January 27th was the next full moon and Fae was determined to gain awareness, even if it was only for a second. Alongside the physical goals she and James had set up, Fae decided to focus on habits specific to regular wolves in an effort to become more aware of her 'were'-ness.

She was running 15K a day now, even weeks out from the moon, and averaging under 10 minutes per mile which was pretty incredible. Her new stopwatch came in handy several times a day. Fleamont had charmed it to not only time her laps, but to go off like an alarm depending on whatever distance she set it to. It was tremendously helpful and freeing to be able to deviate from her set routes. After every 5K, she did a series of other workouts in the yard, usually 3 sets of pull ups at 8-10 reps each, 100-150 sit ups, and 25-30 push-ups.

Here's where the wolf thing kind of came in handy - she was eating a lot more red meat. Oh she still loved carbs, particularly sweets, but she made an effort to eat more beef, pork, and sausage. Leaner meats too, preferably. Used to carefully watching what she ate, it was a difficult adjustment to eat so much meat every day. However, the results spoke for themselves and the numbers kept climbing.

Although James had been joking about howling, Fae actually sang more too. Music had always been important to her and she sang along whenever she could, whether she knew the words or not. It was just a simple matter of having music playing more around her. That wasn't hard to do at home, especially in Fleamont's workshop where the wireless was always going, or at night when someone was cooking dinner. Euphemia and Fleamont were divine dancers and she loved jumping around with them almost as much as she loved watching Fleamont sweep Euphemia into loving and playfully dramatic waltzes.

As for the rest of the day, Fae finally put her savings to use and bought herself a music player. Or two. She bought a large boombox which played cassettes that she used in her classroom and bedroom during homeschooling and home study. She also bought a small radio that Fleamont helped her fit with straps so she could wear it while running sometimes, awkward as it was. Unfortunately, walkmans didn't exist yet so she couldn't listen to music at the library, but Lucrecia usually had a good selection playing at the cafe.

Her dresser became overrun with cassette tapes and the music store became one of her more frequent stops. It was hard when her phone finally ran out of battery, but the cassette tapes brought her comfort. If anything, the lack of phone made her focus on homeschooling more, looking for a way to magically recharge her phone so she could keep that one link to her past at least.

So Fae sang more and ate more. She was getting stronger and thankfully, she was a fairly decent singer so Euphemia and Fleamont couldn't complain. Except for when she played music too loud, anyways. Her voice became hoarse somedays, but it was nice. It lifted her mood for sure, but not quite as much as hunting.

Occasionally, she might see a deer or rabbit in the woods and chase after them, see what it felt like to pursue the hunt. The first few times, she felt really stupid and silly and strange, but always ended yelping excitedly. The closer she got to the moon, the more fun it became, although she still had yet to catch anything.

Soon, hunting became her most favorite activity in the woods. She wasn't sure if that was just because she was maybe a little bored and lonely without James to keep her company on runs. Which was the fourth thing too - pack dynamics. Wolves were big on pack dynamics and Fae had a strong feeling about what her place would be, but with only Fleamont and Euphemia around, she couldn't really discern anything concrete.

She missed James. The days were longer and emptier without him. But Fae did her best to keep busy, devoting herself to werewolf research and testing, as well as to her homeschooling. All that talk of Hogwarts had her hoping she could go there with him one day. She had no clue how to go about that yet, but there was no rush. There was a good 7 months before the next possible term she could attend. Still, Fae wrote James almost every day, telling him about her progress and asking him about his time at Hogwarts. He always had the best stories and she wasn't sure if he just lived that exciting of a life or was just that excitable of a person. It was probably a fair mix of both and she certainly appreciated it.

"Here, Remus, try this," James said, for the millionth time that dinner. He had settled a fork full of steak and kidney pie onto Remus' plate, and then another fork full for good measure. Sirius and Peter looked at him with wild-eyed wonder and James shrugged it off.

"Okay, mum," Remus answered with a sassy roll of his eyes. His attitude didn't bother James, being that Remus ate the food anyways. At first, he had resisted, but James was nothing if not stubborn and he just continued to keep pestering Remus and filling his plates until the boy had no choice but to eat, or hear about it for the rest of the day. And be handed snacks in the middle of class. And be dragged down to the kitchens in the middle of the night.

