AN: OMG, people reviewed my story. I am so excited! Next chapter...
Harry marveled at the amount of trouble James and Sirius had managed to cause on just seven months. Already, they had single handedly lost 50 points for Griffindor, set fire to the common room, and gotten lost in the Forbidden Forest. Despite their refusal to do any homework whatsoever, they were still amazing adept in every single class.
From the partially thawed snow on the grounds, Harry deduced that it was mid to late March. There were a few streaks of pink behind the setting sun as Harry and Lupin found themselves standing in the middle of the boy's dormitory.
James, Sirius, and Peter were peeling off their extremely muddy robes and hanging them on their bedposts. "I can't believe McGonagall made us repaint the Quidditch pitch," grumbled Sirius. He twisted a heavily soaked sock and water splattered all over the floor.
"In the rain. Without magic!" added James, in an equally irritated tone of voice. "She's our head of House, she's supposed to like us. It was only a few Stinkpellets..." James pulled out his wand and pointed to his dripping robes. "Scorgify." The mud vanished and he smiled in satisfaction at his clean, dry clothes.
"Good idea, mate," said Sirius. He pulled out his own wand and followed James's example.
"How did you do that?" inquired Peter, curiously. James demonstrated on one of his socks. "Scorgify," said Peter, waving his wand. He immediately let out a squeak of dismay as his robes caught on fire.
"Whoops," snickered Sirius. He and James quickly pulled the robe of the bedpost and began stamping on it. The fire was soon extinguished but Peter's robe, now covered in muddy footprints, was dirtier than it had been before.
Harry smiled and looked at Lupin, who he noticed was not smiling. The grin quickly faded from Harry's face. It was safe to assume that Lupin knew what was going to happen next, and the look on his face was look of apprehension. Harry guessed he was about to bear witness to some landmark in the history of the Marauders.
The door to the room creaked open and Remus walked in. He was pale and trembling and had large, dark blue circles under his eyes. James, Sirius and Peter stared at him. A slow smile appeared on James's face. "Remus, mate, you look awful," said James. "Actually, we were hoping we could talk to you about that..." James dove under the bed and began rooting around.
"How was detention?" asked Lupin in a rather shrill tone, apparently wanting to change the subject. James re-emerged with a large stack of books and dumped them all over his bed.
"Wet," replied Sirius shrugging. "Sorry you missed it. But then you do miss an awful lot of school." Sirius picked up a book off the bed entitled "Werewolves: Friend or Fiends?"
The remaining color drained from Remus's face as his eyes fell upon the book in Sirius hands. "L-Library books?" he said, his voice faltering slightly. "Since when have guys done your homework?" He laughed nervously.
James flipped open a page of one of the books and began reading. "The werewolf appears as a normal human mostly of the time. Only during a full moon can a werewolf's true form be seen. Werewolves are extremely vicious creatures, and are a danger to both Muggles and wizards in their transformed states."
Sirius continued, "Werewolves differ from true wolves in the following ways...blah, blah, blah..." he skipped down the page and continued. "A werewolf's biorhythm is heavily linked to the lunar cycle, and therefore they will often appear extremely pale and exhausted as the full moon waxes and wanes...blah, blah...transformations are extremely taxing on the werewolf..." Sirius snapped the book shut. Both he and James looked highly excited. Remus looked to be on the verge of tears.
"I must admit we are awfully curious as to why you keep disappearing each month," said James.
"One a month, every month," added Sirius. "In fact, we happened to come across a lunar chart..." Peter, who was crouching on all fours, began rooting around the book pile in an unmistakably rat-like fashion. He triumphantly produced a large sheet of parchment and handed it to Sirius. James and Sirius began rattling off the dates on the chart.
"September 13th."
"October 9th."
"November 16th."
December 12th."
They paused when they reached March 15th and stared expectantly at Remus. "Is there something you may have neglected to tell us?" asked James in a tone that seemed surprisingly light, given the look on Remus's face.
Remus looked back and forth between his friends. His lower lip was trembling violently. After a long pause, he burst into tears. James, Sirius, and Peter looked extremely surprised at this reaction, which perplexed Harry greatly. What reaction were they expecting? Remus clearly didn't find being a werewolf as exciting and entertaining as his friends did.
"I'm-m s-sorry!" he sobbed, "I w-wasn't supposed to tell anyone and I d- didn't think you would w-want to be my friends anymore if y-you k-knew I was a m-monster." He began to cry even harder. "If you n-never want to talk to m-me again, I understand," He wailed.
