A/N: I am SO SORRY this took me so long to update! I got hit hard by life and some health stuff, but should be back to our regularly scheduled programming now in terms of updates! Enjoy the longest chapter yet, Big Plot Things are starting to happen (with a TW for minor gore)

"Conway scores again!" the announcer's voice – a third year Hufflepuff, Remus thought – said with a remarkable lack of excitement. "Two-hundred and forty to twenty for Gryffindor."

Lily snorted from beside him. "Poor bloke," she said, leaning in so Remus could hear her over the roaring cheers in the Gryffindor stands. "Having to announce his team's defeat like that."

Remus grinned at Lily through the strands of hair blown in his face by the wind. "'Puff may as well catch the snitch now, they've got no chance of catching up to this lot."

He shook his hair out of his eyes, again, unable to wipe the grin from his face. The first match of the year and Gryffindor was dominating. They were a shoe-in for the Quidditch cup, plus James would be thrilled his team was performing so well. The Gryffindor stands were ablaze with excitement, synchronised gasps and cheers coming from all directions around Remus as the players wove in and out between Hufflepuff's.

"And another goal by Potter," he heard the announcer say, not even pretending to be excited this time. "Two-hundred and fifty to twenty for Gryffindor."

Lily gripped his arm suddenly, making him jump. "Hufflepuff seeker," she gasped. She was right – Hufflepuff's seeker, a small girl who couldn't have been older than her third year, was speeding toward the ground. Gryffindor's seeker – a fifth year boy named John Greenthorpe – was close on her tail.

The announcer hadn't seen yet, instead he was announcing another goal by James, but the crowd was starting to catch on, shouts of excitement passing around the pitch.

"And it looks like Higsby has seen the Snitch!" there was finally excitement colouring the commentator's voice. Remus leaned forward against the guard rail beside Peter, who was practically hanging over.

"I think it's a feint," Peter shouted to him over the noise of the crowd. They were nearing the ground now, the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor seekers, neither slowing down. Then – the Hufflepuff seeker pulled up suddenly as she neared the ground. She wasn't close enough, though; the Gryffindor seeker was able to follow suit and rise back in the air.

"Right on," Remus said to Peter, just before the Hufflepuff stands exploded in cheers. Sure enough, the Hufflepuff seeker had her fist closed around something that was small and glinting in the sun.

"Or not," Peter said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. Remus snorted and knocked Pete's arm with his.

"Good thing you didn't put any money on it, eh?"

"Should have put something on the match, honestly," Peter said with a sigh. "Imagine – Gryffindor wins but Hufflepuff catches the Snitch. The winnings would have been absurd."

"No kidding," Remus said in response. He had never been one for betting on matches, but many of the Gryffindors did for fun, exchanging winnings after games. Peter participated fairly often, but after too many losses the previous year had sworn he wouldn't this year.

"And the final score is two-hundred and fifty to one-hundred and seventy for Gryffindor," came the announcers voice over the roar of the crowd.

The boys straightened up from the rail of the stands, following Lily and Mary, who were walking hand-in-hand, down the endless, rickety stairs of the stands. They stuck together as they exited, forcing their way against the tide of students heading back to the castle.

"Hogsmeade, d'you reckon?" Peter asked as they walked. Remus nodded, patting his pocket where he kept the Marauder's Map. It was tradition for the Marauders to go to Hogsmeade after Gryffindor won a match. Also after they lost. And after practices. And sometimes when they had free time. They really just spent an awful lot of time at Hogsmeade – Remus tried not to think about how many rules it broke for them to visit all the time.

By the time they reached the field, James, Sirius and Marlene were already showered and waiting for them. "Alright?" Peter asked when they approached while Remus tried to ignore the way his chest turned seeing Sirius' long hair loose and dripping.

"You lot will be off to get into some mischief, no doubt," Lily said. It was directed at James, but Remus couldn't help but grin ruefully.

"Guilty conscience?" Sirius' voice came from beside him suddenly and Remus had to resist the urge to jump away – or lean closer.

"Nah," Remus said easily. "Just contemplating how badly I want a butterbeer."

