A/N: The chapter is called Monster after the song by Imagine Dragons, which is what I listened to while writing this. Wow, 400 followers! It's such an amazing feeling. Thank you all for being on this journey with me!

Chapter 16 - Monster

"New year, new me!" said Sirius. He lounged back in his chair and propped his feet up on his desk, right in the middle of their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, much to Hermione's disapproval.

Hermione sent him an annoyed look that she hoped he interpreted as 'get your feet off of the bloody desk'. He had started ever day like that since he returned from break and while she had believed it slightly amusing the first time, it was definitely not funny the fifth time. The teachers were obviously not impressed either since he had landed himself in detention twice already.

It had only gotten worse when Remus's mother fell "ill" again two days ago and he had been away from classes after only three days of being back. Not only could Remus not control Sirius, but Sirius had been even more distracting and now she had two sets of notes to take.

"Mr. Black get your feet off of your desk and pay attention!" said Professor Warbeck, and Hermione heard James snort and she couldn't help but grin as justice was served.

Reluctantly, Sirius removed his feet from the desk. Instead, he leaned closer to Hermione, James, and Peter. "My New Year's resolution is to prove to you lot that I was right and she's related to Celestine Warbeck."

The three of them groaned. Ever since the first Hogsmeade trip he had been trying to convince them that their tiny professor was related to the singing sensation.

"Maybe your resolution should be to stop getting detention at least once every week," hissed Hermione, annoyed that he kept distracting her from the class.

"No way, that's a skill! Not a problem!" he whispered back.

"Mate, I think it's time for you to throw in the towel," said James under his breath.

"Oh?" said Sirius, arching his eyebrow.

Sirius had obviously taken this as a challenge and flashed a grin in their direction. Then, to their horror, Sirius's hand flew into the air and he called out, "Professor, I have a question."

Professor Warbeck almost did a double take as she took in Sirius, who never voluntarily participated. She stood up from her desk and walked over to where they were sitting.

"Yes, Mister Black?"

Sirius flashed a grin. "What's your favorite type of music?"

If Professor Warbeck had been shocked by Sirius raising his hand, it was nothing compared to her visible surprise at the question. Hermione was already feeling the secondhand embarrassment coming as she anticipated where this was going.

"Would you say you liked music that was kind of… soulful, maybe even jazzy?" continued Sirius cheekily as the whole class stared at him.

"Get back to work, Mister Black," said their professor, rolling her eyes.

"Oh come on, what's wrong with music?" asked Sirius. "You must have a favorite singer… maybe even a… singing sorceress?"

Professor Warbeck's eyes narrowed. "Mister Black, we are practicing non-verbal spells. That means I shouldn't hear your mouth moving anymore."

There were a few snickers throughout the room but Sirius was relentless. Across the room, sitting with Lily and the Hufflepuffs, Mary was staring daggers in Sirius's direction.

"Are you or are you not related to Celestina Warbeck?" asked Sirius bluntly and the room burst into whispers.

"Detention, Mister Black. Tonight at seven." sighed Professor Warbeck. "And if I hear one more peep from you for the rest of the class then your house loses points."

Hermione swore that she heard Professor Warbeck mutter, "not how I wanted to spend my Friday night…" as she walked past them towards her desk.

~o~

When all of the day's classes were finished Hermione sat in common room waiting for Remus to return from the Hospital Wing. She had both her notes and his notes from the past two days waiting in her bag so they could go over them when he returned like they did every time he missed class. In the meantime, she was reading from her Charms textbook trying to get ahead.

The common room was lively being that it was a Friday night. James and Peter were nowhere in sight and Sirius still hadn't returned from his detention. Professor Warbeck was making him write lines and Hermione wondered how Sirius could stand to get detention as much as he did.

It wasn't until close to curfew that Sirius made an appearance, grinning from ear to ear like Gryffindor had just won the House Cup and not like he just came from detention. When he spotted her sitting at one of the tables by the stairs he grinned even wider and walked towards her.

