A/N: Thanks a lot for reviews :) Here comes the second chapter, then...

Chapter 2: Friends and Secrets

Remus Lupin was weird. There was no use trying to deny it: the boy was twelve and looked like his mom would have chosen all the clothes he wore. Or, which was even worse, his grandmother. He had light blue shirts that made him look even whiter than otherwise and straight black trousers that were always as clean as McGonagall's writing desk. Lupin didn't even have any jeans, Sirius and James had checked it out when he had gone in the library. He had surely noticed what they had done, because his well-organised wardrobe had looked a little different after they had done the big search, but he never mentioned anything.

Sirius didn't know if he liked a boy or not. In the beginning he had kind of hated him, of course. Lupin was half-blood. His mother's mother was a full Muggle. The heir of the noble family of Black wasn't supposed to be in any contact with people of that kind, even though a terrible mistake had forced him to live in the same dormitory with them. That was what his mother had told. The Sorting Hat had done a mistake, but Sirius could prove it wrong.

Unfortunately, Sirius was just a boy, even though he was surely unusually arrogant boy. In three days he had began talking to James Potter and found out that even though all the Potters' were stupid and too fond of Muggles and not a proper family to have contacts with, James Potter was in fact quite nice. He had messy black hair and brown eyes with a wicked smile, and most of all he always had some ideas of what to do next. Sirius' mother had probably just mistaken about James.

One of James' flaws was that he was quite friendly to anyone - or almost anyone, Severus Snape wasn't included to that group. It was only good, because Sirius had known from the first moment he saw a black-haired boy that he was going to be an annoying prat. And Sirius had a good sense when it came to other people. Her mother had told him. All the Blacks had that.

Sirius had just began to think that he and James were friends, when James had started to talk with Peter Pettigrew. A short, quite fat boy hadn't been interesting at all, and Sirius had told James to stop talking to him, but James wouldn't listen to him, and one day Sirius just realized that Peter went everywhere they did. The three of them were a group.

But then there was a boy called Remus Lupin: thin but quite tall half-blood with white skin and a weird scar on his left cheek. Lupin was silent as a cellar of Grimmauld's Place and never bothered to say anything to anyone, unless somebody talked to him first. Sometimes Sirius wondered if the boy had been happier if he had been invisible. He surely looked like he would have wanted to be. But James, that stupid James of course said that Lupin was probably just shy and they should try to make him talk. Within a month Lupin had began talking to James, sometimes even starting a conversation.

Sirius still kept a healthy distance between Lupin and himself. The boy was too strange. In the end, it took some blood and tears to make Sirius change his mind.

It had been a very boring lesson of History of Magic and Sirius had thought he would die from boredom. He had considered writing to her mom and telling her to make the headmaster send that stupid ghost called Binns away, but then he had decided not to. His mother would probably have answered him with a letter full of complaints about how he had ended being a Gryffindor and why the heck he was talking to that young Potter and all that stuff that Sirius already remembered quite well. Binns had already died. He couldn't be so far away from dying again, could he?

Sirius was just thinking about all this, when he heard a noise from inside the classroom. He had already reached the corridor with James and Peter, but other two boys turned immediately to glance each other and then run back to the classroom. Sirius rolled his eyes, but then somebody screamed like when being killed by a stupid lake monster that was living in the lake next to Hogwarts, and he suddenly got interested.

Sirius tried to see what was happening, but there were too many heads blocking the view, and so he had to go forward. Fortunately he was quite tall to his age and when he got to the door, he saw quite well.

Remus Lupin was staring at his own hands that were covered with blood. The boy looked shocked. Sirius frowned. There was another boy, too, lying on the floor and mumbling something, or maybe he was weeping, Sirius didn't know. He wasn't so interested, either. Losers were not for him. But for some reason Remus Lupin had been in a fight and won it and that was enough to make Sirius wonder if James had been right about Lupin, after all. Maybe Lupin was worth knowing.

They didn't see Lupin before the same evening, when he came to the common room from the Hospital Wing, where his hand had apparently been healed. Sirius was quite disappointed because of that, because the blood in Lupin's hands had looked so tough. Anyway, James and Peter started asking questions right away and Sirius didn't bother trying to look like he hadn't been interested.

Lupin didn't tell much. He just said that he had had a bad day and that Slytherin had been annoying and he had hit him before he had really realized what he had been doing. It wasn't such good an explanation, but James and Peter were amazed. After that Sirius decided that avoiding Lupin was too tiring.

