Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author Note: I'm not doing ALL seven years, just the important ones.

'blah' means thoughts

"Shadowfang"

Chapter Two – Year Six

A booming voice could be heard throughout the lower levels of the castle, even though the owner of the voice was in the Potions classroom.

"Stupendous job! I wouldn't expect anything less from the top two students in the school! You both have the same intuitive grasp of potion-making!" Professor Slughorn announced. He kept on going, but the two students he was talking about stopped listening as they've heard the teacher's praises many, many times. A redheaded girl with vivid green eyes and a raven-haired and –eyed boy bent their heads toward each other and whispered.

"Why does he keep going on like that, Severus?"

"I don't know, Lily. I don't see what all the fuss is about. It was only fifteen steps."

"There were only twenty ingredients, so that can't be it."

"This is one of the simpler ones we've made in Advanced Potions."

"Black! Potter! Detention!" Slughorn exclaimed.

When Slughorn turned his back to the class, Sirius and James high-fived each other. Lily shook her head and whispered to Severus, "What is it…third time this week?"

"Yes, and it's only Wednesday."

"Class dismissed. Black, Potter, stay behind to discuss your detentions," Slughorn said.

Most of the class packed up and left. Only Remus, Lily, and Severus stayed behind to wait for Sirius and James. Once their detentions were arranged, the two boys joined their friends.

"Are you collecting detentions, James?" Lily inquired.

"Lily, lighten up!" James said.

"I'll lighten up when you stop goofing off."

"He hangs around Sirius so much he's starting to act like him; reckless and always goofing off," Severus added.

Sirius scowled, while James smirked. James punched Severus lightly on the arm and said jokingly, "Whatever you say, your highness."

Remus laughed albeit weakly (feeling as sick as he was), Sirius scowled even more, and Lily, James, and Severus laughed out loud. Sirius glared at Severus. 'He'll pay for his comment.'

%%% LATER ON

Sirius spied Severus reading near the fireplace in the Common Room. A mischievous grin came over his face, but he quickly wiped it off his face.

"Hey, Severus." Sirius came over to the other sixth-year.

"What do you want, Sirius?"

"I know you're curious about where Remus goes every month." Black eyes appeared over the book. "I can tell you how to follow him." Severus marked his place, closed the book, laid it on his lap, and looked at Sirius. 'I've got his full attention.' "Follow Remus and Madame Pomphrey to the Whomping Willow. To get underneath it, poke the knot with a stick. Then, you can follow him and find out where he goes."

"I should tell Lily. She would like to know this."

"She already knows," Sirius lied.

"Then, why doesn't she follow him?"

"She's not all that interested."

"All right. I'll go tonight."

%%% THAT NIGHT

Severus snuck out, silently following the Gryffindor and his nurse escort. After pressing the knot with a nearby stick, the pair went to the Willow's base, and Remus went under it. When Madame Pomphrey left, Severus picked up the same stick Madame Pomphrey used, poked the knot, and entered the tunnel.

%%% BACK IN THE COMMON ROOM

Sirius was looking out the window facing the violent tree with a malicious grin on his face. James came down from the dorm room and collapsed in a chair near Sirius. "I just finished my transfigurations homework, and I'm waiting for Sev so we can do out Potions homework together. Where is Sev anyway?"

"I don't know." Sirius just stared at the tree.

James followed his stare. "What did you do?"

"Nothing."

"I know that look, Padfoot. What did you do?"

"Told Severus how to follow Remus."

"You did WHAT?!" James took off running toward the Willow.

%%% UNDER THE WILLOW

Severus walked down the tunnel, running his hand over the wall. Then, he heard heavy breathing…no, more like panting. His curiosity peaked; he kept walking. A scent of canine reached his nose, causing him to stop. All of the sudden, a werewolf stepped out of a nearby room…right into Severus's path.

Severus screamed and turned to run. The werewolf lunged forward and sank its teeth into the middle of the teen's left forearm. Severus screamed again and passed out from the pain. The clip clop of hooves could be heard as the werewolf tried to tear off the teen's arm. Blood covered the werewolf's muzzle, which continued to dip down and rip and tear at the unconscious boy.

Suddenly, the werewolf released hits victim and looked at the stag entering the tunnel. The stag reared up and charged at the werewolf, making sure to avoid stepping on the unconscious teen.

The werewolf charged at the stag, narrowly missing its antlers. The stag managed to push its opponent back into the room it emerged from. The stag transformed back into James Potter, who quickly closed the door. He surveyed the scene: a large trail of blood leading to the room the werewolf was in, Severus unconscious and covered in a lot of blood, and the walls were splashed with even more blood. James was in a kind of shock at the mangled condition of Severus's body. He considered running to get Madame Pomphrey or the Headmaster, but the growls and snarls from the werewolf made him decide against leaving Severus alone. He was afraid that the werewolf might break down the dilapidated door and continue to ravage his friend. James shook his head. No, he couldn't leave Severus. He pulled out his wand and cast the spell, "Mobilicorpus."

