Chapter Text
Sirius Black certainly wasn’t who Lily would’ve chosen as a companion, in any situation. It felt strange to admit that she’d rather be working with James, but in this instance it was painfully true.
Especially when Sirius seemed to be undergoing intense brooding.
“We’ll find him,” she found herself saying. It was as if, deep down, she knew the source of his discontent lay in Remus. In a way separate from the others.
She expected a clever jibe after that, but instead was greeted with more silence as they manoeuvred their way around the undergrowth. It weighed on her far heavier than a sassy remark would have.
“You were never like this at school,” she finally forced herself to say, just so that some words cut through the silence. “At least, I never saw you like this.”
Sirius kicked a twig. “And what would ‘this’ be?”
“Brooding. I hate to say it but you almost remind me of Severus when your expression looks like that.” She suppressed a smile when she saw the instant outrage flicker on Sirius’ face.
“I don’t care how much James likes you, if you ever say anything like that again I’ll hex you,” he threatened, but his tone was far lighter. It was a relief to Lily, like a weight off her chest.
They traversed in silence again for a while, but it was comfortable. There was one thing he’d said that was playing on Lily’s mind like a broken record, and she bit her tongue in uncertainty over whether to mention it.
“You said James likes me?” She asked, her face growing warm at the words. “Is that-”
The sensation of Sirius’ hand on her arm made Lily jump. He stepped in front of her, face partially serious again. “Look Lily, it’s no secret he used to be infatuated with you. But I think what he feels now is more… professional respect.”
Lily certainly wasn’t disappointed to hear him say that- James’ crush had always been a nuisance after all. Still, she frowned slightly. Professional respect wasn’t exactly friends, although she wasn’t sure why friendship was so important all of a sudden.
“I feel the same towards him,” she said, nodding. “Professional respect. It’s very important in our line of work.”
Sirius cocked an eyebrow, the hint of a smile tugging at his lips. “Ah yes. Alien hunting. The most respectable of all professions.”
Lily sighed, although she was pleased with how that had gone. “Let’s focus on finding Remus.” She left the rest of her thoughts unspoken. That it was very likely it was too late to save him from the curse of a werewolf. Those words were swallowed and lay like a brick in her stomach.
Of course, they’d have to find the werewolf who went on a rampage as well. It was turning out to be an awful lot of trouble.
“You know what?” She asked Sirius after a few more minutes of inspecting their surroundings with little results.
His head snapped up, probably hopeful she’d found something. “What?”
“This is still better than my sister’s par-” her sentence cut off abruptly and her eyes widened. Lily stopped in her tracks and held a hand out to stop Sirius, bile rising in her throat.
“Oh god,” she whispered. “Holy… shit, shit, shit.” Lily never usually swore like that- it was very muggle of her- and yet she found she couldn’t stop herself as she stared at the pool of blood in front of them. The world seemed to stop.
“Language,” Sirius whispered hoarsely. When Lily turned towards him he was as pale as freshly fallen snow, looking as if he was mere seconds away from collapsing.
“We need to follow this and see where it goes.” Lily had to force the words out through gritted teeth. She really didn’t want to see what lay at the end, and even worse was the prospect of dealing with Sirius when they faced the inevitable.
As they stumbled like two zombies, following the smearing of blood across the undergrowth, Lily found it ridiculous that her worst fear had been Remus being bitten. Now she was praying he was afflicted with lycanthropy; it was difficult but it was better than him being dead.
Finally, the trees began to thin a little leading to a clearing. Lily’s throat went dry, and she swore she heard something like a whimper from Sirius as they approached a lump slumped in the middle, covered in crimson.
“Fuck!” Sirius yelped, and the sound was followed by a relieved sob as he collapsed to the ground next to Lily. Because the bloody creature wasn’t a wizard, it was a half eaten muntjac. The sight wasn’t pretty, but it was far better than expected.
“This is good,” Lily sighed, awkwardly rubbing Sirius’ shoulder before helping him back to his feet. He gave her an appreciative smile. “Although it confirms that a werewolf is behind this.”
Sirius took a deep breath. “I never doubted that. Look, there’s something we haven’t been telling you that I think-”
He never got to finish his sentence, because a new figure stumbled into the clearing, falling into a heap by the bloody remains of the muntjac.
“Padfoot,” it groaned, a hand outstretched.
Sirius was by his side in an instant, his face a mixture of relief and concern. From this distance Lily couldn’t make out if Remus had any significant marks on him, but she could tell he wasn’t in a good shape. Bruises had begun to appear on his face like a dusting of violet across his cheekbones.
“It’s alright,” Sirius soothed him. “You’ll be fine. Everything is fine. Lily! Come help pick him up.”
She stepped over the corpse and bent down towards Remus’ other side. “Hey,” she said warmly, brushing back some of his hair. “We need to get you back to the Shrieking Shack so I can look at you properly. Do you think you can get up with some help?”
Remus blinked wearily, as if his eyes were only just adjusting to the world. “Lily Evans?” He asked, sounding surprised. “My fool of a friend didn’t drag you into this did he?”
“I wanted to help find you,” she assured him. “We were all very worried.”
Remus looked up at Sirius then, and the glance they exchanged was so intimate Lily felt she had to look away.
With a little effort they managed to slump Remus across the two of them so he could be carried comfortably out of the woods. The walk back was relatively silent. When Lily glanced at Sirius and saw how moist his eyes were she decided not to mention it.
The Shrieking Shack was empty when they returned. Sirius draped Remus across the sofa but Lily just shook her head and cleared the table of their crap with one flick of her wand.
“He needs to go on there so I can check him,” she ordered, undergoing a swift transition into a medic. “You can go and get the other boys whilst I deal with Remus.”
Sirius’ brows furrowed and he angrily pointed a finger at her. “You can’t barge in here and give orders. This is our den, not yours.”
“Sirius,” Remus groaned, slumping further into the sofa. The blood from the muntjac had gotten all over him, and was now being smeared across the shack. Or at least Lily hoped it was just muntjac blood.
“Well actually as an official associate of James,” she declared, “I think I have ownership of the ‘den’ as well. And enough authority to tell you to get your act together before your friend succumbs to whatever injuries he has.”
The mere mention of Remus succumbing was enough; panic flared in Sirius’ eyes. Grumbling, he made his way towards the door. Before he left he gave Remus one glance.
“Don’t tell her anything you don't want to, Moony,” he said darkly before leaving.
Lily realised moments too late she’d forgotten to ask him to help her move Remus.