-

In fact it was just an unfortunate coincidence. Defension Against Dark Arts wasn't one of Sirius' favorite subjects - well, there wasn't such a thing as his favorite subject, because there was something wrong with each of them- but James loved it and even bothered to listen during the lessons. So when they were teached about Dark Creatures in the third-grade, James was concentrating hard and made notes and everything else stupid. In the evening he was sitting on his own bed and claiming that he wanted to find a Dark Creature.

'How?' asked Sirius suspiciously. James' ideas used to be interesting but impossible, and Sirius didn't want to waste time on them. 'Do you seriously think there's a werewolf or a vampire just hanging around in the school?'

'Well, the ministry doesn't let them come to Hogwarts', James said, 'but they have to be somewhere! Didn't you hear it in the lesson? They're more common than we usually think. Don't you want to find one? Think about it! Think about how interesting it would be! They would be quite like human and still they were monsters.'

Sirius rolled his eyes. 'I don't understand where you're getting your crazy ideas from, Potter.'

'I'm just bored', James said eyeing his book. 'And what if ministry doesn't know about all of them? What if one vampire gets to Hogwarts? Imagine when one night you can't find Peter anywhere and then you see someone sucking off his blood…'

Peter frowned. Sirius was just bored. He wanted to play Wizard Chess or sneak in the corridors or do something else sensible.

'Why don't you start finding Lupin?' he asked. 'He's missing, you know.'

'He's probably in the library', James guessed. 'Or a werewolf. There could be werewolf eating Peter when we found him. Or it had already gone and we would just take Pete back to the dormitory and then the full moon would come and he would eat us all. What if that happens?'

Peter looked nauseous. 'James, I don't think I would like to eat you - '

'You wouldn't be same Pete then', James explained patiently. 'Werewolves aren't humans, don't you remember? We wouldn't be your friends. We would be just a meal.'

'I don't think he's in the library', Sirius said trying to get James to focus on something else, before Peter would vomit. 'Haven't you noticed? He has done it before. He just disappears and appears again in the morning and if we happen to ask something, he says his mother's sick and he had to go home.'

James frowned. 'I didn't know it was his mother. I thought he told his aunt Mary died.'

'Yeah, but he's away about', Sirius tried to think, 'about once a month, I think. Have you ever thought about that?'

James rolled his eyes. 'Don't be stupid, Sirius. He has surely a good reason.'

'Well, probably. But we haven't got an idea what it is. Isn't that a little more interesting than some stupid werewolves somewhere far away from us?'

'They could be anywhere', James said, an intense smile appearing to his face. 'You never know.'

'What are you saying?' Sirius sighed. James sure was impossible. 'That Lupin's one of them?'

'No, I - '

But James never finished his sentence. He got to his feet and walked to the window so slowly that Sirius began to think he was scared. Maybe the stupid boy was thinking he could see a werewolf watching him when he would open the curtains. Especially when they were in their own dormitory that happened to be located in the tower.

James was staring at the sky. When he spoke, his voice was totally different. 'It's full moon now, Sirius.'

'What, are you scared? Hogwarts has some protection, Potter. No werewolf is going to come and eat you.'

James turned slowly to stare at him with a serious, frowned expression on his face. 'No. Think about it. You just… you said Remus disappears once in a month.'

Sirius rolled his eyes. 'Don't be stupid. You're overreacting.'

He waited that James would burst into a laughter with a little amount of disappointment on his face, because he hadn't manage to get Sirius with his joke. But the laughter didn't came. James just stared at him seriously, brown eyes suddenly abnormally big and shocked.

Sirius swallowed. 'You aren't serious, are you?'

James turned to look at Peter, who had turned rather pale. 'Pete? Do you think Sirius is right? Does he disappear once in a month? I've never really noticed… It's not like he's too loud when he's here…'

'I don't know', Peter said slowly. 'He disappears once in a while, I've seen that, but I never thought it was regular. Anyway, I remember thinking that something's bothering him.'

'And he's got all those bruises and scars', James said. "He tries to hide them but we can see them, anyway. And… do you remember when he once disappeared and came back with that enormous bruise on his cheek, and I asked him if his mother was hitting him, and he said no but went all white?'

'It can't be true', Sirius said. His own voice didn't sound how it was supposed to, but this wasn't the right time to think about it. James was being stupid. If he let him speak a little more, he could began believing, too. 'You're crazy, both of you. Remus Lupin's not a werewolf.'

'He's so pale', Peter whispered, his voice getting more and more scared or startled, Sirius wasn't sure.

'Yeah', James answered with the same tone in his voice. 'And he's so distant.'

'And he never speaks of his home or the past.'

