Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. He belongs to J.K. Rowling. Hopefully she won't be too cruel to him in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Chapter 21 A Night Apart

It was now nearing the end of November and Lily and James were sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room trying to keep up with their ever-growing mountains of homework. James had been against doing their homework in the Gryffindor Common Room, where people could see him working, and had tried to convince Lily that they should work in the Head's Common Room instead, but Lily had refused point blank. She really needed to get her work done and she knew it would never happen in the privacy of the Head's Common Room.

James had eventually conceded, begrudgingly, to her demands with the promise of copious amounts of alone time once they had completed their homework, or at least made a very sizable dent in it.

James was also eager to please Lily because he needed her to be in a good mood when he told her he wouldn't be able to spend time with her on Saturday night. It was the Full Moon on Saturday and there was marauding to be done.

Lily, however, couldn't know this, so James was planning on telling her that his friends were starting to feel a bit neglected, as James was quite busy between Quidditch, his Head duties, and her. He didn't think she'd be upset, he knew she hadn't spent as much time with her friends as she normally did and he had already decided that if she was upset by his plans he would recommend she have a night with the girls. He hoped that that would keep her being too upset or from asking too many questions.

"Lily," James began.

"Yes, James?" she asked not looking up from her Potions Essay.

"Um, I was talking to the guys yesterday and we've decided that we're going to hang out, just the four of us, on Saturday night. We really haven't had a chance to spend time together because I've been so busy and so I said I was free on Saturday," James concluded waiting for her response.

"Oh, okay," Lily replied. "You need to spend time with your friends, I understand. Actually," she added, "It'll give me a chance to spend time with the girls, we haven't had much time to hang out either."

James smiled. She wasn't asking questions and she was happy for a chance to spend time with her friends.

At 8:45 Lily and James cleaned up their homework, they had actually made a pretty good dent, and took their things up to their respective dormitories before heading out for their nine o'clock patrol.

"Well, did you tell her or did you chicken out?" Sirius demanded as soon as James walked into the room.

"Relax Padfoot, she was fine with it. I mean it's not like the world will tragically end if we spend one evening apart," James replied rolling his eyes.

"What did you tell her we were doing?" Peter asked from behind his comic book.

"Just hanging out. She didn't ask any questions. She just said okay and that she'd see if her friends wanted to do something," James said with a shrug.

"Shame they're only doing it cause we're doing something," Sirius said. "We could spy on them. Hear what girls talk about when we're not there."

"And how would we do that without being able to get up the stairs?" Remus asked skeptically.

"Simple, Peter would transform and we'd levitate him up there. He's so small it would be easy for him to hide," Sirius answered as if it were obvious.

"I wonder if we could get up the stairs in our animagi forms?" James wondered allowed.

"We'll have to have Wormtail test it one day," Sirius said grinning.

"Why me? Why don't you do it?" Peter asked.

"Because you're the smallest, people would be less likely to notice you," Sirius explained.

"Unless it didn't work and I went sliding down the stairs," Peter pointed out.

"We'll try it at night," Sirius replied.

"Well, then you could try it, as no one would be around," Peter pointed out.

"Hmmm, true," Sirius said looking thoughtful.

"Padfoot, if you go into the girls dormitory I'll put you in detention," James said without looking up from his trunk.

"Only joking mate, only joking," Sirius said.

Though James wasn't entirely sure he believed him.

"Alright, I have to go patrol, I'll see you guys later."

"Hey Lily," Marlene said as Lily entered the dorm.

"Hey, Marlene," Lily replied. "Oh, Marlene, do you have any plans for Saturday night?" Lily asked.

"Nope, why?"

"James is hanging out with the guys, so I thought maybe we girls should do something. I haven't spent any time with you and Katie in weeks and I miss Mary and Abby too."

"I'm game. I know Katie doesn't have any plans and I'm sure Mary and Abby will be up for some girliness," Marlene said with a grin.

"Excellent," Lily replied. "Alright, I've gotta go, James and I have to patrol in a few minutes."

"Have fun," Marlene replied in a sing song voice.

"Oh, we will," Lily grinned.

"Lily Evans!" Marlene chided, "Are you neglecting your sacred duties for senseless, though enjoyable, snogging?"

"No," Lily replied grinning, "We get our patrolling done first."

With that Lily left the dorm and headed to the common room to meet up with James.

James came down the stairs just seconds after Lily walked into the Common Room and, smiling at each other, they headed out the portrait hole and into the corridor. James reached out and took Lily's hand in his. He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"What was that for?" Lily asked smiling.

She loved James's little random acts of affection when they were alone. He really was quite sweet.

"Because I can." James replied. "So, you got a letter from your Mum at breakfast, how are things on the home front?" James asked pleasantly.

"Good, from what she says," Lily answered. "Petunia's wedding plans are coming along nicely. Dad has decided to retire at the end of next year, but that's not surprising," Lily explained.

"Ah, so has your sister picked a date for her wedding yet?" James asked. "I know she hadn't last time your mother wrote."

