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chapter two
TRUE AS IT CAN BE
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THE FULL MOON WAS TOMORROW, AND BELLE FOUND HERSELF MORE AND MORE ANXIOUS. She had no reason to be - they had done this for years. It was a repetitive process: they'd wait for McGonagall to escort Remus to the Weeping Willow, and sneak out underneath James' invisibility cloak. When they had made it out of sight of lingering professors, they would transform and slink their way towards the tree.

As Belle listened to Professor McGonagall's lesson, her fingers tapped against her knee. She listened intently, eyes focused on McGonagall as she performed the transfiguration spell. In the back of her mind, however, her worries still crept along, peeking through in her occasional fidget. She always got like this when the full moon came around, the worry lines by her eyes more prominent than ever. The other day, Sirius had teased her about a phantom grey hair, to which Belle retorted with "it's your fault it's there".

A soft nudge to her side drew her from her thoughts. Lily Evans looked at her with curious green eyes, lines of worry creasing her forehead. Belle's lips turned up into a reassuring smile, silently telling Lily she was okay. Her gaze turned back to that of Professor McGonagall's lecture on the bird-conjuring charm. She was currently discussing the side-effects of an unsuccessful attempt to cast the spell. Belle knew that, at least in the beginning, Lily or Remus would be the only two to successfully cast the spell on their first attempt. The rest of them would take a few more tries until they got it right.

By the end of class, only a few had managed to cast little yellow birds from the tips of their wands, Belle among them. It took her a few attempts, and the help of Lily before she was successful in her attempt. Belle had been rather amazed when she saw the birds fly out of her wand, though the loud bang and smoke that followed her casting started the witch.

Outside the castle, snow blanketed the ground for miles. Winter had arrived not too long ago, covering the fallen leaves on the ground. Hagrid, Hogwarts Groundskeeper, was shoveling snow off the walkways. His dog, Fang, played in the snow.

The students had planned another Snowball fight later in the week, but for now, they were most excited for the Hogsmeade trip coming up this weekend. As the group of sixth years walked towards the Great Hall for lunch, James was boasting about his plans to ask Lily out, once again.

"You know, James," Belle cut in, "when a girl says no, she means no. Asking her over and over again won't get her to say yes."

She had said so to James countless times before. More times than she could count, and, like always, he ignored her. She rolled her eyes, shaking her head with a sigh. As she did so, Lily herself passed.

"She's right, Potter," she said, walking backwards to talk to the Marauders. "It's never going to happen. Just accept it."

"We'll see, Evans," James' grin stretched wide across his face, the same grin that made Lily Evans want to punch him for his arrogance. "You won't be able to resist this forever."

Lily eyed the boy up and down. "There's nothing to resist," she said, nose scrunched in displeasure. Belle hid a giggle behind her hand. James' grin fell from his face as Lily walked away, laughing. He looked to Belle for help, as if her friendship with Lily would change the ginger's mind. Belle shook her head.

"Nu-uh. You heard her. She wants nothing to do with you."

"Sorry, mate," Sirius piped up, patting James's back. Belle fell into line next to Remus, Sirius on the other side of her. She peeked over at the parchment he was looking at, his neat hand writing listing the plan for their newest prank on the Slytherins. They planned to sneak into the male dorms tonight and replace all of their clothes with dresses. Since she wouldn't be able to go up into the boys dorms, Belle would be their lookout tonight, instead of Peter. Usually, him being able to change into a rat made it easy to escape the view of professors, which meant that tonight, Belle would have to be extra careful.

"Prongs, I'm going to have to borrow your invisibility cloak tonight," the witch mentioned. "It'll be the easiest way for me to avoid any professors monitoring the hall."

"You've got it, Lett."

Their lunch hour was spent discussing the miniscule details of the plans, quietly. They discussed the best time to leave, and the best way to get in and out. Belle would keep the Marauders map to keep any teachers away, and cause any distraction to keep them away from the Slytherin common room, at least until they could get out of there underneath James' cloak.

"It's getting harder to fit all of us under there," Remus mentioned between bites of his sandwich. "I don't suppose you've got another one?"

James shook his head. He removed his glasses, using the end of his robe to clean them off. "It's the only one."

"Well, Wormtail's small enough to get anywhere without the cloak," Sirius pointed out. He was right. While the others had larger animal forms that were harder to conceal under the cloak, Peter could sneak by as a rat.

Their planning continued for the rest of their lunch. By the time it was over, The Marauders were confident in their plan, and anticipation filled their stomachs at seeing the reactions of the Slytherins tomorrow. Belle reminded them they'd have to wait until the house elves delivered a fresh set of robes to switch them out with the dresses.

It was one of their more docile pranks, if Belle was being honest. Not as exciting as the others they've done so far this year, but with the full moon tomorrow, Remus didn't want to do anything to grand. Everything for him had become an irritation. James had an idea for clogging all of the toilets for 24 hours, but Remus suggested they wait for that one.

"Detention is also a possibility," Peter pointed out as they left the Great Hall. "The professors always suspect us during a prank, and I don't want to scrub the Owlery again."

Sirius scoffed, and slightly nudged Peter. He averted his gaze from the taller boy, and Belle frowned slightly.

"Relax, Wormtail," Sirius began, "the risk is part of the fun."

Peter mumbled something under his breath, something too low for Belle to hear. She turned towards Remus, changing the subject.

"Do you still want to come to the library to study for our potions test next week?" she inquired. Remus nodded, a slight gruff accompanying his answer. Belle frowned, rubbing a comforting hand down his arm.

She noticed that he had been rubbing his temples throughout the day, eyes squinting in discomfort. Usually during these times, James and Sirius tended to be a little less rowdy to avoid making Remus' headaches worse. He even struggled to eat in the Great Hall, the sounds and smells too overwhelming for the werewolf. Today, it seemed his hunger got the best of him as she sat through the loud noise through their lunch period. Although, he didn't look particularly happy about it. Most times he'd disappear into the library to escape the noise during their free periods and on weekends when it got close to the full moon.

And with it approaching tomorrow, Remus' senses were in override. While the worse was yet to come, Belle hoped he took comfort in it all going back to normal after tomorrow.

▬▬ authors note. ▬▬

So, this chapter hasn't really been edited today. I'm pretty tired, so I'll go back and read it tomorrow for any errors. Or, any comments pointing them out will be appreciated. Also, I know it's shorter than usual, which is why I hope to make the next chapter longer.

I hope to make a list the Marauders could pull throughout the book, so any reccomendations are appreciated! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, albeit it being short, and let me know what you think!