it was Sirius and Snape. I ducked into an empty classroom so that I could hear what they were saying. Sirius was angry and said something to Snape about being near the Whomping Willow. Then he told him to go down to it and prod at the knot near the bottom with a stick. And told him to go down the tunnel."

Peter gasped and Gideon's jaw dropped slightly, "And you know that feeling you get when you know something bad is going to happen?" Both Gideon and Peter nodded, "Well, that was two people that day who were pissed about Snape being near that tree, so I went to find James and see what was going on. I told James what I had heard and he told me to go tell Dumbledore immediately, and he ran to go stop Snape. McGonagall was in Dumbledore's office when I got there, and when I told them what I had heard they both went rushing down there."

"I still had no idea what was going on, I knew it was bad, but I didn't know what. I was looking out the window trying to see what was going on and I noticed the full moon. That's when it hit me, that someone was a werewolf, it didn't take me long to figure out who." Lily let out a breath; it felt good to be able to tell someone about what had happened that night.

James picked up the story when she stopped, "After I left Lily I ran down to the Whomping Willow. Snape had already gone into the tunnel so I ran in after him. He was nearly at the Shrieking Shack when I got to him, I tried to pull him back, but he kept telling me to get the hell away and trying to pull away from me. It wasn't until he heard Remus that he freaked and took off in the other direction. I hadn't had a chance to follow him when I saw Remus. I guess Madam Pomfrey left the door open a little."

James watched as Lily's eyes went round, he hadn't told her this part. "I hexed him, but I knew it wouldn't last long, so I bolted. I had gotten three quarters of the way back when I nearly tripped over Snape, he'd fallen. I could hear Remus running along the tunnel, so I had to drag Snape out of there by his robes. We'd barely gotten out when McGonagall and Dumbledore came running down. They got Remus back to the Shack, then McGonagall brought Snape up to the hospital wing and went to go get Sirius. And I went back to Dumbledore's office with him."

"So that's why Sirius had detention the other night." Gideon said. "And Dumbledore only took off one hundred and fifty points? I would've thought he'd take off more."

"He did, but he also gave Lily and me fifty each."

"Hmm. I can't believe he was so stupid." Peter said.

"Well, isn't this cozy." Came a voice from the doorway. Remus was standing there looking angrier than he had in a long while. "Having a nice little chat about me then? Going to announce it to the school tomorrow?"

"What? No! Of course we wouldn't do that." Lily said, sincerely shocked that Remus would think it.

"Only because Dumbledore would expel you if you said anything." Remus shot back nastily.

Gideon shot off the bed, "Remus…"

But Lily stopped him with the shake of her head. Lily controlled the tremor in her voice, but she could do nothing with the tears welling in her eyes, except pray they wouldn't fall. "Do you really think so little of me?" She asked. When she got no answer she walked passed him and out of the dorm. She stopped at the door, "I thought you knew me better than that Remus." She said softly.

"That was uncalled for and you know it." James said. Remus shrugged, but he looked over his shoulder at Lily's retreating back.

Lily got to the bottom of the stairs as Sirius was coming up. "So is that how you've got James doing what you want now? A nice little quickie now and then?" Lily felt her face heat with embarrassment; the whole common room was looking at them. "No wonder he seemed so happy lately, it was about time that boy got some."

That's when anger took over. Lily swung her hand back and slapped Sirius as hard as she could. "DON'T PRETEND TO KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, WHEN YOU DON'T. YOU JUST LOOK LIKE A FOOL. THOUGH I SUPPOSE YOU SHOULD BE USED TO THAT." Lily shouted. "I'D TELL YOU TO GET THAT STICK OUT OF YOUR ASS, BUT IT OBVIOUSLY GIVES YOU A NICE LITTLE THRILL. SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

The entire common room was staring at her wide eyed, but she was too angry to care. She spotted Marlie at the table near the fire doing an essay for transfiguration, and rounded on her. "AND YOU!" She yelled once she had stormed over. When Marlie didn't look up, Lily surprised everyone, herself included, by grabbing Marlie's textbook and hurling it in to the fire.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

"I THOUGHT WE WERE GOOD FRIENDS." Lily shouted. "BUT I GUESS IF SOMETHING LIKE HOUSE POINTS CAN COME BETWEEN US WE WERE NEVER REALLY FRIENDS IN THE FIRST PLACE." Lily was breathing hard and her face was red, but she made the effort to lower her voice, "So, you know what? I'm done. I'm done trying to be understanding, thinking how I would feel if our situations were reversed. You can go fuck yourself for all I care." She hissed.

