"P-Professor!" Sirius laughed. "What makes you think that?"

"Madam Pince showed me the books you'd been reading," said Professor McGonagall. "A lot of them were about mandrake leaves, disintegrating leaves, putting leaves in your mouth… and I know a thing or two about becoming an Animagus.

"Once I'd seen the books, I was getting suspicious… and I already was a little suspicious after you'd all been mysteriously quiet for a week at a time, which would always occur after a full moon… so, I asked Madam Pince where the book 'So you want to become an Animagus?' was, and, sure enough, she said it had been stolen back in September. So, since I was already very suspicious of you four, I checked your dormitory, and what do I find?" She lifted the Animagus book we'd stolen. "You guys didn't realise that as your head of house I can walk into your dormitory whenever I want? I usually don't, for privacy reasons, but… would any of you like to explain this to me?"

My mind raced for any possible excuses, but I couldn't think of anything. We were absolutely toast. I looked at the others, and they all looked as worried as I felt.

"Um, well…" I started.

"Yes, Mr Lupin?" the teacher prompted, lowering her square-shaped spectacles down her nose.

"It was my idea, Professor," I lied. "I… I was fascinated by your wonderful transformations, I just wanted to become an Animagus myself. The others didn't have anything to do with it… I dragged them along, really…"

"Mr Lupin!" Professor McGonagall cried. "That's illegal! Incredibly foolish! You simply could have waited five years! Well, I'm sorry, but unless you have a good explanation for this, I'm going to have to expel you."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sirius screamed. "That's not true! He wasn't even going to become an Animagus! It was James, Peter and I! But, but Professor, we were doing it to help him out! Please don't expel us! Hear us out!"

Her eyes narrowed at Sirius, then she spoke directly to me, "How could your friends becoming an Animagus possibly help you?"

My heart stopped. I could lie and say I didn't know, but that would get my friends expelled. Or I could tell the truth. I'd be put down, but maybe Dumbledore would back me up, and in that case my friends would probably just get in trouble, and not expelled for their good intentions.

I took a deep breath and said very quickly, "To help me out when I become a werewolf."

I expected her to scream, shout, have some sort of reaction, but instead she just nodded knowingly.

"So, you're a werewolf?" she said, calmly as if she'd been talking about the weather. "Well that's OK. I had a feeling you were."

My jaw dropped. Was it that obvious? Could everyone tell? "Y-you did?"

"Well, you disappear every month on the full moon, and those are obviously claw scars on your face," she said, smiling, all of her previous fury gone. "Anyway, so you're saying that you three want to become Animagi to keep Mr Lupin company during his werewolf transformations?"

"Yes, Professor," said Sirius. He looked shocked that I'd opened up to her like that. The truth was I just didn't want to get them expelled, and possibly even put in Azkaban.

She stopped smiling and placed her head in her hands. "Boys, do you have any idea how serious this is? You're what, twelve? This is—"

"Actually I'm thirteen," Sirius said proudly. But then he noticed Professor McGonagall was glaring at him coldly. "Er, sorry, Professor. Continue."

She rolled her eyes. "This is highly illegal stuff! You can't be registered Animagus, you're underage! So… so you're trying to do it illegally? You could go to Azkaban if the Ministry found out. Plus, it's impossible. It requires very advanced magic to stop that mandrake leaf from disintegrating in your mouth. Magic way beyond the level of three second-years. Way beyond N.E.W.T level! You guys don't understand how hard it is! How dangerous it is! How much trouble you could get in! You're overestimating your own ability."

"Sorry, Professor," said Peter, hanging his head shamefully.

"You can't stop us, Professor," Sirius said, standing as tall as he could. "We're going to help Remus no matter what!"

I blushed.

"Don't say that, just say we won't do it," I heard James muttering to Sirius under his breath.

But then McGonagall said, "I don't think I can stop you. If I expel you for this you'll keep trying outside… so I'm going to help you do it safely."

We all looked up at her, our eyes bright with shock.

"Help us!?" James repeated.

"I am your teacher after all," she said. "It is a full moon tonight, I believe. Meet me after dinner with your mandrake leaves and wands, OK? Right here in my office. But, you will all be punished for sneaking around at night. And twenty points will be taken from Gryffindor each."

