Disclaimer - It's not mine. Never was.

A/N- Okay, hope you guys are liking this story so far. So, I'll quit babbling, and let you guys get on with the story.

Trouble in Paradise

Almost two weeks had passed since Sable had 'thought' she saw Remus down in the Defense against the Dark Arts corridor. After convincing herself that she had not seen Remus running around with Sedera, she had almost completely forgotten about the whole escapade. The one thing that would not allow her to forget the whole mess and move on was the fact that Remus had started to disappear without a trace, or a word to anyone else. The other boys, James, Sirius, and Peter, seemed to know where he was, but they refused to say anything. It was never for long, only a couple of hours in the period of a few days, but Sable was starting to get the distinct feeling that something was going on. She had caught a few fleeting glimpses of someone who looked like him slipping around the school, but she put her trust in him and believed him when he said he had been with the other Marauders or studying in the library.

She tried to find out where he was going on a couple of occasions, but he would never say, just give her a smile and said not to worry-he'd be back later. He was being evasive, something that he had never done before. Any other time, he would tell her where he was going. Unfortunately, her suspicions were confirmed after a rather rough morning in Potions class two Fridays after the first 'hallucination' episode.

Sable had just come out of a very bad Potions class. She and Lily had been working on the class assignment when something went wrong, and the entire cauldron blew up. Lily had been sent to the hospital wing since the potion had been in the more acidic stages and burned her face and arms. She was the only one who had sustained any bad injuries. Sable had gotten some on her robes and her hands, but not enough to warrant going to the hospital wing. Treble had told her to stay back after class and clean the mess up, which she had been planning on doing anyway. Now, with the class over with and Lily in the hospital wing, Sable had escaped to the girl's lavatory at the junction between the corridor leading down into the dungeons, and hallway leading up to the House towers.

She went to the sink and turned the cold water on. The little blisters on her hands were starting to turn into water blisters, and she knew they would hurt like Hell if they popped while she was in the middle of class. Deciding to skip her next class, which she was already late for, she went into one of the stalls to get some paper towels to wrap her hand in until she got to the hospital wing, since she could not remember the healing charm to save her life.

She found the roll of paper towels in the stall furthest from the entrance to lavatory. As soon as she walked in, she heard the voices of a group of girls come into the room. She was about to walk out of the stall, get her books, and go to the hospital wing when one of the girl's laughed. Sable recognized the laugh and immediately rolled her eyes in aggravation. It was Sedera Walsh.

Ever since James had gotten her away from those people in Hogsmeade two weeks ago, she had changed her uptight attitude about the Gryffindors. She was not as crude as before, and even managed to hold a conversation with Lily during class one day. Sable on the other hand, smelt a rat. She had never liked the girl before, and she was definantly not about to change her mind now. She listened closely to what they were saying, but soon wished that she had not.

"You know you're going to get caught running around with that Gryffindork, Sedera." one girl said. "Why are you doing it?"

"I have my reasons for it." Sedera answered.

"Like what?" another one asked. "You have a perfectly good boyfriend right now, why jeopardize that?"

"Because I'm toying with something that belongs to that bitch Robbins." Sedera answered primly. "When she finds out that her precious Lupin has been running around on her for the last two weeks, she's going to be heartbroken."

"And with you, none the less, 'Dera." the first girl said. "When do you think she's going to find out?"

"I could care less." Sedera answered. "If I know that dumb witted twit, she probably hasn't even noticed yet."

"She is going to be mad when she does find out, Sedera." the second girl said. "What do you plan on doing about that?"

"I'll worry about that when the time comes." the pompous girl answered.

"When are you meeting him again?" the first one asked.

"Tomorrow, after lunch." she said. "We're meeting in the little clearing on the east side of the lake."

"That should work, seeing as how your boyfriend will be at Quidditch practice." the first girl said. Sedera hmphed and picked up her bag.

"Well, let's get going. We're already late for Charms, and Flitwick will be doling out detentions for it I'm sure." Sedera said grumpily. The other girls murmured in agreement. After a great deal of shuffling and moving around, Sable heard the door of the lavatory close.

She stepped out of the bathroom stall and stared at the door. What she had just heard had broken her heart. Remus was cheating on her, and with Sedera Walsh at that. She suddenly felt her eyes water up and her chest constrict tightly. Her vision blurred and she sank down against the cold stone walls of the bathroom, her mind in a whirlwind of thoughts.

'What the hell happened?'

'Why did he do it?'

'Was it something I did?'

These were her most prominent thoughts. Shaking her head and trying to dry her face off after twenty minutes of just sitting there in shock, she gathered up her books and left to go to her room. She could not let Lily see her like this. She knew that Remus and the others would be in Transfiguration by now, but she could care less. At the moment, it felt like her heart had been ripped out by a hippograff and trampled on by them. She blindly made her way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts hallway and slipped into her room, unaware of the set of eyes that had watched her broken hearted figure enter into the room from the corridor.

*** In Transfiguration... ***

James and Sirius were bored stiff in the lesson McGonagall was teaching. It was the annual lesson about Animagi, and they were about to fall asleep. Since three of the four mighty Marauders were illegal Animagi, they had already known all of this. James grabbed a piece of parchment, scribbled a message on it and passed it to Remus, who also seemed to be fighting sleep.

Moony, where are Lily and Sable. Why aren't they here?

Remus read over the note and frowned. That was something he wanted to know as well. It was not like them to miss a class, especially Lily. He took the parchment and scribbled his response back to James before passing it back to him while McGonagall's back was turned.

I don't know, Prongs. I'm worried though. Lily never misses class. Something must have happened. They had Potions before this class.

Sirius looked over James' shoulder and frowned. He quickly grabbed the paper and scribbled his message down before giving it back to Remus.

