Hi, so here is another chapter and I hope that you enjoy it. I will do my best to bring you the next one sooner rather than later and hopefully you will enjoy that one as well.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine.

Also the idea of Lily, Marlene and Mary doing what the Marauders did and actually putting the pieces together about Remus (I mean seriously if James, Sirius and Peter, and also Severus to some extent could do it are we really assuming that nobody else could?) was too delicious a thought not to write.

Please Read and Review and let me know what you think.

The Beginning Of The End.

Chapter 4-My Body Is A Cage.

There are battle lines drawn at Hogwarts, Dumbledore does his best to try and calm the waters as the first Quidditch match comes around. Remus laments what must happen next.

His whole body was aching, drowning in pain and his bones were on fire.

If bones could be on fire.

When Remus came to his whole body was in tatters. But it was a victory, a double one really because this was the first full moon of the year and the first one he had done on his own.

With Dumbledore trying to mitigate the damage from the previous day, Peter had been the only one free to come down with him and even then there was only so much a rat could do to stop a werewolf. James had been cloistered in meetings and Sirius being questioned and though Dumbledore might know his friends knew the question of turning into animals every month to help him roam safely through the grounds was not something that needed to be mentioned.

Ever.

But when he awoke he stared at the battered ceiling of the Shrieking Shack and he tried to control the urge to vomit.

He had never forgotten what the pain felt like. It was there, always there, throbbing, dangerous. Never fading but never in the present. His bones always close to snapping in two.

His body a cage.

He sat up and nearly blacked out again but it was enough. Remus liked to be at least sitting when Madam Pomfrey came. He didn't have much dignity in this whole thing but he liked to keep the little he could snatch even though it was like holding water between his fingers.

He felt his neck pop a little and he resisted the urge to whimper.

His body was nothing more than a cage.

And Remus Lupin would do anything to break out of it.

Unceremoniously on Saturday morning every student was dragged out of bed at the ridiculous time of eight thirty and forced to present themselves for breakfast in the Great Hall.

There was a great deal of mutinous mutterings.

Weekend mornings were sacred for a lot of people at Hogwarts and Marlene was one of them. Being prodded open by Lily who had the admittedly horrible task of making sure all of the girls were up on time was not a moment productive to their on-going friendship and Marlene told Lily this as she found a clean pair of tights that she was pretty sure belonged to Tallulah who couldn't co-ordinate a mess if he tried.

They all knew what it was about but the fact that they had to sit there and listen seemed rather pointless. Marlene could think of a hundred and one better things to do in the build up towards a Quidditch match most of which included re-writing the conclusion on her Charms essay which she knew was poor.

Merlin she could hear Flitwick now telling her so.

But this kind of rule was one that guaranteed consequences if one disobeyed it and Marlene who dipped her toe into the pool of water that was detention only occasionally was not really in the mood to get another one. Especially as this one might lead to a letter home to her mother and father neither one of them being to impressed about her fighting. Her brother Malcom would be, Malcom who was itching to find a way to join the fight, as would her other big brothers (Marlene had three) Montagu and Matthew. She supposed she too would end up fighting if asked. The McKinnon's were loyal to Dumbledore. Always had been, always would be. And so that's what made this thing so utterly pointless because unless Dumbledore had Voldemort's body at his feet then this whole lovey-dovey peace crap was just that.

Crap.

The Slytherin's certainly weren't going to play nice so why the fuck should they? Marlene wasn't one to bend over and play nice and if she was going down she was going down with a wand in her hand. She was seventeen in December and while it might be hard for people to understand their own mortality at that age she understood it. She thought she could understand what was going on and she thought that she could see where it was leading too. You didn't have to be a Professor to see it, just a believer in common sense.

