"It's—it's getting late. I've got to,er, go." Remus said suddenly, getting up from the chair he was sitting in. He closed his textbook and pushed it to the side of the table. "I'm sorry, but—"
"Your mother's sick." James supplied, his voice cold.
"And you have to go visit her." Sirius finished, dryly.
"Um, yeah…so I'll see you…later." Remus shifted his weight from one foot to the other, looking extremely uncomfortable.
"Whatever." James responded, his eyes without a hint of their normal sparkle.
"I'm er, sorry…"
"You already said that." Sirius pointed out.
"And I said, whatever." James repeated.
"James…Sirius…are you guys mad at me or something?"
James snorted. "Or something."
"Now why would you think that?" Sirius asked, sardonically.
"Aren't you keeping your sick mother waiting?" James' voice was downright icy.
"Yeah…well…good then. Bye." Remus quickly exited the Gryffindor common room, completely perplexed by his best friends' completely unusual behavior.
"Why doesn't he just fess up?" James burst out. "We're supposed to be best friends! Not just friends, because you know, just friends can withhold stuff from one another, but when you put the best in front of it! Is nothing sacred?"
"I don't know what his problem is!" Sirius exploded. "But it's pissing me off, that's for sure!"
"It's like he doesn't trust us enough to tell us something's wrong!" James jumped to his feet. "But I'm not going to just stand by and watch him struggle with whatever the hell is going on! I'm going to show how a real best friend is supposed to act! I'm going to find out what his big secret is!"
"That's very noble and all, but do you have any ideas?" Sirius asked. "Any at all?"
"Not really." James' shoulders slumped. "Do you have any?"
"Er…he's having a torrid affair with McGonagall?" Sirius suggested.
"SIRIUS! That's just…disgusting! And wrong. On some many levels." James shuddered. "Oh, you prat! Now you got that picture into my head."
"Unfortunately, it's running through my head as well." Sirius shivered. "I am so sorry I even suggested that…although…"
"SIRIUS!" James snapped. "This is important! Do you have any real ideas?"
"Not really. Sadly, the McGonagall suggestion was really my trump card. I need to get out more, it appears."
"Then let's review the facts. Remus disappears once a month. He always looks peaky in the days leading up to his'visits'—for the sake of clarity, let's call themdisappearances. He returns the next morning with scratches all over his arms, face, legs, and chest."
"And bite marks, too." Sirius offered.
"Yeah. But what's the connection between all of that?"
"He's not visiting his sick mother?"
James glared at him.
"Hey, I was only joking! Maybe he has like an overly excitable pet something. Er, a cat? No, that's not cool enough. If Remus was getting thattorn up by a cat I would have to disown him from my life. Forever."
"We all would." James agreed solemnly.
"Maybe he's keeping a herd of some illegal breed of animal for a Care of Magical Creatures project? Dabbling in the Black Market! For extra credit! You know how Remus loves extra credit. He loves it like extra credit is his illegitimate child."
James glared at him again. "So you're contending he has some furry little animal problem?"
"Well, when you put it that way, it just sounds ridiculous."
"Yes, only when I put it that way." James drawled. "Be ser—concentrate! Does he always disappear on the same day?" James mused.
"Nope." Sirius contradicted. "It always seems random."
"I know! This is hopeless!" James exclaimed, throwing up his hands and flopping into a chair.
"You give up way too easily, mate. It's actually embarassing, really."
"But it is hopeless! We're never going to figure it out."
"Did the Falcons give up when Coppice took a bludger to the stomach in the qualifying rounds against the Magpies in 1965? No, they did not! They brought in the Broadmoor Brothers as revenge and made good on their promise 'to break a few heads.' And arms. And legs. And—"
James sighed. "I get it. I just don't think Quidditch references will do it this time."
Sirius gaped at him. "I don't even know who you are anymore. You're worse than Remus."
"It's just so—so hopeless!"
"What is?" Lily inquired, entering the common room, her arms full of books.
"None of your business!" James snapped.
"Fine." Lily retorted, taking a seat across the table from James.