Maybe we should get out of here and go see. I don't know about you guys, but I'm bored stiff. McGonagall is putting me to sleep! Besides, we don't need anything happening to Sable before Remus can give her the Christmas surprise he has planned, now can we?

Remus rolled his eyes at his friends words. He had started planning Sable's Christmas surprise two weeks ago. He was making her a music box that was charmed to play certain songs that he knew she liked. Anytime he'd had a free minute for the past two weeks, he had spent it in his dorm working on perfecting the spells for it. He knew it would take a good bit of work for it to come out right, but he was willing to try. Besides, he wanted to see the look of surprise on her face when she saw it. He scribbled a short response and handed the note to James so he could read it.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny Padfoot. All kidding aside, do you think the girls are okay?

James seemed genuinely concerned about Lily and Sable. Ever since the run in with the Death Eaters at the beginning of the month, he had tried to keep an eye on Lily. Right now, he agreed with Sirius, they needed to find the girls.

Padfoot, cause a diversion so we can get out of here!

James tossed the note back to Sirius, who grinned in response. It was pointless though, since the bell had just rang, signaling the end of the class and the beginning of their lunch period. Grabbing their books, James, Sirius, and Remus ran up to Gryffindor Tower to retrieve the Marauder's Map. Pulling the enchanted parchment out of his trunk, James muttered the words and they waited as the lines filled the page. About a minute later, they found a little dot in the hospital wing with L. Evans next to it. James, being the overprotective boyfriend he was, took out for the hospital wing in a hurry, leaving Sirius and Remus to find Sable.

After scanning the paper three times and coming up empty handed, Remus frowned and put the map away. She was in her room, and he knew it. Her lab and room did not show up on the map because they had never added it on.

"Where you headed, Moony?" Sirius asked, watching him leave the dorm.

"Sable's in her room." he said simply. "I'm going to find out what's going on."

"Fine. I'll talk to you later." Sirius said, watching his friend leave. Remus slipped behind the portrait in the Gryffindor Common Room and went down the corridor, wondering why Sable was in her room and not in class. When he got to the entrance to her room, he said the needed password and nudged the portrait open. He climbed down out of the corridor and walked over to where Sable was sleeping on her bed. She still had her class robes on, but he noticed that her hands were red and swollen with blisters.

'What in the world has happened?' he thought. Sable gave a whimper in her sleep and turned over to face where Remus was standing.

The young man looked down at her and frowned. There were dried tear streaks down her face, and she looked like she was upset, even in her sleep. He pushed some of the hair out of her face and sighed. It would do no good to wake her up now, the day was almost over with. He pulled a piece of parchment out of her desk and scribbled a note on it before leaving it on her pillow and climbing back through the portrait. Something was wrong, and he did not like it one bit. Sable only cried when something bad happened. He shook his head and climbed back up to the Tower, intent on finding out later what was wrong with her.

It was the end of the day, and Sable still had not come out of her room. By now, Remus had found out about Lily and Sable's accident in Potions class. When he asked Lily if Sable had been feeling alright, Lily had answered that she seemed okay when Treble had sent her to the hospital wing to get checked. Remus had only nodded, still trying to figure out what was going on. After finishing his dinner, he excused himself and went directly to Sable's room. He found her bent over a cauldron and cursing under her breath.

"Having problems, love?" he asked as he walked in. Sable cut her eyes up at him and frowned. She was in no mood to deal with a two-timing backstabber right now.

"You could say that." she said firmly. Her hands were still swollen from the accident in potions, and the blisters were getting worse.

"Your hands?" he asked, looking at the blisters.

"No, my feet, Remus." she said sarcastically. "Of course it's my hands!" The young man was surprised at the venom in his girlfriend's normally calm voice. He pulled out his wand and held out his hand.

"Well, if your feet look anything like your hands," he said calmly, "I think you need to take your shoes off and let me heal them." Sable huffed and shook her head, ignoring him. Growing impatient, Remus grabbed her wrist and muttered the healing charm before she could protest. Sable looked down at her hands and felt the tears start to form in them.

There was no way that Remus, this very person standing in front of her, was cheating on her with Slytherin's twit. She closed her hands around the ladle she was using to stir the cauldron with and willed the tears back. Remus noticed the sudden mood swing and pulled her in for a hug. Whatever was wrong was something major.

"What's wrong, Sable?" he asked. "I got worried when you didn't show up for class earlier today?"

"Lily and I had an accident in Potions." she said mechanically. "I had to clean it up. Some of the potion got on my hands and I didn't want to go to the hospital wing, so I just came back here." Remus nodded and turned the girl around. She would not meet his gaze and he wanted to know why.

"That's not what has you upset, is it?" he asked. Sable looked away from him and said nothing, which was a good enough answer for him. "Okay, Sable. What is it?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Remus." she said, pulling away and putting some space in between them.

"Why not?" he asked. "You know I'd listen to you."

"I know, Remus." she said sadly. "It's just…..complicated."

"Look, Sable, I don't want a repeat of what happened at the beginning of the year when we had our misunderstanding. I told you then that you'd be able to trust me. What's changed that?" he said, eyeing her for a reaction. Sable grimaced, remembering their last fight right before they had started dating, and it was not a pretty one. She took a deep breath and quickly decided to confront him about what she had heard. She did not want to sound paranoid, like she did not trust him, but she needed to know what was going on.

"Remus, what's going on with Sedera Walsh?" she asked, finally looking up at him. Remus looked at her like she was an idiot.

"How am I supposed to know?" he said, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm not her keeper, or her boyfriend for that matter. The last time I talked to her was the day after we got her out of the mess in Hogsmeade."

"So you haven't been around her lately?" Sable asked timidly. Remus shook his head, but some of the pieces were finally fitting into place.

