Chapter 11

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter

Remus wakes to yelling, unable to understand why. He feels a hand stroking through his hair and leans into it, hoping it can sooth his growing headache. That's when the yelling stops, much to his relief. He opens his eyes to see his fellow Marauders around his bed in the hospital, James standing right in Peter's face though both are now looking at him.

"Wha's g'on," Remus mutters, eyes fluttering closed again before he reopens them, not feeling the need to put much effort into waking up with the hand still soothingly continuing it's petting in his hair.

"Nothing Remy, just a small argument," James reassures, looking at Peter as though he's daring him to turn it into more.

"Yeah, just a spat, it's over now anyway," Peter agrees, stepping away from James.

"You shouldn't even be awake yet," Sirius says from above him, Remus looks up at him blinking at the upside down face before he squints at it in a rather adorable fashion if you ask Sirius, "What?"

"You stayed. I told you not to watch." Sirius smiles lightly as his hand moves to stroke Remus' cheek instead of his hair, Remus leaning into it, eyes closing as he smiles peacefully. He doesn't see the way Sirius' eyes water as he watches him begin to fall asleep.

"And I told you, I'm not going anywhere."

Remus is released that afternoon with strict orders of bed rest. They all head back to the common room and find Severus Snape with Frank Longbottom, playing wizard chess in front of the roaring fire, most of the house standing around watching.

"Are they still playing?" Peter asks quietly as they enter the room so as not to destroy the tense and quiet atmosphere.

"How long have they been at it?" Sirius asks curiously, James chuckles.

"Well, Severus turned up at about six this morning, apparently the Slytherins were being gits so he made his escape. Frank and he started their game maybe ten minutes after he got here. An hour after that Bellatrix turned up and Pete and I went down to meet you."

"What's the time now?" Remus asks in a quiet voice the others haven't heard from him in a while.

"Two-thirty." He just nods in acknowledgement. The blokes take him up to the dormitory where they find Mary, Lily, and Bellatrix on the ground, deep in conversation.

"Completely oblivious!" Lily complains.

"They're guys Lily, what do you expect?" Bellatrix asks her with a teasing smile, the three girls laugh.

"Who's being oblivious?" Sirius asks with a grin as he sits with them, "I love gossip."

"Severus Snape, James Potter, Frank Longbottom, and Peter Pettigrew," Mary replies fatly, Sirius raises an eyebrow.

"Oh reeaalllyyyy?" He asks, waggling his eyebrows suggestively, "So tell me, oh wise council of ladies, are they not seeing what I think they're not seeing? Because if so, something about those numbers isn't adding up."

"Potter, Pete, go down stairs," Lily tells them, James rolls his eyes but immediately does so, Peter's about to question it when James drags him out. "Now, what's said in this room stays between us, right?" Sirius nods, "Remy? Is asleep. Okay then."

"Full moon tuckered the little pup out."

"Was it that or the hide and seek you tried to play with him."

"No I think attempting that tuckered me out. Now come on, spill."

"Okay so, Frank hasn't picked up that Alice has been crushing on him for a year, Pete's being completely oblivious about Mary's feelings for him, and I don't even know what's going on with Sev and Potter." Sirius looks thoughtful for a moment.

"Maybe that's for the best right now. On all accounts."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, a lot of people don't start dating at twelve. In fact I'd say most don't. Peter especially has mentioned girls barely being a passing thought for him right now. Maybe they aren't seeing it because they aren't ready to see it." The girls all sigh save for Bellatrix who makes a face that makes Sirius think she'd said the same thing.

"Severus and James are a different story though."

"How so?" Lily asks, Mary and Bellatrix exchanging exasperated looks. Sirius makes a mental note to tell Andromeda about this, he thinks she'd be happy for her little sister.

"They've been crushing on people the entire time I've known them."

"Told ya," Mary says smugly, "Only now I've seen them pretending to be together and I'm convinced they'd make a great couple."

"Yes well obviously something is going on there, the question is how to get them to admit it and what to do about the crushes they both already have."

"Any ideas?" Bellatrix asks her cousin who smirks.

"Lock them in a closet? Then they can…come out of the closet together," Sirius suggests, they all laugh.

"As amusing as that would be, at this point they'd kill each other before anything else," Lily points out.

