There wasn't much time for me to process what happened the previous night. When I returned to the castle there were students already eating breakfast in the Great Hall. I had to force my aching muscles up seven flights of stairs to get to Ravenclaw tower.

My first class was double transfiguration. I was distracted for the entire class. Part of the distraction was trying to keep my eyes open, but that struggle eventually faded away. The other distraction was the thought of Remus. Last night had started off completely normal before transforming into something else. Remus' monthly illness wasn't just some sort of cold or flu, he turned into an animal. A completely feral animal that had attempted to attack me.

After thinking of Remus as a feral animal immediately had me feeling bad. He was such a nice guy. Nothing about him pointed to being a feral wolf. But now that I thought about it his sickness made sense. He was always getting sick during some point of the month, his senses become more sensitive, and he's always craving some sort of raw meat. I always joked with him about being so hungry he would eat a cow. He never found it as funny as I did, and now I could see why.

He was a werewolf. Werewolves were painted in a bad light in the Wizarding Community. Dark creatures that wouldn't hesitate to rip you to shreds. I always found this funny since there were movies in my past lives about werewolves and vampires. Now I was facing a situation where one of (who I consider to be) my closest friends turns into a wolf every full moon.

It made sense why he would be hesitant to anyone about it. I doubted the other Marauders knew about this. With that thought in mind I knew I needed to confront Remus about this. He was dealing with it all by himself. The only people who probably know would be his family, and he's only going to be seeing them two months of the year for the next six years.

When the bell for class finally rang I collected my stuff and rushed out of the room. Edmund called my name but I just shouted something unintelligible back. It was lunch hour and would be the first opportunity I had to talk to Remus. He would probably be out of the Hospital Wing by dinner, and I wanted to catch him before then.

Cautiously entering the Hospital Wing I looked around the room until I spotted the only occupied bed. Closing the door as quietly as I could I scurried over to the side of the bed Remus was facing. His eyes were closed so I reached out to poke him awake when his voice startled me, "What are you doing here, Alex?"

I opened my mouth to ask how he knew it was me but quickly shut it. He probably heard me come in then caught my scent when I came closer. Could he smell me? I suddenly grew self-conscious and made a mental note to take a shower later. "I need to talk to you."

His eyes cracked open and I noted, with some relief, that they were back to their usual hazel color, "What about?"

"About last night."

After the words left my mouth Remus' eyes shot open. All traces of drowsiness were now missing, "Last night?"

I chewed the inside of my cheek in thought of what to say next, "There's a reason you've been getting sick every month isn't there? And not just because of a flu."

Remus slowly sat up from the bed. His worry filled eyes never left mine, "W–What do you mean?"

To hopefully ease some of the tension from his body I gave Remus a gentle smile and placed my hand on top of his fisted one, "I mean that I know, Remus. I know."

The worry was slowly morphing into horror. My attempt to smooth his nerves hadn't worked. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, Alex."

"Remus," I spoke his name slowly while staring into his eyes, "I was there last night. I was with you. I heard you while I was leaving the Whomping Willow." Remus paled further when I mentioned the trees name.

"You…you know," his voice was exceptionally quiet. I had to strain my ears to hear what he said. "You said you were there…" his incredulous eyes were glued onto me, "how could you have been there?"

Quickly glancing around the Hospital Wing to make sure we were alone I clambered onto Remus' bed and sat on his legs. Remus pulled his legs out from underneath me with a humored huff, leaving us sitting on both ends of the bed with out legs crossed and knees touching. "This is a big secret. I could get in major trouble for this, alright?" Remus' eyes hardened with understanding. "I figured I could tell you this since I know about your…furry little problem."

Remus' eyebrows flew up his forehead, "'Furry little problem'?"

I scratched the back of my head with a shrug, "It just kinda…came to me. I think it fits." Remus sighed and nodded uncaringly.

Awkwardly clearing my throat I continued on the conversation, "I've been working on becoming an animagus, do you know what that is?" It took a couple moments of thought before Remus' eyes widened in understanding. I continued before he could say anything, "I went outside last night to get used to my form, which is when I ran into you."

