Hello everyone! I know that by now you've probably all given up on me ever updating and/or finishing this story, and that you've most likely forgotten all about it, but that's OK. I swear to you, I will finish this, but I can't say how long it may take. Believe me, I love writing it, and I really like being able to share it with other people, but other aspects of life have been taking precedence over fun stuff like this. Fortunately, I think life may become a little less insane in the very near future, which would allow me to spend more time writing, which means you get more chapters.

OK, let's see, let me take care of all the formalities here. Don't own anything. J.K. does. Don't make any money. J.K. does. Don't sue. J.K. does- no wait, that's wrong- J.K. does not want to sue me, that's what I meant to say! Nobody wants to sue me, OK? All right! Welsh Word of the Day- here's a fun and useful one for you: Fampir, meaning...Vampire! Wow! Awesome, eh? Right, enough rambling on my part, and on to the story!

Chapter 13: Fampir

James Potter was a very happy boy. Insanely happy. Happier than any boy had ever been in the entire history of the entire world. He was happy, despite the fact that he was muddy, bruised, chilled to the bone, and covered in bits of grass from head to toe. As he limped to his common room (limping because he had twisted his ankle), his face was split with an unholy grin, one that was quite common to his face; he was seen with said grin more often than he was seen frowning, certainly. Behind him trudged his three great friends, none of them as happy as he, each wearing a different expression. Peter came first, a recent growth spurt making him 3/4 of an inch taller than James (he had measured, and was not going to let anyone ever forget that he was, at least for a few weeks, taller than his hero). He wore a red and gold scarf around his neck, and his face was beet red, partly from the cold outside and partly from his excitement. Peter was talking non-stop, neither noticing nor caring that no-one was responding to him.

"James, that was fantastic, I mean, you were great! I bet no-one has ever seen anyone do as well as you, and I wish I could be as great as you are. Will you teach me, huh James? " Peter could be rather dense, and somehow seemed completely oblivious to the fact that his words were upsetting another of his friends.

Sirius was behind Peter, a downcast expression on his face. He was also muddy and bruised, but instead of the nearly skipping motion of James walk, Sirius plodded along, looking only at the ground, obviously tuning out everything Peter was saying. Every few minutes, he would give a long, slow, sad sigh; James was in his own world, and didn't hear, and Peter would have to be hit over the head, forced to shut up, and told that someone else had a different set of emotions for him to pay any attention at all. Only one other boy noticed Sirius' emotions, and he certainly felt bad for him.

Remus brought up the rear of the group, keeping an eye on Sirius, occasionally smiling and nodding at Peter when he looked back for confirmation of his opinions, and generally maintaining the even temperament he was known for. Moving up to walk beside Sirius, he put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder for a moment, but Sirius almost certainly did not notice. Remus looked tired, but healthy; his bag, stuffed full of books, certainly seemed to be weighing him down, though.

And so, walking together, the four came to Gryffindor Tower, and Peter darted ahead, spoke the password quickly and excitedly, and dove through the portrait hole ahead of the others.

"Everyone!" Peter said loudly, his voice coming out a squeak in his excitement. "Everyone, listen! James just made the team, the Quidditch team, he's the new Chaser, isn't that great? He's going to be the best Chaser ever!" James stood tall, grinning madly, and accepted the congratulations people sent his way, none of them as excitedly as Peter, but at least he thought they all sounded heartfelt. Sirius passed behind him silently, and headed morosely upstairs, presumable to shower and change his clothes. James frowned.

"What's wrong with Sirius? He doesn't look happy at all, and he barely said anything to me after they announced that I made the team!" James pushed his glasses up his nose, and looked puzzled and slightly bothered. Remus came to stand beside him, shaking his head at his friend.

"James, think about it a little." Remus said sensibly. "You and Sirius both tried out for the Quidditch team, right?"

"Well yes, Remus." James said, still looking confused. "You were there, you remember, right? I tried out for Chaser and Sirius tried out for Beater, because those two team members got banned from the team."

