"Lupus: Waxing Moon"

Written By: Siriusly Delusional

Disclaimer: I already established that I own nothing. Just incase you missed that in the prologue, here it is again. From now on, I'm not typing this thing up. This disclaimer carries on for the entire story. Peace.

Special Thanks To: The Glam Rockers of the world. I doubt that this story would have been written without their 'far out sounds', especially without the influence of David Bowie, Placebo and the movie Velvet Goldmine. Glam is not dead. 3

Summary: A lot happens in the Marauders' sixth year of Hogwarts… Secrets, betrayal, glam rock, laughs, tears, action, adventure… And what story would be complete without a little Romance? SBRL/JPLE!

Chapter One: Moony's Spectacular Summer

Platform Nine and Three Quarters was as busy and crowded as it was every year, and one Remus Lupin longed to get out of the hustle and bustle of the crowd and onto the train. But he couldn't do that, not until he found his friends, at least. His amber eyes scanned his surroundings, his wolf-like eyesight helping him in his search. He subtlety sniffed the air, trying to pick up their scents. But the only thing he could seem to smell was the synthetic aroma of make-up and too much perfume…

Two hands clamped tightly over Remus' eyes, blocking out all light. He felt a strong body press against his back and the make-up and perfume scent filled his nostrils more powerfully than before. He felt hot breath on his earlobe and heard a familiar voice whisper, "Really, Moony, you must pay attention more… When you're looking for your friends, you always look behind you as well… Have James and I taught you nothing?" Remus smirked a little, recognizing his captor.

"Hullo, Sirius. Mind letting me see again?" Sirius chuckled, removing his hands and he briefly wondered why Sirius smelled like makeup and cheap perfume.

When he turned around, he immediately knew why.

Apparently Sirius Black had gone through a complete style change over the summer. Before, to see him in black bellbottoms, a Rolling Stones tee shirt, and a leather jacket was the norm. Now, he donned four inch black platform shoes, tight, black vinyl flairs and a deep purple silk shirt. He wore thick, indigo lipstick and violet blush with dark black kohl and purple eye-shadow around his blue-grey eyes. And the glitter! It was smeared over his eyes and cheeks and lips and it was even streaked in his hair! There didn't seem to be a single part of him that wasn't shimmering in the fall sunlight and Remus found himself starring in utter disbelief. Sirius, of course, noticed this and smirked, twirling with a nimble grace on the platforms in a way Remus knew he could never muster. "So, Moony, what do you think? It drives me mum bloody insane. It's brill, Rem, you should see her blow her stack at me, it's the dog's bollocks!"

Remus couldn't do anything but stare. He had seen the glamorous look of glitter rock before. After all, his dad was a Muggle and Remus did listen to a lot of Muggle musicians, David Bowie among them. But Sirius was the last person he expected to embrace it's ideals. Though, after thinking about it, Remus really should have seen this coming. Glam rock embodied everything Sirius stood for; glamour, nostalgia, and just plain outrageousness. But to see Sirius after a long, torturous summer (at least in Remus' case), covered in makeup and glitter was almost too much. Sirius noticed Remus' starring and raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow, waving his hand (which, the lycanthrope noted, had long, fake purple fingernails on it) in front of the other boy's face. "Hullo? Ground control to Major Rem?"

Remus blinked a few times and shook his head, breaking out of his glitter-induced trance. "What happened to you over the summer? This is all very, very new and may take getting some used to." The werewolf noticed that a great amount of people seemed to be starring at Sirius. Evidently, Sirius noticed this too, because he was grinning like a puppy who just got a new collar and wanted to show it off.

"Well, Re, if you must know, I've had a great epiphany." The taller boy said matter-of-factly, nodding a little for emphasis.

Remus looked at him teasingly. "Oh really? And what number does this leave us on the countdown? Two, three, four hundred epiphanies?" He crossed his arms over his sweater vest-covered chest, feeling quite plain and boring next to the glitter and glitz personified standing in front of him.

Sirius gave Remus a wounded look of mock-outrage and clasped a hand over his heart, as if offended. "Slings and arrows, Moony! Why the animosity? I'll have you know that this was the greatest epiphany of all of my epiphanies and I will not have your profane deadpanning here, no sir!" He tossed his long, glitter-streaked hair over his silk-clad shoulder and huffed melodramatically, his indigo lips placed in a perfect pout, his eyelashes batting at Remus, trying to make him feel guilty.

And, of course, it worked.

