Peter was curled up on the armchair near the fire, homework sitting on the table forgotten as he read the chapter Remus told him he would be interested in.

It was a book of history, but based not on solid evidence but stories. Tales that had been passed down verbally from one generation to another, until the period between two wars when a wizard travelled the world and took the stories from those who lived remotely, from places where verbal storytelling was still alive and strong, and had written it all down.

The first part of the book covered ancient civilisations, musings and myths on gods and heroes. The part Remus had pointed out to him was more concerned with animals of magical origin, of dark and light creatures.

The myth of the werewolf was in there, mixed in with some facts known at the time. But alongside this were stories of others, as well as sketches depicting what these others may have looked like.

It is not known if there were other animals, beside werewolves, which were limited to the time of the moon. Some experts believe these stories came from early day Animagi, while the tales tell a different story. There are tales of were-lions in Africa, were-bears in America and other were-mammals. Stories of large lions prowling around villages late at night, that had the strange half-man, half-animal appearance that are common to were-wolf sightings. However, these animals do not seem to have been spotted since the end of the last century.

There remains a question on what happened to them. It is possible they drew themselves away from human eyes and hide in remote places as of yet untouched by humans. Others believe they died out, that they made a choice not to bite and create others or that they bred together, and bred themselves out of extinction.

There followed stories of sightings, lengthy descriptions of what people had seen when witnessing these half-men, half-animals.

"Answer your question?" Remus asked, glancing up. Peter nodded.

"Yeah. They might still be out there."

"What might be?" James muttered, eyes focused on his homework.

"Other were-animals," Remus said, gesturing to the book. He explained what he had already read. James listened, returning to his work as soon as Remus was finished.

"Cool."

They returned to their individual activities. There wasn't long before they went back to classes, and all four of them had work that needed to be done. Remus wanted to get his out of the way before the full moon.

He was only really beginning to notice the smaller things about himself, the things he had always thought were normal and things he thought he shared with everyone. But, clearly, that wasn't the case. It was mainly through his letters to and from the other werewolf that he was learning more, as the older man gently explained certain aspects Remus found fascinating and terrifying.

He had been encouraged to pay more attention to himself, to notice what he craved in the days surrounding the moon and his overall attitude towards that time. James had asked him for help and Remus had snapped at him to do it himself. He had eaten a whole steak the day before, not realising until he finished how much he enjoyed red meat at that time of the month. His dreams got worse and his sleep suffered. Headaches, though not major, were frequent.

Marcus had told him some of it was just simply the wolf. The meat, the restless, the strange bouts of energy. Some of it, he explained, was as a result of him trying to fight his inner wolf too hard. The headaches, for example.

You have to learn to completely accept yourself, Remus.

He stood, stretching. The others turned to him.

"Where you going?" Sirius asked.

"A walk. Maybe a run."

"Want some company?"

"Sure."

James and Peter both waved off their offers to join them, and the pair made their way out of the tower and into the grounds of the castle. The snow was melting all around, outside of the path around the castle and leading towards the greenhouses that had been kept clear by magic.

Hagrid was working out by the forest, and the pair could just about make out his large form as they stepped out.

They began to walk along the wall of the castle, Sirius with his hands stuffed in his pockets. Remus didn't feel cold. Instead, his blood was running hot and he knew if anyone were to touch him, they'd feel the heat radiating off his skin. Sirius was wearing a thick, fur-lined cloak. Remus just wore his normal robes over jeans and a t-shirt.

"Full moon soon, huh?" Sirius asked.

Remus nodded.

"Aren't you cold?"

Remus held his hand out, and Sirius lightly touched the back of it.

"All right. Not cold. Got it."

Remus grinned, tilting his head to one side to stretch out his neck. "Give it a week and I'll be as freezing as you guys."

"Doesn't it get uncomfortable?"

He shrugged. "I'm used to it."

They turned corner of the castle, Sirius glancing over his shoulder at the large willow tree right at the edge of the forest. They had all been warned not to get too close, to stay away from the tree, and he'd seen its branches twitch whenever a student got a little too near.

"So you use that willow to get to the shack?"

Remus nodded. "Yeah. Dumbledore had it all sorted by the time I got here in first year." He looked up at the castle, running his eyes along the turrets and towers. "He made all this possible for me."

Sirius reached out, a hand landing on Remus' shoulder and squeezing gently. "I'm glad. We all owe Dumbledore for that."

"He can't…we can't let him know that you three know what I am."

"You think he doesn't know?"