"Yes, I know that, James. And you made the team- but Sirius didn't. You're very excited, but I don't think you've stopped to think about his reaction."

"Oh." James suddenly stopped smiling. "I hadn't thought of that. Is he mad at me?"

"I don't think so, but he is disappointed. He wanted to make the team as much as you did, you know. Give him some time, though, he'll get over it." Remus smiled at James, and disappeared up the stairs. James wanted to kick himself for not realizing how his best friend was feeling. He walked upstairs to shower; by the time he was done and dressed again, Sirius had wandered into their room, also clean and changed. He looked dismal for a moment, but before James could speak, Sirius smiled.

"Congratulations on making the team, James. Peter's right, you are going to be very good." James smiled back; he should have known that Sirius would never stay mad when a friend was happy. "Besides," Sirius continued, "that fourth year who made the Beater's spot- I should have known I couldn't beat him for the position. I'll just get it next year, that's all!" And clapping a hand on James' shoulder, Sirius led the way back down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room.

The next morning at breakfast, Sirius seemed completely back to normal. Yes, James thought, as he watched Sirius shooting spells from his wand, concealed under the table, at the Slytherin table at the far side of the room, Sirius was certainly feeling just like himself. As Slytherin students began to cringe and squeal about the suddenly changed contents of their plates, James gave Sirius a big grin, and Sirius returned it full force. Peter noticed nothing, being far to intent on his heaping plate of food; Remus, seated across from them, rolled his eyes at them, but said nothing. His mouth was quite full of food, and his plate was also full; it looked to contain every kind of meat offered at the table. Peter sometimes teased Remus about his carnivorous appetites, which Remus cooly ignored. The funny thing about that, though, was that some days Remus ate nothing but meat, and others, he had no interest in meat of any kind. James thought about this fact as he ate, and wondered whether to mention it to Sirius. The two had begun a personal crusade to discover what was wrong with Remus, and to help themselves, had started recording any odd behaviors in a blank book that Sirius "had found somewhere." James had teased him when he first saw the book, but Sirius had hotly denied any word of the book being a diary; after all, only girls had diaries, and he, Sirius Black, was certainly not a girl, thank you very much. James decided after a moment's thought that Remus' weird tastes probably had nothing to do with his "problem," and promptly forgot the matter. With a sigh, Remus stood up from the table and hoisted his bag onto his shoulder.

"Time for class, guys." The other three rolled their eyes and groaned, but Remus stood, staring implacably at them until they began to stand, and then led the way out of the Great Hall at a leisurely pace.

"Don't see why you're in such a hurry." Peter said grumpily as they reached their classroom. "It's not as though we're anything like late."

"Of course we're not late." Remus said, as calm as ever. "We're not late because I told you it was time to leave for class. Besides, would you want to risk being late for class, Peter? You know Professor Muerno was not entirely happy with you the last time that happened." Peter blanched, and shivered at the memory. Muerno had indeed not been happy; he had not yelled at Peter as the boy walked in 15 minutes late, he had merely stared. And then continued to stare. At first, Peter had looked back bravely, but his bravado had faded as the seconds passed; he flushed, looked down at his feet, began to fidget, and then began to stammer out an apology. Muerno had cut him off, smiling in his particularly-unhappy-looking way, and had been highly sarcastic as he told Peter not to feel bad, and that he was to feel free to wander into class at any time. Since that incident, Peter had been most careful to avoid being late to class, even as he complained about having to be timely.

Muerno swept silently into the room a moment later, and took his customary place standing behind the desk. He said nothing, and merely looked cooly at the class. Amazing how well it always worked, James though- within thirty seconds, the class had gone deadly silent, and every eye was on the teacher. He smiled thinly.