"Sable, what are you talking about?" he asked. The black headed girl bit her lip in frustration, and told him what she had heard Sedera say in the bathroom earlier that day. By the time she was done, Remus did not know whether to laugh at the lies or be angry that Sable had been upset by them. He had not been anywhere's near Sedera Walsh, and the other boys could vouch for him. When Sable finally seemed to gather up her courage, she turned to him with a sad smile.

"I'm sorry, Remus." she said quietly. "I should not have doubted you."

"Hey, don't worry about it." he said, hugging her. "Just don't hole yourself up in this cursed lab the next time something is bothering you, okay. Come find one of us." He grinned when she gave him a small smile.

"So, what you planning on doing tomorrow?" she asked. "We still have the weekend to contend with."

"Don't know, actually." he said, scratching his head. "James and Sirius have a scrimmage against Slytherin, and they asked me to come watch. So I guess I'll go. You want to come? Keep me company?" he asked with a grin.

"No thanks, as much as I like to see Slytherin get whooped, I told Arabella and Amanda that I would spend some of the day with them." Remus smiled and nodded, knowing that she had gained an instant rapport with the two girls form Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

Remus finally drug her out of the lab and into the Gryffindor Common Room where the rest of their little group was waiting. Sable apologized for disappearing, giving them the excuse that she was not feeling well earlier. That seemed to satisfy their questions, and the group spent the evening relaxing around the Common Room, doing whatever they felt like.

When everyone decided to go to sleep many hours later, Remus had went with Sable back to her rooms. Before leaving her for the night, he had hugged her and told her never to doubt herself again. She had promised not to, and they had separated. Even though Sable had spent a large portion of the day asleep, she was exhausted. Climbing into her bed, it was no time at all before sleep overcame her and she forgot all about the day's tiring events.

**Next day**

It was the last Saturday of November, and many of the students were beginning to get antsy with the upcoming Christmas holiday so near. The entire school only had one week left until the much wanted Christmas break was to begin. Sable was glad they got out during the first week in December though, since Remus' transformation was only the day after.

Like she had told Remus, she wound up spending most of the day with Arabella and Amanda while he and the others were on the Quidditch Pitch. Lily had decided to join them after a while, and currently, they were walking down to the lake outside the castle.

"You guys ready for Christmas break to get here?" Bella asked, kicking a few stray leaves out of her way. "I know I am."

"Tell me about it." Amanda said gruffly. "I'm sick of looking at these walls. It's time for a break."

"I take it you are going home for the break then, Amanda?" Lily asked, addressing the Hufflepuff girl.

"Too right I am!" she said. "Don't get me wrong, I love Hogwarts, but Hufflepuff Tower gets old after a while."

"I know how you feel." Sable said. "But I'm staying at school during the break. My mom and dad are still in Bulgaria somewhere, so they won't be home in time. How about you, Lily? You going or staying?"

"If you think I'm going home to deal with that wretch of a sister I have, you are sorely mistaken." Lily said with a grimace. "She and that dolt fiancé of hers, Vernon Dursley, are in the midst of planning their wedding. And I do NOT want to be anywhere near her until the wedding is over with and she's moved out of the house!"

"She's not gone yet?" Bella asked. "I figured the old bat would have been married and gone by now. Merlin knows they've been engaged long enough!"

"How long have they been engaged, Lily? You never told me." Sable said, looking at her friend with curious eyes.

"They've known each other for two years, but they've been engaged for nearly eight months." Lily answered.

"Sounds to me like it's time to get rid of her." Amanda said with a grin. "I know when my brother finally married and moved out, I was jumping for joy." Lily nodded in agreement.

"Oh, trust me, when Petunia decides to get out, I'll have the entire Westminster Abbey choir singing praises to God and any other deity around!" the red-head said.

"You could always just move in with James after graduation." Bella snickered. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"I'm sure he wouldn't, but that's beside the point." Lily said quickly, a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Speaking of that one, are the boys staying for the holidays?" Amanda asked.

"Peter is going home, but the others are staying." Sable said, sitting down on the ground beneath the willow tree on the bank's edge. Her hand automatically went to the choker she was wearing, the one she had gotten from the water sprites during the last full moon. It seemed like anytime someone talked about the boys when she wore the necklace, her hand automatically reached for it. The other girls followed suit and they were soon caught up in the pros and cons of each guy.

** On the Pitch **

James, Sirius, and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were in the throws of a bloody scrimmage with the Slytherin team. It was almost lunch time, and neither team looked ready to call it quits. Remus was sitting in the stands, trying to watch the practice and work on the charms he needed for Sable's music box. So far, it was coming along nicely. He had already put the charms on it for two of the melodies he wanted, but the next one was being a little bugger.

The music box itself was something to be admired. It was a pale ivory color, with the lunar phases carved onto the sides of it. When the lid was opened, there was a dark blue velvet like material along the bottom and sides. In the center, being held up by a charm he had found a few days ago, was a single yellow rose about the size of a lollipop. The little flower slowly rotated on it's tip as the music played from the inside. It really was a pretty box, but Remus needed to add a few little touches to get it like he wanted before giving it to her for Christmas.

Above him, the two Quidditch teams were going head for head. Gryffindor was in the lead, but only by twenty points. Their only hope was to catch the Snitch, and soon. Slytherin was playing as rotten as ever, and the Gryffindors were starting to loose they patience with the cheating scumbags. The Gryffindors could only regroup and start again on the plays they had worked together after the Slytherins would bodily slam into one of the players and cause them to break form. Remus, looking up towards the emerald and scarlet blurs, shook his head.

"They are not going to be ending this anytime soon, are they?" he asked out loud. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the box in front of him, and tried to figure out exactly what he was doing wrong with the charms. About two minutes later, he was pulled out of his work by a loud cheer from the Gryffindor team. They had caught the Snitch, winning the scrimmage. "Then again, I could be wrong." Remus muttered, putting the music box back into the box he had been storing it in for safe keeping. He picked it up and met Sirius and the others at the sidelines of the Pitch.