She tied her blonde hair back in a knot on the top of her head and looked down the empty table wishing for all the world that she knew how to conjure up coffee out of thin air. Both Potter and Lily were off trying to keep the first years from being first years (good luck with that one) but Sirius was there. Pettigrew was down the other end of the table looking for bacon no doubt not that he was going to find any. The tables were bare. No breakfast until they listened to a pointless lecture.

Lupin was AWOL.

"Hey" she said sitting down next to Sirius who jumped a little—since when did he have thoughts profound enough to be lost in them? Unless he was dreaming of coffee too.

"You alright?"

"Yeah" Sirius said with a odd, crooked kind of smile that she had never seen before and didn't meet his eyes whatsoever.

"Where's Lupin? How the fuck did he get out of this and if so what's his secret?"

"Nothing you want to know" Sirius said darkly. "And believe me given the choice he'd rather be here"

"Hard to believe" Marlene murmured looking at him closely. She could see something in his eyes that she couldn't quite understand and it made her stomach flare with worry like she was on the cusp of having an ulcer which actually didn't surprise her coming off yesterday.

"Sirius" she said and then before she could chicken out of it she put her hand over his. He looked at her with dark eyes.

"What?"

"Are you alright?"

Sirius laughed once that great booming, barking laugh that made her feel warm inside even if it didn't meet his eyes. The whole thing made her heart heave a little looking at him for reasons she knew had everything to do with a stupid little crush she'd had when she was fourteen and had never really fallen out of despite the fact that she knew that Sirius Black was totally out of her league.

"Not really" he said finally. "It's…Reg…it's…I knew it was coming and yet somehow seeing him there watching…I got a good look at the future. I saw what comes next and I guess…it's been weighing on me more than Dumbledore could ever know"

Marlene said nothing. There was nothing she could say instead with a bravery she did not think she possessed despite all that she had done yesterday she took his hand in her own and linked their fingers together. Sirius turned to look at her but before he could say anything Dumbledore stood up looking…powerful in robes of midnight blue embroidered with gold stars and swirls. Not that he needed the wardrobe. Marlene was entirely sure that he could be wearing a sackcloth and people would still listen to what he had to say. It was simply presence more than anything else.

When he stood silence fell. Lily and James who were up at the front of the table both looking like they would very much like to be in bed hushed the first years. Mary sat down next to her. Marlene started a little but Mary said nothing other than her regular smile. She too looked tired and remembering Mary last year when she had been attacked Marlene wondered just how much yesterday had affected the friend she valued so much she had not even bothered to check up on.

Shit.

But Dumbledore was speaking.

"What happened yesterday" he said speaking slowly but surely. "Was an afront on this school. Hogwarts is a place of learning, a place of acceptance and a place of peace. I know that what happens outside these walls affects you, I know that many of you feel that a choice for you has already been made—"

Here Sirius snorted. Marlene squeezed his hand and he subsided though she noticed that both his and Dumbledore's eyes were on the Slytherin table. It was not hard to pick out Regulus Black amongst the people sat there. He was one of the few that were actually looking at Dumbledore. The rest clearly didn't give a shit.

There was a pause where he stood there, and everyone watched him.

"What happened yesterday was afront to the values of this school. I will not have my students fighting as if going to class is a matter of life or death. Voldemort's greatest strength is his way of division. It is how he succeeds, by turning us against each other. I implore you…do not let him succeed."

There was an emphasis on those words that seemed to settle heavily on the room at large. Marlene couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight in front of her and she knew she wasn't alone. Whatever you wanted to say about Dumbledore…he knew how to captivate an audience.

"What happened yesterday, while I am Headmaster will not happen again. If it does I will enforce the strictest punishment regardless of who started it, of who you are, of what pull your family have in the Ministry of Magic or in the wider world. I have been a hunted man for quite some time, I can assure you I am quite comfortable with the label"

Marlene grinned she couldn't help herself. It was so fucking Dumbledore to say something like that and it made her feel safe. There was always something about Dumbledore that made her feel safe. It was just how he was.