Since Fae's letter last week, James had made an effort to fatten Remus up with meatier foods. He was a significantly more peckish and picky eater than his sister and far skinnier. Okay, maybe not skinnier because Fae was tiny, but Remus was certainly lankier and weaker-looking. Fae had a theory that they were linked to wolves more than anybody considered and that by indulging in wolf behaviour, they'd be healthier leading up to the full moon. They may even possibly be able to gain awareness during transformation.

Fae had seemed to be doing well - she was proudly packing on muscle. Meanwhile, quiet, bookish Moony would whine incessantly whenever James prodded him to go for a walk or join the quidditch team drills. At least he was eating better, James conceded.

He was singing too, although never around anyone other than his fellow Marauders. Thank Merlin for Sirius' record player and extensive collection of records. James had 'shown an interest' since returning from break and sang so often that his throat hurt and he was back to chugging herbal tea more than coffee. Sirius still sang the loudest and most often with James, but every so often, James could hear Remus humming softly under his breath and singing quietly to David Bowie. It wasn't a howl, or even a good belt, but it was progress. James had even caught Remus singing in the library earlier that day when he thought nobody was around.

And in Care of Magical Creatures, James set loose the pixies in hopes that Remus might chase them. He didn't, but he did look delighted and seem to have fun casting the necessary spells to freeze them and put them away.

It wasn't a lot, but it wasn't nothing, and Remus did seem to look a lot less sickly leading up to the full moon than he usually did. It puzzled James, how differently Remus and Fae handled their lycanthropy. Oh, a lot of the same symptoms were there - the tetchiness, the wakeful nights, the restlessness and easily distractedness, the random bursts of rage. But whereas Remus was so affected and ashamed of any of these things showing, Fae was fascinated, trying to understand it, dissect it, and make it work for her. James wanted that for Remus. He wanted Remus to be less scared of himself and he wanted Fae and Remus to be able to help each other.

He wanted to be able to help them too. Sirius and Peter agreed and that brought him back to the other thing Fae had mentioned - pack dynamics. She was at a loss for it, but he knew that once he and the marauders figured out how to become animagi, it would be clearer to her. Wolves weren't meant to be alone and James remembered distinctly in her notes that werewolves never attacked anything but humans. It was a brilliant plan and Sirius had finally gotten his hands on a spellbook that would tell them how to do it. They'd been researching for years, but Sirius had gone the extra mile and went above and beyond during his stay at home over Christmas Hols. He'd stolen the book and brought it back to school with them. It was a complex potion they would have to brew, but entirely worth it as far as James was concerned.

Unfortunately, whatever progress he'd made with Remus was ruined when James overstepped and pushed a little too hard too close to the full moon.

"Come on guys, how about a jog through the Forbidden Forest before bed?" he suggested for maybe the fourth time that day.

"Enough! I can't take it anymore! We are not the same as your precious sister. We don't like to go for runs or listen to music constantly or eat everything in sight! I get that you miss her, but quit projecting on me and leave me the fuck alone!" Remus had yelled before storming off.

James slumped and looked helplessly to Peter and Sirius. "Have I really been that bad?"

"Yeah, mate. For whatever reason, it's like you won't leave the poor bloke alone no matter what he does. What is up with that anyways?" Sirius said.

Sighing, James decided to revise his plan. Subtlety had never been his strong suit. "It's nothing," he said.

"Right," Sirius answered, not believing it one bit.

Fae didn't gain awareness that full moon, but it had been the best full moon yet. She'd run a solid four hours that day in addition to her extensive strength training. She'd also probably eaten an entire cow by herself that week.

Moody was becoming impressed with her progress, if his questions were anything to go by. Normally he just showed up, sort of listened while she updated him, set the wards, hung out through the night, and was gone by the time Fae woke up. This time, he actually participated in the conversation a little bit. He seemed particularly interested in her theories about connecting with wolf behaviour.

