"It's getting really cold." Annie said, pulling her jacket tighter around her waist as they skated over the frozen lake. They had taken their third day of vacation to go outside and admire the landscape. Peter and Lily had gone home for the holidays, but Rhia, Annie, Remus, Sirius, and James had stayed, Remus even allowing Annie to go outside, which he rarely did since Hallowe'en.

"That's because it's December." James said with a grin as he skated past, spraying Rhia with bits of ice.

"Watch it!" she cried, shielding her eyes.

"Look out, don't skate too close to the center." Remus pointed out. "Annie, be careful."

"I am!" She insisted, trying a spin and falling down. Sirius leaned down and picked her up, leaving Annie with a blush that could melt the snow around them. Remus looked severely at his friend.

"I was only trying to help." Sirius whispered, skating by.

"Don't." Remus ordered.

"Hey, Annie, try this one!" Rhia called, skating faster and faster then crouching down until she was spinning like a top, her cape fanning out around her. She spun and spun until-

"RHIA!" Sirius shouted as the ice cracked and she fell into the freezing lake.

"Oh no!" Annie cried, looking around. Why was there no one around in times of crisis?

"Annie, get back!" Remus shouted, skating to his knees and crawling towards the hole. "Don't come near here, I don't want you falling in as well!"

"I'll go get someone!" James called to Sirius and Remus, and then turned and flew to the main doors. Sirius was leaning over, trying desperately to grab Rhia's bobbing hand. He was breaking off the edges of the ice hole in the process. Remus grabbed his cloak and pulled him back.

"Sirius, you're breaking the ice worse! You'll make her drown if you aren't careful!" Sirius sat on the ice, staring helplessly at Remus.

"What am I supposed to do?" he whimpered. Remus didn't respond. Instead, he turned around and pointed his wand at the nearest tree.

"Ropus dominus!" he shouted, and a silver chord attached the end of his wand to the base of the tree. He handed the rope to Sirius. "Now, I'm going to slide closer, and you hold onto my legs. When I say now, give me the rope. Okay?" Sirius nodded, so Remus got back on his stomach and slid carefully towards the hole. Rhia had now disappeared within the icy depths, and Remus started to sweat despite the freezing cold. I musn't lose her! he thought.

When he got to the edge, he plunged his hand in the water and felt around. Cold fingertips brushed his, and he clamped down on them hard. "Now!" he shouted, and Sirius threw him the rope. He quickly fastened it around Rhia's wrist and pulled hard. "Pull!" he called back to Sirius. Within minutes, Rhia was flat on her back on the ice, her eyes closed, shivering like mad. Remus conjured a fire next to them.

"Rhia!" he exclaimed, throwing himself on top of her. She was sobbing quietly. "Oh Rhia, you scared my wits away! Are you okay? Please tell me you're all right!" Sirius leaned over Remus and Rhia, wringing his hands. He vaguely felt Annie by his side.

Rhia moaned minutes later and her eyes fluttered open. Standing above her in the hospital wing was Dumbledore. In the corner, Remus stood with his arm around Annie. James and Sirius sat by her other side.

"What happened?" she muttered. Sirius cried out and jumped on top of her.

"Oh, thank god she's awake!" he called, hugging her.

"I won't be for long if you don't let me breathe, Sirius!" she managed, and everyone laughed. James leaned over to Remus.

"Severus did it," Remus muttered to him.

"Are you sure?"

"I saw him in the bushes, pointing his wand at the spot Rhia was skating on. He made that ice melt from underneath her. He made her fall in!"

"What?" Sirius hissed, overhearing.

"Rhia, we'll be right back." James told her, leaving her in Annie and Madam Pomfrey's clutches, nearly having to drag Remus away from her side.

"Severus Snape was bewitching the ice." Remus whispered.

"He must be mad!" James cried.

"Or at least ready to get his head knocked off!" Sirius added.

"Oh, Sirius, what are you going to do?"

"Annie!" All three cried. The girl broke into their circle, her arms crossed over her chest.

"What are you plotting?" she asked.

"None of your business, go see Rhia." Remus shoved her away, closing the gap.

"What are you plotting, Padfoot?" James asked.

"Not sure." Sirius replied. "But it'll be bad, you can count on that."

