A/N:  You know the drill, not mine and please review.

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Chapter 4: Returning to friends

When Sirius and his parents arrived home, the thing he feared happened. His father and mother both hit him with painful curse after painful curse. They put him under the Imperious curse and forced him to write a letter to Headmaster Dumbledore, requesting a change of house. They warned him that if he told anyone about it, he would go to Durmstrang and never see his worthless friends again.

He was constantly compared to his brother, because Regulas was a proper son and didn't fraternize with filthy mudbloods. Thankfully, Dumbledore's response was that he'd decide when Sirius arrived on September first. Sirius survived the rest of the summer by thinking about his friends, how much fun they had, and if Remus and his mother were alright.

Sirius arrived on the Hogwarts Express after two months of beatings, little food, and being locked up, but he felt great being back. He saw James and immediately made his way over.

"Hey, mate!" exclaimed James. Then with a slightly concerned look asked, "You alright? Why didn't you answer my letters? You don't look well."

Sirius couldn't tell him for some reason, so he joked, "You're just saying that because you know I'm the only one hotter than you at this school!" They both laughed and James seemed to get the hint that Sirius didn't want to talk about it. James knew Sirius didn't get along with his family, but he had no idea what really went on, and Sirius had no intentions of telling him.

"Remus! Peter! Over here!" Sirius shouted. He added quietly to James, "We need to find out what's wrong with Remus soon. He looks sick again." James agreed.

Their trip to Hogwarts was a lot of fun, with only a minor encounter with Snape and his cronies.
The headmaster requested a meeting with Sirius after the Welcoming Feast. So, Sirius followed him up to his office. It was a wondrous site with all kinds of magical gadgets and portraits of all the former headmasters and headmistresses.

Dumbledore asked, "So, you wanted to change houses, is that correct?"

Sirius's breath caught in his chest, "I-I guess I've changed my mind. I'd rather stay where I am. It just sounds like a lot of trouble, you know?"

Dumbledore's light blue eyes seemed to look into Sirius's soul. He said, "I'm glad to hear that, as I had no intention of moving you. Once the sorting hat makes a decision, it's final, and almost always the best. Is there anything else you wish to talk to me about?"

Sirius thought for a moment about the home he hated and feared, looked back up at the headmaster and said, "No, there's nothing else. Thank you."

When Sirius stepped into the common room he was bombarded with questions from his friends. He held up his hands and said, "My mother wanted me to change houses. Dumbledore isn't going to do it, so you're all stuck with me." He grinned and hoped they wouldn't notice anything more was wrong than that. They seemed shocked and relieved at this news, then started joking like always.

When they went to bed that night, Sirius looked out the window at the almost full moon and said, "Isn't it beautiful?" more to himself than anyone else. He'd been locked in his dungeon room and hadn't seen the moon for two months.

"That's what you think," said Lupin very softly, also talking to himself.

"Remus, are you alright? You look ill or something. Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey."

"No, I'm alright. I was sick the last few days and didn't sleep much, but I'm feeling better now. Goodnight." Remus pulled his hangings around him and fell asleep quickly. Clearly he was honest about not sleeping much recently.

When he was sure Remus was sleeping, Sirius turned to James and Peter and said, "Did you see the scratches and bruises on him? Wait a minute. Wasn't he or his mom sick about once a month last year?" Things started to click as he thought about this and the words Remus had uttered to himself.

James said, "Yea, and the last few days. Do you think it has to do with the full moon?" James was clearly thinking the same thing.

Peter said quietly, "I'm confused. Do you mean full moon like… like a…"

Sirius nodded his head, "Let's wait till the next one. I don't want to ask someone if they're a werewolf if they're not." They agreed and waited almost a month for the next full moon.

When Remus was leaving 'to see his mom' again, James and Sirius followed under the invisibility cloak as Peter waited in the dorm. Madam Pomfrey took him to the Whomping Willow and prodded a knot. The tree stopped and Remus went into the ground near the trunk. Sirius and James used a level of common sense most people didn't know they had and decided not to follow in case they were correct.

