A very big thank you to those who reviewed last time!!-

MysticSorceror-Thanks so much! I know I love Sirius too! It's so unfair what happened to him! :(

Ainsley Sloan-Thank you! I'm glad you like it! Don't worry, I'll keep going till it's finished.

Arwen Luna-Thanks!! That means so much to me! :)

Ok that's all. Thank y'all so much! The reviews are picking up a little bit now, thx! :)

Disclaimer: All I own is Kat and Mercy. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

*Chapter 4*

'Unaltered Love'

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'A werewolf?' Kat thought to herself as she ran through the halls. She had lost sight of Remus, but thought she knew where he would go. She blinked away hot tears as she tried to figure it all out. Why hadn't he told her sooner? Did he really think she would leave him for something like that? He had to have known that she would never do that, that she loved him too much to ever let anything like that come between them. It must have been hard for him, though, going through life with a secret like that, a secret that many people would fear and blame him for.

She reached the East Astronomy tower out of breathe. She and Remus always came up here to watch the stars together. He was standing with his back facing her, his elbows leaning against the stone railing, his face buried in his hands. She whiped away several tears and walked up to him. "Remus," She whispered as she touched him gently on the shoulder. She felt him shudder from her touch. "It's ok, you don't have to tell me. Please don't tell me. I understand. And I don't...I don't blame you...it's the logical thing to do, really, I mean who would want to date a werewolf?" He asked in a trembling voice, his face still hidden in his hands.

She was shocked to hear him talk like that. He really did think that she would leave him. "Remus don't ever talk like that again." She said almost harshly as she pulled his hands away from his face. He looked up at her slowly. She had never seen his eyes like that, and hoped she never would again. It hurt her to see those deep grey eyes that she loved so much so full of pain and sorrow. They were shining with un-shed tears. Just looking at them made her start to cry. She swallowed hard, trying to fight the tears. "You know I love you too much to ever leave you for something like that! It doesn't matter what you change into every full moon, that doesn't change who you really are. I'll always love you, no matter what." She whispered with tears streaming down her face. Remus stared up at her in silence for a few minutes, not believing what he had heard. "You're...you're sure... I mean....." He stuttered. "Of course I'm sure." She said softly. She was almost angry at him for not believing her.

Remus made a strange choking noise as he stood up straight and wrapped his arms around her. He buried his face in her hair and let her sob quietly into his chest. He loved the smell of her hair, he could never place the scent and she would never tell him what scent her shampoo was, it was a kind of joke they had with eachother. "I love you so much." He whispered softly into her ear. After a few minutes she had stopped crying and she pulled away gently so that she could look at him. His eyes were still filled with emotion, but this time it was a much different kind of emotion. He leaned forward slowly and kissed her gently on the lips. He drew back after a few seconds and kissed her on the forehead.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" She asked as they turned to the railing, still holding hands. He thought for a few minutes before answering. "I was afraid." He continued on again after a few more minutes of silence. "All my life I've made friends, and then lost them as soon as they discovered the truth about me. Sirius, James and Peter are the only ones who seriously didn't mind. I...I was so happy with you, and I didn't want to risk losing that. I felt awful, keeping it a secret from you, but....if you had left me... I wouldn't....wouldn't have been able to deal with that. But now I realize that I under estimated you. It would have made everything much easier if I had told you sooner. I truly am sorry." He finished and turned to look at her. She squeezed his hand gently. "It's ok. I understand. It must be awful for you...." She couldn't finish.

They stayed out there for a few hours, looking at the stars and talking as they usually did, as if nothing had ever happened. Remus felt as if he could stay out here forever, he had never been this happy in his life, for the first time he didn't feel a shadow hanging over him, a shadow that was always reminding him of his secret. But when he saw Kat shivering he realized that it must be freezing cold out side. It was November, after all. "Lets go inside now, it must be freezing out here." He suggested. Kat nodded in agreement.

"What do you mean, 'it must be freezing'? Can't you tell that it is?" She asked as they walked back to the Gryffindor common room. "Well, actually, being a you- know-what gives me certain abilities, even when I'm not transformed. One of them is that I never get cold." He answered quietly, looking from side to side to make sure no one was listening. "Cool! What are the other ones?" Kat asked with interest. "Well....um... I can smell and hear really good, and When I get mad, I get this kind of strength, it just sorta comes out of nowhere. Oh and one time I got really mad at Sirius for borrowing my potions book and losing it, and he said my eyes turned bright yellow, like they do when I transform. I guess that's not an abitity, but I thought it was weird." He said with a shrug.

