She Had the Perfect Life

Part Two

The next morning Rose's eyes flickered open. The first thing she saw was a tall blond with her back to her, brushing her hair in front of the huge dresser everyone shared. It had a large mirror on top of it, and in this mirror Rose saw the blonde's face. She had huge blue eyes and a smooth face. The girl noticed Rose watching her in the mirror, and, with a wide smile, turned around.

"Good morning," she greeted. "I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to get introduced last night, but when Nicole and I came up, you were both fast asleep. Anyway, I'm Alice Lavonne."

"Rose Evans," Rose responded. "And that's Lily, my sister." She pointed to the sleeping redhead on her left.

"Pleased to meet you, Rose," said Alice friendly. "Nicole's in the bathroom - Nicole Adesanya. We've been best friends since we were four years old."

"Lily and I have been best friends since the day I was born," Rose said cheerfully, swinging out of bed.

"Are you twins?" inquired Alice.

"No," Rose laughed. "She's five months older."

Alice's blue eyes widened. "Five?"

"Mm-hmm," said Rose calmly. "Lily was born in May, and five months later I came. In eight days, a matter of fact, I'll be eleven."

"Premature?"

"No. When Lily was born, I was already in my fourth month. Understand?"

Alice nodded, and sat down on the edge of Rose's bed as she tied her hair back with a blue ribbon.

"Now I do."

"Good morning." The greeting came from Lily, who had finally awoken. She lay on her side, stroking Twilight with a semiconscious smile on her lips. Alice quickly turned to face her.

"Hi. I'm Alice Lavonne - your dormmate. And you're Lily?" Lily nodded.

Right then the bathroom door swung open, and a girl with dark skin, nearly dark enough to be considered African, walked out with her hair wrapped in a towel.

"You're awake," she observed, pulling the towel free. Crimpy brown hair cascaded to her shoulders. Alice leaped to her feet.

"Lily, Rose," she announced, "meet my best friend, Nicole Adesanya. Nicole, meet Lily and Rose Evans."

"What's up?" Nicole said, walking over to her bed beside Lily's.

The four girls got dressed and went downstairs. James, David, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were waiting for them. Lily introduced Alice and Nicole, and the boys said hi. But no one moved to the portrait hole. Sirius broke the silence.

"Okay, so what exactly are we waiting for?"

"I think we're waiting for someone to show us the way to the Great Hall," James grinned. "Anyone remember?" Everyone shook their head.

"Maybe we just wander the halls all day, looking for it and miss all our lessons," David suggested brightly.

"Or you may have to follow someone else," a new voice suggested. It came from a fourth year walking down the boys' stairs. "This way," he ordered, opening the portrait door.

The nine first years followed him as he led them down a staircase, through a tapestry, up a corridor, and found themselves standing in front of the Great Hall. Feeling rather sheepish, they all sat down.

During breakfast the timetables were passed out. Much to the boys' dismay, they would be sharing Potions with the Slytherins. According to a seventh year, it was an evil tradition.

The day went by quickly. Lily and Rose loved their lessons and learned eagerly. The boys, despite their seeming lack of attention, did well too, with the exception of Peter.

Their last class before dinner was Transfiguration. For some reason, Remus seemed ill at ease, and kept glancing at his watch. Lily asked him several times what the matter was but he always shook his head. The fourth time Professor McGonagall gave her a warning, and that was the end of that. Finally, twenty minutes before the end of class, he raised his hand.

"You have a question, Mr. Lupin?"

Remus nodded, and jumped to his feet, hurrying up to her. He whispered something urgently in her ear, and she nodded.

"Take your bag with you," she added. Remus nodded again - Lily wondered if he had lost his ability to speak in normal tones - grabbed his things, and raced out of class.

Puzzled, Lily inquired David with her eyes. He shrugged, bewildered.

When they went down for dinner (it was easier to find the Great Hall this time - just follow the crowd) Remus still wasn't back. Nor, afterwards, was he anywhere in Gryffindor Tower.

"Maybe he's constipated," Sirius suggested.

"He is not!" said Lily, shocked.

"You lot, I'm starting to get worried," Rose broke in. "He could have been hurt."

"Yeah," James agreed. "Snape could have attacked him."

Lily stood up. "That's it. I'm checking the hospital wing. Anyone coming with me?" Rose, of course, got to her feet, and so did David and James. Sirius decided to stay and see if Remus comes back.

