C.9 Secrets Revealed

(A/N: Special thanks to Twin Kats who helped me decide what this next chapter would be about. Also, I think these chapters are getting longer O.o)

Sarah went to bed that night happy. Happy? Ecstatic. She now knew how Filch could have gotten his hands on the Marauder's Map. Sirius gave it to her and she would pass it on, and that person would pass it on and so on and so forth, at least until Filch confiscated it. J. K. explained the rest of it. She smiled. She'd have to tell Katy about all of this one day. She'd understand, even if this were all a dream. But what really pushed her into being ecstatic was talking with Remus. She wasn't lovesick. She was merely hero-worshipping him. He probably wouldn't like it, but she couldn't help it. She'd probably go on to hero-worship all of the other characters too.

With such thoughts, her head hit the pillow and Mr. Sandman claimed another victim. She woke up the next morning and headed to the Great Hall with Lily. Lily looked perplexed, like she was caught between a tractor and a wall.

'What's wrong?' Sarah had to ask.

She shook her head. 'It's nothing.well, nothing important, really.well, except for.nothing. It's nothing, really.' She attempted to smile.

'Puh-lease.' Sarah stated. 'If it wasn't so important than why is it bugging you?'

'I can be bugged by things unimportant,' Lily replied indifferently.

'No, 'cause then it would be important to you,' Sarah replied matter- of-factly.

'You're not going to give this up until I spill, are you?' Lily warily eyed Sarah, who in turn shook her head. 'Alright,' she sighed. 'I want to sit with James, but I don't want to abandoned you.'

Sarah laughed. 'Well, that's simple then. I'll sit with you and you'll sit with James. That way you can't feel guilty and you don't rile your boyfriend,' she winked. 'Plus I'm sure there are some people I can talk to around you guys.'

Lily looked thrilled and uncertain. But James, as well as the other Marauders, came up behind them. James smiled at Lily and began to walk beside her. Sarah began to feel claustrophobic between the lovebirds and opted to walk between the very handsome Sirius and the golden-eyed werewolf, Remus.

'So, how'd you sleep last night?' Sirius prodded. He knew about the run-in with Remus. Remus didn't know how to keep things secret from Sirius. No one did, really.

She laughed. 'Very well. I might ask you the same.'

'As well as the next night owl,' he stated with a wink.

Remus shook his head. 'He fell asleep at ten last night. So much for night owl, huh?' he told Sarah.

Sarah laughed, saying knowingly to Remus, 'Ten's rather late for a night owl.' She looked innocently at Sirius. All three broke into a smile.

Behind the three a small boy joined in on the secret. He had no clue as to why his friends were being all chummy with that girl. And they seemed to share some sort of inside joke. He smiled at it and laughed at it with them, but he didn't know what it was. He found himself not liking the new American exchange student. She was able to become such close friends with them already while he had been more like stalking them for the last seven years.

Sure they accepted his presence and even called him their friend. But she was already there. It had taken a whole year of hero-worshipping for him to even get them to accept him. It riled him that they would accept her so easily. He mentally glared at the brunette's back.

Meanwhile, James and Lily smiled at each other and listened to the conversation directly behind them. Lily was happy that they could get along, but confused. Maybe they met in the Common Room last night when she went to meet James. She just couldn't believe that they had become friends so fast. James was just as clueless as she was. They looked at each other, wondering where the secret jokes came from.

No one paid any more attention to it as they made their way to the Great Hall, the scents from the food wafting the air around them. They sat down. Lily sat between James and Sarah on one side of the table. Peter, Sirius and Remus sat on the other. Sometimes, they would bring up the topic of American witches, and, once in a while, wizards. She always managed to change the subject without answering their questions.

They would also travel together to their classes, splitting up every once and a while when the classes differed. Then, at the end of each day, Sarah would disappear and head to the Room of Requirements. They realized she disappeared, but they never found out where. Only Sirius knew where the map now was.

Sure, Sarah was quickly learning what she needed to, but that wouldn't make up for the fact that she still couldn't do magic. It was the seventh night that she had been going to the Room of Requirements and so far she had only one more subject to learn. She found it surprising that she was learning all of the other subjects so fast. Now came Transfiguration. But this night, as she headed towards the Room of Requirements, she couldn't shake off the feeling that she was being watched. Better yet, she was being followed.

