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The Marauders Year 2

Chapter 7: The Truth

"MARAUDERS!" McGonagall yelled angrily with a new volume of loudness. She marched down from the Head Table covered in….something orange and slimy. She walked slowly and carefully so as not to slip on the slimy stuff.

At the Gryffindor table, Remus was shaking his head violently to get the ringing in his ears to stop. He couldn't believe how loud McGonagall was being over a few pumpkins being exploded and covering the Great Hall and all its inhabitants in pumpkin guts and seeds. Granted, they were enormous pumpkins grown by Hagrid, but still!

James pulled some pumpkin guts out of his hair and looked at his approaching professor with a frown on his face. "We didn't do this, Professor. Why do you always assume it's us?"

"Because it is always you four." McGonagall snarled.

"Where is the proof that we did this?" Remus asked. He himself was almost completely covered in pumpkin guts with seeds in his hair and on his robes.

McGonagall frowned. She really didn't have proof and she really didn't want to falsely accuse one of her students again. Her eyes swept over each Marauder. James was frowning deeply and kept grumbling about pumpkin guts as he pulled them out of his hair. Peter was whining about his food being ruined by pumpkin guts. Sirius was complaining loudly that his hair has been ruined. And Remus? He was the only calm one, and probably the only sane one of the group, McGonagall thought.

"If you have no proof, then we either didn't do it or you can't prove it was us and convict us." Remus was saying in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I know it was you four. Can't you four leave Halloween alone?" McGonagall asked.

James shook his head violently, getting some pumpkin guts out of his hair and making it messier. "Professor, we didn't do it."

"Don't give me that." McGonagall growled. "I may not be able to prove it, but I know it was you four."

"Then you can't convict us." Remus replied monotonousness. "Can you excuse us now, Professor? I would like to get cleaned up."

McGonagall sent them away with a wave of her hand.

When the boys were out of the Great Hall, James and Sirius broke their annoyed faces and smirked. Peter grinned and Remus continued to frown as he brushed some pumpkin guts and seeds off his robes. "This has got to be one of our messiest pranks ever."

"Everyone knows it was us and no one can do anything about it. This is awesome." Sirius said. "But seriously guys, my hair is ruined!"

James rolled his eyes and hit Sirius's shoulder. "You are such a girl when it comes to your hair."

"Why is your hair still short, Sirius? Didn't it grow at all since Remus cut it all off?" Peter asked.

Sirius growled. "It did, but my mom made me get it cut again. She insists my hair is better short. Thanks for that, Remus."

Remus shrugged and continued on to their room. Yes, they got away with the prank, but he just wasn't in a cheerful mood to celebrate a job well done with the prank. He was in a depressed mood and just wanted to be alone so he could sulk.

James eyed his friend warily. His friend wasn't acting like himself. Even since they came back to Hogwarts for their second year, Remus has been acting strange. He shared a look with Sirius, who also noticed Remus's odd behavior when Remus didn't make a witty or sarcastic comeback. That wasn't like him. The look Sirius and James shared turned into a silent conversation. James nodded his head and walked faster to catch up with Remus. Sirius stopped and held a hand out for Peter, who looked confused, to stop.

While Sirius dragged Peter somewhere else, James followed the oblivious Remus to Gryffindor Tower. He didn't notice that Sirius and Peter weren't with them until after he and James both took a shower and got changed into clean clothes.

"Where are Sirius and Peter?" Remus asked in a bored tone as he sat down on his bed.

James doesn't reply. He finished drying his hair with his towel before wrapping it around his neck. "Remus, Sirius, Peter, and I are worried about you. You haven't been acting like yourself that much. Ever since we came back to Hogwarts, you've been acting less like yourself. You are hardly ever happy anymore. What is wrong?"

Remus stared at his hands. He knew he has been acting strange for weeks and being really depressed. But he didn't know what to do and it was driving him crazy and tearing at his heart. His friends deserved to know that truth that he was a werewolf, but he couldn't tell them. He was too much of a coward to say anything. He knew they would find out the truth eventually and didn't want to ruin their friendship before then. They would find out when they find out, not when Remus tells, which he never will now that he thinks about it.