After a moment they were separating from the girls, who were headed instead to the party in the Gryffindor common room. James and Sirius had promised them that the Marauders would just head out to get drinks and sweets for everyone before coming immediately back to the party. Normally they'd disappear for hours, even after a promise such as that, but Remus couldn't help but feel that with the way James was so head-over-heels for Lily, they'd be back to the Common Room faster than they ever had before.

Remus pulled the map from his pocket as soon as the girls disappeared around the corner. It wasn't as though they needed to hide the map, really – the three girls and Alice all knew about it now – but in a way it felt better to use it only between the four of them as often as possible.

"All clear," Remus said after a quick glance. They only needed to get to the statue of the one-eyed witch, just a short walk from where they were. Peeves was nowhere nearby and Filch appeared to be in his office in the dungeons.

The boys made their way through the second floor, not really bothering to avoid students. There weren't many about, anyways – most probably in the library catching up on homework after the quidditch match or celebrating along with the Gryffindors in the common room.

"-was fantastic," Remus heard Pete say.

"I was too distracted," Sirius said, shaking his head. "Should have hit her while I had the chance."

They must have been talking about the Hufflepuff seeker. "She was too fast," Remus interjected, causing the other three to look sharply over at him. "And Greenthorpe was too close on her tail for you to get a proper shot in without risking hitting him."

Sirius shrugged beside Remus, shaking his hair out of his face. "Probably true, Moony," he said with a grin that nearly disarmed Remus.

"If the rest of their team could actually score some goals they'd be competitive," Peter interjected.

"They might, yet," James said. They had neared the statue of the witch – James paused what he was saying as he took his wand out and looked around discreetly. "Dissendium," he whispered, even though there was no one around in the corridor to hear him.

The boys filtered through into the passageway one-by-one, Remus bringing up the rear, careful to make sure the witch swung closed behind them.

"Their captain is new, fifth year," James continued as though he had never paused. "There's still time to whip a team like that into shape. It's not as though they were untalented, just didn't work together well."

Peter hummed in agreement. The passage was narrow, since third year they had to walk two-by-two to fit inside it. James and Peter were walking together, ahead of Remus and Sirius. Remus tried to ignore the way his stomach jittered every time Sirius' arm brushed his own.

"So I was thinking, we'll need to go to Honeydukes and Three Broomsticks of course," James said into the silence. "And then just head back?"

"But-" Sirius mocked gasped, hand on his chest, "-but what about Gambol and Japes?"

James turned around so he was walking backwards and flicked Sirius in the forehead, much to everyone's amusement. "We can go a different day – tomorrow if you'd like," he added at Sirius' pout. Remus felt it was a poor time to mention that the next day was the full moon – his friends would remember soon enough.

"Yeah, Pads," Pete added, to Remus' amusement but not surprise. As much as James clearly wanted to get back to Lily, Pete wanted to get back to Mary just as badly.

"But we need things," Sirius moaned. "For the Halloween prank!"

"We haven't even decided what we're doing," Remus said in amusement. "I'm sure you can survive one trip to Hogsmeade without visiting the joke shop."

"Well we should have a plan already," Sirius said mutinously. "I can't believe your siding with them, Moony! They're the ones who went out and got girlfriends and left us all alone."

"Oh, you poor soul," Remus said drily, trying to ignore the flutter in his heart. "Stuck with me for company. Whatever will you do?"

"Maybe he'll finally learn to read," Peter snickered, to the amusement of the other boys and simultaneous chagrin of Sirius.

The passage soon let out into the cellar of Honeydukes, where the boys clambered through the trap door and trooped up the stairs, appearing behind the counter of an empty shop.

"Who's there?" came the gravelly voice of Artie, the shop keep.

"Just us!" James called back. They let themselves out through the swinging counter door and around to look at the selection of chocolates and candy.

"Nearly gave me a heart attack," said the jovial old man, coming around the counter and tipping his conductor's hat in their direction. Artie was by far the Marauder's favourite person in Hogsmeade. The man always had a smile for them on his rosy face, and extra chocolate for Remus nearly whenever they visited.