It was nearing lunchtime, and the boys decided that they would head back up to the castle after changing out of their dirty Quidditch robes. Remus nodded and walked over to the changing rooms to wait on his friends to return so they could go eat.

** Back by the lake **

Sable and the other girls were in the middle of a rather heated discussion about the validity of the Marauder's pranks against the other Houses. Lily seemed to be the only one with the gumption to say that they were wrong in pranking the other Houses. Arabella and Amanda, though they were from the other Houses, found it highly amusing when their Housemates were subjected to the torture that the Gryffindor boys supplied.

"You can't actually make me believe that you like what they do to your housemates!" Lily exclaimed. "Some of those pranks are utterly childish!"

"And it's your boyfriend that comes up with the majority of those childish ideas, Lily." Bella smirked. "Don't forget that."

"Just because he does the pranks does not mean that I condone his actions." Lily said, flustered that she could make no headway with the other three girls. "I don't agree with them."

"Somehow, Lils, I don't believe that." Sable said with a grin. "You help them with their pranks, remember." The red-head turned a light red color and looked away in embarrassment.

"Hey, that was only twice I helped them!" she said defensively. "They tricked me into giving them the Age Reducing charm the first time. I couldn't help it."

"And the second time?" Amanda asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Let's just say I had heard Avery call me a ' filthy Mudblood' one too many times." Lily said with a grin. "He paid for it well though, after I taught the boys one of the more complicated Mind Control charms and gave them my blessing to shove the snooty snake into the Vanishing Cabinet and leave him there; I haven't heard a word from him since." The other three girls busted out laughing and Lily only smiled smugly.

"Never cross the red-head." Sable said with a wink. "She has connections to bring down even the best of students in Hogwarts."

"You don't have much room to talk, Sable." Amanda pointed out. "You either, Bella. Both Remus and Sirius are pranksters, just as bad as James."

"Sirius knows better than to prank me anymore, so I'm not worried." Bella said with a smile. "I have enough dirt on him to black-mail him for years. I'm pretty sure James doesn't even know as much as I do."

"Yeah, Remus wouldn't let them prank me." Sable said. "I help them too much for them to get on my bad side. Ninety-five percent of the potions they use in the pranks, I brew. So it is in their best interest to keep me happy."

"And James knows I'll blow up on him if they decide to prank me, so I'm safe." Lily said. The girls started laughing again and were almost on the verge of crying at the thought of the boys daring to prank them. When they finally calmed down long enough to catch a breath, Sable noticed that Thomas McCleod was walking over to where she was sitting. The little boy looked very angry about something, and Sable wondered what it would be that would tick the sweet boy off so much. He was normally calm and cheerful, but Sable could see that something was definitely wrong with him.

"Hello, Thomas." Sable said when he got to where the girls were standing. "How are you today?" The eleven year old boy only looked down at her and frowned.

"I'm fine, Lily." he said. "But I need to talk to you for a minute."

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's about your boyfriend." he answered shortly.

"Remus?" Lily asked. "What's he got to do with anything?"

"Yeah, he's on the Pitch watching James and the team practice against the Slytherin team." Sable said, shaking her head. The boy only crossed his arms over his chest and frowned harder.

"You sure about that?" he asked sarcastically. "Cause that's not what I just saw coming from the castle."

"What in Merlin's name are you talking about?" Bella asked, looking at the boy like he had grown an extra head. Sable stood up from her seat and jerked her head away from the other three girls.

"Excuse us, girls." she said. "I'll be back in a minute." She nodded to Thomas and walked about twenty feet away from where the other girls were sitting.

"Okay, Thomas, what's going on?" she asked.

"Your boyfriend is snogging that Slytherin girl in the clearing across the lake." he said firmly. "Just thought I ought to tell you." Sable's face went white when he said that, and she heard Sedera Walsh's voice from the day before. She shook her head and frowned down at the Gryffindor first year.

"You must be mistaken, Thomas." she said, shaking her head. "Remus is on the Pitch, with his friends."

"No, he's not." the little boy insisted. "I know what I saw, Sable. And your boyfriend just went into the clearing with that girl from Slytherin."

"Thomas, I know you don't like Remus that much, but it's not good to go spreading rumors about him, especially like this." Sable said firmly.

"I'm not lying!" the boy said. "Come with me and see. I'll show you I'm not lying!"

"I trust him, Thomas." she said. "I don't believe he is with Sedera Walsh, or any other girl for that matter."

"Are you scared?" he asked, eyeing her closely for a reaction. "Are you scared that I might be right, and your precious Marauder may be two timing you?" Sable sighed and ran a hand through her hair. The little boy was being difficult, and she knew there was no point in arguing with him about this.

"Fine, Thomas." she caved. "I'll go see. But I'm warning you, if I don't see him in the clearing, I'm going to be very angry with you."

"Fine. Let's go." he said, starting to walk towards the other side of the lake.

"Just a second." she said, walking back to her friends. "Let me get my cloak." The little boy watched as she walked over to her friends.

"What's the kid on about, Sable?" Amanda asked.

"He thinks he saw Remus and Sedera Walsh snogging in the clearing on the other side of the lake." she answered with a frown.

"You've got to be kidding, right?" Bella asked. "Remus wouldn't do that to you."

"Yeah….well…"Sable said, not looking at them directly. Lily noticed the hesitance and stood up to go with her. Even though she was sure Sable had not heard, there had been rumors going around the school for about two weeks that Remus was cheating on Sable with a girl from Slytherin. Up until now, Lily had disregarded the rumors as just what they were, rumors. But now, her own doubts were starting to cloud her mind.

"I'll go with you, Sable." she said with a fake smile. "I could use a good laugh right now, even if it is at the expense of one of the younger Gryffindors."

"Yeah, I want to see this." Amanda snickered. "This kid has lost his marbles."