~*~

The Hall was nearly empty when Sirius approached the Slytherin table on the night of the December full moon, some days after Christmas. Rhia was in a cage in the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey not willing to let her go, and Remus was in the Shrieking Shack, having told James to keep a close eye on both Annie and Sirius while he was indisposed. Sirius had spent most of that afternoon waiting for a time to approach Severus when he was alone. Finally, after Augustus Crabbe, the only other Slytherin sixth year there left, he made his move.

"Severus." He said coldly, sitting across from the greasy boy.

"What do you want, Black?" Severus scoffed.

"I've a little secret Malfoy told Annie and she told me." He replied. Severus' eyebrows peaked along with his interest and he leaned across the table, wanting to know what the boy had to say.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Did you know that if you press a certain knot on the Whomping Willow, it freezes?" Sirius remarked casually before standing up and walking out, returning to the common room where James was.

"Where've you been?" James asked, looking up from his advanced Potions essay.

"Telling Severus a little secret about the Willow." Sirius replied with a twinkle in his eye.

"You didn't!" James' eyes grew wide and his voice angry.

"I did." Sirius sat down by the fire, quite pleased with himself.

"Sirius, are you mad?" James shouted, jumping up. Sirius looked over his shoulder.

"Of course not. When Severus goes into the Whomping Willow, he'll find Moony, and Moony will then tear him to pieces-"

"And then everyone will know about Remus, and he could quite possibly be expelled. So could you!" James flew out of the portrait hole, leaving Sirius wondering how anything bad could come from ridding the world of Severus Snape.

* * *

Run faster, got to make it, can't let it happen! James urged himself on, not risking changing into his Animagus form in case anyone was watching. Faster!!

He skidded to a halt just in front of the tree. It stood, waving frantically at him, a long stick near its side. James picked it up and poked the knot, causing the tree to shudder to a halt. He then slipped through the hole and began to run.

"Snape!" he shouted down the passageway. "Remus!" He wasn't going to make it, the passage was too long. Who knew how much of a head start Snape had, he could be in the Shrieking Shack by now, he could be halfway digested-

"Snape!" he shouted again, catching sight of a billowing black cloak. Snape stopped and turned around, the door behind him ajar.

"Potter? What in blazes are you-"

"Down!" James yelled, instantly changing into a stag when he saw Remus making his way out the door. James wrestled him to the ground, bucking his head towards Snape. Severus seemed to get the point and began to run, fast, in the opposite direction. James maneuvered Remus back into the shack and closed the door, changing back to human form. His shoulder was bleeding, his shirt was torn, and he was almost sure his wrist was broken. He leaned back, breathing hard.

"Damn you sometimes, Sirius..."

~*~

"James!" Lily cried as she came running into the Great Hall during lunch the last day of vacation. James's face lit up like the Christmas tree that had recently been taken down from the Hall and he waved like mad with his unbandaged hand. Her face contorted as she ran towards him, hugging him tightly once she was by his side.

"How are you?" he asked between kisses and grimaces from Sirius.

"I'm fine." She replied quickly, taking his hurt hand in hers. "What happened?"

"I...." James paused, unable to lie to the young woman he loved.

"He fell." Sirius replied, hoping she wouldn't notice that he would be serving detention for the rest of the month and that Gryffindor was forty points behind. "We were joking around with Severus and he fell."

"James, you really ought to stop." Lily scolded. "You're seventeen!"

"I know, I know." He rolled his eyes. "Now, sit, tell us what you got for Christmas."

"Nothing special." She replied, sitting in between James and Rhia. "A bracelet from Mum and Dad and a package of seeds from Petunia."

"A lovely sort." Peter snorted.

"At least she didn't forget." Lily smiled half-heartedly. "What did all of you-"

"Post's here!" Rhia cried, pointing upwards. A large group of owls swooped down, dropping packages all over. An important-looking barn owl left a newspaper on Remus's lap before flying back outside. Remus leaned over and opened up his Daily Prophet.

"More doings from Lord Whats-His-Face." Remus said with a grimace, putting the Daily Prophet down on the table. The gleaming headline read, "Lord Voldemort's Supports Strike Fifth Time This Week."

"Couldn't you just put it away?" Lily cried. "It frightens me."

"Nothing to be frightened about." James but his arms around her shoulders, smiling a bit. "What with my going through Auror training and all."

