"Now," announced Professor Harker, "I will be assigning you the subjects for your essay. Essays are due by the end of this week, four feet of parchment."
James's hand shot into the air. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher arched an eyebrow. "Potter?"
"May I have werewolves, Professor?"
"Topics are assigned randomly, Mr. Potter."
"But Professor—,"
Professor Harker narrowed her eyes at him. It was well known that she and James Potter did not get along. "Five points from Gryffindor for back-talking a teacher."
"No, but—,"
Lily turned to glare at James. He and Sirius had already lost eighty points between them for being caught out of bed the night before. Why couldn't he just keep his big mouth shut?
"Shall I take another five, Mr. Potter?"
Remus Lupin was tugging on James's arm and whispering urgently in his ear. James scowled at Professor Harker, but shook his head.
"Very well then." She pulled a jar full of pieces of parchment from her drawer and used her wand to distribute a slip to each student.
Lily pulled hers from the air and opened it. Werewolves, it read in Professor Harker's neat script. She sighed and stuffed the slip into her bag. Great, if Potter found out she'd never hear the end of it until she switched with him. Perhaps she should just swap now to save herself the headache. No, she decided. Potter got his way far too often.
"Class dismissed," announced the professor as she swept into her office, no doubt avoiding the complaints Potter was bound to give her.
"So, what did you get?" asked Marlene as she and Lily left the classroom.
Lily caught sight of Potter out of the corner of her eye. "Tell you later," she muttered.
Later on, Lily was making her way to dinner with a group of friends. Their chatter fell away as James Potter came charging toward them. He grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her from the group.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing? Get off of me, Potter!" Lily protested as he dragged her away from her friends. She tried to dig her heels in, but he was too strong. She waved her friends on. There was no reason why they should be late for dinner because James Potter couldn't leave her alone. Her friends hesitated for a moment, but then continued on without her, glancing back at her over their shoulders.
"We need to talk," he muttered.
"About what?" demanded Lily.
"About your essay assignment."
"What about it? You can stop dragging me now. I'm not going to run away."
He let go and faced her. "You have werewolves."
"Says who?" retorted Lily, crossing her arms.
"No one else has it."
"That doesn't mean I have it. Maybe 'werewolves' wasn't in the jar."
James looked startled for a moment, as if he hadn't considered that possibility. He ran a hand through his mop of hair. "Okay, then, what do you have?"
"I don't feel like I need to share that with you. Besides, why does it matter to you so much?" She glared at him.
"Because it does," he argued.
Lily laughed derisively. "Oh, c'mon Potter. You sound like a four year old. Honestly, 'because it does'?"
"Why does it matter so much to you then?" he shot back.
"Because you can't always get what you want."
"I do not."
"You do too."
"Do not."
"Okay name one time you haven't gotten what you wanted." He didn't answer for a moment and a triumphant grin spread across Lily's face. "See I—,"
"I've got a time I didn't get what I wanted," he said slyly. Lily swallowed at the look on his face and arched an eyebrow. "I can actually name quite a few times."
"Like when?"
"Like every time I asked you out." Lily blinked, not knowing what to say. "C'mon Evans. Give me your topic and I won't ask you out again."
It was a tempting offer—a very tempting one. But Lily was stubborn; James Potter was not going to get her to give in.
"No." She turned on her heel and stalked off.
"You're just being stubborn!" he called at her back.
"So what if I am?" she returned.
"You know what, Evans, that's why you have such a hard time making friends, because you act like you know what's best for everyone. Well, guess what, you don't!"
Lily whirled around. "Did you think that was going to get me to trade with you?" she asked coldly, her green eyes narrowed.
"Ha, like you were ever going to," sneered James.
"I don't have time for this. I'm late for dinner as it is." She turned once again and hurried down the corridor.
"We're not done discussing this," he yelled after her retreating back.
"You may not be, but I am."
James seethed as he watched her disappear. "Bloody, stuck up, little—,"
"I knew we shouldn't have let you handle the situation," quipped a voice. James turned to see Sirius standing behind him.
"You were here the whole time and you didn't back me up?" demanded James.
"Look, we really need to work on your girl skills. How're you ever going to get a girl if every conversation goes as wrong as that one?" Sirius strolled past him toward the dining hall.
James hurried to catch up. "Look I just don't want her to figure it out."
