"Will you come to the next Quidditch match?"

Lily shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other as they paused in front of the Hufflepuff common room. "I dunno, I've got a lot of homework…"

"But it's Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. We have to squash those bookish losers," James said excitedly.

"A lot of my friends are Ravenclaws…" Lily warned.

James scoffed. "Like who?"

"Frank Longbottom, Lydia Clearwater, Adelaide Corner, Albert Boot…"

"Well, I'm sure they're very nice people. But we're going to destroy them and all the hopes in this next match," James said confidently, while Lily sighed deeply.

Suddenly, she whipped around, wand out. "Who is it?" she called out.

"Damn," a voice whispered, and James' eyes bulged out just at the same time that Lily shouted, "Expelliarmus! Stupefy!"

She ran over to discover Sirius, lying on his back and Stunned. James came running soon after. "Did you just Stun my best mate?"

"Ennervate," Lily waved her wand, and Sirius stood up slowly.

"Ow, my back," he complained.

"You shouldn't have been out so late! You scared me half to death!" Lily said.

A mischievous light suddenly started playing in Sirius' eyes. "Oh, did I interrupt something here…?" he asked slyly.

"Shut up," said James stiffly, and to Sirius' surprise, Lily blushed an impressive shade of deep red instead of brushing off his jab.

"Well, lesson learned. I'll be off now," he said, walking away, half-crouching.

"Wait, what are you hiding?" James asked, pulling at Sirius' robes. An assortment of cakes, pastries, and chocolate spilled out of a sloppily tied tablecloth.

"You're getting them dirty, throwing them on the floor like that!" Sirius yelped.

"It's a wonder that you're not elephant-sized by now," Lily remarked.

"It's for Remus," Sirius said, aiming a significant glance at James. Lily looked between the two of them, trying to figure out why James' face had suddenly morphed into the picture of sudden realization before he glanced out the hallway's window.

"What's going on?" Lily demanded.

"Nothing," James said, a little too quickly. "Try not to get caught next time, Padfoot."

Lily had never understood their little nicknames, and this irritated her to no end.

"The Head Boy can't just tell someone to not get caught next time," Lily said, staring at James in disbelief, hoping he would crack a smile and side with her, as he always had over the years.

But James said nothing, and after a moment of painfully awkward silence, Sirius scurried off.

"What was that?" Lily asked.

"I know this is going to sound strange, but I really, really can't tell you," James said apologetically.

Lily stared at him for a full minute, and to James this almost felt like an eternity, her jade eyes seemingly calculating and questioning, to the point that he could imagine the whirring gears, until Lily abruptly broke away, shaking her head.

They continued their rounds, and James felt Lily's prickly silence acutely. He was sure Lily would be understanding, but if Moony didn't want people to know, then it wasn't his business to go around telling people.

Lily effectively ignored him the rest of the night, and went into her dormitory, closing the door with a spectacular slam that she hoped James would feel in his bones. This was probably the first time he hadn't been on her side—as long as she could remember, he was always trying to agree with her and get in her good graces, even when it was all for the cheap purpose of getting her to go out with him. And now, at the very end of the first month of their last year at Hogwarts, he'd suddenly turned cold.

There was a little part of Lily that felt spoiled for expecting James to always dote on her, but the bigger, angry part of her argued that she expected some level of trust from her… friend. The word sat uncomfortably in her mind, and turned her stomach just so as she remembered the…the thing. She wouldn't put a name to it just yet, and to squelch the mess of horrible feelings churning inside her, she turned to her ever-growing stack of books from the Restricted section.

There had to be another book that disproved what she'd read… Medieval wizardry had been proven to be less accurate, more guesswork than legitimate magic, like that book that claimed the existence of all sorts of strange creatures, like Nargles and Crumple-Horned Snorkacks (something that all her teachers had declared to be 13th-century nonsense, of course).

Lily opened the first page of Strange and Obscure Magical Rumors, stifling a yawn. She skimmed through half of the book, then tired of it, and opened another, and it wasn't until much later (three twenty-two in the morning according to her trusty Muggle watch) that she decided she'd had enough and went to sleep, her head swimming with all she'd read.

She later reflected on it in the morning, while brushing her teeth. All she really remembered was that birthmarks on certain parts of the body could predict what kind of Patronus someone would have, and Lily was fairly sure she didn't have any birthmarks, except a few moles and beauty spots here and there. There was also something she dimly recalled about mood swings and drastic personality changes around the full moon being a sign of lycanthropy, and though the full moon was approaching, and Lily did feel silly for checking her calendar at all, she reasoned that she might have noticed if she were a werewolf.