Eighty points, I thought. It's OK, it could be worse. It could be a lot worse.

"And you will all have detention. Come here tomorrow night," she said, sighing. "Alright, return to your dormitories now, I'll see you all in class."

"Thank you, Professor!" Sirius cried, and the four of us rushed out of her office and walked to our dormitory silently.

"That's such a privilege!" I said, once we'd come to the dormitory. "Professor McGonagall! A registered Animagus! HELPING YOU!?"

"I know!" Sirius cried. "It's a shame we lost all those points… but still! I couldn't be happier with her reaction!"

"This'll be my first detention," I laughed. James and Sirius looked at me, shocked.

"Your first detention?" James repeated. "Ever?"

"You're literally such a goody two-shoes," Sirius said in awe. "Just… wow!"

The next day, I met up with my friends in the common room after a long night of being in my wolf form.

"Professor McGonagall taught us a senseless spell," Sirius told me. "So we can't feel or see the leaf in our mouth."

"The only downfall is we can't tell if we swallow it or spit it out," James added. "But it can't disintegrate with this spell. But we're not going to do it until after the Christmas break."

"How are you feeling, though?" Sirius asked me. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," I lied, smiling. Every inch of my body hurt.

Winter arrived and so did a cold snap. The day before we were due to go home for the break, my friends and I just lay in our beds, shivering under the covers.

"I-I can't get o-out," said James, his teeth chattering.

"W-we're l-literally going to d-die of hypotherm-mia," Peter said.

"Y-you guys sh-should be packing," Sirius remined us.

"Y-you're right," I said, slowly sitting up. As soon as the duvet fell off me my entire body ached from he cold. "Oh nooooo…"

Shivering, I slowly stood up and walked to my trunk and started packing up. As soon as I'd finished, I ran straight back under the covers.

It took James and Peter almost all day to do the same, and we barely throughout the freezing day, and stayed in our beds until the next morning when we were woken up by Professor McGonagall.

"Time to get up, boys," she said, rapping on the door. "Mr Black, I have you down as staying for the break, is that correct?"

"Yeah," Sirius mumbled. "See you, guys."

"Sorry, mate," said James, climbing out of his bed. "Wish you had permission to come to mine…"

Shivering, I put on my coat and rubbed my hands together. James, Peter and I followed Professor McGonagall out into the common room, then she left to wake up the girls. We walked out to Hogsmeade station together, clutching our trunks with our gloved hands.

The train was waiting, and we climbed on together, and found a compartment quickly. Much to our delight, the train was heated. Just as we sat down, the door burst open, and we saw Regulus Black.

"Where's Sirius?" he demanded.

"At school," said James, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, sure," Regulus responded. "Where is my brother?"

"I'm not kidding," said James.

"TELL ME THE TRUTH, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Regulus shouted.

"He's telling you the truth!" I said quickly.

"Why would he be at school, half-blood?" Regulus spat. "Mother and Father said we're both to come home over Christmas."

"We don't know," said James, his voice high and angry. "Piss off, kid. Go mind your own business."

Regulus looked at us all coldly, then stormed away from our compartment.

Hours later, he train came to a halt at Platform nine and three-quarters and I split up from my friends to find my parents, then followed them to the car. To my surprise, they barely spoke until about halfway through the car trip home.

"Your mother and I need to tell you something."

"Lyall—" Mum pursed her lips, looking out at the road nervously. "It's going to break his poor little heart…"

"What is it?" I asked eagerly. "It's OK — I can take it."

"Alright, son…" said Dad, "we've come to the decision that… that we need to pull you out of school."

"WHAT!?"

"S-since your friends know the truth now—"

"They're fine with it! They're not going to tell anyone!"

"That's not the only reason," said Dad, sighing. "Greyback… he's free again. He's looking for you, and Hogwarts is the most obvious place you'd be, so…"

"He'll be able to find me no matter what! He can sniff me out easy!" I cried.

"Yes, but we can run from him while you're home," said Mum gently. "It's for your own safety, Remus."

