Hagrid's Capture

James hardly slept that night, still recovering from his shock as he wondered how to address Remus in the morning. As he tossed and turned, he could hear Sirius and Peter doing the same beside him, and he knew that they were all thinking about the same thing. After a few hours of inner turmoil, James finally managed to doze off, but he soon woke with an uncomfortable twist in his spine as his muscles screamed in protest at a tense night's sleep.

None of the boys talked as they got ready for the day, abandoning all hope of conversation as they waited for the time to tick by. No one moved when the clock chimed ten, signaling the beginning of Herbology; instead, they just stared at their hands, their thumbs twitching. A few minutes later, Peter began to play with a loose thread on his comforter.

Finally, the door to their dormitory opened, and they all jerked upright as Remus walked inside and tossed his suitcase in front of him, apparently thinking that he had the room to himself. Looking up, he jumped at the sight of his roommates staring at him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as they all stood. "You're supposed to be in Herbology."

"Remus, we have to talk," Sirius spoke first.

"Talk about what?" Remus responded, narrowing his eyes.

"We figured it out last night," James replied. Staring at him, Remus did not blink as he slowly searched the others' faces.

"Figured what out?" he eventually whispered.

"Why you leave every month . . . during the full moon," James answered.

Instantly paling, Remus fell onto his four-poster and stared at the floor, breathing shakily. The others all took a step forward, but they stopped when Remus groaned and let his head fall into his hands . "That's it. I'm done. All these preparations, all this effort, and I can't even make it through my second year." Not even bothering to look up, he asked, "I guess the whole school knows by now, don't they?" Shaking his head, he stared at his hands with a scowl. "It doesn't matter. It was stupid of me to think that I could keep it hidden, anyway."

"Hold on," James interjected. "We didn't tell anyone, and we're not going to, either."

Raising his head, Remus looked up into his roommates' faces, just seeming to realize that they were not glaring at him. "What do you mean?"

"We're not going to tell anyone," James repeated, and Sirius and Peter nodded behind him.

"We've talked it over, and we decided to keep it to ourselves," Sirius added, nudging Peter.

"R—right!" Peter said, pulling himself up to his full height as the others crossed their arms. Gaping, Remus glanced back and forth between them as if searching for a sign of deceit.

"But—but why?" he stammered.

"Because you're our mate, Remus," James answered simply.

"But I'm dangerous!" Remus protested, looking down at his hands again. "I'm a . . . a monster."

"Remus, you're the least dangerous person I know," Sirius told him, huffing a little. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you wanted us to turn you in."

Sitting down beside Remus, James and the others waited while he opened and closed his mouth several times. Finally, he managed to ask, "You all decided this?" When they all nodded, he just shook his head and stared at the floor again.

"There's one condition, though," Sirius spoke up, and Remus' head snapped upright. "You need to tell us everything. Why did Madam Pomfrey take you to the Whomping Willow?"

"How did you know about that?" Remus demanded, his mouth falling open.

"We followed you last night under the Invisibility Cloak," Peter explained.

"Well," Remus began after a short lull, biting his lip, "there's a secret tunnel just under the Whomping Willow that leads to a place where I can safely . . . transform. It's an old building over in a town called—well, do you remember learning about Hogsmeade in History of Magic? It's only a short walk from Hogwarts, and I just have to make it to the building by nightfall. It has all sorts of protective enchantments and Silencing Charms placed on it so that I can't get out; although, sometimes," he admitted, "people can still hear me howling."

Sharing a glance with Sirius, James asked, "You don't mean the Shrieking Shack, do you?" When Remus stared at him blankly, he explained, "A sort of dingy-looking hut with boarded-up windows and doors?"

"The Shrieking Shack? Is that what they're calling it?" Remus asked, huffing and shaking his head. Looking up, he stared more intensely at James. "How did you know about it?"

"Just heard about it," James answered, shrugging as Sirius gave a small smirk.