Severus floated up into the air and followed James out of the tunnel. He rushed to the Hospital Wing.

"Madame Pomphrey!"

The nurse came out of her office and gasped, when she saw a slightly bloody James Potter and a floating, unconscious, extremely bloody Severus Snape.

"My goodness! What happened?"

"He was tricked into following Remus."

"Put him here." The nurse patted a nearby bed. James flicked his wand toward that bed, and Severus floated over and onto the bed. Pomphrey started cleaning off his left arm, but stopped when she saw the bite mark. "He's been bitten! Go tell the Headmaster!"

James paled at the pronouncement. Severus had been bitten! The bespectacled sixth-year went to the Headmaster's office to deliver the bad news. James lifted his hand to knock on the door, but stopped when he heard, "Come in, James."

James walked in and over to Dumbledore's desk. "Sir, I've got terrible news regarding Severus."

Dumbledore's eyes lost their twinkle. "What's happened to Severus?"

"He was tricked into following Remus and has been bitten."

"Who tricked him?"

"Sirius."

"Does Severus know?"

"Not yet. He was still unconscious when I left to tell."

"And how did you come to know all this information?"

"I got it out of Sirius. Then, I ran down to the Willow to try and save him, but I was too late."

"However, you saved him from being eaten. Fifty points to Gryffindor. Now, let's go see Severus." Dumbledore got up, put an arm around James' shoulders, and started leading him out of his office.

"I'd rather go maim Sirius."

"Kindness first. Then, you can talk to Sirius."

When they entered the Hospital Wing, they saw a bed separated from the other ones by framed curtains and Pomphrey bustling about inside said curtains.

"Poppy, how's Severus doing?" Dumbledore asked.

"Not good. He's in shock, suffered tremendous blood loss, has trauma to his left arm and chest, and has become infected with lycanthropy." She sighed. "I can't get him stabilized."

"You'll do it, Poppy," Dumbledore encouraged.

Just then, Lily came running into the room and skidded to a halt next to James. "I just heard. How is – oh, nevermind! That's a stupid question!"

"It's all right, Lily. How'd you hear about it anyway?" asked James.

"Well, I was looking for you, so I asked Sirius. He said you were at the Whomping Willow. He finally told me about Remus. I put two and two together, and when I saw you levitating Severus back to the castle, I hit Sirius."

"How hard did you hit him?"

"I knocked him into next week." At James' confused look, she added, "He has hand prints on both cheeks and a black eye.'

"He had it coming. He knows what the consequence of his trick was then, huh?"

"No, actually. I just hit him and then ran here."

Pomphrey came out from behind the curtain, making shooing motions with her hands. "All right. Enough with the chit-chat! The three of you need to leave. Now!"

"Come along, children. Severus isn't going to wake up soon." Dumbledore lead the two Gryffindors out of the Hospital Wing.

Once they left, Pomphrey collected a few more potions to administer them to her patient. 'It's been hard enough to dodge some questions in regards to Remus being sick once every month. I can't imagine having to cover for two students, which I'll have to do provided that the Snape boy survives.'

%%%

James and Lily gave the password and entered the Common Room. There leaning against a window with a satisfied grin on his face was Sirius Black. "Hey, Prongs, Lily. What's up?"

"You know what's up, Padfoot!"

"Your prank put Severus in the Hospital Wing!" Lily exclaimed.

"So, he got whipped by the tree?" Sirius asked.

"No! He made it all the way down the tunnel and met a transformed Remus!" lily cried.

"He's pretty messed up, Padfoot. He lost a lot of blood and is in shock. Plus he was bitten!" James yelled.

"He – what?" Sirius sputtered.

"Madame Pomphrey can't get him stabilized though," Lily stated.

"You better hope he doesn't die," James mentioned.

%%% TWO WEEKS LATER

"Sirius, have a seat. Lemon drop?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, thank you, sir." Sirius sat down on the other side of the Headmaster's desk.

"I trust you know why you're here."

"Probably something to do with the prank I pulled on Snape," Sirius mumbled.

"Do you know what happens to someone when they kill another person?" Dumbledore ignored Sirius' word choice."No, sir." Sirius started sweating.

"Life sentence in Azkaban."

Sirius paled considerably. "Are you telling me that he – he didn't make it?"

"No. Fortunately, for all of us, Severus survived. However, I have to punish you for tour lapse in judgment. Two hundred points from Gryffindor and eight detentions.

