A/N: Hey! Look! It's been less than two weeks! And we'll do our best to get another chapter up in the same amount of time. My holiday is ending soon, though. But I'll push to keep writing my part. We have a definite plan of where we want to go with the story now, so that should make the updates quicker. No more of that once-a-month stuff, I promise. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: My driver's license still does not say "Joanne Rowling." I am not British. And, no, I do not own Harry Potter.

--

Since winter term had started, frequent library patrons noticed a change in the way that Allie Korets and Josh Mason studied in the library. Whereas previously they would sit either by themselves or with housemates, they now sat together. At first, those who cared, were surprised when the two walked in together and spread their books out at a quiet corner table. By the first week of February, however, even the keenest on gossip were no longer fussed with their presence together.

"Josh?" Allie asked quietly after staring at her Arithmancy notes in slight confusion.

"Yes?" He asked, looking up from the essay on long-lasting effects of the Imperius Curse.

"Could you explain this mathematical structure to me?" She pointed at a diagram of numbers, letters, and odd symbols. "I thought I understood it in class, but now it just isn't making any sense."

Josh pulled the parchment towards him and studied it for a moment before smiling, "Allie, dear, you're making it too complicated."

"What do you mean?" She asked, scowling in slight confusion.

Josh pointed at the numbers, letters, and symbols in turn, stating the arrangement they took on the page and how the mere shapes in which they lay was the key to determining what they meant. As he went on to explain how to calculate the answer, his voice dropped and he moved closer to Allie until he was whispering the instructions in her ear.

"So," Allie whispered back as she turned to face him, "you just have to determine the shape, find the analogous equation, and calculate the answers to determine the meanings?"

"Exactly."

"Thanks." The way he was looking at her made her blush. Although they had been flirting for over a month and had spent copious amounts of time together both studying and talking, nothing had yet happened between them.

Whenever she came back from the library, Maia and Kate would ask her if he had made a move. Each time, Allie would blush and shake her head. She liked him, she even had good reason to believe that he liked her as well, but she didn't want to push. She didn't want to feel as though she were forcing anybody into anything, especially after how things had ended with Remus.

But the raw intelligence that was so easily discernable behind his deep brown eyes, the way he could explain the most difficult homework problem with ease, and yet not seem arrogant, and the sweet kindness with which he treated her could've made the most unfortunate looking wizard attractive. He brought out the part of her that had made the Sorting Hat question putting her in Ravenclaw. But it was more than that. Things felt right when she was with him.

"Allie?" Josh asked quietly. He had returned to his previous position at the table while Allie's mind had been wandering and was now looking at her curiously from over his half completed essay.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Do you have plans for the fourteenth of the month?"

"What?" She asked, "Um, no. I don't think so. Why?"

Josh leaned forward, "I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to Hogsmeade."

Allie stared at him. "As… as a date?"

Josh didn't answer, but rather leaned forward further and let his lips touch hers in a gentle kiss. Allie froze for a brief moment before reciprocating, letting sparks surge from her lips through the rest of her body.

"I think," she said, pulling away, "that I would like that very much."

***

"And I could go work for the Ministry as Allie suggested, but I've never been a fan of bureaucracy…" Kingsley stopped paying attention to what his friend, Josh Mason, was saying about after Hogwarts goals when he spotted one of the Marauders wandering from a class by himself.

"Hey, Josh, I have something I have to take care of," He explained distractedly. "Meet you in the common room, okay?"

Before Josh could say "Laters, King", he was hurrying to catch up with Peter.

"Hey there, Peter," He said, falling into step with the shorter boy.

"Oh, hi Kingsley," Peter greeted the popular Ravenclaw, mildly confused as to why he had been approached. "Are you looking for Maia?"

"Not really," Kingsley responded. "I was actually really hoping to talk to you about something."

"Oh?" Peter stopped walking, completely bemused. "Why would you want to talk to me? Are you sure you don't want James or Sirius or something?"

Kingsley furrowed his brow, could Peter really not understand that anyone might actually see him as worth talking to? He shook his head realizing that, really, Peter's self esteem was not his priority.

"It's about Remus, or… you guys call him Moony, right?"

"Yeah," Peter looked up at Kingsley warningly. "It's a Marauder nickname. Nobody else calls him that. Ever."

