Sirius and James sat on James's bed. It had been hard to get rid of Peter, but on a rare occasion, he was in detention when they were not for not completing an assignment.

Remus sat across from them, fidgeting under their grave expressions. "What's up?" he asked, his voice unusually high. His eyes refused to meet theirs.

"We know," James said quietly, peering intently at his friend through his glasses.

"Know what?" Remus was swaying, his face pinched and absent of all color. It looked as if he was about to throw up.

"Know that you're a," Sirius glanced at James and James nodded solemnly. During potions they had decided that they would tell Remus that they knew. It had taken them a year and a half to figure it out, and for two boys who were so used to finding out things they really weren't supposed to know, they were fairly disappointed it had taken so long. They did not seem to consider that as Second Years, they could hardly be expected to recognize their friend's condition.

Sirius took a deep breath. "That you're a werewolf."

Remus blinked as his hands moved to clench the covers on his bed. "No, I'm not!" he yelled. Suddenly he launched himself off of the bed, his fists flying as if he were about to pummel them. James and Sirius's eyes widened as they leaned away from him. They hadn't known how he was going to react. "I'm not! I am not a," Remus gagged on the word as he began to cry. His hands were now clutching desperately at his hair. "I am not a monster!" he sobbed. "I'm not a monster."

His slender form trembled and his hands moved to hide his face.

James shifted uncomfortably and looked to Sirius for support, but all his best mate could do was stare at their friend. James jerked a hand through his hair. "Er, well, you're not a monster, but you are a werewolf, right?"

"What are you going to do to me?" Remus's voice was barely audible.

"Uhh, do to you?" Sirius asked. "Are we supposed to do something?"

"People hate werewolves." Their friend's tear-streaked face appeared from behind his hands.

"Well, yeah, but you're our friend, how could we hate you?" asked James, thoroughly perplexed and rather offended that Remus had thought that they would just dump him. "And if you're a werewolf, they can't all be that bad."

"But they are," insisted Remus.

"C'mon all the girls think you're the nicest boy in our year," Sirius piped up. "Though they still think I'm the cutest."

James rolled his eyes at his friend, but Sirius simply grinned and wriggled his eyebrows.

Remus blushed. "But, you don't understand. When I become a—a—a werewolf, everything's gone."

"Gone?" Sirius and James demanded in unison.

"Yeah," Remus said wearily, his shoulders slumped in defeat, "like every human feeling just left me. Like, like I'm lost. It's like the scene in front of me goes blank and instinct takes over."

"But you're only a werewolf once a month," James pointed out. "All the rest of the time you're Remus Lupin, our friend with a kind of," he scratched his head and then grinned, "with a furry little problem."

Remus blinked at him incredulously as his jaw hung slack. "Just a little problem?" he managed to get out.

"Yeah, nothing too major," agreed Sirius with a grin.

For a moment Remus appeared relieved at their acceptance, but then suddenly, he began to back away from them, very slowly as if afraid they would notice his movement and leap on him.

"What's wrong?" asked James, his brow wrinkling.

"I think you're mental," Remus told them honestly.

Sirius turned to James. "Us, mental? And he's the one who thought we were going to chuck him as a friend just because he's a werewolf."

Remus was at his bed now and looked as if he wished he were on the other side of the room.

James decided that it was time for a subject change. "So, can we stay with you when you, you know, transform?"

Their sandy-haired friend swayed as if he were about to faint and his eyes threatened to pop out onto the floor. "Stay—with—stay—friends—me," he jabbered incoherently.

"Yeah, we could—we could stay under James's cloak!"

"Yeah, and we could keep you company so you wouldn't get so lost," agreed James.

"We could find a way to throw our voices around the room so you never knew where we were. I'm sure there's a simple charm." He and James grinned at one another, apparently believing that they were being very clever.

"You are mental!" cried Remus, clutching at his bed post, wondering how his friends could at once be so smart and so stupid. "Didn't you hear? My instinct takes over. Werewolves want to maul people! Do you think that I couldn't smell you? Everything's lost, gone! I wouldn't know I was hurting you!"

"Well we'll find some way to stay with you," insisted James, "you can't always get lost."

By the time Peter trudged in a half an hour later from detention, James, Sirius, and Remus, mostly James and Sirius though, had gone through two parchment lengths of ideas. James and Sirius were sprawled on the bed, while Remus knelt between them, listening as the one boy would get half an idea out only to have it contradicted by the other.

"What's going on?" Peter asked.

"Nothing, really," Sirius said airily.

Sirius glanced up and rolled against James as he pushed his bangs out of his eyes. "Hey, watch it, Sir, you just made me mess up," protested James, grabbing the ink bottle before it tipped over.

"It was probably a dumb idea anyway."

James pouted and scratched out what he'd written.

Peter, who could clearly see that they were up to something, frowned but tried not to appear too hurt at being excluded.

Remus, who understood all too well what it was like to be excluded, spoke up happily, "They're planning how to stay with me when I'm a werewolf."

Peter's watery eyes widened and for a moment . "You're a werewolf?" His eyes rolled up and he thudded to the floor. The three boys looked down at their tag-along friend.

James ran a hand through his hair. "Er, we hadn't told him yet, mate."

"Oh."