%%%

"Come on, James. Hurry up! We've got to see if Sev is getting released today," Lily called back to her boyfriend.

"Give me a break, Lils. It's still early," James yawned.

"Don't worry about it, Lily. He was up late last night," Remus spoke up. "I'm worried though. How can I face Sev now that I cursed him? He'll hate me for it!"

"It'll be all right, Remus. I'm sure he'll understand," Lily reassured him as they walked into the Hospital Wing.

What they saw brought smiles to their faces. Severus was standing up and putting his robe on.

"Hey, Sev!" James called out.

Severus turned, saw his friends, and smiled. He waved back with his right hand. "Hey, guys. I'm ready to get out of here."

Remus approached Severus. "I'm so sorry, Sev."

"Why are you sorry? You didn't play the trick that brought me face to face with that werewolf."

"That's true," Remus said carefully. "But I was there."

"I didn't see you."

"Oh, but you did. You just didn't recognize me."

"How could I not recognize me best friend?"

Remus smiled slightly. "I was the werewolf."

"That's not funny, Remus."

"I wasn't joking, Sev."

Severus looked Remus in the eyes. "Prove it."

Remus rolled up his right pants leg, revealing a bite mark close to his knee. "Like I said, I'm so sorry, Sev. I didn't mean to. I don't know to beg for your forgiveness. I-"

"Remus, stop it!" Severus exclaimed, his eyes flashing gold. "It's not your fault! You're still my best friend. Nothing's going to change that!"

Remus smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

"Who saved me anyway?" Severus asked.

"I did." James stepped up next to Severus.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, Sev."

"Could you do me a favor?"

"Name it."

"Let me get Black back my own way."

"Count on it." James and Severus high-fived each other. How, let's get to breakfast."

The four Gryffindors left the Hospital Wing, heading toward the Great Hall. Once they entered the Great Hall, they took their seats at the Gryffindor table near Peter and Sirius.

Severus looked right at Sirius. "If you so much as look at me the wrong way, I'll bite you whether it's the full moon or not," he hissed, his eyes flashing gold.

Sirius, noting the eyes, yelped. After that, breakfast passed by without incident, and five students out of the group walked to Advanced Potions.

"Ah, Severus! Welcome back, m'boy!" Slughorn boomed.

"Thank you, Professor." Severus sat down next to Lily. The entire day passed by in a big blur for the newly-turned werewolf, and he found himself in the Gryffindor Common Room next to his kin. Both were doing homework. Severus put his quill down and breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm finally caught up."

"I should hope so," Remus spoke up. "You were doing homework during lunch and dinner."

"Well, I had to get it done somehow."

"Hey, mates!" James called from the staircase. Remus and Severus looked up and saw James slide down the banister. He landed on his feet and bounded over to Remus, Severus, Sirius, and Peter. He sat down on the other side of Severus. He produced a folded pack of parchment and half-tossed it onto the table. It landed in front of Severus. Remus raised an eyebrow, curious as to what his friend was up to.

"Not the map!" Sirius cried out, "C'mon, James!"

"It's only fair, Sirius." James pulled out his wand.

Severus poked the parchment with the feather end of his quill. "What's this?"

"Watch. I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." James tapped the parchment with his wand.

"I know you're up to no good, James, so – whoa!" Severus cut himself off when words started appearing on the parchment. He started reading it. "'Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present the Marauders' Map.' Who are these people?"

"Remus, Peter, Sirius, and myself, in that order."

"Now, we wish to add you to our map," Remus offered, catching on to James' plan.

"You say it's a map. What is it a map of?" Severus asked.

"It's Hogwarts. It shows everyone. Where they are, what they're doing, every moment of every day," James explaining, opening the map until he got to the page containing the Gryffindor Common Room. "See, here we are."

There were five dots labeled James Potter, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew.

"Where'd you get it?"

"We made it ourselves," Peter replied.

James flipped it back to the front. "Now, we add the newest member of the Marauders." James looked at Severus. "You need a code name."

"Well, how did you guys choose your names?"

"They match our Animagus forms," answered Sirius.

"You're Animagus?!"

"Unregistered," James shushed. "Do you want to see?"

"Sure."

Three loud pops later revealed a stag, a large back dog, and a scruffy-looking rat. Remus smiled and pointed to each animal as he said, "This is James AKA Prongs, this is Sirius or Padfoot as we call him and this is Peter who is also known as Wormtail."

Another set of three loud pops preceded the appearance of James, Sirius, and Peter.

"That's Remus, who chose the name Moony for obvious reasons," James added. "So, any ideas for a code name?"

