James stared up at the dark ceiling, listening to Peter and Sirius' snoring. He always had a hard time falling asleep, but he figured he had to get his sleep schedule in order if he wanted to play qudditch next year, which he certainly did.

Still awake, he saw someone open the curtains of his four poster. He grabbed his wire rimmed glasses and put them on to see Remus in front of him.

"Hey, Remus. Can't sleep either?"

"Nah, figured you were up too. Wanna go down to the common room?"

The messy-haired boy nodded and opened his curtain wider, stepping into slippers and out of his bed. Both boys were wearing pajamas, but nobody is typically downstairs at this hour anyways.

The common room had only two other people in it, a boy and a girl on a corner sofa. These two were so involved with each other however, they didn't seem to realize they now had company. Remus sat on an arm chair, James laying on the sofa next to it.

The air felt stiff and uncomfortable as the two sat in silence. "So...Remus."

"James."

"How's your, erm, furry little problem?"

Remus stared at James for a moment in disbelief. At first James thought he took it too far, until a bellowing laugh erupted from his friend. The kind of laugh that James had never heard the boy make. The careless, genuine kind. Neither of them cared about the couple in the room or if they got yelled at for waking people up.

"As good as can be expected. Nobody other than you has confronted me about it yet. And no bad injuries recently. " James could tell Remus was holding back, he always held back when he talked about this. But this is better than when he would go pale and change the subject every time James checked on him.

"Pomfrey doing her job, then?"

Remus smiled. "Very well. It's so different than with my dad, she really knows what she's doing."

James was surprised. Remus hardly ever talked about his dad. "Your dad didn't?" Remus just shrugged. Not wanting to miss one of the only chances he had to learn about his friend, James kept going. "What about your mum? You never really talk about them."

There was a small silence. Had James said the wrong thing? "My mum's name was Hope. She was Welsh. She wasn't magic. She was always good at helping me, though." James didn't say anything. "She passed a few years back. It was weird for awhile, like we hadn't been part of wizarding society since I-" Remus cut himself off, looking down. "But then it was as if we weren't part of anything. We just sort of stayed home."

James, uncharacteristically, was at a loss for words. Remus hardly ever spoke about himself, but alone in the common room he seemed, somehow, different. "She sounds lovely."

"Yeah, she was."

Feeling he ought not to pry any further, James changed the subject. "So, what've you been reading lately?"

Remus looked skeptical. "Why? You never read."

The curly-haired boy feigned offense, clutching his heart. "I will have you know that comics absolutely count as reading!"

Remus laughed. "How? It's pictures!"

"Yeah, pictures with sizeable text blocks! You're just jealous that you have to imagine what your characters look like, while I simply open it up."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Remus replied.

"Apparently nothing helps me sleep at night, as we're both down here a ruddy three hours before we're supposed to be up." James rubbed his eyes.

"You raise a good point there. We should probably get back to bed."

James sat there, resuming his usual blank staring. Soon, his mind was racing. He thought about Remus, whether other people knew. He knew Sirius didn't, there was no way he would be able to act so clueless. Peter didn't seem to know, either. His thoughts traveled to Lily.

When Remus had left class during the boggart lesson. Only a few had noticed. Lily not only noticed, but followed him out. Had Remus told her? Did she figure it out? He expected she'd be able to hide her knowledge well, and as a muggleborn she likely wouldn't have the same problem with werewolves most wizards have. She wasn't like that, anyways. She was too decent to have that kind of prejudice. Lily was above all of that, James knew it from the moment he saw her. She was different.

But someone else had noticed Remus' exit as well. Snape. James felt a sour expression cross his face. What did Lily see in that trout? How could she be friends with someone like that? If Lily knew about Remus, and she trusts him as she seems to, what's stopping her from telling him? The last thing Remus needs is all of Slytherin house knowing. He'd be shunned, or worse. There's a reason no werewolves work at the school. Nobody wants to be around them, even in human form. Remus could be expelled if someone opened their mouth.

Anger rose in his chest, thinking back to Snape. He could ruin lives so easily. All he did was pick on people, but Lily still likes him. Did that wanker even understand how lucky he was? To be friends with one of the nicest, prettiest, most intelligent--

Damn. Morning light shone in through the hole in James' curtains. He needed to stop thinking about Snape, stop thinking about Remus, and stop thinking about Lily. He rolled over and closed his eyes.

He couldn't stop thinking about Lily.

♡♡♡

Professor Binns, doing exam review like all of the professors, droned on and on about goblins, causing James to drift closer and closer to sleep. He wondered if Binns was always this boring or if it was a side effect of death.

He leaned close to Sirius. "You wanna see how long it takes for him to notice us imitating him?"

Sirius grinned. "Of course."

"This is when Ranrok began to grow a following."

James' face dulled as he looked forward, mouthing the professor's words.

"It is important to note that his followers were..." James lost track of what Binns was saying as Sirius took it a step further, taking James' glasses and pulling back his hair to imitate the bespeckled, balding ghost. James struggled to contain his laughter, snorting as he put a hand over his mouth. This caused a huff from behind them, grabbing their attention.

Both Severus and Lily looked annoyed, the latter writing and the former glaring at them. "Quit it, some of us actually want to pass our finals," Snape hissed.

"Bugger off, we're just joking around. Y'know what that is, Snivellous? A joke?" Sirius shot back in a hushed tone, matching the distasteful look on the Slytherin's face.

"All of you, quit it. I'm trying to take notes," Lily whispered, not looking up.

James smirked. "You heard the lady. Quiet down."

Severus' face grew red as he turned his face back to his notes, scribbling angrily.

Getting an idea, James grabbed his quill, attempted to slick down his messy hair, and mimicked the boy behind him. Sirius laughed silently, and James heard Peter chuckle quietly as well. Lily didn't react.

James waited for Severus to make a noise or whisper at him. However, he did neither, he simply muttered something James didn't understand.

But when he turned to Severus to ask what he said, he stopped, struggling. All that came out of his mouth was muffled as his tongue was firmly fixed to the roof of his mouth. It wasn't going away. He saw a cocky smirk on the face of the boy behind him and his anger festered.

"You're lucky the school year is almost over, snake," James said, or rather tried to say. Lily looked up at the noise, glancing at the two of them and the confused Sirius, gaining understanding of the situation.

"Honestly, Sev, you're better than this." She looked disappointed, diminishing the smile Severus wore before and going back to her notes on what the oblivious Binns was talking about.

James felt his own anger diminish slightly, smiling a closed, sarcastic smile and turning back around. But he still felt the urge to throttle Severus. He made himself a promise. He was going to get back at Snivellous next year, no matter what. Mark his words, that slippery freak won't know what hit him.

A/N

Thanks so much for reading! I know I've been super inactive but that's bc I've been working on another story I can't wait to share. Hope you enjoyed the second to last chapter of their first year!