Author's Note: Written for Elizabeth Blossom as her prize for winning 1st Place and Best Trio Era fic in the Time Travel Competition! Congratulations, I hope you like this!

(also written for the Rubik's Cube Challenge. Prompt: fire)

The Moonlight Mystery

"That's it, I'm heading to bed," Sirius muttered, shutting his textbook roughly and tossing it onto one of the common room couches. He pushed away from the table and stomped off in the direction of the boy's dorms. "You coming, lads?" He called back to his friends.

"Can't," James said regretfully, slowly flipping the page of his own book. "If I don't finish this Astronomy paper, Professor Langley's gonna have my head."

Peter yarned, packing up his books and supplies. "This History assignment is torture."

Sirius nodded, leaning against the stair rail. "Can't understand it myself. Maybe Remus can help you when he gets back tomorrow."

"Shame about his mum," James commented. Sirius scoffed.

"Right, like she's really sick."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Peter wondered.

"Haven't you guys noticed how often Remus has to go home? His mum pulls him from school almost monthly, and his excuses are getting more ridiculous. I'm not surprised, mind you. She is a muggle after all."

"Sirius," James warned.

"I'm not being mean! I'm just saying, muggles don't value Hogwarts the way we do. You don't see any other kids getting pulled out, do you?"

James sighed and shook his head. Sirius took it as a sign the conversation was over and started up the stairs to their dorm with Peter in tow.

It wasn't that James hadn't noticed his friend's absences from school – on the contrary, he greatly missed Remus' calm presence during study sessions, keeping everyone on track. It's just that he hadn't realized the disappearances were so close together.

"How dumb am I?" he muttered, pushing aside the textbook to study his chart on the phases of the moon.

He'd known Remus for a year and a half and it took Sirius – who was definitely less observant than himself – to bring this to his attention? It was unacceptable.

He studied the chart critically, scribbling some notes on a spare sheet of parchment. Langley had asked them to write about all natural phenomena associated with the moon. In James' opinion it seemed more like a Herbology assignment, since at least half of his paper would be detailing the various plants that bloomed only under specific phases of the moon.

The twelve-year-old made extensive notes on the full moon, which had always been his favorite, if only because it looked so awesome. That month's full moon had passed two nights before, and James was berating himself for not taking the time then to study it, but that was the night Remus had gone home and Sirius insisted they raid the missing boy's school bag to copy off what homework he had done.

James flipped through the Astronomy notebook that Langley was making all her students keep this year, tracking the phases. He went back a month and read his notes on the last full moon. It had been on a Friday, which was the night they met in the Astronomy Tower at midnight for class. That was the day Langley reviewed their star charts. Remus had been absent – gone to his grandfather's funeral, if James remembered correctly.

"Strange coincidence," he sighed, flipping back another month.

There was the stain on the page from where Peter spilled his orange juice while James wrote his notes the morning after the full moon. Remus had been sick for a few days that week…

Flip. His father's birthday.

Flip. He was stuck in the infirmary with a contagious illness.

Flip. His mum broke her leg.

James got up from the table and began pacing in front of the roaring fire, his mind whirling.

He was just tired. His mind was playing tricks on him.

They were just coincidences. Remus didn't intentionally leave school during the full moon.

His friend was not a werewolf!

James tried a little later to finish his homework but he couldn't focus.

He retrieved his dad's cloak from his trunk and went for a walk, intending to head down to the kitchens for a snack, but he just wound up wandering around the fifth floor and almost ran into Filch.

He managed to get a couple hours of restless sleep on the couch by the fire before jolting awake when the Remus in his dreams turned into a hideous monster and tried to attack him.

It was daylight before he knew it, but it was Saturday so everyone was sleeping in and he stayed staring listlessly at the flames without fear of being disturbed.

Then the portrait door opened.

James and his friends were the most likely to be out after hours, and he knew for certain that none of them were, so curiosity had him peeking over his high-backed chair to see who was coming in.

