Author's Note

I am happy to say that it would seem people like the story and for that I am grateful. I still have yet to receive a review on it, but people have been reading. I hope that I get a review this time around *hint hint*. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy the next installment! Perhaps I will post more than one chapter this month...hmmm...not sure yet. :)

- A. Moonbeam

Chapter Two

"Lean on me when you're not strong

And I'll be your friend (I'll be your friend)

I'll help you carry on

For it won't be long till I'm gonna need

Somebody to lean on"

- Rascal Flatts

Austin sighed as she sat in the window of the common room. She had a potions book open in her lap and was writing notes in it. She had always been superior in potions; the only one that was better than her was Severus Snape. She grinned as she thought of her longtime friend. He had been busy working on his own personal research so there was hardly any time for them to see each other. Austin frowned as she brought her attention back to her book.

She was looking for any indication that someone could have been working on a cure for lycanthropy other than her father. She already had all of her father's notes that he had made and decided that he had to have gotten these from somewhere. Austin fought back a groan as she continued searching her book.

Hellebore was interesting her at the moment. She knew the Greek myth surrounding the herb and believed that it could help her in her research. If Hellebore was used by Melampus of Pylos to cure some sort of madness, then perhaps it would help with lycanthropy as well. Austin wrote a few notes in the margins of her book so she could go and do a little more research in her free time tomorrow. She was just pleased that the weekend was starting.

"Austin, what are you doing over here?" Lily's voice questioned with amusement.

"Just doin some readin." Austin shrugged her shoulders before looking up. "Everything okay?"

"Yes, I was just worried since you normally go up to bed around this time." Lily commented quietly.

Austin looked around and noticed that only the four Marauders were still in the common room. A quick look outside told her that the half moon was well passed the highest point. She yawned as she noticed the chill she was getting from being by the window in the middle of winter. "Guess I could use some sleep." Austin chuckled before standing and heading up with Lily to their beds.

However, Austin couldn't sleep. She would sometimes have these problems at night. A muggle doctor once told her that she had a mild form of insomnia. She wasn't too happy about that. Austin climbed from her bed and grabbed her bathrobe and potions book before heading downstairs once more.

Remus came down the stairs before any of the other boys to find Austin sitting on the couch still in her dressing gown. He walked up behind her and leaned against the back of the piece of furniture before he caught her eye. She smiled up at him before glancing at the window.

"It's only around six o'clock, right?" Austin questioned in a harsh voice that sounded as if it hadn't been used for a few hours.

"Yes it is." Remus nodded his head. "Have you been up a while?"

"Since four o'clock I think." Austin shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I'll go get dressed. You wanna have breakfast?"

Remus fought back a large, prideful smile before nodding his head. "Sure, I'll wait down here."

Austin nodded again and stood up from the couch. Remus sat and thought once Austin walked up the stairs. He remembered helping her in their fourth year with an Astronomy project. She had been doing horribly since the Hufflepuff she was supposed to be working with had been injured in a Quidditch game and couldn't do any of the work. He had decided that with his knack of Astronomy, it wasn't fair to leave her to it all alone. They'd had the best project around.

That's where my feelings began to grow. They'd started when she turned all of our clothes pink in second year. Remus chuckled to himself as he leaned back.

"Moony, why are you up so early?" James' voice echoed through the still empty room.

Remus turned to glance at his friend. Sirius was behind him and they were already dressed in their Quidditch gear. It was a game today, Remus remembered. "Just waiting for Austin. I found her down here this morning and she offered to walk to breakfast with me."

Sirius grinned broadly and James nudged him. "Why don't you invite her to my house for the Christmas Ball my parents are holding? She can come early and open some presents." James returned with a mischievous smile spreading across his own face.

"And you could see if she could get Evans to come. Bet James would be happy with that present." Sirius gave a bark of laughter and ducked a blow to his head delivered by James.

"I can ask her, but I'm not sure if she would like to go. Seeing as you two are always out to get her." Remus stated, his face straight but his mind in a buzz.

"Alright, well, we're heading on down. We'll see you when you get there." James returned and drug Sirius out of the room while they talked strategy.

Austin looked at her closet with a frown. She was fighting with herself over a simple sweater dress and a pair of faded blue jeans and a sweater. She knew why she was having so many problems finding something to wear. Why did I have to invite him to go to breakfast with me? What was my plan for after we got there? Austin glared at herself and closed her eyes. She'd just pick one and then wear it.

She turned herself around four times and then grabbed at a set of clothes. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that she was holding the jeans. She frowned at them before tossing them on her bed and reaching for the sweater dress. With a laugh, she slipped from her towel and into the cloth.

After pulling on a pair of leggings and putting her feet into her flats, she headed downstairs with her hair still wet. Remus was waiting for her on the couch where he was reading a book. Trying to be as quiet as possible, she snuck across the floor and behind the couch. "Are you ready, Austin?" Remus questioned as he shut his book.

"How'd you know it was me?" Austin pouted as the young man before her stood.

"I could hear your shoes." Remus stated before he actually looked at her.

Austin was proud of the way her dress clung to her curves and tried not to notice the way Remus' eyes lingered on her black covered legs. "Are ya ready to go? I'm famished." Austin stated as if nothing was going on.

"O-of course." Remus swallowed and waved his wand at his book. It zoomed upstairs to his bedroom and they exited the common room.

