A/N: This chapter last version is on 07/10/2016.

Holidays and Secrets

24th December 1971

It's been a few days since I've been back home and my father is working hard since the board of the company always tries to push some very important decisions before the new year. Pa explained to me that they do this so they can enter the next year with goals and directions. Ma on the other hand have being insufferable fussing over us. Marcel has dropped his job in the fabric company, this still stuns me as I know he was doing terrific and he has always being very ambitious but it seems like he is changing the path of his life now. He told me that he's being studying arts and making some prints and paintings, I noticed that when Galahad arrived he was using a cravat that clearly was made by my brother and it got me thinking how long it will take it for them to get together.

Marcel probably entered his career to get some validation of our parents but I'm glad he realized that Ma and Pa don't really care about what we do, they care about us being happy. I'm not judging him from trying to fill the image he thought our family would approve, but I'm glad he is trying to find his own path and that it seems like Galahad has something to do with it. When I talked about it with Sev he was very silent at first, I don't think he had ever knew that someone could be gay without it being an offense. When he had clearly thinked enough he told me that I was very lucky and fortunate to have parent that would accept their child no matter how far from the normal we are. I did correct him saying we are indeed fortunate but that being gay is normal, even when people try to tell us it isn't. He agreed with me but pointed out that if he was gay and his father were to know about it he could be as good as dead.

The last few days I saw him going from happy to tormented to frustrated. He told me more about his home life than before when we were at Hogwarts. I've learn that despite his father repeating over and over that Sev was waste of space and a freak for being magical he never hit him. Not because he didn't wanted to, Sev told me he got awfully close to it a few times but his mother always protected him. I also discovered that his parent fought a lot and it always ended up with his mother being beat up to a pulp and his father going away for a few days. He had cried to me when he confided me these and I had comforted him. He said that before he came to my house he never knew how a family should be like and it broke my heart a little. He had noticed when he met Lily's parent that it was somehow different but being in my house made it clear to him how misadjusted was his home life.

Sev didn't let me tell my parent about the things he told me but Ma had been giving him the protective act she does when me and my brother are somehow in danger. I'm sure she knows that something is wrong and I can see by how much she's fussing over me and Sev that she will do something about it. Well she did start by changing a few things in my friend looks, she cutted his hair and bought him shampoo and conditioner for his type of hair that now frames his face a lot better. Ma has also given him clothes without accepting any of his protests. She did some excuse about loving to dress kids up and my brother not letting her anymore and it did make Sev more relaxed about the stupid amount of clothes he got.

We spent most of the time together playing chess, exploding snap, gobstones and take advantage of our free time to plan some revenge pranks on the marauders. I'm still waiting for them start to call themselves that so I can use the name outside of my head. My brother surprisingly helped us come up with a way to get them detention with professor Slughorn by exchanging their ingredients with very similar herbs that had very different effects. Soon night arrived and the other gest started to arrive. I introduced my friend to The Prewetts and the Weasleys. I almost couldn't hold myself back about making a fuss about how big Bill already was. Sev looked at the baby with more fear in his eyes that I have ever seen and made me laugh hard when Molly gave him Bill to hold. For a moment I thought that he was going to pass out but he manage to hold on.

Gideon and Fabian bullied us with repeated showers of muggle fake snow, which is basically a type of white foam, that Arthur gave them. At first Sev was really put out by it but when I laughed hard about it he realized it wasn't them being mean just stupid. We did got the sauce leftover and put it on the can with Marcels magical assistance and showered the twins with it. They laugh hard I even Pa had chuckled when everyone realized that it wasn't the same soapy foam that they used on us but roasted turkey gravy.

"You both deserved that!" Pointed Molly laughing at her brother.

"Dear sister…" Gideon started.

"Do you really think so little…" Fabian continued.

"Of us?!" They finished together.

"There's nothing little about your lads stupidity." Marcel said between his laughs and the twins made faces together.

"You've been very cocky since your little sister became a eagle." Pointed out Fabian.

"I can't help, after all, you dunderheads thought Marlene would be a lion and I was the only one cheering for her to be a eagle, well not the only one." He have Galahad a very cheeky smile that would usually make him blush hard but I think he had enough eggnogs to live through it. "And I finally won a bet over something." Marcel finished full of himself.

"Marcel never win bets, like ever! It's a miracle... Wait! You bet on me?" I stared at all the people in her living room, only Ma looked guilty about it.

"Well, do you really…" Started Gideon.

"Think it beyond us…" Continued Fabian.

"To do it?" The twin finished.

