The Full Moon and Their Missing Friend

Sirius stopped Nissa as they were all entering the Great Hall for their Christmas lunch, it was decorated out in a dozen Christmas tree's all with different decoration's; ice crystals, fairies etc.

Sirius turned her around to face him and held out some mistletoe above her head, as he led in to kiss her he said. "How about that Christmas kiss?"

But Severus seemed to come out of nowhere and pull her out of his grasp and behind him out of Sirius' reach.

"She isn't going to be kissing you, ever!" Severus sneered at him. "You would have to put her under a spell to fall for the likes of you!"

"What? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sirius demanded in a low growl stepping closer with James and Remus at either side and with Peter stood behind him. "It's you she's never going to like, like that; t hurts doesn't it knowing that you'll never be with someone like her and that you're going to be alone forever."

"Sirius!" Nissa said as she stepped from behind Severus. "Both of you! I'm liking you both less and less by the minute, if this is a contest to see which of you can get me to hate you the most carry on because its working."

And with that she walked off to the table, both Sirius and Severus pushed at one another to get passed to go after her, but only managed to fall on the empty benches and pushing one another off themselves. Remus helped Sirius to his feet, even though he looked as though he could barely stand himself.

Severus pushed pass James and stormed over to the Slytherin table, but James already had his wand out and pointed it at the floor. Severus slipped backwards and went flying landing on his ass, everyone started to laugh part from the teachers and Nissa, who was even more annoyed with them guessing that it had been either James or Sirius who had made him fall.

Severus tried to get up but slipped again on the floor and the hem on his cloak and fall back down on his ass, making everyone laugh even louder at him. Severus looked over his shoulder at them and saw James smiling at him patting his wand.

Severus had a lot of trouble standing up; Lestrange had to come over and helped him up almost falling himself.

Sirius walked up to the table where Nissa was sat, but she told him the only way they were even going to sit near her was if he didn't sit next to her, so Remus sat next to her with James facing. She didn't talk to Sirius and James for the rest of the afternoon. Remus left before lunch was over mumbling something about going home because his mother had gotten worst, but didn't stay long enough for any of them to ask him about it.

***

Nissa was sat by herself by the window, with a book in her lap, though she wasn't really reading it, she was starring up at the night sky and letting the full moon braved her in his moonlight; making the red tints in her shin even brighter as though the moon itself had a power over her.

Sirius looked over at her from time to time, wanting to go over to her to say something but nothing really came to mind. The last time he looked over at her, was just before she went up to bed.

And just before he went to bed himself he walked over to the window and looked out himself, noticing the full moon high in the sky before it was hided behind the clouds.

***

For the rest of the time Remus was gone something nagged at the back of Sirius' mind, though he wasn't sure what it was, he thought it had something to do with Nissa (but that wasn't all).

Remus came back a couple of days later looking very tied, and said briefly that his mother was a lot better, and then didn't mention it again.

Though later that afternoon they went out in the grounds, and met Hagrid who told them all about the haunted house in the village 'Hogsmende'.

"The villagers won't go near the place." Hagrid told them.

"That bad." Sirius asked.

"Their just cowards, I would." James told them.

"No you wouldn't if you heard the noises which came out of that place." Hagrid went on, as Remus only partly paid attention to what he was saying as though this was the last thing he wanted to talk about.

Another month had pasted and it was the end of January; Remus was looking a little pale again after the Quiddicth match where Ravenclaw had just been beaten against Slytherin. Sirius and Nissa still weren't speaking to one another, though she was speaking with Remus. Who disappeared that night, and again Sirius noticed another full moon which he thought was strange. So he dragged James to their dorm so that they could talk without anyone over hearing them.

"He's gone again." Sirius said as he closed the door.

"Yeah I know, he told us before that he was." James told him.

"Yeah, but do you know what it is tonight?" Sirius asked him.

James looked at him confused. "Well it's the weekend, so we don't have lessons."

"No, no. It's the full moon tonight." Sirius told him getting frustrated that he didn't understand.

"So?" James said still confused at what he was getting at.

"Haven't you noticed, that every time he disappears or has to go that its always the full moon." Sirius told him.

James looked at him. "No, no it isn't. You can't be saying that you think he's you know?"

"Well it would explain things wouldn't it?" Sirius said.

