John found himself sighing as he worked on a diagram of the moon for Astronomy. It was the 20th of November (time really flew by when you were surrounded by the antics of the second year Gryffindor boys) and Remus hadn't been in class that day. After classes, Sirius had disappeared to the library; something very odd to the rest of them. Remus and James were the ones who enjoyed studying (well, James only when it came to transfiguration). John always approached the action with resigned necessity, Peter would rather avoid it, and Sirius was very vocal in his dislike for the task. Not even bringing up the pranks he could come up with was enough incentive for the boy to study. Despite this, Sirius's grades never suffered. He seemed to do well in classes with little effort, and had a very lax approach to school on the academic side of things.

John realized his thought process had left his Astronomy work when he wrote 'Mare Sirius' instead of 'Mare Serenitatis' and hurriedly scratched that out. It had been last Wednesday, after their Defence lesson with Ravenclaw and Astronomy lesson that night that left Sirius oddly quiet. He said nothing when Remus asked, though John thought he saw Sirius's grey eyes linger on the scars on Remus's face. Even when Remus had gone to owl his parents, Sirius had refused to say anything until he was certain. Now it was Monday and Sirius had bolted from Defence so quickly they barely had time to ask him where he was going.

After an hour of slaving over his chart of the moon, John triumphantly put his (admittedly shoddy) homework away and took a moment to attempt melting into the armchair he'd claimed. Peter looked over at him, looking somewhat envious, while James was tossing Sirius's tennis ball up and down. John wasn't sure when he'd nicked that from him. He sighed, looking around the common room. Third year Davey Gudgeon seemed to be trying to convince fourth year Bertha Jorkins to go out with him. She said she'd do it if he could touch the trunk of the Whomping Willow. John thought that was a horrible plan and hoped it wasn't becoming a trend.

"James! All of you!" Sirius shouted as he scrambled into the common room, nearly tripping over himself as he tried not to drop the heavy tome in his hands. He turned quite a few heads.

"Where's the fire?" James joked, sitting up straight. He stashed the tennis ball with the intent of hiding it from his friend, but Sirius elected to ignore that for the time being.

"No fire, but this is important." He said, then looked around to eye the others in the common room. "Not here though." Sirius darted up to the dormitory, not bothering to wait and see if his friends were following him.

John, James, and Peter exchanged looks, raising their brows at each other. They packed up their belongings before following Sirius, wondering if he was off his rocker. When they reached their dorm room, Sirius was pacing, his eyes trained on the book he was holding. He gestured for the three of them to sit down, though he himself stayed standing for a moment longer. He closed the door, locked it, then looked disappointed. John thought he heard him mumble something about wishing he could barricade it, but there was no furniture in the room save for their beds. Sirius plopped himself into the empty place in the circle and none of them spoke for a while.

"What's going on? You're acting weird, mate." James said.

"Er…" Sirius hesitated, glancing down at the book in his hands. It didn't have a title visible and black leather of the cover had a pale circle on it. Peter eyed it suspiciously.

"Did that come from the Restricted Section?" The mousy boy asked, his voice trembling.

"What were you doing in the library of all places anyways?" John asked, wanting to slouch but feeling the situation demanded proper respect. Not that any of them knew what was going on.

"It's about Remus." That got everyone's attention. "I think I know what's wrong with him." He didn't elaborate.

"Well go on then!" James exclaimed.

"What were we studying in Astronomy?" Sirius asked them.

"The moon, duh." James rolled his eyes. "Get on with it mate, we're not here to help you with your charts."

Peter gasped suddenly, his beady little eyes on the book Sirius had in his lap. He seemed to have realized something and his breathing quickened. John could see his mind working a mile a minute. James only spared him a glance, still staring at Sirius with confusion. John hadn't noticed before, but Sirius seemed nervous. His eyebrows were drawn and his voice had been thick, like there was a lump in his throat he just couldn't get to go away. Even his grip on the book was tighter than it needed to be. James didn't seem to be making the connection Peter had. Him and John continued to be confused by their two friends' clear feelings of fear.

"Lupin is a w-werewolf." Peter stuttered, voice muffled as he covered the lower part of his face with his hands.

"Werewolves are real?" John's cheeks tinged pink at the incredulous stares he received. "I'm a muggleborn!" He squawked before they could say anything.

"I can't believe we've been sleeping in the same room as a… a werewolf." James's voice shook and he rubbed his arm, chancing a glance at Remus's shabby trunk at the end of his bed.

"He could eat us!" Peter quivered.

"Remus wouldn't eat us." Sirius said, words harsh as he glared at Peter.

"But everyone knows-" James started.

"Nobody knows anything!" Sirius cut him off. "Have you ever met a werewolf?"

"Er… not exactly…" James mumbled.

"Sorry, I don't understand what the big deal is. Are werewolves different for wizards than the stories we muggles have?" John asked, vaguely realizing it was perhaps a bit wrong to call himself a muggle, but it had felt right in the moment.

"I don't know what the muggle stories are." James told him, and John remembered he was the only one in the room who had grown up with muggle culture. Peter was a half-blood, sure, but both of his parents were magical and hadn't exactly immersed him in muggle culture.

"They're just like, regular people who turn into wolves on the full moon." John said, not in the mood to go into any details.

"Oh. Well, I guess they're pretty much the same then." James responded.

"Do you think we should tell Professor McGonagall?" Peter asked, his eyes darting around the room. He was fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Don't you think she'd already know about it? I'm sure it's safe; there's no way the Headmaster would let anyone dangerous into the school." John said. James and Peter shifted, avoiding eye contact.

