It was just before dinner when James had a breathing space to talk to Remus. He managed to tag Remus alone in the common room. Nearly deserted due to early or late meal goers, James had a precious moment to himself while Sirius was walking Greta Catchlove back to her room and Peter was doing something in the library. James took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. This would not be easy.

James approached his friend. Remus sat in an armchair, poring over his copious Transfiguration notes, crows' feet slightly creased between his brows. James shook his head; Remus would worry himself into an early death if allowed to. Then again, said a sly voice in the very back of James' mind, Remus has an awful lot to worry about when Snivellus knows that he's a werewolf.

James seethed at that thought. Even one month ago, he could hardly have imagined hating Snape as much as he did now. Something like venom was running in his veins all the way to his heart. That snide bastard had gone too far when he let Rosier and his gang in on Remus' condition.

Remus looked up and offered a small smile to James, who was standing in a vicious standstill while thinking of all the reasons to destroy Snape. James realized that his own face probably looked like that of a bitter old woman.

"Don't look at me like that, Prongs. You've no problems at all. I know you understand all this Transfiguration rubbish."

"Remus, mate. I've got to tell you something."

"What? Not at dinner?"

"No, it's—"

"What's doing?" asked Sirius, emerging from the portrait hole with a grin. "I took a short cut to meet back here."

"Listen," said James, now in an urgent undertone, "this concerns all four of us. Lily must be brought into the dorms tonight, she—"

"Prongs, mate!" said Sirius with a impressed expression. "I didn't know you'd gotten her to—"

"No. Padfoot, you git, now listen to me. We've all got to be there too, all four of us and her, because something happened today that we've got to fix—"

"What is it, Prongs?" asked Remus, sitting up and concerned. "Is there a problem?"

"Slytherins?" suggested Sirius sharply.

James shook his head. Both Remus' and Sirius' faces were etched with concern. He knew that either of them would dive into action at a moment's notice, just to protect each other or him. It made it even harder, in a way, because James felt responsible for Lily, like he should have fooled her more completely. He'd just have to get it over with; the door to the girls' rooms was opening and James knew Marlene could not be allowed to overhear.

"Moony, it's about you," said James. Remus paled.

"What about me?"

"Lily knows," said James softly. "I didn't tell her. She just figured it out. We've got to talk about this."

Remus let the schoolbook slide from his hands. He was as grey as James had been white only hours before.

"Prongs, no."

James nodded miserably. "Yes. D'you see why we need to talk?" he whispered.

Remus weakly inclined his head, hardly even noticing when Marlene put her hand on his shoulder and snapped the Transfiguration book shut. Lily stood behind her, and James gave the affirmative to their evening meeting without ever saying a word. Lily accepted it with a bowed head.

James cast a sideways glance at Sirius. His best mate in the entire world was simply shaking his head, every so slightly, and otherwise he looked like a blank slate. James, however, had spent so much time around Sirius that he could discern the other boy's "wide-eyed-and-thinking-rapidly-blank-slate" face from his "oh-shit-do-not-catch-me-because-I-am-an-innocent-black-slate" face, and this one was the former. Even though Sirius did not drag his end of the dinner conversation, he must have been totally preoccupied. That blank-slate face was still set over what must have been one hell of a brainstorm, perhaps akin to the one that had been raging in James' mind since earlier that day. Sirius and James understood each other's dinner objectives: try not to make anyone ask more questions than necessary. Only Lily and Remus lagged at the meal, mumbling and fumbling with their utensils while upsetting the condiments.

The third time that James had to right the salt shaker was the first time that Emmeline (the craftiest of Lily's friends) became suspicious. She narrowed her dark eyes and gave the minutest of shifties to Lily (who was busily buttering her spoon) and then one to Remus (who had accidentally poured pepper all over Peter's hand). Sweat beaded the nape of James' neck. He caught Emmeline's eyes and mouthed a "no," with the understanding of a conversation at a later date. Although unsatisfied, Emmeline elbowed Dorcas and stood up.

"I'm going to get a start on that Transfiguration rot. We have Quidditch tomorrow, James?"

"Right after dinner."

"Excellent. See you later." Emmeline left, whispering something to a quizzical Dorcas before being accosted by Caradoc Dearborn.