"Had a good detention, did we?" said Hermione sarcastically, setting her Charms book down on the table as he stopped beside her.

"Oh me and Felicia had a grand time," said Sirius with a grin. He put his hand on the table and leaned against it. "And by that, she spent most of her time not in the room so it was a good chance for me to take a nap."

Hermione's mouth fell open. "You didn't…"

"Of course not, Hermione," said Sirius rolling his eyes. "I'm not that dumb. I just spent most of my time doing nothing."

Hermione pursed her lips. "Well, I'm glad to see that you've learned your lesson and learned the error of your ways."

Sirius began to laugh and Hermione had to do her best to not laugh along with him.

"Oi, Sirius!" yelled a voice from the boys' stairwell and Hermione and Sirius both turned, as did a few others in the common room. "Get up here already!"

Hermione recognized the voice of James and she frowned. "How did he know you were here?"

Sirius grinned. "Magic."

"Right…" said Hermione, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, why don't you come up with me?" said Sirius. "I want to show you something."

Hermione bit her lip, feeling suspicious. "Something isn't going to blow up on me is it?"

Sirius laughed and shook his head. "Not this time."

Hermione followed him up the stairs to the Marauders' dormitory. Inside Peter and James were both lounging on their beds. Peter seemed to be sorting through his collection of Chocolate Frog cards while James had two unusual objects beside him on his bed. A blank Marauders' Map and a mirror.

It took Hermione a second to realize what the mirror was, but then she remembered Harry receiving one as a gift from Sirius. Harry had mentioned to her that the mirror Sirius had given him was part of a set that he and his father used to talk to each other when they were in separate detentions. That would explain why Sirius seemed so cheery, he probably had the other one in his bag and chatted to James the whole time. The map also explained how James knew Sirius was back in the common room, he had been waiting for him.

James and Peter both looked up as she walked into the dormitory after Sirius. Peter seemed shocked to see her there and immediately sat up straighter. James, on the other hand, regarded Sirius and Hermione curiously.

"Admiring yourself, James?" asked Hermione, gesturing her head towards the mirror.

James's curious expression vanished and his face broke into a grin. "Oh you know it."

"What are you doing up here?" asked Peter and Hermione raised her eyebrow at him, slightly offended. "Not meaning that in a rude way of course… just curious."

"Sirius said he had to show me something," said Hermione defensively.

"Ah, and that I do," said Sirius with a smirk. He grabbed her under her elbow and began to lead her. "Follow me."

He walked her over to his little area of the dormitory. "What do you think?" he said proudly as he gestured to the area.

Hermione was confused. She didn't exactly know what she was supposed to be looking at other than his messy sleeping quarters. Half expecting a prank to happen, she sent Sirius a questioning look.

"What am I supposed to be seeing?" she asked.

Sirius gave a frustrated groan and grabbed both of Hermione's arms from behind. Before she could protest, he turned her entire body towards the wall and pointed past her.

That's when she saw what he was trying to show her. He had hung up the motorcycle poster she had gotten him for Christmas and she couldn't help but smile.

"Oh, Sirius. I'm glad you liked it," beamed Hermione, turning back towards him. "Sorry I missed it, I guess I hadn't really noticed a change in the wall décor."

She sat down on the edge of Sirius's bed and he followed her, flopping down on his stomach making the whole mattress shake.

"Hang on," said Sirius, arching his eyebrow. "You've been in here before?"

He looked around the room at Peter and James waiting for an answer.

"Not with me," shrugged Peter.

"With me," said James nonchalantly.

"What? When?" asked Sirius.

"Don't be so dramatic, Sirius," said Hermione, rolling her eyes. "It was on Halloween when I needed to borrow a scarf."

Then, the door opened and Remus walked into the dormitory. He looked pale and rundown and his robes fell slightly crooked on him. His one shoulder was slightly exposed and Hermione noticed that his shoulder was wrapped again; he must have torn it open again during his transformation like he had last term.

