Hey guys, I all hope that the rest of my fellow Americans had a safe and happy Fourth of July. To any British or otherwise English speaking readers, I still hope you had a wonderful week. I really hope that you all enjoy this chapter because this has been one of the moments that the story has been building to. If you can't guess from the title, this will be the first time they all spend the night with Moony.

And since no story is that simple, I threw in some relationships. I kind of wanted to show the contrast between Ben/Ursula and Lily/James. And since this story is a tiny bit late, I decided to throw something in for the Jily shippers. I wont' say what it is but it was just an idea that was too perfect to ignore. I hope you all like it.

Without further delay, please enjoy the next chapter.

Upon their return to classes, the tone to everything immediately changed. With OWLs looming over them like a dark shadow, students were given more and more homework. There was barely a moment's rest for any fifth year, no matter what house.

While the change was expected, there was one change that no one saw coming.

It was their first day back in Defense Against the Dark Arts. James plopped down on his seat and kicked his feet up, knowing that they were going to be in for a fun lesson. Pod would probably want a play by play of all the duels that had occurred between his students and Death Eaters the previous week.

"I can't wait for this," Sirius said, just as excited as James.

Elyse nodded, "Do yeh think he'll want play by play o' just description?"

"He's more of a play by play guy," Peter commented.

Ursula punched Peter jokingly in the shoulder, "You just want to show off your patronus, Wormy."

He blushed red but didn't try to refute the claim. Before anyone else was able to say anything, Pod came down from his office, looking a mess. His hair was wild, his clothes disheveled, and there were bags underneath his eyes, like he hadn't slept in days.

"Alright students, turn to page 623 in your book and start reading about the theory of hexes and their uses." With that, he turned to sit and his desk and start to scribble furiously on a sheet of parchment.

All the student looked at each other in shock. Lily was the first one to raise her hand. Pod didn't seem to notice as he mumbled nonsense to himself as he continued writing. Finally, she cleared her throat and Pod looked up. "What do you want, Evans? The assignment is clear."

"I know that, Professor, but we've already covered hexes in your lectures. You said before break that when we return, we would be jumping right into practical application of nonverbal spells—"

"I KNOW WHAT I SAID!" Pod exploded. All the students jumped back in their seat, scared by his outburst. They had never seen their cool, calm, and collected Professor act so agitated. "You've already had your practical application over break. See how well that turned out?!" He shouted at Lily.

James immediately jumped in, "What are you talking about? We're all fine."

Pod seemed to seethe at the challenge to his statement. "If you were all fine," he ground out through his clenched jaw, "then my roster would not have gone down. Since that has already happened, WHAT I SAID WAS WRONG! NOW READ YOUR DAMN BOOKS AND LEARN SOMETHING THAT MIGHT ACTUALLY SAVE YOUR LIFE!" He knocked over several things on his desk as he violently sat back down, practically yanking the desk to him.

Not a single word was said the rest of class period.

The second they were out the door, they were anything but silent.

"What the hell just happened in there?" Sirius questioned.

Before anyone could speculate, Elyse responded, "He feels guilty aboot woot happened ter Davies. He was teh one that taught Davies everythin' that ended up getting' him killed. He's writin' his letter o' resignation ter Dumbledore right now 'n will give it ter him in three weeks. He thinks that if he leaves now 'n we get a proper teacher, we'll have a better chance of surviving."

"Will Dumbledore let him leave midyear?" Peter questioned.

Elyse shook her head, "Nah, he'll convince 'im ter stay till teh end o' teh year. After that, he's gone."

"Elyse, was this one of your visions?" Ben asked softly, mindful of the students passing by in the crowded hall.

She nodded, "Just saw it."

"You can't be telling us this stuff," Ben said. "We aren't supposed to know."

Elyse just shrugged, "It doesn't affect yeh directly so woot does it matter?"

"It's principal," Ben tried to explain but was cut off by Sirius.