With that Lily turned on her heel and stomped up to her dorm, leaving a stunned common room in her wake. Marlie was staring at the stairs, where James was now standing, when Gideon sat down next to her, her transfiguration book in tow, "I fixed it for you."

"Thanks." She muttered.

"You need to talk to her. It's not her fault, she didn't do anything. And you'd have done the same if Dumbledore asked you not to say anything to anyone."

"I know." Marlie muttered. She picked up her books and walked over to James who was trying to figure out how to get up the girl's stairs. "It's never going to happen."

James looked at her, "I need to go talk to her."

"You really care about her a lot, don't you?" Marlie asked.

"Yes."

"I'm going up to talk to her; I'll tell her that you want to talk to her too."

James grabbed her arm, "Don't hurt her again; she's been through enough today." Marlie just nodded in response.

She opened the door to find Lily sobbing on her bed. "Go away." Lily muttered.

Marlie dropped her things on her bed, then sat down on Lily's, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so nasty to you. It's just house points, I just overreacted."

Lily sat up, "I'm sorry too, I'd tell you all if I could, but can't. I promised I wouldn't."

"I know." Marlie replied, crying now as well, "I would have done the same. It's just hard knowing that you knew something and couldn't tell us, I just felt, I dunno, left out I guess."

Lily threw her arms around Marlie, "It's not like that. I wouldn't know either if I hadn't been there. It was just a chance thing."

"I'm sorry I was such a bitch." Marlie sobbed.

"Me too."

Both girls turned at the soft knock at the door, "Are you guys okay now?" Dorcas asked poking her head in. "Or should we wait a little longer and wait for world war three to breakout?"

"No, we're okay." Marlie said and Lily nodded her head in agreement. Both girls dried their faces, "Oh, Lily, James is worried sick about you downstairs. I think you should go talk to him."

Lily looked at her friends, "I'll be right back, I think we need some girl time. Let me just go tell James that I'm okay."

Lily had barely gotten out of her dorm when she heard shouts coming from the common room. She hurried down the stairs to see a tight circle of people, most of whom were shouting. "What's going on?" She asked a second year girl who looked slightly frightened.

The girl looked up at her, "Sirius Black and James Potter are fighting?"

"What?" Lily gasped and hurried toward the group of people. She was nearly at the front when she heard a grunt and the sickening crunch of bone.

"Bloody buggering bastard." She heard Sirius groan.

Lily stopped, wide eyed, when she pushed passed the last person to the front of the circle. She watched in astonishment as James and Sirius rolled around cursing and hitting any part of the other they could find. A particularly nasty punch to James' face brought her out of her shock. "Why hasn't anyone tried to stop them?"

"They tried." A boy next to her said pointing to Gideon and a seventh year boy. Gideon was sporting a bloody nose and the seventh year boy was bleeding profusely from his lip.

"Bloody hell." Lily muttered. She thought for a minute, "Gideon, Michael, grab them when I separate them." She called.

"Be careful Lily." Gideon called back.

Lily waved her wand and had the two fighting boys flying apart. The seventh year boy with the bloody lip, Michael, grabbed Sirius, and Gideon grabbed James. Lily stepped between them, "That is enough. Both of you."

"Need a girl to come to your rescue, huh, Potter? Tell me, what does it feel like to have no balls?" Sirius said nastily.

"Fuck you." James called back.

"No thanks, we all know that Lily's taking care of that for you. But if you need to offer I guess you guys aren't doing it right. You do know that you're supposed to…"

"I said that is ENOUGH!" Lily shouted. "Take him somewhere else." She said to Michael who nodded at her.

"Come on, Sirius; let's get out of here for a while." He muttered dragging him out of the common room.

"Everyone else go somewhere else. The show's over." She walked slowly over to James who was now sitting on one of the couches.

"Lily, good, you're alright?" James asked when she sat down.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Lily asked. "What the hell was that all about?"

James shrugged, "I'm fine."

"James." Lily said softly, "What the hell happened?"

James blew out a breath, "After Marlie went upstairs Sirius came back down. He started saying shit about what a terrible friend I am, what a bitch you are…"

"And that's why you felt the need to try to beat the hell out of him?"

