A/N: Another chapter for you! This chapter is sort of a much needed filler - next chapter it's all going to start happening so stick with it my wonderful readers! Truly hope to get it with you soon. Enjoy :)

James's POV

"Err, I need to err, post a letter. You coming Ally? Great" I said very quickly and she stared at me with her electric blue eyes shining. I rapidly went over to her, grabbed her hand and forced her to stand up. If people saw the colour of her eyes there would be ridiculous amounts of questions and I needed to avoid that as I wasn't sure how she would react to everything; badly by the looks of things at the moment. Luckily, she let me lead her out of the circle and before anybody could really comprehend what was going on we were leaving the common room. She said nothing but let me take her to the first empty classroom I could find.

"Ally?" I asked, hesitantly.

Ally's POV

I couldn't believe it had taken me so long to figure it out. Shows how preoccupied I had been lately. I heard James calling my name but sort of blocked it out. I can't believe I had missed the signs; I had never questioned Remus's frequent absences, not questioned the nicknames. But it all made sense. He was a werewolf. A loud bang made me jerk out of my thoughts as I saw Sirius and Remus skid into the room.

"What on earth is going on?" Sirius asked, looking between me and James. All of a sudden I realised that James still had my hand and I slowly pulled it away.

"I know" I managed to get out, looking specifically at Remus. He blanched at my words and took a few steps back, managing to find a desk to lean against. I moved away towards the window and looked up at the sky. Nobody said anything and I could feel them all staring at me.

"I-" Remus began but I turned around, shaking my head.

"No Remus" I said slowly. He looked up at me, sadness in his eyes. "You don't have to explain anything" I said and his expression changed to one of confusion. I ignored the other two and moved closer to him. "I don't want you to tell me anything you don't want to because you feel forced to" I continued. I thought back to my own secret and how it had been forced out without my permission. The memory still hurt and I still got weird looks in the corridors between classes. However, Remus had it much worse than me. I had gotten to know him and he was honestly one of the nicest people I had ever met. He had helped me through my first few months, become my friend and welcomed me into his group of friends with such ease and kindness.

"What do you mean?" he asked, hesitantly, frowning.

"I know you as Remus. Nothing else. That's who you'll always be to me, regardless of anything. You're my friend" I told him quietly with a smile. He paused for a moment before his face broke out into an enormous smile. He got up, closed the distance between me and engulfed me in a huge hug.

"You're amazing you know" he whispered to me. We broke away and I shrugged with a smile,

"I have been told a couple of times before" I said cheekily and he laughed.

"Are you…are you sure you don't mind?" he asked again, quietly. I shook my head determinedly.

"No, I meant it, honestly. What does it matter, I mean, to me of all people? I don't have a leg to stand on judging you" I said with a small laugh and he smiled at me.

"I guess so. I mean, now I'm not the only freak in the group" he said with a small chuckle and I joined him.

"Ahem" came a voice to my left and I jumped, having forgotten that we weren't actually alone. I turned to see James and Sirius standing there looking somewhat bewildered.

"But, you looked so shocked!" James burst out, seemingly unable to contain himself. I shrugged,

"I was at first" I told him honestly. "But then I thought about it all" I rounded off and he just looked at me with an odd expression on his face. We stood in silence for a while, all three of them staring at me and I started to feel a bit uncomfortable. "We should probably get back. They'll be wondering where we are".

"Yeah this is true. We did leave in a bit of a rush" Remus replied, grinning at me. I smiled back at him and made a move towards the door.

"You guys go ahead. We'll catch you up" James said and I looked over at him with a frown. However, he said nothing and so I continued out of the door with Remus. We walked in silence for a while but I could tell Remus wanted to say something; I could see him opening his mouth and then shutting it again out of the corner of my eye.

"Can I ask you something?" he finally managed to get out.

"Sure" I responded, smiling encouragingly at him. He took a few moments but eventually managed to ask me his question:

"How did you, you know, figure it out?". I looked over at him with a slight frown.

"Well I knew about Sirius and James obviously. And then tonight, I was doing some work on werewolves and then Sirius called you 'Moony' and everything sort of clicked and fell into place" I explained rather slowly, thinking back to my thought process. He stopped walking for a second and looked at me with a frown.

