A/N: Sorry it took so long, 32 hours of class in a week was more like 40 trying to get all the shop work done (plus a ton of other commitments) and this was mere paragraphs from being ready all the while. I'd like to say it won't happen again, but I have no idea if 4th semester is any better than 3rd.

Enough about that, enjoy the chapter.

PS. Not mine, the only compensation I get is an ego boost when someone says something about the story.

13 October 1973

"Morning Remmy." Sirius crowed, pulling Remus from the one of the most terrifying dreams- his friends had found him out- he'd ever had, the exception being re-living the tragic night nine and a half years prior, but he still didn't open his eyes. Perhaps if he was still enough Sirius would leave him alone. "C'mon Remus, Pomfrey'll have my hide if you don't take the potions she left before eight. With no other choice, Remus forced the nightmare from his head and shook it to wake himself up.

"Let's have it then." Remus, while he hated potions had been adept at downing the vilest concoctions since he was six, and he acknowledged their benefits and held out his hand for the vials.

Sirius held the five small stoppered bottles in his hand and regarded his friend rather quizically. "You're going to down them all at once?" he asked, staring at the outstretched hand.

"They all taste horrible. Why draw it out?" Remus beckoned for the medicine in Sirius's hand; he wanted his headache to go away and wanted the world to stop spinning and he wanted to stop hurting.

"You've got balls Moony."

Just like that, Remus's world did stop spinning. But just for a fraction of a second, because once it stopped spinning, it started falling and crashed to the earth at the same time that his head hit the pillow.

"You alright mate?"

"It wasn't a dream?" mumbled Remus weakly into his pillow.

"What wasn't a dream?" Sirius put the potions on the nearest trunk and sat on the floor, making a point to pull the pillow so that he could actually see the face of the person he was speaking to. However much he hated his mother, she was right in that one should look at the person they are talking to. Remus got the point and rolled himself to face Sirius, and then he fidgeted to reposition his pyjamas to they weren't pinching him uncomfortably. As he was doing so, Remus almost answered, but thought better than to accidentally oust himself if he had, in fact, dreamed what he so feared, but his fears were realized when he noticed his friend's eyes catch on his exposed shoulder.

"Is that-"

"Not a dream then." Remus shifted his pyjamas and extended his hand once more for the potions that would make him feel less stampeded, defeated. "If you'd be so kind as to pass me those, I'll start packing."

Sirius shook his head. "You're not going anywhere. Why would you pack?" His voice was firm, but kind nonetheless.

"Well then I'll choke down my potions and go back to sleep." he grumbled.

"No you won't."

"Watch me." Remus challenged before pulling his curtains shut and rolling to face the wall.

"Aguamenti"

Remus shot up, head spinning as he spluttered and scowled at Sirius for having woken him. He could hear James singing in the shower and almost made to cover his ears. "Aren't weekends meant for sleeping in?" he asked irritably, reaching for the potions he had yet to take

"Not when there're plans to hatch; besides, you never sleep in." Remus mumbled something into his trunk as he dug for a jumper, back intentionally turned towards Sirius. "What was that?" asked Sirius.

A quick glance around the room told Remus that Peter was absent, presumably already eating.

"C'mon Moony, what delightfully sarcastic comment did I miss?"

Remus glanced to the door, and then to Sirius, who was standing stubbornly in the way and had that look about him that made Remus think he was stuck. "I'm tired." he tried, half-hoping it to be enough and yet not expecting it to be. The look he got in response was enough to say that the expectation had been met. "Look, I'm always tired after the…-" Remus paused. He didn't feel right saying it even though his roommates knew. It was just one of those things that he didn't share, didn't discuss. Almost like a taboo. "-the-"

Sirius must have caught Remus's eye dashing to the window because he finished the sentence. "The moon?" Remus nodded weakly and glanced to the door to the bathroom; the water had been off for a few minutes, but the singing continued.

Ooh don't you know how sweet and wonderful life can be ooh

I'm asking you baby to get it on with me ooh ooh...

"Morning Remus!" Sang James as he emerged from the bathroom, cutting off his own tune. Remus winced at the high tone and clapped his hands over his ears, causing James winced in turn. "Sorry mate. Forgot."

Remus baulked. "You forgot that you share a room with a werewolf?"

"I share a room with a Black too, which one do you think is more dangerous?"

Remus opened his mouth again to argue but Sirius clapped a hand over it. "I reckon we're all starved. Why don't we go eat?"

Three stomachs rumbled and two sets of eyes fell on Remus. They were all hungry, but James and Sirius weren't about to leave Remus alone in the dormitory. "Fine." Remus said finally, leading the way to the stairs.

