Thanks to everyone that reviewed the last chapter. Glad you are all enjoying it.

I've tried to put in more of what's going on in Sirius' head. This was almost split into two chapters, but as a special treat, I've put it into one.

Thanks to Michy Drarry Shipper, who is an excellent Beta :)


The days were going much too slowly for Sirius. He just wanted Remus to wake up and he felt so concerned about him. He spent all his free time in the hospital wing, even doing his homework whilst sitting next to the bed, and ignoring the knowing smiles that Madame Pomfrey sent his way.

Each morning, before going to breakfast and lessons, Sirius would go to the hospital wing to check on Remus, and he would go back there after lessons and dinner, and stay there for the rest of the evening, doing his homework. He snuck in the first night, but it was made clear by Madame Pomfrey that if he skipped a meal or snuck in again, that he wouldn't be allowed back in outside visiting hours, and Sirius for once did what he was told, scared that she might just ban him from seeing Remus.

Sirius would sit with Remus each day, and just try to work him out. He wondered how long Remus had suffered with this, and how many years he had spent avoiding making friends for fear that someone would find out. Did Remus have friends when he was younger? Maybe he did, before he was bitten, but his Remus, the Remus laying on the hospital bed was all alone. It wasn't right, losing everyone because a monster bit you as a child. For your own parents to not care because of something like that, it made Sirius angry and upset for his friend.

How could Remus have done this alone? Which brought up another question – how old had Remus been when he was bitten? How could Remus have held such a big secret with no-one to share it with?

Maybe if Sirius had tried harder, he could have worked it out. He was too focused on the suspicion that Remus' family were hurting him, that he didn't think to watch the dates better. If had he sat down and really thought about it, or considered why his friend was going into a tunnel under a crazy tree, instead of apparating or flooing home, he would have worked it out, and then Remus wouldn't have gone for the whole time at Hogwarts friendless and alone, and wouldn't be laying in the hospital wing with a new scar and injuries.

He knew he wasn't going to let Remus feel like that ever again. From now on, Sirius would always be there to look out for the quiet boy, to be his friend, someone for Remus to confide in. Maybe even be something more if he ever felt the same… and if Remus' family didn't care, then that was their loss. Sirius and James would be his family now, and Lily too.

Sirius spent the rest of the time reading some books that Madame Pomfrey had given him on werewolves, which were better than the ones in the library. He would lay on his bed reading them each evening after he was kicked out of the hospital wing. James and Lily would read a bit too, but he made his way through all the books, just in case Remus needed someone to talk to. It was this way that he found out an interesting fact about werewolves that got him very excited.

He quickly got off his bed and rushed over to James, smacking him with the book until he woke up.

"Fuck off, Sirius, I'm sleeping, it's 2am, what is wrong with you?" James shouted, throwing his pillow at Sirius, and immediately regretting the loss of it.

"I found something," he said excitedly, and lowered his voice when their other dorm-mate glared over at them.

"Can you both keep it down," Peter groaned.

"Oh, go back to Slytherin if you don't like it," snarled Sirius. "How you got put in Gryffindor still confuses me."

"Probably the same way you managed to get in here, Black," Peter said, nastily, before rolling over and going to sleep.

Sirius stood up to get his wand, but James had seen the cover of the book, and grabbed him by the pyjama top and pulled him onto the bed. He closed the hangings and cast a silencing charm.

"What did you find?" James asked, rubbing his eyes, knowing that Sirius would forget about Peter in seconds, once he remembered his news.

"Werewolves don't attack other animals," Sirius said, bouncing in place, due to excitement. "What if we tried again to be Animagi?"

James stared at him for a long time. "I thought we gave up trying to be Animagi last year, because you said you didn't want to do it anymore?"

Sirius shrugged. "I didn't have a proper reason for needing to be one, and now I do."

"Is it safe? I mean, we don't want to upset the Wolf again, because he might hurt us or hurt himself and end up in hospital, with worse injuries."

Sirius nodded. "It should be. We... well, I can't let him go through this alone anymore, James, I can understand if you don't join us, but I need to."

"Are you sure?"

Sirius frowned at him. "Anytime you want to ask me what I would do for Remus, ask yourself first, would you do it for Evans?"

James paused for a moment. "I would," he said. "I'll learn too, of course. Where did we get up to?"

"Meditation, and I had trouble sitting still and focusing, but then again, I did have a lot in my head, with my parents and everything. Now I have less going on, and my only worry is Remus, and the fact that we're going to complete this for him should help my concentration."

He stared at James, and James shook his head in confusion. "What?"

"I need the books."

