Chapter 7

Lily held onto Sirius's hand the entire walk up to the castle, earning them more than a few looks. Sirius was incredibly drunk and could barely walk.

They reached the Gryffindor tower.

"Evans, I can't make it up the stairs," Sirius said, as they walked through the portrait hole. Lily sighed and walked with him up the stairs to the sixth year dormitory.

Sirius pushed against the door and fell into the room, landing on the floor with a loud thud and an audible groan. Lily followed and tried to pick him up from the floor, but instead, began dragging him across the room, eventually levitating him into his bed.

After she put him into bed, Lily looked to the other side of the room. Their whole dormitory was spinning and the door was so far away she contemplated taking Potter's bed for the night.

But, no, she thought. She placed a spell on herself to reduce the dizziness and stumbled to the large wooden door, trying to gain composure. As she reached the door, it opened revealing James and Peter. Lily jumped at the sight of them.

"Evans! What are you doing here?" Peter asked.

Lily looked back to Sirius's bed and pointed. "Drunk. Sirius. He's drunk."

"He's the only one?" James laughed.

"Ha ha," Lily said.

James and Peter walked further into the room.

"How was your date?" Lily asked.

"What da—Oh, it was nice. Remus is still with them."

"Uh huh," Lily said.

"Evans, why don't you sit down? You look awful," Peter suggested. Peter walked over to her and then escorted her to the closest bed, which so happened to be James's.

"I don't need to. I can hold my liquor," Lily defended.

"I think we'll be the judge of that," James scoffed, sitting down next to her.

"So what'd you do this evening?"

"Nothing," Lily said, trying to steady herself on the bed. "We went to a pub. Had a lot to drink. And that's it….Oh, and then we ran into Snape on the way back."

"Oh, yeah?" Peter asked.

"Sirius snapped at him," Lily said, laughing slightly.

"What'd he say?" James wanted to know.

"Told him to go to the Shrieking Shack or something," Lily surmised. "And that that's where he'd find Remus."

"What?" Peter asked.

Lily looked at both James and Peter and noticed they had both become incredibly serious.

"He told him to go to the Shrieking Shack. What's the big deal?" Lily slurred.

James jumped up from the bed and ran across the room to Sirius's bed. He then slapped Sirius across the face and began shaking him.

"Padfoot! Wake up!"

Nothing. Sirius was out cold.

James ran to his trunk and grabbed his invisibility cloak. He then turned to Peter. "We…we gotta go get him!"

James and Peter ran out of the room with Lily trying to keep up. James ran as fast as he could through the castle and out the front door. He stopped, mid-way on the lawn and turned to Peter.

"You go through town and enter the front door of the shack. I'll take the Whomping Willow," James ordered.

"What about me?" Lily asked, breathless as she caught up with them, the room still spinning.

"Just…stay here," James said.

Before Lily could respond, James and Peter had both taken off. James sprinted as fast as he could, ignoring that Lily was yelling about something behind him.

He ran past the lake and circled the Whomping Willow, trying to avoid being hit by a rogue tree branch. He hopped over one very quickly, taking a lashing to his face. But he kept going. He managed to get past the tree and to freeze the knot. He slinked down the passageway and could immediately hear growling. Taking out his wand, James lit the passageway and made his way up to the first floor of the Shrieking Shack. There, he found Snape cornered by Remus as a werewolf. He was white and shaking. His clothes were torn slightly and he had a large gash on his neck. Snape kept throwing spells at Remus, but to no use. It was making Remus angrier.

"Snape, stop it!" James ordered. Remus turned at the sound of James's voice and growled at him, coming closer and closer, until he had chased James around the room to corner him with Snape.

"No. We have to kill him!" Snape exclaimed. "He probably killed Lupin!"

"What?" James asked. "No! You can't kill him!"

"But Lupin—"
"He is Lupin!" James screamed, gesturing to the werewolf. Before Snape could reply, James threw the invisibility cloak around them both and ran out of the room. James placed his arms around Snape and carried him down the stairs with Remus following their scent. Snape continued to fire spells.

"Stop it!" James ordered. "You're making him angrier."

They continued to run, faster and faster, eventually making their way down to the passageway. Typically, Remus would not follow Wormtail, Padfoot or Prongs off the first floor. This time was different. This time he was out for blood.

James threw the cloak off of Snape and himself and turned round to the passageway. With a swish of his wand, he caved in the corridor, making it impossible for Remus to reach them.

