Disclaimer: I don't own the Marauders, but I sure wouldn't mind if I did. ;P They belong to J.K. Rowling. I do, however, own Leah Matthews and the other OCs. Don't steal, please!

Chapter Fifteen: Rhodiola Rosea and Passionflower

"I still can't believe you're engaged," Lily said. "It's… eye opening."

"I know what you mean," Leah agreed, stretching. "We're almost done with Hogwarts. Then we're on our own in the real world."

"I'm happy for you," she said, smiling. "We all knew it was only a matter of time."

"I wish Heather were here," Leah admitted. "She would've been so happy." Beside her, Remus smiled, eager to cheer her up. He had already known about Sirius' gift, but Leah was eager to tell anyone who would listen, and Lily had decided to join them for a bit of studying after supper.

"She is happy, Leah! She's watching over you even now, laughing at you."

Leah looked at him curiously. "Laughing at me?"

"Of course. You know what weddings mean, don't you, Leah?" He and Lily exchanged a knowing, sadistic look. "Dresses."

Leah paled considerably and glanced up at the ceiling. "You witch… this is all your doing!"

Lily slapped her arm playfully. "Come on, Leah. It would only be for a little while. Wouldn't it be worth it just to see Sirius in a tuxedo?"

"You have a point," Leah said, flipping through her textbook on bestial training herbs. She landed on a page that was decorated with illustrations of wolves and froze, her eyes skimming the page eagerly. "A week…"

"Hm?" He glanced at the page in confusion, but Leah had already slammed the book shut after sliding a bookmark between the pages.

"Perfect," she breathed. She gathered her things quickly and beamed down at Remus with a maternal sparkle in her eye. "

With one last wave, she slung her book bag over her shoulder and ran from the library.

--

"That doesn't look anything like a Disillusionment Potion," came a snide voice from behind Leah. She turned to see the thin, lanky Slytherin boy who always followed Bellatrix around the castle, Severus Snape, staring at her cauldron in distaste. Leah huffed.

"With your brain capacity, I'm surprised you can tell the difference."

"Are you so stupid you can't even read the board?" Snape shot back, his beady eyes flashing. "What are you making, anyway?"

"None of your business." But Snape was determined to find out. He snatched her recipe from her table and began reading it aloud.

"Shredded passionflower stems? Rhodiola rosea extract? That's goldenrod… What sort of mess is this? These are known sedatives! A sleeping drought?"

"Give it back, Snape!"

"Wolves?" He smirked darkly. "You're trying to cure lycanthropy?! What a fool!"

"I said give it back!!"Her eyes flashed angrily and her wand was pointed at his chest before he could blink. He narrowed his eyes at her and tossed the spare bit of parchment onto her table haphazardly.

"You do belong with Sirius Black. You're all savages, the lot of you…"

"I could say the same for you Slytherins." She turned back to her work impatiently, fearing that the distraction had caused her to over-boil the shredded stems. When she was sure everything was still going according to plan, she put a spell on her ladle so that it would continue stirring the potion while she skinned the roots of the goldenrod. Just then, Professor Slughorn ambled up to her cauldron, looking suspicious.

"Miss Matthews, where is your Disillusionment potion?"

"Right there, sir." She pointed to the vial beside her books. "I finished early."

"Oh. Well then, good job, Miss Matthews!" He turned to Snape. "Severus, your potion is perfect as always! Ten points for Slytherin!"

Leah could almost feel him snickering, but shrugged it off mentally. She had better things to do than play teacher's pet and get points for Gryffindor. She sprinkled the inner root of the goldenrod into the potion, a satisfied smile lifting her lips as it hissed softly and turned a rather attractive shade of blue. Another ten minutes passed, and class was almost up. She removed a small bottle from her bag and tapped it with her wand, placing a spell on it to keep the contents hot while the bottle itself remained cool to the touch. By the time she had ladled the unfinished potion into the enchanted bottle, class was over and she hastily shoved everything into her bag and left. Her potion in hand, she nearly skipped to the common room. She couldn't wait to see Sirius' reaction!

"Leah!" Sirius was waiting for her in the common room. He grinned and planted a kiss on her cheek. "How was Potions?"

"I have a surprise!"

"Oh?"

"Look!" Leah held up the bottle of blue slime triumphantly, but Sirius' blank face made her chuckle. "Silly, this is it! The potion!"

"What potion?" Realization dawned on him and his eyes grew wide, his smile broadening in joy. "The potion?" Sirius lifted her up and spun her around excitedly, cheering for victory while everyone else in the room stared. Leah blushed slightly and tried to pull away, but Sirius would have none of it. "Leah, you did it?! You're brilliant!! Merlin, Leah, Remus! We've got to tell Remus!!"

"No." She stopped, suddenly serious. Her fingers anxiously traced the glass ridges of the bottle. "No, we can't tell him."

"Why not?"

