Author's note: I am in no way a JK Rowling, and nothing belongs to me. This also happens to be my first proper fan fiction so please if you spot anything feel free to give me any reviews.

Remus took a breath and the hospital wing swam into focus. It had been a particularly brutal full moon, and he had several fresh scars. He struggled to sit up as Madam Pomfrey bustled into the ward.

"How… how long was I out?" he groaned.

"Only two days, dear. Your friends weren't too worried But then again, they're getting slightly suspicious of the 'sick mother' excuse. We may need another one. I'll talk to Professor Dumbledore." She smiled and handed him a chocolate bar. "Now run along to the Great Hall. I believe breakfast has only just started, and I'm sure your friends would be pleased to see you." Remus grinned, swung his legs out of bed and made to run out the door. Instead he grabbed the bedpost, his legs in danger of collapsing. He heard a chuckle from the direction of Madam Pomfrey's office, and he smiled sheepishly. Madam Pomfrey poked her head around the door, mirth twinkling in her eyes.

"Maybe pop your robes on first. After all, you've been visiting your sick mother, not staying in hospital wings. Take off the pajamas, and try not to walk so fast - you haven't completely healed yet." Remus pulled on his robes and walked out the ward, a good deal slower than before..

Remus sneaked into the Great Hall without attracting too much attention. In fact, the only one of his friends that noticed him was Peter. Remus held a finger to his lips and Peter nodded, looking excited. Remus slid into a seat opposite James and Sirius, who were to busy arguing heatedly over something to notice him.

"I don't care what you think, we're not going to say that, James!"

"Look, there's something fishy going on - we've just got to confront him."

Sirius opened his mouth to reply, but Remus sensed a good moment to announce his presence, and asked cheerfully,

"Who are we talking about?"

Both James and Sirius jumped out of their skins (much to Peter's amusement) and put on, if a little strained, smiles.

"Remus, mate, we didn't know you were back yet! How's your mum?" Sirius asked. Remus replied,

"She's fine."

"Good, good."

Remus felt uncomfortable. It wasn't like James or Sirius to lie to him, unless you counted when they got him a huge pile of chocolates for his birthday. But his birthday had just happened. So what could they be planning? Remus decided to probe a little deeper.

"Again, who are you talking about?"

James and Sirius exchanged anxious looks, before laughing airily.

"Don't concern yourself, Remus, just the next prank on Snivellus. Nothing major," James answered quickly. Perhaps too quickly. But Remus gave his friends the benefit of the doubt and helped himself to some toast.

Three weeks later, Remus had almost forgotten that conversation at the Gryffindor table. Almost, but not quite. How could he completely forget, when James and Sirius were still having those discussions. Remus caught them once looking at a calendar - a calendar with the phases of the moon on it. Remus was terrified. What if they found out his secret? But Madam Pomfrey calmed him down, helped him think the reasonable side of things - they were just doing Astronomy homework, it was fine. It was coming up to the full moon again, and Remus thought he was looking peaky. Almost every day, Peter asked if he was feeling alright. Apart from just his looks, he was getting noticeably angrier quicker, and was starting to yell at his friends and throw things around more often. Peter, James and Sirius were clearly getting worried. In the moments when Remus wasn't furious, he was scared he was going to completely blow his cover. Finally, he submitted to his anxious feelings, and asked Madam Pomfrey if he could be admitted to the hospital wing early. She agreed, and Remus told all his friends that his mother was ill again. They seemed to believe him, and so Remus set off for the hospital wing with a lighter heart. Even if they were onto him, this would throw them off. He was a good week early. Unfortunately for Remus, Mary McDonald was in the hospital wing at the same time, and evidently told his friends, because they came crashing through the door. Remus, at the time, had his pajama shirt off, since Madam Pomfrey had been doing some checks, and was reading the Daily Prophet, so wasn't prepared for his three best friends to come barging through the doorway. They stopped short at the sight of Remus' scars.

"Mate… what… how?" Sirius choked, gazing at the maze of criss-crosses covering Remus' chest. Remus pretended to shrug it off, ignoring the panic permeating his chest.