So when Sarah entered the door that day, she was shocked to find it open soon after she had closed it. She put down the bag Lily had lent her for her stuff, or basically the stuff people lent to her until she could get her own. She turned around and gasped. There, sitting on an armchair, was Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

'What are you doing here?' she asked him, regaining her composure.

'I'd like to ask you the same thing.' Sirius replied.

She shook her head, 'what does it look like?'

Remus looked around the room. 'It looks like you're studying. But for what...' he then picked up a book, Transfiguration for Beginners. He looked at it, confused. 'What's this?'

Sarah blushed. What the hell was she supposed to say? 'I'm not a witch.' She threw her hands over her mouth. She said it out loud!

Sirius was confused; he sat up in the armchair. Remus seemed to understand. 'That's why you always changed the subject when we'd ask about American magic. You know nothing about it. I would say you lied to us, but you never did lie, per se. You just hid the truth.' He shook his head.

'Wait.you're not a witch?' Then it dawned upon Sirius as well and he began to laugh. 'That's bloody good. You had everyone fooled. You do realize you can't make yourself have magic, right?'

'Yeah. I was just studying in hopes that if I answer the questions right that they might still believe that I can do magic. Besides, Professor Mackeney thinks I'm good at Potions. So I got a subject, right? Besides, if I stay away from wands when I go school supplies shopping this weekend, then it'll be ok, right?'

Sirius frowned, weighing the possibilities. 'It might work,' he said looking up at Remus.

'It's possible,' Remus stated. Then he looked at Sarah. 'How are you planning on spending an entire year away from a wand?'

She shrugged. 'Maybe getting sick, or pulling some fast ones on the teachers I guess.'

Sirius' eyes lit up. 'Pulling some fast ones, eh? I think we should help, what do you say Moony?'

Remus stiffened at the sound of that name. 'I don't see why not,' he added, smiling at Sarah and regaining his composure.

Sirius looked at Sarah. 'Moony's just another name I give him; you know, short for Moonmeister.' He shrugged. Sarah just nodded, smiling. Remus relaxed.

'We shouldn't tell James; he wouldn't care. Ignorance is bliss anyways,' Remus replied.

Sirius made a face. 'James would be upset if he finds out.' After looking at the look Remus gave, he added, 'He doesn't need to know. Besides, it's not like he'll care with Lily always on his mind. And Peter, we aren't going to tell him either. He'd just whine when we told him we snuck out without him.'

'Besides,' Remus added, 'both not knowing will soften the blow.'

'If they find out,' Sirius put in. 'Why shouldn't we tell?' He joked at Sarah.

Sarah smiled. 'Because I know something you don't want others to know.' In truth she really did. But she wasn't sure she wanted them to know she knew about the full moon escapades.

Remus blanched; Sirius kept his composure. 'And what might that be?'

'Oh, you know, the regular kind of dirt you get on people. That kind they don't like to get spread around.' She wasn't going to let them know what kind of dirt she had on them. Like she'd squeal on them anyways!

They decided that they'd take the silent answer, praying she didn't know about the werewolf thing. 'Transfiguration, huh?' Remus decided it was best to change the subject before any accusations were made.

'Why, I'd say that's our best subject, Mr. Moony,' Sirius replied innocently.

The ice had cracked and they goofed off again, helping Sarah to learn all she needed to for Transfiguration.

She sighed when they were done. 'That's it! No more studying at the dead of night in a strange room for me!'

As they exited the room, Remus asked, 'How did you know about this place?'

Sarah just stared at him, trying to think up something to say. After all, she did promise not to tell about the map.

Sirius saved her from breaking the promise. 'I gave her the map,' he stated matter-of-factly. 'We ran into each other during one of my nightly escapades.' He then told Remus what had happened that night. 'But you knew about this before,' he turned towards Sarah frowning. 'How did you know of this before?'

'I read it in a book,' she stated. A fictional book, but still a book.

'Which one?' Remus was curious.

She shrugged. 'Not sure,' she said. If I want to tell you, she mentally added.

They shrugged and accepted it. After all, Lily could have brought her to the Library and she could have read one of the many books on Hogwarts. They joked the remainder of the way to the Common Rooms, forming plans of what to do to hide Sarah's muggle tendencies and using the map to skirt any unwanted visitors.