Chapter 40

Werewolf

Sirius and James were the only ones awake in the dorm room. Peter was asleep and Remus was still in the hospital wing. It was nearing midnight, but since it was Friday they didn't have to wake up at any specific time in the morning. James was, surprisingly at the desk doing homework while Sirius lied in bed reading a book.

"We should go see him." James said looking up from his potions essay.

"We did. Three times. Last time Pomfrey wouldn't even let us in." Sirius didn't look up from the book to meet his gaze

"We should try again."

"The results will be the same."

"You don't know that." James abandoned his essay and sat on Sirius bed also.

"He isn't going to die, James. It isn't that bad."

"I know."

"James, will you do me a favor and open the blinds on the window." He asked. He had his blankets over top of him, so it was easier for James to do it. James looked at the window.

"Why is it shut?" He walked over and opened them, showing a beautiful view of the full moon.

"I think we shut them last year." Sirius looked out the window and wrote something down in a little book beside him.

"Oh ya. Remus did it one night." Sirius looked up at James with surprise written on his face.

"He did? Did he say why?" James gave Sirius a confused look.

"No, I don't think so. Why?" He asked when Sirius started flipping though the pages of one book and writing something down in the other one.

"Do you remember when he did it?" James shook is head.

"What are you doing?" He asked walking back over to Sirius' bed. He looked at the book Sirius wrote in. It was the journal Remus' parents had got him for Christmas last year.

"I think I figured out what's wrong with Remus."

"Pomfrey said he was just low on vitamins."

"Once a month, every month, for a week?"

"What?"

"And always during a full moon?" James looked at him in shock.

"What?"

"I used the journal Remus' parents gave me last year. I dated all my entries. About once a month his mum would get sick, I wrote them down. I also noticed a long time ago that he starts looking sick around the time he had to go home. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but now I don't think that anymore. Have you noticed, him mum didn't get sick this month?"

"She got better over the summer?"

"She got better, but Remus got sick instead. That doesn't sound like a coincidence to me." James didn't respond. "This book..." He showed James the book he'd been reading. It was the same book he'd been reading on the train to Hogwarts. "It has a lunar chart in the back. The dates of the full moon, and the dates of the entries in my journal that I mentioned Remus leaving match up perfectly James." He waited for a response from James.

"What are you saying, Sirius.?" He really didn't want to believe that Sirius was even thinking about this.

"I think Remus is a werewolf." Sirius said quietly. There was a hush in the room. Even Peter seemed to stop snoring. James and Sirius stared at each other.

"You're wrong." James whispered, as though breaking the silence meant the death penalty.

"I don't think I am. There is tons of proof." Sirius responded not much louder than James did.

"Like what?" James was beginning to get mad. He knew Sirius thought Remus was hiding something, but now Sirius was calling Remus a liar.

"When we found the shortcut he heard McGonagall coming long before we did."

"He had good ears. So what, maybe she said something?"

"He knew exactly who it was."

"Recognized the voice?" James sounded like he was beginning to get desperate.

"During the feast he was able to tell Regulus was freaking out over the 'blood' even though it was pitch black, there were loud noises everywhere, and Reg was on the other side of the room."

"Umm." James was out of excuses.

"He's always sick, really pale, and freaks out when we even mention any kind of dark creatures."

"Remus isn't a liar!" James said standing up. "I'll admit there is something weird going on, but Remus wouldn't lie to us."

"He would if he thought we would abandon him if he told us the truth."

"He trusts us, he wouldn't think that." James closed his eyes. "He trusts us."

"It isn't a matter of trust, James. If we told anyone, even if it was an accident, he would be kicked out of school and Dumbledore would be sacked."

"What? Why?"

"Do you remember what Slughorn told us the first time we talked to him?"

"That I didn't add enough toad eyes to my potion?" He said confused.

"No, the first time we talked to him outside of class."

"Oh, ya, he said something about it being okay to kill werewolves..." He paused for a moment. "And Remus got really pale. I thought that was just because his father was mentioned, but if..." James didn't finish his sentence.

"Slugbreath isn't the only one who feels like that. It is a common belief. A lot of people think werewolves should die."

"Why? They're people too."

"People are afraid of them, James. It's natural to want the things you're afraid of to be destroyed. It's part of being human."

"They're not that bad."

"They can kill an entire town in one night, if the people don't have specific protections."

"But only in one night. I mean the werewolves would magically lock themselves in, and they would be completely harmless."

"They wouldn't."

"Why not?"

"Most, not all but most, of them don't mind killing people."

"That isn't true!"

"Yes it is, James. They become bitter over what they have become and want to take it out on anyone who offends them." Sirius told him. James didn't respond so Sirius continued. "That's why no one wants to be near them. They're afraid to make them mad. If they did, all the werewolf would have to do is place themselves outside the victim's home just before sundown on a full moon night. They keep enough of their minds to know which target they want to go for first, of course there's no guarantee that their target will be the only one killed, but hey the more the merrier." Sirius explained grimly. "If the intended victim wasn't expecting them they would have no protection what so ever.

"I'm not saying all of them are like that, but most of them are, James. With good reason too. Remus is lucky. His parents still love him, and he has us. Most of them, when they get bitten, everyone abandons them. Their family, their friends... and they can't make new ones, because everyone is afraid of them." Sirius ended watching James' reaction.

James just stared at the floor. "Remus is lucky." Sirius nodded. "I guess it makes sense that he wouldn't tell us then."

"Right. I wouldn't have told you lot either if I were in his shoes." There was another silence as they thought about their discovery.

"What can we do?" James asked.

"I don't know, but we have to do something. When werewolves are locked up, according to this book, they do a lot of damage, and not just to the furniture either."

"You think he's hurting himself?"

"He's never back at daybreak, so I can only assume that he spends some time in the hospital wing afterwords."

"Does the book say how bad they hurt themselves?" Sirius didn't answer immediately, and when he did it wasn't more than a whisper.

"It mentioned one case when a werewolf about his age ended up dieing from the wounds." Sirius couldn't look James in the eye. "And very few of them die of natural causes." James sighed. He reached up and rubbed Sirius' head almost like he was petting him.

"It'll be okay. We'll figure out some way to help him."

"There's no cure." Sirius responded quietly, not avoiding James' hand.

"We'll find a way." James repeated. "Until then staying up all night isn't going to help him any, let's get some sleep." James stood and walked over to his bed, trying to block all thoughts from his head, so he didn't have to think about Remus.

"I don't think I can."

"At least try." James said turning out all the lights.

They did manage to sleep. James managed to block all werewolf thoughts from his mind, Sirius wasn't so lucky. He was restless all night and had numerous nightmares. All were centered on Remus getting killed.

A/N) Ans so the secret is not a secret anymore. I hope I did alright with how they found out. This is actually a really short, maybe I'll upload the next chapter to make up for it.