The Second One-Shot in this Two-Shot Series, both can stand alone, but this one does follow on from the first.
Written for The Challenge and Competition for Hardcore Marauder Fans, for the prompt: After they learn of the horrors of the transformation of a werewolf, James, Sirius, and Peter would be determined to help their friend (read: become Animagi). You can write through the POV through any of them.
Also submitted to The Harry Potter Day Competition!
What Friends Are For
We knew we had to tell Remus of our new-found knowledge, but it wasn't exactly everyday conversation, and finding the right moment proved difficult. When he'd come back to the Gryffindor Tower, he looked tired and pale. We knew now that it was because of his transformations, and so we found it difficult to make our usual jokes. He was more irritable than usual, too, so an unspoken agreement between the three of us to let him sleep it off was made.
He was almost back to his usual self by the next morning, the Monday, but classes and homework kept us all busy. A tension rose up between the three of us, all the words we hadn't said sat on the tips of our tongues and stiffened our backs.
"We need to say something; he knows there's something we aren't saying. He keeps looking at us funny," Sirius said after dinner, and I had to agree. He was observant, Remus, and he'd been eyeing us with scrutiny.
"I know, it's just difficult. There's always other people around, isn't there?" I replied. At thirteen, any excuse was a good excuse.
"We need to tell him tonight then," Sirius decided, and that was that.
The four of us were sat around our room, pretending to study. Our fifth roommate, Daniel Bexley, was off with Lauren and the Ravenclaw, Chris somewhere, even though curfew was called an hour ago. I'd lent them my Invisibility Cloak, in the hopes it would keep them out for longer. I was in my usual spot on the window ledge, which was just the right size to sit in. Sirius was sprawled over his bed, while Remus was sat on the floor with a large book and Peter was sat at the desk. The only sounds were the tapping of Sirius' quill against his inkwell and Peter's pencil furiously scratching away. We weren't talking.
"What's up with you lot?" Remus shattered the silence to confront us. "You've been acting weird since yesterday.
The three of us shared a glance of recognition and apprehension. "We know," Sirius said, the first to speak.
"You know what? That you've been acting weird? Yeah, so do I," Remus replied.
"No, we know… about your thing. About why you keep going away. We worked it out," I attempted to explain, but my own fears and doubts were stopping me from actually saying the word.
"What do you mean?" Remus asked, his face suddenly white with worry. He didn't want us to know.
"We know you're a werewolf," Peter said, quietly.
Silence fell once again as Remus processed Peter's words. He looked at the floor, not knowing what to say.
"I'm sorry, I'll leave," he said, but he didn't make a move.
The gravity of his words struck me like a bolt of lightening. I knew what people thought about werewolves. I knew what my mother said. I knew all of that, but sat before me was not a monster. Sat before me was a scared kid, who looked as though his one shot of happiness had just turned to dust before his eyes.
"I don't know about you guys, but I don't want you to go anywhere," I said to them all. Peter shook his head so furiously in agreement I was concerned it might fall off.
"I'm not making you go anywhere," Sirius added.
"What..?" Remus said, apparently in shock.
"Remus, mate, you're our friend. At least, most of the time. You're decent, and we like having you around," I said, skirting around the edges of being emotional.
"Yeah, who else is going to scale us down when we get too big for our boots?" Sirius said with a smile.
Remus smiled at that, too, but it was only a small smile. I'm not sure he really believed us just yet. Hoping we'd said enough, we let him process it all for a few moments, until Peter piped in.
"What's it like?" he asked, thinking it an innocent question.
"What do you mean?" Remus replied, wary of the questions.
"When you transform, what's it like?"
There was a pregnant pause before Remus spoke next. "It's horrible, to be honest. Like every bone in your body is breaking and mending, time and time again. I've always wondered if it's worse than the Cruciato Curse or not. But then, as the… wolf takes over, it's not you, so you don't remember much. Feelings, images, moments, but whole hours of your life are missing, because you weren't even there anymore. You don't know what's happened, but you know that it was you, your body, because you're left with the pain, and the injuries, and the scars," he told us, and an overwhelming pity ran through my veins.
He was nice, Remus. Intelligent and loyal. He was the last person I would have wished it upon.
"Is there anything that makes it easier?" Peter asked, eager to learn.
"Being around animals, I guess. The wolf doesn't want to kill them, so it's calmer around them," he explained. I found myself wanting to learn more.
A few weeks later, and the full moon was upon us again. The three of us were sat around in our dormitory, chatting, but the mood was once again tense.
"Well, this is fun," Sirius commented, the sarcasm thick.
"It's hard to have fun when you know what he's going through," I commented. I'd been doing a lot of reading about it, and it seemed even worse than he had described.
"There has to be something we can do, to make it easier," Peter said. Sirius and I nodded in agreement.
We thought for a moment, racking our brains for anything that would help our friend.
"He said being around animals made it easier, right?" Sirius asked, an idea upon him.
"Yeah, that's what the books say, too," I replied. "How does that help us?" Last time I checked, we were human, after all.
"We're not animals," Peter stated the obvious.
"But what if we could be?" Sirius asked.
"What do you mean?" I asked, intrigued.
"What if we became Animagus?"
"That takes years, and it's dangerous, and if it goes wrong…" Peter began, worried at just the thought.
"I know, Pete, and we could all help each other out, but… it's worth a shot, right?" he asked.
I certainly thought about the prospect, and it did seem like a good one. I mean, just thinking about the possibilities…
"Yeah, I suppose it's worth a shot," I said.