After that, dinner passed in a flash. For Lily, it was a hazy sort of flash that culminated in a dimly-remembered walk to Gryffindor Tower, during which James knocked the detested Wilkes into a suit of armor that was sent falling with a redoubled crash. Lily received the vague idea that Rosier had been helping Wilkes up with a great amount of swearing and vicious oaths, but she was lost in thought. Sirius ushered the Gryffindors into the Portrait Hole and moved immediately for the boys' stairs. Lily turned now to Marlene.

"Listen, Marlene. I'm going to go with them." Marlene was off guard.

"Lily, what are you doing?"

"I'm just…just going to speak with James, that's all. He wanted to talk to me about something, and I think he wants Sirius there too. I don't quite understand it myself."

"Erm…if you say so," she replied, puzzled. "I suppose Remus is going up too?"

"I believe so, but James hasn't told me too much." Lily changed tact quickly. "I'll be up later tonight?"

"Oh sure," said Marlene easily. "I'll see you then, Lily."

"Bye, Marlene." They parted ways. James took Lily's arm and led her to the opposing chambers. Even at this point in the werewolf proceedings, Lily blushed pink and red because she knew what this situation must look like to any observer in the common room.

When James had opened the door to his room, Lily was nearly blown over by the strong scent of some incredibly overpowering (if still insanely delectable) cologne. Sirius was spraying it like aerosol an air freshener as Peter scurried to shove a pile of clothes under one of the beds. The scene would have been entirely ludicrous if not for Remus, sitting hunched over on his bed and staring off into the wall. Sirius offered a smile that was two parts charm and one part embarrassment. Lily laughed at the last minute tidying up. Even James cracked a smile as he shut the door behind them.

"Sit," James offered, indicating one of the canopy beds. Lily lowered herself gingerly onto the edge, for it must have been James' bed and this would be very strange. Sirius flopped gracefully onto another bed as Peter settled into his. James took a seat next to Lily and put his arm reassuringly around her, his fingers gently scrabbling for hers. She laced her hand into his and waited.

Silence reigned for a few tense moments. Then Sirius spoke, tiredly rubbing his eyes.

"We all know why we're here. Or at least, somewhat. How are we going to do this? Moony?"

"Let Lily tell everything she thinks is right, and I'll fill in the rest," muttered Remus directly into his kneecaps. James squeezed Lily's hand and she was beyond grateful for that, though she would not look into his face. Lily took a deep breath and began.

"It all started with that Care of Magical Creatures class. Rosier and Snape seemed so…gleeful; and that was a warning sign. They're usually only happy if someone else is hurt." Sirius snorted. Lily continued.

"But it was just a set of prints, right? Then Professor Grubbly-Plank didn't tell us what had made them. She pretended not to know. I thought it was odd. And then every single one of you looked uncomfortable, and the whole mess was stranger than before."

"We gave ourselves away?" asked Peter, alarm in his small eyes.

"No, no," amended Lily hastily. "Not quite. You see, I couldn't place those mysterious tracks either, until Marlene mentioned something to me." The back of Remus' head disappeared as his face shot into view.

"What?"

"No, not that," soothed Lily again. "Marlene doesn't know about…er, you. She just mentioned something about your midnight adventures. And, well, I sort of realized that they were on a pretty regular basis. Then I remembered that those were…wolf prints. Werewolf prints. And you lot only go out when Remus is ill. Or not ill but, oh when he's not feeling all that well. And then I remembered other things, like James' arm at Hogsmeade only just after you'd all gone. I…I couldn't help getting it after that, lunar charts and all." She had not meant to, but Lily had pretty much ended up pleading. Asking for forgiveness for her part in this whole affair. Lily was feeling sorry, so sorry, sorrier than she almost ever had in her life.

"What a thing, to be a werewolf…" she mumbled in conclusion. James' arm tightened around her.

"So what now?" he questioned, eyes flickering briefly to Remus. "We leave it at this?"

"No," answered Remus, finally sitting up and turning to Lily. "We'll tell her the truth."

