"I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays. You can't go anywhere without meeting clever people. The thing has become an absolute public nuisance." - Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest.

Where You Belong

Chapter 8

Andrea sat curled up on the couch by the fire so absorbed in her book that the burst of noise from the open portrait hole startled her. She looked up to see James and Sirius entering the common room, behind them she could see Remus and Peter. Since she couldn't see the rest of the house yet she assumed that they left dinner early. She realized that they were probably up to no good or arguing over her and hadn't noticed her yet so she went back to her book.

"Man Prongs that was one of the best pranks we've pulled all year!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Yea too bad that Taylor wasn't there." James replied.

"Oh well we'll get her later and we'll get her good."

"Really guys she's not bad, and she's my friend….if you'd just give her a chance like Lily and I did you'd realize that." Remus defended evoking a smile to grace Andrea's face as she listened to their conversation.

"But Moony she's a Slytherin!" Sirius whined as if that simple statement explained it all.

"Just because she's in Slytherin doesn't mean that she's like the rest of them."

"Hey…guys…"Peter interrupted before either James or Sirius could reply.

"Yea Pete?" James asked.

"Um…couch…Taylor…"

At Peter's stuttered statement the three arguing friends turned to see Andrea sitting on the couch by the fire.

"What are you doing here?" James questioned. "Wait how did you even get in here you're a Slytherin. Moony you didn't give her the password did you?"

"Of course I didn't give her the password you dolt!" Remus retorted.

"Get out of here you snake…you don't belong here!" Sirius snapped.

"I belong here as much as the four of you do. Now if you don't mind I think I'll just go up to my dorm to get some peace and quiet."

With that Andrea closed her book and stood up. She walked right through the group of boys allowing them to see the Gryffindor crest on her school robes. Upon seeing this all the boy's jaws dropped in surprise but Remus quickly turned his into a mischievous smile. He wasn't sure how she did it but that was twice now Andrea had shocked all four marauders speechless. Andrea stopped right in front of him before uttering "Surprised. I told you I didn't fit." Andrea gave one last satisfied smirk before climbing the stairs to her dorm.

After standing there in shocked silence for a minute or two they recovered and began to talk all at the same time. They quickly stopped when they realized that the rest of the house was approaching and moved up to their dorm room.

"I don't like her or trust her very much." Sirius commented as soon as they were in their room.

"Sirius really I don't see why you won't give her a chance. I'm telling you, you'd all like her, she'd fit right in with us." Remus defended.

"I won't give her a chance because she was in Slytherin for almost two months. For all we know this could be some elaborate plan of my mothers to get me to join her side." Sirius retorted.

"Sirius she is not involved in some elaborate plan of your mothers." Remus stated in a bored tone.

"But he's right. If she really didn't fit in with the Slytherins then why did she wait so long?" James questioned.

"I bet she's just a spy for them." Peter added wanting to join the conversation.

"She's not a spy and Dumbledore made her stay in Slytherin thinking that if she got used to it she would fit in better. He wouldn't allow her to switch before trying to fit in." Remus practically screamed at his friends fed up with their constant nagging about Andrea.

"Whatever Moony. She's still a Slytherin to me!" Sirius defiantly stated.

"Look guy's she's my friend whether you three like it or not. She's also Lily's friend so if all you three are gonna do is bash her then make sure Lily and I aren't around to hear it!"

"Moony…" James began.

"Don't James; I'm not in the mood….Goodnight." Remus coldly replied as he shut the curtains around his bed before flopping down to get some much needed rest.

The following morning the rest of the Gryffindor house were quite surprised to see Andrea in their common room and sitting at their table for breakfast. It wasn't until halfway through breakfast that Dumbledore explained to the rest of the school why Andrea wasn't with the Slytherins.

"I believe that many of you desire an explanation as to the sudden changes in a certain student. It came to my attention that this student did not fit in with their previous house and has since been resorted into their new house. I hope you Gryffindors will show your new housemate the same kindness that you show each other. That is all."

Immediately the entire student body turned to see the Gryffindor table. Andrea was seated between Remus and Lily and felt quite self conscious as every eye in the Great hall was on her. She wished that the headmaster had said nothing at all because as soon as everyone looked and saw who Dumbledore was talking about they began to gossip. She couldn't really blame them though, really how often did a student switch from one rival house to another?

