4Lily softly creped out of the dark nursery. she had just managed to get one year old Harry to sleep and she wanted him to stay that way. It had been a difficult task to do, with Harry's father and god-father riling him up right before bed time.
The mother shook her head slowly with amusement. She didn't blame the two marauders for acting up for it was almost Halloween. It was a pity that Harry wasn't old enough to celebrate with the rest of the family, but he wouldn't understand all the hoopla and would just be cranky the next morning. Though it was not Halloween yet the Potter family had decided to hold it a week early, for they would soon be going into hiding and who knew when James and Lily would see their friends again?
The small gathering included Sirius, Harry's godfather, and Peter, one of the Potter's school friends. Their other friend Remus had not been invited.
Lily frowned at the thought of Remus. James, Peter and Sirius were all convinced that their old school chum was betraying them. Lily thought back to the last conversation she and her husband had about the werewolf.
James paced the floor agitated while Peter and Lily watched.
"I know you don't like it Prong's" Peter said "But you have to admit he has been acting weird lately. And you can't forget he is a werewolf at the end of the day. Look at how the Ministry is treating werewolf's since the war began? I certainly wouldn't blame him for being enchanted by the other side. "
James look resigned and didn't say anything.
"And we know that there is a traitor in the Order, and who else could it be?" Peter went on when James stayed silent.
Lily had said nothing during that conversation. She had silently agreed with Peter, but saying that would be redundant and would only hurt James more than he had already been – who lily knew found betrayal the worst blow a friend, could deliver. Though Lily knew that James did not want to imagine his close friend a betrayer, with his son's life hanging in the balance, Lily knew that James would not take the chance that Remus was really innocent; and soon did all he could to keep Remus away from his young son. And when the Potters would go into hiding in a few days, Remus would be kept under the allusion that Sirius would be the secret keeper as had been planned – "all the better for the dark lord to get the wrong message about who the real secret keeper is" Peter had said – and though Lily mourned the loss of a once good friend, Remus' relationship was not the first casualty of the war they all fought in; and it wouldn't be the last.