"C'mon what makes you think she will?"
"She's not stupid, Sirius."
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious."
"Well you made it seem as if you hadn't thought about it."
"I mean, so what if she figures it out?"
James stopped. "Sirius, we're talking about Remus's life here. She could ruin him if she found out, she could—,"
"Okay, spare me the dramatics. Do you really think Lily Evans would do that? Setting aside your bias for the moment, that is."
"No," he replied slowly. "But that gives her something against us."
"Do you think she'll use it?"
"You never know with girls. They can stoop pretty low for revenge."
Sirius whistled and rocked back on his heels. "And here I was thinking you were hopeless when it came to girls."
"Shut up, Sirius."
The boy grinned. "C'mon mate, don't worry about it any more. Remus isn't worried. Besides, like he said, the bigger a deal you make out of it, the more suspicious she'll be."
James just grunted.
Lily stormed into the dining hall, angrily tossing her hair over her shoulder as she sat down.
"Dare I ask, but what did James want?" asked Marlene as Lily jerked a platter of roast beef toward her.
"Probably a shag in a closet," supplied Aura absently. Marlene glanced unappreciatively at their friend before she turned back to Lily. "What? He has before, after that time he asked her—."
"I'd prefer it if you did not mention all the things Potter has asked me to do, Aura. I'd rather not lose my appetite," interrupted Lily.
"And I want to know what he wanted," Marlene pressed.
"He wanted to swap topics for the Defense Against the Dark Arts essay."
"Why?"
"I don't know. He seemed really pressed about switching, but he wouldn't tell me why."
"So did you switch?" inquired Aura.
Lily arched an eyebrow and her friend chuckled. "Of course, I don't know why I asked."
"But what did he say?"
"Marlene, why are you so interested?" Lily asked curiously.
"Because when you came in you looked like you did the last time he pranked you."
"Oh, you know how it is with Potter. He can't say two words without being a git," Lily said airily. Marlene looked at her friend sternly and Lily sighed. "Fine, fine. Potter one upped me," she muttered.
Aura suddenly became interested. "Really? How?"
"I'd rather not talk about it," Lily sniffed. "I'm hoping he forgets."
With a sigh, Aura let the subject drop and allowed her redheaded friend to steer the conversation elsewhere.
For the rest of the week, Lily could not help but wonder why James had been so adamant about switching topics. By Wednesday he'd given up trying to trade with her, but his persistence seemed to have had something more to it—as if he had wanted the subject for a better reason than just that he wanted to do werewolves. But, as he had never given her more than "because" as a reason, she had not felt the need to give in.
A few weeks later Lily trudged to the hospital wing after James had "accidentally" ignited the ends of her braids during Charms when he was supposed to be putting a warming charm on a teacup.
Remus Lupin was leaving just as she opened the door. He appeared pale and weary, and a few scratches lined his cheeks.
"Hey Remus," she said, surprised to see him. She'd thought he was going to visit his grandmother who was very sick, as he did every month. "Are you okay? How is your grandmother?" While most conversations with James Potter and Sirius Black ended in a shouting match between herself and them, Lily found their quiet and diffident partner in crime far more tolerable.
He blushed and stuttered. "Uh-yeah. I'm fine. And my grandmother is doing better—um, for now that is. I've gotta go, but I'll see you about, Lily." And with that, he hurried off.
Lily glanced after him. How strange. If he'd been to see his grandmother, why was he coming out of the hospital wing? Well, it was none of her business. She entered the hospital wing to find Madame Pomfrey. The nurse sighed when Lily approached her at her desk.
"Do you Gryffindors enjoy keeping me busy? I swear I see at least three of you each day."
"Sorry Madame Pomfrey, but James Potter lit my hair on fire," Lily explained, holding her braids out for the nurse to see.
The woman tsked as she drew out her wand. "And that boy manages to end up here or send someone else up here once a day!" She touched the wand to Lily's singed hair. By the time all the damaged hair was removed, Lily had lost nearly four inches.
"I can give you a hair growing potion, dear," said Madame Pomfrey, waving away the hair that had been removed.
Lily fingered her much shorter hair. "That's alright. I kind of like it this length." Of course she had yelled at Potter when he had lit her hair on fire, and even shed a few tears, but during her walk to the hospital wing, she'd decided that having it shorter wouldn't be so bad. She'd always been afraid to cut her hair, wondering if she would look funny with shorter hair, but now that it was shorter, she kind of liked it. Her head felt lighter and her neck felt as if a small weight had been lifted from it.
