Authors note: this chapter is a bit more serious. I received a lot of e- mails wondering about the whole Malfoy/Slytherin situation. I hope this clears it up. I also felt there needed to be more about Remus and his condition. But don't worry. We'll be back to having fun in chapter six!! And thanks for the reviews!! I love it! Please review this as well!!

Disclaimer: JKR owns and created it.

Snakes and Werewolves

"I just don't understand why he won't tell me." Jen and Lily were walking back to the tower after a decidedly difficult day. The full moon was last night and Remus was absent from classes, again, and Sirius, James and Peter were all caught on several occasions nodding off. "I mean it's fairly obvious. How thick do they think I am?"

Lily sighed. She had known about Remus for almost three years. Like Jennifer, she pieced it together. Neither had ever said anything to the boys, allowing them the illusion of secrecy. "You've been here almost two years now and you've just figured it out recently. And the only reason you figured it out is because you started seeing Sirius."

"I know." Jen shook head slightly, "It just feels like he doesn't trust me."

"One has nothing to do with other." Lily stopped in front of the portrait and quickly gave the password. "It's not Sirius's secret to tell. It's not that he doesn't trust you, it's that Remus trusts him."

Jen dropped her bag on a table and sat. "That doesn't make me feel any better. Doesn't it bother you that James won't tell you?"

Lily sat across from her and shook her head. "No."

"You know how many rules their breaking?"

"Oh, please." Lily said sarcastically. "Since when did rule- breaking become an issue for you? And its not like you don't keep things from him."

Jen pulled her transfiguration book from her bag, "Like what?"

"The Slytherins." Lily said plainly and looked directly at her.

"They'd kill them if they knew."

"Again, one has nothing to do with the other." She began leafing through her book. "You don't trust Sirius with that, do you?"

"Trust me with what?" Sirius said coming down the stairs from his dorm.

"Just about everything." She smiled at him. Peter and James were close behind him. "How's Remus?"

"He'll be fine." James said, kissing the top of Lily's head. "As a matter of fact, we were just going to see him."

"Mmm." Jen murmured at her book. "You know, he should probably get checked out at St. Mungo's. He's been getting sick an awful lot lately."

Lily looked over at Jen through her bangs, disapproving. "I'm sure he has everything well in control. Dumbledore seems to think Madam Pomfrey is doing an adequate job."

Sirius looked back and forth between the girls, knowing something else was going on. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, yes." Jen smiled at him and began digging in her bag. "I'm just not looking forward to having you lot copy my notes from today. If you're going to go and play all night you should invest in pepper up potions!" She continued hunting in her bag.

"Did you loose something?"

"No, Peter. It's just that I got something for Remus, and as you're going to see him, I thought you could deliver it for me. Ah! Here it is!" She handed Sirius a small bag. "My mother is addicted to these. They're a muggle sweet. Marshmallow and chocolate. I've never cared for marshmallow, but she still sends these to me. I think Remus could probably use them right now."

"That's nice, Jen." James patted her shoulder. "I'll make sure he gets them."

"Thank-you." She smiled at the three exiting the common room. "They really are good friends, Huh?"

"To us? Or to each other?"

"Either. Both." She shrugged her shoulder and dove into her transfiguration book.

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"You know they suspect something." Sirius said as the neared the hospital wing. "We are all busy the same time every month and Remus winds up in one of Pomfreys beds the next day." He shook his head.

"Lily already knows." James simply said.

"How?" Peter asked, concerned "Did you tell her?"

James looked at him, "Of course not. I think she figured it out after that whole Snape thing two years ago." He shot Sirius a reproachful look. "I don't think Snape told her anything, but she used to get really upset with me, and now she doesn't even question where I'm off too."

"We should tell Remus." Sirius opened the door. "Let him decide if he wants to tell them or not."

When they entered the wing the three first went to Madam Pomfrey's office, and leaned in. "When are you going to quit this job and run away with me?" Sirius smiled at the older woman.

She looked up from her desk and smiled at the trio. "Lets wait until you make it all the way through Hogwarts. Then we'll see what kind of job you can land." She took up a quill and started to write something, "Remus is waiting."

