Another of my quick-shots (aka my series of shorter daily one-shots)

"I'm telling you, she knows now. She's never going to talk to me again, and then she'll stop talking to you-"

"Moony. Shut up. She's not like that and you know it." James said, crossing his arms as he looked down at Remus, who was laying on his bed with a pillow over his face.

Sirius lifted his head from where he was laying on the floor, rolled his eyes at Remus, and let his head fall back onto the floor, "Look, Moony. I'm pretty much positive she's known since you two became Prefects and you couldn't do rounds, but only on full moons."

"She's more observant than you think. Give my girlfriend some credit, sheesh. Now, get out of your bed before I get a bucket of water."

"Come on, Moony. So what if she saw Madame Pomfrey escorting you back to the Hospital Wing. Padfoot's right, she probably already knew." Peter pointed out, causing Remus to groan.

"This is serious! I can't just brush this off like you guys can!" Remus was sitting up now. "You don't know what it's like!"

At this, Sirius shot off the floor, "Don't you dare claim I don't know what it's like. Have you forgotten that I'm a Black, but also a Gryffindor? My own family won't talk to me, and every time I introduce myself I have to say 'Don't worry, I'm not like my family.' so don't tell me I don't know what it's like. Now, stop moping, and get downstairs. Lily is still going to talk to you, and she's not going to break up with James because he's mates with you."

The room fell silent, James was staring at Sirius incredulously, Peter seemed to have shrunk by a few inches, and Remus' mouth had formed into a thin line before he silently got up and walked to the door. When he opened it, he was met by Lily, who had her hand raised, ready to knock.

When she saw Remus, she immediately threw her arms around him, "Oh, Remus, I'm so sorry. I mean, I've known for a while, but I figured you'd tell me if you wanted me to know. And when I saw you last night - I mean-"

"Lils. Let him breathe." James said with a smile, knowing she could have gone on for another half hour.

"Right. Sorry. Are you okay Remus?"

Before he could answer, James cut in, "Now, Remus. Tell me. Does that sound like she's ignoring you? Because it sounds to me like she's pretty concerned."

"Don't James. I'm fine Lily." Remus said.

"Then why does this room feel like I've stepped into the middle of a fight?" Lily had relaxed enough to feel the tension in the room.

Sirius snorted, "Because Remus is being an idiot."

"Real helpful Sirius. Can someone please explain what happened?"

"Remus was worried because you saw him coming in last night, and now he thinks you hate him."

Lily looked confused for a minute, "Wait. You think I would hate you just because. . ."

"He has a furry little problem?" James supplied as Lily hesitated.

She nodded, "Because if that's what you think then you're crazy. I've known about your. . . furry little problem since fifth year Remus. I mean, sure, it freaked me out at first, but you're still Remus. You just get a little crazy once in a while."

Remus remained silent, eyes down.

"Get it through your skull, Moony. You're not getting rid of any of us. Trust me, I've tried." Sirius said. "Now, we are all going to go downstairs for some breakfast, because I am hungry and Marlene will kill me if I blow her off. Again."

They all walked out, except Remus. Peter was the first to notice and went back for him. "Come on Moony. And stop looking so surprised that Lily isn't ignoring you. The last people that found out became Animagi for you. And none of us regret it."

The other three had just started walking back towards them and Lily had heard Peter, "You're WHAT?"

"Way to go, Pete," Remus mumbled.

Peter tried to take it back, "Oh nothing, really."

Lily ignored him, focusing on James, "I can't believe you four!" she lowered her voice, "That's extremely illegal."

"Ah, technically, it's just these three. I tried to talk them out of it, but you know how they are."

"Do you know how dangerous that was? You could've seriously hurt yourselves! Does anyone else know?"

"Just my dad. And we want to keep it that way. Just, please don't tell anyone."

"If it helps, we did it for Moony." Peter piped up.

Lily stared at them in shock, "How does becoming Animagi help Remus?"

James rubbed the bridge of his nose, "You're going to kill me."

"I've held off so far," Lily said, though there wasn't any humor in the banter.

"Well, we knew that Remus couldn't give us Lycanthropy as animals, because animals can't get it. So we became Animagi so that we could be with him while he was dealing with his furry little problem and we wouldn't be in any danger. Otherwise, he goes crazy locked up in the shack."

"It helps. It really does. It doesn't make it easy, but it makes it tolerable."

Lily looked completely exasperated, which was a far shot from what James had expected. "What in the world did I get myself into when I agreed to that date with you?"

"An exciting life. Besides, we were careful about it. We followed every direction and my dad helped with the more dangerous steps."

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" Peter asked.

Lily shook her head. "No, you did it for good reasons. I do have one question though."

"What?"

"What are each of you?"

James grinned, "How about we show you?"

Lily's eyes lit up, and she nodded, but Sirius stepped in, "Not now. I repeat. Marlene will kill me if I stand her up for the third time."

"Right, sorry Padfoot. How about you meet us in that empty classroom on the seventh floor at the end of the day?"

Lily nodded and the five of them finally went down to breakfast.

At the end of the day, Lily found herself staring at a stag, a dog, a rat, and an amused Remus. "Well, that explains the nicknames."

I love the Marauders so much.

~PH