"Everything?" asked Sirius. "Moony, are you—"

"Sirius, face the facts. I've muddled the situation enough—"

"What, by being a werewolf?" demanded Sirius in outrage. "Naturally, we all blame you for that, Moony, you bloody idiot—"

"—and so," continued Remus unwaveringly, "it'd be useless to not tell Lily the whole of it. You've got to see, Padfoot, that she'll figure it out sooner or later. It would be lying, really, to not mend things now—"

"You don't have to, Moony," said James quietly. "I guess it's a little of my fault too—"

"That's ridiculous!" cried Lily. "Remus, don't feel pressured into doing anything. You four idiots are jumping over each other to take the 'blame'—and none of you is to blame—because you all seem to have the same absurd sense of guilt and honor—"

"I don't," put in Sirius.

"—but you didn't do anything wrong. I don't care if you don't tell me another word," she added belligerently. "And yes, Sirius, you do have it, or you wouldn't be friends with them."

"I think James is right," chimed Peter. "Remus doesn't have to say—"

"But I want to!" announced Remus loudly. Every mouth immediately closed, as if a switch had been thrown. Remus looked quite fierce, and definitely shaken out of his earlier depression.

"I'm tired of lying to everyone," he said softly. "I'm tired of making Prongs lie. I'm tired of this problem being in the way of everything. So if no one else minds, I think I'll share everything with Lily. All right?" No one challenged Remus at this point. No one could. Sirius stared down at his hands. Remus sighed.

"Okay. Lily. This is how it is, but you can't say a word—"

"I wouldn't tell!" she interrupted fiercely. James was pleased at his fireball's indignation.

"—to anyone," ended Remus. He was more serious and stern than she had ever seen him. "I mean to anyone. Friends, teachers and…even Dumbledore. Can you promise to stay quiet? Even to your mother, or your father, or your sister, or you gran—"

"Remus," said Lily gently, moving from cougar to confidant. "I swear. I mean it, Remus. I swear by everything."

"And," continued Remus uncomfortably, "if you and Prongs should ever…erm…if you both decide to not—"

"Yes, of course, it will still be s secret," interrupted Lily, not liking a certain slimy feeling that bubbled through her stomach when Remus hinted at a possibly eventual breakup. James' sudden stiffening told her that he did not much fancy that idea either.

Remus paused, on the edge of changing the Marauders forever. He collected his thoughts quietly while biting his lip in thought. Waiting for this nearly killed Lily, and she very quietly snuck her hand into her robes to procure a sherbet lemon. She tried to open the wrapping discreetly, but of course crinkle wrap is not a thing that can be controlled. In seconds the blasted candy had shifted to a deeper part of her pocket. Lily focused on reaching delicately farther; and she succeeded in putting her fingertips around it before it slipped again. Finally, Lily enfolded it into her hand and noisily slid the wrappings off. She triumphantly drew the candy from her robes and lifted it to her lips.

A snicker broke, first from Sirius and then accompanied by a snort of disbelief from her loyal boyfriend. Remus cracked the first smile she had seen all day, and Peter chortled on the edge of his bed. She realized that they had all been staring at her.

"What?" she asked, popping the tricky sherbet lemon into her mouth. "I like them."

"A lot?" asked Sirius goadingly. Lily found that she had managed to defuse most of the tension by sneaking a candy. She was understandably pleased.

"Yes," answered Lily, on the defensive. "A whole whopping lot. Now what were you saying, Remus?"

"Here we go," he said. "I'm a werewolf. I was bitten very early on. The short version of all of this is that my parents didn't reckon that Hogwarts would take me in, but then again there was no harm in asking Dumbledore. Dumbledore allowed me in, albeit with a few extra rules. I go with Madam Pomfrey once a month to the Shrieking Shack."

"But how do you get there?" asked Lily curiously. "It's a longish way to the Shrieking Shack for a moonlit stroll with the nurse right across the grounds and through the village."

"There's a tunnel," Remus said, sitting back against his bedpost. "From under the Whomping Willow. Just for me. You…you kind of, er, prod the tree into letting you in—"

"How?" asked Lily before realizing how Remus really was not obliged to tell her anything. "Wait, sorry. I shouldn't—"

"You hit this knot in the trunk and the willow stops whomping," answered Remus. "I didn't mean to avoid the question, I've just used to covering up. Now then, I transform in the Shrieking Shack. It isn't haunted. Dumbledore just encourages that for my benefit." Remus' voice grew pained.