After getting directions from a second year on exactly where the hospital wing was, the four started off. As they walked, they discussed various theories on what could have happened to their friend, each getting more and more bizarre, until finally James said that Remus could have had a Lethifold suck him up a urinator and into the lake, where the giant squid was holding him captive. Everyone burst into laughter.

When they did arrive at the hospital wing (after only a few wrong turns) Madam Pomfrey told them icily that Mr. Lupin was not in there, had not been there at all that day, and they should go back to their tower if they didn't want twenty points deducted from Gryffindor. It was only the last threat that turned them around.

Back in the common room, Sirius reported that there had been no sign of Remus. The five friends fell into an uneasy silence (Alice, Nicole, and Peter had long since gone to bed).

Finally Rose ventured to ask, "Do you think we should tell a teacher?"

"No," James quickly objected. "McGonagall let him go, remember?"

"And she knew he would be gone until the end of class, because she reminded him to take his books," Lily reasoned.

"So that rules out the possibility of him doing anything illegal," concluded Sirius.

"This isn't like him!" David at last cried. "Remus doesn't run off in the middle of the night!"

No one said anything for several minutes.

At last Lily spoke. "We aren't accomplishing anything by waiting up. We might as well go to bed."

Uncertainly they all stood up, murmuring goodnights. After a moment, they all slowly walked up their staircases.

Lily and Rose, after a few minutes of tossing and turning with worry, slept.

James, David, and Sirius, however, decided to wait in their dorm for their friend. A half hour later, though, two of the three boys were asleep. Alone, David paced the dorm, every now and then pausing to stare out at the grounds lit by the full moon.

Finally, at 11:30, David admitted defeat. After making a mental vow to tell a teacher in the morning if Remus wasn't back by then, David crawled into bed.

A few hours later, he was awoken by a click. Eyes popping open, he saw a form staggering away from the door. Even though just the first signs of dawn were coming through the window, he recognized the figure. David sat up.

"Remus?"

The boy froze, then reached out to grab Sirius's bedpost, as though he were about to collapse. David's surprise turned to anxiousness. "What happened?" he asked, half out of bed.

"I'll - I'll talk to you in the morning." His voice was weak. Remus stumbled past Sirius's bed.

"What? But-"

"Please, David." It was a plea. David stopped, watching his best friend finally collapse on his own bed without even bothering to undress. David slowly lay back down, his mind churning with questions. What had happened to Remus to keep him away for nearly the entire night? And to make him come back so exhausted! He lay awake for several more minutes, until finally he fell into a restless sleep.

Morning arrived. Voices slowly seeped into Remus's brain, at last making sense.

"Hey - he's back!"

"Yeah, I heard him come in last night."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing - just that he'd talk in the morning."

"Damn. Looks like he had a pretty rough night, huh?"

"Yeah." There was a pause, where Remus began to drift off again, but the next words pulled him back.

"D-do you think he's going to wake up?" Peter, no doubt.

"Of course!" That was Sirius.

"In a century or two." James or David - most likely James. But Remus was slowly - and unwillingly - being brought back into consciousness. He forced his eyelids up - they felt like someone was pressing heavy weights on them.

"Hey." Someone sat down on his bed. "All right?" David.

His tongue seemed to be swollen and made out of lead. Remus tried to remember how to use it. It came back to him in due time.

"Er - yeah," he said sluggishly.

"You don't look all right," observed Sirius. Remus decided not to answer that. David's voice broke though the thickening silence.

"So, where were you last night, Remus? You left without telling anyone. It scared all of us. Including Lily and Rose." At last Remus sat up. Immediately his head began to throb. Through the pounding, he called up the story he had concocted last night.

"My - my mum was ill. A teacher stopped me in the hallway when I was going to the toilet and told me. He said I could leave to go home during Transfiguration."

Silence met these words.

"Merlin, Remus," said David finally. "I'm sorry. How's your mum?"

"She got better as soon as I got there, and insisted I go back to school. I couldn't even wait 'til morning," Remus mumbled.

"That's good," Sirius sighed. "That your mum is better, I mean."

"Yeah. But why didn't you tell us where you were going?" James questioned. Remus's heart began to speed up. He hadn't thought of that.

