A/N: Oh look who isn't dead! Sorry for my absence. I went to Disneyland! Anyway, on to the story. 10 points to the house who can spot my Doctor Who reference.

As always, if you see the fiction under the name of anyone that isn't going by the name Kasey Marie, rmhill10, Admin Sev, or SlytherinRamona, they are frauds, use sticks to beat them and contact me.

"Remmy, get off meee!" Sirius whined and buried his head into a pillow. Remus sat triumphantly on top of him, eating chocolate

"Nope, steal my chocolate and pay the price." Remus said simply. Sirius groaned, and Remus smirked a little, there was simply nothing he loved more than good times with friends…

OoOoOoOo

It was December 24th, and Remus was nowhere to be seen. The boys woke up to see an empty four poster where Remus should have been sleeping. He was not in the Great Hall when the boy went down for breakfast, nor was he in the Gryffindor common room. They checked every male bathroom, seeing if Remus may have slipped or had a terrible stomach ache, then checked Madam Pomfrey to see if he checked into hospital wing. She merely shook her head sadly, knowing exactly where Remus was, but never telling the boys where their friend was. A disheartened James slumped against the entrance to the hospital wing, sighing.

"He's disappeared without a trace. How are we to ever properly celebrate Christmas Eve without Scars?" he said sadly. Sirius looked up.

"Hey, it's only about two in the afternoon. He'll show up eventually." He said encouragingly. Peter nodded, agreeing, and the three boys made their way to the front of the school, planning to hex Snape or something of the sort. Whatever came to mind. They did indeed find Snape (he too stayed behind for Christmas) and taunted him on his robes and hair. It soon turned to a battle of the wands between James and Severus, where Severus was bested. The slytherin boy ran to the hospital wing, if just to keep his nose from growing any longer, while the other boys laughed and pointed. But even the time they were done, Remus was nowhere to be found.

By supper, the boys were worried. James looked over at Dumbledore, who sat with the other teachers

"I wonder if he knows anything?" he thought aloud. Peter shrugged, and Sirius shook his head.

"What will you do? Are you going to walk right up to the man? 'Oh sorry, most important wizard ever. I know you're busy eating and all, but my friend seems to be missing suddenly. Is that treacle tart?'" James snorted.

"Well how else do you see him? As far as I'm concerned, the only way to get into the headmaster's office is through troublemaking. And I'm no longer in a mischievous mood." James bent over his food, staring at it, while Sirius rubbed his best friend's back. Peter even stopped eating to help comfort his friends. It seemed the three boys were a little incomplete without their brainy best mate. None of them noticed Dumbledore getting up from the table early, leaving for his office.

OoOoOoOo

"Are you sure you don't want to notify your friends with a made up illness?" Dumbledore asked, the old man stood in his office next to Remus Lupin, who shook his head.

"No sir, I don't think they'd fall for it anyway. They're smarter than they look." Remus allowed himself a small smile. Dumbledore smiled back and patted the boy's shoulder.

"I know this might be the last thing you want to hear, but I'm terribly sorry you must spend your holidays in such a state." The old man said, Remus nodded, feeling tears form around his eyes. It just wasn't fair. He wanted to be outside in the snow with his friends, making snow-bots; or in the common rooms, wrestling Sirius. He in no way wanted to spend it holed up in the Shrieking Shack, during a painful transformation. Madam Pomfrey came up and with Dumbledore, Remus was transported to passageway to his prison before the moon came out. Before sneaking off into the hole under the Whomping Willow, Dumbledore said something softly to the lycan.

"I feel inclined to inform you that your friends have been searching for you all day." He said simply before letting Remus go. Remus felt like crying a little, he couldn't have asked for better friends, and it hurt to know that they had taken such a notice to his absence. He nodded and went through the tunnel.

Meanwhile, back at the common rooms, Sirius Black was reading The Complete Guide to Lycanthropes and watching James and Peter play Exploding Snap. The scene was a bit gloomy, as everyone had Remus on their mind. Sirius himself kept thinking back to his scars. He found it kind of funny that he considered Remus his best friend, yet did not know the real story behind the scars. The marks that covered his friends face were forever shrouded in mystery, a story as missing as Remus himself. He looked out of the window only to catch the sunset.

