Remus had relived the kiss over a million times. It only got better. He knew it had been fabricated and that it was a lie of epic proportions, but that didn't hinder his happiness over it in the slightest.
The best thing about it was that that particular moment was his and only his. He didn't share it with Sirius or Peter, and he most definitely didn't have to share it with James. No matter how much James wished he could have taken Remus' place at that second in time, he would never get to experience it himself unless his plan to get Lily actually worked.
The worst thing about the memory was that he had lied to James about it. True, Lily had kissed him first, but Remus was the one to instigate it. It was his fault, not hers. That sole reason made lying about it twice as hard.
Remus sighed, shifting in his seat so that his butt didn't hurt quite as badly. He'd been sitting in Lily's room for over twelve hours now, slowly detoxing from the last full moon night, the last night of this month, thank Merlin. As the last remnants of animal bloodlust left him, a sense of immense guilt replaced it. What the hell was wrong with him?
He had ruined her life.
Lily shifted, suddenly opening her eyes. Remus realized that he had been staring at her for over twenty minutes. He felt a blush creep over his face as her green eyes found his. How was he going to tell her?
"The first twenty-four hours are the worst." He told her, hoping she would get his drift. Her brow furrowed and Remus noticed that her eyes weren't entirely focused. She wasn't moving. He remembered how much it hurt to move before the first day was over and he frowned.
"Something…bit me." Lily muttered, barely audible. Remus got up, ignoring the pain in his legs from sitting for too long, and crouched down next to her. She tried to close her eyes again. No, Lily. It's now or never. Either I'm telling you now or you'll have to figure it out in a month on your own. Remus shook her and her eyes fluttered open.
"Someone. Someone bit you." She looked confused again. God, her eyes were green. They were greener than….Remus was shit with metaphors.
"But, it was an animal," She protested, struggling to push herself upright on her elbow. He could see the pain flashing across her face. "He bit me, he…broke my ankle."
Remus licked his lip, preparing himself. "I bit you. It was me. I'm an animal." He braced himself for denial, anger, maybe even violence. He wouldn't blame her. Instead, he started as her hand reached up and caressed his face, her thumb right next to his eye.
"Those eyes…" She fell back on the bed, falling asleep once more.
He fell back on his tailbone, placing a hand over where hers had been a few seconds before. He was torn between wanting to make her understand exactly what had happened and excitement in the pit of his stomach at her touch.
Merlin he was pathetic.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"I don't think this is the right ward, James." Peter glanced around the hallway, his eyes lighting on a man being strangled by a rather large plant while a nurse attempted to blast it off him with her wand.
Sirius laughed a bit at the spectacle. "I don't think this is the right floor. Did you read the sign right?"
James was getting more and more frustrated by the minute. "Shit. Did it say first or fourth floor?" Both Peter and Sirius stared at him.
"Are you serious? We just walked up three flights of stairs for nothing?" Sirius looked livid.
"So I didn't have to hear from three different portraits how I have a very rare and dangerous case of splattergroit?" Peter complained, his mouth dropping.
James growled a bit, then turned on his heel. "No. I'm sure it's this way. Somewhere down here." He walked past the man still being choked quickly, Sirius and Peter following him resentfully.
"Wait!" The trip turned to find a very short dark-haired girl running toward them, holding what looked like four bouquets of flowers.
"Oh thank Merlin. Emilee, you know where we're supposed to be going, don't you? Prongs here couldn't find his way even if the map were shouting directions at him." Sirius laughed at his joke, but it was short.
Emilee huffed. She handed the bouquets to Sirius, who staggered under their weight. Between two of the arrangements was a thick stack of books. "It's actually just around the corner here." She managed to say as her breath slowly returned. "So I think you were doing rather well." She smiled at James, who instantly felt better.
"See." He poked Sirius, who nearly fell over and hit a cart full of bandage wrappings and smelled like rotten eggs. Peter winced.
"You can follow me; I was just going there myself." Emilee set off in a hurry, leaving Sirius with the flowers and books. James hurried to catch up with her stride and Peter pulled Sirius along with him, since his view was blocked by one enormous lily.
She turned one corner, then another. James and Peter began to lose faith in her almost immediately. Then, when they thought they was good and lost, Emilee opened a random door, poking her head in.
Sirius pushed the door open behind Emilee, quite sick of holding the bundle and being her lackey. He stumbled in the room, pushing her in as he went. Thankfully, someone was there to break their fall.
"Moony!" Peter cried out, as the werewolf caught Emilee and Sirius fell face first on the floor. Lily fidgeted, but didn't wake. All three boys glared at Peter. "Sorry." He whispered.