"Must you sit here?" James asked.
"Yes. This is the largest table. Besides, it's not like you need much space, seeing how you only have one textbook between you." Lily glanced over at it and laughed.
"What?" James snarled.
"It's just…Charms…you still haven't done the homework for it, yet?"
"No. Neither has Sirius. Why? Have you?"
"Oh I did that homework two weeks ago. I asked Professor Flitwick at the beginning of the year if he could give me a list of all the homework for the month and the start of the month and he was more than happy to oblige. I've now finished all the Charms homework for this month and the next. I want to get to the more advanced, useful stuff."
James and Sirius gaped at her. "You've got to be kidding me!" Sirius cried out.
"I don't 'kid'." Lily responded archly, as she began spreading out her books on the table. James counted ten in all.
"How can you carry all of those?" James asked. "Your arm is going to just break right off one day."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were being civil to me now."
"I'm not." James looked down at his Charms textbook which, to him, was incomprehensible. It might as well be written in Sanskrit…or some other incomprehensible language. It just did not make any sense at all. He looked up once more, to see Lily bent over one of her books, a huge, thick, leather-bound tome. James looked at the cover of the book and his eyes suddenly widened as if he was struck by a sudden idea. "Oh! Flash of brilliance!"
"What?" Lily and Sirius said in unison.
"Of course!" James cried out.
"What?" Lily and Sirius repeated.
"It's so obvious!"
"WHAT?"
"May I please borrow your book for like, fifteen minutes? I promise to bring it back."
Lily leaned back in her chair, a smile creeping onto her face. "No." She said simply. She loved having the upper hand.
"Evans—"
"I'm not lending anything to you, Potter!"
"Please, I'll…I don't know…I'll wait on you hand and foot for a week."
Lily looked like she was considering it for a minute. "No."
"God! C'mon! Sirius and I will wait on you hand and foot for a week. We'll be your loyal servants."
"Don't bring me into this!" Sirius interjected.
"Tempting, but no." Lily answered. "You know, now that I see you want this book so much, maybe I won't ever let you see it." She leaned back in her seat, smiling wickedly.
"First of all," Sirius cut in. "What is that book, anyway? Second of all, why don't you just borrow that book from the library, James? Why bring indentured servitude into it?"
"The book is called Unabridged Records of Beasts and Beast-Human Hybrids: Signs and Defenses. However, this is the school library's only copy and the book itself is out-of-print, so there's no way you can get another copy." She smirked.
"Ev—Lily! How many times must I say please?" James asked. "I'll…oh, I'll teach you how to do the next five chapters in Transfiguration." James had a feeling that he needed this book, common sense be damned. After all, wasn't it always Sirius who advocated "feel with your gut—any idiot can think with his brain."
"Along with you and Sirius and my servants for a week?"
"Yes! I'll even up it to two weeks!"
"Three weeks and you've got a deal."
"You can't bargain me!" Sirius objected. "I'm sure that's not legal!"
James and Lily ignored him. "Two and a half weeks." James stated.
"Two weeks and five days."
"Deal." James agreed, holding out his hand.
"No! No deal! Sirius Black is no one's servant! He is a slave only to the female population as a whole, not individual, red-haired bundles of evil!"
Lily shook it. "Deal." Lily handed James the thick book with an easy grin.
James leaped up from his seat, the book in his arms. "We've got to go, Sirius!"
Sirius frowned at him. "No, we don't."
James yanked Sirius by the hair.
"OW!" Sirius shouted, and jumped to his feet. "Cheater! Low blow!"
James released his hair and he followed James in his mad dash out of Gryffindor Tower. "You're asking for it having hair that long."
"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. Envy is not a very becoming color on you."
Lily leaned back in her seat and smiled. She would not have to do a thing for almost three weeks and James, the best student in the school at Transfiguration, was going to help her master the next five chapters. This was a sweet deal.
"What is your problem?" Sirius exploded. "Are you mental? You just made us Lily's slaves for almost three weeks!"
"It was worth it!" James replied. "Just shut up and follow me to the library."
