Note: Thanks to all you lovely reviewers. This part might be a little off canon, but it's all right with me. ^_^ We'll see how it all comes out.

YEAR TWO: BABIES IN WOLVES' CLOTHING

Page One: Fall (aka Why Remus Hates House Elves)

Of the four friends, Remus was the first to reach Kings' Cross Station on the first day of their second year at Hogwarts. His parents had an engagement with a decorator, and had left him at the entrance to Platform 9 and 3/4 with kisses and promises of letters. Remus was secretly relieved. He didn't want to have to explain why his mother was there at the station when she was- to the knowledge of all Gryffindor House- dead. Setting his trunk down, Remus sat on top of it, leaning his elbows on his knees, chin on his palms.

"Why if it isn't the little Gryffindor sprout." A loud voice sounded right behind his ear, and Remus half-turned, not wanting to confront anyone this early in the year. A pair of boys in Slytherin robes stood there, smirking at him. One of them he recognized immediately as Severus Snape, and the other... Remus bit his lip, unable to remember the boy's name.

"Hello, Snape," Remus said coolly, nodding to him and then the other boy.

"Lupin." Snape's eyes were dull.

"So you're the one they are always talking about," said the mystery Slytherin, his eyes dragging over Remus' slight frame as if he was dissecting him. "Is it true that you're the whore of Gryffindor?"

Remus drew in a sharp breath just as Snape hissed, "Lucius!"

"Leave me alone, Severus." Lucius waved his hand, complete with elegantly shaped nails. "I heard that one of you Gryffindor- well, you're second years now aren't you- got a bunch of money from the rest of the House last year." He had grey eyes that Remus decided were positively asking for a fight. "So it's you, right? You're the little boytoy?"

"No," Remus said softly, his voice almost coming out as a growl.

"Oh don't lie." Lucius leaned closer, his soft blond hair falling over one eye. "I know what you get up to in that little red tower of yours."

"It's not me. It's none of us."

"Really?" A strange perfume hung around the Slytherin's robes and was nearly choking the little werewolf. "I don't believe you."

"Believe-"

"Hello, Severus, Lucius." A hand clamped down on Remus' shoulder and he glanced up to see one of the Hooch twins. "If you don't mind, I'd like to borrow Lupin for a bit. You two run along now." Aberdee Hooch gave them a warning smile, his other hand caressing the length of his mahogany wand. Aberdee was the Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, while his sister was the captain and first Chaser of the Ravenclaw team. Both of them were tough as nails and fought like cats when they felt their territory was being invaded. They were like refuge towers to some of the younger and smaller students, who could not fight on their own.

Lucius' eyes flickered, his nose wrinkled slightly and he grabbed the other boy's arm. "Come, Severus." In a flurry of robes and irritating perfume, the two of them marched off. Remus sneezed twice.

"You okay?" Aberdee sat down on the younger boy's trunk. "Allergic to talcum powder?" He grinned.

"Is that what he was wearing?" Remus sneezed again and nodded. Most werewolves were allergic to talcum powder, so Remus' parents had kept him well away from it. This was the first time he had been near enough to discern what it smelled like. "Thanks, Dee."

"No problem." The other boy snorted. "That Lucius Malfoy thinks he's so great just because he's a third year now. Thinks he can pick on anyone younger than himself." He flexed his muscles a little. "Not with my Gryffindors."

"It's okay." Remus rubbed at his nose with the back of his sleeve. "I didn't want to get in a fight." He smiled up at Aberdee. "But he was annoying."

"Don't let him bother to you." The older boy ruffled Remus' hair, then stood up. "I gotta get going." Holding out his robes, he gave the shorter Gryffindor a brilliant smile. "Look, I'm a Prefect this year!" The badge flashed in the light.

"Wonderful!" Remus beamed up at him.

"See you around, Rem." Aberdee waved and then strode off towards the Prefects' car.

Just then, James came running up. He was wearing muggle street clothes, dragging his trunk behind him, and grinning like an idiot. "Hey, Remus!" he yelled, then promptly gathered the smaller boy in a large hug. "How was your vacation? Too bad you couldn't join the rest of us when we went to Idle Mountain." He made a face. "But it's good to see you again." He made a face. "My mum's been pestering me to get studying- so that's why I didn't write much after the beginning of August." He sighed dramatically. "She thinks I need to be top of my class. And honestly, I have to agree with her."

Remus smiled. The trip to Idle Mountain had been a plan thought up by Sirius during the first month of vacation. But the date he fixed unfortunately corresponded with the full moon, and Remus had begged off- saying he had things to do. "I had a wonderful vacation." It wasn't a lie. He had gone fishing with his father and read towers of books under the trees outside their house. His mother had made cakes and pies for a local fair and had allowed Remus to make his own tiny blackberry tart. It was a lazy, beautiful summer- with bees at the fruit trees and summer sun that warmed all the cold places of the heart. Even though he had not gone to Idle Mountain, Remus had greatly enjoyed his freedom.