The transformation still hurt like a bitch, but she felt something other than pain for once. Normally, it was restlessness and the feeling of her bones growing in the minutes before the moon that she noticed most. This time, in the two hours before the moon, she could hear and smell everything. It had been almost overwhelming, but was mostly just really interesting. She locked herself in the attic early and roamed in circles, going from window to window and pinpointing different creatures moving in the woods. The feeling of claustrophobia was more noticeable than any other time before and she made a mental note to write that down.

It was hard to explain, mostly because she felt like her human thoughts had subsided in lieu of more primal instinct. Then the pain hit and she blacked out until waking up on shredded, blood-covered wood floor. There were few injuries and her body was incredibly sore. She slept clear until the afternoon, but when she woke up, she was completely refreshed which was another change.

Fae had joined Fleamont and Euphemia in the living room for a quiet, self-care night, as was the usual routine. Instead of dozing and dazing, she got right to analyzing and writing James to let him know what happened. For the next month, there would be more of the same, she decided. However, wolves were distance runners so she decided to alternate days of smaller, faster runs with strength training and days of long, endurance runs.

More singing, more meat, and some research and practice into exercises on enhanced senses. She supposed that magical theory and spells might have some insight too, but she wasn't entirely sure where to go on that subject necessarily. All she knew was that she had felt more at peace before the moon than ever before, queuing into the natural world just out of reach rather than focusing on how bad the pain was going to be.

Remus had been pretty torn up following the January full moon and James showed up to the infirmary with arms full of chocolate.

"Sorry that I was getting on your nerves. I didn't mean to," James said.

Remus smiled and took the chocolate gratefully. "It's alright. I'm sorry I snapped at you. You know what I get like before the full moon."

While James reviewed what Remus had missed in class that day, the brown-haired boy devoured each and every chocolate treat. When he ran out, he looked thoughtful and then said, "Do you think you could run down to the kitchens, by chance? I'm dying for a good bacon sandwich."

James grinned and took off under the cover of his invisibility cloak, returning with an entire platter of sandwiches. The two boys shared them and James was pleased to note that Remus' eating habits were much better from then on.

"Can you hear that?" Remus asked a few days later, twisting his head and rubbing at one of his ears.

"For the thousandth time, no, I do not hear anything," Sirius said, looking slightly irked. "You must be going mad."

"I must be. Are you sure you can't hear anything? There's this high-pitched noise that keeps going off, I swear. It's driving me nuts," Remus said.

"There's no noise. Maybe you should have Madam Pomfrey check you out," Peter suggested.

James shrugged, smiled, and fingered the dog-whistle in his pocket. He felt kind of bad, but not too much. Now that he knew Remus could in fact hear it, the next step was figuring out a spell or a charm that sounded like the woods. Or maybe an atmospheric charm like the one used in the Great Hall.

"What the hell?" Sirius exclaimed when he walked into their dorm a few days before the next full moon. James had figured out how to fill their room with nature sounds. Of course, he'd been aiming for a quiet wood, not a buzzing, screeching, dripping rainforest. And it was, perhaps, a bit louder than it could be.

"It's for a prank on the Slytherins?" he suggested sheepishly.

"You've gone daft," Sirius insisted, but was for all intents and purposes, on board with the idea.

"It's not so bad. S'kind of peaceful," Remus said. He settled down onto his bed to read. Then perked up a bit later. "Does anyone smell chocolate?"

James grinned and hurled a few bars in his direction.

Experimenting with sight, smell, and hearing had gone well that month.

For hearing, she'd learned a few charms to record some of the birds she'd heard in the forest and then had Fleamont play them back randomly at varying distances until Fae could recognize a blue jay from nearly halfway across the woods. She would sequester herself in the library and then listen closely, trying to identify how many people were around her in a 20 foot radius and what they were each doing. Then she'd silently move through the stacks and check herself, creeping on the other patrons.

