Lily woke up earlier than her roommates, as usual, and got out of bed. After making her bed, she showered, got dressed, brushed her teeth, and combed her hair. Instead of staying in her dormitory, she made her way downstairs to the common room and lay down on a couch. Minutes later, she heard voices coming from the boys' dormitories. James, Sirius, and Peter were rushing out of their room. She must not have been visible because they didn't notice her as they went by. Good. She'll be able to find out what they're up to, since they were such troublemakers, and then she'll alert the teachers.

She found out she was wrong. They didn't look like they were plotting a prank or something. In fact, they looked worried. She caught words like "Hospital Wing" and "Hope he's okay".

Before she got up to ask what's wrong, they had already disappeared through the portrait hole. Were they talking about Remus? Didn't they know his mum was the one who was "ill"? They were his closest friends after all. Judging by the way they said "he" instead of "she" and "Hospital Wing" instead of "St. Mungo's", she guessed that Remus was the one who is ill, not his mum. Besides- if his mum was ill, then why would she be at the Hospital Wing? Plus, it was the day after the full moon. Could that be just a coincidence? She didn't think so.

It was time to test her last experiment. In the werewolf book she checked out, she had looked at the aftereffects of a transformation. She read that since the transformation is always painful then the person will show signs of exhaustion (perhaps from screaming too much). Plus, if the werewolf is by her/himself with nowhere to go and nothing to chase, she/he will usually attack her/himself, which means that they might have several new scars. If Remus matched these descriptions, then all of the clues would be pointing to 'lycanthrope' and she would have to ask him if it's true. If not, she'll just forget about the whole thing and get no extra credit.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()

On the day after the full moon, Lily caught a glimpse of Remus as he headed up the stairs to his dormitory. He looked terrible. There were dark shadows under his eyes and he looked immensely tired. His robes were hanging loosely on him and his walking seemed somewhat painful to do. Perhaps stiff. She scanned her list of transformation aftereffects and he matched every one of them.

The next day, which was Saturday, Lily found Remus sitting near the lake staring into yet another thick fantasy book with a gloomy expression. He looked up when he saw her shadow.

"Can I sit down?"

Remus nodded and went back to his book as she sat down beside him. He looked better than yesterday but he still looked pale.

"Er, I actually came here to ask something." Remus calmly bookmarked his book and set it down.

"Yes?"

"You know the essay we're doing for Defense Against the Dark Arts?" He nodded. "Well, I'm researching this certain creature, and I needed a small amount of help." Remus didn't say anything so she went on. "So I checked out a book from the library and looked up stuff about these 'creatures'." She put air quotes around creatures because they were human- most of the time. "And I saw the characteristics of this certain 'creature'. I really wanted the extra credit so I needed someone who has experience on my topic." He nodded to show he understood. "I asked myself, 'Is there anyone I know who knows all about these 'creatures', or perhaps, is this 'creature'?'" She could see a slight hint of fear and realization in his eyes. "So I did more research and found out that someone did have the symptoms of being this 'creature'." Remus was now staring at the grass looking like he was dreading what was coming next.

"Remus..." she softened her voice. "You're a werewolf aren't you?"

Author's Note: Oh noes! What will Remus do? How will he take it? What will happen next? Only one way to find out! REVIEW! Who knows, I might post the next chapter sooner. O_o