The small black cat kept stride with a small eleven year old girl in a dark red hooded cloak. On the girls other side trotted an equal sized reddish brown cat. She was quiet and kept her head down as she entered the common room of Gryffindor Tower. Several of the girls turned to watch her walk past the crowd and up the staircase. One of them directed a male friend to stand on the steps so they would turn into a slide. The black cat jumped to her shoulder and the red cat jumped into her arms. She stood on the banister until the stairs returned to normal. When the girl reached her room, she pulled the bed curtains closed and cast a protection charm.

In the morning, the girl found the contents of her trunk sprawled all over the common room. Someone had cast a sticking charm on her trunk, which was now attached to the ceiling. With a sad sigh, the girl began gathering her belongings. So she could better assess the room, she pulled her hood down. Her hair was dark brown, almost black, and in ringlet curls. The cats gathered clothing items as she recovered her books. Soft footsteps sounded on the balcony. A tired brown-haired boy stopped in his tracks.

"A-Altair?" he asked. She froze and turned around slowly. "What happened?" she shook her head slowly.

"It's okay, Remus." Altair spoke quietly. "I'll be in fourth year Potions and Charms next year." He nodded. "It's my own fault. Machiavelli…" the black cat was about to sharpen his claws on a couch.

"It isn't a bad thing you're excelling, but why is your stuff strewn about?"

"The others did it. I'll pick it up." He sighed.

"If you would hang out with us-"

"Thank you, but the Marauders are gods. I would be subject to more of this." she swept her arm around the room. One of her books was in the fireplace. Luckily, it had been charmed invincible along with the others. She retrieved it. Her red cat took her wand from behind a bookcase. "Thank you Siriet."

"You're welcome." she replied. Altair flicked her wand and summoned her clothes and books.

"Will you be okay over Christmas break?"

"Will you be okay next week?"

"What?"

"Full moons are bad for one's health, you know." Remus shook his head.

"I understand you don't want to talk about it, but-"

"Chocolate will help your moon-sickness." She pulled her hood back up. Someone else graced them with his presence.

"Moony, what in the name of sanity are you doing up? It's not even six…."

"Trying to convince Altair-"

"I would suggest these, myself." A box floated to Remus. Inside were chocolate frogs, truffles, and a small stack of Germany imported candy bars. "Keep it." She flicked her wand, and the black leather and walnut trunk fell from the ceiling.

"What's that for?" Sirius asked.

"Moon-sickness." Remus replied. Altair waved her wand again. The clothes re-folded themselves while the books lined up, alphabetized. Altair sealed the trunk with a NeverOpen spell, and put an EverStick charm between it and the wall.

"Mac, Sir, come on." She walked through the painting.

"Now that's one weird girl."

"You, at one time, had the capacity to become just like her. She never had friends."

"For as big of a mystery that girl is, you sure know a lot about her." Sirius said. "Do some summer stalking, did we?" he winked. Remus sighed tiredly.

"For petesake, we lived near each other."

"Who's Pete?"

Altair Morten despised everything about herself, but accepted it with a somber realization that these things could not be changed. She was pureblooded, highly intelligent, and very much disliked by every one. Aside from the two cats who accompanied her, Remus Lupin was the only person who she might dare to call a friend. For different reasons, his parents were less than happy with him, and he was less than pleased with himself. She had never straight out asked if he was a werewolf, but for years Altair had known. She was an animagus, but something had gone wrong somewhere, because she had more than one animal form. Yet another trait to add to her "Differences" list. Her skin accepted no tanning, and her hair accepted no dye or styling attempt. When face to face with someone else, her most noticeable trait was the colour of her eyes. Purple. Not violet or indigo, but half-red-half-blue purple.

"At least I'll never have a stalker." she said out loud. Altair walked through the Forbidden Forest, trying to find the talking wild dog she had become acquainted with.

"Right next to a mountain

There once was a hill

Where lived a young wolf-dog

Who wrote out his will.

The rest said he was crazy;

Death's not there so soon.

They called his mind hazy,

Him, a ranting buffoon.

When he had died

Nobody knew

So nobody cried

Not even his crew."

"Siriet," the black cat said, "do you have to sing that depressing song?"

"No." she replied. "But I do." Altair smiled. None of them could find the wild dog.

"Al, it's nearly seven. Shouldn't we be headed to Transfiguration?"

"No, Mac. I don't feel like going."

"Sirius," Remus whispered. Surius's head snapped up and looked around. "Sleeping again?"

"Why did you wake me? I was on a date with Cassandra and Kathryn!" he whispered back.

"The Mayrne twins? Some on, Sir, at least pick someone with half a brain!"

"That's the beauty of it! Between them both, they have about half a brain!"

"Be ser-" Remus stopped and cleared his throat. Sirius raised his eyebrows in amusement at his friend's half-finished pun. "Look, it's almost eight."

"Thirty-two minutes and I'm free to go." McGonagall turned toward her class.

"This weekend's homework is a five page essay on the pros and cons of human Transfiguration." The class groaned.

"Yes, thirty-two minutes left, and Altair isn't here."

"So?"

"Not everyone skips class simply because it's Friday." Remus said irritated. Altair showed up halfway through her next period Charms with no explanation. The professor didn't really expect one. She was present in History of Magic, and Potions. All four Marauders had Defense Against the Dark Arts together. Remus caught up to the hooded figure.

"Hey, what happened earlier? You weren't in Transfiguration."

"I know."

"Are you okay?"

"I just didn't feel like going. Maybe it was the air of a Friday." Remus laughed.

"Now you sound like Sirius." he saw his three other friends ahead of them. "Do you know what we're doing today?"

"Hn. I know what I'm doing today." she said.

"What's that mean?"

"I'm going to the Forbidden Forest. My mother sent me a letter this morning. She's tearing out my garden to put in a spa treatment center for their family that's coming out this summer."

"So where does the forest fit into this?"

"I need some ingredients for a few spells, and I can only get them there. Not to mention Devil's Snare seeds." Remus momentarily looked horrified. His walking paused. The Marauders and Altair looked back at him.

"Altair! You've never taken revenge on anyone!"

"Don't think of it as 'revenge'. Think of it as 'time-released justice'. Anyway, my garden is all the way across the property. She's going out of her way to destroy the only thing I take joy in. Like your mother locking you up without visitors, or…"

"I get the idea." Remus didn't want to think about that.

"Anyway, once she tears it up, she'll abandon the idea and build it closer to the house. In four years, I can move in with Lyrae." Altair walked straight past the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. She was present in the next class, Care for Magical Creatures, and Hagrid let her play with the Fire Spidrens. She scared the hell out of half the class, having the spider-like creatures weave elaborate designs only to burn them up. One was a trellis walkway that passed over the students. The year ended sooner than most would have liked. Altair, Siriet, and Machiavelli departed from the train station and disappeared. No one expected to see her or her cats until the second year began.