"But you just sold me to pure evil incarnate, James. EVIL!"
"Not sold, bartered! Come on."
"I am definitely going to kick your arse if this is not extremely important. You bargained me into servitude!"
"It is! Trust me! I think I figured out what's up with Remus!"
"Really? Tell me!" Sirius brightened considerably.
"I will once I figure it out."
"What? So I was bartered for nothing? Not even for knowledge? I am not even a knowledge whore? You just said—"
"See the thing is I think I know but I need to do some research to be sure."
"Which is why you needed Lily's book?"
"Exactly. And you're not a 'knowlege whore.' I believe that's still firmly Remus' territory."
"At least some things never change. And are we headed to the library?"
"That, we are."
Sirius groaned. "I had a feeling that's where we were going. But James, I don't like the library. It's filled with books and I can feel their eyes on me, judging me for not coming in there except forcibly under the direst of circumstances!"
James paused. "You do realize books don't have eyes, right?"
"I'm sure some of them do! Hats aren't supposed to have mouths but the Sorting Hat does."
James had to admit Sirius had a point. Convoluted and tautological, but a point nonetheless.
---
Ten minutes later, James and Sirius were sitting at a large table in the back of the library, with almost all of the library's sections on beasts and magical ailments spread out in front of them.
"So you're proposing that Remus is a beast?" Sirius stated, skeptical.
"Not quite. Maybe a human-beast hybrid?" James replied, opening one of the books closest to him.
"This is…well the word 'insane' comes to mind."
"I know it sounds a bit odd."
"A bit? Try extremely. James, Remus doesn't seem very, well…beast-ish, if you know what I mean. Maybe if you said he turns into a unicorn when the sun goes down every second Tuesday after the tides come in or something, that I could find some merit in. But a beast or beast-wizard hybrid, James? It's Remus! I doubt he decides to go all homicidal once a month and kills people. He's just not the type. He'd probably be quieter, and more shifty…like Snape. Now, if you were to say Snape was a beast, I might actually—"
James beamed at him. "Sirius, you're a genius!"
"Well, I try—"
"I've been going about this all wrong!"
"What are you talking about?"
"What you just said!"
"About Remus not being very beast-ish?"
"The word you're looking for is beastly, but that's it, yeah. Think, Sirius, what do suppose someone with, say a beast inside of them, would be like?"
"You mean like someone who's really a demon but masquerading in human skin? Possibly literal skin."
"Sometimes you scare me." James frowned slightly. "Er, something like that."
"Mean, most definitely. Sharp teeth, glowing yellow or red eyes, long fingernails stained with the blood of the innocent that the beast has killed, deep gashes all over from combat…"
"Exactly! And what is Remus always covered with whenever he gets back from one of those strange disappearances of his?"
"Lots of bruises and scratches…but he could have just fallen down some stairs. You don't really think he's some sort of evil hellbeast, do you?"
"I don't know." James answered truthfully. "You are right about him not seeming to be the type of person to be evil. I've never even heard him raise his voice once. OK, except for that time when you found his private journal and thought it would be funny to read excerpts out during breakfast. However, I doubt he'd get those bruises and scratches…or those bite marks from just falling down."
"True…but, James…Remus? Mr. Bookish McNiceguy?"
James chuckled for a moment before falling silent. He pulled the nearest book towards him and began to flip through it.
Sirius groaned. "This is the part with the reading until my eyes become nothing more than a decoration for my face, isn't it?"
---
"Argh! This is so frustrating! That's it! I give up! Sirius, can you take back all the books on magical aliments back? I'll take all the beasts books back in a minute."
"You mean free myself of the eternal torment of dust, mildew, and paper cuts? Sure!"
"Oh stop. We've only been here for little more than an hour."
"I've heard that time passes slowly in Hell, and now I can speak as an authority on the subject."
"Don't get too comfortable with your newfound freedom. We'll be back tomorrow morning."