"It's still 2am. Get some sleep, and I'll dig them out in the morning."

Sirius sighed, and got up from James' bed. As he lay down on his own, he heard James' sleepy voice follow him.

"You know I'd do almost anything for Lily."

"And I'd help you do it," Sirius said. "Otherwise you might screw it up."

...~oOo~...

As they walked to the office, Sirius could hardly breathe. He was excited that he was finally going to see Remus, but was angry at himself for taking too long with dinner, because if he had just been a little bit quicker, he could have been at Remus' side when the boy woke up.

But no matter, it was too late, and now they were going to go see Remus, and show him that they still cared, and that they still wanted him to be part of their life. Remus had refused their friendship for years, and Sirius didn't want this to be a step backwards. He feared Remus would try to push him and James away again, but Sirius wouldn't let him.

Caught up in his thoughts, Sirius didn't remember walking into the office. He barely even remembered going through the halls, but somehow he was sitting in a chair in front of Dumbledore's desk, and they were waiting. He vaguely realised that James and Lily were talking next to him, but he didn't pay attention.

Sirius had more important things on his mind. It was the realisation that Remus was even more alone in the world than Sirius had been. All the boy wanted truly was for someone to care about him, even love him, but he had no-one. Sirius knew what it felt to be alone, even though he had James, he had the Potters, but Remus didn't have a family like that.

Remus really needed a friend like James, and more importantly, Remus needed Sirius Black in his life, to cheer him up, to talk to him about his problems, to make him laugh and take notes in class for him, to bring him food after a transformation, to hold him when he was feeling alone and unloved, and to brush the hair from his eyes, when it fell into them all the time.

"You look really nervous, Black, you're not having second thoughts about being Remus' friend are you?" Came a voice, snapping him back into the world.

Sirius glared at Lily. "I would never give up on Remus, despite what you may think of me, Evans," he snarled. "I do believe that I'm a loyal friend at the very least, and I wouldn't let something get between me and the people who are important to me. What if it was James that had Lycanthropy? Do you think I'd stop being his friend? Of course not! So why would Remus be any different?"

Lily shook her head. "Sorry, I didn't think," she admitted.

"It's okay," he replied, trying to calm himself down. "But just remember that in future if we're going to be friends, Evans."

"We're going to be friends?" She snorted.

As Sirius went to reply, Dumbledore came into the room. He spoke to the three of them, confirming that Remus had woken up. Dumbledore headed towards the Floo as the group continued to talk.

"Well, we're all trying to be here for Remus, wouldn't it make sense if we could all get on, for his sake at least? Plus, I'm a good friend to have."

They paid no attention to Professor Dumbledore leaving to see the Lupins', and didn't hear the door opening behind them.

Lily shrugged. "Fine, friends than, I suppose, but for Remus' sake."

James looked delighted. "I could just kiss Remus, he's bringing me and Lily together."

He glanced at Lily, who was frowning at him, and at Sirius, who was glaring at him. "But I won't..."

They heard a door close behind them, and they turned around to see a confused Remus looking right back at them.

...~oOo~...

Remus and Professor McGonagall walked into the office, and Remus froze when he saw that three seats were already taken.

He stood at the back of the room, staring at the back of their heads for a moment, before he felt himself being softly pushed forward by Professor McGonagall, who closed the door behind her.

The three students who had been leaning into each other, talking softly, heard the door close. They moved away from each other, and they all turned around to look at Remus.

Remus started shaking his head. He opened his mouth a couple of times to question why Sirius Black, James Potter and Lily Evans were sitting on the seats staring at him, when he should be meeting with the headmaster.

He barely registered taking a couple of steps forward, before he noticed them all stand up. He lowered his gaze, scared to meet their eyes, wondering if they knew the truth.

The whole school might know, if students made it into the tunnel, and were dead, he was sure that the school would know, how else would the dead students... his victims, he corrected himself, have found out about the tunnel in the first place? All it took was one student to know about it.

Lily walked towards him, moving fast, and he backed up quickly, keeping his gaze lowered away from her face. He deserved whatever cruel words she had to say. He tensed as her body was inches from his, and suddenly, her arms were around him. He was completely and utterly shocked. Maybe she didn't know what he was?

"Lily?" He whispered, not understanding what was happening.

"It's okay, Remus," she said, her arms tightening around him, and he slowly, gently, brought his arms around her too. He concluded that she mustn't know, as who would willingly hug a monster?

She pulled away, and he felt a hand gently wrap around his shoulders. He glanced up to see James smiling kindly at him, as he led Remus over to the seats.

"Come and sit down, Remus," he said, his voice soft, and they stopped in front of Sirius.

