Yeah, a couple of big things have happened since my last update. Which was very long ago and I'm very sorry about that. Life got in the way. But I have the story figured out now and though I don't have it all written, it is mostly plotted. But anyway:

1. Half-Blood Prince release date!!!!! July 16, 2005!!!!!!!

2. On her website, J.K. Rowling declared the term "Marauders" to be canon. Yay!

Anway, onto the oh-so-fascinating disclaimer and story.

Disclaimer: Nope.

Chapter 4

Molly tip-toed up the stairs. Dumbledore had just left again. He'd informed the Order of what happened, come back, talked with Remus for quite a long time, then left again. Remus hadn't left his room yet but Dumbledore had said it would be okay if they went up.

She knocked on the door. "Come in!" he called. He sounded normal. She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Remus was sitting on the edge of the bed, combing his long hair. One half was still tangled as he wrestled with the other. He had changed his clothes and was now wearing loose trousers and a sweater. When Molly came in he looked up from the particularly nasty knot he was fighting, and smiled.

"Hello Molly."

Molly started. He sounded exactly the same as he had the morning he'd left. Maybe Dumbledore was wrong. Maybe he was fine.

"Am-am I wrong?" he asked hesitantly, "It is Molly, right?"

Her face fell. He noticed, but didn't understand. "I'm sorry." He said, "I thought that was what Mr. Dumbledore said. What is your name?"

"No, no, it is Molly." She said, "It's just…"

Now he understood. "Ah."

She flushed slightly and unnecessarily straightened the dresser. He went back to combing his hair, each avoiding the other's eyes.

Remus spoke first. "Molly?"

"Yes?"

"I want to apologize for earlier, for the way I acted."

She forced the tears not to form. He was so normal, so Remus. "That's fine, dear." She said, stacking the books into a small pile. "I shouldn't have said anything like that."

"I know I scared you when I fell."

No, don't think about that. She evened out the pile. Don't think about the crunch of bone when he landed. Especially don't think about the look of fear on his face when you went to help him.

"It's quite fine."

He smiled. She caught a glimpse of him in the mirror and smiled back. Then he frowned in concentration as he examined his snarled hair. "Why do I wear my hair so bloody long?" he muttered.

"Would you like me to cut it for you?"

He looked up. "Would you?"

"Certainly."

She sat down beside him and took out her wand. Using a shearing charm, she chopped off about two inches of his hair. It wasn't perfect, but after twenty years of cutting her own children's hair, it wasn't horrible.

He watched as she vanished the clippings, then felt the back of his head. "Are you all magical?" he asked.

"Well, yes." Molly said, remembering what Dumbledore had told her. She wondered how to explain the wizarding world to him. She hadn't even needed to teach her own children about it. It was just their world, something they took for granted.

She took the comb from his hands and began brushing the few remaining knots. "It's a society," she said as she did this, "apart from the Mug--non-magical people."

"Like me?"

"No, you're one of us."

His jaw dropped. She would have laughed if she wasn't about to cry. "It's something you're born with." She continued, "Sometimes you grow up in our world, other times you don't know it exists. When children turn eleven, they are sent to school to perfect their magic. Professor Dumbledore is the headmaster."

"So that's the secret society he was talking about earlier?"

"Secret society?"

"He said something about this house being headquarters for something."

"Oh, no. That's secret within the wizarding world. Or somewhat secret now. There's a Dark wizard gaining power and we've been fighting him. Last year Harry witnessed his rebirth, but it's been difficult getting people to believe him."

"Harry?"

"Harry Potter." She looked for a flicker of recognition in his eyes. There was none. "He's one of the children. He brought about the first fall."

"The what?"

Molly shook her head. "There's far too much to explain right now. We'll get you everything you need, don't worry. Anyway, nobody believed him except for a few people including my family, Dumbledore, and you. Back when You-Know-Who was originally in power—"

"I don't know who. Sorry."

"Lord…Lord…" She took a deep breath. "Lord Voldemort."

She shuddered but he continued to sit there looking politely puzzled. "There was a group, the Order of the Pheonix, who fought him. They regrouped and we've been fighting him."

"Oh."

"There's a meeting tomorrow. We've let the others know about your condition and they'll try to help you too."

He nodded, not sure what to say. "The children will be coming for Easter holidays too. We'll let them know and…" She trailed off and shrugged, smiling.

"Thank you Molly."

His hair was long since detangled, but she continued to brush anyway. Seemed like just yesterday she was doing this for her children.

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Again, I am very sorry this took so long. Hopefully my next update will be quicker. I'm on break for the next week so I'll try to update. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far. You're great!