1976

Remus sat alone, shivering. It was twenty minutes until moonrise. His clothes were in a pile, neatly folded, next to him. His eyes, bloodshot, looked up: no moon. Not that he had suddenly expected it to appear, but he figured he would check for good measure. Where were they?

James, Sirius, and Peter—who kept reminding Remus that they wanted to be called by their nicknames too, now that they could transform—should've been here by now. Maybe they got scared, and left, thought Remus rather sullenly. Could you blame them? His eyes darted around the room. It wouldn't be so horrible to remain in here. After all, it had been all he knew for over four years. But part of him still had hope. It could get better.

Then, Remus heard a familiar sound.

"Prongs you git, hurry up." It was James and Sirius! "Wormtail is going faster than you—"

"—Hey!" And Peter too! Remus could've smiled under any other circumstance. As it was, he could hardly move. Soon, his friends emerged from the stairs, meeting Remus' gaze.

"Hey Moony," Sirius said softly. "Sorry we're late, it won't happen again."

"T-t-tis okay," Remus mumbled, his gaze lowered, his skin translucent. "I-I'm j-j-just glad—"

"—It's okay, you don't have to talk," James insisted. "Really, we've got…" He checked his pocket watch, "Eight minutes, yeah? Before we all start turning into animals?"

"D-Door…" Remus started.

"Is open," Peter said. "And the tree is still," He added, beaming a bit. Remus tried to smile.

"Thank you," He whispered. Sirius smiled.

"It's what mates do. Speaking of which, you missed a nice dinner but don't worry—we were able to hide some dessert in our robes. When you get back, you'll have quite a few chocolate chip cookies to munch on. Speaking of which," Sirius continued with a positively mischievous smirk, "We're figured out what next week's prank will be. Divine intervention struck, if you will."

For the next few minutes, Sirius, James, and Peter told Remus all about their plans, and anything else he missed that day. After a bit, Remus stopped nodding and trying to smile.

"N-now," He whimpered. In a heartbeat, James locked away the cloak and Remus' robes, and he and the other boys began their own transformation. Remus was relieved when his friends had all managed to turn into their animal forms. But this relief was short lived. He felt himself stiffen, and his eyes darted back and forth between his friends and the window above. All four Marauders were still. Then, Remus started convulsing. Padfoot looked nearly ready to pounce, but Prongs seemed to be able to hold him back. Like Remus had promised, it was small and infrequent at first. His arms grew rigid, hitting the floor of the shack, where his fingers scraped the floor and trembled. Remus closed his eyes. When they opened, his pupils began to change, becoming wolf-like, and his head yanked back most unnaturally as he let out a painful scream. His back began to shudder and shake as it lengthened, bones cracking and shifting every which way. His fingers and toes turned to claws, his hands and feet sprouting fur, with his arms and legs following close behind. His face narrowed and as his neck jerked back and forth, something seemed to be almost pulling his nose and mouth into a snout. Fur grew incessantly, mushroom-brown, not unlike the color of Remus' hair. But this was no longer Remus. A human shriek turned into a howl, and the moonlight shown on a newly-grown, graying tail. Remus' transformation was complete.

The werewolf, for a moment, remained silent. Then, it whimpered, much like a dog. Padfoot, breathing slowly, stepped one paw forward. Instantly, the wolf turned to gaze at the shaggy black creature, but not with malice. This was simply observation. The wolf was normally alone and noticed that this was different. But its curiosity did not last long. The wolf's snout lifted: it had caught a human scent. Letting out a howl, the wolf ran itself against one of the walls of the shack, emitting a loud bang. Unsuccessfully trapped, the wolf snarled, thrusting itself against the wall again in a second attempt to break it down.

Prongs gave Padfoot a look: this is what they were here to prevent. Padfoot then glared at Wormtail, motioning with his head to start running outside: they would meet him there. As the wolf began to scratch at the wall, Prongs used his antlers to headbutt the werewolf's left flank. Instantly, it turned, snarling. Prongs dashed down the stairs and through the tunnel, the werewolf following close behind. Padfoot was the last to leave.

Prongs wash chased through the tunnel and out the door, which Wormtail had left very much ajar. The werewolf sprinted behind, then paused—another scent. Distracted again. Padfoot emerged, and, seeing a worried-looking Prongs, suspected that this would be a very, very long night.

As the moon shone on and the night progressed, Moony took the boys on a grand tour of the grounds of Hogwarts. There was the forbidden forest—much less forbidden when travelling with a werewolf—and then the lake, where the wolf stopped for a drink before catching another scent, sending the boys on another wild goose chase. The main problem area of course was keeping the wolf away from Hogsmeade, but fortunately the scents of Firewhisky and Butterbeer lining the streets seemed to help mask the scent of man—especially as the night grew long and most people remained sound asleep in their homes, unaware of the misfit parade around them.

The Quidditch fields, the area around Hagrid's Hut—all of it was new and exciting to the wolf, and even the others—Prongs, Padfoot, and Wormtail—would later admit as boys that this was an exciting new way to explore the school grounds. Eventually, and with only one close call (a drunkard the boys would later befriend, whom no one believed when he said he saw a rat and a deer chasing a wolf), the moon began to fade and with it, the wolf's energy and time left that month. The other animals noticed this and began to herd the wolf back to the Willow. Things had gone mostly according to plan—a fact Remus would use as justification for the next two and a half years. At last, the wolf froze: the moon was disappearing. As strangely as it had all began, the wolf began to shrink, and within moments the limp, frail body one could recognize as Remus fell to the ground. The moon was gone. Satisfied, the boys all began to change back to themselves.

"We…We did it," Sirius whispered, glancing at James and Peter, who had also returned to normal. All three boys' eyes were red with the lack of sleep. This, of course, paled in comparison with Remus' state. Although the boys had done the best they could, the wolf had still managed to bite and claw itself, though remarkably less than usual. Madame Pomfrey had believe a miracle had happened that night.

"C'mon," James said, motioning towards Remus on the ground, let's get him back inside. Sirius and James picked up the body, and Peter helped to open and close the door. Crawling through the tunnel with a body was no easy task, but the boys had done this all before. Once inside the shack, they laid Remus down.

"He looks good," Peter said at last, and the boys turned to him. "I mean, not good, but—"

"He looks like he does on day two or three," James interjected. "By all means, that's good."

"He still hurt himself," Sirius said softly. "He'll still have to go to the infirmary. It's not enough," He said, almost disappointed. James shot him a look.

"Do you think Remus would ever tell you it's not enough? Sirius, it's everything. Any little bit helps. When he wakes up, this will all be worth it," James said. Sirius was still somewhat unimpressed. "Look," James continued, "This was the first time. It'll get better."

Sirius snorted. "Is that what Dorcas told you?"

"Oi!" Yelped James. "Not funny!"

Then the boys remembered where they were.

"Look," James began, "Let's get the cloak, throw a few chairs around and scram. We've got to get back inside before Madame Pomfrey shows." The others nodded, and got to fast work, leaving Remus on the floor. He wouldn't wake, he told them. Only he didn't really know what to expect.

"P-P-Pad…" He croaked, eyes not moving, body very still except for a thin, hoarse breath causing his chest to rise and fall. The boys' eyes widened.

"Remus, Moony, we're here," Sirius said, rushing to his side. "We're here. It worked, everything is fine, no one is hurt—it's all okay."

"But we have to go," James added. "Madame Pomfrey will be here any minute—not that she has much work to do, mind you."

Remus didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. The thin smile forming from his cracked lips told the boys everything they needed to know: he had heard them. It had worked. And that afternoon, for the first time in over a decade, he would remember the day after his transformation.