Remus helped Emilee as the rest of the marauders entered the room, closing the door behind them. He looked exhausted, with eyes that were bloodshot and swollen. Thankfully, Lily didn't look any worse than she did the past night.
"Where're Lily's parents?" Sirius asked after he got up, moving closer to Lily's bedside and avoiding the look James was now giving Remus. If James could hex through eye contact, Sirius had the feeling that Remus would be writhing on the ground right about now. Peter took a hint and joined him on the other side of the room.
"What are you doing here?" James snarled, spitting the words out, barely moving his mouth. Emilee quickly took the chance to pick up the strewn flowers and books, giving Sirius a glare as she did so. He shrugged apologetically.
Remus looked at Sirius. "Her parents went home. As you can see, there isn't much to do." He turned towards James, not holding his gaze for more than two seconds. "I wanted to be here when she woke up. To explain. And help."
"Well that's more than what you did for her the other night." James moved to Lily, letting the subject float in the air. Remus ignored that particular elephant in the room.
"So…is she a…?" Peter trailed off, not quite sure what to say. Sirius hit him for tactlessness, but asked the same question in his look at Remus. Emilee merely arranged the books on a table filled with pieces of parchment and a vase stuffed with azaleas.
"I don't know." James turned to look at Remus as he answered. He looked hopeful. "No one will know until the next full moon."
Sirius continued to stare at Remus. "But you think that she's…"
Remus swallowed, avoiding James' stare. "Most likely."
James looked back down at Lily, his expression of hope gone. He brushed his fingers against hers, and they moved, catching his index finger.
"Well at least we know one positive thing about all this." Sirius laughed, clapping his hands together and pointing at Lily's chest. "Lily looks bloody brilliant in a hospital gown. I prefer her without a bra, I have to say." His trademark grin reappeared after nearly fourteen hours of having no reason to use it. Emilee smacked him, but she too was grinning.
James opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by Lily, who spoke with her eyes closed. "I swear to Merlin, if you're looking at my chest right now, Sirius Black, you're going to be blind in about twelve seconds."
The mood in the room lifted as everyone laughed and Lily dragged herself into a sitting position. She felt her fingers still locked with James' and quickly disentangled her hand from his. James grinned a little and put his hands in his pockets.
"Forgive me for noticing, Lils, but it was kind of staring me in the face." Sirius laughed again as Lily crossed her arms over her chest with great difficulty.
"Coming from him, I'm thinking that's a compliment." Emilee poked Sirius in the ribs, enjoying the gasp of pain he let out.
Lily laughed, and then looked around the room, blinking rapidly. "What are all of you doing here? It's not that big of a deal. So I got bit? What's the matter?" Glances were exchanged, until everyone was looking at Remus.
"You didn't tell her?" James sighed, obviously frustrated. His temper was flaring up again, but he pushed it back down.
Remus laughed self consciously and rubbed his arm. "I tried. Last night. But she must not have been fully…coherent."
"Obviously." James tried not to glare at him anymore, but his eyes were narrowing on their own accord.
Sirius leaned over, his arms resting on the sides of the hospital bed. "Let's put it this way, Lils…You now have your own chapter in our Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook."
"Chapter thirty-four, to be exact." Peter piped in, grabbing the same book off of the table where Emilee had stacked it.
Emilee grabbed the book from his hands and hit him with it, then slamming it in Sirius' chest. "If you'll ignore the tactless boys…Remus, care to explain?" Her eyebrow was raised in his direction.
Remus smiled at Lily, but she just stared blankly at him. His grin faded and he swallowed hard. "I think you are, I mean, I think you might possibly be, a…a werewolf." He stammered.
Lily looked at him, confused. "What do you mean? What-who bit me?" Glances were thrown at Remus and she connected the dots. "Oh my God. You bit me?" Emilee reached out toward her, but she pulled away. "How could you? How did you let this happen?"
Remus flinched. This was the reaction he had expected last night; he knew the sweet caresses wouldn't be the end of the conversation. "That's not all." He muttered, hoping no one would hear him.
All heads turned in his direction. "What do you mean that's not all, Moony?" James asked menacingly.
Suddenly Emilee laughed. She stopped abruptly when everyone looked at her like she was a mental patient. "Sorry, I just got the nickname." Sirius rolled his eyes.
"It's only important if you actually are a werewolf." Remus started, hesitant to go on. "So we won't know until next month."
"And?" Lily prompted.
"And if you are, then you're my…my mate."
No flashback this time, mainly because I couldn't think of anything to put here. The ending is shocking enough. If I do think of one, then I'll either put it at the beginning of the next chapter or edit this one. Or if you don't want to read one, then let me know and I'll stop writing them.
Thanks for reading!
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