December arrived bringing with it a drastic change in weather. Storm clouds darkened the sky, and snow fell heavily throughout the week. In fact, Herbology lessons were cancelled for three days straight.

"I don't get why we don't use magic to melt all of the snow at once," said Peter one afternoon, as they sat in the common room working on handouts for Herbology instead.

"Because that would be messing with nature, and you never mess with nature," said Remus in monotony.

"Have you ever read Frankenstein?" Lily asked, turning to face Peter.

"Who?" he asked.

Remus, Lily, and Demi dropped their quills, their mouths hanging open. "YOU'VE NEVER READ FRANKENSTEIN?" they yelled at once.

Other students in the common room turned to face the group, "Who hasn't read Frankenstein?" asked one fifth year.

"Apparently him," said Remus, pointing to Peter, who shrugged.

"Didn't know it was a required text mate," he replied.

"It's the best book ever," said a third year.

"And it started off everything to do with the Gothic Era-"

"Written in 1816-"

"Mary Shelley-"

"Daughter of the Creator of Modern Feminism-"

"Mary Wolfstonecraft-"

"The reason we have all of these cool scary films now-"

"You've never read it?" said a whole bunch of students at once.

Peter looked around before looking back at Demi, Remus, and Lily. "Thanks, mate. Really."

"What, it's not our fault that you didn't read it," said Remus, turning back to his work. Peter scowled in response to Remus's remark before going back to his paper. In the back corner of the common room, Wood was sketching out some plans for the upcoming Quidditch match against Ravenclaw. He'd been sitting there quietly for a few hours, and finally, when the common room was nearly empty he got up and approached the other members of the team. "So, this is our new plan for the game on Saturday."

He pushed the plans over their homework and the team leaned in. It looked like a huge tangled mess of multicoloured lines. "So, what exactly does this say?" James asked, looking somewhat annoyed.

Wood smiled, "The Ravenclaws'll never be able to read this," he stroked the plan fondly.

"Yeah, well a fat lot of good that's going to do us, seeing as we can't read it either," said Adam, who looked at the plan sideways.

"Is this the same plan that we've been running recently," said James, as traced a single green line.

Wood clapped, "Excellent man, excellent. This is the exact plan that we've been running, but with some minor changes. We're going to be sure to employ some of the more advanced maneuvers that we've been practicing. Aye!"

"So, what was the point in making this plan, when we know what we're doing the entire time," Sherrie asked.

Wood blanched, "I- dunno. I was bored," he said quickly, as he vanished the plans. "I'm heading to bed, you lot better get a nice rest because we have practice tomorrow at dawn."

"But we have classes tomorrow," Demi countered.

Wood turned around, "Which is why I said we're practicing at Dawn. You'll be able to a few good rounds in and you won't be late for class." He turned back and went up the stairs of the boy's dormitory.

The rest of the team looked at one another while the remaining students of Gryffindor house sniggered.

Wood was wrong. The entire team, while they did manage to get up at dawn, was kept at the pitch until the last possible moment. It was only when Sherrie threatened to hex Wood so badly, he'd miss the match, did he allow them to leave. James and Sirius didn't mind all too much, seeing as they had a spare period, but Kiaria had Care of Magical Creatures, and Demi had Arithmancy with Lily and Remus, who despite trying to persuade Professor Vector not to give Demi a detention, were just as equally dismayed when she walked out of the class clutching a pink slip in her hand. "She told me that it was my responsibility and that I needed to own up to the fact that I was late, and no amount of dedication to my House Quidditch team should ever impact my studies." She unfurled the note and checked the date, "That foul woman! She made my detention for the evening after after the Ravenclaw match! Now if we win, I won't get to join in the celebrations."

Lily nodded, "Well she is kind of right, don't you agree Remus?" She turned to face him, and noticed that he had leant back against a wall, and was shaking quite terribly.

"Remus are you alright?" Demi asked, pulling out a bottle of water from her bag, and giving it to him.