"Principal, Shmincipal. Like she said, it's not like she told us anything about our lives; just about the life of our teacher." Sirius said as threw his arm around Elyse's shoulders.

Ben shook his head, "But what is something slips. Do you want to know when you're going to die Sirius? Which one of us will die first? What if it's something about Ursula, would you be able to bear knowing?" At the thought, he reached out and grabbed Ursula's hand tightly.

Peter rolled his eyes, "You're thinking too much into this."

"You're thinking too little into this." Ben shot back, annoyed that they all seemed to blasé about this.

Remus, ever the mediator, distracted everyone by saying, "Guys, if we don't hurry up, we'll be late for McGonagall's class."

The distraction worked as all seven rushed to get to Minnie's class on time, not wanting to be late for their favorite class.

The next two weeks continued much the very same way. They were bogged down by homework, still somehow making time for pranks against the Slytherins, while James, Elyse, Ben, and Ursula made time for Quidditch practice. It drove Ursula mad sitting on the sidelines, still out because Madame Pomfrey refused to clear her for playing because of her head injury.

It was two days before the full moon after practice and Ursula and Ben had decided to go on a walk around the Black Lake. The setting sun reflected off the water and the beautifully white snow that still lay mostly undisturbed.

"The full moon is in two days," Ben commented innocently.

Ursula gave him a sideways look and nodded, "I'm aware."

After a moment of silence, he continued. "I don't think that you should go with us to accompany Moony."

Ursula stopped midstride. "You what?" She demanded in a scarily calm voice.

"With what happened last time, I don't think you should come with us."

"Have you told James not to stay back?" she challenged.

"No, that's different."

"No it's not!" She shouted back, fully and properly enraged at this point. "James suffered just as serious injuries as me and you're not telling him to sit out on what we've worked the last four years on!"

Ben shook his head, "I'm not dating James."

"No, he's just one of your best friends and roommates. Why on Earth would you care about him?!" She sarcastically and angrily asked.

"Why are we talking about James?" Ben questioned. "This is about you."

"This is about YOU! You don't want me to go to the Shrieking Shack Friday. You are the one. Not me."

Ben tried to reach out to her, to embrace her, but she only stepped back. "It's because I care about you. I don't want to see you hurt."

Ursula huffed and rolled her eyes, "Newsflash, Ben, I'm going to get hurt. Either in Quidditch, when I finally join the Order, or helping Remus; I'm going to get hurt."

"I can't accept that," Ben argued, trying to speak calmly to sooth Ursula, who was irate and downright furious at that moment. "I just want to protect you."

"You did one hell of a job last time," she shot back quickly.

Ben recoiled as if he had been struck, her words hurting him more than he could ever describe. He had blamed himself for months about what happened so to hear her say it out loud…it hurt than the cruciatus curse.

Ursula gasped the moment those words came out of her mouth. She moved forwards and tentatively wrapped her arms around his still form. "Ben, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it," she apologized into his wool jacket.

After an antagonizing long moment, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "I'm the one who should be sorry."

"You have always been forgiven."

The pair stood like that for a while, neither of them knowing how long. They simply reveled in each other's warm embrace. Occasionally, Ben would run his hand through Ursula's curly hair, at least the part that wasn't covered by her hat. She simply snuggled closer to his chest, lulled into a state of unbelievable calmness by his steady heartbeat.

In the distance, they could hear the clock tower chiming, signaling that it was time for dinner. Reluctantly, the pair broke away but only after sharing a loving kiss. Hand in hand, they walked back to the castle.

"You know I'm still going on Friday." Ursula commented once they were nearing the Great Hall.

Ben chuckled and nodded, bringing her hand up to his lips to leave a gentle kiss over her gloved knuckles, "I wouldn't expect anything else."

Their moment was ruined when James stood up and shouted for the entire Hall to hear, "Oi! Love birds! Get over here!"

The pair laughed at the antics of their friends when Sirius reached up and violently yanked James back down, causing him to knock over an entire cup full of pumpkin juice on Peter's lap. Some things would never change with them.

