February 12th, 1977

For a day in the middle of February, the weather was quite decent. There was no wind, and the sun was even visible past the foggy clouds. Students took the opportunity to walk around outside, even just for a little. Days during the winter were spent mostly inside, cooped up with a cup of tea by the fireplace. Students had to take the chance for fresh air while they still could.

Remus Lupin decided to take this afternoon to himself. James was off with Camilla Henley, trying to recreate the Kama Sutra, while Sirius and Peter were studying in the library. Remus was caught up, even ahead of his upcoming assignments, and decided to take a stroll by the Black Lake. It was still frozen over, a few students ice-skating on it.

Remus found a spot by a tree and leaned his back against the bark. He pulled out a spliff and put it to his lips. When he reached for his wand beside his body, he instead found a soft hand.

"Oh, my bad- Dorcas?"

Dorcas Meadowes blinked her eyes a few times. She let out a tired yawn and noticed her new company. "Oh, hi, Remus," she breathed.

"What're you doing out here? Were you napping?" He asked worriedly.

Dorcas sat up straight and stretched her arms high, letting out a tiny yelp. It was cute, actually, like a baby's yawn. "Yes, yes, I was," she sighed, checking her watch. "Oh, that was a long one."

"I haven't seen you in class recently," Remus noted, observant as ever. "I mean, you pop up up for one, but then leave for the next period."

"Aw, a stalker," Dorcas teased, punching his arm lightly, "I've always wanted one."

Remus frowned as she chuckled to herself. He lit his spliff and grumbled, "You know, we are in most of the same classes."

"I'm just messing with you," she smiled. She paused for a moment, watching him smoke. She admired the faded scars on his face and neck; they added dimension to his face. Even though they must've been painful in the moment, they were mesmerizing in this moment.

Remus turned to Dorcas and asked, "So, what's been up with you?"

His persistence then ruined the moment. Dorcas let out a sigh, "You're bloody invasive, you know that, right? Can't we just sit here and enjoy the relatively nice weather."

Remus blushed and sucked in a bit too much of his spliff. He offered it to Dorcas, which she readily accepted. He beat his chest, trying not to cough, and said, "I consider you a friend, Dorcas. I'm just making sure that you're all right."

It was her turn to blush now. She let out the smoke slowly as she looked at the ground. "My insomnia is getting worse," she revealed.

Remus could see truth in that, just by the look on her face. The bags under her eyes were dark blue, like they were bruises. When he did see her walking around the castle, she was in a daze and moved around if she were sleepwalking. "How so?"

She pushed her hair out of her face and said, "Normally, a spliff or two can do the trick before bed. Dumbledore has even given me special permission to walk around the castle at night, if I need a smoke. But, in the past two weeks, my brain just… it doesn't stop."

Something about her tone resonated with Remus. He knew what sleepless nights could do to someone's psyche, let alone cognitive capacities for educational intake.

"And when I do sleep, it's never for long," she added in a grim voice, taking another hit before passing the spliff back.

"Nightmares?"

She faced his direction, but didn't look him in the eyes. "Yeah," she said quietly.

"Do you want to talk about them?"

Dorcas chuckled, "It's not them. It's… it."

He blew out the smoke from his lips, occupying his mouth because he didn't know what to say to that. He was quite knowledgable on nightmares; he was a living one. But, of all the night terrors, he's had, they've never been reoccurring. "It's only one?"

She nodded.

"That bad, aye?"

She nodded again.

"You can tell me, Dorcas."

There was a comfortable silence for a moment. It didn't take long for Remus to realize that Dorcas wasn't going to budge. He took another hit and passed it to her. With one hand, she took the spliff and she rested the other on the ground. He took his chance to show Dorcas that he could be trusted and put his hand over hers. She looked up at him with those deep blue eyes and let the smoke trickle up her face. She may have been having nightmares, but she looked like a dream to him.

"Read my mind," Remus offered.

