Hello dearies! Here's the second part to chapter 5. I'd like to say that after this I'm going to be working on revising the first 4 chapters. Not adding anything major, but changing them around so they sound better. I'll still be working on the other chapters and I hope everyone keeps reviewing. Let me send a brief ShOuT oUt (don't you hate the way everyone always says 'shout out' in sticky caps? (don't you just hate how people use sticky caps in the first place?))

MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus- thanks for sticking with me, and commenting TWICE!!! WHOA!!!

DariaD- yea, the end is pretty confusing, but Lily is supposed to be really messed up so her actions are pretty erratic. Sorry if I made it too hard to follow.. woops.

::5.2::

Transfiguration lagged on forever in Lana's mind. It was as if someone was watching her life on tape and had suddenly hit the 'slow motion' button. Every word that left McGonagall's mouth seemed to take forever to reach the students; like time had slowed itself to lengthen Lana's angst.

She had noticed that Lily left breakfast unusually early that morning. Lana had to agree that it was better that way; she really didn't want to have to make eye contact. James, the one person who seemed to be sensitive to her feelings, followed Lily. So Lana was left sitting at the table with the remaining Marauders, and try as she might, she couldn't stop their spontaneous nature from spreading to her. It was good to be laughing and smiling again; but McGonagall's class seemed to take that away.

As soon as Transfiguration was over, Lily dashed out the door. Lana stuck with Remus who had taken to telling her his embarrassing childhood stories in hopes of making her laugh.

"I don't see what I was so scared of," he was telling her as they walked out onto the grounds. "It was just a ride at a theme park, but those dinosaurs scared the shit out of me, and in the picture that was taken during the ride, all you could see was my dad. I was busy clinging to his leg for dear life." (a/n: sadly, that really happened to me. I was only 11, no maybe 12, okay, lets just go with 9, and those dinosaurs are so damn life like. It's the stuff nightmares are made of.)

Lana could barely breathe as she sat down against the stone retaining wall. It wasn't the story that was funny, but more of the visual images she was seeing as she imagined Remus shaking at the sight of fake dinosaurs. "I've never been to a theme park. Even though my dad was a muggle, my mum didn't agree with those sort of things."

"I'll have to take you one year, especially to the one with the dinosaur ride. But watch out, they'll get you every time."

"I'll be looking forward to it."

"So who's up for a little game of '21 Questions?'" Remus asked with a mischievous grin spreading across his face.

Lana, sensing immediately where this game was going, decided to go along with it. "Alright, who's asking first?" She said, thinking maybe she could get some deep dark secret out of Remus.

"You can," he said as he moved so he was now sitting in front of her.

"Okay then, Favorite color?"

"Blue."

"Season?"

"Winter."

"Have you ever skinny-dipped?"

"Yea."

Lana kept with the customary 'Favorite -' and 'Have you ever -' questions and ended with, "Are you a virgin?"

"Yes," Remus said as the same grin he'd had earlier returned to his face. "My turn."

As Lana had guessed, the first 20 questions were strictly no-thinking- required types. But it was his last question, the one she knew was coming, that turned the game serious.

"So, your ears and tail. How'd you get them?"

Lana smiled. "How did I know that was coming?"

"Come on, you have to answer, it's the number one rule."

"I know, just give me a minute."

"Besides," Remus said with a gleam in his eyes, "Everything in 21 Questions stays in 21 Questions."

"Promise?" Lana asked, raising her eyebrows.

"It's the number two rule. I can't argue with the rules, now can I?"

Lana gave a short laugh as she turned her attention to the sky. It would be less distracting if she didn't have to worry about any facial expressions from her audience while she told her story; a story she'd only told to one other person.

"Okay then, I guess I have to start where all of this began: in London, with a man I called Mr. Reaper.

"I was 8 when we lived in a small London flat. We being my parents and me. It was just like any other flat. It was small, but never crowded. I liked being around our neighbors, too. They would all spoil me by making muggle treats, they were all muggles, and they'd teach me interesting card games. I know most children don't enjoy cards, but it was something my grandmother would do with me when she came for a visit so it always reminded me of her. Anyways, there was one man, a wizard, that lived in the area but no one knew his name. He was tall, with a pale complexion and greasy black hair. It was no wonder I was so fascinated with him. No one knew anything about him and I was determined to at least get his name.

"My friend and I would make a game of spying on him and called him 'Mr. Reaper.' I suppose that's why he had it in for me. I wouldn't be too happy if I had little 8 year olds snooping around my house. But I didn't think of that, all I could think of was how much attention I'd get when I found any interesting about the so-called 'mystery man.'

