Author's Note: Thanks to my reviewers! And here's a new chapter, so you don't have to wait months for the answer to the mild cliffhanger:
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"Harry, you already know a little bit about my time at Hogwarts. You know that I was great friends with your father, James, and with Sirius and Peter Pettigrew. And I was also friends with your mother. You also know that Sirius, Peter and your father learned how to become Animagi. What you don't know is that they were not the only ones who could change into animals at will.
"Maybe I had better start at the beginning...
"Sirius, James and Peter became Animagi in our fifth year. And that year was great. In our sixth year, however, odd things started happening. Of course it was a proliferation of snoggarts -- but we didn't know that then. We thought they were ordinary witches -- well, maybe not ordinary. And we reacted how any teenage boys would react to beautiful, talented witches. If we hadn't caught on when we did, things might have been very different.
"I remember the first one I met. It was in the carriages from the Hogwarts Express to the school. Lily, James, Sirius and Peter had taken a carriage, so I was left to find a carriage by myself. Only I wasn't by myself.
"In the carriage with me was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. She had shiny hair the color of maple syrup. It was perfectly straight and hung in a gleaming sheet halfway down her back. Her eyes were a beautiful light brown color. Best of all, she looked friendly. And she was friendly. Her name was Katerina, and she immediately started talking to me like an old friend. But the first sign that something was wrong came when she stopped her friendly chatter. She gazed deeply into my eyes, as though she could read me.
"Then she took my hand and said gravely, 'I know your secret, Remus. I know you are a werewolf.'
"I gasped. How could she know?
"When I asked her, she told me that she, too, was a werewolf. I should have realized then that she wasn't a real witch (or a real lycanthrope, for that matter). But I was flattered by the attention and amazed by her beauty, so I ignored the warnings.
"After we got to the castle, she immediately befriended your mother. The two of them started to giggle and gossip. And that should have been another clue. Lily was never silly or shallow. But she would change when snoggarts were around. We didn't know it then, but they seemed to think of her as a way to get to us.
"Fortunately, Katerina left very shortly after I met her. I wouldn't have intentionally sent her away, and I didn't know I should. But we were just sitting down in the Great Hall when she called me 'Remmy.' I shouted at her: 'My name is not Remmy! What kind of a stupid nickname is that?!' She started crying and left the hall. I never saw her again.
"There were others after her, though. Many more. Sirius had the worst of it, I'm afraid. And I had more than my share of snoggarts come after me.
"James was mostly safe because, by that time, he was dating Lily. But the snoggarts who did come after him were much worse. They couldn't compete with Lily, so they'd pretend to be her. He had to fend off a number of snoggarts who were Lily in strange clothes or with black hair or anachronistic muggle devices. It was all very strange. But James became an expert at discovering and banishing them very quickly.
"Snoggarts learn from their mistakes, though, so they became better at putting us under their spell. Sirius and I had snoggarts regularly latching on to us, but they never managed to last more than a few days until ... well, things got really bad.
"There were three of them: Aurora, Serenity and Lily. They called themselves 'The Marauderettes.' Looking back, I don't know how we could have been drawn in by such a ridiculous name. At the time, we thought it was serendipity.
"Part of the problem was that the snoggart calling itself Lily was actually like your mother in every way. Every way except for one, that is. Aurora, Serenity and Lily were all animagi. Lily transformed into a lynx; Aurora transformed into a black panther; and Serenity transformed into a lioness.
"Sirius, James and I thought it was brilliant that the girls were animagi, too. We spent as much time as we could together, in our human and animal forms. Everything seemed perfect. James was in love with Lily. Sirius was in love with Aurora. And I was in love with Serenity. They were gorgeous, talented and fun to be around.
"We were completely under the snoggart spell, and things would have gone very badly if it weren't for Peter. You might be wondering what was happening to Peter Pettigrew during all of this. He was still there and still our friend. But we ignored him more and more as we fell under the snoggart spell and spent more time with Aurora, Serenity and Lily. We didn't want to ignore Peter. But snoggarts never liked him, and so, even when he was with us, he wasn't really part of the group.
"One day, we found Peter crying in the common room. James asked him what was wrong, but before Peter could answer, Lily snapped, 'Who cares?' James, Sirius and I stared at her in shock. This was totally out of character for her.
"Then Aurora and Serenity joined in. They claimed that Peter was not to be trusted, that he was evil, that they could see right through him and that he would betray us.
"We saw them, then, for what they really were: manipulative creatures. No real witches who truly loved us would be so hateful toward our friend. The snoggart spell was broken, and we were free.
"I know you might be thinking that we should have listened to them about Peter. Trust me when I tell you that nothing could have been worse. First of all, if we had trusted the snoggarts, the spell wouldn't have been broken. And your father might have married 'Lily' -- only she wouldn't be the real Lily who was your mother. You wouldn't have been born. (And Voldemort wouldn't have fallen.) Who knows what else would have changed if we hadn't escaped the snoggart spell when we did. I shudder to think of what could have happened.
"I've told you all this not because I enjoy the story, but because I think you deserve an honest answer to your question -- and also because I hope it might help you understand and recognize snoggarts better. Don't be afraid to trust your instinct. Keep true to yourself and your friends, and that should help.
"If you have any other questions, all you have to do is ask. Send me an owl some time to let me know how you're faring with the snoggarts.