"Auror training?" Lily repeated, her green eyes growing wide. James nodded.

"While you were away, Dumbledore had some guests." He explained. "He watched a few of our classes and came to some of the students about being Aurors, since they want us to start choosing professions now. I'm hoping to get into the Auror's Academy." He grinned. Lily looked as if she were going to throw up.

"And me." Sirius added. A few seats away, Annie, studied History of Magic notes blanched and dropped her fork with a clatter.

"Maybe Remus too." James looked towards his friend.

"Oh!" Rhia cried as if a knife had been stuck through her. She turned ghastly white and ran out of the hall.

"Oh, my." Lily murmured, standing up and running out after her.

"Now you've made them all upset." Peter admonished.

"Perhaps we should go talk to them." James suggested.

"No." Remus shook his head. "I grew up with Mum and Gran and Annie. Give them time to cool off.

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked. He nodded and returned to his meal.

Meanwhile, outside of the hall...

"Aurors, Lily! Aurors!" Rhia exclaimed. "They could be captured, they could be tortured, they could be killed! Aurors!"

"Honey, they are big boys..." Lily tried, but still looked as if she were about to be sick.

"Big boys with enormous appetites for danger! Who knows that kind of trouble they would get themselves into! And... oh, Lily, my uncle went through Auror training. He died before he finished. Its so tough, not many wizards make it through. Especially not now, with all this Dark stuff happening... they'll be wanting the best, and if the training doesn't kill them, the job surely will! What if Remus dies, without ever really knowing how I..." Rhia looked off, tears bursting to fall. Lily put an arm around her.

"They know how to be careful. Trust me."

"Why are you getting so worked up, anyway?" Annie asked, coming out of the hall. Rhia turned towards her.

"Because as stupid as they are most of the time, I love those boys, and if they get themselves killed, I'll never forgive myself or them."

Annie laughed as she walked past them. "Oh, get over yourselves. If anyone makes it through that training, it'll be James; you all know that. And he'll never make it out in the real world, so if you really want to keep them living, convince them not to get into it at all. But personally, I don't think the world would be much different if they did leave it." Then Annie hurried away, because Rhia is much stronger than Lily and it was taking all the weaker girl had to hold her back.

"You come back here, Annabelle! You get back here and say that again!" Rhia was fuming, but Lily looked after Annie. What made the young girl snap at her friends, and speak ill of not only her love, but her own brother as well?

"Who the hell does she think she is?" Rhia shouted.

"Maybe she's bewitched." Lily guessed. "Maybe Lucius put something in her lunch or-"

"Or maybe she's completely out of her mind!" cried Rhia.

"Rhia, really." Lily put her arm on her friend's shoulder. "She wouldn't have said that if she didn't have a reason...right?"

Rhia sighed.

"Right."

"Then let's go look for her." Lily began to drag her down the hall. "Once we find her, we can all talk about this...this Auror thing before we confront the others."

"She'd better have a good reason!" Rhia cried. "And if they- oh, my good Merlin!"

They had turned a corner to find Annie slumped against the wall, muttering softly to herself.

"Annie?" Lily knelt next to her. "Annie, get up."

"Idiots, all of them..." Annie mumbled. "Won't even make it past second week."

"She's delirious." Rhia whispered.

"That's why she said all that." Lily concluded. "She needs to get to Madam Pomfrey right away."

"Miss Evans, Miss O'Leary, what's going on?"

Professor McGonagall walked up to her two young students.

"Oh, my...Miss Lupin?" She put her hand under Annie's chin.

"We think she's ill, Professor." Lily said as McGonagall picked Annie up, carrying her to the hospital wing.

"She's been very stressed lately...family issues." Rhia said, halfway lying.

"Madam Pomfrey!" McGonagall called as they came into the infirmary. The large woman came bustling out of her potion stores, carrying a bundle of wrappings.

"Oh, dear, dear, what's happened here?" She asked, lying Annie on a bed.

"Aurors indeed..." Annie muttered.

"Delirious." Madam Pomfrey clucked her tongue. "Go along, you two, out."

McGonagall shooed Rhia and Lily out of the room and they watched curiously as she shut the door in their faces.

"What's going to happen to her?" Rhia asked, her mood completely changed. Lily shrugged.

