Author's note: post-moon scenes, tw for gore; also sorry for the sudden surprise chapter with no warning. I realized I wanted to get the last chapter of book two and the first chapter (prologue) of book three out on a Tuesday instead of a Friday so... ta-da, bonus chapter!

/\/\/\/\/\

"Okay, now that we are finally able to discuss Operation Overgrowth… we really need to get started."

It was Wednesday morning and the Marauders woke up early to meet with Lily. They hadn't been able to work on it the night before due to Remus saying no. It had wracked him with guilt saying no, wishing he could push himself… but he had already been pushed beyond his limits that day. After everything built up, and all the physical contact with Fawley, he simply couldn't do it, and had to let his friends down. Which he hated doing. So, despite still being exhausted, he was determined to figure out a way to make Operation Overgrowth a huge success. Emphasis on huge.

They got the plans for the potions down, and Remus and Lily were good with the illusionary insects. The biggest problem would be… well, the oversized plants. They could make them be an illusion too but none of them really wanted that. Besides, it would be too taxing to do all that illusionary work in the moment.

Remus chewed on his quill as he tried to work out how to do everything. "I think the best thing to do is to adjust some spells to make plants grow, to make them grow huge, and… well, do the delaying spell."

"You said it's too much, too advanced," Peter pointed out.

"It is… unless we manage to do it closer to the feast…" Remus looked down at the notebook in his lap. " I was able to do the—the breeze spell for hours before because it is simpler. I think I could pull the delaying spell off if we put the spells on it within two, three hours of the feast."

"Right, when people are in the Great Hall," James said with a frown.

Remus drew his knees up more, wishing he was better at the spell.

"Um, what if we use…" Peter began to say then trailed off, going a little pink.

"Use what?" Lily asked.

"N-nothing," he squeaked, and Remus figured he was going to suggest the cloak. "Whatever I was gonna say slipped outta my head."

Sirius suddenly slapped his thigh which made them all jump. "There has to be a way. There won't be many people in the Great Hall, really. Maybe if we do something to make them leave… put dung bombs in there or something…"

"Right, then we're supposed to go in and do the spells with that stink?" Lily asked.

Sirius smiled. "Remus knows that one spell, to block scents."

Remus stiffened at that then bent over his notebook, doodling in the margins. "I—I'd rather not do that one right now, honestly. Besides, someone on staff will come in to take care of the dung bombs. It won't give us absolute privacy."

"Maybe we shouldn't worry about the overgrowth part of it then," James said, a little smugly.

Lily gave him a look. "Giving up so easily?"

"What? No, I—"

"I thought you had a brilliant brain for pranking! I guess you don't after all."

James puffed up, shoving his glasses angrily back up. "I do! I'm not giving up! I'm only saying… er… it—well—well—okay. No. I got it. Sirius is right, hardly anyone will be there, especially if we have good weather. Right? So—so we go under the tables."

"Under the tables?" Peter asked, wrinkling his nose.

James nodded. "Yes! Well, whoever is doing the spell. Remus, Lily, and if Sirius and I are doing the spells too… yeah…" He perked up. "That would work! We go under the table—no, not all of us, we should have a distraction."

Sirius snapped his fingers. "I could act sneaky, like I'm trying to do something maybe near the High Table?"

"Yes!" James clapped his hands. "Then the rest of us are under the tables and Remus does the, uhhh, delaying thing on the floor around the tables—not under—and me and Evans do the big plant spell, and Remus too probably. Petey, you can help be a distraction." James swung his head around to face Remus. "Would that work?"

Remus stared back at him. "Er, theoretically yes. We still have a rather high chance of getting caught however out of all the suggestions it is, I believe, the best one."

James somehow got an even smugger look on his face as he looked back at Lily. "Take that."

Lily smiled sweetly. "I was right."

"What? No you weren't, you—"

"Oh, I knew if I provoked you, you'd probably figure something out."

Sirius, Peter, and Remus all tried to smother their laughter while James goggled at her in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

She flipped her hair over one shoulder. "Excellent plan, Potter."

"You—that—"

Lily ignored him. "So we've worked everything out?"

"I'm certainly done!" James snapped, getting to his feet. "Cirratium!" He shot the spell at Lily whose hair sprang out in wild curls. James turned on his heels and stormed out of the passageway. Lily clutched her curls, looking torn between distress and amusement.

Sirius unfolded his long legs. "That was funny," he snickered as he got up. "Don't tell him I said that." He went after James, trying his best to stop the giggling.