"Remus J. Lupin"
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"Harry, you already know a little bit about my time at Hogwarts. You know that I was great friends with your father, James, and with Sirius and Peter Pettigrew. And I was also friends with your mother. You also know that Sirius, Peter and your father learned how to become Animagi. What you don't know is that they were not the only ones who could change into animals at will.
"Maybe I had better start at the beginning...
"Sirius, James and Peter became Animagi in our fifth year. And that year was great. In our sixth year, however, odd things started happening. Of course it was a proliferation of snoggarts -- but we didn't know that then. We thought they were ordinary witches -- well, maybe not ordinary. And we reacted how any teenage boys would react to beautiful, talented witches. If we hadn't caught on when we did, things might have been very different.
"I remember the first one I met. It was in the carriages from the Hogwarts Express to the school. Lily, James, Sirius and Peter had taken a carriage, so I was left to find a carriage by myself. Only I wasn't by myself.
"In the carriage with me was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. She had shiny hair the color of maple syrup. It was perfectly straight and hung in a gleaming sheet halfway down her back. Her eyes were a beautiful light brown color. Best of all, she looked friendly. And she was friendly. Her name was Katerina, and she immediately started talking to me like an old friend. But the first sign that something was wrong came when she stopped her friendly chatter. She gazed deeply into my eyes, as though she could read me.
"Then she took my hand and said gravely, 'I know your secret, Remus. I know you are a werewolf.'
"I gasped. How could she know?
"When I asked her, she told me that she, too, was a werewolf. I should have realized then that she wasn't a real witch (or a real lycanthrope, for that matter). But I was flattered by the attention and amazed by her beauty, so I ignored the warnings.
"After we got to the castle, she immediately befriended your mother. The two of them started to giggle and gossip. And that should have been another clue. Lily was never silly or shallow. But she would change when snoggarts were around. We didn't know it then, but they seemed to think of her as a way to get to us.
"Fortunately, Katerina left very shortly after I met her. I wouldn't have intentionally sent her away, and I didn't know I should. But we were just sitting down in the Great Hall when she called me 'Remmy.' I shouted at her: 'My name is not Remmy! What kind of a stupid nickname is that?!' She started crying and left the hall. I never saw her again.
"There were others after her, though. Many more. Sirius had the worst of it, I'm afraid. And I had more than my share of snoggarts come after me.
"James was mostly safe because, by that time, he was dating Lily. But the snoggarts who did come after him were much worse. They couldn't compete with Lily, so they'd pretend to be her. He had to fend off a number of snoggarts who were Lily in strange clothes or with black hair or anachronistic muggle devices. It was all very strange. But James became an expert at discovering and banishing them very quickly.
"Snoggarts learn from their mistakes, though, so they became better at putting us under their spell. Sirius and I had snoggarts regularly latching on to us, but they never managed to last more than a few days until ... well, things got really bad.
"There were three of them: Aurora, Serenity and Lily. They called themselves 'The Marauderettes.' Looking back, I don't know how we could have been drawn in by such a ridiculous name. At the time, we thought it was serendipity.
"Part of the problem was that the snoggart calling itself Lily was actually like your mother in every way. Every way except for one, that is. Aurora, Serenity and Lily were all animagi. Lily transformed into a lynx; Aurora transformed into a black panther; and Serenity transformed into a lioness.
"Sirius, James and I thought it was brilliant that the girls were animagi, too. We spent as much time as we could together, in our human and animal forms. Everything seemed perfect. James was in love with Lily. Sirius was in love with Aurora. And I was in love with Serenity. They were gorgeous, talented and fun to be around.
"We were completely under the snoggart spell, and things would have gone very badly if it weren't for Peter. You might be wondering what was happening to Peter Pettigrew during all of this. He was still there and still our friend. But we ignored him more and more as we fell under the snoggart spell and spent more time with Aurora, Serenity and Lily. We didn't want to ignore Peter. But snoggarts never liked him, and so, even when he was with us, he wasn't really part of the group.
"One day, we found Peter crying in the common room. James asked him what was wrong, but before Peter could answer, Lily snapped, 'Who cares?' James, Sirius and I stared at her in shock. This was totally out of character for her.
"Then Aurora and Serenity joined in. They claimed that Peter was not to be trusted, that he was evil, that they could see right through him and that he would betray us.
"We saw them, then, for what they really were: manipulative creatures. No real witches who truly loved us would be so hateful toward our friend. The snoggart spell was broken, and we were free.
"I know you might be thinking that we should have listened to them about Peter. Trust me when I tell you that nothing could have been worse. First of all, if we had trusted the snoggarts, the spell wouldn't have been broken. And your father might have married 'Lily' -- only she wouldn't be the real Lily who was your mother. You wouldn't have been born. (And Voldemort wouldn't have fallen.) Who knows what else would have changed if we hadn't escaped the snoggart spell when we did. I shudder to think of what could have happened.
"I've told you all this not because I enjoy the story, but because I think you deserve an honest answer to your question -- and also because I hope it might help you understand and recognize snoggarts better. Don't be afraid to trust your instinct. Keep true to yourself and your friends, and that should help.
"If you have any other questions, all you have to do is ask. Send me an owl some time to let me know how you're faring with the snoggarts.
"Remus J. Lupin"