"He would have told us, we're his best friends." James told him walking over to Remus' bed and looking at it before turning back to Sirius.

"Maybe that was why he didn't tell us." Sirius said finally.

"We don't know anything for sure." James said. "We can't just ask him."

"Well, wait until next month and see if he does the same, if he does then we'll ask." Sirius told him.

"That's going to go down well isn't it?" James said.

While Remus was gone, they went to the library to get a few books on werewolves, though without anyone seeing them of course, they didn't want anyone knowing what they were up to.

Another month was almost up, and another full moon would be up that night. Remus had made another excuse about not being there and disappeared. But James and Sirius were ready for him, they followed him under the invisibility cloak, they went all the way up to the hospital wing where he met Madam Pomfery.

"Ready?" She asked him.

"Not much chose." Remus said looking down at his feet.

And then they went back down stairs together being careful not to be seen by anyone. They went into the entrance hall and then out through the main doors and through the grounds, to the Whooping Willow. The Whooping Willow was swinging its many arms through there wasn't any wind, Madam Pomfery pulled out her wand and did something to the tree, though Sirius and James couldn't see what from where they were stood and then they watched their best friend go down a hole at the base of the tree and disappear.

Madam Pomfery went back to the castle but James and Sirius stayed where they were stood, quite shocked at what they had just seen. They did know better then to try and go down the hole after him. They slowly made their way back up to the castle, not really wanting to talk though they knew they would have too eventually.

They only told Peter on the last night of the full moon, and agreed that they would ask him in the morning; but morning had come, and they felt quite different now in the light of day.

"So what are we going to do?" Sirius asked sat on James' bed with his back to the door.

"Ask him." James answered.

"Oh yeah, by the way mate are you a werewolf?" Sirius asked a make believe Remus.

Something fell to the ground at the door, they all looked over to see who it was but they already knew. Remus made to grab for the door knob, but James had jumped to his feet and spirited across the room to stop him. James grabbed hold of him and pushed him over to his bed, Sirius grabbed hold of his other arm and pulled him down next to him; James and Peter stood in front of them.

"I'll leave." Remus told them saddle.

"What?" James and Sirius said together.

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked him.

"You know." Remus said, confirming it.

"So you are then?" James asked. "A werewolf?"

"No James he's a bunny rabbit." Sirius said sarcastically, but smiled friendlier at Remus who nodded. "Why? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because." Remus answered, though there was a lot more he had wanted to say but he didn't seem able to bring himself to say them to his friends, his first and only friends.

"Because nothing." James said sounding annoyed. "You should have told us, we're your best friends."

"That was why." Remus shot at them; and walked over to his own bed and opened his truck. "You wouldn't have been my friends, if you would have known what I am."

Sirius got up and walked over to him and closed his truck, and then smiled at him. "We know now."

"And hey look, we're still here, and we're still best friends." James said smiling also at him. "Well that is, if you still want to be?"

"You still want to be my friend, even though you know what I can become, what I am?" Remus asked unsure that he was hearing them right.

Sirius put his arm around his shoulder. "We're your best mates, we wouldn't turn against you."

Remus didn't know what to say, this had been the day he had been dreading since he had started and made friends, but now it had turned out to be the best day ever.

"So how can we help?" James asked suddenly, making Remus and Sirius stare at him. "Well we must be able to do something; the four of us should be able to come up with something between us shouldn't we?"

They talked for hours, while they weren't in class. Remus told them somewhat of what it was like, which they seemed very interested. Peter looked quite nervous which was quite normal for him, and he knew that he wouldn't say anything because their friendship meant as much as it did to him.

They had seemed to had taken up spending a lot of time in library going through the books and taking them out not wanting to be seen in there, as though it was a bad thing to been seen studding or something; well for them it was anyway.

They hadn't started to reverse for the end of year exam's like they had been told from every teacher, though everyone thought they were because of all the time spent in the library, (if only they knew.)

***

It was Friday lunch and they were again in the library trying to find something though they didn't really know what they were really looking for, just something to help their friend just something they could do for him; when Natalie came out from behind the bookshelves and then Polly and Lily and then Nissa who was reading something.

James patted his down without realising he was doing it, though Sirius spotted him and looked over to see who was coming and smiled though he didn't see them because Nissa was behind Polly and had her head in book.

"You've got no hope." Sirius told him.