Peter muttered at Sirius's back as they walked to Remus's bed. "You know, one day she's not going to find that charming."

"Piffle." Sirius waved a dismissing hand at him. Then dropped on the foot of Remus's bed. "She loves it."

Remus looked up from the book He'd been reading. "Flirting with Pomfrey again? I wonder what Jen would say."

James sat in a chair beside the bed and Peter sat opposite Sirius. "Jen wouldn't care, as long as I bought her something pretty."

Remus shook his head. "I can't believe you still haven't figured out that girl! She's not one for wasting effort on 'pretty things'."

"No, she wastes her time trying to figure out where her boyfriend and three of his mates disappear to every month." James looked at him seriously.

"Here," Sirius held out the bag Jen had given him. "This is from Jen. She thought you might want a sweet. And we all agree that Lily and Jen either already know what's going on, or have a pretty good idea."

Remus sat up straighter and took the bag. "Why do you think that? I mean no one said anything to them, did they?"

"No, nothing like that." James said, "It's the little things. Like Lily not even asking where we go anymore. And Jen coming up with completely useless solutions, as if she's waiting for one of us to slip."

Moony leaned back against his pillows and looked at the ceiling, shaking his head. "I knew this couldn't last."

"What are you talking about?" Peter said. "It's not like either of them would ever do anything to hurt you, even if they do know they wouldn't say anything. They adore you."

"No, they just like him keeping me and James out of trouble!"

"A hopeless task, I know." Remus started to open the bag, not wanting to worry about it just yet. "But your not SURE they know?"

They all shook their heads. "Like I said, its just little signs that hints around it."

Remus pulled one of the treats out of the bag and looked at the wrapper. His face broke into a grin and he shook his head. "They know."

"What?" Said Sirius, "How do you know?"

Remus turned the package around so they all could see it, smiling, "She sent me 'moon pies'!"

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The following few days were relatively uneventful. They six had reached something of an unspoken understanding. They knew the girls knew about Moony, and the girls knew they knew. But instead of broaching the subject, they continued with the façade of the marauders secrecy. From time to time Jen would notice Remus looking at her or Lily with something akin to gratitude on his face.

"I can't believe its' almost over." James said sitting in the great hall across from Remus and Sirius, and next to Lily. "I know how much I complain, but I think I'm really going to miss this place."

Sirius nodded. "At least you two know what you're going to do. What's that place called again?"

"Godric's Hollow." They both said.

"And I won't be going there straight away." Lily said. "My mum insists on waiting until after the wedding."

"If you like," Sirius smiled at her "I could owl her and let her know what a cad James truly is and there's nothing you two could do that you haven't already done!"

"Charming." Lily said flatly. "As always, very charming, Sirius."

"Would you expect any less?" Remus cocked an eye.

"I can't believe we only have three weeks to go!" Peter said, sitting next to Remus "Thank god. I'm not going to miss all those blasted tests."

"Didn't do so well, Pete?" James asked.

Peter shook his head. "I think I passed, but only because Jenny helped me. She's really good with Potions."

"Where is she?" Lily asked.

"Oh, her bag split." He explained, filling his plate. "It was quite a mess. Ink all over everything. I tried to help her, but she shooed me off telling me to fill my stomach. The growling was beginning to annoy her."

Lily stopped eating and looked at him suspiciously, "Where did her bag break?"

"In the dungeons." He said around a mouthful of chicken.

She leaned forward, "You left her alone in the dungeons?"

Peter swallowed, and looked at her wondering what he'd done wrong, "Well, sure I did. Why wouldn't I?"

"Lily, what's wrong?" Remus asked, as they had all stopped eating.

She looked over to the Slytherin table and noticed there were several of the boys missing. Without answering, she jumped from her seat and sprinted towards the dungeons.

For the briefest of moments the marauders looked at each other, then all jumped to follow Lily.

Sirius caught her first, "What's going on?"

"How long do you think she's been alone down there?" Still racing through the corridors.