He brought his gaze up to Sirius', looking fearful, as Sirius' reaction was the one he feared the most, but there was no disgust in his eyes, no anger, and Remus determined that Sirius didn't know his secret either. He felt Sirius' arms wrap around him, pulling him against Sirius and he gently brought his arms up too.

He didn't care about the reasons behind the hug at that moment, all he knew was that Sirius Black had his arms wrapped tightly around him, and it felt amazing, and safe... and it felt right. He felt James at his side, hugging him and Lily at the other and he made the most of what he guessed was his last moment with his friends, before he was going to be taken away.

He buried his face deeper into Sirius' shoulder, holding him tighter, and willing the tears not to come. He kept control of his body, and as he heard the Floo activate, he pulled away and the trio let go of him, smiling.

He couldn't smile back at them, his gaze slowly moved to the Floo, where Dumbledore stood.

"Remus, I'm glad you're awake. I have just returned from your parents' home to inform them you have woken up. Shall we discuss last night before they arrive?"

"They're actually coming?" He asked in shock, and Dumbledore nodded.

Remus looked at the headmaster in panic, before turning back to his friends. He opened his mouth to speak, and heard the door. They all looked around to see Madam Pomfrey enter the room.

"Everyone in the room is aware of your condition, Remus," Dumbledore said softly, and Remus looked at his friends again, terrified that they would be looking back at him with hate in their eyes.

They weren't, they still held the same looks, filled with compassion and kindness, which confused him. He turned back to the headmaster. "I don't think they do, Sir," he said softly.

Madam Pomfrey's eyes met Sirius', and he knew he would have to say it outright. "We know you're a werewolf, Remus."

~oOo~

Remus felt his head spin, and he quickly sank into the nearest chair. "But... No, that can't be right," he mumbled, his head sinking into his hands. "You're supposed to hate me now, I don't..."

"Remus," Sirius started, softly.

"Don't talk to me, none of you. You don't know what I did last night," he snapped, jumping up from his chair. "I smelt them as I came through the tunnel, there were people in there... there was blood... I'm a monster, don't you understand? How can you stand to be around me?" His gaze shifted between Lily and the boys for a second. "I kill people, Sirius, and you talk to me like I'm a normal person?" He turned to the headmaster, not giving Sirius, James or Lily a chance to answer him.

"Can you just call the Aurors, I don't know why we have to drag this out. Just let them come and take me away, I deserve it, I hurt people, just tell me who I killed last night!" Remus said, his voice filled with pain, making Sirius want to wrap his arms around him. "I knew one day this would happen, my secret would come out, someone would find me and I'd hurt them, I'd kill because that's all I am, just a monster..."

Sirius had called Remus' name, trying to get his attention to calm him down, but as Remus started to panic more and more, it was James that caught his attention.

"It was us in the tunnel, mate," James said loudly.

Remus stopped ranting and froze, his gaze shifting to James.

"You were in the tunnel?" He whispered, his eyes flicking between the three, before resting on Sirius. He could have killed the only people in the world who cared about him.

They all nodded and Remus sank back into the seat, his heart beating really fast. He felt ill. He could barely breathe.

"No, no, no. I didn't tell anyone," he muttered, his head in his hands. "I kept it a secret, I didn't talk to anyone, no-one was supposed to find out. I shouldn't have allowed myself to have friends, I don't deserve friends. Who would be friends with a monster? I could have killed them, the only people who care could be dead, and it'd be all my fault."

"Remus," Professor McGonagall said, trying to stop the muttering, but he didn't acknowledge her.

"A month, I only had a month with them and now I'm going to lose them too, the Wolf ruins everything, it's ruined my life, and now my friends. It could have bitten them!"

His head shot up, as he remembered the blood in the tunnel, and he looked at them, "I didn't bite any of you did I? Was that why there was blood in the tunnel?"

"Remus, you didn't kill or bite anyone," Dumbledore began, but Remus still look worried.

"It was my blood, probably looked worse than it did. I hit my head, massive headache afterwards, but nothing Madam Pomfrey couldn't fix," Sirius said, hoping to sooth Remus.

"I'm sorry, it was my..."

"Don't worry yourself about it, I don't blame you, so you shouldn't either," Sirius interrupted, not wanting to hear an apology from Remus.

"The reason I called you here is to discuss the consequences of that night," Dumbledore began.

Remus nodded his head. "Yes, I understand, now my secret is out, you want me to leave. I'll have my trunk packed straight away," he stood up. "Thank you, Sir, for giving me this chance to go to school here and letting me stay so long."