"Good morning, class. First order of business; will you all please hand in your essays?" They did so, with a minimum of noise. The essays were three feet long, and concerned various defensive spells. Muerno seemed to love to give his class long writing assignments; James was never certain if this was because Muerno believed they helped the class to learn, of if he was just a sadistic reptile, but either explanation did an adequate job explaining the facts. James preferred the sadistic reptile theory, though, because it sounded better and because all of the boys hated the teacher on purpose. It was a group loyalty thing- Muerno hated Remus and made his life miserable, so the other boys disliked Muerno on principle. This class period, Muerno assigned them to work in pairs to practice the defensive spells they had written about. However, when the class split into pairs, they found themselves one short. One student was missing from their class, and so one person was left without a partner. This did not seem like a large problem; James figured that they would merely have one group containing three students, as all the other classes did when this sort of problem arose. He was surprised when Muerno stepped in, smiling coldly.

"We seem to have a problem, don't we? Well, this will never do. I believe we will simply have to have one student sit out of this practice session." He strode over to where Remus and Peter had been standing together, ready to begin practice at Muerno's signal. "Mr Lupin, you are not to participate in this activity; you may observe. Mr Pettigrew, I would like you to partner Ms. Andrews." James looked at Sirius in some confusion. Muerno did like to pick on Remus, but not allowing him to practice his defense skills could be dangerous; besides, Remus worked twice as hard in that class as any other student, and did not deserve to be forced to sit out. James stepped forward, and cleared his throat to attract Muerno's attention.

"Professor, sir, I would like to volunteer to sit out instead. I know Remus has been looking forward to practicing these spells for a while, and I can always get him to practice with me later, sir." Muerno looked at him in surprise.

"No, Mr. Potter, I believe you will benefit from practicing these spells. Mr Lupin will sit out, as I have instructed him. On another note, you ought to know that students are nut allowed to practice these kinds of spells outside of my classes; the danger is too great without expert supervision." He turned away from James, dismissing him, and nodded coldly at Remus, who took a seat away from the rest of the class, his face an emotionless mask. Seething, James went to back to stand by Sirius; they spent the rest of the class period practicing their spells, while Remus sat watching silently. As they left the room to go to their next class, Muerno stopped Remus, and motioned the others out the doors. James and Sirius, practiced in the fine arts of eavesdropping and sneaking around, waited outside the classroom door to hear the conversation.

"Lupin, you are not to practice any of those spells outside of my class, do you understand? I do not agree that you ought to be learning these spells and charms in the first place, but the Headmaster has insisted, so I must teach you. However, I will not have you actually using any of them, and certainly not in this school. You are dismissed." James and Sirius scampered away from the door, and resumed walking normally a few paces away; when Remus came out of the classroom, it looked as if they had not stopped to listen at all. With a silent glance at each other, James and Sirius agreed that they would not discuss the situation with Remus unless he brought it up, and that it would be recorded in their not-diary of Remus Lupin's life. Remus said nothing, and they all went to their next class.

They walked into the Transfiguration classroom calmly and silently, which was unusual for them, and Professor McGonagall look at them sharply as they entered. She had apparently been looking at a calendar which sat on her desk, and she shot Remus an inquisitive glance, but said nothing until they were all seated. The lesson proceeded as usual; McGonagall had them work with partners at one point, but there were no repeats of the problems that had occurred in their previous class. The boys were pleased to learn how to change human hair into animal fur, which they had to practice on their partners. When class was over, however, Peter realized that his partner had forgotten to change his hair back, and that his head was covered with soft, grey mouse fur. He started to become upset.

"James! James, help me here, I've got fur on my head! And- and James, this is really awful, you have to help me, it's - it's balding mouse fur! I'm going bald, and I'm only 12! James!"

"Honestly, Peter." Remus looked a bit frustrated as he reached over and changed Peter's hair back to normal (which, James noted with a smirk, was balding in it's human state as well). Peter squeaked his thanks, but Remus just waved tiredly at him in acknowledgment, putting his other hand to his head briefly, as if he had a headache. James would not have been surprised if he did; Remus got headaches a lot.