After draining the bottle completely, Remus began to calm down. "Full moon tonight," he muttered under his breath to the two girls, who immediately nodded.

From her bag, Lily pulled out a slab of Honeydukes chocolate and passed it to Remus. "I always keep it just in case," she explained as asked why she had one. "You never know when you're going to need it."

Remus nodded gratefully, "Amen to that."

That night, when Remus exited the common room, the four Marauders and Demi waited until they were the only people left in the common room. James crept up into the boy's dormitory and grabbed his invisibility cloak. Demi threw it over the three of them, before casting a Disillusionment charm on herself. She followed the three of them down the stairs and into the foyer, which was currently being patrolled by Sinistra. There was a particularly tense moment, in which James had accidentally stubbed his toe and swore loudly. But luckily, Sinistra had chosen the same time to sneeze. They barely managed to make it out of the large oak doors and on to the school grounds.

The three quickly shuffled under the cloak, and held it up as Peter transformed and darted through the ever-moving branches of the Whomping Willow. Suddenly the tree's branches stopped and the other three followed Peter's skinny tail into the small opening at the bottom of the trunk.

For the next twenty minutes they headed down the dirt path and found it rising suddenly as they reached the Shrieking Shack. As they drew closer to the trapdoor, they head a loud whine, and James faced the others. "Do you think he's alright?" he asked, looking up at the door with worry.

"There's only one way to find out mate," said Sirius and he opened the door and pushed himself up. Demi (who was holding Peter in her hands) and James waited a few moments before Sirius came back, looking frightful. "Come up, and transform. Moony's not doing so well today." He moved out of the way and allowed Demi to climb up first and transform, followed by James. Peter climbed onto James's antlers, and they quickly ascended the first flight of stairs into a small room filled with broken furniture.

There, just visible by strips of moonlight that had made its way through the holes and panels of the wall was the outline of a curled mass of fur. Along the floor were droplets of blood. The three of them peered down and noticed a particularly nasty gash on Remus's stomach. Remus looked up at them and growled slightly, before beginning to shiver.

Sirius was the first to recover from this sight, and walked around to Remus's back, before curling up and attempting to keep him warm. Demi, James, and Peter followed suit. They laid there, allowing their body heat to rub off onto Remus, who slowly stopped shivering and had fallen asleep.

Demi turned to Sirius, gave a nod of her head and a low growl, "We stay."

Sirius, James, and Peter nodded and they too fell asleep.

They could sense that the morning had arrived when narrow beams of light were beginning to warm up the room. They each awoke one another, before heading out of the trapdoor and transforming. James checked his watch, "It's just after 5 o clock. I say we get back to the castle, have a shower, and take a bit of a nap before we have to wake up and go to class. Agreed?"

"Agreed" said the other four, and they resumed their positions as they headed out of the passage.

Demi tiptoed in to the girls dormitory, and managed to shower without waking anyone. She envied the boys, who were all in on the Animagus thing, so they were able to be as loud as they wanted when they got back to their dorm.

It felt as though she'd closed her eyes for only a minute when Lily woke her up. "Let's go, we've got half an hour till Defence starts.

Demi employed a few of Sirius's choicest swear words as she dragged herself out to the bathroom. While she felt extremely tired, she didn't look like it at all. Her eyes were neither puffy nor red. She quickly brushed her teeth and hair, before jumping back out of the bathroom and into the dorm once more. She opened up her trunk and dug around in the bottom until she felt a small flask. Upon withdrawing it, she swirled the contents around before taking a sip. Grimacing, she tossed it back in and grabbed a bundle of her robes and began getting changed.

"Is that . . . .?" Lily asked as the other three girls stopped what they were doing to hear themselves,

"Yep," she replied simply, as she shoved her shoes on and grabbed her bag. "Let's go." She headed out of the door and down the stairs.

"What time did she end up going to sleep?" Kiaria asked.

"When I woke up to use the washroom at four, she wasn't here," Alice replied looking over at Demi's bed, which looked relatively unslept in.

"Do you think she was with . . .?" Marlene asked.