James turned round to find that Snape had gone. And what was worse, his cloak was missing as well. He ran after Snape, down the passageway and up through the hole by the tree. Snape was already half-way up the lawn.

"Snape!" James yelled.

Snape turned, smiling and holding the cloak as a prize of some sort. "Secret's out, Potter!"

"You can't do this!"

"Too late! Everyone will know by breakfast!" Snape yelled back.

James looked beyond Snape. He could see Evans standing where he had left her on the lawn, looking curiously at Snape.

"Evans! Stop him!"

Before he knew it, a stream of yellow light flew out of Lily's wand and Snape was knocked to the ground. James hurried to them.

He scooped Lily into a hug and grabbed her by the arms, looking her in the eye.

"Thank you!" he exclaimed. "You have no idea what you've just done. Thank you!"

He was so exhilarated and overcome with joy that he kissed Lily. It was short and lovely.

"Oh, sorry," James said, shaking his head. Lily, however, was staring at him, somewhat shocked.

"That was the bravest thing I've ever seen! Ever!" she said, grinning. James was just as shocked when Lily wrapped her arms around his neck and continued kissing him.

"But how…how'd you know what…you know about Remus?" James sputtered.

Lily nodded.

"How?"

"Does that matter?" she asked.

"No," he stated. They continued kissing one another. Neither of them had no idea how long they stood there on the grounds kissing. It was however interrupted by Professor McGonagal.

"JAMES POTTER!" she bellowed.

They disengaged their bodies from one another and looked to see Professor McGonagal exiting the castle, with Professor Slughorn behind her.

An hour later, Lily found herself waiting outside of Professor Dumbledore's office with a now revived Severus. James, Sirius and Peter were inside being questioned by the headmaster.

"And where were you while all of this was going on?" Dumbledore asked Sirius.

"I was…sleeping," Sirius said.

"Sleeping? Tired, Mr. Black? Or perhaps too drunk to move?" Dumbledore asked. "And you, Mr. Pettigrew?"

"I was with James in the tower when Lily told us what had happened and then, I tried to go through town, but, Professor McGonagal caught me," Peter spewed.

"So, Miss Evans was also involved?" Dumbledore asked.

"She uh…she was with me when I—"
"Got drunk and almost tried to kill a classmate?" Dumbledore finished for Sirius. Sirius sighed miserably. "Mr. Black, you are hereby suspended for the remainder of the school year."

"Yes, sir," Sirius said.

"Mr. Pettigrew, thank you for trying to help," Dumbledore continued. "And Mr. Potter, your actions were quick and I am thankful for that. Mr. Snape owes you his life."

James nodded.

"Now, get out of here," Dumbledore ordered. "And, Mr. Black, as far as anyone else is concerned, your Uncle Alphrad is sick. He needs you to come stay with him immediately."

"Yes, sir," Sirius said.

The three Marauders exited the office and waltzed down the stairs to the waiting room where Lily was now standing.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I'm suspended," Sirius said.

"That's it?" Snape yelled from his seat.

"Stay out of this," Peter snapped.

"He tried to kill me!" Snape shouted.

"Not directly!" Sirius yelled back.

"Mr. Snape! Miss Evans!" they heard Dumbledore say.

"Good luck," James said to Lily.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

Together, Lily and Snape walked up the stairs to Dumbledore's office.

"He's a werewolf," Snape kept saying.

"I know," she said.

"You knew?" Severus asked her.

"Yes," she said calmly.

They arrived in Dumbledore's office, each taking a seat.

"Miss Evans, I will start with you," Dumbledore said, sighing. "I understand you had no part in luring Mr. Snape to the Shrieking Shack, however, I do understand that you were drinking heavily earlier in the evening."

"Yes, sir," Lily admitted.

"Your Hogsmede privileges are hereby revoked for the rest of the term," Dumbledore said. "And…I will be taking away ten points from Gryffindor."

"Yes, sir."

"Mr. Snape, you are under no circumstance to speak of this event, ever. As far as anyone else is concerned, you went out to Hogsmede and then took a walk around the grounds by yourself," Dumbledore said.

"Yes, sir."

"Mr. Black has been suspended."

"Yes, sir, I know."
"However," Dumbledore said, sighing. "A worse fate awaits you if you ever tell anyone of Mr. Lupin's condition. Do you understand me?"

"Yes."

"Good. Also, your war with Mr. Potter?"