"No, as much as that pissed me off I would have let it slide. But he started saying all this stuff about us, you know, together."

"James," Lily said shaking her head, "He was saying that to me too when I was coming down the stairs."

"Not like this he wasn't." James replied. "It was pretty crude."

Lily stared at him for a minute, "Thank you for defending me, but, James, you can't get into fights with people every time they say something nasty about me."

James glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, "I could try."

Lily rolled her eyes, "You'd have to fight with most of Slytherin then."

"What?"

"Damn near all of them have called me a mudblood one time or another." James opened his mouth, but Lily interrupted, "Sometimes, James, you just have to let it pass."

He blew out another breath, "I know." Lily looked at him skeptically, "I do, it's just, I dunno, harder I guess because he's been my best friend since we were eleven years old."

Lily patted his hand, "I know. He was just trying to hurt you, you know. And I guess since the two of you are so close he knows best how to get to you."

"Yeah, logically I know that you're right. But, damn if I could help trying to kick his ass when he was say those things about you."

Lily sighed and put her head on his shoulder, "Thanks for trying to, what, defend my honor." She said tucking her tongue in her cheek.

James snickered slightly, "Shut up, you make me sound like some fifteenth century knight or something." Lily just smirked at him. "So how are you? You looked like you'd been crying."

Lily shook her head in astonishment, "How did you notice that when you were busy kicking Sirius' ass and having your ass kicked in return?"

"Well, I was a bit busy then, but after, when you separated us. Your eyes were still a bit red. And you were pale, that usually means you've been crying."

Lily shook her head again, "I'm okay. We just needed to get some things out."

James looked skeptical, "You're sure?"

She smiled, wanted to kiss him, but knew that everyone in common room was still watching them, even if they were pretending not to. "Yeah. I'm going to spend sometime upstairs for a while, we need some time together."

"You don't have to explain when you want to spend time with your friends, Lily." James replied.

"I know; I just wanted to let you know."

James smiled, "Do you want to do something later?"

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"Good, meet me down here at midnight."

Lily raised an eyebrow, "We're not allowed out that late."

He leaned down, "I'll bring my cloak." He whispered in her ear.

She closed her eyes as she shivered slightly, "Okay. I'll see you then."

James nodded as she got up and walked back up the stairs.

"What the hell was going on down there?" Emily asked. "Someone said that Sirius and James were beating the hell out of one another and that you stopped it."

"They were. Sirius was being an asshole and James, well, James was trying to be noble. They both wound up with some nasty bumps and bruises."

"Are you going to turn them into McGonagall?" Alice asked.

"No, I think it's best if all the professors are kept out of this."

They stared at her for a second, "Are you going to take any points off?"

"No, I think we've lost enough for the last little while."

"Aren't you supposed to do both?"

"Probably. But I'm not going to be the one to damage their friendship anymore than it already is."

"Alright." Dorcas said slowly. "So, the fight's been over for a while, what've you been doing down there?"

"I was talking with James for a while; I wanted to make sure he was okay."

"So, Lily, still just friends with him?" Marlie asked. The other girls waited for Lily's reaction before doing anything.

Lily flopped down on her bed and grinned, which caused the rest of them to raise their eyebrows at her, "So, Marlie, still shagging Ryan at every opportunity?"

Marlie grinned back, "Yep, and I have to thank you really, angry sex with Ryan is quite good."

Emily scrunched up her nose, "I don't think I wanted to know that."

They all giggled, "Way to dodge the question Lily, you're quite good at that you know." Dorcas said, "Though not as good as me, 'cause then, obviously, you'd have gotten away with it."

Lily smiled dreamily for a moment, "Promise you guys won't say anything."

All of the girls looked at Lily with surprise for a moment, then nodded in agreement. "Of course." Alice said.

"That night, the one when everything happened." The girls nodded, "He kissed me."

"Really kissed, or kissed in the sense that all you did was leave hickeys all over one another?" Emily asked.

"Really kissed."

"Did you kiss him back?" Dorcas asked.

"Yeah." Lily said smiling.

"Well?" Emily asked. "How was it?"

"Amazing." Lily answered.

"Aw, our little Lily's growing up." Alice said, wiping a fake tear out of her eye, "Snogging boys and everything."

"Oh, shut it you." Lily said tossing her pillow in Alice's direction, "I've snogged guys before."

