Sorry I haven't updated in a while, haven't had the time for much at all really. There will be a lot of updates over the next week or so, as I have most of the story written I just haven't had internet access for a while to post anything. So be ready.

From Gemmortia

A half an hour later I heard the door open and four sets of footsteps stumble into the room. One went straight to the stairs and up to the boy's common room and the other three stopped near the tables and I heard chairs shuffling across carpet and bodies plopping down into them. I was out of view with the couch covering my position on the ground from the people that I assumed were James, Sirius and Remus as they were the only ones I passed when heading back here from the library. Then I heard a voice start to speak. "I've never heard her speak before. It was strange."

It was James and he spoke in a whisper, but since the common room was empty I could hear what they were saying clearly enough. "I haven't even noticed her since first year. After that prank, do you remember? The slime charmed to drop on the first person to come through the door. The poor thing almost had a heart attack. It was funny though." I heard a soft chuckle and guessed it was Sirius. He was always the first to laugh in that group. His laugh was nice, rumbly and deep. It gave me chills. The rest started to laugh quietly along with him and I shook my head softly.

They were only being funny, it's nothing personal. "She's a lot prettier now, isn't she?" Asked the third voice that could only belong to Remus. I blushed and put a hand over my mouth to stop myself from gasping in shock. 'They thought I was pretty?' I thought to myself in amazement. That was confusing. I wasn't even remotely good looking but Remus thought that I was. Wow. I heard two grunts of agreement and a small smile appeared on my face. I couldn't help it. They all thought I was good looking. I guess it was nice to be appreciated; I don't get that from anyone else.

"I wonder why she doesn't talk to anyone though. She seems interesting enough. Everyone in Gryffindor gets along really well except her. Well, no one doesn't get along with her it's more just that she doesn't socialise with anyone for them to form an opinion of her. She's illusive and mysterious. It's strange." That was Sirius again. What he said had some truth to it I guess. But I just don't really feel confident enough to talk to people without a specific purpose.

And then there is the fact that most people aren't that smart when it comes to conversational skills and I find that highly annoying so it's best to just avoid it all together. "I think we should try and talk to her more. She seems smart, even smarter than Remus here. Maybe she could help us with that thing we're working on." James said his voice dropping to nearly inaudible at the last part. They were working on something? I wonder what it was? Remus was the second smartest in the year behind me, what could they possibly need me for? I suddenly felt really tired, but had no way of getting to bed with those three sitting there.

I couldn't let them know I had heard their conversation or could I? Did I really care if they knew? It would be kind of funny to see their faces. They said they were going to try talking to me more, so maybe I should offer my help to them? Sounds like a plan. I closed my book quietly and put it with my other books. The boys had gone quiet as they heard the shuffling about of my standing up. I didn't turn around until I had folded up the blanket and returned it to its place on the couch. I walked around the couch and faced them. James and Remus looked shocked and Sirius looked amused and impressed.

I walked over to them and sat down in the empty chair that was in between Sirius and Remus and looked at them. What should I say? I thought to myself and then an idea popped into my head. I focused on Remus and smiled at him. "Nice to know you think I'm pretty Remus." He blushed. Sirius and James burst out laughing and I sat back in my chair, glad that it wasn't going to be awkward from now on. "So what do you want my help with?" I asked and they all remembered I was sitting behind the couch the whole time they were having a conversation.

I don't know what was coming over me tonight. I was just in a social mood I guess. I've been alone for fouryears, with no friends so maybe today was a good day to start being more involved. Their faces fell and they looked at each other, especially Remus. I think they were deciding whether or not to tell me or involve me somehow. I saw Remus nod his head asI looked down at my hands that were leaning on the edge of the table, picking at my nails.

"Can we trust your complete and utter secrecy?" Remus asked who, now that I looked closely at him, was looking quite sickly. Maybe it was his time of the wolf month. It was extremely close to the full moon. I figured out that he was a werewolf in my second year. You see a lot of things when you're sitting on the side lines looking in. I noticed that he got sick every month and started to record every day he went to the hospital wing. I then cross referenced that with every kind of disease I knew, muggle and magical. I came up with two conclusions; either he was secretly a girl who got really bad cramps once a month or he was a werewolf.

I didn't get freaked out about it or tell anyone because I didn't think it was a bad thing. Dumbledore wouldn't have let him into the school if he was a danger to everyone and I trusted his judgement. I also knew that Remus was kind hearted so I think that, even if he did hurt someone, a; that it wouldn't be me because I made sure to stay away from him at that time of the month and b; that he wouldn't have meant to do it and would feel extremely guilty about it afterwards. "Yes you have it. It's not like I have anyone to tell anyways." I said with a smirk.

I was feeling extremely confident now, the nice things they said about me earlier making me more comfortable in their presence. Sirius looked excited about what was going on and James too. Remus on the other hand looked kind of guilty about what I had just said but brushed it aside as he readied himself to tell me about his furry little problem. "First of all you have to know something in order for you to understand why we need your help. I…" He paused for a moment and looked to Sirius, a pained expression on his face. He was probably having trouble telling someone he didn't know very well. "Remus is a werewolf." Sirius said and they all looked at me for some kind of response.

They stared at me as I sat their looking back at them with a small smile still on my face. Were they expecting me to run out of the room screaming 'Remus is a werewolf!'? Not likely. I decided that I would be blunt with them. "I know." Their jaws dropped collectively and I sighed. "I figured it out in second year." If their jaws could detach from their faces, they would have ran away they were so shocked. I laughed at their reactions and their faces lightened up a bit, their jaws reconnecting with the rest of their skulls. "You have a really pretty laugh." Sirius said at the same time that James asked "Why didn't you tell anybody about it?"