"After a year of intruding in on his life, I guess he just snapped. I was walking home from a friend's house and I had lost track of the time. It was pretty late and the streets were unusually empty. But I didn't notice, I was too busy trying to find the moon.

"I don't remember much of what happened next. A face in the shadows, me screaming and running. In my panic, I fell off the side walk and into the street. Blood ran into my eyes shortly after my fall and then there was a flash of bright light. I woke up to another bright light, but it wasn't the same. I was in a hospital this time instead of lying in the street.

"My parents came in and told me they had heard my scream and ran outside to find the streets empty, save my convulsing body. The cut in my forehead was already bleeding onto the pavement around me, but I was lucky to have not cracked my skull. I ended up suffering a concussion, and because of that I was brought to St. Mungo's. My mum said she felt safer with me in a wizard hospital instead of a muggle one and it's a good thing she put me in St. Mungo's. During the month I was in a coma my tail and ears grew along with the uncontrollable seizures that taken hold of my body while my DNA rearranged itself."

Lana paused to dry off her tears. Reliving the events that had changed her life was never simple and she doubted that telling her story would ever be an easy task.

"I had an irreversible curse placed upon me. A curse that was almost completely forgotten. It was used by ancient Egyptian priests to create 'gods on earth,' or human replicas of their gods. Over the years, its name has been lost and only a few know how to perform it.

"I had occasional seizures after I was released. I was told that it was my DNA finalizing its restructuring. There was nothing anyone could do to stop the process. Like I said earlier, it's an irreversible curse. And in being so, all they could give me was some medication for epilepsy."

"What? Why weren't your seizures stopped with magic.?" Remus asked, speaking for the first time since Lana began answering his 21st question.

"I couldn't be healed with magic. No one knew how it would affect me."

"What do you mean?"

Lana thought for a minute, trying to remember how the doctors had explained the same question. "I'm only half human now. Magic was designed to heal humans and humanoid creatures. I'm pretty much at the extreme end of the 'humanoid creatures' spectrum, so trying to fix something as simple as a broken bone could end up doing more harm. That's only because my DNA structure is different from any similar human. New cells have to be created and the DNA has to be replicated. Magic forces more DNA to be created so it speeds up mitosis, or cell division. But magic only codes to have human- type DNA recreated. Since my DNA is arranged in a different order, biologists think that if the cells were to be created using magic, the DNA could be sorted according to the normal human prototype. Making sense?"

Remus looked stunned as he tried to process everything that Lana had just told him. DNA, cell division, mitosis. It was definitely more of an answer than he had bargained for.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. You can't be healed with magic. . .because your DNA is arranged differently. . .?"

"Right. Magic might start creating human ears where I need cat ears and then I'd be even more messed up than I am now."

"But what about hexes and jinxes and other magic that changes a person's form?"

"Hexes and jinxes don't seem to have any effect other than their intended one. It's only healing magic that I have to stay away from. And no one knows why, but I'm not about to let anyone experiment on me.

"Supposedly, Egyptian priests had recorded numerous deaths from the curse that was performed on me. Most of them could have been prevented with magic, or had been attempted to be prevented with magic. Historians know they had magical capabilities to stop all of the deaths if they had been in normal humans, but for some reason those people died. Personally, and it could just be me, I don't want to find out why.

"And that's the story behind my ears and tail. Quite an answer to your question, huh?"

"What about 'Mr. Reaper?'" Remus inquired.

"Never found him. He disappeared that night. The Ministry tried to find him but never did. I'm assuming they gave up in the end."

Remus leaned back on his hands, "Wow, what a way to end a game of 21 Questions," he said.

"Over? Sorry hun, I'm just getting started. So who's up for Round 2?" Lana asked. She knew she'd hit a nerve when she saw his relaxed expression fade off his face.

"Round. . . 2. . .?" Remus said, almost stuttering in his distinct nervousness.

"Oh yea, Round 2. --Everyone-- knows that 21 Questions gets fun once you get past Round 1."

Giving a reluctant smile, as if he knew Lana wouldn't let him quit the game now, Remus agreed.

Relaxing against the wall stone wall, Lana popped the question. (a/n: no, not –the-- question, just the question,)

"So tell me Remus, what's your deep dark secret.?"

Remus closed his eyes as a grin played around one corner of his mouth.

"I suppose I have to tell you, don't I?"