"That's fine. But if you change your mind, just come back in."
"Thank you," said Lily before she left.
"Lily, your hair!" wailed Aura when Lily met up with her at lunch.
"I like it," Carlotta, another of Lily's friends, piped up. "Not that I didn't like it long, but it looks good like that."
"Don't say that too loud," whispered Lily. "I don't want Potter to get any more ideas about ways to improve my appearance."
Marlene rolled her eyes. "For someone who was yelling about losing her hair, you sure got over it pretty quickly."
Lily scowled. "Well he should have been paying attention. He could have lit me on fire! He was so busy trying to get Adele Parsner to look at him."
"She knew. She kept whispering at me the whole time, asking if he was looking at her," Aura complained.
"I just don't see what the girls see in him," said Lily, shaking her head.
"He's cool, cute, and plays Quidditch," Carlotta listed. Her eyes twinkled. "I'd say there's a lot to see. He also has a very attractive best friend."
"Not you too," groaned Marlene. "First we have to deal with Aura's crush on Remus, now you're gushing about Sirius and James—,"
"Excuse me," retorted Carlotta, "but who was the one giggling at everything Sirius said during Charms today?"
"I—he probably put some kind of cheering charm on me," she muttered. "Well, I'm off. Got a bit of Astronomy homework to do before class tonight."
"Why bother? It's going to be dark tonight with no moon," Carlotta pointed out. "You can whip it up during class."
"No you can't," stated Lily. "Class is not the time to be doing homework."
Carlotta and Marlene rolled their eyes. They'd long ago given up trying to convince Lily that not every assignment had to be finished before class.
"I just don't want to have to do last night's and tonight's homework with Quidditch practice and everything," explained Marlene. She waved and strolled away.
"Like the new do, Evans," called a voice. "Looks more like hair now, rather than a rug attached to your head."
Lily whipped around to see James Potter rising from the Gryffindor table. "Shut up, Potter," she snapped. "At least it's not a dirty mop like yours."
James ran a hand through his hair, making it stand even more on end, and grinned at her. "I prefer to call it windblown."
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She turned back to her friends, to see Carlotta gazing at her as she twirled a strand of her brown curls around her finger. "What?"
"I think you like him, Lily," she said.
"You're joking, right?"
"I don't know," Aura added, a grin spreading across her face, "I mean, we all know about hidden attraction. You two just argue to hide your true feelings because you both don't want to admit that you were wrong about the other."
Lily laughed, shaking her head. "Okay, but I don't know how you can think that when Potter and I can't even be around one another without arguing."
"Maybe an empty room for a few hours will create some understanding," suggested Carlotta.
"Of course," replied Lily, standing and hoisting her bag onto her shoulder. "We'll come to an understanding when one of us is lying on the floor petrified."
Her friends rose. "I bet you they're secretly going out," Carlotta told Aura.
"Yeah, I bet they have rendezvous in the middle of the night," added Aura.
"Mhm, and they probably think they're so clever because no one else has figured it out 'til now."
"Bet you they're gonna get married. They just bicker so they can have stories to tell their kids."
"Potter will have enough stories to tell his children without bickering with me," protested Lily. "That is supposing he has any; I don't know who would be crazy enough to marry him."
"There she goes again, trying to distract us," Aura told Carlotta, ignoring Lily.
"But we just won't fall for it anymore. I bet she calls him Jamsie Poo in secret."
"Or Jame Jame."
"Or Jimmie."
"Or Jimsie."
"Or Jim Jim." Aura and Carlotta giggled as they threw out more and more outrageous pet names. Lily simply shook her head and walked ahead of them. They were having too much fun to listen to the truth. James Potter was a prat through and through and Lily certainly did not like him.
Lily had a sneaking suspicion; it was really quite a ridiculous one, but…She pulled out her calendar. It was carefully marked with the days of Remus Lupin's absences. She'd been curious after she had run into him coming out of the hospital wing when he should have been visiting his grandmother. She would have disregarded the incident if he hadn't appeared sickly and been covered in scratches, and if she hadn't noticed his absence from astronomy that night. And if James hadn't been so persistent in trying to convince her to trade topics. For the past two months she had kept careful record of the days he was gone. Just as she had thought, all the days matched the time of the full moon. Every symptom, every indication of a werewolf she had written about in her essay was there.
