Chapter 10:Of Confessions, Meetings, and Troublesome Boys

A/N: Due to our failure of a certain subject and our need to bring up our grades, updating may become less frequent. Sorry in advance and please don't be shy and leave a review below! Thanks. (~M)

Disclaimer: Sorry if you haven't gotten the memo yet, but we are not J.K. Rowling. Therefore, we do not own Harry Potter.

Sirius

James and I lounged on the front lawn of the castle, near the whomping willow, watching the idiots try and touch the trunk. Not all the people that try to touch the trunk are idiots. It just happened that today, the group there were no brighter than our house elf.

"So what are we going to do about Remus?" I asked James

"We will have to confront him."

"And you think he'll take that well?"

"No. But what other choice do we have? We have to protect him. Werewolf or not, he's our friend and we would never try to hurt him."

"I guess you're right, James. What about Peter? Do you think he should know?"

"He'll get curious."

"But do you think he could keep a secret?" I asked him.

"I think that no one would expect him to know any sort of secret. He is the ultimate keeper of secrets."

"I guess you're right. Hey, speak of the devil-"

James turned around to see Remus coming up behind him, Peter a few feet behind.

"Hey guys!" Remus called, smiling broadly at us.

"Remus, Peter." I nodded at them.

They sat down next to us and I shot a look at James. He nodded.

"Listen, Remus," I started.

"Yes?" He asked me, looking confused.

I paused and looked off at the tree. Davey Gudgeon, a fourth-year Hufflepuff was trying to touch the knotted trunk.

I looked at James for help.

"Remus, we have a serious question to ask you-"

"LOOK! THE TREE!" Peter interjected.

We all turned to stare at Davey getting walloped by the branches. This was worse than we had ever seen the tree behave. It must have had enough of pesky children.

"Davey!" We heard one of his friends yell.

"I'll go get Professor Dumbledore!" Another one yelled.

"No need," came a voice from across the lawns, "I'm already here."

He shot some sort of spell at the trunk of the tree and the branches froze.

Davey slipped out from under the branches, looking pale and beaten up. There was a giant gash circling around his right eye.

"He almost lost it," James breathed, "his eye, I mean."

Dumbledore stepped in front of the tree and made an announcement.

"No student is to go near this tree. It is off limits now to everybody."

Dumbledore walked towards us and with a twinkle in his eye looked at Remus.

"We do make special accommodations."

Remus paled.

"You haven't told them?" Dumbledore asked, astonished.

Remus shook his head, not daring to make eye contact with anyone.

"I think they have proved themselves worthy of your trust, Mr. Lupin."

Remus looked up at the headmaster and nodded.

Professor Dumbledore walked away, and Remus turned toward us, looking like he had no idea where to begin.

"It's ok, Remus, we already know," I assured him.

"No. It's not what you think... I-" he faltered.

"No, Remus," James started, "we know you're a werewolf."

"HEY! I NEVER KNEW THAT! Why hide all the good secrets from me, eh guys?" Peter responded, oblivious to the gravity of the situation.

Remus

I can't believe they know. I can't believe it. I hid it as well as I could and never gave them any reason to suspect me of being.. not entirely human.

The mouths on those two. I can't believe they know but the rest of the school doesn't. In fact.. wow.. not even Peter knows.

Still. I couldn't trust them to exercise good caution. I couldn't trust them to keep their mouths shut. Ever. They may think they were talking just to me, but the Slytherins sneak around everywhere. Who knows what one of them could do with my secret. I just couldn't risk it. I had to stay away from my friends. My only friends. The only friends I've ever had.

This week was different from the rest of third year. It was after the holidays, and the teachers seemed to all of a sudden realize that the end of the year was almost there. All of a sudden, they felt the need to pile more and more work onto us, threatening us with exams looming right around the corner.

