Persons appear to us according to the light we throw upon them from our own minds. — Laura Ingalls Wilder

Chapter Eleven: (Un)likely New Friends

(For Elizabeth) Alternatively: The Sass is Strong with This One

Remus hadn't spoken to Lance since he had used magic to save his life in Leefside, and that had taken place almost a week ago. And while he trusted Lance to keep it to himself, he felt as though he needed to talk to him about it anyway, to make sure that he was comfortable with it and not about to go to James. James was going through enough without finding out that Remus had magic. Remus wasn't sure what his reaction would be, but he thought there was a good chance that it would push him over the edge.

There was also the fact that Remus quite liked his head attached to the rest of his body, and if the king were to learn of Remus's secret it would not stay attached to his body for very long. But the James issue was an important one as well.

He had tried to get Lance alone, staying late in the armory, as Lance always did, and he had even visited Hagrid, hoping to run into him. Lance was leaving earlier though and never around Hagrid's when Remus went. He was starting to feel as though Lance was avoiding him, and that made him nervous. You didn't avoid people that you were comfortable around. Or people whose secrets you were planning to keep.

Aside from worrying about the status of his bodily attachments, he also had Sirius to worry about. James had knighted him and not only was the king furious about this, but so was Sirius. Or at least he was pretending to be.

"Who does he think he is?" Sirius had said when he and Remus walked back to their room after training that first day. "He can't just make me be a knight. Don't I get a say in this at all?"

"You get to hit things with a sword for money, Sirius." Remus had said in a tired voice. "What part of that doesn't sound appealing to you?"

"That's not the point." He insisted. "I deserve to have a say in the matter."

Remus understood this, but only marginally so because the truth was, Sirius loved his new status. He and Arden had really hit it off, and the both of them spent almost every evening together in the tavern. He had bested all the knights that had challenged him, and laughed more than Remus thought was possible for him. Most of his animosity died off after a couple weeks, but even still, he was hell bent on staying angry with James.

This morning was much too dark, and that was all thanks to an extremely large snow cloud that had covered the entire sky for as far as anyone could see. James had canceled training because the snow had been coming down so thick that no one could see the ends of their swords by the time they had reached the field.

It was also cold. Very cold. James, Remus and Sirius were all huddled around the fireplace in the kitchen, holding their hands out to the flames and waiting for the cook to bring them baked potatoes to put in their pockets.

"It's fucking cold." Sirius said, his teeth chattering.

"I don't believe you." Remus said with an eye roll. "I think the real reason that we're all huddled around a fire in the middle of the morning is because we enjoy being so close to one another. Especially when only one of us baths regularly."

"No one asked for your wit." James said, rubbing his hands together and taking another step towards the fire. One more and his sleeves would be in danger of catching.

"You'd think I would be one of the ones that doesn't bath regularly, but no. It's the two of you. One of you will be king some day and you don't find it-"

"Keep it up, and I'm going to push you in the fire."

"We do smell bad." Sirius shrugged. "Besides, it's not Remus's fault. He gets cranky when he's cold."

"Shut up, Sirius."

"See?" James shook his head and tried not to smile. Remus had been noticing quite a bit of that lately. James and Sirius seemed as though they ought to get along fairly well to Remus, but they didn't seem to want to get along. Whenever they were doing something, or talking around one another and they did or said something that the other found amusing, they would just ignore it. Remus could understand why Sirius was behaving this way, Remus had done the same thing when he had started working for James, but if James would stop acting like such a prat around Sirius, he was sure the two of them would be friends in no time.

"Sire," One of the king's servants entered the kitchen and rushed up to James. "The king wishes to speak with you." Sirius sighed and picked his gloves up off the counter. James and Sirius may not be too keen each other, but they had taken to spending almost every hour of the day together. James had named Sirius his personal guard, and whether this was to upset Sirius or the king, Remus wasn't sure.

"Did he say what this was about?"

