Standing There By You

Ch. 13- What Time is it Mr. Fox? (reconstructed)

Disclaimer: Let it be known... I hearby declare that by legal binding matters, any recognizable material belongs to J.K.Rowling.

a.k.a- it's not mine.

A/N: Heyhey I revised this chapter ever so slightly… actually kind of a lot… because it was bothering me. Hope you still enjoy it : )

After a Christmas holiday filled with revelations, the students were eager to get back to school and begin the tasks and hand. The girls were busy planning their 'retaliation', while the boys decided upon the best way to confront Remus.

…

"It has to be really mortifying," said Lily, as she paced their dormitory, "and really clever, and really, really..."

Grace shook her head as she and Julie watched Lily elaborating their plan. "Who would've thought," she admired, watching the girl in amazement.

"I know," Julie replied, her eyes following Lily as she walked back and forth across the room. "Thought she'd be completely against breaking the rules."

"Well, normally I would be," Lily informed them, pausing mid-stride, "but they really deserve it. Especially Potter..."

Julie stood up. "All right, so what are we going to do?"

The three girls stood still, each contemplating their own thoughts. They stayed in a stumped silence for a couple of minutes or so, which was only broken by the rumbling of Grace's stomach.

"Perhaps we'll eat on it?" Grace suggested hopefully.

"All right. After we eat, then we'll come up with an idea." Lily clicked her tongue as she watched her friends leave their dormitory, wishing she felt as reassured as she sounded. As much as she hated to admit it, and she really, really hated to admit it, she had to give the boys at least a teensy amount of credit for coming up with all of the pranks that they did. It really was tough work.

…

James and Sirius ambled slowly down the corridor, drowsy from a full meal and second helpings of dessert. They deliberately decreased their speed to a ridiculous degree, allowing their impatient peers to swerve around them. "So," Sirius whispered, once Remus and Peter had wandered ahead. "When do you think we should tell him?"

"Soon," James returned under his breath. "Tonight, even."

"All right." Shaking his head, he griped, "I can't believe he's been hiding something this extraordinary from us."

"What's extraordinary?"

James and Sirius jumped at the unexpected inquiry. "What?" Sirius asked innocently, swiveling around. Seeing it was only Peter, he sighed and dropped the act. "Oh, hey Pete. Where's Remus?"

Peter pointed up a neighboring staircase. "He went to the library," he informed them. "Wanted to borrow a few books that McGonagall recommended for the upcoming project."

"Good," James said swiftly, putting an arm around his friend's shoulders and drawing him beneath the stairwell, away from the lingering crowd of students. "We need to brief you."

"What?" Peter's face contorted. "I- I'm already wearing boxers."

Sirius made a face, looking at James. "I don't even know how to respond to that."

James sighed. "Listen, Peter, we have to tell you about Remus. We found out he…" James glanced around to make sure no one was within hearing distance. "He's a werewolf."

…

Normally, Remus has so much on his mind that the sounds of the bustling students around him and their light chatter remains unbeknownst to him. There are certain things, however, that are able to catch his attention.

Like someone claiming he's a werewolf, for instance.

On his way back downstairs to see if there were any book lists left in his Transfiguration room- he left his all the way back in the dormitory- he came to a sudden halt when he heard his friend utter those dreadful words. Hoping beyond hope that he had made a terrible mistake, he lingered out of sight on top of the staircase and strained to hear the rest of their conversation.

…

"What!" Peter exclaimed, his eyes going wide with fear. "I- I've been sleeping in the same room as a werewolf?"

Sirius slugged his friend hard across the shoulder. "He's not dangerous," he hissed, rolling his eyes. "Unless there's a full moon, but he's never around during those."

Peter dazedly rubbed the spot were Sirius had hit him. "Oh…Okay," he said uncertainly.

"Now," James said, rubbing his hands together conspiratorially. "For some reason Remus has been keeping this a secret from us, so we've got to lock the door tonight and trap him in; maybe we'll finally be able to get out the truth. Now I think--,"

…

"Watch out!"

Remus scrambled to stand up. "Sorry," he apologized to a rather irritated lookingfifth year. She hadn't seen him kneeling on the top of the stairs, and in her haste almost made the both of them go tumbling to the first floor. The girl continued her journey down the stairs in a huff, as Remus re-collected his things. The collision had interrupted his focus on his friends' whispered discussion, but he had heard enough.

His heart sunk as he recalled James's instructions to Peter. He knew his friends would be shocked if they ever discovered his dreadful secret, but he was hoping maybe… Well, it didn't matter now. Remus understood if they wanted to lock him out of their dormitory. To save them the trouble, he somberly made plans to gather his things without his friends noticing and tostake out the couch by the fireplace. It would do for now, anyway.

…

Just as James began to trek across the school toward his common room, someone tapped him on the shoulder "Yes?" he asked, swerving around.

"Hello James," Daniel Richen, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, greeted. "Could I have a word?" James nodded, and Sirius and Peter went on ahead without him.

"As you know, Hannen's this year's Seeker," Richen began, falling in stride with the younger boy. "He's mighty good, as well. Too good, in fact." He frowned, for a few moments seeming lost in his own thoughts.

"Er... is that a bad thing?" James asked, a bit bewildered by the rather random conversation.

"Well, yes it is," Richen sighed, snapping back into the present. "When the Falmouth Falcons decide to recruit him a season early, leaving us without a seeker."

