The silent spectator walked out into the open, a slight smile on his face. "So it wasn't off to snog Harry, was it?" he teased the girl before looking to his jittery friend. "What you doing out here, Remus?" he asked the other boy.
"I...um...I..." Remus cringed a little, but it was from a sudden pain in his stomach, like a twisting off his insides. The moon would be out soon he could feel it. "Sirius, you shouldn't be out here." Remus groaned.
Sirius tilted his head at them both. "Oy...What's wrong with you...?"
Erin stood up and backed away from Remus. "Dad, we have to change! Now!" She said looking at him a little fearfully.
Sirius looked at her like she was batty. "Yeah, yeah after I find out what the hell's going on here..." He said suspiciously, walking towards the boy on the ground. "What's the matter, Remus? Why are you out here with Erin, mate? You look like hell..."
Remus cringed miserably away from his friend. "You have to go! Get away from me!" He snapped, sweat pouring down his face.
Sirius scowled. "Not bloody likely!"
"GO! Get away!" Remus pleaded before he spasmed and hunched over on the ground. Sirius withdrew his hand seeing the sickly green color that was coming over his friend's normally friendly blue eyes.
Erin pulled her dad away from Remus. "Dad...listen to me. We have to change or we'll be killed!"
Sirius looked disbelievingly from her down to the shivering boy on the ground. "Why didn't you tell someone?" He shouted angrily at his sickly friend, having figured out what was going on. He looked at Erin. "Why didn't you say something? Why didn't I know about this?" He accused as moonlight began to wash over the hillside.
"Dad! He thinks you'll all desert him now that you've found out! You're the only friends he's ever had! The only people that have ever accepted him...NOW CHANGE!" She morphed into the wolf then. She would continue the conversation when he changed.
Sirius stood there for a moment, angry and dumbstruck as the uniform Remus wore began to tear down the back where his spine painfully protruded, the bones shifting and changing. Even worse was listening to the boys agonized moans and cries as it happened, a shy voice turning into growls and whines. Sirius didn't let himself be mesmerized any longer taking that moment to shift into the form of a shaggy black dog. He took a few steps back and watched still mesmerized, disgusted, worried, angry...He didn't know what to think of what he was seeing.
It wasn't long before Remus changed completely and lay there exhausted. Erin trotted over to him and nudged him with her nose. "Remus? Remus, come on." She laid down next to him nuzzling him. She knew he was in there somewhere; she just had to remind him of it. "Come on, Remi, it's time to play..."
The black dog cautiously joined her, standing off a little watching her nuzzle the panting, exhausted lump that occupied the space his friend had just minutes ago. "You're mad! He'll tear your face off!" The dog's ears flatted to the back of his head. "Werewolves don't know friend from foe."
Erin turned and growled at her dad. "Werewolves are no threat to animals, Dad! Only to humans! Don't you know anything?" She was a little pissed at her dad at the moment. "And when Remus is around us his mind becomes more human and less wolf when he is like this! He won't hurt me."
"Alright!" He growled a little back. "This is a little new for me..." He felt a little defensive, it was weird enough having your future daughter pay you a visit and then find out your best friend was hiding a very dangerous secret from you, the guy that knew everything about him. The werewolf whined and huffed softly, trying to regain its energy after such a painful ordeal. It…he was smaller than Sirius thought he would be, but maybe that was because Remus was still kind of on the shrimpy side. The thought made him smile inside. Finally the werewolf raised its head slowly, sniffing the air weakly, blinking large eyes that were definitely not Remus'. Sirius raised his tail cautiously like he was about to wag it, his head tilting to one side before the wolf began growling and would you believe it…it sent a shiver down his spine? The fur along his spine stood on end.
"Remus!" Erin said sharply reprimanding the little werewolf, who was still very much a cub. She nipped his nose precisely and stood over him. "Stop that right now, you bad puppy!"
The wolf looked startled and confused at the nipping, it was comical. "Oy! That is definitely him." Sirius's tongue lolled out of one side of his mouth as he sat down on his haunches.
The wolf blinked again and growled, but then he stopped and just stayed like that for a moment. Then very slowly it seemed like she had gotten through to the boy inside. "Erin?" He was still very much a cub indeed…He wasn't even quite the size of Erin yet, just barely matching the size of the black dog beside her.
"Rise and Shine, Moony." Sirius's tail thumped off the grass.
Erin licked his nose. "You know it's me. Who else would be brash enough to act like an alpha with a werewolf?" She laughed and nuzzled him again.