"Not ones that put that dreamy smile on your face." Marlie said as Alice tossed the pillow back.

"He said I'm the best thing that's ever happened to him." Lily said in wonderment.

"Wow." Dorcas said softly.

"Yeah." Lily said dreamily.

"That's why you were singing in the shower that day, wasn't it?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, that and I didn't know you guys were awake yet."

"Lily, you were singing loud enough to wake the whole bloody tower. And let me tell you, that is not a nice sound to wake up to." Dorcas said grinning.

Lily grinned back, "Shove off."

"Come on Lily, you know it's true. There are loads of things that you're good at, singing isn't one of them."

"He makes me happy." Lily said simply.

"You're in love with him aren't you?" Marlie asked.

Lily looked at her for a moment, probably wouldn't have answered if she hadn't just gotten over a big row with her. "Yeah, I am."

Marlie hugged her tightly, "I'm so happy for you."

"So how did everything go?" James asked once Lily had slipped into the common room later that night.

Lily was about to answer when she saw James face, his eye was back and his lip was swollen. "Why didn't you go to the Hospital Wing?"

"I didn't want to get Sirius in anymore trouble." James muttered. "Not that the wanker appreciates it."

Lily raised an eyebrow, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay, it looks worse than it is. I'm just a little bit sore."

Lily rubbed her thumb softly under his eye, and kissed his lips softly. "Are you sure?" She said stepping back.

"Yeah, I've been better, but I'll live. I already got rid of most of the bruises; these were the worst of them, so they didn't heal all the way. I'm going to take care of the rest of them in the morning after they've started to heal a bit on their own." James said. "Now, tell me how everything went with everyone?"

Lily smiled, "Great."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"I'm glad; I hate to see you so upset." James replied. "Now, come here so I can see how to fit the cloak over both of us."

Lily walked to him, giggled softly when he pulled her flush against him. "I don't think we need to be this close."

"Who wants to take chances?" James replied, looping an arm around her waist. "Besides, I like having you close to me."

Lily grinned goofily, turned her head as they stepped out of the portrait hole, "Maybe I like having you close to me too."

James pulled her into an empty classroom a few floors down, "How close do you like me?"

Lily gulped at the look on his face, "Very."

James grinned, shoved her against the wall, and kissed her soundly. James had pulled her shirt off and was busy kissing her neck before Lily was able to form words. "Do you know how often we wind up against walls?" She gasped out.

James looked down at her flushed face, "Now that you mention it." He threw his shirt somewhere in the direction that he'd thrown hers. "Are you complaining?"

"Definitely not." Lily giggled bringing his face back down to hers. Her giggle ended on a moan when she felt his fingers sneak their way under her skirt, and into her.

"Bloody hell." Lily gasped a long while later. James was still pinning her to the wall, her legs were still wrapped around his waist, and he was still inside her. "Do you think it's always like that?"

James grinned into her neck as he felt her legs slide down his hips, "Merlin I hope so."

Lily giggled again, "Jesus, I don't think I can stand right now."

"I'll take that as a complement." Lily rolled her eyes. "But, I have to tell you if it wasn't for this wall, I don't think I'd be standing either."

Lily grinned, "I'll take that as a complement."

James kissed her swollen lips lightly, "It was meant as one." A few minutes of silence later James shivered, he looked down to see Lily covered in Goosebumps. "You're cold."

"Mm. A little." Lily muttered.

He pulled her away from the wall, found his wand, "Accio clothes." A pile of clothes landed in front of him, "Let's get dressed before we get sick."

When they were done, James draped his invisibility cloak over them, "We should head back. We can talk when we get back to the common room; it's quite cold in here."

Lily smiled, looked over her shoulder, "That didn't stop you before."

James smirked, "I doubt anything could stop me from wanting you."

Lily's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything until they were back in the common room. "Where do you come up with those things?"

"What things?"

Lily shot him a look, "You know what things. You say these things and I go all gooey inside."

James grinned at her, glanced around, and kissed her lips lightly, "I only have to tell you the truth."

They both sat down on the couch, his arm around her. "There you go again." They were both quite for a minute, "Do you think we'll still be able to win the House or Quidditch Cups?"

James blinked, "Where did that come from?"

Lily shrugged, "Just curious."

He shook his head, "You come out with the most random things sometimes. We might still be able to win the Quidditch cup, but I doubt that we'll get the House one."