"Too much sugar." Bella said with a sigh. "It does it every time. You sure Sirius hasn't been giving the younger kids anything to eat lately? He's liable to have spiked it with some hallucination potion."

"Don't know." Lily said. "Let's go and get this over with." Sable nodded, pulled her cloak on and led the way to where Thomas was standing.

"You all coming, too?" he asked, looking at the girls. They nodded and he shrugged. "Fine, more witnesses to verify that Lupin is a jerk." Sable shook her head and frowned at the first year, but he ignored it and led them around the lake to the east bank. Pointing to a clump of bushes that led into the clearing, he grimaced.

"Have a look and see if I was lying." he said. The girls shook their heads and walked up to the bushes, pushing them quietly aside and looking into the clearing.

Sable could see two people, a boy and a girl, kissing up against a tree. The girl was Sedera Walsh, as she had expected, but the boy's back was turned to her. When the couple finally broke for air, and the boy turned around, Sable felt a lump in her throat rise up. She never heard the other three girl's quiet exclamations of surprise, because her eyes were trained on the boy standing in the middle of the clearing.

It was Remus Lupin. Her boyfriend, and best friend, holding Sedera Walsh like she was the most precious thing in the world. Sable shook her head to try and clear her vision, but she knew she was seeing the proof before her very eyes. Sedera said something, and Remus grinned at her and kissed her again, which brought tears to Sable's eyes. She watched as he hugged the Slytherin girl again and stroked her hair before kissing her one final time and walking off towards the pathway up to the castle, waving at her. Sedera seemed like she was on cloud nine, and walked out of the small clearing with a huge, smug grin plastered on her face.

"Please tell me I'm not seeing this." Sable whispered to the girls on each side of her, the anguish and surprise apparent in her voice. "I'm hallucinating, right?"

"Umm, well, I don't think so." Bella muttered. Sable shook her head and backed up from her position at the clearing's edge, her eyes never leaving the place she had just been standing.

"Lily?" she said, finally looking at the Head Girl.

"Yes, Sable."

"I'm going back to the castle, and I'm going into my dorm. I don't want to see anyone. Will you please tell them that. I don't care what excuse you use, just don't let them in my dorm. I'm changing both passwords as well."

"What are you planning?" Lily asked, watching the other Gryffindor with worry.

"I… I don't know right now." she answered simply. "I just don't know." She was shocked to the core, too surprised to say anything, and to hurt to cry. Pulling her cloak around her, she looked over to where Thomas was still standing.

"I'm sorry, Thomas, for not believing you." she muttered, before turning and beginning to walk back up towards the castle, still in the daze she had been in.

"I'm sorry, Sable." the little boy said quietly. "I really am." The little boy hung his head and walked off, leaving the three girls to stare at Sable's retreating figure.

"Uh, Lily?" Amanda asked, looking at the Head Girl. "Should we go after her? I mean, she just caught her boyfriend with another girl, don't you think she might want someone with her?"

"No, leave her be for now." Lily said. "I know how Sable is. She needs some time to digest this before anyone tries to help her."

"I hate to say it, but it looks like the rumors were true." Amanda said grimly. "I just didn't believe them, myself. But….seeing that…"

"Well, what should we do now? I hate to see her like this." Bella said. "I did not think Remus had it in him to do this to her?" Lily's temper was getting the best of her, and she suddenly had the urge to strangle any guy in sight, especially if he had brown hair and was named Remus Lupin.

"I don't know what you two are going to do," she said fiercely, pushing her sleeves up on her long sleeved shirt. "But I'm going to find Remus and James, and find out what the bloody hell is going on!" Arabella and Amanda nodded in agreement and followed the royally pissed red-head back up towards the castle.

Someone was about to get it good, and they wanted to be around to pick up the pieces of what was left when she got done.

When Lily got to the Great Hall, it took her less than two seconds to locate her boyfriend, as well as Remus, Peter, and the rest of the Quidditch team about to sit down at Gryffindor table. She stalked over to the group of boys, Hell bent on slapping Remus Lupin as hard as she possibly could. All the students in the Hall cleared a pathway for the Head Girl, it looked like the Red Sea being pushed aside by Moses. Amanda caught up to the other red head and stopped her momentarily.

"We should do this away from everyone else." she muttered, noticing the curious expressions on the other students as they entered the castle. "There's no point in airing the dirty laundry in front of the whole school." Lily nodded to the Hufflepuff sixth year and jerked her head to Bella, who had also followed her.

Before the boys could figure out what was going on, Bella cut in their conversation and grabbed James and Remus by the arm, dragging them out of the Great Hall and away from the prying eyes of the Hogwarts students. She gave Sirius a glare that would have scared Dumbledore into an early grave when he began to protest, but he quickly shut up and followed behind his friends.

The second they were out of the Great Hall, all standing in a nearby hallway, Lily turned to Remus and slapped him soundly across the face. The hit was hard enough to leave a red mark on the young man's face, as well as hear a resounding slap echo down the hallway. The rest of the group stepped back as the redhead set her sights on the young man. Sirius, obviously the bravest of the assembled group, tried to appease Lily, even though he had know idea of what was going on. Remus meanwhile, was reeling with the effects of the hit. His temper began to boil, and he turned to face the angered girl.

"Lils, what's going on?" Sirius asked, taking a small step towards the Head Girl. "Whatever it is, we can..."

"Sirius," Bella said fiercely, eyeing her boyfriend. "I suggest you shut up." The Gryffindor Casanova looked down at his girlfriend and frowned. Bella never talked to him like that, and he was seriously beginning to wonder what had put the girls in such a pissed mood. Lily was livid, Bella was pissed, Amanda looked worried, and Sable was no where to be seen. 'This is not good.' he thought.

