Well, here's chapter two! Sorry about the long wait, both Saku and Desertrain had to take a small sabbatical for a little thing called school. We're both still in the first couple months of it, so updates are going to be far and few between, probably. But we will definitely not be abandoning this, so stay tuned!

For those who read the first chapter: you want to go back and read it again! Trust us! We read the fifth book since we wrote that, and some changes have been made to keep it in canon as much as possible.

And ALWAYS, ALWAYS review! It's what authors live on, and we don't know what you want unless you tell us! Other than this, know that we do not own the Harry Potter characters other than the ones you don't recognize from the books, so you can't sue us. Now, dear readers, on you go to the story!!!

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Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Unveiled

Kaite and Remus were still staring at each other when a loud voice broke their concentration.

"Well, come on Love Birds, we're almost to Hogwarts! Haven't got all day." Sirius Black had been talking to James when James had nudged him and inclined his head towards Remus and Kaite. Sirius had picked up on the looks passing between them easily, and had spoken much louder than usual. Sirius looked around the compartment quickly to see if either Lily or Peter had noticed the tension between Remus and Kaite. Peter was looking at them as if they were decidedly odd, but he didn't seem to really realize what had happened. Lily, on the other hand-Lily knew what was going on.

At the sound of Sirius' voice, Kaite and Remus had both straightened in surprise, but had not dropped each other's hands. Suddenly, Remus cleared his throat.

"I'm going to get something from my bags. I'll be right back." Remus said quickly.

"What do you need? We're almost to Hogwarts, can't it wait?" James asked in annoyance. Remus was suddenly acting quite strangely, and James was slightly worried. He had caught the fact that Kaite and Remus shared the same peculiar eyes, and knew what that must mean. What James didn't know was what his friend was thinking. Was he upset? That question was answered a moment later when Remus ignored James, but accepted Kaite's offer to accompany him. Once the two werewolves had left the compartment (still hand in hand, and seemingly not noticing this fact), the four remaining teenagers were quiet for a moment. Peter was the first to speak.

"Well, that was interesting. Think they fancy each other?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Of course they fancy each other. Lily, is Kaite what I think she is?" Sirius looked gravely at Lily, eyes devoid of their usual twinkle. Lily nodded. James closed his eyes and hung his head.

"Lily, you should know. . ." James started.

"I know. I saw it, too." Lily answered to the unfinished comment.

Peter was confused. "Know what? What is Kaite? I'm so confused."

Lily, James and Sirius looked at Peter in despair, before Lily took pity on the smaller, slightly pudgy boy.

"Peter, you know that Remus is a werewolf, right?"

"Of course! We've known that since first year. But how do you know, it's supposed to be a secret!" Peter looked suspiciously at Lily, who smiled wryly.

"I just found out, Peter, I promise I haven't been snooping. I figured it out, because Kaite is a werewolf, too." Peter looked dumbstruck. The whole group sat down on the train's seats.

"So that whole thing with them staring at each other . . . it's because they're both werewolves? I thought they just fancied each other . . . I mean . . .when Sirius told them to break it up. . ."

At this, Lily grinned. "Oh, I think that might not be so far from the truth, Pete." The four teens laughed, but then James became serious again.

"Lily, that's not all you have to know." James took a deep breath, and Sirius and Peter knew what he was about to tell Lily. They didn't stop him; they thought it was important for Lily to know this, also. "We've been working on something, Sirius, Pete and I. We're studying to become Animagi. A couple of summers ago we actually made it. We can and have transformed. All of us." Lily drew in a sharp breath, and put her hand over her mouth in shock.

"But, isn't that illegal at our age? It's difficult, you could get hurt! What were you thinking of?" Lily quickly went from shocked and worried to angry and upset. "What could have happened if you were not successful?! People have died because they got stuck between shapes and couldn't get back to either form quickly enough! How long has this been going on?"

