The Slytherins told everyone who would listen about the angry ghosts they heard at the Shrieking Shack. It occurred to Remus that the story was bound to get around to McGonagall, Pomfrey, and even Dumbledore, all of whom knew that the shack wasn't actually haunted.
"Don't worry about it," Sirius said. "There's no way anyone could ever prove it was us."
"I'm the only one who knows how to get into the tunnel!" Remus whispered as they walked down the hall to Transfiguration.
"Not necessarily," Sirius argued. "Someone could have been watching and seen you go in with Madame Pomfrey."
"That's really not a comforting thought, Sirius," Remus said gloomily.
"There's no way the Slytherins can even prove that they really heard anything at all. For all the professors know, they're just making it up," Peter said. "Cheer up, Moony."
"Don't call me Moony," Remus said for the millionth time.
"Why not?" James asked, rolling his eyes. "No one is going to figure it out."
"You did," Remus pointed out.
"Well, yeah, but we live with you," Peter said reasonably. "We were bound to notice that you weren't there."
"And you think people aren't going to notice I'm missing classes?"
"Well, your grandmother is very ill," Sirius said, smirking. "And you're rather delicate too, I'm afraid."
"What?" Remus cried indignantly. "I am not delicate!" His friends all laughed.
"Sick as often as you are?" James said, shaking his head. "I'm afraid you are."
Remus glared at them, and James slung an arm around his shoulder. "Relax, Remus. People might eventually suspect something is up, but unless they know you're gone at nights, they'll never make the connection."
"And it's not like we're not going to cover for you," Sirius pointed out.
"Yeah, it'll be easy," Peter said. "If anyone says anything, we'll just say that you were sick in bed. You obviously can't be – well, if you're sleeping in the same room with us, they can't suspect you."
"And next year we'll tell everyone that we met your family over the summer, and that your grandmother really is very ill," James said as he walked into the classroom. He turned back to look at Remus. "Hey, Remus? What's wrong?"
He had stopped in the hallway, and was staring blankly into space, his mouth hanging open slightly.
"Remus?" Peter repeated as they all walked back to him.
"Next year..." Remus said. "You said 'next year'..."
His friends glanced at each other, confused. "Yeah?" Sirius prompted.
"I'm not coming back next year," Remus said faintly to himself.
"What?" they exclaimed at once, and immediately began crying, "But you have to!" "Why not?" and "Of course you are!"
He didn't want to even think about it. If he thought that he might really be able to come back next year, and then it couldn't happen, he would be devastated. He had not once considered the possibility of a second year at Hogwarts. One year – that was all he had dreamed.
"Moony!" Sirius yelled as McGonagall walked past them into the classroom, drawing Remus back to earth. "Are you going to tell us what in the name of Merlin you're talking about?"
"Sorry," Remus said. He glanced around to make sure there was no one else nearby. "I just thought when I came to Hogwarts that I would be lucky if I made it one year without getting expelled. I never thought I might actually get to come back for a second year." He grinned at them. "But it might really happen, won't it?"
"Of course it's going to happen," James said. "You heard us, we'll cover for you."
"And don't scare us like that," Peter said as they walked back into class.
Remus had a hard time focusing during class. Next year... he kept playing the words in his head. For the first time, he imagined himself riding the Hogwarts express with James, Sirius and Peter. He thought about riding the horseless carriages that he had heard the older students talk about. Next year...
A wad of paper landed on his desk from Sirius's direction. He unwrinkled it and read,
If you don't start taking notes, I'm going to have to do it, and I have a very strict policy on this. I only take notes for you once a month.
Sirius raised his eyebrows and nodded to the mostly-blank roll of parchment sitting on Remus's desk.
"Accio note." With alarm, Remus saw the note fly off of his desk and to the front of the room, straight into McGonagall's outstretched hand. "Mister Lupin, Mister Black, please see me after class."
As usual when they were in trouble, Remus felt nervous and guilty, and Sirius looked completely unfazed. Beside them, James and Peter were both snickering. For the rest of class, Remus focused on taking notes.
As the other students filed out, McGonagall was standing in the front of the class. She was reading the note.
"Mister Potter, Mister Pettigrew," she stopped them as they headed to the door.
"Hey, we weren't passing notes!" James said immediately. Very rarely could he sincerely claim to be innocent.
"Yes, I know," McGonagall said, "but could you please wait with Mister Black in the hallway?" She waited until they had shut the door before turning to Remus. She considered him for a moment before speaking, and he was surprised to see that she didn't look the slightest bit angry, only slightly concerned. "Mister Lupin," she said finally, "I couldn't help but notice that your friends have a new nickname for you."
Remus blinked in surprise. "What?" What did his nickname have to do with anything?
"Moony," McGonagall said. "Mister Black was calling you "Moony" when I walked past you earlier, and I believe I've heard your friends call you that several times in the last few weeks."
"Oh, right," Remus said.
"Given that, and given this note," McGonagall held up the confiscated note, "is it safe for me to assume that you've told your friends the details of your situation?" Remus couldn't tell whether or not she was upset.
