Author's Note:

Well, since today is Sirius Black's birthday (if he were alive in 2022, he would be celebrating 63 today and obviously still hot as fuck). So Happy Birthday Sirius!

Thank you so much! Over 500 reviews on fanfiction dot net, much appreciated! You guys rock!

Reviews and Comments: To Sets: Thank you for loving the tattoo moment with the four Marauders. I think it showcases their relationship well. Thanks for reading Crazy Little Thing Called Love! I wrote it eight years ago, so I hope it held up lol. Thank you. To alix33: Of course Fee and Monty love Lily. You know that they've heard James talking about her non-stop for 6 years lol. Thank you! To threereasonswhy: Thank you. I love the idea of the Marauders getting a tattoo to show their friendship and brotherhood. I agree. Remus' mum doesn't deserve what's happening to her and all we know is that she died, so I figured an illness like this makes sense. Poor Remus. Thank you! To saucyswimmer: Thank you for liking my Jily and my Marauder dynamics! They have been fun to write. Thank you! To ellyann13: Yes, no one is surprised by Petunia here lol. Exactly, James just needs to be there for his friend. I think Walburga has spies and just knows things about her son's activities. Thank you. To ascfan: Thank you! To Bellmel: Yes, Jily official! James is in love and Sirius is in love with his new motorbike, life is good lol. Remus is definitely dealing with a lot, coming home for the summer and learning his mother's illness. Lily is definitely falling fast for James and seeing how much he loves his friends is making it harder not to love more things about him. Yes, matching tattoos and even Peter. No one believed he would hurt them in the end. Sorry it makes you want to cry. Thank you for slipping this in at the last minute. You're the best! Thank you!

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Thanks to Dusk for her amazing editing skills.

As always, thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you for all of your continued support!

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO:

The One Where Remus Learns Why

August 1977…

Three days after getting their tattoos, Remus had shown up in Somerset, tears rolling down his cheeks. He knocked on the door, trying to stop the tears but unable to contain them. James opened the door with a big wide smile and Remus emitted a strangled sob out of the back of his throat.

"Moony!" James exclaimed, throwing his arms around his friend and tugging him into the house. "What is it? What's happened? Is your mum all right?"

Remus clung to James, the sobs wracking his body. Fleamont came into the entranceway, his eyebrow raised before moving to wrap his own arms around his son and his friend.

"It's okay, Remus. Come on; let's go take a seat, shall we?" Fleamont suggested, leading Remus into the living room. "Jamie, go and get Sirius."

James only nodded, turning to find Sirius standing there already. "Padfoot."

Fleamont kept his arms around Remus, until he pulled back, wiping at his eyes in embarrassment. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Is your mother all right, son?"

Remus nodded. "Yes."

Euphemia came into the living room holding a tray of tea and biscuits. She placed it onto the table, moving to sit on the other side of Remus and wrapped her arms around him, cradling his head to her breast as if he were a child.

"How's my boy doing?" she asked as she gently brushed her fingers through his hair, leaning down to kiss a new scar just below his ear. "Always so brave."

He blushed and hugged her back, letting her cuddle him into her bosom as James and Sirius moved towards him.

"I'm sorry to just show up like this," Remus began, but James shook his head.

"Don't be daft! What happened?"

Sirius nodded, sitting on the floor at Remus' feet. "Want us to get Peter here?"

Remus shook his head, wiping furiously at his eyes. "No, it's… stupid. I'm making a big deal out of nothing. I don't want to bother Peter too."

Fleamont shifted over so that his son could sit next to his friend. "I doubt that. Would you like us to leave you boys alone to talk?"

Remus squeezed his hand gratefully. "It's all right. I know you… you know what I am — a monster."

Sirius scowled and James's eyes hardened.

"Stop fucking calling yourself a monster, Rem! You are the furthest thing from it!" James exclaimed as Sirius nodded from the floor beneath them.

