Two weeks.

That's how long it had been since that dreadful night of the full moon. After Dumbledore had left with Lily, James and Sirius had done what they could to help Remus in his fight with Greyback. It hadn't, unfortunately, been enough, however. Greyback had attacked Remus with such ferocity that James and Sirius had found it hard to get anywhere near the two werewolves without sustaining injuries themselves. And they had, of course, received many injuries. None of them were life threatening, thankfully, but they were enough to cause the two of them great pain and Remus much guilt. The guilt wasn't unfounded, as he constantly reminded them. Remus had accidentally caused many of their injuries. And he refused to forgive himself, no matter what anyone said to him.

When Dumbledore had taken Lily away from the fight he wasn't sure if she was even alive but he had gone to St. Mungo's anyway, just in case. And, in the end, it was a good thing he had. Lily was, somehow, miraculously, alive. She was, however, badly injured and needed a lot of care and attention in that first twenty-four hours. She was continuously waking up and screaming. Every time this happened it took almost an hour to calm her back down and get her to go back to sleep. Lily wasn't able to take a dreamless sleep potion because it just didn't work. Her nightmares were too vivid, too scary. Nothing could get her to calm down except for James' reassuring voice.

Two weeks was a long time to watch those you cared for suffer so much. James and Sirius couldn't bear it and would often disappear together for an hour at a time so that they could calm themselves down. They were no use to Lily and Remus nervous and tired. James and Sirius would only leave if both of them were asleep and that actually happened more than they had anticipated. By the end of the two weeks, Sirius had acquired his flying motorbike and James had lost eight bets with Sirius, all of which related to the bike.

What finally pulled Remus out of his depression and guilt was a visit from James and Sirius when they were both completely healed…

Remus glanced up as the door to his room opened but looked away almost immediately when James and Sirius entered. Remus hadn't yet forgiven himself for causing them pain, even if they said it was fine. James sat down next to Remus' bed while Sirius sat on a table which was leaning against the wall.

'You can't ignore us forever, Moony.' Although Sirius was smiling there was still concern in his eyes.

'I can try.' Remus didn't lift his head to look at his friends. The last time he had seen them, both James and Sirius had long cuts on their faces and necks. The evidence of what Remus had done. If he was honest he wasn't sure if it had been him or Greyback who had attacked their faces but it didn't matter. He had hurt his friends, again, and he didn't want their pity or forgiveness.

'But you'll fail,' laughed James. 'Come on, Moony, we're fine. The three of us.' James lightly hit Remus' arm. 'Our cuts have healed, Moony.' James added slowly. There were light scars from the cuts but thankfully the cuts hadn't been deep enough to leave anything obviously permanent.

Remus slowly lifted his eyes and looked first at Sirius across from him and then James beside him. Both of them were smiling widely at him and neither of them was showing any signs that they had survived getting in between two fighting werewolves. Remus knew that they must have scars but he couldn't see them, and if he couldn't see them then he doubted if the rest of the world would. A spread across Remus' tired features for the first time in two weeks. Remus opened his mouth to speak but couldn't think of anything to say to them. It was Sirius who broke the silence.

'You have to hurry up and get the hell outta here 'cause you gotta see my bike.' Sirius grinned at him and Remus couldn't help but laugh.

'And how many times have you fallen off then?' Remus asked glancing at James who smiled.

'Not many,' James threw Sirius a look. 'Alright, alright, I've fallen off a few times. Happy?' Sirius glared at the other two men who were laughing heartily at him.

'And how many times have you crashed?'

'A few.' Sirius muttered.

As the conversation continued Remus was suddenly overwhelmed with happiness and joy. For almost his entire life he had been ostracised by humanity and he had, over time, gotten used to that. Remus had long ago accepted that he would never live a normal life and that he would never truly be accepted in civilised society. Remus had never in his wildest dreams thought that he would have friends who cared for him even though they knew what he was capable of during the full moon. Despite all the injuries and all the long nights, they had stuck by his side and Remus knew that he would never be able to thank them enough.