"I didn't exactly tell them," Remus said. "They just kind of put it together. Apparently it was kind of obvious."
McGonagall nodded thoughtfully. "I'm aware your friends are quite clever."
She pointed her wand at the door, and it swung open again. "Gentlemen, if you please," she said, gesturing them inside. As they filed in, James and Peter seemed like they were trying to decide whether or not they should be feeling guilty about something. The door closed again behind them.
"Mister Lupin has just informed me that you are all aware of his condition." James snorted, and McGonagall stopped to stare at him.
"Sorry," he said quickly. "You called it his 'condition.'"
"What do you call it?" Remus muttered to him, and he shrugged.
"I don't know, I've never called it anything." He turned back to McGonagall, his respectful, innocent face in place.
"You boys understand the complexity and delicacy of the issue?" she asked, and Remus saw all three faces twitch at her use of the word 'delicacy.'
"Yes, we do," Sirius said, his black eyes twinkling, but his face solemn.
"We're not going to tell anyone, Professor," Peter said. "The last thing we want is for Remus to leave."
"Do I have your word on that?" McGonagall asked. "From each of you?" Each boy nodded, the half-smiles and twinkling eyes gone.
"You have our word," James said, very seriously. "We'll keep our mouths shut."
"Good," McGonagall said, and the boys headed for the door.
"One more thing," McGonagall said, just before they reached it. "I'm trusting you boys to use common sense. This is a serious matter. Do not treat it lightly."
Remus was impressed by how well McGonagall knew them. It was almost as though she suspected that his friends might try to hatch a plan to sneak in and see him during a full moon. He was also quite certain that, despite his friends' assurances, she might suspect the truth about the Slytherins' story of the Shrieking Shack.
"They'll be responsible, Professor," he said. Then, in a low voice that he hoped his friends couldn't hear, "They understand. I'm making sure they understand."
McGonagall nodded, then gave him a small, though rather kind, smile as he turned and followed his friends out of the room.
"She was so busy making sure we weren't going to do anything stupid that she forgot to punish us for passing notes!" Sirius said exuberantly.
"Think she knew about the Shrieking Shack?" Peter asked, worried.
"Nah," James said. "She's just making sure we're not going to do anything stupid."
"Apparently she thinks we're idiots," Sirius said scornfully. Remus bit his tongue, choosing not to remind them that only a few weeks before, they had come very, very close to being idiots.
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"I wish I had my broom," James said for the fiftieth time that week as they walked down to the greenhouse. Spring was finally arriving, and the sunny skies were making all of the students restless.
"We all wish you had your broom," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "Then you could fly on it for ten minutes, and quit telling us how much you wish you had your broom." He ducked as James punched him, and Remus walked straight into him.
"Are you reading while you're walking?" James asked in disbelief as he helped Sirius up from the ground.
"I have six more inches to do on my essay, and I have to get it done before tonight," Remus said, looking at them over the book he was holding in front of his face.
"What? The great Remus Lupin left his homework to the last minute?" James asked, only half-kidding.
"I forgot about it," Remus admitted. The warm weather and bright skies had gotten to him as well. It was hard to be focused or stressed when you could be throwing rocks in the lake, or relaxing under the trees.
"I'm sure Slughorn will give you an extension," Peter said. "We'll just tell him you're ill."
"Which you will be, in a way," Sirius said.
"Dumbledore will back us up," Peter pointed out.
"Yeah, if anyone can get away with turning in homework late, it's you," Sirius said. "Among other things, the teachers all love you."
"Now, if we tried to get an extension on homework, they'd laugh in our face," James said.
"Only because you still wouldn't do the homework, with or without the extension."
"Good point," James said.
"Speaking of homework," Remus said, trying to sound casual, "We should probably start reviewing for exams soon."
His friends stared at him, aghast.
"Exams!" Sirius cried. "They're like two months away!"
"Yes, but if we put it all off to the last week, we'll never be able to get it all in," Remus said reasonably. They laughed at him, but as they reached the greenhouse, Remus pulled James back.
"Listen," he said quietly, "I know that you and Sirius probably don't need to review much, but Peter and I do."
"What do you mean?" James asked, frowning.
"You know what I mean," Remus said. "And it'll be really hard to get Peter to study if you and Sirius are out having fun. It'll be hard to get me to study, come to that. So just study a little bit over the next few weeks, James. Please."
"Yeah, sure," James said. "Of course. We'll study."
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Author's Note: I learned an awful truth today: The Marauders did not learn Remus's secret until second year. I could not find this in the books, but the Harry Potter Lexicon confirmed it. I absolutely hate inconsistencies with the books, so depending on how much school and work kick my butt in the coming weeks, I may try to rewrite this so that it spans two years. Not sure if that will work or not. In the meantime, I'm going to go ahead and finish the story, because, to be perfectly frank, I'm really enjoying writing it, and I've put enough into it that I want it to be finished.