Chapter Twenty-One: You Can't Just Ask Someone if They're a Werewolf

"Do you think something's up with Remus?" asked Sirius, pulling off the invisibility cloak.

James started violently. "Holy fuck, dude. You can't just sneak up on someone like that."

"Sorry." Sirius tossed the cloak in James's general direction. "But seriously, do you think something's up with Remus?"

James frowned. "Maybe? I don't know. Do you?"

Sirius sat down on the chair opposite James, pulling the book out of his hands and tossing it onto the floor. "Yeah."

"What?"

Sirius bit his lip. "You can't laugh. I know it sounds ridiculous at first, but when you think about it, all the evidence is there."

Peter leaned in closer. "We won't laugh."

"Promise?"

"Promise," James replied.

"I think Remus is a werewolf."

"I'm sorry, you what?" James asked incredulously.

Sirius buried his face in his hands. "Forget it," he mumbled.

"Sirius, I'm not saying I think you're wrong. I'm just surprised. Also, don't forget about all the anti-werewolf legislation and shit. There's no way he would be able to hide it from Dumbledore or the other teachers."

"I know, I know. But it still makes sense."

"Explain?" Peter asked.

"Ok. So I snuck in to see Remus. He was in one of the back rooms. I'm almost positive that he wasn't sick."

"Then why was he there?" asked James.

"It looked like he had been beaten up, badly. He was covered in cuts and bruises. He wouldn't tell me what happened, and said no one did it. There were also scratches, like animal scratches, on his arm. He shut me down, and then kicked me out. He wouldn't tell me anything."

"Sirius-"

"What was last night?"

"What?"

"What was last night?" Sirius repeated.

"It was the full moon," breathed Peter.

James looked skeptically at Sirius. "Feels like a coincidence," he said.

"In the last 5 years, how many times has Remus mysteriously disappeared, and then claimed he was sick or had some sort of family emergency? Remember how he was so sore on the train ride here? The night before was a full moon."

"Are you sure?" James asked, at this point just trying to find anything to disprove Sirius's surprisingly logical idea.

"James, I triple-checked the charts and shit. Trust me, I'm sure."

Frowning, James nodded. "Ok. Anything else?"

"I think I know how he does it. Dumbledore and the other teachers have to know. But I was talking to one of the 7th years, and they said that the Shrieking Shack wasn't haunted until our first year. The Whomping Willow was planted our first year. You know how often people hear 'ghosts' in the Shack? Once a month. I think that's where he transforms."

"Fuck," breathed James slowly. "I think you have a really good point."

"But we can't just ask him," Peter pointed out.

Sirius shrugged. "I will."

"Sirius," hissed Peter, "you can't just ask someone if they're a werewolf."

Sirius shrugged again. "I don't care. I'll do it."

James was torn. On one hand, he really wanted to know. It made too much sense. On the other, Peter was right. You can't just ask someone if they're a werewolf. That was crossing way too many lines. "I don't know," he said.

"Look," said Sirius. "I'll ask him. It'll be fine. Besides, he's my boyfriend." Fuck, even in this serious situation, he still got butterflies every time he even thought about Remus as his boyfriend. It made him warm inside. He still couldn't believe it was true.

"Wait, hold up, hold up," James said. "So you guys are official."

Sirius nodded, grinning.

"Congrats," James said. "But seriously, don't let it get messy. I don't want to get caught up in drama. So don't fuck this up."

"I won't." Sirius waved a hand in James's direction. "Never you worry, Potter."

Peter looked at his watch. "Damn it, it's time for class. We should probably get going."

"I'm ditching," Sirius said.

"Sirius, you cannot keep ditching class," James said. "You need to come."

"I'm not. You guys go ahead. I'll probably show for second period."

James sighed. "Fine. Whatever. It's your life, not mine."

"Exactly." Sirius grinned and patted James on the shoulder. "Anyways, you boys should best be off to class. I'm going down to the lake. I need to think."

James turned to Peter. "Did I hear that right? Is Sirius Black going to think?"

Peter chuckled. Sirius threw a shoe at James. He missed. James rolled his eyes, and he and Peter took off for class. Sirius flopped face-first onto his bed, exhaling heavily into his pillow.

"What the fuck," he mumbled. "What the fuck is going on, Remy."

It all made sense. Sirius wasn't just paranoid. Something big was obviously up with Remus, and Sirius was determined to find out. He didn't want it to be true. Who in their right mind wants their boyfriend to be a werewolf?

The only question was about how Remus got into the school. Sirius, being from a Noble family, as well as possessing an extremely basic knowledge of the Wizarding World, was well aware of all the anti-werewolf laws in place. There were laws about employment, salaries, adoptions, and all sorts of other things. Sirius thought they were absolute bullshit.

The one that posed a problem to his theory was the law that stated that werewolves could not be allowed entry to any Wizarding school. They could be homeschooled, or a tutor could be hired, but the law was very clear. If Remus was a werewolf, either he had found some way to hide it from all the teachers, or Dumbledore had allowed him in.

The first option was extremely unlikely. There was no way Remus would be able to hide his transformations from the staff. The second option was plausible. Dumbledore was definitely not the most sane of people, and had quite a few mad ideas. Sirius wouldn't put something like this past him.

Honestly, the only thing to do was to straight up ask Remus. Sirius resolved to do it as soon as Remus got out of the hospital wing. Hopefully, that would be this afternoon. He stood up, brushing his hair out of his eyes, and headed for the lake.

A/N:

hey hey hey my sexy people. what is up i hope you enjoy this chapter :)

in regards to my last update, please don't drink if you're underage, unless ur like at home with ur parents or some shit like that, ya know? also definitely please don't drink and drive. that's bad and dangerous. also hangovers fucking suck

anyways, stuff's been shit and i feel like shit. i have no idea what i'm doing. i haven't gone to my stats class in months, and haven't turned in any physics assignments this quarter. i feel like part of it is bc i was just operating on the assumption that i would probably do something stupid the night the play was over, and then it wouldn't matter. but i didn't (came close tho, also why i was doing dangerous and stupid shit). i'm so fucking tired of it all. i'm a month clean, but i want to relapse so badly. idek what the point is anymore. who knows if i'm going to be able to make it to graduation. yeah, i have plans for next year, but next year won't matter if i can't make it through this year. idk

take care of yourselves, eat something, drink some water, try to get some sleep. i love you all so much 3

ktf xolyn