REMUS

I'm gonna be honest.

I did not expect a girl to be able to push that hard. I fell back onto James who protested with a bit of a push back but helped me steady myself.

"What?" I seriously didn't know what she was talking about. Maybe she was some sort of Hogwarts police and had found out I had been eating chocolate everywhere – even in class.

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about!" she snapped. "It's ancient history, and everybody knows the rules."

"What rules?" I asked.

She lowered her head slightly as though she was about to charge, but then the strangest thing happened. Her olive-greenish eyes turned yellow, as in vivid, bright yellow, and she seemed to be growling from somewhere deep in her throat. The redhead girl behind her tried to get her to stop, but she shook her hand off. Then she went back to normal.

"Whoa," said Sirius. "Can you do that again?"

She whipped her head round to face him, and I thought she was going to do it again, but instead she gave him such a deadly glare, I was shocked he didn't evaporate right then and there.

Then she shifted her glare back to me and I didn't know what to do or say. She was really pretty though, with sort of pale skin but still with this olive tint to it, and a network of freckles running across her nose and cheeks. Her hair was dark and came down to the tops of her shoulders, but her eyes were her most striking - and frightening - feature. They looked green but silvery at the same time, and I spent a lot of time staring at them, trying to find the perfect name for their colour, that is, until Sirius spoke.

"Right." he said. "Come with me."

He walked the girl not too far from us and they began talking but I couldn't hear what they were saying. The redhead looked at me with this puzzled look, and the boy beside her squinted in the direction of Sirius and the other girl.

"Could you guys explain what she was on about?" I asked. The redhead gave me a sort of pitiful look.

"You really don't know what she means?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing."

Sirius and the multicolor-eyed girl came back. She gave me that same hard look then said,

"We need to talk."

Immediately all four of us, Peter, James, Sirius and I began following her and her two friends, but then she turned around and stopped us.

"Only you two," she said, pointing at Sirius and I. I looked back at James but the look he gave me made me want to sucker punch him right there. He had a smirk on his face and had his eyebrows raised suggestively. I rolled my eyes and continued following the girl.

She led us to the grass near the banks of Black Lake. I remembered quite vividly what had happened here last school year, but made no attempts to mention it.

She made us sit in a circle with our legs crossed, so that there was this large space in the middle of the circle. She had this strange aura like you'd think she could talk to trees or something. But her eyes hardened the image. They made her look like a forest queen or something of the sort.

Her glare fell on me. I thought we were going to spend the entire lunch hour sitting here in silence until the boy cleared his throat and gave her a nudge.

"Leah," he urged her. I expected her to ignore him and continue staring me down, but she burst out,

"You're in the wrong place."

I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows. Who was she to tell me where I should've and shouldn't have been? But more importantly what did she mean?

"Meaning?" I asked.

"You're in my–" she began but the redhead cut her off.

"You were," she corrected.

The girl - Leah - sighed impatiently and then continued. "You were in my territory, last night. In the woods."

My mouth went dry. I mean, I had seen something last night, but she had to be bluffing. Last night. In the woods. How did she even find out about it?

I couldn't speak; I knew I was now deep in the shit. I just stared stupidly at her, hoping she would suddenly yell something like 'GOTCHA!' or 'YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN YOUR FACE!' but she didn't.

"Your territory?" asked Sirius.

She nodded. "My territory. And I need you to clear out. Whatever you were doing, do it somewhere else."

"Leah, they don't know about the rules," said the redhead, but Leah was either too angry to hear her or simply chose to ignore her.

"Hold on," I said, "what were you doing in the Forest last night?"

"That's none of your business," said Leah. "And I don't care what you were doing in there, just don't come back."

"Who do you think you are?" I suddenly said. Shit. That came out wrong. I had meant to say 'who are you?' Immediately I said it all three of their heads jerked up and the boy gave me a look like: you should not have said that.

She raised her chin slightly, and this time her tone was different. "I am the daughter of an alpha."

It took some time for me to process it, but Sirius spoke for me.

"So you're not human?" he asked.

She scoffed. "Of course I'm human. I'm just not fully human." She gave me this look that was hard to decipher. It looked almost sad, but also angry. Then she said,

"Like you."

* * *

"And you're sure you didn't tell anyone?" Sirius asked me for the fourth time as we rushed through the corridors. We were late for Transfiguration, a perfect way to top off this lovely day of sudden realizations.

"You three are the only ones who know. Apart from Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey, but they wouldn't tell anyone." I said.

We strode alongside each other in an uncomfortable silence.

"D'you think she's a Legilimens or something?" asked Sirius.

  I took some time to ponder on this. I'd heard to effectively perform Legilimency you had to look into someone's eyes, and Leah had sure been making a good amount of eye contact . Maybe she'd seen my thoughts in little snippets and pieced them together. But then I remembered how her eyes had turned yellow.

