Title: Goodnight, Stars

Chapter: Secrets Revealed

Author: Cinnamon Sunrise

Rating: PG-13 (this is the chapter where it starts to earn its rating…swearing and stuff)

Disclaimer: Everything (-minus my crazy plot stuff) = J.K.Rowling's. Nobody else's.

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My sixth year started out fine, still working with Remus, monitoring student behavior in the halls and such. Away from his friends he was a great guy. Really. But I couldn't help notice that he looked, well, horrible a lot of the time. Pale, puffy-eyes, and scraggly. At the time, I figured he must be sickly, or have problems at home, something along those lines. His cloaks were dingy and patched; I assumed it was because his parents spent all of their money on medical bills. Remus had a girlfriend named Marian, who was also a Gryffindor, though one year younger. She had long, wavy brown hair and freckles. She was quite a sweetheart, really, but I felt horrible for the two of them. Never have I seen a couple breakup and get back together as many times as those two did. Sirius had the pick of the school; younger and older girls alike were constantly swooning around him. Must have dated nearly every girl in the school at sometime or another, but he was more than just a handsome womanizer, I promise you that. I always watched the foursome in the common room, joking and smiling about. Every single one of them seemed to have the truest friendship, something that I found myself envying. Even Peter, the near outcast of the group for much of the early years, had eventually been accepted almost fully.  My life, on the other hand, was completely different. I had friends, but as I said earlier, they weren't anything special. I found myself alone most of the time, while the other girls chased around boys or practiced beauty spells. One night, I found myself in the empty common room, absolutely bored, so I decided to visit my friend Hagrid. He lives on the school grounds; pleasant fellow, he is. Anyways, what I didn't realize was that on the night of a full moon, traveling near the forbidden forest is defiantly not the most intelligent thing to do.

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Lily Evans shivered as she walked into the cool fall air. The smell of autumn was in the air; crisp colored leaves from the forbidden forest, dewy grass, ripening pumpkins. Lily ducked into the shadows. It was nearly ten at night, but being a prefect allowed Lily the privilege to be on the grounds. However, she supposed, visiting a friend may not be the best reason. "Oh well," she thought. "Prefect Lily Evans never does anything shocking," not that this was even bad. Lily pulled her cloak tighter; the crisp air blew around her. The full moon shown brightly between the shadows of trees, eerily illuminating the grounds. Muffled voices were talking near the Whomping Willow. Lily paused to see who the people were, and she immediately recognized James' Quidditch-toned figure. He was strictly forbidden to be out so late, and Potter was never one Lily went easy on.

"Evans?!" A voice called, drawing nearer.

"Huh? How'd you know…?" Lily said puzzled, as James approached holding a piece of parchment. "James, as a prefect, I must ask what you are doing out here. Curfew was at-"

"Oh, Merlin Evans, lighten up. Here, you really need to get back inside. I'll walk you back, love, come on…"

"Love?!" Lily spat, disgusted. "Potter I demand to know what's going on here!"

"Lily." He said, reaching for her arm. His tone had changed. "Please Evans, I'm not kidding. Go inside."

"YOU are telling ME to get inside?" Lily said, shocked that someone was ordering her around. "Potter, I would advise you not to touch my arm again, and please leave me alone. I do not know what you are up to out here, but be aware that Professor Dumbledore will be made fully aware of this encounter. Goodnight." Lily began to walk briskly towards Hagrid's hut. She felt an arm on her shoulder. "Potter, let go of me!" She screamed.

"Ev-Lily, please! Please come with me!" James said, tightening his grip. He was no less that shocked when Lily's hand struck his face.

"I told you not to touch me." She said, watching James wince in pain as he drew his hand up to his cheek.

"Potter, where the HELL are you?" A voice from the woods shouted. Lily instantly recognized it as Sirius'. Lily stared at James, wondering if they were planning some awful prank on a first year again. "Potter! Get your sorry arse back here! The damn button on this damn tree is stuck or something-"

"James!" Lily heard Remus' voice, sounding frantic. Through the moonlight, Lily saw all the color leave James' face, a horrified expression on his face.

"Sirius, just try it again! Oh MERLIN! EVANS IS OUT HERE, SIRIUS!" He yelled, terror-struck. "Evans." He whispered pleadingly, before grabbing her and leading her back near the castle. They neared the Willow, where Lily saw Sirius, also looking aghast. Lily looked around for Lupin, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Not…safe…forest...moon…werewolves…dangerous…get…inside…" James was panting, as he dragged Lily on. Too late.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Lily screamed. She froze in horror while James whipped around.

"Dammit. PADFOOT! Do something! Evans…" James called frantically, but it seemed Sirius had disappeared. The place that he had been standing moments earlier was now occupied with a large werewolf. Lily began to panic. "Oh Merlin, I'm going to die!" She thought. "The only way to repel a werewolf is with silver…" Professor Renaldi's voice echoed through her mind. Her finger twisted around the long silver locket chain on her neck. She ripped the necklace off, dangling it in front of the snarling werewolf. Her common sense disappeared as she prepared to lunge and stab the wolf with the heart-shaped silver locket. However, before she could make a move, she felt herself fall to the ground, surrounded by a white light. "I've died. I've really freaking died." Lily thought, blinded by the glow. Seconds later, the forest was back in focus, but James was gone. The werewolf's leg was being bitten at by a large black dog.

