It had been an amazing first year. But it was drawing to a close. Their group had come up with the name 'The marauders' because Remus had begun talking about his 'inner marauder' or his inner troublemaker. They were still working on what nicknames to use. Their pranks had been fun for Frank at the beginning of the year an he had even joined in on some. However, he was not as tight as the others (he was probably closest to Remus due to studies) and soon go tired of their scheming in the dorm and asked McGonagall to be moved when his bed became subject to one of their test subjects. She obliged.

Remus still left every month to visit his ill mother, although it always seemed to lead to him also becoming ill and having to stay in the hospital wing for a few days afterwards. Although, recently he had begun to noticeably get unwell before the visit and the James realised that that had always been the case. It was a week after one of his visits that James and Sirius were sat on Peters bed, the other two having been woken up by Sirius when he was sure Remus was asleep.

"So?" Peter asked. Sirius looked at him in surprise.

"So what?" James sighed and said

"He's asking for the reason you woke us mate." Sirius took a deep breath and nodded.

"Right." He looked kind of guilty as he said, "I… I've come up with a few suspicions about… Remus."

James looked at his best friend. He knew that Sirius was curious, but… Remus was one of their best friends.

"What do you mean?" he said finally.

"Well… when we were looking at the cycles of the moon in class, I noticed that for the past few months it had been a full moon when Remus went to visit his mother. This week it was as well. So I looked back over the last year and… they've all been on the full moon," Sirius hurried on, seeming like he wanted to get it all out in one breath, "and he always ends up in the hospital wing and, I mean, do we ever see him actually leave or come back?" Sirius finally finished, he looked at them. James dimly wondered what he wanted them to get from all that. Peter gasped. He looked accusingly at Sirius and said

"You can't just assume those things about people with strange habits!"

"But it makes sense! It connects all the dots!"

"What dots? What makes sense?" James asked, still confused about what the hell was going on.

Sirius sighed and rubbed his face with his hand.

"Mate, I knew you where oblivious, but this is a stretch." James rolled his eyes at the tease. Sirius continued. "I was talking about… Lycanthropy." They both looked at James who wracked his brain before shrugging.

"Rings a bell, but I can't remember from what." Sirius stared at him,

"Merlin's pants James! Even Peter knows what lycanthropy is!" The smaller boy frowned, and Sirius winced at his words, "Sorry, insults, habit. Anyways," he took a deep breath, "Lycanthropy is the fancy name that was given to a… well…"

"A werewolf." A calm voice echoed across the dorm.

The three boys on the bed jumped. Remus had sat up and, looking at their shocked and guilty expressions, felt nauseous and wished he could lay back down. But he couldn't sit quiet any longer. They were his friends, surely, they would understand. Even if they hadn't believed it when they were talking on the bed, the tones they were using gave him a small spark of hope that if they knew they would accept him. Despite his inner turmoil, he managed to appear calm and his voice never wavered as he said,

"I heard you. Everything that was said." Sirius looked panic stricken and opened his mouth, but Remus spoke before he could. "Its fine, you happen to be…"

"I know," Sirius interrupted, James couldn't blame him, they poor boy looked like he was about to explode with embarrassment, "Overthinking things. Listen Remus, I'm so sorry, I should've- "

"I was going to say right"

James stared at Remus. They boy looked so calm and collected despite the terrifying thing he had just said. "So," Sirius whispered, "You mean you really are a… a…"

"Werewolf" This time it was Peter who interrupted. He stared at Remus, eyes wide, before his face split into a wide grin, "His nickname could be Moony!" They all stared as Peter proceeded to go over and hug an astonished Remus. James stood up an he and Sirius went to join the hug. Peter was so full of love; he was so accepting. James gave him an extra squeeze and silently hoped the small boy would never change.