Lily wandered wearily home from the library wondering if she would ever be able to help Remus. As she reached her front door she promised herself that if she hadn't found out what was wrong with him by the end of the summer, she would confront him, or perhaps Peter, and wheedle the truth out of him.

"And where have you been all day? Out being a freak with your freaky friends!" Petunia was sat at the kitchen table as their mother prepared tea.

"Well if you call Lisa from the library a freak, then yeah." Lily's reply lacked strength and her sister pounced upon it.

"Aww doesn't Lilykins have any friends? Does she have to hang around with the weirdo librarian. It's a sorry state of affairs when even the freaks won't accept you, isn't it?" Petunia laughed.

"Petunia." Lily's mother warned.

Lily was usually quite tolerant of her sisters taunting, but she was tired and her fiery red headed side would not let this lie.

"No the 'freaks' accept me brilliantly thank you, it was just YOU they didn't want!"

As soon as the words left her mouth Lily regretted them. Her sister turned a lurid purple colour from her hairline to her chest and she pushed her chair away from the table with an angry yell.

"You think that you're better than me just because you got accepted into that FREAK school!" Petunia spat the words at her sister without even taking a breath. "Well I've got news for you…you're not! I wouldn't go there even if you paid me!"

"Petunia, I'm sorry…" but she had already rushed from the room.

"I wish you two would just make up, you used to be so close." Lily's mother said quietly regarding Petunia's empty seat.

"It's not gonna happen mum, we're too different now. I belong to a different world." Lily's voice betrayed her ever present sadness.

Since she had fist received her letter, she felt herself growing away from her family and the world she had known for eleven years. She no longer fit there properly. She didn't belong. She knew she belonged in the Wizarding community, but even there she still felt a bit lost. There were sections of that world that refused to allow her to belong, like the Blacks for instance. Lily often wondered if she would ever feel fully content in either world. She had come close to it, but she didn't want to think about that.

"Lily, don't say things like that! You will always belong here, we're your family."

"I know, sorry mum, I'm just a bit upset. Is it okay if I sit in the garden until tea is ready?"

"Yes sweetie, I'll give you a shout."

Lily wandered into the garden and collapsed onto an ageing wooden rope swing. She remembered when she and Petunia had helped their father build the swing and for a moment she mourned the loss of her sister.

The sky above her was full of light and Lily could feel her eyes gravitating towards it. She marvelled at the constellations displayed above her. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and Lily jumped down from the swing to lie flat in the soft grass, watching the stars wink at her. She could make out Andromeda, Draco and Cygnus and she marvelled at the arrogance of naming your children after something so colossal as a star formation. She had never heard of anyone called Draco though and hopefully she never would, what a harsh sounding name it would make.

She looked at the stars for a few minutes before her eyes travelled to the moon. It was the first night of the full moon and it was brighter than she had ever seen it. She traced the dark patches on it's surface and let her mind wander to the stories of the man in the moon. After a while her mind drifted elsewhere. To other stories associated with the moon. Lily's mind was sharp and suddenly all the dots connected, like on a constellation map.

"No…" she whispered aloud to the stars.

She thought back over the last year and tried to track Remus' illness. She recalled James' words that she had overheard, "You get weaker every month!" and she thought back to that book that had she had disregarded.

For a second Lily's mouth dropped open into a perfect 'o', then she leapt up from the floor and ran upstairs to her room pulling books from her trunk in a rush.

"Hey mum!" James called as he walked into the kitchen, getting himself a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Hello honey, how's Sirius? How was your day?"

"He's fine and it was great. Mum I need some help." James rushed the words out before he could be too embarrassed. "You're a girl, kind of, and I need to know what a girl thinks, 'cos I talked to two guys today and they both said the same, but I don't get how to do it!"

"Woah, James!" Marie held up her hands and directed her son to the kitchen table where he collapsed into a chair. "Explain," she said calmly.

And so James told his mother all about Lily and how everyone was telling him that he needed to deflate his head a bit and how he had made a list and how he had tried and how so far it was failing and how helpless he felt because he didn't know what to do.

"Well, first of all let's have a look at this list."

So James ran upstairs and got the list for his mother:

Operation Lily

-stop running hands through hair

-stop teasing her friends

-stop talking about Quidditch ALL the time (find something that interests Lily too)

-stop playing with snitch

-stop twirling wand

-stop wolf whistling at other girls

-stop purposefully leaving robes undone when wearing a tight t-shirt

-stop raising eyebrows suggestively at random girls

-stop bragging about mischief we get up to

….

When James mother had finished reading the list she smiled. "You sound a little bit too much like your father was at your age."

"Really?"

"Yup, he was, well let's just say he was a lot like you."

"That's so cool!"

"No it's not James, because he had to do exactly what you're doing, not just to get the girl but because you can't go through life being such an idiot."

"Gee thanks mum, real confidence boost there." James snorted.

"Sweetheart, you don't need a confidence boost." His mother raised her eyebrows at him and James gave a guilty smile.

"Okay, point accepted. How did dad change?"

"For starters he changed all his little mannerism like you did, but the biggest thing was that he realised when he was being a prat and just stopped it, I guess," Marie shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh that doesn't sound difficult a all!"

"It won't be difficult when you start to get used to it. How about I tell you every time you're doing it over the summer?"

"I don't need you to tell me mum, I am more than capab…"

"James!"

James stopped his sentence mid flow and then gave an uneasy laugh, "Oops! On second thoughts maybe you should do that."

"Maybe I should."

Thanks and eternal love to: curlyhead92, bailey Caroline, SunshineGirl117, Ashley The Laugh, Hollidayx, lonksthewriter, Enormity, xrainbowsx, Ridingstar95, Colie21, jamesandscorpius'cheetahfan, NewProphecy, Morghen!

Roxanne: Your welcome, it's the least I can do to be honest : ) Thank you!

Lilyandjames101: Thank you! Here's your other chapter :D