Until The Very End

Chapter Sixteen: Questions, Questions, and More Questions

Lily's PoV:

I woke up tucked into James's side. He was still in a deep sleep, so I quietly snuck out of bed and the room. I headed to Remus's room with some bandages, and saw Peter, Sirius, and Remus sprawled out on top of each other asleep. It was 9:30 am, so I decided to wake them up.

"Rise and shine boys!" I called. I opened the thin drapes to let in even more light. They stirred lightly, but still appeared to be asleep. I sighed and shot some sparks out of the tip of my wand. That worked. They all groaned and rolled off of each other, sitting up and rubbing their eyes.

"Blimey, Lily. You'll wake the whole damn house!" Remus complained.

"It's 9:30 am and I have questions," I said with a shrug, "so deal with it, Remus."

"What happened to James?" Sirius asked.

"James is going to be fine. I patched him up and he should be back on his feet in a few days, four at the most," I explained.

We all got quiet. I walked over to the bed and sat down next to Remus, laying my head on his thigh. All of the boys- correction- all of my friends were used to this. They were all human pillows and footrests. "What're your questions, Lils?" Peter asked.

"What are your animagi? I know James is a stag, Remus isn't one, but that means that one of you is a big black dog and the other is a rat/mouse," I said.

"I'm the black dog," Sirius said proudly. "Peter's the rat."

"So that's why-"

"Yeah, Moony is the moon, which means werewolf. Wormtail is a rat's tail, 'cause it looks like a worm and I'm a rat. Padfoot is the pads on a dog's feet. Finally, Prongs because stags have antlers. Er- sorry for interrupting you, Lily," Peter explained.

I smiled at him. "It's fine, Wormy."

"Wormy?" Peter asked, puzzled.

"Yup, my nickname for you. A shortened version of your Marauders name. Hope that's okay," I said.

"It's nice, actually. Thanks," Peter replied.

"What's your special nickname for me, Lilykins?" Sirius asked. He crawled across the bed and rested his head on my stomach.

"Pain in my arse," I responded cheekily.

"Hey!" Sirius cried. "You're gonna pay for that." He started to lightly punch my hands. I sat up and lightly punched his shoulder. "This is now a game of bloody knuckles," Sirius declared. I laughed and kept going.

"You two need to stop. I swear you were siblings separated at birth," Remus groaned.

"Remus, you realize that most of the first-third years think you and I are siblings, right?" I quipped. I let Sirius continue to punch my now open palms.

"Of course, but you two have a knack for having the 'I hate you but, you're still one of my favorite people, so I'll let it slide' sibling relationship. You and I have the 'we always get along perfectly' sibling relationship there's a difference," Remus replied.

"Whatever. Come on, you lot. Let's go see Prongs!" Peter said. We all got up and went down to see him, still bickering and laughing at nothing the whole way there.

*****************

James ended up healing in three days. His mum and dad called in a healer, who congratulated me on my work and asked if I was going into the field. I told him that I was considering it, but that my dream job would be working at Hogwarts.

James's parents gave all of us an earful about being more careful while Remus was taking a nap, as to not upset him. He felt awful for what happened to James and I. It took us a bit to reassure him that we were okay with what had happened and didn't hate him, but I don't think that he fully believes us.

Anyway, Peter got a letter yesterday from his parents. He needed to go back home, which was a shame, because I thought he'd have a lot of fun at the ball. He flooed home later that day with his stuff. Fleamont and Euphemia each gave him warm hugs, Euphemia even kissed his cheek, and he was off.

James and Sirius spent the afternoon flying around in the back garden while Remus and I chipped away at some homework, seeing as we had nothing better to do. The ball was tomorrow and I had no idea what I was doing for hair or makeup. I just had the dress and a pair of shoes from the mystery gift giver. (Originally I was going to head out and buy a new dress the day before I left for James's house, but with this gift I no longer had to).

"So, have you ever been to this ball before?" I asked Remus. He looked up from his Astronomy homework.

"I went last year. It is pretty boring. It's just a bunch of adults wandering around with a glass of champagne they'll never drink being fake nice to each other for a couple of hours," Remus said with a shrug. I nodded. A few seconds passed and I had another question.

"Who's all going to be there? Is it purebloods and everyone else? Just purebloods? Do you think there will be any of You Know Who's followers there? I mean, Snape told us to up security. What if he's one of them now? And, I'll be judged-"

"Lily Rose Evans, you're going to be fine. It's mostly purebloods, but there are a few powerful half bloods invited. I think that there are going to be people who agree with You Know Who's messages there, but I don't think that there will be any attacks, considering the amount of aurors that get invited and who are on active duty during the ball. As for Snape, I can't say," Remus said.

I sighed and looked out of the window by the table we were sitting at in the library. "I'm sorry," I said.

"For what?" Remus asked.

"Asking about all of this. I'm probably getting annoying," I said with a shrug.

"You're not getting annoying and you shouldn't be sorry. I asked James a lot of the same questions last year and my parents were going to be there. It's perfectly normal to have questions," Remus said. "If you want better answers, you should go talk to James. He knows more than I do, just this once." I noticed the twinkle in Remus's eye when he said that last bit. It made me smile.

"Thanks, Remus. You're amazing," I said. I got up and gave him a hug. He hugged back, and I waved goodbye. I left the library to try to coax James off of his broom to go talk to him. This could take a while.

On my way outside, an owl started pecking at the window closest to me. I opened it and grabbed the note in its beak. It flew off without waiting for a reply. All it said was "Last chance to escape and get to a safer location. You've been warned." It must have come from Snape. I crumpled the note up into a ball and threw it in the nearest rubbish bin.