"When I'm human again, I come back here. Of course, saying that my sick mother or sick aunt needed me on a monthly basis, well…let's just say it didn't always work with James and Sirius and Peter. There are only so many excuses that you can give to your mates before they—"

"—stop believing them," finished Sirius. "Prongs and Wormtail and I found out about Remus'—"

"—furry little problem," explained James. Here Remus smiled. "Moony was a little hesitant to blab at first, but we brought him to see our way of thinking."

"Mainly, they threatened to kill me if I didn't let them in on it," said Remus, not without a little bit of cheer. "From then on, they knew. Then, the, er…next step involved a few years, lot of danger and probably bits that you won't like to hear."

"What happened?" Lily asked eagerly. The boys all looked at each other.

"We're Animagi," said Sirius quietly. Lily grinned.

"No."

"Yes," said James with all seriousness. In fact, all of the boys looked solemn. As if they were not joking.

"But, no…" said Lily, now a little unsure. Remus nodded.

"It's true. They are." The bottom dropped out of Lily's stomach and she swallowed her sherbet lemon nearly whole. Almost every sensation in her body was now entirely unpleasant and slippery. Animagi?

"You… you can't be," she stuttered. "There's a registry, and procedures, and you're under the age—"

"We know," smiled Sirius. "But we are. And every full moon, we give Moony more potential for grey hairs because we break him out of the Shrieking Shack to run round the countryside."

"But we haven't hurt anyone," put in Peter convincingly.

Lily was speechless. Struck dumb. Effectively muted.

"In conclusion," said Remus, "those werewolf tracks from the Care of Magical Creatures Class were mine during my transformation. The dog was Padfoot. The stag was Prongs. And Peter was still in the Forbidden Forest at the time."

"Oh." Lily swallowed weakly.

Some minutes later, James nudged Lily's shoulder.

"Doing okay?"

"Yeah," she replied, still staring ahead at precisely the same spot on Sirius' opposing bedposts. James grinned.

"Look, it may be hard to believe, but—"

"Does Dumbledore know?" Lily asked quietly. James' smile slipped.

"No. Not about the Animagi thing, or how we go out with Remus. No one but the people in this room know. And, yeah," he said as Lily opened her mouth to argue, "it's not smart to do, and we're sorry and all that about not telling him, but then he'd keep Remus caged up. Even Dumbledore wouldn't be that liberal with a werewolf."

"Fine," said Lily simply. She could tell that James—and the rest of the Marauders—were uncomfortable about this situation with the headmaster. And obviously they were still not quite sure they were doing the right thing. All Animagi… Lily sighed.

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," she whistled softly, at last lifting up her eyes.

"You bet your caldron we are," said Sirius with a smile. He arched his eyebrows suggestively. "Want to see a demonstration?"

"Padfoot," barked James as Lily laughed and shook her head fondly.

"Sirius, from you—of course." Sirius stood up on his bed and winked.

"Brilliant." He then turned into a dog.

Lily's chuckle caught in her throat and she nearly choked on it. He…he was just there and now he's not, and oh hell what have I got myself into? An enormous boarhound (or maybe a mutt, or it could have been anything really) panted loudly where Sirius had stood, thumping the pillow with his long tail. He was as black as his name suggested, and as doggy too, and he gave a delighted bark.

"That's…that's—"

"—hot," finished Sirius as he flowed back into a teenager.

"I…I think I need a minute here," said Lily, shakily breaking a smile.

"Nope. Too late for that," said Sirius. "Wormtail, you next."

Peter shrunk and grew fine beige fur one moment, popped out a tail, and in the next he was a rat. Sirius transformed into a dog and woofed merrily. He took a flying leap off his bed and commenced in chasing a squealing Wormtail round and round the furniture while Remus rolled his eyes and laughed nonetheless. Just as Sirius had him cornered, Peter turned back into a nervously smiling boy, which threw Sirius onto his back. He gave a mournful howl. It was impossible not to be caught up in the obvious pleasure Sirius took in his animal form.

Sirius rounded on Lily next; and he bounded over in one jump. Concentrating enormously, he sat back on his hind legs and placed his forepaws on either of Lily's shoulders (easy to accomplish at his height). James clicked in tongue in disgust, only inciting Remus and Peter more.

Lily stared back into Sirius' soulful eyes, like and unlike those of a human Sirius Black. Then his broad muzzle split into a doggy smile of mischief and he licked her face with one shlurp of his pink tongue. James shoved his furry snout away with one hand. Sirius rolled over and made a frightful wheezing noise that substituted for his canine laugh.

