Hi again

This will be the last chapter of this story unfortunately.

I'm thinking about writing another Marauders story though about the highlights of their time on Hogwarts – including another reveal scene for Remus's secret - so please tell me what you think, even just a short review makes me happy and keeps me motivated :D

Hope you enjoy this last chapter! :3


Remus spent another week in the hospital wing, and he still hadn't heard anything from Madame Pomfrey, which could imply that James, Sirius and Peter knew his secret. He became more and more uncertain as to if it had really just been his imagination.

On Friday - a week after he had woken up - he asked Madame Pomfrey to release him from the hospital wing. He had to leave Hogwarts as soon as possible. He couldn't take a chance and hope that it had been a dream. Maybe he could come back, if it turned out that it was in fact his imagination.

Madam Pomfrey wanted to keep him for a few more days, but he had insisted.

It was dinnertime, and Remus hoped that the Common room would be deserted, so he set off towards Gryffindor Tower to pack his bag.

He was limping badly, due to a deep, still not completely healed bite-mark on his left leg's thigh, which he had been hiding from madam Pomfrey.

Remus kept his head down, while he tried to hide his limp every time someone walked past him.

He was about halfway to Gryffindor Tower, when familiar voices sounded behind him. He looked over his shoulder with a nervous glance, just as Sirius, James and Peter came around the corner – only about 40 meters behind him.

They were talking and didn't see him instantly, but Sirius looked up a second later and saw him.

"Hey, Remus!" Sirius exclaimed, as their eyes met.

Remus' heart skipped a beat, before he turned back around and began running in the other direction, his wounded leg forgotten in his hurry.

He heard the others set after him, which only made him quicken his pace.

They kept calling his name, but Remus couldn't determine if they sounded angry or not, and he certainly didn't want to take a chance and find out.

Remus' leg hurt a lot, but the adrenalin was slowly taking over, so he didn't really realize the pain. It was slowing him down though, so he changed direction and ran down another corridor, in hopes of shaking them off.

They followed him down corridor after corridor, all the while rapidly closing in on him. Remus knew that he couldn't outrun them with his leg and other injuries, but he was determined to at least try. That is until he ran across a corner and reached a dead end.

Knowing Hogwarts, Remus ran up to the wall and looked behind the big tapestry that was hanging there, in hopes of finding a secret passage behind it, but no. He was trapped.

Remus spun around with big eyes locked to the corner, where the running footsteps was coming closer. He was breathing heavily out of fear and exhaustion and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest, almost painfully.

The first one to come around the corner was James, who was the most athletic of the bunch. He came to a stumbling halt, when he realized that it was a dead end.

James looked at him with a frown, but he didn't have time to say anything, because seconds later, Sirius came running into him from behind.

"Oi! Why are you standing, where I'm running?!" Sirius exclaimed annoyed, before he looked up and saw the dead end and Remus as well, "Remus!"

Peter came around the corner as well, looking like someone, who had just run a marathon.

Now all three of them looked at Remus, who shrank back against the wall.

"Please… let me go." Remus whimpered, he hated the idea of his only friends beating him up and leaving him in this deserted part of Hogwarts.

"What are you…" James began, as he took some steps towards Remus.

"Stop! Stay away from me!" Remus exclaimed, as he backed all the way into the corner. His hand trembled, as he reached into his pocket to grab a hold of his wand.

James stopped with a surprised expression.

"What's wrong? We just want to talk." Sirius said, as he and Peter stepped forwards to stand next to James as well.

"No," Remus shivered of fear, as he gripped the want tighter, "I… I know what… you'll do."

Memories from two years ago, when the magical children from his street was beating him because they found out what he was, came rushing into his mind. He had thought that they were his friends…

"Remus?" James asked worriedly, and Remus realized he had begun to cry. He quickly wiped his cheeks with his sleeve.

"Are you alright?" Sirius added, as he walked closer again.

"Stop!" Remus said with a trembling voice, while he pulled out his wand with an equally trembling hand, "Please, stay away."

