Chapter 4
October 9, 1976

I woke up in the Hospital Wing that same morning, feeling like I had a heavy weight was resting on my forehead. I rubbed my temples and closed my eyes again. The brightness of the room was doing nothing to soothe my painful headache.

I heard Madame Pomfrey beside my bedside five minutes later. She made a "tut" with her tongue and almost walked away before I called out for her.

"Oh, so you're awake now. Do you have any idea the trouble you caused this morning?" her shrill voice cut through me like a knife.

I moaned. "Trouble?" I asked in a raspier than normal voice, truly confused.

"Yes!" I moaned again and she dropped her voice to a whisper. "You broke out of the Shrieking Shack, dearie." She patted my arm.

"I…what happened?! Was anyone hurt?! Did I - " in my excitement, I tried to sit up, but my aching head wouldn't agree with that. I moaned in pain.

"Shush. Eat this," she put a block of chocolate in my hands. I stared down at it dumbly, waiting for the news. "No, nothing more than that happened. No one was hurt." She paused before adding, "Thankfully."

I let out a great sigh of relief and broke a bit of the chocolate off with my bandaged hands. It melted right in my mouth; I didn't even need to chew it.

I slept through the next couple hours, completely oblivious to everything around me. Madame Pomfrey woke me up to dismiss me early, it seemed another student had accidentally lodged his wand up his nose. Peter had left me a new change of clothes while I was asleep, for which I was very grateful. I had left my robes in the Shrieking Shack after transforming and only wore the thin hospital robes.

I quickly changed into my clothes behind the bed curtain, and then sat down on a nearby bed to put on my shoes. I put one on and then stopped. Someone in a grand set of purple robes sat beside me.

"How are you feeling, Remus?" his tired, but kind voice asked. I looked up to see it was the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore. If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't be here at school now. People of my kind are greatly mistrusted herein the wizarding world. And rightfully so in most cases. The typical becomes a stereotype for everyone, though.

I had wanted to go to school for as long as I can remember. To learn, to grow, to make friends. But that all changed in one night. My parents never thought for a moment I would attend school or receive a proper education. And when my father passed away, any remaining hope seemed to shrivel up and die away with him. But my mother wrote to Hogwarts as one last, trying effort. And it paid off. Professor Dumbledore became Headmaster of Hogwarts just the year before I began attending. And Dumbledore is sympathetic and decided to give me a second chance in life. He visited our house to talk to me on a few occasions. He was very interested in my condition ad more than willing to allow me to attend school under special conditions.

The summer before I began my magical education at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry, Dumbledore had the Shrieking Shack and a tunnel leading to it built. The Whomping Willow was planted over the entrance way so no one could get in unless they knew how to. It was in the Shrieking Shack that I have transformed alone for four years before my friends began to join me on monthly adventures.

My gaze dropped to my shoes again. "Oh, fine I suppose…." He was there to talk about what had happened last night, how I had broken free.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to happen," I apologized quickly. He raised his long hand to silence me.

"I know you didn't, Remus. We'll simply have to make reparations, that's all."

I slipped on my other shoe. "Thank you, sir."

He stood up, as if to walk away, but turned around to face me again. "Is there anything else you would like to tell me?" he asked in a worried, concerned voice.

My stomach did a back flip as I looked toward him again. He has done so much for me. I hate lying to him. But I couldn't tell him about what had really happened to me that previous night. He didn't need to know that real reason I broke out, only that I escaped. I looked down at my feet again. "No, everything's fine," I lied. He nodded and left me feeling worse than ever. I lied to him although he has done so much for me.

And this wasn't the first time. My three best friends became Animagi illegally to help me during the full moon. I wasn't even supposed to tell anyone about my condition, let alone let others follow after me. I transform in the Shrieking Shack to keep others away from me while I am dangerous. And if allowing those three to tag along side me every month isn't dangerous, I don't know what is.

I left the Infirmary without another word and went to library to clear my thoughts. I sat at a deserted table between the sections about Transylvanian vampires and the troll wars. I opened a book about vampire rights and pretended to read that in front of me, though I didn't scan the book or turn any pages.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" a familiar voice asked. I slowly looked up and saw a recognizable face curtained with flaming red hair.

I nodded and moved my large book closer toward me so she would have a place to set her books and parchment.

She put them on the table and took a seat across from me.

"So what's on you mind?" she asked.

"Huh?"

She shrugged and waited with a warm smile.

"I'm reading, Lily," I answered, looking down to read my first sentence of the day. She put her hand on top of the part I had begun to read.

"I'm trying to read, Lily," I raised an eyebrow.

"No you're not. You haven't read a single thing since you've been here," she saw straight through my lie.

I sighed. "Fine." I shut the book and sighed again.

"So what's on you mind?" she asked again.

"Nothing," I mumbled, sinking my eyes to the table again.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I know you better than that, Remus."

"I…." I sighed.

"It's not healthy to bottle things up, Remus," she stated. I half-snorted: she knows nothing bout bottling up secrets.

"I know," I shook that rude thought out of my head since she only meant for the best. "I've been having these…dreams lately…."

She had a puzzled expression on her face as if this wasn't the answer she had been expecting. "Okay…." The confusion in her voice was an urging for me to go on.

"They've been about this girl," I continued.

"Oh. Do you know her?" asked Lily.

I shook my head. "No, I've never met her before. I've been having these dreams where she wants me to help her."

"With what?"

"I don't know. I had a dream last night. The girl visited me and led me out of the…castle to the Forbidden Forest where she…I…." I couldn't say it. Lily put her hand on my arm encouragingly and I continued. "I couldn't stop them. These three in robes…murdered her. Stabbed her to death. I couldn't do anything," I shook my head. "Do you suppose I was only sleepwalking or watching an actual murder?"

"How long have you been having these dreams?" she asked me.

I shrugged helplessly. "Since the first day back, almost every night."

"And how old was the girl? You don't recognize her at all?"

"No, I've never met her before. And I don't know, maybe a first or second year."

Lily stood up immediately and seemed to leave me alone, but returned with the school's thick copy of Hogwarts, A History. She put it on the table between us and sat down again to flip through its many pages.

"Aha!" she exclaimed excitedly. Madame Pince, the school librarian, hushed her. "Sorry. Here, read this bit." She pointed to an article in the book and stood up from her seat. I moved to her side and read it quietly. When I was done, I looked up at her puzzled.

"I think you were sleepwalking and saw a real murder that happened in you dream," she was grinning.

"What?"

"Didn't you see?! Three murders ever at Hogwarts! Three in one thousand years! That girl you've been dreaming about was one of the three! Read her description. It says first-year, stabbed to death in the Forbidden Forest. She's the one, Cecil Marie Reid!"

"You mean she was already murdered? There wasn't anything I could do anyway?"

Lily nodded. "I don't even see a timeturner taking you back five hundred years."

I reread that section. A young first-year girl had been brutally murdered in the Forbidden Forest five hundred years ago. And all that time I had been thinking it was going to happen.

"Do you think it's her ghost that's visiting me?" I asked suddenly.

Lily nodded again. "Exactly."

"Well if she's already dead, what does she want? We can't exactly avenge her death, her killers would be dead by now," I went on to state the obvious.

Lily shrugged. "Maybe she just wants a friend. She couldn't have been too popular around if she was murdered."

"Well constantly pestering someone isn't going to make you friends."

"Why do you think she was murdered?" Lily looked up at me. I shook my head.

"Not a clue in hell."

A/N- So one review still…yeah…um, I'll post another chapter in a week.