"James?" She called quietly, but he was gone. A large white stag came trotting near, nudging Lily to get on. She complied with its wish, and it ran her gracefully back to the castle, dropping her off at one of the castle entrances and disappearing back into the forest. "James? Sirius? Remus?" She called back into the woods, receiving no response. She looked at the timepiece on the wall as she stumbled back into the castle. 10:38. Not wanting to get into any trouble, she thought it would be best to head straight to the common room. On her way, she saw Pettigrew heading outside. Lily couldn't dare punish anyone right now; she was too worried about the other 3 boys outside. 

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And there was a werewolf that night. It was awful. Big, gray, and hungry; lunging towards me with huge fangs. Terrifying. If James hadn't been there, for that matter under any other circumstances, I would have been eaten alive. He saved me, with help from Sirius, although I was more confused than anything at the time. I was brought back to the castle by a stag, and hurried along to the common room once inside. I waited for hours, until the portrait hole finally opened.

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Lily looked at the clock on the wall. 3:59 am. She was the only one in the common room, of course, and she was sitting, still shaken up, on a couch. She was dreadfully worried about the boys, and was considering going to Professor Dumbledore, however, after James' rescue attempts, she didn't feel like getting him into trouble. She was quite confused about the black dog and the stag, which seemed to appear out of nowhere, and was pondering that thought when the portrait hole swung open. Lily straightened up, waiting for Sirius and co. to walk in. However, nobody appeared. This confused Lily until she saw James', Sirius', and Remus' heads appeared out of nowhere. "Invisibility cloak." Lily realized. They were walking silently towards the boys' dorm, all looking pale and grim, until James noticed Lily sitting on the couch.

"Evans." He said, walking over. The other two boys followed. "Lily, I think you need to come with us." James looked at Remus, who nodded.

"Some things you need to know." Remus looked especially horrible and wasn't making eye contact. Lily noticed one of his arms was gashed up and bleeding profusely.

"Your arm-" Lily began.

"Come on, Lily. We'll talk in the dorm." Sirius said, helping Lily off the couch and leading the group into the 6th year boys' dorm. Lily had never been in the boys' dormitories before, and she noticed they were much smaller than the girls'.

"Sit down," James motioned to one of the large four-poster beds. Lily sat down silently, and the boys gathered around her. "Black, where the hell is Wormtail?" James said suddenly.

"Oy! I saw him going outside when I was walking in! You'd, WE'D, better go find him, he really shouldn't be out there with a werewolf-" The boys broke the grim tone with muffled laughter. "What? It's not funny, you know. He may not be that smart, but he doesn't deserve being in dang-"

"He's not in danger." Lupin said simply.

"What do you mean? I almost get eaten, and you tell me that's not being in danger. HAH. So funny, wasn't it?! Probably will use that as some sort of Merlin-awful prank next full moon-"

"Actually, Pad-Sirius has already tried that." James smacked Sirius' arm.

"It was just Snivellous…"

"Wow, ok well, I obviously was wrong in not reporting this whole incident to Dumbledore right away. If you'll just excuse me-"

"Lily, please no!" Remus begged, the laughter leaving his voice. "I'll probably be kicked out of here if they know other students are in danger, and Hogwarts is my only chance to make something of my, my horrible life." Remus looked at his feet.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, confused.

"Peter, Peter isn't in danger, Lily. There are no werewolves out there, the only werewolf on Hogwarts' grounds is," James stammered, exchanging nodding glances with the other two. "Is in this room."

"Huh?" Lily had a horrified yet confused look on her face.

"It was me, Lily." Lupin swallowed hard. "I was the one who almost killed you. I didn't mean to, honest, it's just that, I can't control myself when I'm," he gulped, "when I'm a monster." Lily sat with wide eyes. Everything was making sense now. The horrified Sirius in the woods, the disappearance of Remus, his sickly appearance, why he couldn't have a stable relationship. Lily was shaking. James put his arm on her shoulder, and to his surprise she didn't slap him in return. Lily felt terrible for Remus, being a werewolf was one of the most taboo things in the wizarding world; Lily had learned this from Professor Renaudi in her Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts class. She reached out and touched his hand.

"It's okay, Remus, really." She looked into his watery brown eyes.

"If it wasn't for Hogwarts," he said thoughtfully, "and for James and Sirius, I'd have nothing." Lily didn't know what to say, but it didn't matter, because Sirius had already begun.

"Lily, there's more you should know." James nodded in agreement.

*~*~*

The boys came in and told me everything. It wasn't the first close call, but nobody had ever heard the full story. Nobody knew the full truth except the four, and they told it all to me. Moony's secret, the illegal Animagi secret, the Whomping Willow, everything. The thing is, at first I was rather upset with them, for living such hidden lives, endangering students and such. But after their speech, I felt close to them, almost like the fifth Marauder. They explained that, too. The map, the hidden passages, everything. While James was showing me the map, we saw that Pettigrew was wandering out in the woods, so Sirius decided to go find him. James and Remus and I stayed in the room. It was early, and there was no point in going to sleep now. Pretty soon, it was time to leave for breakfast in the Great Hall. I didn't sit with the boys, and I don't think I even talked to any of them for the rest of the day. However, I knew secrets shared by only the four of them. From that morning on, I was forever more the fifth friend.

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Author's Note: I really hope this story isn't as dumb as I feel it is. Just for your info, I'm a paid member on ff.net, so if you want to be filled in when I update, just check the little "author alerts" button, and don't forget to review!

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cinnamonsunrise@hotmail.com