A/N: God I get such nice reviews! *grins like an idiot and accepts crown from Craymere* Yeah the updates are easy cuz I already have most of the story written cuz I personally HATE waiting for updates. Hehe, patience isn't my strong suit, but I'm just trying to proof read everything before I upload it. Anyways, thanks again, u guys r great!
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Remus walked into the dormitory the next day and found his three friends lounging on their beds. James was playing with a silver Sickle, throwing it against the ceiling and catching it deftly as it fell. Peter was watching James in awe, his mouth hanging slightly open, and Sirius was sprawled on his back with one leg thrown casually over the side of the bed.
"Hey Remus." How's your mom?" James asked when he caught sight of the light haired boy. He was still playing with the coin, but his eyes were focused intently on Remus. Peter turned around to look at him and even Sirius had propped himself up on one elbow for a better view. There was something in their eyes that Remus didn't like.
"She's ok. St. Mungo's fixed her up in about a half hour." he replied as innocently as he could.
"Glad to hear it." James said. "Here, catch."
With that he threw his coin at Remus, who was so surprised that he instinctively reached out to catch it- and yelped as the silver burned him. He looked around wildly at his friends and noticed, to his horror, that while Sirius looked mildly surprised, none of them showed any confusion about his reaction to the silver. They had figured him out.
In his confusion and panic, Remus followed his first instinct: he tried to bolt. Sirius was closer to the door, however, and by the time Remus had reached it, the dark haired boy had already rolled out of bed and blocked his escape. Remus shoved him out of the way with surprising strength and was about to flee down the stairs, when Sirius, who was still slightly dazed and out of breath, grabbed hold of his robes.
"If you go running through there like a maniac…" he panted as he tried to recover his breath.
"everyone will get suspicious." James finished for him. He had jumped out of bed as soon as Remus tried to run, and was now standing apprehensively between Remus and the doorway. Peter was standing far enough away to ensure his safety if Remus decided to plow through the other boys again.
Remus was still looking back and forth between his friends like a frightened wild animal, but he was no longer poised to flee, so Sirius released his robes.
"When were you bitten?" Sirius asked softly.
That wasn't exactly the question Remus was expecting. "When I was five. My parents tried everything, but there's no cure."
"Why didn't you tell us?" James asked quietly.
"WHY??!! Why didn't I tell you I'm a monster? Because I kind of liked having friends. Because I knew that if anyone found out about me, I'd be kicked out of school. Because this was my first chance at a normal life in six years, and I blew it. I knew I shouldn't make friends, shouldn't get too close to anyone, but I had to go and hang out with the two smartest kids in the school, and now my secret's out!" Remus exploded.
"Whoa, calm down mate." Sirius said, looking surprised. "Your secret's safe with us." He grinned. "Come on, you don't really think we'd go running to our parents to get you kicked out do you?"
"Or tell the rest of the school." James added. "Really, I'm hurt that you have so little faith in us." He was grinning also.
"What…" Remus trailed off, looking thoroughly confused.
"Aw, come on, you prat, you didn't really think we'd decide you were a monster and not want anything to do with you, did you?" James smiled.
"Well, kind of." Remus admitted in bewilderment, still looking like he believed they were suddenly going to come to their senses and scream at him to get away from them.
"Wow, that hurts." Sirius said, putting a hand over his heart in an overly dramatic way.
"Well, you know, most people don't like to associate with werewolves." Remus said, trying to keep the pain and bitterness from his voice.
"No wonder you're so screwed up socially, you've never had any friends." Sirius said, finally making Remus chuckle.
"Ok I'm confused here, you guys don't even care that I'm a monster?" he asked, starting to sound hopeful.
"James, I do believe that Mr. Moony here is even slower than Pete." Sirius smirked.
"Nah, no one is as slow as Pete." James said fondly, reaching over to muss the smaller boy's hair as Peter started spluttering indignantly. "And besides, Remus, you're not a monster. Maybe you were a few nights ago, but not now." his voice was full of quiet honesty.
"Yeah, you're just a kid who's a hell of a lot stronger than he looks." Sirius said, rubbing his shoulders where Remus had thrown him into the wall.
Remus blushed. "Sorry about that. Side effects of being a werewolf."
"I didn't know you were that strong, or I would've sicked you on Crabbe and Goyle a long time ago." Sirius grinned.
Remus laughed. "Even right after the full moon, I couldn't take them both at once."
"Oh I think you could."
They all chuckled, and the last of the tension disappeared. Remus couldn't believe it; he'd been discovered, but instead of being on his way home in disgrace, he was still here laughing with his friends. Friends who had stuck by him despite what he was. This was the first time that he'd felt truly happy in the last six years.
"You should probably get that hand fixed up, Remy." James told him.
Remus looked down and saw that the skin on his fingers was all blistered and peeling. He had been so happy that his friends weren't going to desert him that he had forgotten all about the pain.
"Yeah, sorry about tricking you like that, mate." Sirius added.
"No worries, Madam Pomfrey could fix this in about a second." Remus headed for the stairs, and his friends followed.