'Stop it!' Sirius shouted out and felt satisfied when both of them looked at him, surprised. 'What are you going to do? Ask Remus if he happens to be a Dark Creature?'

'Well, yes', said James challenge in his voice.

'And what if he is?' Sirius asked at the same moment when the thought finally got to his head. 'What if he is? I know I used to tell you how weird he is, but he's not that weird. I don't want him to be werewolf. He's quite nice, actually.'

James looked concerned. 'Would it be that bad? If he was a werewolf? When we already know him?'

'James!' Peter cried out. 'You said that he could eat me!'

James rolled his eyes but looked quite angry. 'Shut up, Peter. I wasn't serious then. And I was talking about werewolves in general, not our Remus. You think he could eat you?'

Peter looked thoughtful. 'I guess no. He's so picky anyway. Doesn't want to drink pumpkin juice even though it's just fine.'

'He wouldn't hurt us', James said beginning to sound excited again. Sirius wanted to punch him. 'Even though he was a werewolf. We would have a werewolf as a friend.'

'You're a fool, Potter', Sirius said loudly. 'This isn't something to joke about. It's fucking serious. You'd better hope your soul out that you aren't right.'

And then he went to the bathroom, where he fortunately couldn't hear Peter's and James' annoying voices anymore.

-

Fucking James. Fucking daft insane James Potter who had put a thought to his head. At first Sirius couldn't get any sleep, even though he had always been the one to be able to sleep anytime, anywhere. Now he was just staring at the ceiling and wondering if James could possibly be right, and if he was, what the hell they would do.

Sirius had known Remus two years and six months, and the fact that he had actually began to like the boy only a year ago meant nothing. Remus was his friend as were James and Peter. He had done much work keeping it away from mom that he considered his Gryffindor classmates friends, but somehow the whole family being against Sirius' life as a Gryffindor had made him take a stronger hold on it. He was beginning to think that the Sorting Hat hadn't made a mistake, it had just been more clever than Walburga Black.

And Remus Lupin was perhaps weird, but he was also nice. He had his mysterious smile and he was quite good at making pranks, even though he tried to pretend he was above that kind of behavior. Sirius could see through him. The boy had enjoyed when they had made Binns' chair explode just a moment before he was to sit down. Binns hadn't still got a new chair. Well, maybe ghosts didn't need to sit. Maybe the chair had been there just to make Binns look more normal.

Remus Lupin couldn't be werewolf. It was impossible. Werewolves weren't humans, they hadn't got brown-colored hair and sharp blue eyes. A werewolf wouldn't help Sirius with his homework. A werewolf wouldn't pretend he wasn't weeping, when he had been watching a Quidditch game and a Blutcher had got lost and smashed into his head.

But Sirius had to admit that James had quite many points there. Remus did disappear once in a while, and Sirius had long ago noticed that those disappears were quite regular, he just hadn't cared enough to point it out then. And it was full moon that night. Sirius could see it even through the curtains and couldn't help himself from shivering.

No, they were just coinsidences. James had to be wrong. There was no choice.

-

Remus didn't come to the breakfast. Both James and Peter seemed to have weirdly big eyes when they looked across the Great Hall to see Remus, who hadn't come to the dormitory, either, but at least the others apparently were able to eat just normally. Sirius didn't feel like eating at all, in fact even looking at food made him nauseous. A little before he was supposed to have Potions he left the table and went straight back to the Gryffindor tower.

Remus was lying on his bed. Sirius stopped at the door thousands of thoughts rushing to his head. He didn't know if he had wanted to find Remus here, but now it was too late to turn around. He also knew that he had to ask. He had to know. He had never been that kind of person who can leave things unknown.

'Hi', he said. Remus seemed to notice him then, at least he turned his head a little so that he could see his face when he greeted him back. The brown-haired boy looked terribly tired, and for a moment Sirius was sure there was a new scar on his face.

'Where were you?' he asked.

Remus blinked. 'I had to visit home. My… aunt Mary just died last week, and the funeral was yesterday.'

'Aunt Mary died already. A year or two ago, in fact', Sirius said, a cold feeling beginning to form in his stomach. 'Maybe you're mistaken. Maybe it was some of your other aunts.'

Remus looked shocked, but was trying to cover it up. 'Yeah, could have been. I have many aunts. My mom has a big family.'

'Shut up.'

'Yeah, she's got seven sisters and almost all of them live abroad, so I never came to know them - '

'No, Remus. Shut up. You're lying.'

'Oh.' Remus' voice was awfully small and weak. Sirius stared at him trying to believe that he could give him an explanation, anything but the conclusion James had made. Anything. But Remus was just staring at him, eyes wide open with fear.

