Author's Note: Can you believe we got this up in less than 2 weeks! And it's one of our longer chapters! Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. This story can also be found under the penname flameintheflood right here on fanfic dot net.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I do, however, own all 7 Harry Potter books. Just... er... not the rights.

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After what felt like the shortest and yet longest winter break ever, the students found themselves back at the castle. Remus was overjoyed to be with his friends again, especially his newly official boyfriend, Sirius Black. The Pettigrews, though they regretted leaving their mother at home alone, were glad to escape the lonely house. Peter was relieved to inform his fellow marauders that Heather's parents had not hated him as he had thought they would. He also was pleased to let his friends know that he had lost his virginity. The conversation had gone much like this as they rode the train back to Hogwarts:

"Guys, guess what?"

"Huh?"

"I am no longer a virgin!" The other boys had congratulated him and James groaned a little.

"Really? Peter lost it before I did?"

"That's what happened when you have your eyes set on one unattainable person for your entire life," Sirius had explained patting James on the shoulder. Remus had given James a half smile, letting him assume that he wasn't the only virgin in the group.

James, himself, was hoping that coming back to school would allow him more opportunities to show Lily Evans that he wasn't an immature prat any longer. He was also glad for the distractions of classes, seeing as life at home had been more somber than he was accustomed to.

Lily and Allie were both anxious to begin classes and Maia and Kate couldn't wait to see their boyfriends.

Over all, January dawned snowy, sparkly and full of optimism for the Gryffindor 6th years.

***

"Excuse me, Professor?" Kingsley called, peeking through the door of Professor Mansfield's office.

"Oh, hey der!" the tall thin man greeted him from his large messy desk. "Come on in, have a seat den"

"Thank you, Sir," Kingsley said as he took a seat across from him. Professor Mansfield pushed a cup of steaming tea in front of Kingsley who took a sip, grateful for the warm beverage to fight the cold January weather.

"So, what can I do fer ya'?" The Professor asked, cheerily.

"I was wondering about Dark Creatures. Werewolves in particular," Kingsley started. Mansfield nodded for him to continue. "Can they be dangerous on days other than the full moon?"

"Not usually," Professor Mansfield said, taking a sip of tea. "Although dey are listed as highly dangerous and as known wizard killers, hey, this only applies t' dem in werewolf form, eh? In human form, dey can be as harmless or as dangerous as any other witch or wizard, donchya know."

"Are you sure?" Kingsley asked, shifting uncomfortably.

"Well, I should dink so, hey," Mansfield leaned back and peered at his student. "What's got you wondering anyhow?"

"Oh," Kingsley paused. "I've become recently aware that somebody I know is a werewolf, and I was wondering if he was… safe."

"Well, den, tell me this: Is the person that you know seem trustworthy? Has he given any sign that he may be dangerous?" Mansfield gaze was stern and Kingsley noticed a very unfamiliar feeling. He, a very intelligent Ravenclaw, felt stupid. He shook his head and looked down at the desk.

"I'll have ya know, there, that many a people even nowsadays would like to make life very difficult for people with this painful affliction, hey. I'm well aware of how controversial this topic is lately, what with the Ministry always switching werewolves from the Werewolf Registry and Werewolf Capture Unit in de Beast Division, while at the same time, dey have the office for Werewolf Support Services was in de Being Division. I dink, personally, that now more than ever we should be supporting and including werewolves in wizard society, what with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named right here trying to convert dem all over da place."

Kingsley nodded again and took a sip of tea before excusing himself. Everything that Professor Mansfield had said was not only true, but applicable. Remus had never given him any reason to not trust him; in fact, all evidence suggested that Remus was the kindest of the Marauders.

'Well, I'll still talk to Maia," he thought to himself as we made his way up to Ravenclaw Tower, "If one of my friends were a werewolf, I would want to know."

***

There was a fresh layer of snow covering the grounds as a large group of teenaged witches and wizards gallivanted out of the castle that Saturday afternoon.

"Care to remind me why on earth we are outside in this cold, cold weather?" Remus asked as Caleb shivered and nodded in agreement.

