Back again

Back again. These are coming up fast – no one has time to review *sob*. Still, I don't care. Maybe when I'm one of the kinda famous people on here (you know, people like Poissony Tropique and Saraléa, who everyone know). Then I'll get eighty reviews for each story. What? You don't think I will? *Shrugs* that's life.

The next morning, James woke very early, as he had arranged with Katie to go and visit Lily before breakfast. James took the Cloak with him – he thought that they could go via the kitchens to get Lily some food, even if it did mean revealing the Cloak to Katie.

James threw the Cloak over himself, and made his way down to the common room. He entered silently, and spotted Katie in the corner by the fireplace.

'Ready to go, Katie?' he said, fully aware that he was invisible.

'James? Where are you? Who said that?' Katie sounded slightly fearful, so James pulled the Cloak off.

'James, what is that?'

'My Invisibility Cloak.' Katie looked impressed.

'Why do we need that?'

'I thought we could take a short detour to the kitchens.'

'You know where the kitchens are?' James nodded. 'No wonder you and Sirius always have food.'

'Yeah,' said James laughing. 'We never go hungry.'

'C'mon, let's go,' said Katie. James threw the Cloak over them both, and they crept out of the portrait, scaring the Fat Lady in the process.

'Who's there?' she screeched, as they ran off down the corridor, laughing quietly.

When they reached the kitchens, the house-elves, who knew James by now, were happy to give him some food for Lily, and James decided that he and Katie might as well have their breakfast too, so they would have a while to see Lily before their History of Magic lesson.

Laden down with food, they staggered up to the Hospital Wing. When they arrived, they found Lily awake, and looking a lot happier. She was clutching a steaming mug of hot chocolate.

'All right, Lily?' said Katie, forgetting that she was still underneath the Cloak, and subsequently causing Lily to spill half of her hot chocolate.

'Who said that?' said Lily suspiciously. James pulled off the Cloak. 'James! Where did you get that?'

'What, the Cloak? It was a Christmas pressie last year.'

'But that's amazing! An Invisibility Cloak! I didn't know they even existed.' There was some envy in Lily's voice that amused James.

'So how are you feeling?'

'Oh, fine,' said Lily, pulling her eyes away from the Cloak. 'Yeah, I probably didn't need to stay in overnight. Just a precaution.' James nodded.

'Anyway, we brought you some breakfast,' he said, pulling out the large bag of food that they had got from the kitchens.

'Oh, you two, you're such marvellous people!' said Lily, pulling some chocolate éclairs to wards her.'

'We knew you'd be hungry.'

'Damn right,' said Lily, through a mouthful of chocolate. 'All I've eaten – well, drank – is that repulsive potion.'

'That's what friends are for,' said James, grinning.

'But – hold on – where's all this from?'

'The kitchens,' said James offhandedly. Lily looked amazed once more.

'You know where the kitchens are?!'

''Course. Why d'you think me and Sirius did all that exploring in our first few weeks?' Lily didn't answer. She simply sat there, looking stunned.

'Come on now, dear,' came Madam Pomfrey's voice from the corner. 'This is your last dose, and then you can get dressed and go with your friends.' She was holding a goblet of potion. Lily took it and drained it immediately – she evidently wanted to get it over and done with. As soon as she had finished it, she handed the goblet back to Madam Pomfrey, who strode back to her office. She was just about to start getting undressed, when James called to her.

'Er, Lily? Don't you want to close the curtains before you get dressed?' Lily looked up, and realised that her friends were still there. She blushed, and drew the curtains around her.

'S'lucky Sirius isn't here,' James whispered to Katie.

'Why?'

'He'd put this on,' he motioned to the Cloak. 'And go under there after her.'

'He wouldn't,' said Katie, looking shocked.

'Nah, probably not for Lily, but Heather –' He tailed off meaningfully. Katie laughed.

Presently, Lily had dressed into her black robes, and the three of them set off for History of Magic. They met Frank and Sarah on the way, who both looked as though a few more hours' sleep would do them good.

'Sleep in History of Magic,' James advised them. 'It's not like Binns'd ever notice.' Frank and Sarah laughed.

History of Magic that day was nothing short of monotonous. Binns droned on and on about things that the class were sure that they already knew. James and Sirius did manage to cause some excitement by setting off some Filibuster Fireworks, though it did earn them both a detention.

The rest of the week passed without much incident, though in Herbology Remus somehow managed to sprout cauliflowers instead of ears. James and Sirius were laughing too hard to admit they were the culprits, though this didn't prevent their second detentions in a week.