James looked slightly taken aback, before becoming angry at Lily's scolding. "Since second year. And this isn't some thoughtless act for grins and giggles, Lily. This is for Remus. So you have a werewolf friend. Have you ever been with her during a transformation? Have you?" Lily shook her head silently. "Well, we have. We've been with Remus before, during, and after his transformations. You have /NO/ idea how awful they are. How painful for him. You can't see the scars on his body that he gives himself while in his wolf form. He has some shred of comfort when we're with him in our animal forms. We keep him from going out in wolf form looking for other people to bite, and a measure of peace instead of the insanity he usually knows when he's a wolf. And as long as we're helping him, I don't care what happens to us. Do you understand now?"

Lily nodded, looking as if she were about to cry. She hadn't understood to begin with, but she did now. She looked at James, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry." She said quietly. James nodded and looked sadly towards were Remus and Kaite had exited as the train came to a halt.

"I know. So am I."

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After Kaite and Remus left the compartment their friends were in, they found an empty compartment to talk in. Realizing that they were still holding hands, they quickly let go of each other.

"So." Remus cleared his throat and said, looking anywhere but at Kaite.

"So." Kaite replied.

"Well, this is interesting. I've never met another werewolf before." Remus finally looked at Kaite. "You?"

"Nope, there aren't many in New York City. When'd it happen to you?"

"A long time ago." Remus drew in a deep breath. "I was about five, I think. My parents used to tie me up in the cellar during the transformations, to keep me from hurting anyone. How about you? Isn't it hard to get bitten in New York City?"

Kaite smiled bitterly. "I wasn't at home. I was eight. My parents decided that we needed a vacation, and they thought that the Georgia Blue Ridge Mountains sounded nice, so we went. I went for a walk around our cabin one night, and it happened then. A wolf jumped out of the woods. Thankfully I wasn't too far from the cabin, and Dad was able to scare it off. Lucky my parents are wizards, or they'd have never known what was happening to me. They bought a bigger apartment with an extra bedroom, put fortification and silencing spells on it, and that's where I stay when it happens."

Remus nodded. "There's a cabin, just outside the wizarding village of Hogsmeade, not far from Hogwarts. I go there." He laughed bitterly. "People think it's haunted. A ghost werewolf. Funny. This summer, though, I stayed at James' house with Sirius. His parents know about me and said it was okay. That was best summer I'd ever had."

Kaite was just about to ask Remus what kind of wolf-like senses he had, other than smell, when the train jerked to a stop. Kaite fell forward, straight into Remus' arms, clutching onto his school robes to prevent from falling further. It was not unlike the situation between Lily and James earlier. Remus and Kaite both blushed, and helped each other up.

"Hogwarts." Said Remus, stating the obvious. "Ready to go face the others?"

Kaite nodded, even though she wasn't really sure. "Sure." And with that, Remus and Kaite left their compartment and joined their friends, who diplomatically ignored the fact that Remus had retrieved nothing from his luggage.

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Kaite looked at the compartment floor, puzzled by her sudden longing- feelings for the other werewolf and missed Lily's question. "What? I didn't catch that."

Her best friend stared at her worriedly, "I asked if you knew how you were going to be sorted."

"I haven't a clue actually." She mocked their accent and grinned, and then she looked at the Marauders' backs as they whispered to Remus, telling him what just happened. He nodded and muttered something about trusting Lily.

"Uh. . .Lily? When do we get off? In the muggle-subways of New York we're usually crammed and forced out, so I'm kinda lost on when to leave here." She grinned weakly, not seeing Remus' amused smile.

/I'll have to ask her about American Muggles/, Remus thought to himself. His friends talked hurriedly about their first prank of the year. It was, of course, their most important prank, this year they would do something not even Professor Dumbledore would expect. Every year so far the Marauders had tried to do something memorable for the seventh years who would soon be graduating from Hogwarts. They usually had Remus at the school, pulling together the instruments they needed and setting them up, but this year they had nobody at the school that could. He made a note to himself to tell Kaite about all of the pranks, the most impressive ones anyhow, later this evening in the common room. He felt his stomach lurch when Kaite smiled at Lily. /Oh.that was quite interesting./ Peter caught Remus' look and nudged Sirius, who grinned at James. James, himself, had been staring raptly at Lily.