"Right," Kingsley chuckled. "I wasn't planning on using it… it's just… well he got the nickname because of his… condition, right?"

Peter eyes darted around the corridor and decided to take this conversation to somewhere a little more deserted. Opening the first door he spotted, he grabbed Kingsley and pulled him into a broom closet.

"Shh! What do you think you're doing? How do you know about Moony? Did Snape say something? Oh god if he did, Prongs will drop this maturity thing in a second and he will be as good as dead… unless, what if they think that I told you? Or did Padfoot tell Maia? Shit oh shit oh shit!" Peter was close to hyperventilation, and Kingsley not wanting all the oxygen in the small broom cupboard to get used up, placed a calming hand on the other boy's shoulder.

"Peter, calm down," He sighed, thankful for silence when Peter shut up and held his breath. "I overheard you guys talking about the full moon, and caught a glimpse of a werewolf by the forest last Halloween. I told Maia, but she seemed okay about it."

"Oh," Peter looked at Kingsley's shadowed face waiting. "So, what are you going to do?"

"Nothing," Kingsley leaned back against the wall. "I think the teachers must already know… at least Mansfield figured it out. How is Dumbledore making sure everybody stays safe?"

"Well," Peter deliberated trying to decide what to tell Kingsley. "There is a place where he goes. It's perfectly secure."

"Then why was he in the forest, surrounded by fuzzy forest friends last Halloween?"

"Well… maybe he got out?" Peter's eyes darted around, even though they were completely alone. It was almost as if he was looking for a way to escape. Kingsley felt a little bad about making the kid sweat, so he decided to finish up the conversation.

"Well, just, maybe tell Dumbledore that he could work on the security of this safe place, okay?" With that, Kingsley turned to leave, but Peter, concerned that Kingsley might think too hard on the animals that had been accompanying Remus in werewolf form.

"Wait, Kingsley!" The black Ravenclaw turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know anything else, that might be, er… confidential Marauder business?" Peter asked. Kingsley shrugged and answered.

"Well, I know that Remus is gay," Peter's jaw dropped, but Kingsley didn't notice in the dim light of the cupboard. "And that he and Sirius are together. But that's sort of obvious, right?"

"er…" Peter had no idea what to say. Kingsley, misreading the silence assured him.

"Don't worry though, I won't tell anyone. It's their business if they want to come out."

Kingsley left Peter, who was in shock, alone in the broom cupboard to ponder this new information.

***

Sirius and Remus were alone in the dormitory together, lying in each other's arms on Remus' bed. Their faces were flushed and the blankets were tangled. Sirius traced the scars on Remus' bare chest, lightly, causing the werewolf's skin to cover in goose bumps.

Remus breathed warm, moist breath into Sirius' mussed hair and whispered meaningless post-orgasm mutterings. Sirius chuckled and sat up and pulled on pants.

"Wormtail should be getting back from his classes soon," he reminded his boyfriend as he pulled a white undershirt over his head.

Remus groaned and searched around for his black uniform pants. Right after he found them and slipped them on, the door of the dorm burst open and an alarmed Peter barged in.

"Hello, Wormtail," Remus greeted his friend calmly, hoping that it wouldn't look like they'd been walked in on.

"Why aren't you wearing a shirt?!" Peter exclaimed. The other two looked at him, trying to appear confused.

"Well, I was fancying a shower," Remus explained, forcing his face into the well used excuse-making expression of complete believability.

"Besides," Sirius commented. "Since when do we bother wearing clothes in our dorm? It's not like we don't see each other naked all the time."

Peter looked from Sirius to Remus and back again. He repeated this motion numerous times, making Remus feel slightly self- conscious of all the scars that covered his chest, let alone the sweat that covered both of them, making their hair stick up like James'. Sirius couldn't help notice that they both had swollen lips and happy, dazed expressions barely being contained.

"Are you gay?" Peter asked. Remus paled, but Sirius just laughed.

"Wormtail, I've been out for like, a year so far," he said. Peter shook his head and pointed at Remus.

"Are you gay?" He repeated. Remus briefly relived the moment when his friends had cornered him about being a werewolf and pondered the way his friends always seemed to see right through him. He had no idea how Peter knew, so he just nodded. Peter sighed, a strange expression on hi s face.