Next Wednesday morning dawned bright and sunny. James made his way down to breakfast with Remus and Peter. The Great Hall was fairly empty when they arrived, though the post owls were already working. As James was piling sausages onto his plate, two small, brown envelopes dropped from above. They were addressed to 'Remus' and 'Peter'. James knew that they were exactly the same as the ones that had been stolen.

'Remus,' he gasped. 'Hold onto those. Yeah, take Peter's as well. No, it's just that Sirius and I got identical letters to those and they just disappeared.'

'Disappeared?' said Remus blankly.

'Yeah. I don't know how, but they just disappeared. Keep a watchful eye on those.' Remus nodded.

Soon, the rest of the Gryffindors joined them at the table. Sirius practically spat out his pumpkin juice when he spotted Remus clutching the two letters

'Where did those come from?' he asked, after swallowing his juice.

'They were delivered, a few minutes ago,' said Peter. 'Remus is looking after them.'

'Good idea,' said Sirius. 'We should have a look at them, before Potions.' They all agreed, and left the Hall early to have a look at the letters.

They stopped when they reached the Potions dungeon. It was still ten minutes before the lesson started. Remus put his hand into his pocket, to get the letters.

'I don't believe it,' he said hoarsely. 'They're gone!'

'What?' said Sirius, in disbelief. 'How can they be gone?'

'I don't know, they just are!'

'Great,' said James. 'So, the invisible thief strikes again.'

'But I don't understand how they could've got it out of Remus' pocket,' said Peter.

'That's true,' said James thoughtfully. 'Remus, you didn't feel anything, did you?'

'No,' Remus replied. 'I don't have a clue where they could be.'

And so for the third time, James entered a lesson with his mind spinning about the missing letters. This time, it wasn't a simple case of swiping them from a table – they had been stolen out of somebody's pocket. He hardly heard a word that Professor Turner was saying about potions that could be used with Transfiguration, though he did hear the word 'Animagi' a few times.

At lunchtime, James talked quietly with Sirius about the whole escapade. Sirius seemed quite as mystified as he did.

'So,' said James, summarising. 'We've lost four seemingly identical letters in the space of – sixteen days.' Sirius nodded gravely.

'The thing that puzzles me,' he said. 'Is why this thief wants the letters. What can be so important in them that they should be stolen?' James shrugged.

'Dunno, but we should try and get to the bottom of it.'

The four boys sat up playing Exploding Snap that night, still quietly discussing the letters. Peter and Remus seemed quite as perplexed as Sirius and James. They went up to bed quite early, for the Quidditch team for the coming season was going to be put up in the common room tomorrow morning. Sirius seemed sure that James would get into the team, which is probably why James had a tight knot in his stomach when he finally fell asleep.

The next morning, James woke later than he usually did. He drew back his curtains to reveal an empty dormitory – Sirius, Remus, Peter and Frank must already have gone to breakfast. It was then that James remembered the Quidditch team. He threw on his robes as fast as he could, and pelted down to the common room.

'Slow down, Jamesy,' came Sirius' voice, when he entered. 'He hasn't put it up yet.' He motioned to Ben Coates, who was muttering to himself in the corner, next to a model of a Quidditch pitch.

'Have you lot had breakfast?' James asked Sirius.

'Nah,' Remus replied. 'We were waiting for you, and as you're here –' He jumped up. 'I think we can go down.' James was more than willing – he was suddenly feeling very hungry.

The Great Hall was full when James and the rest arrived. They spotted Frank and Lily at the end of the Gryffindor table, and pulled up some chairs next to them.

'You in the team, James?' Frank asked, as James sat down.

'Dunno. Ben hasn't put the team up yet. I'll look when I've had some breakfast.'

'What? And risk missing the start of Datda?' said Peter.

'I'll live,' said James, grinning.

When they walked back to the common room, Sirius insisted in running on ahead to check the notice board. Just as they were about to say 'Merlin's beard', to enter the common room, Sirius came out, looking very morose.

'Bad news, Jamesy,' he said, gravely.

'What?' said James, grinning, because he knew what Sirius was like. Sirius sighed.

