Year 1: The Legend Unfolds
Chapter Thirteen: Secrets Spilled
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize, no matter how much I wish it were so.
A/N: Yeahhh hi people! Here is the next chapter! Sorry it took a little bit longer than usual, but I had to finish writing this chapter. BUT I'm off for spring break this week, so hopefully I should be able to write some more and have the next chapter up by next Saturday. I dunno tho, but I'll try! So anyway, read and review! And I really hope you like it!
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Remus sat up weakly, his head pounding against the inside of his skull. The sun shone through the small window near the top of the wall. He was in the basement of his childhood home, and it was Boxing day. Christmas night had been a full moon, so even though he had been sane when he had woken up on Christmas morning, there wasn't the amount of excitement there should be due to the fact that he was sick.
He slowly stood up and walked over to the staircase and pulled a large rope. The sound of a ringing bell rang throughout the house, and Remus stopped after a few seconds. This was the signal to his parents that his transformation was over and it was safe for him to come back up the stairs. About a minute or two later, he heard his mom's voice call through the door to him.
"Remus, honey?" she said.
"Yes, mom," Remus called back up to her, standing up from the spot on the floor where he had been sitting while he waited for his mom to come.
Mrs. Lupin opened the door and peered cautiously around at her son. He walked up the stairs and stepped into his mother's warm embrace. He pulled back after a bit and turned to walk fully out of the basement.
"Are you hungry, Remus?" his mother asked as she walked into the kitchen.
"Starved, but I'm a little tired right now," Remus said, collapsing on the couch in the next room.
"Well I'll cook you some food for you to eat when you wake up," Mrs. Lupin said. Remus nodded tiredly before laying back on the couch and falling asleep almost instantly. Mrs. Lupin watched her son sleep, smiling lightly. She knew it wasn't fair that he had to suffer like this, and it broke her heart to see her son in such pain.
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Alice looked around the multitude of students that crowded the platform, looking for her cousin. She knew that Christmas night had been a full moon, and she wanted to make sure that Remus was okay and that he had gotten her present.
"Alice!" came a yell, and she turned around to see Lily running towards her. The young girls embraced quickly and began talking about their Christmases, Alice temporarily forgetting her search for Remus.
A whistle blew, and Lily and Alice hurried for the train, not eager to be left behind. They found a compartment and put their stuff in it.
"Do you want to go look for Melanie?" Lily asked. Alice nodded and the two girls set off to walk around the Hogwarts express to search for their friend. They found here a few minutes later sitting a compartment with Michelle Weasley. Lily and Alice sat down, but Alice had a hard time concentrating on the conversation they were having. The whole time she was thinking about Remus, and hoping that he was alright.
When they finally reached Hogwarts, the four first years walked over to the horseless carriages and picked one.
"Is there going to be another feast like there was on the first night?" Lily asked, as she was very hungry.
"My brother told me there isn't a big feast, he graduated last year, but we did make it back in time for dinner," Michelle answered.
"Good," Lily said gratefully, her stomach giving a loud rumble. The other three girls laughed and Lily blushed, embarrassed. Once the horseless carriages reached the front doors of Hogwarts, the girls jumped out and hurried inside, pulling their cloaks tightly around themselves against the cold night air. Lily, Melanie, and Michelle began to walk towards the Great Hall, but Alice stopped.
"Aren't you coming?" Lily asked.
"Nah, I'm not really very hungry. Plus I need to, uh, get something from upstairs. I'll just see you guys after dinner," Alice said.
"But don't you want to see Marlene? She's already at the table," Melanie said.
"I'll just see her when you guys come up after dinner. I gotta go now," Alice said, starting up the stairs. Lily shrugged and walked into the Great Hall, shrugging off her friend's peculiar behavior.
Alice walked through the Hogwarts corridors quickly. When she reached the Gryffindor tower she said the password and walked inside, collapsing on a couch by the fire. She really hoped that she hadn't been acting too suspicious, and that Lily and Melanie didn't think too much into her actions. Suddenly she heard the portrait hole open and Remus walked inside.
"Hi," he said, walking over to the couch and sitting down next to her.
"Hey. How are you?" Alice asked.
"I'm alright now, but..."
"But...?"
"But transformations on Christmas really suck," Remus finished.
"Aw, I'm sorry," Alice said sympathetically. Remus just shrugged.
"Yeah, well, that's just the stuff I have to deal with being a werewolf," Remus said, faking a carefree tone, even though Alice could tell that he was upset.
Suddenly they heard a loud closing of the portrait hole, and Remus and Alice both jumped up, snapping their heads towards the portrait hole. What they saw made each of their hearts skip a beat. James Potter was standing in front of the portrait hole with a shocked look on his face.
"Remus?" James asked weakly. Remus looked down at his feet, ashamed, and Alice tried to make up a lame excuse quickly.
"I... we were just... uh..." Alice said, but for once she couldn't think of something to say to cover up for a slip about Remus.
"Wow..." James said, temporarily incapable of saying anything else, "This all kind of makes sense... is this why you were missing so much school?" However, Remus didn't answer.
"Listen James, you don't know what you're talking about..." Alice started to say, but Remus cut her off.
"No, it's fine. I was stupid for thinking that I could ever be normal. I know you hate me now and you are probably afraid of me, so I'm just going to go pack my stuff now and be off..." Remus said, still looking more or less at his shoes.
