Before We Died- Starting in second year, we follow the marauders in the epic journey of brotherhood, love, adventures and betrayal all the way until the very end.

Here is chapter three. Many things will be happening today, and I hope you enjoy!

"Moral wounds have this peculiarity. They may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart." -Alexander Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo.

Remus awoke from his deep, dreamless slumber with a grimace of pain. The slight pull in his bones like growing pains was making him not want to move a single muscle yet stretch like there was no tomorrow. Slowly, he maneuvered himself out of the warm bed, leaning on the post for support until he was able to walk normally.

The others weren't awake yet, which he was grateful for, seeing as he wouldn't have to lie after just rolling out of bed. The moon had been affecting him worse and worse as the days drew nearer to when the moon would hang in the night sky like a round, fat balloon. This day was always the worst, obviously.

Not only were his muscles and bones sore like they had been caught under a hammer multiple times in a row, he needed to pee. Badly. Remus hobbled his way into the bathroom, relieving himself. Getting back, he saw James sitting up on his bed, just beginning to put his glasses on.

"Mornin'." James said in a sleepy voice. His hair was pointing out at all angles, making him look like he had been playing with a fork and an outlet.

Remus grunted tiredly in return, pulling on the required uniform. Sirius stirred from where he slept, making an angry, tired noise. James smirked at this, and hit Sirius in the head with the nearest pillow. Sirius flew up almost instantly.

"Good morning, sunshine." James grinned mischievously while the other boy stared daggers into him. "We need to hurry down for breakfast, I'm starving."

"You and your breakfast." Sirius rolled his eyes as he padded his way into the bathroom.

"Oi, Pete!" James proceeded to hit Peter with the pillow he had used for Sirius. "Wakie, wakie!"

"I'm up, I'm up!" Peter whined into his bedding.

Remus, fully dressed and ready for the day, took a moment to sit back down on his bed. His hips were suddenly killing him. Apparently his discomfort shown on his face, since James looked at him oddly.

"You alright?"

"Fine." Remus muttered, still not fully energized. "I just feel kinda weird."

"Maybe you should go to the infirmary."

"It'll probably go away." Remus shrugged James' advice away, and instead turned his attention to Sirius, fully dressed and ready, coming out of the bathroom.

Peter finally got around to getting up due to the chastising from James and Remus, and the four boys all made their way down to breakfast, where Remus ate nothing at at all.

"You didn't eat." Sirius informed him as they were walking to their first class of the day. Remus was startled a little by the sudden accusation, and the sudden movement made his bones rattle uncomfortably.

"That's right. And?" Remus questioned.

"And, you look sick. You should really go to Madam Pomfrey if you're feeling ill."

For some reason, these words irritated Remus. What kind of control does Sirius have over him, anyway? Who made him the boss of his life? "I would've been gone already if I was, wouldn't I?"

"I'm just saying-"

"I don't care. Mind your own business." Remus scowled, turning his eyes away from the confused grey ones that were to his left.

"Fine." Sirius bit back sharply, rolling his eyes in annoyance before huffing out a deep, aggravated sigh. He then went to go stand on the other side of James, and his absence made Remus feel guilty for snapping at him, but it was too late now.

The boys walked into the classroom, barely managing to get in before the bell. As soon as the girls in the back of the class noticed James and Sirius (and some were looking at Remus, too), they began to giggle and twirl their hair around in a silly manner. James, pleased by the attention, ruffled his own hair boyishly, though Sirius just looked annoyed even further, if it was possible.

James noticed this, and took out a slip of parchment.

What's wrong

Sirius glanced down at the note hastily shoved in his direction, and wrote down a reply quickly.

Remus

James' eyebrows quirked in confusion.

What about him

I told him he needed to go to the infirmary because he's sick and he got mad

What did he say

It was more like how he said it. Prissy and angry

Maybe he's just tired. And he's supposed to be going to his mums soon anyway

Sirius had forgotten that little detail, and soon lost all of his annoyance. Remus, as they had found out in their last year, had a sick mother, and he had to go see her once a month. He once told them what the disease was, something starting with a "c", but Sirius couldn't remember the word exactly. Now, Remus' pale, tired face made much more sense.

The sandy haired boy was obviously fighting not to fall asleep, his eyelids drooping down, and every so often his head slipping off his hand to almost bang against the table before he caught himself.