"You know that we won't… hurt you… right?" Sirius said softly, not at all fazed by the fact that Remus was pointing a wand at him.

Remus didn't say anything else, as Sirius – closely followed by James and Peter – walked over to stand in front of him. Sirius reached out and lowered Remus' wand, and Remus let him, although his eyes were still wary.

"Come on, Rem! You didn't seriously think we'd hate you right?" James said lightheartedly, as he reached out and placed a hand on Remus' shoulder, causing Remus to flinch slightly.

"But… but I'm… I'm a monster…" Remus said, despair seeping into his voice. No way were they accepting him, it couldn't be true.

Sirius chuckled, "You fold your socks Remus, excuse us for not trembling at the sight of you."

"You're not a monster, Remus," Peter joined in, as he stepped forwards too.

"Yeah," James joined in as well, "You're not a monster, you just have a… a furry little problem."

Remus couldn't help but smile, although a few stray tears was still running down his cheeks, "I don't think you can call it little." He couldn't believe it, his friends accepted him! They weren't running away or beating him up. "Thanks guys," he added lowly, as he wiped away the last tears with his sleeve again.

"Let's go to the dormitory and talk." James suggested and the others nodded, including Remus.

James, Sirius and Peter turned to walk back and Remus was about to follow, but as he put his weight on his left leg, he almost collapsed. Luckily, he was able to grip the wall just in time though. Remus had almost forgotten about his leg. The running had definitely worsened the wound, and he knew without looking, that he had reopened it.

"Rem?" James turned around, having apparently realized that Remus had not followed. "Are you ok?" He frowned, as he saw Remus' pained grimace.

"Yeah, fine." Remus lied, before he tried to take a step forwards again, determined to hide his limp. Of course it didn't turn out that way. Remus' wound hurt too much, when he stepped down on the leg.

He grimaced again, when he tried to take a step.

"You don't seem fine." Peter said worriedly.

"I just…" Remus began, but James interrupted him.

"Remus! Are you bleeding?!" He exclaimed, while looking at Remus's trouser leg. A big stain of glistening red covered the left trouser leg.

"It's nothing, I'm fine." Remus brushed it off, although he knew, that it was one of the worst wounds, which he had acquired in quite a while. It was a bite mark - made by himself of course – which meant that it would take a while to heal and that it would become a scar, even Madame Pomfrey couldn't remove it completely.

"You're not fine!" Sirius said annoyed, "Come," he went over and took Remus' left arm over his shoulders, so that Remus could lean on him, "we're going to the hospital wing."

"No!" Remus refused to follow, as Sirius began to walk. Sirius stopped and looked at him with a frown, "I've been there for a week now plus the time I was unconscious. I'd really rather not go back." When the others didn't look convinced, he added: "Besides I have a some medicine I can use in my trunk, there's really no need."

"Wait. You were unconscious for a week?!" James exclaimed, while looking at him dumbfounded.

Remus hurriedly shushed him, "let's talk in the dormitory."

James agreed reluctantly.

Remus began walking slowly, he would have definitely fallen, if Sirius hadn't been holding him up, whenever he took a step with the left leg. Peter came up on his right side to support him as well.

The walk to Gryffindor Tower was slow and in Remus' case painful, the big wound felt like it was on fire and he knew that a few of the smaller wounds had reopened as well, despite the fact that Sirius and Peter was practically carrying him between them. James was walking in front of them, having said, that he would make sure they didn't suddenly run into someone, who would then see that Remus was hurt.

"Why didn't Madame Pomfrey heal your wound?" James asked, as he turned around, so that he was walking backwards.

Remus listened ahead to make sure that no one could overhear him.

"Bites from… us… can't be healed." He said quickly, not really wanting to tell his friends facts about how scary and dangerous werewolves could be.

"You knew that James, you big dunce." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"But then why were you able to run from us before? I mean you can't even walk now." James continued, ignoring Sirius.