"I wasn't with Sirius, I was in the common room finishing McGonagall's essay," said Demi from the doorway. She'd returned upon realizing the other girls were not with her. "Don't worry about me guys. I can make those decisions myself."

The day of the match arrived (much to the delight of the Gryffindor team, who'd become quite frustrated by Wood's daily practices), and the school was divided once more. Luckily enough, the Ravenclaws-unlike their supporters- were not too keen on the idea of jinxing their opponents before the match.

While the spectators filled the stands, the Gryffindors were changed and listening to another one of Wood's pep talks. "We're all in this together!" he finished with a fist in the air. "Now, let's go get that Cup," and he led them out of the changing rooms and onto the pitch.

Amos began to commentate the moment they stepped out, his voice monotone, and his face looking slightly bored.

"All these years of commentating must have taken their toll on him," said Sirius, causing the others to snigger as they hopped onto their broomsticks.

"RAVENCLAW VERSUS GRYFFINDOR, THE BRAINS VERSUS THE BRAVE, THE BLUE VERSUS THE RED, THE-" He was stopped by McGonagall, who ordered him to use new words and actually commentate on the match. "RAVENCLAW IN POSSESSION, THEY HEAD DOWNFEILD, OOH NICE BLUDGER FROM BLACK, DISARMS PATIL, DOESN'T LOOK TOO HAPPY ABOUT THAT! POTTER TAKES THE QUAFFLE, HEADS TO THE RAVENCLAW HOOPS NOW MANNED BY LLOYED, SEEING AS SHACKLEBOLT HAS LEFT, AND SCORES! TEN-NIL." A loud roar echoed from the red and gold side of stadium, while the Slytherins and Ravenclaws booed. "PLAY RESUMES, AND IT'S GRYFFINDOR'S VERDANA WITH THE QUAFFLE, DODGES A NICE BLUDGER SENT BY DEARBORN, WHO HITS ANOTHER ONE AND- OHH, VERDANA IS DOWN, AND IT'S JONES WITH THE QUAFFLE, AND WOOD RETALIATES WITH A WONDERFUL BLUDGER TO THE HEAD. MIGHT BE ON THE OPPOSITION, BUT I CAN'T DENY, THAT IS SOME SERIOSU AIM. GRYFFINDOR SEEMS TO BE DOING A FAIR BIT OF DAMAGE TO THE RAVENCLAWS, WHO ARE REGORUPING IN A HAWK FORMATION, AND BARRELLING TOWARDS THEIR OWN GOALPOSTS TO GET THE QUAFFLE BACK FROM HOPKIRK, WHO PASSES TO POTTER, WHO REVERSE PASSES TO HOPKIRK WHO AIMS AND SCORES, ANOTHER TEN POINTS. GRYFFINDOR WITH THE QUAFFLE, AND IT'S REPOSSESSED BY FENWICK, WHO LOOKS QUITE ANNOYED. HE AIMS AND LIESKS LETS IT IN, TWENTY TO TEN. RAVENCLAW IN POSSESSION, AND THEY HEAD OUT ATTACKIGN AGAIN- OH, IS THAT THE SNITCH?" Amos directed everyone to the two seekers who were neck in neck. The snitch was hovering near the Gryffindor side of the stands and the first few rows backed up as the two seekers went flying into the stands, knocking over several students. "DID ANYONE CATCH IT? ARE THE SEEKERS OKAY? HOOCH IS HEADING OVER TO INVESTIGATE. PLAY CAN STILL RESUME, YOU KNOW!" Amos yelled pointedly into the microphone, as the other twelve players had stopped and were currently hovering in midair. Patil had the quaffle in his hand, which was stretched back as though he were about to score. He shook his head and took aim, but it was blocked easily by Adam, who hit it towards James, who took it down the Ravenclaw side, that was empty, save for the keeper. Just then, a loud boom was heard from the huge mess of students that the seekers had been in, and a red and gold clad arm stuck out from the pile, the fist grasping something gold. "DUMBLEDORE HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WIN 170-10."