"Remus, what are you talking about?" James said, thoroughly confused. Remus slowly looked up from his shoes to look at James.
"What?"
"I don't hate you, why would I?" James said.
"Be-Because I'm... because of what I'm..." Remus stuttered out through his surprise. Alice was also shocked, and the two stood there staring at James with mouths open.
"Let me get this straight," Alice said, "You are telling me that you don't care that Remus is a werewolf?"
"Well... I mean Dumbledore isn't an idiot. If he let Remus into the school, this situation is obviously under control. Besides, I mean it's only one night a month, right?" James said.
"You have a heart of gold, James Potter," Alice said, very pleased that James wasn't going to make a big deal out of her cousin's condition, "And you're lucky too, because if you had made a commotion about this, I would have beaten you up. And I would have won," Alice said. James gulped slightly, knowing that his was probably true. Alice seemed to be very protective of Remus.
"Thanks James," Remus said, "Just promise me you won't tell the other guys,"
"Oh, I won't," James said. Remus sighed in relief, "But you will," Remus gasped and shook his head slightly.
"No. What are the odds that the others are going to take it as well as you did? What if Peter freaks out or something?" Remus asked worriedly. James thought for a moment before answering.
"Sirius is a good guy, I'm sure he's not going to make a fuss. He may be crazy sometimes, but he still defied his family and all their absurd views, and that's good enough for me," James said firmly. Remus nodded in agreement, but frowned.
"And Peter?" Remus said. James frowned too. Peter was sometimes a mystery to the other three boys. He was the kind of person who didn't seem to have to much of an opinion on anything... he was just kind of there. But then suddenly it hit James like a ton of bricks.
"Peter is a follower. If Sirius and I are okay with it, he will be too," James said. Remus nodded, knowing that was probably incredibly true.
Alice agreed that the plan sounded good, and the three first years went over to sit down on a couch by the fireplace. Remus for once wasn't incredibly tired, as it was about a week and a half after the last full moon, and he joked around with his friend and cousin with a free conscience. He knew that it was probably better that his friends would know about his condition, but he was still nervous about what they would say.
When dinner was over, students started filing back into the common room, happy to be back at Hogwarts after the holidays. When Sirius and Peter came in, they spotted Remus and James sitting together on a couch (Alice had gotten up to say hello to Marlene) and they headed over.
"Hey, why weren't you guys at dinner?" Sirius asked.
"Um... we were..." Remus said, looking briefly at James, who nodded curtly, "Uh, can you guys come upstairs for a sec? I gotta tell you something."
"Sure..." Sirius replied, confused. The four boys walked up the stairs with Remus in the lead. When they reached the dorms, Remus sat down on his bed and looked at the three boys in front of him.
"So what is it?" Peter asked. Remus looked between Sirius and Peter, then looked to James, who nodded encouragingly. Remus took a deep breath and decided to just jump into it face first.
"Well, you know how I go away every month?" Remus said. They both nodded, "Well... my mom isn't really sick. And my great-grandpa really didn't have a birthday party... you see..."Remus trailed off.
"What?" Sirius urged gently. He sensed there was something wrong, and he was waiting patiently to find out what it was.
"Well... I'm kind of... a... a w-werewolf," Remus stuttered softly, looking down at the ground. His statement was met with complete silence. When he dared to look back up again, he saw that Peter was looking completely shocked and a little bit scared, and Sirius was looking almost confused. Sirius was the first to speak.
"Is that why you always seem sick when you go away?" Sirius asked. Remus nodded, "Why..."
"I know, why didn't I tell you," Remus said, cutting him off, "I guess..."
"No, I was going to ask why did you tell us. If it was me I would have taken it to my grave," Sirius said.
"Well, James overheard me talking to Alice about it, and he convinced me to tell you guys too," Remus said.
"How you doing, Peter?" James asked his friend, realizing that the boy hadn't said anything since Remus had dropped the bomb.
"Uh...I-I-I..." Peter stuttered out. Remus looked down ashamed. He should have known better than to expect all three of the boys would have taken it well.
"Peter, listen to me. You better not make a big deal out of this, or I'll..." James started, but Remus cut him off.
"I-I won't. My g-grandpa w-was one t-t-too," Peter said.
"Then why are you stuttering?" Remus asked, shocked to hear that Peter actually knew someone who was a werewolf before hand.
"Th-there's a sp-spider on y-your arm. I hate sp-spiders," Peter said. Remus looked down to see that there was in fact a spider on his arm, and grinned before flicking it off. Soon all of the other boys were laughing as well, even Peter.
The boys spent the rest of the night in their dorm, just hanging out. James and Remus got hungry at one point, having skipped dinner, so all of the boys got out the treats they had gotten for Christmas and they ate them together. Remus looked around the three boys sitting beside him and smiled in contentment. For the thousandth time since he came to Hogwarts, he felt like he truly belonged. And while that was a wonderful feeling for anyone, but for a werewolf it was pure magic.
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Well, the cat's outta the bag now, right? I don't know if Peter actually had a relative who was a werewolf, but I figured that he wouldn't be able to accept Remus if he didn't know another werewolf, just because that's kind of how Peter is. Yeah, so anyway, I hope you liked it! And please REVIEW!!