"Sir—"

"No, Severus, your war with Mr. Potter must end," Dumbledore commanded. "You owe him your life. Your indebted to him. Now go to bed, both of you."

They both immediately began to leave the office. They were halfway down the stairs, when Lily heard, "Miss Evans!"

Dumbledore had called out to her. Severus looked at her earnestly and then Lily turned around and headed back up the stairs.

"Yes, sir?"

"Miss Evans, I understand that you've known about Mr. Lupin's condition for quite some. Is that so?"

"Yes."

"How long?"

"Uh…two years, I think?" Lily guessed.

"How?"

Lily paused for a moment, looking at the ground, "I was at a dinner at the Longbottoms."
"Yes?"

She continued, "And Frank's father mentioned something about there being a boy at Hogwarts that was a werewolf. Well, Frank and I put our heads together and figured it out. Wasn't very hard when you knew what you were looking for. We didn't really know the details. I…I had no idea the Shrieking Shack and the Whomping Willow were the…covers of sorts. Until tonight, that is."

"And you haven't told anyone?"

"No, sir."

"Has Mr. Longbottom?"

"No. Not that I know of."

Dumbledore nodded.

"I'm going to write to your parents, Miss Evans."

"To tell them I've been drinking?" Lily asked fearfully.

"No. To tell them that the world could use more people like you," Dumbledore said softly.

"Thank you, sir," Lily said proudly.

"Well, goodnight," Dumbledore said.

"Goodnight, sir."

The next morning, the school went about its business as if nothing had happened the night before. Remus missed all of his classes. He was unable to move the barricade James had created. Professor Dumbledore and four other professors were sent to the passageway to retrieve him and calm him down. By evening, James and Peter were sitting in their dormitory, listening to Remus rant and rave.

"Sirius did this? He did this? To me!" Remus said, raising his voice.

"I don't think he meant to hurt you, per say, just Snivellus," Peter said.

"I want to kill him," Remus said.

"Well get in line, because I'm pretty sure my mother will probably kill him first," James said. "He wrote me a one word letter this morning. It just says, "hell.""

"Oh, I feel so sorry for him!" Remus said sarcastically.

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Peter opened the door to find Mary, and behind her Lily who looked like she had been dragged along.

"Is he here?" Mary screeched.

"No!" Remus barked.

"See, I told you. His uncle's sick," Lily said.

"He doesn't have an uncle!"

"He does too! Alphrad! He talks about him all the time!" Peter said.

Mary huffed and exited the dormitory promptly, leaving Lily standing in the doorway looking pensive.

"Sorry," she said. "She's been harping about it all day."

"He does have an Uncle Alphrad," James said.

"I know," Lily said.

"Evans," Remus said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Dumbledore uh…" Remus started. He then looked down at the floor as he spoke. "Dumbledore said that you knew. You knew for a while."

"Yes," Lily said, nodding.

Remus stepped forward and grabbed Lily into a long hug, holding tightly.

"Thank you," he whispered. Remus was near tears.

"I would…I would never, Remus," Lily whispered back.

Their hug ended and Remus wiped a single tear away from his eye.

"Well, glad someone else knows now," Remus said, laughing. "Would've preferred it happened a different way, but…"

The school year began dwindling down to the final month. And in that final month, Slughorn demanded a slew of potions from his sixth year students; potions Lily and James had never heard of. They planned to spend almost every waking hour on it.

Lily sat in her bed one evening and watched her friends put on make-up and try on different outfits.

"Where's Alice?" Sarah asked.

"Out with Frank," Diane said. Alice's curtains were closed around the bed and no one had seen her all day. "He took her to meet his parents."

"Oh, she'll love them. They'll love her," Mary said. Lily coughed, causing Mary to turn to her and smile.

"What are you up to tonight?" Mary asked her.

"Oh…uh, Potter and I have to work on one of our potions," Lily said.

"Exciting," Sarah mocked, passing her.

"You should go out," Mary said.

"I hear Cecil Welch is available," Diane said, smiling.

"No."
"What about Remus?" Mary asked.

"Why on Earth would I want to date Remus Lupin?" Lily asked.

"He's nice."

"Then you date him," Lily suggested to Mary.

"Look, all I'm saying is, ever since you and Frank broke up, you've been sulking," Mary said reasonably.

"I have a lot going on right now!" Lily said defensively.

"No, you don't! You sit in here night after night. You only talk to Potter. Do you know how strange that is? But look at me! I dated Sirius for three years and I'm dating a lot now. And I love it."