"That's so awesome!" She said with a smile. Remus thought of all the kids, and even adults, that had called him a freak and other things when they had found out about him. How did he get so lucky? How was it that he had found this amazing girl, and that she actually loved him back, even after finding out what he was? When they reached the fat lady, Remus took her hand before she could climb through. He almost forgot what he was going to say as he looked into her dark brown eyes. He took her other hand with his free one. "Thanks, Kat." He whispered. She nodded as a tear rolled down her cheek. Remus whiped it away with his thumb, and kissed her softly on the lips again. She was smiling when he pulled away. They turned to the fat lady and found her watching them with tears rolling down her chubbycheeks. "Chicken legs." Remus muttered. She sniffed noisely. "Of course, dear." The painting swung open as she pulled out a handkercheif and blew her noise loudly.

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The other girls didn't mind Remus's 'problem' any more than Kat had. Everyone got along much better without suspicion and secrecy hanging over their heads. Of course they all had to sit down and James, Sirius and Remus explained the whole thing in detail to them. Lily appologized for not believing them, Remus appologized for not telling them sooner, and everything returned to almost normal.

One day a few weeks later the Marauders were walking to lunch, everyone chatting happily about some class or other. They walked into the entrance hall to find it crowded with hungry students, it was too early for lunch. "Oh not them again!" James moaned. The others followed his gaze to see Severus Snape walking toward them, followed closely by Lucius Malfoy. It was common knowledge that there was a huge rivalry between the two Slytherins and the Maruaders. It was also common knowledge that one of the main reasons for this was that Snape had a crush on Lily, and Malfoy had one on Kat. The entrance hall went quiet, everyone was obviously hoping for a fight.

"What do you want, Snape." James said cooly. "I suppose you think your little prank yesterday was just hilarious." Snape spat. It was obvious that he was looking for trouble. "Come on Snape, it was just a joke. How about you just back off, we don't want to start anything." Remus said calmly, though James and Sirius looked very much like they 'wanted to start something.' Snape turned away from James to look at Remus. "And I suppose your going to stop me, Lupin? What, are you going to come after me next week?" He sneered. The next week was a full moon. (A/N:I'm just gonna assume that everyone knows how Snape found out about Remus.)

Sirius's hands curled up into fists. "Shut up, Snape." He said through clenched teeth. Snape ignored him and turned to Kat. "You don't know, do you?" He drawled. "I bet your little girlfriend wouldn't be so loyal if she knew where you went every month, Lupin." He sneered, turning back to Remus. Everyone knew that this remark was made on Malfoy's behalf. "Yeah," Malfoy said, stepping forward. "Where do you go every month, Lupin?" He drawled with his eyes on Kat. "Shut up, Malfoy." Sirius said in a threatening voice, taking a step towards him. Remus held out a hand to stop his friend. "Come on, lets go." He muttered, taking Kat by the elbow. The group started to walk away, James and Sirius still seething with rage.

But Malfoy wasn't done. "Hey, I bet I know what it is, I bet Lupin has PMS!" He said loudly. James, Sirius, and Remus all turned around at the exact same time. Before Malfoy even had time to chuckle at his own joke, Remus had high-kicked him in the face. Lucius fell flat on the floor, screaming and holding his broken nose. Sirius and James, seeing that Remus had Malfoy, attacked Snape instead. James punched him in the face and Sirius in the gut. They were both just getting ready to punch him again when Remus grabbed their wrists and led them away, Peter and the girls following close behind.

The students in the entrance hall were shocked. They had never, never seen Remus Lupin lose his temper like he just did. He always took Snape and Malfoy's taunts cooly, seemingly un-affected. Everyone had thought him a bit of a wimp for this, but not anymore. Malfoy's nose had been broken in two places, and he had a black eye as well.

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Back in the Gryffindor Common room, the marauders were celebrating with food from the kitchens. "That kick thing you did was awesome, Remus." James said

with a mouth full of food. "Thanks. You got Snape pretty good, too." Remus said with a grin. "Hey, you know your eyes turned yellow again when you kicked Malfoy." Sirius said. "Really? Wonder why it does that." Remus said thoughtfully before stuffing a pumpkin pasty in his mouth. Everyone shrugged carelessly.

"You don't think we'll get in trouble, do you?" Peter asked in his squeeky voice. "What if Snape and Malfoy tell on us?" Sirius shook his head. "Nah," He said. "They won''t do that. Cuz then Dumbledore would talk to us and that would mean that we would tell him about Snape threatening to tell everyone about Remus. Dumbledore gave Snape specific orders not to mention it to anyone, Snape wouldn't risk getting in trouble like that." Everyone else nodded in agreemnt. "Oh, ok." Peter said quietly.

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A/N:Hey! Ok I'm a little unsure about this chapter, so please tell me if you think there's a way I could make it better. And are the chapter too long? Too short? I kind think they're too short so I'll try to make the next one longer. Thx for reading! Please review!! *~Eowyn~*