"Yeah, one hundred and fifty points takes a long time to make up, and I don't think we've that much time. How're we going to win the Quidditch cup though, aren't you down a beater?"

"I've a reserve beater. He can play. He's not as good as Sirius, but he should do alright."

"You've got a reserve beater?"

"Yeah, there's one reserve for every position. I thought it would be a good idea incase anyone was sick or hurt."

"That's a really good idea."

"I thought so."

Lily smiled at him, kissed him softly, "We'd better get to bed, Professor Sprout isn't going to like it if we're late tomorrow."

"Yeah you're probably right." They stood up, walked to the stairs, "Goodnight Lily."

"Goodnight James."

The morning of the Quidditch match against Slytherin Lily woke up to an owl watching her every move. "Blimey." She gasped.

"Yeah, it's been doing that for the past twenty minutes." Alice said.

Lily glanced over as she took the letter from the owl. "Thanks for getting the letter and making the creepy owl go away."

Alice grinned, "Then I would have missed your face when you woke up. Where's the fun in that?" She raised an eyebrow when Lily burst out laughing, "What's so funny?"

"My sister's getting married."

"Why is that so funny?"

"To Vernon Dursley. The guy you saw on the platform when you went to Em's for Christmas."

"Walrus man?"

Lily giggled again, "Walrus man."

"When?" Alice asked.

"Er," Lily looked down at the letter again, "it doesn't say specifically, just says sometime this summer. And, bloody hell." Alice raised an eyebrow, "I'm supposed to be in the wedding. I bet she makes me wear a hot pink dress."

"Aw, Lily, don't you want to wear hot pink? We all know it would look nice and pretty with your hair."

Lily glanced over to Dorcas who was just waking up, "Yeah, the only thing better would be if she'd pick out a nice orange." Lily replied sarcastically.

By the time Lily had gotten into the bathroom she was starting to feel nervous about the match. She had faith in James, but she had seen Slytherin practicing the day before, and they were good. She took a fast shower and quickly got dressed. Lily shook Emily awake before heading down the stairs; she knew that James always got up early on Quidditch days.

"Hey."

"Hey." James said looking up from a Quidditch book grinning.

"Why are you so happy?" Lily asked.

"I made some progress today."

"What kind of progress?"

"Remus talked to me. Sure it was only to a one word answer to a direct question, but, hey, considering it's the first time he's spoken to me in a month, it's good news."

Lily smiled, "Yes, it is. I'm happy for you. What did you ask him?"

"I asked if he wanted me to wait for him to go down to breakfast, and not only did he look at me, but he said 'no'."

Lily smiled slightly, "Is it weird that I'm really happy that Remus said he doesn't want to go down to breakfast with you?"

"Not at all, I'm happy that Remus said he didn't want to go down to breakfast me. And just think soon enough he'll come around with you. Pretty soon you, too, can get monosyllabic answers as well."

Lily smiled, but James saw the hurt flash in her eyes, he grabbed her hand, squeezed, "Lily."

She shook her head, "Do you want to go down to breakfast or are you going to stay here?" Lily asked.

"I think I'm going to stay here, wait for the rest of the team, and make sure they're all up soon. We can't afford to be down anymore players."

"Yeah, that's what I figured." Lily said ruffling up his hair.

James looked up at her for a moment, "You do that a lot."

"So?"

"I thought you hated it when I did that."

Lily grinned, "I do. But I like it when I do it."

James smiled, placed a kiss to the back of her hand, "I'll see you down at the pitch?"

"Yeah, I'll be there. Good luck."

"Thanks, I think we're going to need it." James replied.

Lily quickly glanced around and seeing no one, kissed James quickly on the lips. "You'll do great."

Lily grinned on her way down to the Great Hall. The smile fell from her face when she saw Remus. She knew he spotted her when he turned abruptly and headed in the opposite direction. "Bloody hell." She muttered, then jogged after him. "Remus!" But it was no use; he kept walking as if he hadn't heard her. "Remus!"

After the fourth time she called him, to no avail, Lily whipped out her wand. She watched, with no small amount of satisfaction, as Remus went rigid and fell over. "I love non-verbal spells." She walked over to him and levitated him into an empty classroom. "Now Remus, I have some things I'm going to say to you. I'll unpetrify you, however, if you make one move towards that door, or so much as open your mouth I will petrify you again."

