It was yet another full moon, less than a week until Christmas. Remus snuck out of the castle as he normally did, and headed for the Whomping Willow. He was past the defence quickly, but because it was the dead of winter, Remus opted to wait until he was nearly at the Shrieking Shack before disrobing.
As he made his way through the tunnel, Remus was sure he heard something. A whisper, a loose stone getting kicked, footsteps. But every time he looked back, he couldn't see anything, as if whatever was making the sounds knew he was looking for them, and were shutting up to make sure he didn't find them. 'Maybe I should ask Dumbledore to double check the security on this hole,' he thought, as he got to the last incline before his entrance to the Shack.
Remus's extra paranoia had cost him some time. He barely had time to remove his clothes before his wolf form started taking hold. He scrambled up the ladder and into the Shack, barely closing the trapdoor as his hands started turning to claws. He moved away a bit, as he felt his face elongate, his nose turning into a snout.
Remus sniffed the air, and almost froze with fear. His heightened senses told him there was a scent nearby, something living, something...human. But that couldn't be right, could it? No-one came near here, and he was positive no-one had followed him.
He couldn't focus on the problem any longer, as his body started getting covered in fur and the beast's thoughts began taking over his. All Remus could do was hope that who or whatever it was that had come here was gone before they got hurt...
Remus woke slowly the next morning, remembering where he was, then suddenly the memory of his last thoughts from last night hit him. 'There was someone nearby,' he thought. 'But who...'
Remus looked around the Shack frantically, searching for signs of blood. 'Nothing,' sighed Remus, relieved. 'Maybe whoever it was heard the howls from inside and escaped.' Satisfied that nothing bad had happened last night, Remus opened the trapdoor and dressed quickly, before hurrying back along the tunnel.
"I just...I can't believe it," said James. "I mean, I knew he was hiding something, but...how did we never notice?"
"Maybe because we never noticed that he only ever left on full moons?" suggested Sirius. "What do you think Peter?"
Peter just stayed frozen like he had been since last night when they'd witnessed the event that would haunt them for years. Their friend, sneaking out of the school into a secret tunnel. Their friend, naked and in pain as he changed into a monster. Their friend, scared to tell them about this out of fear of what they might think.
The three of them had followed Remus under the invisibility cloak the previous night. They had followed him quickly when he froze the Whomping Willow, unsure if it could see them under the cloak, and had to carefully make their way through the tunnel.
Several times, they thought he had heard them or noticed them, before he continued down the tunnel. But when he entered through a trapdoor and they peaked at what was happening...
"Look, we can't treat him any different because of this," said James. "He's still our friend..."
"I know," said Sirius. "It's just...I mean, did any of us see this coming?"
"Definitely wasn't what I was expecting," said James. "I thought maybe he was just sneaking away to explore or something."
"...I mean, it is a big castle. I wonder if anyone's ever mapped it out," pondered Sirius, as they heard someone coming through the portrait.
"Oh, hey guys," said Remus, coming into the Common Room. "Didn't expect you to be up so early."
"Uh, yeah, we, err.." struggled James.
"You're a werewolf," Peter blurted out, speaking for the first time since they'd gotten back.
Remus froze, shock and horror visible on his face. "Wha..." he started, but words were failing him.
"We followed you," said James. "Last night, we saw you go into that shack, and..."
"It was you..." whispered Remus, still staring at them in fear of what might happen. "What...what are you gonna do?"
"What do you mean, what are we gonna do?" asked Sirius. "What do you think we're gonna do?"
"You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" asked Remus, fear clearly discernible in his voice.
"Why would we do that?" asked James. "You're our friend Remus. We're not gonna tell anyone about this. We get why you kept it from us."
"You're...not mad?" asked Remus.
"Why the hell would we?" asked Sirius. "Come on, you should know us better than that by now." Remus looked around at the three of them, and visibly relaxed. "Come on, take a seat, tell us about it."
"Okay," said Remus. "But won't other people be getting up soon?"
"Oh, it's not that..." started Sirius, as students started getting up to go down to get breakfast. "Oh, right, it's still only Thursday, isn't it?"
"Yeah, let's go get something to eat," said James, getting up to leave. "You can talk to us later."
"Alright," said Remus. "You coming, Peter?"
"Is no-one going to mention that we saw him naked?" asked Peter to himself, before sighing and following the others.