AN: I'm sure you've noticed that at this point that this is largely a collection of loosely-related oneshots rather than a coherent story. Don't worry, third year is when a real plot-thing begins to come of this.

Also, sorry that all the Marauder stuff so far has been angsty or deep-conversation, but the point of this year is them finding out about Remus' Lycanthropy and being buds. I promise I will get to funny Marauder shenanigans!

They knew something was wrong as soon as they saw Remus for the first time after their encounter in the shack.

They had hoped he wouldn't remember, or at least think he had imagined them. But as soon as they saw him, they knew he knew the truth.

That wasn't the problem though. Remus knew Sirius and James had a tendency to stick their noses in other people's business and run into things they weren't supposed to. Regardless, they expected him to be angry with them for doing it to him. Or at least angry that his secret had gotten out. And then they would swear never to tell anyone, by an unbreakable vow if necessary, and everything would be okay again.

But that wasn't what happened.

Remus Lupin, whom they had never seen scared by any situation since the day they had met (the closest they had seen was mild irritation at the thought of detention), was absolutely terrified.

As soon as he saw them, his eyes went wide and his face went pale. Before either black-haired boy could get a word in edgewise, Remus had excused himself and rushed out of the room.

"Guys, what happened with Remus? He's been acting jumpy, and as soon as you two walked in he totally flipped out!" Frank, their friend (though not quite close enough to ask to join their pranking group) and one year senior asked with a slight glare. Remus had always been the one closest to Frank of the four second years, so in event of an argument he would probably take the werewolf's side.

"We… we did something we shouldn't have, and ended up finding something out that Remus didn't want us to know," James said, and for the first time since they had met he actually looked sorry.

"We want to say sorry about it, but we can't even get near him!" Sirius added with an irritated scowl.

There were many, many things Frank could think of that someone could want to keep secret from their friends. Some of them were utterly ridiculous, and he doubted it was any of those because Remus seemed legitimately scared and the other two boys looked truly sorry. He didn't think James Potter and Sirius Black would sincerely say sorry to anyone, even a friend, unless they had almost caused someone severe injury.

"Well, you better go find him and set this straight then. I expect you all to be best friends again by lunch time."

It was a bit weird, getting lectured by someone just one year older than them. Especially since they were a little bit taller than him.

Also, Frank was generally a rule-abiding fellow, but he didn't usually lecture like that.

Then they both realized that Frank hadn't been focusing on them; since he started talking, he had been glancing out the corner of his eye at a fourth year Gryffindor named Alice.

"Do you like her?" Sirius immediately prodded, quicker on the uptake than James who was still trying to figure out what Frank could have been looking at because it couldn't just be some girl. Frank's cheeks tinted red, and Sirius grinned because he knew he had guessed correctly. James, however, made a face. He was of the opinion that, while girls didn't have cooties, relationships were just useless.

Seriously, why date when you could spend all that wasted time literally pranking the ears off of people?

Frank sputtered indignantly for a few moments, suddenly regained his composure, and parted with "You two had better make up with Remus."

And suddenly, they were reminded of why they had been talking to Frank in the first place. Both boys frowned. Honestly, they didn't know what to do. They had been planning on Remus being a bit angry at them, at worst, not absolutely terrified at what they would do with the information they had gathered. Really, it hadn't even occurred to them before that being a werewolf was actually a big deal.

"Hi James. Hi Sirius," Peter yawned as he walked into the hall. He had slept in, he always slept later than his friends, and had no idea of Remus' secret or the turmoil between his three friends.

"Hi Pete," James sighed. Sirius didn't even bother with words, merely grunting slightly at the greeting.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked, looking between the two in confusion. They had been perfectly fine last night; what could have happened?

James and Sirius shared a pensive look. They wanted to tell Peter; he was their friend, after all, and they trusted him. But they were already in deep trouble with Remus, and spreading around his secret probably wouldn't help them reconcile.

"It's kind of a secret," Sirius whispered, leaning in so no one else could hear, "so we'll tell you tonight when no one else is around."