"Snow!" Kate exclaimed, grabbing Caleb's hand with gloved fingers.

"Yeah! " Maia agreed. "It's all sparkly and fresh and…" she swooped down to grab a handful of snow. After forming into a ball, she took aim and fired at Peter. "Good for throwing at people!"

Unfortunately, instead of hitting Peter, it hit the person closest to him; so close you actually couldn't tell where their faces parted: Heather. She yelped and pulled away from her boyfriend to look around at the 6th years .

"Who…?" she started, but Maia answered her promptly.

"Geesh, Allie, why would you throw a snowball at poor unsuspecting Miss Heather?" Those who had seen Maia throw the snowball howled with laughter.

"I believe that was actually you—" Allie started, but before she could finish, Peter threw a snowball at her . Although it only grazed her hip, Josh Mason, pretended to be greatly offended.

"You dare attack a lady?" He called, sending a snowball back over towards Peter. Although his aim would've been true, Peter stepped out of the way in time causing it to hit Lily.

"It's war!"

In a flurry of movement, everybody was throwing snow at everybody else. It turned into boys vs. girls rapidly. Lily, although smiling, accused James of thinking she wasn't good enough to fight her own snow ball battles.

"You are so lovely and delicate though, my lovely Lily flower," James replied with an easy smile as he launched another snow ball in the air. Lily tried to force a scowl onto her face and, when she couldn't manage that, grabbed snow and shoved her mittens into his face, dousing him with ice.

Heather had tackled Peter and the two of them were now on the snowy ground pushing snow at each other without even bothering to make proper snow balls. Eventually the lovebirds rolled behind a snowy drift pile. James realized that these spots would make great forts and started to build piles of snowballs at which he charmed to fly around hitting Kingsley and Maia, who were acting rather like young children tumbling around throwing snowballs.

"Hey," Remus whispered into Sirius ear as he aimed a snowball towards Caleb, "I think I understand why we're out here now."

"Oh?" Sirius barked with laughter. "I mean, I know I look sexy with wet melting snow in my hair—"

"Well, yeah, but also…" Remus pushed a clump of snow at his boyfriend. Sirius guffawed and pushed him down onto the snowy ground. They wrestled as they always had since they were little first years: rolling around pinning each other down and shoving snow down each other's robes. Remus stumbled to his feet and ran behind the trees that bordered the lake. Sirius, of course, chased him, pelting him with snow balls.

Once the two boys were behind the trees Remus finished his sentence.

"Snow is good, because it means I get to warm you up," he whispered into the blacked haired boy's nearly frozen ear. He then grabbed the icy earlobe between his teeth and sucked, warming Sirius up considerably.

"Good plan," Sirius sighed, wrapping his arms around Remus. He smirked "I love sweating when it's cold outside."

The werewolf nuzzled him, smelling his ice-drenched hair. Sirius nudged the other boy so that their frozen noses were touching. Remus' breath warmed Sirius' lips and they leaned into a passionate kiss. Remus leaned against a large oak tree and Sirius leaned against him. Their hips touched through layers of cloth and both boys were extremely aware of how all their friends were occupied on the other side of the tree.

"Is this okay?" Sirius asked as he pressed harder against Remus, sufficiently pinning him to the oak.

"Yeah…" Remus groaned into Sirius' lips. "I kind of like the thrill of having people less than 10 ft away not knowing what we're doing. It's exciting."

"Would it be even better if they knew and simply didn't care?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know…" Remus responded carefully. He then laughed and said, "But I do know you're better than hot chocolate!"

"Moi?"Sirius asked in faux disbelief. "Better than chocolate?"

"The only thing better," Remus mumbled as he pressed his lips against Sirius'. His lips parted and he sucked Sirius' tongue into his mouth. As he gently bit down, Sirius let out a sigh, pressing himself harder against Remus.

It was more than a relief than Remus had anticipated, being able to be openly affectionate to Sirius. If he had known it would feel so natural and good, he definitely wouldn't have been so hesitant. Or so he thought now, as Sirius licked his lower lip and gripped the front of his robes.

