A/N: Have I mentioned that I adore you all?

The plan went into action immediately. No longer having to worry about how Lily would react, James let down all barriers. Every chance they got, Sirius and James teamed up on Snape. They cast flashing signs saying "curse me" over his head; hexed him in the corridors; magically silenced him in class when he tried to answer a question. They jinxed all of his food one night to disappear upon reaching his lips; they transfigured all of his ink bottles into shampoo bottles during potions. The two boys had even studied how to do non-verbal spells just so that they could more efficiently torture Snape.

Even though they never told Remus what they were doing, it was impossible for him not to realize who it was doing the attacking. Still, Remus always carried a book with him, so when James and Sirius started acting up, he could become absorbed in the book, and pretend that nothing was wrong. He did not want to get in the middle of it again.

Lily also must have realized what was going on, but she, too, did not do anything about it. First of all, James and Sirius were always careful not to get caught in the act; second, the O.W.L. work load had gotten to such a point that Lily spent nearly all of her time in revision. Every night, she, Emmeline, Mary, and Alice would huddle in the study corner over their books, quizzing each other, and completely ignoring everyone else.

James and Sirius, who had the infuriating ability to not study and get top grades, spent all of their time looking up new hexes and jinxes.

"Ugh, there's too much to do!" exclaimed Remus, who seemed to be finally cracking under pressure. To top it off, the full moon was just three days away.

"Remus," said Lily, getting up to walk over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, come study with us. It'll take some of the pressure off."

"Really?" said Remus. Lily hadn't been talking to any of the Marauders for the past few weeks. "Thanks, Lily."

"Oh, so she'll talk to Moony again," muttered James darkly.

"Well, he hasn't been attacking Snape."

"Shut up, Padfoot."

"I'm on your side, Prongs," Sirius snapped back at him.

Tension was ripe throughout the castle, to the point where Remus began to actually look forward to the full moon. It had been so long since the four Marauders spent time together without talking about O.W.L.s or Snape. Remus had not yet started to feel the full effects of pre-transformation, but he showed up in the hospital wing in the early morning anyway. He was so exhausted from constant revision and classes that he could honestly use a nap.

Of course, when he woke up two hours later, the pain had started to kick in. He could feel his body rising in temperature and kicked off the sheets. His head was pounding and his legs were painfully restless. Madam Pomfrey came by at lunch to give him some pain killing potion and a sleeping draught.

This was always the worst part, the waiting. It would only be a few hours to the full moon; Remus logically understood this. However, it always felt like days. Between the sleeping potion and the pain, Remus would go in and out of consciousness. He had no concept of time; no idea exactly how close he would be to the actual transformation.

Still, this was better than when he was first bitten. Then, the pain would consume him for days before the full moon. It was nearly impossible to sleep at night. But his tolerance had grown over the years. The pain didn't decrease, but it became more familiar.

Some time near nightfall, Remus felt himself being tugged into a standing position by Madam Pomfrey. That's good, thought Remus through the fog. He could stand. Presumably walk. Resting all day had helped, then. Sometimes he would have to be floated out to the willow on a stretcher.

"Come on, dear. There's a lad," Madam Pomfrey would say as she ushered him down a secret passageway concealed behind a large portrait at the end of the hospital wing. It had been built to shepherd Remus out of the castle away from the prying eyes of peers. A slab of stone slid open as Madam Pomfrey tapped it with her wand. The willow was a straight shot from there.

Using a long branch near the willow, Madam Pomfrey prodded the knot and slowly eased Remus into the opening. She walked, supporting him down the earthy passage and through the opening at the end of the tunnel.

"Would you like me to help you upstairs, love?" Madam Pomfrey had started to adopt this kind way of speaking to Remus, though she always sounded much harsher with all of the other students. Mind still foggy, Remus couldn't tell if she used these kind words to comfort Remus or herself. If she was scared of the teenage werewolf, she never let on. This was something Remus was eternally grateful for.

Remus just managed to shake his head, "Thanks, Madam Pomp—" he cut off, bending over and clutching his side. He took a deep, slow breath, then straightened up. "I'll be okay," he tried a strong smile, but it came out as more of a grimace.

"Ok, love," said Madam Pomfrey, brushing the sweaty bangs from his forehead and forcing him to take one more dosage of pain killing potion. "I'll be back for you in the morning."

Once Madam Pomfrey had disappeared through the tunnel, Remus allowed himself to double entirely over in pain. He hoped she was out of earshot when the screaming started. Remus struggled to remove his clothes and throw them into a corner so they would be intact when the morning came. As the moon rose to full height and the pain reached a nearly unbearable measure, Remus felt his body change. His feet grew longer; hair sprouted everywhere; his fingernails grew to threatening claws; his teeth grew to deadly fangs. In an effort to hang onto human emotion, Remus thought one more time of his friends and how much he loved them. Then his mind, too, became the wolf.