"Not really. Who bet what?" I asked amused. Sev's really trying to understand how the twins manage to complete each other sentences ad is failing miserably at it.

"I bet you would be a Gryffindor along with the twins, Arthur and Bilius. Your brother clearly bet on Ravenclaw together with Galahad. Your father bet on Slytherin and you mother on Hufflepuff…" Molly shared.

"Hufflepuff? What does your mother have against you?" Severus jokingly asked me with fake scorn and Marcel laughed really hard at it while Sarah looked affronted.

"What's wrong with Hufflepuffs? I'm not magical, the description of the house was loyal and friendly." Ma pointed out making a pout.

"There's nothing wrong with puffs." All the Prewetts and Weasleys says.

"You tell yourselves that." Severus says and my brother, our father and I laughed hard. It's known that the eagles competitivity with the badgers were almost as big as the lions with the snakes. Me and Sev are an exception as our 'enemies' are from the lion's den.

The Christmas party was amazing, the entire food was made by Ma that insists on always doing the christmas feast the muggle way. She states that even having Maggy, our house elf, she doesn't like to depend on magic for everything and dammed will be the Christmas that Ma doesn't cook it herself. Her food is amazing and Mols seems to like the notion of not depending on magic for every little thing. I know for sure is something she will pass to her kids with time. The party went on until a little over midnight, Arthur's brother Bilius had too much to drink and passed out on the couch and the twins took responsibility to take him home so they left. After a while so did Mols and Arthur because of Bill that wake up and need to be put to sleep at home.

Ma and Pa retired for their room and only me, Severus, Marcel and Galahad where left. Soon our last guest announced that he had to leave and I could see my brother face whiter a little. Galahad ruffled mine and Severus's heads and left with Marcel to the floo. I went to entrance of the drawing room to watch them say goodbye. Severus asked what I was doing and I respond a little loud.

"I wanna see if they are going to kiss." I had to put a hand to my mouth when I noticed that my brother and Galahad heard. The older man passed his hand through his dark red hair and gave me a very indecent smile before kissing my brother on the lips. Marcel was completed surprised and satisfied with it as he almost couldn't pronounce a word afterwards. Galahad whispered something in his ear and then left. Marcel stared at me and Severus we all had blushed about the scene.

"It's time for you both to go to bed." He finally said.

"Yes it is." I said and me and Severus rushed upstairs.

25th December 1971

Next day was Christmas morning and I rushed Sev downstairs to open up the presents. He got a old book about portions that his mother sent and a little pile of things from my parents. We both received wand holster from Marcel which was by far our favorites. Pa even let us use some magic to show how good we are and the prospect of doing something so against the rules made us incredibly excited. We did a splendid job showing our abilities, we showed Ma Lumos, Wingardium Leviosa, Incendio, Alohomora and Aguamenti. She was stunned by our abilities and congratulated us on it. Pa looked very proud too.

We spent the day playing with our new toys and eating the leftovers from the feast the day before. My brother did left in the evening and me and Severus shared a look of understanding. We talked about how much we had to share with Lily and after a lot of pleading we manage to have Pa assist us in experimenting doing a few potions in Sev's new book. We end up being very tired very soon since we had stayed really late last night and today we woke early to open up the gifts.

2th January 1972

The rest of the holidays went by without much to add and sooner than I expected we were heading back to Hogwarts. We were saying our goodbyes to Ma, Pa and Marcel when my parent invited Severus to expend some time with us in the summer break. Sev said he would try to convince his mother and Ma interrupted by saying to him not to worry as they would visit her sometime before the end of the term so Pa would remake aquitencies. Severus look appalled by it but said nothing as expected. It looked like it will be a good thing for his mother to befriend my parents.

As we navigated through platform 9 ¾ we met Lily and I got to introduce her and her family to mine. They talked and Ma being a muggle helped the conversation to flow and soon they were becoming friends and arranging for us to meet on the summer break. Petunia seemed really angry for having to be here but I was extremely polite and nice to her and the girl end up even cracking a smile at me before saying goodbye.

"Blimey! You found your way through Petunia's heart." Said Sev astonished.

"Yeah, she is my sister and even I don't know how you did it." Lily gave my an expression that was a mix of surprise and evy.

"Well, I'm known to make an easy way towards people's heart." I state in mocking tone making them roll their eyes. "She's just jealous that we have magic, you both should try hard not to step on her pride. She probably just don't want to feel left out." I complete seriously and my friends give me looks that says that they are taking my words to heart.

"Well, let's get somewhere to sit down." Lils said stepping into the corridor.

