NOTE: Chapter 4.

Business and Pleasure

"Remus!" James and Sirius yelled as they ran after their mysterious friend. "Remus, wait!"

"Get away from me!" Remus yelled over his shoulder as he quickly dove into the Forbidden Forest. Sirius and James ignored their friend's instructions and dove into the forest after him. Peter dove in a few seconds later. He had been taking up the rear.

"Remus!" James yelled. He and Sirius looked around and saw that their friend was nowhere in sight.

"Remus, what's going on?" Sirius called. "We aren't afraid! Come out!"

"You don't have to run from us!" Peter huffed out as he doubled over to catch his breath.

The three froze when they heard a low growl. It was low and menacing. "Go! Get out!" Remus exclaimed, though it sounded nothing like their friend. "Hurry!"

"No!" James yelled fiercely. "We aren't leaving! Something is wrong and we are going to find out!"

"Friends don't ignore friends in need!" Sirius added. "If you wanted friends who would sit back and not care, you shouldn't have picked us!" He scanned the dark bushes and trees with his eyes in attempt to locate Remus. It was too dark to see.

They heard the growl again. This time they were able to pin-point its location. It was coming from behind a bush next to Sirius. The three friends gently walked over to it. "Remus?" James called. He reached out a trembling hand and then screamed when a giant wolf jumped out and tackled him to the ground. His first thought was, 'I'm dying!' but the wolf began to lick his face rather then eat it.

"I'll be damned!" Sirius laughed. "Remus?" he asked. The massive brown wolf turned its head to him and barked. Sirius saw his brown eyes and walked over to kneel beside the creature. "It is you, isn't it?" The wolf barked and licked his face. "Well, how about that, James? Our best friend is a were-wolf!"

"It's amazing!" James said in awe. He ran his hand through Remus's thick coat.

"He's not acting like any were-wolf," Peter said gratefully. He cautiously walked forward to pet Remus's head.

Remus allowed Peter to rub his head but then jumped up and growled threateningly at something behind Sirius. James and Peter followed their friend's eyes and saw exactly what had put Remus on alert. There was a giant spider only two feet from Sirius. "Sirius, don't panic," James said slowly.

"Oh, my god," Sirius sighed. "What is it?" he asked in a small voice. "Please be a unicorn, please be a unicorn, please be unicorn," he chanted as he slowly turned his head. After he saw the giant spider his head shot back around and he closed his eyes tightly. "Please don't be an acramantula, please don't be an acramantula..."

Remus barked and then dove over Sirius, attacking the spider head on. "Remus!" James yelled. He ran forward and grabbed Sirius to pull him back. "Be careful!" he yelled at Remus who was barely hanging onto the spider's back. The giant arachnid let out deathly shrieks and cries.

Sirius, James, and Peter watched in terrified awe as their friend faught bravely. Suddenly, another acramantula creeped up from the bushes. "Damnit! Shit! Unicorn turd!" Sirius exclaimed as he pulled his wand from his pocket. James and Peter quickly followed suit. "Why in the bloody hell does there have to be two?!" Sirius asked as he aimed his wand at the second spider.

"That's an excellent bloody question!" James exlaimed as he aimed his wand as well. "Expelliarmus!" he shouted. A beam of red light came from the tip of his wand and hit the spider in the face; it was knocked back a few feet. The creature righted itself and stalked towards the three human friends. Then to their horror, another acramantula came from the shadows.

"You've got to kidding me right now!" Sirius barked as he aimed his wand at the third spider. Peter gulped and couldn't decided which spider to aim at. He didn't have to worry for long, because at that precise moment, a fourth spider came from nowhere. They were surrounded.

"SHIT!" James and Sirius yelled together. Each of the three were facing their own acramantula while Remus was still fighting with the first one. "Remind me to thank Dumbledore for making the Forbidden Forest forbidden!" Sirius laughed sarcastically. Before James could reply, his spider sprang forward at an alarmingly fast pace. He ducked just in time. "Petrificus totalus!" he yelled in an attempt to freeze the spider. Due to the beast's size it merely froze for a few seconds before it was ready to attack again. James looked around for Sirius to see if he was doing any better.

He wasn't.

Sirius had been tackled by his spider and was using his hands to keep its monstrous fangs from sinking into his flesh. One of the spider's eight legs shot forward and knocked Sirius's wand from his hand. "Damn you!" Sirius exclaimed as he did the only thing he could think of: he head-butted the giant spider. With the force of the blow, the spider was momentarily out of sorts, and Sirius was able to push himslef from beneath it and scramble over to where his wand lay in the dirt. He quickly grabbed it and aimed it the beast. "Enervate!" he yelled. This was a very strong spell used to confuse an opponent. Luckily, it worked longer than the spell James had used a few moments earlier. He had time to see how Peter was doing...

He was not doing well at all. His acramantula had wrapped him in a thick white web and he was thrashing around on the ground trying to escape. Over his right eye was a small cut. Tears were falling from his mousy eyes.

Sirius growled and used a spell Lucius had taught him. "Sectum sempra!" He yelled with such emotion that his spider paused its attack just before the spell hit it. Then several cuts appeared all over the creature's body and it screeched in agony before running back into the woods. "Hell yeah!" Sirius hooted. He aimed his wand at Peter's spider and yelled the same curse. It had the same effect. He ran over and ripped open the web wrapped around Peter. Then the two turned around and stood dazed at the sight before them.