"I don't care!" I cried, feeling tears threatening to leak through my eyes. "I finally have great friends who accept me and you're trying to take that away from me?"

"Remus, you have to understand that—"

"You can't do this!" I cried shrilly, sounding like a spoilt brat. "Please… no!"

The car came to a slow stop outside our house, and I clambered out of the car.

"Remus, it's OK," said Mum. "Life is good, remember?"

"No, it's not!" I shouted, storming into the house. "MY LIFE IS SHIT!"

"It's going to be alright—"

"NO, IT'S NOT! NOTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT! I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!"

"We're only doing this to keep you safe, Remus," Dad said. "Because we don't want you dying."

"WELL, I DON'T CARE IF I'M SAFE! I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT FRIENDS AGAIN!"

At this, I rushed into my bedroom and slammed the door shut, wishing I had a lock on it, like James did in his bedroom. Sobbing, I pressed my back to the door and slowly fell into a crouch, where I placed my head between my legs.

I peered at my wall and saw my calendar, where the date of the full moon was circled. Shaking, I stood up and ripped it from the wall. It fell to the ground with a thud. I bent over and picked it up, then tore the entire calendar in half. Then I put the two pieces together and tore them apart. I ripped the calendar until it was destroyed.

I then pulled off my jumper violently, followed by my shirt, then I stood in front of my mirror, staring at huge, jagged scars on my body. I was acting like a child. A spoilt, bratty child.

"This is what you are," I whispered to myself, my voice gravelly. I let out a long breath and looked away. Then looked back and punched the mirror.

To my surprise, a bit of the glass shattered into my fist, drawing blood. Wincing in pain, I tried to pick the glass out of my fingers when I heard a knock on the door.

"Remus?" came Mum's kind voice. "May I come in?"

I quickly threw my jumper on and put my bloody fist in my pocket before opening the door.

"Hi," I said, trying to stay calm. "Er, sorry for acting like a spoilt brat before."

"You have every right to be upset," she said, sighing and sitting down on my bed.

I looked at my feet. "I understand you just want to keep me safe, I guess I just… I don't know… so much has happened, I just… I don't know… I'm sorry…"

"Hey," she said. "It's OK. Dad's spoken to Professor Dumbledore."

I looked up at her. "What did he say?"

"He said you should still attend Hogwarts. It's the safest place in the world, and he will try extra hard to protect you."

"Thank you," I said. I rushed out to the kitchen and threw my arms around Dad. "Thank you for speaking to Dumbledore."

He didn't reply. He just smiled, which made me smile.

As the break went on it just got colder and colder. The day after New Year's, I boarded the Hogwarts express to travel back to school.

My parents had told me repeatedly to be careful, and if I had any encounter with Greyback to alert them immediately.

I met James and Peter in our usual compartment, and Peter immediately went off, talking about his Christmas.

"You look exhausted," James said to me after Peter had finished telling us all the names of his thirty-eight cousins. "You OK?"

"Yep," I said, putting on a smile. The truth was I was still worried about Greyback. If I killed anyone else I'd probably lose it. "How was your Christmas?"

"Good," he said, playing with his glasses. "I've been thinking about what animal I should be."

"Oh yeah?"

"I'm stuck between a lion and a dragon," he said, "thoughts?"

"Well… think about it from a long-term perspective," I suggested. "Imagine yourself as an old and wrinkly man… would you really want to be a dragon then?"

"Hm…" James's eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Yes, I think I would."

"OK." I shrugged doubtfully, "what about you, Peter?"

"I want to be a mosquito!"

"A mosquito?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, because if someone tries to hurt me, I can just fly really high," Peter explained.

"Um, sounds great," I said, shrugging. Each to their own.

"How was your Christmas, Remus?" James asked.

"Good, I—"

SMASH.

We all jumped as our compartment window smashed. The glass shattered over us, and Peter screamed.

Then a figure jumped through the smashed window. I recognised him too well as Fenrir Greyback. He grabbed me violently.

"NO!" I screamed, kicking and thrashing against him. James and Peter grabbed my legs, but Greyback fought against them and, clutching me tightly, jumped out the smashed window.

Then he apparated.