A/N: As was promised, here's the other.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the stuff J.K. Rowling created.

Chapter Nine

Remus' Big Secret

Lily and Tonks were asleep by the time I was able to escape my congratulating peers, so I didn't get a chance to question or thank them. So I laid down and tried to follow suit, but sleep would not come. Thirty minutes later I was still awake and very bored. I got up and decided to go for a walk outside.

Walking as quietly as I could without a light, I made my way down the stairs and out of the common room.

"What do you think you're doing?" the Fat Lady asked, yawing.

"I couldn't sleep," I said.

"Students aren't supposed to be out after hours, did you know that?" she asked drowsily.

"No ma'am I didn't. I'll be right back though."

She yawned again, her eyes shutting. "If I'm asleep you won't be able to get back inside until morning. If you still want to go, then go." She started to snore, and her portrait shut itself. That answered that.

"Fire," I whispered, and a tiny ball of flame appeared in my hands. I placed one hand over it that way it wouldn't wake the other pictures or cast to much light, but just enough so I could see to walk down the now still staircases.

Outside it was a beautiful, crisp night. The sky was cloudless and the full moon was big and bright, hanging high up in the sky. Everything looked so mystical bathed in the moonlight. It reminded me of home.

Since I had time on my hands, I decided I might as well explore the woods that outlined the school grounds. It was extremely quiet as I made my way towards the forest, which was strange. You'd think that you'd hear the nighttime creatures moving around. But not tonight. Something was different.

Then out of nowhere, I did hear a sound: a bloodcurdling howl, which was answered by a dog's howl. Stranger still, I understood them.

The first one said,

"You won't ever match the speed of a mighty werewolf, you flea-bitten house-dog!"

"In your dreams Moony!" the dog answered. Moony? Wasn't the Remus' weird nickname?

"Aww don't be jealous Padfoot!" And that was Sirius' nickname. What was going on here?

All of a sudden I heard footsteps. I turned around slowly and came face to face with a nine foot tall beast with silvery, scaly looking skin. It seemed to be something like a mix between a human and a wolf. Its unnaturally bright green eyes slitted when it saw me and it bared its sharp white fanged teeth and snarled. Part of me was shocked, but another part recognized him.

I took a step forward so I was right in front of him, a move only an idiot would make, I thought a few seconds later.

"Remus?" I asked.

I thought I saw a flash of recognition, but it was quickly replaced with hunger. He stood up on his hind legs, towering over me, and threw back his head and howled hungrily and triumphantly.

I stepped back and tripped over a tree root and landed on my back, looking up at him. He put a paw on either side of me, blocking any escape I had planned. This is not what I expected, I thought. I hadn't planned on dying by the teeth of my new friend. He lowered his head; his jaws ready to snap and…froze. Remus just stared at me, and then whimpered. He lept away and took off, tearing through the woods. I stood up, confused. What had stopped him?

"Remus!" I yelled. Not thinking about it, I took off after him, heedless of the danger I was throwing myself into.

"Nike! No!" Sirius yelled from behind me.

"Stop!" Was that James' voice? But I ignored them both, picking up my speed. Soon the trees and everything else was a blur. Never in my life had I run this fast. I spotted him; he was only a few feet ahead of me.

"Remus!" I yelled again. That just made him, if possible, run faster.

Then we were out of the forest, heading for an odd looking tree. I heard a groaning sound, and realized the branches were starting to move. I looked over at Remus just as he disappeared into the ground.

I heard the strange sound again, and turned, just in time to see a ten foot thick branch flying towards me. It smacked me and flung me against the trunk of the tree, eight feet off the ground. I slid down the tree and fell backwards headfirst down a hole I hadn't seen before. My head hit what I think was a rock and the world started spinning.

"Bad tree! Don't try to hit me!" squeaked a voice that sounded suspiciously like Peter's.

Ignoring the protests from my aching body, I walked quickly down an earthen passageway, which soon turned into rotting old wooden stairs. When I got to the top landing, I stopped to look and listen. I heard nothing and all I saw was that there was a railing that went around the whole room and narrow hallways that gave you access to several ancient doors. I looked over the railing and saw that there were many different levels to this old building. If you fell down that, you were as good as dead.

The floorboards creaked and I felt hot breath on the back of my neck. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

"Remus," I whispered. "Are you alright?"

A snarl was my answer.

I looked him in the eye, trying to stay calm. "Okay, maybe you're not! But you're not a cold-blooded killer."

He cocked his head to the left, like he was listening. I had to keep talking.

"I've only known you two days, but it seems like forever. It seems we've been friends for years. I know that if you kill someone, you won't be able to live with yourself." I looked over his shoulder when I heard a squeak, and whatever sense I had talked into him was lost.

He tensed, and pounced. Before he came down on top of me he was knocked into the wall. A huge black dog stood protectively in front of me, growling menacingly.

"Moony, leave her alone," a stag that stood in the door with a rat on its shoulder said in James' voice.

Remus got back up, hatred in his eyes. He lunged for the black dog and tackled him, biting. The dog kicked Remus off and growled,

"Stay away from her!'"

"Sirius?" I asked. The black dog turned to look at me with familiar blackish-grey eyes. And that was when Remus pounced. They bit, clawed, scratched, and barked at each other, getting dangerously close to the edge.

"Remus!" I screamed, and lunged forward, jumping on his back, my arms around his neck. He stood up, forgetting about Sirius, and staggered backwards by the force of my arms around his neck.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sirius growled at me.