"I, er, was kind of worried. I didn't think of it. Sorry," he apologized. It was lame, but the best he could think of. Fortunately, his friends seemed to accept it. Sirius stood up.

"Well, I understand, but I think you're going to have a harder time convincing Lily and Rose. They were ready last night to alert the Ministry of Magic."

Remus forced a grin.

They were quiet for a moment, and then Sirius hit James lightly on the shoulder. "C'mon, let's go and get dressed." They and Peter departed from Remus' bedside. Only David was left. Remus leaned back against his bedpost. He had just realized how every fibre of his being was aching.

"You going to be alright?" David asked gently. Remus nodded. His best friend sat there for a moment more, and then returned to his own bed. Wincing with pain, Remus started to get dressed, making a mental note to owl his mother, telling her she had been ill last night.

When James, David, Sirius, Remus, and Peter finally went downstairs, they found the common room empty except for Lily and Rose, who sat on the sofa, whispering. When the boys first began to appear, they jumped to their feet, and Lily demanded without ceremony,

"Have you heard from - Remus!" Both girls rushed forward.

"I'm so glad to see you!"

"I thought you were kidnapped - where were you?"

"His mother took ill," David answered, unknowingly to Remus's secret relief. "He had to go home right away, but his mum sent him back."

"Oh no!" cried Lily, all sympathy. "I'm so sorry, Remus. Your first day at Hogwarts, too. Is she alright?"

"Oh - yes," muttered the boy, hating himself as he stared at the ground. "She - she said she felt loads better right before I left." He didn't want them worrying over nothing - literally.

"Why didn't you tell us where you were going?" inquired Rose. "We would have understood, you know." She put a hand on his shoulder. He cringed inwardly. But fortunately by this time he had modified his answer.

"I only found out during Transfiguration - when I was going to the toilet. I would have written you a note, but from the little I've seen of Professor McGonagall, I decided not to risk it." That was probable, he decided. It was the one class that Sirius, James, and David had not dared act up in. "Sorry I made you worry."

"It's okay," Rose assured him. Remus smiled weakly again. He was starting to feel really exhausted. Dizzy, too. If they were going to linger any longer, he was going to sit down and go to sleep. In fact, he might just go to sleep standing up. But he didn't have a chance too. The group determined to venture down alone today. It went pretty well, too - they only got lost twice. Remus didn't care - or notice.

During breakfast he took two bites of toast, put his head on his arms, and became oblivious to all around him, including the bit of egg that flew from Peter's mouth to his shoulder.

Lily watched him with worry. He looked terrible for just one night. She didn't know it could have that big of an effect on him. It had to be from strain and lack of sleep. Afterwards she offered to carry his bag for him, and he didn't have the energy to protest. History of Magic was first hour, so Remus was able to completely, utterly, sleep through it. He more or less slept through all the other classes.

The next day he looked much better, finally quelling the last of their worries.

Rose's birthday was celebrated relatively quietly. It was a Saturday, so the four girls decided to spend it doing whatever Rose wanted to do, who, as usual, wanted to do whatever Lily wanted to do. In the end, Lily forced Rose to have her own opinions and the girls spent the morning talking in their dorm, and the afternoon running around the grounds.

The days began to fall into order, becoming a routine in their life. The first years gradually became familiar with the castle, finding their way around with much less effort. They all became good friends with Hagrid, and spent many Saturdays talking in his hut.

Lily and Rose became good friends with Alice and Nicole. Nicole reminded them in many ways of Mary, whom the sisters were missing very much. Alice proved to be a bright, outgoing girl who already liked to try new hairstyles and experiment with make-up. Secretly, Lily and Rose wondered how Alice and Nicole ever got to be best friends.

The boys were something else. Each, even though they had first impressed the girls as being very much alike, had his own personality.

Sirius was undoubtedly the most aggressive. He never thought before he acted, unless it came to answering a question in class. He always had a comeback to every remark and never seemed to be at a loss for what to do. He could always make Lily and Rose laugh, even when they didn't want to, and half the time he drove them out of their mind. The last fact was true with the teachers as well.

James was quite like Sirius: he was clever and bold, though he thought a bit more than Sirius did before he acted, and he was the one to always pull Sirius back when, as he often did, unknowingly came to close to the line.

David was a very near replica of his brother, which made him a bit like Sirius, though on the quieter side, which explained his being best friends with Remus. He had more patience than James and Sirius combined, which made him the one they sent to the library whenever they wanted something researched. However, he was also ready to do a lot of things that weren't quite legal with his brother and Sirius.