"Sirius! Remus!" Kate called from the clearing. "Stop hiding and come fight us like real men!"

Remus rested his head against the tree and sighed, looking up at the branches.

"We are probably being more manly hidden here then they would like to know," Sirius chuckled, leaning away from his lover. "Come on, time to appease the masses."

Remus came very close to pouting, but looking at Sirius, who was flushed and out of breath, made him realize that if he could, he would never return to their friends. Now better then later, he decided. This way they wouldn't get suspicious.

The boys slowly stepped out from behind the tree and were immediately bombarded with snow.

James, who had strayed from his fort to watch his friend's flushed faces get soaked quickly jumped back behind it when Lily spotted him.

"You aren't the only one who can charm snowballs to hit people!" She called as dozens of snowballs pelted down at him. The group continued to play like innocent little children for about another half hour. Half an hour later they still weren't bored. Kingsley, Josh, and Caleb had set up a fort on the side and were charming snowballs to chase after the girls. Peter, Remus, and Sirius had, at James' orders, set a perimeter where they directed James' charmed snowballs to bombard the boys.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" A bitter voice cut into to shrieks, shouts, giggles, and laughter. James froze and looked up from where he lay behind a snow barrier, making more snow balls. Snape stood towering over him, malice in his dark eyes.

"A snowball fight. It's called having fun. Perhaps you've heard of that," James answered, trying to keep his voice steady as he stood up.

"Are you sure that is advisable?" Another voice rang through the cold air as Regulus stepped out from behind his friend.

"It isn't against any rules, if that's what you mean," James answered, trying to keep his voice steady as anger rose in his chest at the mere sight of the two Slytherins.

"Are you quite sure that nothing you're doing is against the rules?" Snape answered, raising his eyebrows.

"Cut the crap and stop implying that you know more than you actually do, Snivillus." Sirius had come to stand behind James.

"Your superiority complex and condescending tone are not wanted here," Remus added as he and Peter, too, came to join his friends. The entire snowball fight had stopped by this point, and everybody was watching almost eagerly to see what would happen.

"Oh, but we are superior," Regulus argued, "We aren't blood traitors or faggots or… things." He looked at James, Sirius, and Remus in turn as he said this. Remus started to retaliate, but he was cut off as a flash of light exploded from beside him and Regulus was blasted off his feet and back several feet into a snow bank. Immediately Snape pulled out his wand and fired a retaliatory jinx causing Sirius to turn bright red and produce steam from his ears and nose. Sirius raised his wand again, but James was faster.

"Protego!" James shouted, a shield separating they Slytherins from the Marauders. James turned to Snape and Regulus. "Leave. Now. Or I'll remove this shield and let Padfoot here go all out on you. But, I'd rather you leave, because you just aren't worth it."

"Fine," Snape replied coolly, "I don't particularly feel like dirtying my robes anymore today." And with that he turned and stalked away towards the castle.

"You, too, Black," James said, turning to the younger boy who was struggling to remove himself from several feet of snow.

As the second Slytherin ran after his friend, Sirius rounded on James, "What the hell did you do that for? There aren't any teachers around."

"It's like I said, they aren't worth it," James said defiantly, looking straight into Sirius' angry grey eyes.

"It would have been fun," Sirius snapped. "You're just saying this because Lily's over there and you don't want her to see. You know what they and their friends want to do. They are the kind of people that-"

"I know what kind of people they are, Sirius," James countered, "And I don't want to have anything to do with them. Not here, not now."

Sirius looked as though he were about to say something, but Remus cut him off, placing his hand on Sirius' shoulder, "Padfoot, mate, Prongs is right. I know they took your brother. They took James' family. But a duel on the grounds in open sight is not a good idea."

"Yeah," Peter added, "We'll get them back later. Anyway, it's too late now. They're gone."

"I guess," Sirius grumbled, "But that doesn't explain why Prongs here called a stop to the fun. A month ago he would've joined."

"A month ago I guess I didn't see what was wrong with hurting people for fun," James replied icily.

"Prongs, it's Snape," Sirius insisted, "He's a right evil prat. As is Regulus."

