"Aaahoo! Werewolves of London!" - Warren Zevon, 1978
"There are several color classifications within the Dwarf Star category …"
Aeryn Miller bit her lip as she wrote down her thoughts on the parchment in front of her.
"Red Dwarfs are high mass main sequence stars – oh, no wait! Low mass!"
She reached out and grabbed her magic eraser. After correcting her mistake, she continued her Astronomy essay and copied the different classifications from her notes. When Aeryn reached the end of the page, she quietly hummed to herself and dipped her feather quill into her inkpot. Although Astronomy wasn't her strongest subject, she enjoyed the work. It gave her something to do while Peter spent the night with the rest of the Marauders. He'd told her they were planning a prank, but Aeryn couldn't remember the person they were targeting - in her opinion, all of the Marauder pranks tended to blend together overtime.
Before long, a group of Ravenclaw Quidditch players entered the library. Aeryn realized that they were all in her NEWT class and looked them up and down discreetly as they settled a couple of tables away from her.
"Astronomy is bloody useless," Davies groaned as he shoved open his textbook.
"Well you could have dropped it after your OWLs if you didn't fail other subjects."
"How are you in Ravenclaw again?"
"Up yours," Davies growled.
As the boys began to chuckle and get down to their work, Aeryn found herself staring at the only girl in the group. The Ravenclaw Seeker, Cora, meekly pulled out her parchment and quill before she caught the Gryffindor's gaze. Aeryn couldn't help but give her a small smile and then averted her eyes back to her notes. Cora paused and suddenly shoved her supplies back into her bag. Aeryn's eyebrows shot into the air when the girl gave her teammates an empty excuse and headed towards her table.
"I'm sorry for barging in on your study session," Cora apologized after she plopped into the chair next to her, "but I have to get away from those berks. They wanted to use my notes, but I've had it with them. I'll be as quiet, I swear. Pretend I'm not even here."
Cora's tenacity took Aeryn by surprise and she fell silent as she watched her new tablemate sort her things. She shrugged her shoulders and went back to her work.
"I'm Cora McKnight, by the way," the Ravenclaw interrupted again. Aeryn looked up from her parchment and saw her extending her hand towards her. "You're Pettigrew's girlfriend, right?"
"Yes, I am. And I know who you are – we've had some lessons together. You had an amazing grab against Hufflepuff," Aeryn answered as she shook her hand. She then averted her eyes back to her homework. Aeryn expected her new companion to remain silent, but Cora continued the conversation despite her earlier promise.
"Well the game was a wee bit longer than Walter would have liked, but thank you," she blushed as she dipped her pen in her inkpot. "He's been ramping up our practices so I spend all my time with a group of bowfing boys. It's driving me up a wall! … Sorry. I said I would be quiet. I'll shut up now."
They finally fell silent, but as Aeryn pressed her quill against her parchment, she realized she actually liked Cora's noisy interruptions. They were entertaining and refreshing in comparison to Peter and the rest of the Marauders' immature sense of humor. She suddenly felt the need to connect with her fellow female; she was very thankful for her new friendship with Lily and Gemma, but deep down, Aeryn craved something more fulfilling and Cora seemed to fit the bill.
"You know," Aeryn said, "please feel free to tell me anything. I know what it's like to always be surrounded by males."
"Aye, I suppose you do," Cora chuckled after looking up from her essay. "I thought Walter was bad, but it must be extremely tiring being around your goons."
"They aren't that bad," Aeryn said as she playfully rolled her eyes. "Sirius is a bit much sometimes, but I know he's just in love. James has calmed down, thank Merlin. And Remus is moody, but Peter makes up for all of it. He's just …" The girl quickly looked down at her promise ring on her left hand. "… Well, he's just amazing. The best boyfriend a girl could ask for."
"That's sweet," Cora smiled. "Well good for you. Hopefully I can find a love like yours someday. Until then, I'll be stuck with them." The Seeker nodded over to the rest of the team behind her and then laughed. Aeryn let out a slight giggle herself as the two girls went back to their work.
Another stretch of silence fell over them. Aeryn tried to concentrate on the conclusion of her Astronomy homework, but felt compelled to check if Cora was still next to her. The Ravenclaw didn't notice her stare and continued to let her quill fly over her parchment.
As Cora sighed, Aeryn suddenly felt the need to bond with her again. She couldn't explain it, but there was something about the girl that made her feel at complete ease. Maybe it was because she had a quirky sense of humor … but when Aeryn truly thought about it, she realized that they were both girls who were lost in a sea of boys. They had empathy for each other even though they had just met, which probably explained Cora's many attempts to engage her in conversation; she was eager to open up because she knew she could be completely honest and understood.
