Third Year

'Bloody hell, it's cold,' Lily thought as she walked down the stairs to the common room, tugging her dressing robe tightly around her. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised; after two and a half years at Hogwarts, she knew the winters could be brutal. She had gone to bed two hours ago, intent on getting a good night's sleep for her Transfiguration exam in the morning, but she hadn't been able to fall asleep at all. After turning and twisting for a while, she decided a little walk and some late night chocolate would help her clear her head and relax a bit. With everyone asleep, she would get the chance to sit in the plushy red armchair by the fire. It was the most comfortable chair in the common room, which meant there was always someone sitting in it to her dismay.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she hesitated as she saw someone sitting by the coffee table. Lily knew she shouldn't have been out of bed so late, it was almost one in the morning, but she was pretty sure she wasn't breaking any rules as long as she didn't leave Gryffindor Tower. Holding onto this thought, she carefully made her way across the room, a little surprised as the person never looked over at her. When she reached the couches, she realized who the person was and why they never looked up at her. Remus Lupin had fallen asleep, his head pillowed by a textbook.

"Oh Remus," she murmured, grabbing a blanket from the back of the couch. Lily liked Remus quite a bit; she considered him a friend. She couldn't stand the rest of his group of friends, not the arrogant James Potter or the equally obnoxious Sirius Black, but Remus was different. He was kind and funny and smart, not a loudmouth like the other two. He actually cared about his schoolwork and didn't bully the other students. She had been paired up with Remus once on a Charms project and their friendship had sprung easily from their mutual desire to do well before growing with their mutual interests: school, books, muggle television shows. He was an easy person to be around and she valued his friendship immensely.

Crouching down beside the sleeping boy, she carefully spread the blanket across his shoulders before brushing his hair from his forehead. He would catch a cold sitting like that in the common room, especially with the fire so low, and Lily knew he already had his fair share of problems, more than any student should have. Even asleep the poor boy looked tired, lines of exhaustion etched into his skin.

Lily looked around at the work he was doing; maybe there was something that she could help him with. Carefully pulling the piece of parchment from beneath his hand, a small smile formed on her face. 'Potions, perfect,' she thought as she grabbed the quill and another sheet of parchment, sitting down next to Remus. Remus's essay was half completed, the ink smudged from where his hand rubbed the wet ink when he fell asleep. There was still eight inches of parchment left to complete before he could hand it in tomorrow, but thankfully Potions was one of Lily's best subjects; had it been Transfiguration, she's not sure she would have been as able to help him. She took out her bar of chocolate, snapping off a piece and popping it into her mouth, the sugary taste waking her more. Making herself comfortable, she set to work finishing off his essay.

She looked up from the parchment almost an hour later as she heard Remus stirring beside her. "Go back to sleep, Remus," she crooned as she put down her quill, stroking his hair lightly. "It's alright." Lily looked down at the finished essay, re-reading it as she continued stroking his hair. She was pleased with the end result; it had all the necessary information without sounding too similar to the essay she had written. There was no way Slughorn would know that she had written it for him.

"Lily?" Remus mumbled sleepily, opening his eyes slowly.

She smiled back at him. "You know you do have a dorm that you can sleep in; I don't think the coffee table is a comfortable spot for sleep," she teased.

"Didn't mean to fall asleep," he replied as he rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself up. "I was doing my Potions essay-oh Merlin, the essay, I never finished the essay!"

"Relax," Lily said gently, resting her hand on his arm. "It's fine, I finished it for you. You just have to copy the rest of it onto your essay, but you can do that in the morning before class."

Remus's eyes widened in surprise as he looked at her. "You didn't have to do that for me, Lily. I know you don't like people copying your work; I can't copy your essay."

"Well of course you can't copy my essay. That's why I wrote a different one for you," she replied easily.

"You-you wrote a different essay for me?" he sputtered. "You wrote a second essay on the same topic?"

Lily nodded, "Technically, it was only the second half of an essay. You wouldn't have had enough time to finish it in the morning and I can't let you get a bad grade just because you've got a lot going on and you're exhausted. Friends help each other."

