TWO CHAPTERS IN TWO DAYS? I'M SPOILING YOU
Padfoot stepped out into the midnight frost, his paws crunching the grass. He sniffed for a second, raising his head towards the full moon that hung low overhead. Behind him stood Prongs, standing majestically, his antlers bathed in moonlight and his black eyes glinting. On his antlers sat the fat rat, Wormtail, clinging on for dear life, scared and squeaking as the werewolf Moony followed the larger animals out of the Shrieking Shack. The light caught him and he looked up at the moon. Freedom. Moony caught up in the moment broke the silence of the night and howled, startling Padfoot and Prongs and causing Wormtail to have a nervous piss over Prongs' antlers. The stag, annoyed with this, shook Wormtail off his head, causing the rat to go sliding down his body and land at the nape of his neck. He gave another squeak.
Moony took the chance and began to move away from the others. Excited to get out of the shack. Padfoot caught notice of this and leapt into action, clamping his jaws around Moony's neck and yanking him back to the flank. Moony grunted before following them out and towards Hogsmede.
The streets were silent. Prongs dipped in and out of alleys to make sure that they weren't spotted. To see the town in silence was a strange thing, even for their animalistic states. The silence was almost deafening except for their paws and hooves on stone.
Suddenly Moony sensed something, and turned, rearing up, growling angrily. Padfoot was the first to react, there had been movement a few feet away. What it was, they weren't sure, but it was best to take the savage werewolf away from it. Moony howled sadly, causing houses to light up as residents woke up from their slumber.
Prongs batted Moony away, forcing him to go up the main street.
They would laugh about this the next morning
…
"Quit doodling Evans' name and actually get some work done," Remus said snatching the parchment from under James' nose. James turned and gave Remus a sour look.
"I don't appreciate that attitude, Moony," He said.
"I don't appreciate your face, Prongs," Remus replied.
"Ah friendly banter," Sirius said, interrupting. "You can't beat it."
James rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at Remus. "I'm bored of studying."
"As am I," Peter sighed, falling headfirst onto his book.
"Whomever invented O.W.L's must have a sick twisted mind to make 15 year olds-"
"Sixteen," Remus corrected vaguely.
Sirius scowled and then made a face. "Damn I forgot you were older than us,"
"You were saying?" Remus asked, not looking up.
"I was saying that they must have a damn sick sense of humour to make us do this when we spend most of our time not concentrating in class and going through sexual frustration that makes us want any girl who passes by-"
"Except Amelia Bones," James said.
"Really, you don't think she's hot?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"He's only got eyes for a certain redhead," Remus sang, scoring out some of his work and finding a new sheet of parchment.
"No," James said. "It's because I don't have the sexual frustration of a humpback whale,"
"Humpback whales are sexually frustrated?" Peter asked.
"Why else are they called 'humpback', think it through Wormtail," James said shaking his head towards the smaller boy.
Remus rolled his eyes. "Oh dear lord."
Sirius was snorting, holding the back of his hand to his mouth before almost falling off the bench. Remus grabbed him making sure he didn't fall and crash his head off the stone flooring. Some other students looked around to see what the commotion was before Professor Flitwick told them off.
"You have the maturity levels of an amoeba," Remus said.
"Oi, it took me a while to get to that level of maturity," Sirius said. "Respect and own it bitch."
Remus sighed and ran his hand down his face. "I'm too tired for this nonsense."
"Oh Moony, you're always tired." James said. "That's one of the great downsides to having a furry little problem."
"You don't actually have a rabbit do you?" Peter asked frowning.
Remus frowned. "A rabbit?"
"There was a rumour going about that you had a rabbit." Peter said, his cheeks growing red.
"No, Wormy," James said. "He hasn't got a badly behaved rabbit…" He paused and his eyes narrowed as he leaned in across the table. "Do you?"
"No," Remus said shaking his head, unable to stop himself from smiling.
"Cause you can tell us, I mean it's not the manliest of animals but it could be a lot worse," James shrugged.
Remus leaned forward. "Prongs," he said calmly. "You're the one who started the rumour about the badly behaved rabbit."
James frowned. "I did?"
"About two years ago."
"And it's only just returning to me?" James asked.
"I suppose so." Remus shrugged, sitting back and scribbling some more notes.
"I worry about you Prongs," Sirius said shaking his head.
"To be honest, I'd be pretty worried if you didn't worry about me," James shrugged. "Hey Evans', go out with me?"
Remus, Sirius and Peter looked around to see Lily walking past, books in her arms and talking to Snape.
"No, Potter," She replied lazily.
"Okay," James said lightly. "How about now?"
Sirius face-palmed himself and groaned loudly. Lily didn't even bother to answer and walked away.
"I'll pick you up about 8 o'clock on Friday night!" James called after her, standing up slightly. Peter hauled his friend down and shook his head.
"Why do we take you out?" Sirius asked.
"As I believe it was you who decided that we needed to go and study in the Great Hall when we could have studied in the common room," James replied.
"It was a stupid idea. Don't make me have another idea again." Sirius said.