"Padfoot, Christ!" James shouted, trying to hold in a grin while Lily wiped her drooly face and wrinkled up her nose. "Why makes you think I'd let you lick my girlfriend in either form?"

Sirius lashed his tail against his legs and ran at Lily and James, transforming seconds before crashing straight into them and bashing James' skull into the headboard. James hollered a dirty string of curses (from under a prison of rumpled blankets) while Sirius and Lily laughed helplessly, Lily's head lodged firmly in James' stomach and Sirius splay-legged over the bed. James heaved both Lily and Sirius off of him. James gently rolled Lily onto her side while he fairly threw Sirius onto the floor, where Sirius gasped for air. Remus and Peter had given up all hope of composing themselves. James scowled and trotted towards his nightstand to retrieve his glasses from the floor. Lily smiled warmly as James and Sirius began to bicker about licking or not licking each other's steady dates. They really did fight like brothers. In an extremely dysfunctional family.

Sirius turned to Lily. "In your opinion, was I better than James?"

Lily would have given him a sharp answer if not for James, who chose that moment to finally turn into a stag and butt Sirius with his antlers. Sirius retreated quickly onto his mattress, warding off the stamping animal with a pillow. From her angle she was not certain, but Lily could have sworn that the stag rolled its eyes. With one graceful prance of its hooves, the stag turned back to Lily.

He was majestic. The creature before her could certainly not be the boy that had asked her to Hogsmeade since fourth year, or driven her mad fifth year, or kissed her seventh year. No, the stag could not be any of these things. This was a noble beast, all powerful legs and smooth fur the color of fresh cocoa powder. His great branches of antlers sprawled into a crown of bone atop his well-sculpted head, and Lily could not take her hands away.

"Gosh," she breathed, petting the stag's velvety nose. "Very beautiful—handsome, rather. Very handsome indeed…"

"Dammit, Prongs. I knew letting a female in on this would be a bad idea," complained Sirius loudly and amusedly. "Falling all over herself, and patting your conk. Repulsive."

"Shut it, Padfoot," said James The Human Boy, removing Lily's hand from his nose. "You're just jealous because you attacked her too fast for her to fall all over you. Not that she would have," he smirked, obviously pleased with himself and pulling Lily up close to him. He could have kissed her right there. Sirius booed and Peter tossed a pillow at the offending twosome. James and Lily laughed.

"Really, Prongs, save it for the wedding. It's like seeing Mum and Dad together," said Remus disgustedly, "which is just too uncomfortable."

"I didn't know you had maternal feelings about me, Remus," joked Lily.

"Lily, don't you want to hear about our Map and James' Invisibility Cloak?" Peter said happily. Lily leaned back to look James in the face.

"What?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. James gave a hesitant smile.

"This is…er, possibly illegal too."

"Hah! Would it be anything else?"

After a moment's pause, James added,

"Maybe you ought to sit back and have a sherbet lemon."

Lily shrugged and complied, sitting on the floor this time. She tore into another sucker.

Dun, duh dun dun! Sometimes I am reading a story, and I just have to stop because one part strikes me as so false that I can't go on. The Marauders-Animagi Revelation sequence is usually one of them. If anything about this seems really off to you, please please and PLEASE say something! I don't want to kill the story. And, you know, if it is good I'd like to hear that too.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO READS, AND EVERYONE WHO REVIEWS!

Edit: BIG DOINGS NOTE! I have been rereading my story from the beginning, and I have decided that several small changes need to be made in order to stop me from sounding like an illiterate gorilla. There will be no major plot changes, but just a few lines/grammar/word changes here and there. The bottom line is that if you see the first chapter is slightly different, do not worry. This also may slow down the updates, even though if I were much slower I'd be going backwards and deleting chapters. Of course if you have got this far, there is no real reason to read the polished version all over again. However, if there was a chapter (or a paragraph, line, or description in a chapter) that you felt was ridiculous and/or detrimental to the story (it lowered your reading experience and/or intelligence), please tell me so that I can be sure to fix it. If something about especially the beginning of the story struck you as queer, please mention it too. And if these nasty parts exist but you just don't want to say anything because you are unhelpful, then this is good for you because I might be fixing it (although you ought to know that I want to know about these things). Thank you and goodnight!