Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Lily was sitting on her bed watching the time. Practice should have ended about ten minutes ago, and she hoped that James had relayed the message to Remus because she wanted to talk with him about what had happened. She had just about given up because Remus was always punctual when there was a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” She called getting up off the bed and crossing the room.

“Remus,” he said lowering his hand down to his side. He heard the click of the lock, and smiled when the door opened and he saw Lily standing there. “Hey,” he said quietly walking in as she moved out of the way.

“Hi,” Lily said before shutting the door behind them, and turning the lock once again. She had become paranoid after what had happened, especially since Sirius knew the password to get into the private common room.

“How are you feeling?” Remus asked taking a seat on the edge of her bed at the foot of it, while Lily sat up by the headboard. He didn’t want to get to close to her, afraid she still may be skittish.

“I’ve been better,” Lily said quietly looking at him. His nose had clearly been broken, and he looked completely drained. “How about you?”

“I’m alright,” Remus said and put his finger on his nose, ignoring the twinge of pain. “This looks worse then it feels, so don’t worry,” he lied not wanting Lily to feel bad.

“You shouldn’t have gotten into a fight with him, he’s not worth it,” she said indicating Sirius.

“It was worth it, he hurt you,” Remus said quietly looking at her.

“Thank you,” Lily said before grabbing a pillow and setting it in her lap, and resting her head on the top of it. “Do you want to know what happened? Well the real story,” she asked quietly. Lily could feel herself becoming emotional once again, but she needed to talk.

“You don’t have to tell me Lily, I know it hurts,” Remus said looking at her. Truth was he didn’t want to know what Sirius had done to her, but if she wanted to talk, he would listen.

“He said he wanted to practice the last scene since we were a bit awkward about it on stage,” Lily said as she held tightly onto the pillow. “So he lead me to a room, said that you had found it and you guys studied in there sometimes,” she said and waited for him to nod so he knew where she was talking about. “And we practiced, and finished the scene, when I went to move he wouldn’t let me. He started kissing my neck…and his hand wandered…and…” Lily said starting to choke up.

“Shh Lily stop,” Remus said moving a bit closer opening his arms to her. “Come here,” he said quietly.

Lily tossed the pillow aside and crawled over to Remus, and curled up lightly in his lap, holding on to his shirt tightly as she cried. “Why would he do that?” She questioned him between hiccups.

“I-I don’t know Lily,” Remus said rubbing her back lightly. Anger was flaring up inside of him, but he pushed it aside. He couldn’t keep fighting Sirius, and he didn’t want to upset Lily more. “Have you told any of the teachers?”

“No, I don’t want anyone to know,” Lily said quietly. “It’s too…embarrassing,” she said wiping her eyes.

“They wouldn’t judge you. What about Pomfrey? She legally can’t tell anyone if you tell her, but it someone you can talk to, and adult,” Remus offered looking down at her.

“Maybe,” Lily said before burying her head into Remus’ chest. She didn’t know what she would do without him. He was her best friend, and she always felt secure and safe around him. Lily nuzzled him lightly before closing her eyes, and relaxing a bit.

Remus didn’t say a word; instead he kissed the top of her head reassuringly, before laying his own head back on the bed post. He could feel her small frame begin to loosen, and felt the deep breathing of sleep. His food had long fallen asleep, but he didn’t move, not wanting to wake her.

Lily awoke sometime later to find herself still wrapped up in Remus’ arm. She squinted her eyes to see the time on the clock, but there was no moon so the light was dim, so she couldn’t see it. Lily looked up to see that Remus was asleep as well. Gently she untangled herself from her friend’s arms, and crawled up toward the pillows of her large bed.

He stirred when she moved out of his lap and rubbed his eyes as they adjusted to the darkness. “Hi,” he mumbled sleepily looking at her. She had been in the process of sliding under the sheets when he had awoken.

“Sorry I woke you up,” Lily said quietly as she sat looking at him, half under the covers.