"Saving your sorry ass," I grunted, dodging a blow from Remus' huge paw.

"Don't!" Sirius huffed. "I've got this under control."

"Right, 'cause—"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something flying towards my head, and seconds later I was in the air, flying towards the edge of the railing.

"NO!" James yelled, and he grabbed my hand just as I was about to fall past the railing, suddenly human again. "Hold on tight Nik. Don't let go." He was panicking.

I heard more sounds of dogs fighting, so I assumed Sirius was watching James' back.

James grabbed my arm with his other hand and started to slowly lift me up. I went to grab the railing but froze when James said,

"No. It'll break and take you down with it. Just hold still." He grabbed both of my arms and pulled me onto the landing through a hole in the railing.

I went to tell him thanks, but I quickly closed my eyes. Oh gods! I told myself. He's naked! Not wasting any time, James returned to stag form and ran forward, head lowered, and pinned a struggling Remus to the wall before they could fall off the edge.

"Get Nike out of here!" James grunted.

Sirius growled one last time at Remus, then limped back over to me. He bit my sleeve and then led us away from James who was struggling to keep control of Remus.

Once we were down the stairs Sirius let go of my sleeve and pressed his nose against a branch. He looked at me, and then at the hole.

"Can you not talk or something? Or are you just giving me the silent-treatment Padfoot?"

"Climb up the hole Nike," he snapped. I detected confusion in his voice. I did as he said and was relieved to find the tree wasn't in attack-mode. I leaned against the tree, exhaustion setting in. Sirius came up out of the hole, human (and thank Merlin clothed)again. For a moment we just stood there looking at each other, now that there was no danger.

I noticed he had bite and scratch marks in several places and was bleeding pretty badly. There was pain in his eyes, yet he still looked alert and ready to fight.

"Are you okay?" I asked finally.

To my surprise, he laughed. But it made him sound completely mad.

"After all you've seen and just been through, you're asking me if I'm okay? Do you not realize you came close to dying twice, no, four fucking times tonight?" He shook his head, exasperated. "What is with you? Why the hell did you jump on his back in the first place? Why are you you?"

"Well I'm sorry, but you look pretty beat up," I growled, crossing my arms over my chest, ignoring everything that he said.

"Have you seen yourself?" he retorted.

"I'm just trying to be considerate!"

He sighed. "This is not how I expected you to react."

"You expected me to run away screaming my head off?"

"Somewhere along those lines. But again, clearly I underestimated you and your…uh…abilities."

"Come here before you bleed to death." I was confused at the way he said 'abilities'.

He sat down next to me. "So you're a doctor too?"

"No, but I've healed my own injuries before and believe you me I've had way worse than this." I placed a hand on his shoulder and closed my eyes, thinking about his wounds closing and the pain going away. I felt warmth flow from me into him, and when I opened my eyes he was as good as new.

He studied me with an unreadable expression. "Thank you."

"No problem."

"Your turn." I started to protest but he cut me off. "You obviously feel nothing, but you're scratched up pretty bad." Sirius took out his wand and pointed it at me, muttering a few words I couldn't catch. He put his wand away, satisfied, and leaned back against the tree.

"Are we safe here?" I asked after a moment.

"Yeah. James won't let him out of there until the moon sets."

"How long has he been like that?" I asked hesitantly.

"He was turned when he was five, if that's what you mean."

"Poor Remus. It must be horrible for him. Is that why you and James and Peter became…well, whatever you are?"

"Animagi? Uh-huh, but no one knows we are. We kind of became Animagi illegally. Anyways, it's easier for him to cope that way. It makes him forget that he's a 'monster'. When he's made the transformation, he keeps his human mind and not the beastly mind. James and I picked bigger animals that way we could restrain him if something like tonight would happen. Peter chose a rat so he could slip past the Whomping Willow–this tree–without getting hit so he could hit the switch that stops the branches from moving, allowing us to get through."

"That tree's vicious."

"It is," he agreed.

"I finally understand your nicknames."

Sirius smiled. "They're kind of an inside joke. But they carry a lot of truth with them."

"Why'd Remus run off the first time instead of killing me? No one was there to stop him."

He was about to say something, but hesitated. "I don't know. Maybe some part of him remembered you." I didn't think it was a whole lie, but he was leaving something out. But I was too tired to press him for details.

"You guys have managed to keep this a secret for quite awhile, haven't you? Does anyone else know?"

"No one besides for us five. It'll stay that way, right?"

I glared at him. "Do you really think that I'd betray you guys like that?"

"Nope, but you keep surprising me tonight."

"Wh—"

"You better get some sleep. We'll have to sneak back inside in a few hours."

"But I'm not—"

"Don't lie to me," he said. "I can tell."

"Fine." I leaned back against the tree and closed my eyes. I was gonna have a stiff neck later.

I felt a hand on my arm and I moved. My head was resting against something softer. I opened my eyes and found that I was leaning against Sirius' chest.

"Probably more comfortable then the tree," he muttered, already half asleep.

"Thanks," I said, probably for the hundredth time that day.

"What are friends for?" he replied. I closed my eyes again, and sleep came immediately.

A/N: See….Sirius can be sweet when he wants to! Nike was probably weirded out by that…but she'll get used to him. And Remus' furry little problem…I will love writing on the full moon nights. Sadly I won't put many of them in the books, but there will be a few.

But I wonder what made Remus stop from killing her the first time…don't you? Or how she ran faster than ever before. We'll find out later, won't we?

Next chapter Nike is introduced to how they get around.

Hope you liked it! Please review!

Nike