Remus pulled himself up to his feet, whining softly though he seemed very peaceful besides. "You're the first I know of…" He looked from Erin to Sirius. "You didn't run away..." He sounded confused.
"I'm too dumb to run away from trouble." Sirius rose to his feet. "You ok?"
Remus stepped cautiously on long spindly legs. "I think so...it still aches something awful...The morning's gonna be worse."
"Don't worry." Erin said. "We don't have to think about the morning. Let's just think about the night and the wondrous adventure ahead of us..." She nipped at both boys playfully prancing around so excited she couldn't contain herself.
Her excitement was contagious. Sirius barked and hopped around like a pup. "I'll say...finally got somebody worth running with." He yipped and ran a circle around Erin and then around Remus bumping shoulders with the werewolf.
Remus' hopes rose. "Can we just...take it a little slow, please? I've never had to think about this before." He was stepping cautiously not quite having the hang of moving around on such long legs, he felt a little uncoordinated. Normally during the moon after the pain he just blacked out until morning. And when he woke up he wished he had still been blacked out.
Erin went over to him and nudged him a little with her shoulder moving one of his long legs into place. "You'll be fine, you'll have the hang of it in no time. We'll be slow, I promise. We won't leave you behind." They fell in line together walking slowly while Remus got a hang of his new body. Erin turned to her dad. "So, what did you think was going on while you were spying on us?"
"I don't know...I just thought it was a little weird...you two out here together... Almost thought maybe you had a little crush on ol' Moony here, but then I remembered what he is to you in the future and knew that wasn't right." Sirius trotted easily beside them his tail swaying lazily back and forth.
"Erin knew...She says we run together during the moons and it's better. I didn't believe her. So she promised to show me." Remus was slowly starting to get a hang of things after a few stumbles along the way.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Sirius nudged one of Remus' legs back into the right place before he tripped himself. "At least me, mate."
"Nobody likes a werewolf, Sirius." Remus walked along, his head down. "I was afraid you'd all hate me and stop being my friend. But Lily caught on to my absences. She figured it out and she was really very nice about the whole thing...she promised not to tell until I was ready."
"You still coulda told me."
"You would've been mad like you are now!"
"I'm not mad because you're a werewolf, Moony! I'm mad because you never told me!"
"OK, settle down, boys." Erin said nudging herself between them. "Dad, imagine for a second that you are in Remus' place. You know as well as I do what people think of werewolves! He didn't know what to do! It's not exactly easy on him being half and half in the first place and then getting bitten when he was only a child. He didn't even think he could come to Hogwarts being what he is. He was lucky that Dumbledore was as open-minded as he is and set up precautions for him." Erin knew that Remus would never tell Sirius any of these things himself. And since he wasn't going to well she sure the hell was! "You saw your first reaction."
"Yeah well...fine!" He thought over the things she said. "But I would've gotten over it! I'm not gonna turn my back on my best friend! What kind of a ponce do you take me for? Werewolves? Yeah, okay, I admit I was a little bothered at first, but look at you?" He nudged the werewolf, making him stumble. "You're an overgrown puppy."
"Sirius, careful!" Remus growled unhappily, regaining his balance.
The black dog yipped and tumbled into the both of them, knocking all three of them on the ground. He shamelessly licked the side of Remus' face. "See? Overgrown puppy...and the mudblood...I mean...Why would I care about whether or not you're a pureblood? I never cared about that stuff."
Erin jumped on her dad yipping at him playfully. She was in the mood to play not discuss this stuff. She nipped at him and licked at his face. She then turned and ran ahead. "Come on, you two!"
Sirius barked happily and tugged on one of Remus' ears before he scrambled to his feet and took off running after Erin, barreling after her into the woods. Remus scrambled up too, tripping at first, but then taking off like a shot after the other two letting out a loud long howl.
Erin laughed as she dodged behind tree and jumped out at the two rolling with them along the tree roots and dirt. She was good at this...since she did it about once a month, the boys didn't seem to be as sure as she was in their forms, but she was patient and often got the upper hand when she surprised them by pouncing on them from nowhere it seemed.
Remus ran along happily enjoying this more then he ever expected. He watched as Sirius barreled into Erin and they rolled into a pile on the ground, the black dog lapping at her and nipping her affectionately.
Erin got to her feet and ran into his side with her head throwing him off balance, both of them laughing. Erin spied Remus and tackled him munching on his ear. Through a full mouth she said, "Say uncle!"
The werewolf squirmed unpleasantly with the sensation. "Not fair!" He whined though he was laughing too.