"Fine. And I'll sue you when I get athsma from all of the dust andthese paper cuts get infected and my fingers need to be amputated!" Sirius grumbled, loading his arms with books and going to put them back on their proper shelves—well, any shelf that seemed closest—all the while questioning his best friend's sanity, and bemoaning his lack of adventure.
James sighed. "I really thought I had something!" James muttered. He began to flip through the book he'd traded Lily for. "If I have to be Lily's slave for nearly three weeks, I better find something in this unholy union of parchment and leather." That was when a page caught his eye.
At the top of the page was a picture of a man, naked from the waist up, on his hands and knees. His back was hunched, he was grimacing, and he looked to be in a great deal of pain. Directly under it was a picture of the same man, but he seemed to be undergoing some sort of transformation. His fingers had grown into claws, his teeth had grown and developed into fangs. Fur was spouting all over his body. On the page across from those pictures, was a startling picture of a creature covered in fur, rearing up, claws slashing the air. He looked like some kind of…dog or wolf…but much, much bigger. The creature's lips were pulled back in a snarl, saliva dripped from incredibly sharp fangs. The creature's eyes were a glowing, feral yellow. The creature was scratching at its own body with its claws. The picture was directly under a large heading, the word 'Werewolf', in curly, old-time script.
"No…" James whispered, not wanting to believe… "But there's no other explanation…Sirius!"
"Shh!" A group of students a few tables over from his, hissed at him.
James didn't care. "Sirius!" He shouted again.
Sirius ran over, his arms empty of the books he had been holding moments ago. "What is it?" Sirius asked. "Did you find something?"
"I-I'm not sure. Just—listen, OK?"
"Sure. Read on."
"The werewolf is probably one of the most feared and infamous creatures of all time,"
"Well yeah. That's pretty obvious." Sirius interrupted. "Why are you reading this?"
"Sirius! Just listen!"
"All right, all right, I am. Continue."
"The werewolf is a savage creature that could tear apart almost any animal or human. They are inhumanly fast and can kill even a fully trained wizard before they even have time to utter a stunning spell. The werewolf actively seeks out humans over any other kind of prey—"
"James, get on with it already. I already had to suffer through this unit once during Defense. It's not any more interesting on the second reading."
"OK, OK, I am! A wizard or muggle will become a werewolf if one bites them. However, the wizard or muggle will only turn into a werewolf once a month, on the night of the full moon. Every other day and night of the year, exempting those twelve days, the wizard or muggle is perfectly human." James read. "But, Sirius, here's the clincher! Listen—The days leading up to the full moon, the aforementioned wizard or muggle may become quite sick, and take on a haggard, rundown countenance. They might appear to have a bad case of influenza or be overtired." James closed the book and looked up at Sirius.
Sirius looked thunderstruck. "Are you trying to say that our friend Remus, Remus Lupin, is a werewolf?"
"Shh!" James hissed. "Yes, I do think he might be a W-E-R-E-W-O-L-F."
"Remus Lupin? As in the boy who shares our dormitory, Remus Lupin?"
"All of the signs seem to be pointing to it."
Sirius was shaking his head emphatically, his long black hair flying every which way. "No. That's impossible…it just can't be."
"Why?" James challenged.
"Because, like the book said, werewolves are savages. Remus isn't a savage."
"But, as the book also said, they're only the wolf once a month, during the full moon."
"I know that and if he is, I understand and don't hold it against him or anything. I mean, maybe he just had bad luck as a kid and got bit. He's still my friend, you know? But…I know Dumbledore is a good headmaster and all, but he couldn't just let a werewolf into the school. The parents would be on him like that." Sirius snapped his fingers.
"Which is why he would have to keep it quiet. Which is why we have to keep it quiet."
"Couldn't this all be a coincidence, though?"
"You need more proof? Hold on a sec." James jumped up from his seat and took off. He returned a minute later with a rather large book, which appeared to be brand-new. He placed the book on the table, opened it to the table of contents, ran his finger down the page, and then flipped it to nearly the end of the book. He pushed the book to Sirius.
