William was amazed when he heard the beast cry out in pain, and as he checked his pocket watch he realized that the moon would clearly have set by now as the sun should be rising. Chris quietly lowered the flames as they watched the gruesome transformation of the beast back into their friend. Slowly the limp and naked form of Nick came to on the cold stone of the cavern. William dismissed the flames, as Nick lifted his head, and coughed up a mixture of his own flesh and blood onto the ground.

"Nick," William said cautiously.

Nick gripped his head as he slowly stood up, he looked across the room at his two friends standing there. "Oh my god, what are you doing here?" He shouted, rage and concern filling his voice.

"We're here because we wanted to show you that we care," William answered, "We've tried in so many other ways but you, you just..."

"So what, almost getting killed by me is supposed to show me that you care?" Nick sneered as he covered himself and limped over to a pile of his clothing that he had piled in a corner of the room.

"Yes, we were willing to face the beast to show you that," William spat back, "We didn't know what else to do, we've been searching for your hiding place for months now."

"You wouldn't talk to any of us," Chris said quietly, "The most any one ever heard about you was what Alexandria heard through your roommate."

Nick growled, "None of you wanted anything to do with me, anyway."

"What are you talking about?" William shouted, rage that had built up in him over a year pouring out, "I've brewed you illegal potions, I tried to talk to you, I...we...we're here right now."

Nick leaned against a half-broken table as he stood there, and then through a choked voice he said, "I...I..."

William closed the distance between himself and his friend and placed a hand on Nick's shoulder, giving a hard squeeze, "I know."

Nick collapsed down against the half destroyed table turning back to his two friends, "I just didn't...you don't know what people were saying, behind my back, to my face..."

Chris then coughed, "I know what they've been saying Nick."

Nick and William turned to stare at Chris, and Nick asked, "What do you mean?"

Chris then spoke, "People were shouting about you all the time. I've been trying to shut people up all year, Nick. Telling them that you're not a beast, that you're a normal kid. The less you talked to us the harder it got, but I've been trying to stop those rumors." He laughed, "The things I've said about other people just so to cover up what people were saying about you...I got to make some apologies but," Chris then paused, "It was worth it, Nick, you're our friend."

Nick shook his head, "I had no idea."

William squeezed Nick's shoulder and the taller boy looked into William's eyes, "We've been trying, Nick. And we're going to keep trying."

Nick nodded slowly, "Alright." He then coughed again, "Let's get the hell out of here." Nick walked up to the door they entered from, unlocked and opened it.

"What is this place anyway?" Chris asked as they walked down the tunnel, their lights leading the way.

"It was some old Revolutionary War thing," Nick answered, "It was where'd they go if the school ever got invaded, so it was designed to close from the inside and be tough to charge into." He then laughed, "It's also hard to get out of, that's why they put me there."

"Makes sense," Chris replied as they then climbed up the steps and out of the stump entrance into the tunnels.

William walked with his friends through the early morning, the sun shimmering down through the now green leaves of forest. Slowly they made their way into the dining hall, and while plenty of people gave the three a weird stare, Chris and William glared back at everybody while Nick just gave a broad smile. This caused most onlookers to turn away from the three boys.

As they sat down, William suddenly found that it felt like nothing had changed. They were laughing, talking about class assignments, and everything seemed good. After a short while they were joined by Sarah and Alexandria, who both greeted Nick warmly causing him to laugh and smile. It felt good to watch Nick laugh again, it felt extremely good to watch his friend be his friend again. Slowly though Sarah left to go meet up with some Quidditch fans, and Alexandria was off to study.

Chris rose from the table and yawned, "Alright, a whole night without sleep, I'm off to go take a nap, I'll talk to you guys later?" Nick and William waved back at Chris as he walked away.

Nick smiled turning back to William, "You must be tired too, I mean I know I am."

William took a deep breath as he knew there was no other way of how to ask the question, "Why weren't you under the effect of Wolfsbane?"

"What?" Nick said, clearly caught off-guard.

"If you were taking an appropriate dosage of Wolfsbane," William explained, "We shouldn't have encountered the Beast. And if you weren't, why weren't there guards, and how come you go alone?"

Nick's frown cut off William's questioning, he then took his own deep breath and said, "Everyone thinks I take it. I get all I want through a government program, and they monitored me taking it the first time, and then monitored my going to the hall for a few times. Then they stopped, they occasionally will monitor me but mostly I'm on my own."

"Then why did you stop taking the Wolfsbane?" William asked, leaning in to stare into his friend's brown eyes.

Nick squeezed his eyes shut and then sighed, "I don't know, it didn't seem worth it anymore. What was the point, I couldn't hurt anyone in there but myself. And I'm, was..." He gulped and whispered, "Just a werewolf."

William sighed in response and said, "I'm sorry Nick." He had no idea how to respond to what his friend said beyond that.

Nick only nodded and said, "I know, I'm an idiot." Nick then lifted his head up and said, "I'll take it now though." His voice held a strong conviction to it as those words flowed out of him.

William could only look at him and ask, "Why?"

"Because I don't want you idiots barging in on me like that again," Nick responded with a smile that William could only describe as wolfish. Both boys burst into laughter to ease the tension of the reality of everything that had just happened.