"Are we going? We need to get there before the first years." James spoke, finally looking back at his friends.

"Remus, a word of advice: you can't imprint her picture on your eyeballs. I tried with Serine last year, so I know," Sirius whispered in his best friend's ear. Remus blushed slightly and moved past his friend, not saying anything.

"Everyone's already getting off; I suppose we should start that way as well." Lily began picking up a few things that she brought aboard the train to waste some of the traveling time, and patted her robe's pockets to make sure her wand was there. Lily laughed, watching Kaite do exactly what she had done moments before. What surprised Lily was when Kaite looked dazedly at Remus, who was holding the train door open for them. Lily elbowed her friend, whispering teasingly, "He /is/ a gentleman, isn't he?"



Kaite grinned, whispering behind her hand, "They sure don't make 'em like that in America!" Neither saw Remus fidget when he saw Kaite whisper to Lily, even with his exceptional hearing he was sure she spoke low and gutturally on purpose. They walked through the doorway and Remus smiled at them.

Kaite walked into the flood of people outside of the train. Kaite watched a few people she didn't know walked past her in a rush. She felt somebody hit into her and move to the right; another ran into her back and she nearly fell, causing her to be yelled at for 'blocking the walkway'. Kaite was appalled at how many ways everyone seemed to be going, and yet each seemed to know where exactly they wanted to be. /Just like New York/, she thought. A few others streamed out of the train, stragglers. Kaite turned around to ask Lily where to go but found someone else.

Kaite blinked, "Oh, sorry. I thought you were my friend."

"That can be arranged," The boy grinned at his own cunning response.

"I meant that I mistook you for my best friend. But while we're still here chatting, where do seventh years go?"

"I don't remember you. . .you're new, aren't you," He stated as he studied her, ignoring her question purposefully. /A weird accent as well. A transfer from America? She could be cuter if she didn't act so ditzy,/ He thought.

"Well, yeah. Where do I go?" Kaite persisted.

"I'm Jacob Busquire, seventh year Slytherin."

"That's great, but I really need to meet up with my friends." She began getting impatient, also ignoring his smug look as she turned around in a full circle. "Do we go to those. . .um. . .carriages or to that very big man, Lily never did tell me about how we would get to the school?" A huge man was waving a few students over, a particularly large man. "That's the last time I'll let her get away with 'my brain doesn't want to function'," Kaite muttered more to herself.

"Lily? You're best friends with Lily Evans, aren't you?" He suddenly looked at her disgustedly. "Well in any case, you go to that 'very big man'. You have a lot to learn about Hogwarts. . ." He walked away and she heard him grumble about her wasting his precious time.

"If you hadn't stalled I would've been out of your way by now!" She yelled at his retreating form and walked her way over to the man.

"Firs' years over here!" He yelled again, "Oh, hello there! Yer not a firs' year are yah?" He looked at the girl smiling good naturedly. Hagrid knew that she was a new student as he didn't recognize her face, and the lost look she was giving him told him that she hadn't the slightest clue where she was supposed to be.

"Um, I lost my friends." She cursed under her breath for getting tricked. "Did you happen to see where Lily Evans went?"

He looked around for a short moment. "Over there, gal. Yah go to theh carriages."

"Thanks." She squeaked, feeling very small compared to him. Stumbling over in the direction he pointed, she finally found her way.

"There you are, Kaite! You gave us all a fright, for a moment we'd thought you'd run into Malfoy, or worse, Snape." Sirius yelled over the noise, beckoning Kaite over to a large group of carriages. Each one was connected to a couple of black skeletal horses, known as Thestrals, two to each fancy coach as far as Kaite could see. She shivered in the memory of the murder she had unknowingly committed; the elder man hadn't deserved to die.

"Nah. . .I'm not that coordinated. Instead, I ran into Jacob Butt-squire, a Slytherin wouldn't you know it! He tricked me into going over to this /huge/ man! Next time, Liller'z, you've got to tell me what's going to go on! Or at the very least, stay right behind me." Kaite grinned giddily, happy to be with her best friend once again. She frowned though when she saw the carriage. It was big enough to hold only four.