Lily waved her wand again, "Sit down." She demanded. Remus sat and didn't say anything. "First of all, this is ludicrous. You've been acting like a bleeding wanker." Remus opened his mouth and Lily narrowed her eyes, "So help me god, Remus, if you interrupt me." His mouth closed. "I realize that you're upset or embarrassed or whatever about your, er, issue. But, blimey, come on, this is ridiculous, you're not a bloody leper."

"Lily, I'm a werewolf." Remus spit out disgustedly, unable to control himself.

"And I suppose that's your fault. Went out one night and thought, 'Hey, I know what would be great fun, if I was bitten by a werewolf so I could be one too.'" She hissed.

"Why would you want to be around me?" Remus asked dejected.

"You're stupid." Lily muttered, "Flaming stupid. Get it through your thick skull; I don't give a fucking rat's ass if you're a werewolf. So, okay, I'm not going to go frolicking around the grounds with you on nights of the full moon, but as we never did that before, I don't see it being much of an inconvenience."

Remus gaped at her, "You're serious. You still want to be my friend even though, I'm a monster."

Lily shook her head, pressed her fingers to her eyes, "Bloody, thick headed, git." She took a deep breath, "Yes, I'm serious. If I wasn't I wouldn't have tried to talk to you at every opportunity for the past month. And Merlin's beard, you're not a monster, you just, er, have an ailment. It's not something you asked for; it's something that was out of your control." Remus could only stare at her. "Though if you tell me you wanted to be bitten because you get a nice thrill out of pain, well, then I'm going to have to go."

Remus snorted, "You caught me, I'm a closet masochist." He muttered. "If you're really my friend you'd crucio me, that way I could get off."

Lily cringed, "I really didn't need to know that."

"You brought it up."

"I suppose I did." Lily looked at him for a moment, "Do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Talk to James. He misses you."

"Lily, I can't. I just… I can't."

"Please. He risked his life that night to keep anything from happening. You're one of his best friends and that's what has him so off, you not talking to him. So please, try to talk to him."

He nodded, "Alright. I'll try and talk to James."

"Good, I'll see you at the match?"

"I dunno, I don't think…"

"I'll see you at the match." Lily said more forcefully.

"Yeah, I'll see you at the match."

Lily practically skipped all the way down to the Quidditch Pitch, though she was disappointed that the match had already started. But, she thought being friends with Remus certainly makes up for it. And James'll understand why I'm late.

She climbed the stairs quickly and found a spot next to Emily. "Where were you?" Emily hissed.

Lily grinned, "Talking to someone."

"Who? Who could be more important than this match right now? If we lose Slytherin will win the Quidditch Cup."

Before Lily could answer Remus stepped into the stand, "Hey guys, is there anymore room?"

They all gaped at him, "Er, yeah, budge over a bit Peter." Dorcas said. When they all looked to Lily, she grinned and gave them a thumbs-up. "Figures." Dorcas muttered to Marlie. "No one can stay mad at her for long." But, she too was smiling.

"So what's the score?" Remus asked.

"We're down by fifty." Gideon said, "Slytherin has two hundred, we've got one fifty."

"And Potter has the Quaffle." Came the announcer's voice, "He's streaking down the pitch, it doesn't look like anyone can keep up with him… Oh, Potter drops the Quaffle as he's forced into a barrel role to avoid a bludger hit by Yaxley. Burke grabs the Quaffle which is hit out of his hands by Humphrey. It looks like she's going to crash into Bulstrode, but no, she's dodged Max, she goes left, no feints, goes right, Gryffindor scores!"

Three quarters of the stadium cheered, "And it's Bulstrode in possession, he passes to Burke, who passes back to Bulstrode, and it's over to… No, Potter's intercepted the Quaffle! Gryffindor in possession! Potter dives under the Slytherin chasers, it's only the keeper and Potter, he shoots, and oh, it's blocked by Regulus Black. Black passes to Burke, who, ouch that has to hurt, takes a bludger to the face, courtesy of Gryffindor's reserve beater, Jonathan Weiss. Humphrey's got possession again, she doges one, no both bludgers, that's some nice flying. And it's over to Potter who shoots again, and GOAL! Two hundred Slytherin, One Seventy Gryffindor."