Remus gently hit Sirius' arm and laughed quietly, rolling his eyes. "Oh, stop that Padfoot. Really, keep some dignity, man!" Sirius laughed good-naturedly at this and casually slung his arm over the werewolf's shoulder. In regular shoes, Sirius was four inches taller than him but with the additional height of the platforms, he was a full eight inches taller. "Quit making me feel short, too, while you're at it, if you don't mind."

Sirius stuck his tongue out at his friend. "Well, look on the bright side, you won't feel nearly as short once Peter is here." Remus laughed, looking up at his friend and he noticed, for the first time, a long chain that ended with a pair of black beads and a small silver skull coming down from his right earlobe. An earring.

Remus' eyes widened and he pointed at the piece of jewelry in his friend's ear, gaping slightly. "When in Merlin's name did you get that?"

The taller boy chuckled, tucking some of his hair behind his ear, making his earring more visible. "This summer. Isn't it fab?" It was taking Remus a while to get used to seeing Sirius' smirk with lipstick on his lips.

"It's…different." Remus murmured, looking away from his friend and running a hand through his ponytail. He could feel Sirius' heavy gaze on him and he tried not to blush.

"Oy! Padfoot! Moony! Over here!" Remus and Sirius both looked to the side, seeing their friend James Potter waving at them enthusiastically, running over to them. James, to Remus' immense relief, hadn't changed a bit over the summer. He still had the same unruly black hair framing his oval face, mischievous hazel eyes, and long, straight nose. His style was the same as always; maroon bellbottoms and a patterned button-up shirt with a wide collar and a gold chain around his neck. He brought them both into a brief, brotherly embrace, positively beaming at them. He didn't look at all surprised to see Sirius all 'dolled up', but simply gave him a scrutinizing look, one black eyebrow raised and his arms crossed over his chest. "You know that when you stand next to Peter, you're going to look like a mountain troll in drag, right?"

Sirius placed the back on his hand against his forehead and flung his head back in a dramatic gesture. "Your words wound me, James! Truly they do." He placed his other arm around James' shoulder in a fraternal manner, batting his purple mascara-covered eyelashes playfully at James. "But I'll forgive you because I know you'll make it up to me later tonight," he puckered his lips and made a loud kissing noise and James laughed, slapping his side.

"You bloody wanker," James said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "You know, I really don't know what you think is so great about this 'glitter rock' rubbish. Honestly, Sirius, you are the last person I expected to get all tarted up like some ponce. I prefer the disco scene, meself. Now, that's music you can dance to."

Sirius looked highly affronted. "You can keep your ruddy disco! It's a load of trash. I'll have you know that glam rock is highly danceable and far more liberating than anything those disco people can come up with." Remus noticed a gem broach pinned to the glittery purple scarf around Sirius' neck in the shape of a pair of cherries, covered in red and green gems, sparkling in the morning sunlight. He immediately decided that he liked this new look on Sirius. Glam rock was agreeing with him exceptionally well, it had even got him to spout ideas about aesthetic philosophy. It wasn't out of the usual for Sirius to have ideas, but it was usually about pranks and which student tickled his fancy that day. Aesthetics were much more constructive, in Remus' opinion.

Sirius caught Remus' mesmerized face staring at the cherry broach and he grinned, unpinning it and showing it to Remus. "Do you like it?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in something akin to amusement. James watched the exchange between them with a highly intrigued expression.

Remus nodded. "Very much," he said softly, a small red blush appearing on his face.

Sirius' smile widened and he pinned the broach on Remus' sweater vest, the red looking surprisingly vivid against the yellow. "There. It looks better on you anyway."

"But I can't accept this!" The werewolf's eyes were wide, disbelieving. "It's yours and it's not as if it's a special occasion or I've done something to deserve it." He began to unfasten the broach before Sirius caught his hands, his stormy blue-grey eyes boring into Remus' amber pair.

"Just keep it. My gift to you. There doesn't have to be an occasion, although, I might add, this is our first day of our sixth year, so it is an occasion worth celebrating. I don't need an occasion to make my friends happy, do I?" Sighing, Remus backed down, allowing Sirius to fix the broach again. James was snickering as he watched them.

"James! Remus! Sirius!" The three of them turned to see Peter Pettigrew jogging towards them, his breathing coming out in short, heavy bursts. Peter had absolutely no fashion sense whatsoever. He wore drab colors, shirts with narrow collars, flat shoes, and straight-legged pants. Next to him, Remus, even in his earth tones, looked very fashionable indeed. When he finally reached them, he doubled over, gripping his knees and trying to catch his breath. Once he had done so, he looked up at them, grinning widely and a little embarrassedly, standing up. He grew wide eyed at the new and improved Sirius and, once again, the taller boy enjoyed the shocked attention.