“It’s alright,” Remus said tilting his head trying to stretch it out a bit since it had become stiff. “I should actually head to bed,” he replied moving to get off.

“Stay,” Lily said very quickly before blushing. “I mean…if you want. I would like you too,” she said watching him. It was by no means sexual, she just enjoyed his company, and felt safe with him around. He had been her friends since they were twelve, and he always stood up for her.

“No that’s fine, I’ll stay with you,” Remus said. He sat waiting to see where she wanted him to go, and when she patted the spot next to her, he suddenly felt awkward. He had always suppressed his feelings for Lily, but this was making it terribly hard to do.

He moved so he was parallel with Lily on the bed, he lay as far to the left as possible, without making it obvious. He rolled on his side and smiled at Lily and watched her smile back before closing her eyes. Remus watched her fall back asleep before slowly drifting off as well.

Lily was the first one awake that morning, and had to stifle a laugh. In the middle of the night it seemed that she and Remus had huddled together for warmth. She unwound her arm from his side, and pulled back from his grasp before sitting up, her feet dangling over the edge of the bed. She checked the time and saw that it was ten in the morning; it had been a while since she had slept in that late. Lily leaned back and shook Remus’ shoulder lightly. He had play practice in two hours. “Wakey wakey,” she said quietly.

“Five more minutes,” Remus muttered pulling the pillow over his head to block out the sunlight.

“No Reemy, time to get up,” Lily said shaking him once again. When he pulled the pillow off his head, she let go and just smiled at him. “Morning sleepy head. You have practice in two hours,” Lily said.

Remus had temporarily forgotten that he had spent the night with Lily, and he stared at her confused for a second. “Thanks for getting me up,” he replied throwing his legs over the edge of the bed. “I still need to shower and get lunch.”

“You’re welcome,” Lily said getting up from the bed. “Let me know how practice goes,” she said smiling as she walked him toward the door.

“I will, bye Lily,” Remus said walking out the door.

James had been reading by the fire, waiting to see if Lily would come out or not. He had been wondering how she had been since he had been awake. When he saw Remus come out looking half asleep, he couldn’t help but wonder if he had stayed the night.

“Hey Lily,” James said looking at her.

“Hey James,” she replied coming down the steps from her room. She took a seat on the armchair facing the couch. “What are you up to?”

He was a bit taken aback that she was actually initiating a conversation with him, but decided just to go with it. The last thing he wanted was her to be turned off from him once again. “Just relaxing a bit before rehearsal, are you going?”

“No,” Lily replied quietly as she picking at her sweat pants. “Next time I will be there is opening night at Hogsmeade. I can’t deal with seeing him right now,” she said looking back up at James.

“Understandable,” James said quietly before flipping a page in his muggle studies text book.

Lily looked at the fire as silence settled between them, suddenly her stomach let out a loud growl, and she blushed putting her hand over it. “Sorry,” she said when James looked up at her.

“No need to be sorry, did you eat at all today?” He asked her raising an eyebrow.

“No, I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday actually,” Lily replied sheepishly.

“Well I haven’t eaten today either. Anything in particular you want?” He asked her setting the book on the coffee table.

“You don’t have too…” Lily said then smiled, “I could go for some grilled cheese and soup. It is a rainy day after all.”

“Coming right up, I’ll be back in about ten minutes,” James said before getting up and heading out of the room. He was enjoying this friendship, if that is what you could call it, with Lily. It was much better than being enemies, and it was a step in the right direction.

Lily sat and waited patiently, holding her stomach as she did so. At the mention of food her body had starting acting up, she didn’t realize just how hungry she really was. She moved over to the couch since it would be easier to eat with the table there and waited.

“I don’t think I spilled a drop,” James said proudly as he walked into the room with a large covered tray, a jug of pumpkin juice, and two cups. He set everything down on the table, before taking a seat next to Lily on the couch and poured them a drink.

