When the day's classes were over, James, Sirius, and Peter began plotting their tour of the grounds. Remus, however, decided not to join them.
"I've got to get a book from the library. I'll be back later," he informed them.
"Alright," James said, shrugging.
"See you later," Peter told him.
Once Remus had left, Sirius began to talk.
"I don't care what Remus says about curfews, we're doing this," he decided.
"Okay, but what are we doing?" Peter asked impatiently.
James shrugged. "I say we stroll past D.A.D.A and Umbridge's office. Then we can step outside."
"Yeah, but what's she going to do to us?" Peter said anxiously.
"She can't do anything as long as we aren't breaking rules in front of her face," Sirius said.
Peter agreed somewhat hesitantly, and then they charted their walk.
They had just gotten out of the castle to begin their route when the sky began to dim. The sun sank below the horizon. Slowly, the stars revealed themselves.
To pass the time as they walked, they quietly whispered among themselves. Their conversations ranged from gossip to essays to Quidditch.
As they conversed, the moon rose high into the sky. Full and a sterling silver, it bathed the party in its light.
The boys paid little heed to it; It was simply a source of light so that they wouldn't run into something, like the Whomping Willow.
As they passed this particular tree, Sirius changed the conversation.
"I wonder what would happen if we hit the tree back," he said.
"Hit… the Whomping Willow?" Peter asked him cautiously.
"Yeah, give it a taste of its own medicine," Sirius said, looking intently at the tree.
"That's a terrible idea," James said flatly.
"Maybe it would stop hitting people," Sirius offered. "I'm sure trees have feelings, too."
"You're mad," Peter said, looking at the tree. "Why would you want to hit that?"
"I told you, it might stop hitting people," Sirius said. "Do you think that I can't?"
"It would probably kill you," Peter told him.
Sirius protested, "It will not!"
"Well, before you prove that theory, we should head back to the tower. Remus is probably back by now," James said.
They quickly finished their route. To their dismay, there was no sign of Umbridge, but they could find some other way to increase her paranoia.
Remus was not in Gryffindor Tower as they had expected. Reasoning that he was still in the library, they changed out of their robes and settled into their four poster beds.
"'Night, mates," James mumbled sleepily.
Sirius replied in kind. "'Night."
There was no response from Peter. He was already fast asleep.
When Remus still had not returned the next morning, they begin to worry.
"He's never at the library that late. He wouldn't risk breaking curfew," James said anxiously.
"He must have gotten in trouble with someone, why else would he not come back?" Sirius asked, poking his head out of the dorm.
"Any sign of him?" Peter asked.
"None," Sirius said grimly.
"We should check the Hospital Wing. If he's not here or the library, he's sometimes there," Peter suggested.
"Alright, grab your books, we won't be able to make it to breakfast. We can't walk halfway across the school, eat breakfast, and get to class on time," James said.
They grabbed their books and scurried up to the Hospital Wing.
Madame Pomfrey opened the large oaken doors when they knocked.
"Is Remus here?" Sirius asked her.
"He went down to the library last night, but we haven't seen him since," James said.
Madame Pomfrey chose her words carefully. "Mr. Lupin is here, but he's recovering."
"Recovering?" Peter said, startled. "What happened?"
"Is he okay?" Sirius asked.
"He got the bad end of a jinx, but he'll live," Madame Pomfrey assured them. "Now, I need to get back to-"
"Can we see him?" James inquired, his brow creasing with worry.
"Mr. Lupin needs his rest," she said forcefully.
"Please, Madame Pomfrey?" James asked.
"We're his friends, we want to make sure he's alright," Peter said.
"Mr. Pettigrew, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, I have to insist that you leave," said Madame Pomfrey.
"Just a minute," Sirius pleaded.
She hesitated before closing the door. "I'll see if he's awake," she said finally.
The boys waited for no more than a minute before Madame Pomfrey returned.
"You have a three minutes," she told them.
They nodded and hurried into the Hospital Wing.
Remus laid in the farthest bed, propped up on his pillow. There was a bandaid on the bridge of his nose, and his left arm was bandaged with gause. Through the gause, you could see traces of blood.
"Remus! Are you okay?" Peter asked hurriedly.
Remus tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace. "Fine. Just ran into a sixth year Ravenclaw who wanted to practice a few choice jinxes on me."
"What'd they do?" Sirius noted, "You look like you tried to fight the giant squid."
"You never know, maybe he did," James said jokingly.
That time, Remus really did smile.