They spoke about classes and the game that was supposed to be happening today at noon. "You really aren't going to the game?" Remus asked her once she said she planned to go to the library.

"I don't like the sport all that much. Now I love a good game of baseball or basketball. Those are two good games." Austin nodded her head as if everyone should know what those were.

"I'm glad I took muggle studies now." Remus laughed before reaching for one of the doors to the great hall. "Oh, before we go in."

Austin looked at him as he turned to face her, his hand still on the door. Austin felt her mind go blank and her heart pick up speed. There was only a week before vacation and Austin was looking around for the mistletoe that Dumbledore had put up around the castle. Would Remus be kissing her right now? "Yeah?" Austin asked after she noticed he was waiting for her to speak.

"James wanted to know if you would like to come to his house for Christmas. His parents hold a ball every year and he also knew that you usually go over to Lily's for Christmas morning. You both are welcome at James' house." Remus gave the message.

Austin nodded her head with a soft smile. "I still need to go to the Evans' for Christmas morning. Mr. Evans always makes the best pancakes, ya know? Not to mention Mrs. Evans is always happy to see me. It makes me feel like I'm back home with my family. I could prolly make it to the ball later on that day though. What's the dress code?"

Remus smiled brightly as he opened the door. "Semi-formal actually. You don't have to wear an actual ball gown. Oh, and Lily can come if she wants. It was Sirius' idea."

Austin nodded her head, "More like Sirius asked for Lily to come so Jimmy can bug her to death."

Remus laughed and confirmed that was exactly what would happen.

Remus sat between Austin and Lily in the library. Neither of them had wished to go to the game. Austin continued to look up every time that the door opened, as if she were waiting for someone. Each time she did this, Lily would clench her quill tighter in her hand and she would frown. Remus could guess the cause of both of the girl's anxiety. Austin was waiting for Snape to get here.

Remus sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "I'm really starting to wonder why I decided to skip the game." He whispered with a good natured smile on his face.

"You can go if you want, Remus." Lily looked up with a smile.

At that time, Austin jumped up from her chair with a good stack of books in her arms. "I've gotta talk to Sev real quick. He said he'd answer a few questions I'd had last night today. I'll be right back."

With that, Austin bounded away to where the greasy black haired git was striding to a back table. Remus clenched his teeth together as he looked back at his parchment. Really, what did Snape have that Remus didn't? No lycanthropy. Remus answered his own question and threw down his quill. "Lily, why does Austin still talk to that git when she knows you don't like him?"

Lily looked up and blinked her emerald eyes. "I've never told her to stop talking to him, I've only suggested she didn't." Lily answered bluntly and she pushed her fire red hair from her face. "Besides, it's not my choice that she associates herself with him. I'd rather she didn't because of…"

Remus cocked an eyebrow. Lily was about to say something about Austin's past. He knew she was because she had trailed off. "Because of what?" Remus whispered as he leaned closer.

"It's not my place to tell, Remus. I shouldn't have said anything." Lily shook her head and started to flip through a book off to her right. "Austin's private, you know that."

Remus nodded his head. He did know that, in fact. Austin never spoke about her past and hardly spoke of her family even when they were still alive. He knew the details surrounding their deaths. A werewolf had come and killed her parents. Her siblings were all killed by Voldemort when they decided to fight against him to protect her. After that, Austin was sent to live in the orphanage on Spinners End. Remus knew nothing else of her past other than what she had told him earlier in the year. Her father had been a healer in both the Wizarding and Muggle worlds. He had also been working on a cure for lycanthropy.

Remus sighed and rubbed his eyes with his left hand. "It's just that I'm not fully comfortable with her being around him. He looks at her as if she was a piece of chocolate."

Lily giggled at the analogy. "He's allergic to chocolate, you know? So, I would say he looks at her like a piece of meat."

Remus rolled his eyes before turning to look at the blond haired girl who was now frowning at her parchment. "I don't know why I don't like her with him."

Lily decided to change the subject. "The full moon is in a couple of days, right?" Lily whispered lowly as she leaned forward.

"Yes, I will be going to the Shrieking Shack again. Can you please make sure that Austin stays inside?"

"I always do."

Remus smiled at Lily and then went back to his work.

"I can't believe that Sev was no help at all. He just told me that I needed to stop being 'bloody foolish'." Austin whispered harshly as she came back to them.

"Why would he do that? I thought you two were friends?" Lily questioned, cutting her eyes angrily at Snape's form ducking out of the library.

"I'm doin some private research. Dumbledore has given me full access to the library, restricted section and all. I even can go look at his contacts and owl them if I want. Yet, Sev—the best person in this damn school at potions—won't even talk to me about my research." Austin breathed in a huff before closing her eyes. "I thought they were simple questions but he knew what I was tryin to do. He doesn't like the idea."

"Is it that thing again?" Lily questioned as her hand inched towards the folded parchment Austin had thrown down.

Austin snatched the parchment up and with a sigh shook her head. "I'd rather not talk about it now. It doesn't matter anyway, I'm bein stupid again."

"You aren't stupid, Austin. Would you like me to go talk to him for you?" Remus offered kindly as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Austin gave him a sweet smile, her brown eyes lighting up. "Nah, it'll just make things worse, I reckon. Why don't we all go down to the game? It should just be about over and we can shove it in Jimmy and Siri's faces that they lost."

Lily rolled her eyes but stood up. Remus followed suit and all three of them headed for the pitch.