"A week?" she asked, though she already knew full well that it was exactly seven days before the next full moon, and she hardly had to glance at the sky to figure it out. She could read it in his exhausted and pale face and the way he carried himself in the same resigned fashion that the full moon was coming up quickly.
He nodded slowly. "I can't believe this is our last year at school" he offered softly. She wasn't entirely certain what the two subjects had to do with one another, but she didn't have to ask.
"I don't know what I'm gonna do after this year Lily. Who's going to hire a werewolf? What am I supposed to do for the rest of my life? I was so excited when Dumbledore let me come to school, but it doesn't really matter how good you do in class, or that you're a prefect. I used to think that if I could work hard enough, and prove myself enough that it wouldn't matter what I was anymore. I don't know when I grew up and realized that in the end I'm still a werewolf. All I've gotten is being fully aware of all the opportunities I'll never have. In the end it seems like there never was any point to any of this" he said in frustration, running a hand through his hair in a fashion that reminded her strongly of James' old habit.
She didn't know what to say for a long moment, but the look on his face told her that he had been holding it all in for a long time and that she would have to say something to make him feel better, to be more optimistic about his future.
"So it wasn't worth it?" she challenged him. "It wasn't worth coming to school, learning everything you possibly could, proving to everyone who knows you that you are smart, and capable, that you are more than what you become one night per month? It wasn't worth it to make friends like the ones you have? To learn that not everyone sees you the way you see yourself, or the way the idiots who don't know you see you? Have you really only learned how to feel sorry for yourself?"
He gave a rye smile. No reply was necessary. She could only hope she had eased some of his worries.
She continued anyway. "Sure" she said, "Maybe if you had to do it all over again you would have said no thanks Dumbledore, and spent the rest of your life hidden away in your parents cellar while the world passed you by. There would be no moments like this one, breaking the rules with the people who care more about you more than anyone else in the world, and there would be nothing that you would ever be able to do for yourself or for anyone else, but at least you wouldn't know what you were missing out on, right?"
"Alright, alright" he said, trying to repress a smile as she turned back to the street.
"Ya?" she said, "You don't feel like giving up just yet?"
"Of course not Lily" he said in a placating voice.
"You don't want to go board yourself up in the shrieking shack permanently?"
He laughed. "And never see you again? I don't think I could handle that."
She returned his laughter. "That's what I thought" she told him, turning and walking backwards down the street, arms held out to keep herself balanced, making him roll his eyes.
"You'll be fine Remus" she said finally, "I'm not willing to give up on you just yet in any case. My galleons are on you. Besides, you only have sharp teeth twelve days of the year" she added thoughtfully. "Percentage-wise that definitely doesn't define you."
"I'll remember that" he said.