Pack
"Remus…Remus wake up…"
"Mmm…go'way…"
"Moony!"
Remus' eyes opened slowly, he blinked and yawned before his sight finally focussed on a face hovering above him in the gloom. "James?" He said sleepily.
"Yeah, come on, get up." James grabbed him and tried to drag him out of bed, Remus struggled feebly before finally succumbing to his friend's insistent hands.
"James, what is it? What's going on?" Remus asked, looking out of the dormitory window to find that it was still pitch black outside. "Merlin's beard! What time is it?"
"It's three in the morning." Came Sirius' voice from his left hand side.
"What?!" Remus blinked stupidly around and saw Peter standing by the door and grinning foolishly. "Why would you do this? We have lessons tomorrow!"
"We have something amazing to show you." James replied, smirking and sharing a silent communication with Sirius who's own face broke into an equally mischievous grin.
"If this is some kind of stupid prank you can tell me in the morning, I'm going back to sleep." He tried to climb back into bed but James sighed heavily and pulled him back out again.
"You won't want to miss this, mate." Sirius said eagerly as he picked up Remus' dressing gown and flung it at him. It hit him full on in the face and he winced.
"Why can't it wait?"
"Because it can't. Now get your arse out of bed and follow us."
Finally Remus had no choice but to concede, but he put his dressing gown on with as much bad grace as he could muster. He frowned and muttered irritably until finally he slipped his feet into his slippers. His friends grinned and began ushering him out of the dorm.
No matter how many times he asked they never told him where they were going. They were all hidden beneath James' invisibility cloak and Sirius had the Map clutched in one hand as they walked through the nearly empty castle. Finally they found themselves by the front doors leading into the Hogwarts grounds; Sirius took one look at the map before nodding to himself and ducking out from under the cloak. He pulled open the doors and James lifted up the cloak so that he could climb underneath again. Together they slipped out into the night.
"This is stupid; tell me what's going on!" Remus said sharply as he realised that they were heading towards the dangerous Whomping Willow.
"Have patience dear Moony." James said softly, Remus was barely able to make out his face as the star light filtered through the silvery cloth covering their heads.
"All in good time, my friend." Sirius said and gave James an excited smile.
Remus clamped his teeth down on the angry retort that threatened to escape him, he had to admit that he was now curious what his friends were up to but he was also nervous. They were too close to the Forbidden Forest and if he knew his friends as well as he thought he did, they had every intention of stepping beneath the dark, forbidding shadows of the ancient trees. He was right.
The shadows encased them, James finally pulled the cloak off of them and took a glance back up to the castle which sat in silent meditation as most of its inhabitants slept peacefully within. "Lumos." James muttered and was copied by Peter and Sirius, the wand light sent darkness scurrying away and the forest seemed to frown down on them for daring to disturb its peaceful slumber. "Right…Let's just go in a little further, until we can't be seen by anyone at the castle."
Sirius followed James happily, looking around as if they were having a pleasant stroll on the beach, not entering a forest that held Merlin knows what. He lifted his wand to highlight a massive tree, it's trunk as wide as a Giants leg. "Nice this, isn't it?" He said and grinned at James who gave him a side-long glance and snorted. "I've always liked trees you know."
"That's good, seeing as we're surrounded by them." James replied, he paused and looked back the way they had come. "Right, here should be alright." He said and abruptly took hold of Remus and sat him down on a large boulder that looked as if it was the tip of an impossibly huge dinosaur bone poking through the crust of dead leaves and moss. He frowned a little as his three best friends lined up before him.
"Am I allowed to ask what you're up to now?" He asked suspiciously.
"Yes you are, Moony old friend." James said happily. "But it might be better if we showed you…"
Remus, now more confused than ever, watched as all three of them closed their eyes. They stood there in perfect silence, the wind blew through the trees, making them rustle and whisper in their own leafy language. He swallowed and glanced back behind him, he could have sworn he had heard something. When he turned back his friends had gone. "Wha-?" He didn't manage to finish his sentence as something heavy and incredibly furry hit him in the chest, he fell backwards with a terrified cry as he tried to fend the creature off with one arm while the other scrambled frantically with his wand which was stuck in his pocket. Before he could dislodge his wand he felt a wet, hot tongue glide up his cheek and he winced at the unpleasant sensation. Slowly he turned his head and looked up into the face of a huge black dog. It was panting and wagging its tail in excitement, its tongue lolling from its mouth like a large pink snake. Remus swallowed his shock and pushed aside his momentary terror. "Where on earth did you come from?" he asked in a shaky voice.
