Chapter Nine.

Remus walked down the long underground tunnel that lead straight into the shrieking shack. As he walked he thought about how it felt to have Lily leaning against his shoulder, how helpless she seemed and how forgiving she was to him. He didn't know yet what he was going to do. He still yearned to be with her and have her rest on his shoulder again but every time he thought it through he always came to the conclusion that in the end James would find out one way or another. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of walking he found himself within the shack, which alone concealed his deepest fear and darkest secret, himself. There was still about half an hour left before the moon would rise, he had come early this month so he would have time to clear his head a little. Only five minutes passed before he heard the familiar footsteps of his friends entering the shack.

"Oy! Moony! You 'ere yet?" called James from the other room.

"No Prongs I've decided to transform in the middle of the great hall this month." Remus replied sarcastically. All of the marauders broke out in laughter.

"Nice one mate but why don't we save that for seventh year, go out with a real bang." Sirius said still laughing.

"Ha ha Padfoot, I don't think so. Twenty minutes guys." Remus stated looking at his watch.

"Ok well then lets just sit down 'cause last time I was exhausted by the end of the night." Peter whined.

"Shut it Wormtail, at least your transformation is painless." James snapped and Peter gave a small squeak of an apology. They all sat around mindlessly chattering away when Sirius looked at his watch.

" Ok guys time to get ready" James, Sirius and Peter all stood up and transformed, James turning into a Stag, Sirius into a large black dog and Peter into a rat. Then it was Remus's turn to transform. He let out a blood-curdling scream as his body reconfigured itself twisting, bending and growing. His nails turned to claws, his teeth into fangs and his eyes changed from beautiful amber into yellow. Again he let out a cry of agony but this time it was no human cry it was a howl, not of Remus but a monster. He began clawing at himself causing deep gashes on his arms and face. The other three took this as their cue James stepped forward first and walked right up to Remus. Lupin raised his claws ready to kill James but all James did was nudge him with his antlers. This infuriated him, so he let out a menacing growl; Sirius then stepped forward and gave a playful bark. This all confused the werewolf, but comprehension soon dawned on him and his mind became clear once more, he could remember everything about his human self again, and so the marauders set off for their night of mischief.

Remus snuck back into the castle around eight thirty the next morning. It was the last day before classes so he didn't have time to stop for breakfast; he had to head strait for the hospital wing so that Madam Pomfrey could attend to the wounds he had given himself during the night. While he was walking his mind was reeling about what he was going to tell Lily when he saw her, he still wasn't sure whether to risk his friendship with James or not. His thinking time was cut short when he collided with somebody. They both fell to the ground and when he looked up and seen her dazzling auburn hair and green eyes he began to blush.

"Lily, I.I'm so sorry I didn't see you coming. Here let me help you." He got up and held out his hand for her.

"Don't worry Remus, I was just at the hospital wing getting a few things and… Oh My!" she gasped looking up at his face then back down at his arm. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"Yes, of course, I'm fine. Don't worry."

"Are you sure? Those cuts look really deep."

"Ya I'm sure, actually I was just going to the hospital wing to see Madame Pomfrey, would you like to join me?"

"Yes, of course!" She began to blush as they set off down the corridor towards the hospital wing.

"So, what are you doing for Christmas?" Remus asked not wanting to sound overly anxious.

"Staying here, my parents said that they were going to go on a vacation and that it was my choice to go or not."

"Really, where were they going?"

"Just a resort near the coast, nothing fancies."

"Why didn't you want to go? It sounds like a nice trip to me."

"It would be, but going would mean that I would have to put up with my sister little prissy Petunia and her nagging, and teasing, and her snide remarks about magic being abnormal."

"She sounds awful," Remus said not being able to picture Lily, someone so kind and gentle, being related to someone horrible and mean.

"Oh she is, but it wouldn't be so bad if I could hex her just once" Lily blushed and began staring at her feet as she walked. "I'm sorry that was awful of me, you must think I'm some sort of lunatic now."

"No, of course I don't Lily your one of the nicest people at Hogwarts."

"You're just saying that to be nice."

"Am not, it's true. I have never, ever seen you be mean to anyone, well except James."

"Ah, Potter yes well…"

"Why do you dislike him so much, really?"

"Well to name a few things," she put up her fingers and counted with them as she named things off, "He's arrogant, he doesn't leave me alone, he can never just be civil, he thinks he runs Hogwarts, and …" Lily began staring at her feet again.

"What?"

"He made fun of my hair in first year." Lily said matter of factly. Remus began to laugh. "It's not funny!" she laughed also giving him a playful punch in the arm by mistake. Remus gave a small gasp of pain. "Oh s.sorry that was stupid of me." Remus just continued laughing until they reached the hospital wing door.

"Ah Mr. Lupin I was wondering… oh Ms. Evans nice to see you, come in Mr. Lupin and lets fix up those cuts." Madam Pomfrey was surprised to see Remus with Lily; he had never showed up with anyone, not even the other marauders, after one of his transformations. "Excuse us Ms. Evans seeing as you are not ill I must ask you to leave, don't worry Mr. Lupin here will be done in time for your first class." She began shooing Lily out the door.

"I'll see you in care of magical creatures Lily!" Remus called to her as Madam Pomfrey closed the door behind her. Remus just sat on one of the bed not even noticing the pain he felt in his arm as it was being bandaged up.

A/N: Hey everybody! I hope this chapter is to everybody's liking. I just had to throw in the remark about Petunia just because, but ya please review so that I can make the story get better as it goes along.