Under the Full Moony

Scroll 2: Transfiguration and Badly Kept Secrets

Remus Lupin yawned as he made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. He saw James and Peter laughing and joking, and making fun of people, but Sirius was just poking at his food.

Remus walked over, shivering in his school uniform which was a bit worn and ripped in some places.

Sirius looked at Remus, and then quickly looked away. Lupin sat next to his friend, "Sirius?"

"Mm?"

Remus looked taken aback. Sirius had never given him a "Mm?" after a full moon before. He'd usually be worried and asking questions about his mother's health (Remus had told them all his mum was terribly sick and he went to see her every once and a while) and fussing over him.

"What's wrong, Sirius? Bummed out about the exams? I'm sure you did fine ... let's enjoy the last week ... oh, is that it?"

"I hate my house. I DON'T want to go back ... "

James suddenly turned to him, "Then stay with me! Go on, my parents won't mind! Peter and Remus can come over too."

Peter grinned, "Great!"

Sirius looked up at Remus expectantly. Remus smiled a bit, "I'll have to check with my mum and dad ... you know how they are ..."

Sirius looked a bit sad again, "Ah ... I see ... well anyway, my mum would probably chain me up to the wall before letting me stay at James' house."

They were all unhappy when the time came to board the train. They made the most of their short time left together by playing Exploding Snap and talking themselves hoarse.

Finally the train pulled into King Cross station and there was a scramble to get their trunks and file out.

Sirius rolled his eyes when he saw a rather thin woman with pale skin and long night-black hair. A smaller boy who looked a lot like Sirius waved at him.

"That, Remus, is my dear mum and my kid brother, Regulus."

James nudged them, "Your brother's kinda cute, reminds me of someone ... someone small and adorable."

Sirius poked him in the head, "Shut up! Well, got to get going ... bye James ... bye Remus ..."

Then Sirius leaned close to Remus, "Steer clear of wolfsbane, kay? I heard it kills."

Remus was left open-mouthed staring after Sirius who winked and turned away without a look back.

September 1; Hogwarts Express.

Remus smiled as James and Sirius walked into the compartment Peter and he had found.

Sirius quickly sat down next to Remus and grinned, "How's it going? Not going to gasp and cry out anymore, right? We're just people after all ... "

"Shut up, Sirius!"

Something hit Sirius on the side of the head and he lunged at James, "Stop hitting me with that damn Muggle Ping ball!"

Peter laughed, "Ping-PONG ball."

Remus took out his half-lensed glasses without frames and continued reading his book, "I actually don't mind if James gets turned into putty, he so deserves it."

Peter nodded and they ignored James' yelps and pleads with smiles on their faces.

It's getting more and more obvious. The stupid excuses Remus was making, the missed classes in the morning, turning up later with a smile on his face, but scratched and wounded and obviously in pain. The limping, the groaning when he sat down. The way he'd get overly pale and easily annoyed just three days before he had to go 'see his mum' and he'd come back the next morning with a stupid excuse for his torn robes.

Sirius wasn't stupid. Peter might have bought it, even James might have. But Sirius didn't. Sirius knew.

So when Remus hobbled up to the Infirmary after a full moon, robes completely torn off one shoulder, bleeding arms and scratches everywhere, he wasn't surprised to see Sirius at the door.

"What? Did your mum beat you up? Or was it your dad's owl?" asked Sirius sarcastically.

Remus frowned, "Sirius ... you mustn't tell ..."

"They already know ... we're not stupid ... okay, Peter didn't know until tonight. The point is me and James were waiting for you to tell us ... why didn't you! We're The Marauders! No secrets between us!"

Remus took a step forward and felt too weak to go on. He crumpled to the floor, into Sirius' arms.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sirius asked softly, holding Remus tight.

"I ... didn't want to lose my friends ... like before ..."

"We'd never leave you Remus ... I'd never ... we don't care ... we're not like that ..."

Remus winced as he looked up at Sirius, "But ... I'm a monster ..."

Sirius grinned, "You've just got a furry little problem, says James. I must say it gets pretty obvious when you PLS at us exactly three days before you go off to visit your mum, who looked in perfect health to me when you boarded the train ..."

Remus raised an eyebrow, "PLS?"

"Another one of James' inventions. Pre-Lunar Syndrome ... when you get all annoyed and stuff for the silliest things."

Remus grinned then gasped in pain, "Damn ... my leg ..."