For the rest of the day she was surrounded by gossiping students. Every group she passed was whispering excitedly about her and her switch from Slytherin to Gryffindor. Even Andrea's safe haven of the Library was ridden with gossiping students; she just hoped that it would all die down soon. She was tired of all the attention and she hadn't even dealt with the Slytherins who were bound to confront her yet.

It had been two weeks since Andrea made the switch from Slytherin to Gryffindor and thankfully the gossip had died down drastically. Anymore she barely got a second glance when passing students in the hallways. The only students still giving her a hard time were the rest of the Marauders but they only ever bother her if both Remus and Lily were out of site. Andrea assumed that both had told them to leave her alone so they only approached her if they weren't around, which usually happened when they had a prefect meeting or had their Arithmancy class.

Andrea was surprised that the Slytherins had yet to say anything to her, sure they had given her the evil eye and purposely run into her in the hallway but as of yet they had said nothing t her about her switch. It wasn't until the end of November that all hell broke loose.

James, Sirius and Peter were wandering down the various hallways of Hogwarts as they awaited the setting of the sun and the rising of the full moon. They were relaxing in preparation for whatever adventure they might embark on once they were animals

"We really need to play a prank on Snivellus." Sirius declared. "Not just any prank either a really good one."

"Like one that will scare the pants off of him?" Peter suggested.

"Yea that's exactly what we need Wormtail." Sirius replied excitedly.

"Yea but what can we do that will scare him that much?" James retorted.

"I think I know just the thing…oh and speak of the devil."

At other end of the hall Severus Snape appeared and was headed in the direction of the Marauders.

"Hello Snivellus. Fancy meeting you here." Sirius taunted.

"What do you want Black?"

"Oh nothing we were just discussing McGonagall's test."

"I highly doubt that any of you would discuss a test in your leisure time. By the way I see that your resident brain is missing, it seems that his books have become more entertaining then the company of you three. That is unless he hasn't been taken ill…again." Snape sneered.

"Nice try Snivellus, but if you really what to know where Remus goes every month go down to the Whomping Willow, prod the knot near the bottom and crawl through the tunnel until you reach the end then you'll know all you want to know." Sirius taunted.

"And why would I ever listen to you Black?" Snape snapped as he drifted past the group.

"Because curiosity killed the cat." Sirius quipped as he turned and went the opposite way as Snape.

Once Snape was out of sight and hearing range James turned on his best friend.

"Sirius what the hell was that!"

"I was harmlessly taunting him James calm down." Sirius replied

"What if he really does go down there and follows your instructions, do you know what he'll meet at the end of the tunnel?"

"Yes James I know what's at the end of the tunnel remember I'm there every month as well. Besides Snape'll never listen to what I tell him, he thinks I'm just trying to get him killed or something."

"If he does follow your instructions you could get him killed." James retaliated.

"Relax, nothing will go wrong. I promise you."

With that the three friends made their way back to the common room to keep up the appearance that they were going to bed. In reality they were getting ready for the night.

James, Sirius and Peter waited until the moon was high in the sky before donning the invisibility cloak and heading down to the Whomping Willow. They always waited until the moon was high in the sky because Remus didn't want them there when he transformed for it was to dangerous. So every moth the boys would leave the common room to be met by a fully grown werewolf.

When the boys reached the grounds and spotted a very long branch near the knot in the tree they knew something was up.

"Peter go!" James yelled as he turned to glare at Sirius before running after Peter's rat form. Once the knot was touched James didn't waste anytime diving into the tunnel. Sirius quickly followed with Peter riding on his shoulder.

When James reached the end he saw Snape about to open the trap door into the Shrieking Shack.

"Snape no!" James yelled but it was useless. Snape pushed the door open enough to see a blood thirsty werewolf in place of Remus. As soon as the werewolf caught the smell of humans it dove for the open trap door. James did the firs t thing that he could think of doing he shot a spell at Remus to stop him from biting Snape and then pulled the door shut and magically locked it. James then grabbed a shell shocked Snape and dragged him out of the tunnel and back onto the grounds where he unceremoniously dropped him on the ground.

