A/N: As an author, I usually know what's going to happen (Duh!), but as I wrote this chapter a character, who I thought would be coming much later, decided that this chapter was the one he wanted to be a part of. All I can say is he certainly knows how to make an entrance! J

Chapter 8: Remus's Confession

James rubbed his eyes blearily and felt around for his glasses and after he slid them on he then proceeded to dress slowly, not wanting to leave the comfort of his bed.

Last night was full moon and the Marauder's had all gone exploring the Hogsmeade village, and as Padfoot and Moony were scaling a rocky hill - Prongs, having hoofs couldn't make it. Wormtail stayed behind to keep him company - they found a small crevice that opened into a deep cave.

James enjoyed the feeling of freedom when he was in his animagus form, but the best part was being able to share it with his three best friends that would do anything for him, as he knew he would do the same for them. He loved the feeling of unity as they ran as one, exploring either the village or the Hogwarts grounds.

After a few minutes his thoughts were interrupted by a loud growl coming from James himself. He hadn't immediately noticed that he was so hungry, but when he was awake enough to realize that he was indeed starving he hurried his friends down to breakfast.

When the post came he saw a large package being carried by his faithful owl Blotch, being named thus for the large black spot on the otherwise white owl. As he reached for the package he was surprised to find himself pecked sharply by the irate owl.

"ARRRGH! Blotch what was that for?" James demanded loudly as he received several stares, having startled many people sitting nearest him.

Blotch gave James a cool baleful look and slowly stuck out his leg for James to untie the parcel.

It took a moment, but after a minute James understood why the owl could be so mad at him.

"I'm sorry Blotch. I haven't visited you up in the owlery very much as of late. If I give you an owl treat will you forgive me?" he begged the owl. Blotch hooted stiffly but in the end decided to forgive the boy, because after getting the promised treat he nipped James's finger softly and rose gracefully up in the air and into the beautiful morning light.

After he watched his owl disappear in the distance he was immediately reminded of the reason Blotch showed up. James gingerly picked up the medium sized box and after seeing that it was from his mother he quickly whipped out his wand and said, "Diffindo."

The wrapping fell down and revealed a nicely wrapped parcel of what looked like homemade treacle fudge. His favorite, of course, what else would his doting mother send him? Shaking his head from side to side in exasperated amusement he opened the parcel and sampled a small piece. It was delicious. He then wrapped it back up, ignoring the loud protests from Peter and Sirius, for they also wanted to "sample it", to make sure it was safe enough for human consumption.

But James had learned the hard way not trust those two with food that he wanted to enjoy as well.

Flashback - Five years earlier

James Potter was excited. It was his very first official breakfast at Hogwarts and he had seen his very own owl, Blotch, flying toward him with a package that could have only come from his mum. After he had gotten through the packaging and had managed to discover what treat his mother had decided to deliver to him on his first day at school and away from his parents for the first time.

He quickly lifted the lid off of the container and found the tin filled with little fruit tarts. He was pleased immensely. But before he could reach down and taste one a small voice murmur something to his right that made him turn to see who it was.

What had made the noise was a small rotund boy with light blond hair and watery blue eyes. The boy shyly ducked his head and whispered, "Those look really good. Er, would you mind terribly if I tried one?"

"Sure, help yourself." James answered.

"Whoa! You mean you actually got something from your mother? I've never gotten anything from my mother, not if she could help it anyway." said a boy that sat a few seats down from James.

James couldn't comprehend not getting something from his mother, especially his mother; the thought alone was just absurd! But he felt sorry for the unknown boy and invited him to try some too.

"I'm Sirius. Sirius Black." the boy said as he slid down the table. "I don't think I introduced myself last night.

"Peter Pettigrew,"

"I am James Potter. Nice to meet… Hey! You guys ate all my mum's tarts!" James said heatedly. "You two better start running before I catch up with you, because then you'll find out how tough I can get if you push me too far!"

Both boys responsible looked at each other, then at James and then they both finally turned tail and ran out of the hall with James right on their heals.

End Flashback

James chortled at the memory, just as he was reliving the moment of just exactly how he'd had gotten his revenge, he was interrupted by Sirius who was pestering him to know what was so funny, so he obliged quickly.

"You are what's funny. I was just thinking about when we first formally introduced ourselves. Do you remember?"