"Well, that's good." James plunked himself down on his own trunk. He glanced around for a moment. "Train's a bit late."

Remus shrugged and laughed. "We're a bit early."

"Suppose so." James grinned at his friend. "Say, where's your dad?"

"He and mum had a date with an interior decorator." Remus made a face. "They want to re-do the living room, and neither of them really has the artistic experience to do anything beautiful. Mum says she's tired of the old wooden everything. Wants something fresh to cook in." Suddenly, he caught the odd look on James's face. "What?"

"Remus... you said your mum was dead," James said quietly, his eyes serious behind round glasses.

The little werewolf's heart nearly stopped beating. He could feel his fingers go cold, and his eyes widened a bit in fright. "I... she's... I meant my aunt. My dad and my aunt," he tried lamely.

"Remus-" began James, sternly, but just then, a ball of fluffy something came hurtling out of nowhere to hit the dark haired boy on the side of the head. "WHAT THE HELL?"

"Hiya, Jamie! Remmie!!!" Sirius threw himself onto Remus, hugging him delightedly. "It's been too long, fair maiden!" he cried dramatically.

James picked up the ball of fluff to discover it was a puffskein; the poor thing looked as though it had been, well, chucked at someone's best friend.

Remus laughed softly. "Hi, Sirius."

"Peter's popping along shortly," announced the dark haired boy, his arm still slung around Remus' shoulder. "He wanted to say goodbye to his parents before joining the throng."

"Four is not a throng," said James, a bit sourly. "Is this yours?" He held out the puffy magical creature.

"Yes, indeed-y my good man." Sirius took the bedraggled little puffskein into his arms. "Thank you!" He turned and winked at Remus. "I know plenty of fun games to play with this little guy." He waved the poor thing around. "He's a boatload of fun, you know."

James glared at the two of them, adjusting his glasses with his index finger. "You should be nicer to it, Siri. And you-" he pointed at the light haired boy "don't lie to me again, Remus. We are going to talk about this as soon as we get into the dorms. You are going to tell all of us the truth- I don't care if I have to use Veritaserum to get it to work. Mark me on that." The other boy cringed at the words, feeling his heart drop out of his chest.

Sirius looked confused. "Lie?"

~ * ~

Remus restrained himself from locking the door on his fellow Gryffindor second years by a margin of two inches. Instead, he began to busy himself with unpacking his trunk. Last year, the other boys left their things in their trunk- taking them out when they were needed, but Remus liked to feel at home and would set his things in the cupboard beside his bed. He had just taken out his schoolbooks, when James cleared his throat loudly. "Attention, Gryffindor second year boys, Remus has something he would like to say." He looked pointedly at his friend.

The little werewolf choked. "I...." He felt like a fish caught on the end of a line, and sat down slowly on his bed. "I... my... my mother isn't dead," he said, forcing the words out of his mouth. As the other boys stared at him, he felt as though he had fallen through a great void.

Sirius stared at him with wide blue eyes. Peter stopped moving, nearly forgetting to breathe. James just nodded solemnly.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, burying his face in his hands- too embarrassed to do anything else.

"Why did you tell us that?" asked Sirius, finally breaking through the silence.

Remus just shook his head and then looked up, tears shining in his eyes. "I'm sorry!"

"Remmie..." Peter knelt down, putting his hand on the other boy's leg. "It's okay. I'm glad your mum's alive." He tilted his head a little, eyebrows flickering upwards. "Can you tell us why you lied?"

The light haired boy shook his head again. "I can't," he burst out in a very thick voice.

James glared at him from across the room. "Remus, we're your friends. You can tell us anything. And you owe this to us after lying."

Remus looked as if he was about to burst into tears, when Sirius butted in. "It's okay. He'll tell us when he wants to." He raised an eyebrow at James. "When are you getting to be so grouchy, Jamie?"

James growled softly. "Since you and Peter stole my clothes on the camping trip!" Fortunately for all the boys in the room, this loosened the tight atmosphere, and they all began to laugh. Then Sirius threw his puffskein at Remus, who caught it deftly, and threw it to James. They set up a short game of "bed Quidditch" as Peter called it, and soon all flopped back, exhausted on the bedspreads. No one had quite forgotten about what Sirius had inwardly dubbed "Remmie's Secret", but they were willing to let it go for the time being.

~ * ~

"ARG!!!" Remus actually threw his Potions book across the room. "I can't do this any more!" Sirius looked up, startled. The two of them had been studying in the dorm rooms- James and Peter had opted for the common room- and it had been utterly silent until that moment. The little light haired boy was a bit embarrassed, but still more frustrated than anything else. "Sorry. I just can't..."

Sirius smiled and patted the bed next to him. "Come here. I'll help you."

