The Secret

Two days later Remus returned, looking tired. James, Peter and Sirius had decided to talk to him about their suspicion that night. James was trying to act like nothing was wrong, Peter and Sirius however, made no attempt to hide their true feelings. Peter spent all day avoiding Remus as much as possible and whenever Remus spoke to him he only nodded or shook his head in reply, as though he was too scared to make a sound. Sirius, on the other hand, acted cold and distant towards Remus, making it perfectly clear that he was angry with him.

'He's still our friend and we don't know that he even is what we think he is,' James reminded Peter and Sirius for the fortieth time that day after Remus had said quietly that he was going to the library as he was really behind after being away, to which Sirius made a sarcastic comment under his breath.

'James, it's perfectly clear that he is a...a werewolf, and I can live with that. But why did he lie to us? Like you said "he's still our friend",' Sirius answered bitterly.

'Look, I don't know why he didn't trust us, but you've got to give him some credit. I mean who goes around and casually states "oh yeah, in case I forgot to mention, I'm a werewolf!"?' At this Peter shushed James loudly and looked around frantically to make sure that no one had heard. James paused to glare at him before continuing, 'Anyway, If he had of, you wouldn't have believed him, would you?'

Sirius looked at the ground and mumbled, 'I might of.'

'Alright but just try not to be angry – Tonight will be hard enough.'

The rest of the day passed slowly and uneventfully, with Remus becoming even quieter and Sirius becoming even colder. James just prayed that his best friend's temper wouldn't get the better of him that night.

Dinner came at last and the three of them went down to Great Hall (Remus said he wasn't hungry and stayed in the dormitory). James and Sirius ate very little and talked a lot, running over what they were (and, in Sirius' case, what they were not) going to say. Peter didn't eat anything at all (very unusual for him) and said nothing, apparently he didn't want to be involved in the conversation to come.

All too soon, the plates were cleared and they were forced to go back to their dormitory. James felt as though he was about to explode from the tension as he went up the stairs to the conversation that would make or break their friendship with Remus. When they entered the room Remus was sitting on his bed reading. The tension in the room was almost tangible.

'Hey.' James said to Remus, trying, and failing, to sound breezy.

'Hi.' he answered, not looking up from his book.

'Remus, we have to talk.' Sirius said darkly. James wasn't sure if he was being intimidating on purpose or not. Remus looked up, a worried expression on his face.

'Yes?'

James took a deep breath, 'We just want you to know that we're friends, okay? No matter what, we'll stick by each other and...you can trust us.'

With every word Remus became more panicked, the calmness which he usually had was completely gone. 'Of course.' he said quietly.

'So you won't lie to us, then?' Sirius pressed staring at Remus.

'N-no.' he stuttered back.

'No matter what, you'll tell us the truth? Whatever the answer may be?'

'Um, yes. I just remembered I have to go and-' Remus started, closing his book and getting off the bed.

'Sit.' Sirius demanded sharply. It was hard to argue when someone spoke to you like that so Remus did as he was told.

'Remus, three days ago you told us that you were at your great aunt's funeral. Was that true?' James asked from his own bed. If Remus had looked panicked before, he looked terrified now.

'Y-yes. But I really have to...' Remus went to get up again, but a dark glare from Sirius stopped him.

'I see.' James thought for a second, 'And how many great aunts did you have?'

'Um...four...' Remus stuttered, scared and confused.

'And how many are still alive?' James went on.

'...I...one, I think...'

'So that would mean that three of them...passed away, yes?'

'Yes, I suppose...James what-'

'Then how come, over the past two years, you've been to five different funerals for your great aunts?'

'Um... some of the weren't great aunts, they were, just normal aunts.' Remus lied badly, his voice shaking.

'Liar!' Sirius screamed at him.

'Sirius please!' James gave him a disapproving look. Sirius sighed and went over to the window, staring out at the near-full moon in the night sky. Remus fidgeted awfully, wishing that he had left when he'd had the chance. Of course, it wasn't too late to leave now...

'Remus, you said you wouldn't lie to us. You said we could trust you, as you can trust us. Now tell me, were you at your great aunt's funeral?' James voice remained soft and quiet, but somehow that was worse than if he had yelled.

'...N-no.' Remus was close to tears.

'Then where were you?' James raised his voice a little. Remus didn't answer, instead his lip started to tremble.

'Where were you!?' Sirius yelled from the window, 'And why are you lying!? Don't you trust us? We're your best friends!' Sirius' usually light grey eyes blazed so dark they were almost black.

Again Remus said nothing, he only knotted his hands in his lap while tears spilled down his cheeks.

'Remus?' James asked quietly, 'Are you or are you not, a werewolf?'

Remus looked up at James, took a deep breath and nodded. Peter gasped quietly but it was very audible in the silent room.

Remus' gazed dropped back down to his hands. He was certain that this was it – his secret had been found out, the only friends he would ever have would abandon him and he'd be expelled. He knew he should be, that nobody like him should ever go to school, he was too dangerous...maybe this was for the best. Besides, Remus knew it was only a matter of time before someone found him out, so he had been living everyday here as though it was his last.

He heard footsteps and looked up, (no longer crying, but his eyes still betraying him) expecting to see his old friends leaving the room in disgust. And was surprised when Sirius sat down beside him and put his arm over his shoulder, without flinching or anything.

'Remus, why didn't you tell us? ' he asked sadly, all traces of anger were gone, 'We could have helped you. For one thing, your excuse were absolutely pathetic.'

'I didn't tell you because... I thought...I thought you would...'

'Run off and tell our parents?' James suggested lightly. Remus nodded. Sirius removed his arm and moved away raising an eyebrow in a mock-angry way.

'Don't you know me at all?' he asked, 'Me, run off and tell my parents over something as trivial as you being a werewolf? Never!'

James laughed, 'Yeah and weren't you listening to my speech? It took me two days to write that! We will stick by you no matter what, being a werewolf included.'

Remus was surprised at the casual way the used that word – as if they found out that their friend was a werewolf everyday of the week. He sighed happily as he realised he could still call them friends.

'He actually had that in the original draft.' Sirius laughed and Remus was shocked, once again, to find himself laughing along with him.

'Well, you know what I didn't have in any draft?' James retorted, 'You yelling at Remus.'

Sirius hung his head, 'I'm sorry, Remus. It's just, I got mad when you didn't trust us, trust means a lot to me.'

'I know Sirius, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I was worried you wouldn't understand.'

'Well, no harm done,' James said cheerily, 'We're still here, and we always will be.'

'Oh yeah, then where's Peter?' Remus asked. James looked around to find out that Peter had indeed disappeared.

'Oh, he must of left while we were talking...'

'He's not okay with it, is he?' Remus sighed.

'Nah he is,' Sirius insisted, 'he's just a coward and he needs a little more time to come around, that's all.'

'If you say so.' Remus bit his lip.

'Really it is. I'm always right,' Sirius said arrogantly. It was times like this Remus and James didn't know whether he was joking or not. So they just laughed.

'So you guys are really okay with it?' Remus asked, making sure that they weren't just playing some evil trick on him.

'Yeah, of course we are!' James replied.

'Well, there's only one thing left to find out then,' Sirius grinned looking at James, 'What are we going to do about it?'

The End