"Uh, is that really all?" Peter asked. "I mean, with the prank?"

Remus took in a deep breath and flipped the page back. "Let's see. We are working—well, you and James are working on the potion for the walls. Check. Lily and I are working on the giant insect illusions. Check. We figured out a way to get the oversized plant spell on the floors. Check. All we really need to do is figure out an oversized plant spell." He shut his notebook with a snap. "There possibly already is one. Lily and I can do research after lunch, maybe? If you want to."

"I don't mind, as long as you fix my hair," she said.

"You look good with curly hair," Peter said.

Lily smiled. "Thank you. Maybe not quite this curly though."

Remus tapped her head, straightening her hair out and Lily thanked him. "I hope I can figure out how to do the curling spell better next year. I like curly hair only… not so wild. Not on me. The big wild curly hair looks good on some people like that McKinnon girl."

"The third year?" Peter asked. "Blonde?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah." Peter got a misty-eyed expression. "She's pretty. Oh! Um, you're pretty too, I didn't mean—I wasn't—"

Lily laughed and hugged Peter. "You're adorable." She kissed his cheek then got up. "See you in Charms!"

She left while Remus watched Peter look like he was ready to combust. He touched his cheek, staring after Lily. "Oh," he breathed out. Remus pressed his lips tight together, trying not to smile as he gathered his stuff. "Oh," Pete sighed again.

"You all right?" Remus managed to ask.

"Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah, I'm—I'm good."

Remus stood up, shouldering his bag and then offering his hand out to Peter. "Come on, Romeo, we should get some breakfast before class."

Peter took his hand and then drifted after him, clearly lost in the clouds as much as he had been when his finger had been kissed the year before.

/\/\/\

Remus and Lily spent a lot of their free time in the afternoon in the library as they tried to figure out the best way to go about making giant plants appear. They only had a little over a week to figure it out by this point, and four of those nine days Remus wouldn't be able to do anything to help.

We put this off too long, he thought that evening as he skipped supper in favor of research. He rubbed his eyes, fighting off the exhaustion settling in him. He wanted to do research on Vinctums and read the book on sacrificial magic however not letting his friends down was much more important; that's what he needed to focus all his extra time on, not for something unimportant like his curiosity. The sunset isn't until ten tomorrow so I won't have to really leave until evening, I can look all day tomorrow too.

Except when he woke up, he was so exhausted he could barely move. It wasn't just because of the full moon, it was also because Tuesday and the previous night had been full of nightmares. Bad ones, both times drawing Sirius's attention. At least Sirius hadn't asked about sharing a bed again; he seemed to understand it was best to wait till Remus was ready to talk about it.

"Remus?" Peter asked as Remus fell out of bed.

"Fine," he mumbled into his slippers. "Just tired."

"Bloody hell, you look terrible!" James exclaimed when Remus sat up.

"Mm." He blinked down at his bare feet then began trying to get the slippers on.

James abandoned tying his tie in order to go over and crouch in front of Remus. "Mate, I don't think you should go to class… Don't give me that look! Merlin's beard, if looks could kill I'd be dead."

"James is right," Sirius said before getting out a hand mirror to hold in front of Remus's face.

Remus swat it away without looking then immediately regretted doing something so harsh. "I don't care how awful I look—"

James took Remus's elbow, gently pulling him to his feet. "Remy, it's the last days, the classes aren't covering much. It won't kill you to miss them."

'Course you'd never understand. "Only have two," Remus said, picking up his wash bag. "I'll—it'll—" A big yawn cut off his sentence. "I'll be fine. I can nap after Herbology and—and go to the hospital wing after Defense." And by nap I mean sneak into the library to resume my research so I don't let anyone down.

Ten minutes into Herbology he was regretting the choice, as Sprout decided to take everyone on a 'field trip'. They trooped out of the greenhouses and began walking across the grounds, going quite far. Remus was at the back of the group, head and shoulders drooping as he watched his feet. One shoe was untied and right when he figured he should bend down and tie it, it tripped him up and he went sprawling. There was a round of laughter while Sirius helped him up, brushing the dirt from the front of his uniform.

"You should go lie down," Sirius hissed in his ear.

"I tripped over my untied shoelace," Remus hissed right back.

The class wound up at a section of Hogwarts grounds Remus had never really been at before, close to the mountains where a huge patch of various flowers grew. However, they were mostly there to study a rather granite-y looking flower that clung to the rocks. Sprout picked some of these carefully and passed them around. They looked and felt like someone took a rock and carved a flower out of it.

