"We are gathered here today to mourn one of our own," said Professor Dumbledore. The candles floating around the Great Hall were slightly dimmed, with black banners coming off the roof. "Jessica Banks was a fifth year student of Ravenclaw.

"She was the most humble, most intelligent, funny, and kind girl I ever knew. I think everyone here can agree with me. The Prefect of Ravenclaw, sister of our famous school commentator… she was killed by a Death Eater." He paused, watching the hundreds of faces looking up at him. "There is a Dark Lord on the loose — Lord Voldemort.

"And I think you all deserve to know the reality of this, that there is a war going on, and we could be attacked at any time here at Hogwarts," he said, and gasps of fear were let out through the hall. "So I am asking you all to get along with each other, because we're all one family here at Hogwarts. We have to have each other's backs. In honour of Jessica, may we all stay safe. Thank you and goodnight."

He dismissed the students, and we all walked in silence back to our common rooms. I followed James and Sirius upstairs to our dormitory. April was almost finished, and as soon as all the students had come back from the holidays, word had quickly spread about Jessica, and how some of the students had witnessed her death.

Peter and James had finally become friends again, since the war had intensified and the teachers were discouraging any arguments amongst students.

"D-do you think there's really a war?" Peter asked, trembling.

"Obviously," Sirius said dryly. "It started last year…"

"We'll get through this," I said, anxiously looking out the window. My parents still hadn't sent me an owl assuring me they were alright, and I was having daily panic attacks about it.

"I want to fight!" said James, standing up.

"Why would you want to fight?" Peter said, earning a sharp look from James. There was definitely still tension between the two of them.

"We're too young, James," I said. "We will when we're older."

"Still," said James, rolling his eyes. "Unfair."

"Come on, it's getting late," I said. I felt absolutely exhausted, it had been the full moon the previous night, and we'd stayed up late that night with remembering Jessica.

"You do look tired," Sirius said. "Must be from your mother still being ill, hey?"

"Y-yeah," I said, climbing into bed.

"Yep," he said, nodding. "Like how she was magically better during Christmas and now she's sick again…"

"Weird, I know," I said, laughing nervously.

"How bizarre," Sirius said, giving me a weird smile. I smiled back awkwardly, laying down with only one thought on my head: Sirius was onto me.

On the morning of the full moon of May, I received an owl. The letter addressed to me landed in my breakfast, and I opened it quickly.

Dear Remus,

We were quite injured, so we were at St Mungo's for a while, we're just writing to let you know we're both alive.

See you in in summer! Love Mum and Dad xx

I let out a huge sigh of relief, then decided to use the letter as my excuse for having to leave to the Shrieking Shack.

"Sorry, I have to go home," I said, tapping the letter.

"Let me guess," Sirius said in mock confusion. "Your mother is ill?"

"Er…" I said.

"Let me see that," he snapped, ripping the letter out of my hand and reading it. "Doesn't say anything here about you needing to go home."

"They… they write in code," I said as he handed the letter back to me.

"They write in code? Seriously?" Sirius crossed his arms. "That is absolutely pathetic."

I smiled, then walked out of the Great Hall quickly, inhaling deeply.

"Tell me, how do you get to wherever you go to see your mother?" Sirius asked, rushing up to me as I walked to Charms class on first morning I was back.

"I-I catch the Hogwarts Express," I said.

"Well then, why'd you go under that crazy tree?" he asked.

My heart seemed to stop in that moment. "W-what?"

"Well, you're acting really suspicious," he said. "I think you're lying to us. Me and the others."

"No, I'm not lying!" I said, my voice sounding an octave higher than it usually would.

"Like, couldn't you of come up with a different excuse, instead of using the same one every time," he said.

"Wait…"

"I don't know we're you're going literally every month, but I do know that it's not what you say you go," he said, looking me straight in the eye. It was kind of scary. "Do you want to tell me?"

"Um… I…"

"That's alright," he said. His voice had dropped to barely a whisper. "But I will find out, because friends don't lie."

He walked ahead of me, leaving me in a state of panic. I arrived at the Charms classroom to hear Professor Flitwick telling us that the end of year exams were only two weeks away and we were doing a practice test.

I sat down next to Sirius, James and Peter, and felt their eyes burn onto me. I grabbed out my quill and ink as Professor Flitwick handed out the tests.

"Remus, I'm sorry if I sounded mean before," Sirius said at lunch that day. He'd pulled me aside into the corner of the Great Hall to chat. "I'm just concerned that you feel the need to keep some huge secret from us… I don't want you to think you need to hide from us. Just know that whatever it is, we're still your friends and we're not going to see you any differently, OK?"

"OK," I said quietly.

"So there is something!" he said, raising an eyebrow.

I didn't answer.

"I get it," he said gently. "You're not ready to tell us yet. Well, when you are, we're all going to support you."

He was smiling widely, but it wasn't his usual mischievous smile, it was a smile no one had ever given me before. It made me feel warm inside, like there was nothing bad in the world. Just then I wanted to pour my heart out to him, but I remained silent, feeling the sides of my lips curl into a wide smile. Together, we walked back to join the others for lunch.

Before I could sit down, Monifa shot a look at me and grabbed my arm and dragged me just outside the Great Hall.

"Remus!" she cried. "Remus! Remus! Remus!"

"What?" I said. She was smiling and laughing, and put her hand over her mouth.

"I know your secret!" she said, giggling. "I think I've known for a while, but now I know for sure!"

"What?" I said, feeling my blood go cold.

"You are…"

"Wait!" I cried. "I'm not! I'm not I promise! You've got the wrong idea!"

"Remus, it's so obvious you are," she said. "It's OK, I'm not judging you for it."

"How did you know…" I said. "… how did you know that — that I'm… I'm a… a werewolf?"

Monifa's grin dropped, she stopped laughing and was staring at me. And then she started trembling.

"You're a what?"