A/N: Longest chapter yet! And quite a bit of drama. En joy!

Chapter Dedications: CrazyMuggleborn44, mekio777, running . with . wolves, pihead08, and EvilHusky. Thanks for reviewing and the like.

Chapter Fifteen

The next few weeks flew by. Rain had set herself a schedule of sorts, what with all of the extra curricular things she had going on. On Mondays and Fridays, Rain would tutor Regulus in Charms, on Wednesdays, Sirius and James would continue to teach Rain how to cast a Patronus, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she would study in the library with Remus and Lily, then after dinner, she would learn how to fly with either James or Regulus.

Sirius and Regulus were getting along much better as of late and as a result, James had halted his complaints of Regulus' presence during flying lessons. Rain had even heard the brothers having a friendly conversation in the corridors a few days after her first Patronus lesson . She had been about to leave them to it, when she heard her name mentioned. She stopped behind a suit of armour and listened.

"So, you're friends with Rain, eh?" said Sirius mildly.

"Yeah," said Regulus. "She hasn't got many of those."

"You're not just befriending her out of pity are you?" Sirius asked protectively. "Because I won't have that."

"Of course not!" snapped Regulus indignantly. "What kind of person do you think I am?"

"Well no offense, brother, but you do tend to spew out mother's teachings like holy writ."

"It's true, I've done that in the past. But I'm starting to see that mother isn't always right, and as a result, I've formulated my own opinions about Muggleborns."

"And those are?"

"That the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant, but what you do with your life is what makes a difference. I can see that just because her parents are Muggles, doesn't make her any less a human being with emotions and a will of her own. And a brilliant witch to boot."

Sirius then surprised Regulus and Rain by throwing his arms around his little brother. "I have never been more proud of you, Reg."

After that, Sirius and Regulus were closer than they had been in years. They would chat when passing each other in the corridors, meet in the library, on the rare occasions that Sirius would go in there, and talk about assignments. They wouldn't sit at the same house tables, however, as house rivalry was at an all time high, though Rain sat at the Slytherin table every day at lunch to spend time with Regulus, while eating breakfast and dinner with her fellow Marauders at the Gryffindor table.

Her fellow Slytherins had not ceased their continuous taunting of her, even in the last three-plus weeks they had to become accustomed to having a Muggleborn in their midst, but Rain was no longer concerned about their opinions. Instead, she was just now sending an owl off to Dustin as her weekly promise, but also to request certain items she needed to pull of the latest prank she had come up with.

If all went well, she could pull it off by Hallowe'en. This time, Rain had deemed it necessary to humiliate Lucius Malfoy. When asked by Remus what crime he had committed, Rain replied "He has gotten on my bad side." Rain's bad side was not a place anyone wanted to be. When she was angry, the Marauders could easily understand why she had been put into Slytherin, though they would never say such a thing out loud.

After sending off one of the school's owls, Rain headed down to the dungeons for her Monday Potions class with the Gryffindors. She got there with some time to spare and gathered with her classmates outside the door. She suddenly noticed that someone was missing.

"Where's Remus?" Rain asked the other Marauders.

"His aunt is ill," said James.

"What again?" she asked in surprise.

"She's a rather sickly person," said Sirius. "She gets ill a lot."

"Poor woman," said Rain. "I hope she gets better soon."

The boys said nothing.

...

Later, at lunch, Rain was sitting next to Regulus, enjoying a couple of peanut butter sandwiches.

"You know," said Regulus thoughtfully. "Sometimes I wonder if Lupin is just using his aunt's sickness as an excuse to skip classes."

"Remus would never do that," said Rain in defence of her friend. "He's far too involved in his studies."

"Oh yeah, you're right," he said taking a bite of his sandwich. "D'you think he has a pet?"

"What?" Rain was completely bewildered at the sudden switch of topic. "Who?"

"Lupin," he said as if it were obvious. "I dunno why, but it's been bothering me a while. Potter said something the other day about Lupin's 'furry little problem' to Sirius. I imagine that he has a kneazle in his house."

Rain laughed. "That's a class XXX magical animal, you can't own one without a license."

"What if his parents have a license?" he countered, smiling.

"But he's half-blood, his mother is a Muggle," said Rain. "His father would never be able to get a license with a Muggle in the house."

"Oh right," said Regulus. "I forgot about that. In that case, I believe he must own a very poorly behaved rabbit."

Rain burst out laughing at this, causing several disgusted stares to be directed at her from up the Slytherin table.

...

Later that night, Rain couldn't sleep. The light from the moon was shining through the light green curtains around her bed. Sighing, she got up and padded barefoot across the dormitory to close the thicker curtains at the window.

It was as she was about to pull the curtains shut, that she caught sight of the offending object hanging in the sky. That's why it was so bright, she though. The the full moon lit up the grounds quite brightly. If it wasn't keeping her awake, she might think it was beautiful. That being said, she pulled the curtains closed and went back to bed.

As she pulled her covers up, she heard a long howl in the distance. She remembered with a shiver the rumours around the school that werewolves lived in the Forbidden Forest. It was the full moon after all. Trying to put this from her mind, Rain rolled over and fell asleep.