James had used another spell. Neither teen knew what it was because a brilliant blue light was coming from the end of his wand. The light had formed into a graceful stag that was now charging towards his spider. The spider screeched and ran away, no doubt blinded by the brilliant light. James smiled proudly at his success and then fell to his knees with a grunt. Peter and Sirius ran over to him.

Before any of them could say anything they heard another screech followed by a whimper. Remus then stumbled over to them slowly. He fell onto the ground with another whimper. He was bleeding from several places.

"Remus, are you okay?" James asked as he gently reached down and patted their friend's head. "You need to see Madam Pompfrey."

"We need to get out of the forest," Sirius said lowly as he heard more things moving around in the bushes. James nodded and the three of them carefully picked up Remus and carried him out of the forest. They set him down.

"We can't take a werewolf inside the school," Peter said.

"You're right," James nodded. He looked around the grounds and saw Hagrid's hut. Sirius looked around too and got the same idea James had.

"I'll go get Hagrid and ask if we can bring him inside his hut," Sirius said as he got up and ran over to Hagrid's hut. He knocked on the door and waited patiently, hoping that the half-giant wasn't off on one of his usual trips to Hogemeade (The wizard village where the Hogwarts Express dropped off students).

Luckily, Hagrid was there. "Hi, Hagrid!" Sirius said as brightly as he could.

"Yer out after hours," Hagrid said when he opened the door. He looked down and smiled brightly until he saw Sirius's appearance. "Blimey, Sirius, yer bleedin'! What 'ave ye and James got yer selfs into now?" he laughed.

"We need your help," Sirius exclaimed wiping his sweaty brow with his hand. When he pulled his hand away there was blood on it. He hadn't even realized he was bleeding from his face. The adrenaline from fighting a spider bigger than he was must have taken a toll on him. "It's Remus," he said.

A look of realization dawned on Hagrid's face. "Well let's go! Lead the way!" He stepped outside. "Stay here, Fang!" he called. Then Sirius led the way to where Remus, James, and Peter were waiting.

Little did they know that a pair of curious silver eyes had been watching the scene from the top of the Astronomy Tower the whole time...

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The next day...

"Remus, wake up!" James and Sirius exclaimed as they jumped onto their friend's bed. It was just after lunch and the werewolf had been sleeping all day. "We have Quidditch practice, mate!" James said loudly when Remus remained laying still.

"-o 'way," Remus said groggily as he covered his head with his pillow.

"Oh, come on, mate!" Sirius laughed. "You're still in Hagrid's hut and we can smell you all the way up at the castle!"

"Ca' not," Remus said as he remained in bed.

"Wanna bet on it, mate?" James laughed. "You smell like wet dog! Now get up and get dressed; captain's orders!"

"Captain?" Remus said as he finally sat up. "Of what?" he asked curiously.

"Gryffindor," Sirius and James said together.

The news woke Remus up. "What!" he exclaimed, "Since when?"

"Dumbledore told us this morning at breakfast, which you missed, I might add," James said proudly.

"Well, what about the other teams? Ravenclaw? Slytherin? Hufflepuff?" Remus asked with untired enthusiasm.

"We sent Peter out this morning and he should have the answers to those questions at dinner," Sirius said. "Now get up, flea-bag, and clean yourself up. We'll meet you on the pitch." The two friends saluted Remus and left. Remus sighed but got up and went back up to the castle. He couldn't go to practice in ripped clothes...

After practice, in the showers...

"That was a great practice, mate!" Sirius exclaimed as he stepped into the hot water pouring from the ceiling in the Quidditch locker rooms. "The next one should really focus on flying. Our Beaters could use some help."

"I agree," James said as he pulled off his sweaty red shirt. He reached for the button on his trousers and undid it. "You did great at Keeping, but could definitely use some work on your left side blocks." He pulled off his glasses and trousers, putting them in a neat pile on the floor. "Did I really do good?" he asked as he himself stepped into a shower.

"You did a whole lot better than our captain last year. What was his name?" Remus said suddenly; he had just walked in.

"Phillip Seagrass," James and Sirius said at the same time.

"He was a strange bloke, wasn't he?" Remus laughed. It wasn't long before he was in his own shower. The three spent the time showering talking about practice: how it could improve, what needed to be worked on, and game strategies.

Sirius was the first one to finish. He got out of the shower and dried off. As he was putting on his school robes James asked, "Do you want to go to the library? We need to work on that essay for Professor Slughorn."

"No, not tonight," Sirius said as he adjusted his tie. "I have to go now."

"Alright, mate," James said as he got out and wrapped a towel around his waist. He watched Sirius gather his things with a suspicious gleam in his amber eyes. He could tell that Sirius was hiding something... "See you at dinner!" he called as Sirius left the locker room trying to hide a smile. "We need to find Hermione and Snape," James whispered to Remus as the two got dressed.

Sirius walked back up to the castle and headed to Gryffindor Tower. The Quidditch locker rooms were down by the pitch. If Sirius didn't pick up the pace he would be late... He started to run and nearly fell on his way down the Tower steps. When he reached his destination he paused long enough to take a few deep breaths. He walked the corridor three times and waited patiently.

A door appeared on the wall to his right. He smiled and walked inside...

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NOTE: Sorry for the wait! But I hope you enjoyed it! I'll try and work faster!

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