Sirius looked down at the page and found it was a chart depicting the forms of the moon for each day of that year. James pointed to a section of the chart. Sirius saw that it was the part of the chart dedicated to the current month of the year and James was pointing to today. Sirius gasped. For today, the moon was full.
"Whoa." Sirius breathed.
"Yeah." James agreed. "See, and the day last month when Remus claimed to be going to see his sick mother, it was a full moon as well. Same with every day of each past month when Remus claimed to be going to visiting his mother. Either this is all just a mistake and Remus' mother just happens to inconveniently get sick on those days, or Remus is a werewolf."
Sirius looked at James, mouth hanging open, then back at the chart open in front him, before looking up at James once more. "I think we need to confront our dear friend Remus Lupin."
The next day, during dinner in the Great Hall, Lily looked around at all of the students, confusion etched on her face. "Where are James and Sirius?" She wondered aloud.
Miranda Leone, a pretty girl with long, dark hair, pulled back by a blue satin ribbon, smirked at her. "Aw, Lily were you hoping to catch some downtime with James? Are things heating up between you?"
"What? No! Never! How could you ever think that? The thought is enough to give one nightmares. It's just that Sirius and James are not ones to miss a meal."
"True." Remus agreed, looking at her from his seat across the table from her. "They would never miss din—"
Remus words were cut off abruptly as James and Sirius came up behind him and clamped their hands down on Remus' shoulders. Remus looked up at them, startled. Both of their faces were impassive. Sirius leaned down so that his mouth was right near Remus' ear.
"Follow us, Remus." He hissed, more an order than a suggestion.
"Why? Is something wrong?" Remus asked.
"Just follow us." Sirius replied curtly, and he and James hauled Remus to his feet and proceeded to pull him out of the Great Hall.
"Please tell me what's going on!" Remus begged as James and Sirius pushed him in through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room. He was surprised and confused, when he saw that all of the furniture in the common room had been pushed back against the walls, except for one chair, which stood in the center of the room. "Do you want me to sit?"
James and Sirius nodded. Remus sat. James took out his wand, muttered a few words, and pointed his wand at the door to the portrait hole. Remus cocked his head, studying James and Sirius for any signs of what was going on.
"This room is now soundproof and sealed no one will be able to get in here, for the remainder of dinner time." James announced.
Sirius and James approached Remus' chair. James positioned himself behind Remus, while Sirius stood in front of him. Both crossed their arms and glowered down at him.
"We're giving you a chance to explain yourself." Sirius informed Remus.
"Explain myself about what?" Remus asked, utterly baffled. This behavior was odd, even for Sirius, who gave the word a brand new definition.
"Your secret. Why you lie to us about going to visit your sick mother."
Remus' eyes widened and he gulped involuntarily. "I—I don't know what you're talking about. My mother has--she has a fragile constitution."
"Do we look daft?" Sirius demanded.
"Er, well—sometimes? Is this a trick question?""Are Sirius and I your friends?" James inquired.
Remus leaned his head back to look up at him. "Of course."
"Best friends, would you say?"
"Without a doubt." Remus breathed a sigh of relief. So it was a stroking of the fragile male ego that was needed. That's all. No reason to think it was anything more than that. Remus visibly relaxed in the short, awkward silence that followed, and thus was completely thrown by James' next question.
"Then why aren't you honest with us?"
"I am honest with you! Everyone who knows me says that I'm honest. Remus Honest Lupin, they call me, as if honesty was my middle name, which you know, legally it's not, as it's John, but—" Remus rambled on, as he always did when he got too nervous. "I suppose I could change it one day."
"Oh really?" Sirius interjected. "So you're saying that you aren't keeping any secrets from us and that you really go to visit your mother one night, each month?"
"Yes." Remus replied, his hands starting to shake.
"You go and visit your mother on the night of the full moon, every month?" James questioned, slowly walking in a tight circle around Remus, making him even more nervous.
Remus jerked his head back to see into James' dark eyes. "Is—is it the f-full moon when I go visit her?"
"Indeed it is."
"How about that."
"Yes, how about that."
"That's such a—such a crazy coincidence."
"Quite."