"No, sire. He only asked me to make sure that you came as quickly as possible."

"So it's urgent?" James asked.

"It sounded urgent, sire." The servant squirmed uncomfortably under James' gaze and Remus nudged him in the side.

"Alright, we're on our way."

Somehow the throne room was a comfortable temperature and Remus was, for once, glad to be summoned by the king. Until he opened his mouth at any rate.

"I wanted a word with my son, not a peasant and a drunk."

"Excuse me, your majesty," Sirius bowed his head. "But were you calling me a peasant and a drunk, or were you calling Remus a peasant and myself a drunk? Due to your lack of inflection, I couldn't tell." Remus's eyes went wide, but James laughed. Outright, and unabashed, he laughed. Sirius looked a bit surprised by that, but not more surprised than the king.

"Do you find that funny?" King Charles asked, tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair. James didn't try and hide his smile, he simply nodded. "Do you know what our enemies will find funny? The fact that my only son, heir to the throne, is spending all of his time with a couple of marauders. That you have taken it upon yourself to completely dismiss the laws that have governed this kingdom for centuries so that you can have some local legend and a commoner play at being knights. Do you even know the crimes that this disgraceful man has committed that ended with his banishment from Lorkeep?"

"Not in detail." James shrugged. "But you know something, I think that if I asked him, he would tell me. I don't think he would spin the truth so that it shows him in a positive light, or just blatantly lie about what actually happened. I think he would be honest with me."

"I don't like what you're implying, son."

"What did you want to talk to me about, father?" James asked, taking a deep breath and deflating slightly. The king looked between the three of them before taking a deep breath of his own and brushing imaginary dust from his robes.

"I need you to take a group of knights out to Godric's Hollow and take care of a situation that's come to my attention."

"What kind of situation?"

"There has been a blatant disregard for the law in town; magic used freely and openly being one of the worst offences. I would go out and take care of this myself, but I'm still not feeling up to travel, and I trust you to make the right decisions." He said that later half of the sentence a bit more tersely than the rest, but he didn't seem entirely insincere.

"What do you mean they're using magic freely? Why would they do that? They know how dangerous it is, don't they?"

"Apparently not." The king sighed, stood up and walked over to James, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I want you to be extra careful while you're there. It's been rumored that the woman who tried to assassinate you a few months is staying near the town. She already took the form of one friendly face, I don't want you to get fooled again."

"We were all foo- Alright, fine. I'll be careful. And besides, Remus will be coming along. He'll be there to push me out of the way of any more flying daggers that we happen across." The king looked over at Remus and huffed.

"Well, yes. Just be on the lookout. If anyone seems too interested-"

"I know dad. I'll be careful."

"I just don't-" He coughed and gave Remus the side eye. Remus sighed, took hold of Sirius's arm, and pulled him back a few steps to give the two royals a bit more privacy. Of course, both of them could still hear everything the king said, but he seemed to feel better about showing a bit of compassion with fewer people being close to him. "You're my only son, and I don't know what I would do if anything were to happen to you. I know that we don't always see eye to eye, and that we've been arguing quite a bit lately, but at the end of it all, I'm your father and I love you."

"I know, dad. I love you too."

They were headed down to the armory shortly after that. Remus wasn't sure what was going to happen when they got to Godric's Hollow, but he found himself very uneasy about the whole thing. He didn't want to see James use violence and force against people like him, because he didn't want their friendship to be ruined, but he knew that if James did try to execute any of the wizards in Godric's Hollow and they hadn't done anything that should warrant such a finite punishment, Remus would stop him by whatever means necessary. He would not allow James to spill innocent blood, even if that meant outing himself as a wizard.

"They blame me for my brother's death." Sirius said unexpectedly as they were walking down the stairs. Remus's mind jerked as he switched gears. "My parents, my aunts and uncles; they banished me because they thought that I was responsible for his death. And they should, if I had made different choices, he would still be alive." James looked more than a little shocked to hear this piece of news, but Remus was more interested in why Sirius was telling James at all, he had never even told Remus. He had heard it from Dumbledore.

