A/N – I want to thank everyone who reviewed! This is the most reviews that I've had on a real story, so thank you very, very much. : ) I really don't have much to say, this chapter is a bit transitional, so sorry if it seems a little choppy or anything like that. Sorry it took so long to post this chapter, my three year old nephew has been visiting, but he's gone home today, so I should get more writing done. Anyway, on with the story.
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"Remus, are you all right?" Lily asked the very pale boy as she sat down next to him at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Shelby and Violet sat across from them, and the three girls looked at the boy with worry.
"I'll be all right. I just caught a bit of a cold." Remus said quietly, keeping his eyes on his food.
"Well, we missed you at breakfast this morning…" Violet started.
"I was in the hospital wing." Remus answered quickly. The girls looked at each other, uncertain of what to say next. Just then, James, Sirius, and Peter walked up and stopped in front of Remus, who reluctantly looked up at them.
"Hey Remus!" James said, as if nothing had been wrong.
"Hello." Remus said quietly.
"I forgot that I owed you some money from the last quidditch game." James said and pulled some change from his pocket. He held it out for Remus to take, who eyed James's hand suspiciously.
"You owed me money?" Remus asked.
"Yeah, don't you remember?" James said with a grin.
"It's not a dungbomb, is it?" Remus asked.
"Now why would I give you a dungbomb?" James asked, pretending to be hurt by Remus's comment. Remus slowly put his hand out to take the money, and James dropped a handful of silver sickles in Remus's hand. Remus cried out when the silver coins hit his skin, and he quickly dumped the change onto the table. Everyone looked at Remus in surprise, except for James who held a closed look on his face. Remus jumped up, and, in a panic, ran from the Great Hall. The look on Lily's face turned from one of concern to one of anger, and she spun around to face James and his friends.
"Was that some kind of joke?" Lily demanded, her green eyes flashing.
"No," James said calmly, "it was just a test."
"A test? What are you playing at, Potter?" Lily said and stood up.
"Whoa, Lily…" Sirius started, but was cut off by the red headed girl.
"That poor boy has been so sad lately because of you three, and now you pull something like this on him? What kind of friends are you?" She then turned and left the Great Hall to find Remus. James just looked at Sirius and Peter in shock.
"I didn't know they were so close now." James said which gained him a reproving look from her friends.
"James, Sirius, Peter, why don't you sit down." Violet suggested. Sirius and James checked to make sure none of the professors were looking, and they quickly jumped over the table and sat down on the other side. Peter, who felt better to not jump, sat down next to Shelby.
"James, what's going on?" Violet asked.
"Nothing." He replied. Violet sighed and turned to Sirius.
"Sirius?" She asked, but the other boy only shrugged.
"Peter?" Violet and Shelby turned to Peter, who looked very uncomfortable being stared down by the two girls.
"Uh…" Peter started.
"Nothing." James said a little louder, cutting Peter off.
"Look, James," Shelby said, turning to him, "I don't know everything that's going on with you guys and Remus, but it's obvious that he wants to talk to you guys again. So what are you doing to him?"
"What do you mean, what are we doing to him?" Sirius asked. Shelby looked at him and glared.
"Exactly what I mean. Remus is a nice guy, he doesn't deserve to be isolated by you three like you have been."
"We haven't been isolating him!" James said.
"We've been trying to talk to him!" Sirius added. The two girls looked at the two boys, and then they turned to Peter.
"Peter, maybe you can…"
"Leave Peter out of this." Sirius cut Violet off. The two girls turned to Sirius and glared at him, but Peter looked shocked.
"I can speak for myself, you know." Peter said.
"No, that's not what I meant." Sirius said, but Peter had already stood up to leave.
"Peter!" James called after the shorter boy, who was leaving the Great Hall.
"Oh, wonderful." Sirius sighed as he and James stood up to follow Peter.
"Excuse us." James mumbled, and the two girls shook their heads.
"They are awful." Violet stated.
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James and Sirius didn't have time to deal with Peter before they had to go to class, and all through Transfiguration, Remus, Peter, Lily, and her friends all glared at the two boys. This unnerved the two so much that Professor McGonagall picked up on their odd behavior.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, would you please pay attention?" She said sharply to him.
The rest of the day didn't get any better when Professor Flitwick commented on the poor state of Sirius's charms in class. But James did notice how Remus kept his hand closed tightly, and when their classes were finished for the day, James pulled Sirius aside.
