October 1977

Professor Gatsby had been true to his word. It had been Remus who had forced Sirius to attempt returning to the class, and Sirius couldn't help but feel it had been Lily's fault. Had she not snitched, he would have been free to avoid Divination for the rest of his days. Logically, he knew it was not so, but that did not keep him from blaming the redhead. The blame had to go somewhere, and it definitely was not going to be on him.

But Professor Gatsby would not hear of it. His usually flaccid, sallow face had turned stony and positively puce when Sirius had followed Remus up the trap door the following class, and had demanded he leave. Even Remus, one of Gatsby's favorite students, could not convince him otherwise, and again, Sirius was levitated and locked out of the classroom. He knew he could have gone to McGonagall and explained the situation to her, but he was certain it would only end in detention and deducted house points, neither of which he was especially fond of. And so Divination became Sirius' off period, and he could not have been more pleased.

October's full moon had been particularly rough on Remus. The werewolf, usually rather calm and collected around his animagus friends after the initial transformation, had been out of sorts, rough and angry, and Sirius and James were on constant watch the whole night. The dog and the stag were able to keep Remus in check, but it had been brutal and exhausting, and Sirius had the war wounds to prove it. Deep contusions lined his ribcage and back, scratches ran freely around his wrists. Once transformed back into human form, Remus had done his best to heal his friends, disgusted with himself and apologizing profusely, but his area of expertise was more in hexes and transfigurations, not charms. In considerable pain, Sirius had skived off most of the day's classes and tried to find solace in his bed. Remus was in the Hospital Wing, receiving care under the doting Madame Pomphrey. Sirius couldn't help but feel that he was getting the raw end of some sort of deal.

With James and Peter in Ancient Runes, he occupied the dormitory himself, dozing fitfully in his four poster bed, starting every once in a while due to pain. Just as he finally fell into what he felt could have been a successful bout of sleep, the heavy oak door creaked slowly open, and in walked Lily.

Sirius awoke with a start, but focused on the task at hand, Lily did not notice. She headed straight for Remus' bed, laid her heavy stack of books down on the end, and then pulled her pack off, rummaging through it. Sirius watched her carefully, awkwardness rising. She blew a piece of hair out of her eyes, sighed haughtily, and froze suddenly. Perhaps she felt his eyes boring into her, who knew, but her head snapped up abruptly and her gaze met his.

She jumped. "Black!" Her voice was shrill and surprised, not at all the usually poised tone she carried so well. Clutching a hand over her rapidly beating heart, she positively glared at him. "What in Merlin's name—?"

Sirius groaned. He was in no mood for an inquisition, and pulled his pillow over his head savagely, blocking her from his view. While this had halted her speech briefly, she continued on as though she had never stopped.

"—Are you doing here? Again? Am I going to have to report you? Is this what it comes down to? I can't believe you'd—"

"I'm sick!" he protested, removing the pillow to return her harsh look. "Sod off."

"So go to Madame Pomphrey," she snapped back, clearly affronted by his insult. "You're just like Potter. Do any of you gits go to class?"

"Yes, which is why I'm the only one up here," he too snapped, struggling to sit up in his bed. Pain shot through his ribcage. He couldn't help but smile crookedly at the shot of sharpness, wondering what Madame Pomphrey would say if he showed up in the Hospital Wing in the shape he was in. "Pomphrey asks too many questions. She's a lot like you, really."

Mouth dropping open in indignation, Lily's sassy retort was on the tip of her tongue as she watched him cringe deeply again, clutching his side. She bit her lower lip lightly as her good heart overcame her intense dislike and her expression became clouded with worry. "Are you all right?"

The sudden softness in her voice startled him more than anything else so far had. Unused to it, his defenses rose instead of dropped as she had intended. "Of course I am," he told her shortly, bristling. "Mind your own damn business."

Insulted, she obliged, returning to her search and muttering darkly under her breath. Sirius didn't doubt that whatever she was saying was a curse on his very soul, and was relieved she didn't have her wand in her hand at the moment or knew this encounter would probably end in castration. Or worse. As she produced a self-inking quill, piece of parchment, and several stacks of notes yet again, he watched, curiosity growing. It seemed so out of character for her to care for anyone, and yet here she was, devoted servant to Remus. He shifted in his four-poster bed, causing yet another spasm of pain, and caved. "You're good at Charms."

His sudden statement startled her, making her jump slightly, Remus' mattress squeaking. She looked up. "Yes."

"Healing charms?"

With a rather modest shrug, she tucked her hair behind her ear, too looking curious. "I suppose."

Aware she wasn't going to make things easy and frustrated with that fact, he was in no mood to beg her for help. Instead, he hiked up the sleeve of his shirt and revealed several deep, scarlet scratches and had to smirk when she inhaled sharply. They truly were a sight to behold. He looked like he had lost a fight to a banshee, but no, it was just one of his best mates' doing. He wanted to laugh, but held the urge back.

"How—?" She caught herself. "No questions. Right. Right…" Chewing her lower lip more in nerves, she pulled her wand out of her pack and twirled it absently. "Do you want me to…?"