"You didn't need to tell me." James' voice was choppy. "If I thought that I needed to know, I would have asked you."

"I know." Sirius said. "I just- Thanks for standing by me back there."

James nodded, understanding this sudden shift in their relationship. "I understand that my father isn't the greatest man in the world. He can be narrow minded and difficult."

"Can I ask you something?" Sirius asked, pushing open the door to the armory. "Why did you make me a knight? I couldn't have been the best candidate for the job."

"I've never seen anyone fight with a sword like you do. Or with your fists for that matter." James shrugged. "I also thought your knowledge of Bella would be useful." He started packing a sack of weapons and gear, Sirius and Remus did the same. "And Remus said that you were trustworthy."

"Did he now?" Sirius asked, sounding uninterested, but he was smiling.

"Definitely not." Remus smirked. "James misheard me. I said that you were more likely to pass out at the foot of my bed when I'm going off to work than anyone I know."

"I did that once. And you should have seen the lass Remus…"

"No."

"That's all you have to-"

"We've talked about this." Remus sighed, shoving an extra pair of leather gloves into his pack. "Now, we need to think about how we are going to keep from freezing."

oOoOo

Lily was at Hagrid's when she heard that James was headed out on some expedition with a handful of Knights and guards. The large man, quite reasonably so, had a large fireplace, and a small house. It was the warmest place that she had been able to think of.

"I'm real glad that you've been able ta' visit me so much." Hagrid said, pouring Lily a second cup of tea and pushing a plate of burnt scones towards her. She and Mary, who was seated at her left, had taken to calling them 'rock cakes.'

Mary and her had been grouped together, a bit reluctantly so on both sides, when Dory and Marlene decided that they were going to accompany Lance on whatever mission that James was going on. It had been strange enough when there were four girls there, because Lily had judged them all rather quickly and decided that she didn't like them, which they all worked out when they had run into each other a few days ago.

Lily not having a job now left her with a lot of free time, something that she hadn't had in years. And now she found that she only had one place to go, Hagrid's. She was positive that it would have worked out great if Hagrid hadn't opened his doors to Lance and the girls, making Lily the odd one out, even though she had lived in Camelot, and known Hagrid, her entire life. All of that seemed to count for nothing when the three other girls had decided to gang up on her and use their newfound friendship with Lily's old friend against her.

Marlene and Dory were gone now, and Dory had been the worst offender when it came to the subtle game of, 'make Lily feel unwelcomed.' Mary didn't seem to mind the company so much, and Lily was starting to think that maybe she had been too harsh on these girls in the first place. At least too harsh on Mary.

Mary was a couple years older than Lily, and so far had given her very little personal information about herself. Lily had no idea where she was from, who her parents were, if she had any siblings, or even any interesting hobbies. She was witty though. And she had a short fuse, which made menial things seem entertaining.

When Hagrid had stumbled while carrying his scones to the table, one of them fell off his skillet and onto Mary's lap. It had signed her skirt, he apologized, and that should have been the end of it. However, Mary had stood up, yelled at him for being careless and then spent the next half hour teaching him the proper way to carry hot food across a room, making him practice alongside her. It started off embarrassing to watch, because Mary had been rather harsh, but by the end of the lesson, Lily's sides were hurting from laughing so hard. Somehow Hagrid had ended up trying to follow Mary's instructions while balancing a book on his head and blindfolded.

"Why didn't you want to go with Lance and the lot?" Lily asked, putting a few spoonful's of sugar into her tea. She didn't normally do this, but even Hagrid's tea had a strange burnt taste to it.

"We find that people get annoyed if we all follow him around all the time." Mary shrugged. "So we take turns."

"It seems like Marlene is always going along with Lance. Does she not know that yur' takin' turns?" Hagrid asked.