Everyone sat down among the flowers and Remus leaned against Peter, trying not to fall asleep. Out of the greenhouses it felt a lot less like class and it was a struggle to stay awake. Which he lost. He wasn't sure how long he was asleep, only that he woke with a jerk when Peter nudged him. He noticed Sprout was looking at him and he went pink.

"Was I asleep?" he whispered as Sprout began talking again.

Pete nodded. "Yup. 'Course you probably should be, shouldn't you?"

Remus didn't answer that. Instead he focused—or tried to focus—on taking notes but soon he began drifting off again. The sun was very warm and he felt so comfortable…

"Mr. Lupin?"

"Ayaah!" He jerked again, sending his bottle of ink tumbling to the ground, the ink pouring out. "Oh! Professor Sprout… what was the—the—the question?"

Sprout gave him a funny look. "I asked if you were all right."

"Yes, yes," he promised then realized that most of the students were headed back to the castle. The only ones still there were the other Marauders. "I'm s-sorry, Professor! I wasn't—I—"

"You don't look well," she said quietly. Then even quieter, so the Marauders wouldn't hear, she said, "Perhaps you should go to Madame Pomfrey now?"

Remus picked his bottle up, fumbling around to find the cork. "Tha—thank you, Madame Spr—Professor—P-Professor Sprout. I'll—I—"

She helped him up, flicking her wand so the cork bobbed up into the air. He gratefully took it, mumbling a thanks. "Mr. Lupin I think you should go to the hospital wing. You do not look well." She said this loud enough for his friends to hear and they were at his side immediately.

"We agree!" James said. "I told him this morning he should go!"

"Yeah, he might have a—a—um—a relapse," Peter said.

Sirius took Remus's arm. "We'll get him to the hospital wing, Professor."

"Good." She gave Remus a look. "I know school is important to you, but you're obviously unwell and you don't want things to… get bad. Your health is important."

Remus slumped a little, unable to get out of this. "No, Professor. I—I mean yes Professor. I—"

Sprout gave him a smile. "I know what you mean."

James, Sirius, and Peter frogmarched Remus across the grounds, and once they were in the castle he tried to get free. They would not let him, insisting on taking him to the hospital wing despite his protests. He argued with them as they went, insisting he'd be able to get through Defense after a nap!

"Please!" He was growing angry over this, angry that they weren't listening to him about his own body! Am I not allowed to make my own decisions? He gave up arguing, gave up fighting. I should be grateful they care so much. It didn't take long to get to the hospital wing and for him to be 'handed over' to Pomfrey, so to speak. "Could you at least tell Lily? We were working on something together," he told the others, and they assured him that they would inform her at lunch.

"You're here early," Pomfrey said once they were alone in his little room.

"My friends didn't exactly give me a choice," he grumbled, setting his bag down. Then, "Bloody Merlin! I don't have—don't have some things I was going to bring with me. Those—argh!" He kicked at the bed which scooted it a bit. "S—sorry, Madame Pomfrey." He quickly pulled it back into place before sinking down onto it.

"Is something wrong?" Pomfrey asked.

Remus looked down at his lap miserably. "Not really. I wanted to go to Defense and now I can't." He pushed his fringe back then flopped backwards. He couldn't even argue about going because he couldn't do anything to 'risk suspicion'. Urgh, why did he have to look so bloody sick on top of everything else! It wasn't fair! Stupid, damn four moon stretches.

Since sunset wasn't for practically twelve more hours, Remus spent the rest of the morning in the hospital wing and ate lunch there. He would have preferred to go to his house after supper, however Pomfrey pointed out it would be easier to sneak him out when class was in session, so at around two she put the cloak on him and they made their way across the grounds.

There really wasn't much to do once he was settled in the house. He took a nap, read a lot, fixed something to eat for an early supper, took another nap, ate another supper, then read for a while longer until finally sunset was close at hand. He went up to the bedroom and stripped off, putting everything of importance in the box, tucking it into the wardrobe which really wasn't going to hold up much longer.

Shivering a little, he wrapped Peter's blanket around his naked body and went back downstairs to wait until the wolf burst free.

/\/\/\

Remus's screams tore through the house as he came back into his own body in the morning. He automatically rolled onto his back which was the usual thing he did, but this time it hurt. It hurt bad. He screamed again, back arching as pain flared through his lower back. So low it almost felt like his bottom. Quickly he rolled onto his stomach which was painful too, just not as much.