Peter was confused about what on earth could be so secret and happen in one night while Remus was sick, he was asleep, and the other two were in detention, but nodded anyway. After all, not many things could make James Potter sigh and Sirius Black grumble.

"Go ahead and eat, Pete. We've already finished, but we'll meet you at class," James smiled, shooing Peter along and then dragging Sirius out of the room.

"Aww, James, I'm actually hungry you know!" Sirius complained, but he stopped short at the look on his friend's face.

"We have to find Remus, convince him we won't tell and that we don't hate him, and ask if we could pretty please tell Peter his secret without Peter figuring out anything is wrong all before tonight! We don't have time to eat!" James steamed, summing up their day rather effectively.

"Oh, right," Sirius sighed, not looking forward to any of those conversations one bit. Well, maybe when they tell Peter that Remus is a werewolf, if he takes it well. Whatever happens, though, his face will definitely be hilarious. "So where would Remus go to get away from us?"

"The library," James stated immediately.

"Good, we'll start there," Sirius said, taking the lead and turning left down a corridor. After about two minutes, he came to a sudden stop. "Uh, James? Do you know where the library is?"

"No, I thought you knew!" James yelled, exasperated that they had been wasting precious time getting lost.

"Excuse me," Sirius stopped a passing girl with a smile, "can you tell me where the library is?"

The girl, who was rather short and had long brown hair, nodded.

"Just follow this hall that way," she pointed back the way they had come, "and turn left at the portrait of Francis Raegmon, he's the old black-haired man that glares at everyone, it should be right in front of you after that."

There were plenty black-haired portraits, many of them old, and every single one glared as the two boys walked past. Though that probably had less to do with the fact that someone was there than who exactly was there. Even some of the pictures had been affected by their pranks, after all, so not many of the canvas people liked them much.

"This is him, right?" James asked, spotting one such painting opposite of a hallway.

"I don't know, he looks exactly like the other forty," Sirius griped. He always got a bit snappy when he was hungry.

"Well, this one's across from a hallway," James mused, turning to look down the hall. The girl had said the library would be right there in front of them once they turned, so logically he would be able to see it if-

"Maybe," the portrait snapped, "you could ask him if he's who you're looking for!"

"Oh, uh, yeah, is your name… uh…" James put a hand in front of his mouth so that the portrait couldn't see it but Sirius could and mouthed, Fran? Frank? Fred?

"Is your name Francis?" Sirius asked, giving James a look that said something along the lines of it's only been two minutes. You should be able to remember that.

"It might be," the man sneered.

"I hope it's not, because that's a really girly name," Sirius shot right back, pulling out his little-used Patented Black Sneer before turning around and marching down the corridor opposite the now affronted painting.

"You need some food, mate," James grinned. Before Sirius could make a snide remark about that too, James pointed at a large set of double doors straight ahead. "There! That's the library, right?" Sirius shrugged noncommittally. "Fat lot of good you are. Come on, let's check."

The two of them threw the doors open with no regard for library protocol, saved from the cacophonous noise and eminent lecture only by the charm that slowed the doors on their own. James didn't notice, but Sirius (who had thrown his door extra hard to express his irritation at both missing breakfast and Remus' honestly ludicrous behavior) was disappointed.

He had no more than a second to fix the doors with the Patented Black Glare (wow, he was using a lot of the patented Black expressions he had used only sparingly since meeting James) before James yelled, "Remus!"

Remus, who had been staring silently and uncomprehendingly at his charms textbook for the last half hour, tried desperately to steady his breathing. He was about two seconds away from having a panic attack, something he hadn't had a problem with since meeting James and Sirius and Peter.

Because he knew he could count on them.

But now they knew.

Now they knew, and they would hate him.

The only three friends he had ever had would hate him, and he would be alone again, but this time everyone would know his secret, and they would all hate him.

He was used to that. He could deal with that.

But- but James? And Sirius? And Peter?

He could deal with the world of faceless strangers hating him, but he didn't know if he could deal with them hating him.

Sure, they had sided with that girl (what was her name? Sara? Serifina?) about werewolves, but that was hypothetical. Hypothetical werewolves and hypothetical opinions that didn't matter in the real world, not one bit. When faced with a werewolf, a real werewolf, not a hypothetical one, they would no longer think they were "wicked". Not in the slang use of the word anyway.