Mary laughed, and shrugged her shoulders. "Marlene and Lance… Well, let's just say you can't have one without the other. Dory and I appreciate this and don't fight her on it."

"So Marlene and Lance are together?" Lily asked.

"Almost always." Mary nodded. "It can be annoying sometimes. When we're all traveling together."

"I feel like I could settle a few bets now." Lily took a sip of her tea and tried not to wince. She added too much sugar, and now it was just burnt sugar water, which was worse than the burnt tea taste.

"Where're they all headed off to, anyhow?" Hagrid asked, tipping back his bucket of a cup, looking as though he thoroughly enjoyed his tea. Lily shook her head.

"Godric's Hollow." Mary said, "Apparently there's a bunch of wizards having a good time and the king wants them all dead."

"You don't sound as though ya agree." Hagrid said. Lily started tapping her fingers along the sides of her cup. She looked down into her mug and felt uncomfortable. She did not want to associate with people who spoke down to the king, and if Hagrid was going to do that…

"Magic is a crime." Mary said, "I know that. But it shouldn't be. Magic can be wonderfully helpful, and beautiful. But the king messed with fire, and now he is punishing everyone and I don't think that's fair."

"It's not just that he messed with fire," Hagrid said solemnly. "About twenty years ago, he and the queen found out that they could never have children. They were too old, and had missed their opportunity, but that wasn't sittin' right with them. They needed an heir. So they went to a witch who told them that with magic, they could have a kid'o their own.

Witch forgot to mention that to bring a life into the world that wasn't meant to be, would require a life in its place. The king got his son, but he lost his wife."

"That's horrible." Lily clenched her fists and shifted in her seat. "Does James know that?"

"I don't know." Hagrid shrugged. "He might. The king had to tell him something to explain why they cut off the heads of anyone who even looks to be doin' magic."

"That would be a terrible thing to tell your child." Mary scrunched up her face. "M'Sorry your mum's dead, now I go around and chop off innocent people's heads because I had a bad run in with one evil sorcerous.'"

"I'm sure the king phrased it differently." Lily sighed, resting her chin on her hand. Mary and Hagrid both looked at Lily and then started laughing. "What?" Lily asked, sitting up straight.

"It's nothin'." Hagrid waved her away.

"Except you kept giving all of us the stink eye for saying anything even remotely negative about the king," Mary picked up her glass and nodded it in Lily's direction. "Even though it's obvious that you're not too fond of our great and noble leader either."

"I do not have to be fond of him to know that there are certain things that one should not say about him. Whether you like it or not, he is our king, and we must show him respect." Mary laughed again. "I meant what I said." Lily said harshly, tightening her grip around her teacup. "The king can be harsh, but he has done the people of this land a number of good things."

"None that immediately come to mind-"

"Stop that." Lily said harshly. Hagrid had the decency to look ashamed, while Mary just propped her feet up on a nearby stool and gave Lily a challenging look. "Forget the king for a moment; what would happen to the two of you if one of the king's guard were to walk by and hear you talking like this? If you think he is as awful as you seem to, do you think he will let you just walk around continuing to say such things? You laugh at me because I am cautious, but I have worked in the castle for a very long time. I have seen people get sent away for saying far less offensive things that what I've heard you say."

Mary's feet fell back to the floor and she sat upright. "Sent away."

"Banished, beheaded, whatever you'd like to imagine and then some. Some poor girl who still works in the dish room had her tongue removed for saying that she didn't understand why magic was so dangerous. That was it. That was all she said and now she is incapable of ever speaking again." This was only a rumor, one that could neither be confirmed nor denied since the only person who knew the truth was unable to communicate it, but Lily thought the story packed a punch and couldn't be that far from the truth anyway.

"You could have explained that to us earlier." Mary said, looking more put out than anything. "We wouldn't have talked about you so badly behind your back."

"Yes well- Wait. What?"