"Are we sitting in another carriage, Liller'z?" She nearly laughed when Lily shook her head. The boys looked at Lily and Kaite, Sirius grinning at James.

"We can all fit!" Sirius announced confidently. A couple of second-year Ravenclaws standing nearby stared at the legendary Sirius and his gang with amusement before piling into their own carriage.

"How do you suppose we fit you four lumps /and/ Kaite and me?"

"You underestimate us! Besides, you say that as if we're all fat! I, for one, am not fat. I take pride in being able to eat like a horse and still maintain this gorgeous, girl magnet figure!" Sirius exclaimed, as he struck what was, in his own mind, a sexy pose. Kaite grinned while Lily gave him a glare.

"Eating like a horse is too true, any more and I wouldn't think there'd be any for the children in China! So, what ingenious idea do you have in your head this time?" Lily said sternly, but couldn't pull off her act because of her huge smile.

Kaite watched James' own small smile as he watched Lily all too affectionately. Sirius cleared his throat, "Everyone always brings up those Chinese kids, whether somebody's not eating enough or eating too much! Anyway. . .you can sit on James' lap like you know you want to." He looked at Lily with glee at this last statement, but his grin grew wider with the next: "And I'm sure I won't mind having this jewel sit on mine!" He winked at Kaite, proud of being able to inflict blush on her creamy- white complexion.

"I-I don't know. . ." Kaite began. She didn't think she'd feel comfortable on his lap. She barely knew him! And though it was rather tempting, she was more than just a little upset that Remus didn't offer instead.

Sirius nodded, his smile going out with a small sigh, "I know you rather sit on someone else's lap. . .no one ever wants to sit on mine, for some reason. . .Remus's perhaps?" Remus looked sharply at Sirius. /You'll thank me later Remus. . .I'll bet my wand hand on it. /

Remus had been quiet the whole time, watching the reactions of his friends, especially Kaite's. He had never met an American before, but heard that they were a lazy, over-weight, rude bunch of people. Kaite seemed the polar opposite of any of those! This surprised him immensely and he had to gather his thoughts to remove the stereotypes.

He heard Sirius' plan, knowing exactly what his comrade had in mind. He quickly covered his displeasure when Kaite seemed to be smitten with his best friend Sirius, but who wouldn't be? She had only just met the lot of them anyhow. He gave a sigh until Sirius decided to offer Remus' lap, not that he minded, but what was Sirius thinking?! She obviously didn't want to.

"Sirius, maybe we should ask her what she would prefer." Remus asked quickly.

Kaite was flustered and looked to her best friend for some help. Lily smiled and took things into her own hands, "Kaite will sit on Remus' lap; I don't trust the other two ruffians with my best friend. You can trust them to stick their hands where they don't belong."

Kaite smiled gratefully to her friend. /I suppose she already knows that I like Remus, but I wonder if Sirius and Peter would actually do something like that! I'm glad to have Liller'z as my best friend, who knows what I'd be doing right now. . ./

"I-I guess I could agree to that." Kaite smiled shyly at Remus, who in turn looked down, pleased that she approved.

The Marauders all settled down into the carriage, then Lily sat on James' lap. James took advantage of the occasion to wrap his arms around her waist, hurriedly explaining that he didn't want her to slip and fall. She grinned putting her own hands hesitantly on top of his. She watched Kaite sit daintily on Remus' lap, who looked disconcerted. Lily smiled at him encouragingly, nearly laughing when he smiled sheepishly back. When Kaite began talking to Remus the tension in the air seemingly vanish, Remus relaxed showing a good natured smile to Kaite and whispering back.

"Remus, I don't bite. At least not hard." Kaite joked, wanting to show that she liked him a lot, but he was so apprehensive at the moment. She almost wished that she and Remus had a carriage to themselves, but that would include departing from Lily! Kaite stiffened when Remus whispered back, quiet enough for only her to hear.

"I'm sure we can see about that." He responded to her statement.

