Author's Note: I own nothing. Also, I'm having problems responding to reviews, so nothing personal. Keep them coming.

They sat on the hard, uncomfortable chairs in front of the hospital wing for hours, waiting. A huge window was in front of them, through which they watched as the moon went down and the sun slowly rose in the milky-pink color that signaled a new morning.

Peter sat still, staring at the moving painting of a young maid the entire time. At first, she smiled and waved at him, and then she seemed to be getting a little uncomfortable with his insistent stare. Lily wished she could tell her not to worry. She doubted that Peter saw the maid.

Sirius alternated between rocking back and forward in his chair, restless, as if preparing to face off against an invisible enemy any moment now, then, in the next moment, heaving as sobs racked through his body. In those moments Lily held him, letting him cry into her hair, her nightgown, her lab, as he talked and cried and talked.

He told her that James was his family, all that he had. He told her bittersweet moments from his childhood with him, of how they had grown to be brothers instead of friends, how he was even accepted into James' actual family as a result of the failure that claimed to be his own family.

Most of all he talked about how James had talked about her. How he loved her, how he was desperate after the incident with Snape in their fifth year, how he had always wanted to apologize, but Lily had always pushed him away.

In those few hours, he gave Lily all the missing pieces of the puzzle that was James Potter, the pieces between the horrible git that she had seen over and over again and the side she had seen a few times, as he helped young students up, as he defended the stuffed animal of a young Hufflepuff that a couple of Slytherins had taken for their amusement. When he held her friend, Mary, as she was crying because her boyfriend broke up with her for not putting out, all those small moments he, for some reason, never wanted her to see.

Sometimes Sirius laughed through his sobs, when he hit a special memory, especially when it came to making fun of James's Obsessive Lily Disorder, as they had titled it in fourth year, but his usual joyful laughter was underlined with more tears pouring out of his eyes. Lily's own tears started falling into Sirius's hair, as she realized what an amazing man James Potter had become.

And now she would never know him.

Sirius told her that when James had skipped Head Duties three times a couple of months ago, it wasn't to go get drunk in Hogsmeade, although that was what he did. It was because his father had been killed on active Auror duty, and the last thing they had done was fight before James had returned to Hogwarts. He also told her that the bruises on his chest weren't from a pointless fight or prank, but self-induced.

James had been doing much better the next morning, even, amazingly, grief-wise, after Lily had screamed at him for neglecting his duty. Sirius chuckled at this. He said that it was because Lily made him happy, in any state.

Madam Pomfrey came out at about six o'clock, smiling at them pitifully.

"I think you have waited enough now," she said. "Be careful with him, he has just woken up and... well, he has puzzled some things together, so he's not in a very good state. I treated his chest wounds, but you know how it is with this kind of wounds."

Sirius and Lily scrambled up immediately, Peter took a second to realize what was going on, but sooner rather than later they were all standing at the entrance of the hospital wing, which wrung a small smile from Madam Pomfrey's lips.

"Dumbledore will probably want to see him later today," she added. "And you have lessons, I'm sure."

"Bugger those," Sirius muttered.

Madam Pomfrey narrowed her eyes at him, but moved to let them past. Sirius rushed in immediately, but Lily was a little more apprehensive. What were they facing in there?

She walked in slowly and followed Sirius behind the curtain. Peter was slumping behind her, probably with somewhat a similar train of thoughts.

Remus was sitting up in his bed, but barely. Several scratches and bruises were all over his face and neck. He was shirtless, but a huge bandage covered him like a robe would. He looked at them and the light bleary-eyed, his brows wrinkled in confusion.

"Sirius?" His voice was barely a croak, addressing Sirius, who was now standing directly next to the bed.

"Hey, mate," Sirius whispered. To Lily's relief, there was no fear or even disgust or hate in his gaze, only the familiar mixture of trust and brotherly love.