Remus was lying on his bed, trying to fight off yet another wave of nausea. The full moon was later that night and he had been feeling the symptoms for the last three days. His head felt like it was splitting open, his body temperature was rising, and all of his muscles ached. Classes had just ended for that day but it was a Friday so he wasn't expecting any of the guys to come back before he had to leave. They had without a doubt done something idiotic in the last day or so that warranted them getting detention.

That was why he was startled when the door was violent flung open as his four roommates walked in. Ben placed his books on the table next to his bed while Peter ran to the loo, complaining about the green goo James had thrown in his hair, while the other two recklessly threw themselves onto their own beds. James grabbed a Quaffle and started tossing it to himself as he narrated a Quidditch game to himself. Sirius on the other hand was surprisingly quieter, opting to read a muggle motorcycle magazine.

"Oi, James, do you think if I get a bike Dad would let me keep it in the shed?" Sirius questioned as he flipped through the magazine.

James shrugged, "I don't see why not. We'll just have to keep Mum from seeing it."

"That'll be a challenge. Sissy hates the idea of it so we'll have to keep her from seeing it too."

Remus stared at the pair in shock. "Correct me if I'm wrong, don't you have detention right now?"

James shook his head and smirked proudly, "Nope. We've kept on our best behavior since you've been out."

Remus raised an eyebrow disbelievingly. Sirius threw a pillow at him, "Don't give us that look!"

"They're not lying, we don't have detention." Ben said honestly. "We wanted to make sure we didn't have anything tonight."

"I even gave up Quidditch practice for this," James added. "It nearly killed me but I gave the pitch to the Ravenclaws."

"Why did you give up practice?"

They all gave him an incredulous look. Ben shook his head and gestured towards James. "You take this one. Muse and I are going to go on a walk. She'll have the mirror if you need us."

James scoffed at Remus's pitifully confused and ill face. "I didn't think that you would forget about your furry little problem tonight of all nights."

Remus rolled his eyes, "I know tonight's the full moon. I don't know how that involves you."

"Moony," Sirius explained, "We've all been able to complete our transformations. We're going with you tonight."

The room was silent. Remus stared at the two disbelievingly. He had thought that after what happened in October they would give up on this idiotic idea after he almost killed two of his closest friends. He began to feel panic swell in his chest. He had been able to remember moments of that fateful night. The sick and revolting fun he felt when he sunk his teeth into the black and white dog's back and the morbid glee he remembered feeling seeing the fallen, human James still haunted his nightmares.

Sirius, seeing his panic, tried to placate him, "We've taken precautions since then. It won't just be a dog and a stag trying to wing it. This time there'll be them plus King and me who are both large animals. Wormy and Lucky are a bit smaller but they're quick. We'll be alright."

"I'm sure that's what James thought last time." Remus muttered ruefully.

"I was thinking on a slightly different train of thought." James said in a joking manner but Sirius quickly looked over when he heard something that sounded a bit like fear in his voice. "You should be getting to the infirmary soon. Pomfrey's probably waiting for you."

Remus groaned but nodded, knowing what James said was true. James stood and helped Remus to his feet. "Come on big fella, let's get you out of here."

He wrapped Remus's arm around his own shoulders, taking Remus's weight. He helped him hobble across the room to the door. Sirius grabbed the sleeve of James's jumper, giving him a look that they needed to talk.

"Can you make it down the stairs alone?" James asked Remus.

Remus grunted and started to walk out the door. "If you hear a loud crash and swearing, I can't."

Sirius snorted, "That's reassuring."

He waited until Remus was about halfway down the stairs before he looked James straight in the eyes. "What were you thinking?"

James's usually bright hazel eyes dimmed and Sirius could practically see the façade crumbling.

"I thought I was going to die," James admitted softly. "But all I could think about was the people I love moving on without me." His hand tightened around the door frame for a moment and he looked away from Sirius. "Lily would have never known I died for Snape." He slammed his hand against the door. "She wouldn't have known!"