"You were doing work on werewolves?" he asked me and I too, stopped dead. Crap. I hadn't thought about this at all.

"Yeah" I replied, hoping he wouldn't take it any further.

"But we're not doing that in any of our lessons. We did that last year" he said, still looking at me confused. I sighed and closed my eyes, thinking for a second. When I opened them Remus was still gazing at me in the same confused manner.

"If I tell you something will you promise not to tell anybody?" I asked him. He looked taken a back for a second before he smiled slightly and nodded his head.

"Of course" he said earnestly. I took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Well, you know that I'm well…not supposed to be in the same year as you all; I've been moved up because Professor Dumbledore thought it would be more appropriate for me. But this means that I've missed out on, well, doing my OWLs. So I have to do them in three weeks time" I told him rapidly, trying not to look at him. He didn't say anything and so I chanced a quick glance up at him. He was looking at me, smiling.

"You must be feeling the pressure huh? Well, I'm always happy to help if you need a hand with anything you know" Remus told me. I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at him.

"Thanks" I told him and he shook his head.

"Not a problem" he replied, gesturing me to continue walking with him.

"How come you don't want anybody to know?" he asked me curiously after we had walked a few paces. I shrugged.

"It's just another reason for people to stare at me and think I'm weird isn't it?" I asked him rhetorically. He didn't say anything for a while and we walked in silence.

"You know none of our lot would care about you doing your OWLs now, don't you?" he asked me quietly. I looked up at him and could see a trace of what seemed to be concern on his face.

"I don't know" I told him with a shrug, thinking about it. "But with everything else that's happened I'd rather not chance it" I finished off quietly.

"Well like I said, I won't tell anyone anyway" he reassured me.

"Thanks Remus" I replied and he grinned at me. "I wonder where James and Sirius are…"

James's POV

"Was that IT?" Sirius demanded of me when we were sure they had walked on. I shrugged, completely confused. "You had me all worried when you left and the colour of her eyes! Merlin!" he exclaimed, sitting down onto one of the desks.

"Watching her closely were we?" I couldn't help but say with a small grin on his face. Padfoot just rolled his eyes at me.

"You know I'm trying the whole friend thing" he said, a little bit exasperated. I looked closely at my best friend and I knew that he was struggling a bit with only being her friend.

"You still really like her don't you?" I asked him, actually being properly serious for once. Sirius had obviously picked up on my tone and looked up at me, hesitating before answering me.

"Yeah" he said quietly, a slight sigh coming out at the same time. "I don't know what's wrong with me Prongs. Why can't I just, you know, move on?" he asked me. I was surprised to see how down he seemed about everything.

"She's gone through a lot lately Pad. She needs friends at the moment. I'm sure she'll come round eventually, I'm sure she likes you too" I told him honestly.

"Hmm" was all he replied with and then he suddenly jumped up. "Anyway. I've had enough of a heart to heart. We'd better get going before they start to wonder where we are" he said and before I could say anything else he had a huge grin on his face and was holding the door open for me.

"Such a gentlemen" I replied, putting on a high voice and he chuckled. We hadn't been walking that far when we heard voices ahead. Not knowing who they were we instantly fell silent and crept towards the corner. As we got closer I recognised the voices as belonging to Ally and Remus and wondered how they were still on their way to the common room.

"If I tell you something will you promise not to tell anybody?" I heard Ally say, albeit quite quietly. Me and Sirius exchanged a quick glance and I wasn't sure if this was something we should be overhearing.

"Of course" Remus replied. Well he would say that wouldn't he. There was a brief silence and I could almost hear Ally thinking things through.

"Well, you know that I'm well…not supposed to be in the same year as you all; I've been moved up because Professor Dumbledore thought it would be more appropriate for me. But this means that I've missed out on, well, doing my OWLs. So I have to do them in three weeks time" she told him. I glanced at Sirius to see him looking, well, slightly shocked. He opened his mouth to say something but I shook my head; we couldn't chance being overheard when Ally had just said that. We continued to listen as they slowly began to walk away but we could still hear them talking.

"How come you don't want anybody to know?" I heard Remus ask her over the noise of their footsteps. I edged closer to the corner, hoping that they wouldn't turn round at any point; Sirius copying my action.