James's eyes widened. Suddenly this conversation was interesting.

"So there's a spot open?" he asked eagerly, "You haven't got a seeker?"

"No, we haven't. I've seen you and that other boy flying around the pitch, and you'd make a great seeker, James. Normally we'd go through the whole ordeal of tryouts and such, but seeing as our next and last game is coming up mighty fast, we've decided just to-"

"I'll take it!" James burst, unable to control his excitement. "When do I start?"

Richen grinned. "Be at the pitch tomorrow evening."

"All right," James shook Richen's hand enthusiastically. "Thanks, thanks a lot."

Before Richen could even utter a word, James had raced across the hall and vanished around a corner. "You'll never guess what just happened!" James exclaimed, bursting into the common room.

Sirius looked up, along with other curious Gryffindors who were eager to be distracted from their studies. "What?"

"I'm seeker... I'm seeker... I'm seeker..." James sang, doing an odd sort of victory dance.

"Ah ha!" Sirius laughed, joining in James's dance. "We've got to celebrate this joyous occasion... party in the Gryffindor tower Friday night!"

Several Gryffindors cheered, not so much at James getting the position, but moreover at the prospect of a party.

Gryffindors love to party.

The two boys leapt up the stairs to their dormitory, Sirius hitting him with shouts of congratulations and James grinning like mad. After they finally reached their dormitory and their jubilant exclaims faded, the Gryffindor common room eventually returned to normal.

Looking up briefly from her homework, Grace spotted Lily smiling broadly. "What are you so happy about?" Grace questioned, "I didn't think you'd be too happy about the disturbance."

"I'm smiling," Lily said slowly, her eyes glowing with excitement, "because I've just got the perfect idea for our prank."

…

"Where is he?" Sirius moaned, leaning beside their wide-open door. "He's never this late!"

James stared into the hallway outside their dormitory. "Don't lose your concentration," he told him, "you have to be alert. When Remus comes into the room you've got to close and secure the door immediately so he has no way of getting back out."

"My dear friend," Sirius said slowly, as if explaining the situation to a child. "For this plan to work, Remus actually has to be here."

"Maybe he's, you know, turning into a wolf or something," Peter suggested sleepily.

Sirius threw a nearby sock at his friend. "He only does that during a full moon, you nitwit."

As his roommates began bickering grumpily, James shifted on his bed, frowning. "I think I'm going to go look for him," he decided, hopping onto the ground. "Is it past curfew?"

"What?" Sirius ceased his sock-battle with Peter and turned toward James. He ducked behind his bed curtain and snatched something offthe post. "Oh, yeah. Here's the invisibility cloak."

James draped the cloak over his arm and hurried out of the dormitory. He descended the stairs into a pitch black common room, the only light flickering dimly from a few persistent embers left in the fireplace.

"James?"

James was very grateful for the lack of light in the room when he jumped nearly three feet in the air at the unexpected voice. Clutching his cloak, he turned around to see who had startled him. "Oh, Remus," he said, exhaling deeply. "What are you doing down here?"

Remus shoved his hands in his pockets and shifted uneasily. "I- I heard you talking, so I thought I'd just… Listen James, I just wanted to ask you not to tell anyone. Professor Dumbledore knows about my… affliction… but it's not the sort of thing I'm supposed to spread around."

"Oh… No, of course not." James narrowed his eyes at strangely acting friend. Lowering his gaze, his confusion grew when he noticed Remus's comforter and pillows spread out across the couch. "What's going on?" James asked, "Why are you sleeping down here?"

Remus lowered his eyes. "I heard you guys talking in the hallway," he confided quietly. "It's all right, I knew you'd find out soon enough." He forced a laugh. "You're so bloody brilliant… And curious, too. Ah… Anyway," he began talking very quickly, "I'm really glad we could be friends these last couple of years, and I want you to know I understand why you don't want me to hang around you anymore."

James blinked. "Are you off your rocker?"

"W-what?"

James crossed his arms. "I have no idea what you're on about. What would give you the impression that we didn't want you hanging around us?"

"I heard you," Remus contended. "You said you found out what I truly was and… and then you said you were going to lock the dormitory door--,"

"Yeah," James cut in, "so that you couldn't get back out. Not so you couldn't get in." He watched as Remus comprehended his words. "Mate," he said slowly, perching on the arm of the couch. "Did you really think we'd just drop you like that? Over something so trivial?"

Remus stood silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. "Most people don't think it's so trivial," he finally whispered.

James watched as his friend slumped onto the couch beside him. "Well, I guess we're not most people," he responded firmly. "C'mon, Remus," he said, grabbing a pillow. "Let's go upstairs."

Remus soundlessly picked up his blanket and followed James up the staircase. "James," he said, catching up with his friend. "I… Thanks. You're all mad, but I never thought I'd make friends like you guys--,"

"Got him!" Sirius declared, snatching the startled boy by the back of the robes and dragging him into the dormitory. Peter slammed the door shut and stood triumphantly before it, as Sirius tackled Remus onto the bed and pinned him onto the mattress with a sticking spell. "Ah ha," Sirius rubbed his hands together. "Now there's no way you can leave, you sly dog, you."

James walked over to his stunned friend and looked at him in amusement. "You were saying?"

A smile replaced Remus's shocked expression. "You're all mad."