"They need a buffer," Mary says, then she smirks devilishly, "I've got it! We put them to work clearing out the attic. Just give them a list of things to get rid of while we're all 'busy' with other things. Lily you should be with them as a buffer."

"Sev and I are close, but Potter and I don't have a great history of getting along," Lily points out, Bellatrix groans.

"Lily, why do boys pull girls pigtails on the playground?"

"Because they're jerks?"

"Sirius, why did you do it?" Bellatrix asks him, he shrugs.

"I mean, they're there and set up so perfectly. I only actually did that once but in my defence I just wanted to play with her and she wasn't paying attention to me so…" He trails off, the girls laugh.

"Yeah Sirius, you may be one of the girls here, but sometimes, you are still such a boy."

"Um…thanks?"

"Merlin's pants! Potter has a crush on me?" Lily asks suddenly, Sirius' eyes widen.

"How in the held did you get that from my story about the kid whose name I've literally forgotten?"

"It's a girl thing," Mary tells him, "Now Lily, think over Severus and James' relationship carefully."

"Oh…they both like me." She sits quietly for a while.

"Has it occurred to anyone to let them sort things out on their own in their own time? It's not like we don't all have time," Remus mumbles from his bed, the four gossiping preteens chuckle.

"Nope."

The next day is Transfiguration in which they had to hand in a paper on their thoughts of how wizard chess might work magic wise. Severus and James are so nervous about giving themselves away they over sell it and are separated to either side of the large group, the rest of the class laugh at how disappointed the two look, especially their friends. McGonagall requests Remus stay behind after she's read through his work. His friends hesitate but he nods for them to go, even as he gulps nervously.

"The date being what it is I would've normally let this go unmentioned, but given I know for a fact you finished this piece of work two days ago, I feel the need to bring it up." Remus frowns.

"Is something wrong with my assessment Professor?" McGonagall sighs as she takes off her glasses and puts them on the work before her.

"Not wrong, no. Though I must confess I was expecting something a little more insightful, I was disappointed." Remus' frown shifts to a look of confusion.

"I wouldn't really consider myself an insightful student, Professor McGonagall." He replies honestly, she looks at him sadly.

"And that, Mr Lupin, is most disappointing of all." He seems even more confused, "When you came to this school a year ago you were shy, a bit anti-social, and almost constantly looked as though you'd rather the Earth would swallow you up than continue on with your life. In all honesty I was concerned for your future at this school, then I watched you give up your break to help a fellow student who just wanted to make it work. And then, you came back to me and handed up the extension work I'd given to stop students that finished early from being bored, because you'd felt guilty for ignoring work handed to you. I am glad you have made friends Remus, I am glad that you are so much more full of life and hope than you were this time last year, but I find myself asking, would that boy have ever handed up this paper? Would he have been satisfied with this conclusion? Tell me Mr Lupin, are you?" Remus looks down at the sheet she'd given him and thinks back to the day he'd finished it. It had been only a few days after the experiment and his friends had told him he was still behaving strangely. He thought they may have been exaggerating slightly, yet he distinctly remembers rushing through the last half just to get it done because he had wanted to hang out with everyone else but had promised himself he'd get his work done first. He'd done that because he thought it was a Remus Lupin type of thing to do, he was wrong though. Because now he reads through his conclusion and realises he wasn't satisfied with it, he was rather disappointed actually. He hands it back to her.

"Thank you, Professor," He tells her, mentally going through the work he'd completely half-assed over the last week and prioritising things still due so that he can fix it all. She smiles slightly.

"It's good to have you back Mr Lupin."

He convinces the group to go work on the attic and off shoot without him for the day, he has work to do. So for his break he went to the library, he also spent lunch there. His lesson after that was History of Magic, and so he goes to join them there.

"How do you suddenly have so much work to do?" Marlene asks him, he looks to the ground, ashamed of his actions.

"I've always had this much work to do, I just wasn't doing it. Focused too much on emotions and forgot to think I guess," He replies as he pulls out the History of Magic assignment due at the beginning of this lesson. He'd almost completely rewritten the bullshit he had previously considered completed and was rather proud of his work, hastily thrown together though it may be.

