A/N: Thank you, rekahneko, for your review! I really enjoyed it!

The marauders finished up their first year without incident (provided that you don't count the detentions received from pranks.), even though Peter, Sirius, and James secretly searched for a way to make Remus' transformations better and more bearable.

Over the next two years, Remus began to feel a fuzzy warm feeling whenever he looked at Sirius. At first, he simply dismissed it for the fact that Sirius was his first friend and it was just joy and pride that filled him head to toe. But then it got worse. He was no longer able to look at Sirius without thinking of what it would be like to be one of his girlfriends; running fingers through his hair, kissing him, being kissed by him. Because of this, there was many a night when Remus would sit in one of the armchairs by the fire in the Gryffindor common room pretending to read while really he was watching Sirius as he played exploding snap or wizard's chess with Peter and James. However, Sirius mistook this seclusion for loneliness and informed him that he "needed a bird" by setting him up on a date with an attractive Hufflepuff called Merlyn at the beginning of their fourth year. Remus tried as hard as he could to get the relationship to work until he really cared for her.

One night, midway through fourth year, Sirius and James, almost always on the same brainwave, woke up and stole down to the kitchens for a midnight snack. They were on their way back to the dorm rooms when an angry voice sounded from below the landing above the grand staircase.

"Get away from me!" The boys stopped dead in their tracks. Although they couldn't quite place it, the voice was familiar, and although they couldn't hear quite hear what was said in response, they could tell that the responder was Remus and that he was quite upset.

"I don't care how much you care for me! If I had known you were a monster I wouldn't have bothered trying to date you! I only ever wanted Sirius anyway!!" Now Remus found his voice.

"You used me?" Sirius' heart broke right where he stood. It was his entire fault. He had set them up.

"Well, you don't think I actually liked you, did you?" There was a pause. "I can't believe that the headmaster let you in here knowing what you were a werewolf! Once my mum and dad find out…." Sirius and James took off, dropping all their food, to go to their friend's rescue. But a loud resounding call of "OBLIVIATE!" beat them to it.

When they reached Remus, Merlyn lay on the ground, knocked out from the force of the spell. Remus was on his knees, shaking from silent sobs. James and Sirius supported either side of him, carrying him up to the dorm where Peter was still sleeping. Knowing that Sirius was closer to Remus, James retired to his bed across the room. Sirius sat on Remus' bed, his back against the headboard, staring at his friend's back unsure of what to do.

"Why, Sirius? Why do I always lose the people I truly care about?"

"You don't, Remus. Unless, of course, you don't care about Peter, James and me." He paused. "Is that it, Remus? You don't care?" For some reason, this bothered Sirius. If Remus said no, he was sure that he would cry. He couldn't explain why, though.

"I care, Sirius." He leaned, resting his back on Sirius' shoulder. "Thanks. You are absolutely right." He turned to face Sirius, ending up a little closer than he meant. Sirius wondered what would happen if he just stretched his neck a little further…Remus was so close. Remus cleared his throat. "We should, um, go to bed now. Classes tomorrow." Sirius almost said no. He almost said that they should stay the way they were. Then he wondered what was wrong with him. They went to bed. Remus fell asleep rather quickly though Sirius lay awake staring at his set of hangings separating him from Remus' hangings which was separating him from Remus and puzzling over this newfound feeling.

Remus never really recovered from the scarring loss of his girlfriend over his illness. But it helped a considerable amount when James, Peter, and Sirius surprised him one full moon in their fifth year by hopping out from under the invisibility cloak. He protested saying they were going to be hurt when they decided to enlighten him with their newest talents of turning into animals. They had become anamagi for him. After the transformation, when Remus looked at Sirius in his human form, a roaring filled his ears like that of an alpha dog claiming his mate. And though Sirius experienced the same thing only Remus understood it fro what it really was. He was in love a bloke and his best mate.

Few months later, Moony was leaving for the shrieking shack through the front doors when Sirius, who was heading up to the Gryffindor common room to tell the others it was time to go, saw Severus Snape. Over the years, Snape had become a bit of a target for the marauders because of his sneaky nature and because he was a Slytherin. He had become so much of their plaything that he had heard the nickname-

"SNIVELLUS! Hey, Snivellus!" Sirius called. He caught up to him, throwing his arm about Snape's shoulders as though they were friends.

"Don't touch me!" he spat. "I don't want your blood traitor scum all over me!"

"Now, Snivellus, we've been through this. I'm no more a blood traitor than you are a greasy, slimy, evil, git! Oh, I guess I am a blood traitor, then."

"I don't know where your little friend goes every month but I'll find out." Snape said quickly changing topics. He saw Sirius pale and knew that he had struck a nerve. "Actually, I think I'll find out now." He ran out of the doors towards the whomping willow where he could see Lupin disappearing among the oddly calm branches. He was halfway there when Sirius grabbed his shoulder, spun him around, and punched him as hard as he could. So hard, in fact, that Snape spit a tooth out along with a decent amount of blood.

"You want to see where he goes every month?" He asked furiously. "Maybe if you do, you'll learn to keep your abnormally long nose out of other people's business!" He didn't even pause to realize that he was starting to think like Remus, saying things that he would say. He clenched Snape's shoulder as though it would fall off and marched him towards the whomping willow and down into the tunnel leading to the shrieking shack. He led Snape all the way to the part where the tunnel met the house. Snape watched, horrified, as Remus transformed from the smart Gryffindor boy that everyone knew him as into a monster werewolf that would be feared by everyone if only they knew. He was suddenly yanked back and pulled out of the whomping willow by James who had watched Sirius drag him to the shack.

"Speak one word of this to anyone and I'll hex you to a time when slimy little scum bags like you are killed brutally for living. Now, go!" Snape, now thoroughly terrified, ran to the castle without a second thought. James turned on Sirius. "You! How dare you betray a fellow marauder like that?" Sirius looked down, properly ashamed. "You will be the one to tell him!" When Sirius did finally admit what he did the next morning, Remus didn't yell, he didn't cry. But his silence was worse. He simply fixed Sirius with a look a broken hearted boy might have.

Sixth year was the best and the worst for Remus. It was a long, treacherous road, but slowly Sirius began to regain Remus' trust. Also, Remus had the nickname Moony bestowed upon him by the other marauders while James took the nickname Prongs, Peter now called himself Wormtail, and Sirius referred to himself as Padfoot. In fact, he liked this nickname so much, he was often seen referring to himself in the third person. His transformations were easier now that the other marauders spent every full moon with him. But now he had another secret that no one could know. Not ever. And he planned to keep it a secret for that long were it not for Lily Evans, James' obsession for the past six years. And it happened in their seventh year.

A/N: Alright, so what do you think? I hope everyone liked it!

Vanity