Remus was undoubtedly the quietest of the four; he was more content to watch his friends' pranks than to actually participate, though occasionally David would coax him into it, and when he did, whatever they were planning to do would become better. He knew the best where the line exactly was, and always stopped David from crossing it.

Peter was the follower. He never really was one of them, just an admirer on the edge of the circle, occasionally drawn into their group.

One night in the beginning of October, however, Lily, Rose, James, David, and Sirius were surprised when Remus rushed up to them in the common room, gave a breathless explanation of his mother having had a relapse, and he must go and see her right away, before dashing off again through the portrait hole. The next morning his friends awoke to find him lying half-dead on his bed.

When a similar occurrence happened again the first day of the next month, Lily started to really worry. With his mother having so many relapses, she wondered if the poor woman was going to even live until the end of the school year. And Remus came back so tired! It seemed as though he had been sick, not his mother.

The last thought struck Lily as so reasonable that she began to watch Remus more closely. On the last day of November he announced his aunt was ill and he really must go see her. Everyone accepted it without question - except Lily. And as the following morning he barely had enough energy to move, she concluded that it couldn't possibly have been his mother/aunt.

Lily didn't like at all suspecting her friend, so she automatically assumed that he had a very good reason for lying to his best friends. At the same time, Lily began to research in the library what would make a person disappear once a month and come back exhausted the next morning.

The answer, which she found all too quickly, didn't please her at all. Not at all.

Lily hesitated in making a confrontation. After all, she wasn't one hundred percent sure. If she was wrong, Remus could be permanently insulted and offended. So she decided to wait one more month and see if she was right. Meanwhile, she would say nothing to anyone, not even Rose.

The blizzard that besieged the castle one night surprised them all, and the next morning Hogwarts found itself surrounded by snow. A few days later Professor McGonagall presented a list for those who would be staying at the castle for Christmas, and not one Gryffindor first year touched it.

Finally the day to head home for the holidays arrived. Lily and Rose were the first outside with their trunks. Even though they had a marvellous time at Hogwarts, they missed their parents and Mary very much, despite the number of letters that had flown back and forth.

The train ride home seemed unbearably long, though the girls sought to hasten it in every form, from talking with Nicole and Alice, with whom they had become very good friends over the months, to jumping up every five minutes to check how much longer it would be.

Eventually - to Lily and Rose's delight - the train did slow down, and by the time it came to a complete stop in front of Platform nine and three-quarters, the two sisters were pressing against the door, their trunks and pets beside them.

"Mary! Mary!" they shrieked, dropping everything to embrace their youngest sister.

"Where are Anetka and Nicki?" Lily questioned as they broke apart.

"Waiting on the other side with Petunia," Mary replied. "I couldn't stand it any longer." She tugged on their hands. "Come on!"

Lily stopped her. "Wait." She turned and waved for Alice, Nicole, James, David, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, who were being hugged and rejoiced over by their parents, to come over.

"Remember Mary?" she asked of the boys. As they nodded, smiling and greeting her, Lily continued, "Alice, Nicole, Peter, this is my youngest sister, Mary. Mary, this is Alice Lavonne and Nicole Adesanya. They're the roommates we wrote you about. And this is Peter Pettigrew."

"Hi," Alice said, giving her winning smile. "Nice to meet you. Are you going to Hogwarts next year?" Mary nodded.

"Cool. Next year all of us can show you around," Nicole suggested. She grinned. "Then you won't have to get lost like we did."

"You mean still do," James corrected.

Rose interrupted. "Come meet our parents and Petunia," she invited. All of them had heard a lot of Lily and Rose's family, so after collecting their trunks and Midnight and Twilight, who, like all magical cats, had not run off, they filed through the barrier. Lily and Rose greeted Anetka and Nicki, then introduced their friends.

"Where's Petunia?" Lily inquired, glancing around. Nicki sighed.

"She said it was too cold, so she went to wait in the minivan." As he spoke, snow started to spiral down.

"Lily, Rose, we have to leave soon, but come meet our parents," James urged. The sisters - and Mary, at David's motion - followed the twins to a couple who had come through the barrier with them.