She smiled. "I told you, Remus, I don't want to read your mind. You'll regret it. Whatever it is your trying to do though, I appreciate it. Telepathy is unnecessary."

"I just wanted to show you a nightmare of mine, one of the only recurring ones."

"It's better that I don't."

"Why's that?"

"I won't be able to stop myself."

"From what?"

Dorcas gulped as Remus rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. Did he know he was doing that? She refused to look down at her hand though and kept eye contact. She inhaled sharply before saying, "Learning everything about you."

Remus looked down at their hands and lifted his off of hers. He hated how much that thought scared him, and hated it even more because Dorcas was the right one in this situation. He never wanted her to see those ugly sides - the times where he's taken lives and hurt innocents. "Maybe you're right," He murmured softly, "You won't like what you see."

Dorcas giggled, and he never thought he would ever hear that chime out of her mouth. "I don't think it's that," she said a bit breathy. Remus was too shocked by those words to respond. "I mean, some of it will be gruesome, I can only imagine. But, it's expected; you turn into a bloody wolf man at the stroke of midnight once a month." She passed him back the joint.

"And that doesn't horrify you?"

"No, it doesn't horrify me. I know that… that it's not you in there when turn into the other guy."

"Oh, do you now?"

"When we were younger," Dorcas said, a bit hesitantly, "I couldn't control my abilities as well. And we'd have class together those days after your transformations."

Remus ran a hand over his face before taking another hit. It shouldn't have been a shock to know that Dorcas probably knew more about him than his best friends or family knew. "You've known all this time," he grumbled.

"It doesn't scare me, Remus, I swear," she said, putting her hand back onto his. "I know that you felt incredible guilt and pain, and you don't deserve that. Just because a monster turned you doesn't that you are a monster."

Remus chuckled. He liked that, never heard that line before.

"The real monsters are the ones with no explanation, no thought, only rage," she finished as she lifted her hand off of his. "Just remember that the stomach-clenching feeling you get after you do something as the other guy is the part that keeps you alive and sane."

"It sounds from experience."

Dorcas leaned her head back against the tree. "It is," she said earnestly. "As a kid, I felt bad for being able to read people's minds. I felt… unwanted."

"Unwanted?" He passed her the joint.

She took a quick hit before explaining, "Imagine being able to listen to all of your friends' secret gossip and your siblings' inner monologues. I would answer before they could even ask; there was no consent on my end. I was too much. And my parents…" She trailed off, falling back into the daze of her own memory.

Remus thought of his parents. He thought of how his dad would help every night with the transformations, locking him up and tying him down. Whatever it took to make sure the beast wasn't released. He thought of his mother who would bake him different treats the next day and tend to his wounds. He was lucky and always knew that, but at least, his parents were involved in the wizarding world. They had access to professional guidance and potions, despite their being a stigma. And luckily, the Lupin family had the biggest help ever: Dumbledore.

With all of his own pain to reminisce on, Remus was unsure how Dorcas could've survived the muggle world as a Ligilimens.

"My mother…" Dorcas went on slowly, taking another hit, "thought I was Satan."

Remus let out an amused chuckle, but immediately shut up once he noticed the deadpanned expression on Dorcas' face. "She really believed that?"

She nodded. "My mother was a devout Roman Catholic. Church, the trinity, a list of unforgivable - all three hoops. My siblings and I all got communion-ed and whatnot, and for a while, I was into it. But, I could hear the priest's thoughts. And they sickened me. I told my mum too, but, she'd beat me for thinking such a thing about God and his disciples."

Remus had heard stories like this before. Late at night in the dorm room, Sirius Black would recount stories from his childhood that he'd laugh off, but would frighten and enrage James, Peter, and Remus. Anyone with a little bit of psychology background or common sense would know that Sirius often used denial to deal with his past and his parents. All Remus could think was the impact of one's beliefs, whether they were muggles or wizards.

"She would try to drown me in the bathtub with Holy Water and her bare hands," Dorcas revealed quietly.