"Say it! Say Uncle!" Sirius cheered, striking his front paws on the ground playfully.
"Uncle! Uncle!" Remus cried trying to shake Erin off him.
Erin let go laughing and then tackled her dad catching his tail and then running around in a circle as he tried to get at her. "I am the best!" Actually it sounded more like, "Imitbes!"
Sirius was dizzy, but laughing before he finally yanked his tail free and went loping off deeper into the woods. "You're only second best!"
"No fair!" Erin ran after him. "My dad can't be better than me! Now godfather is one thing, but dad, no way!" She fell when something ran into her.
Remus ran straight into her and pinned her playfully to the ground, taking his turn to chomp hopefully on her ear. "He's right...your second best and Sirius is third..." He mumbled.
"Oy! Moony!" Sirius protested.
"Not!" Erin said as she used her back legs and pushed him off of her. In a moment she was on top of him pinning him to the ground and she got hold of his neck. "I'm the best! Shouldn't have taught me that one, Remi!"
"I don't even know how to do that yet!" He protested.
Erin laughed and nuzzled his neck. "I know! That's what makes it so good! I can use tricks on you that you don't know about yet!"
"Good for you!" He playfully growled, squirming to break her hold.
Erin jumped off and went over to her dad nuzzling him. She let out a wolfy yawn. "Let's run now."
Sirius howled and took off fast, Erin following and matching his speed. Remus followed and actually passed the both of them as he ran ahead into the forest. The only thing better than this, Sirius thought, would to be able to have Xenia around.
Erin laughed as she caught the thought. "To you the only thing better than that would be not to have Remus and me around..." If she had been in her human form she would have blushed. "Sorry...have to learn to block better."
"Hey, I'm not ashamed." Sirius yipped. "Why not have our friends out here, anyway? Remus is okay. It'd be just fine. Maybe we could even get Potter to loosen up and change too."
Erin chuckled. "You know it's weird that James is...like this...I mean from the stories you two were always the inciters to do all of this...and looking at you now, well, you are, but James...well I don't think he likes me at all..." She grew quiet.
"Oh, Bollocks! He just doesn't know you yet." Sirius slowed down to walk with her. Remus did too. "James is just a little more cautious, which is probably a good thing, except this time...He's always getting into trouble...Well trouble always finds him so it's hard for him to think that you and Harry coming here is a good thing..."
Erin nodded. "Dad...I need to tell you something..." She swallowed unsure of how to say it without really telling him anything. "Dad..."
"What is it, love?" Sirius nudged her cheek a little, his head tilting to one side.
"Dad," She took a deep breath and swallowed. "I love you...and I need you to know that...there will come a time for you when you will need to know that...I want to tell you everything that will happen...but I know I can't." She would have started crying, but a wolf doesn't exactly cry, instead she started whining a little. She glanced over at Remus. She knew that he had already surmised that something was going to happen, something that wouldn't be good for anyone involved. He had figured out that something happened so Erin and Harry wouldn't really know their parents. "Just don't forget..."
Sirius's head tilted to the other side, his tail dropping. "I won't, love..." He promised her wondering just what she could mean by that.
Remus gently nuzzled the wolf in comfort. "I won't let him forget it."
Erin smiled. "Thanks." She yawned again. By the moon they could tell that it was well after midnight. They had spent hours playing. "We should head back to the shack and get some sleep before morning..."
"I agree." Remus said.
Sirius would have sighed if he could have. "Already? You're tired?" He whined softly.
Erin nipped her dad. "I didn't get any sleep last night, remember? Besides you've never seen the inside of the Shrieking Shack." She knew for a fact this would perk her dad's interest. "The Shack is where Remus is usually during his monthlies."
"Oh, fine then." He really would like to see the insides of the place. "Let's go then." He said, taking off in the direction of the Whomping Willow.
They got to the Willow and were able to slip into the tunnel beneath the waving branches. Remus led the way in and the other two followed. They trotted up to the bedroom and Erin immediately jumped onto the bed. "Come on, room for all three of us!"
Sirius was next and grabbed a pillow, shaking some of the stuffing loose. Remus hopped up last yawning a mighty yawn. "I'm going to sleep..." He let them know, settling himself down.
Erin chuckled and put her front paws and legs over him laying down herself. That was how they often slept during the full moons. "Come on, Dad. I think the pillow gives up." She laughed and yawned again.
"I'm really not tired." But Sirius laid down beside the two of them anyway.
Erin licked her dad. "Right..."She snuggled up to him and in a moment she was fast asleep...