"What if it doesn't work? I don't want to get his hopes up…"

Sirius sighed and tugged her forward into his chest, rocking her gently. "I know you can do it," he said, "but I guess you're right. Slip it into his pumpkin juice or something the night he leaves. Which… is tonight, actually." He looked at the calendar on the wall. "Yep. Tonight."

"Oh, Sirius, it's perfect!" Leah took her notes from her bag and reread them. "It only takes a few hours to boil, and it'll be ready!"

"Well then, let's go!" Sirius grabbed her hand and led her up the stairs to the boys' dorms, eagerly shutting the door behind him. Remus turned, startled, from his book. He was sitting up in his bed, looking frail and miserable. Leah's smile faded and she ran to him, hugging as gently, yet firmly, as possible. Remus blushed and turned to Sirius while she fretted over him, brushing his hair aside and wiping the sweat from his brow.

"What are you guys doing here so early?"

"I'm skipping class," Sirius said honestly. "Leah only had Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts today."

"What happened, Rem?! You looked so healthy in the library earlier…"

"I was just feeling a little weak, Leah; it's nothing to worry yourself over." He smiled gently and looked over at Sirius. "We should head to the Shrieking Shack earlier tonight. The moon comes out earlier in the winter."

"That's right," Sirius said. "We'll wait another hour for Peter and James to get out of Charms, and then we'll go, okay?"

"Alright." Remus slid a bookmark between the pages of his book and held it up for Leah to see. "I'm reading the book on vampires," he told her. "It really is interesting, I can't put it down."

"I'm glad you like it. It was one of Heather's favorites." She unpacked her bag on Sirius' bed, starting a magical fire on his blankets to heat her miniature cauldron. Leah was glad she had learned that packing spell Heather's mother had taught her once; it was pretty handy being able to carry one hundred pounds of books and equipment but only have it weigh a few pounds. She caught Remus looking at her setup and smiled over at him. "Potions homework."

"Ah." And without another word, he went back to reading his book. Sirius kissed her gently on the top of her head before going to sit with Remus. Sirius hated to see one of his best friends look so down, and so he took to cheering the sickly lycan up. Showers of sparks and several overdramatic screams later, Remus was laughing so hard it brought him to a coughing fit, and Leah was wiping tears of mirth from her eyes.

"Anyone home?" the dorm room door opened and James walked in, loosening his tie and tossing his school bag onto his bed carelessly. "Oi, what're you all laughing at?"

"Sirius. As usual," Leah said, stirring the bubbling concoction a little. "How was Charms?"

"Lovely. Wormtail here set my chair on fire." The naturally nervous boy ducked out from behind James and scurried over to his bed.

"I d-didn't mean to," he stuttered. James just laughed in response, and Sirius stood, stretching.

"Well boys, I hope you don't have any dates tonight, because we have to go party with Remus." Taking that as her cue, Leah grabbed a bottle of butterbeer from Sirius' nightstand (as he liked stashing it for late-night parties) and scooped a ladleful of her potion into the bottle. Luckily, the bottle was dark, and the blue of the potion would not be noticed. She stood and grabbed Remus' cloak, smiling reassuringly.

"Come on, Rem. Let's go before it gets to be late." Leaning on Leah for support, he stood and shrugged his cloak on, sighing tiredly as the weight dropped onto his weak body. Leah handed him the bottle of butterbeer with an understanding smile. "It'll be a little longer until the moon shows up with all these clouds… Here, this oughta keep you warm until you get all that fur."

"Blimey, mate," Sirius said in a mock whisper. "She coddles you more than she does her own lover!"

"Aw, if you wanted my attention, Sirius, you only had to say so." She opened her arms invitingly and he wrapped his own around her body, pulling her close. "Cross your fingers," she murmured. Sirius grinned and pulled back slightly to kiss her on the lips.

"I will. Stay out of trouble while we're gone. I wouldn't want to miss anything exciting…" They headed out the door, waiting for Peter expectantly, but he was trembling nervously by his bed as they turned to see why he wasn't following.

"Oh…I have to stay and do homework…" He looked away from them in shame. "I'm really sorry, guys…"

"Oh, it's alright," James said, waving him off. "We'll be back soon anyway." And with that, they were off. Peter looked at Leah before leaving the room as well. With a sigh, she began packing her things, humming an upbeat tune as she danced down the stairs into the common room and back up into her own room. Would the potion work? They had missed dinner while joking around; it was already late, and if she looked out the window at the right angle, she could see the silver orb hanging in the sky like a decoration. That's how she'd always thought of it: a beautiful piece of silver glowing in the sky to give light to others even in the dark. How did the "cursed" people see it? Did Remus, so kind and loving, see it as a personal hell? The thing they feared most?

Climbing into her bed, Leah burrowed into her covers and closed her eyes to seek the relaxation of sleep. Soon, they would be back, and she would get her answers. Soon, Remus could be a little happier with the life he had been given.

Somewhere beneath the Whomping Willow, a wolf howled.

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A/N: Here it is! And Chapter 16 will be up soon!!! Thank you Blizzard for WoW… It got rid of my writer's block!!