"Mum, Dad, meet Lily and Rose, the girls I told you about, and their sister, Mary. Girls, our parents," David introduced. Lily gave her most brilliant smile.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Potter," she said, she and Rose shaking their hands.

"Likewise, my dear. James and David wrote a lot about you," Mr. Potter said warmly.

"Perhaps you could visit sometime," suggested Mrs. Potter. "But we'll be gone all through the Christmas holidays. We're going to the Switzerland for our annual ski trip."

"That ought to be fun," Mary said politely.

"Lily, Rose, Mary!" Anetka called.

"We have to go now," Lily said hurriedly. "Nice meeting you. Bye, James! Bye, David! See you at Hogwarts!"

As the sisters walked back to their parents, Rose nudged Lily. "Look," she whispered. Lily glanced back to see the Potter family entering their Mercedes.

"Wow."

Inside the blessedly heated minivan they found Petunia much as how they left her in September - headphones over her ears and book in hand. She barely acknowledged their greetings.

One the way home Lily and Rose gave a glowing account of Hogwarts and their friends, Nicki interrupting every now and then to ask if someone or something was still there. Mary listened with rapt attention.

Upon their arrival at the Evans' home Lily and Rose unpacked and went to the kitchen, where Anetka made hot chocolate and popcorn.

The days flashed by. Nicki took time off from work to be home with all four of his girls, a situation he knew would be rare enough in the future. Anetka took them shopping later in the week, which elicited a spark of interest from Petunia.

Christmas came and went, Lily, Rose, and even Mary receiving presents from some of their fellow first year Gryffindors.

But before they knew it, Lily and Rose were back at Hogwarts with everyone, and James and David were bursting with news of America. And life settled back into lessons and homework before they could believe it.

Except for one thing: Lily's suspicions of Remus. She made a prediction to herself of when the next disappearance would be, and if it came true, she decided that she would confront Remus.

And on January the ninth, as the group of friends sat in the common room, working together on a Potions essay, Remus stood up. Everyone looked at him questioningly.

"Sorry everyone, but my aunt's ill. I really have to go home."

"Again?" Sirius asked incredulously. "That's what, the fifth time? Your family has very weak immune systems, do they?"

Remus shrugged, unable to meet his eyes. Lily watched him intently. "Sorry," he repeated. "I'll see you in the morning."

Accompanied by his friends' goodbyes and well-wishes for his aunt, he left the common room.

Lily sat back in her chair by the fire, her mind far from the parchment, which was nearly full of neatly written lines, in her lap. She had half-wished that he hadn't gone, just to prove her wrong. But he had.

The friends quickly finished their and Remus' essay, and, one by one, headed up to their dorms. Except for Lily. She continued to sit in her chair, finishing her and other people's bits of homework. When the clock struck ten thirty, she and Rose were alone in the common room. Lily turned to her sister.

"You can go to bed now, Rose. I'm going to stay up for a while."

"Sure you don't want some company, Lily?" Rose offered. Lily shook her head.

"Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Five minutes later, Lily went up to her dorm to retrieve Little Women. She had been meaning to reread that.

Two hours later, Lily realized she was slipping off to sleep. It was barely 1:30! Remus wouldn't be back for hours. Fretting, she stood up and paced the common room. Finally she fetched her French workbook. Anetka had given her the complete set for her tenth birthday, and since then she had determined to teach herself French. But since she had arrived to Hogwarts she had not had much time to work on it.

Anyone who had entered the common room at 3:00 that morning would have been very much alarmed to see an eleven-year-old redhead earnestly conversing with the fire in French and, still later, translating Little Women to the diminishing flames.

It was a little after five A.M. when, as Lily was researching the word "werewolf" in her English/French dictionary, the portrait hole creaked open and a boy practically fell into the common room. Lily's head shot up. Her mouth opened to call out a greeting, but she stopped herself just in time. English, Lily, she reminded herself.

"Remus! You're back!"

The boy jumped about three feet.

"Lily?" he whispered groggily. The girl leaped to her feet, picking up the mug of the potion she had made earlier during the night.

"Drink this," she ordered, pressing it into his hand. "It will help wake you up." He obeyed without thinking.

"Lily," he said thickly, as he lowered the mug, "What are you doing still up?"

"Waiting for you!" she replied. She gestured toward a chair next to hers. "Sit down."

"What? Lily, no. I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. I need to go to bed."

"That's why I made the potion. Now sit down," she said firmly.