"We break rules, we hex Snape, we have fun," Peter said, "We're Marauders. It's what we do."

"We can do all those things and not actually hurt him, Prongs," Remus pointed out.

"I don't want to be like them," James said with a sigh, "I cannot say no to marauding, but I refuse to sink to their level."

"And we won't," Remus assured him. Peter and Sirius nodded their agreement.

"In that case," James said, a smile beginning to form and break the cold hardness with which his jaw had set, "I propose we continue work on that map of ours."

"We're going to head inside," Peter announced to the rest of the participants in the snow battle, breaking the tense silence that had overcome the group after the two Slytherins had left. "Anyone up for a nice, warm game of Exploding Snap? Or, perhaps, a butterbeer?"

The group nodded their approval of this plan and they began walking back to the castle. James looked around, trying to catch Lily's eye as they trudged through the snow. He knew that he hadn't done anything wrong and thought that he hadn't done anything to upset her, but he wanted to make sure that she was not upset by the interaction between the Marauders and Snape. However, he soon realised that the red head was, in fact, not in the group of happy, chattering teenagers.

"Who are you looking for, Potter?" Josh asked, one arm over Allie's shoulder, the other hand clearing a path in the snow with his wand.

"I was just wondering where Evans went," James answered, attempting to keep his voice casual.

Josh raised an eyebrow, "She took after Snape, I think. She said there was something that she had to tell him, but that she'd meet up with us later."

"She went after Snape?" James stopped where he stood, staring at the dark haired Ravenclaw.

"Don't worry about it, James," Allie said, an easy smile on her face, "As much as none of us like Snape, we know that he won't hurt her. I know you like her, but trust her."

"I do," James said, mildly affronted that Allie had so casually mentioned his crush on Lily, "it's him I don't trust."

"And I'm sure he's well aware that the lot of us would come after his greasy green-robed arse if he hurt her," Josh said. James raised his eyebrows, but Josh just shook his head, "King and I may not be in your group of friends, but we care enough about Maia and Allie to care about Lily. And," he added with a cheeky smile, "don't seem so appalled that Allie mentioned that you have a thing for Lily. It's probably the worst kept secret of Hogwarts."

***

Lily Evans watched as Severus Snape stormed away from the boys. She was angry, as she knew she would be as soon as she'd seen James stand up and face Snape. What she hadn't known, though, was that her anger wouldn't be directed toward the bespectacled boy but rather toward her childhood friend.

"Allie," she whispered urgently to her friend, noting, even in her anger, that Allie finally seemed to have opened herself up to Josh, who had been holding her hand and whispering something in her ear, "I have to go talk to Severus." Without waiting for a reply, Lily took off. She finally caught up to him near the greenhouses.

"Snape!" She called, "Snape! Severus!"

He stopped, "What do you want? Oh – Lily. Hi."

"Hi," she said, kicking the snow as she shuffled her feet anxiously.

"What do you want?" he repeated, coolly. But there was an eager undertone in his voice.

"I want you to stop goading the boys," she answered.

"Oh, so this is about Potter." He spat out the name as though it tasted of doxy droppings.

"No, Sev-Snape," Lily retorted, anger beginning to flare in her eyes. "It's about you. I've told you this before; calling people those names, speaking to people that way, using Dark Magic, it's not right!"

"Black attacked first," Snape dismissed.

"But you responded. If you're so superior, as you claim, you would've been the bigger person and done the right thing. Besides, I saw you come over. You initiated the entire interaction!"

"Bigger person? The 'right' thing?" Snape mocked, "Do you see the colours on my robes? That isn't my goal; that isn't who I am."

"So you think that you can just hide behind your colours, blaming other people for your actions? You are so in over your head in the Dark Arts that I can hardly believe I knew you once. Do you really believe all that rubbish? Is that really what is important to you? You aren't even pureblood!"

"No," he admitted, "it isn't."

"Then why? What is important to you?"

"You," he replied simply.

Lily just stared at him as though he'd sprouted an extra head, "Still?"

"Always."

"But," Lily struggled to find words, "But, Snape… you burned that bridge last year."