Remus' eyes widened. Now, he had heard some shite before, but something about that image made his stomach twist into knots. What made him nearly throw up was the expressionless look on Dorcas' lovely face. "Was there anyone to… stop her?" He asked gingerly.

"My father," Dorcas announced.

There goes Sirius' theory, Remus thought.

"He's not particularly a soft or gentle man, but he's a just man," she finished off. "He made sure not to leave me with my mother alone for too long. I was always with a nanny."

"And your father was he religious too?"

She shook her head. "No, not really in comparison to my mum."

"Where's your mum now? London?"

Dorcas scoffed, "Highgate Cemetery."

How many surprises could one girl have in her family tree? Remus was inhaling when she replied to him, which caused him to hack on his spliff. "Bloody hell," Remus murmured, "I'm… My condolences."

"It's not your fault," Dorcas reminded him kindly, "it was a few years ago now."

"How old were you?"

"It was a month came to Hogwarts."

Remus stayed silent because there wasn't much to say besides a cuss words.

"When Dumbledore came a knocking and with a letter of acceptance back in '71, it was too much for my mum," Dorcas went on, "she really thought she had spawned the Devil. So, she killed herself. Drowned herself in Regent's Canal."

The dead look in Dorcas' eyes made Remus gulp. For years, Remus honestly thought his childhood was the worst. But, at least, his mother loved him with everything she had.

Dorcas let out a mirthless chuckle. "The trip's down memory lane aren't always pleasant for me," she sighed, "I hope I didn't depress you."

"Depress me?" repeated Remus, "I should be asking that question."

"Years of on-and-off again talk therapy fixed a lot of the issues," Dorcas countered, not that Remus believed her. "My siblings much more than I did."

"Siblings?"

"Yes, two brothers and one sister," nodded Dorcas. "All older."

"You're the baby?" laughed Remus. "Sorry, I'm not laughing at you. It's just that I never expected you to be the youngest. You seem more like an only child, which I was."

"It felt like it. Damian, the one right before me, was already five years older than me. They're all significantly closer. I was kind of, hm, unexpected."

"Unexpected?"

"Yeah, my parents didn't plan to have me, but alas, here I am today. Funny how fate works."

Remus' mind began racing a meter a minute. If he were on a broom, James would've recruited him by now. There was so much to everything that Dorcas just revealed. But all he could think was that his friend had been right all along.

"Funny, indeed."

"Come again, Moony? For the audience in the restricted section?" Sirius Black asked, cupping a hand around his ear. The Marauders and their female cohorts sat around a long table in a relatively empty section of the library. They were all supposed to be catching up on work, but that was quickly forgotten as Remus revealed his conversation with Dorcas from earlier.

"I said you're right," Remus grumbled impatiently.

"Again, so Madam Pince can hear you," Sirius barked.

"Are you going to keep acting like a bloody prat or are we going to move forward?" Emmeline snapped.

Sirius scowled at the girl. "Look, Kim, I only get these moments once in a full moon-"

(One could almost hear the actual sound of James and Remus rolling their eyes back. Peter thought it was rather clever and let out a quiet giggle.)

"- And I will not allow rushing to rid me of this chance," Sirius finished sternly. He looked back to Remus and bashed his long eyelashes. "Come again, my friend?"

Emmeline this time took the initiative to punch Sirius in the arm, causing him to welp. "You're an aggressive one, y'know that?"

"And if I were a man, you'd be calling me loyal."

"'Atta girl," Lily said, patting Emmeline on the shoulder like a proud mother. "Now, Remus, what were you saying about Dorcas? You think it's her now?"

"Yes," he answered gravely. "We were talking this morning out by the Lake. And she told me about her parents. There was something about the way she spoke about them that made me wonder."

"What? She revealed that she's a product of rape?" Emmeline asked curtly, causing everyone to stare at the Hufflepuff with wide eyes. She blushed. "That was inappropriate, sorry."

As the group veered their attention off of the still moody and heartbroken girl, Remus took a deep breath, "Dorcas' mum was an extremely devout Roman Catholic."

