Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, events and/or places that are recognized as being written and created by J.K. Rowling. J.K. Rowling owns all the characters and places from the Harry Potter books including the ones used in this story.
A/N: Thanks to all you reviewers once again!!! :D
Slender rays of sunlight punctured the night sky scarring away its silver stars and the bright full moon. All that could be seen in the sky now were a few clouds and mix of dark purple and pink swirls.
Clea stretched her legs out in front of her and rubbed her eyes. She had been up this whole time. Lying in a pile next to her were about a hundred bracelets that Clea had made out of strands of dead grass she found under the bush she sat by; she was so bored she turned to a non-magical activity to keep her busy.
"Where are they?" she said out loud into the wind. Her voice was harsh and raspy from not using it all night.
But as soon as the words left her mouth, Clea heard something that sounded like a door opening. She peered over the bush at the Whomping Willow and saw that the hole had reopened. Running as fast as they could, James, Sirius. Remus and finally Peter sprang from the ground and made their way into the clear field next to the Willow.
"Where's the map Prongs?" Sirius said holding his hand out to James.
"I thought you had it?" James responded, shrugging his shoulders.
"No," Sirius continued. "Wormtail?"
Peter swung his head back and forth, as he let out a huge yawn.
"Great," Sirius shouted. "Now how are we going to avoid being caught?"
Sirius and James started shouting at each other about being forgetful and careless. Clea listened carefully to them, while she started at Remus.
Remus was hiding his face in his cloak and his clothes were all torn. He was rocking back and forth, like he was about to pass out. Clea longed to run over to him and hold him close to her, but she stopped herself; she wanted to make sure her timing was right
"Stop fighting guys," Remus said to his friends, in a calm but frustrated voice. He flopped down on a rock and buried his head in his hands.
"Moony," said Sirius, in a nurturing kind of tone. "We're sorry."
"Come on," James said as he patted Remus on the back. "Let's get you to the infirmary."
"No," Remus stated. "I want to stay here. I want to be left alone. I'm going to be expelled anyways."
"You won't be expelled," Sirius shouted at him. "I've told you, you had nothing to do with what happened with Snape. It was my fault. And I'm not getting expelled, so why would you be? Stop being so dramatic."
Remus sighed heavily. Clea started to stand up, trying to stay unseen. "I'm sorry Padfoot," Remus said. "But, once everyone finds out what I really am....once Clea finds out. I won't be able to stand having her ignore me."
"Moony," James sat down next to Remus and put his arm around his friend. "She does know. So does Lily. They followed us outside last night. They were in the entrance hall when Snape told them what happened. He told Clea you were a werewolf."
Clea couldn't see Remus' face. She twisted around trying to get a better view. Then she noticed another bush down closer to where they were. She held her breath, and crept down towards the bush. She made it and sat there cowered in the branches.
"She hates me right?" Remus wrapped his hands around his face again.
"No, she hates me," Sirius said with a smirk. "But that's to be expected."
"Clea doesn't hate anyone," James stated. "She's not the type of person that has hateful feelings. You should know that Moony."
"Prongs?" Remus's voice was soft and quite. "She was beautiful last night wasn't she? Perfect?"
"Beautiful? Yes." James said smiling brightly at Remus. "Perfect? No. She was miserable."
Remus sighed again. "I've made her miserable. Why would she want me anymore?" His voice started to tremble slightly. "All I'm going to do is make her miserable."
"Oh Merlin!" Sirius shouted, throwing his hands in the air. "Moony, calm down!"
Clea's eyes filled with tears, despite the fact that she was growing more and more annoyed by her brother.
Clea's nose started to twitch. She thought it was due to the unavoidable urge to cry she was experiencing, but it wasn't. She had to sneeze. She put her finger under her nose and scrunched her eyes up. She couldn't stop it. "Ahh...choo!"
The four boys whipped their heads around to the sound. Clea shrunk into the bush. She was furious with herself. All of a sudden the worst pain she had ever felt surged through her leg and she was pulled out of her hiding place.
Clea screamed at the top of her lungs. And then ever louder when she saw what pulled her out. A large black dog, with yellow eyes had clamped his jaws around the calf of her leg. The dog let go of her, and returned to his normal state.
"S...S...Siri...?" Clea stuttered.
