Nah, She Didn't

~ Part 40 ~ WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! ~

Believe - Cher

-Lily POV-

I wake up with a start, and all of the events of last night come pouring into my brain.

The werewolf, the reindeer, the dog, the rat...

So many questions rushing through my mind.

Who was the werewolf? It has to be either a Hogwarts student or Professor, because who else would be on Hogwarts grounds? I suspect Remus to be a werewolf, but... that couldn't have been him! That snarling beast couldn't be the sarcastic book nerd Remus was. Though I never have noticed the symptoms on any other students...

On another note, what the hell was with those other three animals? What the heck were they doing? It seemed almost as if the dog was... fending off the werewolf. And the reindeer had helped me get back to the school safely. What was that about?

I shake my head and get up out of bed. I put on my robes, and head into the bathroom to do all usual morning bathroom things. I open the painting, walk down a few corridors and staircases, and make my way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

I stroll in, and take a seat next to Mary, who's deep in conversation with Remus who is diagonal to her. I stare at Remus, my brows furrowed, with a contemplating expression on my face. He has bags under his eyes, looking tired. Remus stops speaking with Mary and looks at me awkwardly.

"Uh... Lily?" Remus asks. I shake my head, getting out of my daze. "Are you... are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, I was just... thinking about something..." I respond. Remus and Mary shoot me confused, weirded out looks.

Sirius comes and takes a seat next to me, in James's place because the quidditch nerd wasn't here yet.

"Moony, Lilyflower, Shortstack. Good to see you all," Sirius says. I punch him in the arm. Once for me, once for Mary.

"Don't fucking call me that, Black," I growl.

"I second that," Mary adds.

"Second what?" Marlene asks, taking a seat across from Sirius.

"That he doesn't call us stupid-arse names," I say with a glare at Sirius.

"Woah, Lilyflower, seems like you're going a little overboard on the cursing, eh?" Sirius drawls.

"Shut up," I respond.

"What's new?" Marlene asks, looking around the table. "What is up with you three, Remus, Sirius, Lily? You all look like you didn't sleep a wink."

I blink, and sneak a quick glance at Remus, praying he didn't notice as I looked away. But he did, and sends an uncertain, confused expression back, as if he doesn't know how to respond. I mean, werewolves don't remember things when they're in werewolf form, so he wouldn't remember if I had been out there or not. I respond to Marlene, looking away from Remus.

"Nothing," I blurt. Wow, Lily, what a wonderful and perfectly appropriate-for-the-situation and un-weird answer to her question. How do you do it?

"Why are you being weird?" Mary asks.

"I'm not being weird," I reply. "You're being weird."

Alice and Frank walk in, hand in hand, immersed in whatever they were talking to each other. They take a seat, not even acknowledging us. James walks through the doors too, in the same nonchalant way he always does. He sits in between me and Sirius.

"What'd I miss?" James says, with the same bags under his eyes that Remus has. Come to think of it, Sirius looks tired too. I look back at James, but do a double take when I see his eyes. They were hazel, with gold and green streaks. My eyes widen, and I look over at Sirius, then at Remus, then back at James with what must be huge eyes. "Uh... Lily...?"