He had caught the Marauder's sneaking in early on in their first year – only their second venture to Hogsmeade. They had forgotten James' cloak but had decided to try to sneak in anyways. Artie had been in the store room as soon as they had come out of the trapdoor, but instead of being angry had made them swear that if they were to sneak into Hogsmeade they would only use his passage and inform him of their comings and goings, so at least someone knew where they were. The boys had agreed readily, of course. It was essentially a free ticket to roam Hogsmeade whenever they felt like it!

"Sorry," the four boys chorused. None of them looked particularly guilty, Remus thought. Peter looked downright cheeky.

"I've had the shop closed all afternoon fer inventory since it's not a Hogwarts weekend," the man said. "Right surprised me, hearin' noise in here all a sudden. Shoulda known it'd be you four."

"Just won the first Quidditch match of the year," said James, to Remus' amusement. "Figured we'd have to go celebrate."

"Well you boys take what you like an' we'll settle up before you go back to the castle," Artie said with a warm grin before disappearing back around the corner, where Remus knew his small office lay. He always undercharged the Marauders for the sweets they chose despite their best protests, but Remus knew that sometimes James left Galleons in the bins of candy for him to find.

"We should pick out sweets last," Remus said, seeing Peter already headed towards the cockroach clusters. For some entirely inexplicable reason they were one of Peter's favourite treats. "Get the butterbeer's first."

"Alright," Peter said glumly, "but we're not sitting down at the pub. We'll just grab some stuff and go."

Sirius huffed quietly – Remus' ears barely picked it up and he doubted the others had heard anything. He dropped back to walk beside Sirius as they left the shop.

"Alright, Pads?" he asked quietly.

Sirius ran his hand through his hair in a very James-like manner. "Yeah," he said finally. He gave Remus a small smile.

Remus just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Don't look at me like that," Sirius muttered. Was it Remus' imagination, or was the other boy blushing just a little bit?

"Like what?" Remus asked instead.

"Look," Sirius said finally, dropping his voice even lower. They both knew Remus could hear him, no matter how quiet his voice was. "Sometimes it feels like things are changing too quickly, you know? There will always be girls and parties, but there won't always be passageways to Hogsmeade and forbidden butterbeers at Madame Rosmerta's. In a year we won't even be at Hogwarts, and it's not as though the world is a friendly place right now."

Remus sighed. "Yeah." He looked up, at James and Peter just ahead of them. James had clearly said something that had just caused Peter to give him a good hard push and James almost toppled into some mud by the side of the road. Remus couldn't help but smile.

"Just because things change doesn't mean they won't still be the same in some ways, though. You'll always have us, at any rate." Remus chanced a glance up at Sirius. The other boy was looking down at him, eyes wide as if he was seeing Remus for the first time. Remus tried not to think anything of it.

Suddenly, Sirius threw an arm around Remus' shoulders. "What would I do without you, Moony?" he asked, before dragging Remus along until they caught up with James and Peter, forcing themselves between the other two boys. Sirius threw his free arm around James and Remus, taking the hint, put his other arm around Peter.

"What's this about?" Peter asked, amusement and delight touching his face.

"Pads is having a moment," Remus muttered, shaking his head slightly. "Just let it happen."

The four boys stumbled arm-in-arm towards Madame Rosmerta's – at least until a sound stopped Remus dead in his tracks. Peter stopped along with him but James and Sirius, with their longer strides, got half a pace ahead before realizing the other boys weren't walking with them anymore.

"What is it?" James asked, far too noisily for Remus's liking.

"Shhh," he hushed, waving an arm at his friends. The sound was coming from an inn on the right of the road, something that sounded like a cry and – human growling? "D'you have your cloak?" Remus asked James. He nodded in response.

"You and Pete take the cloak, I need Pads." The instructions didn't need to be more coherent, not with his friends. In a moment James was bending over to pick up Peter, now a rat, off the ground before disappearing behind the cloak. Instead of Sirius behind Remus, his animagus form – a great, black dog – was brushing up against Remus' leg.

Remus couldn't see James and Peter, but could tell where they were from the noise James made as he moved. "You two, wait by the entrance to the inn, there," he whispered, gesturing to the rickety blue building. He heard Peter squeak, in what he assumed was annoyance. "James walks too noisily," he said. "Just wait there, please."