It was not hard to keep away from my "friends" at all. In fact, they seemed happier without me. It was easy to avoid all conversation at meals when I had a book in front of me. They obviously found it as an excuse not to talk to me. In classes, I focused entirely on the teachers, not once getting distracted or sharing a look with Peter, Sirius, or James. I would excuse myself early from dinner and trudge my way up to the common room, alone. I would sit at the least comfortable table, farthest in the corner and start on my homework, putting myself to bed early once I finished. It was very easy to avoid contact with the people I thought really cared about me. Too easy.

I had just finished my charms essay when I looked over to where my friends were sitting. They were joking and laughing, as usual, as though they did not have a care in the world. Which they didn't, now they were done with me.

I scanned the rest of the room and noticed Lily looking at me, confused. I guess we had been making a scene. It was not hard to notice that one of the four biggest well-meaning troublemakers Hogwarts had seen in about a century had broken up.

After one of the longest weeks in my life, it was finally the weekend. Peter went down to the Quidditch pitch Friday night to watch James and Sirius practice, and I went to bed early, the first to leave the common room on a Friday night. I wondered what I could do all weekend.

Saturday morning I awake amidst excited whispers. It was a Hogsmeade weekend. Everyone was going to Hogsmeade. Who was to say that I couldn't enjoy my weekend as well.

I stepped into the Three Broomsticks, the bell tinkling above me, hoping for a nice warm butterbeer to take off some of the chill from outside.

"What would you like, m'dear?" A young woman asked me. Her name was Madam Rosmerta and she appeared to be right out of Hogwarts herself.

"One butterbeer please," I told her, walking over towards a table.

I watched her as her glittering heels stepped behind the counter.

Soon, I heard very familiar laughter. I looked a few tables down and saw James and Sirius guffawing at something one of them had said and Peter dutifully laughing at every little thing that could be construed as a joke. Good old loyal Peter, the least likely to betray me. I missed them all so much. I never thought that Peter, of all of them would stop talking to me. I guessed he just got too obsessed with following James and Sirius around. In fact, that's all he was. A follower. Peter Pettigrew would do anything for anyone more powerful for him, out of duty. Out of friendship. And maybe even out of fear.

The clicking of heels alerted me to the fact that Rosmerta was coming back with my drink.

"Thank you," I told her, paying for it.

She followed my gaze over to the table occupied by James, Sirius, and Peter and headed over there to check and see if they needed anything.

I looked down at my drink, not even looking up when I heard Rosmerta laugh heartily at something Sirius had said. Although I did not care to admit it, I had many memories of coming in here and having a great time with the four of them, Sirius, James, Peter, and Rosmerta. She was a delightful young woman, always ready with a laugh or her own joke, a category in which she almost matched Sirius in.

Sipping my butterbeer and feeling bad for myself, I did not realize that someone was approaching me. I looked up and my stomach churned unpleasantly. It was not Peter. It wasn't even Sirius or James.

James

There was no week that I missed Remus more. I could see him every day, but he avoided us at all costs, being completely antisocial at mealtime, and avoiding us at all costs everywhere else.

This is why I probably reacted so strongly when I saw what was going on.

Sirius, Peter, and I were all sitting down in the Three Broomsticks when we noticed that Remus was sitting all alone at a table in the corner.

Actually, to be honest, maybe we didn't quite notice him there as much as Rosmerta. Merlin's pants, that lady was perspicacious. She picked up on everything and told us that the best thing to do would be to go over there and try to make amends.

That's just what we were planning to do when who but Nott and his cronies stepped up to him.

We figured we'd wait and see what would happen, knowing full well that Remus could take them in anything. After all, he wasn't as weak and helpless as Peter. But hey, we loved him anyway. Both of them.

"So," Nott was saying to Remus. What was an arrogant wizard like him talking to Remus for?

He continued, "Are you here alone, boy? What happened to your friends? Did they desert you?"

I could see the hurt in Remus' eyes. Nott went on, obviously pleased at the discomfort he had caused our friend.