With smell, Lucrecia followed along with her requests to 'practice' her Obscuro spellcasting. Fae would cast, blindfold herself, and then identify the pastry of the day that Lucrecia would surprise her with. That had been a fun realization - the smell sort of like skunk and herbs wafting way beneath all the sugar. No wonder Lucrecia was always so relaxed and chill. It made Fae laugh. At home, Fae tested herself with the different flowers she produced for her magical testing. Euphemia would hide the orchids, lilies, and roses around the house, in pantries, among cleaners, under piles of clothes, and Fae would find them with only her sense of smell. She tested herself with the trees of the woods too - learning to identify all the different ones. Pine, ash, oak, elm, sycamore.

Sight was probably the most fun, and the most dangerous. Fae returned to running at night for the two weeks leading to the full moon, wearing sunglasses in the dark and doing her best to speed through the trees without running into anything or tripping on anything. Her Episky and Reparo got a lot of practice again. Then, she'd obtained some black-out curtains and put them up in her classroom. When it came to floating objects through hoops, she made it as dark as possible.

It all culminated in the last few days. She'd learned the spell Avis, a nifty little trick that conjured birds. She set them loose in the forest at night and then hunted them all down. It was thrilling and she got at least four out of the five before the spell timed out.

It was the day of the February moon and Fae had spent the entire day in the woods, heading out at 5 am again. Her stopwatch boasted 20 miles which was a new record for her. Moody had arrived, as usual, and she had relayed to him the successes of the month, starting with naming off the type of wand he had as he walked through the door.

"You've got a wand made of aspen, haven't you?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"My sense of smell is heightened with the moon. Am I right? About your wand?"

"Why, yes. You are," Moody said, bewildered. "You weren't as violent during the last transformation. Did your theory pay off?"

Fae grinned and this time, he was definitely listening as he set the wards.

"What do you think of warding a section of the woods for my next transformation?" Fae asked hopefully.

Moody looked thoughtful. "Manage awareness during your transformation and we'll talk about it," he eventually said.

It wasn't a no and that was all Fae needed. Fleamont and Euphemia helped her with some extension and atmospheric charms on the attic before Fae locked herself in there, two hours to full moon again. The change hurt, but nothing like before. Maybe she was just getting used to it, but she wanted to believe that her dreams of sprinting through the woods on all fours was what kept her calm.

She had one injury. Only one. Well, only one that bled. She still had a massive amount of bruises and was incredibly sore. Fae woke up at 3pm, grinning. And also, she was determined to figure out how to lessen the soreness in the days after. It was impeding her progress, she complained to Euphemia and Fleamont that night.

"You sound like James," Fleamont said. "He got his first growth spurt last year when he turned 13 and it threw him off his balance on his broomstick for weeks," the inventor recalled with a fond laugh. Euphemia threw in her two cents about having to charm his clothes to stretch because by the time she'd bought him new ones, he'd outgrown them again already.

Fae considered that. Growth spurt? A mother would know all about that, after all. "So how do you treat growing pains?" she questioned, eyes twinkling sharp.

"Oh the usual remedies. Stretching, heating pads, epsom salt baths, and lavender oil."

"You don't say?"

"You look stiff, Moony. Want a massage?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

James fought off a blush and smiled confidently. "You've been rubbing your shoulder a lot. Do you want a massage?" he asked again.

"Uhhhhh…. Sure. I guess. Okay?" Remus said.

Cracking his knuckles, James got to work rubbing at Remus' shoulders. The boy stayed tense for a bit, before ultimately relaxing bonelessly. It was a few days after the March full moon and Remus had come out of it bruised and bloody as usual, but seemingly less tired and strung out. James had managed to get the right atmospheric charm and keep it up around their dorm during the week of the full moon. Fae had been right, as always. And he just knew, she'd be right about this one as well.

"Are your legs sore too?" James asked.

"Well, yes, they are actually," Remus said, voice slurred and content. Then he promptly fell asleep when James cast a sneaky Sleeping Spell on him. With Remus sprawled on his front and completely out, James crept back and started massaging lavender oil into his calves. He heard voices too late and froze up when Sirius and Peter burst into the room.

"Um. This isn't what it looks like?"

"Really."

"I can explain."

Fae sprinted down the tiled ground, weaving between all the people, leaping over luggage, and eventually slamming into her older brother who had been braced with open arms. James picked her up and spun around in circles. When he stopped, they stayed latched to each other and chattering almost frantically as Fleamont collected them and ushered them towards the car. James' trunk went in the back seat and the two teens shoved themselves into the front seat, sharing the seat belt despite Fleamont's protests.