"Remus?" James asked uncertainly. He moved over to Remus's bed and sat down. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm alright. Why shouldn't I be?" Remus lifted his head and forced a smile on his face to show James that he was fine.

James frowned to show he didn't believe Remus. He crossed his arms and leaned back against one of the bed posts. "So, Remus, you are lying yet again. Why do you always feel the need to lie to me? I'm your friend, aren't I?"

"Of course you are, James." Remus replied, looking away from James.

"One of your best friends?" James asked as he forced Remus to look at him again.

Remus nodded his head.

"Then why do you always lie to me?" James questioned, leaning in closer to Remus with hurt shining in his hazel eyes.

Remus bit his lip and looked away. "I don't always…"

James whacked Remus upside the head. "You are doing it again. Can you please stop with the lies?"

Gnawing on his lip, Remus stared at his hands. He refused to meet James's eyes. No matter how much he wanted to stop with the lies, he couldn't. The lies were a part of him. He could not stop lying, no matter how much he wanted to.

"Remus, why must you always be difficult?" James sighed. "Can you at least tell me why you are acting so depressed this year?"

"James…" Remus trailed off.

"Forget it, Remus. I don't want to hear another lie. I'll figure out what is wrong on my own." James stood up and moved towards the bathroom. He looked back at Remus with his hand on the bathroom doorknob. "Get some sleep, Remus. I'll see you in the morning."

*Y*E*A*R*2*

It wasn't until a few weeks later when James returned to the problem with Remus. With school, homework, planning pranks, and Quidditch, which was going well as Gryffindor won their first game, James hadn't had much time to figure out what was wrong with Remus. But when Remus disappeared that month with the excuse that he had to go home to visit his sick mother, James pulled out his book and reviewed what he knew about Remus's disappearances.

James was gnawing on his thumb, running his other hand through his hair, as he sat in front of the fireplace in the common room of the Gryffindor Tower. Sirius was sitting in the corner with Peter, explaining what they went over in Defense to him. Out of the corner of his eye, James saw Sirius tugging at his hair in frustration. Teaching Peter was always a frustrating task.

Remus disappears once a month, every month.

James stared at the sentence for a few minutes. What does it mean? Once a month, every month.

Sirius groaned loudly in the background.

He disappears every few weeks, around the same time.

Does something happen every few weeks that causes him to have to leave? James bit down hard on his thumb as he read the sentence.

He comes back weak and covered in new scars and wounds.

James rubbed his eyes tiredly. How could he get that injured? I know he's had a lot of accidents with his birthdays, but he doesn't seem that clumsy to always hurt himself.

Yelling in frustration, Sirius stood up and marched over to the fireplace and sat next to James. "I can't take it anymore. Remus can teach him when he comes back. He's got the patience for this." He looked over James's shoulder at the notebook. "Have you gotten any ideas yet?"

"No." James ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Do we have Astronomy tonight?" Peter asked, sitting on James's other side.

James nodded his head.

Peter sighed and looked out the window. "It's a full moon tonight and Remus is going to miss it again."

"What?" James looked at him, shock in his eyes.

Peter shrank back a little when James whipped around to look at him. "Well, l-last year when we had Astronomy one night it was a full moon…..and R-remus missed seeing it….b-because he was away. I was just saying that he's going to miss seeing the full moon from the Astronomy Tower again."

"Do you have an idea, James?" Sirius asked.

James rubbed his chin in a thoughtful manner. "I might, but we have to go to the library to research it."

Sirius groaned. "Do we have to?"

James glared at him. "Yes, we have to. We'll go there tomorrow after class."

After a painful day of classes for Sirius since he had to take notes for Remus, the boys headed to the library. Sirius was whining the whole way about the library being evil and how he didn't want to go to it. James's eye was twitching and he was getting ready to hit his friend when they reached the library.

"James, what are we looking for?" Sirius asked as he followed James to a table in the back corner of the library. He ignored all the shocked, surprised, worried, and scared looks that they were receiving. He was more concerned with what James was thinking about Remus.

"Give me a minute." James said as he looked at the books on a shelf nearby. He ran his finger over the spines of the books as he looked at the titles. "I don't think the book I want is in this section."