We were looking for an empty compartment when we stumbled into the, not yet, Marauders. James and Sirius were already up and looking forward to confront them when they saw Lily and held themselves back. All the kids were using their informal clothes, including Severus that now looked very put together and even cute. I could see that they were trying to figure out how to offend Sev as "greasy" certainly don't apply anymore. I send a death glare to them and we manage to go find a place to sit without them doing a thing. Going back to the castle was a very delightful trip and the days going forward showed us that we would have to take more time studying as the homeworks were bigger and the professors were stricter. I don't know a single person that went home in the easter holidays considering how much we had to do.

27th May 1972

For the last few weeks we returned to our common routine with the addition of increasing our study group time. Soon the finals are coming and I discovered myself being quite bored in doing only research on the first year curriculum. I've been looking into some NEWT level books and discovered myself quite good in reading through more complex notes on Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts. I decided to research a little on Arithmancy and Study of Ancient Runes so when I take them in the third year I can do as good as I'm doing now in my classes. I'm going to ask for Care of Magical creature too but Harry actually did quite good in it and I'll only have to increment his knowledge about it.

The Marauders have being trying hard to find Severus alone but since we came back from the Holidays we've been glued together, they all don't have so much time free either since they too have to study. The only one who is still going frantic about pranks is Sirius. Today Lils and Sev decided to study Transfiguration and since is the subject I'm better at I abandoned them and went to have some me time. I can sense that Sev need some time away from me too and I find myself humming while adventuring myself through the castle. I decide to go to the toilet in the third floor to see Myrtle, afteral she does show up a lot in Harry's memories. As I get there I see Remus preparing a caldron and some ingredients and I remember how bad he is at Potions. The ghost probably is hiding because Remus is a boy and shouldn't be on the girls bathroom.

"Hi." I say as I enter and the boy almost jumped and ran away. "WOW! Don't need to be all jumpy, what are you making?" I ask clearly curious, it certainly is not a prank. He stares at me trying to figure it out if I'm going to hex him.

"I'm studying the Forgetfulness Potion." He says frowning at me.

"Nice! Do you want some help? I'm quite bored." I say with a smile.

"Why would you do that? I mean… You are not even from my house and James and Sirius are always picking up on Snape."

"Well, I do pick back on you and since I've already done my revenge on the last stunt that you guys pulled we are quite even. And when I do my revenges I don't make distinctions on who helps and who delivers the bullying." I give him a pointed look that makes him understand that I blame him for Sev treatment just as much as the others. "That said you are on a girl's bathroom clearly hiding trying to learn something because you are clearly awful at it. So I don't see a reason not to help."

"Really?" He looks so guilty and hopeful.

"Really. Now show me how you cut your ingredients and I will teach a technique that makes it easier to brew." Remus shows me and I start to correct him in a few things and he gives me a grand smile when he see that the potions is working out.

"McKinnon you are incredible! I've been trying to make this work for weeks!" He says as he applies the last step to the potion.

"Of course I am Lupin. But if it was Sev in here and not me, you would have made the potion even better than what is expected." I say in a very cocky way.

"He would never help me." He states without being able to look me in the eyes. "And he would be correct in doing so."

"Oh, he would help. He wouldn't be as sweet as I am, for sure. He would call you names while explaining and would inevitably make you feel like you are a complete dunderhead. But last minute he would save you from the mass you made and would explain what you did wrong. He can be quite ruthless but in the end he does the right thing." I ramble. "Not that you would care." I finish and he locks eyes with his feet not daring to look at me.

"The secret to live a good life is to change the things we hate about us that we can change. And to accept the things we hate about us that we cannot. Tomorrow is the full moon Lupin, you are to take care of yourself today." I point out with a smile and he looks back at me completely terrified.

"W-w-what do you mean?" I start to regret teasing him a little as he looks on the verge of a panic attack.

"I mean nothing of course. I'll see you around, it's already dinner time." I give him a tap on the back and leave the bathroom knowing that he's going to get really worried about what I said. Maybe I will befriend him before I expected.

I leave and meet Severus on the ravenclaw table talking to Xeno. He gives me a smile as a sit by his side and enjoy myself with some pumpkin soup and pork belly. I also take a few pieces of bread, some chicken wings and for dessert I take two pieces of lemon tart with ice cream and chocolate syrup. Sev finishes his dinner way before me and kind of stares at me while I repeat the dessert.

"I really don't know where all the food you eat goes to. You belly must been vanishing the food." He points out with a snort and Xeno chokes laughing.