"Please hand up your assignments, today we are starting a new segment," Professor Binns begins, everyone puts theirs in a pile on his desk. Remus isn't surprised his appears to be the biggest, he may have gotten a little bit carried away. But it would teach his Professors to set a word maximum instead of just a minimum he supposes. Though really, they should have learnt that last year.

When everyone is back in their seats, Binns pins a diagram of a Werewolf onto the wall.

"Today we begin studying the history of Werewolves in regards to the ministry of magic." Remus freezes, willing himself to breathe and reminding himself that he cannot simply walk out of the classroom or people might grow suspicious And back we are to me counting the seconds between breaths and how long the breaths last for I suppose…but what if they really do notice, why am I joking about this this is serious! Dumbledore said we wouldn't look at Werewolves until Third year!

"Remy?" James whispers to his friend, Remus doesn't respond but at least he's breathing again. Binns goes on to talk about werewolves in society and the dangers and the prejudice. The registry, and everything else the Ministry had done, at any other time Remus might have been impressed with the amount of information he got through in one lesson. As it is, he is not. Remus raises his hand to ask a question, his group of friends looking at him in surprise and with worry.

"Yes, Mr Lupin?"

"Why did the ministry create the Werewolf registry?" The entire class is silent, Professor Binns looks at Remus in confusion.

"So that we know who they are."

"Yes but, why do you need to know? You said earlier that outside of the full moon, Werewolves are just like any other person. It's the wolf that's the problem, so why do they keep track of the person as well?" His voice is full of simple curiosity, as if he just wanted to understand, maybe he did.

"Because that person could become dangerous."

"So can any person," Remus replies without any hesitation, "How do we know that Werewolves really are mindless beasts?"

"Because they attack us," Binns tells the boy, ignoring his other statement.

"Sorry Professor, only I was reading a book about Werewolves in the library and it said that they pose little danger to animals other than humans. Doesn't that sort of imply that the humans are the problem in that equation, not the Werewolf?"

"I don't know what you mean Mr Lupin."

"Well, if every person you had met reacted very badly to you, don't you think you'd react badly to people?"

"You're saying that Werewolves are docile?"

"No Professor, I'm merely saying that People are capable of horrible things, especially when they feel threatened, but Werewolves doing the same makes them monsters? Who are we to decide that? And who are we to decide that the human they are most of the time is any more of a threat than any other?"

"You misunderstand Mr Lupin, even outside of the full moon, these creatures are never human." Remus' eye twitches almost inperceptively.

"Person, then."

"We have every right to protect ourselves young man."

"But that's my point Sir," Remus insists, by this point having the attention of the entire class, "So do they."

"I'm not appreciating you disrupting all of my classes for the simple act of creating pointless arguments with me Mr Lupin," Professor Binns tells him, Remus sits up straighter in his seat.

"With all due respect Sir, it's been twice out of every lesson I've had with you for over a year, and I'd hardly call this a pointless argument Professor. I'm trying to understand why this instance of prejudice is acceptable, even rejoiced, yet when people say similar things of danger and inhumanity about muggle-borns everyone loses their shit. And while, admittedly, I could have handled things better last time, may I remind you Professor Binns, I was right." Binns looks very very annoyed, so does all of Gryffindor house, his friends just seem bewildered and a tad exasperated. The Professor writes something down and holds the piece of paper out to Remus.

"Take this note and go see Professor McGonagall, she can deal with you." Remus rolls his eyes, grabbing his things and the note.

"For the record, you still failed to dispute my point."

"30 points from Gryffindor."

"Yes I thought that might be coming," Remus says as he leaves the room, heading directly to McGonagall's office.

When he arrives, he knocks on her door and finds Dumbledore in there with her, he internally curses as he holds his head high and walks forwards, still annoyed by what happen with Professor Binns.

"What can I help you with, Mr Lupin?" McGonagall asks, Remus takes a deep breath to calm his anger slightly before he hands the note to her.

"I was told to give you this," He says shortly, McGonagall raises her eyebrows slightly as she takes the note before reading it through. She clears her throat slightly before she speaks.

"Mr Lupin, is there a particular reason you've decided to be deliberately combative when it comes to Professor Binns?" She asks as she looks up at him, Remus resists the urge to sigh as he takes the seat she gestures him to.