"You're an animagus?" Remus breathed. I just nodded in response since the question was rhetorical. He seemed to be trying to wrap his head around the fact that someone found out about him being a werewolf because they were wandering in their illegal animagus form.

"Alex!" Remus gripped me by the shoulders with desperate eyes, "You can't tell anybody! You can't! Please, don't tell anybody! I'm finally able to be normal here!"

"Whoa, whoa!" I grabbed onto Remus' forearms to stop him from shaking me, "Remus why would I tell anyone about this?"

His grip slackened and confusion mixed with his worry, "What do you mean? Why wouldn't you tell anyone?" Remus' hands moved to his lap and his eyes followed them, "I'm a monster."

"Remus," my voice held a reprimanding tone, "you are not a monster."

He glanced up at me with furrowed brows, "What?"

I gave him an odd look, "How could you think you're a monster?"

Remus' confusion was easy to see, and I could practically feel it in the air around us, "You mean you don't?"

It broke my heart to see this twelve year old boy think he was a monster. This is something he has absolutely no control over, and he thinks I'm just going to go spill his secret to everybody. "Remus I honestly don't think it's that big of a deal. So what if you turn into a raging wolf? It's only for one night. The same shit happens to girls once a month, only that lasts for about a week."

That last part didn't make complete sense to Remus so he decided to forget about it. The fact that I seemed to not care about him being a werewolf was a bigger anomaly, "You don't care that I'm a werewolf?"

I chuckled at his disbelief, "Of course not," I reached forward and squeezed his knee comfortingly, "we're friends. Friends stick together no matter what."

It was silent for a few moments as my blue eyes stared into Remus' hazel. My staring allowed me to see the glossy hue that slowly formed over his eyes. Tears pooled on his bottom lids and spilled over one by one. "You don't care," he breathed. "You're still my friend."

I huffed sadly. Remus has obviously had a bad experience with people knowing about his "furry little problem". Mundane's wouldn't take that sort of information very well, and werewolves have a bad reputation in the Wizarding World. All in all its not smiled upon to be a werewolf.

"Do the rest of the Marauders know?"

I saw the answer in his eyes before he could say anything. "No."

"Remus," his name came out as a sigh, "they need to know."

He glowered, "Like how Sirius needs to know you're his Alex?"

We descended into a tense silence. We were staring at each other for a tense couple of moments before Remus signed regrettably, "I'm sorry Alex–"

"No, no," I held up a hand to cut him off, "you're right. You are absolutely right. Sirius deserves to know who I really am. As does James, to a certain degree." I paused to gather my thoughts, "It seems we both have something we need to confess."

We stared at each other before chuckling at the same time. Our laughs were apparently contagious because we began laughing, and every time we glance at one another we would fall into a deeper round of hysterics. Our laughing fit lasted for a good five minutes, and by then the both if us were leaning on one another for support.

"Ah," I wiped the tears of mirth from my eyes, "why are we laughing?"

I waited until his laughter completely finished before getting my answer, "I'm not sure."

We chuckled a little bit more, but didn't fall into full blown laughter. Eventually our amusement faded away completely, and we were left in companionable silence.

The silence was only broken when I spoke up, "You know, we're gonna have to tell them eventually."

Remus grimaced, "I know." I pulled him into a comforting hug that we both of needed.

"Remus? Alex?"

We broke our hug and turned to see Sirius, James, and Peter standing in the doorway of the Hospital Wing. Sirius and James were eyeing me with varying degrees of suspicion while Peter isn't seem to know what to make of my presence.

I smiled slightly and nodded in silent hello. When I got three nods in return I looked back at Remus with a determined expression, "Remember what I said," and in a quieter voice I added, "they have to know."

Hopping down from the bed I waved goodbye to the boys before maneuvering my way out the door.. According to the time it was getting close to dinner. Like usual I would sit by Christy, Beth, and Eliza, but before I did that I would tell Edmund why I ran off in such a hurry earlier. Not all the details of course, just that I went to go visit Remus. He knows I'm fairly close with the hazel eyed boy, but for some reason he doesn't seem to like that.