Despite Remus's attempts, the boys were late to half of their classes that week. Or perhaps more accurately, because of Remus's attempts, the boys were late to only half of their classes that week. The part that Remus couldn't seem to get used to was the way all three of them waited until he had gathered up all his books and notes before they left class, the way they all waited until Peter was done eating before they left the Great Hall at meal times. Occasionally Peter and Remus still exchanged that grin, a grin that said, Can you believe our luck?

Within two weeks of school beginning, James and Sirius seemed to know everybody, and as a result, everybody seemed to know Remus and Peter. People smiled and waved at all four of them in the hallway, and talked to them in the Great Hall, and sat at the same tables as them in classes. Peter loved it, chatting happily with all these people that were willing to be his friend. Remus had a harder time getting used to it. His interactions before Hogwarts had been limited almost exclusively to his family, and he really wasn't even sure how to carry on a conversation.

In the privacy of their dorm, the other three boys teased him about it, about how he never raised his hand in class, and how he blushed whenever a girl tried to strike up a conversation with him. But out and about in the school, they never brought it up.

Three weeks. Three weeks of friendship, and then it was time. The boys were eating lunch, Remus already feeling a little bit achy as he always did the day of a full moon. A owl swooped down, dropping a note into Remus's pumpkin juice. James reached for it, but Remus snatched it before James's hand could close on it. James looked surprised. Remus was not generally that assertive.

Remus tried to put the dripping note away inconspicuously, but the other three boys had stopped eating and were waiting for him to open it.

"Come on, Remus! Who's it from?" Peter asked.

"No one," he muttered, shoving it into his bag.

"How do you know? You didn't even open it," Sirius said, reaching out to grab Remus's bag, but again, Remus tugged it away before he had the chance. Resigned, Remus pulled out the note.

Mr. Lupin,

Please report to the infirmary this evening at 6:00.

Sincerely Yours,

Professor Dumbledore

"It's from my mum," Remus said. "Just regular family news." Once again, he crammed it into his bag, and stood up. "I've got to grab a book from the library before class," he said. "I'll meet you there."

His three friends exchanged skeptical glances, but said nothing as he hurried away.

He stood there in the bathroom for several minutes, his head pressed against the cool stall door. By tomorrow afternoon, he told himself, I'll be back to normal. It'll all be over.

Until next month. He shook that particular thought away. He'd just have to deal with this one month at a time. If he was clever, he might make it a whole year. One whole year with friends. One whole year of school. He had known from the beginning that he wouldn't make it until graduation. His parents knew it too, though they never discussed it when they knew he was listening. He heard those conversations when he was supposed to be asleep at night, conversations about whether or not it was a good idea, whether or not Professor Dumbledore really understood his condition, and whether the disappointment would be too great when it finally all came to an end, and Remus had to come home.

One year, Remus thought determinedly. I just want to make it one year.

When Remus got to Charms, Sirius and Peter were sitting in the back, scowling.

"Where's James?" he asked, sliding in next to them, trying to sound normal and casual.

"Talking to McGonagall," Peter said. Sirius shot him a "shut up" look that Remus caught, and Peter missed.

"Why?" Remus asked.

"Making arrangements for his detention," Peter said. Neither he nor Sirius would look directly at Remus, and now Sirius was kicking Peter under the table.

"Why? What happened?" Remus asked. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing," said Sirius sharply. "Quiet, class is about to start."

In the three weeks of school so far, Remus had always been the one to shush the others at the start of class, and he knew that Sirius wasn't nearly as interested in paying attention to the lecture as he was in escaping the conversation.

What were his friends hiding from him? He wondered that evening. He had told them he had a stomachache at dinner, and slipped off early. When James had finally shown up for class, he had looked even angrier than Sirius and Peter, and had been just as unwilling to talk about it. Remus wondered if he had somehow made his friends angry at him. He sighed. Maybe it wouldn't matter about being a werewolf. Maybe his friends were already sick of him, before they had even found out.

"Lupin?" Madame Pomfrey asked when Remus walked in, and he nodded. "Sit right in here," she said, leading him to a chair behind one of the curtains. "I've just got to take care of one little thing, and then we'll head out." As she walked away, Remus heard two sets of footsteps enter the infirmary.

"A Slytherin hit her with bubotuber pus," a girl's voice said angrily. "It's because she's the best Chaser on the team."

Madame Pomfrey sighed. "Every year," Remus heard her mutter. "Every year, just before every Quidditch game. Sit down, sit down, let me go get the potion."

"Stupid Avery," Remus heard a second girl mutter angrily. "At least it's just on my leg. The idiot tried to get me last year too." He thought recognized her voice from the Gryffindor common room.