"What the Hell are you thinking, Remus?!" Lily yelled. "Running around with another girl like that! How could you do that to poor Sable?! After all she's done for you, this is how you repay her?" Now, it was Remus' turn to look at the Head Girl like she was crazy. Shaking his head and rubbing his now red cheek, he looked over at the other girls and frowned. Taking in their obvious dispositions at the moment, he figured it was pointless to try and reason with them; they were out for blood. And apparently something he had done was the reason for it.

"Lily, what are you going on about?" Remus asked, looking at her curiously. "I haven't done anything with another girl. Where is Sable, anyways? I thought she was with you?"

"You would think she was with us, wouldn't you; you two-timing dog!" Bella said fiercely, glaring at the boy for all she was worth. Sirius made a grab for the fuming Ravenclaw's shoulder, but she only glared daggers at him and shrugged it off. Now Sirius was worried about the whole situation. Normally, even when Bella was angry, she could control herself. Now, she was livid with anger and ready to physically hurt someone.

"What's this about Remus cheating on Sable?" James asked, trying to play mediator between the two groups. "He's been with us all day."

"That's a lie." Amanda finally said, huffing up like an injured hinkypunk. "He was down by the lake not even twenty minutes ago."

"You must have been mistaken, Amanda." Peter said, shaking his head. "Remus was with us on the Pitch all morning, watching the scrimmage between Slytherin and Gryffindor. He couldn't have been down by the lake."

"Then I guess it was his twin we saw locking lips with Sedera Walsh only fifteen minutes ago?" Lily said, her voice growing lower by the minute.

"Walsh? She's what all this is about?" Remus looked horrified at the notion, but Lily was not convinced. "I have not been anywhere near Walsh since we last went to Hogsmeade." he said firmly.

"Who saw all this?" James asked the girls.

"One of the kids Sable tutors saw Remus and Walsh together, and came to get her." Amanda explained, thoroughly irked with the innocent ploy Remus was trying to present. "She thought the kid was playing a prank, but went along with him to humor him. We walked to the other side of the lake, and found lover-boy and Walsh attached at the lips."

"I've been with James the whole day." Remus said, defending himself. "I haven't been down by the lake at all today. Now where is Sable?" He knew that if Lily was this mad, Sable was even worse.

"You don't need to worry about her right now." Lily said defiantly.

"Lily," James said, trying to sooth her temper. "Remus didn't lie when he said he had been with us all morning." Lily turned on her boyfriend and scowled.

"So now you're taking up for him?" she queried.

"Lily..." James began, but was cut off.

"Don't try to bluff your way out of this, Lupin." Bella sneered. "We all saw you down there. I just can't believe the rumors about you cheating on Sable were true. How could you do this to her?"

"And with Walsh, none the less." Amanda said shaking her head.

"Bella," Sirius growled. "He's telling the truth. Moony's been with us all day."

"So now you are taking his side too?" Bella asked, looking at her boyfriend. "You cheaters stick together, huh?" Sirius' temper soared through the roof with that comment. It was well known that Sirius was prone to jump from one girl to the next, not keeping a steady girlfriend for longer than two weeks. So the entirety to the female Hogwarts population had been surprised when Arabella had managed to keep him walking the straight and narrow for longer than that. He had never cheated on Bella, and the insinuation that he had rubbed him the wrong way, bad.

"I'll have you know, Arabella Figg," he said, "that my fidelity with you has never wavered!"

"You two be quiet!" Lily hissed. "This isn't about you. It's about Remus and Sable."

"I haven't done anything." the boy in question said. "So lay off of me. And if this is between she and I, shouldn't she be here right now? Now where is Sable?" Remus looked at the girls and frowned even harder, knowing Sable was probably in a bad state now.

"You're going to be lucky if she is in any shape to speak to you!" Amanda barked. "She looked like she had died when she left the lake, she was so shocked. She wasn't crying, but it didn't look like it would take much to make her start." Remus glared at the girl and shook his head. 'She's like a dam.' he thought suddenly. 'Sable keeps most of her feelings locked up tight, because of the lycanthropy; but when they start flowing, someone is going to be very happy or very dead. And at the moment, I'm thinking she's probably ready to kill me.' Turning to Lily, he waited for an answer to his question.

"She's in her dorm." Lily said simply.

"Fine." he said. "I'll figure out what the Hell is going on here, and why you are accusing me of doing something like this!" Lily shook her head and smirked.

"You won't be able to get to her, Remus." Lily said firmly.

"What? Why not?" he asked, turning to look at the Head Girl. He was in no mood to be playing games with her. Lily crossed her arms across her chest and leaned up against the cold stone wall of the hallway.

"She changed the password to her dorm." Lily answered flatly. "Both of them. And I don't know what they are." Remus shook his head and frowned. He quickly turned around and began to walk towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts hallway, the closest entrance into her laboratory. When he was out of sight, James tried talking some sense into his girlfriend.

"Lily, he was with us all morning." he said again. "He couldn't have been down there with Walsh."

"Are you calling me a liar, James Potter?" the indigent girl asked.

"No, I'm not, Lily." he said placatingly. "But I know that Remus wouldn't...couldn't do what you're accusing him of. He just wouldn't do it!"

"Well, you're wrong." Bella intervened. "I know what I saw. And I saw Lupin and Walsh together!"

"You've lost the brains you Ravenclaws are so well known for, Bella." Sirius said with a frown. Bella scowled and cut her eyes up at the taller boy.

"At least we have brains to begin with, Sirius Black!" she yelled at him. "That's more than I can say for YOU!"

"Guys," Peter pleaded desperately. "Let's talk this over. Fighting isn't going to accomplish anything."

"Speak for yourself, Peter." Bella said. "It'll make me feel better, knocking Lupin's lights out."

"Remus is innocent." James said, getting angry with the whole situation. The girls did not want to see reason, and it was getting him annoyed to no certain extent.