"What do you think, Pete?" Sirius asked, the amused expression coming back to his face. "You look as if a ghost just passed through you."

Peter continued to gape and Sirius just rolled his eyes, still smirking, and turned away, dragging his trolley behind him. The other Marauders followed suit, filing into a train car and finding an empty compartment. Remus and James poked their heads out of the window, looking for their parents. Peter's mum was running errands and had already bid him farewell, and as Sirius was always ready to get away from his parents, they were the only ones with someone to look for.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter smiled and waved at James, their oval-shaped faces, hazel eyes, and black hair aglow with happiness.

"James, dear, are you sure you have everything? Because if you forgot something, I'll owl it to you as soon as possible, alright?" Mrs. Potter said, causing James to turn a light shade of pink and assure her that, yes, he did have everything. Sirius, pushed past James and waved at the Potters, smiling brightly. Remus smiled, glad to see his friend so happy. James' parents loved Sirius like a son and he was at their house more often than his own during the summer vacations. Mrs. Potter reminded Sirius that he was welcome to stay any time he liked and Sirius smiled, saying that he would most definitely take her up on her offer over the summer.

Remus' parents came into view, both smiling. Mrs. Lupin surveyed Sirius with some sort of mild interest as Sirius chatted shortly with Mr. Potter, who had obviously said something funny since Sirius was laughing. Mr. Lupin grinned warmly, saying his usual parting remarks to his son, who returned them like always.

When the train began to whistle, Mrs. Lupin turned away quickly, giving Remus her rapt attention. "He'll tell you what you wish to hear, mon cher! He'll tell you and he'll mean it! Au revoir!" She said, waving along with Mr. Lupin as the Hogwarts Express rolled slowly down the tracks, picking up speed as it progressed. Remus, James and Sirius all waved feverishly at the adults until they were no longer in view, and then they all sat in their respective seats, Remus next to Sirius and James next to Peter across from them.

Sirius tilted his head to the side, looking at Remus curiously. "Who will tell you what?" He asked, tucking a loose strand of black hair behind his ear.

Remus shrugged nonchalantly, toying with a loose thread in his brown corduroy's. "I don't rightly know. My mum has these… inklings, you see, and they always come true. Or, you know, she'll just know something without you ever telling her." All three of the other Marauders were looking at him now, interested. He blushed and went on, saying, "like last year, I didn't want to tell her about my exam grades because…well, they were really good and I didn't want to get her hopes up about my future since I won't really be able to get normal work--"

"Yes you will, Rem. You're smart and kind and courteous and wise. You'll succeed in whatever you attempt because you're intelligent and you're you." Sirius placed his hand on Remus' knee and looked deeply at his friend, as though pained Remus didn't know all of this already. The marauder's all nodded in agreement and Remus flushed, running a hand through his hair.

"A-anyway, when we got the results back, I got rid of every letter that was delivered to the house that came with the results and yet she knew what the results were anyway and she knew, without me even telling her, w-why I had hid them. That's not the only time it's happened either. It happens all the time," Remus finished his explanation a little shakily, as Sirius' hand hadn't moved from it's spot on his knee and didn't seem to be budging anytime soon.

"Well," James said, stretching out comfortably in the seat, "maybe your mum's a Seer. Y'know, like Professor Slade."

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, I mean, aren't these things supposed to run in families? Do you have premonitions, too, Remus?" The dark haired boy seemed very interested and it made Remus squirm around in his seat a bit, trying to get comfortable.

"Well, no. I think it's one of those…skip-a-generation kind of deals here. I think my great grandmother did, though. I can't really be sure of that, though." The lycanthrope tugged on his ponytail a little, looking out the window instead of looking at his friends. "Looks like rain…" He said softly, to no one in particular. Sirius shivered next to him.

"I hate storms. They make me want to turn into a dog and crawl under the bed until they're over." He cringed visibly and the other marauder's knew better than to make fun of this somewhat childish fear. After all, Peter was scared of goats, James was scared of being buried alive and bridges, and Remus was afraid of the moon. They had their own collection of fears that Sirius might scoff at.

Remus spoke in reply without looking away from the window. "Well, Padfoot, if it bothers you so much, you can always wake me up. I tend to have a rather bad case of insomnia at any rate anyways and I'll most likely be awake." He felt Sirius hug him again and he smiled a little, his cheeks pinkening slightly.