"That was an unorthodox way to win a game, but we still won!" said Sherrie to Wood as they headed back to the changing rooms.

Wood looked slightly annoyed with Demi, who had tried to explain that she didn't have the chance to stop her broom. "Yes, but I spent all that time devising an intricate Quidditch strategy that would allow us to look and win in a superior fashion," he replied sullenly.

Sherrie, Kiaria, and Demi watched as the other three boys guided Wood into their side of the changing rooms, before grabbing their stuff and heading out over to the school. "Maybe he'll get his mind off of it during the party," Kiaria suggested.

"Maybe," Demi replied sounding slightly annoyed with herself and Wood. It was just a game, and they did end up winning the match. Why was Wood being so picky about that?

She didn't get much time to dwell on the matter. Sirius and the other boys who'd grabbed their stuff as well joined her. Sirius threw an arm around her shoulder, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I don't care what Wood said, you did amazing love."

"Why are you calling me 'love' again?" Demi asked. She'd noticed Sirius using the old nickname for her since they'd begun dating, but hadn't the chance to press the matter until now.

Sirius shrugged, "I always used it for you before. I stopped when you were going out with Jeremiah, you know, after I whooped his ass in the hospital wing in fourth year. I thought it was best he didn't think anything was up. Needless to say, I failed. I always knew though. If we ever got together, I was going to use that nickname for sure."

Demi blushed, "You've thought a lot about us being together. Even before the thought had crossed either of our minds at the same time."

Sirius scratched his head, "I liked you the moment I met you."

The pair continued to talk in this fashion, which resulted in James making fun of half the things Sirius had said. This resulted in Sirius chasing James up and through the castle, threatening to shove his beater's bat up James's . . . well, you know.

Upon reaching the common room, they found the rest of the Gryffindors (and the Hufflepuffs, who'd been backing them in this match) partying hard. Demi was just about to join in the festivities, until Lily reminded her of her detention with Vector. Swearing profusely (and much to Sirius's delight) under her breath, Demi quickly went to the girl's dormitory where she quickly showered, threw on some clothes, and headed back downstairs. "I'll try and be there for the shortest amount of time possible Sirius, I promise," she said, heading out of the door, and leaving him clutching two bottles of butterbeer with a disappointed look upon his face.

He turned back around and saw the others calling him over. He was halfway across the packed common room when a seventh year Hufflepuff girl slid in his path. "Hi Sirius," she said, batting her eyelashes.

"Uh-hi" he replied, looking down at her. She was quite pretty, and he found it quite hard to believe that he'd never noticed her before. "Want a drink?" he said, offering her one of the butterbeers.

She took it gratefully, "thanks. So what's up with Demitria. I don't see her anywhere here. Did you two have a fight?"

Sirius shook his head, "No she has a detention. She'll be back soon." He looked past her head, to the lion shaped clock. He knew she'd left one minute ago, but he found himself hoping that a few hours had flown by since then. "I have to go talk to Moony, sorry" he said, walking around her and heading over to the group quickly. "what's up?" he asked.

"Who was that?" James asked, looking over at the girl with interest.

"Some Hufflepuff, I dunno," Sirius replied looking down slightly. He turned to Remus, "So, when Sherrie, Adam, and Wood leave, you wanna try out for a position on the team?"

Remus scoffed, "I have enough incidents with both feet on the ground Padfoot." He replied.

They continued drinking away as the party went on. Lily took care of the music, slightly annoyed that Demi left her to do so. But Demi was nice enough to give her all of her records beforehand. "When do you think she's going to come back?' Lily asked Peter.

"I dunno. Soon, I suppose. She's been gone for two hours, and it's almost 7'o clock, so I think Vector will have to let her out before curfew," he headed back off through the crowd.

"Where's Sirius?' Lily asked his head, but she didn't get an answer. She shook her head, and turned back to the gramophone to change the record.

"Professor, it's seven thirty, can I leave now?" Demi asked, as she finished cleaning the last part of the classroom.