"Oh, just a flying accident. Means I can't see my mum, but I'm fine." They nodded, still looking shocked. Remus flapped a hand at them. "Go, I'll be fine." They hesitated, like they didn't want to leave, but then they went. Madam Pomfrey stuck her head around her door, concern etched all over her face.

"Close call." she said. Remus heaved a heavy sigh of relief and close. Very close indeed.

Remus flopped onto the broken, tattered bed, exhausted. He was minutes away from the full moon, and kept experiencing nasty prickles of pain down his back. But mostly he was tired of keeping the truth from his friends. They had never done it with him, and how did he repay them? By lying about everything. Although, he thought, if they knew the truth, they wouldn't want to be friends with him anymore. A single tear rolled down his cheek before the full moon took hold. As pain rushed into every crevice of his body, he rolled off the bed, gasping in pain. A minute later, he had become the wolf.

When he came round, he was lying in the hospital wing at 1am, bandages covering his chest. Madam Pomfrey was sitting next to him. He winced.

"That was the most painful transformation yet." Madam Pomfrey nodded.

"Now, I'm no lycanthropist, but I think it's because you were feeling particularly hurt last night about your friends. Your werewolf self was more angry than usual." Remus nodded. That made sense.

"Am I able to go back to the common room?" Madam Pomfrey smiled.

"Of course." Remus gave her a grin, pulled on his own pajamas rather than the hospital wing's ones and tottered back towards the common room. He muttered "Dragon Claw," hoping to sneak upstairs to bed, but instead was met by the hard stares of his friends, who had been clearly waiting up for him. He smiled sheepishly.

"Hi."

"Remus, we've got something to ask you. You know how your mum is getting ill a lot?" Peter asked, fear in his eyes. Remus felt his body seize up.

"Yeah, Remus, old chap. Every month around the full moon. Funny, ain't it?" Sirius' eyes bored into him. Remus gulped. They'd noticed. James stood up, and the other two followed him. He looked at Remus, dead serious.

"Remus, are you a werewolf?"

Remus couldn't look at them. He stared at his feet and whispered,

"Yes."

Silence filled the Sirius gave a huge sigh of relief. Remus looked up, startled to find they were all grinning.

"Mate, you have no idea how annoying that was." Sirius smiled.

"But… I thought… who'd want a werewolf as a friend?" Remus was so confused when Sirius barked a laugh and James replied,

"You line up your quills on the desk and fold your clothes up. What exactly do I have to be scared of?"

Peter dragged Remus over to the fire and tucked a blanket over him. Remus grinned.

"You're the best friends a guy could have." Peter handed him a bar of chocolate, as Sirius and James walked towards the portrait hole.

"We're just going to the library, mate." Sirius winked, then they ducked out of sight. Remus looked at Peter, who shrugged.

"Don't mind them. It's the weekend, you can sleep in." Remus yawned, smiled and promptly fell asleep.

He was woken by a thump on his lap. He rubbed his bleary eyes and looked up at James and Sirius, both with huge shadows under their eyes, both with crazy smiles. It was then Remus looked down at the book.

"No."

"Come on!"

"Absolutely not."

"We can't accompany you as humans, so we'll accompany you as animals."

"I will not let you do this!"

It had been three long years. There had been funny moments, like when they had to keep a mandrake leaf in their mouth for a whole month. But there had been dangerous times, like when a life-or-death spell had nearly gone wrong. But Remus thought it had been worth it. He had got so much closer to his friends.

"Oy! Remus!"

Remus turned around to see a huge stag, a dog and a rat before they turned back into his friends, all looking very smug. Remus' face broke into the biggest grin ever. They all returned that grin.

"We have conferred and decided upon nicknames!" James announced grandly. "I shall be Prongs, on account of my horns, Sirius is Padfoot-"

"Peter is Wormtail, because of his, well, wormy tail, and you, Remus, are Moony!" Sirius finished with a flourish that made Peter snort. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, because they aren't telling at all." Everyone burst into laughter, and the Marauders were born.