"He's guilty!" Amanda said fervently. "We saw him."

"You don't know what you saw!" Sirius said, looking over at the Hufflepuff girl. "We know Moony wouldn't do something like what you're accusing him of, especially not to Sable. He loves the girl for Merlin's sake. Why would he cheat on her?"

"So you're calling all three of us liars?" Bella asked him. Sirius nodded. The girls were angry, and that nod only proved to make them angrier. One of their friends had just witnessed something horrid, and these three boys were all but condoning the guilty party's treacherous actions. Lily looked over at James and frowned.

"James?" she questioned.

"I'm sorry, Lily, but you're not going to make me believe Remus was with Walsh today."

"Fine then." she said, turning on her heels. "I'll leave you bunch together." She began to walk away, but turned her head back over her shoulder and looked at the three boys standing there. "By the way, seeing as how Sable will be too pissed at Remus to talk to him, it would be prudent for you three to go get him before she hexes him into his afterlife." Bella and Amanda glared at the remaining Marauders and turned to leave.

"Bella!" Sirius called out. "Wait a minute!"

"If you're going to take up for him, Sirius, I don't want to be anywhere near you." she said icily. "You, James and Peter making excuses for Remus is just as good as saying that you condone his actions towards her. And I won't be around someone who makes excuses for his friends to cheat on their girlfriends." Bella shook her head and retreated down the hallway with Lily. The boys turned to the remaining Hufflepuff girl, wondering whose side she was taking, although it was already painfully obvious. The red head Hufflepuff only shook her head and turned to leave, muttering curses under her breath about 'insufferable prats.'

The boys looked at each other and shook their heads. Remus had been with them all morning, in the stands watching the scrimmage and tinkering with the music box he was going to give Sable in less than three weeks for Christmas. A very angry James looked over at his friends and frowned.

"I think we need to go get Moony." he said quietly. Sirius looked up, a scowl on his face.

"What for?" he asked. "He's probably fighting it out with Sable by now."

"No he's not." Peter added. "Lily said she changed the password to her room. Moony won't be able to get in."

"Exactly." James answered, staring down the hallway his girlfriend had stalked out of. "Besides, we've got something to take care of."

"The main priority being finding out what the Hell happened down by the lake today." Sirius said firmly. "Moony was with us all morning, and whoever was supposedly him is going to get the worse hexing of their life when I find them!" The three boys nodded, and took off to find their missing fourth member and try to figure out what was going on.

*** Meanwhile, in Gryffindor Tower... ***

Remus had left the Defense Against the Dark Arts hallway and went up to the Gryffindor Common Room to try the passage behind the stair case. He got into the passage with no problem, and was soon sprinting down the dimly lit passage, trying to get to the end. When he finally did reach the end, he stopped to catch his breath. His mind was whirling in anger and hurt. Sable thought she had saw him with another girl, and obviously so had the other girls. Now, she was mad and upset, and he was pissed beyond belief. Finally catching his breath, he gave the password to her room, but unsurprisingly, the portrait did not move. 'So she did change the password.' he thought. 'Just my luck, isn't it?' He knocked on the portrait, trying to get her attention.

"Sable!" he called out loudly. "I know you're in there! Let me in!"

No response.

"Sable! Let me in! I don't know what you saw, but it wasn't me!" he yelled.

No response.

Getting completely annoyed, and even more angry, he beat on the portrait until he was sure there would be a hole in it.

"SABLE!!" he yelled once again. "Let me talk to you!! You're being stubborn!"

"I damn well have a right to be stubborn right now, Remus Lupin!" came an angry response from beyond the portrait. "So don't lecture me on what's right and wrong!"

'Well, at least I know she's in there now.' he thought sardonically.

"Sable, let me in there. We need to talk."

"NO!"

"Then come out here, at least!" he said loudly.

"Go away, Remus!" she said. Even through the semi-thick barrier of the portrait, Remus could hear the strain and muffled quality of her voice. She had been crying.

"Lily told me what you guys saw." he said, still speaking loud enough so she could hear him, leaning onto the portrait. "But it wasn't me. I swear, Sable. I was with the boys on the Pitch all morning."

"I don't believe you!" she said. "You're just lying to me."

"I'm not lying." Remus said, getting angrier with her. "I don't know what to tell you to make you see I didn't do anything."

"How about admitting that you were down at the lake, snogging Sedera Walsh?" she cried.

"I wasn't there!" Remus said defensively. "You can ask anyone on the Slytherin or Gryffindor House teams. They all saw me on the Pitch."

"You also told me just yesterday that you wouldn't touch the Slytherin whore with a ten foot broomstick." Sable said, her own anger rising. "And today I find out you not only lied to me, but were running to her for Merlin knows how long now."

"It wasn't me!" Remus said again. "What have I got to do to prove it to you?"

"There's nothing you can do." she said fiercely. "I know what I saw."

"You saw wrong." he said, crossing his arms.

"No, I didn't." she said finally.

"Sable, you're being stubborn." he said simply. "Don't you have at least a little bit of trust in me when I say I'm innocent?"

"After what I've been seeing for the last two weeks, I'd have to say you are guilty as charged!" she said loudly. Remus shook his head in confusion.

"What? What are you talking about now?"

"Oh, so now you play innocent." she said sarcastically. The portrait door swung open to reveal a very mad Sable Robbins. Remus backed up as the light from her room flooded the little passageway and she stepped into the tunnel.

"I'm not playing anything." he said stubbornly.

"Right." she answered, her hands on her hips. "And I've been telling myself for two weeks that your mystery disappearances for a few hours over the course of a few days have actually been related to schoolwork. Last time I checked, they didn't offer Anatomy and Physiology 101 at Hogwarts, and even if they did, I'm sure it would NOT be a hands on course! I had even convinced myself that the quick glimpses of you I saw going down into the dungeons, and slipping around the hallways of the castle with Sedera were induced from too many hours of keeping my head in my Potions books."