"But why do you have to go into the Whomping Willow every full moon?" Peter asked Remus. "Can't you just use a room in the castle?"

"That's far too dangerous," Remus replied, shaking his head. "I might get loose. Besides, everyone would hear me howling and scratching the walls."

"If Madam Pomfrey brings you to the Whomping Willow every month, does she already know that you're a werewolf?" James interrogated.

"Yes," Remus replied. "She's one of the few staff members who do. Dumbledore told her so that she could help me before and after my transformations, and he also told Professor McGonagall just in case anything ever went wrong and he wasn't within reach. Still, he agreed not to tell all of the professors since they might—er—treat me differently." Thinking of his own reaction when he had first figured out Remus' secret, James nodded.

"Dumbledore knows?" Sirius asked, tilting his head.

"He's the one who convinced my parents to let me attend Hogwarts in the first place," Remus answered, a brief smile flitting across his face. Gradually talking more freely, he explained, "That's actually when I first met Dumbledore. My parents didn't think that I would be able to go to Hogwarts because of my condition, but Dumbledore told them that he would make all the appropriate accommodations to keep the other students safe."

"And that's why you were so nervous when people were trying to get close to the Whomping Willow," James guessed. "You didn't want them to find the tunnel."

"Even more than that, I didn't want them to get hurt," Remus attested. "If the Willow had killed someone, it would be all my fault. I could never forgive myself if that happened."

Hugging himself, he trailed off while the others grew quiet. Finally, Sirius broke the silence by clearing his throat. "So, what's it like? You know . . . being a werewolf."

For a moment, James thought that Remus would not respond, but he eventually spoke in a subdued voice. "It's . . . painful. You grow weaker as the moon waxes, but it's the worst on the full moon. As soon as you transform, your mind goes blank for the better part of the night. If I wasn't blocked by protective enchantments, I'd find my way out and attack the nearest human. I very nearly did several times at home." He broke off and shuddered. "But if I can't find anyone to harm, I end up biting and scratching myself instead."

"That . . . explains a lot," James thought out loud, and Remus bit his lip as another silence ensued. After a few moments, Remus slowly pulled up his right sleeve, exposing a jagged scar made by what looked like a pair of fangs.

"This is where I was first bitten," he told the others. Staring at his forearm, James noticed that the bite mark seemed stretched, as if it had grown along with Remus.

"When did you first become a werewolf?" he asked.

Covering his arm again, Remus answered, "I was four years old. I don't really remember much before then. Every month since, my parents have had to lock me in our basement when the moon reached its climax. Our neighbors couldn't help but notice the strange noises coming from our house when I grew older, so we never stayed in one place for long." Remus bit his lip and glanced up at James. "That's why Hardwin had a hard time finding me during the summer. We have to keep moving so that people don't ask questions. I was never allowed to play with the neighborhood kids in case they found out that I was a werewolf, so I was excited when Dumbledore offered me a place at Hogwarts." Glancing at the floor again, he muttered, "Somehow, I thought that things would be different."

"So, all those times you disappeared, you were going to the Whomping Willow?" Peter asked.

"Right," Remus confessed. "The reason why you found me in the hospital wing so many times was because Madam Pomfrey was giving me medication. There's no cure for lycanthropy, but there are some potions that make the after-effects less painful; if they work, that is. She would also mend my wounds as best she could after I returned from a full moon, though not in front of her other patients. Still, scratches and bites from a werewolf can never fully heal."

"Peeves never really did attack you, then," James guessed. "And last year, when your mum grew ill—that was just another excuse?"

Nodding, Remus explained, "I had to keep making up stories so that you wouldn't get suspicious."

"If you've never once left Hogwarts, why do you have to pack up your suitcase?" Peter questioned.

"There was really no need," Remus told him. "It was just to keep up the illusion. Still, I sometimes rip through my robes, and I need to bring a change of clothes. I usually keep my suitcase in the tunnel so that I don't accidentally destroy it, but my transformation caught me off-guard one night, and I almost tore it open while it was still in the room. Thankfully, I stopped myself long enough to run in the other direction." Shrugging, he said, "Something about it seemed familiar, I suppose."