'Well', he finally said, when Sirius was still waiting for an answer. 'Would you believe if I said it's nothing important, but I can't really tell? It's… family business.'

'I can believe - ' Sirius began ' - that you can't tell, but about that family business and nothing important… why the heck would you keep something secret if it wasn't important? We're supposed to be your best friends!'

'Yes', Remus said weakly, 'and I want you to be still my friends, so please drop it - '

'Are you?' Sirius choked trying to get the word out of his mouth, being scared to death of what Remus might answer, 'a - werewolf? Remus?'

Remus face had lost all its color. The boy's eyes were huge and terrified and his mouth dropped half open when he just stared at Sirius. Sirius' own head was empty from everything. James had been right. If he hadn't been, Remus would have been laughing at his conclusion now, not looking at him that way, as if he was trying to decide if he ought to play dead or try escape running. And what was there for Remus to be afraid of? Wasn't Sirius the one who was supposed to be running away?

'How did you know?' Remus finally asked in a low, broken voice that was hard to hear.

'James guessed it yesterday.' Sirius wondered how his voice could sound this normal. 'I couldn't believe it at first, but I couldn't get sleep and it became more clear when I stayed awake the whole night staring at the ceiling. I had to ask you.'

'I'm sorry', Remus was almost weeping, 'so terribly sorry. You weren't suppose to find out. I shouldn't be here, you know, but Dumbledore allowed me to come, and please don't tell anyone, if someone finds out I have to leave straight away…'

'You have to tell James and Peter.'

'Yes, I guess. But please don't tell anyone else. I'm so sorry. I'd never hurt you, I'd never hurt anyone - '

'Shut up, Lupin', Sirius said but not angrily. He didn't think he was afraid, he was just so fucking tired that he couldn't even think. Still, in same way he began to feel like Remus admitting had made things easier. Remus Lupin was a werewolf, but, well, Sirius Black wasn't scared. He thought what his mom would have done if she had known - Sirius would probably have been placed under house arrest for a lifetime. One of his best friends was a half-blood werewolf. Walburga Black surely thought that werewolves could be useful sometimes, but they weren't friends, not even close.

Well, this wasn't the first time when he disagreed with his mom.

Besides, he already knew that he couldn't tell anyone. Remus had to tell to James and Peter, that couldn't be helped, but it would be their secret. Remus had to stay in Hogwarts. Sirius Black couldn't let his friend be sent away from Hogwarts nor did he want to get a letter from his mother shouting at him because he had slept in the same room with a boy who had turned out to be a werewolf. And if James or Petter disagreed, Sirius would make sure that they'd get over it.

'I won't tell anyone', he said calmly, watching how Remus slowly understood what he had promised. 'I swear. I'll never tell anyone, nor does Peter or James after you've told them.'

Remus stared at him. Sirius turned around and left the room. The situation clearly demanded that he would take a day off from studying.

-

A few days after Remus' secret coming out the things had quite much settled down. Sirius had skipped some lessons, James had tried to convince himself that there was no need to panic and Peter had been quite practical, thinking that Remus was still Remus even though he wasn't acting like himself once a month. Sirius wasn't sure if any of them really was fine with their friend appearing to be a Dark Creature, but did they have a chance but keep acting like they had before?

When a few weeks had past, Sirius realized that Remus being a werewolf made the boy more interesting. There were such a lot of opposites in Remus - how he was so gentle and kind, even annoyingly kind to people who didn't deserve any kindness, and how he was quite shy and sensitive, but still once a month he would turn into a monster that would have killed anyone without thinking. It was fascinating in a dangerous, even scary way. A few times Sirius tried to ask Remus what it was like, but Remus always seemed to get frightened, so he left the topic quite soon.

In fact everything went quite a lot back to normal. Once a month they would feel guilty of being in their own nice dormitory when Remus had to go to Shrieking Shag for a transformation, and the morning after they didn't know how to act near him, but when the time went by, it all got easier. The frightened gaze in Remus' eyes could be seen more and more seldom and eventually Sirius realized that Remus wasn't as shy as he had thought.

And then James got the idea of thinking how they could help Remus. Of course there was nothing to do to stop him turning into a wolf, but none of them couldn't really bear to think him ripping himself locked into a small house. The idea of becoming Animagus was just a random joke made by Peter, but Sirius had always been that kind of a person who finds any challenge appealing, and the others couldn't let him do it alone. Besides, what if he turned for example into a cow? He couldn't figure out anything that would annoy his mother as much as the heir of the noble family of Black eating grass in the backyard.