“Wow thanks,” Lily said with a smile as she took the cover off. There was two bowls of tomato soup, two grilled cheese sandwiches, and some crackers and cookies.

“Not a problem,” James said unrolling his napkin and grabbing the spoon to dig in. They ate mostly in silence, except for the crackling of the fire, and the patter of rain against the windows. He knew soon it was going to be cold enough for snow, which he was excited about.

“That was wonderful,” Lily said leaning against the couch, and laying her head back against it.

“Yeah, it hit the spot,” James agreed before rubbing his eyes with his fingers under his glasses. He was dying to ask her about Remus, but he decided against it.

“How was practice last night?” She asked him after a few moments. Truth was she missed not going, but she would not face Sirius.

“It went well, nothing out of ordinary…except Remus and Sirius got into a fight last night,” he saw the look on her face and quickly finished. “Not physical, just a verbal one, it ended quickly.”

“I wish none of it had happened…not just because it hurt me. It has taken a toll on your guys’ friendship,” Lily said looking over at James. “Remus and Sirius are at one another’s throats, and you haven’t tried to defend Sirius, and you and Remus are talking, so I take it you two are not getting along either,” Lily said indicating James and Sirius.

“I wish it didn’t either. I’m not worried too much about our friendship though, it will blow over. Yes Remus and I will always be mad he did that to you, but I am more worried about how what happened affected you,” James said meeting her gaze.

“I’ll get over it,” Lily said finally. “It is going to take a while, but I will. I will just chalk it up as a life experience, and move on.”

“The thing is you shouldn’t have to. It should not of happened in the first place,” James said watching her carefully.

Lily didn’t say anything; instead she looked out the window at the rain coming down.

“Just so you know the final fitting for costumes is Wednesday night after rehearsal,” James said. “The professor asked someone to let you know.”

“Alright, thank you. I will be there,” Lily replied. “I am just going to have to look like I am sick is all. Can you keep Sirius away from me in case he…” she began to finish.

“Of course,” James said looking at her.

The small clock chimed on the mantle indicating it was eleven thirty. He had promised Bridget that he would be there early to practice their dancing a bit more since she was not that nimble on her feet.

“I hate to, but I have to get going. Bridget begged me to get their early for some extra dance practice,” James said moving to get up from the couch.

“That’s fine,” Lily said though she was a bit disappointed. “I’ll see you later then,” she replied getting up from the couch as well and began to make her way to her room. “Bye, James.”

“Bye Lily,” James said watching her go over his shoulder.

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Remus was sitting in his seat, in his costume, which was a full body brown robe, with a light brown rope that was a belt. He had pulled up the oversized hood, and the glasses were on his face, though they were a bit askew. The only plus about this outfit was it kept him warm in the drafty great hall.

“Looks…nice…” James said smirking.

“Ha-ha,” Remus said sarcastically.

“What? You actually look your age, since you are a thirty year old stuck in a seventeen year olds’ body,” he joked, and avoided a friendly backhand from Remus.

“Well at least I don’t have to wear poufy pants and a weird looking vest,” Remus shot back teasingly.

“Point for you,” James said before disappearing back into the dressing room. He changed quickly, the pants were a bit big on him, but it would be figured out on Wednesday for final fitting. When he emerged he found Bridget, and they practiced their dance before rehearsal really began.

“I have a question,” James finally mustered as he and Remus sat behind stage waiting for Remus’ cue.

“What?” Remus asked as he looked out on the stage.

“Did you…uh…stay with Lily last night?” James asked him before looking out on the stage to avoid eye contact.

“Yeah, she asked me to, she didn’t want to be alone,” Remus said before turning to look at James. “Nothing happened.”

“That doesn’t matter,” James said though he was smiling on the inside and feeling much better.

“I know you still like her James, you can’t hide your feelings as well as you think you can,” Remus said before walking out on stage for his part before James could answer.