"I teach you magic. Your teachers teach you magic. We teach here, we raise students. We do not raise soldiers. Let that be your final warning"

There was another long silence and she felt the shiver down her spine. There was no mistaking the words or the tone and though he had not shouted it was like he had and Marlene didn't have to look at the table at the far end of the hall to know that they had stopped what they were doing and were looking at him even if they didn't want to.

Dumbledore could do that.

It was just like magic.

"And now breakfast" he said clapping his hands together. "And on to the first Quidditch match of the season"

There was some titters and some confusion especially when you didn't know that Dumbledore was prone to do this kind of shit and then Marlene looked down to see that the breakfast had indeed arrived which meant…coffee. Her mother had despaired that she had become a coffee drinker and blamed the House Elves. Marlene blamed the OWLs.

"Well that was…powerful" Sirius said finally.

"Yes it was" Marlene admitted. "You think it will work?"

She knew the answer before he even answered her.

"Not a fucking chance" he said finally. Marlene sighed and then with all the embarrassment that came with the realisation she realised that she was still holding his hand and she dropped it like a hot bezoar.

If Sirius noticed he didn't say anything but she did notice out of the corner of her eye that he flexed his fingers a couple of times.

She turned to her eggs and he turned to his bacon and that was the end of that.

"James"

He turned to see Lily coming down the stairs her red hair flying a smile on her face.

Clearly this was a dream.

Or a hallucination.

Or maybe one of the Slytherin's had put something in his drink?

That would make more sense though he couldn't see how they had managed it.

"Evans"

"I told you not to call me that, if were to make this Head Boy and Head Girl thing work especially now then we need to present a united front."

"Alright…Lily"

It still felt strange.

"Anyhow, I wanted to wish you look. And…and when you see Lupin again will you tell him he has my Runes book…and that…that I hope he is alright"

James froze. He didn't know what to say to that because surely…surely she didn't…she couldn't…

"Lupin?"

"I mean" Lily said with an expression that wouldn't have melted butter. "I heard that he had been taken to the hospital wing in the night? Pettigrew said something about cramps, that's why he wasn't at this morning's speech?"

Oh.

"Aha. Yes…Yes I will…tell him that" he finished lamely.

"Okay then" Lily said brightly and then she was gone and James reminded himself sharply that there was a match to win.

He caught sight of Snape watching from a upper corridor and he smiled to himself even as the other boy gave a snarl at James's blithe reaction.

That made this little…whatever it was all the more sweeter really.

"Lupin going to be okay?" Marlene asked as Lily caught up with her and Mary. They had huddled together in a small corridor walking down to the pitch thankfully alone.

"Seems like it. James didn't seem to worried anyway. Remember last year when he was? When they weren't speaking to each other? Well there's none of that this time around."

"Still thinking we don't know?" Mary asked shrewdly.

"Oh yeah" Lily said. Marlene shook her head.

"Boys" she said scathingly. "Don't they know we can see a pattern every month too? Honestly I'm amazed nobody's caught on yet"

Lily agreed with her but between the three of them there was an unspoken agreement never to mention the word aloud. Carefully they kept their conversations…even their thoughts to a minimum. But they knew.

"Come on then" she said linking her arms with her friends. "Let's go and watch James win again"

"You called him James" Mary said with a wink at Marlene.

"Oh shut up"

Marlene collapsed into giggles at Lily's eye roll and Mary laughed too and Lily found she couldn't help herself. She laughed as well and the three of them arm in arm went to watch the match and considering that yesterday she thought that the world inside Hogwarts would never be the same, today she thought that it was after all. That she was wrong, that the darkness would never penetrate the walls of Hogwarts.

What Lily didn't know couldn't hurt her after all.

Not then anyhow.

And there you are I hope you enjoy.

Next Chapter-Halloween is just around the corner and the first Hogsmede weekend is there as well. Away from the castle sparks fly both romantically and magically.