He made to leave, and Sirius rushed to get to the door before him, which wasn't hard, since Remus' leg was sore. Sirius placed himself between Remus and the door.

"No fucking way we're letting you walk out of here and out of the school, do you understand me?" Sirius said, sounding slightly angry, and Remus nodded nervously, feeling very unsure what was happening.

He took a step away from Sirius, not liking the annoyed look on his friend's face. Sirius' face softened, and he moved towards Remus, and put his arm around his friends shoulder, leading him back to the seats in front of the desk.

Before Remus sat down, Sirius was in front of him, forcing Remus to look into his eyes.

"Remus, you're going to sit down and listen to all of us. If you start mumbling or try to leave, I'm going to cast a silencing charm and a sticking charm. You're not leaving the school and we don't hate you. You believe me, don't you?"

Remus stared at him for a long time, waiting for something to happen, a cruel look, some harsh words – anything – but all he was faced with was Sirius Black, who looked like he still cared, the boy who had wrapped his arms around Remus and made him feel safe and happy. Remus finally nodded, and slowly sat back down. Sirius gripped his arm, presumably to stop him standing up again. It was strangely calming.

"Remus, I did inform you to keep your leg rested, so you need to calm down," Madam Pomfrey told him.

Remus looked at the headmaster. "I have no intention of asking you to leave, Mr Lupin," Dumbledore said, and Remus sighed in relief.

"I wouldn't let you leave, even if you wanted to," Sirius whispered to him, his fingers stroking Remus' arm gently. Remus decided he wasn't going to get up again, he wanted Sirius' hand to stay where it was.

"I don't know why you think you'd be expelled since you didn't do anything wrong," James said.

"Because you'd still be sharing a room with me, and... well, I'm a werewolf, a monster," Remus whispered.

"Well, we've shared a room with you for six years now without problems," Sirius said.

"I have a problem, and it's that you keep calling yourself a monster, and I don't like it," Lily added and the other boys nodded. "You're definitely not a monster," James said.

"Nope, not scary at all," Sirius grinned.

"I'm more scared of Lily on her time of the month, then you on yours," James said, and Sirius' laugh echoed through the room. Remus failed to hold back the small smile on his lips. "Ouch," James added, as Lily slapped him hard on the arm.

Sirius was shocked at how things were going. The way Remus freaked out, he'd never even heard Remus raise his voice, yet now he was freaking out, panicking, and worst of all, he expected everyone to hate him, to disappear. Remus looked scared as though he expected Sirius, James and Lily to be cruel. He could never be cruel. He wanted Remus to see that no matter what, he would always have Sirius. That wasn't going to change either. He just realised he would have to work harder then he realised.

"Mr Black, Mr Potter, Miss Evans, perhaps one of you could fill Remus in?" Professor McGonagall said, and they nodded.

"We didn't follow you, you know," Sirius spoke from next to Remus. "I went back to the Great Hall when you left the dorm. Snape found us when we were heading back, he told us about the tunnel and if we followed it, we could find you. He didn't mention you were a werewolf, and we were suspicious of him, but were so concerned with helping you, we didn't think, or even consider why you were in a tunnel under a psychotic tree, rather than having Floo'd or apparated home."

"I saw them rushing," Lily said. "They said that Severus sent them somewhere to find you. I found Severus, and forced him to tell me what was going on. He told me that he sent them after you and I forced him, at wand point, to tell me why. He told me you're a werewolf so I rushed after the two idiots to stop them. I knew that Severus would get a Professor, but was scared he wouldn't get one in time."

"We made it into the tunnel and were running for a couple of minutes before we heard Lily," James added, "but we also heard you... well, we heard you in pain, so we started running. Sirius was ready to kill someone, I swear, he thought you were being tortured or something. It was scary, the look on his face..."

They recounted the rest of the story for a pale looking Remus.

...~oOo~...

Remus stared back at the trio, as they finished telling the story of what happened. He was shaking slightly at how close he had been to killing Sirius.

"Sorry about your leg, Remus," Lily said softly.

Remus let out a cold laugh. "I deserved it, I should thank you, actually. Anyone else would have shot a killing curse if they'd a werewolf coming at them."

Lily looked shocked. "But that curse is against the law..."

"Not against werewolves, when in their wolf form," Remus muttered.

He felt Sirius' grip tighten on his arm slightly.

"We knew it was you and we had no intentions of killing you, Remus. We just needed to get out of the passage. We were trying to knock you back enough, or stun you, but neither worked, so we had to try and knock you out," Lily told him.