"Lily, please - in the morning."

"Do you need some more? I have more in my room."

He thought. To his surprise, he did feel a bit more alert. Remus allowed Lily to guide him to a chair.

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked, defeated. Lily sat down opposite him, looking seriously into his tired brown eyes. She decided to get right to the point.

"It's no coincidence that you disappear every month on the full moon, is it?" she said bluntly. He jerked in surprise.

"What? I - what are you talking about?" he stammered. Perhaps if it had been morning, and he had been more awake, Remus could have done a better job at deceiving her. As it was, she saw right through it.

"Your mother gets an awful lot of relapses, Remus," Lily said quietly. "Dumbledore is nice, but why is he letting you go so much? And why doesn't your aunt let you stay until morning, especially if you come back so exhausted? Does the Hogwarts Express come at every hour of the night? And you ought to get more sleep than you look like you do." Remus lowered his face into his hands. A feeling of overwhelming doom became stronger and stronger with every point she made. Lily leaned forward, her voice becoming a whisper. "Every night on the full moon. You disappear at sunset, and reappear at sunrise. You are a werewolf."

It wasn't a question, just a statement of fact. Remus slowly lowered his hands. There was no point in trying to convince her otherwise. She knew.

"Who knows?" he asked in a low voice. Lily started. He hadn't even tried to deny it.

"Just me," she replied. He looked up, surprised.

"You didn't tell anyone? Not even Rose?"

"No," she assured him. "I decided not to until you admitted it. But now I will."

He sat straight up, alarmed. "No, no, no! Don't, Lily! Please!"

"Why not, Remus?" she asked, bewildered. "We're your friends."

"So was Paul," he replied. He stood up, pacing in front of her as he explained. "I got the bite when I was four years old. But before I met David and James and Sirius, I was best friends with a boy named Paul. We were very close. Well, one day I decided to tell him. I thought he would be okay with it. I was wrong." He sighed. "To cut a long story short, we never saw each other again. Wait, I take that back. Once I passed him on the street. He looked at me as though I was about to attack him." His voice had turned bitter. "When I met the twins and Sirius, I swore to never, no matter how much it cost me, let them find out what I am." Remus spun around to face Lily, whose eyes were wide with sympathy. "Why? I like having friends, Lily." Something seemed to occur to him; he abruptly turned away. "Though I suppose you'll never want to speak to a werewolf again either." At once her compassionate look evaporated, and she scowled.

"Now I'm offended, Remus. Don't put me on Paul's level. There are prejudiced jerks in the world, but I'm not one of them. And neither are the boys," she added, after a thought. "You're wrong about them. They're not going to desert you. It's not your fault that a horrible accident happened to you. I mean, you didn't walk into the middle of a pack of werewolves with raw steaks tied to your legs, did you?"

A trace of shock flashed across his face. "So...you're not angry? You still want to be my friend?"

The strain of staying up all night and dealing with this finally broke upon her speech. "Tu es un foi! "

He stared. Lily, however, hadn't even noticed her temporary language switch. She raised her voice a notch. "Hello? Are you a werewolf and deaf? Did you listen to a word I said? It - is - not - your - fault." She emphasized and pronounced clearly every word. "You did not ask to become a werewolf, it was forced upon you. You had no choice in the matter. Are the words that are coming out of my mouth reaching your middle ear? And if they aren't, then maybe Sirius or David can pound it through your thick skull."

At once that same look of alarm filled his face.

"Lily, please try to understand. I was sure that Paul wouldn't care either. But now...please, Lily. Don't tell anyone. Please." He had fallen to his knees in front of her, begging. She gave up.

"All right! I won't tell anyone. But you're still wrong."

He was not satisfied. "Swear it."

"I swear that you're wrong."

"No! Swear that you won't tell anyone."

"I swear I won't tell anyone that you're wrong."

"Lily!"

Realizing that he wouldn't be content until she was serious, she pulled out from beneath her shirt her locket that held pictures of her sisters and closed her hand around it.

"I swear that I won't tell anyone you're a werewolf."

"Thank you!" Remus got back in his chair, relieved. "You don't know how much that means to me."

For a moment they were quiet. Then Lily inquired,

"Where do you go every month?"

