Jack: "My dear fellow, the truth isn't quite he sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you have about the way to behave to a woman!"
Algernon: "The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her, if she is pretty, and to some one else, if she is plain."
-Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest.
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Where You Belong
Chapter 7
The following days match was a source of much amusement for the rest of the school as they watched two Snape look a likes flying around the pitch. In fact it was so hard to tell James and Sirius apart that one of the chasers saw that back of what he thought was James and chucked the quaffel at him. Needless to say he was horrified to find out it was Sirius but luckily James wasn't that far off and was able to catch the quaffel. From that point on Sirius made sure that he held his beater bat so that everyone could see it.
Remus had been the only one of the Marauders to look like himself that morning which really only caused the other three to be a bit snappish. Remus had figured out that Andrea's charms were time set spells and charming them didn't help in fact they extended the prank. Andrea had told him that he wouldn't be able to talk normally for two hours but he tried to get rid of the charm anyway. So when the two hours were up and he was still hissing like a snake he realized that by trying to get rid of the charm he only extended its effect on him. Consequently, since he couldn't talk, the other three didn't realize this and spent most of the night trying to get rid of the charms causing them to still look like Snape the next morning.
Most of the school had cheered for Andrea because they all felt that the Marauders had gone unchecked for to long. The Slytherins especially supported the prank seeing the marauders get what they deserved and believe that Andrea was ending her 'friendship' with the Gryffindors. Her welcoming committee threw her a huge party in the common room and congratulated her on finally acting like the slytherin she was. Not surprisingly everyone was shocked and confused to see Andrea conversing with Remus and Lily at the Quidditch match the next day as everyone in the school thought she had joined the Slytherins once and for all.
A few days after the prank war between Andrea and the Marauders life at Hogwarts went back to its normal routine. Andrea went back to avoiding the Slytherins, as they were really angry with her, and spending more and more time getting to know Remus and Lily.
* * *
It was a Friday night two weeks after the prank war and Andrea, Lily and Remus could be found in the Charms corner of the library, books away and just talking. Remus and Andrea were on one side of the table with their backs facing the book shelves and Lily was across the table from them with her back to the crowd.
"Come on Lil tell me!" Andrea whined.
"I can't."
"And why not?"
"He's here." Lily explained pointing at Remus.
"Oh let me guess you want to declare your undying lover for James and don't want me around to hear so I can't tell him?" Remus jokingly replied as he ducked to hide behind Andrea.
"Oh Lupin you're gonna get it." Lily practically growled out.
"Help me!" Remus pleaded
"Hey if Lil is out to get you I can't do much to protect you now can I." Andrea answered trying to stifle the laughter that was urging to be let loose. "Lil leave Remmy alone, for now you can get revenge on him later." Andrea added.
"Gee thanks." Remus replied as he sat back in his seat beside her. "So what is it Lily I promise I won't tell anyone. I'm very good at keeping secrets and you know that, so you know you can trust me."
"But I don't want to…" Lily whined now acting like a five year old.
"Come on Lils you tell me this secret and I'll tell you a secret of mine." Andrea compromised.
"Yea me too." Remus added.
"Oh fine I'll tell you but if I find out that either of you told anyone I'll kill you both." Lily threatened.
"Roses." Andrea said.
"What?" Remus asked.
"If I die I want roses as my flower." Andrea answered plainly.
"Whatever just shut up so I can tell you?" Lily demanded.
Lily leaned across the table, Remus and Andrea realizing that she wanted to whisper the secret to her also leaned in close to hear what she had to say. Without realizing it Remus put his arm around Andrea to stabilize her as she was sitting on her knees and to bring her in closer so they wouldn't have to strain their ears to hear Lily.
Unbeknownst to the threesome they were being watched by another threesome. James, Sirius, and Peter had followed Remus to the library to see what he did with all his time anymore. They were hidden under James' invisibility cloak behind the shelf of books directly behind Remus and Andrea. James was growing more and more jealous as he watched Lily open up to one of his best friends in a way she would never open up to him. They also watched Andrea with interest trying to see why she was best friends with two Gryffindors. When they saw Remus put his arm around Andrea they realized that they had to end this friendship for his sake, she would never stay friends with him if she knew what he was.
Just then Remus and Andrea sat back both giving off a whistle of surprise before looking at each other and burst out laughing. Lily joined in the laughing and after a few minutes they calmed down enough to talk about her secret.
"I told you it was good." Lily stated proudly.
"That is good, but how did you find out?" Remus inquired.
"My own little secret that I won't tell anyone."
"Not even me?" Andrea asked putting on her best innocent face.
"Not even you. Now Remus realize I only let you in on this because I like you…"
"And because we persuaded her to." Andrea interrupted.
"Yea whatever." Lily replied. "Anyway if you even make another comment about me liking Potter, eww, I may have to reconsider telling you. I am fairly good at memory charms and you'd do well to remember that." Lily lectured.