But, Sirius couldn't help but feel like there was more to Remus than just a sick mother. For one, he had noticed that just before Remus leaves, he just looks sick rather than stressed. Some nights Sirius would wonder if the disease was contagious, or inheritable, and if Remus had gotten it. Then, just the day after Remus would return, he would be injured.

That was the part that puzzled him the most. Sometimes his hands would be wrapped in gauze, or he would walk with a noticeable limp. Not to mention the scars on his face. He had told them they were from a violent dog attack from when he was around four, and that they wouldn't heal all the way. They weren't very big, just clipping his bottom lip and spreading to his lower left cheek in thin, white lines. They didn't make him ugly by any means, and, honestly, they just made him look cool, in Sirius' opinion.

But, they were definitely peculiar. Why wouldn't they heal, for one? Any witch or wizard could definitely get rid of the scars with ease. There was more to them than what meets the eye, that was for sure.

Suddenly, a soft thud hit Sirius' ears, and he turned to Remus, since that was where the noise was from. It appeared that the boy had lost his battle with sleep, and was napping away right in the middle of class. Soft hair curled around Remus' ears and forehead, and the sight made a new wave of guilt hit Sirius for pestering him just minutes before.

Remus woke up to Sirius nudging his elbow. Blinking his eyes open, he realized that he had fallen asleep right in the middle of class. How embarrassing.

"Um," Remus sniffed, as his nose was stuffed up from his tiny nap. "Thank you."

Sirius grinned widely, letting him know everything was alright. "No worries, Lupin."

The rest of the day continued much the same way. Remus would accidentally fall asleep, or zone out during lessons, and one of the other boys would wake him up. As the hours carried on, Remus was beginning to feel the effects of the upcoming transformation rapidly as his own sense of self-awareness was beginning to dwindle, and he knew he needed to leave for the infirmary before he accidentally did something he didn't mean to.

"I have to go to my mother's tonight." Remus informed his friends who were all sitting in the common room. James and Peter nodded in sympathy, but an odd look passed over Sirius' face, a look Remus would later remember to be one as disbelief.

"Well, let us know how it goes." James smiled in a sincere way, patting him on the shoulder as goodbye.

"We'll see you soon, mate." Peter followed James' lead before returning to the gobstones laid out before him. James and him were in a very heated match at the moment.

Sirius was never one for heartfelt goodbyes and pity, and he was even worse with words. "Just," He paused at this. "Take all the time you need."

Remus nodded, feeling extremely grateful and guilty to have such wonderful friends. If only he didn't have to lie to them so often.

Walking out of the Gryffindor common room, Remus began to journey down to Madam Pomfrey's. It would have taken him sooner to get there, but his legs were already weak, not to mention how tired he was.

"Hello, Remus," Madam Pomfrey smiled sadly at his arrival, and he found he didn't have the energy to smile back. "Ready to go?"

Remus nodded, and they left for Whomping Willow just as the sun was beginning to set. The Shrieking Shack was no short journey, and Remus was not looking forward to it.

As they got closer, the willow began to lash out thick, curled branches wildly with no coordination whatsoever. Without hesitation, Pomfrey scooped up a long stick with her wand, and levitated it under the limbs of the twisted tree, prodding a hidden knot at the base. The branches stopped in mid-air, and Remus hurried through the passage way that was more of a tunnel than anything.

Madam Pomfrey did not follow. "I will come back for you in a bit, dear." She said loudly to him, and then turned around to walk back to the castle.

Remus, however, had to keep moving forward. He would be transforming in about forty five minutes, he suspected, though he couldn't know for sure. Walking down the dusty, worn path of the tunnel always brought along a great feeling of fear. It was never real until he was in the tunnel. The pain he had been feeling a week ago was almost nothing compared to the pain he would feel in just a little over half an hour, and the thought terrified him. It always would.

After trekking forward for about twenty minutes, Remus came to a stop. Above him was an old, wooden floorboard, and quickly he pushed it up to get into the familiar house. The room smelt musty and wet, almost. Deep gauges littered the walls, staircase, and doors. They were the main evidence that a monster had been here, and was trapped.

Without wasting any time, Remus slammed the board back down into the floor as hard as he could manage, knowing there was no other way to get out once it was shut. This thought scared him, too.

Remus began to pull off all of his clothing. He folded them up carefully, and placed them under another loose floorboard that, fortunately, did not lead to an escape. He didn't want to ruin his clothes, after all.