"I was not being deliberately combative, I asked a question he apparently didn't want to answer."

"And your previous lesson with him?"

"I was only trying to correct him, he wouldn't even listen." McGonagall sighs lightly.

"What was it you asked him?" Dumbledore asks, Remus bites back the comment he wishes to say. Remembering what the others said about behaving naturally, he decides he'd usually make at least an attempt at being respectful. Though really, thinking back he can now see all the times he behaved strangely and hopes that awareness means he's back to normal, or close to.

"I asked him why the ministry created the Werewolf registry." Something akin to understanding crosses over McGonagall's face as Dumbledore actually looks mildly regretful.

"I'd forgotten about this particular segment when I told you the subject wouldn't be covered for another year, my apologies. I am curious though, how did a simple question like that escalate to you being asked to leave?" This time Remus really does sigh.

"I think Professor Binns is still annoyed about my proving him wrong, Headmaster. That, and I did not believe 'so that we know who they are' really answered my question." Dumbledore smiles slightly.

"No, I don't suppose it would," He replies simply, "I think I shall leave this in your capable hands Minerva. But for the record, Mr Lupin, there is a reason you were unable to get a good answer out of your Professor."

"What's that, Sir?" Remus asks, unsure where he's going with this, Dumbledore's eyes twinkle mischievously at him, as though they were sharing an inside joke.

"Because there isn't one." For the first time in a while, Remus is reminded of everything this man has done to help him. While he'll never give in on the Bellatrix front nor forget how manipulative he can most certainly be, perhaps he isn't as bad as Remus has made him out to be in his head.

Ten minutes later, while Remus is doing his classwork in McGonagall's office, a paper plane arrives on her desk. When she looks at it, she sighs and looks to Remus.

"I think you'd better come with me." He seems concerned, but packs up his stuff and follows after her diligently. They walk back to the classroom he had been kicked out of to find absolute chaos. As soon as McGonagall arrives the room falls silent.

"Oh thank Merlin," Binns mutters when he sees them, the usually rather monotone and composed ghost looking very flustered.

"What's going on here?" McGonagall asks in a no-nonsense tone.

"What's going on is the child lurking behind you continues to cause disruptions in my class." Remus seems confused, as does McGonagall.

"Professor, Mr Lupin has been with me, and for a time Albus as well, since you sent him out. How could he possibly be responsible for all of this?" She asks, gesturing around the room where many students are out of their seats, a few on desks, Severus and Sirius in each other's faces with James in between them looking as though he had been preventing them from fighting before she arrived and everyone stopped where they were.

"Because his ridiculous arguments set them all off and they refused to clam down or listen to me until I had another Professor come in and explain to them exactly what I was already telling them."

"Actually Professor, I believe we specifically requested a competent teacher to answer our questions instead of trying to shut us up. Now that one has been provided, perhaps you can help us out Professor," Lily asks, from her position standing on top of Binns' desk as she turns to face McGonagall who is looking extremely amused.

"Everyone return to your seats, Mr Lupin, you included."

"Yes Professor," He responds, everyone moving to do so.

"What is it you would like to know?" Minerva asks Lily who sits up straighter in her chair, mildly embarrassed at being found standing on top of her teacher's desk yelling at him.

"Why are Werewolves monitored so severely?" McGonagall smiles slightly as she moves to the front of the class and stands in front of Binns' desk.

"Mr Lupin posed his question about the registry to your Headmaster earlier when he came to my office, and Professor Dumbledore responded by telling him there is no good reason," She tells them to the surprise of everyone, especially Binns, "The truth of the matter is, they are feared. We do not understand exactly how lycanthropy truly works. We know that the bit will either die or become Werewolves themselves, and we know it is through blood and saliva contact that this occurs. But why the moon has the effect on them that it does, and where this infection comes from, we do not know. People have a ridiculous habit of fearing what they do not understand, given a Werewolves ability to pose a dangerous threat, perhaps the fear is not entirely unfounded. Because we do not truly understand it, there are a lot of misconceptions, one of which is that the person is more dangerous than others even when not exposed to the full moon. They do not realise that this is a disease, an infection, and that the greatest victim of it are those who have been bit. So to answer your question, the reason Werewolves are monitored as they are, Miss Evans, is because humanity is afraid, and what humanity fears usually ends up in far greater danger than the thing posed to us to begin with. A sad fact of life I'm afraid," She tells them, the class remains silent for long moments after she has spoken, too ashamed of what they are to speak in their own defence. The group wonders if this is how Remus feels whenever someone other than them mentions Werewolves, "Does that answer your question?"

