(This is for the Childhood Memories contest. I warn you before hand... the beginning is kind of... descriptive. You'll see... And I KNOW it isn't totally canon but... I thought it was interesting)

The eerie glow of the full moon shines through the trees. The cold wind starts up, tumbling through the air. She lays in my arms, her long ginger hair spread out across my lap. Her bright blue eyes gaze up at me, yet see nothing. The recent gashes on her cheek stands out on her now pale face. A tear still sits on her freckled cheek and that's what really gets to me. The fact that she was betrayed... betrayed by me!

The lashes in her side are worse, scarlet blood still trickles from them. Amelia... my best friend... dead. And I'm the one that did it.

There's a rustle in the forest and two boys step out, around my age. Their eyes drift from me to Amelia and then back again. The first boy speaks, "We saw the whole thing! You killed her! You're a werewolf!"

So they know... that's bad. I have to do something, I think only the truth will work. "Yeah, I'm a werewolf. And who are you?"

The second boy answers, surprisingly calm for just being told his roommate is a werewolf, "I'm Sirius Black and he's James Potter. Why?"

I sigh and look at them, blinking back tears that have already overcome me once, "I recognized you. From the Sorting. You were the ones that put the noise maker in the Sorting Hat."

James nods, "Yeah. So? How is that important?"

I look up at him, "I didn't mean to kill her! Don't you understand that? I wish more than anything that I wasn't a werewolf but I am. She followed me into the forest and I couldn't control myself!"

Sirius rolls his eyes, "Tell your sob story to Dumbledore because I don't care!" He turns to James, "We have to tell him."

James looks back at Sirius, "Um... I'm not so sure about that plan, Sirius. Dumbledore will wonder what we're doing here in the Forbidden Forest in the first place!"

Another figure steps out from the shadows, eyes twinkling in laughter. "That's exactly what I was wondering. Why are you in the Forbidden Forest?" asks none other than Albus Dumbledore.

Sirius looks down at his feet and mumbles something about a dare. Dumbledore laughs, "What were you going to tell me?"

James speaks up, "He's a werewolf!" He points at me, quickly.

Dumbledore's expression becomes grave, "Yes. Yes, Mr. Lupin is indeed a werewolf. May I correctly assume that your next question was not going to be 'So how can we help?'"

The other boys look down and Dumbledore pulls out his next trick, "Ever wanted to be an animagus?"

Both boys nods, eagerly, "YES!"

I sigh, I guess the only way to get them to help me is to bribe them. Still, I can't believe Dumbledore is suggesting this. Our headmaster just smiles, "Excellent! You'll help him, then?"

They nod, again, just as excited.

And that is how they came to be my friend. We spent our full moons in the Shrieking Shack, telling everyone I was "ill".. And while they were never pleasant, they were better than they use to be. I now had friends and they eventually convinced me to take part in their "innocent" pranks. Over the years they became more and more... dangerous but I admired them because it must have taken TRUE bravery to spend that first full moon in an old building with a werewolf that they barely knew. By the end of my first year, we were thick as bandits and Peter had joined us. I may have lost Amelia but my three new best friends were what got me past it. And while I still cry for her, I've realized that sometimes there's more than pain behind fallen tears!