I blushed at Sirius' comment but ignored him as I answered James. "I went to Dumbledore. And let him know that I figured it out and then I told him that it was a really great thing that he did, letting Remus in to Hogwarts. I observe people instead of interact with them and I saw that Remus was kind and really wanted to be here. Who am I to have a problem with a boy wanting to learn? Who am I to tell him that he can't come to this school because he has a fury little problem. I get just as antsy once a month but nobody tells me I can't come to school for it."

James and Sirius chuckled at the 'fury little problem' statement and Remus just stared at me in shock. Again. Then arms were being rapped around me from my left side and I heard a murmur of thank you in my ear. I stiffened and looked at James with a plea in my eyes for help. I had no idea what to do in a situation like this. My mother hadn't been one for nurture so I wasn't used to such public and direct shows of affection. Red was running into my cheeks as I sat there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Remus' arms were stronger than I thought they would be.

Not that I thought about his arms around me often or at all for that matter. James and Sirius were laughing again, probably at me for being so helpless and awkward. "Remus, can you let me go now?" I said to him and the other two cracked up in another fit of laughter. Remus let go quickly and blushed, moving out of his chair and over to lean on the back of the couch. Sirius was kneeling on the floor in the space between the couch and the tables and James was clapping him on the back as they both laughed hysterically. I shook my head and looked at Remusagain as he laughed with them, a look of love and appreciation in his eyes. I smiled at him and he looked up at me.

"So what do you need help with?" I asked after they had all calmed down and one of the prefects had come down to tell us off for being so loud and told us to go to bed. She looked shocked to see me down here with them and was hesitant to leave me alone knowing Sirius and James' reputations with the girls in our house and even some of the other ones but I assured her that I was fine. I told her my right hook was stronger than you would believe. We all laughed at that. This night was the first time I had laughed so much all at once. I laughed again as I saw Sirius's eyes light up at my question.

"We want to be able to help Remus through his transformations. He hurts himself trapped in the shrinking shack all alone and we thought that if we became animagi then we could be there with him." I smiled at him as he bounced on his heels in excitement. James was excited too but not as much as Sirius. He had a goofy grin on his face that seemed to lighten it up and make him look even more handsome. I shook the thought of his good looks out of my head and he looked at me strangely and I realised I had shook my head physically too. I blushed and looked to the floor, but I knew his grin changed to a smug one. He was the type of person who knew he was handsome and owned it, flaunted it and teased everyone with it.

I sighed and looked back up. "Do you know the process of becoming an animagi?" I asked them and they all shook their heads. "So you didn't even do any research after you decided to become animagi? Really? Not even you Remus?" He shook his head and downcast his eyes. I shook my head and laughed at them, my hand going to my stomach to support myself as I doubled over. I was hysterical. Who doesn't do their research on this big of an idea.

I calmed myself down after a while and they all looked at me amused at my outburst. There was a shout of "SHUT UP" coming from upstairs and it sent me on another round of giggles that I tried to suppress. After I finally settled down I told them the process. "You have to brew a series of potions and take them every day for three months, a different potion each month so that you would be able to transform into your animagus form without pain, or any other hiccups along the way."

I told them. It was complicated and the magic required is very advanced even for me and them combined but they were confident we could do it. I paused when they said 'we'. It made me feel happy. I had never belonged to a group before so I was kind of taken aback when they told me that I was an honorary marauder now. They had only known me one night and already they had told me their deepest darkest secrets and accepted me into their group.

We made plans to meet in the library tomorrow, which was Sunday, after breakfast and start on the planning. Then we all went to bed. We parted at the bottom of the stairs and they all hugged me tightly. I was slightly taken aback at that too but they said I would have to get used to it because they would be doing it more often. Sirius was last to hug me and the others had already retreated into the boy's dormitory so it just left us at the bottom of the stairs. He pulled me tightly against him, so that our bodies touched at every spot; thigh to thigh, pelvis to pelvis, stomach to stomach and chest to chest.

I blushed terribly at the feel of his body on mine; he basically enveloped my frame as he leaned over me. His head rested on my shoulder and mine on his. He didn't let go for a long time and I was stiff and unresponsive at first but then I gave up trying to resist and settled into it. I enjoyed the human contact that I hadn't had for so long. It was rare because usually I didn't like to be touched but something was different with him. "You looked like you needed a long hug." He whispered into my ear. I shivered as his warm breath brushed against my skin. I felt his face lift up in a smirk as I shivered against his body and he pulled me tighter into him. I closed my eyes and hugged him back, not wanting to let go of the comfort it brought to me.

After a while, he let go of me and I conformed and did the same for him. I smiled and he leaned closer to me. I backed up a bit, not yet comfortable with people's faces being so close to mine. He smiled as he stepped closer and grabbed my wrist. I panicked a bit as his face went to mine. He kissed me on the cheek and I blushed at the feel of his lips on my skin. It felt warm,soft and foreign but really good. He paused and whispered "Good night Abigail." He let go of my wrist and stepped back.

He smiled a cheeky grin and winked at me as he turned and strolled up the stairs to his room. I stood there in shock as I watched him walk away and I processed the evening's events. I think I had made some friends. Well that was extremely unexpected. I walked up to my room, which was the highest room in the tower, and also the smallest as it was a single room, built for one. When I came in first year, the house elves knew that I would be more comfortable sleeping alone, as I got very anxious when I had to sleep in a room with other people.

When my nightmares got really bad I would talk and even scream in my sleep so this way I could cast a silencing charm over my room to make it sound proof and not disturb other students while they were trying to sleep. It was the first spell I learned how to cast. I pulled off my day clothes that consisted of baggy boyfriend jeans and a light silky red top with a big baggy purple jumper on over the top and got into my pyjamas. I got into bed and fell asleep straight away, falling into a dreamless sleep for the first time in all my years at Hogwarts.