"James…?" Sirius cautiously placed his hand on James's shoulder. That startled him. James shook his head and quickly left the room, muttering about how he was going on a walk after getting Remus to the infirmary.

Twenty minutes later, Lily, who was returning from the library, was knocked to the ground. The figured didn't even stop to see if she was okay. Grumbling about stupid people who rush through deserted corridors, she picked up her bag and got to her feet. Just as she was up, however, the same figure crashed into her from behind. She stumbled forward.

Now furious, she reached out and grabbed the figure's arm, "Excuse me, I don't care if your mother never taught you any manners, but you're just being an arse at this point!" She shouted at the figure. The corridor was dark enough so that she couldn't make out any distinct features.

"Oh, excuse me Queen Evans."

Lily immediately released his arm and jumped back, "Potter!?"

Even in the dark she could see his sarcastic and cynical smile, "Didn't expect to run into your favorite person? Aw, Lily-Love, I'm hurt."

She was about to fire back when she saw something that made her pause. James rolled his eyes and started pacing back and forth. "What? Can't think of anything to say to me? Come on, I know you have more insults in there!" He tapped the side of her head as he walked past her, pausing momentarily before he continued to pace. "I'll get you started. Selfish, toe-rag, dunderhead, arrogant, slob who has no respect for anyone and hates Slytherins and is evil on the inside and is the biggest prat you have ever known and wouldn't even care if he suddenly dropped dead! You almost wish it!" He was yelling at this point, his voice echoing throughout the empty corridor.

Lily stared at him in shock. His chest was heaving in anger. He ran his hands through his hair frantically, occasionally pulling at it. She stared at his hands, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"James," she said softly with a hint of concern. "You're shaking."

He froze and his hands left his hair and disappeared into his pockets. "So what, Evans? Surprised that I'm not completely cool and arrogant all the time? Surprised to find that I do bloody feel things at times?!"

"I always—"

"No, you don't!" He screamed at her. "You don't care at all," he sneered at her bitterly.

"What is going on?" She demanded. "It can't be that bad."

James rolled his eyes, "Oh, don't even try to understand what I've been going through."

Affronted, Lily responded, "Don't act like you're the only one with problems!"

"Oh, I forgot. Are you and your little 'Puff having a little disagreement?"

"We broke up."

"Aww," James cooed condescendingly. "Poor, perfect, single Lily. Where's Ben with his bloody violin?"

Now Lily was furious as well. How dare he mock her like that? "It's not like your life is hard."

"It's not like my life is hard? It's not like my MY LIFE IS HARD?" He shouted indignantly. "Not did I only die three weeks ago, I almost died three months ago and that's not fricken easy to deal with! Two of my friends who I love like siblings have half of the Death Eaters out to either kill them or recruit them. I'm about to go spend some quality time with Moony and the last time that happened, I ended up in an effin' coma! Oh, and let's not forget the cherry on the damn Sunday. I'm trying to figure out how to keep my friend alive after she prophecies her own death and she can't even bloody remember it! So, it's not like my life is hard at all! It's just a goddamn cake walk!"

"I'll admit," she screeched back, "that my life may not be that messed up, but it's not a walk in the park for me either! My sister loathes my existence, I seem to pick friends who love to almost die on a monthly basis, I broke up with the perfect guy because he wasn't good enough for me, OWLs are just around the corner and I am one more essay away from breaking down, and I think my best friend just got the Dark Mark! Then you have to go and confuse the hell out of me—"

She was abruptly cut off when she was violently yanked forwards into James's arms. To keep her balance, she pressed her hands against James's chest. Before she could say anything, James's lips were upon hers.

It was a searing kiss, unlike anything she had ever experienced when she was with Gabe. The kiss was passionate, unrestrained, and somewhat frantic. Her heart felt like it was about to explode right out of her chest when James deepened the kiss. She tried to think about how much she hated Potter but at that moment, her brain had gone completely blank.