"Hmm… the day where Peter and I ate all of whatever it was in the parcel that came from your mum all those years ago?"

"Yes, and how you guys fled faster than Snivellus confronted with a large bottle of shampoo." he grinned widely, but then dissolved into laughter as he locked eyes with Sirius.

Sirius laughed the louder and the longer, also remembering all those years ago and James getting his revenge in the end.

"Where to first Moony?" Sirius asked after he had calmed down enough to stop laughing.

"Really Sirius," Remus muttered, shaking his head in dismay "What James was reminding you of wasn't nearly that funny to being with, and now years later you still think it's funny?"

"Yes," Sirius said defensively. "I think it's still funny after all this time. You're just jealous of my sense of humour."

"Okay Sirius. Fine. Pretend I didn't say anything."

"Good, because we have to go to class," James intervened before Sirius could say anything else. "Last one to McGonagall's office is a rotten Dragon's egg!"

That got Sirius's attention. It didn't take long for the words to sink in and do their job. Together the boys marched purposely to the entrance hall and then from that point on they made a mad dash to the Transfiguration classroom.


After gleaming more and more information Lily had confirmed her suspicions. She was right and she would confront Remus and hear it from him, just to made sure.

'He was a werewolf!'

She couldn't grasp that concept! All these years, and yet no one was non-the-wiser, only she and his friends were the exception, of course.

Werewolf. Werewolf. Werewolf. Werewolf. Werewolf.

The word reverberated around his head over and over again until she thought she was surely going to go mad.

She decided that at the very first opportunity she would speak to him and ask him then and there. Whether he was ready or otherwise.

After a undetermined time; she shook herself out of the shock and declared to herself that no matter what was said she would look at the circumstances with a clear head and not judge at all.

So with that in mind she silently picked up her school books and crammed them into her satchel and heaved it onto her shoulder and left the library with a broad smile across her face.

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All through the day during lessons, Lily was preparing herself for the inevitable conversation with Remus. During breakfast she noticed again how tired all of the boys looked.

That lit up her curiosity. Why would they be tired if only Remus was a werewolf? No human could ever be around a werewolf because of the risk of either being turned or killed.

She wanted to ask so badly that she almost left her seat to ask, but then she remembered the last time she asked them something, and look how well that went.

Since she couldn't, or rather, didn't want to ask what the other boys could be doing she settled on doing a bit more digging before brought up that subject with them.

Lily couldn't comprehend how she had never seen the signs before now. It was so plainly obvious that it shocked her that she had never noticed before. 'Maybe it's because of the fact that you never thought in your wildest dreams that you would ever come face to face with a werewolf.' said that same annoying sarcastic voice in her head.

She never did think that she would ever come across, what was considered by many, a dark and dangerous creature.

Before long though, she was pulled from her thoughts roughly when a sharp pain ran through her toes and into her legs thanks to Tory stomping firmly on her foot.

After uttering a muted exclamation of pain she glared hard at Tory and questioned with her eyes, but before her friend could reply, Professor Flitwick spoke up in his small squeaky voice chide softly, "Now, now Miss Evans. Please pay more attention. A little more working and a little less thinking."

Lily felt her face burn and she imagined that she probably looked like a radish with a horrible sunburn. But before anything else could be done the bell tolled, signaling the end of another school day. She was relieved that she could get away from her mortification quickly.

Speedily she grabbed her school bag and slung it on her shoulder and almost ran out of the classroom. Just as she was about to exit the room a voice called over the clamor of people as they collected their things, but the voice did not calm her, it only made her more eager to leave the castle behind.

Quickening her steps she plunged herself deeper into the flood of students trying to get away from the voice that had called to her.

Instead of going up to the dormitory to put her bag away she resolved to walk the grounds and maybe sit in the courtyard for a change.

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After she had found a nice quiet spot to think she was joined noisily by her best friends, that didn't look very friendly at the present moment.

"What was that for?" yelled Tory, loud enough to startled a couple of birds out of a nearby tree.

"What may I ask, are you talking about?" Lily questioned back.

"Oh. Hmm. Let me think. Maybe the fact that you didn't wait for us to follow you so we had to guess and luckily found you sooner than we anticipated." Tory said sourly.

