January seemed to melt seamlessly into February. They were prepared for accompanying Remus on his March transformation. They had planned it so that nothing could possibly go wrong. Peter, the smallest would prod the knot of the tree after Madame Pomfrey had left, then they would slip under the invisibility cloak and travel up the tunnel to the door of the bedroom. Once Remus started to transform the plan was to dip outside to the small cornered off balcony and watch from there. They would have to barricade the door with every spell they knew to stop their friend from tearing through and ripping them to shreds. Remus was not happy about the idea and felt sick whenever they brought it up, usually resuming to silence and nodding every now and then to prove that he was listening, but they had made up their minds no matter how much he wished to dissuade them.

The end of February brought the delayed Scottish Winter weather. Torus was usually fuming, not being able to let his team practice. Sirius and James seemed unworried by it assuming that their first match wasn't against Ravenclaw. Slytherin had not won a match in nearly five years, as Torus boasted. And they would be damned forever if they did. Ravenclaw seemed to be advanced with Quidditch though, perhaps their intellect helped map out logical and illogical patterns that the other players were likely to play. Torus told the team in their prep talks that Ravenclaw played smart, sticking to low ground, usually ending up in someone getting hurt (he then proudly showed the scar on his neck where he had crashed into the stalls back in his third year) After about the fifth time of hearing this, Gideon and Fabian, the beaters of the team were becoming really pissed off.

"We get it, Torus!" Fabian said. "You're a big brave hero for taking all those devastating blows. Get over yourself and let's practice!"

Torus just gave them a dark look.

James and Sirius trumped back up to their dormitory where Peter and Remus were waiting with the rest of the second year boys who were laughing manically at Frank Longbottom who had just eaten a firewhiskey flavoured bertie bott bean and now had steam coming out of his ears. Remus had his nose stuck in a book whilst Peter was laughing his arse off. Sirius dumped his bag and books onto the bed and began to take off his shoes.

"Urgh," He said. "I hate Winter. When is spring supposed to come around?"

James shrugged as he pulled off his robes and threw it at the heater in the middle of the room to dry them for the next day. His glasses spattered with a mixture of rain and snow. He took them off and wiped them on his shirt, peering through them every now and then to make sure that they weren't smeared. "Dunno. Moony?"

"21st of March," Remus replied, sullenly.

"Ah." Said James. "What's got your wand in a knot?"

"Nothing," Remus grunted.

"Oh come on!" Sirius cried. "You're not even trying!"

James turned to see Reiner try and throw a bertie bean at Franks' mouth. He kept missing and hit him either on the forehead of on the ear. He frowned. "You try it then if you're that great," Reiner handed the box over to James who picked on out and put it in his mouth. His face turned into disgust and he looked down at it.

"What flavour did you get?" Sirius asked, pulling on his pyjamas.

"Wooden," James grunted. "It's like they're not even trying to make candy anymore." Sirius took the box of sweets from him and put a lime green one into his mouth.

"Mm..." he said.

"What?" James asked.

"Tastes like bogeys." Sirius said. He stood there chewing for a moment. "Yep." He looked at the box. "Mithradates?"

Mithradates looked up and took a sweet from the box and put in his mouth. His face broke out into a grin. "Orange," He said happily.

"Damn you," James muttered, taking another one. "Whose are these anyway?"

"Franks'" Mithradates said. "His mum sent a huge hamper for his birthday. He didn't want any of it."

"Really?" Sirius asked. "Such a present would be well welcomed. Especially from my mum."

Remus was rubbing his eyes. "Yes, yes, we get it. You're mum is a bitch. Get over yourself."

The rest stared at Remus for a moment before Frank grunted. "I don't really care much for it. She keeps saying that'll I have to grow up to be a great wizard, just like my dad. I don't like my mum that much."

"Ditto," Sirius said helping himself to a chocolate frog. "Moony, you wanting one?"

"No thank you," Remus said acidly.

"Sure?" Frank asked, reaching into the basket and pulling out a liquorice wand and biting into it.

"Very sure."

"Chocolate makes the world go around," Peter said.

"Shut up," James said rolling his eyes. He aimed at Sirius' mouth and threw a drooball at him. He missed and it hit Sirius' chin. Sirius picked it up.

"That was your best shot?" He asked. "Really? I thought chasers were supposed to be good at aiming."

"Yes, we also have remarkably bigger balls." James said not realising what he had uttered from his mouth. Frank, Peter, Mithradates all fell to the ground laughing their heads off. James stared at them before rolling his eyes. "Mature, boys. Very mature. Well done."

Sirius struggled to get back up onto his bed, tears rolling down his eyes. "... Bigger... Balls..." He wheezed. "Is that what you tell yourself at night to comfort you when Lily shoots you down?"

James folded his arms. "I'm not talking to you anymore."

"Naw..." Sirius said, still laughing. "Potter's in a sulk."

"Yes." James said. "I am."

Frank tossed James a butterbeer which he promptly opened and took a sip. "Okay, I'm feeling better now."

"Bless, he can't stick to one emotion for too long," Sirius said. "Pass me one." Frank obliged. He turned to look at Peter who was still struggling to stop laughing. "I know we're cool and all that, but this is making me nervous."

Peter stifled his laugh. Remus closed his book and pulled the drapes over his bed. James raised an eyebrow.

"Woman's problems." Sirius replied. "Moony? You wanting a hug?"

"No." Was the reply.

They all exchanged a look.

...

Saturday 19th of March.

Remus had been in a bad mood all day. Sirius and James had tried their best to pick him out of his mood before they realised it was just a symptom of the transformation approaching. Remus had explained previously that he got very ill before and after the moon, according to it waxing and waning. Miserably he had also discussed that the eves of transformations gave him migraines that caused him to become bitter and angry.

All three boys waited under the invisibility cloak as Madame Pomfrey led Remus to the mouth of the tunnel. She gave him a small nod and a timid smile before turning and making her way back to the castle. The tree began to move violently as the sun began to set. Making sure that she was gone, Peter got out from under the cloak and prodded the tree letting the other taller boys down to the tunnel. They ran up the stone floor to the bedroom. Remus was standing in the middle of the bedroom. He breathed heavily and handed his satchel to Sirius.

"You okay mate?" James asked.

"Yes," Remus muttered. He felt as if he was going to throw up.

"How you feeling?" Sirius asked, putting the bag over his shoulder.

"Fine," Remus lied. "Stop with the questions, they're doing my head in."

"Sorry," Sirius said.

"It's alrig-" Remus stopped mid-sentence. He grabbed Sirius' shoulder breathing hard. "Get out." He said.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"GET OUT!" Remus screamed. His nails dug into Sirius' shoulder.

"Moony," Sirius said, grabbing his friend's elbows. "Moony look at me."

"No." Remus wailed. "No, get out..."

The moon began to shine through the cracks of the boarded up walls. Remus went rigid, and then he began to shake terribly. Something made a loud crack, James ripped his wand out from his robes and dragged Sirius away, Peter hiding behind them both. Remus fell to the floor, crying. Something else snapped and Remus looked up, his normally pale blue eyes had darkened into green bloodshot ones, his teeth extending over his lips cutting them.

"GET OUT!" He screamed, his mouth swimming with blood as his cheeks ripped into a long thin jaw. "GET OU-"

He was cut off, unable to scream or do anything. He dragged his nails against the floorboards as they broke so they could extend. His nails growing and making his fingers bleed. He let out a loud groan, his shoes splitting in half. Sirius, James and Peter stared unable to move, mesmerised fascinated and horrified. Remus was writhing, his clothes ripping off as he shot up, his bones crunching.

The werewolf was taller than Sirius, its snout longer than an actual wolf's. It was covered in a thick layer of fur, its eyes glassy. James stepped forward.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sirius asked.

"Moony?" James asked.

The werewolf stood, doing nothing at all.

James licked his lips, clearing his throat. "Remus, do you understand me?"

The werewolf reared its head and growled. James backed away as Remus began to advance on them. There was no way to get outside the shack without them being followed and leading him into the village of Hogsmede. The werewolf reared up.

"RUN!" Sirius bellowed, holding out his wand. All of them ran from the werewolf out of the bedroom and leaping down the stairs four at a time. The werewolf was tearing everything apart behind them, howling angrily. Sirius grabbed James' hand and yanked Peter by the arm as they ran up the tunnel, their lost friend racing after them. James turned and pointed his wand, still running and trying not to trip over his robes, "EXPELLIARMUS!" he bellowed. The spell hit the werewolf square in the chest, making it fly back against the tunnel wall. They staggered out of the mouth of the tunnel, running off into the forest. They stopped after a second, realising that the werewolf couldn't follow them. James leaned down, holding his quaking knees.

"What... Why..." Peter felt sick.

Sirius bellowed. "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST ALIVE!" He was panting heavily, and shaking. He took in a great deep breath of fresh air, trying to clear his head. Images flashed in his head and he tried to shake them away.

James didn't say a thing. Sirius looked at him. "You okay, James?"

James nodded, shaking. "Yeah," He stood up straighter. "I just didn't know... How much..."

"Yeah, we get it," Sirius muttered. "Come on. Let's get back up to the castle."

James nodded, pulling his invisibility cloak over them and they made their way up to their dormitory.

...

None of them could sleep until early in the morning, until the first light of dawn hit the sky at four o'clock. Anyone would have assumed that they were badly shaken by what they had just seen in the shack. They weren't. None of them were. They sat up with one thing on their mind and that was the safety of their friend. In order to try and progress to some level where they could stay with Remus throughout the entire full moon, they opened their books and began to read carefully on animal/human transformation.

Peter was the first to fall asleep, lying on the heavy textbook that was depicting all the things that could go wrong with animal transformation. He lay there, his blond hair flopped over his eyes. James threw a blanket over his friend before sitting down on Sirius' bed. Sirius rubbed his eyes and stared out at the moon.

"Do you think he's okay?" He asked, looking away from the textbook.

James sighed. "I don't know." He replied. "I think he should be."

Sirius put the book down. "Listen," He said. "You did that spell to save us. Remus would have expected nothing less. Just, don't beat yourself up if he is pretty beat up tomorrow. I'm sure he'll be fine with it."

James nodded. "He'll hate himself."

"He already hates himself." Sirius replied. "I know that shouldn't be much of a comfort, but it's our job to pull him out of the mud... Or the black... Or the red... Whatever Muggles say."

James let out a sigh.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked.

"I knew..." James bit his lips, looking over at the window. "I knew... I knew that he went through some shit. I knew that much. But... I didn't imagine it to be quite like that. I thought that it was cool and I was... I was wrong... I never thought that..."

"Yeah," Sirius said. "It all came as a shock to us."

James sighed again, staring at the book. "I think we should keep reading."

"Yeah." Sirius said, picking up his book.

They read till dawn completely broke. Unsure of what to do, they decided to wait a little while until they knew that Remus was probably in the hospital wing. Waking Peter up, they gathered some of Remus' comforts and stuffed it into a bag. Silently, they left the sleeping dormitory making their way down the stairs and out to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen, so they moved to the bed with the curtains drawn

James pushed the curtains open. The extent of Remus' injuries were shocking, but not unexpected. Sirius sat down, his usual humour diminished. On Remus' chest was a large bruise, probably from where James' spell had hit him. His arms and legs were covered in bloody bite marks and scratches. A large bandage was strapped around his leg and hoisted into the air; had he broken it? Peter put the chocolate to one side and James shook his friend awake.

Remus groaned sleepily.

"Hey," Sirius said kindly. "You alright in there Moony?"

Remus blinked. "Are you guys alright?" He asked. "It didn't attack you did it?"

James shook his head. Remus let out a sigh of relief. "That's good." He whispered, falling back down onto his pillow. "That's good."

"We brought chocolate," James said.

"That's good," Remus repeated, wearily.

Peter, James and Sirius did not move their friends side. Madame Pomfrey, though annoyed that they had sneaked in without her permission allowed them to remain. She dashed around, adding a sickly smelling ointment to Remus' wounds and making sure that his bandages were correctly fixed. She noticed the chocolate.

"Who brought that?" She asked.

"I did," James said.

"Good. Let him have some." Madame Pomfrey said. "Chocolate helps heal. Whilst in the mean time, have you had anything to eat?"

James shook his head, Sirius wasn't looking anywhere but the bruise on Remus' chest. His fingertips touching and his chin leaning on them.

"Well," Madame Pomfrey sighed. "Give me a moment." She left to her office for a second before returning to the bed with a silver tray laden with sandwiches and orange juice. "Eat." She said. "You could be here a while." She smiled softly before leaving them. James watched.

"She knows we know," He said silently.

"What?" Sirius asked, not looking up.

"Nothing," James said. "I need to write to Ariyamna."