His fingers dug almost painfully into her sides as he crushed her to him while her hands ran through his infuriating mess of raven locks. Lily faintly heard a voice that sounded like Sirius coming from James's pocket but quickly dismissed the thought. She tugged his hair to lower his head so she could easier access to his lips when James, just as sudden as the kiss had begun, let her go, shoving her back slightly.

"I've got to go," he murmured before turning and leaving without another word.

Lily stared at his rapidly retreating form and sagged against the wall. What the hell was that?

James took the stairs two at a time to get to the Gryffindor Tower entrance as quickly as possible. He crashed in there, not surprised to see everyone waiting for him. The rest of the Common Room was thankfully deserted that Friday night, seeing as everyone wanted to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for the Hogsmeade trip in the morning.

"Merlin, Prongs, what were you doing?"

"Nothing," James brushed the question off. "Who's going first?"

Ben was the one who answered, "We're all going except you and Ursula. Peter and Elyse will transform here and Sirius and I will carry them down. If you go up to our room, Sirius'll communicate with you through the mirrors so you can summon the cloak through the window. Join us as soon as you can."

James nodded, briefly looking at Ursula. The two of them kept watch while Elyse and Peter transformed in the darkened corner of the Common Room.

"Are you two alright?" They heard Ben ask.

They turned and saw Ben holding a rat in his hands while Sirius bent down to pick up the golden rabbit with red ears. Lucky nodded her head, nuzzling Sirius's hand as he absentmindedly ran his hand over her head. Ben reached up and placed Wormtail on his shoulder before grabbing the cloak off a nearby chair. "Ready?" He asked Sirius before throwing the cloak over the four of them.

"We'll see you soon," a voice said from nowhere.

Ursula and James simply nodded and they turned to walk up the stairs to the boys' dorm. Once there, Ursula sat down on Ben's bed while James went to his own. They were silent before James decided to break the silence.

"Are you scared?" He asked in a voice that Ursula rarely ever heard him use. He sounded like a small child needing reassurance from a parent.

Ursula nodded, "Terrified."

"Does Ben know?"

Ursula scoffed and shook her head, "No. We spoke last night and I told him I was fine and that I was ready for this."

"And are you?"

"I'm just about as ready for this as you are. James, the last time I was in that tunnel with Moony, I was bitten by a werewolf, almost killed, and lost my memory. I am so bloody scared right now Prongs." She admitted.

"It's completely illogical," James said, mostly speaking to himself. "We're stronger and more prepared this time. It's not just the two of us frantically trying to ward off a werewolf. We'll have King and Padfoot there. And Lucky and Wormy too to distract Moony. It should be fine. It's going to be fine."

Ursula nodded, agreeing with him. Still, she was paler than usual. Their conversation was cut short when Sirius's voice came through the mirror in Ursula's pocket. "We're here. Get the cloak."

James went to the window and summoned his cloak, the piece of material soaring through the window. Ursula moved to his side and he threw the cloak over them, disappearing into the night.

They quickly and silently made their way through the castle and across the grounds. They bypassed a few professors and Hagrid but they went unnoticed by everyone. As they got closer to they felt their hearts beat faster, remembering the last time the two of them went towards the Whomping Willow. The fear and panic flashed through them, the emotions as potent as they had been all those months ago. Ursula blindly reached out and grabbed James's hand, both of them shaking slightly in fear. Holding onto each other's hands calmed their shaking and they silently used each other as a crutch to appear alright.

The tree was still frozen so they quickly made their way down the passage way. James was sure to bolt the door behind him, not risking sending Moony out on the grounds just yet. At the end of the passage way, Ben and a mangy, grim looking dog stood by his side.

"Remus hasn't made the change yet but he's close. We should probably be in there." Just as he said that, a cry came from inside the shack as Remus couldn't hold back crying in pain.