"Yea, ya do. I told you mine. How much worse can yours be?" Lana said, as Remus began to realize that out of anyone, she would best understand his secret.

"You sure you want to know, Art?"

"Remus, you're stalling. Now, out with it. If you don't think I can 'handle' it, you might want to think about what I just told you." Lana said, obviously losing her temper.

"Alright, here goes. I'm a werewolf."

Short and to the point, there was no long story involved with Remus. He had got his bite and that was all it took to seal his fate.

Remus did not break his eye contact with Lana. He waited for any signs of shock or rejection but found nothing.

"How long?" Lana asked.

"Since I was little, at least 6 or 7, I think. It's hard to remember. The years just fade together."

Lana smiled, "We're on the same boat, then, aren't we?"

"Yea, I guess we are," Remus said as he saw many similarities between the two situations. Both were different from those around them and as much as either tried hard not to let it affect their lives, it always did. While Lana would have had more trouble having people get close to her, Remus had trouble letting himself get close to people. He knew that he'd eventually have to tell them he was a werewolf, but he wasn't too sure all friendships would end up like his with James, Sirius, Peter, and now Lana. Remus knew some people wouldn't be comfortable being around a werewolf.

"Sirius, James, and Peter know, don't they?"

"Yea."

"It's like a binding contract isn't it? Once they know your secret you're stuck, huh?"

"That's about it." Remus said, still deep in his thoughts.

"Well then, I guess I'm stuck with you, aren't I?" Lana laughed.

Finally relaxing, Remus smiled, "Well you don't have to make it sound like such a burden, do you? I don't think I'm that bad of a person to be around."

"Not at all, not at all." Lana said as Sirius, James, and Peter walked up.

Sirius sat down next to Lana and putting his arm around her shoulder gently pulled her close to him.

"So, is my little Artemis feeling better than she was this morning?"

"Much. Me and Remus just finished quite an interesting game of '21 Questions.'"

Sirius glanced at Remus, "I told her. She knows I'm a werewolf."

But that wasn't what Sirius was so suddenly concerned with.

Again, he nodded towards James and Peter and was relieved when Remus cautiously shook his head 'no.'

"So anything else interesting come up? Like the virgin question?" Sirius said, hoping he drew the attention away from the subtle communication that just occurred. He didn't want anyone to know what he, James, and Peter were capable of. It wasn't that he didn't trust Lana, that wasn't it at all. It was just the less people who knew the better.

Remus laughed, "Yea, that came up. I had to spend at few minutes trying to think who I lost it with. You know how it goes Sirius, everyone starts to look the same after a while."

"Sirius doesn't have that problem," James piped in, "he doesn't bother looking at the faces anymore!"

Everyone started laughing except Sirius. For some reason making jokes about how many girls he dated slightly embarrassed him in front of Lana. Maybe it was the fact that even though he'd only really known her for almost two months now, he felt more attracted to her than he had anyone else. For once, Sirius actually cared if she thought him more than a pretty face.

"Shove it, Remus. What d' you know anyway?"

"In the field of girls," Remus said behind a stifled laughter, "Not much compared to you, that's for sure!"

Sirius stood up, "I don't have to take this."

His friends sat staring at him in wonder. He'd never reacted like this before to their jokes on him.

"Aw. . .is ickle Sirius embarrassed that he's a man-whore?" James cooed.

Sitting back down, Sirius reached over and pushed James on his back. As James sat back up laughed at his friend, Sirius put his arm around Lana and pulled her against his side again. Her body was relaxed and fit perfectly in the contours of his. She rumpled his sleek black hair as she laughed and at her touch a sensation shot through Sirius's spine. (a/n: aww. . . is ickle Sirius getting aroused?) He'd never known such a peaceful calm before. A sense of tranquility in just sitting with someone you love. And he knew he didn't want to feel any different.

--

Nice happy ending, eh? Okay, I think that's all for now. Keep reviewing, it's so nice to hear what people have to say. I'm almost done with chapter 6 (my labeled chap. 6, not the sites chap 6, because the site's chap 6 is actually my other half of chap 5.) Also, school starts again soon.. woo.....so I don't know how much writing I'll get done in the next month or so. But I promise I'll get a few chapters up by the end of May. Just keep checking back. And oh yea, and if anyone has any ideas for the story or great pranks to be played by the Marauders, do send them in. I've got a nice plot laid out but I'm always open to suggestions. Well, that's all for now my loves, it's great that people are liking the story.

Elveren