"It wasn't me." Remus said defensively. "I don't know what or who you saw, but it wasn't me."

"So now you're calling me a liar?" she asked. "I know what I saw, and no amount of persuasion is going to make me change my mind, Remus Lupin!"

"I'm not calling you a liar." he said. "I am just saying that you could be mistaken about what you saw."

"So Arabella and Lily and Amanda were mistaken too? Cause they saw the exact same thing I did." she pointed out. Remus ran a hand through his hair and looked at the girl standing in front of him. Even in the dim light of the passage, he could see her violet eyes, red from crying. Her normal proud posture was hunched down and completely submissive. It was like she was a completely different person than she was two weeks ago.

She was broken apart, and apparently it was his fault.

"I don't know." he answered. "But I didn't do anything wrong." Sable shook her head and gave him a sardonic half smile.

"You're worse than David." she said sadly. "At least I didn't catch him this early in our relationship. He had the decency to cheat on me and at least not get caught." Remus stared at her hard and shook his head in disbelief. She had told him what had happened with David, her last boyfriend at Salem. He had built her up to be the happiest girl in the school, then she had caught him shagging another girl in his own House a few months after they started dating. The jerk even had the audacity to look at her and smile the day they had broken their relationship off, telling her that it was a bet going between the boys of his House to see if David could break the heart of the cold hearted girl in the rival House. Sable had been torn up for days, and it was all because of the creep David. And now she was comparing him, Remus, to David; and Remus did not like it at all.

"So now I'm worse than your old boyfriend?" he asked, his temper finally reaching his breaking point. "The very one who was sleeping around with the girls of his House while keeping you on a rope? You have some nerve, girly."

"I have nerve?" she spat. "I have nerve? I'm not the one cheating on my girlfriend!"

"Well, that's an interesting turn of events." Remus sneered. "I didn't know you swung that way."

"What are you talking about?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you just said you weren't the one cheating on your girlfriend. Explain that one." he said. He knew he was pulling a low insult to her, saying something like that, but at the moment he just wanted her to hurt as badly as he was.

"You know what I meant." she ground out, trying not to lash out anymore at the obvious twist of her words.

"No, I'm afraid I don't." he said. "Are you playing with someone else's feelings, too. Some poor girl in another House?" Sable's expression turned from one of shock to one of anger in about two seconds flat. Stalking closer to the boy who had been her boyfriend only half an hour ago, she slapped him hard across the face. Remus took the blow and did not move. 'I deserved that one.' he thought warily, watching the ebony haired, fuming girl in front of him.

"I never cheated on you with anyone." she stated harshly.

"But you're beginning to wish you had, aren't you?" he asked, matching her harsh tone with one of his own. Sable was spared from any further comments by the sound of people thundering down the passageway and towards the entrance into her room.

"We have company." he said simply, waiting for her to say something. Before she could formulate a reply, two specks of light could be seen rapidly approaching where the two teens were standing. Two seconds later, James and Sirius were standing beside the fourth and final member of the Marauders, looking as murderous as Sable felt.

"You alright, Moony?" Sirius asked, eyeing the girl in front of him warily.

"Fine." the boy answered.

"Sable?" James asked, a little more wary of the girl since she had said nothing so far.

"What, James?" she replied.

"We heard….about what you saw, and well, we just wanted to say, on Moony's behalf, that he was with us all morning." the Head Boy said. Sable looked at the faces of the three boys and shook her head.

"All of you are sticking with that story, I assume?" she asked. The boys nodded, knowing it was the truth they spoke. "I figured." She turned and walked back into her room. Before shutting the door, she looked up at Remus. Their was madness, hurt, disbelief, and a million more feelings going through him right now, and it all showed on his face. James and Sirius stood beside him like solid pillars of stone, not moving in their resolution and daring her to accuse him of anything in front of them. She was sorely tempted to believe their explanation, and disregard what she had saw only half an hour ago as a hallucination on her part.

'But I know the other girls were NOT hallucinating. They saw the same thing I did.' she thought. The boys were adamant about Remus' innocence, but she could still see the expression of happiness on his face when he was with the Slytherin girl in the clearing not even half an hour ago. 'I should know that expression well enough,' she thought, 'he always had it when we were together.' Shaking her head once again, and willing the tears not to flow, she stepped down into her room.

"Go back to Sedera, Remus." she said quietly, the hurt unintentionally evident in her voice. "Maybe you'll be happier with her, since I obviously can't keep you happy. Good bye. "

"Sable.." Remus began, but was cut off when the portrait clicked shut again, and the three boys were bathed in darkness.

"Prongs?" Remus questioned, cautiously.

"Yeah?"

"What the Hell just happened?"

"I think...well, I don't rightly know, Moony." he answered. "But if I had to take a wild guess, I'd say she just broke up with you." Remus said nothing for a while, as he angrily contemplated what had just transpired between him and Sable.

"Padfoot?" he asked after a few minutes.

"Yeah, Moony."

"Are the other three still this mad?"

"Yeah, they are." he answered. "Lily is looking for blood, Bella is ready to have all our heads, and Amanda is actually being quiet for a change."

"This is not good, guys." Remus said. "Something happened, and now they think we are the scum of the Earth, especially me! And I didn't even do anything wrong."

"We've got work to do, guys." James said quietly, using his wand to light up the passage way. "We need to find out what happened today."

"And more importantly, who's responsible." Remus said. The boys left the passage and began the ascent back up to the Tower.

"Someone has a good beating coming after this." Sirius said, clenching his teeth and cracking his knuckles as they went along. "And boy are they going to get it good when I get a hold of them!"

A/N - Oopsie, somebody got caught! Hehehe. Wonder what's going to happen now? Remember to leave me a review telling me what you think. I want to know, really.

Later,

A.A.