James nodded solemnly and clapped Ben on the shoulder as he walked past, "Watch out for her," he muttered softly before changing into a stag midstride once he was sure his antlers wouldn't get caught in the doorframe. Prongs and Padfoot made their way further into the shack to join Lucky and Peter, leaving Ben and Ursula alone.

"You'll be safe?" Ben questioned, more for his peace of mind than anything else.

She nodded and gave him a quick kiss, "With you, I'm the safest girl in the castle."

He smiled and kissed her again, never able to settle with just one of her kisses. "In that case, shall we?" He held the door open for her and motioned for her to go in. She offered him one last comforting look before she transformed into her animagus form, Ben following quickly after. A howl echoed from farther in and the sound of crashing and scraping of hooves and paws soon followed.

The full moon had finally risen.

The next morning, Peter opened his eyes to see that he had transformed back into a human. After a moment of panic, he saw that Remus had transformed back into his human form as well. He was off to the side, his clothes torn off him but he was covered partially by a fallen bit of drapes.

Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he tried to find the rest of their friends and see if they were okay. He felt fine but he remembered that he mostly stayed clear of all the action. Elyse had been swatted at and thrown a fair bit of distance. When he saw her sleeping (she was transformed back as well) he could see the nasty bruise forming on her right leg and arm.

A little farther away, Sirius was curled up still in his dog form. There were a few scratches on him but he seemed to be able to breathe properly.

"Pete?" A hushed voice called out in the room. Peter attention snapped towards James, who was laying on top of the piano (why was there a piano in there?) and also just waking up.

"I'm good. You?"

"Better than last time, that's for damn sure," James responded as he climbed off the piano, wincing when he put pressure on his left foot. It wasn't broken but it would probably have to be wrapped for a while, he determined. There were some scratch marks on his sides but they weren't near as bad as they had been last time.

"Is anyone else up?" Peter asked.

James shook his head. "I woke up a few minutes ago. Where're Ben and Ursula?"

The question was answered by the pair when a scraping sound caught their attention. Both of them were still in their animagus forms, Ursula snuggled up to Ben's side. She was moving her paws in her sleep, running after something. King, still asleep, moved slightly to rest his head against Muse's. She instantly calmed.

While Peter's insides boiled with jealousy, James smiled happily at the couple, not noticing Peter's adverse reaction. They were good for each other, James determined. Ursula barely had a scratch mark on her while Ben had more than his fair share. He may have had some major issues with Ben in the past year but Ben seemed determined to redeem himself in James's and Sirius's eyes. And so far, he was succeeding.

"Come on, Pete, let's wake them up." James felt bad interrupting everyone's needed sleep but they couldn't risk being caught by Pomfrey when she came to collect Remus in about an hour to take him to the hospital wing.

Once they were all conscious and transformed back to their human forms, they quickly and quietly made their way back to their dorms. The boys had it easy, all they had to do was go into their rooms; the girls had to sneak back in.

Dawn was just beginning to break when they finally got to their rooms. Ursula was too tired and sore to change so she simply fell into bed while Elyse decided to go shower all the grim off.

"Ursula," Lily said groggily, nearly giving the said girl a heart attack.

"What do you need Lily?" Ursula asked, faking a 'sleeping' voice.

"Where are you hurt?"

Ursula's heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean?"

"I know you and your friends were with Remus last night. Do you need anything healed?"

Ursula was silent a moment and she saw up, looking up to see that Lily had large bags underneath her eyes; she hadn't slept the entire night. She somehow knew what they were doing (or, at least, had some idea of what was going on) and stayed up all night in worry. "No. Nothing that can't wait until morning."

"Alright. Be sure to tell the boys the offer goes for them."

Ursula raised an eyebrow, "All of them?"

There was a moment's hesitation before she said, "Especially them."

She didn't allow Ursula to respond or ask any more questions. Lily rolled over and tried to get a little bit of sleep, an infuriatingly wonderful hazel eyed boy haunting her dreams.