A/N: Sorry it's taken so long in coming, I've had a lot to do! But now it's summer, so I figure on having the last few chapters done rather quickly. Enjoy! Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I did, I don't own any of the characters in this story except Carol, Dolph (the name Dolph belongs to Matt Groening) and Remus' family. J.K. Rowling owns all the characters in their entireties.

Three
Confrontations

Dolph decided the next day to confront Lupin with his discovery, and so that evening he found himself on the steps to Gryffindor Tower, trying to get there before Lupin decided to turn in for the evening. He caught up with Potter, Black, and Lupin just before they climbed through the portrait- hole to the common room.
"Hey, could I talk to Lupin alone for a moment?" Dolph asked loudly.
"What do you want with him?" asked Potter immediately.
"I only want to talk with him about a matter of...mutual interest," replied Dolph coolly.
"I don't really think there are--"
"It's all right, James," Remus cut in. "I'll go with him."
Excellent, Dolph thought, I'd figured he might be a little resistant.
"Don't try anything, Dolph," Black said before disappearing into the portrait hole.
Dolph quickly led Remus into a shadowy corner where they wouldn't be seen.
"I know," Dolph said immediately.
Remus froze up immediately and really hoped that Dolph couldn't tell. Does he know? Could he know? Remus thought to himself. No. He couldn't. He must be either talking about something else. Or bluffing? "What do you know?" Remus said in the least worried tone he could manage.
"Don't play dumb with me, Lupin," Dolph said.
"I really don't know what you're talking about."
"Maybe I can jump-start your memory," Dolph said in a quite malicious manner. "Maybe I should tell somebody about your little ailment and see what happens."
Dolph then suddenly jumped in front of a group of first-year girls and said, "Hello, little girls! Do you want to hear something interesting?"
Remus bit his lip. He was about to find out whether Dolph was bluffing or not.
"Do you know that fifth-year Lupin boy?" Dolph was saying. They nodded their heads one by one. "Well," he continued in a kind tone, "I bet you didn't know that he's a--"
In an instant, Remus had his wand aimed at Dolph. "Silencio," he muttered.
Remus could see Dolph's lips making the motions to say "werewolf" but no sound came out. The girls giggled a little and made their way into the common room quickly.
"Accio," said Remus and Dolph skidded across the hallway into Remus' half-hidden position. "Finite Incantatem," he added, ending the Silencing Spell on Dolph.
Dolph grinned a malicious, toothy grin. "I told you."
"So you know I'm a werewolf," said Remus. "What do you plan to do with this information?"
"Oh, I considered several people I could tell. After all, I am not the kind to keep his mouth shut. I thought perhaps the Headmaster--" Thank God he already knows, thought Remus-- "or perhaps a teacher, or perhaps your friends Potter and Pettigrew and Black. But I eventually came to a decision...your girlfriend."
Remus gulped, and Dolph noticed, his grin widening.
"And what shall I have to do to keep your mouth shut?"
"I could demand money," said Dolph. "A few Galleons a week could make me forget. But, of course, it's obvious from the state of your robes that you probably don't have a Galleon to your name, do you, werewolf?
"I've decided to tell. I've decided that no matter what you do, I'll tell everything."
Dolph got right in Remus' face. "Lupin, there are very few things in this world I hate more than a goddamned, filthy half-breed. You are lower than an animal. You are a full-fledged monster." Remus found himself at a total loss for words. "I won't just tell your girlfriend, Lupin. I'll tell everybody. I am not alone in my opinion. You'll never practice magic in Britain again. You'll be lucky to survive."
"How did you find out?" Remus managed.
"Oh, I have my sources," Dolph answered. "Don't believe that I'm dumb enough to tell you though. Good night, Lupin. Sweet dreams."
Dolph disappeared down the stairs, leaving Remus to his perturbed thoughts.

Remus slept little that night. When he did, he descended into a fitful sleep, where he dreamt of publicly ridiculed and spat on. Dolph was always at the epicentre, wand raised high and ready to emit a fatal blast of green light, shouting maniacally, "burn in Hell, half-breed bastard!!"
When Remus awoke from a particularly disturbing nightmare, plastered to the sheets by sweat, he was forced to wonder what he was going to do about Dolph. He couldn't let Dolph betray his secret to the student body. He would be hated, a man held up as a focus of hatred and ridicule for the rest of his days. But how could he shut Dolph up? He couldn't harm him, or he'd be expelled or worse. Dumbledore, he was sure, could break even the most powerful Silencing Spell. And Dolph was right: he didn't really have the money to bribe him.
Of course, bribing him wouldn't really have much effect anyway, would it? Dolph had said, "no matter what you do, I'll tell everything."
"I'm in deep shit," he said aloud.
"What'd you say, Remus?" he heard Sirius say sleepily into the darkness.
"Sirius?"
"Yeah, what do you want?"
"You know how Dolph wanted to talk to me?"
"Yeah, I remember."
"Well," Remus said slowly, "turns out he knows I'm a werewolf."
This shook all thoughts of sleep from Sirius' mind. "What?! How did he find out?!"
"I'm still trying to figure that out myself," responded Remus. "He may have followed us out last night."
"We have to do something about him," said Sirius.
"Don't I know it," Remus said, laying back on his pillow as rain once again began its rat-a-tat-tap on the windows. The rhythm was oddly soothing, and Remus descended into sleep once more.