When he spotted Hermione he stopped and quickly straightened his robes hiding the wound from sight. Hermione quickly averted her eyes from his shoulder and pretended to not have noticed anything, and if Remus had been suspicious that she had seen it, he didn't show it. He did, however, look surprised to see her there, sitting on Sirius's bed.

"Hermione," he said, his eyes still wide. He looked between Hermione, the bed, and the other three boys as if he were trying to piece things together.

"Hello, Remus," beamed Hermione, excited that he was back. There hadn't had much time for her to catch up with him after the break as the full moon came so quickly and he was gone again. "It's good to see you."

A crooked grin spread across his face and he walked further into the room. "It's good to see you too, but I must admit that I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"I invited her up," said Sirius. "Plus the common room is unusually crowded tonight."

"I noticed," said Remus.

"He brought her up when he came back from detention," said Peter.

Remus raised his eyebrow and looked at Sirius. "With whom?"

"Warbeck," said James before Sirius could answer. "He tried to get her to confess to being related to Celestine Warbeck during class."

"It was actually embarrassing to sit next to him," said Hermione somberly, shaking her head.

Remus smacked himself in the forehead and Hermione stifled back a laugh.

"It was his third detention this week," added Peter and Sirius sent him a look.

"Third!" gaped Remus, his mouth hanging open.

"It's a skill, I say!" defended Sirius with a grin. "And my New Year resolution is to prove that she is related to her. It's only the second week into 1977, do you already want me to fail?"

"Maybe your resolution should be to stop getting detention," sighed Remus, rubbing his temples.

"That's what I told him!" said Hermione and Remus looked over at her and grinned again and she smiled back.

"You lot are a bunch of bullies," whimpered Sirius, flopping down on his mattress next to Hermione.

Hermione grinned down at him at how ridiculous he was being. And as much as she enjoyed watching the boys interact with each other, she did have plans to go over notes with Remus.

"Well, it's getting late. Remus would you like to go discuss the notes that you missed?" she asked.

"Yes, let's go."

Hermione stood up and swung her bag over her shoulder.

"Have fun you two," grinned Sirius, resting his chin on his hands, his feet swinging behind him on the bed. Remus rolled his eyes at him before turning to look at James, his eyes then fell on the map on James's bed

"James, would you mind if I borrowed your parchment?" he said innocently.

"What?" said James, pulling the blank map closer to him. "Don't you have your own?"

"You can never have too much. If I don't end up using it I'll return it," reasoned Remus and James narrowed his eyes, reluctantly handing over the map. Hermione tried to hide her smirk at Remus's attempt to make sure they weren't followed. Or at least she assumed that's why he wanted the map.

Remus cleared his throat and smiled at Hermione as he stuffed the map into his bag. "Alright, let's go."

Grinning to herself, Hermione waved goodbye to the other boys and followed Remus out of the dormitory,

It didn't take them long to reach the unused classroom they usually went to after Remus returned. The castle was quiet now that it was after curfew and Hermione peered into the classroom to make sure no one else had decided to take a late night stroll there. It appeared empty and Hermione opened the door and stepped inside.

"Wait," said Remus quietly. "I think I heard something…."

He stood in the threshold and looked both ways down the hallway, checking to see if people were coming. Hermione held her breath, Remus may not get in much trouble being out after curfew as a prefect but, unlike Sirius, she did not want to get detention. But she did have to admit, breaking the rules did give her a kind of rush and she enjoyed these secret note sharing sessions with Remus.

"I guess it was nothing," said Remus after a moment and he carefully shut the classroom door behind them.

They walked over to the desks by the window, as to get the most natural light from the moonlight that poured through it. Only a few torches were lit in the room and they didn't want to risk lighting the rest. Remus hopped up on one of the desks and Hermione sat on top of the desk opposite him.

"So what did I miss?" asked Remus with a grin. His green eyes seemed to sparkle in the moonlight that poured in through the windows.

"Well what do you want to go over first?" she asked as she removed the notes from her bag.

"Hmmm," mused Remus. "How about Defense Against the Dark Arts. It is my favorite afterall."