Sitting up, James exclaimed, "So there's hope, then! Your memories aren't completely gone when you transform!"

"That was once, James, and it only happened for a split second," Remus pointed out rapidly, his eyes widening. "No one has been able to find a cure, so don't—"

"But there's still a chance that we'll be able to do something!" James insisted while Sirius and Peter nodded vigorously, their eyes locked on him. Jumping up from Remus' four-poster, James crossed his arms and proclaimed, "From now on, Remus, I'm going to look for a way to make your transformations easier!"

"We all are!" Sirius added, standing, and Peter jumped up by his side.

Staring up at his friends, Remus did not offer any further protests, and James could see the moisture beginning to well up in his eyes. Pulling him up into a hug, James let Remus go as he let out a choked sort of laugh.

"Well," James announced, grinning at Remus, "shall we be off? Like you said, we're late for Herbology!"

Smiling, Remus wiped his nose with his sleeve as Sirius patted his back and led him towards the door with the others. As the four boys walked through the castle halls, James strode in the front and parted the masses of students crowding the corridors while Peter and Sirius helped on both sides.

"Move along!" James shouted, shoving a fifth-year aside. As the jostling students glared at him, he cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled, "Make way for the Chocolate King!"

"You heard him, move aside!" Sirius barked at a gawking first-year, pushing him to the wall as Remus stifled a snort. Eventually, the crowd caught on and parted before the small parade could reach them, and the four traveled more quickly throughout the castle until they reached the grounds.

When they made it to the second greenhouse, James flung open the door with a flourish, letting it bang loudly as the students inside jumped. Holding their heads at a jaunty angle, James and Sirius led the way past Professor Sprout, who watched the latecomers with an upturned eyebrow as they took their places along the shelves.

Finally, Sprout cleared her throat and addressed the boys as they beamed in her direction. "Do you care to explain yourselves?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Not really," James answered, and Professor Sprout narrowed her eyes.

"Well, I'm sure that the class would love to know why you have decided to only attend the last half of the lecture," she sniffed as their classmates stared at them.

"I don't think that we can do that," Sirius told her, and she raised an eyebrow.

"And why not?" she questioned, her voice a near-growl.

"Well," James explained, frowning up at the ceiling, "I don't think that Remus would approve. Would you, Remus?" Shaking his head, Remus tried unsuccessfully to suppress a grin as James turned back towards Professor Sprout. "Well, there you go. I'm afraid that we can't tell you."

"The Chocolate King has spoken," Sirius said decidedly, nodding. Her eye twitching, Sprout turned around to once again face a bushel of giant, bell-like flowers in the front of the greenhouse.

"Detention after class, you two," she told them. "Lupin and Pettigrew can write me an essay about Fanged Bell-Snappers before the end of this week."

"You can't separate us from our mates!" James cried, causing the whole class to jump again. "What about poor Remus? He'll be lonely without us! You can't let him and Peter run around by themselves! They might get into trouble!"

"NOT ANY MORE THAN YOU'RE ABOUT TO BE IN!" Professor Sprout spat, spinning around as her plump face turned a deep shade of purple. "QUIET DOWN OR I'LL HAVE YOU PULLING BOBOTUBER BUDS FOR A WEEK!"

Silenced, James and Sirius turned back to Remus as Sprout again faced the giant flowers. "It's all right," Remus whispered to them as he leaned in, smiling slightly. "I didn't really want to join you, anyway."

"Why, Remus, you little beast!" Sirius exclaimed. At this, all four boys erupted into a fit of laughter, causing Professor Sprout to whip around and chuck her trowel at James' head; finally facing the front of the greenhouse, James rubbed his new bruise as the others continued to snicker quietly throughout the lecture.