"Who knows? Come on, we'll come back later." Lily grabbed Rhia's arm and began to drag her away from the infirmary door. "She'll be okay, she just needs to rest."

"Do you think someone should find out about...well, about what Lucius did?" Rhia asked. "Maybe that night has something to do with this? When stuff like this happens to Muggles, it takes a lot for them to get over it."

"Maybe..." Lily turned away from Rhia, still wondering how such a thing could happen to such an innocent girl, and a tear slipped down her cheek.

* * *

Later that night, while the girls sat around the fire in the common room discussing Annie's sudden affliction, the Mauraders were upstairs discussing their next outing.

"Maybe you guys should stay in this full moon," Remus was saying. "Our nights are getting dangerous... and now that Severus knows..."

"No, we can't stop just because of that prat!" Sirius exclaimed.

"But it's getting risky, Padfoot!" Peter cried.

"Listen guys, we'll just stay in the Shrieking Shack this month. We don't need to roam around. We'll stay in the house and keep Moony company, okay?"

"I still think this is getting out of hand... I'll be fine by myself..." Remus stuttered.

"Moony, look at the scars on your arms. Those happen when you're alone. If you're not alone, you won't hurt yourself. And we don't want you hurting yourself." James placed a brotherly hand on Remus' shoulder. Remus shook his head.

"You guys are too much sometimes."

"So," spoke Sirius, anxious to change the sentimental atmosphere of the room. "So, has anyone figured out where Rhia goes during the full moon?"

"You mean, she doesn't tell you, of all people?" James asked, holding back a snicker.

"Nope."

"I wonder when she was changed?" Peter asked.

"All I know is she got the bite shortly before moving to my neighborhood, so she was probably around nine years old. She lived on the edge of a wood before I met her, and she was bitten in there."

"It's horrible..." Remus muttered. The others turned to look at him. "Getting the bite is a terrifying experience... but so is biting someone else..."

"Have you ever bitten someone, Moony?" James asked quietly.

"Once... two years before school, a long time after I myself was bit. You know the woods behind my house? I was chained up in there one night, and a little girl came across my clearing. All I can remember is her terrified look, and her scream when I bit her. I never saw her again afterwards, though I looked. My mom thinks that maybe her parents moved away." Remus sighed. They were all quiet for a moment.

Suddenly, James looked up and at Remus intently. "Wait, Moony... you say you bit a girl about two years before school? So you were nine?"

"Yeah."

"And Sirius... Rhia moved near you when she was nine, and she was bit shortly before that, in some woods by her house?"

"Yeah..." Sirius said slowly, realization dawning.

"No." Remus shook his head in disbelief. "No, this can't be happening...I didn't!" He stood, angrily knocking a table down with his hand.

"Moony!" James cried.

"Not to her!" he shouted, sliding down the wall of their room. "I didn't know...gods, I didn't mean...."

"We know you didn't." Sirius comforted, gathering around him with the others.

"It's not your fault, really." Peter added.

"What do I say to her?" he asked miserably. "How can I look her in the eye now?!"

But no one had anything to say.

"I can never face her again." He said in a sullen tone of voice, as if he had given up.

"Yes, you can." James encouraged.

"Not with her not knowing." Remus sulked his way to his bed, climbing under the sheets.

"Maybe...we should tell her for you?" Peter suggested. Remus looked at him.

"Maybe." He shrugged his shoulders. "Do you think it would be alright?"

"We'll do it." James said, nodding.

"G'night, Moony." Peter called.

"Night." He called back. "Oh, and Sir?"

Sirius turned around.

"When you go visit Annie, tell her I said hello."

"Who said I was going to see Annie?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, you didn't know it was obvious?" James smiled a bit. Sirius made a face.

"Go on, go...go tell her." Remus bit his lip hard, drawing a bit of blood as his friends left to go tell Rhia what they had discovered.

~*~

"Lily, why don't you go to bed? I'll wait up for Annie." Rhia suggested for the fifth time.

"No...no, I think I'll go visit her. She shouldn't be asleep yet." Rhia nodded. Just as Lily stood up, James, Peter, and Sirius walked down the stairs. James kissed Lily's cheek.

"Awwwww!" Sirius cooed.

"Oh, shut up, you!" Lily shot back.