The four went to lunch, walking with the Gryffindor girls for once, as they were all going to the same place. The boys didn't dislike the girls, but as James once said, what were they good for, really? They tended to hang out in a pack (Sirius' word), and seemed to know to pounce when one of the boys was feeling especially out of sorts. There were only five Gryffindor girls in their year, but they could "really make a fellow feel outnumbered," as Peter said, which bothered him greatly. Remus was the only one who did not have a problem with the girls, but he did not spend great amounts of time with them, either. James thought briefly, as he ate his lunch, and wondered to himself if he could even think of the names of all of the girls. Well, there was Lily Evans, for one- that was easy. Lily was almost counted as a friend, and shared his concerns for Remus. And there was Katie Andrews, and Megan and Margaret Brukail- twins, known as Meggie and Maggie, and James couldn't for the life of him tell them apart, and then one more...Lynn something, but James couldn't remember, and had stopped caring. The girls did tend to blend together until one couldn't tell them apart- at last, it seemed that way to James, but he had never really talked to any of them but Lily. It was a well observed phenomenon, however, that all of the Houses had the same problems within themselves. All of the girls in one House tended to stick around each other, as did the boys. It was a rare sight to see anyone willfully associating with a member of another House. James had heard some of the staff say that their year had worse inter-House rivalries than any they had ever seen, which were undoubtedly caused, at least in some part, by the continual pranks that James' group played on members of all of the other Houses, and their uncanny abilities to make it seem as though some other House was the guilty party. As a result of all of these complex interpersonal things, James thought distractedly, the four Gryffindor boys had become a very tight-knit group, and did not often interact with other students, except in their pranks.

James spent his afternoon classes in a state of bored- well, boredom. Between History of Magic (so dull- how could Binns take such an interesting subject and make it so very boring?) and Herbology (Peter was the only one who really liked that class), James found he could barely stay awake. Sirius seemed little better off, slumping over his desk and staring blankly into space, even when Professor Berch called on him to answer a question in Herbology. Peter slept through History of Magic, and snored very loudly the entire time, but was quite awake in Herbology. Even Remus seemed less attentive and "Model Student-y." He did not sleep in either class, but had to stifle huge yawns all afternoon, and his head began to droop lower and lower as classes dragged on. Walking back to the castle after Herbology, the boys got quite wet in the unexpected rain that had begun during their class.

They all attempted to do homework that afternoon. Of course, what that meant in actuality was that James and Sirius spent their time laughing, horsing around, and plotting their next big prank. Peter sat in the fat armchair in front of the fireplace, sucking on candy gotten from a daring trip to Honeydukes through their secret tunnel, and reading comic books. He was consistently amazed by their moving pictures and audible, if somewhat squeaky, dialogue. Remus was the only one who did attempt to do homework, but forty-five minutes into his work found him with his head down on his arms, dead to the world.

Dinnertime rolled around, and all of the boys ceased their pursuits and wandered down to the Great Hall. Remus apparently had difficulty waking up from his nap fully; he was distracted all during the meal. In fact, he merely picked at his food, and said almost nothing. Before the others had even reached dessert, he stood up suddenly, looking uncomfortable, and said quietly,

"I think I'm going to go see Madam Pomfrey. I'm not feeling so well."

"D'you want me to walk with you?" James asked. "I mean, I'm happy to, if you want." Secretly, James really hoped he wouldn't ask, because he was still hungry, and really wanted dessert. Remus shook his head, smiling briefly.

"No, that's quite alright, I'm not that badly off! Of course, you know Madam Pomfrey; she's likely to keep me there overnight." Remus grimaced, and then waved at the others as he left.

"That woman is seriously overprotective." Sirius grumbled rather indistinctly, as he was attempting to perform a difficult culinary feat that involved getting some of every food on his plate onto his fork at the same time. This was proving quite a challenge, as Sirius liked to eat some of everything he could reach. "I mean, she kept me there for two days last time I broke a wrist. Two days! That was unnecessary."

" I think she said something about the experience teaching you a lesson, Sirius." Peter said, smirking.

"Yes, but it didn't, did it?" Sirius asked triumphantly. "She'll never stop me from attempting dangerous stunts, I swear it!" He flourished his fork triumphantly, having finally accomplished his goal, but he moved it too violently. The food toppled off, and Sirius' face fell.