"It's because of Potter," Snape said again with equal disgust, "I cannot believe you're falling into the Potter Trap. He's really not that-"

"Snape," Lily said, her voice rising, "It has nothing to do with Potter. It's you. You cannot move past your weird hate for the kid. He's grown up a bit. Maybe you should too."

"But-" Snape started, colour rising around his collar.

"No," Lily cut him off, "I'm not going to hate James for you because, you and me? We aren't friends any longer. And you have nobody to blame for that but yourself." Lily turned and walked away. It took all her effort not to run as she bit her lip and let the tears fall. She had said it the year before, but she knew it now with a certainty unlike any she had had before. And this would be the last time she would cry for him, she told herself. The rest of the pain and hurt of what could've been remained with the boy standing alone in the January snow.

***

"Hey, Maia!" Kingsley called across the corridor the next day as he saw his girlfriend step out of a classroom. She was holding at least 5 heavy textbooks, so when Kingsley got over to her, he took them all and kissed her lightly.

"Hey sweet boy," Maia grinned, flirtatiously. "Have a good day?"

"Yeah, but I have to talk to you," He smiled at her assuring her that the talk wouldn't be a bad one. "When are you free?"

"Well… right now, I suppose," Maia answered, her face alit with curiosity.

"Erm…" He looked around at all the students walking around them. "Come on."

He grabbed her hand and pulled her to a deserted classroom. Placing the books down on a table, he embraced her and kissed her again.

"Hate to break it to you, sweetie," Maia chirped when he stopped to catch his breath. "But that isn't talking. That's snogging. Not that I particularly mind, but it seemed like you had something to say?"

"Yes. Yes I did have something to say," He paused and wondered what her reaction would be. "Remus Lupin? Yeah. He's a werewolf."

Maia, surprisingly didn't look the least bit surprised.

"Poor guys… God, I feel awful for him. But, it does kind of make sense… missing class all the time…" she drifted off into thought for a moment. "Hey, do you think that he was that wolf we saw by the forest that one time?"

"I suppose…" To be honest, Kingsley hadn't even made the connection' "What was with his animal friends?"

"Well, werewolves really only are dangerous to humans. I suppose, it would be like Remus to make cute forest buddies," Maia giggled. Kingsley however, was still concerned.

"But that's not really safe is it?" He asked. "I'm nearly sure that Dumbledore wouldn't know and just let him run free and dangerous."

Maia considered for a moment. "I'm sure Dumbledore knows he's a werewolf. And it may not have been him in the forest. We were a little distracted... But perhaps we should mention it to a friend of his, because I'm sure he would tell them. They could maybe consider ways to keep people safe?"

"You're probably right," Kingsley said slowly, concern etching his voice, "And it probably wasn't him in the forest. He's a smart kid, he'd know not to put people in danger. But, yes. We should talk to his friends."

"But, make sure you don't tell anyone outside of the Marauders, okay?" Maia whispered. "I mean, poor Remus is already going to be discriminated against when he comes out as gay. We really don't want to get him kicked out of school by angry parents who don't want their kid around a gay werewolf."

"Wait… Lupin's gay?" Kingsley asked, mildly shocked.

"Oh, shit!" Maia covered her mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't say that!"

"Yes you did," Kingsley countered. "I don't really care though. I mean, whatever floats his boat, right?"

Maia nodded, thankful that Kingsley hadn't freaked out.

"Is he with Sirius then?" Kingsley asked. "That's the only other openly gay guy I can think of."

"Mmhmm, I personally think it's adorable," She smiled and laced her fingers between Kingsley's large black ones.

"Albeit, rather obvious, now that I think about it," Kingsley shrugged. He smiled down at his girlfriend.

"Of course," Maia smirked, leaning against his wide chest. "Remus and Sirius aren't here right now, are they? Now it's just you and me; all alone."

All thoughts of werewolves and gay lovers slid from Kingsley's mind as Maia kissed him.

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Author's Note: So... what did you think? Likes? Dislikes? What was your favourite moment in this chapter? Let me know! Reviews are love!