"Ohh look, how cute. The wee 3rd years had a little fight, and now one of them is all alone. Now tell me about your fight. Where are your old friends? Huh?"

"We are right here." I told him. Somehow, Sirius and I had crossed the floor of the Three Broomsticks without even realizing it. Somehow, we had moved to our friend's side, ready to protect him, even though he didn't care about us all week. To us, friendship went stronger than that. You never betray your friends.

"Well then why are you over there while your friend is over here?" Nott taunted me.

"Furnunculus!" Sirius cried, covering Nott's face in boils. It rather improved his looks, if I do say so myself.

"Alright, alright, Let's get you out of here," Madam Rosmerta came rushing over to us, hustling us out the door good-naturedly,"Come back again soon, all of you. Just don't fight. It's not good for business."

"You there," She continued, "with the boils. Get back up to the school. Madam Pomfrey will help you."

Nott went off, barely complaining at all. I guess a spell like that must have wounded his ego a little bit.
I slapped Sirius a high-five, knowing that in a split second, he had come up with the best hex he could.

Madame Rosmerta turned back to us, "Now, just because you are my favorite little customers does not mean you are getting off the hook for this one. Listen here, if you make up with Remus, I'll speak to the headmaster and see to it that your punishment is not as great as boil-face no doubt wants it to be. Dumbledore is fair, and he will not punish you so hard if he knows you're provoked. But, if i hear that you have not had that nice little chat with your FRIEND, I may forget to let the 'provoked' part slip."

Remus! I had almost forgotten about him. He was the reason we were in this mess anyway. In fact, he was the reason he was in this mess, too. Oh wait.. That's almost always the case.

Rosmerta smiled and let the three of us be, Peter coming up to join us.

"Listen guys," Remus looked at each of us in turn, "I am really sorry for what happened this week. I know I acted like a Slytherin, but please forgive me. Seriously. I avoided you because i was stupid. I was not used to anyone knowing my secret, and to me, it seemed like it should stay that way. I thought that I had to distance myself from anyone that could possibly know, why should i change something that works, after all? I am really sorry for all the times i avoided you guys. Thank you so much for standing up for me today even though i acted so badly. It made me realize that i can't just cut myself off from the world, no matter how much i try. It is something I have been struggling with ever since I got to Hogwarts. Maybe now it won't be so bad. Maybe now I'll have people to confide in, and and I can feel better about myself."

"Mate, it's all good. You're forgiven," Sirius assured him.

"And all the times we ignored you, we should have really made an effort to try and start up a conversation. Really. It's us to blame."

"I appreciate it, guys. I really do. You three are all too good for me. Thank you."

"No problem, Remus," I said to him, flashing him a grin.

"GROUP HUG!" Peter called out.

Laughing, we all hugged it out in the middle of a crowded bar in the middle of January.

Marlene

Lily and I were walking around the front lawn, shivering in the cold, when who did we come upon but the famous pranksters, the Potter Pals.

"What's up, ladies?" James asked Lily. Why wouldn't he ever leave her alone?

"Nothing much. You know. Freezing. Like everyone else," I answered him after realizing that Lily was too scared she'd make a fool out of herself in front of Remus.

"Hmmm..." Answered Sirius, "Freezing? In this weather? Nah."

"Well," I replied back to him, "I guess that only decent people feel a slight chill."

"Well then I guess you're only pretending to be freezing!" He countered my jab.

"Come on guys," Remus was dragging his friends away by the arms.

"Yay! Food!" Sirius randomly shouted out of know where. heard Lils inwardly sigh with a dreamy look on her face aimed at Remus.

"Get yourself together Lils! I'm pretty sure you don't want everyone to know you fantasize about a certain brown haired cutie pie."

"But, but, but have you seen him? What's not to dream about?" She continued to stare after Lupin. I shook her a bit and dragged her inside the castle before we both froze our butts off.

"What's wrong with Lily?" asked Benjy coming up behind us with Emmeline at his side.