In any case, it was time for her to go downstairs and have breakfast, so she spat out her toothpaste and tried not to worry too much, which was a strategy that never really worked out for Lily, and by the time she was sitting with her friends, she was half-convinced that she might have a werewolf birthmark somewhere on her body.

Marlene was not her usual bubbly self, and was sprawled out on the table, not touching any of the food around her. Now that Lily really looked, all the seventh-year girls had dark circles under their eyes. Lily knew why she herself was exhausted, but Mary and Dorcas were usually very good with their sleep, Mary firmly believing it got her better marks, and Dorcas having an unbendable resolution to always be in her best shape for Quidditch.

"Oi, what's up with all of us," Lily said weakly.

"Tired," said a small voice from under a mess of blonde hair, which Lily took to be Marlene.

Hestia looked up. "We could hear them talking all bloody night," she said. "I dunno what's up with them. Especially Remus, and he's usually the quiet one."

Lily perked up immediately. "I knew it! Something's off. What were they saying?"

"A lot of arguing and 'not yet.' Dunno, we weren't really spying on them or anything," Hestia said, with an edge to her voice.

"What—am I 'spying'? Yeah? Is that what you think I'm doing?" Lily said, feeling the anger rise in her, creating a deadly cocktail with the pounding headache that had been sneaking up on her since she'd woken up, and was now rising to its crescendo.

"Shut up, Lily," Hestia said, balling her fists, and rising.

Mary looked up, bleary-eyed, and pulled Hestia down to sit again. Lily's mouth was a tight, thin line.

"Oooh, the girls are having a row," Sirius called out.

"Shut up!" Hestia and Lily said in unison, before settling down again.

James aimed a quick kick at Sirius. "Stop being such a prick to them."

"Ow! You have no idea. I just saved all of us," Sirius said importantly.

"Really?" Peter said, wide-eyed.

"Yeah," Sirius said, turning to Peter conspiratorially. "See, if they'd had a real, proper fight, we'd have been caught in the crossfire. Marlene would have sided with Lily, and Mary would have sided with Hestia. I'd have been forced to side with Marlene, and Moony would side with Mary."

"Why 'forced,' no one bloody forced you to do anything" was James' comment.

"And then Prongsie-poo would, of course, have sided with Lily, but he'd also side with me. So that creates a conflict between Remus and the two of us."

"What makes you think I'd side with you?" James said, barging in again.

"Hush, I'm explaining my master plan," Sirius said. "So, that would mean you, Wormie, would have to choose, and the four of us and our friendship would be destroyed. Instead, I saved the day by giving them a common enemy, me, and stopping the whole fight from happening."

"Wow," Peter said, while James only snorted. Remus hadn't been listening the whole time.

"What do you think of my plan?" Sirius said, a sly smile playing on his mouth as he poked Remus.

"Yes," Lupin said vaguely.

"Everything alright…?" James asked. Remus shot him a look that answered that question quite clearly, and James looked down.

"Chocolate?" Sirius offered.

Remus nodded quickly, and grabbed the chocolate bar from Sirius in one furtive movement, munching on it thoughtfully.

"Hey… I was thinking, maybe we could use your furry little problem for… Operation

Slimeball."

Remus' eyes suddenly bugged out.

"What?"

"Yes, like an interrogation with a little extra… persuasion," Sirius said grimly.

Remus shook his head so vigorously that his hair fell out of place. "No. That is so dangerous and… irresponsible. I don't want to be guilty of—anything that could happen. No."

"Alright, keep your pants on. It was an idea," Sirius said.

! #$%^&*

Lily almost nodded off for a moment and woke up all of a sudden, and found the entire classroom staring at her. Did she have something on her face? She absently touched her cheek, not realizing how silly that must look until it was too late.

"Miss Evans…?" Professor Rabnott asked sharply, and Lily suddenly realized that she must've been called on. Mercifully, the professor repeated the question. "What are some characteristics of werewolves?"

"Mood swings around the full moon," she blurted out, remembering her late-night reading.

"Very good. Miss Corner, how does one contract lycanthropy?"

Lily's head swam. There seemed to be so much talk of werewolves these days. She supposed it was because the full moon was approaching in a few days, and by then it would already be early October… A full moon the month of Halloween.

There was also something itching at her in the back of her mind, something she'd realized long ago but had chosen not to see because it simply hurt too much to admit. Lily pushed the thought away. She still didn't understand her discomfort when it came to werewolves, but she had the distinct feeling that there was something she half-knew and didn't want to dwell on.

Lily scribbled on her parchment what Proffesor Rabnott's chalk was writing on the board while she paced across the front of the classroom without really thinking about the words she was writing. She swore not to stay up so late again tonight. But there was something in her mind that somehow knew that it was just an empty resolution, as rounds with James were bound to be tense.

It was as if she knew that something would happen.