A/N: Another chapter. Not sure if anyone is really reading this, but one review and I squealed. So, have at it, wonderful people.

More often than not, May could be found with a quill in her hand and parchment on her lap. Letters to numerous family members, friends, essays to numerous teachers, and more recently, stories.

Though her life had been more than enough madness, she found comfort in the fiction world. There, children didn't die until they were old enough to live, people weren't limited by pointless illnesses, and the mind was full and whole if you wanted it to be.

Unlike herself. Unlike Remus. Unlike Brooke.

First day of classes seemed as boring as they ever did, so May sat behind the tallest person she could find and wrote.

To anyone else, it would look like a student concentrating on her work, but there had been marks on Vivi's arms that she wasn't sure her mother had noticed. So, letters.

"Psst."

May's eyes whipped up at the sound, though she was careful to make sure she gave no other indication.

"Psst."

When she was paying attention, she found the voice was coming from a patch of air to her right. She smirked.

"Psst. May."

She looked up at the precise place his head would be. "James, I'm in class. What do you want?"

A small snigger found its way to her ear. "Told you she'd figure it out," the voice of Remus Lupin said.

"Well, you were the one that told her," James Potter hissed back at him.

"She is an Animagus, and my sister. I figured she deserved to know," Remus shot.

James grumbled, but was silent.

"What do you guys want?" May said when she could talk without laughing.

"We're here to rescue you from the unsightly figure of Professor Binns," Remus said, a smile in his voice.

"Most brave and noble Marauders are your saviours!" James sang before the sound of a hand being slapped over a mouth.

"Okay, okay," May said quickly before James could get them in trouble. "Go ahead."

The odd almost-solid-air moved around the room. At some secret signal, things began flying into the air. Parchment, bags, ink, quills.

May took the hint, stuffed her things into her bag and took off out the door, stopping around three corridors, waiting for the other's to track her. She knew quite well how they could, seeing as she was one of them.

"So!" said the bright voice of James as he pulled off the Cloak with a flourish. "Time for hunting!"

"Hunting?" May repeated, a frightened edge in her voice.

James nodded happily. "Just no hunting me."

She held her hands up in an 'I-don't-know' gesture. "Can't control what I hunt."

"Then stay away from me."

"Alright then."

"Good."

"Glad that's all settled."

"I most certainly am."

"Out of curiosity," Remus broke in politely. "What exactly is your Animagus form?"

Her brows furrowed as she looked at her brother. "You don't remember? I was sure I told you…"

"It's an artic fox," James finished for her. Remus nodded, recalling his lost detail. "Pure and white. Just like your soul."

May reached over and flicked his ear. James yelped. "Shut it. Time to hunt."

"Where do you keep disappearing to, seriously?" an anxious Lily asked May a few weeks later.

"Around," she said evasively. "It's not important. What is, however, is how my dearest brother is progressing."

Lily looked confused for a moment before her face cleared. "I wish you wouldn't call Potter your brother. It's really confusing."

A light shrug. "Well, he's close enough. But you didn't answer my question."

Her eyes sought out the tall boy, sitting down the other end of the house table. He laughed, the sound making Lily flinch.

"I don't know."

In that sentence, May heard all of the insecurities that Lily drowned herself in. "It's okay to not be sure, you know."

"Do I?" Lily replied unhappily. "I talked with Mum. She said she knew straight away. And you seem so sure of yourself all the time, no matter who you're with. Why is it okay to not be sure how you feel?"

Taking a deep breath, May steadied herself. She knew she shouldn't have been giving the older girl advice, but something about how Lily spoke spurred her onwards. "Feelings aren't straight-forward. They can't be, or humans would be much simpler creatures. But we aren't, so they aren't. You feel what you feel, and that's it. But you can't force yourself to make a decision. Understanding will come when you know yourself better."

"And what if he asks me again, and I have no good answer?" she pressed, playing with her food.

"You say you need time," May replied evenly. "At least it will give you that. If he gets his hopes up, and you refuse, let me deal with that. But if you realise that you want it, then you'll be happy and everything's okay. But seriously, don't press yourself to make this decision. It will happen when it does."