Hermione grinned to herself. Of course it would be his favorite. "I had a feeling it was."

Remus grinned back at her. "Well it's clearly the best. Do you not agree?"

"I'd say Arthimancy was my favorite actually," said Hermione with a smile.

"Ah, I have a feeling it was as well," said Remus with a nod. "We can start with that if you'd like."

"Oh no, this is about you," said Hermione, finding her Defense notes. "Besides, we've been studying non-verbal spells in Defense Against the Dark Arts and that's something that will help with all of the wand-based subjects."

Remus frowned as she handed him his notes and he began to flip through them. "That's difficult magic, how is everyone holding up with it?"

"It's not so bad," shrugged Hermione. "James and I have managed to do some nonverbal spells so far but Peter seems to be struggling. Sirius is too busy harassing Warbeck to actually pay attention."

At that, Remus smirked. "I can't say I'm surprised."

Hermione sighed. "He's worse when you're not around."

"I'm sorry about that," said Remus, slightly frowning again.

Hermione flushed. "Oh no, I'm not blaming you at all, Remus! Of course not, I didn't mean to sound insensitive. I think it's wonderful that you help your mother and it's terrible how sick she gets… But it is so much nicer having you around."

Her words managed to get him to half smile. Her heart ached as she wondered how he must be feeling.

"And not just because you keep Sirius in check… I've missed you, you know," she found herself saying before she could stop herself. It just came out and she surprised herself with how much she meant it. It was almost overwhelming. "I was only able to see you for a little while before you had to leave."

Now Remus fully smiled, a smile that made Hermione relax. "I've missed you too, it really was a shame that I was only back for three days before leaving again."

"Hogwarts isn't the same without you," said Hermione. "I'm glad you and Lily wrote so much over break, it was nice. It made me feel less… alone."

"I'm glad you wrote back," said Remus earnestly. "My friends mean everything to me so writing to them over breaks is one of the few things that keeps me from going mad sometimes. I enjoy being home but it's so much quieter and lonelier after being here for so long."

Hermione's heart grew warm at the way Remus talked about his friends. He truly was the most caring person she's ever met. "You have a heart of gold, Remus Lupin."

He grinned at her. "As do you, Hermione Dawson. But one good thing did come going home. I got that job at the bookstore. I'm still going to thank you for that."

"I'd say you earned it by knowing the perfect thing to get me," said Hermione. "I don't think I properly thanked you for the book. It means more than I can tell you."

She wished she could better explain to him how much she meant it but by the look in his eyes she had a feeling he understood.

"Of course," said Remus warmly. "I'm just glad you like it, and also that you didn't already have a copy."

Hermione laughed. "Even if I did have a copy I would still have loved it. You can never have too many copies of your favorite book."

"That's true," said Remus with a nod. "You could have a copy here and a copy for your house. If you keep getting copies then you could put one in every room."

Hermione smiled at the thought of having enough copies of Hogwarts: A History for each room in her house.

"We could have enough copies to give to our friends so we aren't the only ones to have read it," joked Hermione and Remus chuckled.

"Okay, we really should get back to work," said Hermione through her own laughter. "Do you want to attempt a nonverbal spell?

"It's worth a shot," said Remus casually.

He set his notes down on the table beside him and pointed his wand at them. His eyes narrowed and Hermione could tell that he was concentrating hard on his notes, and Hermione assumed he was trying to levitate them, or at least that's what she hoped he was doing. The last thing she wanted was for them to burst into flames. After a moment of nothing happening he lowered his wand and pursed his lips.

"It would have been remarkable to be able to do that on your first attempt," said Hermione kindly.

Remus shrugged. The small movement caused his robes to slightly fall off of his shoulder, exposing the bandages underneath. He didn't seem to notice it but Hermione stared at the bandages. His wound must have reopened because red splotches were slowly appearing on the white cloth.

