CHAPTER 4

"What?" Peter asked.

"I just realized EVERYTHING. Moony. Padfoot. Prongs. Wormtail. Remus is a werewolf, the rest of you are Animaguses. Sirius is a dog, James is a deer, and you're a rat." I replied.

"Very well done." James said.

"Now she really has to be a Marauder if she's that smart. She may even be smarter than Moony." Sirius said.

"I'm far from being smarter than him." I said.

"I don't want her around me. She could get hurt." Remus snapped.

"What's it to you if I get hurt? I'm just like any other girl to you." I said.

"Because I don't want anyone other than these three around me." Remus said.

"Fine Mr. Sourpuss." I said. I stood there as they disappeared into the tunnel under the Whomping Willow.

A couple of minutes I heard howling and a scream. The scream was Peter's. it had to be because none of the others would get that high pitched. I ran down the tunnel and found Peter pressed against the wall in his human form with Remus not even two inches away from him.

"Peter, change you idiot!" I shouted. It knocked him to his senses and he transformed into a rat. Sirius padded up to me in his dog form and stood on his hind paws, placing his front paws on my shoulders. He pushed against me, as if signaling for me to leave. I transformed instead. To my surprise, I stood above the black dog even though he was rather large.

"Lizzie, you bloody idiot, get out of here!" Sirius barked.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because he's worse this time than normal since he was so wound up before turning." James replied from across the room. Remus turned to look at me. He growled.

"He's being territorial." Sirius said.

"He won't hurt a female wolf." I said.

"Not normally, but when he's like this he'll hurt anything." Peter said. I crouched down, trying to appear less intimidating to the werewolf as he approached me. Sirius stood next to me, growling as Remus got to close.

"Back up." Sirius whispered. I followed his instructions and backed up until I couldn't back up any further. Sirius stood in front of me, still growling. The werewolf snarled and knocked him to the side before advancing towards me again. I stood up slowly, knowing it was better to be prepared than to be crouched.

"Lizzie, be careful." Sirius said from his position across the room. Remus suddenly lunged forward, going for my throat. I twisted around, dodging his powerful jaws. He followed me and jumped again. I turned to face him and was surprised to find him right there. I bit his muzzle before he had a chance to bite me. He whined from the pain and I released him. He went for my throat again and actually got ahold of me, but I scratched the side of his face and he let go before he broke my skin. I backed away to where the others were.

He went after Sirius and before anyone could stop him, he had his jaws locked around the black dog's throat. I jumped forward and bit the werewolf's tail. He let go of Sirius and howled in pain. I snarled at him and helped the dog up. I nudged Sirius into a corner of the room with James and Peter.

"Lizzie, are you alright?" Sirius asked.

"I think you're the one we should be worried about." I said. Since I was in my wolf form, I couldn't do much other than lick his neck wounds clean. I did the best I could and then went and spit the blood out of my mouth, shaking my head. Remus started over and I growled, crouching down into a defensive position. The werewolf looked startled and retreated across the room and fell asleep.

"Lizzie, go to the castle and get some sleep. Remus isn't going to cause any trouble because when he falls asleep like that he stays asleep until he's human again. The rest of us are going to sleep down here." Sirius said.

"No, I'm going to stay with you guys. You said I might as well be a Marauder. If I'm going to be one, I'm going to be included." I said.

"She's got you there, Padfoot." James pointed out. Sirius groaned but didn't say anything else.

The next morning, we all went to the castle very well rested. I went up to the dorm and found Claire waiting on me.

"Take a shower. Now." She demanded. I followed her orders. When I stepped out of the bathroom dressed in my normal clothes, she glared at me. Once again she dressed me in something of hers. This time it was a pair of tight jeans, the silver high heels, and gray and white shirt.

We walked down to breakfast. As expected, Sirius came to collect me a couple of minutes after I sat in my normal spot only this time he brought James with him.

"Excuse me, but the new Marauder needs to sit with us." James said in his normal cocky manner.

"There's something going on that you need to know about, Lizzie." Sirius said more gently. I followed them and saw Remus and Peter.

"About last night…" Remus trailed off.

"What about last night?" I asked.

"I'm sorry." Remus replied.

"Don't be. It was my fault for showing up."

"Peter would be dead if you hadn't." Remus pointed out. I glanced at the chunky boy across the table before agreeing. "I never should have kicked up such a big fuss over you coming. I just didn't want youo to get hurt."

"It's fine and its not like you did any real damage to me." I said.

"Would you do us all the honor of going to Hogsmeade with us?" Sirius asked suddenly. I turned to look at him.

"Well, since Chris and Claire probably already left, and I don't have a date, I guess I could." I said, laughing. I knew the plan was for Remus to hopefully ask me to go, buut I figured it was better to go as a group than not ay all.

Once we started walking to Hogsmeade, Remus pulled me away from the others.

"Sirius likes you." he said.

"Well I don't like him that way. He's an awesome friend, but that's all I view him as." I replied.

"Well you might wanna make that clear to him." Remus said. We caught up with the others. Sirius looked a little hurt for some reason but when he saw me and Remus ignoring each other, he seemed to get over it. Once we got to Hogsmeade, we went into Honeyduke's candy shop. Once inside, we all split up.

I went down the HUGE chocolate section. Before long, Sirius appeared by my side.

"Lizzie." he said.

"Hm?" I didn't turn to face him.

"Lizzie." he said softly. I finally turned to face him.

"Siriu-" I was cut off by him kissing me. I was aware of the others standing a few feet away so I stepped back.

"Lizzie?" Sirius looked hurt.

"Sirius, its nothing against you. I just like someone else." I said. I couldn't stand looking at the hurt expression on his face so I turned away. I walked out of the store and started crying. Before long, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Why are you crying, Lizzie?" Sirius asked, his face full of concern. He was by himself.

"Because you looked so hurt before I left. And I hated seeing you like that." I replied.

"Look Lizzie, it's fine. I'll get over it." Sirius said.

"The problem is just that you're an amazing guy and I so sorta like you,, but I like Remus more even though he probably doesn't even realize I'm a female." I said.

"Oh believe me, Remus knows you're a girl." Sirius replied.

"Well I reckon he does know I'm a girl, but I'm sure he doesn't pay attention to me other than when he has to." I said.

"He likes you." Sirius said.

"He doesn't act like it." I whispered.

"Because he doesn't really know how to act." the boy said before going back inside. I made sure no one was watching and turned into my wolf form. I didn't know where I was going, but I took off running as fast as I could.

"Lizzie!" I heard Claire and Chris say when I ran past them. I glanced back and was relieved to find them heading in the opposite direction. Not that they could have caught up, because Claire's Animagus form was a cat and Chris was a small dog.

Once I got back onto Hogwarts grounds, I knew I had to figure out where I was going. I ran towards the Whomping Willow and slipped through the tunnel quickly.