A/N Just to say, that this is a second chapter in one night, READ THE LAST CHAPTER BEFORE YOU READ THIS ONE thanks :))


Chapter Seven

"How much do you actually know?" James asked once the door was closed.

Marlene stared at him in disbelief. "I know enough." She looked around to where Remus was sitting on the desk, staring at his feet. "Remus, I can promise you, your secret is safe with me. I won't tell a soul."

"Not even Lily?" James questioned as Remus looked up and smiled gratefully at Marlene.

"Especially not Lily." Marlene replied. "It's Remus' secret, not mine. He is the one who should tell people and I'm sorry that I found out by myself."

"It's not your fault, we should have been more careful." Remus admitted.

"Marlene," Sirius said from where he was leaning against a table. "There's something else you should know."

Marlene frowned "what?"

"Well..." Sirius exchanged a look with James.

"Maybe it would be better if we were to show her?" James suggested quietly.

Sirius nodded then turned to Marlene. "Don't freak out." He told her. He frowned as if concentrating for a second then suddenly, he was no longer standing in front of her. Instead there was a large, shaggy black dog padding about where Sirius had been seconds before.

"Padfoot..." Marlene breathed, realising for the first time that Remus couldn't be the only one with a nickname. She spun around to face James who was sitting on the desk looking at her with an apprehensive expression on his face.

"Are you Animagus too?" Marlene asked.

"Of course." James replied once he was sure that Marlene wasn't going to run screaming from the room.

"Well..." Marlene asked, looking almost as if Christmas had come early. "What are you?"

James smiled for the first time that night. "A stag."

"Peter?" Marlene asked turning towards the smaller boy but finding that where Peter had been sitting, there was now a grey and black stripped rat staring back at her.

Marlene shook her head in disbelief. "This is such advanced magic. When did you learn to become Animagi?"

"It took us until Fifth year." Sirius said. He had turned back into his human form and was eyeing her with an expression which Marlene couldn't decipher.

She gaped. "Fifth year?"

"I did say that I had a 'surprising talent' for Charms - obviously I'm not as good as Lily." James said shaking his head. "It wasn't my fault you all didn't believe me."

"You did tell us that you had extra charms." Marlene pointed out.

"That," James said glaring across the room, "was Sirius."

Marlene laughed at the expression on the face of the guilty. "I understand now." She said more seriously. "You use your Animagi forms on every full moon don't you?"

She directed this mostly at Remus.

He looked away then said slowly. "I didn't want them to do it. It's not safe, I know. They did it anyway and it's so much easier when their with me. It's like I embrace the animal part of me instead of the human, because that's what makes me so vicious on full moons; the human side." He looked at her, pleading with his eyes for her to understand, "I don't want to hurt anyone but I... I can even be almost happy on full moons."

"There's a entrance through the Whomping Willow. You have to press the knot at the base then you can get inside." Peter said excitedly.

Marlene smiled at him.

Sirius scowled at him. "You can't go telling her everything Peter." He scolded.

"Do you think I'm untrustworthy Padfoot?" Marlene asked sweetly.

Sirius shot her his winning smile. "Obviously not."

"Sirius, stop it." James said, covering his eyes. "Please."

Sirius laughed and shook his head at his friend.


Marlene kept her word to the Marauders, something that she had never thought that she would ever do but she knew why Remus didn't want people knowing about him. If it was her, she wouldn't even want to particularly tell even her closest friends in case they decided not to be friends with her but the more time she was spending with them, the more she realised how close they were - like brothers almost and the fact that the rest of them decided to put themselves in considerable danger by learning to become Animagus so they could spend full moons with Remus said a lot about their friendship. In some ways, Marlene decided that she respected their loyalty to each other because there was no doubt about it; the Marauders were the closest group of friends that she knew. There was one thing troubling her though, James and Sirius seemed unconcerned about the danger they were putting themselves in. Marlene lay awake that night, listening to the breathing of the three other girls in the dorm and wondered for how long she would be able to keep a secret like this from her own friends, and what would Lily do when she found out that Marlene had been lying to her this whole time.


"I hope we did the right thing." James muttered as the four boys made their way up to their dormitory.

"I think we did." Remus said seriously. "Marlene is a nice girl - aside from the fact that she's broken just as many hearts as Sirius has." He added with more humour.

Sirius didn't laugh, in fact, he didn't even smile; he just mumbled something that sounded a lot like "shut up."

"Did he touch a raw nerve there Padfoot?" James teased, grinning at his best friend mockingly. "And was it just me or was there a trace of flirting going on back there with the much loved McKinnon?"

This time Sirius laughed and shoved James so he bashed into the doorframe of the boys dormitory.

"I saw it too!" Remus exclaimed. "Well, I guess we shouldn't really be surprised; Sirius takes it upon himself to flirt with any pretty girl he can see."

"Shut it Mooney!" Sirius growled.

Remus and James both smirked at each other and Peter laughed.


Lying in bed that night, James felt a sort of what could only be slight jealousy. He had wanted the first person outside of the Marauders and his family to know that he was Animagus to be Lily not her best friend, but he supposed it was never meant to be. He shook his head to get rid of the obscene feelings in his mind and with a slight sadness that seemed to weigh heavily on his chest, James tuned over and tried to go to sleep.


A/N Thanks so much for reading. I hope you've enjoyed this bonus chapter (well, not really a bonus chapter but... yeah, whatever)

Please keep the reviews coming in, they are much appreciated :))

Molteaser x