After waiting to make sure they did as they were told, he wrapped his hand in Padfoot's fur and began to move forward steadily. Pads was the quietest walker of them all when he wanted to be – at least while he was in animagus form, and Remus was next thanks to his werewolf abilities.

"I think I know what it is," he muttered to Padfoot as they crept closer. "Try to keep your cool. I don't want them to know we're here."

Padfoot gave a huff of confusion, but Remus ignored him. They crept up to the building slowly, following the side towards the back. The blue colour of the walls faded slowly, turning more into a grisly grey as they neared the back. There were windows above them, too, but there was nothing they could do about that except pray they stayed out of sight.

He could hear the voices before they got close enough to see anything. Four distinct voices around a fire, but no more of the wailing he had heard before.

"Let 'im sleep," one voice growled. "He'll be healed by the morning."

"Weak," spat a second voice.

"You slept for two days after you were first turned," growled a third.

Turned. Remus felt sick to his stomach. He dug his fingers more harshly into Padfoot's scruff as he felt his hackles raise. There was a fence around the back perimeter of the building – tall and doubled up on wood slats so they couldn't see through. Hopefully it also meant that the occupants of the yard couldn't see them either.

He felt in his pocket, slowly and carefully, trying to find the item he knew he had on him. He drew it out – a small cube, smaller than the palm of his hand, and gently put it against the fence. Immediately, the cube expanded, creating a transparent square on the fence that they could see through but the people on the other side could not. The cube had been a gift to him from Sirius for his birthday in fifth year. The other boy had never said where he had gotten it and Remus had never pressed – he had always had the feeling that the item wasn't…distinctly legal.

Remus had to swallow a gasp when he took a look through the makeshift window. He cast a glance down at Padfoot who had put his head against the ground and covered his eyes with a black paw.

There were four men on the other side, sitting around a fire and roasting what looked like freshly caught meat on sticks. In a heap on the ground next to them was a boy – he couldn't have been more than fifteen years old. The boy was fast asleep, a gaping wound on his side. Remus could see it knitting itself together as he watched – werewolves healed fast, after all – but couldn't shake the feeling that this boy was a new werewolf. It made no sense – the full moon wasn't until the next night, but no one could have inflicted a wound like that on him unless they were a were.

"Will we be ready this moon?" asked a grizzly man as he popped a piece of meat into his mouth. His eyes looked feral, almost, and even from their far distance Remus could smell his sour breath.

"Next," said another man. He looked less dishevelled, his beard trimmed and hair pulled neatly from his face in a ponytail. "Wards are too high right now, I can't crack 'em."

The first man growled. "You said they'd be ready by now."

"I said I hoped they'd be ready," the second man said again. His eyes glinted in the light of the afternoon – they looked almost yellow. "Give 'em some time to ease into term and Dumbledore won't be paying so much attention to them. We can break in then."

Remus felt suddenly sick to his stomach. Padfoot pressing against his leg, now peering up at the scene in front of them, was the only thing keeping him grounded. If he had doubted it before, he was sure now. They were werewolves – werewolves who wanted to invade Hogwarts. But why?

The third man spat in the direction of the second, the fourth man snickering as it happened. "Mr High and Mighty sure talks a lot about wards," the fourth man spat out. "Why should we trust a word of what he says? 'N why bother with this place anyways, when we can find people all over this village that are ripe for the picking." He leered at the boy, still asleep on the ground.

"I talk about wards because I have the education to understand them," the second man said stiffly.

"Shut yer yappers," the first man said suddenly. "It has to be the school," he continued, training his gaze on the other two men. "We need to send a message." A terrifying looking grin grew on his face. "Not that we can't have our fun here, too."

Before he could watch anymore, Remus grabbed the square off the fence, effectively closing the window. Quietly, except for the hammering of his heart and the huffs of noise Padfoot made, they picked their way back along the building to their friends at the front. Remus made a "follow me" gesture and retraced their steps back to Honeydukes, signalling to his friends that they could show themselves once they were in view of the shop.

Sirius exchanged a pale-faced look with him.

"You both look like you've seen ghosts," Peter said, looking towards them in confusion.