Lily and Mary let out low whistles while the rest stared, unsure of what that meant.

"Roman Catholicism is a religion, right?" Peter whispered to Marlene.

"Beats me," she shrugged indifferently, "muggle religion is its own category of crazy."

"It means that Dorcas' mum most likely did not have a good time knowing that her daughter was a witch," Mary clarified.

"That's putting it nicely," Remus added. "The childhood she told me about had my skin crawling."

Everyone knew what that meant, because lycanthropic childhood sounded like shite in comparison to almost anything else.

Lily had friends who were religious, and she had friends who had technically committed multiple sins. It seemed like too far of a stretch. "Just because she had religious parents doesn't mean that her mum was attacked by Mason Nagut-"

"Her mother tried to drown her in Holy Water."

Lily blinked twice. "I stand corrected," she mumbled, "I'm going to need a drink after hearing that."

Sirius leaned back in his chair, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. He propped his hands behind his head and sang, "I told ya so."

"I can't believe your smiling about someone else's downfall," Marlene grumbled, shaking her head.

"Doesn't matter because either way, we can now save Dorcas Meadowes," Sirius countered.

Mary let out a skeptical "hmm…" before asking, "Lupin, what did Meadowes say about her dad?"

The scarred Gryffindor clapped his hands. "Right!" he said, a bit too loudly, "Thank you, MacDonald for bringing me back on track. That's what I wanted to talk about."

"Stoner brain," Lily commented teasingly.

Remus ignored his fellow prefect and said, "Dorcas described her dad as a protective figure, almost. It seems like he wanted to be there, but couldn't. She mentioned that he put her with a nanny often."

"A sexy nanny would've been nice for my shite childhood," Sirius mentioned absently, causing another hit from Emmeline.

Remus continued, "Also, she has siblings who are five years a part."

"So?" Mary argued. "I have siblings six years a part."

"But those are from half-siblings," said Marlene.

"True."

"Also," Remus added, sitting up a bit straighter, "she said she was unexpected. An accident even."

There was a silence amongst the group; the only noise that could be heard was at an atomic level. You could maybe hear the cogs working hard in the brains.

"So," James said after a long time of being uncommonly quiet, "what you're thinking is that Dorcas wasn't an accident, she was a clear… mistake. You think mum got attacked by Nagut, couldn't have an abortion due to faith-based ideologies, found out her illegitimate daughter was a witch, and then beat her?"

The Marauders all looked to Remus, who eventually said, "Yeah, I guess. It sounds weirder when you put it like that."

James lifted and dropped his sturdy shoulders. "It could be true," he said doubtfully. "I don't know, Remus, it seems like a stretch."

"Or Remus is today's modern Sherlock Holmes," Sirius beamed, smacking his friend on the back like a proud father.

"I really don't want to be right about this," he murmured to himself.

"There's only one way to be sure," Sirius claimed. "Someone has to ask her if dad is her real dad."

"Smashing. Sounds like a piece of cake, aye?" Marlene countered sardonically. "I vote Sirius talks to her," Lily said, raising her hand. She gave Sirius her most diplomatic smile, which she practiced regularly on other bullies. "Anyone else agree?"

"Oh yes, please," Emmeline added ruefully.

"You have been advocating her as the heir since the first attack," Lily added, shamefully putting up her hand too.

As the only girl, Mary also put up her hand. "Sorry, kind of," she said, with only an ounce of regret.

Sirius turned to Marlene and glared, "You know that you are one of the most gorgeous, yet ugly human beings I know."

Marlene did nothing but smile and give a wink.

"Truthfully, for this to work accurately," Peter piped up, "it would be best if either Evans or McKinnon did it."

"No," Marlene said.

"Pardon?" Lily asked.

Peter flushed from the immediate rejection of his idea, but decided to carry on. It's what his friends would've done. "It's the most logical option. Marlene invited her to the New Year's party, and Lily invited her to her birthday. You two actually have a relationship with Meadowes."