"What?" James asked dropping his hand.

"Your hair, I think it was meant to be like that." Sirius answered, and then grabbed hold of a caldron cake and started to wolf it down as though he hadn't eaten in days.

But just then Nissa looked up and had stepped out from behind Lily.

"You know Sirius, animals eat better then you do sometimes." Nissa told him, making her friends stop and Sirius look up at her with a bit of cake on his chin.

"You shouldn't say things like that." Natalie told her, as Sirius wiped his mouth and then it hit him.

Natalie was just about to say something to him, when he jumped up grabbed hold of Nissa and kissed her, shocking everyone especially when she didn't stop him; though she was taken by surprise herself.

"You're brilliant, do you know that? I could kiss you." Sirius told her.

"You just did." James said smirking at his best mate; and then Sirius kissed her again before he ran after into the book aisle.

Nissa just stood there frozen on the spot, as were her friends who were all looking at her. James and Remus looked at her and then at each other and went after Sirius with Peter tagging along behind them.

"I don't believe that he just did that." Natalie said as Polly started to giggle.

Sirius ran down the book shelves looking for something and then he stopped running his figure along for the book he wanted, but before he could find it he was pulled around by someone behind him and pulled half a dozen books off the shelf as well.

"Enjoy that did you?" Severus demanded his cold black eyes popping.

"Yeah as a matter of fact I did." Sirius answered him, when he realised what he was talking about.

Severus pulled out his wand before Sirius knew what he was doing; Sirius' legs went to jelly and struggled to stay on his feet. James and Remus came running around the corner, unable to think of a cures they just jumped him falling into the bookshelf behind making the books fall on top of them several hitting them in the face and on the head.

"Its just on the table, you don't have to come back with..." Nissa was telling her friends picking a book up and then she saw them all, and Sirius who fell into the book shelf knocking several off onto his head. "Sirius."

Nissa dropped her book and ran over to him, dropping to the ground in front of him pulling the books off of him. She pulled out her wand and performed the counter curse which Sirius was very grateful for. Then she saw Severus, she didn't care that James and Remus were on top of him and dozen's of books had rained down on him as well. She stood up and walked over to him, he saw her feet and looked up into her hazel eyes which suddenly shun red and looked very disappointed in him.

"How could you?" Nissa asked in a whispered, they all felt it; it was so much worst then even being shouted at.

James and Remus stood up and then went over helping Sirius to his feet behind Nissa.

"But he!" Severus shouted as James and Sirius smiled at him from behind Nissa's back. "What he did to you!"

Nissa looked at him for a moment and James and Sirius quickly stopped smiling as Nissa turned around to leave, she picked up her book and went to her friends who were still waiting for her.

"Nissa!" Severus shouted after her, he glared draggers at them cursing under his breath as he pushed the books off of himself and stood up. "I'll get you for this, all of you." And then he walked off not before he slipped on a couple of books making them all laugh at him.

It took a while for them all to remember why Sirius had come back here in the first place.

"So what was so important?" Remus asked finally.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"You kissed Nissa, and then ran back here after her giving you an idea." Remus told him. "Unless you just wanted to kiss her."

Sirius smiled to himself. "No, there was a reason." He turned back to books which were still on the bookshelves and looked through them.

"You know, I'm surprised she didn't curse you or even try and hit you." James said smiling. "Well, she didn't really like you much last lesson did she?"

"When she said animal it gave me an idea." Sirius said ignoring James.

"No, she called you an animal." Remus corrected. "I don't think it was meant as a good thing."

"But it was." Sirius said as he pulled a book of the shelf and smiled at them all. "Animagi."

"Cool, brilliant." James said looking very excited at the idea. "Like McGonagall. Why didn't we think of it before?"

"Isn't it dangerous?" Remus asked.

"That's what makes it so much more fun." James said smiling.

"We shouldn't..." Peter said.

"Yeah, come on." Sirius said smiling as well. "If anyone can do it we can."

"We'll help you, but we better get started its hard work and going to take a while." James told them.

Just then Madam Oona came around the corner and screamed at the sight which meant her eyes.

"Detention all of you, now tidy this mess up at once." Oona shouted at them at the top of her voice.

(A/N:- Hoped you enjoyed! Of course they were going to help him there was no question about it; and Sirius seemed to have finally got what he wanted but really how long will it last?)