A week after Remus had informed his friends of his condition, he was glad to see they didn't treat him any different. Some of the stress of keeping his secret from his friends was finally taken off of him. He couldn't be happier.
The month of September passed quickly. Besides his horrible transformation, it was a fun-filled month. He had fun watching James and Sirius getting in to trouble and coming up with elaborate excuses (all of which, seemed to involve a dragon). But one thing was bothering him: his friends had taken to talking in low whispers.
Whenever he entered the dormitory, their voices would suddenly hush up and there were a few moments of awkard silence before they greeted him cheerily. They had also taken to haunting the library (something Madam Pince didn't like). They were poring endlessly through books for homework and heavy books with the title so faded; Remus couldn't make out what it was about.
"No! That sounds totally stupid!" James' voice said. Remus could hear them talking as he made his way up the dormitory staircase.
"Well it's better than the names you've come up with. Seriously!"
"If that's supposed to be that stupid pun again, I will hex you."
"Sirius, hide!"
"I'm not really going to hex him, Pete. Only if he really deserves it."
"Well I told Lily Evans you were madly in love with her today. Are you going to hex me now?"
"WHAT?!"
"Wait, wait, wait! No, no, n-OOF!"
Remus ran the rest of the way up to find that James had wrestled Sirius to the ground. Peter was peeking out fearfully every once in a while from behind his hangings. Sirius was saying over and over, "I was joking! It was a joke! Stop it!"
"You told her I loved her!" James said furiously, obviously not hearing Sirius' pleas.
"You told me in Charms that you did!" Sirius replied exasperated.
"No I didn't!" James retorted furiously, blushing madly.
"You started asking us what names we liked for kids!" Peter pointed out, emerging from behind the hangings. James threw a pillow at Peter. He squealed and dodged it narrowly.
Remus cleared his throat and Sirius and Jame immediately stopped fighting.
"Hello, Remy, old pal," said Sirius cheerfully, even though he was still pinned under James. Remus shook his head.
"I don't want to know," he said shortly. He changed in to his pajamas and went to bed, the thought of the series of strange conversations his friends had been having lately, lurk
Finally, one night after full moon in October, Remus came back to the dormitory after being restored to full health by Madam Pomfrey. He was feeling rather tired and wished to have some chocolate before going to bed. He was greeted, rather loudly, almost the moment he pushed open the dormitory door.
"We missed you!" James cried out when the dormitory door was shut. "A full twenty-four hours with out our Remus! It was dreadful!" James dramatically pretended to faint on his four-poster. Remus laughed as Sirius shoved a Chocolate Frog in his hand. Remus ate it gratefully. Several Chocolate Frogs later, Sirius extracted a blank piece of parchment from his trunk and placed it on a small table he had conjured in the middle of the room. James and Peter gathered around it. Remus sat down too, feeling he should.
"So," Remus said after a few moments. "why are we staring at a piece of blank parchment?"
"Blank?" said Sirius, looking offended. He held up his wand and Remus thought for a moment that Sirius was going to jinx him. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!" said Sirius, tapping the parchment. Ink spread out from the place Sirius's wand hit the parchment until they formed words.
Messrs…
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
Are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP
"You made a map of Hogwarts?" Remus asked amazed.
"Well, not yet," James admitted. Remus flipped open the map. It was blank. He folded it back up again."We came up with the idea. We just need some help making it. It took us ages to get the words on the front. We thought you'd like to see this. Especially after last night." Remus nodded, not really wanting to talk about his transformation.
"What would be really cool," said Remus. "Is to have some Tracking Charms on it so you can locate where everybody is in the castle." His friends' faces lit up.
"That-that's brilliant!" breathed Sirius. "I can't believe we didn't think of that!" Remus smiled and looked back down at the map. He frowned.
"What's supposed to go after 'Messrs'?" he asked, pointing to the map. James grinned.
"Well, we're going to put our names there," said James.
"You're first," said Peter, smiling slyly. Remus didn't like that smile. James cleared his throat and raised his wand.
"Remus! Thy name is Moony!" James tapped the map and ink spread out from his wand tip again. The first line of writing now said:
Messrs Moony…Full moon. Moony.
"Oh, ha ha," Remus said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes while his friends snickered. And that's how Remus Lupin, became known as Moony.