"Oh alright, just one of you duck if you see a cop. Your mother will be pissed if we get sent to jail," he said.

The weather had been steadily getting warmer, the days getting longer, the woods coming alive and filling Fae with more energy every day. Easter Hols had fallen right between two full moons so Fae had been planning to spend the whole time catching up with James. She was hoping he might have some ideas on how to get her into Hogwarts. She was also hoping that her magic was even good enough to get into Hogwarts. Euphemia seemed pleased with her progress, but with nothing to compare to, Fae had no idea how she was doing in the grand scheme of things. Either way, she was excited to have him home and to spend some time not worrying about her lycanthropy for once.

"How's everything at Hogwarts with you and the Marauders?" she asked excitedly.

James' smile froze and became strained. "Uh, about that. Listen, I need to tell you something," he said.

"What did you do."

James explained and Fae listened, feeling very much that he wasn't telling her everything. Apparently, he'd been doing some research on werewolves of his own at Hogwarts, looking to see if the library there had anything different or new that might be helpful, which was fair. She'd thought the same thing. What had happened though, apparently, was that he spent a little too much time in the library which caused Sirius to get suspicious which made Remus suspicious which made Peter suspicious and the whole thing came out about her being a werewolf.

James didn't talk about how Remus was a werewolf or how he reacted to her being a werewolf. In fact, James didn't talk about Remus much at all. James said that he didn't mean to, but that his friends were really great and were cool with it and wanted to meet her. Remus couldn't come because of family stuff, but Sirius and Peter had been able to convince their families to allow them to come over in a few days.

It was super suspicious and he was obviously lying, but there was no way for Fae to prove it because she wasn't supposed to know about Remus. It was super confusing. But the bottom line was that she still wasn't supposed to know that Remus was a werewolf, Remus probably didn't know that she was a werewolf, but for some reason Sirius and Peter did and were coming over to meet her in a few days. James looked incredibly nervous and worried. Fae stared at him stonily for a few minutes.

Then she smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, okay sure. Sounds fun."

"Really?"

"Yeah. If you trust them, then that's good enough for me. Just be more careful will you?"

"Of course! It won't happen again, I promise," James said. Then he started practically bouncing up and down on the spot, telling her all about Sirius and Peter. He was very, very, very excited for them to meet. Fae tried not to be nervous. They were just 14-year-old boys after all.

A few days later, Euphemia and Fleamont greeted the two boys with big hugs and slaps on the back respectively. Sirius was almost as tall as James and had similar wild black hair, but a few inches longer, a slight bit neater, and a touch wavier. It suited his angular jaw, high cheekbones, and pretty eyes framed by big, dark lashes. His mouth had a seemingly permanent mischievous lilt to it and his hands were big with long, graceful fingers.

Peter, on the other hand, was a few inches shorter, a few inches broader in the shoulders, and wearing an extremely comfy-looking sweater that hid a slight roundess in his gut. His cheeks were full and round, as were his shy, droopy eyes. He had a genuinely friendly smile and the demeanor of a wallflower.

"Hi there. It's so great to meet you guys, James has told me so much about you," Fae said with a bright smile and a waggle of her fingers at them. Peter and Sirius looked her over and then looked at James.

"Hello. It's nice to meet you too," Peter said, voice soft.

"I thought you said she was adopted," Sirius said, looking between Fae and James. Fae shared a look with her older brother. Sure, they both had dark, wild hair, and similarly colored tan skin. And thinking back to their family photo, she supposed they did look somewhat similar, other than the huge differences in height. It made her happy to think she looked like she belonged, strange as it was.

"She is," James said.

At the same time Fae answered, "Didn't James tell you? Euphemia and Fleamont missed James so much while he was at school that they decided to clone him."

There was a moment of silence and then Sirius laughed. He had a good laugh, loud and clear and contagious. "So which one of you is the better one?"

"Definitely me," James and Fae answered simultaneously.