"Oh, yeah, the beginning of July. Mum said not to worry, I wouldn't have to miss it."

"Well, that's nice of your sister."

"I'm sure it was largely Mum's doing, but oh well, Petunia will always be Petunia. How are your parents doing?"

"Fine, fine. Mum says Dad got season tickets to Puddlemere United, which means that Sirius and I will have lots of Quidditch to look forward to this summer," James explained brightly.

Lily laughed at him and rolled her eyes, "You and Quidditch."

"Best sport there is."

The rest of their patrol passed with pleasant conversation and no students out of bed.

Saturday night came quickly and found James, Sirius, and Peter up in their dorm discussing their final plans for the evening. This was a typical ritual for the boys, to plan out their route and destination. Although the unknown made things fun, James and Sirius found it was better to have a basic outline of where they would go and what they would do before they started.

Communicating in their animagus forms was slightly more complicated than in human for and it required them to focus on each other, as body language and eye contact were essential, and it tended to distract them from keeping an eye on Remus. In fact, the couple of times Remus had given them the slip in the past were because they were trying to decide what to do next and not paying enough attention to their friend.

"I think we should explore the village some more," Sirius suggested.

"The last time we explored the village we almost lost control of Remus," Peter pointed out.

"Wormtail's right mate," James agreed. "It took all the strength of both of us to keep him away from those villagers coming out of The Hogs Head. Even if they had just seen him the Ministry and Dumbledore would have instantly suspected Remus, as they know he's at Hogwarts."

"Well, how about the Forest then. We haven't been there since last year," Sirius suggested.

"Sure, that sounds like fun. We just have to watch out for the centaurs. They won't like it if they find a werewolf in their forest. I doubt they'd kill him but they'd definitely tell Hagrid, who would most likely tell Dumbledore," James reminded the other two.

Peter and Sirius nodded in agreement.

"Remus and Pomfrey are at the Willow," Peter, who was keeping an eye on the map, said suddenly.

"Excellent," James replied. "Tell us when the coast is clear."

Twenty minutes later the three boys were down at the Willow. James reached into his pocket and removed Peter. It was easier for them to fit under the cloak if Peter transformed as the three boys had become far too tall for more than two of them to fit comfortably under it without risking giving themselves away. It was one thing if they got caught using it to sneak to the kitchens, getting caught sneaking to see Remus, however…

James and Sirius ducked down as one and James placed Peter on the ground. Peter ran over to the Willow and pushed the knot freezing the branches that had been trying to find the invisible James and Sirius. James and Sirius walked quickly over to the Willow, not coming out from under the cloak until they were right next to the tunnel. They would have gone down the tunnel under it if they could have fit through the entrance.

It was times like this that James envied Peter for being on the short side. True, Peter still had to duck in the tunnel, but not as much as James and Sirius, who were now so tall they had to crawl.

They arrived at the entrance to the Shrieking Shack and Peter, who was in the lead, unlocked the door. The three boys entered the Shack and spotted Remus lying on the sofa looking absolutely miserable. The fact that he always looked like this before his transformations did little to comfort James. It wasn't fair that Remus, who was such a good person, had to suffer like he did.

"Hey, guys," Remus said weakly as they entered.

"Hey," they replied.

"Ready for another crazy adventure, Moony?" Sirius asked with a grin.

"Yup, any minute now," Remus grinned back.

Suddenly Remus inhaled sharply. The other three recognized this as their cue and transformed just as the air was filled with the cracking of bones and a low snarling as Remus also transformed.

The wolf looked at the stag, the dog, and the rat and growled. Sirius growled in return and ran playfully at Remus, his tail wagging. The wolf sniffed at the dog and gave a friendlier growl as he recognized his friend. The two wrestled playfully for a moment and then the wolf turned his attention to the stag and the rat. He gave them a sniff and lunged playfully at the stag upon recognizing him.

James motioned with his head that they should get going. Peter slipped out through a passage the boys had created in the wall. It allowed Peter to exit the house, but even if someone found the hole from the outside they could not see through to the inside, as the hole inside the house didn't line up with the one outside.

Peter came out in a small space underneath the porch where he could transform back into a person without being seen. Checking around carefully, to make sure that no one was around, he unlocked the door to the house.

This was one of the most dangerous parts. James, Sirius, and Remus would exit the house and Wormtail was responsible for re-locking the door as soon as they exited. They had used every spell they could to protect Wormtail from Remus while he was underneath the porch. There were unbreakable charms on every inch of the wood lining the underside of the porch and they reasoned that if Remus ever got as far as the ground Peter would have plenty of time to transform before Remus got to him and escape back through the hole into the house. However, this was not a theory they wanted to test. James and Sirius always made sure that they went out the door first.

As soon as all four of Remus's paws were on the porch Peter quickly locked the door magically and transformed back into a rat. He had become quite proficient at this task and Remus barely had time to register the smell of a human before Peter had transformed and was scurrying out from under the porch through another small hole they had created for Peter's use.