Sirius put Remus' arm around his neck and helped him into the Infirmary. Madam Promfrey had been waiting as well. She jumped to her feet when she saw Remus.

"MY DEAR BOY!" she shrieked. "What did you do to yourself!"

Then she saw Sirius and gasped. She looked from Remus to Sirius, then back to Remus.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Listen, Madam Promfrey, it's alright ... I know he sprouts fangs and howls incessantly at the moon once a month."

She gasped louder and led them to the four-poster farthest from the door.

"Here," she whispered and Sirius helped his friend in.

Madam Promfrey literally shoved Sirius out of the way and started bustling around Remus, dabbing ointments here and there, earning yelps of pain from Remus, bandaging wounds too tightly, earning more half-stifled yelps, and shoving a thick, dark substance down Remus' throat.

"Ack! Tastes like ... mud ..."

Sirius (finally) makes his way to Remus bedside and watched his drink the disgusting potion.

"How do you know what mud tastes like, wolfy?"

Remus stops in mid-gulp and glares at him, "I'm a werewolf ... it's my job to know."

"Right, if you say so."

Remus choked a bit, but finished the glass, "Ugh ... I can't wait to get out of here."

"Can you?"

"Yeah ... when Madam Promfrey tells me ..."

"Your uniform is ripped. If you want, I could get something else for you to wear ..."

"Would you? Thanks ..."

Sirius returned a few minutes later with Remus' clean uniform, "Here, I'll leave you to change."

Sirius began closing the curtains around Remus, but Remus stopped him, "Actually .. I'll need your help ... "

"Oh?"

"I won't be able to change on my own ... you know ...?"

"Er ... okay ... sure, I'll help."

Sirius sat next to Remus and helped his take off the robes, tie, and unbutton his much ripped shit.

"Wouldn't it be better if you got naked before you turned werewolf?"

Remus' eyes widened, He looked at Sirius, who was busy unbuttoning the clean shirt. He looked up and grinned when he saw Remus' face.

"Well, yeah, it'd safe you coming back looking like ... like this ..."

Remus reached for Sirius' wand and muttered, "Vestments Reparum. Now I just need to wash them."

He caught sight of Sirius' questioning face, "I'm NOT going to answer that!"

Sirius laughed and pulled off the other's shirt. He paused, looking at Remus' chest.

"My god ..."

'So many ... scars ... and bruises ...'

Remus blinked, "Sirius-"

"Huh? Oh ... here ..."

Sirius held up the clean shirt but Remus stopped him, "I'll just take a quick shower ..."

Biting his lip, Sirius watched him limp to the bathrooms.

'We've got to help him ... I've got to find a way ...'

Transfiguration Class; Third Year

"Animagi are wizards or witches that can turn into animals at will."

Sirius' head snapped up when Professor McGonagall turned into a cat and back.

He threw his quill at James; it hit him on the head and he turned to Sirius, who was grinning.

James raised and eyebrow, but all Sirius did was give him thumbs up.

When the bell rang, Sirius dragged James out before anyone else.

"Did you hear the stuff about being an animagus!"

"Not really ... I was busy trying to catch Evan's eye."

"We could turn into animals!"

"WHY would we want to ..."

"We could do something more for Remus than just waiting for him at the Infirmary!"

"What, go with him?"

"Yes!"

James eyes lit up, he too nodded and grinned, "Okay ... we're on to something ..."

Remus and Peter caught up to them, "Why'd you leave so quickly!"

James opened his mouth eagerly, but Sirius stepped on his foot hard. James frowned and then raised his eyebrows, "Erm ... nothing ... eager to get to potions, you know!"

Sirius slapped a hand to his forehead and pulled Peter to tell him the plan, while James walked as slowly as possible with Remus, talking about everything and anything.

"So, wasn't that the most boring lesson-"

"What was Sirius telling you?"

"Um ... wow! Look at that ... the sun is unusually bring, isn't it?"

Remus looked over at Sirius and Peter who looked incredibly happy with themselves.

In potions, they sat at their regular table and Peter kept glancing at Remus. They three kept passing notes to one another, what seemed like planning to Remus.

'I promised myself I'd never feel like this again ... but I can't ignore it ... I feel so left out ... maybe they're planning something on full moon, when I won't be there to get in their way ...'

Sighing sadly, Remus turned to his cauldron and started on his potion, shutting out everything else.

'In that case ... I won't care ...'

A/N: Poor Remus ... feels left out ... has absolutely no idea that his friends are trying to help him. "wink" Review please!