"Oh, um… running… tore it open, I guess." Remus was looking at the ground, concentrating on walking with as little strain in his left leg as possible, so he didn't see James face take on a shocked expression.

"I'm sorry, it's our fault then," James said with downcast eyes.

Remus looked up surprised. He was still having a hard time believing that this was even happening. Up until a few moments before, he thought they were gonna beat him up and then leave him all alone – although a part of him knew that they'd never do that – and now James was apologizing for chasing him.

"It's… fine. You didn't know."

James looked like he was about to say something else, but Sirius beat him to it.

"let's wait with the questions, James." He said, fixing James a look. James scowled, but complied by turning back around, so that he was walking normally again.

They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady moments later.

"I can walk myself from here." Remus said, before he let go of Peter and Sirius' shoulders.

"Uh… no. You can't" Sirius insisted, as he grabbed Remus' shoulder.

"Listen, there are probably a lot of students in the common room. They can't know I'm hurt. It's too suspicious after a full moon." Remus explained. He sighed, when he saw how unconvinced Sirius looked.

"Please, let go, Sirius." He said, as he looked at Sirius' hand, which was still holding his shoulder.

Sirius sent him a look, before he let go, but he continued to stand next to him, probably to catch him if he fell.

"Sea slug." Remus said, directed to the Fat Lady, who had been watching them weirdly.

The portrait swung open and the four friends stepped inside the common room. There was a few older students in the common room, who was reading and talking. Remus had a hard time walking even partly normal and at the same time keeping a pained grimace off his face. Luckily, though, the others noticed and made sure they were walking between Remus and the other Gryffindor students to hide him partially from their view.

Remus was relieved, when they reached the spiral staircase to the dormitories, seeing as he could lean on the wall.

"Let's help you now," James, who was standing in front of Remus, said in a low voice.

Remus just shook his head. They could still run into someone on the stairs.

Remus took one step at a time very slowly. As he was walking up, Remus tried to determine where exactly his wounds had sprung open. Stomach, legs and a few on his arms. Now Remus really understood why Madame Pomfrey had told him not to do anything that could strain his body - like running.

They finally reached their dorm and James opened the door for him. Remus tried to avoid eye contact, as he stepped inside, steering directly for his bed and his trunk beneath it.

The others walked in after him. He sensed that they were looking at him, but he tried to ignore it, as he with difficulty reached his bed.

He squatted down in front of his bed and was about to pull out his trunk, which was under it, when someone placed a hand on his shoulder. Remus tried, but failed in hiding a flinch, before he looked up to see James, who was frowning.

"Why are you so nervous, Rem?" James asked carefully, "and… you know you can ask for some help, right?"

Remus smiled, although it didn't quite reach his eyes, "I'm sorry, I'm just… still confused."

"Why?"

"because I had expected another reaction from you guys." Remus avoided looking at them, as he sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Like lighting the torches and gathering the pitchforks?" Sirius asked sarcastically.

"Something like that." Remus mumbled.

"Gee, thanks for the trust." James said equally as sarcastic.

"Sorry, but that's the way it is." Remus said annoyed.

James, Sirius and Peter looked at him blankly for a moment.

"What did you need in the trunk?" Sirius asked after a while, as he pulled the trunk out from under the bed.

He tried to open it, but the lid wouldn't budge.

"I can take it myself." Remus brushed him off, before taking out his wand and quickly muttering the spell for unlocking the trunk – he had found the magical lock necessary to avoid that the others would open it and find the books on werewolves and his moon chart.

Remus found his bandage and a small green vial containing a mixture of powdered silver and dittany, which was the only thing that could seal a wound from a werewolf. He also found himself a new pair of pants and a shirt.

Remus picked up the things and limped to the bathroom, leaving behind his three worried friends.

Remus took off his pants and sat down on the edge of the bathtub to examine the bite-mark on his left thigh. The bandage Madame Pomfrey had dressed him with was soaked with blood. He grimaced, as he slowly undid the bandage exposing the wound.