All four Third Year Gryffindor boys- the marauders as they'd named themselves- found themselves walking towards the groundskeeper's hut and the forest, avoiding their charms and potions essays, for the morning at least.

"Looking forward to Hogsmeade next weekend?" James asked, cutting off another question from Peter that was just as annoying and redundant as the last fifteen he had asked Remus.

"So it really doesn't bother you?" Remus asked timidly, james's attempt at redirecting the conversation completely ignored. He'd spent about half an hour so far being bombarded with questions that he was not at all comfortable with. Talking about it, however unnerving it was, was also somewhat freeing. The little things at least. He'd still refused to talk about the transformation itself, or how and why it had happened, but being able to admit that he could only use the third shower in the bathroom in Gryffindor tower was oddly enlightening. He'd been teased about having to have his own special spot, but they now understood why.

"Remus, for the last time, no, we aren't going to get you expelled, nor are we going to tell anyone that we know." Peter's reassurance was welcome, because in all honesty, Remus wasn't entirely sure how the smaller boy felt about the revelation.

Sirius offered a wry smile. "Besides, we aren't about to give up our best chance at avoiding teachers." He shouldered Remus gently to make sure he knew who was the subject of the praise, "I've got a feeling you've already used those ears of yours to pull us away from Filch a few times."

The sheepish grin that spread across the werewolf's face was enough confirmation that he had, in fact, done just that but it vanished from his face when he saw a figure striding across the grounds, vectored directly at them.

Peter paused too, nervous for a different reason than Remus. "We haven't done anything yet have we?"

James, Remus, and Sirius, predictably, shared a grin, remembering the corridor they'd slimed on the way to breakfast, and James shrugged. "Nothing that can be tied to us."

That did nothing to ease Peter's nerves as their head of house bore down upon them. "Potter, Pettigrew, Black.- " Professor McGonagall held herself in her usual strict demeanour, but lacked the irritation that her students generally brought out when they caused trouble. "-Lupin. The headmaster wishes to speak with you."

James, Sirius, and Peter shared a look of confusion. Remus, on the other hand, had already presumed that they were not being led up to the Headmaster's office to be reprimanded. No, he would have preferred that option. Despite having been repeatedly told that his roommates didn't think any less of him, he still feared the worst and remained stoically silent across the slick grounds and through a slippery corridor that still had a greenish tinge and an odd smell to it. McGonagall shot an almost accusing look behind her at the end of the corridor but didn't comment.

"Licorice wands." The gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the tower that held the headmaster's quarters scrutinized the younger members of the group, likely wondering why it was that he saw so much of them. "For Merlin's sake Albus is expecting us."

The gargoyle crossed it's arms and scratched at a rather large chip missing from it's elbow. "Why?"

"Phyllis," McGonagall warned, giving the stone figure a look that made it cringe before grudgingly stepping out of the way. The professor inclined her head to her students to indicate that they follow and headed up the stairs that were spiralling up.

The four boys looked warily at one another and followed, though James paused at the archway that been created when the guardian stepped aside. "We've learned things that make them nervous." he whispered over his shoulder, allowing a bit of mischief into his smile and a thu,bs-up from the gargoyle before heading up the stairs.

They had barely reached the top step before the Headmaster beckoned them inside. Dumbledore sat behind his desk, upon which a tiny phoenix stood among the silvery trinkets. The portraits of the former leaders of the school that lined the room were strangely empty. "Thank you Minerva." The Head of Gryffindor House left with a nod to her superior and a stern glare to her students. "Take a seat gentlemen, I rather suspect this could be a lengthy discussion." Remus, having anticipated the request had already taken his seat feeling rather defeated. The rest followed suit, still trying to figure out what they had done recently to deserve such a discussion. "Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I've called you all here."

Two of the four nodded and Sirius muttered "Just a bit." Remus was trying very hard to keep his nervous twitching as subtle as possible and to stay in the office.

"I've asked to speak with you all to ensure you understand the gravity of the situation you have stumbled across and to offer you an out."

"What?" Remus cried, his eyes flashing to gold. "You're going to-"

"Remus, please calm down." said the headmaster, daring to meet his student's eyes. "Whatever the decision of your friends is, I do not believe them so petty as to endanger your safety." The other three Gryffindors, having finally understood what they were in for, had relaxed somewhat. James, because he had planned to study in the library so he could try to talk to Evans, Peter because he didn't want to get in trouble and couldn't afford another detention without risking failing several of his classes, and Sirius, well, perhaps Sirius was relieved that he wouldn't be risking hearing from his mother. Remus though, remained as tense as ever. "While I am not entirely surprised that you three discovered Mr. Lupin's condition, I must ask that you guard that knowledge very closely and that you respect his personal space. This includes refraining from informing your parents, other classmates, and on the side of respect, acknowledging that your roommate may not be comfortable exposing his entire situation to you, nor may he appreciate snooping background research." Dumbledore glanced momentarily at the subject student and, though he was staring very intently at a small hole in his trainers, caught the slight nod of his head.