Kaite wasn't sure how to react, this was her first day at school and already she was being seduced. Never before had any guy tried to even get close to her, not caring, because in America. . .all of the good ones were almost always already taken, or gay, or more than likely both.

She tried to control her breathing; sure that everyone else in the carriage had probably noticed her thumping heart and sweaty palms. She noticed his arms resting at his sides; she wondered if he had scars like she did, if he had pain and marks to show that he turned into the wolf. She got control of herself as she decided to see something. She looked up at Remus then at his arms to see if he got the point. Kaite wasn't sure until he draped an arm around her waist when the carriage jostled particularly hard. She let her hand run up his robe's sleeve and came to an arrangement of rough cuts, some old, some new. She winced, empathizing with Remus. He smiled sadly at her, he didn't need to feel her wrist to know that there were a few times she had nearly killed herself by gnawing accidentally on an important blood vessel. He had done the same thing.

The others in the carriage were uncharacteristically quiet, all thinking about one thing or another. Lily was watching Kaite and Remus, wishing that James had warmed up to her as quickly as Remus had to Kaite. Kaite was a good thing for the shy Remus, as was Remus for her best friend. /They need each other, for support and understanding./ Lily continued on in her mind how they made a perfect couple.

Peter, however, was staying quiet, thinking of how fortunate he was to have such great friends. /Kaite is already a good friend among us, Remus is certainly not holding anything back. They're fondling each others' arms as if it were a natural thing. They've only known each other for little over half an hour!/ Peter glanced at Sirius who looked seriously at Remus, but not unkindly.

/He's smitten with her. Even though they already like each other, they're in love; this brings a whole new meaning to love at first sight. Remus had never had much luck with the ladies, unlike I, Sirius the Sex God. He gets unusually quiet. As if him being a werewolf would stop them, but I have seen the reactions from those who have accidentally seen his scars. Figures that he'd fall for another werewolf, and though I'm sure there are more, I'm glad Lily found the right one on her first shot. Speaking of Lily, James really needs to get going. There's only one more year of school left! If Mr. Smitten doesn't make more than the subtle gestures he thinks will express how he feels, then I may have to help!/ Sirius grinned at his best friend who was like a brother to him.

/Flaming Merlin, Remus! Couldn't do anything but help yourself could you?/ James smiled at his friend before looking away. He was slightly surprised at how well Remus took to the other werewolf, he was now concerned how he could help Kaite in her transformations. /From seeing Remus transform I know we couldn't be near her when she changes to human. Remus almost always rips his clothing, unless he takes it off beforehand, but that would embarrass everyone. I'm definitely not putting my Lily on the line; I wouldn't want her trying to even become what we are./ James unconsciously gripped Lily a little tighter; she said nothing but smoothed out his robe's sleeve.

Kaite stared into Remus' eyes, which reflected her own. She stopped rubbing her hand up his sleeve (she was nearing his elbow) when the carriage stopped and brought everyone out of their reverie. Kaite smiled and stood up. Remus grinned back, wishing the comfortable weight on his lap would have stayed there a little while longer, but he then remembered that she still needed to be sorted.

"You don't know what house you're going to be in, do you?" Remus frowned, /What if she becomes a Ravenclaw, or a Hufflepuff, or worse, a Slytherin?/ Remus didn't think he could stand it if she wasn't in the same house with him and he was sure Lily felt the same way. He sudden felt dizzy, what if Kaite didn't like him to the same degree as he did her.? It felt like months had past since they were on the train, almost as if Remus had known her forever. In any case, he wouldn't let her get away without her knowing his feelings for her, he had one year.

"Good ol' Hogwarts!" Sirius stretched and smiled at all of his friends. "Lets go inside, you all know what to do?" He grinned at Peter, Remus and James when they nodded. Kaite and Lily exchanged curious looks as they began making their way to the entrance hall.

A small man stood at the door, looking around for someone in particular. "Oh there you are! Miss Evans, Mr. Lupin!" The man squeaked.

"Hello Professor Flitwick," The whole gang murmured, each wondering why he was looking for Lily and Remus particularly, as far as anyone else knew, they were the most innocent of the bunch! Well, Remus acted innocent anyhow.