"And shagging isn't a relationship?" Emmeline asked hotly.

"I think we can all say that shagging in a broom cupboard isn't a relationship," Peter remarked coolly.

Sirius looked to Remus and Peter. He took both of their hands into his and said in an overly choked-up voice, "I have never been so proud of you two in my entire life."

"Sod off," Remus hissed. Peter secrectly smiled, but didn't want to make it too obvious.

"Either way," James interjected, "someone has to talk to her."

The group of students began debating who would be best the contender once again. The conversation lasted several minutes and ended up being between Lily and Sirius. As the students talked, Lily meandered back to her homework, or at least pretended to. She aimlessly skimmed through her DADA theories, but none of it stuck.

Lily had no intention to be the one to talk to Dorcas. How would she go about constructing a proper sentence about her sadistic mother and absent father? Lily couldn't relate, only sympathize. Her parents showered her with love, confidence, and strength; they were thrilled by the news of her being a witch. She couldn't even imagine what Dorcas must feel like a normal basis, to go through the motions of life with all the hate she's already seen at seventeen.

"Well, we could tonight."

Lily's head snapped up from her work. She recognized the voice because she spent most of her life with that voice: doing homework, telling jokes, and apologies. Even though she knew she shouldn't, Lily still turned her head to see what Severus Snape was up to.

The dark-haired boy whom she used to call her best mate was talking to Mariah Avery in a hurried fashion. She could barely make out what they were discussing over the voices of her own friends.

"But tomorrow would be perfect," insisted Avery, almost nagging. Merlin, was her voice screechy.

"Tomorrow would be obvious," Snape spat as if he were talking to a brainless monkey. "You remember what tomorrow is, don't you?"

"Of course, I do," Avery said, flipping her long blond hair. "But, doesn't the idea of it happening then just make your heart beat out of your chest."

"Yes, with anxiety of being caught."

"Awe, you're no fun, Snape."

"We all can't have daddies who will bail us out of suspension, expulsion, or Azkaban."

Lily tried to look back at her own work, or even her own friends, but her attention was just too focused. What the hell were the talking about that would land them in Azkaban?

But, just like that, asking stupid questions internally can make things just click sometimes.

"No bleeding way…" Lily whispered softly.

"What?" James asked, looking down at the ginger from the rest of his bickering friends.

Lily didn't reply because she was trying to pick up on what she missed from the conversation.

"Think of how proud he will be of us," Avery continued darkly. There was a intense glare in her eyes that made Lily actually scared of Mariah Avery for a moment. "We will be rewarded."

"And if we are caught, we will be killed. I'm not risking my life for him or for his stupid imaginative rival."

And with that, Lily knew. In exactly fifty-two seconds, Lily's life changed. She knew too much now and all from her ex-friend. Severus Snape was a lot of things: arrogant, stifling, dismal, and even dark at times. But, he wasn't a killer.

Or maybe the boy whom she used to play on the swings with was finally erased by his new friends. The hero in her couldn't just let that slide.

"And where are you going?" James asked once Lily stood up from her seat abruptly. "Oy, Lily!"

Lily's feet guided her over to Snape and Avery a few aisles over now. It took some time before they noticed her approach.

"What the hell do you want, Evans?" Avery snapped.

"What are you two planning?" Lily asked, not even trying to be subtle. There was really nothing about her that was subtle to begin with.

"I beg pardon?" Snape asked. He used that cool voice; Lily knew it all too well. She had heard him use it on James or harsh professors when he felt threatened or bored.

"If you two don't think it's obvious that you two are conspiring against an unknown heir to Voldemort-"

"How dare you speak his name," Avery barked, standing a bit taller than the Gryffindor now.

Lily was not one to be scared however. She simply smirked. "So, you admit that you're the ones after Nagut's heir?"

The Slytherins exchanged glances. "How do you know about Nagut?" Snape asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"You're not the only one good at sticking their noses in places they shouldn't," Lily retorted hotly.