…

What finally caused Lily to awake from her depression was something else entirely. For two weeks, she had had a continuous stream of visitors, including her mother. But it was one particular visit that woke her up…

Lily had been very comfortably lying back staring out the window onto a beautiful, sunny day. Lily knew it wasn't exactly real but it still felt good to see. She heard the door open but, assuming that it was James, didn't look around. She heard the person take two steps into the room and then stop. That's not James. Lily finally turned around and froze. Standing before, looking as though she would rather be in the centre of an exploding volcano, was Petunia Dursley.

'Tuney?' Lily glanced behind Petunia and saw James standing in the doorway. He had a large goofy grin on his face and was looking mightily pleased with himself. Lily turned her eyes back to Petunia. Petunia's lips had formed a thin line, but when she saw Lily watching her, she forced her mouth into something that vaguely resembled a smile.

'Lily. This idiot turned up on my doorstep this morning,' Petunia threw a thumb over her shoulder at James who winked at her. 'He was wearing a bright purple cloak, for goodness sake.' Petunia's mouth re-formed the tight line and Lily only just managed to stifle a laugh. 'Anyway, he told me that you were in hospital and said that should come see you. Otherwise, he'd let the entire street know that he was my brother-in-law.' It was very clear that Petunia didn't appreciate this act; Lily on the other hand loved it.

'Oh, I'm sorry, Tuney; I didn't know he was going to do that.' Lily thought she sounded sincere, and apparently Petunia agreed with her, because she sat down in the chair next to Lily's bed.

'So, what happened?'

Lily glanced at James who shrugged. 'Um… I'm not really sure how I can explain it to you. You don't like me talking about my world.' Lily added at Petunia's confused expression.

'I see. Mum told me about this… war that's going on,' suddenly an expression that Lily hadn't seen on Petunia's face for years appeared. Concern, concern for Lily. 'She didn't say much though I figured that's only because you didn't tell her much. Probably a good thing. She doesn't need that kind of worry. I assume that has something to do with why you're in… here?'

'Yes,' Lily stared at Petunia and then, for whatever reason, she told her sister everything. As Lily talked Petunia watched her silently, only asking for clarification for some things. Other than that, Petunia didn't say a word. In the doorway, James carefully watched the expressions on his wife's face. Every so often Lily would glance up at him and he would smile back at her, giving her the reassurance she so desperately needed. When she had finished Lily fell quiet and waited for Petunia to speak first. It took a while but finally Petunia started to speak.

'Well, it sounds as though you're in a whole lot of trouble then. But I suppose I can't stop you fighting, especially now that I know why. But I want you to be careful, Lily. We may not exactly be friends anymore, but you're still my sister and I don't want you to be killed because of this battle. And I'm sorry that I haven't been there for you during all of this, especially when you lost your friend. I wish that we were closer but I think that we're just too different. I want you to promise me something. Promise me that this war of yours won't affect my life. I don't want to be caught up in it. I don't want to lose you but I don't want to lose Vernon either, and I certainly don't want to die. Besides,' at this Petunia laid a hand gently on her stomach. 'I don't want my child killed because my sister's a witch. Can you promise me that?'

'I… well, yes, of course. And congratulations, Tuney.'

'Thank you. If you'll excuse me I have to go. I have things that need to be done. Get well soon and keep your promise. Goodbye.' With that, Petunia left, with a curt nod in James' direction.

'Well, that went well.'

'No, it didn't. She still hates me.' Lily sighed.

James went and sat down on the bed next to her. 'I know, but she came to see you. That's good, right?' Lily knew that James wanted to make sure that he hadn't done the wrong thing.

'Yeah, it was good seeing her again and telling her the truth about everything that's going on. But I wish that it had gone differently.'

'I was kind of hoping that as well,' James flung on arm around Lily's shoulders and held her close to him. 'I was hoping that if she acted like she was actually related to you then it might somehow help with the nightmares.'

'It still might, James. You never know you're luck.' Lily sighed, also hoping that she could get rid of the nightmares. 'How's Remus?'

'Better now that me and Padfoot are healed.' James smiled. 'You have to get out of here. Sirius is dying to show off his flying motorcycle.'

Lily laughed. 'Well, then, I suppose I better convince these Healers that I'm better.'

'Yeah, cause we gotta get back to the baby making.'