Remus blinked, then slid off the bed and retrieved the book before joining his companion on the far bed. "How come you aren't in the common room?" he asked, after a moment, not having opened his book yet.

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No! No... I just thought you'd want to study with James." Remus looked down. "I'm not as much fun as everyone else."

Sirius shrugged. "You're fun to be around. I can't study well with James, really. He's ... well... James." The dark haired boy laughed. "James is great for pranks and playing with... but I can't study when he's around. I keep getting distracted."

Remus sniffed almost pompously. "At least you figured that out. Peter hasn't."

Another laugh. "Ah, Remmie... now what part of Potions are you having problems with?"

"All of it." Remus sighed and then laughed. "I just don't get what hags' feet has to do with curing boils."

"Well, they're from a magical person."

"Why not just cut off anyone's feet and use them?"

"I don't know. Maybe a particular magical signal or something."

"Like an aura?"

"You take that Astronomy professor too seriously." Sirius snorted. "Auras... you're taking Divination next year, I take it?"

Remus nodded. "I'm so much better with stars." He grinned a bit. "Stars and Defence. That's me to the T."

"Ha ha." Sirius grinned back. "Well, what is going to fix the crick in your neck after you've been stargazing too long? Potions. What is going to grow your skeleton back after some vampire has cursed it out? Potions." He patted the book. "And who knows, you might randomly mix something that will cure you of all your ailments." He wiggled his eyebrows at the smaller boy.

Remus' eyes suddenly shifted to green. "You don't know how badly I wish I could."

Sirius's face softened. "Are you feeling okay?" He lay a hand on his companion's shoulder.

"Yes." Remus said quietly, then stood up. "Can we study another time? Set a date or something?" He didn't want to talk about ailments or Potions.

"Remmie?"

"I can't concentrate right now. I'm hungry, I can't think." It wasn't exactly a lie. He was hungry.

Sirius grinned. "I've been wanting to find my way to the kitchens for a long time. Wanna come?"

In the end, the two boys took James with them and found their way to the kitchens only with the aid of a house elf named Panky. Sirius thought its name was incredibly funny, and kept calling it "Hanky Panky." When Panky had led them to the kitchens, they had found it hard to keep up and only barely caught that the passageway was concealed by a painting of fruit- and that you tickled the pear to have it swing open. They slipped through the narrow stone hall- Remus licking his lips at the thought of a rare steak- and Sirius pushing him gently from behind while James led the way.

Inside the kitchens, house elves were bustling about, making food and carrying dishes from one sink to another. All of them looked incredibly cheerful, and at least seven surrounded the invaders when they came in.

"Would sirs like an eclair?" A plate of them was shoved under Remus' nose.

"Tea?" Cups were put into their hands.

"Ah! Remus Lupin, sir!" squeaked a very small elf. "Would Remus Lupin like a steak, sir?"

"Yes!" Remus' eyes sparkled. "Rare."

"Oh Tibby knows, sir! Tibby knows! The moon is nearing full, sir!" sqeaked the elf.

"The moon?" Sirius mumbled around a mouthful of eclair. Remus felt his entire body go numb. Stupid house elves! Certainly Dumbledore had made them keep their mouths shut. Yes, assuredly-

"Yes, Sirius Black! Remus Lupin likes rare meat when the moon gets full." Tibby looked pleased with himself, willing to help, and utterly pitiful. But if Remus had been less under control, he would have grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed the poor thing right then and there. Fortunately for him, several of the larger house elves threw their bodies over Tibby's and began scolding him in hushed voices, smacking him with their overly large hands.

Remus, however, didn't wait to listen to any more. He ran out of the kitchens, up countless flights of stairs- using his wolvish strength to move along as fast as he could. Strangely enough, he wasn't upset. He was just panicked. They'd want to shut him up. They'd lock him away and he'd never be able to be a normal person again. He had to get away. So he ran first to the dorms, where Peter looked up from where he was changing to his pajamas.

"Remus?"

But the little werewolf didn't hear him. It was all too easy to add up his symptoms, and his friends were fairly smart. More than once, Sirius had commented on the changing color of his eyes. James was the first to point out his oddly shaped ears. Peter constantly complained that Remus was gone at least once a month. And now with that stupid elf... He shoved it to the back of his mind and looked wildly around the room. No locks. Then he careened up the stairs to the boys' bathroom and shut himself in one of the stalls, locking it both physically and magically. Sitting on the covered seat of the toilet, Remus tucked his knees up to his chin and tried not to breathe too loudly.

Fortunately for Remus, the other boys did not say anything to him when he finally returned to the dorm room. In fact, they completely avoided him for the next two weeks or so. It was on the day of the first snow that they finally approached him.

To be continued in Page Two: Winter

Extra note: Guess what? I named the house elf Tibby after my bird. ^_^ Muwa ha ha ha... it's rather a stupid bird and rather a stupid elf. :P