"What are you doing here?" Sirius asked her, with angry eyes.
"I've been her since last night," Clea said. "Well, I was up there at that bush, but I came down to this one a little while ago. And I wasn't snooping or anything, I was just waiting. Waiting for..."
"Clea," James came over to her. "Did anyone follow you?"
"No, I'm by myself." Clea answered him. Tears welled up in her eyes again as she looked past James at Remus. He was peering at her through the one blue eye peeking out from under his cloak.
Clea stood up and wobbled a little on her hurt leg. Sirius stopped her from walking, mumbled "sorry 'bout that," and waved his wand. The deep teeth marks on her legs mended and all that was left were eight little scars.
She walked over to Remus, and sat down next to him on the rock. She reached and pulled down the cloak that was hiding his face. She gasped slightly at what she saw.
Three rather large scrapes spread across the entire distance of Remus's face. They were long and deep. They weren't bleeding anymore, but they were very visible.
"Oh, Remus," Clea stroked each cut; dragging her finger across Remus's right eye and then his nose and finally his mouth. Her finger paused a little on his lips and tears fell from her eyes. "Did you do this to yourself?" she asked him.
"I'm not myself when I'm transformed," Remus whispered to her. "All I want is blood and when there is none near me...I go after myself."
Clea's eyes welled with tears. "I'm sorry,"--Remus shook his head at her.--"I'm sorry you have to go through all this." Clea said.
"Why are you sorry?" said Remus. "You have nothing to do with this."
"I know," Clea looked down at her lap. She stated smoothing the skirt of her dress robes out. Remus looked at her, and his eyes took everything in.
"You've gotten your robes all dirty," he said, brushing a patch of brown off of the collar of Clea's dress. "And you wore pink. I told you it looks nice on you." Remus smiled slightly.
"That must have been you we heard screaming in the Gryffindor tower that night?" Clea asked, completely forgetting that it was only Lily and herself that knew she snuck up there.
"What!? How did you hear that? Were you in our room?" Sirius asked, slightly appalled at his sister.
"Oh," Clea said with sudden realization. "I went up to Gryffindor Tower and Lily snuck me in and we were going to spy on you guys but then we heard screaming and whimpering and someone was leaving the room so we ran away. It was all Lily's idea."
"Lily's idea? Wow." James smiled to himself.
"It was Remus," Peter said. "That screamed. He does it before every full moon. I have to put a silencing spell around my bed so I can sleep."
"I want to know everything Remus," Clea said. "Everything; from the beginning"
Sirius, James and Peter sat around the couple making a complete circle. Remus launched into the story of when he was bitten as a little boy. Clea listened intently to his entire story. She especially winced when he described the pain he feels during every transformation.
When Remus finished his tale, a silence fell over the group. Clea looked like she was going to burst into tears at any moment. Remus hesitated about touching her, but he still reached his arm out to put it around her shoulders. Clea slid closer to Remus. She looked him straight in the eyes. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she felt his warm breath on her face. Remus clutched Clea's arm with his hand, not wanting her to ever move.
"I'm not going anywhere Remus." Clea said tearfully. "I still have some questions." Clea turned her head to look at Sirius and James who were sitting on the ground in front of her. Peter was nodding off on a rock next to James.
"I know what you're going to ask," Sirius said coolly. "I am an animagi, so is James and Peter. And yes we are illegal. But we have a good reason."
"We did it for Moony....ah, Remus." James added.
"Moony," Clea said and looked at Remus and he smiled brightly for the first time all morning. "Wormtail,"—Clea nodded her head at Peter—"Padfoot and Prongs?"
"Yep," Sirius said. "Personally, I think my names the best." Sirius dragged his fingers through his hair and James pushed him, laughing.
"We're The Marauders," James said. "But we'll explain what that means later. We should get back inside. I'm freezing!"
Sirius sprang to his feet and yelled "Wake up!" in Peter's ear. The three ran up the path towards the warm castle.
"Come on Remus," Clea said getting up. "You should go get those cuts checked out." Remus reluctantly stood up and took Clea's outstretched hand. He paused for a moment and stared at her. He smiled and brushed the few hairs that had fallen over Clea's eye behind her ear. "Come on," she whispered to him, holding his hand tightly in hers.