"It's just another reason for people to stare at me and think I'm weird isn't it?" Ally replied, and I could hear a tone of hurt in her voice. Sirius beside me growled slightly and I turned, puzzled to look at him. He shook his head and walked back a few paces, leaning against the wall.

"You can see why she's saying that can't you?" he whispered, asking me with a frown on his face.

"Well I guess after everything that's happened with how we found out about her-" I started to say but was cut off by Pad.

"No. People still stare at her in the corridors and things. She notices it, I know she does" he said quietly, looking down at his feet. I can't say I had noticed but then again, I didn't watch Ally in the same way that Sirius did.

"We're going to have to pretend we didn't hear any of this, you know that right?" I asked him and he nodded. "All we can do is be there for her, I'm sure she must be feeling a bit stressed at least" I continued, remembering how much pressure there was on these exams. Again Sirius nodded but didn't say anything and, checking that the coast was clear, we slowly made our way back to the common room.

Sirius's POV

I'm going to kill Peeves next time I see him. As if he woke me up at 6am on a Saturday? Stupid poltergeist. I couldn't get back to sleep after that so figured that I may as well eat a load of food to make up for my lack of sleep.

"Good morning" came a voice way too chipper for this time in the morning.

"Morning" I replied, unable to stop the smile that appeared despite my lack of enthusiasm for this time. Ally took a seat next to me and stated pulling some food towards her.

"You know, I'm ridiculously shocked that you're actually here at half past 7 on a Saturday" she told me, turning to grin at me when she said this.

"And I'm surprised that you're down here this late; rumour has it you're normally down at 7" I replied cheekily and she laughed.

"So, why on earth are you up at this time?" she asked before delving into a rather boring looking bowl of cereal.

"Peeves" was all I said by way of answer and she looked at me weirdly. "He likes to wind us Marauders up" I told her and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Somebody winding up the Marauders? Whatever next?" she said and I shook my head at her. "How comes you didn't go back to sleep?" she continued. I shrugged,

"No idea. I haven't been sleeping that well lately" I admitted to her and was momentarily surprised when she frowned."

"That's odd, neither have I" she told me. I stared at her for a few seconds before I saw a faint hint of colour rise in her cheeks and she looked away.

"Any particular reason?" I asked her; unable to stop a grin appearing on my face, glad that I still had some sort of effect on her.

"Not really" she said quietly, keeping her eyes averted from me. Definitely lying. "What are you going to do today then? It's going to seem long for you now" she said, looking up at me finally with a grin on her face.

"How about you entertain me seeing as you think it's so funny?" I asked her and she laughed.

"I would do you know but work calls" she replied and I shook my head.

"Always working" I muttered, loud enough for her to hear. I looked at her in time to see her roll her eyes.

"Well I have a lot to do" she told me, seriousness coming through in her voice. Oh. Of course. She had her OWLs. It had been a week since me and James had overheard that conversation which meant that her exams were now only a couple of weeks away.

"You must need a break every now and again" I told her with a smile but she just shrugged.

"I don't know I'm sort of…" she trailed off, not managing to finish her sentence. I frowned, wondering what was wrong.

"Sort of…?" I asked her but she shook her head.

"It doesn't matter" she replied abruptly. I looked curiously at her, wondering if it was work related.

"Go on. It's only me. Something seems to be bothering you" I said to her softly and she looked at me, looking slightly wary.

"It's just, well…" again she started but not quite finishing. She seemed, embarrassed was it? I stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. Ally looked up at me again, as if weighing up what she wanted to say. "I've sort of hit a bit of a block, with a spell. Can't quite seem to get to grips with it" she said slowly. Upon finishing she blushed slightly and looked away. Now I understood. She was obviously stuck with something she was revising and hadn't wanted to say as we weren't supposed to know about her OWLs and she didn't want to seem stupid. I was totally getting the hang of this understanding business.

"Well I'll give you a hand if you like?" I offered and she looked up.

"I don't want to bother you. I'm sure I'll get it eventually" she replied.

"Come on. What else am I supposed to do with my horribly long day?" I asked her with a grin. I was pleased to see a small smile on her face.

"Only if you're sure?" she asked, still seemingly uncertain.