"Thanks, Moony, you're a doll, really," he said, playfully leaning his head on the other boy's shoulder. James smirked at Sirius in a knowing way and Sirius pretended to ignore him other than giving him the smile briefly in return. Remus noticed this and blushed, telling Sirius that he was welcome. Peter, of course, was wolfing down the lunch his mother had given him, not paying much attention to the other three.

"So, Jamie, how was your summer vacation?" Sirius asked, his head still on the werewolf's shoulder.

"Oh, you know, the usual. My parents and I went to Wales for our family reunion. I just missed out on the World Cup, though. Heard it was brill." James sighed in wistful ecstasy at the thought of Quidditch and Remus and Sirius both simultaneously rolled their eyes.

"It was," Peter said, somewhere through his mouthful of roast beef on rye. "Me mum got tickets. She's good friends with the head of the Department for Magical Games and Sports, so I got to go." For the first time in all the years Remus had known James and Peter, he had never seen his egotistical, Quidditch Cup winner, heartthrob best friend be jealous of Peter.

"Y-you…You saw the Quidditch World Cup, Pete?" He asked, his voice wavering as though he were about to cry. "Why didn't you say anything when you wrote me?"

Peter's face flushed pink and he looked down at his shoes before he turned back to face James, saying awkwardly, "to be honest, James? I thought you'd be jealous."

This was almost too much for Remus and Sirius, who were shaking with repressed laughter. "Why would you think I'd be jealous, Pete? It was only the Quidditch World Cup that I've wanted to see all my life. Britain versus Japan. Six of the best chasers in the league. Why would I be jealous of you?" James said in the same, sullen voice he used before, a pout set on his lips.

That did it. Remus and Sirius were soon laughing extremely hard, causing James to glare and Pete to turn pink once again. In his laughter, Sirius flung his arms around Remus, attempting to support himself, making a pink tinge appear on the amber eyed boy's cheeks as well.

"Well, if you guys had such a great summer, why don't you tell us all how great it really was." James said, more than just a little animosity in his tone.

Sirius didn't look at all wavered and he simply waved his hand in the air nonchalantly. "I had a wonderful time babysitting for my cousin Andromeda's daughter Nymphadora. Little angel of a six year old, I tell you. The sweetest little heart-shaped face you ever saw and the cutest little button nose. She's a real peach." Sirius laughed at the weird looks he got from the other marauders. "What? I like having relatives that aren't evil and psychotic. Don't you all?"

"So, what about you, Moony? How was your summer?" James looked expectantly at Remus, as did Sirius and Peter. He felt his heart beat quicken. His summer? His summer had been full of painful transformations and nursing broken ribs. It had been full of healing lacerations and melancholy smiles. It had been full of hurt and the smell of compost heaps. His summer had not been enjoyable at all. But how was he supposed to tell his friends that? They already felt bad enough about his lycanthropy. How could he tell him about his summer transformations?

He couldn't. He wouldn't. And he didn't. He lied.

"It was…wonderful," Remus breathed, trying to look genuine. He hated being deceitful, hated to mislead his friends, but he had to protect them. They always seemed to give him a pained, sympathetic look whenever he mentioned his summer holidays and he just couldn't bare seeing that look again. Not this year. "I…I went to…Bath with my parents. They have great bookstores there, you know, and if you know where to look, they have even better wizards shops. We got to see the world cup, too, though I didn't see you there, Pete." It was funny how the longer he kept going, the easy the lies rolled off the tongue. "Not a moment of it was boring. That's why I didn't write that often, I was busy." He looked around, hoping that they believed and didn't question him further.

James threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "You saw the Cup, too? Merlin! Has everyone seen it but me?"

Peter smiled, obviously believing him. "I wish I had seen you there. It was huge, wasn't it? I never knew how many wizards there were in the world before I saw."

Sirius, however, looked at him skeptically, but said nothing, apparently pushing whatever it was he had been thinking to the back of his mind. "Sounds…great, Moony," he said, an odd tone in his voice. Nothing more was said about Remus' summer, and he breathed in relief.

"So!" Sirius clapped his hands together, a bright smile on his face and a mischievous glint in his eye. "What, pray tell, should be our first prank of the year? I, personally, wish to start off with a bang, so I suggest something involving exuberant amounts of Filibuster's No-Heat Wet-Start Fireworks, which, luckily, I have in my trunk right now." Then they plunged straight into elaborate plans for their first prank of the year, not thinking about anything other than the friends surrounding them and the new school year ahead of them.