Vector looked up at her from behind her desk, where she was currently marking papers. "You're free to go, Miss Dumbledore."

Demi quickly dropped the broom and ran out of the classroom before Vector could change her mind. She bolted up down the hallway but quickly backtracked upon finding a clump of seventh year Slytherins along with Snape strolling around with their wands out. Demi quickly ducked sideways into a tapestry hiding a secret passage, and ran up the small stairs before finding herself on the sixth floor corridor. She headed towards the staircase but stopped when she saw a pair of students snogging in the corner of the corridor.

She recognized one of them, a blonde Hufflepuff a year older than herself. The girl moved slightly and Demi immediately recognized the man backed against the wall. He had long hair, a stubbly beard, and grey eyes- which were currently covered by his eyelids. "Sirius" she whispered.

She quickly headed to the staircase and headed up to the seventh floor, attempting to control her emotions and allow no tears to spill from her eyes. Upon reaching the Fat Lady's corridor, she heard the music in the common room through the canvas of the portrait. The fat lady, looking thoroughly annoyed muttered "Password?"

"Salamanders," Demi whispered. She didn't know whether the Fat Lady heard her or not, but the portrait door swung open regardless. Demi clambered in and attempted to make her way through the crowd of Hufflepufffs and Gryffindors up to her dormitory. Just as she'd gotten to the foot of the staircase, she felt an arm pull her back, "Demi, when did you get back?" Remus asked, looking down at her.

She simply shook her head while half-heartedly pulling her arm out of his grasp, and attempting to head up the stairs. She was beginning to feel the tears leaking out of her eyes and she quickly looked down, allowing her hair to fall in front of her face.

"Demi?" Remus asked, pushing her hair out of her face. He stopped when he saw her crying and quickly put and arm around her before leading her around the large group of students (who were currently all huddled around the coffee table and making song requests). He guided her out of the common room, and into one of the smaller secret passageways that no one knew about.

Immediately upon realizing they were along, Demi sank to the ground and began to let the tears fall freely. There was no way she would've had the strength to hold them back any longer. She brought her knees up to her chest and closed her eyes tightly, but all that did was allow her to once more see the horrible picture of Sirius and that other girl.

Remus sat down next to her, looking positively frightened. He hadn't seen Sirius for about an hour, and he hadn't any idea when Demi's detention finished. He'd begun to wonder where they were and was about to ask Lily whether they should look for them when he saw the familiar head of blue hair enter the common room. Remus sighed, hoping to God that they hadn't done what he thought they did. "Demi, what's wrong? You can tell me, I'm your friend." He placed his arms around her and pulled her in a little closer to him.

"It's nothing," she said between sobs.

Remus shook his head, "If it were nothing, you wouldn't be crying right now. You never cry."

"Sorry I broke the law," she hiccupped, before moving away from him and getting up. She took a few deep breaths and crossed her arms around her stomach as though she had a stich from running too far.

Remus got up as well and peered down at her. Taking a deep breath he said, "Did Sirius try something with you, cause if he did, I'll kill him."

Demi shook her head, "No. He didn't."

Remus could tell she was angry about this, and decided against pressing the matter. "When you want to talk about it, let me know," he replied, standing next to her and waiting.

Ten minutes passed before Demi had finally calmed herself down enough to come to terms with what she had seen. She looked up at Remus and found him staring at her and waiting. "I was trying to avoid a bunch of Slytherins, so I took the secret passage on the third floor up to the sixth and when I got out from behind the tapestry, I saw Sirius with . . . another girl," she finished before a few more tears poured out of her eyes.

Remus closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall. "Shit," he whispered. Demi looked at him oddly, he'd never been one to use foul language. "Shit!" he yelled. He looked back at her and Demi noticed his pupils dilating, resembling the ones he usually had during his transformations. For once, she finally understood what James and Sirius meant by "the shadow of the wolf."

"This is exactly what I thought might have happened," Remus muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I can't believe this. And after everything he went through to be with you." Remus looked at Demi before pulling her into a tight hug and allowing her to lose herself completely. "I swear I will rip him limb from limb. I promise you," he whispered hoarsely.