"Wow, the Marauders have really be rubbing off on you," Snape scoffed. "What's next? Primal pranks on first years? Drowning kittens?"

"They don't do that anymore," Lily defended earnestly, "not that I can say the same for you."

"You're out of your mind."

"You two, and your friends probably, should be locked up for the things you've done. It's sick, and I can't believe that Dumbledore hasn't figured you out yet."

Lily tried to keep her voice calm, but it just wasn't working. Her friends noticed her tense physique. Remus, Sirius, and Marlene took the initiative to stand up, while James took it upon himself to actually walk up to the situation. He didn't interfere, because he knew that Lily Evans could handle herself with a wand. Shite, how many times has he been on the other end?

Snape and Avery stood up a little taller. The male glared at the Gryffindor Captain before back down at Lily. "We have no idea what you're talking about," he claimed, using the same cool tone.

"No," Lily demanded as she clenched her fists. "Don't speak to me like an idiot. I know what you're up to."

Avery let out a sinister laugh. "Even if you did tell someone, no one would believe you, mudblood. Or your friends for that matter. Especially not MacDonald, aye? Not after last year's stunt."

That was the last straw, insult, and racist remark that Lily could take. Make all the jokes you want to about Lily, but don't talk about her friends. To James' surprise, she did put her curse-happy hand on her wand, but instead did something he had never seen before.

Lily Evans punched Mariah Avery in the nose.

There were low whistles and gasps from all the students who could catch a glimpse of the one-of-a-kind scene. Even her friends were shocked. Angel Evans versus Queen Bitch Avery.

It took Snape a minute to move to even offer consolation to his hunched over friend.

"I'm tired of you fucking facist, insecure, and pathetic blood supremacists," Lily spat, still clenching her fist by her side. "You follow a man who uses fear and hate against people who have done nothing to him. And you are using the same tactics he would to scare students and children. You're no better than your parents and are never changing. I guess that's what happens when you inbreed-"

Avery turned around and whisked her wand in Lily's direction. Now, Lily shouldn't have doubted Avery, because you should never doubt your opponent. But, the ginger had seen Avery during their practical lessons before, and there was nothing special. She was completely unaware that Avery could use nonverbal magic so well.

The spell, whatever it was, put Lily in the air and into the closest bookcase. The books crashed and tumbled down onto her, causing students to scream and scramble out of the way. Before the case itself could fall, James grabbed Lily by her entire forearm and pulled her out of the way and into her arms. But, she didn't wait for long before scrambling out of James's grasp.

"Lily, STOP!"

Lily pulled out her wand and whisked it fluently, hitting Avery with a white light from her wand. She let out a terrible shriek and immediately hid her face into her hands.

"I'LL KILL YOU, EVANS!" Avery cried, bending over her stomach so no one could see the damage.

"Oh, please, do try," Lily countered breathlessly, before nearly loosing her balance from being hit with that spell.

Avery looked up from her hands. A few by standing students snickered at the sight. Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew let full out laughs, slapping their knees even. Mary MacDonald never liked to laugh at people's pain, but she'd make an exception for Mariah Avery.

The Slytherin's face was puffy and swollen. Her eyes turned to slits, and she looked like she just had the most intense allergic reaction to a bee hive attack. "J-just remember, Evans," she warned, "you started this."

"No, Avery," Lily said as Madam Pince marched onto the scene, steam pouring from her eyes, "you did. Both of you."

Snape didn't say anything, just watched as Lily let James Potter hold her steady by the waist so she wouldn't fall. He wanted to scream and shout, but Madam Pince already had that area covered.

"You deserve two medals," James laughed, bringing over a glass of water to Lily's hospital bed. "One for the hex, and one for the punch."

Lily chuckled softly, but instantly stopped. "Sorry, laughing hurts." The damage from Avery's spell was much more powerful than originally thought. Not only did it force Lily to slam into a hard bookshelf, but it also left her insides rather shaky. Madam Pomfrey provided Lily was strong healing potions, but also insisted that Lily stay the night to make sure there was no internal bruising or bleeding. Her head hurt maybe as much as the stinging hex hurt Avery. It's the least she could hope for.