"Sirius?" Remus was speaking again, his voice was getting stronger. "Sirius, did I... did I hurt someone? I can taste blood, but it's not mine, I know mine, and this is..." He trailed of, looking around, then again, suddenly urgent. "Sirius, where is James?"

"Remus -"

"Sirius, where is James?"

"He – you, and he-"

"No. No. No. No, no, no, no, NO!" Remus was staring at Sirius, desperation mixing with helpless hope in his expression. "Please Sirius, tell me I did not kill my best friend."

"You did not kill your best friend," Lily answered for Sirius, speaking up for the first time. "He's still alive, Remus, but... barely."

With a surprisingly wolf-like howl, Remus sank back and pulled his hands before his face, before looking at Sirius, etching into madness. "Why? I mean, why James? Why couldn't I have killed me in my lust for blood?"

Sirius mumbled something in the general direction of Remus, who in response sat up straighter.

"Sorry?"

"Not your fault, Mooney." Remus scoffed and opened his mouth, but Sirius cut him off. "Dumbledore invested, someone opened the door of the Shrieking Shag, letting you – letting that thing out. He thinks it was a planned attack on the Hogwarts School."

"That's what I am, right? A freaking danger to the entire school. That's what they'll say: Thank Merlin that werewolf Remus only killed his best friend during full moon!"

"Oh, shut up, Remus! It's not your fault, and that's what he'd say if he were here right now!"

"Err-" Peter spoke up for the first time since they had entered the curtained corner. "Err – I think Dumbledore wants a word with Remus."

They all turned to see Dumbledore standing in the small entrance, smiling, but his usual twinkle gone. "Mr Pettigrew is right. Would you give me and Mr Lupin a moment of privacy?"

Sirius opened his mouth, probably to protest, but Lily nudged him, making him notice the nodding Remus. At this, Sirius bowed his head and followed Peter out. Lily made a move to follow them, only stopped by a hand on her elbow. Dumbledore held it with a surprising urgency.

"It's not your fault either, Miss Evans."

"I'm sorry, Professor?"

"I know what you're thinking, but it is not your fault. I'm telling you now, but it is true. I know you blame yourself, or will, sometime in the near future but it is also not your fault."

"Al – Alright, Professor."

The dark eyes behind the shiny spectacles twinkled once. "Go on, now. They need you."

She nodded, stumbling out and seeing Peter sitting on one of those stupid chairs again, staring back up at the picture. Sirius was slumped against the wall.

She dropped next to him and stared with him at the pale sun, rising higher and higher. After a while, Sirius's eyes dropped shut, but he reopened them quickly. Lily turned to look at him.

"You know, you are allowed to sleep," she told him.

"Yeah, I know," he answered slowly. His tired eyes drifted over her face, unfocused. "But every minute, every second, might be James's last. I don't want to miss the last moment of his life, even if I'm not by his side when it happens."

Lily nodded. She didn't understand completely, never having shared such a bond with any other person, including her own sister, but she knew of it through the Marauders. Now, though she was tired, she didn't want to sleep either. She didn't want to miss the last minutes of James's life, either.

Sirius bent forward, cupping her face in his hands, smiling tiredly. "You know, you're allowed to sleep," he said. She huffed and he shook his head. "No, I'm serious. I'm sure James wouldn't be offended."

"I'm staying awake," she responded.

Peter fell asleep a few minutes later. Lily was sure he didn't mean to, because he kept turning his head and rubbing his eyes, but from one minute to the next, he was snoring. She couldn't really blame him, it was what she really wanted to do now, too.

Dumbledore stepped out of the hospital wing finally, after what felt like hours and hours but were probably just a few minutes. He gave a quick smile at the sleeping Peter before turning to Sirius and Lily, both hastily rising.

"Several Aurors of the Ministry will be arriving soon," he said. "I called them in, I'd like the Shrieking Shag inspected. Remus will probably be questioned. But, don't worry," he added quickly as he noted their expressions. "Nothing will happen to him. He's under my power. Remus is a good boy, I know that." He carefully smoothed out the edges of his robe, not looking at either of them. "As of Mr Potter, well... the Healers said family only. Mr Black, I know of your bond with Mr Potter, but you're still technically not family, so, I'm sorry."