He lay panting for several minutes, wishing the pain would lessen so he could focus on what was going on. It was very early. Before five in the morning, he knew that. How long before Pomfrey showed up? Suddenly, he couldn't remember what time she came when the sun rose this early. Did she wait until a reasonable time?

All right, bathroom. He propped himself onto his elbows and began dragging himself until he realized how much that hurt… rather sensitive parts of his body. Wincing, he drew himself onto his knees which was more painful but at least he wasn't dragging his penis around on the wooden floor. He tried to get to his feet but that was too much, so he stayed on his knees.

Slowly he crawled his way to the bathroom, whimpering and crying out in pain until he collapsed by the toilet. Okay, okay, you're here. He pulled himself enough to get at one of the towels, tugging it down to the floor so he could have to cover up whenever Pomfrey arrived. Now, you need to look. He grabbed hold of the toilet and twisted himself around enough to see his buttocks were soaked in blood. One cheek was destroyed, raggedy flesh flapping loose to reveal the muscles underneath.

Sobbing, he lay back down. I… bit… my arse. Great. Bloody, damn great. For a brief second he wondered how that was even possible, until he realized it was easily done in a canine's body. How he hadn't done it before was a better question. Usually he liked to hurt his legs and arms, and sometimes his middle. Sometimes his face.

Have I done it before? He turned his head to stare at the door while he thought back to earlier transformations. He hazily remembered one full moon where he spent the day after on his belly. How old was I? Seven?

Soon he heard the sound of Pomfrey arriving. He called out to let her know where he was and she came in, inhaling a little sharply when she saw him. "I—I think I—I bit my—my—" He was too embarrassed to say it.

"I can see that," she said, stepping across a puddle of blood in order to crouch down next to him. "You're going to have to move the towel."

He adjusted the towel a bit, giving her a good look at his backside. It was embarrassing enough for her to see him in the nude but having her have to give medical attention to his bottom? It was horrible, and he wanted to die. He clenched his teeth as her fingers touched him, putting bandages on his rear before moving on to his other wounds. He had several gashes on his legs, though the bite on the butt was the worst wound. Apparently it was quite deep and there was a lot of flesh missing.

Did I… eat… my own flesh? he wondered, burying his face in his arms as he tried not to cry.

After Pomfrey cleaned off as much blood as she could, she helped him into pajamas and then onto his feet. His right leg wasn't too bad and it was his left cheek that was injured, so he was able to hobble along by leaning heavily against her. The journey back to the castle felt longer than normal, and it was a great relief when he reached his little room. He started to get into bed like normal then realized he'd need to be on his stomach. Sighing, he awkwardly slid into bed onto his stomach, having to adjust the pillows a lot until he was comfortable.

Unfortunately, he didn't really think through being in this position until after his friends woke him up by visiting. He realized a little too late he should have said no visitors. All three of them gave him curious looks, not saying anything until after the door was shut.

"How are you doing?" Sirius asked, setting a chocolate bar down on his table.

"Um. In pain?" That was an understatement; it felt like his backside was on fire. He wanted to roll onto his back to see them but couldn't. He did manage to roll a bit onto his right side without causing the pain to get much worse. "How was class?"

"Of course that's what you ask," laughed James as he plopped into the chair. Sirius sat on the bed and Peter sat on the bed too, nearer to Remus's feet.

Sirius gave Remus's arm a pat. "You haven't missed much, if that's what you're worried about. Prewett mostly talked about boggarts yesterday, and today Sluggy… errr… well I don't remember what he talked about."

"Mostly about purchasing ingredients," James said. "How to tell the difference between fresh, good ingredients and all that."

Sirius blinked. "Did he? I don't remember any of that."

James kicked Sirius's foot. "You spent the entire class drawing Snivellus as a great big bat-bogey."

"Oh. Hah! Yeah that's right."

"Why are you laying like that?" Peter asked. "It looks uncomfortable."

"It's—it's not," Remus replied, trying to sound casual. They all stared blankly at him. Finally he sighed. "I—I hurt… part of my back. It hurts to lay on my back."

Peter's face fell. "Oh."

"How bad is it?" Sirius asked, turning to face Remus better. "Do you need Pomfrey?"

Remus shook his head. "No. It's all right if I lay like this. Besides, there isn't much she can do to help." He pushed himself up, propping himself up on one elbow. He really didn't want to discuss his body or his infliction, and the prank was a more critical thing to discuss anyway. "Have you spoken to Lily? Has she found out anything about the plants?" James slumped back, crossing his arms and scowling, while Sirius and Peter snickered. "Did, uh, I say something wrong?"