And then, he had to wait. The waiting is always the part that Remus hates worse than the transformation itself. Waiting to feel a sharp, splitting sensation down his spine, waiting to see claws grow from human fingers, waiting to feel the lengthening and stretching and breaking of his jaw. The whole ordeal was awful.

A pronounced ache suddenly filled Remus' teeth. This is how it always began. Small, tiny things like this. Remus ran a tongue around his teeth, noticing how they didn't feel right sitting in his suddenly too small mouth. His canines were now sharper, longer, thicker. In fact, all of his teeth now resembled that of a wolf's. He grimaced. A deep, throbbing headache settled right in Remus' skull, pounding to the same drum of his heart.

A beat.

Then, a flash of torture shot through Remus' back, forcing him down on all fours. Immediately, the boy screamed in surprise, but the pain did not stop or lessen even a bit. Instead, it intensified and spread, stretching bones and muscles and organs excruciatingly as it did so. Claws erupted from the tips of his finger, making them bleed. A scream could be heard in his own ears, and somewhere back in Remus' mind he knew it was himself, but it was hard to focus on anything but pain.

Remus could no longer keep track of what was being afflicted on his body after that. He never could. The throbbing in his brain was beginning to send inhuman thoughts forward, thoughts that were always kept hidden and secured in the back of Remus' mind. But, now, his mind wasn't just his mind, but something else's.

Another scream, this one mixed with growls, fell on deaf ears. Like needles, coarse, grey and brown fur erupted from every part of his skin, making him unbearably itchy. A sickening crunch was felt more than heard as his skull and jaw stretched to form a muzzle. A black, wet nose was now at the end of it.

Remus swayed from his now animal legs, trying to get a balance. He didn't have time to get used to four legs before, suddenly, he saw only black.

A low, guttering howl escaped his chest, and the human side of Remus Lupin was nowhere to be found.

Sirius got out of bed. He wasn't even tired, really. Too many thoughts were on his mind. Without even questioning it, he walked out of the dorm, and soon after the common room. Sirius just walked, letting his legs carry him wherever they wanted to go.

Apparently, his legs wanted him to go to the Astronomy Tower. It felt only like minutes but the Astronomy Tower usually took longer than just a few minutes. Time flies when you aren't paying attention. Sirius seated himself on the ledge, watching his feet dangle in the air. He knew he should be afraid. He could fall, and it would hurt, but Sirius, somehow, wasn't scared of this at all.

At the same time, he thought only of and nothing of his parents. His family. They were seemingly everywhere. Hogwarts, home, out and around Diagon Alley. He could never run from them far enough to get away. They would always pull him back, somehow.

Before Sirius reached the age of eight, Walburga was more gentle to him. Sure, she did discipline strictly and harshly, but they didn't last very long. She would smile at him. It never quite reached her eyes, but at least she made an effort. And then, Sirius turned nine. He was eating dinner, a special occasion that required dress robes, and he accidentally spilled a glass of water.

Walburga slapped his hands roughly until they were covered in welts, and forbid him from being clumsy ever again because he wasn't a child anymore. Sirius remembered crying over this for nearly a week until he realized that he wasn't in the wrong, and that she was just-well, he didn't know. Until now.

Sirius knew, ever since he had turned eleven years old and received a letter from Hogwarts, that his mother was a mother, not a mum. She was a cruel, prejudiced instructor that hated anyone and everyone that she believed to be less than her. This was a very, very long list of general groups. Sirius didn't hate people, not even Snivellus. The boy just infuriated him because he reminded Sirius of what his parents expected him to be.

And Sirius would see James' parents. Loving, happy, proud of their son no matter what. That was how a family was supposed to be, supposed to feel. The only people in his family that saw things the same way as Sirius were burned names on a tapestry. And those people were despised, forbidden, taboo to talk about. Sirius didn't know if he felt okay with being nothing but a bad memory.

The stars were hung high in the sky above them, littered every which way like splattered paint. But, the moon, full and round, shined out all of the stars.

A haunting noise filled the night air around him, making his hair stand on end. Sirius became very aware of his own heartbeat in that moment. The sound, as Sirius would later recall it when he got back to the dorms, sounded exactly like a howl.

Fourth chapter should be up tomorrow! Thank you to all who is reading this. There won't be much wolfstar action anytime soon, but it is definitely in the near future. Please review if you can find the time!