"Turn to page three hundred and ninety four of your textbooks," Professor Laufeyson said.

I flipped through the book pages until I found what we were learning about.

Werewolves.

"Now, can anyone tell me why werewolves are so dangerous?" Professor Laufeyson asked.

"Because they can't control their actions," Lily answered. "The animal side takes over."

"Correct," Professor Laufeyson said. "Are werewolves evil?"

Most of the class said yes, but my Marauder friends and Lily stayed silent.

"No," I said.

Professor Laufeyson quirked an eyebrow at me, and the rest of the class turned to look at me.

"And why do you say that?" Laufeyson asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

I tried not to squirm under the eyes of the entire class.

"Well, as Lily said before, they can't control their actions," I said. "The werewolf isn't the person, it's the animal. And the animal just does what it does to survive. And just because someone is a werewolf, it doesn't make them evil."

I expected to be ridiculed, but Professor Laufeyson smiled at me.

"I agree with you, Miss L/n," he said. "Werewolves have been treated horrendously for something they cannot control. It is similar to Lord Voldemort's attempt at conquering the Wizarding World and eliminating the Muggleborns, in the way that we shun those who are different from us."

Most of the class jumped or flinched at the Dark Lord's name. The fact that Professor Laufeyson used it told us that he wasn't afraid of the Dark Lord. I wondered why.

↢⋄↣

The next Saturday, just after breakfast, I went up to the boys' dorm to change the colour of their robes to bright pink. It was a great prank in my opinion, and I couldn't wait to get it done. A fourth year told me that they'd seen the Marauders leave the common room, so I decided that now would be the best time to commit my prank.

I was wrong.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw a stag in the middle of the room. A fricking STAG!

Remus, Peter, and Sirius were looking at it as if this was normal and turned to me quickly as they heard my gasp of shock.

I slammed the door shut and just stood staring at it for a moment. I did not just see that. I was hallucinating. James or Sirius must have put something in my food.

The door opened and I looked at up at Remus. I looked past him to see James standing where the stag had been.

"Please tell me that I'm not going insane," I said.

Remus looked around for a moment before dragging me into the room and shutting the door.

"Where'd the stag go," I said. "And why is James..."

I trailed off as I tried to piece it together. The boys looked between each other as I thought hard. Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off.

"James, why are you an Animagus?" I whispered.

They boys opened their mouths in shock.

"Are you all Animagi?" I asked.

Sirius looked to Remus, who was standing behind me. I turned around to face him.

"Are you an Animagus?" I accused.

"No," he replied.

He sounded sad at that. I squinted my eyes at him. I turned around to face the others.

"Why are you three Animagi, and Remus isn't?" I asked.

James bit his lip, and Sirius looked to Remus again. Peter was looking anywhere but at me, and he was trembling in fear.

"Because I'm a werewolf."

I blinked in surprise and turned to face Remus. He had his head lowered in shame and his hands behind his back. My face softened at the rejection Remus seemed to be expecting.

I placed my hand on his cheek and guided his face upwards so that it was facing mine. He was still looking at the ground.

"Remus," I said softly. "Look at me."

He did so and I saw unrelenting pain and terror in his eyes.

"Remus," I said. "I don't care. I don't care if you're a werewolf, or a bloody palm tree. You are my friend, and I would never let something like this tear us apart."

Remus looked away again.

"Aren't you afraid of me?" he asked.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"I'm more afraid of the fact that you make your bed," I said, removing my hand from his cheek to point at the neatly made bed. "Why would you do that? You're going to mess it up in the night again anyway."

Remus's lips twitched upwards, and I smiled at him. I closed the distance between us and hugged him tightly, and he wrapped his arms around me too. We stayed there for a while, just content to be close to each other.

I heard a pointed cough and let go of Remus. I'd forgotten the others were here too.

"Well, it does make sense," I said logically. "Why you're always 'sick' once a month, why you have those scars... but why are you three Animagi?"

"We help him," James said. "When... when he's alone, the wolf is more likely to attack itself. But when we're there in animal form, we can hang out with the wolf. We run around in the Forbidden Forest with him."

I blinked at him.

"You know, it's called the Forbidden Forest for a reason," I said.

James and the others grinned.

"So... what were you doing up here anyway?" Sirius asked.

I paused as I remembered my prank idea.

"I... uh... no reason," I squeaked. "You know, I'd better get going now. This was fun and all, but I have to go... uh... walk my pet rock..."

I headed for the door and Remus grabbed my arm.

"You were going to prank us, weren't you?" he asked.

"What? No, of course not," I lied.

"Sure, you weren't," Sirius said.

"You're making me neglect my pet rock!" I yelled. "I gotta go!"

I shook out of Remus's grip and opened the door before sprinting down the staircase and to the common room. I heard the boys yelling after me and laughed as I ran out of the portrait hole and towards one of my favourite hiding places – the library.

Only Remus and Lily frequented the library without an excuse, so I knew I'd most likely be safe there.

And then I could plan another prank.