The unexpected revelation caused a smile to tug at Aeryn's lips. She coughed discretely to get her new friend's attention.
"Have you done your star chart yet?"
"No, I've been putting it off," Cora chortled. She welcomed the distraction wholeheartedly. "Have you?"
"No," Aeryn replied with a small laugh, "I completely procrastinated. Tonight is a perfect night to draw it all out - because of the Full Moon - but it's so cloudy that I know I won't be able to see anything. So I have to do it the long way and calculate everything by hand. Ugh, I'm so bad at maths though! This is going to be torture!"
"Well you're in luck," Cora said with a slight smirk. "You happen to be sitting next to a maths genius. I just can't remember the names of all the bloody planets. It's like they go in one ear and go right back out the other." A slow grin spread across her face after she threw a glance back at her rowdy teammates. "Well, it seems like we're going to have to work together to get this thing done on time. I'm certainly not sitting with them anymore."
"Seems you're right," Aeryn said. "I'm almost done with my essay, are you close to finishing?"
"On my last sentence," Cora replied as her hand flew across the page. "Done! Ok, let's do this star chart."
The girls playfully worked on their charts for the next two hours. They could have accomplished their task with ease, but instead, the two teenagers chattered away after every problem set and merrily mismanaged their time.
"How many bells was that?" Cora questioned after they finally plotted the last star on their charts.
"It's just about curfew," Aeryn said with a slight laugh as she rubbed her eyes.
"Well, that flew by," Cora snorted as she rolled up her parchment and shoved it into her bag. Before she packed away the rest of her belongings, she shot Aeryn a satisfied look over her left shoulder. "You know, this was fun."
"It was!" Aeryn grinned as she put her quill back into its case. She held Cora's smile for a moment longer and then packed away her things. She put on her thick winter cloak over her dense wool sweater.
"I don't understand how you can wear that many layers inside the Castle," Cora teased. "They've installed permanent Heating Charms in here, you know."
"It's the end of January! It's cold!" Aeryn protested good-humoredly. "And you have thick skin since you practice outside all the time. You're used to shivering."
"Aye," Cora agreed, "but you're still bonkers for wearing two sweaters and a cloak." The girls fell into another fit of laughter and scurried out of the library after the librarian finally kicked them out. After they rounded several corners, Aeryn felt out of breath and stopped abruptly. Cora kept sprinting until she finally realized her new friend had stopped.
"I'm so sorry," she said jovially as she ran a circle around Aeryn, "but Davies has trained me to never stop running!"
"Remind me to kick him then," Aeryn panted with a snort as she finally caught her breath. She shifted her bag to her other shoulder and then held out her hand. "It's been a pleasure Cora. I do hope we can do this again sometime."
"You may not be able to get rid of me," she replied with a smile as she shook her hand firmly. Cora gave her one last wave and then sprinted towards the Ravenclaw Common Room, leaving Aeryn alone in the hall. The Gryffindor slowly made her way back to her dorm room, humming joyfully to herself as she climbed up the Tower. Her new friendship with Cora pushed all thoughts of Peter out of her head. What a magical night!
The next morning, Aeryn continued to obsess over her study session as she showered and put on her uniform. Once she checked her reflection in the mirror and shook out her wet curls, the Gryffindor made her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. It wasn't until Aeryn sat down at the long banquet table that she finally realized that Peter was not next to her.
The feeling was foreign and truth be told, daunting. Aeryn felt off-put as she searched for Peter. She checked her wristwatch and then frowned. It was half past seven – the normal time they reconvened in the morning – so where was he? Had their prank backfired? Her eyes zipped back and forth across the rest of the Great Hall to find signs of the rest of the Marauders. She didn't see the boys, but her gaze finally settled on the Hufflepuff table, and more specifically, Gemma.
"Gemma, hi!" Aeryn greeted. Her voice with filled with abundant confidence to try and hide her anxiety. "Do you happen to know where Sirius is? I can't find Peter, but I figure he's probably with his mates -"
"They're in the Hospital Wing," Gemma muttered as she bit into a piece of toast and read the latest Daily Prophet headline. She looked extremely tired.
"What!" Aeryn exclaimed. Gemma looked up from her breakfast in horror when she realized she had said too much.
Aeryn didn't wait for an explanation and bustled out of the Great Hall - she even lost Gemma as she hiked up the stairs. By the time she made it to the Hospital Wing, Aeryn was out of breath, but she burst into the room regardless. Madame Pomfrey was sitting with the rest of the Marauders in the opposite corner of the Wing; she froze and didn't shoo Aeryn away.
"Merlin Peter, what happened to you? Why did I have to find out from Gemma that you were here?"