In the Hospital Wing, Remus had just finished convincing Madam Pomfrey to let him leave early since this full moon wasn't that bad. He was gently pulling his shirt on so he wouldn't hurt his wounds or pull the gauze on his arms and chest off.

When he was finished getting dressed, Remus thanked Madam Pomfrey and left the Hospital Wing to go find his friends to get his notes that he missed. He looked in all the usual places his friends went to but they weren't in any of those places.

Sighing, Remus rubbed his eye tiredly and decided to just give up on finding his friends and go to the library. There might be someone there that can help him with the notes and homework.

"It has to be here somewhere." James grumbled.

"Why can't we ask the librarian?" Sirius asked.

James sent him a glare. "No one can know about what we are looking up."

Sirius held his hands up in defense. "Okay, okay. It was just a suggestion. No reason to bite my head off."

Remus stood in the library in a complete daze. His friends were in the library of their own free will and looking at books on the shelf. What the hell was the world coming to?

"FOUND IT!" James yelled out in triumph.

The librarian, Madam Pince, marched over to him and started scolding him for yelling in the library. James smiled and apologized before moving back over to the table with Sirius and Peter with the book he found.

Sirius looked at the book. "Werewolves? What the hell, James? Do you think Remus is a werewolf?"

"Yes, I do." James hissed back. He flipped through the book. The three boys leaned over the book and started reading it.

A person becomes infected with lycanthropy when they are bitten by another werewolf in his transformed state. A person only transforms one night a month on the night of the full moon. Transforming into a werewolf is extremely painful. Many people don't make it through their first transformation. Those that do make it, live a cursed life. For twelve nights a year that person is a werewolf.

Before a full moon, a person infected with lycanthropy will become very weak and pale. A person with lycanthropy will be very nauseated from the effects of the full moon which will rise soon. They are extremely-

Remus broke out of his daze and moved towards his friends. He had to know what they were researching. It couldn't be anything good if they were doing it themselves and without him to help them. "What are you guys doing?"

The boys looked up in surprise at the voice. "Remus!" James and Sirius shouted.

Madam Pince shushed them again.

"What are you doing here?" James asked quieter.

Remus raised a brow and crossed his arms. He winced slightly from his wounds when he crossed his arms, but he ignored it. "I think I'm supposed to be the one asking you that."

James glanced at Peter and Sirius, then looked back at Remus. "Well, get out! We're busy researching! Out you go, Remus!"

"What?" Remus asked confused.

James grabbed Sirius's bag and Remus's arm. He dragged the smaller boy out of the library. "All the notes you missed are in here with our homework for today." James pushed Sirius's bag into Remus's chest, making the smaller yelp in pain. James looked at him suspiciously, but didn't comment. He just waved Remus away.

Confused, Remus turned around and headed to Gryffindor Tower to copy his notes and start his homework.

James sighed in relief and went back into the library to continue reading the book.

They are extremely irritable around this time and look very ill.

"You three in a library without Remus? The world must be ending!" Lily said as she looked at them.

The boys looked at her.

"What are you reading anyway?" Lily asked. She tried to peer at the book, but the boys slammed their hands over it so she couldn't figure out what it was.

"Evans, if you don't mind, go away." Sirius tone suggested that it was an order, not a suggestion.

Lily huffed and stuck her nose in the air as she walked away.

James gazed after her.

"Snap out of it, lover boy." Sirius whacked him in the back of the head.

When transformed, a werewolf loses all sense of who he is as a human. He no longer thinks like a human; instead he thinks like a beast. Werewolves will attack any humans that come near it, even his best friends. No human is safe around werewolves. Most people infected with lycanthropy will lock themselves up before the moon rises to keep themselves from going out and infecting someone else with this curse. With no one to attack, werewolves attack themselves, giving them many scars. Werewolf wounds cannot be healed with magic since they are dark magical creatures. Using a healing potion after the full moon will only heal the self-inflicted wounds half-way. The wounds have to heal by themselves after that. The scars a werewolf receives from his wounds will be with him forever in his life.

Sirius sank into a chair. "This is unbelievable."

"All this fits Remus, but we can't prove he is one just with this." Peter said quietly.