Once James had evened out his breathing a bit he rounded on his best friend who was standing nearby with the rat form of peter still on his shoulder.

"Sirius Black I swear to Merlin that I'm going to kill you!" James yelled in anger. "How could you be so stupid? You could have killed him!"

It was then that Snape regained his senses and the use of his voice.

"Very intelligent Black, now I have a reason to get rid of your little friend. No one wants a werewolf in the school." Snape sneered.

"Oh no you don't." James interrupted. "We're going straight to the Headmaster with this one and neither one of you will say another thing!" James commanded.

James led the way while Snape grudgingly followed and Sirius for once in his life listened and followed quietly.

"Hello boys to what do I owe this visit?" Dumbledore inquired as James, Sirius, and Snape stood in front of his desk.

"Professor did you know that there is a wild beast among the student body?" Snape snapped accusingly.

"I'm afraid that I don't quite follow you mister Snape."

"Headmaster it's my fault." Sirius guiltily admitted before another word could be said.

"How so Mr. Black? What did you do?"

"I dared Snape to prod the knot in the Whomping Willow and follow the tunnel to the end tonight. I never thought he would be foolish enough to believe me."

"What exactly happened?"

"Sirius taunted and dared Snape as he said and then later on we noticed the willow stop moving I realized what that meant and raced down to the willow ad chased after Snape to the end of the tunnel. By the time I got to him he was just opening the door. I sent a weak but effective stunning spell and magically sealed the door before dragging Snape out of the tunnel" James provided.

"Did that all happen Mr. Snape?"

"Yes sir." Snape grudgingly admitted

"Did you happen to see what was behind the door? Any of you?"
"We know what's behind it sir." Sirius answered, "We've known for five years."

"Very well I expected that Severus did you see anything?"

"Yes and I don't like the fact that creatures like that allowed to roam free "

"I presume you know who it was?"

"Of course who else could it be, I always expected it but I never thought it was true. Although Lupin was pretty obvious about it with his lame excuses and ghastly appearance.'

"Very well Severus I need to ask you to keep silent about what you've seen tonight. You will be taking an oath of secrecy on the condition of Mr. Lupin and are not to talk about it to anyone."

"You're just going to let that creature run around! You can't do that what if someone was bitten or worse killed?" Snape practically yelled in outrage.

"He's not an animal so don't act like he is!" Sirius yelled in anger at Snape's attitude towards Remus.

"Mr. Snape, Mr. Black please clam down Mr. Lupin has been at Hogwarts for the past five years and has anyone ever gotten bit?" Dumbledore questioned. After waiting a few seconds to see if Snape would retaliate he continued. "As headmaster I may run this school as I see fit and I believe in giving everyone the benefit of the doubt. Remus has gotten mine by being who he is. Now you can receive the same chance by swearing to me that you will not utter a word of this to anyone."

"Yes Sir." Snape unwillingly agreed.

"Very well you may head back to your dormitory Severus."

Once Snape was out of the office Dumbledore turned to face the two remaining boys in his office. James was staring at the floor while Sirius' face contained raw anger.

"How could you let him go like that, he'll tell everyone! The whole school will know by breakfast." Sirius exploded.

"Mr. Black I promise you that everyone will not know about Mr. Lupin by breakfast. I took his word and he won't break a promise like that."

"I still say you should have erased his memory." Sirius muttered loud enough for the other two to hear.

"Well maybe if you hadn't of opened your big mouth and taunted him maybe we wouldn't even have to be here and dealing with this situation. Have you even thought about how Remus is going to feel about this whole situation?" James reprimanded.

"Boys that's enough for now. Mr. Potter I thank you for preventing the possible disaster and Mr. Black you will report to me every other night for the next two weeks to serve detention for such a foolish act. Now off to bed with both of you." Dumbledore sternly ordered.

James and Sirius quietly turned and left the headmasters office in the direction of the Gryffindor tower. Neither spoke as they made their way back. James was too mad at Sirius and worried about Remus to talk and Sirius was too lost in his own thoughts to try conversation. Deep down both boys were thinking of one thing and one thing only, Remus. Neither James nor Sirius wanted to be around Remus when he found out what happened and why it happened, simply put both boys were scared of their friends reaction.