Madame Pomfrey decided to take her leave and floated out of the room.
"Gemma?" a raspy voice croaked behind her. It was Remus.
"Yes, Gemma," Aeryn answered snidely, but the venom in her voice instantly vanished when looked over at him. His left leg was completely covered in bandages and he wore two fresh gashes on his forehead. Aeryn gasped in shock as she hid behind her hands, but her thoughts quickly turned angry.
"What the hell did you lot do last night? And no lies! I don't care if you have a sacred oath that says you can't divulge a prank's secrets, but it's gone too far now. You're seriously hurt."
Gemma suddenly burst into the room; she caught Aeryn's confused stare and hung her head in shame.
"Bloody hell, I've done it again."
"Done what?" Aeryn asked.
"I've run my gob," the Hufflepuff groaned as she crossed her hands over her chest and dug her fingers into her arms. "I was just so tired and you caught me off guard and -"
"It's not your fault," croaked Remus. "I knew this was going to happen sooner or later."
"What was going to happen?" Aeryn said, her patience finally breaking.
"Prongs, would you kindly give up your seat to Aeryn? I have a bit of explaining to do," Remus said. He gave her a soft smile before slowly sitting up in bed and grimacing sharply. Aeryn cautiously sat down. However, before she looked Remus in the eyes, she threw a glance at her boyfriend.
"Peter, please tell me what's going on," she pleaded desperately.
"I think Remus needs to do the talking, dear," he mumbled. Aeryn averted her attention back to Remus and he started to shake under her gaze as the color slowly drained from his face. The girl felt a swell of concern override her earlier skepticism; whatever he was about to reveal was physically making him sick.
"Remus," Aeryn said softly and urgently, "what is it?"
"I - I," Remus rasped, but couldn't finish his sentence. He ran a shaking hand through his greasy hair and briefly looked up at the ceiling before continuing. "Peter didn't break his arm setting up a prank – he broke it while we were out on the grounds. He was helping me transform."
"Transform?" Aeryn gasped. "Transform into what?"
Remus tried to answer, but physically was unable to. His lips refused to cooperate.
"Aeryn," Peter said quietly as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Remus is a lycan. Every Full Moon, he turns into a werewolf and we help him - it took us awhile, but we're all animagi."
"What?" Lily exclaimed as she hit James on the arm. "You never told me that!"
"I'm sorry, but after Gemma found out -"
"Don't bring me into this," Gemma growled from the other side of the room, "I've already fucked up enough relationships this year."
"- we couldn't risk anyone else knowing. We're unregistered."
As their argument fizzled into a steady silence, Aeryn's brain finally started to process Remus' confession. Although the thought of a werewolf at Hogwarts sent terrifying shivers down her spine, Aeryn knew that Remus Lupin was a good man and didn't deserve her prejudice. She'd known him for years and never had he bitten her or caused her any pain. He was a good soul - she couldn't see the monster he claimed to be.
And besides, if Peter and the rest of the Marauders were helping him, then she supposed he was in good hands when he actually was dangerous.
However, another unexpected revelation surfaced when she finally accepted his secret. Wait, weren't these people supposed to be her friends? She spent all her time with them … so why was she the last person to hear the news? And that's when Aeryn finally grasped that the people standing around her were never actually her friends. They were Peter's friends; they didn't actually know her that well. As Aeryn uncomfortably looked down at the floor, she realized that the only person who really understood her was Cora … but she was just some girl Aeryn had talked to in the library the night before.
"You knew," Aeryn muttered softly. "You all knew. And you kept it from me."
Her statement was met with silence; Gemma turned into Sirius' chest to hide her face as James discreetly reached out and grabbed Lily's hand. Aeryn turned to Peter as her expression turned uncharacteristically serious. Although she understood why he wanted to protect his friend, she needed to confirm his allegiance.
"Is this it? Is this the only thing you've been keeping from me?" she asked.
"… Yes," Peter anxiously gulped as the sides of his mouth turned into a twisted frown. He then rushed over and wrapped his free arm around her waist. "Oh Aeryn, I wanted to tell you for so long, but it wasn't my secret to tell! I'm so sorry, I promise I'll make it up to you this Valentine's Day!"
Aeryn sighed heavily and cocked her head to the side as satisfied smile spread across her face. Although she still felt emotionally stung, the Gryffindor realized that Peter and his friends were only trying to protect her, nothing more. She could feel their extreme remorse, which in her eyes meant that they actually did cared about her. Aeryn sighed again and slowly slipped out of Peter's embrace and made her way towards the werewolf next to her.
"I'll keep your secret, Remus," she said as she gave his shoulder a light pat. "My lips are sealed."
Author's note: Would love to hear your feedback so far! :)