"Lupin." I muttered so that our conversation was inaudible to the rest of the Hogwarts population. "C'mon let's get back to the common rooms." We trudged back dragging a disgruntled Lily behind. Four guesses who we ran into in the common rooms? I facepalmed while Emmeline and I dragged Lily up the stairs while Benjy chuckled retreating back to his dorm.

"Hey, Emma, how the heck do we get Lils over here to snap out of her moony eyed self?"

"Simple. Watch and learn." I watched as Emma muttered 'aguamenti' and cold water pummeled Lily's face.

Lily spluttered, "What. Was. That. For?"

"You've been in a daze lately and everyone has noticed."

"Oh was I that obvious?"

"Were you ever!" I interrupted Emma's and Lil's conversation.

"Some friends!"

Peter

Now that Remus' secret was out in the open, James and Sirius felt like they had to do something about it. They couldn't just leave it be like Remus had asked.

They wanted to find some way to keep Remus company while he transformed. They knew it must have been a very lonely existence. The two of them were really good friends. I knew they would always be there for me, no matter what. The two of them, though eccentric, were incredibly loyal.

The only problem was that once Remus turned into a werewolf, he completely lost his head. He told us he could think almost rationally think about lots of things. Just not when humans were in the topic. Which, considering everyone he knew was a human, was kind of hard to process.

James and Sirius refused to give up, though. They would not rest until they found out a way to help our friend. That's why I think they're so great. They are perfect in every way, and as long as I am their friend, nothing can hurt me. They will always protect me.

Sirius

Days upon days of research and we still hadn't figured out a way to accompany Remus on his monthly escapades. We were spending so much time on our research that we were falling behind in our classes. Well, that was our excuse for our grades at any rate. Quite honestly, the grades didn't matter too much to us anyway.

Since the library was completely foreign to us, we didn't know where to start. We couldn't even ask for help, otherwise the librarian would be on to us. We couldn't even start pulling out books about werewolves because others would see what we were researching about. Life was hard.

We finally realized that we could sneak up there at night with James' invisibility cloak while no one was watching. This way, we could read and not be in fear of someone discovering Remus' secret.

"Sirius, you oaf,"James whispered to me one night while we were up in the library. For some reason he was under the impression that I could not sneak around like the little fairy he was.

"Shut it, James."

"I think we actually need to think about this, Sirius. That's how we figured out he was a werewolf after all. We put together our very strong, intelligent minds and figured out our friend's dangerous secret.

"But mate, the only thing we can ever think about seriously are pranks."

"So, young Sirius, we will just have to make this a prank."

"And how, old James, will we do that?"

"Hey. I can't come up with all the great ideas?"

"Well," I was starting to come up with an idea, "These so called 'pranks" that we do always end up with the teachers getting mad at us, right?"

"Err.. I suppose so."

"So, I guess that's what we need to do. Come up with something that will make the teachers irate, right?"

"Maybe?"

"You don't think this is a good idea, do you?" I asked James.

" works."

"Well, what would make the teachers completely insane?"
"That would help us with werewolves?"

"Mate, I don't know."

"So we basically need to do something to make McGonagall throw a fit?" He asked me.

I looked at him with glee, "Wait! McGonagall! What did we learn about werewolves?"

"That has to do with McGonagall?" He was confused.

"Yes! Well.. er.. no. Sort of?"

"Sirius, you make no sense."
"What is the one living thing that werewolves don't go crazy about?"

"Fungi?"

"NO. Animals."

"OK.. but McGonagall?" How thick could James be?

"She can transform.. into an animal. What if we could do that?"

"Ok.." He was catching on now, "One problem. How can we do that without a tutor?"

"We could ask McGonagall."

"Are you insane? McGonagall? You think she would help us with this?"

James had a point. Sadly, we couldn't talk about it anymore. A small meowing sound echoed around the hallway. Mrs. Norris. That kitten was horrible. It was bewitched. It had to be. That thing will live for years, it had been a kitten for years already.