"Oh. Well, I don't go home. Er - remember that new tree on our grounds? The Whomping Willow?" he reminded her. She nodded. "Dumbledore put it in because I came. There's a knot on the trunk. You press it, it freezes. The tree, I mean. And there's a hole on the side that leads to a tunnel that leads to a house in Hogsmeade. Haven't you heard the older kids tell about how the villagers are hearing all these screams and stuff from that old house late at night?" He raised a hand, smiling weakly. "That would be me."

Lily's green eyes widened. "You scream?"

"Well, yeah," he said quietly, staring into the dying fire. "It hurts. A lot."

Lily stared at him, tears filling her eyes. Remus glanced up, and saw the first one slide down her cheek.

"Oh, come on now, Lily!" he cried, leaning forward. "Don't cry!"

"I'm sorry!" she choked, brushing the tears away. "It's just - I know what a great person you are, and it's not fair that something like this had to happen to you."

"It's okay," he assured her. "I'm used to it now, anyway." It was a downright lie, and both of them knew it.

"Can I give you a hug?" she asked suddenly.

"Er - all right," Remus said, surprised. Lily hugged him tightly, more tears spilling down her cheeks. When they broke apart, her face wasn't the only one wet. Lily, knowledgeable of a boy's ego, chose not to mention it. She looked at her watch.

"If we go to bed right now, we can sleep for about an hour and a half."

"Amen," he murmured, standing. "Goodnight, Lily." She smiled at the sunlight streaming through the window.

"You mean good morning."

"Whatever," he muttered, moving slothfully toward the stairs. But a thought struck him, and he turned back toward her.

"Did you stay up the entire night waiting for me?"

Lily nodded, smiling sheepishly. Remus shook his head, continuing to make his way up the staircase.

Lily realized she didn't have enough energy to do the same. She grabbed a blanket lying on a chair - it was cold, even for January - and curled up on the sofa, murmuring, "C'est la vie," right before she slipped off into unconsciousness.

Lily kept her word, and did not tell anyone - not even Rose - about Remus's secret. Not without temptation, though. But every time he disappeared and reappeared, she resorted to merely muttering in what sounded suspiciously like French. She had other talks with him when they were alone. Lily tried to convince him again and again that he should tell his friends, they were smart, sooner or later they were going to figure it out themselves. Remus wouldn't hear it.

But the rest of the year passed quickly. Lily and Rose went home again for Easter holidays, and after that the year practically evaporated. On the second of May Lily celebrated her first birthday away from home. Anetka and Nicki, undaunted by the distance, sent her a birthday cake, lit candles included. James, Sirius, David, and Remus mysteriously produced a miniature feast in the common room at midnight just for the Gryffindor first years. Lily was very pleased.

Everyone did well in their exams - although Peter only just scraped through - with Lily and James tying for top of year.

On June the first, they found themselves once again in the Hogwarts Express heading home. A friendly prefect had given them the use of his compartment, so Lily, Rose, James, David, Sirius, Remus, Alice, and Nicole had actually managed to all squeeze into it.

They spent the hours talking and planning their next year. James, David and Sirius dreamily talked of the Quidditch positions they would play, while Lily, Rose, Alice, and Nicole half listened to the boys and half wondered about what kind of classes they would have next year. Peter listened eagerly to all of them. Remus did none of them above, but fell asleep with Midnight in his lap.

So when the train began to slow down, it caught them all by surprise. But they quickly woke Remus, gathered their things, and assembled in the corridor.

Outside of the barrier as they went their separate ways, James and David called one more time to the sisters that they would owl them as soon as they could come over. Alice and Nicole walked away with the LaVonnes and Adesanyas talking excitedly. Remus got a lift home with Sirius, and Peter - where did Peter disappear to? Lily paused near the door of her minivan, searching for him. But he was gone. Just as she was turning back to Mary, something else caught her eye - Snape. She knew he had stayed at Hogwarts during both of the holidays, and now she was curious to where he would go. He didn't seem particularly happy to be out of school, but - bored, really. He walked forward looking neither to the right nor left, not looking for anyone. He walked straight to a waiting car by the side of the road. No one came out to greet him. He loaded his trunk into the back and slipped into the passenger seat, just as the car started to move away. Lily stood there, wondering who it was that picked him up, when Mary's voice brought her back.

"Lily?"

Her head snapped back around. She smiled.

"It's over, Mary. Next year you'll be with us, and it will be fantastic. It will be the best ever. I know it."

Mary grinned back.