"I'm positive. Ready when you are" I told her with a reassuring smile, one which was happily returned.

James's POV

I looked around the Great Hall but could see no sign of him.

"Lost your boyfriend?" came Fiona's voice from behind me. I turned round and shook my head in disgust. She just laughed as she continued down the table to where the rest of the girls were sat. Honestly, I hope he turned up as we had Quidditch practise after lunch.

"Somebody doesn't seem very happy" came another voice from behind me. I turned around to see Ally standing there with a smile on her face. She looked pretty happy.

"Why are you so happy?" I asked her, raising my eyebrows. She in turn rolled her eyes.

"Am I not allowed to be happy?" she asked me. I kept my eyebrows raised.

"Pff" was all I heard as she strolled past me to join the rest of her friends. Seriously, what was with people just leaving me to stand by myself? Instead I took a seat at the top of the table so that I could keep an eye out for my friends; all of whom had disappeared. As I was tucking into the first few bites of my food, Remus appeared and took a seat opposite me.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked me.

"Where've you been? I've had to entertain myself all morning" I moaned at him, admittedly very much like a child. Remus chuckled,

"I, unlike some, like to try and keep on top of my school work" he replied, putting his favourite lunchtime meal on his plate; lasagne. "Least you have Quidditch to cheer you up this afternoon" he continued before taking a huge mouthful of food.

"Good afternoon chaps" Sirius greeted us happily as he eventually joined us for lunch. I looked up at him, eyebrows raised (there had been a lot of this today).

"Another oddly happy person" was all I remarked and he looked up at me, pausing in the process of creating a mountain on his plate.

"The other being…?" he questioned.

"You've been with Ally haven't you?" I asked him bluntly. He grinned very cockily at me.

"Maybe I have. Your point?" he replied, continuing to add to the mountain.

"Well? What happened?" I asked him, not being able to help the curiosity that I was beginning to feel.

"Nothing. Just helped her with some work" he replied, grinning up at me. Now I was confused.

"Good going" Remus told him, and I looked over to see him grinning in return at Padfoot.

"Wait. What?" I asked, even more bemused.

"Thanks Moony. Working a charm it is" Sirius continued, as if I hadn't spoken.

"I always knew it would. She's letting you in. She'll realise soon enough" Moony told him, and I was just left to watch their conversation.

"I think she already might be" Pad told him with a grin. Remus laughed but said nothing more.

"The 'friend' thing?" I questioned, hoping somebody would respond. Both of them nodded in reply but said nothing. I guess I actually had a lot to learn.

Lizzy's POV

"Where have you been all morning then?" I asked Ally as she took a seat next to me, shortly after Fiona had arrived.

"Just doing some work" she replied, unable to keep the smile off of her face. Fiona laughed and we both looked up at her.

"And what does Sirius have to do with this work?" she asked. Ally looked at her and a bright blue tinged her eyes for a brief moment before returning to a normal brown colour. Although, now that I looked a bit closer it seemed more green than brown. Odd.

"He was just helping me is all" she replied, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. I spun to look at her.

"Woah, really?" I asked, thinking Fiona had just made it up. She nodded,

"What's wrong with that? We're friends" she replied. I chanced a quick glance at Fiona who was grinning like a right weirdo.

"Mmhmm. Friends indeed" she said and Ally just shook her head. We ate in silence for a while, each left to our own thoughts when Fiona, having seemingly inhaled her food, spoke up.

"It's such a nice day guys. Why don't you come outside and watch us train?" she asked us, looking wistfully out of the window. I turned to Ally who shrugged.

"Would be good to get some fresh air I guess" I told her and she smiled happily.

"Oh good. I'm guna go bother the guys and Erica so that we can get going sooner. I'll see you in a bit" she said rapidly, jumping up and striding away hurriedly, her blonde hair fluttering behind her.

"I'm going to go and grab my jacket. Regardless of how nice it is, it is only February and I'm still not used to this English weather" Ally told me. I couldn't help but laugh as I could hear the slight hatred for our cold winters coming through in her voice.

"Alright. I'll wait for you here" I told her. She gave me a quick smile before she departed at top speed. I finished my lunch slowly, knowing Ally would move at normal speed with so many people around. I was therefore surprised when somebody took a seat opposite me not two minutes after she had left. I was even more surprised when that person turned out to be Sirius Black.

