The Full Moon is Coming

This is my entry for round two of the 'Potter Project' competition by Luck O' The Irish Seamione

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter had been good friends since the beginning of their time at Hogwarts. They had all been sorted into Gryffindor and so sat next to each other in the great hall, where their friendship began. Peter had been small and scared, so Remus had been comforting him, whilst James and Sirius joked around. They were made even closer with the fact that they were the only first year Gryffindor boys, so had the dorm to themselves. Within a week, they were the best of friends.

Now, in the first month of their second year at school together, James was becoming suspicious of Remus.

"I'm starting to wonder if something weird is going on with Remus." James stated, whilst Remus was out of the room.

"Why?" Sirius asked, curious.

"His story about having to go away every month to see his mother, it doesn't seem true. He says she's very sick, but she seemed fine to me in the summer."

"That's a good point." Sirius replied.

"Maybe he likes to get away from us." Peter added, sounding hurt.

"Well, we can ask him about it later."

Later that day, the three of them confronted Remus in their dormitory. The results of their questioning were unhelpful.

"They are getting suspicious." Remus thought to himself in the bathroom, staring into the mirror, after he had excused himself. "I can't let them find out, they'll hate me. My own mother was terrified of me for years, they will be no better." As he continued to look at his tired face, he could hear the others whispering back in their beds.

"You know, you might be right, Peter. He hasn't given us a straight answer. I say that next time he leaves, we follow him." James hissed across the room.

"Time to use the invisibility cloak again, eh?" Sirius chuckled.

-o-

Just a week and a half later, and the time had come to follow Remus. James, Sirius and Peter all huddled under the cloak, and waited for their friend to emerge from the castle. To their surprise, he did not head towards Hogsmeade as expected, but down towards the forest. The three of them looked at each other, puzzled, before setting off after him.

"Where is he going?" whimpered Peter, clearly scared of the forest.

"Just keep quiet and keep walking." Replied Sirius.

Remus did not enter the forest, but walked around its border. Eventually, a large Willow tree appeared on the horizon. The boys knew nothing about it, only that they were not allowed near it. They would have investigated it earlier, but they were learning the castle's every passage before exploring outside. James quickly noticed that it was gently waving in the breeze…but the other trees were not. As Remus got slowly closer to the tree, it seemed to become agitated. It's outer branches started flailing and whipping around, before the larger ones at the centre creaked into life. Soon, the whole tree was swaying madly, looking threatening. Remus had no hope of survival, the tree seemed too violent and malicious. It was about to swing for him when it abruptly stopped where it was. It had a large branch raised comically, smaller ones stuck at absurd angles. It had frozen.

The last view they had of their friend was his head disappearing into the trunk of the tree.

"Quick!" Sirius shouted, pulling the cloak from them. "Follow him in, before it moves again!"

The three of them ran, Peter lagging behind. They crashed into the tunnel in the trunk, before creeping forwards. They had to crouch, so it was slow progress along the tunnel. Eventually, they entered a large room, filled with wreckage. There was an overturned table that had its legs smashed, chairs strewn everywhere, a sofa with its stuffing scattered on the floor. The walls were scored with deep gauges and the stairs were partially destroyed.

"Wha-" James began, before being interrupted.

"You followed me." Said Remus, emerging from a corner. "You should leave, I – I –you can't be here! You have to leave!"

"Hang on a minute, Remus, we just want to know what's going on…" Sirius trailed off as his friend clutched at his stomach.

"Go, please." He said, sounding pained. James started to walk towards him, but Remus emitted a very inhuman sounding growl, making James stumble back. With one last pleading look, Remus changed completely. His limbs elongated, a snout grew from his face, his ears pointed, a tail appeared and he snarled.

"He's a –a werewolf!" Peter shrieked, before bolting towards the entrance. Sirius and James quickly followed him, moving as fast as they could up the tunnel. Luckily for them, Remus was too large to fit through the passage. Behind them, they heard him howl.

-o-

It was three days later when Remus finally returned to the Gryffindor boy's dormitory. When he entered, the other three boys looked up. To his surprise, they smiled when he saw him.

"Hey, Remus, come look at this!" Sirius called. "We were in the library, and James was joking around, knocking books off the shelves, when this one opened on this page. Read it."

"Yes, I have heard of the Animagi. What's your point?" he was confused.

"Well," James interrupted. "We did some research on werewolves. You don't attack animals whilst in your wolf state, so we thought we could each learn how to become an Animagus, then we could still be together when you transform." He smiled as he finished.

"Wait, so… you aren't scared of me?" Remus asked the others.

"Well, we admit that it may have scared us when you were suddenly a wolf, but right now, you're no scarier than a leaf. We'll just stay away from you during the full moon until we can transform alongside you."

And just like that, Remus was no longer ashamed of his problem. His friends had accepted him as soon as they discovered it, and that was all that mattered to him.

Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it :)