"Worse," Sirius said. His voice was barely above a whisper – he made Remus feel guilty for having dragged Padfoot with him to witness the horrible sight.

"I think we need to tell Dumbledore," Remus said. Sirius nodded beside him.

"Tell Dumbledore what?" James asked. Remus spared a moment to feel bad that James and Peter clearly felt excluded and upset that he and Sirius weren't telling them anything before brushing it off. They'd understand soon.

The trip back to the castle was tense. Remus felt like he wasn't himself, wasn't in his own body. He and Sirius led the way, this time, through the passage, hardly noticing how they were tightly gripping each other's hands. James and Peter trailed behind them, talking in low voices. Remus wasn't even sure how they had gotten into the passage, quite sure James had said something to Artie – perhaps about them being late to return for the party – but he wasn't sure.

He felt someone pull hard on the back of his shirt when they reached the end of the passage.

"Check the map," James whispered. "Honestly Moony."

"Right," Remus heard himself say as if from a distance. He pulled the map out of his pocket and handed it to James, not trusting himself to be able to read it properly right now.

"Let's go," James whispered from behind him. "Dumbledore is in his office, I know the password."

Remus was still attached by one hand to Sirius, who was more or less dragging him along at this point. And Remus let himself be dragged, too numb and in shock to do anything else.

James whispered a password when they arrived at Dumbledore's office. The gargoyle spun to reveal stairs. It was a trip Remus had taken many times over the years, both for good things – like learning how to enter the Shrieking Shack, and for not-so-good things, like any number of the detentions the Marauders had gotten over the years.

"Come in," came Dumbledore's voice from behind the doors before they even had the chance to knock. Sirius raised an amused eyebrow at Remus, who tried his best to give Sirius a half-smile back.

"You're alright, Moony," Sirius said gently as James swung open the large door to Dumbledore's office. "Everything's okay, Dumbledore will put a stop to it before anyone else gets hurt."

Sirius squeezed Remus' hand and Remus squeezed back before they let go and stepped into the office. Sirius was right, though. Whatever it was, Dumbledore would put a stop to it – would make sure no one else, especially not any Hogwarts students – got harmed.

"What brings you four here?" Dumbledore asked. Amusement tinged his voice. "Usually Mr Filch accompanies you, or has he begun trusting you to carry out your own punishment?"

James and Peter snorted at that. Remus didn't have the energy and suspected Sirius didn't, either. They had seen the same things, after all.

"No, Professor," James said. "We were – erm-" James ruffled a hand through his hair, as if to steel himself. "You see, we were in Hogsmeade this afternoon. Which – we know is wrong and we'll accept any punishment for it but – something happened, Professor. Something bad."

"And what was that?" Dumbledore asked. Remus kept his gaze trained on the floor. Something about the older wizard made him feel as though Dumbledore could look at his soul through his eyes, and he didn't want the Headmaster seeing all the ugly things that hid there.

"Rem?" Peter asked, after a moment of silence. He looked up, then – realized they were all staring at him expectantly.

"Right," he said. "Erm-" he launched into a brief explanation of what they had seen, excluding their animagus forms and the invisibility cloak. The were's, the young boy who had seemed to be newly turned despite the lack of a full moon, the plans to invade Hogwarts. "I think," he said once he had finished explaining. "I think they want an army of sorts. Part wizards part werewolves. I think they…I think they want a child army."

Peter's arm came to rest across his shoulders, pulling Remus in tightly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw James grip Sirius, who looked visibly upset, in the same manner.

"Remus, Sirius," Dumbledore said, his voice grave, "I want you to think very carefully before you answer me now. You are sure they said they are not planning to enter castle grounds tomorrow night?"

"I'm sure," Sirius said weakly before Remus could answer. "They said they couldn't get through the wards, but they were expecting them to be easier to get through next month."

Dumbledore nodded slowly. "Wards are often easier to break in the weeks surrounding Halloween, when there is much old, powerful magic in the air. Rest assured, I will make sure that doesn't happen. Thank you for telling me, boys."