"We thought you were just being a good little servant girl, that you liked the king or hated magic just as he does, but that's not it at all." Mary reached out and put her hand on top of Lily's, an amused look and a smirk forming quickly. "You're just surviving, aren't you? Learned what you have to do within the castle walls to keep you and your family safe? I admire you for that. But we're in the middle of a farm with no one around for miles. There's a horse-sized dog guarding the door and a giant sized man guarding us. I feel that we could say whatever we wished about the king, and no one would ever hear it. We're safe here."

Lily thought about that for a moment. She looked out the window and could hardly see the main road from where she sat. And all the noise that she could almost never get out of her head at home was only a distant buzzing. She looked over at Hagrid and he nodded.

"'Sides little lass, I'd sooner let Fang have someone than let anything happen to you." Lily smiled at him.

oOoOo

The princes' guard, which consisted of Sirius, Arden, Amos, Frank, Fabian and Gideon, had decided against staying the night within the town of Godric's Hallow and instead stayed just outside the stonewall that marked its limits, in the forest.

"Reminds me of when I first met you, Lance." Sirius said, nudging the other man in the side. "And when I was reintroduced to you, Dory. I'm very glad that one of those things happened." Dory rolled her eyes, but otherwise, did not acknowledge the remark.

"Should I go and fetch us some firewood, your highness?" She asked instead, giving James a quick curtsy.

"Yes, that would be good." James nodded. "Take Remus with you though. We're going to put the horses away."

Remus almost thanked James for being considerate, but changed his mind at the last second. He doubted James had made that call with the fact that Remus didn't like horses in mind, and if he did thank him, James might make him put all the horses up for the night by himself. Instead, he just followed Dory deeper into the woods and started collecting firewood. Dory however, did not seem too grateful to have someone helping her.

"So what did these wizards do?" Dory asked, sounding exactly how Remus felt. Uneasy and a bit angry.

"They practiced magic." Remus muttered, giving a hard tug at a log that wasn't too keen to be separated from the frozen ground.

"Shite." Dory swore, dropping her logs to the ground and kicked at a tree stump. "That's shite." Remus gave up on the log and looked up at her.

"It's the law." He said. He cocked his head to the side and suddenly felt as though he and Dory were feeling exactly the same when it came to this subject.

"There are quite a few laws that shouldn't exist. This is just one of them. And it's too bloody cold for this." She gave her robes a tug and then bent over to pick the logs back up.

"You're not against magic?" Remus asked, bending down and helping her gather the logs.

"Hardly." She laughed. "It'd be quite useful right about now."

"Agreed." Remus said thoughtfully, standing up and then helping Dory to her feet.

"I'm glad you think so." Dory sighed. "Does this mean you're not a stark raving nutter, like the king?"

"I don't think anyone is quite like the king." Remus sighed. "Though, some people seem to be rather scared."

"They don't even know what magic is!" Dory cried.

"I didn't mean to say that they're afraid of magic, but they certainly fear the king."

"Right." Dory nodded. "You're right. They do fear him. Because whenever someone is suspected of practicing magic, he chops off their bloody head! No trial is held, no evidence is even needed, just his bloody word!"

"You know someone with magic, don't you?" Remus asked, carefully prodding further than he should. Dumbledore would warn him to keep his mouth shut and too many people knew already. Dory's head shot up and she looked at him with wide eyes.

Remus watched the words turn around in her head, until quite deliberately, she said, "I used to know someone with magic. They saved my life on more than one occasion."

He wasn't sure if it was the way she had said that, or if he was hearing what he wanted to hear, but he was certain that Dory had magic.

"Well since neither of us practices magic, we should get back to camp before everyone freezes." Remus said. She smiled at him, a very tight lipped smile, and nodded. And that's when a second possibility came to Remus. It was more likely that Dory didn't have magic, and that Lance had told her that Remus had magic. That would explain why she had been so eager to prove that she didn't think magic was a crime, because she wanted him to trust her. And with Lance avoiding Remus, Dory was his best bet, especially while he had her alone in the middle of the woods. "Wait, Dory?"