All of Gryffindor was on their feet, cheering. "What's this on the other end of the pitch? They've seen the snitch!" Everyone held their breath, "They're flying right at each other, holy god, they're going to crash. But wait, Zeller pulls up! ZELLER PULLS UP AND MORGAN GETS THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS! THREE TWENTY GRYFFINDOR, TWO HUNDRED SLYTHERIN. THAT'S JUST ENOUGH TO PUT GRYFFINDOR INTO FIRST PLACE! GRYFFINDOR GETS THE CUP! GRYFFINDOR GETS THE CUP!"

Lily was jumping up and down hugging Emily, "We beat the little bastards." Emily screamed.

"Bloody right we did!" Somebody yelled.

"WE BEAT SLYTHERIN! WE BEAT SLYTHERIN! WE BEAT SLYTHERIN!" Lily couldn't tell who started singing it, but it wasn't long before three quarters of Gryffindor was joining in, herself included.

She smiled as Remus hauled Dorcas into the air and spun her. "SEE I TOLD YOU TO COME DOWN." She shouted.

"YOU WERE RIGHT. QUIDDITCH IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL."

They flooded the pitch, everyone trying to pat the Gryffindor players on the back or shake their hands. Lily's eyes locked with James' though she couldn't get to him. 'Later.' He mouthed. Lily nodded her head in agreement.

They stayed long after the match was over, only being made to leave when someone started chanting, "SLYTHERIN SUCKS BALLS!" The chant had become quite popular, with most of Gryffindor, and about half the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws joining in. McGonagall looked appropriately annoyed when she told them all to go to their common rooms, but as she didn't take off any points, Lily had a sneaking suspicion that she felt the same way.

"My favorite part, aside from the winning, of course," Alice said, "was Burke's bludger to the face. I could relive that over and over again."

Marlie laughed, "That's because you're one sick individual Alice."

"Damn right. Come on tell me you didn't get a nice thrill out of watching that prat's nose break."

Marlie nodded her head in agreement, "You got me there."

"You would think he'd be used to that by now." Dorcas said barely containing a giggle. When the other girls looked at her strangely she continued, "With all the balls he's usually got in his face, who'd have thought one more would break his nose." Snickering, the five girls climbed through the portrait hole.

The party in Gryffindor tower was, if anything, more exuberant than the one outside. "Whoa." Emily said looking around, "Where'd all this stuff come from?"

Lily looked around at all the food and drinks covering every available surface, "Probably from the kitchens."

"Thank you captain obvious." Emily muttered. Then she grinned, "This is bloody fabulous."

Lily was looking around, again, for James when she felt an arm go around her waist and a cloak drop over her body. "What if someone saw?"

"Don't worry no one did." James muttered into her ear.

Lily turned, grinning from ear to ear. "Good match."

"Thanks."

She kissed him soundly on the mouth, then sniffed at his throat. James laughed, "What the hell?"

"Christmas." Lily said amazed.

"What?"

"You smell like Christmas."

"Right. Anyway, wanna go upstairs and fool around?"

Lily rolled her eyes, "Sure why not."

James' mouth dropped open, "Seriously? I was only kidding."

"Well if you don't want to…"

"Of course I want to, I always want to." James said pulling her, laughing, up the stairs. When they got to his dorm James took the invisibility cloak off and hefted Lily over his shoulder. He dropped the cloak on the floor near his bed and Lily onto it. Still giggling, Lily did a silencing charm while James pulled the hangings closed.

"You'd think that McGonagall would have given us a break after we won the cup, she's into Quidditch enough." Dorcas said glancing over at Lily. "But no, the first thing that she does is give us a project to do, the bloody term is almost over."

"I wish." Lily responded.

"Just think, this time last week we were getting ready to go down to the pitch and this week we have to go right to the library after we eat breakfast."

"Tell me about it, I really don't…" Lily broke off when James popped out from behind a tapestry, "James?"

"Merlin's beard!" Dorcas called, "You scared the crap out of me. I didn't know that there was a door behind that tapestry."

"Yeah." James said slightly out of breath, "It's a shortcut from right outside of the common room to here."

"Huh. Who knew, but I think I'll be using it from now on, because, hey, five more minutes of sleep in the morning." Dorcas said grinning.

"Lily I need to talk to you." James said grabbing her hand and pulling her down the corridor.

"James, what, stop, I'm going down to breakfast, can't this wait?"

"No, I need to talk to you right now." Lily's struggles didn't stop him, but he had slowed down a bit.

Lily glanced over her shoulder, "I'm sorry. I'll catch up to you later."