James and Sirius had planned to wait by the portrait hole under the Invisibility Cloak and just hope that someone would open it soon (Peter had already turned into a rat and scuttled out through a hole in the wall). However, just like always, at exactly eight o'clock, Lily opened the portrait hole and propped it open as she pretended to tie her shoelace. Sirius subtly nudged her arm as they passed, to let her know they had gotten through. It shouldn't have been surprising, really, that Lily wouldn't let a fight with James effect her will to help Remus. Still, James and Sirius were grateful.

"We should've brought the map," James hissed as he and Sirius moved at a painfully slow pace to keep their feet covered.

"Yeah, but we can't risk losing it in the woods. If you wrapped it up in your cloak, we'd lose both," Sirius hissed back.

"Stop being logical when I'm complaining," whispered James.

Ten minutes later, they made it to the oak front doors. Once on the grounds, they stood at full height, allowing their feet to be exposed. It was too dark on the grounds to be able to spot disembodied feet from the castle.

As usual, James and Sirius pulled off the cloak, went behind their separate trees, and prepared to transform. James put his clothes into the trunk of a tree, along with the neatly folded invisibility cloak. Clearing his mind and preparing his body, James transformed once again into a stag.

The three didn't talk as Peter scurried out from the shadows and pushed the knot on the willow, nor when they made their way through the earthy passage. When they arrive in the Shrieking Shack, it was to find Remus alternating between biting himself and attempting to eat the couch. When he saw them approach, the first thing he did was lunge at James. This had become an ordinary occurrence before they could calm Remus down and try to talk to him rationally; wolf-Remus would register flesh other than his own and attack.

Sirius, his dog form nearly the size of wolf-Remus, jumped in the way. There was a brief scuffle in which wolf-Remus and Sirius were engaged in something of a snarling dogfight. After about a minute, when it was clear Sirius could not defuse wolf-Remus on his own, James stepped in. Together, they managed to back wolf-Remus into a corner.

Moony, thought Sirius calmly as Peter hid under a chest of drawers. It's us, mate.

Both he and James allowed themselves to get close to wolf-Remus, whose eyes grew wide, like an animal in a cage desperate for escape. Then, slowly, wolf-Remus sniffed the air. For a fraction of a second, his eyes seemed to register an almost human realisation. A moment later, they had gone back to the wildness of the wolf, but wolf-Remus still had a moment of respite, sitting calmly where he had stood. Sirius and James sat in front of him. Peter inched out from under the chest of drawers, nibbling on a crumb clutched in his tiny rat hands.

As the night went on, Remus's mind became more like himself. He would only lean down to bite his arm about once every ten minutes. Sirius had taken to exploring the house. His footsteps could be heard padding around on the floor above. Peter was still eating whatever he could find. James sat by Remus, occasionally stopping him from biting himself by nudging him with his hoof. Remus would growl when this happened, but wouldn't bite.

A sudden wave of happiness and excitement flooded from Sirius above them. They heard him give a loud bark before Sirius thundered down the stairs. Clamped tightly in his mouth was a ball. How it had gotten to wherever Sirius found it was a mystery, but Sirius's clear enthusiasm over his find was too overwhelming to question it. Sirius dropped the ball at James's feet, then went to sit at the entrance to the tunnel expectantly.

James weighed his options. On the one hand, it was entirely irresponsible to take a fully-grown werewolf into the grounds of Hogwarts. On the other, it was nearly three in the morning; everyone was asleep. And who was he to deny his best friend a chance at such pure and simple happiness?

Sirius barked again loudly, and James nudged Remus and stood up. Sirius ran over, picked up the ball once again in his mouth, and scurried into the tunnel. James followed. Remus hesitated a moment; somewhere in his mind, he knew it was wrong and dangerous to leave the Shack. And that very thought was how he knew it would be okay to. Slowly, he followed James into the tunnel. Peter stayed under the couch looking for crumbs.

Once on the grounds, Sirius dropped the ball in front of James then sat eagerly in front of him. James leaned down, scooped the ball with his antlers, and sent it flying down the outskirts of the forest. Sirius barked happily and chased after the ball.

Suddenly, wolf-Remus was sniffing at the air furiously. His eye grew wide as they set upon the castle. He made a beeline dash toward the front doors. Alarmed, James chased after him.

No, Remus. No, thought James, dashing in front of him and preparing to lower his antlers. Those are people, Remus. Just like you. You don't want to hurt them.

Remus whined, half-heartedly trying to dodge passed James.

Lily, Dumbledore, Benji, Madam Pomfrey – they're all in there Remus. Do you want to hurt them?

Yes, yes, flesh, need flesh, whined Remus.

Sirius came thundering back and dropped the slobbery ball on the ground once more. He padded up to Remus and licked the side of his face. This strange act momentarily shocked Remus out of his wolf-like craving for humans.

You've got to try this! said Sirius, as if he hadn't just heard his best friend say that he wanted to eat the Hogwarts students and staff. James, come on! Again! He panted happily, his tongue lolling out of his moth, covered in grass.

James lowered his head and sent the ball flying again. Wolf-Remus looked once more longingly at the castle before Sirius nipped at his leg and the two of them went running full out toward the ball.