"Good evening! I would like for you two to join me and bring along Miss. . ." He took out a frayed piece of paper, "Miss. Kaitlyn Cirtos please."

Remus looked back at his three remaining best friends. "I guess we'll see you later. If I'm not there in time for the sorting, tell me how the whole thing goes!" With a wink from Sirius, the three remaining Marauders went inside towards the Great Hall. Professor Flitwick then shooed the three into the Castle, taking them through some corridors.

"Professor, if it's not a bother, could you tell us why you want Remus and I for Kaite's sorting?" Lily had quickly assumed that Flitwick was bringing them to Dumbledore's office and Kaite was to be sorted, but why bring Remus and Lily?

"You shall find out from Professor Dumbledore." He said no more, no less.

The small group made their way to Professor Dumbledore's office, Flitwick revealing the password to be 'Lemony Snicket', and sat down in the three chairs situated in front of Dumbledore's large desk. A phoenix by the name of Fawkes sat on a bar near the desk. He sang his greeting to the three students as Flitwick left down the spiraling staircase. Professor Flitwick needed to go back to the feast and alert Dumbledore about their presence.

"So. . .D'you guys think I'll be in Gryffindor?" Kaite asked nervously after a fw minutes. She had heard about the houses and wanted so badly to be near her best friend, it wouldn't do to be in another house and be a guest of Lily's!

"Most definitely! I would be surprised if you didn't actually. Professor Dumbledore knows that you are an honored guest of mine." Lily smiled.

"I also think he would want you as comfortable as the rest of us. Situating you with the Slytherins when your best friend is in Gryffindor would only cause problems." Remus spoke carefully, using his careful stroking of Fawkes' glossy feathers to hide his hope and excitement that Kaite might be in Gryffindor house.

"I guess you two are right, but shouldn't I be sorted like everyone else?"

"You haven't been here since your first year. The sorting is for first years only, though you can always ask the sorting hat about placing you in a house anyway. Oh, I think Professor Dumbledore is here, the feast must be about ready to begin Lily could hear the moving staircase that lead to Dumbledore's room.

"Hello Professor." Lily and Remus said. Kaite looked at the old man; he was taller than she and held an aura of respect. She tried to smile, but her stomach growled, making her blush instead.

Professor Dumbledore used this as an excuse to conjure a large dish of éclairs, insisting that they all try one. "Now, I assume that you are Kaitlyn Cirtos." He smiled when Kaite nodded, her mouth full of éclair. "I greet you on the behalf of all of Hogwarts' staff and hope you to enjoy your stay. Now for your sorting, we shall keep it sweet and simple so you and your friends can go back to a more substantial mean and go to bed, but I have one more issue to bring up.

"Kaitlyn, I am sure you have found one important thing that makes Hogwarts so different from other wizarding schools: I have already allowed another werewolf into this school and we have had no problems. You are welcome to stay and enjoy the last year of your schooling and still receive a degree. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to use magic outside of school. As far as classes, I hope you don't mind that I placed you in all of Lily's classes. Being a new student will be hard, you may be behind on some subjects and ahead in others, so to make you more comfortable, you are a special exception in this years' sorting. You will be in Gryffindor." He tried not to smile too widely to see the Gryffindor Head Girl nearly jump up as she hooted out her approval. Lily instead wrapped an arm around Kaite's shoulders in a one-armed hug, a fierce one still.

"Remus, do you have any problems with another werewolf being in close proximity?" Professor Dumbledore asked. He didn't think there would be, but it was always best to check. He was correct when Remus shook his head.

"Good. Very good. That was all I had to ask of you, Kaite. Lily will explain how Hogwarts works. Now if you will head to the feast, I must sort out some. problems that have arisen." Remus thought that Professor Dumbledore had given him a small smile upon mentioning 'some problems'. "Good evening." Professor Dumbledore added, ushering the students out of his office, and they all headed down to the Great Hall and the Welcoming Feast for their own little celebration of Kaite's and their own arrivals.