A/N: I have, inevitably, fallen into the procrastination of all fanfiction writers. I apologize for my absence, but the story will go on. Thank you all for the reviews, I really appreciate them. And, of course, a huge thanks goes to my Beta reader, Rasa Von Taubla

I own nothing. NOTHING. I Don't Even Have SHOES to Wear. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

The four of them (Kylie, Remus, James and Peter) didn't return to school until the following Wednesday. Kylie had to go through registration in the Ministry before being legally allowed to go back to school. Remus grimaced at the thought; he knew the terrible pain that that caused, both physically and emotionally. She became a number, 16277, and it was branded into her forearm with silver to ensure a permanent mark.

Dumbledore wanted all of them to return at one time, and kept up the story that they had all caught a very contagious illness. Of course, the story had been greatly embellished over the course of the week and a half that the four went missing, so much so that upon their arrival, the Slytherin team was crestfallen to find that James Potter would not, in fact, be disqualified from Quidditch because of his third arm. Lily was one of the few to actually confront Remus about the incident when the two ran into each other in the library.

"Have you caught up on all of your homework?" she asked, holding books about potions techniques against her rounded hip. She had a scrutinizing look in her brilliant green eyes, and her brows formed what looked like concern, but may have just been one of those complex emotions Remus knew only girls like Lily experienced.

"Nearly everything, except I've put off the potions essay until right now," he said, motioning to the piles of books on his right and the parchment in front of him on the table. Lily sat down next to him and skimmed what he had already written.

"This sounds about right so far, but you have to chop the grubworms with the serrated blade, not the smooth one," she corrected, sitting down next to him.

It felt odd to Remus to be corrected on Potions homework. Not that he was great at the subject, but that it felt so normal. On his first day back, he felt everything but normal. He used the rest of his unfinished work to distract himself from all of the abnormality that he felt. In the back of his mind, he knew it was almost absurd to sit in Hogwarts' library and do potions homework after everything that happened.

"Oh, thanks," he replied, changing the words accordingly with his magical quill.

"I know, you know." The statement was matter-of-factly.

"Know what?" Remus asked, pretending that his insides hadn't suddenly been dumped into a bucket of ice.

"About where you go when you miss school," she explained, her voice considerably lower, but it had a note of offense in it. "You've been absent once a month since first year, I can't believe you thought your cover up would work on me."

Remus stared at her, eyes wide. "Wh-what?"

She sighed. "The amber eyes, the pre-mature wrinkles, your over-protectiveness of your friends. Remus, it's obvious that you're a werewolf."

Remus began to shake at her words, his body locking up in fear.

"I can't believe you thought I was so stupid, always saying that you were going to go see your ill mother." She crossed her arms and looked him in the eye. Her expression changed from snobbish to concern when she noticed Remus's anxiety. It switched back within moments.

"I'm not prejudice or anything, you should know that."

"I, uh," Remus started, his brain malfunctioning.

"But what I can't figure out is why you and your moronic friends were missing for so long." She bit her lip and stared at Remus, who felt rather ill. "And furthermore, I really have no idea how Kylie Anderson could be involved whatsoever. I've never seen you two around each other at all and…"

"Lily," Remus said finally as he got his nerve back If she would just stop talking. "St-stop, please. This is… A lot… I don't…"

Concerned flashed back onto her face. "I'm sorry, I got carried away, I didn't realize…"

"No, its ok. I just thought…"

"No one else knows."

"When did you figure it out?"

"3rd year when we had to write that essay about how to spot a werewolf."

"Oh."

They sat in an awkward silence for several moments. "Are you going to tell me why the four of you were gone for so long? I doubt it had to do with a rare illness that Dumbledore mentioned more than once."

Remus immediately looked down at his unfinished essay and shook his head. "I-I really don't want to talk about it."

Lily seemed a bit flustered by the answer, but backed off.

Remus closed his book and stood up, feeling the amount of confrontation and awkwardness had been sufficient for the next week and a half. "I've got to, uh, go. I'll see you around, I guess."

"Bye."

"Bye."

"What's wrong with you, moons?" Sirius asked in his oh-so-oblivious way of pretending that the last week never happened. Remus groaned into his pillow as he lie face-down on the four poster. His sandy hair circled his pillow and he didn't feel like getting up to give Sirius a proper reply anytime soon.

Remus felt James and Peter tense up at the question, obviously hoping that he wasn't upset about Kylie. The three of them did a good job of not bringing up anything, and Remus was appreciative but they hadn't been able to have a conversation without treating Remus like a ticking time bomb.

"Lily knows," he muffled into the white material. Immediately, he could feel the tension in the room.

"Knows what?" Sirius asked.

"Why I miss a few days of school each month."

"What?" Sirius asked, jumping down from his own bed and onto the red carpet. "How?"

Remus rolled onto his back and sat up, drawing his knees to his chest. He sighed and looked at his comforter as he spoke. "She figured it out in third year. I can't blame her; it's a pretty obvious thing to see but…" He trailed off.

"She didn't, um," James started with an uncomfortable look on his handsome features.

"She didn't tell anyone else," Remus interrupted with a shake of his head. He opened his mouth to tell them of her further inquiries, but quickly shut it again.

"Yeah," said Sirius with an uncaring eyes, "she kept trying to ask me where the four of you were, but I found ways to avoid her when spending my time more… effectively."

Remus cocked his head to the side in a very wolf-like manner. "What did you do when we were gone?' He had nearly forgotten that Sirius had been alone in the dorm room for almost the entire time that he had spent in the hospital.

A flash of surprise ran across his face before going back to nonchalance. "Nothing of great importance," he sighed dramatically and fell back onto his bed, "perhaps I would've been more entertained if Dumbledore had permitted me to see my dearest friends in such troubling times." He draped a hand over his forehead for effect.

Remus arched a brow. "Surely you did something besides being cooped up in here."

Sirius grinned mischievously before hopping up and shrugging. "Well, Moony, use your unending intelligence to figure it out while I bewitch the Slytherin team mid-flight." He paused and looked expectedly at James and Peter as well, "Care to join me on my most exciting endeavor?"

To Remus's surprise, James shook his head and picked up his bag. "No, I've actually got to finish all the work I'm behind on."

Sirius looked at him, dumbfounded in disbelief, and Peter simply widened his eyes.

James shrugged, "I need to do well on my OWLs." He looked increasingly uncomfortable with Sirius's gaze.

Sirius scoffed. "You need to do well on your OWLs? Fine. I suppose it will just be Peter and I. You two can stay here and be responsible. Come along then, Wormtail."

With that, the two left Remus and James to work silently on their unfinished Potions essays.

Was it worth the wait? I'll never know unless you tell me!