Remus woke suddenly. The darkness pooled around him, swallowing his companions in its murky depths. He let his eyes adjust slowly, beginning to discern their slumbering forms in the dark fog. There was Peter, a picture from a story, the covers perfect over him and hugging a teddy bear, a smile on his face. James slept like a mad man and was always tangled up with his sheets by morning. Right now he had somehow managed to turn himself completely around, so that his feet were on the pillow and his head at the foot of the bed. Lastly, Sirius was curled into a tiny ball, not using the pilllow and only a single sheet. He didn't move at all.

He wasn't sure what had woken him up, but he didn't try to go back to sleep. Remus always tended to sleep like a rock unless he felt he was needed. He wouldn't have woken up if that peculiar sixth sense of his hadn't nudged him.

Extracting himself from his bed, Remus rubbed his eyes carefully. The clock said it was only 12:30, but when one was asleep and woke up, it always felt much later (or earlier). The boy looked around his dorm one more time, then carefully slipped out. He closed the door silently, because he knew that if Sirius heard even a creak, he'd panic and snap awake.

The youth padded silently down the stairs, adeptly bypassing the one squeaky step. He entered into the Common Room with no small bit of trepidation. Whoever it was that needed him might not want him. Looking around, he caught sight of a girl sitting on a sofa, staring into the fire.

It was Lily. Those brilliant jade eyes glared furiously at the hot flames, the reflection making it seem as if emerald flames leaped within her soul. A shiver ran down Remus's back, but he ignored it. Taking a seat at the other end of the couch, he too stared into the fire. He knew that she was aware of his presence and resented it, so he waited for her to make the first move. It was a long while before she did.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing."

"You came down here for a reason."

"So did you."

She was silent for a moment. Remus risked a glance over at her and was surprised to see a tear run down her cheek before she angrily swiped it away.

"You're crying!" He'd never seen her cry.

"I am not."

"I just saw a tear go down your cheek!"

"I'm not crying! I just...I just don't like it when people call me a boy."

"No one did."

"Laura did."

"Oh, right. Well, we don't think you're a boy."

"Oh, but you do. Maybe not overtly, but all of you four treat me like one of the guys. Which is the way I want it."

"Then why are you upset?"

"Because you treat me like one of the guys, but you know that I'm not. They call me a guy to my face."

There was no question of who they were.

"And I hate it! Just because I don't obsess over makeup and boys and wear nothing but jeans and polos, they just automatically assume that I must want to be male! And I don't! I'm glad I'm a girl, but I want to prove to the world that females can do everything males can!"

"Everything?" Remus raised an eyebrow and smirked. Immediately, he blushed and regretted being male and young, and, like all young males who haven't experienced anything first hand, slightly perverted.

Lily laughed, and blushed too. She had a similar sense of humor.

"Well, not everything. But we can do some stuff that you can't do either, eh?"

Remus quickly changed the subject.

"It's ok to cry, you know."

"It's not."

"Nothing's wrong with it."

"Everything is wrong with it. It doesn't change anything and it shows everyone your weakness."

"It's ok to let people know that you do have weaknesses, Lily. We all tend to think of you as practically superhuman, because you don't seem to have any. It's good to know that you're human. We're your friends. It's ok if you cry in front of us. We understand."

"Would you cry in front of us?"

"Well...."

"I rest my case. Would you tell the same thing to Sirius or Peter or James?"

"They wouldn't take my advice."

"But would you give it?"

"I guess not, since I don't think they'd listen."

"But you assume I would take you advice and think its ok to cry in front of you guys."

"Well...."

"It's because I'm a girl, and I'm naturally weak and everyone knows that girls break down and cry at the littlest things."

"No! That's not it at all!"

"Then why do you think I would take that advice when the other three wouldn't?"

"Er...I don't know."

"You may not think that it's because of my sex consciously, but in all guys there is a slight prejudice against women. I don't hold it against you because everyone has it, even most girls. But I will warn you that not everyone is as understanding as me."

"Oh."

"The other thing about crying - and you should remember this - is that a lot of girls tend to manipulate boys by crying. They know that a guy has no idea what to do with a crying female, so tend to try and get them to stop with whatever means possible. Don't fall for it."

