Chapter Text
It had been 5 weeks since the game, and Remus was okay. He really was. He couldn't say he was better than okay, because he wasn't, but okay was good enough, right?
Sirius' prediction of James being iffy at first had turned out to be correct
He avoided making eye contact with Remus, and acted extremely awkward whenever he was nearby. On the rare occasions he forgot about Remus' secret and acted normally around him, it wouldn't take long for him to remember again, causing the smile to slip from his face and his eyes to slide down the the floor.
Remus drew into his shell. He spent many hours in the library, reading by himself, or sitting alone in the corner of the common room, doing homework. He could always feel the worried eyes on him. Sirius, of course, fretted constantly about his best friend, and to Remus' surprise, so did Lily.
Lily, Remus, and Sybill always sat together in Divination. To be honest, the only reason Lily and Remus took the subject was because it looked easy to pass and would give them a fun break from all the hard work involved in OWL year. Sybill, however, had a true passion for the subject, her eyes growing wide with excitement behind large spectacles. She perched on the edge of her seat, leaning forwards, desperate to catch every word that fell from their professor's mouth.
Lily liked Sybill. They had dated for a while during the previous school year, and had remained close friends after they split up. Sybill was caring, and gentle, and had a kind heart, but she was not always very tactful.
"They know your secret."
The elbow Remus was leaning on slipped off the table, causing him to nearly fall of his chair. He massaged it with his right hand as he turned to face Sybill, worriedly.
"What did you say?"
"It's not what I say, it's what the tea leaves say. They know your secret, and you wish they didn't. You miss a time gone past."
Remus was growing steadily paler, and Lily frowned, laying a hand over his clenched fist, worriedly.
"Sybill, dear, I thing you're agitating poor Remus."
She blinked.
"Oh. Sorry, Remus."
He grinned at her, tight lips, but kind eyes.
"Thats quite alright. I'm just overreacting."
"Remus, are you su-"
"I said I'm fine, Lily!" He snapped, angrily, before taking a deep breath as he realised what he had done.
"Remus, I-"
But he had already grabbed his bags and was pushing past her, down through the trap door, and away from the almost finished lesson.
Something was definitely wrong, Lily decided.
XXXXX
"Black, can I talk to you?" It was after curfew, and Lily was patrolling the halls as part of her prefect duty. She wasn't particularly surprised to see Black out of bed, but just this once, she was happy to see him.
The feeling, of course, was not mutual.
"Evans! I, um, I was just- Well you see- I was-"
"I don't care why you're out of bed, and quite frankly, I don't want to know. I want to talk to you."
Black looked shocked for a moment, before bowing deeply, and smiling at her.
"To what do I owe the pleasure? If you want me to set you up with James, then-"
"This isn't about Potter," she hissed, grabbing Black's arm and pulling him inside an empty classroom. "This is about Remus."
That sobered Black up considerably. He folded his arms, and stared at her defiantly.
"What about him?"
"I'm worried about him. He has a secret, doesn't he?"
"Why would you think that? And why would you care anyway?"
"I like Remus!" Said Lily, rather indignantly. "And.... Well...." She knew what Black would say if she told him the truth. He would act as if Sybill had just misread the leaves, or she was lying. Then he might make Sybill the butt of their next prank! Lily wouldn't let that happen.
"I just noticed that he's been acting oddly recently, and, well, you and James have been treating him differently."
"I have not been treating him differently! It's James that's causing the problems, not me! And so what if Remus has a secret? It's not like I'd tell you! The point of secrets is that they're secret, and I would never betray the trust of the person who means the most to me." Sirius glared at Lily, then stormed out the room, slamming the door behind him, leaving her staring after him in shock.