After she apologized to her friends, they fell into easy conversations and they stayed like that as the afternoon slipped into the evening.

Just as they were about to enter the castle walls Lily saw something that left her stomach in knots and made her feel breathless.

James Potter and his crew were walking in their direction laughing and joking around. If Lily didn't do something fast she would be spotted and that wasn't something that she wanted to happen.

She wanted to talk to Remus but she was trying avoid James, so quickly she made up a plan. She then told her friends that she would see them at dinner and rushed into the entrance hall and dashed to a partially hidden alcove in the wall to wait.

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As she stood in the alcove, she heard many people emerge from the different directions and saw from where she was secreted that they were heading off to dinner in the great hall.

Just as she was about to give up trying to get Remus alone she heard them approach her hiding spot. In the alcove where she was positioned she overheard Remus say to his friends to go on ahead, he would be back down after he put his things back in their dormitory.

By the time Lily deemed it safe to leave the confines of the niche in the wall Remus was already half way up the marble staircase. So she quickly ran up the stairs to catch up to him.

"Hey there, Remus," Lily said breathlessly from running up the large staircase.

"Hello Lily. This is a pleasant surprise." he said smiling softly.

"Could I talk to you for a moment?" she asked hesitantly.

"Sure." he said turning to her.

"Why don't we talk in here," Lily said opening a door to an unused classroom on the first floor. She then gestured for him to enter first.

Looking confused Remus promptly moved into the room. Lily follow, and after closing the door behind her she quickly cast the Imperturbable Charm to avoid eavesdroppers.

"Lily? What is this about?" Remus said confused now more than ever.

"I just wanted to make sure we wouldn't be overheard." she then turned toward Remus and continued, "The reason I wanted to talk to you is because of a suspicion I have. It's not any easy thing to say so I'll just say it. Remus. Am I right to assume that you are a werewolf?"

Remus's face slowly drained of all color and his hands automatically balled into fists. He then cleared his throat and tugged on his tie until it came undone and then he slowly locked eyes with Lily.

But before he could say anything Lily quickly added," And Remus I don't care what you are or your what you say. I just know that you are one of the only guys in this school that I can stand to be around. So say what you will, but I won't be changing my opinion of you just because I found out what you are."

After she finished her statement she saw his widen comically and his jaw actually dropped open in complete shock.

He opened and closed his mouth several times before he could articulate a string of words. But when he was able to speak he was still in shock.

"H - how did you find out?" he said in amazement.

"Last night when you went to visits your "mother", I noticed that it was a full moon and that got me thinking of little tiny clues that helped me come to the conclusion that something wasn't adding up with you and your group. And after some research I deducted that the only thing that made the most sense was that you were a werewolf." she said confidentially.

"Oh," he said as he let out a breath of air. "Well, if you don't want to talk to me anymore I more than understand, so I'll just leave now."

"Where do you think your going? Didn't I just say that I wasn't about to abandon you? Are you implying that I don't keep my promises?" she said pulling her wand out threateningly.

"No!" He said hastily as he tried backtracking. "I'm not saying that! I only said that because that's what I usually have to do when someone finds out. That's all. Honest!"

Lily look at him shrewdly and then after seeing the sincerity of his words she slowly placed her wand back into her pocket and said, "I don't know about you but I'm starved. If it wouldn't be too much. Could we maybe talk more about this after dinner? Maybe we can study together in the library and talk more in depth about it?"

"Now that you mention it, I am rather hungry. How about we continue to make our way to the common room and put our things away. And then after dinner we can talk." he replied.

"I think that is a fabulous idea." she said as a huge smile spread across her face.


"Are you serious? And Sirius if you crack that joke one more time I will levitate you and drop you in the freezing lake," said James to a very put-out Sirius. "But did you just say that Lily figured out your furry little problem?"

"Yes, that's why I was so late for dinner," Remus replied.

The Marauders were sitting in a secluded corner in the common room where Remus finished telling his friends what had transpired earlier with Lily.

"Do you by chance know why she's been ignoring and avoiding me?" James said with an air of nonchalance in which this case he didn't succeed.

"I don't know, but maybe I'll be able to gleam something for you, but for right now I think she's expecting me to join her in the library actually. I told her that we could talk more about my… condition. So I'll see you guys later." said Remus as he trouped toward the stairs. After he retrieved his bag he then left the common room with a look of trepidation on his face.