There was a moment of tense silence. It was as though Dumbledore was dismissing them – but that couldn't be all he had to say, Remus thought. There was still the issue of the wolves roaming freely in Hogsmeade. The chance that they could get into Hogwarts, no matter how confident Dumbledore was in his wards.

"But…what are you going to do?" Peter asked, breaking the silence. "They're hurting children in Hogsmeade. And it sounds like they're planning on doing it again!"

Peter's face was flushed in anger, the hand that wasn't around Remus clenched at his fist. Remus felt a rush of warmth for his friend – always the one to speak up when things were unfair, when people were being hurt.

"There's not much I can do," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "My energy and loyalty must lie in protecting this school, and I cannot do that if I am also hunting for some wayward werewolves in Hogsmeade."

"But-" James protested. Remus chanced a glance at his other two friends. James looked upset. Sirius looked mutinous, staring down at the ground as if his eyes could burn holes in it. Knowing Padfoot, it was a look he clearly would have liked to turn on Dumbledore. James took a calming breath, "Sir, you can't just leave them there to hurt children. Surely there's someone who can help – someone at the Ministry you can write to, perhaps."

"No!" Remus exclaimed, shock pulling the words out of his mouth before he could think better of himself.

"Rem," Sirius started, but Remus cut him off, feeling Dumbledore's eyes on him.

"No, Pads, you don't understand." Sirius looked affronted. Remus felt immediately guilty. "It's not…not that simple. The Ministry doesn't just lock them up in Azkaban like any other criminal – not werewolves. Pads, they-" he choked, in spite of himself.

"Whatever it is it can't be worse than turning an innocent kid," Sirius spat out.

Remus sighed in annoyance, wishing for once his words would work, that he could explain what he was feeling properly. James' eyes, at least, were gentle on him, and Peter's arm squeezed his shoulders.

"It's worse," he said finally. "If the Ministry just killed them – put them down, that would be one thing," he tried to keep the self-loathing out of his voice. "But the punishment for turning someone – that's imprisonment. That's torture, Pads. They keep them locked in silver chains. Always. It burns. Use silver sprays and mists to keep them in line. And you know silver wounds – they don't heal, not properly. It's torture." Remus was battling tears behind his eyes, trying not to let them spill over.

"But maybe they deserve it, if they're turning kids," Sirius said vehemently.

"Sirius," Peter tried to cut in, but Remus shut him up with a look. Dumbledore was still watching in silence, elbows on his desk, fingers pressed together at their tips. He gazed over them from behind his half-moon spectacles. Remus had never hated him more than that moment – had never hated him, until that moment.

"Pads, listen to what you're saying," Remus said. He didn't care that he sounded pleading. "Becoming a werewolf is horrid, yeah. It's shite. But it's still a life, Pads. You taught me that. It's not the end of that boy's world, or anyone else's world. They act like this, they form gangs and turn people because of how they're treated. Because they're threatened with torture and death. We can't do that, we can't be the people to do that. There needs to be a better way." He breathed in a harsh gasp and, before he could change his mind, turned towards Dumbledore.

"And forgive me, Professor, but I think you can come up with a better way." James let out a small, almost surprised sigh, as if he had never spoken to a professor with cheek before in his life. And maybe he hadn't, not exactly like this, not with the sheer anger Remus possessed now.

Remus turned his eyes from his friends – James who was staring at him, Sirius who was still staring at the floor – to Dumbledore, who had leaned back in his chair to regard them all. This time, when he looked at Remus, Remus didn't look away.

"I can think of one other way," Dumbledore said, finally. "But I will only present this to you once. You are free to agree or to walk out of this room and we will pretend that this conversation never happened. But please listen to everything I have to say first."

One-by-one, each of the boys nodded, Sirius last of all. With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore summoned four chairs to where the boys were standing and gestured to them to sit. Remus sat reluctantly. He often felt more comfortable standing – maybe it was his fight or flight instincts. It was easier to run when you were already on your feet.

"I know you four are aware of the unrest building outside of Hogwarts," he began. "Indeed, your publication – The Hogwarts Prophet, was it? Most ingenious." Remus couldn't help but blush. No one knew it was them, but trust Dumbledore to have figured it out so quickly.