"Yes." It struck him, moments after he said it, that he was entrusting his body and welfare in Lily Evans, the girl who had hated him and James since third year. His brow furrowed and he nearly jerked his arm back, but she was already approaching his bed carefully, awkwardly, and took his wrist gently in his hand. The paleness of her creamy skin contrasted with his own tan, scarred skin, and her hand was cool, nearly cold against him. Touching the end of her worn wand to his skin, she muttered an incantation under her breath and starting at the point her wand touched, the scratches began to disappear into mended skin. Sirius watched in fascination. She hadn't been lying when she said she was good at Charms.

She dropped the hold on his arm as the charm completed, and he pulled it close so he could examine her handiwork. There wasn't a trace of any wound ever affecting him, and as he touched it gingerly, noted that the pain had disappeared. "Well." It was not in Sirius' first nature to compliment Lily Evans, or even to thank her, which was why it sounded so terribly awkward when he rubbed his hair nervously and muttered a low, embarrassed, "Thanks."

She nodded, feeling just as awkward as he did at accepting the gratitude. She moved to return to Remus' bed and the task at hand, but he grabbed her wrist, stopping her short. She turned, startled, and it was her immediate reaction to wrench her wrist out of his grip sharply. She didn't trust him any more than he trusted her.

Jerking up the hem of his shirt, Sirius wordlessly exposed a series of bruises marring his skin. Pretty face contorting in horror, Lily's sharp inhalation of breath showed her shock, and her mouth opened, the question on the tip of her tongue. One glance at his face reminded her that no questions were being asked. Clamping her mouth firmly shut, she wordlessly healed these wounds as well, along with other claw and bite marks, bruises, gouges, and cuts that Sirius revealed to her.

Pain no longer plagued him. No, now exhaustion was the only thing Sirius had to combat, and still somewhat disbelieving over that, he stretched his limbs out slowly, carefully, examining every place she had healed with great wariness, as though he expected the spells to suddenly backfire. They did not. Lily took this time to slip away from his side, and they both breathed easier once on opposite sides of the room from each other.

But instead of going back to work, gathering Remus' things together for him, Lily perched quietly at the end of his bed, twirling her want once again through her pale fingers. A shower of golden sparks shot abruptly out the end of it, startling both Sirius and Lily, causing her to jump and him to curse softly. The sparks fell gently to the thick carpet, and Lily flushed gently, embarrassed at her wand's erratic behavior undoubtedly brought on by her deep thinking. She was, after all, the brightest witch in the year.

"Is Remus' mum a werewolf?"

Okay, perhaps not THAT bright.

All the more startled, this time Sirius did not curse, but simply stared at her in wonderment. "Come again?"

"Remus' mum." Raising a hand to her forehead slowly, Lily pushed a lock of hair out of her face and twisted it briefly. "He visits her monthly because she's ill. It's not because…?"

Merlin. Merlin, indeed. All Sirius could do was stare, in disbelief and somewhat awe that Lily, with her brilliant mind and cunning skills, could not see through Remus' lies about visiting his mother. And to top it all off, Remus was a horrendous liar. The poor bloke blushed and stuttered, tittered aimlessly, dancing around the subject at all costs, and even Peter could see right through his façade on the rare occasions that Remus tried to pull off a lie around them. But Lily Evans, who had thwarted more of Sirius and James' pranks than he could remember, would do better on NEWTS than he would have cared to do in a million years, and would probably be Minister of Magic someday could not see through it. Sirius fought back the sudden, insane urge to laugh. Again, Merlin.

But as he continued to stare at her, his eyes caught something in her expression he had not noted previously. As she returned his gaze, she did not look haughty and uppity as she normally did when addressing Sirius, but earnest, innocent, and downright naïve. It became abundantly clear to Sirius at that moment that Lily wholly believed the lie Remus had told her simply because she wanted to. She saw the best in him, just as she saw the best in slimy Snivellus, even when no one else did.

It unnerved him and left him speechless. "I don't—" And he stopped. Sirius had no idea how where he was going with that sentence, what he was even going to try to begin to explain, or even if he should.

She bit her lower lip yet again, mistaking his loss of words for loyalty. "Of course." There was surprisingly no decipherable emotion in her voice, no bitterness at his reluctance to answer, and no push for more information. Smoothly, with quick precision, she finished up the remainder of the tasks she had to do for Remus. They could have been done in mere moments had Sirius not distracted her in the first place, and they both knew it.

After stacking Remus' things neatly on his bed and gathering her own things, Lily slipped her pack over her shoulder, and once again twirling her wand, she started for the dormitory door. Hand on the shining brass knob, she hesitated, and glanced back at Sirius, who remained immobile, watching her in a tired sort of daze.

"I shouldn't have healed you." Her haughty look was back, as she surveyed him with sudden mild distaste. "I don't doubt that Potter's out there nursing wounds too. The fact that I healed you means you won't learn a thing, and the two of you will be out again soon…maraudering," with a long-suffering sigh, as if this personally affected her (and really, it probably did, as many of James' attention-seeking pranks were aimed at her), she swept the door open and left in a flurry of red hair, shutting the door behind her. Still, Sirius could have sworn that he saw a glimpse of a smile on her face before she disappeared. A hint, in the least, that she had not regretted helping him. Unless he imagined it, which was also entirely possible.