Euphemia leaned over and kissed Remus' cheek. "You are a sweet boy — young man," she corrected, her eyes smiling warmly. "My boys are all young men now."

Remus blushed at her words — my boys. Euphemia and Fleamont treated Sirius, Remus, and Peter, all like they were their own children and he had never felt so blessed as he did when they were around. He closed his eyes as he spoke.

"I found out… I know how I…"

"How you what, Moony?" James asked, his eyes on his friend and his arm gently linked through Remus'.

Sirius reached up and touched Remus' other arm. "You can tell us, Rem."

Remus let out a slow breath. "I know why I was bitten."

Euphemia gasped. "Remus, knowing the why doesn't matter! It happened a long time ago."

Fleamont reached behind his son and Remus to touch his wife's shoulder, shaking his head. "He should know, Fee. Why do you think you were bit, Remus?"

Remus swallowed slowly, focusing on the feel of his two best friends as they touched his arms in reassurance of their presence. "My father… it was Dad. He… he made an enemy of a werewolf named Fenrir Greyback."

Sirius' eyes widened. "Greyback? That vicious bastard who's following Voldemort and attacking all of those Muggles?"

"One in the same," Remus muttered.

"How did your dad know him?" James asked, patting Remus' arm gently.

Remus' hands turned into fists as he spoke. "Dad used to work in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Ironic that his son would turn into a dangerous creature," he muttered, wincing when James and Sirius both kicked him lightly. "Sorry. But he… Greyback was questioned over the death of two Muggle children, not surprising, I know. Dad said that back then the Werewolf Registry wasn't controlled very well back because everyone was so afraid of werewolves that they didn't press trying to find out who they were because they wanted to make every effort possible to avoid them all together. Greyback claimed that he was just a Muggle and a vagabond at that, who was shocked to even be in a room full of wizards in the first place. But my dad, he… he didn't trust him and he thought that he exhibited specific signs of lycanthropy, specifically in his behaviour. He tried to get the committee to hold him for twenty-four hours because the full moon was coming up, but the committee thought that he was innocent and told Dad that he was mad. They laughed at him."

Euphemia rubbed Remus' back gently, her hand squeezing his. "He was embarrassed."

Remus nodded, swallowing slowly. "He… he got so angry and he yelled out that all werewolves are 'soulless, evil, and deserving of nothing, but death.'"

"Rem," James said, wrapping his arm across his friend's shoulders. "Rem, he didn't know. Like you said, no one really knew about werewolves except to be afraid of them. He didn't know. He didn't mean what he said."

"He did mean it!" Remus insisted, pulling away from his friends and standing up. He dragged his hands through his wavy hair, his eyes wide. "Soulless evil! That's what he thinks of me!"

"No, he doesn't!" Sirius exclaimed. "Your dad loves you. Whenever I come to visit, he does nothing but boast about how smart you are, what kinds of things you've learned at school, and to go on about how happy you are and how happy it makes him. He doesn't think that you are soulless and he certainly doesn't think that you're evil."

Remus didn't respond. He stood in the middle of the room, both of his hands still clutched in his hair as he spoke. "Dad was removed from the Ministry. They were going to alter Greyback's memory so that he wouldn't remember the Ministry of Magic, but he overpowered them with the help of two accomplices, who had been lying in wait for him, and he remembered what Dad had said about him and… he told his pack. He found out where we lived and two months before my fifth birthday, he snuck into my bedroom window and he… Dad saved my life, but he was too late for…"

Euphemia stood up, wrapping her arms around Remus, ignoring his attempt to get free. "And he realized that everything he had ever thought about werewolves was false. You were still his son. His pride and joy. The clever and lovable child that he knew and admired and on those frightful periods of the full moon when he was forced to watch you suffer, his heart broke a little more each time."

"He hates me, Fee. I'm a monster," Remus murmured into her shoulder and then he began to cry again, his arms clinging to her as she soothed him.