She turned to face him, her teeth now chattering together.

"Did Lance tell you anything?" Dory's brow narrowed and she nodded.

"Lance tells me all sorts of things. Anything specific, or can we go back and make a fire?"

"About Leefside?" Dory shifted from one foot to the other and shrugged.

"He told me that it had been a distraction… Should he have told me something else?"

Remus sighed and shook his head. "You're just not an easy person to read."

"You do realize that I'm going to have to go and talk to Lance now? Ask him what you're going on about."

"That's fine. Tell him I'd like to speak with him as well." She may know something, but it didn't seem like she had been lying. And she didn't really have much need to either. Maybe she did have magic; that would explain why Lance had been so accepting when he found out that Remus had magic.

"What took you two so long?" James asked as soon as they entered camp.

"All the wood was frozen to the ground." Dory said, dropping her armload near a pit that someone had cleared out. Remus did the same and then knelt down to get the fire started. "I'll start the fire." Dory said.

"Dory does have a special knack for starting fires." Lance took a seat behind Remus and tapped him on the back, as though telling him to get back so Dory could do it.

"I've never seen anyone start a fire faster than Remus." James laughed, sitting down next to Lance. "One of the few things he's good at, really." Magic, Remus thought, was a wonderful thing.

He picked up the flint and within seconds, a few sparks had caused the kindling to catch and before long, they had a roaring fire. The knights gathered round and held their hands up to the wicked flames.

"Told you he was fast." James sounded almost smug when he nudged Lance's side. Remus rolled his eyes, he didn't much care for James thinking of him as property, but he was still somewhat pathetically pleased that James was proud of him for something. Even if he had sort of cheated by using magic.

"I can do it just as fast." Dory sulked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I bet you can." Remus murmured to himself, now almost entirely sure that Dory had magic of her own.

"I'm sure you can, Doe." Sirius said aloud, mollifying her with a few pats on the back.

"Shove it, Black."

"Oi, watch it. I'm a member of the princes' elite guard. You can't talk to me like that anymore."

"Shove it, Sire." She corrected, causing everyone around the fire to laugh. Dory continued to try and look annoyed, but Remus saw the corners of her lips twitch upward.

"So, what's the plan for tomorrow?" Lance asked, shrugging his shoulders and readjusting his helmet.

"Lance," James said in a gentle tone. "It's freezing out, mate. The metal armor-"

"I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine."

"I don't know if I agree." Dory muttered. "Your nose is going to fall off."

"No one will ever know." Sirius shrugged. "We've never seen his face anyway. For all I know, he doesn't have a nose."

"I just want you to know that you are a member of our family, and we will accept you no matter what. I'd rather find out some dark secret tonight than wake to find you frozen to death in the morning." Dory let out a humorless laugh and Lance just shook his head.

"I wish could believe you, your majesty." He sighed. "But I know that if I take off my helmet, everything I've worked for will have been for nothing."

"And I know that you feel that way," James said. "I know that your mask conceals something extremely dangerous or revealing in some way and I let you fight beside me. I trust you with my life and the lives of my people every time that we go out together. I only wish that you would grant me the same trust in return."

Lance was quiet for a moment, and Remus thought that he was considering the Princes' words. Lance shifted a bit where he sat and then started to raise his arm.

"Are you mad!" Dory screeched, reaching out and yanking Lance's arm back down. "I know you're cold, but your brain must have frozen over if you think for a moment they'll still let you be a knight-"

"The Prince is right, Dory." Lance pulled his arm away from her, and stood up. "He has trusted me, and for every moment I continue to conceal myself, I am betraying that trust." Remus felt a sharp pang of guilt rattle through him, and wasn't sure if he imagined it or if Lance actually had glanced in his direction.

Dory stood up as well and drew her sword. Before Remus could react, the rest of the knights were on their feet, swords drawn as well.