Remus nodded and tried to give Lily a smile. "And I'm glad you did – anything would be better than waking up to find out you've infected someone else or worse still, killed someone. I don't know what I would have done if I had hurt any of you worse than what I've already done to Sirius."

"I said don't worry about it," Sirius told him, with a smile.

"None of us want to see you hurt," James said softly.

Remus looked back at the headmaster. "So how many people know?"

"Mr Snape only told these three. I have already dealt with him and he will keep your secret. He has been informed that should he tell your secret to anyone, he will be taken to the Ministry and charged for endangering your life and the lives of Mr Potter, Mr Black and Miss Evans. He was reminded that Charlus Potter is the Head Auror, and I trust he won't say anything. I would like you all to leave this matter to me, and not try to get retribution."

Remus nodded and he rubbed his hand over his eyes, feeling mentally drained. "What happens now Professor?" He asked.

"Mr Potter, Mr Black, Miss Evans...I need all of your word that you will keep this secret for Remus. He's given up a lot to come to school here. He's never harmed anyone in the past and has worked hard to keep his secret. Hard enough that he wouldn't even allow himself to have friends or build any sort of relationship out of fear that anyone who got too close would work it out," Dumbledore said for Remus' benefit. He was aware that the three wanted to be Remus' friends.

Remus felt his heart beat and was sure the others could hear it. It was as though his heart was pounding out of his chest. He waited in anticipation for their answers. Whatever the other students said now would determine his last year at school.

Sirius was the first to speak. "We only keep secrets for friends."

Remus knew that was coming, he knew that they wouldn't want to be friends with a werewolf.

"So, it's a good thing that Remus is our best friend now," he added with a smirk.

"Wait, what?" Remus answered, shock evident in his voice. "You still want to be my friend?"

"Well, I'd be disappointed if you didn't want to be our friend anymore," Sirius told him. "Nothing's changed for us. We all still care about you, and know you're not going to hurt us or anything... and I really don't want you to leave, I just want what I've always wanted – to be around you..." He paused for a moment, "because you're my friend," he added quickly, ignoring James' smirk and Dumbledore's twinkling, knowing eyes.

Even Minerva and Poppy were trying to hold back smiles. Lily just looked slightly confused.

Sirius forced himself to stop talking, before he told everyone in the room everything, although he guessed it was a bit obvious due to the looks he was getting from everyone except Lily and Remus, who both seemed oblivious. Remus looked relieved that they wanted to be his friends and didn't notice his slip up.

But there was so much more that he was more then desperate to tell Remus.

"I agree with Sirius. Like I told you before, you're one of us now. I won't tell anyone either, just because you have a furry little problem, it doesn't change things," James said, grinning at Remus.

Remus snorted, a smile on his lips. "Furry little problem," he muttered to himself, with a smile.

They both looked at Lily and Remus followed their gaze. She walked over and threw her arms around Remus, and he flinched, but put his arms around her hesitantly. "Of course I won't say anything Remus, I just can't believe all these years, you've been doing this alone whilst at school."

She pulled away after a moment, and went back to her seat.

"Can I have a hug too, Lily?" James asked hopefully and she narrowed her eyes at him. "My hugs are reserved for Remus. He needs them more than you."

James frowned. "I need hugs too," he grumbled.

Sirius threw his arms around James. "Not from you, you tosser... I meant from Lily."

"Fine, I'll hug Remus instead," he muttered, throwing an annoyed look at James, before turning to Remus on the other side of him and throwing his arms around Remus instead.

Remus was quite amused by this point. He was staying, he had friends who knew his secret and still liked him, and Sirius had his arms around him. Why wouldn't he be smiling?

They all looked over when they heard Professor McGonagall let out a little cough. "As much as I like to see you both, Mr Potter and Mr Black, doing something so admirable, we should possibly move through this meeting. Mr Lupin needs to eat and rest," She gave a rare smile to the three boys and Lily.

For the first time in a long time, Remus felt as though everything would be alright. He smiled at his friends, the first real smile he had given since he'd woken up, and they all returned it.

"Thank you," he said, softly, and he looked around the room, towards the three members of staff that didn't flinch at the sight of him.

"I guess you're all wondering how it happened, I mean Sirius told me his story, I feel like I should share mine," Remus started.

As he opened his mouth to start, the Floo activated and a couple stepped from the fireplace.

"Albus," the man said, walking forwards.

"Ah, Mr and Mrs Lupin," Dumbledore said, smiling at them.

The smile on Remus' face dropped.


As usual, please review. It helps keep me motivated to write more of the story faster, and it's nice to know that you are all enjoying it.

Yes, I know its a mean place to stop, but remember, I've just given you what was supposed to be two chapters in one go. :)