"Good afternoon Lizzy my dear friend" he greeted me.

"What do you want?" I asked him straight away.

"Ouch, I was just being friendly" he said, feigning hurt and clutching at his heart. I just looked at him. "Oh come on am I not allowed to be nice?" he asked me, looking slightly amused at my reaction.

"As if. Now come on. Spill. What do you want to know?" I asked him, unable to grin as I knew exactly what he wanted.

"Who says I want anything?" he replied, looking carefully at me.

"Oh please. Spending the morning with Ally and now you wait for her to go before you come and talk to me" I told him, and I could see a smile appear on his face.

"Fine, Mews. You got me" he replied, holding up his hands in mock surrender.

"Oh, back to surname basis are we? And I thought we were getting somewhere" I told him and he laughed.

"Sorry, Lizzy" he replied, heavily emphasising my name. I chuckled, he was actually a nice guy.

"So, you going to tell me?" I asked him and he leaned forward, crossing his arms on the table.

"Well. I was just wondering if, you know, she had said anything to you lately?" he asked me, his eyes shining in what I could only describe as utter hope.

"What's it worth?" I asked him, grinning. He leant back.

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"This information is very valuable to you, I believe. So, what's it worth?" I asked him cheekily, wondering if I would get away with this. He looked at me for a couple of seconds before replying,

"Knowing that you were right and Ally was wrong" he replied cockily. He had seen straight through me.

"Screw you Black. Fine. I'll talk. But you better keep your mouth shut, otherwise she will kill me" I replied and he grinned widely before resuming his previous position; leaning on the table with his arms crossed.

"Deal" he told me and I glanced around quickly to make sure nobody was listening.

"She hasn't said much. It's more what she hasn't said. You should have seen her at lunch, smile on her face the whole way through" I told him and this made his grin even wider.

"Reckon I'm in with a shot?" he asked me eagerly. I hesitated for a second,

"You really like her, don't you?" I asked him quietly. Sirius looked down for a second, a slight frown on his face. "I'm not going to go round telling everybody you know. I just, I don't want her to get hurt" I said quietly and he looked up at me, his face very serious.

"You know I wouldn't ever hurt her. I do really like her" he told me. I have to say, I did truly believe him.

"Yes. Going the way you are, you're definitely in with a chance" I replied honestly. I knew Ally liked him, she was just a bit wary with everything that had happened. Sirius looked like all his Christmas's had come at once. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could do so Ally appeared beside him.

"Wow. You look horribly happy" was her first reaction at seeing Sirius. He laughed as he stood up.

"That's because I am horribly happy" he replied with a smile. I noticed how he had instantly swapped his grin for a genuine smile, one I had frequently seen him use when Ally was around. It had its desired effect; a very small hint of colour appeared on her face.

"Any reason in particular?" she asked, him and he shrugged.

"Maybe" was all he replied before he turned back to me. "Always a pleasure Lizzy. See you round girls" he finished off, sending me a quick wink which seemed to go unnoticed by Ally and he sauntered off. Ally just stared at me,

"What on earth was that about?" she asked me and I shrugged.

"He is just one very happy Marauder" I told her and she looked sceptically at me. "Come on, let's go for a wander outside" I said, getting up and beginning to move out of the hall, hoping Ally wouldn't ask me any more questions on the subject. I was lucky and she just walked beside me in silence as we left the castle and were greeted with a blast of cold, fresh air. I heard Ally shiver next to me and couldn't help but laugh.

"I can't help it!" she exclaimed, although there was a small smile on her face.

"You need to hurry up and get used to it" I retaliated and she shoved me as a means of reply. We continued to walk in silence for a while as we casually strolled over to the Quidditch pitch.

"So, Sirius helped you today huh?" I asked her, making sure to keep any amusement out of my voice. I could see Ally looking at me out the corner of my eye but kept me eyes facing forwards.

"Yeah. I saw him at breakfast this morning and I told him I was a bit stuck with something and he offered me his help" she explained. I turned to look at her in time to see a small smile on her face.

"I guess he has his moments" I replied and she nodded.

"I guess so" she said quietly. Yup. Sirius was definitely in with a chance.