James pulled out his brown leather book and a calendar. "Let's look up the dates he left and match them up with the full moon on the calendar."

James's heart was pounding against his chest as he looked up each date. He really wanted to be wrong. Last night was a full moon. His friend didn't deserve the hell of being a werewolf. October disappearance was a full moon. No one deserves the hell of being a werewolf. His September disappearance was a full moon as well. Remus was the nicest person he knew. May disappearance- full moon. Why did the fates have to make him go through hell? Disappearance in April- full moon. The fates were cruel.

"There is no doubt about it now." James whispered. He sank down into a chair.

The boys fell into silence for a few minutes. The only sound heard throughout the library was the scratching of quills against parchment as other students did their homework. Those students had it easy. They didn't just discover a deep dark secret about one of their friends.

Peter sank into the chair next to Sirius, deathly pale. "What do we do?" Peter asked. "I mean, Remus is still Remus. He's so nice and smart. He is nothing like a werewolf. I was told that werewolves are scary, evil monsters, but that is nothing like Remus." His voice was full of fear, but also confidence and determination. Remus was always going to be his friend, no matter what.

Sirius growled. He promised himself that he would never associate with anything dark. Werewolves were dark creatures! Sirius shook his head angrily. What the hell was he thinking? Remus was one of his best friends. He couldn't abandon him over something like that. "Those words were said from prejudiced mouths. The people who said them don't know anything about people affected with lycanthropy. They only see the werewolf inside the people. They don't see who they really are."

James pushed his glasses up. "I'm glad to hear you two say that. I thought you would reject Remus."

"Never." Sirius snarled. "He's our best friend, our brother. We would never abandon him over something as meager as this."

"Without him I would be failing my classes. I could never leave him. He's a great friend. He's always so nice to me." Peter added.

Suddenly, after a few minutes of silence, Sirius slammed a hand on the table. "I just can't believe that prat. We've known each other for over a year and he never told us. He just kept feeding us all these lies. He should have told us. We are his best friends."

James nodded his head. "I agree. You don't keep things like this from your best friends. I understand when you first meet. It's not something you tell your new friends, but after knowing each other for over a year, he should have known he could trust us more than that. We would never abandon him."

Peter looked out the window. "What are we going to do? Do we tell him we know or do we keep it to ourselves?"

"First of all, we tell no one outside the Marauders about Remus." James looked at each of his friends, who nodded their heads in agreement. "Secondly, we should tell Remus we know. I think this secret has been tearing at Remus's heart and that's why he's been so depressed. We tell him soon. He needs to know that he can trust us."

"Agreed." Sirius said, a hint of anger in his tone.

Later that night, the boys sat in the Great Hall with Remus in a tense and uncomfortable silence. Remus was worried about what was going on, but tried to ignore it and talk with his friends like normal. It wasn't working though. James, Sirius, and Peter barely even noticed that Remus was talking to them.

After a tense and silent dinner, the Marauders retreated to the Gryffindor common room. James, Sirius, and Peter sat in the corner of the common room where they usually do homework or plan. Remus was sitting away from them in front of the fireplace in his favorite chair and was reading a book. He couldn't stand being around his tense and nervous friends anymore.

"When are we going to talk to him?" Sirius whispered to James and Peter.

James ran a hand through his hair, nervously. "I don't know. I want to talk to him now and get it over with, but I don't know how to approach it."

"There is only one way to approach it. Straightforward." Sirius replied.

"I think we should go talk to him now. Get it over with and all. It will make us all feel better." Peter said, glancing at Remus. "It must be hard for Remus to have to keep this a secret from us."

"You guys go up to the dorm. I'll get Remus." James said.

The boys agreed and left James alone. James sighed and looked at Remus. Taking a deep breath, James stood up and moved over to Remus. He sat down on the couch and stared into the fire.

Remus looked up from his book and upon noticing the distressed look on James's face, he set his book aside and sat up. "What's wrong, James?"

James closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He exhaled slowly before opening his eyes and turning to Remus with a serious expression. "Remus, let's go up to the dorm." His authoritative tone gave no room for argument from the smaller boy.

Changing his expression to that one of a guarded look, Remus grabbed his book and followed his friend up the stairs. Something was obviously wrong and it looked like it was time for Remus to figure out what it was.