"Lower your weapons." Lance said, putting his hands up and turning his back to Dory. "You will not harm her."

"She drew her weapon first." James said. "Ours will stay up until hers comes down."

"Dory, please." Lance pleaded, turning back to face her. "Don't you see how much simpler things would be?"

"Of course they'd be simpler, we'd all be kicked out on our arses."

"I don't believe that."

"Yes you do. If you didn't, you wouldn't be arguing with me. You'd just take off your helmet."

"You've drawn your sword on me, Dorcas."

"Oh, we're using full names now? Well, Lancelot, I'm sorry that your conscious has finally caught up with you, but it's a bit late to tell the truth now." Dory said, her voice desperate. "It's not just your head that you have to look out for anymore."

"You and Mary came along with me, knowing the risks-"

"Came along with you?" Dory laughed. "We saved your life, you dunderhead. Or did you forget that part? We saved your life, and if you take off your helmet… that's it. It's all over. Everything that we've all worked for is over."

"What do you mean?" James asked, his sword lowering slightly. Remus could tell by the look on his face that his mind was racing.

"I mean that you'll kick us out if he takes off his helmet!"

"No," James shook his head, his sword lowering even more. "You said that everything you've all worked for… What exactly have you and Mary been working for?"

"Look, James," Sirius had lowered his sword completely by now, and was leaning up against it. "I know what you're thinking but-"

"Hush. Tell me what you meant." The whole forest seemed to fall silent as Dory looked from Lance to James. When she didn't say anything, James took a step forward and raised his sword to proper height. "A few weeks ago, someone burned down a town to get me and the knights away from the castle, but I never worked out who had done it, or why. Unless you want me to believe you guilty for these crimes, I suggest you speak up, girl."

"I can assure you-" James silenced Lance.

"Oh come now," Dory sighed, putting her own sword down. "All I meant was that Mary and I have been working extremely hard to make sure that you and your knights don't bully him into doing something really stupid. We've also worked hard to train him to be as good as he is. When Mary and I found him, he could hardly lace his own boots, let alone fight half a dozen men at once."

Sirius laughed at this. "You mean to tell me that little Miss priss and Mary taught Lancelot how to sword fight?" Dory crossed her arms over her chest and jutted her jaw out.

"Just because you never saw me doing something doesn't mean that I didn't do it. My father would have had my head if he knew that I liked to sword fight, so I practiced in secret. I'm really rather good."

"I have no doubt." Sirius said, his voice patronizing.

"You think I lie?" Dory narrowed her eyes. "Ask Lance yourself if you don't believe me."

"You've already discredited his word." Sirius shrugged. "Apparently, whatever he's hiding under his helmet is so horrible that James would punish all of you if he were to show his face."

"Mary and Dory did help me a great deal." Lance said, his helmet dropping a bit. He seemed to be deflating. "And they did save my life as well. I owe them much for everything that they have given up, for everything that they have done for me. If Dorcas wishes me to keep my helmet on, I have to oblige her request."

"Oblige her request…" Sirius laughed. "Yes, I suppose if you don't want her to run you through, you will have to do as she asks."

"That's enough, Sirius." James said curtly. "You may do as you please, Sir Lancelot. Maybe it is Dorcas that I should be attempting to win over." He smiled at Dory, who rolled her eyes and sat back down, putting her hands out towards the fire.

"You've already shattered any chance of my being alright with Lance removing his helmet."

"May I ask how I managed that?" James asked, following her lead and sitting down himself. The rest of the knights put their swords away and sat as well.

"Between you spiting the word 'girl' at me as though it were an insult and Sirius calling me 'Miss Priss,' I'm not too fond of anyone here at the moment." James sighed and reached out to put his hand on Dory's knee. She immediately stood up again. "I am not weak, your majesty. I do not require your chivalry." She turned towards Lance. "I know that you are cold, and I don't wish you to freeze to death. Let's go and set up camp a little ways off, where you would be safe removing your helmet."