"And you should be grateful that I take your evil remarks as jokes and not you being really mean to me." I answer laughing. "Come on, let's leave the hall there is something I want to talk to you about." I get up on my feet and we leave to some secluded place.

"Early I helped Lupin study for the Potion exam." I state as a matter of fact and Sev pulls a face at me.

"Why would you assist the enemy?" He asks with wroth.

"He looked like he needed help?" Sev rolls his eyes.

"It's so like you to help people that make your life miserable just because you can. So what? Did he manage not to be a complete waste of potion ingredients?" He asks me trying to figure it out where I want to get.

"He did the potion just fine after I explained to him exactly what he did wrong. He looked really guilty about his friends picking on you."

"For real?" He looks taken back. I better start to make some sense in here.

"Well, I still don't know if I want to befriend him. But if he repent his attitudes I'll give him a chance. I wanted to talk to you and see what you would think of it. Well, he's a werewolf so his life is not very easy, I hope he will feel bad about making other people's life difficult."

"Werewolf? He is a werewolf? How is he in school? He's dangerous! Did you just insinuate that you want to make a werewolf your pet project?" Severus now looked completely abashed by the information.

"Shhhhhh! Merlin Pants! If we were not in a complete secure location you would announce his secret to the world with your tone! He's not my pet project just like you are not a pet project. "Sev looks a little ashamed at this statement. "I implied to him that I know of his condition but he can't be sure of it. It's not easy to be a werewolf, you know? Of course if he's here it's completely safe and the staff knows."

"You don't find him dangerous?" He looks completely perplexed about it.

"No. I mean, I find him dangerous through 12 hours once a month. But then I don't make a habit of visiting him on these days and I also find my mother dangerous once a month, however I do not have the luxury of avoiding her on those." Severus made more faces at me than I knew him possible of and decided to laugh at the end.

"Alright, I'll forget that he is a werewolf. Not like it's any of my business anyway. It doesn't change the fact that he's a bully by association. So if you befriend Lupin and end up finding him interesting enough I will try to make acquaintances. Only if he asks for forgiveness tough." The last part he says with a mix of arrogance and pleasure.

"You'll only do this because you think it's what the 'better man' would do." I state rolling my eyes.

"Of course. I'm guessing you discovered that he is a werewolf in the same strange way that you know everyone's blood and name." He says to me frowning.

"What do you mean?"

"Marlene don't tell me you think it's normal to simply know information about people you never met before." He looks totally incredulous. "Don't worry I talked to Marcel and he explained to me that sometimes you just know things."

"I'M NOT A SEER!" I'm so angry with my brother, he's the only one who knows about it and he spilled to Sev. He will think I'm a lunatic.

"Marls stop! You are one of my best friends, you must be really stupid to believe that I would care about it. If anything I'm happy that someone with such an incredible gift is friends with me." Now I start to cry really hard and I feel Sev hugging me in a awkward way. He's so not used to it.

Until this very moment I didn't realized that I was so afraid of what people would think and afraid of having my friends leaving me because of this stupid ability that I have. I hadn't understand that more than anything I wanted to be accepted. I just can't help but to be angry at myself for thinking that Remus concerns were stupid. It's obvious that his friends would accept him, it's not his fault that he is a werewolf. As it's not my fault that I'm a seer, If this is what I am. I cry for a few minutes before finally settling down and taking a deep breath.

"Sorry for the outburst."

"Alright, just don't do it again." He says a little frightened still.

"Well, I'm sorry I didn't told you. I though that you think of me as a freak."

"Oh, don't worry. I think of you as a freak, you are a just a freak that I like. Let's go is almost curfew and I really don't want to get a detention."

"Alright. So you would still be my friend if I were a werewolf?" I ask trying to finished the first topic.

"Yes, I would. But I think even all of your kindness won't bend those Gryffindors. You better spend your time trying to befriend some Slytherin." He says with sarcasm.

"You are totally right. I'll pay closer attention to snakes then." I say with a smile and Severus hides his face in his hands with frustration. He really will blame himself for giving me ideas.

1th July 1972

This is the day that I realize that a lot more changes happens than I can predict. It's the end of the school year and is time for us all to go back home. I still have not befriended Remus and have not made any Slytherin friends, even if I did manage to have some tea with Andromeda where we bonded on my promise to not tell anyone that I caught her snogging a Hufflepuff muggle-born Teddy Tonks on the corridor. No, I notice something really big must have changed when I get to the platform 9 ¾ and my parents are waiting for me together with Mrs. Snape.

Thanks for reading.