Well – some of you seem to enjoy this – so here's the second chapter!

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For one second the creature looked at him, and suddenly, with a bound, it had pounced on him.

James yelled loudly as Remus – or whatever it was – knocked him to the floor. In a flurry of fur and teeth and panting breath he found the thing bent over him; its gaping maw barely inches from his face. Not wanting to wait for it to strike, James gritted his teeth and attempted a futile search for his wand. He groaned inwardly when he saw, out of the corner of his eye, his wand – his only defence – lying feet away on the floor.

Therefore, as he anticipated sharp teeth digging into his neck, the last thing James Potter was expecting was for the creature to speak.

"Swear to me that you won't tell anyone what you saw?" It growled down at him, eyes blazing with fervour.

James couldn't even manage a stutter.

"SWEAR TO ME!" The growl was louder this time, and far more aggressive.

James heard the blood pumping in his ears.

He felt the dank breath of the thing above him on his teeth.

He could see the outline of the horrific creature in the moonlight; its teeth; its gleaming eyes.

Then he knew nothing and all was black.

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When he came to, James found himself propped up against the cold wall of some darkened room. Blinking a couple of times, he scanned the area for clues, noticing for the first time the throbbing headache he had acquired. He soon caught sight of the ripped curtains and broken furniture and suddenly realised where he was. It's that room I stumbled into last night – it's where...

James stopped dead and spun around in search of the terrifying creature that so haunted his memories. There didn't seem to be any signs of life in the room, human or otherwise, and he allowed himself to relax a little, sighing with relief.

"James?"

The boy nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard his name, looking around wildly for its source. All of a sudden, he noticed them. A figure shrouded in rags, emerging from the shadowy corner across the room. He looked gaunt and pale, darkened eyes like ink patches against the whitened skin. Whatever it was, James saw that it was lean and in some deal of pain – the creature had a tortured look about it. Unconsciously, the young Gryffindor's pity went out to it.

"Who- what are you?" James eventually managed to croak out his question.

"James, it's me." The voice sounded again, and this time James seemed to recognise it, as though in a distant memory. He didn't reply, but continued to stare – wide-eyed –at the figure.

"It's me, Remus," the figure continued, faltering a little as friend struggled to recognise him.

James just stared. How could this beaten, wearied figure be his best friend? It just didn't fit. Remus Lupin was all about books and studying; staying up late in the common room casting wry glances at James and Sirius' mischief; yelling and cheering his friends on during every quidditch match – poor weather no object. How could these two figures possibly correlate?

"H-how?" He eventually managed a solitary word.

"Well," his friend looked at him curiously, as if pondering how to approach the subject. "It's all a bit complicated – I don't even know if I'm allowed to tell you..." He trailed off lamely, waiting for a reaction.

"Tell me what?" James finally seemed to have found his tongue.

"Like I said – it's complicated – I don't know if Dumbledore would allow-"

"SCREW DUMBLEDORE – WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN IS GOING ON?" The abrupt burst of anger shocked even James. He didn't know where it heralded from, but he suddenly found himself on his feet, wand in hand, and glaring at Remus. He checked his volume, and continued speaking, his voice still inflected with quiet anger.

"You were the one that assaulted me earlier? I was scared out of my wits – you could have killed me. Now – you tell me. What is going on, Remus? Why are you hiding in here? Why do you look as though you've gone through several rounds with a particularly vicious troll? And where the FUCK are you every month when I end up doing your sodding Prefect duty?"

He stood stock still, waiting for an answer. Instead, he saw Remus step up to him, and put out a hand.

"Don't do this James. Not now – I can't answer you right now. Would you put your wand down?" So saying, he stretched out the hand and closed it on James' wrist. Glancing down, James saw that he was pointing the stick straight at his friend; his hand was trembling too. Slowly, he lowered the wand down to his side, and drew in a deep, calming breath.

"Thanks mate," Lupin let out a small sigh of relief.

"Don't you 'mate' me, Remus. I'm nobody's 'mate' until you tell me what's going on here!" James could still fell the anger coursing through him.

Remus bit his lip and winced a little. "Look - James - do you trust me?"

James opened his mouth to reply, but before he could Lupin repeated the phrase, this time with more emphasis. "James – do you trust me? Because right now, I'm on the point of collapsing and I need your help."

Not trusting himself to speak, James conceded that for now he would have to trust his friend, and nodded.

"Good – thanks. Right, I promise I will tell you everything, as soon as I am up to it. Right now I need you to do me a favour. I need Madam Pomfrey, but – this is really important – she can't know that you've seen me. Nobody except her and Dumbledore know about all this – please don't ask, James, I'll explain it all to you later. For now I need Madam Pomfr-"

James gasped as his friend sank to the floor in a dead faint. Heeding Remus' advice, he acted immediately. Muttering "Levicorpus", he watched as his friend rose a few feet off the floor. This done, he opened the door back into the corridor, and pulled his invisibility cloak out of his pocket. Shrouding the both of them with the cloak, he left the room quietly and locked it, before starting out up the stairs to the fourth floor, and the hospital wing.

Everything in his head seemed to be switched onto fast forward. He barely remembered the long trek down the corridor, or laying his friends body down gently outside the door to Madam Pomfrey's room. It was all a blur: knocking on the door, throwing the cloak back on, and making a quick exit. Before he knew it, he was safely tucked up in his dormitory.

He lay there staring blankly at the canopy above him, and allowed his mind to run freely at last. He knew that sleep would be difficult to find this night. As he rolled over onto his side, he could hear Remus' voice inside his head.

"I promise I will tell you everything..."

As he felt himself finally drift off, Remus' face was all that he saw in his mind's eye.

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Interested yet? I promise – at some point in the future – there will be smut – be patient.

R & R