Lily sulked in the library for a few hours after leaving Severus. She had no desire to return to the Gryffindor common room, only to be confronted by James and his friends. Having heard Severus's side of the story, she believed him, of course, but she was itching to know Sirius's side as well. It wasn't that she didn't believe Severus; she just wanted to hear from Sirius's own mouth the recounting of the awful things he had told Severus so she could then promptly make Sirius feel sorry for what he had done.

Unfortunately, her visit to the infirmary would have to wait. James had mentioned no one being allowed to visit Sirius, but Lily figured if she waited long enough, maybe she would be permitted into the hospital wing to demand answers from Sirius.

A part of her didn't blame Severus for reacting the way he had, but his use of Dark Magic scared her. She loved him and had come to understand him better than ever this past year, but she was still frightened by what his anger could evoke. She shuddered at the thought of being on the receiving end of his magic, not that she would ever do anything intentionally to hurt him, but still... Lily wondered what was going through his mind right now, and since she knew him so well, Lily knew without a doubt that Severus was beating himself up over what he had done, even if it was to a bad-mouthing bastard like Sirius Black.

Finally, deciding she had had enough of waiting, Lily left the library and headed toward the infirmary. When she entered, she found Sirius lying on one of the beds near the door. He was awake, and Madam Pomfrey was talking quietly to him. Frowning, knowing she couldn't berate Sirius in front of the matron, Lily stepped into the room.

Madam Pomfrey heard the disturbance and turned her head to see who had entered. "May I help you, Miss Evans?" she asked politely, although guardedly.

"Er, I... just wanted to see how Bl- Sirius was doing," she stated levelly, not wanting to give away her true feelings.

"That's kind of you, dear," Madam Pomfrey replied skeptically, "but he's being discharged. I'm checking him over right now. Why don't you step into my office, as Mr. Black needs his privacy?"

Lily nodded, wondering why Madam Pomfrey simply hadn't asked her to leave and wait up for Sirius back in the Gryffindor common room. She complied and entered Madam Pomfrey's office, which was near the door to the infirmary. Lily cast a quick glance at Sirius, who avoided looking at her, but his expression was dark. As Lily entered the office, she could only imagine the fury that must be bubbling just below the surface in Sirius's mind. Wondering if Madam Pomfrey had some motive for keeping her, Lily walked the short length of the office. She was about to take a seat when her gaze fell upon two files on the mediwitch's desk. Sirius Black's file was out, of course, but oddly enough, so was Severus Snape's... and it was open.

Unable to help herself, Lily approached the desk, glancing quickly toward the door. Seeing that Madam Pomfrey was still otherwise occupied with Sirius, Lily's eyes travelled over the top piece of parchment in Severus's file. It was dated from the previous year, and Lily knew it referred to the Shrieking Shack incident, the one where Severus had vehemently claimed Sirius had tried to kill him. With a small gasp, Lily read that Lupin was a werewolf. Thankfully, Severus had only received a couple of scratches, probably more from crawling through the tunnel than from Lupin, and the trauma of the shock from the whole encounter, but what Severus had insisted about Lupin was true.

Lily chanced another glance at the door, and when she saw that Madam Pomfrey was nowhere nearby, she pushed aside the top paper and read the following one. Shocked by how many records of injury there were in his file, Lily realized Severus hadn't told her about most of the times when he had been injured due to the Marauder's so-called pranks or the Dark Magic his own supposed friends had practiced on him. Lily noticed Madam Pomfrey's scrawls on several of the records.

Poor boy was a right mess, but headmaster didn't think it necessary to severely punish Gryffs.

Woke up in middle of night to crying. Mental/emotional damage far worse than physical.

Again. His "friends" (as he calls them) did this to him. Had another talk with Dumbledore.

Tears forming in her eyes, Lily couldn't read any more of the reports of Severus's many stays in the infirmary. She remembered all the times she had grown angry with him for hanging around with the wrong crowd and blaming his friends and him for being unfairly cruel toward other students with their Dark Magic. She clearly recalled how she didn't believe his accusations that Lupin was a dangerous monster. She truly had no idea that he had been in the infirmary so frequently in his six years at Hogwarts. Smiling sadly, Lily knew that was Severus's pride that had kept him from admitting what he would have seen as a weakness.

Just then, Madam Pomfrey's kindly voice said from behind, "How is Severus doing?"

With a small gasp of surprise, Lily faced the older woman. "He's... you know, he's..." She couldn't lie. She wouldn't say he was fine, because he obviously wasn't.

"I'm sure he's hating himself for what he's inadvertently done to Mr. Black, but Mr. Black will be fine. They both will. You know as well as I do that your friend is stronger than he realizes."

"Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?" Lily asked.

Madam Pomfrey nodded, taking a seat. "He won't listen to reason from most, but he will listen to you, dear. I trust you've already seen him?"

Lily nodded slightly. Her eyes darted to the file on the desk, and she blurted, "Is Remus Lupin really a werewolf?"

The moment the words left her mouth, Lily wanted desperately to pull them back in again. Madam Pomfrey appeared momentarily shocked and annoyed, but she then sighed, saying, "Yes, I trust you couldn't resist your curiosity and so read Mr. Snape's file?"

"Yes," Lily said guiltily. "It's just that... He's been through so much, Madam Pomfrey, and I had no idea it was this bad until I saw everything in his file. I'm sorry for looking, but I had to know, you know? I... I care about him, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. He did use Dark Magic..."

"Yes, he did, but you know him, Miss Evans. You probably know more about him than I do, what with growing up together and knowing his home life. All you can do is be a friend, a true friend. That's a rare thing."

"I'll try, but sometimes I feel like I just can't do enough to help," Lily said forlornly, continuing to feel guilty for not believing him so many times in the past.

"You do far more than you realize, child. Now, it's getting late, and you'd best return to your common room. I'm sure you're longing to give Mr. Black a good piece of your mind." Madam Pomfrey winked and smirked.

Unable to help from smiling, Lily released a choked laugh and wished the mediwitch a good evening. As she returned to the common room, she felt better in some ways and worse in others. How could she approach Severus in the following days? If Severus had been telling the truth about Lupin, what else had she refused to believe before?