"I guess it was a long shot—"

"Remus," interrupted Hermione cautiously, "your shoulder…"

Remus quickly looked down at his exposed shoulder and immediately stood up from the desk when he saw the blood. Hermione stood up as well and took a step closer to him but when he saw her approach him he quickly took a step backwards and stumbled into another desk.

"I-I can explain how I got this while I was away…" stammered Remus, trying to cover up his hurt shoulder as if Hermione would forget about it if she couldn't see it anymore.

"Remus, stop moving away, you're hurt," said Hermione with worry. She took another step forward and this time Remus couldn't move away due to being against a desk. "You're bleeding."

Gently, she reassuringly placed her hand on Remus's arm, who shuddered at her touch. She looked into his scared eyes and could visibly see him holding his breath as he anticipated her response.

"I tripped in one of the corridors earlier… I was too busy worrying about my mum and wasn't paying attention to where I was going… When I fell I cut my shoulder open on a suit of armor and I didn't want to bother Madam Pomfrey so I just patched myself up with some cloth and gauze," he said lamely.

It was a weak story and she could tell that he knew it as well. There was a sense of pleading in his green eyes that silently begged her to accept his story. Pity swelled up inside her and she had to turn her attention away from his eyes for a moment before she'd start crying. She knew the last thing he would want was her pity.

"It isn't bleeding too badly," she said, taking a step back and avoiding Remus's gaze. "You should probably go to Madam Pomfrey and have her replace the bandages."

He hastily began to agree when his expression went blank and he took a step away from her.

"Replace the bandages…" repeated Remus quietly under his breath.

In that moment, Hermione realized that she had misspoken and her stomach dropped. Regular wounds wouldn't need bandages in the wizarding world, it would be a simple fix, but not ones caused by a werewolf. Not ones that were cursed.

"Oh! Obviously Madam Pomfrey would be able to just heal it…" Hermione added quickly, feeling her face drain of color. "No need for more bandages. You know, sometimes I still forget how extraordinary magic truly is."

But from one look at Remus' face she knew that he wasn't buying it. She had a feeling she wouldn't be able to pass it off as a slip of the tongue or a simple mistake due to being muggle-born. He knew her too well.

She looked back into Remus's eyes and saw the same intensity in his face that she saw from his adult self in the Department of Mysteries when he had told her to run. It was a look of pain and fear that pooled through his green eyes that shook her to her core.

"You don't… do you kno-?" he stammered as he gripped the desk from behind him so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and she could see that his hands were shaking slightly.

"I-I don't know what you're referring to," said Hermione. She turned away from him and looked out the window at the no longer full moon and hoped he'd let the conversation drop. Soon he's go back to thinking she didn't know anything and they could be friends again. She didn't want to ruin everything after how close they'd gotten, she didn't think she could bear to lose him.

There was a long pause and the only sound coming from the room was from the wind blowing over the grounds outside. Hermione knew by the look that had been on Remus's face that he wasn't just going to pretend this never happened.

With a sigh, she turned back towards him and gave him her most sympathetic, almost pleading look. "Oh Remus… I swear I won't tell anyone."

His eyes widened and he released the desk he was gripping and instead silently sat down on top of it in a defeated sort of way and closed his eyes.

"You know," he said in a voice that was too calm.

Hermione took a deep breath and slowly walked over to where Remus was sitting and sat on the desk across from him. She noticed him peeking through his eyes as he watched her sit across from him but he didn't make eye contact.

"Yes," was all she could manage to say.

He looked up at her with a mixture of confusion and fear. "Why haven't you gone running to tell everyone my secret? I'm dangerous, I'm a monster." He spat the last word out with enough venom that it caused her to flinch.

Her mouth fell open in astonishment that someone as kind and compassionate as he could think so little of himself. "You are not a monster, Remus! You are far from one!"

The amber torchlight reflected in his eyes and she noticed that they were watering up. "But I am a monster, Hermione! I'm- I'm a werewolf!"

He had done it. He had finally said the word the two of them had been avoiding saying since the revelation of his condition.

There was a moment of silence and she could hear his quick paced breathing in the quiet room.