As he had expected, he had torn it open, causing a lot of blood to flow freely out of the 'magical' wound. He gritted his teeth, as he stood up to fetch two towels, one of which he poured some water on in the sink.

He put the dry towel on the floor beneath him, so that he wouldn't bleed on the floor, then he gently cleansed the skin surrounding the wound from blood with the wet towel. Remus uncapped the green vial and spread its content on the wound, before he quickly bandaged it tightly.

Remus examined the other bandages that covered his legs, but there wasn't much blood on them, so he decided to let them be.

Remus put his new pants on, before he took off his shirt. His entire chest and stomach was covered in bandage. The white fabric had a wide red line across it and several small bloodstains from smaller cuts.

Remus removed the bandage to examine his stomach.

The long red marks across his chest and stomach came from a claw mark, which had reopened as well. It began just under his left armpit and continued all the way to his naval.

The three straight lines was bleeding slightly and the skin around them was red.

Remus took some of the powdered silver and dittany and spread it on the claw mark as well, before he with difficulty re-bandaged his chest all the way down to his naval.

When Remus was satisfied with his bandage, he took his clean shirt on.

He threw the bloodied towels in the laundry basket, where it disappeared within a few seconds to be sent to the laundry room, which was run by house elves.

Remus took the vial and the rest of the bandage and went back out of the bathroom.

Sirius, James and Peter all looked up from where they were sitting around and on Sirius' bed, when Remus opened the door.

Remus limped over to his bed, were he sat down, leaning against the wall.

"Time for questions." James said gravely, as he and the other came over to his bed as well and they all sat down on the foot of the bed.

Remus sighed, he really didn't want to talk about it, but he couldn't very well deny his friends the truths and he could no longer brush it all off with a lie.

"Sure, what do you wanna know?"

"Everything!" James said excitedly.

Remus sighed again, "Alright, I'll start at the beginning then." Remus prepared himself for a long night, as he began to talk:

"When I was little my father had very strong opinions on werewolves, which meant that he made himself some dangerous enemies. One of these enemies was Fenrir Greyback, an especially mean werewolf.

He was angry with my father and wanted to punish him. He thought that the best way to do that was to turn his son into the thing he hated the most."

Remus stopped talking for a while, as he impulsively touched his right shoulder, where the bite that turned him was located.

"How old were you?" Peter asked breathlessly.

"four," the others gasped.

"FOUR!" James exclaimed.

Remus shushed him hurriedly, while looking towards the door.

"Sorry, but… four!" James looked angry, his hands was fisted and he was scowling at the ground.

"Yes, I can't remember much of the time before… it happened."

"Do you… remember? When he bit you." Sirius asked carefully, probably not wanting to stir bad memories.

"Kinda. I remember the bite – the pain, but I had been sleeping and I fell unconscious right after, so..."

"Is that it?" James asked gesturing to the spot on Remus' shoulder, that he was still touching. Remus nodded slowly, not really sure if he wanted his friends to see his scar. "Can we see?" James asked, confirming Remus' premonition.

"I guess," Remus said, before he pulled at the hem of his shirt, revealing the scar of the bite-mark. The scarring had turned white over the years, it was quite a big bigger than the few bite-marks that Remus had given himself during the full moon.

The others looked at it in silence with inscrutable expressions.

Remus felt uncomfortable under the stares, so he quickly covered the scar again.

"Was he caught?" James asked slowly still with a blank face.

"What?" Remus asked confused.

"Greyback. Was he caught? Is he in Azkaban?"

"Oh… no. He's still on the loose." Remus sensed that James was about to come with another outburst, so he quickly continued talking, "Anyways, after I was bitten things started going downhill. The need to hide my secret drove my parents to move around a lot. They moved whenever rumours about my strange behaviour and monthly disappearances was spread.

I wasn't allowed to play with other children, because I might slip up and accidentally reveal my secret. It was pretty lonely. It was for the best, though. The one time I actually did make friends in the neighbourhood, it didn't end well…" Remus trailed off, as the bad memories flooded his mind.