"I'm pretty sure eyes don't glow yellow when your mind is being read," I said.

"Maybe one of her friends did it for her, then communicated through some secret language?" suggested Sirius. I really appreciated the fact that he was running every possible explanation through his mind, determined to come to some conclusion on just how Leah had so easily dug up my deepest, darkest secret.

"Just drop it, Sirius. I'm doomed and that's that." I sighed.

McGonagall wasn't happy with us for interrupting her lesson. She gave us her signature cold yet disapproving look then wordlessly pointed us to take our seats. I plonked down beside James and let out another sigh, resting my chin on my hands.

"What happened?" whispered James. "You look like she's just chewed your heart and spat it out before trampling it."

I didn't really feel like reminding myself what she had said. I felt floaty and dizzy, like I was stuck in some never-ending nightmare.

"I don't want to talk about it right now," I said morosely, watching McGonagall scribble something about transfiguration of live animals on the blackboard.

"Come on, Moony, just say it." pressed on James. I couldn't keep anything from him for long.

"Later," I whispered back.

"Now," he demanded.

"I'll tell you later," I said.

"Just tell me now!" James persisted. Lily shot James and I a dirty look, as though we were disrupting the lesson.

"I might be able to help," he said. I got the feeling he thought this had something to do with feelings and heartbreak and stupid mushy stuff like that.

"I really don't think so, Prongs," I said.

"Come on, just tell me," he said. "Please?"

"Fine," I gave in. I lowered my voice even more and said, "She knows everything."

James' eyes widened from behind his glasses, making them look even bigger.

"Everything?" he asked.

"Everything." I repeated.

And then he forgot we were in a classroom.

"Merlin, Moony! How in the world did she find out? Did you tell her or–"

"Mr. Potter!" snapped McGonagall. "Is there anything you would like to contribute to our lesson?"

James blushed but somehow managed to confine it to his ears. His eyes shifted from McGonagall to Lily and back again, as if he wasn't sure whose glare was more uncomfortable.

"Uh no, Professor, nothing at all," he said.

McGonagall huffed. "Then perhaps you can restrain yourself from such outbursts until after my lesson?"

James nodded. "Certainly, Professor."

McGonagall didn't seem at all amused by his 'meekness' and resumed teaching.

I skipped dinner that night. I trudged up the stairs, entered my dorm room and threw myself onto my bed. The room was unnaturally cold. I couldn't figure out why until I heard a little cough from the balcony.

I'm not even sure balcony is the right word to describe it. It's more like a window ledge surrounded by railings. The glass door was open and a breeze was raising the thin curtain that was pulled over the open doorway.

I walked over to it and saw Sirius seated there, his legs stretched out so that they occupied the entire 'balcony.' He seemed serene enough, enjoying the sunset. In fact, he seemed too serene. I saw him flick a bit of ash off the balcony floor and it made sense.

I sat in the doorway because there wasn't enough space for the both of us on that tiny ledge. Sirius acknowledged my presence by looking up at me, then, without his eyes leaving me brought the cigarette to his lips and drew in a nice deep breath.

I know you're probably thinking: ew, Sirius smokes? or: aren't those really bad for you? but what can I do to stop him? Sirius says smoking helps him think. I don't know if I believe him or not, but I don't mind that he does it.

I looked out towards the Hogwarts ground, bathed in golden light from the setting sun. It looked really beautiful, and just a tiny fraction of my thoughts shifted to Leah.

"Ever think about flying?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"No, not so much," I said truthfully after a few moments. Curiosity got the best of me.

"If you could fly, where would you fly to?" I asked. There was another period of silence, and I didn't expect him to answer.

"Away," he said, like this was the most obvious thing in the world. My heart gave a little jolt, like it was about to crack open. Sirius had problems back at home. Hogwarts was probably the only place he could find solace, but even so his younger brother, Regulus, didn't exactly lay off the bitchery.

"What about you?" he asked. I hadn't actually ever thought about flying seriously.

"Dunno," I said. "I don't think wings would be a nice addition to the whole werewolf look."

We sat in silence and I held out my hand. He passed me the cigarette.

I know at this point you're probably downright mad. What was I, former prefect, Remus Lupin, doing smoking tobacco as casually as you'd drink water?

I'll tell you what I was not doing.

I was not giving a shit about my lungs because I'd figured once you're a werewolf you really don't have much to lose.

"What d'you think she meant by 'ancient history' and 'everybody knowing the rules?'" asked Sirius.

"She probably meant everybody who's ever opened Hogwarts: A History." I said, sending a cloud of smoke into the air. Sirius laughed. Only one or two people I knew had actually read the book, much less opened it.

"She wasn't too bad looking, though," said Sirius, extending his arm. I gave him back the cigarette.

"I guess," I said. Heck, she was plain beautiful. Silence consumed us once again and I got the feeling things would start to get crazy sooner or later.