"We didn't plan on telling anyone." James said indignantly, "Rather not have him hauled off to Merlin knows where by that Umbi-" James caught himself and hid his slip of the tongue with a cough. "Umbridge woman." Remus looked up from his shoes and offered his friends a small smile, his lip quirked, signalling that he'd at least heard the slip up and that he approved of the implied nickname. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled a bit brighter, but he said nothing to reprimand his student.

"Was that the decision you offered Professor?" Peter asked quietly, staring at a small silver top that was whirring about on the bookcase.

"Ah, yes. That." The headmaster's hands clasped together on his desk and Remus flinched; he almost leapt out of his chair, but Sirius, who was seated beside him, had put a hand on his shoulder, meaning to offer comfort, but instead ended up applying just enough pressure to keep the werewolf in his seat. "No, that was not the decision I was going to offer." The hands on the desk unclasped and began drumming one on the wood. "I am offering to let you forget this knowledge, should you wish to do so."

A glimmer of hope crossed Remus's face before disappearing again, and his roommates shared a look and then crossed their arms and offered an impressively unified "No."

"Very well. Though I must insist you give this some serious thought. Such information is not to be taken lightly and you must be able to trust yourselves with your friend's safety." Three sets of arms stayed crossed, and the looks on their owner's faces hardened in determination. Noting this, Dumbledore turned to face the fourth student. "Remus, how do you feel about this situation."

Remus shrugged in a half-hearted attempt to appear nonchalant about it. "Like I'd rather not be in it at all." he said shortly before meeting his friends' eyes for the first time in an entire day. "But I'd also much rather not be in this situation again and memory charms tend to leave an inkling of suspicion in the minds of the subject and these three are too damn stubborn to leave it be." James, Sirius, and even Peter sat up a bit straighter and lifted their heads in pride. "So, the situation being what it is, is stuck like this."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement and turned once more to the rest of the boys. "You understand the seriousness of your knowledge?" he asked, tone gentle but firm. James, Sirius, and Peter all nodded. "And you understand the repercussions if Mr. Lupin is discovered?" The nods were slower this time, more solemn. Remus had, in one of his paranoid rants that morning, explained just how many laws he was personally breaking and how many people would wind up in Azkaban if the truth came out. "Very well. Please respect his need to recover and do not go in search of him on the evening of the full moon. You are dismissed."

"Hey!" Remus protested, snatching his hand back and looking up from Defending the Mind to glare at Lily. "I wasn't going for your biscuits." He said irritably, "I just wanted to pour myself another-"

"That's the problem Remus!"

Remus's glare softened to perplexity. "What?"

"It's not even noon and you've already had six cups of coffee." She swatted his hand away from the pot again and set her quill down to take a break from last-minute assignment corrections to scold her classmate.

"I'm just-"

"Remus, you're shaking."

"I am not!"

"Draw me a straight line then." Lily said, offering him her quill and a scrap of parchment.

"Fine." Remus took the parchment and quill and managed to prove Lily's point before he's set the quill to the parchment; his hand was quivering so much that he couldn't get the tip in the ink pot. He glared at Lily again and flicked the quill across the table to return it. "Fine."

"So no more coffee?" Lily's smile was well-meaning but she seemed to be enjoying cutting Remus off far too much.

"No more coffee." he conceded, his fingers crossed under the table.

Lily's smile turned genuine and she returned to her assignment for ancient runes for a moment before looking up again with a curious expression. "How did you even manage to get it between classes anyway?"

"Kitchens." Remus dared not look up from his book because he knew he would be met with narrowed eyes and didn't particularly feel like dealing with that at the moment.

"I'm going to need to have a talk with the elves." She muttered, returning to her work once more.

"Hey Moony! Want to help us paint the sixth floor?"

Remus looked wraily up from his textbook and was met with his friends, each armed with a paint brush and a can of paint. "I think I'll stay out of this one." His focus returned to the page in front of him.

"Why are you practicing drawing hexagons?" Sirius asked over Remus's shoulder.

"Homework assignment." Remus succeeded in shrugging Sirius's head off his shoulder but James replaced it on the other side.

"Runes? I didn't realize we had a research assignment to do." James, though he was also taking the class, didn't seem concerned about missing an assignment.

"We don't."

"What's it for then?" Peter asked, peering around James and inspecting what was on the table. Before there was a chance to answer however, Peter cut in with another question. "What's Ch-ch-ch…. Whatever that is?" he pointed at the page of the open text, coincidentally, it was the problem that Remus was working on. The word he was pointing at was not a word though. CH3CH=CHCH2CH2CH3.