"I don't suppose you'll make it to class," Sirius said.
"No, I'm stuck here," Remus said unhappily, then added, "You guys'll take notes for me, right?"
"'Course," Peter tod him.
Sirius started to talk again. "Is there-"
"Your three minutes are up," Madame Pomfrey informed them. "Now, I need to finish taking care of Mr. Lupin."
"Bye," James told him.
"Take extra notes in Transfiguration!" Remus called after them.
"What did that sixth year do to him?" Sirius asked as they rushed to Charms.
"No idea- how do you jinx someone that badly?" Peter asked.
"That didn't look like a jinx. More like a hex," James pointed out.
"Is there really a difference?" Sirius muttered.
"Yes, Flitwick's gone over this tons," James said.
"Well, I don't care as long as it's not on our end of the year exams," Peter said.
Class was just starting as they bolted into the Charms room.
"Just in time, boys. We're dividing into pairs to practice Flipendo," Flitwick informed them.
When Charms was over, they went to Transfiguration. Peter made sure to take extra notes, snapping the tip of his quill in the process.
"Come on," he grumbled. "That was my best one!"
In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Umbridge passed out books.
"For the next few weeks, we will be using these books. However, they will stay inside this classroom at all times. Please read and take notes on the first chapter. If you finish that, start on the second. There will be no need to talk," Umbridge informed them, her voice like honey.
The book, On Dark Creatures and Magical Beasts, was by far the longest textbook the boys had ever seen. It was leather bound and stained with a suspicious looking red, which was assumed to be dried blood.
James and Sirius shared a look. Peter pulled out a piece of parchment, hesitantly opened his copy, and began to try and take notes with his broken quill.
"Hem, hem," Umbridge coughed behind James. "I believe you have work to do."
James and Sirius smirked at her, but went to their note taking.
"Why were you smirking?" Peter whispered when Umbridge was on the other side of the room.
"We're making her paranoid. It's all part of the act," Sirius said. Then he turned his attention back to the book.
The first chapter was on vampires; He finished it quickly, glancing up at the clock when he finished his notes.
There were still twenty more minutes left of class, so he started on the next chapter.
Chapter Two was titled The Werewolf. Sirius sighed, and decided that he'd prefer to watch the clock.
Umbridge was back by the group. She glanced at James and Peter's books, who were respectively on pages four and seven. Then she looked to Sirius' book. He wasn't reading.
"Mr. Black, I believe that I told you once you finish the first chapter to continue to the second," Umbridge said.
"I know this stuff, Professor," he said. "Maybe you should have an alternate task."
"Ten points from Gryffindor. If you don't start reading, it will be one hundred," she said scathingly. Umbridge turned to walk away.
"One hundred whole points for not reading," Sirius muttered. "Git."
"Detention tonight, Mr. Black," she said, not looking back.
Without any choice, Sirius began to read the passage.
The Werewolf is a foul beast that terrorizes wizards and muggles alike. They appear as normal humans for most of the year. Only on the full moon are they recognizable. They shed their disguises and turn into the monsters they truly are, bearing characteristics similar to a wolf, but with a taste for human flesh.
Sirius continued to read boredly, glancing up at the clock ever so often.
A werewolf can be distinguished in its human form in a few ways. The first being cautious with any and all silver; Silver is deadly to werewolves. The second, is their disappearance on full moons. The third, directly after a full moon, they are often fatigued and tired.
The craziest thought flashed through his head. Sirius tapped James on the shoulder and pointed to the paragraph. As James read it, he looked quizzically at Sirius, then his eyes widened in understanding. Sirius then passed the book to Peter.
"That's what you think?" James asked him after class was out.
"There's only one way to know," Sirius said. "I have it all written down. All the days he's disappeared since October or November, when I got suspicious."
Rather than going to lunch, the three ran up to Gryffindor Tower and rushed into their dormitory.
"Hey, Peter, can you go through my trunk? It should be at the bottom," Sirius said.
"Yeah," Peter said.
"James, where's that lunar calendar we had to do for Astronomy a while ago? I know it's here somewhere…."
"Under my bed, I stuff all my work under there," James said, laying down to fish out his papers.
"Here it is," Peter said, pulling the list out of Sirius's trunk.
"Right, here's the calendar- no that's a star chart, hold on," James said, continuing to pull papers from beneath the bad. "Wait, this is it."
The boys compared the dates on the paper and calendar. They looked at each other in disbelief.
Finally, Peter broke their silence. "Remus is a werewolf."