James did not try and stop them as they left the camp and started into the woods. He did not try and defend his actions, or prove Dory wrong. Instead he watched them leave, a slight smile on his face.

"What is it, James?" Remus asked.

"I just don't understand her." He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "How can she go from so angry about something to mother hen like that?"

Soon after, the knights turned in so that they would be well rested when they rode into town in the morning. Remus waited until he knew that they were asleep and then got up and walked in the direction that he had seen Lance and Dory go. It didn't take him long to find them, they had a fire of their own, and it looked as though both of them were still awake. Remus was still quite a ways off, but he could tell that Lance didn't have his helmet on. He couldn't see much, but he was fairly confident that he could confirm Lance was blonde.

Walking up to the camp and finally seeing whatever it was that the knight was hiding crossed his mind for a brief moment, but he hadn't said anything about Remus being a wizard to anyone as far as he knew. So instead, he wrapped his scarf around his head, so that he could only see his feet, and announced himself to the both of them.

"What are you doing, Remus?" Dory asked, getting up from her seat near the fire and walking over to help escort him into their camp. Remus heard the clanking of metal and squeezed Dory's hand.

"You don't have to put your helmet back on." He said, hoping that he was facing Lance's direction.

"Oh, I'm not." Lance said, his voice sounding different than Remus had ever heard it. Though this was the first time he was hearing Lance without the helmet muffling him. "I trust you. If Dory was alright with it, I'd let you take off your blindfold."

"Because of something that happened in Leefside, right?" Dory huffed, sitting next to Remus, keeping hold of one of his arms. "Since when do you and I keep secrets from one another?" Remus couldn't see what was going on, but he was almost certain that Dory was talking to Lance, and giving him an annoyed look.

"When they aren't our secrets to share." Lance said, sounding determinedly patient.

"I have magic." Remus blurted out. That wasn't how he intended to break the ice, but it was out there now. There was a sharp intake of breath from Dory, and her grip on his arm tightened.

"The fire- but I watched you. You didn't use any spell."

"I don't need spells." Remus said. "I was born with magic. I can just do it."

"That's not how it works." Dory released his arms and then pulled off his blindfold, keeping her hands on each side of his face so that he had to look at her. "That's not how magic works."

"Not normally." Remus said, reaching up and laying a hand atop hers. "But I'm telling the truth."

"Prove it." She said. "Make something happen." Remus moved back, and went to turn forward. "Keep looking at me though. Don't look at Lance." Remus nodded and looked around behind Dory. There was a frozen flower bud lying not too far from her. He reached out a hand and summoned it towards him. Once he had caught it in his open hand, he held it out before Dory and willed it to bloom. She gasped when it did, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Dory," Lance asked quietly. "Do you have magic as well?"

"Hush Lance," Dory sighed, reaching back for Remus's face. "You're him, aren't you?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're him: Emrus. We've been looking for you, and all this time you've been right under our noses. Oh! Just wait until I tell Mary!"

"So you do have magic." Lance said, standing up and taking a step towards them. Remus turned his head further towards the woods and Dory laughed. She reached over and pulled his head towards her, planting a kiss on his forehead.

"You can look now. I'm sorry that I told you that you couldn't before. I had no right to do that." Remus was more confused than he had ever been.

"You trust him because…" Lance laughed. "Alright. Have a look, Remus. But you should know, Dory, that later you and I are going to have a talk later about trust and hypocrisy."

Remus tried to steel himself for whatever he was about to see, but when he turned around and laid eyes on Lancelot's face for the first time, he didn't think it would have been possible to prepare himself for what he saw.

"Marlene?"

AN: So, you have my roommate Elizabeth to thank for this chapter being posted. I was being lazy and didn't want to edit, but she started reading this story and made sure that I got motivated.

Anyway, leave me some reviews, you all know how much I like them.