Ch.8, Remus's Secret.

Remus smiled at her reply. He learned something about her everyday. Temporary sticking charms on the chairs, why didn't they ever think of that? Remus looked across the common room, and saw Lily and James talking. All of a sudden, they both burst out laughing. It was getting near the end of the holidays, and everyone was looking forward to seeing their friends again. He wrote Len one last letter, asking her if they could use the chair prank. It was also the last one that would reach her before she was on the train again. He then went to the owlery, and tied his letter to an owl, told it where to go, and left the room. He bumped into Melissa on his way back to the portrait hole.

"Hi Melissa." He greeted.

"Oh hi Remus, how are you? Feeling better?" she responded.

"Yeah, much better. Did you hear? Len has been playing pranks on her family. She even put a Temporary sticking charm on their chairs." Remus said with a laugh.

"Yeah, she mentioned it in her last letter. Well, see you around." Melissa said with a chuckle. Then, she stalked off to the library.

Remus thought for a moment. He had seen Sirius go that way not 10 minutes ago. He would ask James about it on the Marauder's map later. He now had a Potions essay to tackle.

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A few days later, James, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Melissa were out to welcome back the sixth member of their little group. As Len left her carriage, she ran straight to Remus and gave him a big hug. She then mentioned how much she had missed him.

"Hey, what are we, acquaintances?" Lily said, with mock anger. Lily, Melissa and Len all shared a group hug. Then, she approached Sirius and took something out of her pocket. When everyone saw what it was, they backed off, but Sirius knew that if he moved, he was hit. Then, Len smiled, and opened the lid, holding it towards the offender. The spectators all burst into peals of laughter, at the stinksap covered Sirius. He cleaned himself off with his wand, but still stank.

"Remus, control you're girlfriend!" he ordered. But said person was in no condition to help, as he was laughing hysterically.

Remus held hands with Len as they made their way up to the castle. Her head was leaning on his shoulder, and he couldn't be happier. They all found seats in the great hall, and sat down. It was a wonderful meal, and Remus and Len would go down to the kitchens afterward. It was going great, but Lily and Melissa couldn't help but noticing they kept on going into fits of muffled laughter when they looked at the Slytherins. But nothing happened, so Lily and Melissa just assumed that they were planning something. After Dumbledore dismissed them, the great hall exploded as the Slytherins' chairs rose with them. Professor McGonnagle was bending over with laughter. Len had tears in her eyes. They were dismissed again, and people crawled out of the great hall. People congratulated James, Sirius and Remus on their way out. They didn't mention, at her request, that it had been all Len's and Remus' idea.

The two aforementioned people were on their way to the kitchens, and Remus was very happy that Len was back. When they got their, Len ordered her usual Remus asked for a hot chocolate. They ate and they left, and were walking through the dark halls when they both felt they were being followed. They caught each other's eyes, and Remus was surprised to see fear in Len's. They both got out their wands, and heard footsteps. Then, from behind, Len was shot with a stunning spell. She fell forward with a scream that made Remus's blood run cold. He turned around and at that very second got into a duel with Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. (fathers) He knew he wouldn't last long. Then, more footsteps were heard, and 4 stunners were shot at the Slytherins from somewhere in the hall. They fell to the floor, and out from the shadows came James, Sirius Lily and Melissa.

"What happened?" James asked as Lily and Melissa ran to revive their fallen friend.

"We were on our way back from the kitchens, and Malfoy came up behind us. Neither of us saw him. He hit Len from behind and I would have been the same as she is if you guys hadn't got here when you did." Remus explained as a very groggy Len listened. She got to her feet with help from Lily and Melissa.

"Now I don't want a fuss from you, you're going to the Hospital Wing." Lily ordered.

"I'm fine, it was just a stunner, I don't need to go." She said.

This argument continued for some time until it was decided that she would not go, but it would be reported. As Remus helped her up the stairs, he said, "I had no idea you could be so stubborn." He said.

" I'm very proud of my stubbornness." She responded with a smile, and holding her head up high. Remus laughed. They entered the common room to find that Melissa and Sirius had already gone to bed, and Lily and James had fallen asleep on the couch, heads resting on each other's shoulders.

"They really like each other." Len commented.

"Yeah. I think that they have a nice long relationship ahead of them." Remus said nodding at the couple on the sofa.

"Think we should wake them up?" Len asked, turning to Remus.

He thought for a moment. "Nah. Lets see how Lily reacts to find herself beside James when she wakes up."