His eyes skimmed the page in front of him, seeking for anything to hold on to, to use as a base, to help him ignore these feelings.

Nothing. He couldn't even read the page. What charm was it even talking about? Wingardium Leviosa? Jellylegs Jinx?

The doors of the library flew open, but Remus didn't so much as blink. He didn't even notice. Not until he heard a voice that had him up on his feet and turning the other way before he could think.

"Remus!" James yelled.

Oh Merlin, he yelled. Was he so mad that Remus hadn't told him about the secret? The scarred boy was on his feet and heading to the back of the library. No matter there was no exit back there. No way could Remus get past his two quidditch-playing friends, so he headed anywhere else. Maybe he could circle back and escape when they rushed after him.

Unfortunately, it seemed his friends - were they his friends still, though? – were too smart for that.

They flanked him, and cornered him in the back of the library with his back to the wall between the common books and the restricted section. He was pale and sweating like mad, eyes wide but fixed resolutely on the floor between him and his captors.

He wouldn't see the looks on their faces. The hate.

"Remus," James nearly whispered.

Remus flinched like he had just been slapped.

"C'mon Remus, let's talk about this," James continued with a pained wince. They had done this to him, to their friend, he just hoped they could fix it.

"Not here though, back in our dorm," Sirius added quickly, glancing around. They had drawn a fair bit of unwanted attention from all their running around and yelling, but the person he noticed most was the one sitting in a table not ten feet away. A person with shaggy black hair and stormy grey eyes who was only a year beneath them.

Yes, Regulus was here. Regulus, who Sirius had desperately tried to break from his parents' grasp, but every time he did just seemed to cling harder to his beliefs. Regulus who was the perfect pureblood, and would do who knows what horrible things with the information he could gather from this talk. He was seated with another student, a little blond girl who Sirius didn't spare a glance to.

"Please Remus," James pleaded, catching on to Sirius' line of thought without a pause, "just come back to the dorm and let us talk about this. After that- you can… I don't know, forgive us, or never speak to us again, or whatever you want, but please hear us out first."

Forgive us.

Forgive them? Did they… think they had done something wrong?

Well, they had, obviously, with the whole stalking thing, but… did they think he was mad at them?

Maybe… Maybe they… didn't hate him after all?

Or maybe it was a trick.

Remus shoved that last thought violently from his mind- James and Sirius were not ones to beat around the bush or hold back their thoughts. If they didn't have any shred of care left for him, they would have flat out told him, probably announced his lycanthropy to the world, and promptly pranked him to oblivion by now.

Two shakey breaths passed, Remus still refusing to lift his eyes from the ground, before he nodded. A tiny bob of the head, easily missed, but the two boys had been looking for it, and Remus heard them both let out the breaths they had apparently been holding.

"To the common room!" Sirius declared, regaining some of his usual bravado. He led the way out of the library with only a glance at his brother.

"We have potions in ten minutes," Remus protested weakly, following anyway as James grabbed his books from the table he'd been sitting at.

"I'd say this is a bit more important than ol' Sluggy, mate," James grinned. Remus still hadn't looked up from the floor, but he could hear the grin in James' voice.

"It's not like he'd ever give James or me detention anyway," Sirius stated neutrally. This was irritating to him, Remus knew, for several reasons. The primary of which was that he and James were having a detention contest (in which Remus and Peter were technically participating but no one thought they would win because they didn't even want to). Second to that was just the idea of Slughorn himself; Sirius didn't much like Slughorn, because the man was head of Slytherin house. That alone wouldn't have been enough to warrant the teen's disdain though; it was more the fact that the man would not stop remarking about how much of a shame it was that such a talented Black was in any house but his own. This would have flattered most people, or been just a bit irritating, but for Sirius it was a reminder that he was the outcast of his family, and seemed a constant assault on his decision to argue his way into Gryffindor.

Remus stayed silent, despite the urge to say something, anything, that had even the slightest chance of cheering the rogue Black up.

Right now he had to focus on not breaking down before his only friends even turned on him.