As Peter scurried out James lowered his head to the ground and allowed Peter to scurry onto his back. As Peter was so small he had to ride on either James or Sirius's back because he wasn't able to keep up on his own. The boys had concluded that it was generally better for Peter to ride on James's back if possible. Sirius, being the same size as Remus, tended to roll on the ground when he wrestled with the wolf.

They found that the best way to keep Remus in check was to focus his attention on them. Sirius usually did this by playing tackle with him. He would jump at Remus at odd moments trying to catch him off guard. This in turn encouraged the Remus to do the same to Sirius. It was all in good fun and generally speaking neither hurt the other. James would join in the game on occasion to give Sirius a break but James was a bit leery about his antlers and so left most of the playing to Sirius, who was much less likely to accidentally hurt Remus.

However, on the rare occasion that they had a close call with an inhabitant of Hogsmeade James was extremely glad to have his antlers, as they were highly effective at driving Remus back.

The four boys made their way happily to the Forbidden Forest. They spent most of the night exploring around in the underbrush with James paying careful attention to where they were to make sure avoided the giant spiders. They had spotted a couple of them once, but thankfully the spiders had not seen them. However, since then the boys had been careful to avoid the part of the forest.

The boys had quite an enjoyable night. They sneaked back into the Shrieking Shack about half an hour before Remus was due to transform back. Peter slipped back under the porch and positioned himself to unlock the door. This part always made him nervous. The boys couldn't leave the door unlocked while they were gone because even though the residents of Hogsmeade were terrified of the place the boys couldn't risk someone sneaking in if the door was unlocked and still being there when they returned. The trick was for Peter to transform back into his human form quickly while Sirius distracted Remus slightly away from the porch, and also upwind. As soon as the door was unlocked Peter would quickly transform back into his animagus form. James and Sirius would then prod Remus back inside. The second they were inside Peter would once again change back to his human form and magically seal the door. Peter would then consult the Marauder's Map to check on the whereabouts of Madame Pomfrey before transforming back into a rat once more and reentering the house.

As soon Remus transformed back into his human for James, Sirius, and Peter also transformed back. Peter would then give an update on the whereabouts of Madame Pomfrey. She was always fairly prompt in her fetching of Remus and it was rare that the other three boys had time to sneak out before her arrival.

It was probably unnecessary for Peter to check the map before reentering the house, as Madame Pomfrey had never started out down the tunnel until after the time when Remus transformed back, but they did it anyway. They were aware that her not entering the tunnel until after Remus was back in his human form was a safety measure, but they were always afraid her determination to get to her patient quickly would overcome this one day.

While all this had been going on the girls were enjoying a slightly calmer, though equally enjoyable party up in their dorm. Lily had used her knowledge of how to get into the kitchens to acquire some excellent pastries and butterbeer.

"So Lily, how are things going with you and James?" Katie asked grinning innocently.

"Pretty good," Lily said smiling.

"See, you should have listened to us years ago," Marlene told her.

"No, I don't think it would have worked before," Lily replied. "James was too immature, he would have driven me mad."

"So are the rumors true?" Abby asked. "Is he as good a kisser as everyone says he is?"

"No," Lily replied laughing. "The rumors don't do him justice."

"I don't really understand how he got such a reputation as a ladies man anyway," Marlene said. "I mean, he really hasn't had that many girlfriends. You're what number five?"

"Four," Lily corrected.

"He's gone on dates with more than four girls though," Katie pointed out.

"True, but it's not like he's a man whore or anything," Marlene pointed out.

"I suppose that's true. He's not a use 'em and lose 'em kinda guy," Katie agreed fairly.

"If you're done analyzing my boyfriend…" Lily interrupted.

"Sorry," Katie and Marlene said simultaneously, both laughing.

"So Lily, how far have you and Mr. Potter gotten, hmm? With that lovely Head's Common Room at your disposal?" Katie asked grinning.

"Katie, we've only been dating a few weeks," Lily glowered her cheeks flushing slightly.

"That far huh?" Katie said raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"We haven't done anything more than kiss," Lily said now turning quite red at what Katie was implying.

"Well that's no fun," Katie grinned cheekily.

"What about you and you're boyfriend Mary?" Marlene asked turning the girls' attention away from Lily.

Lily sighed inwardly. What she had said was entirely true, she and James had done no more than kiss. But did he want more? Lily definitely wasn't ready and besides that they'd only been together a few weeks. She knew James would never force her into doing anything she wasn't ready for, but did he want to? Had he? Lily shook herself mentally. She was being ridiculous. James hadn't even implied anything of the sort, in fact they had talked later that night they had gotten together and agreed to take things nice and slow. Hell, James had been the one to suggest it. He said he didn't want to screw things up. Maybe he had done 'it' before?

Lily sighed, she'd just have to wait until morning to ask him. She didn't want to disrupt his guys' night and she didn't want her friends giving her a hard time for trying to find him. She looked out the window, the full moon shown down brightly making the Hogwarts grounds glow. 'Yes,' she thought, 'I'll just have to wait until morning.'