Harry gazed quickly at adult Lupin, who looked highly embarrassed.
The Marauders, who had been shocked into silence by Remus's outburst, finally regained the power of speech and rushed over to comfort their sobbing friend.
"We don't think you're a monster," said Sirius earnestly. "Of course we want to be you're friend," said James, who was still in a slight state of shock. "We do!" added Peter, nodding feverently. They grabbed Remus's shoulders and sat him down on the bed.
After a few moments, Remus stopped crying. "Thank you," hiccupped Remus. "Why don't we go down to the kitchen and nick something?" suggested Sirius. "Good idea!" said Peter.
They left the dormitory and headed down the stairs. Harry followed grudgingly, wishing the people in these memories could learn to stay put. After a quick trip to the kitchen, they headed back up to the dormitories, arms laden with sweets.
"What's it like, being a werewolf?" asked Sirius. He seemed to be afraid to upset Remus, but was clearly dying of curiosity. Remus sighed. "Bad?" he volunteered. "Painful." He added in a quieter voice.
"When did you get...you know..." James asked, his expression similar to Sirius's. "Six years ago," replied Remus softly. "I was five. My neighborhood is close to the woods. My parents told me not to go out at night, but I just...didn't listen..."
"Do the teacher's know?" asked Peter, his eyes wide. "Yes," said Remus. "My parents couldn't believe it when Dumbledore said I could come to school. He said it was fine, as long as we took some precautions..."
"Like what?" blurted out James. "Do they lock you up in the dungeons during the full moon?" "No...there's a passage behind the Whomping Willow that leads to the Shrieking Shack I go stay there all night," explained Remus.
"The Shrieking Shack?" asked Sirius incredulously. "That really haunted building in Hogsmeade?"
"It's not haunted," said Remus. "All that 'shrieking' is just—well—me, actually...it's sort of a confined space so I tend to...bite and scratch myself..." Peter turned a sickly shade of green. James and Sirius looked at the half-healed bruises and cuts all over Remus's arms and face and fell silent.
"That's bloody awful..." sympathized Sirius. His face was getting blurry. Harry noticed the entire scene was drifting out of focus. Lupin remained silent, leaving Harry lost quietly in his own thoughts...
AN: Geez, long chapter. Review!
Harry marveled at the amount of trouble James and Sirius had managed to cause on just seven months. Already, they had single handedly lost 50 points for Griffindor, set fire to the common room, and gotten lost in the Forbidden Forest. Despite their refusal to do any homework whatsoever, they were still amazing adept in every single class.
From the partially thawed snow on the grounds, Harry deduced that it was mid to late March. There were a few streaks of pink behind the setting sun as Harry and Lupin found themselves standing in the middle of the boy's dormitory.
James, Sirius, and Peter were peeling off their extremely muddy robes and hanging them on their bedposts. "I can't believe McGonagall made us repaint the Quidditch pitch," grumbled Sirius. He twisted a heavily soaked sock and water splattered all over the floor.
"In the rain. Without magic!" added James, in an equally irritated tone of voice. "She's our head of House, she's supposed to like us. It was only a few Stinkpellets..." James pulled out his wand and pointed to his dripping robes. "Scorgify." The mud vanished and he smiled in satisfaction at his clean, dry clothes.
"Good idea, mate," said Sirius. He pulled out his own wand and followed James's example.
"How did you do that?" inquired Peter, curiously. James demonstrated on one of his socks. "Scorgify," said Peter, waving his wand. He immediately let out a squeak of dismay as his robes caught on fire.
"Whoops," snickered Sirius. He and James quickly pulled the robe of the bedpost and began stamping on it. The fire was soon extinguished but Peter's robe, now covered in muddy footprints, was dirtier than it had been before.
Harry smiled and looked at Lupin, who he noticed was not smiling. The grin quickly faded from Harry's face. It was safe to assume that Lupin knew what was going to happen next, and the look on his face was look of apprehension. Harry guessed he was about to bear witness to some landmark in the history of the Marauders.
The door to the room creaked open and Remus walked in. He was pale and trembling and had large, dark blue circles under his eyes. James, Sirius and Peter stared at him. A slow smile appeared on James's face. "Remus, mate, you look awful," said James. "Actually, we were hoping we could talk to you about that..." James dove under the bed and began rooting around.
"How was detention?" asked Lupin in a rather shrill tone, apparently wanting to change the subject. James re-emerged with a large stack of books and dumped them all over his bed.