"It's not just ours," Sirius said mulishly. Remus was fairly sure James elbowed him, because he shut his mouth quickly. Dumbledore merely nodded in acknowledgement before continuing what he was saying.

"The man behind the madness, or much of the madness, at any rate, is someone who has become known as Lord Voldemort. He operates with a small group of followers, he thrives off of sowing fear and mistrust in the Wizarding community, and then striking at its heart." Dumbledore sighed, looking much older, suddenly.

"Recently, I have heard from sources that he has been recruiting magical beasts – werewolves, giants, merpeople, goblins – those that have often felt overlooked by the wizarding world." Remus tried not to bristle at being called a magical beast. Technically that's what he was. But he was human first and most importantly. "He bribes them with promises of a world where they can live freely and be themselves – he's recruiting them in large numbers and succeeding."

"What's so bad about that?" Remus asked, before he could help himself. He knew better, of course. Knew muggles were dying, muggleborns afraid – but was it his fault that such an idea sounded so good?

Dumbledore simply sighed. "The beasts, to him, are only a means to an end, Mr Lupin. They only things he looks down on more than part-human magical beasts are Muggleborn witches and wizards. Once the beasts he is recruiting have served his purpose he will kill them, make no mistake."

Remus failed to repress a shudder at the Headmaster's words. James reached over from the chair beside him to put a comforting hand on his knee.

"So what's the other option," Remus asked with a sigh. "What can we do that doesn't involve reporting them to the Ministry?"

"We convince them that there is incentive in switching sides," Dumbledore said quietly. "Show them that they have more to fear from Voldemort than they do from us."

The room sat in silence for a moment before Sirius snorted derisively. "Incentive in switching sides?" he asked finally. "Sure, that will go well." He mimed bumping into someone. "Oh, hi, I couldn't help but notice you're a werewolf fighting for Lord Moldy. Well let me tell you, he'll kill you. All we'll do is deprive you of human rights! So what do you say, switch sides?"

Remus rubbed a hand across his face, feeling more than exasperated. Peter let out a little snort beside him, while James just gave Sirius a fond look.

Dumbledore even entertained them with a smile. "You are right, it would not be quite that easy. However, we have something – someone, who could be a great tool to us."

Remus felt panic building in his stomach, timed with the sudden increase in strength of the hold James had on his knee.

"Absolutely not," Peter was the first to speak up decisively. "No way are you sending Remus to spend time with werewolves who hurt children for fun."

Dumbledore gave them another smile. "He would be well supervised," the Headmaster said. "One of you could be with him at all times. Yes, Mr Potter," he said at the surprised look James was wearing, "I know about your cloak."

The Headmaster leaned forward again, looking at each of them in turn. "Remus would visit them on weekends – perhaps for one afternoon each Saturday or Sunday. You'll let them know you're a seventh year Hogwarts student, of course, coming to the harsh reality of graduating with no job prospects and instead looking for a pack to fall in with. Once you gain their trust you can begin planting the seeds of doubt about Voldemort in their minds."

Remus nodded carefully. He didn't like it, particularly, it felt dangerous and scary – but it would mean his lycanthropy was good for something.

"And as you'll be on official Hogwarts business you will be payed of course, Mr Lupin," Dumbledore finished.

"You cant bribe him!" Sirius almost shouted. He had jumped up from his chair and was looking quite enraged. Remus stifled a groan.

"Sirius," he began, but the other boy cut him off.

"No, this is stupid, Moony. This is… you are a teenager. No one should ask you to put yourself in life or death situations. Especially not bribe you!" He was seething, facing Remus now. It took everything that was in Remus not to cower, knowing it would hurt Sirius more than anything to seem afraid of him.

"I'm also an adult," Remus said back, more calmly than he felt. He brushed his hair out of his eyes, almost subconsciously. Definitely a habit that he had picked up from James. "This should be my decision to make, Pads. Not yours."

"Mr Black," Dumbledore finally said as the boys regarded each other in silence. "I assure you that this is not bribery. If Remus is doing a job, especially dangerous work, he should be fairly compensated for it."

"Ten galleons for every time he meets with them," Sirius shot back at Dumbledore. "Twenty if he stays longer than usual, or over a night."