'Apparently, you have to be a Chaser for the Quidditch team.' James's stomach flipped. He'd done it – he'd got onto the Quidditch team. He hardly heard the congratulations he was getting as he walked back down towards Defence Against the Dark Arts. Sirius was making a point of running to the top of every corridor and bellowing 'JAMES POTTER, QUIDDITCH CHAMPION, COMING THIS WAY!!' James was glad that he had Sirius sometimes. He might be insane, but he was a good friend. When they reached Defence Against the Dark Arts, the rest of the Gryffindors congratulated James.

'Well done, James,' Lily said, clapping her hands together.

'Nice one, Jamesy,' said Frank, clapping him on the back. The class were so busy congratulating James that they hadn't even noticed Professor Loughran arrive. James noticed him first, however, and said loudly 'Alright, sir?' This diverted a few people's attentions.

'Thank you, James. Inside please.' The class filed in. 'Now, you've all being doing some great work in the past few lessons, so I thought today, we could talk a little about some of the less – straightforward Dark creatures, mainly werewolves and vampires. Now, don't worry, I don't plan on bringing any up for you to have a look at, I'm just going to talk a bit about them. We'll look at vampires first, now, can anyone tell me -'

They talked for half of the lesson about Vampires, about how Dracula had revealed them to Muggles, and how it had leaked out how Vampires were destroyed by garlic, after a Frenchman had crossed the path of one once. It was fairly interesting, but after a while James' mind wandered back to Quidditch. In just over a month, he would play his first Quidditch game – it still hadn't quite got through to him yet.

Soon, Professor Loughran switched to talking about werewolves. About halfway through, James turned around to look at his classmates. Sirius was engraving 'Snape stinks' into his desk with the engraver James had given him last Christmas. Frank, alone, was paying attention to Loughran. Peter was telling a joke to Lily, Katie and Michelle. Sarah and Heather were talking about something – Sirius, from the sound of it and Remus … James stared when he looked at Remus. He was sitting bolt upright at his desk, with his hands over his ears, and an expression of absolute horror over his face. Why? James thought. Remus wasn't scared of werewolves, was he? His Boggart had changed into a crystal ball, hadn't it? It was a silvery, white orb…unless…a sudden, disturbing idea hit James. It was fantastical, incredible, it – it – it clicked. It was as though a light bulb had been switched on in James head. He understood

Remus was absent every month, without fail. James had never noticed that it always seemed to be around the same period – towards the start of every month. There was usually a full moon around the start of every month. It was a fantastical theory, but James could think of no alternative – Remus was a werewolf!

He sat there, thinking it over in his head. The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Remus' Boggart was no crystal ball – it was the moon, which was what he was most afraid of. Remus was now looking horrified, because Professor Loughran was telling his friends exactly how to kill him. Remus' mother probably wasn't ill, he just had to go and transform every month, but where? James thought, and the solution came to him. The Whomping Willow…Dumbledore had never given a definite reason for that being planted … it was planted when Remus arrived. If there was some sort of tunnel underneath…Remus could get under there, somehow, and transform, and no one could get in past the Willow after him. James sat there, transfixed. Other details were coming back to him. Remus had missed the Sorting … yes! There was a full moon that night! James remembered looking through the enchanted ceiling at it.

He looked over at Remus. Poor Remus…no wonder he always looked so pale. As James looked at him, he couldn't fail to be impressed with Remus' bravery. One thing struck him, however. Why hadn't Remus told them? That answer came to him immediately. Undoubtedly if someone found out, a parent, for example, Remus would be expelled. James could think of only one teacher who would give Remus a chance … Dumbledore. It all made sense. Dumbledore had admitted Remus on the condition that he tall no one and transform in secret every month. Remus must have concocted his mother's illness – or perhaps Dumbledore did – so that nobody asked too many questions. James was suddenly amazed that he hadn't worked it out sooner.

He looked over at Remus again. Then another thought struck him. Remus might not have told his close friends – Sirius, Peter and James – for fear of rejection. James thought about it. If he were a werewolf, he wouldn't want to tell his friends, in case they disowned him. James had to tell Remus that he knew, and that he didn't care. Remus was a great friend, and a wonderful person – did he really think that they would desert him? But then he sympathised with his friend. Him being a werewolf was obviously very difficult, and – James suddenly remembered something else. When he was younger, before he came to Hogwarts. The dreams … the dreams he had – about a werewolf biting a small child – it had to be Remus. He remembered when he first met Remus. He had recognised him – from the dream. James mind was still spinning. Remus was his friend. He wouldn't tell anyone about it – Remus could tell whom he wanted, that was his business – but he had to tell him that he knew.