"And you two are…?"

"Together," Remus finished. "Yes, we are."

Sirius grinned at his boyfriend, who was looking rather murderous. The grin slid off his face.

"How did you know? Was it Allie?"

Sirius was shocked. "You told Allie?!" He exclaimed. "And you expected it to not get out? Really, Remus? How thick can you get—"

"Allie's not the type to gossip, Sirius, and you know it," Remus shot back.

"It wasn't Allie," Peter interrupted, shaking his head.

"Maia?" Sirius asked, he didn't think she was the type to blab, but he had to admit, sometimes she was a bit spacey.

"Maia knows?" Remus glared at his boyfriend. "Why does Maia know? I had to tell Allie, she was my girlfriend and she deserved to know the truth, but really? Maia? That girl is so carefree! How could you think she wouldn't let it slip?"

"It wasn't Maia, either," Peter informed them. "It was Kingsley. Does Prongs know? Am I the last person to know? I thought I was your friend!"

Peter's face crumbled, but Remus was so upset that he didn't even notice. Sirius was a bit more focused on an upset Remus than a confused Peter.

"How does Kingsley know?" Remus glared accusingly at his boyfriend. "I thought you were okay with keeping this private until I was ready!"

"I only ever told Maia!" Sirius insisted. "You were playing with my head and I needed somebody to confide in!"

"So, does James know or not?" Peter repeated, trying to absorb the tsunami of information.

"I was playing with your head?" Remus exclaimed. "You knew you were gay! I was the one going through an identity crisis!"

"That's not fair!" Sirius argued. "I was obsessed with you and you kept sending mixed messages! I needed to talk to somebody."

"Well," Peter interjected. "You obviously didn't think me or James were good enough to know anything!"

"It wasn't that," Sirius explained. "Maia had figured it out herself and she's not as good of friends with Remus, so she was easiest to talk to. I knew Remus would want to tell you two about it himself."

"But he didn't," Peter pointed out. "And you just let us stay in the dark! Marauders don't lie to other each other. You need to tell James."

The three boys looked at each other. Sirius felt a bit guilty that he hadn't told James and Peter, and also felt bad about outing Remus to Maia without his permission, but mostly, he was just relieved that they probably wouldn't have to hide much longer.

Remus was furious and embarrassed; did everyone know? He wasn't ready for all of this yet and now it felt as though he were naked in front of a crowd with all his secrets laid out in plain sight.

Peter was disappointed that his friends hadn't confided in him, and irritated that once again, he seemed like the last person to figure out what was going on. He sighed, "Oh yeah, Kingsley also knows that you're a werewolf, Moony."

This, apparently was the final straw for Remus. He didn't even bother asking how Kingsley knew this dangerous piece of information, before he grabbed his sweater from where it lay on the floor stormed out of the dormitory. Sirius watched his boyfriend leave but decided not to go after him. If Remus were truly angry, it would be best to let his rational side calm down his emotional side before any of the others got involved

"How on earth did Kinsley figure out?" Sirius asked, sitting back down on the still tangled sheets of Remus' bed.

Peter sat on his own bed across from Sirius,"He overheard us talking. And he saw Moony in the woods on Halloween, do you remember that?"

"Oh yeah," Sirius said as he recalled the moment when the wolf had almost attacked Maia and Kingsley as they strolled by the lake. "Is he going to tell anyone?"

"No, but he told us to tell Dumbledore that the wolf had escaped and that he should review the security."

"I don't think we need to worry too much about it," Sirius said, receiving a nod of agreement from Peter. He stood up. "Well, I'm off. Got to make sure my boyfriend doesn't do something stupid before rational Remus gets a hold of the situation."

"So… you really like him, eh?" Peter asked, trying not to reveal his discomfort

"I love him."

And for the second time that day, Peter was left alone and confused.

***

Remus Lupin was alone, shivering in the snow by the lake. Multiple sheets of white had hid the footprints from their old snow ball fight and the lake was covered in slushy ice. He usually hated the cold, but in a boarding school, it was hard to get privacy. At least out here he knew that nobody would interrupt his solitude.

