Let me clarify a few things: this is a slight AU, yes but I will still be doing my best to stick closely to canon. Additionally, I feel like Dumbledore and McGonagall knew about Remus's furry little problem, just in case a problem would arise and I feel like by extension they knew about the Marauders being Animagi. On to chapter five then.

Seventh Year

Althea's hands were shaking as she squared off against Remus. She knew that he was a competent dueler since the Marauders often did get into fights with Slytherins. There was also the tiny fact that she had a crush on him which contributed to her nervousness. She wasn't the best at dueling and she knew it, so she was afraid that she would make a fool of herself. Remus smiled easily at her, and some of her nerves dissipated.

"Ready?" Remus mouthed.

Althea nodded.

"Expelliarmus!" Remus shouted.

Althea's arm whipped up, flicking her wand thus deflecting the spell. Impedimenta, Althea thought with a flick of her wand and Remus stumbled back a few steps. However, he quickly recovered and sent a Bat-Bogey Hex toward her. The two battled fiercely, neither willing to give up an advantage. As they dueled, Althea noticed that Remus was always a little taken aback when she didn't verbalize her spells, yet he was doing the same thing that she was. It was a little odd, but Althea also found it endearing. Althea panted, sweat pouring down her back and aimed a Stunning Spell at Remus who had to dive out of the way.

"That is quite enough you two," Professor Vesper called, causing the two to halt their actions immediately. Her eyes were twinkling as she said, "That is what a good duel should look like, class. Now as for that project I mentioned earlier. I want you and your partner, to continue practice dueling and keep track of the spells you use, what times you practice, etcetera for two weeks. When the two weeks are up, I would like each of you to write an analysis on your partner's dueling style, and their mannerisms when dueling. Such as, what spells they use. Are they hesitant or confident, or possibly a mixture of both?" She glanced at the wall, "You are dismissed."

Althea walked over to her table, grabbing her bag and hurriedly jogged after Remus who was chatting with Lily. Upon seeing the other seventh-year, Lily beamed.

"How are you today, Thea?" Lily asked, smiling.

"I'm doing well, thank you." Althea returned. "Remus, we need to come up with a schedule."

"Right," he sighed. "Um…well, obviously, you know what days won't work for me. Nights are no good since I have patrol, being as I am a Prefect. After supper, could work, and we could do it three times a week?"

"Sounds good," Althea said, smiling brightly. "I'll see the two of you later then."

She walked away, her eyes glimmering with something akin to happiness and an easy smile on her lips. Althea headed to the library, deciding that she best get a head-start on that Potions essay, and she might as well finish her Arithmancy worksheet as well. The library was virtually empty, aside from a table full of Slytherins near the Restricted Section. To her great pleasure, Madam Pince was keeping a close eye on them. Althea plopped herself down at a table close to the door, and pulled out her Potions textbook.

Describe a potion, detail how one makes it. Analyze why the ingredients work, etc.; should be easy enough, she thought optimistically. It turns out the assignment was harder than she thought it was, and she wished that Lily was up here with her – the redheaded Head Girl was brilliant at Potions after all.

Veritaserum is a powerful truth potion. The name "Veritaserum" derives from the Latin word Veritas, meaning truth. Three drops of this potion are all that is needed to force anyone to respond to any question with the truth.

Althea bit her lip, staring intently at the parchment and wondering what else she could add. She didn't know much about Veritaserum other than that it was colorless and odorless, and it was extremely hard to make. She supposed that she could add that, but what else? Skimming the passage in her Potions book she found that use of Veritaserum was strictly controlled by the Ministry of Magic; which she could add into her paper.

Veritaserum is clear, colorless, and odorless and is almost indistinguishable from water. The potion must mature for a full lunar phase, and is quite difficult to produce. It can be mixed with pretty much any drink, and three drops are a sufficient dose to make the drinker "spill out his innermost secrets". Thus, the potion forces the drinker to tell the complete truth to any question put to him/her, according to what the drinker perceives as true. For the same reasons Muggles don't use polygraph tests in court, Veritaserum is no more reliable than its Muggle counterpart. Since some wizards and witches can resist its effects while others cannot, Veritaserum is "unfair and unreliable to use at a trial" and would be difficult to use as definite proof of guilt or innocence.

Another problem is that the victim states what only they believe to be true, so the victim's sanity and perception of reality also factors in during interrogations. Therefore, while the drinker's answers are sincere, they are not necessarily true.

"What else?" She muttered to herself, tapping the tip of her feather quill on the paper, creating little dots on the parchment. She couldn't think of anything else, and thus concluded her essay by writing about the different ingredients that one uses to make Veritaserum.