As she slept that night, Rain had a rather horrifying dream.

The full moon was high and she was running for her life, a large furry beast with sharp teeth was hard on her heels. She tripped on a fallen branch and her face became acquainted with the ground. As she tried to scramble to her feet, she was knocked down again by a heavy animal. She rolled over and came face to snout with a huge brown wolf with bright amber eyes. The wolf lifted its head to the moon and howled in victory.

Rain snapped awake as the dormitory door slammed shut behind her dorm mates. Shaking with the remnants of her nightmare, she quickly got dressed and headed up to the Great Hall for breakfast.

She dropped into the unoccupied seat next to Remus, who had obviously returned sometime that morning as he looked like he hadn't slept at all. Rain numbly ate her toast as James and Sirius talked.

"You look like you got just a little more sleep than me," Remus commented, taking in the bags under Rain's eyes caused by her nightmare.

"Nightmare," she said listlessly.

"I'm sorry," he said sympathetically. "Pumpkin juice?"

Rain looked up to smile gratefully at her friend but instead found herself locked with his amber coloured eyes. She stared in horror, these were the same eyes that belonged to the beast that chased her in her nightmare. She shook all over and failed to notice when Sirius called her name.

Remus was staring in bewilderment at the newest Marauder. He couldn't understand where that look was coming from. She looked...terrified.

Finally Rain snapped out of it and noticed all of her friends' concern.

"Are you alright, Rain?" James asked.

"F-fine," she stammered. "It's n-nothing."

"What was that all about?" Peter asked.

"Nothing," Rain said with a bit more confidence, like she was trying to convince herself. "We should get going, we have Defence in few minutes."

With that, she got up with her knapsack and hurried out of the hall.

...

The Slytherins had Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Gryffindors this year, and normally, Rain was thrilled about that as her house mates were not the most supportive, especially in that class, but right now, she didn't really care. Her mind was filled with images from her nightmare and she couldn't let go of how much Remus' eyes looked alike to the wolf in her dream.

She sat down in Defence in her usual seat and waited for the class to begin. When everyone was seated, Professor Ianto called the class to order.

"I have a very special lesson for you all today," he said. "If you will all please stand and take out your wands."

The class stood, taking out their wands and murmuring excitedly at the prospect of a practical lesson. After they were all on their feet, Ianto waved his wand and all the desks and chairs slid up against the walls of their own accord. He waved his wand a second time and a large trunk slid out from under his own desk and settled in the center of the room, where it jumped and rattled.

"In this box is a Boggart," Ianto explained.

Rain paled, several other students who knew what that was, gasped in shock or murmured amongst themselves. When everyone had settled down, Ianto explained what a Boggart was to those who didn't know and then instructed them on how to fight it.

"It helps if you remember that even though it is taking the shape of your worst fear, it is only an illusion," Ianto suggested. "Now I would like you all to think of what scares you most and then think of a way to make it funny."

Rain thought about what frightened her most but the only thing she could come up with was the wolf from her dream, but how could she make an over-sized wolf with very large teeth and an instinct to kill funny? It suddenly dawned on her that the wolf from her dream probably wasn't an ordinary wolf. The full moon was out an those eyes looked too human. Rain shivered.

"Alright, everyone ready?" asked Ianto.

I'm not! Rain wanted to say, but everyone else was nodding in determination.

"Pettigrew," Ianto said turning to Peter who squeaked in surprise. "What scares you most?"

"D-dragons," he stammered.

"Okay, best not have you tackle this one then, eh?" Ianto said nervously. "Don't want to burn the castle down. Nott? What are you afraid of?"

Stephan Nott, a Slytherin student Rain quite disliked, looked quite displeased at being asked such a question but answered anyway with "Devil's Snare."

"A respectable fear," said Ianto. "Why don't you start us off then? Everyone else, I would like you to stand against the walls and I will call you up one by one to have a shot at the Boggart. Pettigrew, you stand over there, in that corner."

Nott stood in front of the box, wand at the ready. Ianto flicked his wand and the box flew open as large vines burst forth and coiled towards Nott. He seemed frozen for a moment, fear gripping him as the plant wove around his leg, he struggled to free himself, and appeared to be panicking before he remembered his wand.

"Riddikulus!" he cried. And the plant turned into yarn and fell off him. Some of the class giggled.

"Well done, Nott!" said Ianto. "Potter, your turn."

James stepped up, looking determined. In an instant, the yarn on the floor turned into a three-foot tall hairy beast with five legs. A couple of student's who knew what this was, let out yelps of fear, and James backed away slowly, wand in hand, shaking.

What James was facing was called a Quintaped, quite deadly and class XXXXX creature.

"Riddikulus!" he shouted, pointing his wand at the advancing beast. Said beast then got stuck in an over sized mousetrap.

"Brilliant, Potter!" cried Ianto. "Lupin, you next."

Remus stepped forward with some trepidation. The Quintaped and the mousetrap vanished, and in their place, floating at eye level, was a glowing white orb. Rain stared at the orb in confusion. Why was this scary?