And there he was: the missing member of their group. He was trying to sneak in, by the looks of it. He didn't have any luggage with him, which James guessed wasn't too unusual if his suspicions were correct. He considered jumping out from his hiding spot and startling his dorm mate, but when Remus turned around James could see the true nature of his friend's curse.

Remus' shoulders were hunched. There was a cut on his chin that hadn't been there two days ago, and bags under his eyes. He was cradling strips of white fabric, and when the cloak he had pulled around his torso shifted to reveal a bare chest, James realized that the strips were once the shirt Remus had worn when he left

He made sure to press down on the broken spring in the chair so it would creak as he stood up and not scare the fellow Gryffindor. When he turned around, Remus had hidden the former shirt underneath his cloak.

"Rough night?" James asked, leaning on the chair and trying to act like his heart wasn't about to pound out of his chest.

Remus let out a long breath and James thought that maybe he'd frightened him after all.

"James, can we talk about this later? It's been a long night."

James considered dropping the subject altogether, but he knew this would only nag at him for months if he didn't do something about it now.

"How's your mum? Is she feeling any better?"

"Um, yeah. Just a touch of the flu. I-it's a muggle thing. She's fine now."

James nodded slowly, looking Remus in the eye and willing him to say something – anything, to put his fears to rest.

"I'm going to bed," the smaller boy said at last, but James put a hand to his arm to stop him.

"Are you a werewolf?" he blurted out.

Remus pulled back, a look of horror on his face. "What?"

"A … a werewolf? It's just – I'm not accusing you, I'm just worried. I was doing the homework Langley gave us, on the phases of the moon, and I started thinking about how you're never around on a full moon. And then you came back looking like this and I just … I don't know. I'm sorry," he finished lamely, taking a few steps back. He instantly felt guilty and embarrassed for bringing this up at all.

To James' surprise, Remus didn't yell or take refuge in their dorm.

"What would you do if I was a werewolf?" he asked softly. It was then that James noticed how hoarse his friend sounded.

"I don't know."

Remus smiled. "You didn't have a plan?"

"You know me – when do I ever think things through?" That earned him a laugh.

"Would you be scared?"

James shook his head immediately. "What's to be scared of? I mean, you're just Remus, right? We've shared a dorm for a year and a half. You've let me copy off your homework dozens of times. You're like the least-confrontational person I know. No way could I ever be afraid of you."

"I feel like I should be insulted but I'm … I'm really touched." Remus hung his head for a moment, and James thought he might have started crying, but when he looked back up his eyes were dry.

He slowly unwrapped the cloak from around his shoulders and let it and the tattered shirt fall to the floor, leaving himself naked from the waist up.

"Remus, what are you doing?"

"I'm answering your question."

"You already did, mate."

"No, I didn't." Remus lifted his left arm a little, to reveal a long scratch. He rolled up a pant leg to show off another. James couldn't help but notice a myriad of scars in varying states of healing all over his friend's torso.

"What happened to you?" the dark-haired boy whispered.

Remus smiled sadly. "I was bitten when I was four. These-" he motioned to the scars, "are what I get for trying not to hurt anyone."

"You can control yourself?"

"Not really. I don't even remember what happens when I transform. I keep myself locked up. Dumbledore … he really helped. He allowed me to come here."

James nodded slowly, taking it all in as Remus covered up.

After a few minutes of silence, Remus let out a nervous sigh, trying to determine what his friend was thinking.

"So … are you okay?" he finally asked. "I mean, are you going to freak out, or do you think you can handle this? I understand if you don't want to see me again, I just want to know if I should be packing me bags or-"

"Remus!" James held up a hand to halt the werewolf's ramblings. "I'm your friend. That doesn't change just because you're not yourself for a few hours every month. I was just thinking about how much it sucks they you have to go through it alone."

"What?"

"The transformations and stuff. I mean, you've been by yourself for the last couple of days, right?"

Remus nodded slowly, afraid to find out where this was going.

James grinned, coming to stand in front of him and putting his hands on his shoulders.

"We're going to change that."