Lily sat back with a gasp. Remus Lupin was a werewolf.
Should she tell? Who should she tell? Obviously Potter knew about it, which meant Pettigrew and Black probably knew too. Did the teachers know though? What if they didn't? Lupin could hurt someone. Where did he go during his transformations? She had to tell someone; people could be in danger.
Lily hung back after Transfiguration the next day. She'd been distracted all through class, wondering how to tell Professor McGonagall that she thought that one of the students in her year was a werewolf. After class, she urged Marlene, Aura, and Carlotta to go on without her. When the classroom was empty, Lily approached Professor McGonagall, who was seated at her desk, sorting through parchments.
"Professor McGonagall." Lily's voice came out high and thin.
The woman looked up from her sorting. "Miss Evans, is something wrong? You appeared distracted during class today."
Lily swallowed and nodded. "May I—may I have a word? In private?"
"Of course. Come." Professor McGonagall escorted Lily to her office and indicated a seat before her desk. Lily sat down as her professor rounded her desk. Professor McGonagall flicked her wand at the door and then summoned a tartan tin.
"A biscuit, Miss Evans?" she offered.
Lily shook her head, her mouth dry. She cleared her throat. "Erm," she was beginning to regret her decision to tell a professor. She was going to sound very foolish.
Professor McGonagall set the tin aside and sat down opposite Lily. "Now what is it that you wanted to discuss Miss Evans?"
Lily felt her cheeks warm. She could still just say never mind and hurry away. But there were possibly students in danger—that is if Lupin really was a werewolf. She had to take the risk. "P-p-professor, I think that—that Remus Lupin is a werewolf." She couldn't look at her teacher.
The room was very silent for a moment and Lily slouched in her chair, wishing she could disappear. This had been a stupid idea; she was an idiot. Wouldn't the professors, especially ones such as Professor McGonagall, Professor Harker, and especially Professor Dumbledore know if there were a werewolf at Hogwarts?
"Why do you think that?" Professor McGonagall asked quietly. She sounded neither shocked nor amused.
Slightly encouraged, Lily explained about the essay, her encounter with Lupin in the hospital wing, and the calendar she had kept. For some reason she decided not to mention Potter trying to trade essay subjects. He must have his own reasons for not telling anyone before now.
"Have you spoken to anyone else about this?"
Lily looked up, surprised that Professor McGonagall was taking her so seriously. "Er—no. I didn't want to spread any rumors or make false accusations."
The witch nodded. "Well, Miss Evans, I must ask that you neither repeat nor communicate your knowledge to anyone else."
"You mean you knew he was a werewolf?" she demanded, shocked. "He could hurt someone by accident, Professor! Werewolves have no control in their wolf form!"
Professor McGonagall smiled thinly. "Many precautions have been taken to ensure that Mr. Lupin does not harm other students during his transformation."
"Oh."
"Are you afraid of Mr. Lupin now?"
Lily blinked in surprise. "No, I mean, he's only a werewolf during the full moon and if precautions have been taken…"
"Many in the Wizarding world would not view his condition that way."
Lily nodded. "I know, I read that while I was doing research for my essay; werewolves face many prejudices in the Wizarding world, but I don't think that's fair."
Professor McGonagall arched an eyebrow. "Many don't consider them full wizards."
"And many don't consider me a full witch or whatever because I'm a Muggle-born," Lily replied. She sighed. "Many times werewolves cannot help what they have become. Why should anyone be punished for something he has no control over?"
"A very astute observation," nodded her professor. "Do you have any more concerns in regard to Mr. Lupin?"
Lily shook her head. "No, Professor."
Professor McGonagall nodded. "May I expect that your knowledge of Mr. Lupin's lycanthropy will not be spread?"
"Of course. I know how I've been treated sometimes for being a Muggle-born; it would be much worse for Lupin. I swear not to tell."
"Very good, then. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some essays to grade. Would you like a note of excuse for Professor Flitwick?"
"Yes, please."
Professor McGonagall summoned a parchment and quill and quickly composed Lily's letter before sending her student off.
Lily left Professor McGonagall's office feeling much better.