"What exactly did you do yesterday?" Lily asked Ivory, curiosity seeping through her voice.

Ivory shrugged. "I told you, I was with the boys."

Lily raised her eyebrows so high that they seemed to disappear in her hairline. "So... just to be absolutely sure... you were with James, Sirius, Remus and Peter?"

"Well, Evie, I wasn't aware that there was anyone else we referred to as 'the boys'."

"Oh, you know what I mean!" said Lily, playfully swatting her best friend's arm as they walked behind Alice and Marlene, towards the Great Hall. "You spent some quality time with them, did you?" She smirked. "May I ask what exactly you did? Where did they bring you?"

Ivory gave the redhead a pointed look. "It's a secret," she responded evasively, not entirely keen on revealing the boys' secrets to her; she felt like it was confidential. Lily definitely knew some of their secrets, but there were many things about them that she hadn't yet picked up on, or that they hadn't told her.

"So you have secrets with them now?" Lily asked, amused.

"As a matter of fact, yes, I suppose I do have secrets with them now. But don't become too jealous, Lils. You'll always be my best friend... my fifth best friend."

"Good—wait, fifth?!" the redhead exclaimed.

"Well, yeah; since yesterday, the four boys have somehow moved up on my best friend list," Ivory told her.

Lily laughed and gently shoved Ivory forward, knowing that she was only joking. She was happy to see her friend being somewhat her old self.

As the girls arrived at the Great Hall, Ivory suddenly slowed down her walking and began to hang back. Her eyes swept over the Hall and settled on the Gryffindor table. The large room was loud as students talked and laughed over breakfast. Watching her fellow Gryffindors, Ivory began swaying slightly on her feet and her head felt foggy. Lily noticed and was at her side again, giving her an encouraging smile.

It didn't make Ivory feel any better. She didn't want to see anyone, didn't want to have to face anyone. She just wanted to hide out in her room and not have to face her life ever again.

No, she couldn't... She had to be strong, and in a second she was reaching into her bag and pulling her notebook out. Running her hands over the cover of the small book, she felt as though it was anchoring her to the ground and she followed Lily towards her seat. Lily made a beeline straight for where the Marauders, Alice and Marlene were already sitting.

Lily brushed past James so that he'd turn to look at her. Smiling brightly at him, her emerald eyes shining with affection, she leaned forward and kissed his cheek. She was the only person in existence who could make James Potter blush.

James Potter and Lily Evans had come a long way. From first year, Lily had absolutely despised the boy. Though James had pined for her since setting eyes on her, he had had an odd way of showing it. He had taken to mocking and bullying Lily's best friend, Severus Snape, who was in Slytherin. In fifth year, there had been a very bad incident involving James and Snape; Lily had tried to defend Snape. That had ended badly and Lily and Snape's friendship was severed. Snape had gone down the wrong path and would soon become a Death Eater if he wasn't already.

Since the bullying incident with Snape, James Potter had changed substantially. He had slowly weaselled his way into Lily's heart by proving to her that he was more than an arrogant toerag. She soon learned that the bespectacled boy had a heart of gold. It hadn't hurt that the two had become Head Boy and Girl together, forcing them to spend much more time together.

Their relationship had only begun a few weeks ago, once they had both stopped being hard-headed idiots and denying their feelings (especially Lily). It had taken many years, many tears and sudden realizations, many heartfelt conversations, many acts of kindness on James's part to show that he had actually changed for the better; but in the end, Lily Evans had been the first to kiss him.

By now, something had changed in the way she looked at him, and anyone could see by looking at the couple that they were in love.

James, still slightly red in the face, whispered something to Lily, causing her to frown and glance sideways at Ivory. She looked back at her boyfriend and shook her head lightly. Ivory knew immediately that they were talking about her; James was probably asking if she was feeling any better. But how could she feel better? How would she ever be better?

Without looking anyone in the eye, Ivory walked around the table and sat directly across from Remus. She could feel his gaze fixated on her, but she didn't look up for the longest time.

She pressed her palm into the cover of her notebook, hearing the familiar sound of the lock clicking over the noise in the Great Hall. Ivory pulled out a quill and some ink and began writing again, because it was the only thing keeping her sane and as far away from reality as possible. She ignored the conversations going on around her: she ignored Sirius complaining about Peter stealing bacon from his plate; she ignored James dotting Lily's nose with peanut butter and Lily whacking him on the arm; she ignored Marlene cooing about how cute James and Lily were together and telling anyone who'd listen that she'd definitely be alone forever. She ignored all of the background noise and simply wrote. Ivory could feel a lump forming in her throat as she read over what she was writing. Her words became somewhat blurred together with tears, but Ivory was able to blink them away so they wouldn't fall and smudge her writing.

When she was satisfied with what was written and finally glanced at Remus to see he was still watching her, she asked him, "What?"

He blinked a few times and looked away from her, muttering awkwardly to himself, "Nothing. Sorry."

Ivory stared back at him, deciding she had taken quite an abrupt tone without meaning to. She caught his eye and tried to give him a small, reassuring smile—she could tell he was worried about her. It didn't seem to reassure him at all, though.

Soon, he was pushing a plate of food towards her. "Eat, Ivory," he instructed.

As she looked down at the food, a wave of nausea rolled over her and she found that she could not so much as look at it. The smell of food was making her feel sick to her stomach.

Shaking her head profusely, she said to Remus, "I'm not hungry today." She pushed the plate of food away from her and hugged her notebook to her chest.

What had happened to human instinct? It was human instinct to feel hunger. She had felt hunger yesterday, she had eaten a huge plate of breakfast that morning. Why was it so much worse today?

"Ivory, come on, you're going to make yourself sick," Remus reasoned.

"No, I'm going to be sick right now if I eat any of it," Ivory answered.

Remus pushed the plate back to her. "Please. I'm just saying this because I care, you know. You can't just not eat. You won't be able to function all day. Besides, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. At least have a bite."

"I'll only eat if you feed me," she said sarcastically, trying to force another smile. Internally, Ivory cursed herself for always using sarcasm to cover up what she was really feeling.

However, Remus wouldn't hear of it. He seemed to take what she was saying literally. He picked up her fork and scooped some egg onto it, lifting it up to her with raised eyebrows.

Ivory felt her heart palpitating; she reached forward and covered Remus's hand (the one holding the fork) with hers. His eyes burned into her eyes, then softened. He looked quite sad as he stared back at her. The fork shook slightly as his hand began quivering for some reason. Ivory lowered the fork to the plate, taking it out of his hand.

She didn't want to eat right now. She wasn't hungry in the least.

She just wanted his hands to warm hers. So she made him set the fork down before gripping tighter onto his hand and interlacing their fingers.