"See, now this isn't how best friends are supposed to treat each other!" Sirius burst out. "We're supposed to be able to tell each other everything!"
"I guess you don't trust us. Is that it?"
"Of course I trust you!" Remus protested. "Please, what is this about?"
"Friends don't treat friends this way!" James exclaimed. "Are we not friends, Remus?"
"What are you talking about?" Remus demanded.
"We know what you are!" Sirius exploded. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Wh-what I am?"
"You're a werewolf!" Sirius shouted.
Remus recoiled as if he'd been slapped. He looked from Sirius to James and back again, before trying to jump up out of the chair. James clapped his hands down on Remus' shoulder and pushed him back down. James, muchstronger from daily exerciseand Quidditch practice,held Remus in place as Remus' complexion rapidly drained of color.
"H-how did you find out?" Remus whispered.
"We're your friends. It's our job to find these things out." Sirius replied simply, his voice a good deal calmer.
"B-but I n-never told—I don't understand how—just how?"
"You should have told us!" James exclaimed. "Sirius and I are two of the best in the year! We're quite clever. Everyone says so. We would have found out sooner or later."
"I-I'm s-sorry! I thought if I told you then…then you wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore. No one wants to hang out with a werewolf."
"We do!" James and Sirius cried out in unison.
"I mean, how wicked is that?" Sirius added. "Being best friends with a werewolf is something not just anyone can claim! We could go down in the history books! Or, we could make our own history. Publish best-selling memoirs one day: Werewolf and Me: A Young Man's Tribute to His Occasionally Beast-ish Best Friend."
Remus tried his hardest not to smile. "While I do appreciate the sentiment, actually, I think all werewolves before me were exiled from wherever they originally lived, and they tended to live our their lives as recluses."
"Well that's not going to happen to you." James said, conviction in his voice.
"You mean you don't hate me? You'renot scared of me? You're not worried I'm going to bite you? You still want to be friends with me?"
"Idiot!" Sirius retorted. "We might not want to challenge you to a game of Who Can Leave a Better Tooth Impression in Human Flesh, but of course we want to be friends with you. Honestly, do you think we're that shallow?"
"That's a game? If it is, and was one you actually considered playing, than I am deeply disturbed. So disturbed that I shall never truly recover."
Sirius shrugged. "Artistic lisence. I needed some fodder for the memoirs."
"Really, Remus, I thought you knew us," James stated. "It would take more than someone who grows a little more hair then normal twelve nights out of the year, to scare us."
"I can't believe you two are being so…so normal about all this."
"Piffle. Don't be so surprised. That's just the way we are. Some might refer to us as 'morally superior beings' in that. And watch, Pete'll be the same way when we corner him and tell him the good news."
"The good news? I'm not so sure it's that. But I am glad you are willing to, er, still associate with me."
"This is how we would have been if you came and told us about this in the first place." James told him. "The only reason we were so cold with you the other day was because we were angry you were keeping something big and important from us."
"Exactly." Sirius agreed. "If you had told us earlier, we probably would have been able to do something to help you sooner."
"There's nothing you can do to help me with my…condition." Remus disagreed.
"Sure there is." James replied.
"Like what?"
"Well when Sirius and I were looking up stuff about what could possibly make sense as to your secret with the clues we already had, I came across something which sounded brilliant. It's something that I think could allow us to stay with you during your transformations."
"What is it?" Remus and Sirius asked in unison. "No human can be near me when I transform." Remus added, his tone melancholic, a doleful look in his eyes. Because of the whole 'I-bite-you-and-you-turn-into-a-werewolf-thing."
"Now, that's not completely true." James disagreed.
"Spit it out then, James." Sirius commanded. "You always draw everything out. You're such a Drama Queen."
"Fine, I'll 'spit it out'. Have either of you ever heard of Anamagi?"
Sirius stared at him. "Er, wasn't that on a test last term?"
Remus nodded slightly. "Vaguely. But what do they have to do with anything?"
James smiled. "More than you know."
A/N: So, my first one-shot. What do you guys think? I hope you like it.