The sun was setting behind clouds and the snow sparkled violet. He didn't know how he could bear to go back and see his friends. The expression on Peter's face was mostly shock, but Remus suspected that behind the shock was disgust and hurt. It was happening all over again. He had to worry about his friends deserting him and although it didn't make logical sense, he was concerned.

"Remus?" A familiar voice broke the silence.

"Yes, Sirius?" He asked, not turning around. He heard soft footsteps fall closer on the snow.

"They will understand." Sirius took Remus' hand in his own and Remus didn't have the energy to pull away. He didn't have energy to answer either.

"They've never cared that I'm gay, and I know that they'll just be glad that we're happy."

"But, Sirius," Remus sighed. "I'm not even sure if I'm gay. I really did like Allie. I'm not sure I want everybody to think that I'm something I'm not."

"Are you with me?" Sirius asked, making eye contact with his boyfriend.

"Of course," Remus answered.

"Well, then, that's all anybody needs to know. If you break up with me, then you can explain to everyone that you also like girls."

"People are going to hate me," Remus said.

"Why? I don't think you're particularly hatable." Sirius knew exactly why people would hate Remus, but somehow hoped that if he pretended they wouldn't then they wouldn't.

"Because, 1. I'm a faggot. 2. I'm dating you." Remus explained unnessesarily.

"In response to that first one, do you really think that anybody will be able to get away with insulting or hurting a Marauder? We take care of our own. Besides, not to be modest, but I'm incredibly popular. I don't understand how being with me could possibly work against you."

"Jealous fangirls and fanboys?" Remus suggested, smirking.

"Touché," Sirius smirked back. "But, we've always had to deal with jealous wankers; Snivelus, for example."

Remus nodded and leaned against the black haired boy who gripped the shivering boy hard in his arms.

"You were a total prat to come outside in this weather. You aren't even wearing a cloak." Remus shrugged and let the other boy rub his nearly numb limbs back to feeling before pulling him to his feet and starting back to the castle.

"Did Peter say anything else about Kingsley knowing about my… condition?" Remus asked.

"Yeah," Sirius grinned. "Apparently he doesn't mind too much, but wants us to remind Dumbledore to keep security a priority."

"And he won't tell?"

"If he does, I'm pretty sure that Maia would dump him," Sirius shrugged. "But I wouldn't worry. Kingsley seems like an alright kind of guy."

"So, are we going to tell Prongs then?" Remus asked as they entered the warm castle.

"We probably should," Sirius concurred. "Otherwise, Wormtail will out us first."

"Sounds like fun, then"

***

After Sirius followed Remus out of the dormitory Peter stood silently looking at the wall. He didn't feel quite as bad knowing that James didn't know about the budding relationship between the other Marauders, but he was still confused. True, he'd never been the most observant of the group; that had always been Moony. Still, he wasn't quite sure how he'd missed something that was so seemingly obvious.

"Well, I won't tell Prongs," he said to the wall, "It's their business who they snog." He sighed; he had quite the amount of homework to do and didn't want to do any of it. After a couple more minutes of staring at the wall in procrastination, he decided to go find James. His friend was always good for helping him both procrastinate and understand the material at once.

Peter found James at a table near the fire in the Gryffindor common room working on an essay. He kept running his left hand through his hair in frustration as he scribbled hastily with the quill in his right hand.

"Hey, Prongs," Peter said as he pulled out a chair across from his friend and sat down.

"Hey, Wormtail," James responded, looking up from his essay, "What's up?"

"I just thought you might like to help me on the Charms essay or help me procrastinate."

"Well, I'm just finishing up the Charms essay myself. You can copy mine if you want."

"Thanks," Peter said with a smile, "What else do you have to do?"

"This is it," James answered. He finished the sentence was working on, put down his quill, and handed the essay to Peter.

"Wait, you're done?" Peter asked in shock, "As in completely done with all the work?"

"Well, kind of," James admitted, "I mean, I wrote the essays and read the assigned pages from the books. I didn't practice the spells we were assigned to practice, though. I don't need to."

Peter shook his head in disbelief, "Who are you and what have you done with Prongs?"

"Look at it this way, Wormtail," James said defiantly, "Now I don't have to do work all week and I can laugh at you lot. Well, I can laugh at you and Padfoot. I'm sure Moony has done his."

"You are a strange wizard," Peter said with a sigh as he started paraphrasing James' essay.