"That doesn't make you a monster, Remus," said Hermione, her own voice shaking as she held back tears.

His face was now in his hands and he wouldn't look at her. "How long have you known?"

When she didn't response right away he looked up, his green eyes blazing. "How long? How did you find out?"

His voice was hard and icy. There was a hint of anger, fear, and bewilderment in it that she had never heard before. It made her want to run, but she didn't know whether she wanted to run away or run to comfort him. Instead, Hermione stayed where she was and swallowed hard before speaking.

"Where I'm from, we were taught very specifically what to look for when identifying the signs of lycanthropy," she said cautiously. "I've had my suspicions ever since the first full moon of the term. Just little hints here and there… and also that your nickname happens to be Moony."

She gave him a weak smile which he did not return and her face fell.

"I am a monster, Hermione," he said darkly. "What you must think of me..."

"That doesn't change who you are, Remus!" said Hermione, practically begging him to understand that she wasn't afraid of him. "Or what you mean to me! You're still my friend no matter what, that won't change!"

Remus's mouth fell open and his wet eyes released a single tear that slowly slipped down his pale face. The moonlight that poured into the room reflected off of it as it fell from his face and hit his robes. He shut his mouth and rolled his neck before turning away from her and choked out a short sob before regaining his composure.

Hermione made a move forward to comfort him but he suddenly jumped of the table. The quick movement startled her and she took a step back. She realized her mistake immediately as he misinterpreted her surprise as fear and his eyes went wide.

"I have to get out of here…" he half whispered in a broken voice.

Before Hermione could stop him he quickly shoved his notes into his bag and rushed for the door.

"Remus, where are you going?" called out Hermione, she could hear the desperation in her own voice.

"I need to get out of here, I need to think," he muttered quickly as he strode past her.

"Remus!" she called as she whipped around to face him but it was too late.

He had already gone out the door.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

"Do you dare me to put all of these in my mouth at once?" asked James.

He held out his hand to show Sirius and Peter a colorful assortment of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

"That is going to taste disgusting," said Peter with a grimace from his four-poster bed.

Sirius, on the other hand, stopped reading his motorcycle magazine and looked at James as if Christmas had just come again.

"If you do it and manage to not spew all over our dormitory, Prongs, I'll give you a Galleon," said Sirius. He got off of his bed and went to his trunk and dug through it. He reappeared with a shiny gold Galleon resting in the palm of his hand.

James smirked at his best friend. "I think I'll accept that challenge."

He was now about to be one Galleon richer.

With Sirius and Peter eagerly looking on, James shoved the handful of beans into his mouth and bit down.

There was an odd mixture of delightful fruity flavors with a hint of sweaty socks. Soon bad flavors became overwhelming and he had to concentrate hard on trying to swallow them. It tasted AWFUL.

But he wasn't going to spit the lump of disgusting beans out, no.

He was going to win that Galleon.

His eyes watered and he stared down Sirius as he chewed more forcefully to show his
dominance; which ironically made Sirius's grin widen. Peter looked a little green.

After a few more moments, James swallowed the beans and wiped his tears away before pushing himself into a standing position on his bed.

"I am King of the beans," he declared with his hands on his hips.

A scoff came from Sirius's bed. "More like bean brain," he said as he threw the Galleon and James swiftly dodged it. It barely missed hitting James's Gryffindor banner as it hit the wall and fell to the floor.

At that moment, the dormitory door swung open with such force that it slammed into the wall creating such a loud bang that caused Peter to jump.

Remus stood on the threshold with his green eyes wet and as wide as plates. He was breathing heavily, as if he were running from something.

James had been slightly put off that Remus had taken the Marauder's map when he left earlier. It was as though Remus hadn't trusted him not to follow him and Hermione. Remus obviously hadn't even used the map since he didn't notice James following the two of them under his invisibility cloak until Remus had closed the classroom door on him.

But James didn't even think about that now as Remus stood ash faced in the doorway. The only thing he could focus on was how worried he was for Remus.