"Alright. Alright I get it." Remus submitted laughingly. "So who gets to tell the next secret?"
"How about Andrea she is the 'new' girl after all." Lily decided.
"Oh alright. My secret…"
"Wait don't you want to whisper it?" Remus interrupted.
"Nah. Besides no ones around to listen to it."
"You'd be surprised how many of these walls have ears." Lily cryptically replied.
"I don't really care. Anyway my secret is that I don't belong in slytherin."
"But the sorting hat placed you there and the sorting hats never been wrong." Lily declared.
"I know but it was wrong with me." Andrea stated.
"How do you know it was wrong?" Remus inquired.
"The night I arrived her I was really pissed off because of something…"
"What?" Lily asked.
"I don't remember, but that's another problem for another time. Anyway I was really pissed and the hat said something to remind me of why I was upset and it only caused me to angrier and think sly vindictive thoughts to get back at whoever or whatever made me angry. So my mood being what it was reflected Slytherin like qualities and the hat placed me there but I don't fit because I'm not that angry all the time so I really don't fit the Slytherin mold."
"If you don't fit then why are you still there?" Remus questioned.
"Dumbledore wanted me to give Slytherin a chance but I'm not really sure how much more of this I can take. They're horrible; they try to gang up on me to intimidate me to agree to their ways so that's why I avoid them at all costs."
"Interesting. Now I know why you were always in the library all the time." Lily commented.
"Yep. Now Remmy it's your turn." Andrea cheerily stated.
"Well mine isn't half as interesting as either of yours but it is something that no one else knows, not even the guys."
"Oh a marauder keeping secrets from the marauders. Isn't that like a crime or something?" Lily taunted.
"I will tell them but I know that if I tell them now they'll b more upset then if I tell them later."
"Yea right." Andrea uttered sarcastically.
"Anyway move in close can't have any walls hearing this one." Remus commanded. "My secret is that this whole pranking thing we do, well it's getting kind of old. I mean all we ever do are the same pranks over and over again on the Slytherins. I know that James and Sirius have their reasons to hate the slytherins but pranking them isn't as fun anymore because Sirius just wants to do the same thing over and over or he'll come up with some really dangerous thing that could get someone killed and well it's just getting on my nerves." Remus whispered. Andrea leaned back in her chair and gave Remus a knowing look.
"Your secrets still important remmy and I know that find a way to tell them I just hope you can do it sooner rather then later." Andrea assured leaning over to give Remus a comforting hug.
"Same here." Lily declared as she got up from her seat and gave Remus a hug as well.
"Aww thanks but you make it sound like I'm dying or something." Remus joked.
"Well who knows you only told us one secret not all of them." Andrea quipped.
James, Sirius, and Peter deciding that they had heard enough crept out of the library and headed back to the Gryffindor tower. They needed time to digest what they had heard from Andrea and the fact that moony was keeping a secret from them. They also needed to form a plan to somehow end the friendship between Andrea and Remus.
* * *
It was Tuesday afternoon all the days classes were over and Andrea had started her work knowing that Remus and Lily would show up anytime now. What she didn't expect was Remus to come barreling into the library straight towards her.
"How!" Remus demanded quietly. Andrea could see a mixture of sadness and anger causing his normally soft amber eyes to look like an explosion of fire.
"How what?" Andrea replied.
"Don't act like you don't know Taylor. Just tell me how you found out." Andrea could tell that he was trying to control his temper but was lost as to why he was acting this way.
"Oh so I'm Taylor again. Remmy what's wrong? What did I find out?"
"Don't call me that name, don't stall just tell me. Tell me how you found out about my lycanthropy!" Remus' voice became progressively lower and more dangerous with every word he uttered. Andrea could only just look back at him in shock and wonder.
"I didn't." Andrea replied.
"Of course you did. It's right here in your letter."
"Rem I didn't write you a letter."
"I have it right here damn it!"
"Rem calm down and let me see this letter ok."
Remus was still fuming but consented to handing the letter over to Andrea. She quickly read its contents and could understand why he was upset but she hadn't written the letter. Another quick scan of the letter proved that to her, now she just needed to prove it to him.
"Rem I didn't write this, someone else did and put my name at the bottom." Andrea calmly explained.
"Prove it." Remus spat but with a considerable decrease in the venom behind it.
"I always sign my letters as Andrea. I don't own a wax seal. I don't even write letters I prefer to talk to a person. I didn't know you were a … you know…"
"See you can't even say it!"
"No I just didn't think you wanted me to shout it out to the whole school!" Andrea retorted now getting angry herself. "And besides I don't care what you are to me you're just Remmy. Your problem does not defy who you are." Andrea retorted with mounting conviction.