"Um...ok."

They sat silently for a few minutes.

"I'm not a guy, you know. I am most definitely female. I have crushes on guys and get jealous of some girls and I am not made of stone."

"I know."

"I wish everyone else knew that as well."

With that, the red haired female rose from the couch and went up the stairs, presumably to go to sleep. Remus stared into the fire for a bit longer before doing the same.



The classes seemed to ease off the homework just before Halloween, but not much. The five Marauders were up late at night doing their homework, primarily because they'd had detention with Professor Sprout over some jumping beans that had been planted accidentally (on purpose) instead of magic beans. That is, everyone except for Lily had had detention. Not that she hadn't planted any, just that she'd planted magic beans in the same pot as the jumping beans, so it looked like she'd only planted magic beans after the jumping ones got out.

But she was there too, helping Sirius with his Charms homework. Remus was getting a headache over the History of Magic essay and Peter was helping James with Astronomy. They all tended to do their worst subjects first, then save their best for last. That meant Lily would do Potions first, sometimes with aid from Sirius. Peter helped James with Astronomy, Lily helped Sirius with Charms, James helped Peter with Transfiguration and everyone helped Remus with History of Magic.

They could all relax after they got through those worst subjects, because they were pretty good at the rest. They all had a separate area where they were particularly strong. Remus enjoyed Defense Against the Dark Arts, Sirius loved Potions, Lily had a knack for Charms, Peter knew the stars like the back of his hands and James's talent was in Transfiguration. Remus thought it was rather ironic that his favorite subject was Defense Against the Dark Arts, considering that he was often considered a dark creature.

He winced, his quill blotting on his parchment. He hadn't told his friends of his secret and he didn't really want to, but it was already getting awkward to make up stories for the full moon. He'd only been gone twice, but since no one else ever left Hogwarts, it was odd when he said he had to go visit his mum. Luckily, no one seemed to notice - yet - but Remus wasn't sure how long he could keep up the act.

"Ouch!" Remus looked up just in time to see Sirius get whacked by his own wand, which seemed to be beating him in frustration. Lily whipped out her wand before Remus had even figured out what had happened.

"Finite Incantatem!"

The wand ceased its antics and fell to the ground. Lily picked it up and handed it to Sirius, who took it carefully.

"What'd I do wrong?"

"You said Animata instead of Animato. That turned it from a Revival Charm to an Animation spell. And since you were looking at your wand when you said that....."

"Oh."

Remus looked down at his parchment again. Four more inches to complete. He groaned inwardly and began to make up stuff about the goblin treaties of 1931.

"This is Sirius, right?"

"No, I'm Sirius!"

"Shut up, Sirius."

"No, that's not Sirius - "

"That's right, I'm Sirius."

"- that's Sirius."

"No, I'm Sirius!"

"SHUT UP, SIRIUS!"

Remus stifled a chuckle. Not only had both Peter and James yelled at Sirius, but Lily as well, because she was annoyed at being ignored while tutoring him. Sirius shut up.

Remus measured again. Two and a half more inches.

"Does anyone know anything about the goblin treaties of 1931?"

"Only that the goblins came to work for Gringotts bank because of them."

"Thanks."

Writing something to that effect in extremely large handwriting, he signed his name in large letters at the bottom.

"Think Binns will care that my name is part of the foot?"

"Yes."

"Well, screw him then."

"No thanks."

Remus put the essay in his history book and check his bag for anything else. Finding all his homework done, he bid everyone goodnight and made his way up to the dormitory.



(Disclaimer: Not mine.

Anyways, sorry for the delay, but my internet didn't work for two days. I know this chapter wasn't particularly entertaining, but I couldn't continue unless I wanted to stop in a very odd spot. I also wanted to get everyone's strengths and weaknesses established. Next time I hope for a litle action, but I won't promise it. And there will probably be no real romance until fourth or fifth year, simply because I didn't get any until my sophomore year, which is the equivalent of fifth year. Therefore, I can't imagine having that before fifth, so although they have crushes, there won't be romance. It's going to pick up speed soon though, don't worry.)