"Remus?" asked Peter cautiously. He sat up a little straighter on his bed and looked at Remus with a worried expression.

"She knows," breathed Remus, not even moving.

"Remus, what's the matter?" asked James urgently. He dropped into a sitting position on his bed and bounced a few times. "What's happened?"

"Hermione knows," said Remus, a little bit louder that time.

"She knows you have a crush on her?" asked Sirius, who had gone back to reading his magazine.

Remus looked at him with a bewildered expression. "What? What are you—I don't have a crush on her…"

"Oh… right…" said Sirius, trying to hide a smirk.

There was an awkward silence while Remus looked confused before he shook his head. "She knows."

The emphasis on Remus's last word struck James with a realization.

"She knows you're a werewolf," he said and Remus flinched at his statement, confirming his suspicion.

Peter gasped and Sirius put his magazine down and looked startled.

"You told her?" gaped Sirius.

Remus shook his head. "She knew. She said she's known since the first full moon of the term when I missed class."

"And she just brought this up to you randomly?" asked Peter looking horrorstruck.

"No, my- my shoulder," said Remus. He pulled his robes slightly to reveal the white bandages on his shoulder with spots of fresh blood on them. "The cut opened and my robes weren't completely covering it. She noticed it bleeding, and Hermione… well… Hermione's no fool; Madam Pomfrey would be able to heal wounds in an instant… but not cursed ones."

James stared at Remus's frightened expression, at a loss for words.

"What are we going to do?" asked Sirius, his face was pale and emotionless.

"We can't let her know," said Peter.

"It's already too late for that…" said James. His mind was racing as he tried to think of a solution.

"One of you could obliviate her! Wipe her memory!" said Peter urgently. "James, use the map and find her!"

"Are you mad, Wormtail?!" said Sirius, with his eyes wide. The atmosphere in the room grew tense in that instant.

"Do you have a better idea, Sirius?" demanded Peter with a fearful look in his beady eyes.

"Well, no—but we can't just go around obliviating people!" said Sirius, looking aghast.

James, on the other hand, wondered if that could work. Right now his priority was protecting Remus, but then he felt sick at even imagining the possibility of him having to do that, or anyone doing it. "I don't even know how to properly wipe a memory," he said honestly. He only knew the incantation, he couldn't risk doing Hermione harm.

Peter began to argue and soon James, Peter, and Sirius were all fighting over how they would deal with the situation.

"Quiet!" yelled Remus, who was still standing by the door, looking pale and shaking slightly. "No one is obliviating anyone!"

The room grew eerily quiet, the only sound was the whistle of the wind from outside the window and the occasional pop from the heating stove in the center of the room.

"We're… we're not obliviating Hermione," said Remus with finality. "There has to be a better way to deal with this…"

Peter looked down at his hands. His face had gone red with shame and James felt kind of bad for the bloke.

"What do you supposed we do, Moony?" said Sirius, looking grave.

"I-I," babbled Remus, a wild and desperate look still haunted his eyes. "I don't know…"

"If she's known the whole time why hasn't she said anything yet?" wondered James out loud and Remus just shrugged but stayed quiet.

"I don't think she's going to tell anyone. Not if she's known this long," said Sirius. "Maybe we can trust her?"

"I don't know…" said Peter.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see," said Remus somberly.

And the rest of them nodded.

A/N: Whoaaa that was dramatic right?Fun Fact: You know how I always tell you guys that I don't write in order? Well a majority of this chapter was actually written in 2014 and was one of the first chapters I wrote for the story! It's amazing how far this has come.

Thanks to everyone who left reviews and answered my question in the last chapter! I don't think I'll purposely try to write short chapters, I just won't combine too many ideas into one when they can be separate. And I'm glad most of you like long stories so you better buckle up. :)

Please please please review!

So let me know what you thought! Is there anything in particular that you liked? Anything you want to happen? Anything you think should be different? What do you think will happen next? Any suggestions or concerns? Let me know!

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW