When Harry woke up the morning of the full moon he felt... icky but not sick. He just felt gross and sore. Harry was sure he'd never felt like this before and he didn't like it one bit. He wanted to curl back in bed go to sleep until he felt better. But he was too awake to go back to sleep. Harry actually felt a bit jittery.
When Harry found Remus sitting on the couch, he did something he didn't normally do and just curled himself into Remus' arms. Remus' scent was a little comforting but not much. Remus put his hand on Harry's forehead and wasn't surprised to find that he was feverish.
"Not feeling the best today?" Remus asked softly, knowing Harry's ears might be sensitive this morning. Harry nodded and frowned.
"I'm not feeling the best either," Remus replied softly.
Remus couldn't remember much about his first transformation but he had been told that he was pretty listless that day as well. What Remus did know was that the first transformations were rougher on the body and took more energy; especially for someone as small as Harry.
"You know that whatever happens tonight, you're going to be okay, right?" Remus asked.
"Yes, Moony. You've been saying it every day!" Harry said.
"Yes, but tonight is your first full moon and I want to make sure you know that nothing bad will happen to you. It will probably hurt but only for a little while and then it will be okay," Remus said. "I'll be there with you and so will Sirius."
"Will Sirius bring his dog?" Harry asked causing Remus to chuckle.
"I'm sure that can be arranged a lot easier than you think," Remus laughed wondering when Sirius was finally going to tell Harry about his animagus. Harry raised his eyebrow at that statement.
"Is he a werewolf?" Harry suddenly blurted. "Because he smells like a dog all the time."
Remus chuckled to himself. Harry was smart, that much was obvious. He shouldn't have been surprised that Harry had come to that particular conclusion; especially considering Harry didn't know what an animagus was.
"Sirius is almost like a werewolf; just a little bit different," Remus explained. "Do you want to call him Padfoot when he comes over tonight?"
Harry grinned and smiled weakly.
"Are you called Moony because you're a werewolf?" Harry asked curiously.
"Yes, I am Harry. We were a group at Hogwarts. I am Moony, Sirius is Padfoot, your father was Prongs and we had another friend and he was Wormtail. They helped make being a werewolf at Hogwarts a better experience. They were my best mates," Remus said quietly. That was when Remus realised Harry didn't have any friends he played with. Maybe it would be a good idea to contact Molly and set up a playdate. Maybe she could even give him some advice on how to begin preparing Harry for Hogwarts; he'd need to learn to read, write, basic measurements and several other things.
When Laineth popped into the room, she had a few bowls of oatmeal and juice.
"Laineth brought food because it be very important to eat when the full moon comes out," Laineth said eagerly as she handed the tray to Remus. It was then that Harry realised just how hungry he was. He took the bowl happily and began eating.
"Do you this Severus will let me help make our potion for next month?" Harry asked. It took everything Remus had not to start laughing. If Sirius wasn't pleased with Harry's love of potions, he could only imagine how he would handle Harry wanting to spend time with the Potions Master himself!
As the day passed, Remus and Harry spent most of the day curled up on the couch. They alternated between reading and talking about Harry's parents. Sirius came through the fireplace a half hour before moonrise and his expression was unreadable. It was clear everyone in the room was nervous about tonight but Sirius and Remus were trying not to show it for Harry's sake.
Sirius picked up Harry and hugged him tightly, as though if he hugged him tightly enough, it would somehow save him from this fate. Harry hugged him back and patted his back.
"Who comforting who, now, Pup?" Sirius laughed, sitting down with Harry.
"Moony said Severus is okay with me helping make our potions for next month!" Harry squealed in an excited tone.
Sirius clapped his hands over Harry's ears and looked at Remus with a worried expression.
"You really want him to hang out with that Dungeon Bat?"
"Harry's fascination with potions doesn't appear to be a passing phase and he wants to assist in real potion making and eventually he'll want more than the two potions I can make. Besides, Harry's excited to get to work in a real potions lab, aren't you Harry?"
"I'm going to be careful and I'll do what Uncle Sev tells me to do so I don't get hurt," Harry said in an excited tone.
Once again Sirius looked up at Remus with a worried face.
"Uncle Sev?"
Remus stood up and collected Harry from Sirius' arms and began making his way to the basement. Sirius followed behind, trying to forget Harry's attachment to Snape. Harry and Remus were dressed in ratty clothes that they wouldn't miss when they were destroyed during the transformation. Harry clung nervously onto Remus, his nails practically digging into his skin.
"Don't worry, Pup. Everything will be fine." Sirius had noticed that the boy now looked terrified of what was to come. His pupils were changing sizes and his eyes shifted from green to gold every few seconds. This was the first time Sirius noticed any visible signs of Harry's infliction.
"Padfoot, you should take Harry now. I won't be able to comfort him much while I'm transforming. You know when to turn, right?" Remus said handing the shaking child over to Sirius who began rubbing circles on the child's back like Remus had been doing seconds ago. Just like before, Harry clung on for dear life.
"Is it okay to be scared?" Harry whispered into Sirius' ear.
"I'd be more worried if you weren't scared, Harry. But I'll be here the whole time and so will Moony," Sirius said, hugging Harry tightly to his chest, knowing he'd have to let go once Harry began shifting.
"When the shift begins Harry, you must not try to fight it, okay?" Remus said firmly. Harry nodded shakingly into Sirius' neck.
About a minute before moonrise, Sirius set Harry onto the floor and sat down beside him. Sirius wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulder and waited.
When the glow of the moonlight entered the room, Remus' bones could be heard snapping, causing Harry to pale with fear. Remus muffled any cries to keep from scaring Harry but he couldn't hide the cracking.
When Harry opened his mouth to say something, he was cut off by a sudden cry of pain. Sirius gripped Harry tighter and didn't let go through all the cries of pain and sounds of tiny bones snapping. When Harry was finished shifting, he was so tiny, like a puppy. Sirius watched Harry carefully and he noticed neither of the wolves in the room, were making attempts to attack. In fact, Harry's wolf just sat quivering on the floor.
So Sirius turned into his animagus form to help bring up Harry's spirits. Sirius knew Harry was coherent when his eyes widened upon seeing his godfather turn into a dog.
Once Harry and Remus were dressed again and relaxed in the living room, Harry looked at Remus with drooping eyes.
"I thought you said Padfoot wasn't a werewolf?" The tone in Harry's voice was borderline smug.
Sirius couldn't help but laugh at Harry's tone before he bent down to Harry's level.
"I'm not a werewolf, I'm an animagus; its an entirely different thing. I can shift whenever I want and my clothes don't get destroyed," Sirius explained.
Remus came back into the room with three mugs of tea, each tea contained a pepper-up potion; Severus had suggested it so Harry's sleep schedule wasn't altered too much by him sleeping all through the day.
"How are you feeling, Harry?" Remus asked Harry who was laying against the arm of the couch.
Harry shrugged and began sipping his tea. He was sore, his head ached, everything seemed really loud and he was tired. Remus had said before that Harry was lucky to have the potion because when he grew up, there was no such thing and he had to go through the whole thing without the potion. Harry knew that had to be worse than going through the transformation with the potion and wasn't something Harry was eager to try.
Remus scooped Harry up onto his lap and in a matter of seconds, Harry had fallen asleep.
"I'll go pick up some ice cream while you guys rest," Sirius said as he watched Remus nod fall asleep with Harry curled securely against his chest.