After dinner, they went back to the Gryffindor common room, and the James and Sirius told Peter that they needed to go to the Library for a while. He didn't take much notice, being engrossed in his comic book, and they left rapidly. They made their way to the most secret, hidden corner of the Library that they could find, and sat at the table there. This table was their special place; if any of the four had work to do in the Library, he took it to this table. No other students dared sit there anymore, because after one of the infamous four had been sitting there, one never knew what they might find. James and Sirius threw themselves onto the chairs placed there, and Sirius pulled his non-diary out of his bag. He undid the Locking Charm that he had placed on it, and the two began to decide what they needed to add.

"Well, first of all, there's the fact that he's off sick again." Sirius said, scribbling madly.

"Right, of course." James said. "And - well, what about that business with Muerno today? That was definitely weird." Sirius nodded his assent, and continued to write. After a few more minutes of thought, scribbling and doodling (because Sirius couldn't stand to not do something for even a minute), the two decided they had added everything weird they could think of.

"So, now comes the hard part." Sirius said, still drawing in the book- he appeared to be drawing a picture of Peter covered in mouse fur, with rodent-like features. Sirius was no artist, but James thought the picture was funny anyway. "What does it all mean? We always get stuck here." James pushed his glasses up, ran his hand distractedly through his hair, and tried to think.

"Well, what do we see as continuing trends? There's the whole sickness thing- either Remus or his mother is always getting sick. That, and he's had several relatives die, all of which make him leave school for a few days."

"Uh-huh." Sirius said, his tongue stuck out in concentration as he added whiskers to his drawing. "And there's the way Muerno acts all the time. Remus never did anything to make him mad, did he? I mean, not that he would, being Remus and all, but Muerno treats Remus like - like he's something dirty." Now he was drawing a flying creature of some kind, maybe an eagle or owl- or was it a bat? James couldn't tell.

"Alright, why don't we think about that for a minute. Why would he do that? If Remus has never done anything to him, why would he possibly act weird towards him? It's not like Remus is a Dark Creature or anything- I mean, we would recognize it from the descriptions in our book, wouldn't we? He doesn't have a Smell of Evil about him, or give off a Menacing Feeling of Dread and Doom when we approach."

"Yeah!" Sirius laughed, joining in; none of them liked their textbook, and it was commonly suspected that Muerno himself had written it. He continued to draw as he spoke; James was pretty sure that the flying thing was a bat now, swooping towards the Peter-rodent. "I mean, we'd certainly notice if his eyes Glowed with a Mysterious Evil Power, or if he Emanated a Sense of Otherworldly Nastiness." Sirius put the finishing touches on his bat, and sat back to stare at the picture. He suddenly slapped his hand down, making James jump. "Wait, hang on, what if he really isn't human? I mean, what if he is some kind of Dark Creature or something?"

"What are you talking about?"

Sirius pointed excitedly at his badly-drawn bat. "Like that- a vampire or something! That would explain why Muerno hates him."

James thought about this. "Yeah, I suppose...and maybe that's why he would have to go home, like to go feed on human blood or something!"

"Yuck. No, I mean, I can't see that from Remus, but maybe animal blood of some kind, or maybe Madam Pomfrey gives him treatments for it or something. I mean, that would explain why he's so pale, and why he can be so quiet, and why Filch's cat hates him."

"I guess that could be why he doesn't want to tell us- I mean, if you were- you wouldn't want to say, would you? Hey, maybe his whole family is vampires!"

Sirius nodded eagerly. "Could be! This is very good- I think we're finally onto something, James! Now what do we do?"

James frowned. "Well, I think we need to check somehow. How do you find out if someone's really a vampire?"

"Stick a stake in him? I don't really think that's a good plan, but I think it's traditional with vampires. Umm, garlic, mirrors, blood, holy symbols?"

"Blood!" James said. "Idea! You know how at Honeydukes they have those blood-flavored lollipops? My dad told me that vampires really love those things- he actually works with a vampire, y'see, so he knows. We could get some of those, and see how Remus reacts!"