James watched him go and wishing it was him that was on good terms with Lily. Since Lily had given up being friends with him his moods were usually gloomy to say the least. Today was the first day in weeks that he'd actually smiled and it was a pleasant surprise to have found himself laughing with his friends again.

He stood up and stretched his limbs. He needed to get out, so looking down at his watch, he found out that it was still early enough to take a few laps around the Quidditch field without the annoyance of getting a detention.

Looking over at his other two friends he proposed his plan and they readily agreed to go with him. He knew that Peter was not likely to go flying with him, for the drawback of being afraid of heights usually put a damper on that, but then he also knew for a certainty that Sirius would join him in to air.

After retrieving their coats and brooms they headed out onto the grounds and ran to the Quidditch field, wanting to get there as fast as possible. When the three friends got to the stands; Peter straight away left them, preferring to watch instead of participating.

Both James and Sirius made it onto the field and kicked off the ground together and rose full tilt into air, not wanting to waste any time.

James felt the rushing wind thoroughly exhilarating. For the first time in a long while he was truly happy. Nothing could damper his mood, not even Lily could distract him from his ignorant bliss. The only thing that existed was him, his broom and the rapid darkening sky.

James spent the next a few hours doing reckless dives and racing Sirius around the field and beating him seven out of ten times. After Peter complained about how chilly the night was getting they decided to call it a night.


Lily had been sitting at her usual studying table in the library writing her essays while she waited for Remus to come, and she had been sitting here since 6:30pm and it was now 7:20pm.

'Well, it's not like you've set a time or anything, don't be so impatience, you're acting like a two year-old.' said a voice that sounded very similar to Petunia's.

"Have you been here long?" said a quiet voice behind Lily that made her jump.

"Yes, but it's no problem. I've just been polishing up my essays that need to be turned in." Lily replied as Remus slid into the seat across from her.

"let me organize my things, so that it will at least look like we're doing work." he said as he proceeded to get his school books, some quills and a bottle of ink out of his school satchel.

"So, you wanted to know some… erm… stuff." Remus murmured quietly, obviously not wanting to be overheard.

"Yes," Lily said sitting up straighter in her seat and then continued, "Er… so you've been a werewolf since you were how old?"

"I was bitten when I was seven or eight years-old." Remus paused. "Are you sure you want to hear my story? I don't remember some parts of it and it, as you know, didn't end well."

"Yes! That is, if you don't mind sharing it with me. If it's too painful then please ignore my curiosity. It sometimes gets me into more trouble than its worth." she said with a shy smile.

"If you don't mind then I'll tell you."

Lily saw that he had clenched his hands into fists again and she wondered if she should have just said no when she had the chance. But before she could say no he started his odious tale.

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When he was finished Lily just shook her head in disbelief and wiped the last of her tears away. She couldn't think clearly, but then after a moment she had gathered enough feeling in her body to be able to speak.

"I'm just fine Remus. Just give me a moment to compose myself." she answered honestly.

After a undetermined time she was completely fine and was able to start collecting her things and putting them back into her bag. Just as they were about to get up and leave the librarian Madame Pince came barreling through and shooed them to the exit saying that she was locking up for the night and that they should have left five minutes ago.

They walked in silence up to the Gryffindor common room and found it still occupied with many students who were either messing around or more diligent ones trying to finish the homework they were set.

After saying a farewell to Remus, Lily walked steadily to the dormitory and when she reached her bed she collapsed onto and looked at the top of her four-poster thinking.

Remus had given her a lot of information that not many people could claim to have. It was revolting to think of what happened to him when he was only about seven years-old. She thought about what she was like at seven years-old.

It didn't seem fair that an innocent child like Remus must have been had to go through so much pain and devastation when he was so young.

Although it was only a little after eight, she felt emotionally drained after hearing Remus's depressing story. She changed into her nightgown and laid down in her bed and immediately fell asleep even before her head hit her pillow in exhaustion.

Whew wipes brow I spent all day writing this chapter for you who are reading my story! Okay so here's the deal, I didn't want to change the rating on this story so I took out the Remus being bit part and have made it a one-shot. So if you don't mind mild violence you can check that story out after reading this chapter!

Please review! bkwrmgrl87