Sirius nodded. He had probably known this already and accepted that fate.

"That's alright," he added anyway. "His mom will take good care of him-" He fell silent. Lily knew why. Mrs Potter was losing her only son, her only child, only a few months after losing her husband.

"Yes, well." Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I'm sure she – handles it well, considering the circumstances."

Sirius nodded again. Lily too, for the lack of knowing what to do in such a situation.

"Good. You two and Mr Pettigrew are excused from all lessons today, considering the circumstances, but I must advice you to at least eat some lunch."

Then he left them, with a swish of his robe, and Sirius slumped against the wall again.

Eventually, they were forced to go to lunch by both Madam Pomfrey and Remus. She urged them to go eat (Sirius did look quite bad already, she was probably right) and Remus asked them because he really couldn't stand that they spent the entire time staring at the sun through the window. Eventually, they gave in. It was obviously the best thing to do. Also, Dumbledore would know if they didn't go.

When Lily slipped into her usual seat, Marlene looked up. "Oh, Lily!" She slipped one arm around her and eyed her outfit, still her nightgown with her robe over it. "Where have you been? You would have told me if you were ill, and you never skip class. I was worried!" She looked up once again as Sirius slipped in next to Lily. He shot her a questioning look and she nodded. A little relief shone over his otherwise blank expression. Peter climbed onto the bench, too, both boys grabbing some food. Sirius stared at it and then pushed it away.

"Could I please have your attention for a moment?" Dumbledore had stood up from his usual seat, knocking his glass onto the wood for a second before he had everyone's attention. Students everywhere quieted down. "Good, thank you." His voice, obviously magically transformed, reached even the last corner in the Great Hall.

"As many of you have probably not noticed, several students have been missing from the classes of Year Seven this morning, including both Head Boy and Head Girl, so I'm sure at least someone must have wondered."

He took a deep breath. Lily could see him exhaling, could nearly feel it on her cheek. Marlene turned to look at her once more, but she wasn't the only one. Several heads turned into her direction.

"You all know that I always try to be as honest as possible with all of you. There is no way keeping you in the dark would help any of you, but today, it is harder than usually."

Another deep breath.

"Yesterday night, there was an attack on Hogwarts, launched probably by one of Voldemord's followers."

Silence. Absolute Silence. Generally, even during Dumbledore's speeches, there were always a couple of people talking, generally Slytherins, making a show of their disrespect to the current Headmaster, but now he had grabbed even their attention.

He continued: "There was only one casualty."

Sirius's head fell forward, onto the wooden surface of the table. Dumbledore continued, but by the way his eyes flickered to Sirius for a split second Lily knew that he had seen or heard him.

"There would have been a lot more deaths if this student hadn't bravely taken on the battle. It this student wasn't dying now, breathing his last breaths.

"The only casualty was James Potter."

There was still no noise. Every single pair of eyes was fixed on Dumbledore.

"He's not dead yet, but it won't be long. He managed to fight off the... imposter. Many of you owe him your life." His eyes drifted to Lily. "But let us mourn the dead when they are dead, but please, keep Mr Potter in your thoughts, especially tonight. Thank you. You may continue with your meal."

Dumbledore quietly raised his glass toward the ceiling, a silent toast, before slowly sipping. It was so quiet that Lily could hear him swallow.

Then Sirius started screaming again, like he did when James was first injured, a scream of complete agony. Several people gasped. Lily turned, pulling him into her arms again, cradling his head, sharing his grief the best she could.

A few hundred miles away, a young man was dying, his mother clutching his hand desperately, as if she could hold on to him while he slipped away.

He exhaled, his body growing slack, his hazel eyes closing.

A word fell from his lips, a name.

Lily.