I was nearly as excited to get back to Hogwarts as I'd been to go in the first place. The moment Mum had let go of me, I made a mad dash across Platform 9 ¾ to find my friends. I first found Sirius in a compartment about midway through the train, laying across the seat and staring up at the ceiling. "There you are, mate, how's it going?" I exclaimed and I pushed my way into the compartment and slid the door shut behind me. "My Christmas was so dull I couldn't wait to-" I stopped short when I saw the look on Sirius' face. "What's the matter?" I asked.

Sirius sighed and sat up, not looking directly at me. "It's my folks," he said, "They don't get me."

"Don't get you?" I asked. "Were your mum mad about Gryffindor then? Did she shout at you?"

"Worse," Sirius answered, "She didn't speak to me, all of Christmas. Nor did Father. Regulus, my younger brother, he did a bit, but we didn't get on real well. It was dreadful being in that big dark house, basically alone up in my room." he sighed. "The summer's going to be even worse." He shook his head and ran and hand along the back of his neck absently.

I frowned and put my hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, Sirius," I said. "I thought you and Regulus got on okay?"

"We used to," Sirius answered, "Which is part of why it was so awful. Mother's got him good and trained in believing everything she always has. He said everything I worried Mother might about my being a Gryffindor." He looked out the window for a long moment, then shrugged, "I guess it just bothered me more than I thought it might," he admitted.

I was about to answer when the door burst open again and we both looked up to see James jumping on top of us and hugging us. "There you two are," he exclaimed as though he'd been looking for us for eons.

He sat down on the other side of Sirius. "Good Christmas, you two?" he asked.

"Bloody brilliant," Sirius murmured.

"Was alright," I said.

"Oh. Well, mine was great," James said, and went on about his fantastic holiday, and all the cool things he got for Christmas. Normally I'd be glued to my seat with excitement, but I was currently very concerned about Sirius.

About an hour later, once James had finished, I spoke up. "Do you know anything about Shooting Star broomsticks?" I asked.

"Sure," James grinned, as the topic had now changed to one he was equally interested in. "I mean, they're pretty new. Great racing brooms. They have some killer speed… why?"

"I got one for Christmas," I explained, grinning.

"No way," James said, clearly impressed, "You got a broom for the Holidays?"

"Yeah, my mum and dad are new to the wizarding world so they wanted to get me something fantastic. Apparently they asked a bunch of kids our age round Diagon Alley what the best present they could think of would be for Christmas and all those kids told 'em a broomstick was best. So… that's what I got!"

"Well, wish my folks would do that," laughed James. I chuckled.

"And a Shooting Star, too." gasped Sirius enviously.

The entire ride to Hogwarts took ages, as per usual. There was a rush of students on the platform at Hogsmeade Station and the three of us had to work to stay together. We got into a carriage going up to the castle and watched as outside a light rain that had been falling turned into sleet and began to coat everything with a fine layer of ice.

"Carefully now, don't go slipping on the ice," called McGonagall's voice over the tinkling of the sleet. I stuck close to Sirius and James as we climbed the stairs into the Entrance Hall and on to the Great Hall for dinner. We were all frozen half to death but the Great Hall was warm and each place at the table was equipped with a steaming stein of hot chocolate.

I looked around once we sat down, my eyes skimming over to the Slytherin table, where I saw Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape sitting together, and then up and down the Gryffindor table with confusion. Only Peter had joined us. "Remus isn't here," I said.

Sirius looked about once really quickly to confirm. "You're right. It's getting ridiculous at this point."

I looked to Peter, who was in an animated conversation with a third year boy. I exhaled in relief, then whispered to Sirius and James. "We need to talk after dinner. Alone." I looked over at Peter to make sure he wasn't listening in, then said, even more quietly, "I think I know what's going on with Remus."

It must've taken ages for Peter to fall asleep, as I was waiting for the two boys in the common room for what felt like hours. I was eventually shaken awake by James at around one in the morning, while Sirius stoked the fire.

I took a deep breath. "I've got it figured out what's going on with Remus, like why he's going missing every month and why he's so dodgy about it." James and Sirius looked at each other with interest and confusion. "At first I didn't know if it was possible in the wizarding world, but then I did a lot of research-"

"Nerd." James fake coughed, before I playfully punched him.

"I did a lot of research to figure out if it was possible, and what it looked like, and… I've got it figured out, guys, I just know it for sure."

They had leaned in close as my voice lowered toward the end of the sentence. They were waiting for me to continue, but it was if the words became lodged in my throat. I felt incredibly guilty, like I was betraying my friend. "Are you going to tell us or are you just bragging on about your superior brains?" Sirius asked once the moments had stretched on for what seemed an infinity.

I took one more deep breath. "Well. It's just that apparently it's a big… a huge… a serious… accusation to make, and…" I rubbed my face with my palms. "Alright. They've obviously got it all under control somehow. I don't know how, exactly. Dumbledore's in on it, too, so-"

"In on WHAT?" demanded James, looking like he was about to shake me silly.