"An entire day, and not a single Lupin. This is a strange, sad feeling, boys." He said. James grunted and Peter nodded.

"Perhaps he's in the woods…" Peter mumbled. James looked up from his game and grinned broadly

"I got it, men! He's in the woods!"

"I just sa-"

"Hush Peter! Plans must be made to hunt down the elusive Remus Lupin!" James proclaimed. Peter sighed, rolling his eyes. The three boys together hatched a plan and were under the invisibility cloak in a matter of minutes. James kept glancing over to his shaggy rebel friend, who looked a sorry state.

"Can't shake the feeling that we have the answer right in front of us." Sirius finally said while on their way out of the castle. They walked slowly into the woods.

"Yeah, yeah. Either that or this is one of Remus' jokes." James mused. Peter blinked.

"Remus knows how to pull jokes?" the tubby blonde asked. Sirius laughed and James joined in.

"Okay, maybe not. But it's a possibili- OW! James, what'd you stop walking for? I ran right into you!"

"Ugh… how do you think I feel, getting your body slammed into mine! I think we hit a tree. You okay Peter?"

"…"

"Peter?"

"Peter?"

"SNAKES!"

Peter took off in a mad dash, and the two other boys looked down. There they saw dozens of baby pythons, both boys screamed in a rather high pitch. The snakes started wriggling up their legs and hissing

"MERLIN, WE WALKED RIGHT INTO A SNAKE HOME!" Sirius yelled, "AHHH! WHAT SPELL DO I USE TO… OH MY MERLIN!"

"WE'RE GOING TO DIE! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! WHERE'S PETER!? OH GOD HE'S DEAD!" James and Sirius started screaming, running back into the castle and tripping all over themselves, throwing snakes off their legs. Honestly, it was a miracle no one heard them. When they reached the castle door they ran in, finding a pale face Peter panting, as it had been ages since the tubby boy had actually ran. James and Sirius huffed and hugged Peter.

"We thought they got you!" Sirius yelled, tearing up dramatically.

"How did you manage to escape?" James said at the same time. Peter looked between the two and squirmed.

"Let go of me, weirdoes'!"

OoOOOO

The boy had found their way back into their dorms, tired and still shaken up by the snakes. Peter found a bit of comfort food in his chest, and silently munched on Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. Sirius was looking about the window, suffering from the agony of defeat. James whistled a tune while looking up at the ceiling.

"I miss Remmy." Sirius muttered. "You two are boring. Tubby rarely speaks and Glasses is all mouth, no head. The both of you are too thick to function."

"Hey! Peter isn't that tubby!" James said. "And… I'm not thick! You're thick! You're Mr. Thick Thick Thickity…"

"Oh just shut up!" Peter groaned through beans. Soon after the three boys went to bed. Al but Sirius, who still stared out the window, looking in particular at the Whomping Willow. Why was that even here? Certainly it didn't get planted because of its good looks. And no one was allowed to go near it…

What's so dangerous about an ugly tree?

Why'd they call it a Whomping Willow?

Sirius had to find out!

Sneaking out of the room and the common rooms, Sirius tip-toed his way to the entrance, he was just about to go out to the Willow when suddenly…

"What're you doing up?" sneered a voice behind him. Sirius gasped and spun around to face Severus Snape.

"Ah! Nothing, nothing at all." Severus narrowed his eyes while Sirius regained his composure. "And anyway, I should ask the same about you, Snivelus!" the greasy boy growled at the name.

"Why would you need to sneak out at three AM? I'm out because I was busy working on a potion." Severus crossed his arms, tapping his wand on his forearm and awaiting a response. Sirius bit his lip, trying to think of a good lie to say but not coming up with much. He sighed and tore his wand from his robes, remembering a useful spell the boys learned practicing on themselves.

"Confundo!" Sirius yelled. Impressively, the third year managed to successfully confuse the Slytherin with the charm. He muttered a simple order to Snape "Now go to bed."

"Bed… Time…" Snape said, walking slowly back to his room. Sirius smirked, proud of the fact that such a young wizard could conjure that spell. Young Black went on out into the darkness, going toward that tree.