Remus returned in tattered robes with some nasty bites and scratches. He was on his way to Madam Pomfrey to get them healed when James, Sirius, and Peter took him aside and asked flat out, "Are you a werewolf?"

If it was possible, Remus became even paler. "So, you figured it out. Erm, I'll go ask Professor McGonagall if I can change rooms. I'm sorry."

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh and said, "What are you talking about? You're not changing rooms; you're our friend! And you know too many of our secrets. We figured it out a while ago, but weren't positive, so decided to wait until the next full moon.  So, how long?"

Remus was utterly flummoxed, "You mean you are ok with me? I'm still your friend?" He looked enormously relieved, "Thank you, you guys. Well, I was very young when I was bitten. I never thought I could come to school, but" Remus told them all about how he would go to the Shrieking Shack to transform, and how he would bite and scratch himself, due to a lack of anything else to attack. He talked about how painful the transformations were. It was the most open he'd ever been. Sirius felt so bad for him; it sounded awful. Suddenly, he had an idea.

"Remus, you're not a danger to animals, right? Well, what if we learned to become animagi and kept you company! I bet we could go wherever we want as animals!"

"Thanks, but I think it's pretty difficult to become an animagus, and you have to register yourself, and I'm sure you have to be of age to do it, and it'll be too dangerous with me… I don't want to hurt –" Remus was cut off by James.

"We'll do it. Well, not all of what you said, we're not going to register or tell anyone, it would take away the fun! Come one, we're the smartest in the year, we'll figure it out. We can't let you go through this alone, and don't worry about putting us in danger, when aren't we? This'll be great!"

"I can't believe you guys. You're really the greatest friends I've ever had. What am I saying? You're the only friends I've ever had. So, Sirius what animal are you going to become?"

"I want to be a huge dog, so I can scare the crap out of a few select people… and that way I can keep you in line, eh Moony?" Sirius grinned.

"Moony?" asked Lupin.

"Yeah, it's the perfect nickname, don't you think?"

"Sure, then you're Padfoot. You'll be sneaking around all over the place. What about you, James?"

"I'd like to be a stag. I saw one once and it ran faster than anything I've ever seen, except a snitch. Plus, I can keep you in check with my antlers," James was grinning too.

"Alright, a stag it is, Prongs. How about you Peter?" asked Sirius.

"Wh-what's the easiest? You know I'm not very good at complex spells," he whined squeakily.

The other three laughed, "You look as nervous as a rat being chased by a cat. How about that? A rat can't be that hard, and you can sneak around anywhere and spy on people when we plan our pranks! We can call you Wormtail," Sirius suggested.

"Sure. I do like cheese an awful lot," Peter and the rest laughed, "You just have to help me out with it ok? I will sneak around for you guys and find out anything you want."

Remus was looking more relieved, but very tired, "Well, I'm going to go get some sleep; I didn't get any last night," said Remus as he limped away. It must be horrible, thought Sirius.

"Let's go to the library and see what we can find on this," said Sirius, and the three of them made their way there.

They found out that it was going to be more difficult than they thought, but they were determined. Every full moon Lupin would come back beaten by his wolf side. The transformations seemed to be getting worse. Madam Pomfrey would heal the visible wounds, but he'd still have sore muscles and torn robes. The state of his robes was always and easy target for the Slytherins, who didn't miss a chance to put anyone down. To solve this problem, James and Sirius started hexing Slytherins (especially Snape) whenever they saw each other. As a result, the two of them were in detention almost as much as they were in class. James had acquired a pair of magical mirrors that would allow them to talk while in separate detentions.

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A/N:  Alright, I don't really think that's how the animagus stuff works, but I don't know how to get the nicknames in before they're in fifth year if they can't choose what they become now.  So, I'm just writing it this way.