Chapter 7: Full Moon

Things went on this way for the next three weeks. We did some odd things to Snape, who I think became more afraid of us than anything. Erin and Lily became good friends with us. I felt like I'd known all of them forever, even though it had only been a few weeks. We started to become well known and respected for our pranks. Teachers everywhere feared us. James' invisibility cloak and his innocent smile and Sirius's talented lying abilities were the only thing that kept us out of constant detention. I was having such a good time with all of them, that my problem had almost left my mind completely. Then before I knew it, it was the day of full moon.

We were in Potions Class that morning. Professor Beaker was teaching us how to make a potion to cure boils. Sirius, Peter, James and I were all working at the same table.

"Now, don't forget to remove the cauldron from the fire before adding the porcupine quills," said Professor Beaker. In the mean time, James and Sirius were busy coming up with the most creative way to mix the ingredients.

"Let's see," said Sirius. "How about a little of this, hmm…maybe some more of that…oh and definitely a whole lot of this." He was randomly dumping ingredients into the cauldron while James selected new ones to be added. Peter and I, now well aware of the disasters that could be caused when you let the two of them have anything capable of exploding, kept our distance. Either by careful planning, or just good luck, just as Snape was passing by our table, there was a loud bang and acid green smoke began pouring out of the cauldron.

"Aggghhh! Ouch!" he screamed as the liquid burnt his skin. "You idiots!"

"All right!" said Sirius. "That was the perfect explosion!"

"What is going on here?" Professor Beaker rushed over, raging with anger. "You! Go to the hospital wing!" he shouted at Snape. "As for you," he pointed to Sirius. "You're responsible for this, aren't you?" Sirius stood, his eyes wide.

"It was an accident, Professor," he said.

"Accident!" Professor Beaker bellowed. "You call this an accident? Why half of these ingredients aren't even in the recipe!"

"They're not?" James pretended to be astounded.

"I guess you had something to do with this, too?" Professor Beaker asked.

"Something to do with what?" James asked innocently.

"Yeah, what did we do wrong?" asked Sirius.

"That's it! Detention all week! All four of you!" shouted Professor Beaker. "Starting tonight! And you'll be working hard, Black. I'll be sure of that!" The bell rang then and we rushed out of class.

"That man is insane!" shouted Sirius angrily. "I would have liked to cover him in that potion even more than Snape!"

"It's all right, Sirius," I said. "We'll all be in detention together. It can't be that bad."

"Well it's not fair!" said Sirius. "He didn't have any evidence that it wasn't an accident."

"Hey, I didn't even do anything!" said Peter. "And I got detention too."

"Oh get over it!" Sirius snapped at him.

"Stop fighting, guys," said James. "I mean after all, it is worth all this to see Snape get burnt like that, right?" He did have a point. And detention couldn't be that bad. Then I remembered. How was I supposed to go to detention when it was full moon? I'd have to report to detention at the same time I should be leaving. If I didn't show for detention, I'd get in more trouble, and even worse, Sirius, James and Peter would think I abandoned them. What was I supposed to do?

Later that evening, we sat in the common room. Detention started at six-thirty, the same time I should have been leaving. I stared at the clock. 6:00. We decided to actually work on our homework. 6:10. Our homework was long forgotten and Sirius and James were planning more pranks. 6:15. I was too worried about what to do to pay attention to what was going on. 6:25. I knew I had to leave, so I got up my courage.

"I'm not feeling so well," I said.

"Really? You all right?" asked James.

"I don't know," I said. "I think I'm gonna head down to the hospital wing for a while."

"Trying to get out of detention, huh?" asked Sirius.

"No, honestly," I replied. "I really need to go now!"

"Let him go," said James. And when he thought I was out of earshot, he said, "We don't need any chickens in our group." I felt tears forming in my eyes as I left the common room. I hurried to the front door so that they wouldn't see me leaving when they left for detention. I ran to the whomping willow and entered the passageway. I hated it so much in there. I ran as fast as I could, tears stinging my eyes and now running down my cheeks. Why did it have to be this way? What would I ever tell James, Peter and Sirius? I arrived at the old rundown house. As Dumbledore instructed, I made sure all of the doors were locked. I looked at the sun setting. It wouldn't be long now. I lay down on the floor and watched the last traces of sunlight disappear from the sky. I drew in a deep breath as I felt myself being overtaken by the horrible, ugly, hideous monster that I'd become.