As the days passed and the end-of-the-year exams started, Remus became positively euphoric, accompanied by his newly understanding friends. The week before the exams, James and Sirius finally agreed to join him and Peter in the library, but the four accomplished little work between their laughter and Mr. Jaune's harsh glares. However, thanks to the time that they had spent in the library, James managed to pass the History of Magic exam without a problem, and he rather felt as if Remus had equipped him with more knowledge than Professor Binns had over the entire year.

Still, James felt significantly more prepared for Defense Against the Dark Arts the following morning, the one exam aside from Transfiguration that he was actually looking forward to. Professor Alamanzar had set up several cages throughout the room for the practical portion of the exam, and the students took turns displaying the proper counter-spells against the creatures inside. After successfully evading a couple of doxies and a hinkypunk, the class queued in front of a boggart that Alamanzar had procured from some dark corner of the castle. Peter was the first of James' roommates to step in front of the boggart, which promptly ceased flapping like a fish on dry land as it abandoned its disguise as a sea serpent. In an instant, it had morphed into a tall figure with a pointed hat and a fierce scowl, and Peter let out a squeak before waving his wand at the advancing form of McGonagall. Immediately, the boggart's long robes stuck fast to its legs as if frozen solid; unable to move properly, it waddled slowly around the classroom, trying not to trip while the students laughed uproariously. Turning back around to face his roommates, Peter smiled almost as widely as Remus, who looked as if he might start to cry. Wiping his face, he simply stepped up to the boggart as Peter moved aside, and James was pleased to see that the boggart only transformed into a full moon, which dripped to the floor like a melting scoop of ice cream almost immediately after Remus had pulled out his wand. Taking his place in the front of the line, James watched as the boggart promptly vanished, once again leaving him foolishly standing in front of empty air. Smiling, he just turned and met his roommates' beaming faces; pocketing his wand, James marched past the whispering students and left Professor Alamanzar rubbing his chin thoughtfully in the front of the classroom.

In Potions the next day, James managed to create a passable example of the Jelly-Head Potion, although it unfortunately lacked the smoking film that most of the other students' concoctions had. Professor Slughorn accepted Lily's vial with a beam, but Snape refused to respond when the portly wizard clapped him appreciatively on the shoulder, even stumbling forward a bit as if he had not seen the tremendous hand coming his way.

"I think that he's been spending a little too much time in the library," Sirius told James, snickering as he pointed out the dark bags under Snape's eyes.

Although he snorted in agreement, James also felt worn out by the end of the week, and he began to long for the week's conclusion. Tapping his fingers throughout the entirety of the Herbology exam, he glanced repeatedly at the pink-tinged sky and ignored his Leaping Toadstools until one of them jumped out of its pot. Stuffing it back into place, he smothered its stem with dirt and dragon dung compost to prevent its escape.

"That wraps it up!" Professor Sprout called out to the students, most of whom attempted to make some final changes to the six assorted plants under their care before packing up for the night. "Leave your trowels, earmuffs, and whatever else belongs to the school by your stools!"

"I don't know who would steal these in the first place," Sirius commented, pulling off his pair of fluffy, lime-green earmuffs and throwing them down beside his Mandrake pot. "They could at least come in a better color."

"I thought that they looked rather good on you," Remus told him, quickly ducking to avoid Sirius' swing.

Leading his roommates out onto the grounds, James waved to Hagrid where he was bent over in front of his hut, tending to a patch of oversized watermelons in the dirt. "How are yeh?" Hagrid called out to the boys before turning and lugging a wheelbarrow out from behind his dwelling. Attracted to the lake by the warmth of the setting sun, James, Sirius, and Peter watched the light dwindle as Remus pulled out his Astronomy textbook to go over some last details before the next day's test.