Upon entering their room, Remus immediately noticed Sirius and Peter sitting on one of the beds watching Remus with serious, but sad looks. Remus's jaw clenched. He knew what was coming. He whipped around to walk right back out of the room when he saw James standing in front of the door with his arms crossed.

"Sit down." James's authoritative tone said.

Remus glanced between his friends before sitting on the bed that was farthest from all three of them. "What is it you guys want?" He asked carefully.

James looked at Sirius and Peter before turning back to the door. He cast an anti-eavesdropping spell on the door before turning back to Remus. "We need to talk."

"About?" Remus asked cautiously.

"About where you go once a month." Sirius replied.

Remus frowned. "I told you guys. My family has a lot of problems and I have to go home a lot."

"And we've told you that we know you are lying." James pulled out a brown leather book. "Do you know what this is, Remus?"

"A book." Remus rolled his eyes.

"In this book we have been keeping track of all your symptoms before you left, the excuses you used when you left, and when you left." James replied. He opened the book with his password. "Let's see, you've had three aunts die, but I asked your mother about your family. You have no aunts. You never did. Care to explain?"

Remus began to sweat bullets. "Well, um….you see….."

"Last May, Selene supposedly got married. I asked your mother how the wedding went and she told me that the wedding is this winter because your cousin wanted a winter wedding but with all that happened last winter, it didn't happen." James continued as if Remus didn't say anything.

Remus looked around the room. "Uh….."

"Then just last October, your uncle died. You have two uncles and I know neither of them are dead." James continued. He looked up from his book to see Remus sweating bullets. "Now, let's look at the dates you've left."

Sirius took the book from James. "You left last night and it was a full moon. Last month you also left on the full moon and the same thing for the month before and so on and so on. Every month you leave on the full moon. Care to explain?"

Remus grew deathly pale. He glanced at the door which Sirius and James were blocking, then at Peter, who was quietly watching him from his bed.

Sirius snapped the book shut, making Remus jumped in fear. "After months of trying to figure it out, James came to a conclusion last night and we researched that conclusion today. You know what that conclusion is, Remus?"

"N-no." Remus stuttered.

"Oh, but I think you do." James said, walking towards Remus.

Remus crawled back as far as he could on the bed.

"Remus," James growled.

Remus flinched and stopped moving. "Yes James?"

"Are you or are you not a werewolf?" James asked when he was two feet from Remus.

"I….of course not. Professor Dumbledore would never let a werewolf into Hogwarts." Remus said. He flinched back from the three sets of glares he received.

James crossed his arms. "Still lying I see."

Remus jumped off the bed. "I am not lying. I am not a werewolf." He looked at the book Sirius was holding. "And what right did you have to mark down when I left and why? No one gave you permission to look into my life."

"We are your best friends and you lying to us is hurting us. Best friends don't lie to each other. We just wanted to know what is wrong." James said.

"There is nothing wrong. My family just has a lot of problems." Remus hissed. "I am not a werewolf. I can't believe you would say something like that."

Sirius clenched his fists. "Yes, you are. I know you are. James knows you are. Peter knows you are. You know you are. Stop lying to us. We all know you are one! There is nothing else that it could be. YOU ARE A WEREWOLF, ADMIT IT AND STOP LYING!"

Remus took a step back as if he was struck. Tears filled up in his eyes as he looked at each of his friends.

James sent Sirius a reproachful glare. "That's not the way to handle this."

"I'm getting sick of his lies. Even when we know the truth, he still tries to lie to us. How can you stand it?" Sirius snarled.

"I can't, but yelling isn't going to help." James retorted.

"Remus, please just tell us the truth." Peter spoke for the first time. His voice was soft, but carried the hurt that all the boys were feeling. "We just want to know if you are what we think you are. Just tell us the truth."

James turned to Remus. "Please stop lying. You had to have known that we would have found out. We are some of the best students in our year. Please Remus, tell us the truth."

"I….I….." Remus backed up until his back hit the wall. He slid down to his knees and looked up at his friends with tears rolling down his cheeks. "I am a werewolf."

A/N: Please Review!

The long awaited chapter! I'm not sure if I did it justice though.