They sat down for cakes and tea for a bit in the living room after that. Thanks to her nerves, Fae hadn't eaten breakfast earlier that morning. Now that the ice was broken and she was feeling better, the chocolate cake didn't stand a chance. She scarfed down a large piece, and then a second and a third.

"Fae, save some cake for our guests," Euphemia chided.

"You don't want to ruin your appetite," Fleamont added joyfully. "You'll get your fill of chocolate with all the eggs I hid."

"Awh, Daaaad," James whined. "We're too old for that! Egg hunts are for kids!"

The inventor looked absolutely crestfallen and it broke Fae's heart. No way was she going to stand for that.

"Says you! You're only saying that because you know I'll find more than you and embarrass you in front of your friends," Fae said, shooting her brother a taunting smirk. "Oh well, more chocolate for me!"

James, predictably, rose to the bait. "Am not! Bring it on, Fae, you're going down!"

"What's an egg hunt?" Sirius asked. Every person in the room turned to look at him in horror. Evidently, the Black family was too distinguished to participate in that particular Easter tradition and Fae suddenly felt incredibly sad for him.

"Every year for Easter, I hide candy and chocolate filled eggs all over the yard and the house for the youngins to find. Normally, it's just James, but with you two and Fae here, I went the extra mile this year. Thought it might be a nice competition of sorts," Fleamont explained, looking absolutely delighted.

"Competition, you say? How do you win? And what's the prize?" Sirius asked, looking very interested now.

"Whoever collects the most eggs wins and gets this," Euphemia said, holding up a huge Easter Basket filled with every candy imaginable, chocolate frogs, reeses cups, bertie and botts beans, everything. Fae's mouth watered.

Sirius played dirty but it was fine because Fae played dirty right back, with James caught in the middle. They had started on the back porch, looking out in awe over the backyard completely covered in eggs and baskets gripped tightly in their hands. When Fleamont began a countdown, Fae cast a quiet spell, sticking everybody's shoes to the porch. James, having been caught by that before, did not get stuck and they both bolted off the porch at 'go!' with Peter yelping and Sirius completely faceplanting. He got her back quick enough, catching her with an extremely well-aimed Jelly-Legs Jinx. She shot a dancing curse back at him, but it hit James instead, causing both Sirius and Fae to laugh wickedly. It was a mad, thrilling dash.

Of course, at the end of it all, Peter won.

Sirius and James pouted marvelously while Fae shot sweet smiles at Peter and sideways glances at the basket. He smiled back kindly. "Here, do you want some?" Peter asked, offering a caramel chocolate truffle to Fae. She took the treat cheerfully and grinned at him.

"You're my favorite," she said. Sirius and James squawked indignantly.

Fleamont and Euphemia, thrilled to have so many kids home around Easter, had a whole day of activities planned apparently. There were egg bashing tournaments, egg tosses, and egg dying. Each and every one ended with a massive mess and so much laughter that Fae's gut hurt.

"And the winner, ladies and gentleman, is Sirius Black, the biggest egghead of all!" Fae had declared before smashing her prize squiggly-faced egg on Sirius' hair. The boy practically almost cooked it with how hot and red he turned, and then she was shrieking and he was chasing her across the yard and around the house, only to lose her in her territory - the woods.

"Oh, this was your best white blouse! What were we thinking," Euphemia said with exasperation, clearly regretting her decision to dress up her kids.

Fae grinned and tugged at it happily. "Now it's my best tie-dye blouse."

Sirius was as much of a thrill-seeker as James was and had a wicked, shameless sense of humor that she appreciated greatly. And Peter was a chubby, shy, hopeful wallflower and Fae could relate to that because that had been her when she'd gone through 14 the first time around. Hell, that had been her for most of her teenage life in general.

It was hard to see them as anything but 14-year-old boys, let alone as a man who would be the cause for her brother's death and a man who would be wrongfully sent to prison for 12 years. So she didn't. Fae had already decided she was going to change things and those changes had already begun. Peter might one day betray her brother, but she had decided that 'might' was a long way off and if she could make friends with this shy boy now, 'might' could become a non-issue. Or at the very least, she'd be able to keep an eye on him and kill him down the road if need be. Right now, he was just James' friend.

