DISCLAIMER: I. Wish.

A/N: This is really quite pointless, but I wanted to do something sweet to illustrate Remus, James, and Sirius' friendship. I think James and Sirius are often portrayed as more arrogent and uncaring, but they'd do anything for their friend, as was illustrated when they became Animagi.

Remus Lupin quivered in apprehension as Madame Pomfrey led him towards the Whomping Willow. As the sun slowly sank in the twilight sky, he could feel an uncomfortable tingling in the pit of his stomach, the beginnings of his body preparing for the change about to take place.

Madame Pomfrey patted his back in a hasty, comforting way. She had always been rather fond of the poor, quiet boy, and certainly didn't want his condition to make him an outcast.

"Now, report to me in the morning, and I'll see what I can do about any scratches or bites you may inflict upon yourslef," she said in her usual brisk manner, though kindness and pity tinged her voice.

Remus nodded, and forced a brave smile to the school Healer. "Thank you Madame Pomfrey," he choked out - he was becoming short of breath, another sign of the rapidly-approaching full moon.

Madame Pomfrey whipped out her wand and levitated a twig, prodding the knot at the base of the tempermental tree. As the branches stilled, Remus scurried into the tunnle, with a brief wave to the Healer. The willow resumed it's whomping as Madame Pomfrey removed the stick with another flick of her wrist.

"Lumos," he whispered, and the tip of his own wand ignited quickly. He scrambled down the tunnle, illuminated only by the restrained circle of light that haloed his wand.

In the Shrieking Shack at last, he mumbled, "Nox," and placed his wand carefully in a cabinate that the Marauders always used for their wands during the full moon to ensure their safety.

Then, he waited.

Fifteen minutes of highly boring Flobberworm-counting (as Muggles might count sheep) later, he felt a rush of cold flood over him, and he knew that the moon had risen full.

He grit his teeth as his body was wracked convulsivly, fighting the urge to cry out, wondering dimly where his friends were and what was taking them so long: The change was always better with his three best mates to comfort him, first as humans, then quickly changing to their Animagi forms as he became more and more wolfish.

His knees hit the floor painfully, and he gripped his hair in his fists, letting out a strangled sob when he could take it no more. As if from a great distance, he heard footsteps pounding down the passageway.

"Remus!" cried James' voice, clearly panicked at the pain of his friend, and that he hadn't been there at it's beginning.

He was just in the doorway...but so far away...so far...

"Hang on, mate," Sirius murmured, kneeling down next to Remus as James joined them, gripping Remus' shoulder.

"It's almost over...almost...in a few minutes, we'll be having fun," James added soothingly. He could be remarkably kind and sweet despite his cocky, arrogent demeanor around everyone else.

Peter appeared in the doorway, panting and sweating. Immediatly, he spun on his heal, deminishing into a small, fat rat. He'd never had much courage.

It felt as though the bones of Remus' face were being twisted, moved, lengthened...like he'd swallowed a bucket of SkeleGrow...James and Sirius were talking in low voices to him, and just their presence made him feel just a little better as fur sprouted from his pores.

"Just a bit more, Moony," Sirius said, rubbing Remus' back as he would a younger brother.

"Time to change, you reckon?" James asked Sirius, who nodded. In unison, the two twisted on their knees and morphed into a large, shaggy black dog and a stag, the impersonation of graceful power.

Just as Padfoot and Prongs appeared before him, Moony's transformation was complete.

There was no longer any trace of human thought coursing through his mind, but a savage urge to bite, scratch...take out some of his pain, his suffering, on someone else...But he couldn't...He knew he couldn't...Slowly, bits of Remus Lupin's mind were pulled in, reighning in his werewolf tendencies to a managable degree.

This was the effect his three friends had on him: They could calm him, push his true identity to take over a small part of his brain. But somewhere in his mind, he guiltily doubted that the actions of little Peter Pettigrew mattered much to his behavior on the full moon.

Still fighting the wolf in him, he threw back his head and howled in turmoil. Sirius growled softly, a gentle repremand, reminder. James prodded Remus' shoulder with his antlers in the stag's equivelent of a human's friendly punch in the arm.

It never took long to calm Remus down, though. Not now, after years. Slowly, the wolf stopped howling, his breath coming in short pants.

Another, surprisingly human thought entered his mind: However doubtful he was about Peter's comptetence and courage, he knew that Sirius and James would always...always...be there for him. Until the very end.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I kind of let this story drift for a while, unsure of what to do with it, but I read the first chapter again the other day and edited some, and figured it wouldn't hurt to keep going with it. I'm quite pleased with this chapter, but you tell me what you think! Please review! I've already got the rest of the chapters worked out (at least, the plots) so it won't take long for me to write and upload them. I hope... ;) Wouldn't want to jinx myself on that one, but... :)

~PhoenixFlameGinny67