"Lily, I-I don't know what to say. You're the absolute best," Remus thanked her, hugging her tightly. "I owe you big time. You're a great friend."

She returned his hug easily, "You owe me nothing. What you are going to do from now on, however, is ask me for help when you need it. I'm your friend, Remus; you can trust me to help as much as I can."

"Thanks," he repeated, blushing faintly.

Lily bit her lip before taking Remus's hand in hers, thinking over her next words. "You know you'll be my friend no matter, right? You'll always be Remus Lupin to me, even if you're a little different."

Remus grew pale as Lily spoke, a worried look crossing his face. "Ye-yeah, of course," he stammered. "But I'm not different."

She looked around the common room, making sure they were alone before speaking again. "Remus, I know you're a werewolf," she whispered.

"Wh-what?" Remus said in alarm, his eyes wide with terror. "Lily, I don't-why would you say-"

Her next words escaped her in a rush, unable to hold them back any longer. "I know you're a werewolf; I've known it for a while. I had done some reading in my spare time during second year and then I noticed you leaving every month to go see your sick mother but she was always sick on the night of the full moon and then you would always be so tired the next morning barely able to get through class without Potter or Black holding you up so I finally put two and two together and realized you're a werewolf but that doesn't matter to me. You're sick and that's not your fault and you didn't ask for it and that doesn't make you any different from any of us. You'll always be Remus Lupin to me." She panted as she stopped speaking, having spoken without pausing for breath.

His eyes filled with tears at her words, his lower lip trembling slightly. "Lily, I-I," he choked out, unsure of where his sentence was going.

Lily hugged him tightly, her own eyes filling with tears at his frightened expression. Merlin, she hated how scared he looked, downright terrified. "I just-I just wanted to know you'll always have me in your corner, alright?" she whispered. "Always."

Remus rested his head on her shoulder, nodding. "Thank you," he murmured before clearing his throat and pulling away. "You're a great friend."

She smiled back at him before grabbing her nearly finished chocolate bar from the coffee table. "Want to help me finish this before we head up to bed? We need to get some sleep if we want to pass the Transfiguration exam tomorrow?"

He nodded, a small smile on his lips. "Yeah, I love chocolate."

"You lot sound like Lily," Remus commented, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He broke off a piece of his chocolate bar before passing it to Sirius. It was nearly the end of third year and the Marauders, as they came to be known, were sitting together in their empty dorm room in the middle of the night. After much deliberation, James, Peter and Sirius decided to tell Remus that they knew about his lycanthropy, which involved a lot of panic on Remus's part, stammered explanations from James and assurances from the group, often loud and accompanied by a pat on the shoulder or a quick, but manly hug, that this changed absolutely nothing, that Remus was still their best friend, always would be, that he was exactly the same in their eyes as he had always been."

"Evans? What do you mean?" Sirius mumbled around a piece of chocolate, passing the bar to Peter.

"A lot of what you said she said to me back in February when she found out," Remus explained. "Just less loudly."

The three boys looked thunderstruck at his words, their eyes wide. "Evans has known about you since February? And she's kept your secret? She hasn't even told Snivellus?" James questioned, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Merlin knows what that slimy git would do if he found out."

He shook his head. "She wouldn't do that; she's a good person, a good friend," Remus answered. "Been helping me get homework done the night after the full moon. Even encouraged me to tell you guys."

"But how did she even find out?" Peter questioned, handing James the last piece of chocolate from the bar.

"She's the smartest witch in our year; she probably figured it out," Sirius commented, his suspicions confirmed by Remus's nod.

"That's really good of her," James replied, popping his piece of chocolate into his mouth before leaning back on his arms. As he thought of the feisty red-haired girl, a smile crossed his lips. "To be looking out for you while we didn't know. Beauty, brains, personality, I think I'll ask Evans's out again."

The boys laughed loudly, shaking their head in amusement. "Who wants to bet what hex she uses against him this time?" Sirius said with a grin.

"Shut up," James laughed, pushing Sirius's shoulder gently. "She'll say yes to me, wait and see."

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