"Remus we know."

Okay this was a bad dream. A moon induced hallucination if he got up and ran into that wall it wouldn't hurt and he would know it was a dream and he could change it to suit him. He stood up and turned to face the far wall before running straight into it. It hurt, a lot. Calmly he returned to his bed and sat down as if nothing had happened.

"I'm sorry, what do you know James?" He kept his voice pleasant and mild as though he wasn't quaking with fear inside and had a pounding headache on top of everything. The boys took a moment to recollect themselves; their best friend had just ran into a wall for no apparent reason, it was strange to say the least.

"We know that you're a, you know a..." Sirius continued much to Remus's dismay. He tried to come up with something, anything that would allow him not leave school. He could live in the shack just come in for lessons, transfer houses. But neither of those would work, he was doomed. Sighing he resigned himself to his fate and got up to pack his bags.

"Okay I understand, give me a couple of hours to pack and I'll be out of your way for good. Thanks for being my friends, at least for a while," He sniffed and held back tears, it was his own fault, if he hadn't been so careless, he wouldn't have gotten bitten and could have stayed, but he was now exposed and couldn't stay. He hastened towards the door, he would need to talk to Dumbledore and say goodbye to Lily.

"What? Remus, why would you leave?" Sirius was calling back to him, calling him back from the dark dampness of his home back in London. Back from the friendless existence and the cage, the cruel, unforgiving cage.

"Well --- well now you know you'll want to tell people and get rid of this horrifying monster that's in your presence. You'll want to destroy the beast, remove the danger, it's only natural. I understand. I'm sure I'd feel the same way."

He stood, his head held high, tears falling unheeded from his eyes. He held himself proud, strong despite the tears. He looked Sirius straight in the eye and turned to walk away. But a strong hand on his arm pulled him back into the room. A strong hand that turned into strong arms as he was pulled into a hug, strong arms that turned into strong bodies as all four boys hugged in a circle.

"We would never send you away. Remus, you're our best friend and we love you." Sirius whispered into his arm, Peter and James made faint agreeing noises. But he pulled away from the hug no longer crying he distance himself from them.

"Look you don't understand. I'm disgusting, I'm a dark creature I don't deserve friends. You lot should just get out while you can. I could hurt you, I could kill I mean I can make you like me. Don't you realise that? I'm wrong I'm not even human I should be locked away. It was a miracle that I even got into school. You lot should be throwing things at me not hugging me. How can you stand to touch me? I'm all wrong I'm disgusting." His voice rose getting louder and louder, everything that he had ever kept locked up came pouring out as he back away from his 'friends'.

"Remus we want to help you." Sirius was quiet and timid in wake of his rant.

"You can't help me Sirius. No-one can I'm stuck like this and I will be forever. You should all just get away from me before I hurt you. You can't help me I'll just hurt you even more." He wasn't shouting anymore his voice was so quiet they could barely hear him. He looked up at them all wearing identical expressions of horror. He wanted to laugh at how stupid they all looked but he was finding it hard enough not to cry again.

"But you won't hurt us Remus. The only thing hurting us is you not trusting us. We know we can't come in with you when you transform but we can be there when you wake up. We can keep people with silver rings away from you. We can make your excuses why you're not there. We want you to be our friend. We wouldn't abandon you even if we found out you killed your whole family with a poisoned meatloaf which you then accidentally fed to Sirius." James voice was so full of passion, his eyes so meaningful that Remus couldn't help but believe him.

"You really accept me? I'm a monster," He couldn't quite believe that this was happening; that he could have real friends despite everything, that they wouldn't shun him and try to protect themselves from him and creatures like him.

"Of course did you think a silly little problem once a month would change anything? But if you poisoned me with meatloaf I would ignore you. But only for a little while" Sirius told him a smile gracing his features.

"I mean obviously we'll be keeping away from you on full moons but the rest of the time we want you to hang around with us. Someone's got to keep Sirius under control." Peter continued as he let a small laugh fall from his lips.

"You're the best friends I've ever had, you're the best friends ever made." Remus ran forward pulling them all back into a hug.

"Come on lets go back to the common room," Remus smiled and walked slightly behind his friends still not believing they were really his friends.

"So what's it like then?" James said as they sat down. A smile grew on Remus's face.

"Well..."