Demi looked up at him, "You'll do no such thing! This is between him and me, and there is no use in you getting in the way."

"Doesn't it bother you, what he's done?" Remus asked, looking slightly shocked that she would even think about defending Sirius's actions for a second.

Demi wiped her eyes on her sleeve before speaking, "Yes. But I don't know what I saw. For all I know, she threw herself at him, and he reacted slowly. I know when he's a little tipsy, and his reactions and balance were definitely off. If he tells me what happened soon, then I will believe him. If he hides it from me, then-"

"I drag him to hell," Remus finished.

Demi nodded, before quickly pulling Remus into a hug. "Don't start on him yet. I don't want him thinking anything's up, alright?" she said, her voice muffled by his sweater.

Remus nodded, "fine."

Sirius had wandered out of the common room and into the corridor outside for some fresh air and because he wanted to catch Demi before she entered the common room. He wanted to spend some alone time with her, before returning to the party. He took a sip of the butterbeer/firewhiskey mix he'd made as he leaned back on the wall. He checked his watch occasionally and after a good fifteen minutes had passed, he'd began to walk towards the staircase.

"Hi Sirius," said a voice from behind him.

He turned around and saw the blonde Hufflepuff girl coming out of the common room. "Good party, but it's a bit cramped in there," she said conversationally.

"Uh-yeah," said Sirius, turning back around and heading to the stairs.

"Where're you going?" she asked, falling into step with him as he exited the corridor.

"Third floor," he replied shortly, as he turned onto the stairs. It was just his luck that the few steps that would have taken him directly to the third floor, were all pointing in different directions. He looked around and realized the steps to the sixth floor corridor were at his disposal, and he could use the passageway to get to the third floor quickly and relieve himself of the Hufflepuff and get his girlfriend out of detention. He quickly followed this plan, stumbling slightly due to the large intake of alcohol in his system. The Hufflepuff trailed behind and managed to catch him, just as he stumbled off sideways on the steps and into the sixth floor corridor.

She caught him and helped him lean back on the wall, before taking the butterbeer out of his hand and helping herself to a sip. "So," she said looking up at him with a glimmer in her eye, "seems like Demitria doesn't want to show up right now."

"Detention," Sirius replied, his words slurred. He made to take the bottle back from her, but she hid it behind her back.

"Give me that," he said, reaching around her with both his hands. Suddenly, she placed her lips on his, and had him pressed against the wall, much to his displeasure. He tried to move away, but the alcohol plus his shock had caused him to become quite discombobulated and he found himself in a snogging session with a girl who was not Demi.

It took him a few moments to get her off of him, and when he did, he made a mad dash towards the tapestry, using the girl's sudden disappearance to his advantage. He quickly dashed underneath it and calmed himself down. "Shit" he whispered. "Shit, shit, shit, shit." He waited a few moments until his head was slightly clearer, before heading out of the passageway and onto the third floor. He headed over to Vector's class, and found only the professor sitting in there. He didn't bother asking her where Demi was, knowing full well that she was probably half way to the common room by now, if she wasn't there already.

He pulled himself together, and slowly dragged himself up four flights of stairs, preferring not to go back through the passageway and run the risk of seeing the Hufflepuff again. In took him almost fifteen minutes before he finally made it to the portrait door. He muttered the password, entered, and made a beeline directly to the boy's dormitory. He kept an eye out for a head of blue hair, but only the vivid red of Lily Evans's head met his eyes.

Slowly he trudged up the staircase, opened the door of his dormitory, and flopped fully-dressed onto his bed. He would tell Demi what happened tomorrow. Surely she would forgive him, it wasn't his fault, and he did put a stop to it. "But what if she doesn't believe me?" He thought. "What if she thinks I'm lying? I'm just as bad as Jeremiah. She's going to hate me. Maybe I just won't tell her. After all, what she doesn't know won't hurt her." With that, he fell asleep.