Liandra's outburst had Remus spooked. He'd never seen someone that freaked out before. It was a dangerous situation to be in and to think… he might be forced into it. What would he be presented with? Would he be forced to tell his darkest secrets? Would he be pitted against his friends?

They had been walking for hours and night – or something like it – had fallen. Remus looked up to find his worst nightmare. A full moon, but then why wasn't it affecting him as usual?

"Remus," Liandra's quiet voice penetrated his foggy, fear-filled mind. "What's the matter?" He felt compelled to trust her and to tell her everything, really he did, but something was holding him back. Something in the back of his mind was telling him that he would lose her if she ever found out. Sure, she knew about the Marauders and their transformations but did she know that his transformation was not on will?

"Nothing, Lia. Nothing," he replied, though his heart was screaming for him to do otherwise.

"Something is wrong," Liandra insisted quietly, "but you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He looked down at her crestfallen face sighing heavily.

I wish I could tell you, love, but not now, not yet.

Then when are you going to explain things to her? It had been a long time since Remus had heard that nagging voice. He hated that the voice always seemed to have a point.

Not yet. She's not ready to hear it.

She'll never be ready to hear it if you keep "protecting" her like this.

I'm not telling her.

Fine. In the end, you're only hurting her by keeping it a secret. Remus breathed out heavily.

"Are you okay Moony?" Sirius' voice cut through his arguing with his own brain. Remus knew the sentence was laced with double meaning.

"Fine," Remus replied resolutely. He was determined to do what he could for Tanice and that meant facing his fears… even if it was telling Liandra the truth. Just not yet.

"We have to keep going. I don't…" but Lily didn't have to finish her sentence. She had said it so many times during their journey on the ever-winding crystal path. She didn't know how much longer Tanice/Tanith could last. Suddenly, a churning began in the pit of Remus' stomach. He was transforming.

No, he thought frantically. Not in front of them, not so close to them. James and Sirius seemed to understand their friend's predicament and immediately transformed, using their bodies to block the girls from a possible werewolf bite.

"What's wrong?" Alaura whispered to Lily and Liandra.

"He's transforming," Liandra whispered back, so the Marauders couldn't hear them.

"Can we stop it?"

"Not unless you can get rid of the full moon," Liandra replied.

"But why did James and Sirius transform?"

"Werewolves can't harm animals," Lily answered Alaura. They watched silently as fur sprouted all over Remus' body. Sadness crept into Liandra's eyes, realizing this was painful, and this was what Remus went though once a month. She decided this was much worse than her time of the month.

"What are we supposed to do? James and Sirius can't just fend him off all night. He'll exhaust himself," Alaura said quietly watching the werewolf take a sniff around. He looked straight at them when he caught their scent.

"I hated keeping this from them…" Lily said slowly before dropping down into a green-eyed fox. Alaura shook her head and transformed herself. The lioness that now stood where Alaura had been moments before was still shaking its head. Liandra looked back at the werewolf in front of her. True, she was terrified. You could even say scared shitless but there was something in the wolf's eyes that made her stand her ground.

Something's not right, Liandra told herself but changed into her panther form. Within the blink of an eye, the werewolf had transformed back into Remus, though he was looking at the five animals horror struck.

"You shouldn't have done that," he whispered. Liandra ambled up to him and nuzzled his chest before attempting to change back into her human form. It didn't work. There was a tearing in her insides and she let out an anguished meow. Remus petted her head silently.

"It wasn't safe. I thought something was wrong as soon as I changed. There wasn't any pain. Then when I saw Lily change I was sure something wasn't right. Especially Lily. With her in her animagus form there is no way we know where to go," Remus was muttering. Liandra tried again, to turn back into the blue-eyed, black haired human, but it again didn't work. There was an audible tearing sound as Liandra let out a loud, scream-like, meow.

"Don't!" Remus exclaimed watching as Liandra collapsed at his feet. He stroked her gingerly before remembering the bag of ingredients she had brought with them. He motioned to Alaura to bring it to him. The lioness looked at him, her lavender eyes shining with annoyance. The look that the queen of beasts was giving him said I-am-not-a-pack-mule.

"Yes, and I can't heal your friend without that bag," Remus replied. The lioness rolled her eyes but picked up the bag and trotted over to Remus. The werewolf took a good look at Liandra's underside. She had torn the skin open trying to transform herself and the wound didn't look good. He wondered fleetingly where the scar would form on her body. He dug through the bag until he found a green vial. He held it up to the panther's mouth, tipping it back so the sleek black creature could drink. When the contents of the bottle had been drained, Remus watched the rather large gash in the panther's stomach heal instantly. That gave him an idea. He pulled out his wand and, holding Liandra tightly to him, put a shield around himself.

"Try changing," he whispered. An instant later, a battered and tired Liandra stood cuddled closely to his side. The two then split to change James, Sirius, Alaura and Lily back into their human forms.

"We're being tested," Lily said grumpily. "I hate tests."

"But, love, you seem to always do well on them," James replied wrapping a thankful arm around the redhead's waist. (A/N: He likes doing that.)

"How did you figure all of that out?" Liandra asked Remus quietly. Sirius and Alaura were yelling at each other for being stupid enough to change and Lily and James looked too wrapped up in making sure the other had no lasting damage to pay attention.

"I don't know. I guess it was kind of weird that the potion worked on you and yet you couldn't change. Then I realized that maybe if there was a shield or something protecting you from the major spell that was being used to keep you in your panther form. By the way, why didn't you three tell us you were animagi?"

"We… we weren't really sure if you were. We wanted to make sure before we went revealing ourselves," Liandra replied uneasily.

"Hey, I'm not mad at you," Remus said lifting her chin. "In fact, I was afraid that you wouldn't want to associate with me after you found out."

"That you're a werewolf? As if!" Alaura had overheard the last part of Remus' sentence. "We're better friends than that!"