Over the next few hours Althea worked diligently on her work, and managed to complete her Charms essay, finish her Arithmancy worksheet, and get started on her Transfiguration essay. Eventually though, she was kicked out of the library by Madam Pince. Gathering her things, she quietly headed to the Gryffindor Common Room and was unsurprised to see that the Marauders were still up although Remus was notably absent, and Lily was playing Wizard Chess with Alice in one corner of the room. Althea sat on the couch, pulling out her homework and dutifully continued to work on it.

Typically, she wasn't the most studious person. However, she had decided that it was crunch time. It was her seventh-year, and next year she would head off into the wizarding world and get a job. She needed to make sure that she kept her grades high and continued to be an overachiever. Honestly, she didn't know what she wanted to do but that didn't take away from the fact that she needed to keep her grades up. As the flames in the fireplace began to die down, Althea stifling a yawn, began to pack up her materials. Then she went to the dormitory, and as soon as she laid down on her bed she was asleep.

It was the weekend, rejoiced Althea, which means no homework and I can spend time with Remus. Well…maybe. Still, that means a larger opportunity. She braided her hair, and dressed in a nice black dress with navy tights and black booties. It was also a Hogsmeade weekend. At the beginning of the school year, Dumbledore had repeatedly reassured them that they would be safe in Hogsmeade, and that the Ministry of Magic would be there to protect them. At first, it was believable but with Voldemort growing bolder in his attacks Althea wasn't so sure if going to Hogsmeade was wise anymore. But then again, Dumbledore would be there, and for reasons unknown Voldemort was terrified of Dumbledore. Throwing a dark brown jacket on, and tucking her wand into one of the pockets, Althea headed down to the Common Room. Alice and Frank were standing by the fireplace, wrapped up in each other's arms and talking quietly. Peter was red and stumbling his way through a conversation with Marissa Meyers – a shy sixth-year who had honey blonde hair – and Lily was sitting on the couch talking to Mary, Marlene, and Vera.

Unbeknownst to the fair redhead, James was standing behind her listening in on her conversations. Althea snorted as she headed toward her friend. That is certainly not the way you get to a girl's heart, she thought. Althea sat down on the couch, and rested her head, on Lily's shoulder.

"Glad to see that you finally got up," Lily said good-naturedly. Out of the corner of her eye she glanced at Althea, "You look cute. Do you have a date for Hogsmeade?"

"No," Althea answered cheeks flushing. "But I heard you do. You going out with Brian Selwyn again?"

"If you must know, yes I am." Lily said haughtily. "Honestly, just because he's a pureblood doesn't mean that he's a bad person. He's been nothing but sweet to me, since we met. Just because Malfoy, Nott, Rosier, and the rest of them are bad doesn't mean that Brian Selwyn is the same."

"Maybe not," Althea conceded, "but I still feel like you should be careful, Lily. He could just be putting on a show, you know, so that you don't suspect anything. Death Eaters don't just come from Slytherin, you know."

Lily frowned but didn't bother arguing with Althea. "You know Evans I quite agree with her," James said from behind them.

Lily jumped and turned to face him a scowl on her features, "I don't believe anyone asked you for your opinion Potter. Now, I should go Althea, I'll see you later."

Althea watched her friend go before getting to her feet, "I should be going to Hogsmeade, as well. I have some Christmas presents to buy."

"Already?" James asked in surprise.

"Well it is the end of October, and Christmas is right around the corner," Althea said with a smile. "Besides, with what's happening, this may be the last time that I am able to visit Hogsmeade."

James didn't answer. Smoothing down her skirt, Althea rose to her feet and headed toward the portrait hole.

"Wait, I'll come with you," Remus's familiar, slightly husky voice said. "I have to buy some things from Honeydukes to send back to my Mom."

Althea turned around and smiled at him, "Well then, come on Rem, we've got a lot to do."

The walk to Hogsmeade was a relatively quiet one, but Althea found that it wasn't really an awkward silence. It was more of a comfortable one. The air outside was bitingly cold, but it had not yet started to snow. Althea rubbed her hands together in an effort to retain warmth.

"Why didn't you wear your school robes?" Remus asked sounding a touch amused. "That would have kept you warm."

"I know," Althea defended, "but I never get to wear clothes like these, often when I'm at Hogwarts. For once, I wanted to dress like I normally do."

"Well you look nice, but for the sake of practicality school robes would have been better." Remus muttered. "But you still look nice," he added so as not to offend her.

Althea shrugged, brushing away his words. "Thank you for the kind words Remmy. It's okay that I call you that, right?"

He nodded, although his cheeks were suspiciously pink.

"So where to first?"

"Honeydukes."

She grabbed his hand and they were off.