"Rhia, we need to talk to you," James spoke up, to cut off Sirius' next comment, which James was sure would have been rude.

Peter suddenly moved towards the portrait hole. "I think I'll go see Annie." he squeaked.

"I'll come with you Peter, I was just about to anyway." Lily shot a suspicious glance at James and Sirius before walking away with Peter.

"Wait!" Sirius called. "I'm coming as well." They hurried out of the hole.

"Yellow stinking cowards, the lot of them..." James muttered.

"James?"

James sat down next to Rhia. "Oh. Yes. Rhia... can I ask you something?"

"Anything, James."

"Do you remember...how you were changed?" Rhia raised her eyebrow in curiosity, but did not voice it.

"I was nine...my cat had run away, and I was devastated, so I snuck out that night to look for her. I came into a clearing, and saw a creature tied up. When I walked closer to him...it bit me. Then I ran home. My parents moved us away shortly after." Rhia sighed. "I sometimes wondered who it was...who in our little village was a werewolf."

James swallowed thickly. "I think...I mean, we think...we think it was Remus."

"What?!"

James nodded. "When he was nine, he bit a girl in the woods near his house, and she moved away shortly after. You two lived fairly close, now that I think about it...it just all fits."

Rhia was quiet for a bit, staring at her hands. Finally she spoke, not looking up. "Why couldn't he tell me himself?"

"Ashamed, I expect. He's upstairs in bed now." James took a deep breath. It had just occurred to him how little he really knew about Rhiannon. "Rhia, I know we were...well, we aren't that close, but I really suggest you go talk to him. And not just about this. You two are two of my closest friends, and I really want you to work out whatever is going on, because it's killing him inside."

Rhia slowly stood up, steadying herself on the back of her chair. "Thanks James." She gave him a short, yet tight, hug before venturing upstairs to the boys' dormitory.

All was silent inside, the only noise the sound of Remus's steady breathing. The new moon cut a sliver of light across the floor as Rhia stepped ever closer to Remus's still figure.

"Remus?" she called. He didn't move. "James...James told me what you found out."

"So now you hate me." He muttered scathingly. Rhia was taken aback. Hate him? The idea!

"Never!" She replied. "I could never hate you."

"But I bit you!" He cried, sitting up. Rhia shook her head.

"You didn't. The Wolf did." She sat on the edge of his bed. "It wasn't your fault. If anything, it was mine."

"No." he objected. "I was the one-"

"I was the one in the woods when I shouldn't have been." She interrupted. "I went to see what it was."

She moved closer, clasping one of his hands.

"Please, don't blame yourself." She asked of him. "I don't want anything to change. Perhaps it's better we know. Perhaps it'll bring us closer."

Remus smiled a little in the moonlight.

"Perhaps."

~*~

"How is she?" James asked as he stepped into the infirmary, taking off his Invisibility cloak.

"Still out of it." Peter replied.

"Keep your voice down, or Madam Pomfrey will have our heads." Sirius hissed.

"She's burning up." Lily whispered, putting a fresh cloth on Annie's forehead.

"Like to see them try..." Annie muttered.

"Is she coming round?" Sirius asked excitedly.

"No, she's delirious." James replied.

"What's she blabbering about?" asked Peter.

"Aurors." Lily replied, unable to look James in the eye as she said the word. "We think that, with what happened with Lucius, was too much stress for her...poor thing."

"Remus says hi, Annie." Sirius said, taking her hand.

"Horrible temper...can't keep his mouth shut...big head..." Annie murmured.

"What?" Peter wrinkled his brow.

"I think she's talking about Sirius." Peter laughed and Sirius glowered.

"What were you talking to Rhia about?" Lily asked. James looked around nervously.

"Um...well, Lily, darling..." He took her hand, unsure of how to say it. "We think it was...well...Remus who gave Rhia...you know...the bite."

"What?" Lily's eyes grew wide.

"Remus...bit a little girl..." Annie mumbled.

"She's right." James replied. "We think the little girl was Rhia."

"It all works out." Sirius added. "The time, the place, everything."

"And you told her?" Lily said incredulously. He nodded. "How did she react?"

"Shocked." He answered. "But I think she's going to talk to him about it."

"Rhia...Rhia's a wolf..." Annie said softly.

"Someone had better watch her before she gives away all our secrets." Sirius said with a grin.