Severus sat there, silently thinking. 'Well, since I'm a werewolf now, I need to choose a fitting name. Remus already took the moon reference, so that's out. I should choose one that's not so obvious. The most predominant characteristic of a werewolf besides the full moon is the fangs. Of course, the hunting in the dark is one as well.' "Fangs…dark…shadows…" Severus muttered. He looked at James. "I choose the name Shadowfang."

Remus broke into a grin. "I like it."

"It is interesting," James added carefully. "All right. Shadowfang it is." He pulled his wand out and put the tip of it to the parchment. Remus and Peter followed James' lead. Sirius, however, was refusing to even pull his wand out.

"C'mon, Padfoot. We need your wand to add Sev to the map," Remus told him.

"We need you, Padfoot," James put in.

Sirius nodded and put the tip of his wand to the parchment, albeit reluctantly. "I'll do it for you, James."

"We, the creators of the Marauders' Map add Messer Shadowfang to the map. May his opinions be written on the map," James said.

The map shimmered, the ink changing from black to red and then fading back to black. The name Shadowfang was written in between Wormtail and Padfoot. Remus smiled, while James said, "Welcome to the Marauders, Shadowfang."

%%% TWO WEKKS LATER

Madame Pomphrey was escorting the two cursed students toward the Whomping Willow. Severus stared at the tree. 'Has it only been a month since that fateful night? It seems longer than that.' The nurse poked the knot with a nearby stick, which allowed the two Gryffindors to slip underneath.

The two boys walked in silence until they reached a stretch of the tunnel that had dried blood smeared on the ground and walls. Severus shuddered. "It's amazing I survived the attack, considering the amount of blood I lost."

"True." Remus looked over his shoulder. "You guys can come out now."

Out of nowhere, James, Sirius, and Peter appeared. Severus raised an eyebrow at their mysterious appearance before he caught sight of the Invisibility Cloak in James' arms. "Where'd you get that from?"

"Family heirloom."

Remus grimaced slightly and Severus gasped in pain. "You three better transform now before Severus and I finish." Remus led his best friend into a nearby room. The last thing seen by the other three Marauders were two pairs of green eyes staring out from the room.

The pain wasn't like anything Severus had experienced before. He could feel his fangs grow, and his face began changing into a canine's countenance, complete with a muzzle. It felt like his skull was being crushed. His ears disappeared, and wolf ears appeared on the top of his head. He let out an inhuman scream of pain. His blood felt like it was boiling, and his skin felt like it was on fire. His nails grew into claws, and his clothes shredded as his back became curved. His arms grew in length. The pain was so excruciating that Severus thought his bones were melting. The heels of his feet traveled up, elongating his feet. Grey fur covered his body with a small patch of light grey fur on his left front leg. It was where he had gotten bitten. He let out another inhuman scream, but it came out as a howl; one that was answered a second later with a howl originating from across the room. Severus's wolf eyes landed on another male werewolf in the room. Severus started growling at the "intruder," who returned it in kind. Severus started to advance on the other werewolf, when a stag jumped in front of him, and a large black dog jumped in front of the other werewolf. The stag shook its antlers at Severus before rearing up and waving its front legs at him. The black dog barked and growled at the other werewolf. Severus stared at the stag, the dog, and the other werewolf. 'I know them…James…Black…Remus.'

Severus stopped advancing and stood there, waiting for one of the others to make the first move. Surprisingly, Remus did. He rubbed Sirius on the cheek before lumbering over to Severus. Despite recognizing Remus, Severus's wasn't sure if Remus was in control or not. As Remus advanced, Severus backed up. He kept backing up until he backed up into the wall. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for Remus to tear him apart.

Just then, Severus felt Remus rub his cheek with his own. Severus opened his eyes and looked at Remus. He could almost see his best friend's eyes instead of the wolf's. Severus tentatively rubbed his cheek against Remus's. Sirius nipped Remus's right back leg several times, the strength of the bite increasing with each occurrence. Sirius jumped back a second before Remus whipped around, his teeth snapping in the air. A doggy-grin appeared on Sirius's face, and he barked.

Just then, Severus playfully tackled Remus. The play continued through the night and into the early morning. Sirius, James, and Peter had snuck back to their dorm by that time, and the two werewolves fell asleep next to each other.

When Severus awoke, he was human again and so was Remus. He gently shook Remus awake, and together they limped back to the castle. Only clad in robes, they quietly stole into the Hospital Wing, where Madame Pomphrey was waiting for them. She gave them pajamas to wear and cleaned them both up.

Remus turned to Severus and said, "I wish the transformation could be a little less painful."

Severus smiled back weakly. "As do I, Remus." He then thought to himself, 'Maybe I can make a potion that can do just that.'