At lunchtime, James ate his dinner quietly, turning frequently to look at Remus. His hands were still shaking. James was amazed at the courage and bravery of his friend, getting through it all. He could now clearly see why Remus was a Gryffindor. James tried to imagine what it must be like for him. Scared – afraid of rejection – you would like to tell your friends, but you've been implored not to. That was not the sort of life that a twelve year old deserved. James thought – they had to make it up to him somehow.

In the common room that night, James let everyone else go to bed, whilst making Remus stay and play chess with him. He didn't even stop Sirius and Peter going – Remus could tell them if and when he wanted to. When everybody had finally left, and they were the last two left in the common room, James worked up his courage.

'Remus?' he asked softly.

'Yeah?' said Remus. He was looking cheerful, as he was winning.

'Why didn't you tell me?' The change in Remus expression was incredible. In a few seconds, he turned from looking cheerful and happy to terrified and suspicious.

'Tell you what?' he said nervously.

'Don't bother trying to hide it, Remus. I know.' Remus looked completely helpless. He leaned forwards and started sobbing into one of his cushions.

'How long have you known?' he choked.

'Since this morning. You weren't exactly wearing your poker face during Defence Against the Dark Arts.' Remus sobbed harder.

'Look, Remus. I know you think, that because I know, I'm going to desert you, but I'm not.' Remus looked up.

'Ser – Seriously?' he said weakly.

'Of course not. You're one of my best friends. D'you really think that you being a werewolf would matter to me? D'you think that I wouldn't talk to you again? You can't help being a werewolf, Remus, and we're your friends. We'll support you, not shun you.' Remus face broke into a weak smile.

'You – you mean it?'

'Of course. Sirius and Peter – if you tell them – will help you as well. We all will. That's what friends are for.' Remus didn't burst into tears, but few tears leaked out of his eyes.

'Thank you, James. I don't know where I'd be without you.'

'C'mon,' said James, hoisting Remus back onto his seat. 'Look, just remember this. No matter what happens, or what anyone says, we'll always be friends. All of us. You, me, Sirius and Peter. Always.' Remus laughed weakly again.

'Dumbledore said I wouldn't be able to keep it from you for long. Said you would work it out eventually.' James smiled. 'I suppose you worked out that my mum isn't ill, either.'

'Yeah, but it was quite a clever set-up. Dumbledore should've given us a proper reason for the planting of the Whomping Willow. Is there a tunnel under there?'

'Yeah. It leads to the Shrieking Shack, you know, in Hogsmeade. If you ever hear rumours when you go next year that it's haunted, then just remember that it's me.' James nodded, smiling.

'So, were you afraid that we wouldn't like you when we found out?' Remus nodded, and pulled something out of his pocket. Four, identical letters, in small brown envelopes.

'I sent these. Look, read it.'

James (one of the letters read), I don't really know how to express this. It's something that I've wanted to tell you since the start of last year, but I haven't had the courage. You may have guessed, you may not have, but my mother isn't really ill. The truth is, James, that I'm a, a werewolf. Please don't hate me for it. I've been a werewolf since I was five; I was bitten when walking through the forest. I've tried to tell you, but it has been too difficult. I will talk to you when you've read this message.

Remus

James noticed how shaken the handwriting was around the word 'werewolf'.

'I was going to send them to you, back at your house, but I couldn't. I finally managed to post them, one by one, but when I saw them arrive, my courage failed again. Yours, I took off the table when no one was looking. Sirius', I summoned it – I learned the Summoning charm a while ago – and Peter's and my own, I just put into my bag when nobody was looking. You made the mistake of giving them to me instead of him.'

'Why did you send one to yourself?'

'As a decoy. I didn't want you to suspect me. The day Peter's letter was due to arrive; I snuck up and gave the letter to one of the school owls, which delivered it to me. Then, when they went missing, you wouldn't suspect me as the thief because you would think that I was a victim.

'Has it been difficult, the last seven years?'

'You've no idea. The only people in the world who know are my parents, Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, McGonagall and now you. None of the other staff know. I will tell Sirius and Peter, though.'

'Yeah. What are your transformations like?' James felt it would be good if Remus told him a bit about his problem.

'Very painful. You've no idea how horrible it is to change from a human to a werewolf. And since I have no one to bite, I bite myself.' Remus took off his robe, and lifted his t-shirt gingerly. 'See here?' he pointed to a large scar across his chest. 'That's the original bite. These are scars since.' He pointed to a number of scars of his arm.'

'Remus, that's terrible.'

