Disclaimer: I do not own it.

You Don't Have to be Alone

Remus Lupin sat near the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, his eyes staring at the pages of the book that lay in his lap, but seeing anything but the words. His face was pale, eyes red with bags forming under, the lack of sleep evident on his face. Tomorrow was the full moon. Tomorrow he would leave Remus behind and become the creature he had come to despise. Tomorrow he would wish there was someone beside him, who understood him. Understood his pain, his suffering, and most of all his fear, but to Remus, he felt sure, the tomorrow he craved would never come. As he buried himself in his sorrows, he failed to hear the common room entrance swinging open, the footsteps of three slowly making their way towards his slumped figure.

"Remus…are you okay?" asked James, a slight expression of pain on his face.

"Fine," whispered Remus.

"Well if this is what you consider fine then to be quite honest I'm afraid to see you when you're down," Sirius said, not breaking eye contact with his friend. Remus laughed, an empty laugh. "You know me too well Black."

"Well we brought you something to make you feel better, well not just this. This is something small. It was Jame's idea. But the other thing that was-" Peter started, but was interrupted by James.

"Oh he'll just ramble on forever. Eat this. It's chocolate. Mum reckons it's happiness in a bar." James smiled as he handed the bar to Remus, who accepted.

Remus took a bite of the chocolate and instantly felt the warmth run through his body. He smiled at the feeling, knowing he should savor it while it lasted. The word tomorrow rang through his mind and the smile, as quick as it came, disappeared off his face. His eyes became glazed with tears that he refused to let fall as he looked into the faces of his friends who wanted to help him, who cared about him, but would they care if they knew his darkest secret? Would they forget him? Fear him? The first time they met, he had vowed to himself he would never tell them.

'It isn't worth it' he thought, as the first tear fell.

"We know," whispered Sirius, so quietly that Remus barely caught his words.

"Know…Know what?" Remus asked, slightly shocked. Could they have figured out?

"The reason why you disappear ever full moon. Why you seem to fall terribly sick around that time. Why you seem to keep so many secrets. But what we don't know is…is why you didn't tell is," said James, sadness in his voice.

"We're supposed to be friends," said Peter.

"You should know that you can trust us," Sirius finished off for Peter, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "We can help."

"How can you possibly help me! I'm…I'm not even human. I don't feel safe being around anyone. I'm afraid…" Remus said, his voice cracking, "Afraid that I might hurt someone, hurt one of you. You don't know what it's like. I should have known you guys would have figured it out-I actually knew you guys probably had, but I wanted to go on…like a normal person. Act like it didn't matter. Live pretending that I could actually go on being happy, but why keep lying to myself?" Remus sobbed as he began walking away, up to his dormitory.

"Wait! Remus!" James yelled, grabbing hold of his friend's shoulder. Remus turned to face them. "You didn't even give us a chance to finish! Remus you're our friend, like a brother to the three of us. It doesn't matter what you are. We honestly couldn't care less, but we understand how hard it is for you living like this and…well we thought of a way we could make it easier for you." James said as he gave Remus a one armed hug.

"I think now is as a good of a time as any," said Sirius. "Good time for what?" asked Remus who was eyeing his friends.

"For this." Sirius backed away towards the fireplace, but slowly the grey eyed friend he was talking to stood there no longer, but was replaced by a large black dog. Sirius wagged his tail and ran toward Remus and tackled him to the floor and began licking his face. "Dog spit all over my face. Lovely," choked Remus as he got up with help from Peter. Sirius found entertainment in chewing on James' shoe.

"Animagi? Sirius?" he asked more to himself.

"Oh not only Sirius. Me and Peter as well. Wormtail if you will…" James smiled at the look of bewilderment on Remus' face.

Peter sat himself on the armchair and slowly he took the form of a rat. "Out of all the animals in the world, a bloody rat." James said with a look of mock disappointment on his face. Peter threw him a disappointed look.

"Padfoot stop trying to eat off my foot!" James yelled, but there was a smile on his face.

"Padfoot? Wormtail? What are you then?" smiled Remus.

"Well I think Prongs fits quite nicely actually." James said as he slowly took the shape of a stag. Remus was in awe. No longer was he surrounded by Sirius, James, and Peter. Before him stood Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail. His friends.

Slowly each teenage boy took back their normal form. "Amazing…" was all Remus could think to say. "But why?"

"So you don't have to be alone," said Sirius.

"You'll always have us Moony. The marauders stick together," said James.

"Like brothers," said Remus.

A/N: Please review.