I woke up in the hospital wing with a banging headache. James, Peter and Remus were all peering anxiously down at me.
"What happened…?" I groaned.
"Snape picked up your Beater bat and threw it at you. You cracked your skull… but the nurse mended it okay." Remus said gently, stroking my hair out of my eyes. It felt nice…
"Snivellus is such a bastard." spat James. I agreed heartily. What a sore loser! He could have killed me!
"James hexed him until he could barely stand up!" Peter said.
James grinned modestly.
"Well, it was really Remus that was the spitfire! He jumped on Snape and nearly throttled him!"
I looked at Remus in surprise. He was usually the mot sensible and composed of the Marauders. It was hard to imagine him beating Snape to a pulp.
"Yeah, and Remus was the one who was practically crying for the past hour!" Peter added.
Remus blushed, swatting at Peter with one hand.
"Well he got you right in the back of the head! You could have died!"
I nodded, but then stopped as it made the splitting pain in my head worse.
"Did somebody see? Is he being punished?" I asked hopefully. I had an image of Snape being thrown off the Slytherin team… or sent away from the school altogether…
James nodded with satisfaction.
"He's got detention every day this year."
"That's not nearly enough," growled Remus, soaking a sponge in a bowl of water on the table next to my bed and swabbing my forehead. It felt nice and cold, and soothed my sore head. I smiled gratefully up at him.
"Your head will hurt a lot for a while," Remus told me, dipping the sponge back into the bowl.
"We won though…" I sighed. James nodded, beaming down at me.
"It was a great win as well, mate! Stroke of genius. You really stuck it to Snape!"
I left the hospital the next day, my headache completely cleared up, and in high spirits. Remus told us that he would be visiting relatives that evening. James and I exchanged looks; it must be that "time of the month." We still hadn't worked it out, and James had been hinting we follow him in the invisibility cloak. I was still sure we could work it out ourselves, however.
Remus left the common room at seven o'clock, and James and Peter began a discussion about where he could be going. I watched them for a while, and then I went up to the dormitory to do my Transfiguration essay. I paused to look out of the window. Was that Remus, walking across the grass with Madam Pomfrey? I watched as they crossed the lawn and out of sight. They seemed to be heading towards the Whomping Willow. But why would anybody want to go to that sadistic tree? They must be going somewhere else…
I picked up my essay, deciding to do it there on the windowsill, so that I could watch if Remus returned. He didn't, but Madam Pomfrey came back alone a few minutes later. I picked up my quill, dipped it in the ink and began to write. The moon slid out from behind a cloud, and lit up the night. It struck me how big and round it looked. Actually, it was a full moon last time Remus left mysteriously as well…
In fact… I'm pretty sure it always has been a full moon when he has gone AWOL. Excitement coursing through me, I ran to my trunk and pulled out my copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I flicked through to the section on werewolves, and read it carefully. This was it! This must be the reason he left every month, every full moon. He was a werewolf! It was possible… in fact it all makes sense now.
I wasn't shocked. Why should I be? I would ask Remus if it was true when he gets back in the morning… but I'm pretty sure that this is the explanation. It makes perfect sense. However, I will confront Remus before I tell the others about my discovery.
I knew Remus wouldn't be back until morning, so I undressed and got into bed. James and Peter came up after a while, and fell asleep pretty much straight away. There was no point staying up all night, so I set my alarm on a clock I got from Diagon Alley, and went to sleep.