"Is that why Potter punched him?" the first girl asked curiously. "Because he was trying to jinx the Gryffindor Quidditch team?"

"That?" the girl giggled a little bit. "No, that had nothing to do with Quidditch. You know Lupin, that boy who runs around with Potter and Black?"

Remus's stomach turned uncomfortably. That boy who runs around with Potter and Black... was that all he was?

"Well, Avery was joking with the other Slytherins, making cracks about how he's all shy because he's too stupid to talk, and he's got all those scars because he's a freak. Well, Potter overheard, and he beat the crap out of him."

The second girl busted out laughing. "But Avery is twice his size!"

"I know," the girl giggled, "but Potter was mad."

Remus stopped paying attention as Madame Pomfrey came back over to the girls. He had forgotten that they had called him "that boy who runs around with Potter and Black," and he didn't care that Avery had been making fun of him. James had beat the guy up. He had beat the guy up for making fun of Remus. And that was why Peter and Sirius had been angry too! He smiled as the pieces came together. Not only were his friends not angry with him, but they had stood up for him. Even though it was only an hour until the full moon, he couldn't help feeling a little bit happy.

---------

"Oi!" Sirius yelled, pulling back the curtains on Remus's bed and bouncing down onto it. "Where were you?"

"What?" Remus mumbled, shielding his eyes from the bright afternoon sunlight.

"You disappeared after dinner last night, and you never showed up again!" James said indignantly, walking up behind Sirius.

"Right," Remus said, closing his eyes again. "I was sick. Still am sick, come to that. Go away."

"You should have told us," James said, sounding less like an eleven year old boy and more like Remus's grandmother.

"Yeah, we were worried about you!" Peter said from James's side.

"I was in the hospital wing. Because I was sick. Now go away." He didn't want them to see him like this. He had bruises on the side of his face, and an impressively thick and deep gash along his upper arm. Madame Pomfrey had been able to mend them somewhat, but even she couldn't completely heal werewolf wounds. He tried to stay in the shadows of the curtains so his friends couldn't see.

"Cranky bugger when he's sick," Sirius muttered as he closed the curtains again.

"Get better," Peter called through the curtains. "It's Saturday! What's the fun in being sick on a Saturday?" Remus heard the boys laughing as they left the room.

---------

One month down, Remus thought the next day, nine months to go.

His "illness" hadn't raised any suspicions among his friends, who merely commented cheerfully that he looked "absolutely awful" when he finally joined them for lunch on Sunday. Nothing else was said about it. They also did not mention the incident where James beat up a third year, and when James left to do detention the next week, Remus didn't ask any questions. Part of him wanted to thank James, but another part of him was too embarrassed to bring it up.

"Ugh," James said when he got back, plopping down at the same table where the three of them were doing their Potions essays. "McGonagall made me alphabetize Filch's detention files." He smirked. "Not too smart of her, actually. I got some brilliant ideas."

"I don't suppose the fact that those people got detention indicates to you that it would be unwise to copy them?" Remus asked, proofreading his completed essay.

"Of course I realize it would be unwise to copy them!" James said indignantly. "I plan on learning from their mistakes." He grinned wickedly. "I plan on not getting caught."

"Hopefully your evil schemes can wait another day, James," Sirius said grumpily as he flipped through his Potions book. James's smile fell.

"I totally forgot. Slughorn's essay is due tomorrow, isn't it?" He groaned, thunking his head on the table. "It's almost eleven, and I haven't even done my Charms homework yet!"

"Do your Charms homework," Remus told him quietly.

"Nah," James said, reaching for his bag. "The essay for Slughorn is more important."

"I've got it. Do your Charms homework," Remus repeated. James started at him. Remus never broke the rules, at least not willingly. James and Sirius had dragged him into trouble a couple of times, but Remus had always been a rather reluctant participant.

"You're going to do my homework for me?" James clarified bemusedly.

Remus glanced at him, only briefly, then pulled out more parchment and started work on a second Potions essay. He felt, rather than saw, comprehension dawn on James. Comprehension that Remus knew what he had done, and was grateful.

"Remus!" a sharp voice said from behind them. Lily Evans, the redhead Remus had seen on the train, was frowning at him. Apparently she had overheard what was going on. "That's cheating!"

"Go away, Evans," said James, pulling out his Charms textbook.

"Shut up, Potter, I wasn't talking to you. Remus-"

"Go away, Evans." He said it more gently than James had, but coming from Remus, who rarely said anything at all, the words were harsh, and Lily looked taken aback.

"Fine," she huffily, and stormed away.

Remus finished up the essay the same time James finished up his Charms homework. He rolled the essay up, handed it to James, and they walked silently up to the dorm room together. The essay and Avery were never mentioned again.