The dog barked once and gave him another affectionate lick before backing away, Remus sat up, wiping his sleeve over his face. "James? Sirius? Peter?" He called and looked around at the small clearing where his friends had apparently abandoned him. He could hear the dog snuffling around by some bushes and he turned his head as he searched for his friends, finally his eyes landed upon a huge, magnificent stag. He froze, eyes widening as he stared at the handsome creature. He supposed that stags might have been fairly common in forests such as this one but what confused him most was the fact that between the stags impressive antlers sat a small, grey rat. He blinked in an attempt to correct his vision, he was certain that rats tended not to hitch rides on stags but when he opened his eyes and looked again it was still there. "What…what's going on?" He asked no one in particular, he turned back to the dog and found it standing right beside him. He looked into its eyes and realised that they were silver. An odd eye colour for a dog. Then, with a flash of inspiration like lightning, he realised that he recognised them. He climbed to his feet, stumbling backwards a little before running over to the stag and rat, he stared at them carefully for a long time before making a strange, oddly animalistic noise in the back of his throat. He spun around back to the dog who was sat down and wagging its tail, stirring up leaves and other things on the ground. He swallowed as a large lump became stuck in his throat, his eyes burned savagely and he began shaking his head rapidly. "No. No. No…I-Impossible…y-you…you didn't…oh please tell me you didn't…I-I…Oh Merlin…So dangerous…stupid…" He took a sharp breath, unable to help the catch as he forced back a sob. "Why?" He croaked finally, his eyes scanning the three animals that had once been his friends. Sirius was the first to return to his human form, he sat in the leaves and grinned like a maniac.
"'Why?' Why not?" He countered, still grinning. He looked as if he had won the muggle lottery as well as every other competition in the world.
"We did it for you, Remus." James said and Remus almost gave himself a crick in his neck, he turned it so fast.
"I-I…I didn't…" He shook his head, unable to form any coherent sentence. He wasn't sure what he was feeling, he was so deeply shocked by it all that he hadn't really had time to digest it. Slowly his knees buckled and he fell to the floor in a heap, he sat very still as his friends inched closer, he stared into the pitch black forest as his breath came in little stuttering gasps. Slowly, as if they were afraid of him, his friends surrounded him.
"Moony?" Sirius said uncertainly, glancing at James who shrugged. "Are you…are you alright?"
"Y-You…you idiots!" Remus burst out suddenly, making Sirius jump. "How could you have been so reckless?!" He gasped in a breath and met James' eyes. His friend merely stood there, his hands buried in his pockets and a small, knowing smile on his face as Remus began to list all the reasons why what they had done was stupid. "You could be sent to Azkaban! You should have been registered! Do you know how utterly dangerous all this is? You're teenagers for crying out loud!" He shivered, finally shouting himself into silence.
"We only did it because we wanted to be able to help." Sirius said softly, his voice carrying a hint of hurt at Remus' vehement reaction.
Remus turned to him and saw his face full of concern, he looked back at James and Peter who looked terrified. Finally he was unable to hold it back; he burst into helpless tears. Sirius' eyes widened in surprise and James crouched down before Remus, lifting a hand and putting it on his shoulder. "Animals can't contract Lycanthropy, Remus…you know what this means, don't you?"
"O-Of c-course I fucking w-well d-d-do!" He gasped, looking up at James through his sleep mussed hair. "B-B-But I can't-can't l-let you d-do this…n-not for m-me I-I'm not-"
"You're worth this and ten million times more." Sirius said in a low growl. "I hate it when you start with this rubbish. We're your fucking friends, Moony, get it into your thick skull; we want to help you!"
"We spent years perfecting this, all so that we could spend time with you during the full moon. We want to help you as much as we can, and because we can't find a cure, we decided a long time ago that would be the best way to help." James smiled and Remus hiccoughed before abruptly he flung his arms around James' neck, forcing a gasp from his lips and making him fall backwards to the ground.
"You bastards. You stupid, idiotic, amazing, wonderful bastards!" Remus gasped.
Sirius grinned brightly as Remus sat upright and wiped at his face with the sleeve of his dressing gown, he delved into his pocket and withdrew a handkerchief with the Black family crest embroidered in one corner. "Sorry, it's all I've got."
Remus snuffled his thanks and wiped his streaming eyes with it. "I can't b-believe you…all t-this time you were in l-library y-you w-were…?"
"We were researching ways to become Animagus." James replied with a grin. "Did you know Remus that we're the youngest people in history to have completed the change?"
"We also did it in the shortest time on record." Sirius said proudly.
"You're fools." Remus said with a small, lopsided smile. "You're fools but I love you."
Sirius threw his arms around Remus and held him tightly, they were soon joined by James and Peter. The four friends remained that way for a long time until Sirius spoke. "We love you too, Moony."