"Well that should be easy since you don't have many ideas," James quipped.
Sirius chuckled and nodded. "Fancy going to Hogsmede tonight?"
"You asking?" James raised an eyebrow.
"I'm asking," Sirius said.
"No." James shook his head.
"Why?"
"Well, Remus has patrol and Peter needs to finish his Potions essay and it won't be as much fun without them," James shrugged.
"Oh so it's not about that person recognising us and calling aurors in to deal with the werewolf problem," Sirius said.
Remus choked. He went red. "Werewolf problem?!"
Sirius then realised he might have stepped out of line. He gave a shrug and cleared his throat. "It was just a joke, jeez Moony,"
"No, seriously, did something Tuesday night?" He asked.
"No," Sirius said, shaking his head.
"You'd tell me if there was something," Remus said, sitting forward, his eyes looking fearful and blue-er than usual. James felt uncomfortable and Peter looked away pointedly.
"There was a bit of an encounter…" James said silently.
"An encounter?!" Remus' eyes widened still. "What kind of encounter? The one where lives are in danger?"
James looked away sheepishly. Remus sat stunned for a moment then gathered up his things.
"We didn't tell you because we knew you'd be this way," Sirius said.
Remus remained silent as he shoved his things into his bag, his face red and eyes stinging.
"Remus…" James started.
Remus held up his hand. "Don't. I don't want to hear it. I just need some time on my own." He picked up the last of his books and left. James pulled off his glasses and threw them down onto his books.
"Crap." He said.
…
"I'm not angry that you didn't tell me." Remus said looking down at his knees as he sat cross-legged on his bed. He had been silent with them for a few days and James finally had enough and decided to call him out on it.
So they sat alone in the boys dormitory whilst everyone went out on the first Hogsmede visit of the month. Sirius was picking at the splintered wood of the bed post and grimacing slightly whilst Peter had opted to sit on the floor close to Remus' bed.
"Then what is it?" James asked, pushing his glasses up his nose and craning his neck. "And if I need to hear another sap story I will murder you."
"To be honest I'm getting bored of them too," Remus chuckled. "It's nothing, perhaps I'm over reacting."
"We saw how upset you were after we told you," Sirius said. "I'd feel a lot worse it were me."
Remus sighed and lowered his eyes again. "I thought I was safe." He shook his head. "Doesn't matter." He looked up and gave a half-hearted smile. "Any luck with Lily yet?"
James shrugged. "My seven year plan still needs to follow through."
"Ah, yes, I forgot that you had made so much progress in the five years of this plan," Sirius said.
"Hey she said the other day she'd rather go out with a greasy haired slack jawed idiot than me," James defended.
Sirius frowned. "Isn't that the opposite of what you want?"
"Yeah, but I see it as a step up from the octopus," James said. "Which she previously stated that she would rather date,"
"Isn't going out with Snape much like a step down away from octopus?" Peter asked.
"Well since the octopus is a different species," James said pointedly. "I think not."
"That's not an argument that I would use in reference to your outstanding commitment to get this girl to go out with you," Remus said.
James rolled his eyes. "She'll come around to my way of thinking. You'll see."
"I shall give you ten galleons if you get married," Remus said.
"You're on," James grinned.
Sirius sighed. "Are we actually going to talk about why this bothers you so much?"
"She's pretty!" James cried.
"No not you!" Sirius said. "Moony and the almost killing someone thing- Oh…"
"Got it now?" Remus asked smiling wryly. "Okay," He sorted himself and then licked his lips, composing in his mind what he was about to say next. "When someone kills something, we degrade that person into an animal. Because it's easier to blame an animal. That's what animals do. They kill without remorse. But the thing about animals is that they don't kill for sport. They kill only to eat. Never for fun. Humanity is the only species that kills for fun. For the enjoyment, the thrill of the chase. When you're a werewolf you're given that freedom to kill without remorse, because everyone blames the wolf. But it's really not. It's the human side of you. That's what drives you to kill." He paused and shook his head. "I've never been scared of wolf and what it may do. That's what it's always been about. That's what I am scared of." He glanced away and pursed his lips, closing his eyes softly. "I know you guys are there to protect everyone from me. But not forever."
Sirius let himself deflate. "Bloody Merlin's briefs hung up on smelly yonder flagpole," He breathed.
Remus laughed slightly. "Sorry. I've depressed you all."
"Actually it makes a lot of sense," James shrugged.
Remus glanced up. "It does?"
"Yeah," James nodded. "You always thinking you were the monster and not the wolf. But I'm here to tell you that you're wrong. Not all humankind is like that."
Remus smiled sadly. "Perhaps. But I don't see an army of wolves descending on anything less than them without actually eating them."
"Vampires," Sirius said.
"What?"
"Vampires kill sometimes without devouring their pray," Sirius said.
"Are you forgetting that vampires are part humanoid?" Remus asked.
Sirius made a face.
"Look I know that I was safe with you guys, I don't doubt that, it's just that it scared me. I needed time to think," Remus said.
"Have you finished that?" James asked.
Remus let his face break into a smile. "I think so."
"Good."