Nearly a quarter of an hour had gone by before the sun had almost completely fallen beyond the horizon, only shedding a small sliver of orange light across the water while Hagrid continued loading and unloading watermelons from his wheelbarrow. Finally, a slight wind caused the boys to draw their robes closer to their chests, and Sirius suggested that they head back into the castle for a warm meal before retiring to the Gryffindor common room. No one had any objections, and James cast one final look back at Hagrid as he trekked towards the castle with his roommates. In the dim light, he could barely make out the individual melons in the monstrous wheelbarrow leaning against the hut, but he saw no trace of Hagrid. Squinting, he stared for a few moments until he spotted the Gamekeeper's giant silhouette come back around from behind the cabin, and James turned back around satisfactorily.

After a moment, however, a guttural cry from behind made him spin around with the others, and Peter let out a gasp as several lean, dark creatures ran out of the Forbidden Forest and leapt onto Hagrid's side. Thrashing, the oversized man threw a fist at one of his assailants, but a few of the larger animals jumped forward and latched onto him with gleaming teeth. Dashing out of the hut, Fang barked threateningly at the mass of writhing muscles and fur, and Hagrid gave one last yell before the dark shapes dragged him underneath the shadow of the Forbidden Forest. Although drastically outnumbered, Fang leapt after his master and engaged in a short tussle with one of the straggling creatures; however, before James could blink, Fang let out a yelp and ran back behind the cabin, his tail hidden between his legs. As the grounds once again quieted to their previous languid state, Hagrid vanished without a trace into the trees, taking all evidence of the struggle with him.

"Hagrid!" James yelled, and he and his roommates quickly rushed down to the abandoned hut. When James reached the wheelbarrow lying on its side, he dodged two watermelons as they fell out of place and grabbed Fang by the scruff of his neck.

"What happened? Where's Hagrid?" he demanded, but the boarhound only whimpered and spun in an agitated circle.

"Lumos!" Remus cried, facing the Forbidden Forest and pulling out his wand. Immediately, the tip ignited with a brilliant flash of white light, and the others peered into the trees.

"He's gone!" Peter cried, aghast.

"I don't see him anywhere!" Sirius exclaimed, turning to James.

"We have to go after him!" James announced, pulling out his own wand.

"We can't just go in there!" Remus objected. "We aren't allowed, and someone has to tell the professors!"

"We can't wait for those things to tear Hagrid apart!" James argued, but he halted for a moment as he considered Remus' words. After a beat, an idea struck him, and he reached into his pocket to pull out his two-way mirror.

"You go back to the castle and tell the professors," he told Sirius, who nodded. "Once you return, contact me so that I can tell you where we are."

"Hurry up and find him!" Sirius told James before turning around. "Come on, Peter!" he commanded, dragging the smaller boy away by his sleeve.

"But what were those things?" Peter protested, jerking back, and Sirius paused long enough to share a glance with James.

"I couldn't see them properly," James replied, but he threw a rapid glance at Remus, who promptly narrowed his eyes. "I know it sounds strange, but they almost looked like . . . well . . ."

Crossing his arms, Remus glowered. "You can't be serious. Not that nonsense about werewolves again."

"I'm only saying that they looked like werewolves," James replied, and Remus threw his hands into the air.

"It could have been a pack of wild dogs, Manticores, or Sphinxes!" he exclaimed, and James opened his mouth to defend himself.

"It doesn't matter, does it?" Sirius interrupted, making both James and Remus turn to him. "Hagrid's in danger, and I don't think that he cares whether he was attacked by a herd of Wampuses or a couple of Puffskeins! He needs our help!"

"You're right," James agreed, pushing away thoughts of argument as he turned to Remus. "I'm going in. Either come with me or go get help."

After glancing at Sirius and Peter, Remus sighed and shook his head. "Someone has to go with you."

"Hurry up!" James told the others, and Sirius and Peter broke into a run towards the distant castle. Leading the way into the Forbidden Forest, James did not slow as Fang growled behind him and slunk in his footsteps. The last thing that James saw as he and Remus disappeared into the gloom was the sun blinking out over the horizon just behind Hagrid's hut, illuminating the cabin in an orange haze for a fraction of a second just before the darkness enveloped them.