For the next few minutes both teens sat in silence waiting for the other to say something and going over what they had just discovered about each other in their head. Finally Remus worked up the courage to speak to Andrea.
"You really didn't write the letter?"
"Nope."
"Then you really didn't know?"
"Yep."
"Damn it! I cannot believe I fell for that. I should have known we pulled something similar on James just last year." Remus ranted berating himself.
"Remmy you can't blame yourself. That letter was harsh and anyone in you situation probably would have reacted the same way." Andrea explained.
"But you didn't know and I just told you and I work so hard to keep it from coming out and now I just blurt out to you my worst secret and now you'll never talk to me again but you'll tell the whole school and I'll have to leave…" Remus only stopped his rant when he felt Andrea embrace him in a reassuring and loving hug which shocked him speechless. He hadn't expected this type of reaction from her, but then again he hadn't expected anyone to accept him and he already had three friends who did.
"Rem I told you I didn't care and I mean it. My memory may be going but I remember coming across one or two others like you and I got along great with them." Andrea comforted as she tried to calm him down before he completely broke down.
"Whoa what did I miss?" Lily asked eyeing the two embracing each other with a cocked eyebrow.
"Nothing much just remmy venting and getting a little worked up over it. I had to shut him up and calm him down or he would have just kept going on and on." Andrea answered as she slowly pulled away from Remus.
"Thanks Andrea I needed that." Remus stated as he sat down next to her.
"Any time rem, anytime."
"By the way what did you mean your memory's going?"
"I'll explain some other time when I've figured a few things out first." Andrea replied as the three of them got back to their work.
As they worked a disturbing thought occurred to Andrea. Severus had always asked her why she hung out with an animal like Lupin, or how she could stand such a beast. She had always thought that, that was Severus' way of insulting Remus but now she knew otherwise. She knew for a fact that Severus didn't know that Remus was a werewolf otherwise he would have flat out told her but he defiantly suspected it.
* * *
The Marauders were shocked to learn that Andrea was still friends with Remus after finding out what he was. They were sure that, that would get rid of her but apparently she wasn't like the other Slytherins. They soon decided that he in fact never told her about the letter but had realized that it was them all along. So here they were a week later and still they hadn't come up with a decent way to get rid of her.
"Hey Remmy!" Andrea greeted as Remus sat down next to her.
"Hey Ang!" Remus returned the greeting while pulling out his books.
"Where's Lily."
"Hospital wing."
"What? Why?"
"Oh stress got to her. She's been kind of freaking out about the end of term exams and has been staying up real later studying and what not and it finally caught up with her."
"But the exams aren't for another two months!" Andrea exclaimed.
"I know but you know Lily she doesn't take anything lightly."
"She's supposed to help me with that damn charm today." Andrea complained.
"Oh what am I chopped liver?"
"Sorry Rem I'm just so used to our studying cycle."
"No problem. So how did you do in charms today?"
"I did well it's just this stupid charm is messing with my head. For some reason it takes me forever to get it right."
"Let me see you notes to see what charm you're talking about." Remus stated automatically handing over his potions essay he had finished this morning.
Silence resided over the pair as they read over each others work. They were so used to this ritual that it barely took them anytime at all to correct each others mistakes.
"You essays almost perfect Remmy! You're really getting the hang of this stuff." Andrea praised as she handed him back his essay with only a handful of corrections.
"Thanks but I never would have been able to understand it if it wasn't for you. Oh and I think the reason your having so much trouble with this charm is because your notes are backwards." Remus supplied.
"That's funny. I copied them exactly how they were on the board…"
"Maybe it's just that you can't read."
Andrea and Remus whipped around to see who was behind them only to come face to face with James, Sirius, and Peter. All three were sneering at her almost ignoring Remus but by far the worst face was Peter's.
"Well Pettigrew." Andrea spat. "At least I can read, even if it is backwards, we can't really say the same about you now can we. Can you even read?"
"Careful Taylor, you mess with Peter you mess with us all!" Sirius snarled.
"Sirius back off…"Remus demanded standing up trying to prevent the impending fight."
"I would if she would back off Peter!"
"Hey I wouldn't need to back of Pettigrew if he hadn't started it Black; besides last time we clashed I believe that it was me that came out on the winning side. Or did you three actually enjoy looking like Snape?" Andrea retaliated.
"Well if you weren't such a slimy Slytherin Peter wouldn't have to attack you besides it was Remus here that kept us from retaliating but don't expect us to hold back any more."
"Very well. Rem I'm gonna have to cut this study session short, but I've already done you essay so you should be fine."
"Andrea…"
'Nope I just remembered that I have an appointment with the headmaster. I'll catch up with you after dinner; I believe I'll have a surprise for you." Andrea teased as she threw all of her stuff into her bag. Once she was packed up she gave Remus a quick hug and a wink before drifting out of the library.