James threw the cloak over us as we made a run for it.

We stumbled around the hallway, trying to escape the furious caretaker and his loyal kitty.

We bounded down the stairs, heading straight for the dormitory. Suddenly though, I couldn't move anymore.

"What the-" I spluttered.

"Oh, come on. Not the vanishing step," James muttered under his breath.

He yanked me up by my elbow, pulling me down the rest of the staircase.

Marlene

Today was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the New Year and we all knew what that meant. Yup! It was time to meet Leigha at the Three Broomsticks.

"Hurry up, Lily! You too, Emma!" I attempted to get both of them out of bed. "It's our first Hogsmeade weekend!"

" Bed. Warm. Comfy." Lily sleepily murmured.

"That's it! I have an important meeting to attend and I am not going to let you guys slow me down!" And for the second time in two days, Lily was once again doused with water.

"Some friend you are, Marlene Mckinnon!" Emma cursed letting out her now soaking golden locks from her ponytail and rising out of bed.

"Finally!" I muttered as a tired Lily went to the bathroom yawning and muttering under her breath about that 'toerag Potter.' We quickly exited the dorm only to find Potter and his posse lounging on the couches.

"Oi Evans! Alright there?" Potter called out.

"What do you want, Potter?" She retorted scathingly.

"What's gotten into your knickers?" Sirius quietly voiced.

I watched as Remus nudged him with his elbow. "Shh!"

"Thank you Remus! At least one of you has some sort of sense." Lily smiled flirtatiously at Remus.

"Uh.. thanks, Lily?" Remus said uncomfortably as I chuckled into my palm.

"Hey! We have a first name too!" Potter stated while glaring daggers at Remus.

"Well sorry Potter if the only people in your little group that I can stand are Remus and Peter."

"Love you too, Evans." Sirius sullenly muttered.

"C'mon Lily! We have to get to Hogsmeade!" I grabbed Lily's hand and dragged her out into the corridors.

"Where exactly are we going?" Lily asked.

"The Three Broomsticks. I told Leigha to meet us there."

"Ohh. Leigha! I love her! She's so nice."

"Yup."

"OK why exactly are we meeting here there?"

"Must you ask so many questions, Lils? And you'll see soon enough. Hurry up." I said to her staggering form.

"Actually I want to go Tomes and Scrolls and buy a new book. I'll meet you at Honeydukes later, ok?"

"Cool." I said to her retreating form while making my way to the Three Broomsticks. I scanned the room and found Leigha sitting alone in the corner. "Hey!" I waved at her as I got to her table.

"Hey! So what did you want to discuss?"

"Well you know my brother?"

"Brett? Yeah I know him. He's on the quidditch team. And I must say he does look pretty nice with all his quidditch gear on and the way his hair flows in the breeze. I'm sure you didn't want to hear that, did you?"

Oh this was going to be easy. "Really? You notice all that about my brother?" I wrinkled my nose just for effect.

"Yeah. How could you not? He's one of the best looking guys in this school."

"Would you say yes if he were to ask you out?"

"Wait, is he single? And of course. In a heartbeat. He's also nice and funny as well, not to mention quite athletic."

"Yeah he's single."

"Do you think he would mind if I ask him out? I've been wanting to be more than friends with him for quite a while now."

"Oh. How long have you liked him for?"

"Since our second year. He just has this charm to him."

"Go right ahead."

"You really mean it? You won't mind? Being his sister and all?"

I chuckled, "Not at all."

"Thank you so much!"

"No problem! You wanna walk with me to Honeydukes to meet up with Lily?"

"Sure. All of my friends are catching up on their homework but I finished ages ago, so I have nothing better to do."

"Let's go then."

"Lead the way Mckinnon!"

My plan was in action and those bratty girls would finally leave me alone and stop asking me for details on my brother's love life. Life was good.