"Sirius," Remus gasped, but he was silenced by a squeeze of James' hand and a searching look from Peter.

"That can be arranged," Dumbledore said calmly. Sirius seemed to deflate, to sink back in his chair as if all the life had gone out of him. James removed his hand from Remus' knee to lean to his other side and grab Sirius' hand.

Remus took a moment in the silence to ponder. There was no doubt that it was terrifying. Remus had never really…interacted with other werewolves before. Had hardly even seen another one except for the wolf who bit him – Greyback – and he hardly remembered that. But it would be like a job. He'd get paid, and a lot of money, too. He'd be able to afford his own things after graduating, find somewhere to live that wasn't with his parents, even.

"Will I be able to stop?" he asked into the silence, finally. He could feel Sirius's eyes on his, hard and piercing. "If I feel unsafe or like I can't handle it anymore?"

"Of course," Dumbledore said. There was a twinkle behind his eyes, now. Was it amusement? Remus wasn't sure.

"Then I'll do it," he said to Dumbledore, relieved his voice wasn't shaking. "I can do it."

"Excellent, Mr Lupin. I think you have made a wonderful decision. I will send for you to meet with me after the full moon and we will work on finalizing our plans. In the meantime, have an excellent night. I hope all goes well tomorrow."

With the clear dismissal, the boys filed out of the office and down the stairs.

"I know you're all upset with me," Remus finally said when he couldn't take the silence anymore.

"We aren't," James said. Remus raised an eyebrow at him.

"Honest," Peter said, eagerly. "We can all go with you – Sirius as Padfoot and me as Wormtail and James under the cloak. And you know, you'll earn some pocket money. And soon we'll all be out of Hogwarts anyways, so it won't matter. Or we can fight for real, if this Voldemort man is still around."

Remus smiled wanly at Peter. "Thanks Pete," he said. "And James." He did his best not to turn his head, but as they rounded a corner in the corridor he couldn't help but look at Sirius. They locked eyes, for a moment. Tension was still painted in the lines of Sirius' face.

"We'll go ahead," James said, as if feeling the tension. "C'mon, Pete."

Sirius pulled him into an adjacent classroom as soon as the other two had left, perching himself on a desk with a surly look on his face. Remus hesitated for a moment before joining him, forcing his way onto the desk so they were sitting back to back, leaning against each other.

"I'm not going to say sorry-" Remus said into the silence, just as Padfoot began speaking.

"I'm not mad at you-" Both boys paused for a moment before Remus snorted.

"You go first," he said to Sirius.

"I'm not angry with you," Sirius said again. "I just… think you feel like this is something you have to do. I think that's how Dumbledore made it sound. But it's not something you have to do, you know that, yeah?"

"I guess," Remus said with a sigh. "But if I don't do anything they'll keep hurting people. Or they'll get reported to the Ministry. And I can't – I can't let that happen."

"Remus," Sirius sighed softly. Remus hated the way the other boy's concern made him feel. "You wouldn't be letting anything happen. Dumbledore would be letting it happen. Not you."

"Yeah," Remus said, with no real conviction. "I got lucky, though," he said. "I was already a wizard. I was young. I got to go to Hogwarts. Most…most werewolves don't get that. So if I can help them…"

"Then it's like you're repaying them for getting more opportunities?" Sirius asked. Remus hated how he always knew him, how Sirius sometimes even knew him better than himself.

Remus didn't respond, just let the silence wash over them, leaning back against Sirius. The other boy's hand grazed his and they laced hands carefully. Remus almost wished they'd stop doing this – or maybe that doing this would start to mean something – anything other than the strange limbo he had been in with Sirius all summer.

"I'm scared," Sirius said suddenly into the silence. "I'm scared that something big is coming, that we'll be in the middle of it. I'm scared that I'll have family on the other side of it all. I'm scared that I'll lose you – any of you. I don't know what I'd do without you three, Rem."

Remus squeezed his hand gently. "We'll be alright, Pads. We always are."

Sirius hummed on his other side as if contented, but Remus couldn't help but feel like his words were entirely empty. It was as though his world was coming together and falling apart all at once, and he was entirely unprepared for either option.