James just shrugged in response and let his gaze wander from his short friend to the group of girls sitting at a table in the corner. Lily and Allie were talking quietly over the potions textbook while Maia and Kate charmed objects to fly around the girls' heads. James smiled as Lily tucked a strand of her long, red hair behind her ear. He wanted her to love him, true, but over the past few months, the desire had changed. He still liked her, dreamt about her, and imagined kissing her in deserted corridors, but as he'd started talking to her more, his adoration grew. There was more to her than her intelligence and her beauty; there was a fire in her that he'd always seen and a kindness that he'd just began to get to know.

"Prongs!" Peter said, jarring James out of his daydreams.

"What?" James asked, jerking his head to face his friend. "Was there something wrong with my essay?"

"Not so far as I can tell," Peter admitted, "But this just landed on the table." He picked up a delicately folded paper rose and handed it to James.

"What is it?" James asked as he began to unfold the flower.

"I'm not sure, but it came from over there." Peter pointed across the common room to where the Gryffindor seeker, Angela Miller, sat with her friends Julie Anderson and Dena James. He looked back at his friend. James had closed his eyes and let his fall back.

"Oh no," James moaned.

"What's wrong?" Peter inquired.

James didn't answer, but shoved the now unfolded paper rose across the table. Peter looked down. Pink hearts had been charmed to dance around red, curly letters. Peter raised his eyebrows at James.

"Just read it," James said quietly.

Peter nodded and looked back at the paper.

You're so fine
It's quite divine
So I ask you:
Be my valentine?
-Angela Miller

***

"What has James looking so distraught?" Maia asked.

"Hmm?" Lily asked absently.

"Well, he just looks distraught. And now he and Peter are leaving and going up the stairs the dormitory."

"Is the play-by-play really necessary?" Lily asked, now looking up from the potions text.

"I just thought somebody might be interested," Maia said, looking at Lily.

"I'm not," Lily said.

"You don't care that James is upset?" Kate asked, joining the conversation.

"Nope," Lily answered, turning back to her potions.

"That's not true. You cared when his family died," Allie pointed out.

"That was different," Lily insisted, "That was a real reason to be upset. I'm sure this isn't."

"You can't know that," Allie said, "You haven't asked him."

"I'm sure Maia knows," Lily said with a sigh, "She looks too smug to not know. If it were important, she'd say something."

"Okay, fine," Maia admitted, "I do know."

"And?" Lily pressed.

"I thought you didn't care," Maia smirked.

"Oh, just tell her," Kate said, laughing.

Maia looked at her, questioning, and the dark haired girl nodded encouragingly. Maia smiled, a mischievous glint appearing in her eyes. She cleared her throat, "Well, I don't know why you'd care that Angela Miller just asked out James Potter."

"Wait, what?" Lily's head snapped toward Maia, "How do you know?"

"I thought you didn't care about James Potter," Maia answered.

"Come off it, I don't," Lily protested, "I am just curious."

"I overheard her talking to her friends about sending him a note asking him to be her valentine," Maia said slowly, watching with mild amusement as Lily's eyes narrowed and her brows furrowed.

"She's not his type," Lily stated curtly.

"And what exactly is James' type?" Allie asked as she tried to suppress giggles.

"Oh, I don't know," Lily said, brushing her hair from her eyes in annoyance, "But not Angela Miller!"

"What's wrong with Angela?" Kate asked through giggles of her own, "I know her from Quidditch. She's very nice and not stupid."

"Well, he dated Kristi and look how well that turned out!"

"Angela is very different from Kristi," Kate assured her friend, "I don't think you need to worry about Angela throwing a fit in the common room over nothing."

"Well, what if they do go out, and then break up?" Lily questioned, "That would probably not be good for the Quidditch team."

"Since when do you care that much about Quidditch," Kate shot at her three of her friends exchanged glances and stared at Lily. They all knew that, as much as she enjoyed attending the Quidditch games with them, she didn't really invest herself in it beyond a fun way to pass the occasional afternoon.

"I know you care about Quidditch," Lily replied weakly, ashamed of the blush that crept up her neck under her friends' too knowing looks.

"I think," Allie said slowly, trying to prevent further stoking of Lily's temper, "that you're jealous that James is going out with people that aren't you."