Remus shrugged. "I have no idea. But…but if he knew what you were trying to do…"

"It's really dangerous, isn't it?"

"Probably the most dangerous thing you three will ever do." Remus sighed. "I wish you wouldn't, you know. It's driven some wizards mad."

"I know." He put his hands in his pockets, rolling his shoulders back. "But we still want to do it, Remus. "And we will do it. I promise."

"What if something goes wrong though? If something happened to one of you, I'd never forgive myself."

"We'll be fine, Remus. We'll be careful. And we won't do any of the really dangerous stuff until we know we can do it, all right?"

"All right." But all Remus could think about was the man who had found himself unable to live as a human, after discovering the joys of being a bear. The wizard had stopped eating, had spent sleepless nights trying to think of how he could leave his wife and children and just live in the forest.

The rare chances he got to transform weren't enough, and he eventually moved to the forest near his home and lived as a bear. He spent so long in his bear form that when his family came looking for him, he had mauled them all. Two days later, three human hunters had come across the bodies and the bear, and shot him dead.

It wasn't just the process that scared Remus, it was what might happen to his friends afterwards.

There were reasons people had to register. Their mental stability was checked before they changed for the first time, and they were matched up with skilled wizards to help them through any problems.

They would have none of those advantages.

"You said you wanted to go for a run?"

Remus grinned at his friend. "Want to make it a race?"

Sirius laughed. "Like you have a chance. You seen how often me and James go running?"

"Of course I have." A grin stretched across Remus' face. "But have you ever run against a werewolf close to the full moon?"

"To the Quidditch Pitch and back?"

"You're on."

Sirius slid out of his fur cloak, bundling it up as Remus cast a spell on it to make sure the snow wouldn't get it wet. Once both boys were ready, they set off.

X X X

Sirius returned to the common room panting, sweat dripping down his face and his hair soaked by it. Remus, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine. There was a healthy sheen on his face, but he looked nowhere near as exhausted as Sirius.

Sirius dropped down in an armchair and, between breaths, said, "Never race a werewolf."

Laughing, Remus sat on the small sofa beside James. James just shook his head, before returning to the book he was reading. There was parchment in front of him, with scrawled notes written across it.

"What you working on?" Sirius asked, leaning over to look at the parchment.

"Just trying to work out this potion," James muttered, frowning as he looked from the book to parchment and back again. "All the directions on it are…not great. Some pretty odd ingredients we'll need to get hold of. Some of it I don't even think Slughorn would have. Look." He lifted the book, showing the page to Sirius. "Merlin's Blood picked at midnight during the red moon. What the hell does that mean?"

"Merlin's Blood is a plant carefully cultivated by some wizards," Remus muttered, sounding as if he was reciting directly from a textbook. "The petals form a droplet like shape, and they're crimson, not just red. Hence the name. They need dark, dank places to grow. I think they grow some in the forest. And the red moon is the name given to a full moon that follows a red sunset. You know, red sky at night…"

"Shepard's delight," Peter finished, glancing up from the book Remus had lent him. "What's the potion even for?"

"It's the potion that lets you see what your animal is going to be," James explained. "Depending on the animal, you need to use different methods when working towards becoming an Animagi. So it's like the first step."

"You've done your research."

James blushed as he glanced at Remus. "Well, I read your notes, actually. The potion…" He shook his head. "It really does sound difficult."

"Let's see."

James pushed the parchment towards Remus. Remus read over it, leaning back as he scanned James' hastily written notes. He grabbed a clean piece and the quill sitting beside James, and began to jot down notes.

"You guys will have to look out for the red sky, for obvious reasons. The moon sometimes appears red, too." He glanced up. "It's…something to do with Muggle science."

"Hang on," Sirius said. "Is there something Remus doesn't know?"

"Oh, no," James sighed, shaking his head. "Well, guess the world's about to end, then."

Remus opened his mouth, clamped it quickly shut and glanced over the parchment. "These are kept in the greenhouses. We might be able to sneak some out during the next lesson. Soil from the Forbidden Forest should do for this. You can get that when you get the Merlin's Blood…"

He carried on going through them, jotting down where they might acquire the items. On the last few, he came to a stop. "This is going to be harder. I doubt they even sell it in Diagon Alley…"

"What about Knockturn?" Sirius said, leaning over to have a look.

"How would we get it?" James shook his head. "Not like we can just pop over there. My folks always make sure I never step foot there."

Sirius grinned. "Luckily for you, Mum likes to take Reg shopping with her."