"Yes Professor, unfortunately so," Lily replies quietly, then Sirius raises his hand.

"Yes, Mr Black?" McGonagall asks, Sirius looks conflicted.

"Earlier while Remy was questioning Professor Binns about this, the Professor said that even while not affected by the full moon, they still aren't human. Is that true?" Minerva narrows her eyes at Binns who seems mildly sheepish.

"That is highly debatable Mr Black. The infection mutates the DNA of the infected, quite severely while the moon is out, that is why they change. Though as I said before we've no idea why that happens. Given that it is still present while they are in human form, one could argue that as proof they are no longer human. However, one could also argue that it does not change who they are at all, as a person nor as a physical being, and all it does is add more to what makes them who they are. Both in personality, and in their DNA. In this, it is my belief that lycanthropes are more human than we are."

"Thank you, Professor." No one else speaks.

"Now, I want you all to know that this behaviour has been unacceptable, if it happens again you will all receive detention, I do not care how many of you there are. Do I make myself clear?" Everyone nods, "Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have my own work to do," She tells them all, beginning to leave the room before she quickly turns back, "Professor Binns, I'd like to speak with you and Albus later." Then she's gone.

Sufficed to say, the rest of the lesson is rather sombre.

The mood hadn't changed when they all got to dinner. The class had been held back for their behaviour as Binns finished the lesson, making up the time they had all 'messed around'.

"You guys didn't need to keep arguing the point you know," Remus tells them quietly as they walk to dinner.

"You aren't the only one who cares for the rights of lycanthropes you know," Lily tells him, he smiles at her.

"Thank you," He tells her, then he sees James looking put out and frowns, "What's wrong?"

"I just…got so caught up in waiting for the day I could finally help out in this war that I forgot there are other battles worth fighting. I mean, even once this thing with you-know-who is done, even if we win, life will go on. For some people, us winning doesn't really mean they get a better life." Lily takes his hand, squeezing it and smiling reassuringly.

"There are always ways to help," She tells him softly, "You just have to find yours." He nods, squeezing her hand back and nodding grimly.

"People have done big movements before, haven't they? Fighting for the rights of others and stuff?" Sirius asks suddenly, "And for themselves?" He adds with a quick look to Remus.

"Of course," Lily replies, "McGonagall said people are afraid of things they don't understand. With our work, all anonymous of course, we could make them understand. Write a book or something, maybe one day it won't have to be anonymous, we can stop them being afraid." The three look at each other excitedly, naturally it's Severus who brings up the obvious flaw.

"Who'd believe it though?" They frown, "Besides, from everything we've seen it may be too late for an adult wolf who won't calm down long enough to realise they aren't in danger. I'm not saying that's their fault, I'm just saying there's some serious psychological damage going on there, one that we can't necessarily help. We don't know how the wolf's mind works."

"We've got to be the people in the best position to find out though," Remus points out to everyone's surprise.

"Wait, you're in?" Remus raises an eyebrow.

"I am not going to just stand around while these poor werewolves are criticized and feared simply because no one bothers to get to know them a little better. I mean sure, I'd like to have more freedom and less fear in my life too, but there's more to this then getting human's treated better. Imagine being Moony is this situation." Sirius suddenly smiles in an odd mix of proud amusement.

"Remy, are you getting protective of Moony?" Remus stands up straighter.

"Yes. Moony deserves better. And so do I." No one had ever heard him say anything even remotely positive about this before, especially not like this, and they're proud.

"Then let's make things better for you both," Severus declares, "Forget what I said, we'll make them believe it, we'll make them understand, and we'll drag everyone into a new era. Kicking and bloody screaming if we have to. The time for change is now."

They reach the door to the Great Hall with renewed purpose. Yes, they'd help with the war if it's still on when they graduate. But James was right, it's not the only battle worth fighting, and this was one battle they refuse not to win.