It was still raining when Remus woke up.
Remus' head was still spinning from the previous night's encounter with Dolph, although now he wondered if Dolph really had the guts to make good on his threat to tell everybody, or anybody for that matter. He headed down to the Great Hall slowly.
He had no clue what he would do if Dolph did tell. A few people might take sympathy, but Dolph was right in that there were enough bigots out there to ruin his life completely.
When he reached the Hall and had his breakfast, he could feel Dolph's loathsome stare on him, but sensed no other attention, really. Apparently, Dolph hadn't found the right moment to expose his secret yet...
Breakfast came to pass, and the Hall emptied slowly. Remus was about to stand up and discard his breakfast tray when he heard a soft voice say, "Remus?" He turned to see Carol standing over him. "We need to talk," she said shortly.
Oh my God, Remus thought. Dolph must have told her already. "All right," he said. "Wingardium Leviosa!" That basic spell levitated the tray and he guided it to the bin with his wand. "What do you need to talk about, Carol?" he asked. He tried to make his tone as carefree as possible, but sensed that Carol noticed the recognition in his voice.
"You've been hiding something from me, Remus," she said plainly, and Remus' heart skipped a beat. She knows.
"What makes you say that, Carol?"
"Don't you think I've known you long enough to be able to tell?" she said, and relief flooded Remus. If she had known for sure that he was a werewolf, she would have told him already by that point. No, I don't, Remus thought in response to her question. I've known you for almost five years, Carol, and this is the first you've suspected anything.
"I'm really not hiding anything. Well, I never told you I got a P on the Potions test--"
"Nothing so trivial, Remus. I've been practicing my Legilimency skills."
"Legilimency?"
"The art of mind-reading. I'm not good enough to detect anything specific, but I can read the deception coming from you, James, and Peter."
"Deception?"
"Deception," said Carol with the utmost conviction.
"You need to practice Legilimency some more then Carol, because you've misread me."
"I'm sure--"
"How sure?"
"Absolutely."
"I thought you said you trusted me completely."
"I did trust you once, Remus," she said, fighting back tears, "but Legilimency does not lie."
"Really then? What do you see right now?"
"I see...outrage, but still deception is behind it, controlling everything."
She's right, thought Remus. It is controlling everything. It has become my life, hiding the fact that I'm a werewolf...my little secret.
She had her wand raised at him now, tears streaming down her face. "Legilimens!" she said a bit loudly, and Remus could feel her presence entering into his mind. He thrust all the memories of his werewolf experiences and his encounter with Dolph to the back of his mind.
She kept searching through his mind for anything suspicious, but after a minute or so she collapsed back onto the seat, exhausted. "I felt the deception there, Remus. What are you hiding from me?"
"I'm not hiding anything!"
"You can't lie to me like that, Remus!! I can sense it when you're lying!"
"Take your mind-reading bullshit to hell, Carol!" Remus shouted, throwing all caution to the wind. "Just get out!"
The tears were streaming down her face. "Please, Remus, tell me! It's only because I care--"
"If you cared, you would just get your nose bloody out! Just get the hell away!!"
With that, he stormed into the hallway, leaving Carol sitting exhausted in the Hall, crying into the hem of her robes.

It took Remus a while to calm down. He walked on a circuit that took him around the grounds, just absorbing the spring day around him, until he could regain some bit of rational thinking.
Why doesn't she just get out, Remus thought bitterly. I don't need to hear all this bloody idiocy.
But she's absolutely right, another voice sounded in the back of his mind. I am hiding something, and I need to tell her.
I can't tell her, he thought desperately. I can't. I'd be lucky if she were just to leave me. She'd probably tell everyone--
James, Sirius, and Peter didn't leave me, the second voice said again. They became the most incredible friends they could have. Why shouldn't Carol do the same?
Carol is not James or Sirius, he reasoned.
Just try, the second voice said again, and its opinion took precedence in his mind. He began the walk back to the school, determined to tell Carol the truth.
He was in the Charms corridor when he heard the scuffling of feet on the staircase behind him. An angry voice said, "Expelliarmus!" and something clattered to the ground. A quite familiar voice said, "You...get away...from...me...you lousy--"
"What am I, Snivellus? What are you going to call me?" James' unmistakable voice said, and Remus took off at a run in the direction of the voices.
"You are a lousy bastard, and a--
"That's not very nice," said James. "Rictusempra!" Shouts of laughter filled the hallway: James had used a Tickling Hex.
Remus caught up with James and Snape just as Snape was recovering from the Tickling Hex and dove for his wand. It was just the same as always: James hit him with a basic body bind-- "Petrificus Totalus!"--and Snape was totally helpless once more. James was raising his wand again to perform another nasty spell when Remus found himself gripping his own wand. He raised it and shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!"
James' eyes widened in shock as he dropped to the ground and Snape laughed a malicious laugh. "Lupin!" Snape said in surprise.
Remus walked in front of James so that James could see him clearly and said, "Just stop it, James. Stop it. He doesn't deserve it, so you leave him alone." He turned to Snape. "You're lucky I was here, Snape. Now get out. You want him to leave you alone, you leave him alone." Snape only paused for a look of hatred at James before heading down the hallway.
The spell began to wear off, and James got shakily to my feet. "Why?"
"He didn't deserve it, James."
"Yes, he did! He never passes up an opportunity to curse me! I--"
"The only reason he curses you at every opportunity is because the first time you set eyes on him, you hexed him."
"I..." James trailed off. "Really, Remus, you should keep out of our business."
"James, I'm one of your best friends! It's my business too, and I think you should have nothing to do with Severus Snape."
James was turning pink. "Whatever, Remus. See ya around."
James stomped off in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. Remus sighed a little sigh and stared for a second into the pouring rain outside the window. Why did he have to be so difficult. Didn't he realize that all he was when he was tormenting Snape was a bully?
He sighed again and took off in the direction James had left in.