AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Heyyy! My first Harry Potter fanfiction- yay! I hope it's good. It's long, at the very least. And it's got the Marauders. And- am I the only one who ever compared the Marauders to the Dead Men? Saracen= Sirius, Dexter-well, Remus I guess-except way less smart. Or cute. And Peter Pettigrew, the sniveling rat( yes, double insult- Snivellus), Erskine, obviously. Except Erskine's cooler-he is! Evil, yeah, but still cool.

DISCLAIMER:

In no way mine, everything belongs to Queen Joanne Kathleen Rowling.

Remus Lupin looked up from the bed where he was completing his Defence against the Dark Arts essay as his friends entered the dormitory. He smiled at them in greeting, meaning to turn back to his homework. The smile turned into a frown when they headed towards him with purposeful looks on their faces.

Well, two of them did. Peter went straight to the bathroom.

James Potter flopped down onto Remus's bed in his usual sprawling state. Sirius leaned against the bedpost with his arms folded, facing Remus. The uncharacteristic solemn looks on their faces did absolutely nothing to ease his worry.

"Remus," began James seriously, looking up and propping his head up on his hands. "It has come to our attention that you have been keeping a major secret from us."

Remus swallowed nervously. His mind immediately went to his biggest and most well-kept secret- being a werewolf.

He gave them what he hoped was an easy smile, desperately hoping they meant something else.

"If you found my secret chocolate stash, I can explain-"

"Not the chocolate, Remus," interrupted James. "We've known about that for ages."

"No, we're talking about a much bigger secret. We know, Remus." said Sirius.

"What are you guys talking about? I don't understand." Remus said, but at the same time he was mentally bracing himself for their hatred. Not now, not now, not when things had been going so well for him…

"Remus, Remus, Remus…" said Sirius, shaking his head pityingly. "We've been your best friends for more than a year. We know you. We can tell when you're lying."

"How?" challenged Remus, but he was only stalling. He looked around frantically for an escape route. Merlin, he was acting like a criminal being interrogated by the cops…

"Well, for one, your hands are shaking." said James, smirking when Remus's eyes flickered down to his hands-they were right, his hands were shaking.

"Two, you're biting your lips like you do when you're nervous." continued Sirius, grinning that easy grin of his when Remus stopped and ran his tongue across his lips.

"Three, you're not meeting either of our eyes." said James. Remus immediately looked into his hazel orbs. He tried to read them like people do in stories, to sense what the other was thinking, with no avail.

"Four, your cheeks are going red," said Sirius smirking at him. Merlin, they were like a bloody double act!

"And five," here James stopped for the dramatic effect-Remus rolled his eyes at that, he always had been a bit of a drama queen-"your ears are doing that weird twitchy thing like they did when you told McGonagall that Sirius was the one who toilet-papered the Slytherin common room."

Remus stared at them disbelievingly.

"We know about your- condition, Remus," said Sirius, leaning forward and trying to place his hand on Remus's shoulder. He frowned when his fingers barely reached it, and joined them on the bed. "You don't have to lie to us."

Remus sighed, trying to accept the fact that his Hogwarts life was over. A hopeless sort of feeling washed over him.

"I'll just pack my stuff, then." he said, getting up. His gaze landed on his homework. He smiled bitterly; no point in completing it now.

"Wait- pack your stuff? Why? Where are you going?" asked Sirius, confused.

"I'm leaving, aren't I?" said Remus, putting his books into his trunk. At least he got the chance to see Hogwarts.

"Why? Seriously, what are you on about?" asked Sirius.

"You wouldn't want to live with a werewolf," said Remus. And he had memories he would never forget.

"Wait, what? Why the bloody hell wouldn't we want to live with you?" said James, bewildered." I mean-you're a werewolf! How freakin' sweet is that?!"

"Yeah, why didn't you tell us about that one, anyways?" said Sirius, in a mock-injured tone. "We're your best friends!"

Remus looked at them disbelievingly. (Again.)

"Are you crazy? I'm a werewolf! A monster! If the school knew, they'd kick me out on my arse! They would hate me! You should hate me! What is WRONG with you people?! You should be mad, not me! You're not supposed to- stand there, being all- friendly and stuff!" Remus shouted, forgetting the chocolate in his hand.

James and Sirius looked at him with identical looks of slowly dawning comprehension.

"Ohhh…" said James, nodding his head. " I get it! That's why you didn't tell us!"

"Man, did you really think we'd be like that?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows.

Remus's lack of response was a response in itself.

"Ouch," said James, wincing.

"Seriously, dude," said Sirius, obviously agreeing with James. "Have a little trust in your best friends."

Remus's left eye twitched. His gaze had not shifted or softened in the slightest.

"I mean, you should have told us sooner!" said Sirius.

"I didn't tell you at all," muttered Remus, scowling. But inwardly it was a smile- a great big whopping smile that could barely begin to describe how happy he felt. "How did you find out, anyways?"

"Oh, it was pretty simple," said James, waving his hand dismissively. Unfortunately, he had forgotten it was what was propping up his face, and it fell on to the bed with an oomph. Remus and Sirius snickered as he sat up. " You visit your 'sick' mother every month-at the full moon, your boggart is the full moon, you seem all green and stuff around the full moon-it wasn't that hard to figure out."

"Obviously," stated Remus, the hints of a smile on his face.

"But really-a werewolf! Just how cool is that?" said Sirius excitedly.

James nodded his head so fast that his neck probably hurt. But only probably.

"I know, right? On a scale of one to ten- it's a twenty!"

"I'm never going to understand how their minds work," Remus murmured.

But as he leant back on his bed and reached from his homework, watching his friends bicker over the coolness level of being a werewolf, a warm feeling of contentment settled over him.

For the first time, he had friends, true friends, friends who knew what he was and accepted him for it and would stick with him through thick and thin. And for the first time in a long time, he was happy.

There was the sound of a toilet flushing, and Remus looked up as Peter stepped out of the bathroom. He took one look at James and Sirius, who had progressed to wresting on the floor, and asked, "What did I miss?"

Remus couldn't help it. He laughed.

I, Avery Mad, do solemnly swear to review all the fics I read, regardless of the number of reviews, its age, or anything else.

I have joined the Review Revolution.

REVIEW! Hope that was enough to encourage you. Oh, and copy and paste the above onto your own profiles and/stories!