Dorcas grinned, "No problem. Don't forget to use protection." She called down the corridor.

Lily rolled her eyes, "Great, now Dorcas thinks we're shagging."

"We are."

She waved her free hand, "That's not the point. Besides I thought that you didn't want anyone to know about us for a while."

"Right now I'm too happy to care."

"What happened? Where are we going by the way?"

"The Room of Requirement. I want some privacy."

Lily raised an eyebrow, "Do you now." She said dryly.

James grinned as the blank stretch of wall became a door. "Yep." He said and dragged her inside. Lily was about to say something, but James had pulled her and kissed her soundly. "Thank you."

Lily blinked twice in an attempt to bring her eyes back into focus, "I'm not sure what for, but I feel like I should be the one thanking you." James grinned and kissed her again. "James if you keep doing that I'm not going to be able to participate in any sort of conversation."

James grinned, if possible, more broadly. "Remus talked to me."

Lily's hand which was resting on James' shoulder, tightened into a fist. "He did? What did he say?"

"Yeah, he said that the two of you had a little chat last weekend and that besides making him feel like a dumbass, good job by the way, it's really hard to do that, that you convinced him to talk to me again. So thank you, for getting one of my best friends to talk to me. We've still got some things to work out and I'm not sure if it's ever going to be the same as it was before, but we're friends again."

Lily smiled up at him, "I'm so happy for you." James kissed her again and pushed her onto one of the couches in the room.

While Lily was patrolling the last night before everyone went home for the holiday her mind kept wondering. The only thing interesting that had happened the past month and a half was when James had snogged her senseless a couple of days after the Quidditch match. He wanted to thank her for getting Remus to talk to him again. Though the two were still sometimes awkward around each other, they were friends again. James had done more than snog her, repeatedly, to thank her for that.

She was smirking when she ran into Sirius. "You're in a good mood Evans. Satisfied that you've got all my friends pissed and still not talking to me?"

Lily narrowed her eyes, "I didn't want your friends to be pissed at you."

"Could have fooled me, I see how you wormed your way in there once I was gone."

"You're retarded. I don't nor have I ever wanted to replace you."

Sirius snorted in disbelief, "Yeah right." He said pushing past her.

"You little berk. I used to admire you, you know." Sirius stopped dead, whirled around. "The family you came from, everyone knows that they're awful. And I used to think it was amazing how you could be so strong, even as a child to know that everything that they ever said to you was hate-filled lies. That you were courageous enough to go back to that and stand up for what you believed in."

Sirius gaped at her, his was mouth moving, but nothing was coming out. "But, I guess I was wrong, you're just as bad as they are. I guess the sorting hat must have made a mistake, they say there's a first time for everything, and I guess that's what happened with the sorting hat." Lily hissed.

Sirius grabbed her arm when she went to storm passed him, "I'm nothing like them." He spat.

Lily looked up at him and yanked her arm free. "You could have fooled me. You nearly killed Snape, and you don't even care."

"Snape did not almost die."

"Really, what usually happens when someone meets a fully grown werewolf? Do they have a nice chat then?"

"Snape would have run once he heard Remus."

"What if he didn't?"

"What?"

"What if he didn't?" Lily asked again.

"He would've run when he saw him then. Evans what do you think people usually do when they see a werewolf? He would have been scared shitless and he would have left Remus alone from then on."

Lily blinked, something just dawning on her, "You were trying to protect him, weren't you?" She asked softly.

"Remus? Of course. With a little bit of revenge on Snivellus mixed in."

"What if he wasn't fast enough to get away Sirius?" Lily asked softly.

Sirius blinked, "I, er," His brow furrowed, "he would have been."

"Do you know what would have happened if Remus had gotten to Snape." Sirius paled, "Not only could Snape be dead, but you and Remus would be out of Hogwarts. So would Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore wouldn't be out, they couldn't." Sirius said slowly. "It would have been my fault."

"Yes, it would have been. But Dumbledore let Remus in knowing about him. And with Dumbledore gone, Hogwarts wouldn't be nearly as safe as it is now. The only reason Voldemort doesn't attack here is because of Dumbledore. Just like he waits until we're all home before he has his followers attack homes. It's no fun if all the witches and wizards between the ages of eleven and eighteen are safe." Lily put her hand to his cheek, "Think about it."

Sirius watched her retreating back, "Oh, shit." He muttered, "What have I done?"