THE WOLVES | R.L.

Chapter 16

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter World belongs to J.K. Rowling.

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Chapter 16

Lily and James were laughing and patrolling the corridors together, for their first rounds of the day, when Lily ran into Severus Snape.

"Lily," Snape said quietly as he gathered his books quickly, "Lily."

"Snape," Lily sneered, taking a step closer towards James.

She stepped around Snape, who was gaping at her.

"Lily—what are you doing with Potter?" Snape cast a distasteful glance at James, and Lily glared at him as she stepped protectively in front of James.

"I can be with whomever I want," Lily retorted, "Now be on your way and go do whatever you do with your pure-blooded snakes."

"Lily—,"

"Did you not hear me?" Lily snapped, "Go away."

Without another word, Snape quickly went down the corridor and disappeared around the corner.

The moment Snape was gone, tears welled in Lily's beautiful green eyes and she said softly, "I hate it, you know, James."

"What?" James asked, putting an arm around her and giving her a comforting smile.

"I hate being mean," Lily clarified as she wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her robes, "I hate hating people."

"You weren't being mean, and you weren't being hateful," James told her, "You were standing up for yourself. He may have been a friend to you two years ago, but face it—he's got a selfish nature. And while he may not be evil, he'll always put himself first."

Lily sniffled, and to James' surprise, she didn't protest.

"I-I'm sorry," Lily said quietly, "I shouldn't cry."

"It's okay," James said with a smile, "It's okay, Lils."

***

Lily strode into the Marauder's Dormitory, and she saw Ardelle sitting with Remus, and appeared to be brewing some sort of potion.

The moment they heard Lily and James enter, Ardelle shoved the potion behind her back, turned around quickly, and said, "Um. Hey, Lils!"

Lily eyed her suspiciously, her eyes darting down to the Cauldron that Ardelle had pushed behind her, "What's that?"

Remus, whose face had turned pale, said, "It's nothing, Lily."

James sighed from where he was behind Lily and said, "You guys...you can tell her. She's Lily Evans, for Merlin's sake."

"What?" Lily asked, whirling around to face James, "What do you mean?"

"It's a massive secret we've been keeping from you," Ardelle heaved a sigh.

"What?" Lily said sharply, "You've been keeping things from me?"

"Actually," Remus cut in, avoiding Lily's eyes, "I have been keeping things from you. It's my secret."

Lily frowned, "What is it, Remus?"

Remus got to his feet and said, "Ardelle is brewing a potion for a werewolf. She invented a potion which would help a werewolf keep their mind during the Full Moon transformations, which she named the Wolfsbane Potion. It's not an official, registered potion yet, but hopefully in the future it will be."