"Hexene." he muttered, pointing to the squiggly line on the paper in front of him before tracing it with his pen now that he was fairly sure he was correct.

"Remus, we want real words."

"It is a real word Sirius. Just not one you've heard of before."

"What subject's this for anyway?" James asked, sticking his finger in the book with strange words and flipping the cover shut. "Chemistry? That's not even offered here. Why are you taking it?"

"Potions" Remus replied, flipping the text back open and poking the finger with his quill to get it out of the way to continue his work.

The other three shared a shrug and left the common room to paint the sixth floor corridor's floor with disillusioning paint.

Remus had just sat down to dinner with a book when he was joined by his roommates. "What's on the menu today my dear Moony?"

"Chicken." Remus replied, picking up his pen once more.

Peter sat hastily and pulled several dishes towards himself to load up his plate. James sat across the table and frowned at the book. "You been infected by the Ravenclaws or something?" he asked, flagging Evans down with a wave of his arm, who with a frown, parted ways with Snape and began to make her way to the Gryffindor table. "It's like we have both Lupins in one now." They failed to notice the flicker of gold that crossed the werewolf's eyes or that he stiffened at the mention of his brother.

"What do you want Potter?" Evans glanced at Remus and offered him a small smile with the hope that it would cheer him up a bit.

"You attended muggle schooling correct?"

"Obviously."

"Then may we ask a muggle schooling-related question?"

"What?" she asked with a wary glance at Remus, who was frowning deeply at his carrots.

"What my dear muggle-born beauty-"

"Is Chesimty?" Sirius cut in, shooting a warning glare at James. It wouldn't do to offend the person from whom they were seeking information. Peter simply shook his head and swiped the gravy pot from in front of James, along with the leg from his plate.

"No such thing." she replied with a raised brow.

Peter's head poked up from his plate and looked at Sirius in puzzlement. Sirius inclined his head in the direction of Remus's book and suddenly, Peter understood. "Did you mean chemistry?" he asked, not understanding what was so difficult about the pronunciation.

"Yes! That!" James exclaimed, slapping the table in victory. His hand didn't hit the table directly though, he caught the edge of a spoon that was sitting in his spiced cauliflower soup on the way down and sent it flying. Remus looked up from his plate at the sound of the fist on the table in time to catch Lily's eye and both snorted in amusement before Remus was smacked in the eye with the spoon. He reflexively opened his mouth to catch it and hissed immediately when it hit his tongue.

"Chemistry is a science subject." she said around the suppressed giggles that were the result of Remus growling at his silverware. "It's all about how things interact with one another on a subatomic level." She was met with blank stares. "The equivalent of potions for muggles." she offered with a sigh. "I take it you're taking chemistry then Remus?"

Remus, who had moved from glaring at the spoon to fixedly contemplating the bowl from which it had come, nodded.

"You're studying muggle subjects?" James asked, incredulous.

Remus opened his mouth, but only nodded in reply. "I'm glad to hear it Remus, see you later." Lily said before heading farther down the table to sit with MacDonald.

"You alright mate?" asked Sirius, tilting his head to look at his friend.

Remus nodded slowly, as if unsure of his response. With a sigh, he flipped his book shut and tidies his papers before pulling over a plate and filling it. Sirius and James followed suit and dug in.

"Physics?" James read. " Come on mate! How many muggle courses are you taking?" Remus merely shrugged and pushed his potatoes around with his fork, and contemplating the soup. James returned to his food after a moment, realizing that that was all he was going to get out of his friend.

"Hey," Peter was looking from Remus to Sirius with confusion "what did you do to his eyes?"

Sirius, followed by James, looked up from his meal and pondered Remus's face. The expression was a confusing one- like he didn't know what they were talking about but was concerned nonetheless. But the eyes were unnerving. "I didn't do that." he said, regarding the pale face before him. "James, that's a cool trick. How did you do it?"

James shrugged. "I mean, I guess you could do it with a colour changing charm, but why just make the edges gold?" Remus's green eyes were ringed with a gold that glinted brightly in the flickering light of the great hall. The werewolf stiffened and his face went blank as the gold spread through the irises, then he bared his teeth and growled for a few seconds until the golden eyes rolled back into his skull, slid off the bench, and smacked his head on the stone floor.

A/N: That's all folks, until that is I actually have more time to sit down and write, which hopefully occurs at some point this week. Comments? Questions? Concerns? Ideas? - comments.

That's it for now,

Merry Christmas (of whatever winter holiday you celebrate) and happy new year. Stay dafe and I hope you don't get completely buried under snow.

One-Eyed Wolf- OUT 24 Dec 2019