"I think I know why Remus is always getting sick." James said, but Sirius just snorted.
"I'm not really concerned about that right now, how about you find out what his problem is." Sirius said.
"Shut up, this has to deal with that too." James explained, and Sirius nodded.
"Okay, go on."
"I think Remus is a werewolf." James said, almost in a whisper.
"What?!" Sirius shouted, and James clamped a hand down on Sirius's mouth.
"Shut up, this is serious! And don't make any jokes." James warned and put his hand down. Sirius grinned for a second, but then remembered what James had just said.
"Alright," Sirius said, quietly, "but what are your reasons?"
"He's always gotten sick on the full moon." James said.
"You've been keeping track of this?" Sirius asked, and he got a punch in the arm.
"Will you let me finish? Plus, all those coins I dropped in his hand were sickles. Silver sickles. Werewolves can't touch silver." James explained, and Sirius frowned as he thought it over.
"It would make sense. Do you think that's why he's been so cranky with us?" Sirius asked, and James nodded.
"I think so. We just need to explain to him that we know about it, and we still want to be his friend. He's probably afraid that we'll find out and tell everyone." James said.
"Yeah, we'll do that tonight, but first, we need to find Peter." Sirius said, and the two left to look for their friend.
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They found Peter on their way back to Gryffindor Tower. It took some coaxing, but the small boy eventually listened to them, and forgave Sirius for what he said. But every once in a while, Sirius would catch Peter looking at him in a very dark, funny way, but the other boy just shook it off and forgot about it.
James was the one to tell Peter about Remus, and the small boy was shocked, to say the least. He refused to have anything to do with a werewolf, and when he said this, he said it a little too loudly for the other boys' liking.
"Hush!" Sirius said, and he sat Peter down in a chair in a far corner of the common room.
"Peter, please, listen. We've known Remus all this time, and we didn't have a problem with his condition. If you're not going to talk to him anymore, then don't bother with us, because Remus is still our friend. So what do you say?" James said. Peter looked at James for a long time, but he finally nodded. Sirius noticed how Peter seemed to take everything James said as truth, and he was glad now that Peter was still doing that.
"Ok, so we're going to talk to Remus tonight…" Sirius said, and they started to plan what they were going to say.
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The three boys waited, somewhat apprehensively, in the common room for Remus. They would all look up when the portrait hole would open, but so far, they were always disappointed.
"Maybe he's in the library." Sirius suggested.
"Or the hospital wing." Peter said, but James just sat and watched the portrait hole in silence. The next person to walk in wasn't Remus, but James had also been waiting for them.
"Lily, come here a second." James said when he spotted the short, red head, and he stood up and walked a few paces away from the other two. Lily stopped and looked as if she was contemplating whether to talk to James or not, but she eventually walked over to where he stood.
"Yes?"
"Can I talk to you about Remus?" James asked, and Lily bit her lip as she thought it over.
"What would you like to know?" She asked in reply.
"Well, this morning, after he left the Great Hall, did you get to talk to him?" James asked.
"Yes." Lily said, and James waited for her to continue. Lily took a deep breath and then looked up at James.
"There's something about Remus that you don't know." Lily said.
"Go on." James said, but Lily shook her head.
"I'm not supposed to tell you."
"Well, I think that I may know what you're talking about." James said, and Lily's eyes opened wide.
"You do?" She asked, and James nodded.
"Did it have to do with his hand?" He asked, and Lily slowly nodded in reply.
"That's why I did it. I didn't want to, but how else was I to be sure?" James explained, and Lily nodded in understanding.
"It makes sense now, at the time, I thought you were being cruel."
"Yeah, sorry about that." James said, and Lily smiled at him.
"Well, I'm glad that's all cleared up, I just hope Remus will understand." Lily said.
"So he told you?" James asked, just remembering their previous subject.
"Yes, he really didn't want to, but I saw his hand…" Lily said, but stopped when she looked over and saw who had walked through the portrait hole.
"Um, excuse me, I have one person left to talk to." James said and started to return to Sirius and Peter, who had stopped Remus. James then turned back around to Lily.
"Hey, thank you, Lily, I appreciate all of your help." James said, and Lily smiled.
"No problem, go talk to Remus." She said. James flashed a quick smile at her before joining his friends who were now facing Remus.
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Well, it sounds like we're going to war. : ( Oh well, anyway, please let me know what you think of the story! Thanks for reading!