Sirius bent in, the ends of his hair brushing against Remus's shoulder as he whispered, "They got into another row."

"SHE!" James shouted, pointing accusingly at Sirius. "SHE STARTED IT! NOT ME!"

"You did turn her hair ribbon into a slimy horned slug though," Peter pointed out.

"Af—after—after she gave me spots everywhere! I had to go to the hospital wing! She didn't! All she got was slug slime in her hair. Big deal!"

"Did she really start it?" Remus asked Sirius.

"Pfft. Who knows." Sirius lay down in the bed next to Remus, though there wasn't much room. Remus scooted back a little. "With them it's hard to tell."

"She did," James protested. "We were playing Wild Adventures last night—us and the girls—and I was talking about Quidditch. She told me I wasn't the top expert on Quidditch and I said I knew more than she did. She said just because I played Quidditch didn't mean anything, and I said no being raised on Quidditch did. She got mad about that. Are any of you even listening to me?"

"Not really," Peter yawned. "I stopped listening after around about Wild Adventu—AACK!" He ducked as James threw a bag of Pasty Pellets. It smacked Peter's shoulder and burst open, sending the little pellets everywhere.

"Can we not make a mess of the room?" Remus asked.

Sirius tilted his head and it was right next to Remus's face, as in probably barely an inch. "Nope."

"Do you know the meaning of personal space?" Remus asked, half-lightheartedly, half slightly nervously, which he hoped wasn't too obvious.

Sirius thought about this then scooted closer to him. "Nope!"

"Pomfrey's coming," Remus said and Peter gave up trying to collect the pellets and instead took his robe off, draping it across Remus's legs to hide the mess.

Pomfrey opened the door a second later. "You've got more company," she said. "I'll give you a few minutes, then you really need to rest."

Lily flounced in with several books in her arms, hesitating when she saw Sirius practically on top of Remus. "Did I interrupt something?" she asked after the door shut.

"Sirius doesn't know the meaning of personal space," James said as Peter picked his robe up again to go back to picking up the pellets.

"You should be the one doing this, not me!" he complained.

James stuck out his tongue. "Sorry, I stopped listening around about 'you'."

"That's typically all you hear anyway, Potter," Lily sniffled. "All you ever hear is blah-blah-blah James Potter blah-blah-blah."

James got a look of pure indignation. "Not true! I also hear my friends' names, and also Quidditch."

"Don't start on that again!" Remus said quickly, not wanting James and Lily to argue.

"Oh, Remus!" Lily approached the bed, hugging the books to her chest. "You look awful. Black, you ought not to be crowding him like that."

"Did you come here just to bother us?" James demanded.

Lily rolled her eyes. "No, that's incidental. I came because I figured out a possible way to do the enormous plants!" She looked around for somewhere to sit and when she didn't find one she began kicking at James's leg. "A true gentleman would let the lady sit."

James leaned back in the chair, arms behind his head. "Good thing I'm not a true gentleman then."

She gave a disgusted scoff then sat on Sirius's legs. "Fine then. All right, so one option is using the swelling solution! On the plants on the walls! Or we could try to get plants on the ground between the tables, and use the swelling solution on them."

"How are we going to get the swelling solution on the ground without splashing people and causing problems?" Remus asked.

Lily bit his bottom lip. "Er. That—that is the part I wasn't sure about."

"What's the other option?" Sirius asked, not seeming to care about his legs being used as a seat.

"Er, the… the engorgement spell," she admitted, frowning when James snorted.

"Can you do two spells on the, um, delaying spell?" Peter asked, picking the last pellet off of the blanket.

Remus furrowed his brow as he thought. "It… can be done. The question is can I manage? The answer to that is I am very unsure. I think it is something we will have to practice. Hopefully, I'll be out of here soon. Maybe tomorrow." The boys managed hopeful faces but Lily frowned. "What?" he asked, worried suddenly that she suspected.

"Nothing!" she said. "It's just… you don't… look so well…"

"He could have a turnaround," James said stubbornly.

"Yes, of course," she amended. "Sorry. I hope you do."

Before they could say anything else, Pomfrey showed up to kick everyone out, insisting Remus needed rest. They all gave him gentle hugs before leaving, and he could hear James and Lily begin to argue before his door even shut.

Remus rolled back onto his stomach, breathing out a sigh of relief; it wasn't that he minded his friends being there, it was just really hard when he was in so much pain because he didn't want to bother them with his pain. He gave a slight whimper, adjusting his body once more before closing his eyes, drifting back into sleep.