I awoke the next morning on the floor to sunlight casting shadows through the windows. I didn't even try to move, because I knew the pain would be too great. Blood stained my shirt, and my arms and legs were covered in scratches. I ached all over. My head was throbbing. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep again. But in my subconscious thoughts, I could remember the night before. Becoming that horrible werewolf, pacing around, growling, thirsting for human blood. Clawing and biting ferociously at whatever I could find. And changing. The most painful part of all. Taking human form again. Twisting and turning as paws become hands and fur disappears until I am once again an eleven-year-old kid.

Moaning, I tried to bring myself to my feet. I struggled and nearly fell over getting up, then stumbled to a nearby chair and collapsed into it. Panting, I attempted to stand again. Regaining balance, I headed back through the passageway. I stumbled through, my vision still blurred from the throbbing in my head. I finally found my way back to Hogwarts. I headed immediately to the hospital wing, not wanting to be seen by anyone.

"Oh, hello dear," said Madame Pomfrey. "Why are you—oh you must be… right this way." She led me to a bed where I could lie down.

"I'm Madame Pomfrey," she introduced herself. "You are Remus Lupin, correct?"

"Yeah," I managed to mumble.

"All right then," she said. "Dumbledore has informed me of your—er—condition. You will come here after every full moon, understood?" I nodded weakly. "Now you need plenty of rest." She pulled the curtains closed around my bed and I slept.

When I awoke, it was a lot later because the sun wasn't shining as brightly. I yawned, feeling a considerable amount better than I had earlier, but still sore and tired.

"Oh, you've awaken," Madame Pomfrey entered the room. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," I said.

"Well, that's good," she replied. "Your friends were up earlier asking about you. They thought you were sick, and I told them you were." I nodded.

"When can I go back?" I asked.

"I want you to stay here tonight," she said. "Perhaps tomorrow if you're feeling up to it." I nodded. All the energy I'd had when I woke up seemed to have faded and I fell back asleep.

I awoke late morning the next day. I was now feeling mostly back to normal. I sat up.

"So, how are you feeling, dear?" asked Madame Pomfrey. I thought for a moment.

"Hungry," I replied. She laughed and then got me some soup. After finishing, I didn't feel much like sleeping anymore.

"Would you like to go back to your common room now?" she asked. "Lunch will be in about twenty minutes."

"Yeah," I replied, standing up, shakily. She handed me my black robe, which I put on over top of my still bloodstained shirt. I headed back to the common room. Luckily, that day was double Transfiguration Class, so James, Sirius and Peter weren't there. I went to our dorm room to change out of my bloodstained clothes and get ready for lunch. A few minutes later, I headed down to the Great Hall.

"Hey Remus!" I heard James' voice behind me. "Wait up!" Oh, great, I thought. They're going to yell at me for not coming to detention. They're going to leave me just like all of my other friends had.

"Hi," said James, in his usual friendly tone.

"Hi," I replied slowly.

"So you were sick?" asked Sirius. I nodded quickly. I felt horrible about lying. But then again, it wasn't necessarily a lie. It was more like avoiding the truth.

"Oh—uh sorry about the other night then," he said.

"It's okay," I said. So they weren't mad. "How was detention?" I asked.

"Not that bad," said James. "We had to go to the forbidden forest with Hagrid. You know, the giant guy that was helping us with the boat?" I nodded.

"Not bad!" shouted Peter. "It was awful."

"Only because you made that big spider go after you," said James.

"Well, I didn't mean to!" said Peter.

"Well, it was a good laugh, Petey. I reckon you should do it again tonight," said Sirius. James nodded.

"No!" shrieked Peter, horrified at the idea.

"But Remus missed it," said Sirius. "You're coming tonight, right?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Was Professor Beaker mad that I wasn't there?"

"I think so," said Peter. "Then Dumbledore told him that you excused because you were sick. He didn't say anything after that. He just sort of got that look on his face. You know, the one where his eyes bulge out and his nose scrunches up and he turns all red." We all laughed.

"Yep, I know that one," I said.

"The forbidden forest is the best!" said Sirius.

"Yeah," agreed James. "We have to go exploring down there sometime on our own," he added. "And I wonder why that Whomping Willow tree is there? It has to be there for a reason." I didn't say anything.