Hours later, the four teens had collapsed on the back porch to watch the sunset and slowly stuff more candy into their full stomachs. Fae had brought her boom box out and let Sirius pick from her collection. They shared similar tastes in music and had a tendency to sing loudly whenever they wanted, wherever they felt like. It was an extraordinary moment for Fae and one of those bittersweet cadences to the past that was long gone. She tried not to think about it and instead soaked up the remaining rays of sun as it baked blue paint, smeared chocolate, and grass stains into her skin and clothes.

One song changed into the next and Sirius and Peter decided it was time to get down to business. "So.. You're really a werewolf?" Peter asked quietly.

"Really really," she said with a toothy grin. "These scars aren't just for show, I'm afraid."

"How did it happen?" Sirius asked.

"I was out running one day and I saw this puppy. Turns out, it wasn't a puppy. Next thing I knew, I woke up in the woods, bleeding from this giant bite on my hip," Fae said casually. "I wandered into the Potter's backyard, they decided to help me, I decided to become the coolest werewolf in existence, and the rest is history being rewritten."

Sirius and Peter had tons of questions after that and Fae was happy to answer them. James was happy to answer too, proudly telling them about how fast Fae could run, how she could hear birds from miles away and identify them, how she could eat an entire cake and still be hungry. It was sweet and flattering as hell and made her all squirmy inside. Peter peered at her with wide, awestruck eyes. Sirius was more calculating and skeptical, but he seemed well won over enough when she proved him wrong and held a chin-up for a full 60 seconds at his challenge.

When they left, well after dark, it was with arms full of treats, big smiles, and promises to write.

James and Fae spent the remaining days of break running around the woods, scraping their knees in trees, watching movies, and getting into trouble. When Fae finally got around to asking James about whether or not she might be able to get into Hogwarts, he had pulled her into a headlock and gave her a noogie.

"Don't worry about that, big brother's got it all planned out."

"Okay, but that's not really an answer," Fae insisted. James ran off laughing and being all mysterious-like for someone who didn't have a mysterious or subtle bone in his body. At least, he did let her borrow his text books and look over his homework to see if she understood any of it. She didn't know everything, but she didn't know absolutely nothing on the page either so she was satisfied with that. It was a little bit easier to see James off to school at the end of his break, knowing he'd be home again for summer in two short months.

"Okay, so you were right. Fae is pretty cool," was the first thing Sirius said when James joined him on the Hogwarts Express.

"Don't even think about it," James said on instinct. He was happy Sirius thought she was cool, but he also knew his best friend.

Sirius held up his hands in mock surrender. "I wouldn't dare," he said. "She'd eat me alive and leave my bloody carcass for the possums."

"You guys talking about Fae?" Peter asked, sliding into the compartment.

"But of course," Sirius said with a devious grin. "We're plotting how to get Remus on our side so James' darling sister can join the Gryffindor ranks."

"Take it easy, Sirius. You know how Remus is, we have to play this smart or we'll scare him off," James said.

"Scare me off what?" Remus asked from the doorway.

"Sirius, don-"

"Remus, old pal, dear friend! We need you to talk to Dumbledore and to James' parents and convince them that it's totally safe for James' new werewolf sister to come to Hogwarts with us!"

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Remus asked, collapsing with wide, panicked eyes onto the train bench. James buried his face in his hands.

At the end of Sirius' excited rambling and James' explanations, Remus was very quiet for a very long time. And then he stood up, towering over them all. In a cold, quiet voice, he said, "So basically, you've been testing all of your sister's crazy theories on me for the past month without telling me, hoping one might work out and that I'd be willing to reveal my biggest secret and risk everything just so she could come to Hogwarts?"

He left after that, slamming the door shut. James glared at his best friend.

"Way to go, moron. Now he'll never come around."

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone reading, favoriting, following, or leaving comments! It's so fun to see where everyone thinks things will go. And thanks for those who are hanging in there still - the Marauders have arrived and things do start picking up from here. You will have your precious slowburn soon. It's like a...slowburn for the slowburn. Super Saiyan Slowburn. Anyhow, Happy October ya'll.