Disclaimer: All of this belongs to J.K. Rowling

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Evening came much slower than it should have. Any time one of the Gryffindor's glanced at a clock the hands seemed to have moved only a few minutes forward- granted, they checked every few minutes- and each and every one of the professors seemed to have put together an especially boring lesson. Professor McGonagall had them take notes on the procreation of transfigured animals, Slughorn had them take notes on the properties of billywig stings, and Kettleburn had them observe the cry of the Jabberknoll before its death, all of which they had studied extensively in the weeks before their OWLs. James and Peter were currently on their way to the hospital wing, yet again, to see how Remus was holding up, but they dared not to get their hopes up if Madam Pomfrey were shoo them away again.

They pushed open the heavy doors to the hospital wing and stepped inside, so far undeterred and undetected by Madam Pomfrey. They looked around the brightly lit space and spotted Remus' regular bed; shielded by the flowery curtains drawn around it. They hurried over to the bed and pulled the curtains back looking down upon Remus. He was awake, reading a book, and nibbling on a bar of chocolate, but, he looked pitiful. There were multiple bruises on his face, his hands and forearms were so badly cut it looked as though he had shoved them in a meat grinder, and his torso was wrapped in a bandage in which spots of blood were steadily becoming larger and darker. He looked up at them and attempted a smile but his tired and sad eyes betrayed him.

"Hullo," he said dully, "Sorry I forgot to return your invisibility cloak," he nodded toward James, "I was…Preoccupied," he said with a wry grin, trying to sound light.

James sighed heavily, "I'm sorry Remus, really I am."

"For what? You didn't do anything," he said, his tone laced with bitterness.

"I know but-"

"-but nothing. Listen if it hadn't been for you this situation could have been a lot worse, you sort of save me a lot of pain, and another life." Remus looked down at his book then closed it, setting it aside. "Dumbledore came by yesterday to tell me what happened, so did Sirius." James eyes darkened at the mention of his best friend.

"Look, I know you want to be angry at Sirius," Remus continued, "I know he betrayed all of us, especially me, and he agrees that we- all of us- have every right to be angry at him, but, I think you shouldn't be so hard on him."

James stared at him in disbelief, "You're siding with him on this? He completely disregarded-"

Remus cut him off, "I'm not siding with him on anything. He knows that he lost my trust and nearly my friendship but he does regret what he did. He doesn't have anyone else right now."

"But regret isn't enough! He almost got Snape and I killed! Not to mention that he gave Snape the ticket he was looking for to make you an outcast for the rest of your life!"

"Yeah but if you don't forgive him he is going to be an outcast for the rest of his life! He has no family anymore, remember? Dumbledore has already given him his punishment, he doesn't need his friends to punish him too!" Remus declared.

"Fine. But only because you forgave him," he said begrudgingly. A heavy silence filled the room. All three boys were looking everywhere except at each other when James finally broke it, a question weighing heavily on his mind, "What did Dumbledore talk to you about? Did he say what is going to happen now? I don't know much besides Sirius' punishment."

"Yeah, he said that aside from Sirius being banned from the quidditch team and Hogsmeade for all of next year, he had to write to your parents to tell them what happened."

"Anything else?" he asked apprehensively.

"Er yeah…" Remus looked down rather nervously, "Dumbledore knows."

"Knows what?" asked James, slightly panicked now. If Dumbledore knows…. But he didn't want to even think about it. He, not to mention Sirius and Peter, would be in heaps of trouble if Dumbledore found out.

"That you three are animagi." Remus said, slightly flinching at the last word as if preparing to be hit.

James heart sank. He didn't know how he was going to face Dumbledore now, or his parents, or the Ministry. He wouldn't be able to handle seeing the look on his father's face when he found out that his very own son was an illegal animagus. How would the Ministry react when they found out that the son of the head of Magical Law Enforcement was breaking laws right under his nose?

Remus continued, "Dumbledore wants to speak with all three of you after dinner. He was going to have McGonagall come and collect you."

"Oh," was all James could say. He looked over at Peter who hadn't said a word all this time. He was rocking back and forth on his heal looking like he was about to cry. James felt a surge of pity for Peter. He knew Peter's home life wasn't very good, terrible in fact, and that Peter's father was probably going to punish him more harshly than James even wanted to imagine.

()()

Standing in his office waiting for him to arrive felt like the worst kind of psychological torture any of them could imagine. All three of them stood there, looking down at the threadbare rug under their feet, awaiting what could possibly be the worst meeting of their life. None of them was sure how Dumbledore was going to handle it; whether he was going to be extremely angry or extremely disappointed they didn't know, but they couldn't discern which was worse.

They all looked up when they heard the door open and Dumbledore entered, followed by McGonagall. He looked worse for the wear, his shoulders sagged and his eyes had heavy bags under them, his auburn hair seemed to be more streaked with gray than they could remember. But, when he turned to face them his eyes shone with a vitality that surprised them all. He proceeded to look at each of them in turn, his gaze never wavering. James forced himself to look him directly in the eye, to not break contact, but he found this extremely difficult since Dumbledore's scrutiny seemed to pierce his very soul.

"Well," he began, "I can't say I didn't see something like this coming. My entire angle this year was to motivate you to learn loyalty and unity. I can't say I'm surprised that you three, of all the students, seemed to take this to heart the most," he said reflectively, with a small chuckle, which surprised the boys even more, "However," he added, his eyes flashed darkly and his demeanor changed considerably, "I cannot say I foresaw that you would go so far as blatantly disregard the law, to run around every full moon with a werewolf, put your lives in danger and put the other student's lives and the civilians of Hogsmeade in danger. I understand that you were attempting to be a good friend to Remus but this," he said disgustedly, "is going too far."

All three of the boys knew this was coming, but nothing could have prepared them for the guilt that weighed down on them now.

"I am especially disappointed in you James. You of all people should know better than this. If your father were to find out that despite all his hard work, his own son was breaking serious laws, he would be devastated far more than you can imagine."

James finally spoke up, confused, "Wait, when you say if my father were to find out-"

"I mean that your father does not yet know of your law breaking. I have not told him."

James was stunned to say the least. But, it seemed too good to be true that Dumbledore had not uttered a word about this to his father.

"Because," he resumed, "You are going to tell him."

James jaw dropped. "What?" he said, feeling very unnerved now.

"Yes, as are you Peter, and of course you Sirius, will be writing to Mr. and Mrs. Potter seeing as you are now living with them."

They were all speechless, and one by one they were beginning to lose their nerve, feeling as though they'd each been reduced to putty.

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