With a shaky breath, Lily let her shoulders drop. "How do you make everything feel so much better?"

A smile graced May's lips. "I was born with all the answers."

The tension broke with Lily's laugh. "Right. So, how is everything else then?"

"Classes are okay," May said, picking up a few more potatoes. "The girls in my year are worse. I can't seem to get rid of them."

"Ah," Lily sighed. "The Terrible Trio."

"We've really got to stop calling them that," May said, resigned.

Lily laughed. "I disagree. It's very fitting."

Rolling her eyes, May replied. "I don't know what it is. They just seem to enjoy annoying me."

"You know what it is," Lily said, looking down her nose at May. "Your connections."

May silently moved her plate out of the way before letting her head drop on the table with an audible 'thump'. "Why am I stupid?"

"Pfft," Lily said, stealing a carrot stick from May's plate. "If you were any smarter, they'd move you up to my year."

"Now that would be fun."

"Not for the teachers."

James let his head loll. The fire was warm, the armchair comfortable, and he was starting to get sleepy.

With a sharp hiss, the portrait opened, admitting Sirius and his blonde, with a ragged-looking Remus trailing behind them, trying to talk to Sirius but having no wish to interrupt their conversation.

Catching his eye, James beckoned Remus over. "Why do you put up with him when he has one of those on his arm?"

Remus swallowed loudly. "I need to talk to you all about the next…" His eyes flicked towards the ceiling.

"Oh," James sighed, letting himself sink back into the chair. "Right."

"It's just…" he paused, looking around. Sirius and the girl, James made a mental note to actually ask her name, were otherwise occupied. "I don't think I'll be able to handle having May there."

"Bullshit."

Remus looked at James sharply.

"She's your sister," James said, a hard look in his eyes. "If anything, she'll calm you more than we can. I know your close to her, and you have that stupid worry that you'll hurt us, but foxes are fast, and there's snow on the ground. If you get out of hand, we can help, and she can hide. Calm, Remus."

Remus let his breath out, a hiss echoing around the common room. "I know I shouldn't worry, but if I bit her, I don't think I could-"

"And you think I could?" James asked incredulously. "I don't think any of us could live with ourselves if May got hurt. She seems to be the only one around here with any sanity, and everyone knows that's pretty hard to find. We're not going to let her get hurt. I promise."

"House honour?"

"House honour. Now, get to bed. You only have a few days now."

A slight noise, which James took as agreement, followed Remus up the stairs to the dormitory.

James barely had time to get comfortable again before the portrait opened again, this time allowing the subject of the previous conversation through the hole.

"Hey, James," May said as she held a small cloth to her right arm.

He frowned. "What's wrong with you, then?"

May smiled grimly before lifting the cloth. A large gash ran from her wrist to the crease of her elbow, and in the small time she had taken the cloth away, blood had gathered and dripped down to her fingers.

"Holy shit, May!" James cursed, leaping from his chair to her. She was pale, he noted in passing. "How did this happen?"

She lowered her voice. "I was hunting, and a hawk came out of nowhere. I lost form before it raked a talon down my arm. I'm normally better than that, but it scared me a bit."

James took the cloth from her, quickly cleaning it with his wand, before leading her back to the chair and pushing on her shoulders. She sat with a 'hmph' before letting him press the cloth against the wound again.

Her head fell back, brown curls spilling over the back of the chair. "It doesn't hurt too much now, but I think it's pretty deep."

Letting a corner fall, James examined the cut. Pulling the edges slightly apart, James caught a glimpse of muscle before blood welled again.

"Goddamn it, May," he growled, but she didn't answer. Panicked, he looked up at her to see her eyes closing fast.

"Sirius!" he shouted, pulling his best friend's attention from the girl in his lap. "I couldn't care less what you're doing, come help me!"

Grumbling, Sirius left what's-her-name in the corner before seeing the pale form of May. "What the hell?"

"She lost a lot of blood," James said quickly, casting a Temporary Sticking Charm on the cloth. "Help me get her to Madame Pomfrey."

With one arm over each shoulder, James and Sirius carried the almost-unconscious May to the hospital wing.

A/N: Let me know what you think!