"Not long, Lily what going on?" She could hear James and Remus approaching behind her. She fought the urge to tell Sirius, Hoping she was wrong. If she'd been down there only a few minutes, nothing could really have happened. Maybe nothing would happen at all. Most of the Slytherins were all talk. They wouldn't actually follow through. Not on this.

The all heard Jen's cry from the corridor.

When they burst into the dungeon, her worst fears were confirmed. One Slytherin-Goyle, was behind her with her arms securely pinned. Another- Harmesynn, had her by the legs. Malfoy was pushing everything off a desk. Jen's robes had been torn open and several of the buttons on her blouse were ripped off beneath her tie. When she heard the door open she looked. "Sirius, Oh thank god." She almost smiled.

"What are you doing?" He thundered.

"This is none of your concern, Black," Malfoy looked up at him, "Don't interfere."

"Like Hell!"

"My god!" Remus shouted from behind.

The three marauders were on the Slytherins. Lily had grabbed Jen's arm and was pulling her from the room when they ran into Peter. Jen had composed herself enough to pull her blouse and robes close. "What did they do to you?" Peter demanded.

"Nothing." She shook her head, wiping the tears from her face. She looked back into the room and saw the six had pulled their wands and were dueling. "Don't let them do this," she looked at Lily, "They'll only make things worse!"

"They're big boys, Jen." She pulled her from the room and rapidly escorted her to the tower. "They can take care of themselves."

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Jen sat on the sofa in the common room, curled in front of the fire. Lily sat beside her saying nothing. Just being a presence of comfort. She knew Jen was madly trying to figure what she was going to tell Sirius. She finally looked at Lily.

"Should I have told him from the start?"

Lily looked at her and then into the fire, thinking. "I don't know. He's going to want some kind of an explanation why you didn't tell him."

"I should have told him." She shook her head. "I should've listened to you all last year when you told me to stay away from Chuck."

Lily touched her arm, "How could you have known? I've been here seven years, and I still had no idea. I mean I knew the Slytherins were a wicked lot, but I had no idea they were that low."

"This is all my fault."

Lily grabbed her face and turned it to look at her, "I don't ever want to hear you say anything like that again. Ever. You had no Idea the Slytherins passed their girlfriends around, and once you did find out you broke off with him. There really wasn't much else you could've done."

The portrait opened and the four Marauders entered. They walked past a group of third years huddled by the window and crossed to Jen and Lily.

"Here." Remus held a small plate out to Jen that had a bit of Chicken, potatoes and a few slices of bread. "You never made it to the great hall for supper."

"Thanks." She took the plate and looked at Sirius who knelt down in front of her. "How are you all?"

"A hundred points. From both houses. Magonnagal and Flitwick found us." He said. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine. You showed up at the right moment." She smiled, trying to lighten the mood. They were all looking at her with something like pity. "Really. Nothing happened. They just got a little out of hand."

"A little out of Hand?" James repeated. "Assault is a crime, Jen. And there's no telling what else would have happened if we didn't show up when we did."

"You need to go to Dumbledore." Remus said quietly from the floor.

"No way. Forget it." Jen shook her head firmly.

Sirius took the plate from her and turned her to look him straight. "You go to Dumbledore, or we will."

"No, you will not." She looked at each of them, "there's only three weeks left. I'd rather not have to go through this with Dumbledore, because then he'd bring in the Ministry. No. Don't say anything. Let them live in fear. You know they're in their common room right now wondering if they should be packing or not. They wouldn't be stupid enough to try anything again. Especially now they know you lot know."

"Whatever you want Jen." Lily said with finality that no one would dispute.

Sirius slowly nodded his head. "Okay. But you've just inherited four bodyguards. You don't go anywhere without one of us. And I'm really going to want to hear exactly what happened. And I don't just mean in the dungeon. No, no," he held his hand up to Jen's panicked face "Not now. But soon."

Not in the mood to argue any further, Jen nodded. "Okay." She smiled at Sirius, then leaned down and kissed his cheek, then turned to Peter, Remus and James Kissing each of them as well. "My heroes." She said with flourish.

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