'Oh, I had worse than that. I had a great gash, right across my back, but fortunately, Madam Pomfrey was able to fix that one.'

'What happened on the Sorting night?'

'Well, Dumbledore and I both knew I was going to transform, and Madam Pomfrey took me down to the secret tunnel. It's quite ingenious, really. If you press the knot on the trunk, then the tree freezes, and you can get in. I walk up to the Shrieking Shack, and Madam Pomfrey leaves me. She comes back when he moon has gone down. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you all this before, but I was so scared.'

'C'mon, here y'are,' James gave Remus his robe back. 'Just remember, we're always friends. I'm impressed with your bravery. Seriously, I don't know many people who could be werewolves and still manage to keep it under wraps. Hopefully, there'll be something we can do to make it up to you.'

'What d'you mean?'

'Remus, you're twelve years old. You just don't deserve this. There has to be a way that you can enjoy school life, even as a werewolf.'

'Thanks, James. I should've known better than to doubt you.'

'No problem. You deserve to be treated as an individual, with what you've been through, I think –'

'What are you two still doing down here?' It was Sirius. James looked questioningly at Remus. Remus nodded.

'Sirius, go and get Peter and come back down here,' said James.

'Why?'

'We need to tell you something. Go on.' Looking bemused, Sirius turned and headed back up the stairs.

'Sure you're ready to tell them, Remus?'

'Yeah. Now that you know, I think that they should, too. You're sure they won't desert me?'

'Of course not. You can trust Peter and Sirius one hundred per cent. Anyway, here they come. Do you want to tell them or shall I?'

'Give them a few clues. Let them work it out.' Sirius and Peter entered the room, and sat down.

'What's up?' said Sirius, grinning.

'There's something you need to know, about me,' said Remus quietly.'

'What?'

'Sirius,' said James quietly. 'Remus' mum isn't really ill. There's a reason he's missing every month.'

'What is it?' said Peter breathlessly.

'There's also a reason,' said James heavily. 'Why his Boggart turns into the full moon.' The change in Sirius and Peter's faces was astounding. James had never seen Sirius looking so deadly serious.

'How long?' he whispered.

'Seven years,' Remus replied, showing them the scar.

'Oh, Remus,' said Sirius, gazing at the scar. 'We're so sorry. You should've told us.'

'I tried to,' he held up the letters, and James quickly explained.

'But why are you telling us now?' asked Peter.

'James,' said Remus. 'He figured it out.' Sirius and Peter smiled.

'There's a surprise,' said Sirius, grinning. 'Oh, Remus, why didn't you tell us? Don't tell me – you didn't think we'd abandon you, did you?' Remus nodded mutely. James quietly explained everything to Sirius and Peter. Remus had nearly fallen asleep on the armchair.

'Poor Remus,' said Peter, when James had finished, and Remus was asleep. 'Seven years – how did he do it?'

'I can't believe you saw it happen, in a dream,' said Sirius.

'It's weird, isn't it? Funny, I knew Hogwarts would be interesting, but I never thought that one of my best friends would be a werewolf.'

'I do think your idea is good though, about trying to make it up to him.'

'Yeah,' said Peter. 'I agree. We'll have to think of something.'

'C'mon,' said James. 'Let's get him upstairs. Pete, get the doors, would you?' James and Sirius managed to carry Remus up to the dorm and place him on his bed. He still looked horribly pale.

'I think it'll be easier for him, now that we know. Know what? We should tell Dumbledore, and ask if we can go with Madam Pomfrey next time there's a full moon.'

'Good idea, James,' said Sirius, nodding. James didn't notice straightaway, but that was the first time Sirius had called him 'James' since the beginning of their first year. James could tell that Sirius, and Peter, like him, all cared deeply for their friend, and were determined to help him get through it.

Finished. I kinda like this part; it's probably my favourite so far. In a way I'm just trying to show what good friends they all are, even if they've only known each other a year and a bit. As some clever person pointed out, yes, at some point, they will discover Animagi potion, and we'll see James as a Chaser. I have no idea whether he's a Chaser or a Seeker, and as it doesn't say in the books, I don't really care. If JKR rings me and tells me that he was a Seeker, fair enough, but other than that, I don't care. Also, someone, Patrick, I think it was, asked when Voldemort comes into the story more. Now, at this point, Voldemort has only just started out, so as the years progress, he'll have more and more influence. And someone that you all care about, well, two people, will become deceased at some point – Lily and James.

Ciao