They carried on like that for some time, though they did stop when the witch with the snack carts made her rounds, whereas they planned pranks with mouths full of Pumpkin Pasties and Cauldron Cakes. They were all quite content as the sun sunk down beneath the mountains and as the hours passed, they waited eagerly for the train to stop so they could get to Hogwarts and the much awaited welcome feast.

When the train finally did stop, James was the first to burst out of the compartment, with a triumphant cry of, "finally!" and was soon followed by Peter. Remus moved to get up but Sirius' hand stretched out, pushing him gently, yet forcefully, back into sitting position. When Remus gave him a quizzical look, Sirius merely smiled gently, saying, "I want to talk to you."

"Um… Alright. What about?" The werewolf asked cautiously, biting his lip in a subtle manner.

Sirius looked down at the floor of the compartment for a moment, before snapping his eyes back up and looking his friend square in the eye. "What was your summer vacation really like?" He asked softly, moving a little closer to Remus, observing him more closely.

The lycanthrope felt his face heat up, and he stumbled out his reply, as if his mouth and brain weren't cooperating correctly. "I-I already t-told you… I had a w-wonderful summer." He prayed that Sirius would just leave it at that, whether he believed him or not.

The Animagi gently placed a hand on his shoulder and Remus looked at him, feeling exposed and nervous. "You might be able to fool Jim and Pete, but you never could fool me, could you, Rem?" Sirius smiled softly, sadly, moving closer still to Remus. "You always were rather pathetic when it comes to lying to me." He noticed Remus tense and look down to the floor and he sighed, craning his neck so that he was once again in the other boy's view. "C'mon, Moony, you can tell me. You can always tell me what's bothering you. I'm your friend, remember? Your bestie. Your mate."

A fire ignited in Remus when Sirius uttered the last word, though he didn't know why. He gazed still at the floor, a small, sad smile on his lips. "What was my summer like, Sirius?" The werewolf's voice was soft, calm, and melancholy. Remus looked about ten years older when he sighed and looked up at Sirius, and ten years more weary and weather-beaten. "It was hell. I'm usually in the shed during the full the moon and it's usually rather nice, being allowed to smell the trees and the woods and see the moon and the stars through the window…," he ran his hands through his hair, leaning back into the seat and looking up at the compartment ceiling, closing his eyes briefly. "But this summer… Moony just…he just got so mad about something. He tore the shed to bits and…if my mother hadn't used her wand to use the Stunning spell on me…I would've escaped. The rest of my transformations were spent in the basement. Like a dog who's misbehaved. Padfoot, it was so…so…degrading to Moony… A sort of fall from grace, so to speak, and so… he decided to take it out on me.

"Four bruised ribs, one twisted ankle, and no less than fifty-two new scars, Sirius. That was what my summer was. It was my mother kissing my forehead and telling me sadly how sorry she was for something that was never her fault. It was my flower child father starting a compost heap in the back yard, making the whole house stink. It was a room, a cold, dingy basement full of degradation and self-mutilation." He looked meaningfully at his friend, his amber eyes aglow like the fire that lit the lamps in the compartment, like two gold flames in the moonlight. "Ask me again, Sirius. Ask me again why I couldn't tell you."

The other boy was silent for a moment before he did something quite unexpected and pulled his friend into a tight, caring embrace. "I'm sorry, Moony… I just hate it when you lie to me…" He could have sworn he felt Sirius nuzzle his neck softly before he pulled away, smiling reassuringly at Remus. "C'mon, we need to catch up with the others and get to that feast…" The raven-haired boy tugged roughly on his friend's sleeve, pulling him up and dragging him out of the compartment and after their other two friends. Remus smiled despite himself.

A/N: That's it! The very first chapter! I hoped it was enjoyable! I enjoyed writing it! Read and Review!

- This is a Velvet Goldmine reference and the definition to what glam rock is all about! If you've never seen the movie, go see it now! It's beautiful!

- This is a reference to the song 'Space Oddity' by the wonderful David Bowie. The original lyric in the song is 'ground control to Major Tom'.

- Yet another Velvet Goldmine reference! There are quite a few random glam rock fans wearing pins like this throughout the movie.

-You guessed it, Velvet Goldmine once again! ' I decided to name the Divination professor after Brian Slade because of his so-called 'premonitions of being killed on stage' in the movie. That and the fact that I'm pathetic pretty much cover it lol.