"Shhhh!" Sirius hissed. James had been a bit louder than he'd meant to and the three of us sat in front of the fire, motionless, peering up at the dormitory doors, half expecting all the other Gryffindors to crash down into the common room around us. But everything remained silent. I inched even closer, lowering my voice even further, until the word I said next came out as but a breath. "He's a werewolf."

James immediately pulled back, nearly falling over. Sirius looked at me with wild, disturbed eyes, his nostrils flared. Neither of them seemed to quite know how to react.

"Y-you have to understand…" James began, his voice shaking… he was obviously suppressing being scared as he spoke, "You didn't grow up with the tales of th-them feeding on children. Sirius I dunno 'bout you, but I know most wizard kids fear t-that more than a-anything else in the world."

Sirius was speechless, and nodded several times.

"Obviously he's a good-" I cut myself off, unable to finish saying the word. I felt awful about this whole thing.

"Is there… is there such a thing as… a good… one?" James asked.

Sirius shrugged. "I haven't got a clue if there usually are or not."

"But Remus seemed alright…" I said, "And, like I said, Dumbledore's in on it. Why would Dumbledore help him hide it if he wasn't a good one?"

Sirius shook his head, not sure of an answer. "Good or not, why would Dumbledore bring… one… here to Hogwarts?"

"Because…" I struggled for an answer for a moment, "Because… well, for the same reason he teaches Muggleborns like me, I suppose."

"There's a big difference between a Muggleborn and a werewolf, Sabrina." hissed James quickly, under his breath.

"I know that, but if they're good, and… and… well, like Lily said on the train that day, they're just people like me… who can't help being what they are, right?" I floundered for a clear line of reasoning.

James was shaking his head. "And what about Remus' father? He's the one that passed the Werewolf Restriction Act, remember? That's exactly why he wouldn't have been allowed to come to school," James said.

"Well that was part of what was hanging me up," I admitted, "But I think it's something like there was a werewolf who was angry at Mr. Lupin for having passed that law, and, as revenge, bit his son and made him a werewolf, too."

"You've gotta be wrong, Sabrina," Sirius said, "There's gotta be some other explanation for it all. No way can this be true - how'd you even-?"

I leaned forward. "Listen to me, guys. I'm right, I know it. He goes missing at the full moon. Disappears late evening the day before and stays gone until early morning a day after. Every month. Look." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment - notes I'd scribbled along the edge of a page torn from my astronomy book - the moon chart for the year. I flattened it on the floor. "See here? He went missing before our first Defense Against the Dark Arts class of the term, remember? That first weekend here? Full moon." I jabbed my finger at the page. "And then he disappeared about a month later, that first week of October. That's the weekend Alex Turin, that Ravenclaw, got clobbered at Quidditch tryouts and we saw him up at the hospital wing trying to find Remus, remember? Full moon. And the day after Halloween? Full moon. First of December! Full moon! Now - right now, guys, look out the window."

The two boys' eyes travelled to the windows, and I followed their line of sight. Sure enough, through it, I could see the full moon glowing blue-white and pale over the Forbidden Forest.

"Mark my words," I murmured as they continued to stare out the window, "Remus will be back tomorrow at breakfast. What's more is he'll disappear again come 'round the 28th." I pressed a finger at the dates on the moon cycle chart from Zosma's class.

The evidence was stacked, and the two of them couldn't come up with a single bit of substantial proof against it. "Blimey," Sirius whispered.

"I know," I said.

"But a werewolf," whispered James. "Blimey."

"How should we tell him we know?" I said at the same time James said, "How do we keep him from finding out we know?"

James' eyes widened. "You want to tell him?" he asked, perplexed. "Are you mad? Tell a werewolf we know he's a werewolf when the very last thing said werewolf wants anyone to know is that he's a werewolf?"

"Well he's still our friend," I said with a shrug, "Nothing's changed in that way, has it? Not really…" I frowned. "And I think Remus could use knowing we're there for him. It's got to be awfully lonely keeping a secret like that. We gotta show him he can trust us, that we're not gonna tell his secret to anybody else, so he can talk to us about it. I think it'll help him out."

James nodded slowly, "Yeah," he said, "Yeah, that makes sense."

"So how do we tell him?" Sirius asked.

I thought hard for a moment, then shook my head, "I dunno."

"Me neither." James said.

"Maybe we need to just wait for the right moment to come up and then we will, when the time's right and all," Sirius suggested.

"Alright then," I agreed, nodding. "That's what we'll do."

A/N: Hiiii guys! Since I'm going to obviously have LOADS of free time lately, I'm thinking of having a Q&A segment of sorts at the end of each chapter. Sooo, if you've got a question to ask me about anything, or even if you want to ask a character in my story anything, feel free to comment! I'll answer EVERYTHING (except maybe personal info like my address and such lol)

Peace out,

Jedigirl18