"Riddikulus!" he said calmly.

The orb turned into a bouncy ball that bounced it's way around the room. Slowing down in it's bounce, the ball rolled straight towards Rain. Her eyes widened in horror as the ball began to expand and the students around her dashed to the other side of the room to avoid her Boggart.

Rain slowly backed away as the ball took on the shape of the beast from her nightmare. Soon, standing directly in front of her, in the middle of the day with no full moon, was a werewolf. She tried not to move or make a sound, but she couldn't stop the whimper that escaped her.

The wolf whipped it's head around, amber eyes staring right at her. Suddenly, it turned its head to the sky and howled before launching itself at Rain.

"No!" cried a voice.

Rain waited for the impact, for the wolf to sink it's teeth into her and rip her apart, but it didn't come. She looked up from her place on the floor, where she had fallen. There stood Remus, blood pouring down his left arm, wand in his right, and the Boggart was in front of him in the form of the orb. Having a closer vantage point, Rain realized that the orb in question was actually the moon. The full moon.

Professor Ianto came forward and forced the Boggart back into the box, then turned to the class.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black," he said. "Would you please take Mr. Lupin and Miss Bone to the hospital wing?"

Both boys nodded and helped lead their friends up to the hospital wing, Remus cradling his arm which was still severely bleeding, and James supporting Rain who was in shock, still seeing the werewolf flying at her.

When they arrived, Sirius helped Remus to lie down on one of the cots while James helped Rain do the same.

Hearing people enter, the matron, Madame Pomfrey came in to see what the matter was.

"Oh my goodness!" she cried in shock, spotting the state Remus was in. "What happened?"

"We were in Defence Against the Dark Arts class and we were fighting a Boggart," said James hurriedly. "He jumped to protect Rain from her Boggart because she wasn't moving."

"And what was her Boggart?" Madame Pomfrey asked as she saw to Remus' wounds.

"Werewolf," Rain muttered. Everyone looked at her. "It was a werewolf..."

Her eyes were blank and she was still shaking.

"Mr. Lupin will be just fine," said Madame Pomfrey gently. "I can heal this in only a minute."

And with that, she began to wave her wand over the horrible gash in Remus' arm. Rain thought she was going to be sick. This was her fault, she should have done something. But she had been so scared, she just froze up.

"I would like to keep you both for observation tonight," Madame Pomfrey said and then turned to James and Sirius. "I believe you both have classes to attend. You can come and see your friends after you get done with you lessons."

The boys gave their friends a sad wave and left.

"Here you go, dear," Pomfrey said, handing Rain a cup of some foul-smelling liquid. "It will help with the shock."

After Rain choked down the awful potion, Pomfrey left to her office, telling both her and Remus to get some rest.

Rain turned to look at Remus. "I'm so sorry, Remus," she said, tears in her eyes.

"It's not your fault," he said, not looking at her.

"But I should have moved or done something, this is all my fault."

"It's not your fault," Remus said without emotion. "Anyone would have been terrified in your position."

"Remus, are you alright?" Rain asked, noticing his lack of vocal emotion.

"Fine," he stated.

What could be bothering him? Then it hit her what Madame Pomfrey had said earlier; "Mr. Lupin will be just fine." Why would he be fine after bing bitten by a werewolf? Wouldn't he become a werewolf? That wasn't Rain's idea of fine.

Then it hit her. Remus has been missing for the last two full moons, his nickname was Moony, his Boggart turned into the full moon, and James had said something about his "furry little problem", that was exactly what Rain had called being a werewolf only a month ago.

"Remus?" Rain asked shakily.

"Hmm?"

"Are you a werewolf?"

He looked at her oddly. "What?"

"You heard me."

"Yes but you didn't ask the question the way I thought you would."

"And how was I supposed to ask it?"

"I expected you to say 'are you a werewolf now?' having just been bitten."

"But Madame Pomfrey said you would be fine, which leads me to believe you were already a werewolf to begin with."

He sighed. "You figured it out a lot quicker than James and Sirius."

"So you are?" Rain was shocked.

"Yes," he said, turning away from her.

"What's wrong, Rem? Please tell me."

He sighed. "I'm your worst fear."

"What? That's mental!"

"Oh is it?" he said raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, it is," Rain said, firmly. "You're my friend. I couldn't be afraid of you."

"But you are," he insisted. "That wolf the Boggart turned into was me. I don't retain memory of what I've done when I return to my human form, but for the day leading up to and the day after the full moon, my senses are much stronger than that of a human's. I smelled my own scent all over that wolf, believe me when I tell you, that beast truly is me."

"No," Rain said firmly. Remus raised an eyebrow again. "That wolf is not you. You are Remus, the kind and gentle boy who couldn't hurt a fly. That wolf may be a part of you—a small part of you—but it isn't you."

Remus smiled. "Thanks, Rain. You have no idea how much that means to me."

"It's all true," she said simply.

"You're a good friend, Rain."

"You're a good friend, too, Moony."

A/N: Isn't that sweet ^_^ You all know what to do. R&R!