"What… what happened?" Peter asked carefully.

"I, um… I…" Remus' voice broke, he cleared his throat before starting over, "They were magical. One of them had a father, who used to work with mine. He knew… the father knew about me and had told his son. My 'friend' had then told all the other kids in the neighbourhood. They ganged up on me. They… they…" Remus was shaking violently at the memory. "…hit me. Kicked me. Called me names. Spat on…" Remus trailed off, as it became too much. He pulled his knees to his chin and hid his face, as he sobbed quietly.

"oh, Rem…" James said sadly with tears of his own streaming down his face. "I'm so sorry."

Sirius went to sit next to Remus, before he pulled him to his chest in a hug.

"No wonder you hurt yourself so bad just to get away from us before." Sirius said quietly, as Remus clung to his robes.

"You know we'd NEVER do that, right?" James said softly, as he put a hand on Remus' shoulder.

Remus had stopped sobbing, he broke loose from Sirius' embrace with a sad smile.

"I do now, but it's… I…" He trailed off again.

"When did it happen?" Peter asked, a hint of anger sneaking into his usually calm voice.

"The year before I was permitted to Hogwarts."

"That's like… only two years ago!" Sirius exclaimed outraged.

"That's it! Where do they live?! We're gonna pay them a little visit." James said with a furious expression, while he clenched his hands.

Remus smiled again, "that's very nice of you, but please don't."

"But… they… they need a lesson! Disgusting *********!"

"Sirius!" James and Peter exclaimed simultaneously at Sirius' foul language. Sirius looked too angry to care about their opinion in the moment though.

Remus had recoiled from Sirius slightly, not used to hearing him this angry – even though he knew the anger wasn't directed at him.

"Really Sirius, it's not their fault. Not really. They grew up hearing terrible things about werewolves. It's only natural that they wanted to drive me away."

"I've grown up hearing terrible things about werewolves!" Sirius exclaimed – Remus tensed at that - "and I'm sure you guys have too, right?" he added directed at James and Peter, who both nodded.

"See? And we didn't… You know…"

"What Sirius is trying to say is that hearing bad things about werewolves is no excuse!" James interrupted Sirius.

"Exactly." Peter agreed.

Remus smiled gratefully at his friends.

"Continue, I want to hear the rest." James said, looking at Remus expectantly.

"Well, I spent my time on books. My mother taught me how to write and read and home-schooled me in normal muggle subjects like math and science. I showed early signs of magic, so my father gave me some books about magic and taught me the basics of it.

I shouldn't have been allowed to go to Hogwarts. When I turned eleven, I didn't think anything of it, because it didn't matter. Hogwarts was just a story that my father would sometimes tell me. Almost just a dream.

But then… One day Dumbledore came to our house… and well my parents and he sorted out the arrangements. The shrieking shack, which it of course wasn't called back then, became my… secure place to transform each full moon. Madame Pomfrey and the teachers was told of course."

"So… you're the reason it's called the shrieking shack?" James cut in.

"Yeah, the people from Hogsmeade inevitably heard me, and so they began saying it might be haunted. Dumbledore encouraged the idea, seeing as it would help cover the real circumstances." Remus halted for a second before saying: "Well, that's pretty much it, I was permitted to Hogwarts and met you guys and you know the rest."

The three others wasn't having it though. For the rest of the night they asked him tons of questions about his childhood, his condition and the times he had disappeared to transform. The questioning ended, when James almost fell off the bed, because he fell asleep, while leaning against the bedpost.

The others returned to their respective beds and collapsed on them. Remus laid back and listened to his friends quite breathing, which slowly turned into light snores. He couldn't help but smile, his friends hadn't abandoned him! They didn't even mind his condition. He had the best friends anyone could ever wish for.

Remus fell asleep with the smile still plastered on his face.


Thank you so much for reading :D

Keep on the lookout for my next Marauder story. The first chapter will most likely be uploaded within December :)

And remember to review ;)