"Brilliant!" Sirius said, slamming his book shut. "Let's go."

"What, now?"

Sirius shrugged. "Why not? It's as good a time as any, and we don't have class. We do, however, have an Invisibility Cloak!"

James found himself agreeing, and they were soon in the tunnel on the way to Honeydukes. "Wait, hang on, won't they be closed by now?" James asked, as they neared the end of the tunnel.

"Yes, but that's not a problem. They keep extra candy in the basement, remember? We'll just grab some, and leave the money laying around somewhere. That's not stealing!" James agreed, and they snuck silently into the basement. Illuminating their wands, they began to search for the blood-flavored sweets. Suddenly, the silence was broken by a scream, long and excruciating; it sounded like it came from some distance away, but both boys jumped.

"What was that?" James gasped, almost forgetting to keep his voice quiet. "What an awful-" His words were cut off by another scream, longer and even worse than the first.

"That sounds like a person screaming." Sirius whispered, shaken. "Someone in an awful lot of pain. James, let's go now- I don't want to listen to that!" James agreed completely; he was almost in tears at the awful sound. He quickly grabbed a handful of the sweets, Sirius threw the money down on the floor, and the two ran to the tunnel as fast as they could. They didn't stop running until they were far enough away to not be able to hear the screaming anymore. Both shaken, they made their way back to Hogwarts in silence, and went quickly to bed, but James' dreams were haunted by the awful screams.

The next day, they tried to visit Remus before breakfast, before lunch, after their last classes, before dinner, after dinner, five minutes later than that, 3 hours before they were supposed to be in bed, and 17 minutes before the Infirmary closed. Every time, Madam Pomfrey turned them away, and the last time, she practically slammed the door in their faces, and told them that if they didn't go away she wouldn't let them see Remus the next day at all!

"Well, this is no good." Sirius complained. James hushed him. Remus showed up the next day, shortly before lunch. He looked awful, and James thought his appearance was a definite support for their theory; he was pale, with bags under his eyes, which were bloodshot.

Of course, if he's been up for the past few nights doing vampire-y night stuff, he'd look like that, James thought. Remus was also tired, which also fit James' brilliant theory. Looking meaningfully at Sirius, James decided to begin his attempt to discern Remus' real secret identity.

"Remus, you don't look so good. See?" James held up a hand mirror that he had placed in his bag for this very reason. Remus did not seem to react, merely nodding sleepily; too late, James realized that none of the others had been in a position to see what Remus could see in the mirror. Cursing himself inwardly for his stupidity, he moved on to the next plan. "Garlic sausage, Remus? They're quite tasty."

"No, thanks." Remus replied tiredly. "I'm not really hungry right now."

Well, that was inconclusive. Sirius tried next, holding up cards containing various holy symbols in front of Remus' eyes.

"Sirius, what are you doing?" Remus asked, looking curious and rather annoyed.

"Nothing! Just testing your reflexes." Sirius replied cheerfully, and put the cards away. James sighed in frustration, but since it was time to leave for class, they could not complete their investigation. That evening in the Gryffindor common room, however, they did get their chance.

"Here Remus, want a lollipop?" James asked casually, and tossed one to him. James and Sirius, by carefully pre-arranged plan, were already sucking on lollipops themselves, although theirs were not blood-flavored. Peter frowned, and asked if he could have one as well, so Sirius threw him a regular one. Remus, deeply engrossed in his studies, opened the wrapper and popped the candy in his mouth without paying any attention; Sirius and James leaned forward in their seats eagerly, watching his face intently. After a second, his face contorted, becoming truly disgusted, and he snatched the lollipop from his mouth and stared at it accusingly.

"What is this? Is this- this is one of those trick blood-flavored ones, isn't it?" James looked questioningly at Sirius, but Remus was already moving, heading for the stairs. Sirius followed, at a distance, and when he came back, he looked abashed.

"Well, I think we can safely say we were wrong on that one. It made him sick, and now he's mad at us." James winced at Sirius' gloomy words, and then sighed.

"Back to square one, I guess."