"What?" Lily said, aghast, "What? No! That's ridiculous. Why in Merlin's name would I be jealous of any girl that goes out with Potter?"

"Maybe not jealous that they are going out with him," Allie answered, "Maybe just jealous that his attention is focused elsewhere. We had this same discussion back when Kristi started going with James. You had a similar reaction."

"You're wrong. You think that just because you have this new thing with Josh, that everybody should get together." Lily said. She grabbed up her potions book and parchment. "I'm going to bed. I'll talk to you girls tomorrow." And, with that, she turned and stormed across the room and up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.

"She's wrong. It has nothing to do with Josh," Allie said defiantly as their friend hurried up the staircase.

"You're right. And it has nothing to do with Quidditch either. It has everything to do with James. She's still fighting it," Maia agreed quietly.

Allie nodded, "I think that she's the only one that doesn't see it. The only girl, at least."

"She's afraid," Kate pointed out, "She's been letting him become her friend this year. She's seen him grow up a bit, but she's afraid that he'll go back to being the big headed little boy he's been until recently."

"Has she told you this, or are you speculating?" Allie asked.

"No," Kate shook her head, "She hasn't said anything. But, as you said, Allie, she's probably the only girl in Gryffindor who doesn't realise what those feelings she's having actually are."

"She'll work it out," Maia said sagely, "I bet my wand, she'll figure it out. I just only hope it isn't too late. She can't count on James waiting around forever."

***

The boys entered the dormitory to see Peter and James deep in conversation on the floor near the window.

"What?" Sirius growled. "Couldn't wait till we were here to share the news, then Peter?"

Peter blinked up at the two of them and squeaked.

"What news?" asked a curious, but obvious distressed James.

"Oh… never mind then," mumbled Sirius. Remus couldn't contain a laugh and Peter rolled his eyes. Sirius ignored them. "So, what's wrong with you, Prongs?"

"I got asked out." James groaned and leaned back against the wall.

"This is a problem how?" Sirius asked, bemused.

"I love Lily!" James exclaimed. "And things with Kristi didn't exactly work out for me, did they? And Angela is our seeker and things are awkward enough with Kristi on the team."

"So… say no," Remus suggested, still unsure what the problem was.

"But, it's Valentine's day! That's just cruel to reject somebody this time of year!" James exclaimed. Sirius and Remus looked at each other, guiltily.

"I didn't do anything for my love interest, this Valentines day…" Remus told the room.

"You have a love interest?" James asked, momentarily distracted from his own problem.

"Oh yes you did," smirked Sirius as he winked at Remus. "I'm sure your love interest doesn't feel disappointed at all. Besides, he didn't do anything special for you either. He's just glad he didn't bugger everything up and that you aren't going to toss him."

"He?" James asked his eyebrows raising as he looked between his two best friends. An amused grin snuck onto his face. "My, is our little Moony coming out as gay?"

"Uh, yeah," Remus shrugged looking at Sirius. "I'm with this tosser, here."

"Well, damn," James just laughed. "I pity the female population of Hogwarts. I bet nobody would've guessed that 50% of the Marauders were queer!"

"Actually," Sirius corrected. "Maia figured it out."

"And Kingsley said it was pretty obvious," Peter added, still shaken a bit by this new dynamic to the group, but apparently reassured by James' relaxed reaction.

"I suppose I've always been a bit oblivious to this kind of stuff," James admitted. "Whatever. Good to know we won't have to add random other guys to our group dynamic. Same rules apply as ever: Don't do anything on my bed, don't even attempt to convert me and don't turn disgustingly cute in public. Heather and Peter are bad enough for my stomach."

Peter smacked James on the back of his head, much to general amusement.

"Don't worry Prongs," Sirius barked with laughter. "You're bed smells funny and…"

"You can't really convert somebody to being gay," Remus finished.

"And that last concern," Sirius pouted and pulled himself against Remus. "You don't think we're cute? Do you hear my heart breaking?"

Remus gently shoved the other boy off him, and the four boys continued to tease each other, discuss James' romantic dilemma and be loud and obnoxious late enough to get yelled at by the head boy.

--

A/N: So... what did you think? Of Remus' coming out? Of Allie and Josh? Of Lily's reaction? Review, please!