"Well, I'll try to be as dull as possible," smirked James. "But I could always get your boyfriend for that."

Lily frowned, but didn't say anything. "Thanks for helping me to the Hospital Wing."

"Of course," James said, sitting on the edge of her bed. "It was the least you deserved. I should've stepped in."

"No, you shouldn't have, because Sirius, Peter, Marlene, Emmeline, and maybe even Remus would've joined in," countered Lily. "And that would be just unfair."

"What's unfair is that you get a week's worth of detention," he grumbled. "That's shite."

"At least, no points were taken off," Lily said as she took a small sip of water.

"Really?" James asked. "That's your upside? Thank Merlin we still may have a chance at the House Cup?"

"There are some things I take pride in," Lily countered haughtily. Not even she could take herself seriously as she let out a weak laugh, which James joined in on.

"And look where it's gotten you."

"I don't regret it," she argued. "Not one bit. James, it's them. It's Avery and Snape who're attacking the muggleborns. They're going to attack Dorcas next."

"I know, I know," James said, his voice becoming flatter. "We should've known it was them. I mean, Avery and Mulciber are always destined for cruelty. And Snape…"

"As is Snape," Lily said, looking to the side. "He's lost now. No one could change him now."

James honestly never thought he would've ever hear those words came out of that sweet mouth.

"You can't save everyone, Lily."

At first, Lily wanted to argue with him. She wanted to scream that she could, that he could with just the right argument or persuasion. But today she saw how false that belief was. The way Severus looked at her, like she was nothing but an insect, and the way he talked to her, like she was just anyone else.

"You're right," she said softly, wiping away an oncoming tear.

James put a hand on her blanketed calf. "But, you can save those who want to be," he offered calmly. "You're so good at that, Evans, you always have been: consoling scared first years, being friends with Snape in the beginning, opening up to me even."

"I might regret that one," she smirked, looking at him sideways.

"Yeah, well, you're stuck with me now."

"I guess there are worse people to be stuck to."

"I'm sorry, did you just flatter me? Call the Prophet!"

"You don't even read the Prophet."

"If it means the whole wizarding world know that you just flattered me, sure, I'll put this story in the Prophet. It'll make headlines."

"Don't get excited."

"Oh, but I must. Lily Evans just complimented."

"More like back-hand complimented."

"Look, I'll take what I can get."

"Ooh, under-achievement is never a good sign."

"Only an overachiever would say that."

"I am not a suck-up!"

"Whoa, defensive. Didn't say you were."

James and Lily went back and forth like this for the next twenty minutes, with little to no rest. It was actually quite a peaceful site, considering all the damage they've encountered in the past two months. The afternoon light shone through the tainted glass, illuminating their smiling faces. No one was in there to bother them. (Dumbledore suggested separating the Gryffindors from the Slytherins.)

But that doesn't mean that no one was there. The moment gossip spread about Evans v. Avery fight in the Library, Connor Greyson raced to the infirmary to find his girlfriend. He wanted to hug and protect her, but that was already being done by the time he got there.

Connor expected it to hurt more, seeing them together. James Potter had been after Lily Evans since the middle of his fourth year, and no matter what he said, James was still probably into her. Greyson hated him for it, and he thought that Lily felt the same.

But that smile said otherwise. The lightness in her green eyes said otherwise. Everything about them said otherwise.

"You know, she hates him, right?" Caradoc Dearborn offered his friend, putting his hand on his shoulder. "He was the one to take her to infirmary because he was the one to make sure she didn't get hit by the bookcase. Although they may be chummy-ish now, Mary assures me that she still hates him."

Connor scoffed. "Nah, she doesn't."

A/N - Things are turning. May be one of my favorite chapters thus far. I hope you enjoyed. Please give some feedback via reviews, follows, or favorites. Anything works!

- Rose