"Wet," replied Sirius shrugging. "Sorry you missed it. But then you do miss an awful lot of school." Sirius picked up a book off the bed entitled "Werewolves: Friend or Fiends?"
The remaining color drained from Remus's face as his eyes fell upon the book in Sirius hands. "L-Library books?" he said, his voice faltering slightly. "Since when have guys done your homework?" He laughed nervously.
James flipped open a page of one of the books and began reading. "The werewolf appears as a normal human mostly of the time. Only during a full moon can a werewolf's true form be seen. Werewolves are extremely vicious creatures, and are a danger to both Muggles and wizards in their transformed states."
Sirius continued, "Werewolves differ from true wolves in the following ways...blah, blah, blah..." he skipped down the page and continued. "A werewolf's biorhythm is heavily linked to the lunar cycle, and therefore they will often appear extremely pale and exhausted as the full moon waxes and wanes...blah, blah...transformations are extremely taxing on the werewolf..." Sirius snapped the book shut. Both he and James looked highly excited. Remus looked to be on the verge of tears.
"I must admit we are awfully curious as to why you keep disappearing each month," said James.
"One a month, every month," added Sirius. "In fact, we happened to come across a lunar chart..." Peter, who was crouching on all fours, began rooting around the book pile in an unmistakably rat-like fashion. He triumphantly produced a large sheet of parchment and handed it to Sirius. James and Sirius began rattling off the dates on the chart.
"September 13th."
"October 9th."
"November 16th."
December 12th."
They paused when they reached March 15th and stared expectantly at Remus. "Is there something you may have neglected to tell us?" asked James in a tone that seemed surprisingly light, given the look on Remus's face.
Remus looked back and forth between his friends. His lower lip was trembling violently. After a long pause, he burst into tears. James, Sirius, and Peter looked extremely surprised at this reaction, which perplexed Harry greatly. What reaction were they expecting? Remus clearly didn't find being a werewolf as exciting and entertaining as his friends did.
"I'm-m s-sorry!" he sobbed, "I w-wasn't supposed to tell anyone and I d- didn't think you would w-want to be my friends anymore if y-you k-knew I was a m-monster." He began to cry even harder. "If you n-never want to talk to m-me again, I understand," He wailed.
Harry gazed quickly at adult Lupin, who looked highly embarrassed.
The Marauders, who had been shocked into silence by Remus's outburst, finally regained the power of speech and rushed over to comfort their sobbing friend.
"We don't think you're a monster," said Sirius earnestly. "Of course we want to be you're friend," said James, who was still in a slight state of shock. "We do!" added Peter, nodding feverently. They grabbed Remus's shoulders and sat him down on the bed.
After a few moments, Remus stopped crying. "Thank you," hiccupped Remus. "Why don't we go down to the kitchen and nick something?" suggested Sirius. "Good idea!" said Peter.
They left the dormitory and headed down the stairs. Harry followed grudgingly, wishing the people in these memories could learn to stay put. After a quick trip to the kitchen, they headed back up to the dormitories, arms laden with sweets.
"What's it like, being a werewolf?" asked Sirius. He seemed to be afraid to upset Remus, but was clearly dying of curiosity. Remus sighed. "Bad?" he volunteered. "Painful." He added in a quieter voice.
"When did you get...you know..." James asked, his expression similar to Sirius's. "Six years ago," replied Remus softly. "I was five. My neighborhood is close to the woods. My parents told me not to go out at night, but I just...didn't listen..."
"Do the teacher's know?" asked Peter, his eyes wide. "Yes," said Remus. "My parents couldn't believe it when Dumbledore said I could come to school. He said it was fine, as long as we took some precautions..."
"Like what?" blurted out James. "Do they lock you up in the dungeons during the full moon?" "No...there's a passage behind the Whomping Willow that leads to the Shrieking Shack I go stay there all night," explained Remus.
"The Shrieking Shack?" asked Sirius incredulously. "That really haunted building in Hogsmeade?"
"It's not haunted," said Remus. "All that 'shrieking' is just—well—me, actually...it's sort of a confined space so I tend to...bite and scratch myself..." Peter turned a sickly shade of green. James and Sirius looked at the half-healed bruises and cuts all over Remus's arms and face and fell silent.
"That's bloody awful..." sympathized Sirius. His face was getting blurry. Harry noticed the entire scene was drifting out of focus. Lupin remained silent, leaving Harry lost quietly in his own thoughts...
AN: Geez, long chapter. Review!