"In Knockturn Alley?" Peter squeaked. "Your mum shops in Knockturn Alley?"

"She…has a couple of favourite shops down there," Sirius explained, rolling his eyes. "Likes to get her jewellery and stuff for the house there. I would tell you to be careful if you ever come to the house, but quite frankly I don't think any of you ever coming to the house is a good idea. It's…not the best place."

The three of them looked at Sirius. He sighed.

"It's just…my mum loves dark objects. There are traps and stuff all over the house. You pick up something you're not supposed to, and you can get landed with a pretty bad hex." His skin flushed red. "I got covered in itchy spots for days after grabbing a shiny stone my mother had got." He rolled his eyes. "It's just best to stay away all together, if you can."

He shifted awkwardly in his seat, and James reached over to squeeze his shoulder. "You know you can stay at mine anytime you want."

"Yeah, I know. Thanks, mate." He smiled, though the look was tinged with dark memories. "Anyway. So if I write to Reg, he'll get us the stuff no questions asked. Won't even tell Mum."

Remus nodded. "Okay. So that's sorted. I think he can probably get these down there." Remus ripped off the piece of parchment, writing a few of the ingredients on the list. "Some of the others…Hogsmeade."

"You reckon?" James muttered, scanning the last few items.

"Yeah. Well, the rest is more simple. Some of it would be in Slughorn's stores, some might even be in the student ones, but I don't want to risk taking more out. We should…we should try to keep Slughorn on our side."

James nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea. All right. Question is, how do we even get down to the village?"

X X X

The teachers, perhaps because there were less students to worry about, had seemed more relaxed over the holidays. They still patrolled the corridors, but these patrols came less often, and the night before everyone was due to return, the four boys gathered in their dormitory with James' cloak on the bed between them.

James picked up one end, running his finger behind the shimmery cloth, smiling as his finger disappeared.

"Just you and Remus?" Sirius said, staring at James. James nodded.

"It makes sense. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves, and Remus knows what we're looking out for."

"I don't like it though," Remus said, sighing. "I mean…this is stealing. Not just that, we're talking about breaking into a place."

"I already told you, we've got a list of items to leave on the counter, plus…" He reached into his pocket, pulling out a collection of gold galleons and silver sickles. "I'll leave this, too. Whatever it costs, we're still paying for it."

Remus nodded. "Okay. Okay! Well, come on, let's go."

James threw the cloak over the pair of them, and Sirius' eyes remained locked on the spot where they disappeared as he said, "Good luck."

They crept down to the Common Room, waited by the portrait hole for someone to emerge. Finally it swung open and a few Fourth Years stumbled in. James and Remus darted out, moving quickly and coming out into the corridor as the portrait of the fat lady closed.

They moved fast through the corridors, both listening out for footsteps, for patrolling teachers or the caretaker Filch and his cat Mrs Norris.

They skirted around corners, kept their footsteps as quiet as possible until they came to the castle doors. After checking every direction to make sure nothing was coming, they pulled them open.

The night air hit both of them, and Remus took a deep breath. The smells, sights and sounds hit him at once. Through the darkness, in the dim light of the almost full moon, he felt he could see every blade of grass between them and the forest. He could smell the owls flying overhead, searching for food, and he had to suppress the urge to bound out into the forest and hunt himself. He could hear the wind whistling, the creatures of the forest burrowing or hunting or running from prey.

He could smell blood.

"Remus?" James whispered. "Are you all right?"

Under the cloak, he was trembling.

"It's just…" he muttered, shaking his head. "Sorry. Just close to the full moon."

James squeezed his shoulder. "We can go back. Do this another night."

"No. No, it's fine. Come on, let's go."

Even with the doors closed, the light from the castle shut off, Remus could see James' grin.

"I'm really going to see where you go every month, aren't I?"

They darted down the steps and across the grass, barely stopping to breathe. Remus reached across James' chest, stopping him as they got close to the willow tree. He bent down, grabbing a long stick, and inched forward slowly, hand on James' cloak, setting the pace for both of them.

Near the tree, he reached forward and jabbed at a knot in the bark with the stick. The branches had begun to move, had started to swoop towards them, and James gasped as they stopped in mid-motion.

"Wow."

"Come on," Remus said, gesturing to a hole near the bottom of the tree. "Let's go."

A/N: As always, your reviews are really appreciated. A huge thank you to everyone who has read this, and to those that had followed and added to their favourites. I'll always keep writing, but knowing there's people who read this gives me an extra push. So yeah, thank you.