They both laughed, and Remus kissed her goodnight. The sweet, little goodnight kiss lasted about 5 minutes, when the clock over the fireplace chimed midnight.

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The rest of the group that had been informed of the Lily & James situation headed downstairs to see Lily's reaction. They couldn't help but burst into laughter when they both ended up blushing like a rose. The couple scowled at their friends, but since they were still blushing, that only made them laugh even more. But then it was Sirius's turn to blush, when a first year walked by and plugged her nose. That put them all into fits of laughter all over again. Finally, Len got to see Remus alone, and asked him, "I've noticed Remus, that you always get sick once a month, or you go visit a sick relative. Is anything wrong?"

Remus took a while to respond. Which only told her that there was something wrong. He could either tell her, and risk losing her to the prejudices of his kind, or he could tell her nothing was wrong. Of course, he knew Len very well, and since he had taken so long to answer, if he said it was nothing she would know it was a lie. He bit his lip and said, "I really want to tell you, but not here. Meet me in the North tower later on, around 9. Please?"

Len nodded. Then they went their friends. Remus took James and Sirius aside, and said, "Guys, I'm going to tell her about my condition."

They both stared. "What?"

"She's getting suspicious. If I don't tell her now, then she would know I was lying." Remus said sadly.

"You don't really believe she's prejudice do you? She's muggle born, she didn't even know what a werewolf was before she was eleven." James said.

"I know, I know, I'm just nervous. I've never told anyone before, you two figured it out on your own. I just hope that she doesn't hate me after." Remus said. Little did he know that Len was getting permission from her friends to tell him about her secret.

Everyone went to dinner, and then somewhere else. All the time Remus wasn't himself, he was worried and not concentrating. Len realized that whatever his secret was, it was big. She had not mentioned to her friends why she wanted to tell Remus her secret, but she thought it might comfort him if he wasn't the only one. She went to the North tower at 8:50. She was surprised to see him already there. He was pacing, and when he heard her footsteps, he stopped. He looked very pale in Len's opinion. She walked over and sat on the nearby windowsill.

"Remus, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She said softly.

"No, you deserve to know. Listen, I want to get this over with as soon as possible okay? (she nods) Well, I- I'm a werewolf." He finished, then took a deep interest in his hands.

She took a deep intake of breath, and then, just as Remus was expecting her to run away screaming, she said, "Why were you so nervous about telling me?"

He looked up. She looked perfectly calm, a little surprised, but calm. He responded "Well, I thought you might be prejudice. I wasn't sure."

"Oh Remus, I don't care if you change once a month! (she gets up and gives him a hug) I'm muggle born, I didn't even know that magic existed before I got my letter! I wasn't brought up to think the way that normal witches do!"

They were still in each other's embrace. Then Remus bent down and kissed her, and they were at it again. After a few minutes, Len pulled away and said, "but you still don't know my secret."

At Remus's puzzled look, she laughed lightly and said, "Remember that argument from the third year between Sirius and Melissa? The one about Melissa and us being predictable?"

Remus nodded, wondering where this was going.

"Well, afterward Melissa was fuming. She sort of convinced us to do something un-predictable." She said with a sheepish smile.

"And just what did you do?" Remus asked, wondering what on earth she did.

"I think it would be easier to show you rather than tell you."

Remus watched as she backed up a few paces, and turned into an owl. He watched open-mouthed as she turned human again. He finally found his voice and said "Y-you're an animagus?"

"Yep. So are Lily and Melissa. Is that okay?"

"Of course it's okay! In fact, that's wonderful! I actually cant believe you did something like that!" Remus said joyfully.

Len smiled. "I saw you once you know. When Lily and I dumped that cat in the lake. If only you could've seen the look on you're face! It was priceless!"

"Really? I remember when… was it Lily and Melissa? When they used James and Sirius as a bathroom!" Remus said excitedly.

"Oh yeah, what was their reaction to that?"

"I think you can imagine. They swore me to secrecy you see." Remus said. Len laughed. All this time, they were heading back to the Griffindor common room. At the girls' staircase, Remus turned to her.

"Please, don't tell anyone about my… condition? If it gets out, I can say goodbye to Hogwarts." Remus said sadly. She smiled and kissed him.

"Of course I wont silly. You cant tell anyone either? You see, we're not exactly registered." Len asked.

"Of course I wont. Goodnight. See you in the morning." And with that he kissed her goodnight, and watched as she went up the stairs. Then he turned and went up his own, very happy.