After a few minutes, when he pulled away, wiping tears from his eyes, Fleamont stood up and wrapped an arm around his wife. "Remus, I knew your father before you met Jamie. I didn't know that his son had been bitten by a werewolf, but I did know that Lyall Lupin was spending his time doing endless research on werewolves, on lycanthropy, and on how to find a cure for it. He came to me about a potion, something that could take away your pain during a transformation. Of course, he didn't say those words, only that he was wondering if there was a way for a werewolf to undergo the transition without the pain. To be honest, I thought maybe that he had been bitten and was looking for himself, but there's nothing. I gave him a few healing and painless potions, but he always came back claiming that they hadn't worked. Then about four years before you went to Hogwarts, he disappeared, and I never heard from him again. He uprooted your family over and over again, Remus, to keep you safe," Fleamont insisted.

Remus shook his head, but he didn't speak.

James and Sirius each moved from their spot, taking Remus by the arm and tugging him over to the couch to sit between them.

"Listen to Mum and Dad, Moony," James said kindly. "Why did your dad decide to tell you this?"

"I asked him," Remus said simply. "Mum has been… she's speaking kind of incoherently lately. The cancer is eating away at her brain and sometimes she's not always clear on what she's saying and she said that… she told me that Greyback had bitten me because of Dad. I demanded of him what she meant and well, it all came pouring out of him."

"What happened after he had told you?" Sirius asked, his hand squeezing his friend's lightly.

"I told him that I blamed him," Remus admitted, his voice low. "That I could have had a normal life if he had just kept his mouth shut. We rowed about it. He yelled that he had given up his life for me; to protect me because of a mistake that he had made. He said that he regretted it more than anything, but that my being bitten was a wakeup call. He said that it proved that werewolves could be human-like. 'Human-like,' those were his exact words."

James' eyes widened. "Remus, he didn't mean it like that."

"He loves you," Sirius insisted. "He loves you and he loves your mum. He doesn't think that you're a monster. He knows that you're not."

Remus only stared at them. "He said that he loved me despite the disease and that my mum had made him promise to take care of me. He said that with Mum getting sicker, I can't stay there for the full moon that I need to find someplace to… Dumbledore said that I can go to the shack."

James nodded, his eyes on his friend. "We'll be there, Rem. I promise."

"Peter too," Sirius said with a smile. "Prongs and I will bring him. He'll want to be there for you."

Euphemia smiled, leaning down to kiss Remus' cheek. "And if you're not ready to go home just yet, Monty and I will make up the cot in Jamie's room for you for as long as you'd like it. You always have a place here with us."

"Thanks, Mrs Potter."

Fleamont snorted. "Remus, for the hundredth time, it's Fee and Monty."

"Or Mum and Dad," James supplied with a wink.

Euphemia kissed her son's cheek. "Jamie, go get the cot ready for Remus. Moony is going to write a letter to his father letting him know where he is and when he will be going back home. I think that you both need a cooling off period before you speak again."

Fleamont nodded. "Just remember, Remus. Parents aren't perfect. But your dad loves you more than you can possibly imagine. The cottage in Wrexham, he and your mother moved there to keep you safe when you were seven. He made sure that you had a safe place to stay when you transformed. Don't let his biggest regret and his mistake influence your relationship with him."

Remus only stared at them, his golden eyes wide. "Thank you."

Euphemia beamed at him. "While Jamie digs out the cot, you two can come help me with dinner. We'll have steak tonight. Sirius, you can set the table while Remus helps me peel potatoes. I'm giving Darby and Rosa the night off so you boys will be helping me cook."

"Yes, Mum," James said as Remus and Sirius agreed.

Remus looked around at two of the three friends he considered brothers, his family, and wondered how he'd gotten so lucky to have them in his life. Euphemia kissed his forehead again and warmth spread through him. This was a family and he was thankful every day that they'd let him be a part of it.