"I wouldn't call what you do dating," Sarah laughed.

"Hey, I'm enjoying myself!" Mary giggled, turning to Sarah to correct her. She turned back to Lily and smiled, saying, "So enjoy yourself, Lily. Have some fun! Have an adventure and don't care what people think for once!"

"I—"

"We should go get dinner," Diane said, looking at her watch. The three of them stood.

"Are you coming?" Diane asked Lily.

"No, I've got to meet Potter. I already ate," Lily said shaking her head, trying to take in what Mary had just said to her.

"We'll see you later," Sarah said. The three of them left the dormitory and Lily slouched back into her bed. She grabbed the closest pillow, put it up against her face and screamed into it.

As she screamed, the curtains around Alice's bed opened, revealing Alice had been sitting there the whole time.

"You OK?"

Lily didn't bother looking at her. "No."

"You shouldn't listen to them," Alice said.

"I suppose I should listen to you?" Lily asked, turning to glare at her. That was the most she had spoken to Alice in months.

"I didn't say that," Alice said.

"Then what are you trying to say?"

"You don't notice a theme with the boys they try to set you up with?" Alice asked.

"What are you talking about? They don't try and set me—"
"Cecil Welch is a Muggle Born. Remus is a half-blood. Just last week they tried to get you to date William Eller. His parents are squibs."

"What are you—"

"Look, I'm not saying what I did with Frank was right, but—"
"No, it was heinous," Lily corrected her.

"Right. But…look at Emily Spears."

"I'd prefer not to," Lily quipped.

Alice sighed, but continued her story, "Emily began dating Michael Collins…basically a day after Anna broke up with him. None of the fifth year girls speak to Emily anymore. Did you know that?"

"Do you have a point?" Lily asked, irritated.

"What I'm telling you is, when Frank and I first got together, I expected to be ostracized. And I'm not," Alice said, staring at her. "And I'm pretty certain it has something to do with the fact that I come from good blood lines."

Lily looked at Alice, "Take that back."

"Lily, I know you hate me, but we were once really good friends. And I don't deserve your trust. But something is going on with them. All of them. And you need to distance yourself," Alice warned her.

"I'm late for my meeting with Potter," Lily said suddenly.

Alice nodded and Lily grabbed book and ran down the stairs to the common room where James was waiting.

"Keep me waiting, Evans," James said, looking at his watch.

"Sorry," she apologized. They exited the tower and began walking through the castle to parts that James had never seen before.

"Where are we going?"

"You don't know? I thought you knew this castle backwards and forwards?" Lily asked, smiling.

"Not this part," James admitted, looking around.

They arrived at a single door in the middle of a large stone wall. Lily opened the door to reveal a tiny laboratory for them with four cauldrons waiting.

"Perfect!" Lily exclaimed.

"How'd you find this place?" James asked.

"Everyone knows about it, I thought," Lily shrugged. "Whatever you wish for in this room, you will receive. So if we wanted…to nap, there'd be a bed. If we wanted to…swim, there'd be a swimming pool. It's called the room of Requirement. Mostly it's used for wandering students in search of a loo."

"Nice," James murmured, walking along the table and looking at the cauldron and ingredients before them.

Hours later, the two were completely exhausted from making their potions, however they were far from finished. They furnished a sofa and sat on it next to their concoction, trying to read out of multiple text-books that had formed a barrier between them.

Lily was hardly paying attention. She kept going back to what Mary had said to her and then what Alice had also said to her.

"What do you think?" James asked.

"Huh?"

"Evans? You OK?" he asked. "Been drinking again?"

"No, no…sorry," Lily said, shaking her head.

James leaned back on the sofa with her and pushed his glasses up into his hair. He then noticed that Lily kept staring at him.

"What?"

Lily didn't answer him, instead she leaned in and kissed him, causing him to drop the book he was holding. The book then slid off his pants and into the cauldron below them, boiling while James readjusted himself to kiss Lily properly.

Their kiss ended and James looked back at Lily, grinning.

"What was that for?" James asked, a little dumbstruck at the moment.

Lily leaned back against the sofa and then looked at him. "I was just trying to see if it was as nice as I remember."
"And?"

"It was," she agreed.

"Oh, yeah?" he asked, inching closer to her.

"Yeah," she nodded, grinning.

James shoved the mountain of books in between them off the sofa and their lips met once more.