"Remus is our friend." Sirius said bluntly. "You think I don't know the things people say about werewolves? You think I haven't heard every insult that could be thrown at them from my dear old mum's filthy mouth?"

"Yeah, but Sirius, my mum… She always says rumors come from someplace real." James said, hesitant. Sirius practically growled.

"What if I told you I was a werewolf right now?" Sirius asked, hypothetically.

Silence hung in the air between the four of them. James looked guilty. Peter seemed to have forgotten how to speak. John wasn't sure what to think. Remus was still the same boy they all knew, wasn't he? The soft spoken scholar with a penchant for subtle mischief hadn't changed at all, they just knew a little more about him. John wondered what sorts of things Sirius's mother had spouted about werewolves.

"H-how can you be so sure?" Peter asked, his tiny voice barely even managing to leave his mouth. He was pointedly looking at the book in Sirius's hands instead of his face.

"Because everything my mum says is a load of hippogriff dung, and if I know anything about Remus, it's that he's one of us." Sirius said firmly, jabbing his thumb at his heart. He pushed the book out into the middle of their circle.

"You never told us if the book was from the restricted section or not." John pointed out. He was probably taking the news of Remus apparently being a werewolf the lightest of the group.

"Er… I don't actually know, I swiped it from a Slytherin. Boy, I don't wanna see the look on his face when he realizes it's missing." Sirius shuddered.

"Huh. So all that time in the library was useless?" John asked, opening the book as the other two boys were still apprehensive.

"It wasn't useless!" Sirius's cheeks flushed. "This one just happened to be the best book on the subject. All the other ones were biased."

"I'm sorry." James said, breaking his silence as he tried to read the text upside down. "You're right, Sirius. Remus is our friend." He adopted a look of steely resolve. "Remus is one of us, and damned if I'll let something like this convince me otherwise."

"B-but…" Peter squeaked and said no more. He simply nodded, though John thought he didn't look so committed.

"Nothing has to change around here. Remus is still Remus, werewolf or not." Sirius said.

The four of them stayed in the circle for a while longer before they all began to tire. They retreated to bed. The next day, they found it difficult to concentrate in class knowing their friend was in the hospital wing. The book Sirius had nicked from the Slytherin had contained helpful information, and John wanted to go through it more thoroughly later. For now, they had to get through classes. At lunch, they whispered amongst themselves, wondering what they could do to make things easier for Remus.

By the time they showed up for double Charms with Hufflepuff, they had a few ideas. They all made an effort to make an extra set of notes for Remus, and they asked around for any chocolate the older students may have bought from Hogsmeade. James suggested they find the kitchens sometime. Surely they would have chocolate down there? Sirius nearly drooled at the thought of having access to the Hogwarts kitchens. John had to remind him he couldn't cook, and it probably wouldn't be of much use to him. When Remus returned, they would make a point to try and help him if any opportunity arose. It was only a vague sort of plan, but it was better than nothing.

They didn't wait for Remus to return to them, instead deciding to stop by the Hospital Wing on Wednesday during lunch. They would have cut class, had John not insisted on going to Herbology and Transfiguration. Perhaps he wouldn't have cared if they'd had History of Magic, but that wasn't important. Lunch was the perfect opportunity regardless, as they had a small window of time when the mediwitch would be in the Great Hall to eat.

John found it even harder to focus in Transfiguration than usual. His eyes kept darting to the door, knowing this class was the only thing standing between him and the Hospital Wing. His will to turn a parrot into a… what were they doing again? He glanced over at James, spotting the other boy with a vase on his desk. McGonagall had already given him 10 points to Gryffindor for his quick grasp on the spellwork. John bit his cheek and kept his rude thoughts to himself.

"Mr. Smith, if you'd stay behind a moment?" Professor McGonagall spoke above the sound of the class packing up.

"Er, alright." John wondered if he were in trouble.

He gathered his belongings and walked to her desk, sending a helpless shrug to his friends. Most classmates either ignored him or sent him pitying glances. John was pretty sure he hadn't done anything to break any rules… Unless he was in trouble for the book on werewolves? But he hadn't even taken that! Sirius had! His foot tapped incessantly, hoping this wouldn't take long. Anxiety had made it hard to breathe by the time she finally spoke to him.

"Is everything alright?" Professor McGonagall asked. "You were making good progress in all your classes until recently."

"Alright?" John blinked, his foot stilling as his anxieties were pushed from the forefront of his thoughts. "Er…"

He hadn't realized his focus had dropped in anything but Transfiguration, which had always been difficult for him anyways. Had it really been all his classes? How did she even know how he was doing in his other classes? Wait. She was his Head of House, of course she knew. Now that she'd pointed it out, however, he had been distracted. His potions with Herbie had been of below average quality, the plant he was caring for in Herbology had wilted slightly, his charmwork was shoddy, and he hadn't even taken notes in Defence. Not that he'd ever really been good at any subject aside from Herbology (and perhaps Potions). His Head of House watched him, her hands folded on her desk but relaxed. She waited.

"I'm just… worried about Remus." John mumbled, looking down. Surely McGonagall would know about Remus's condition? Was there any need to hide it from her? Her face softened.

"Remus has an… unfortunate condition, but he will be alright." The professor said delicately.

"Is there anything we can do to help him?" John asked, stepping closer, a crease in his brow. "I don't know what it's like to transform like that, but he looked horrible when I saw him in the Hospital Wing last year." McGonagall looked taken aback at the mention of the transformation, and John suspected she thought he didn't know the extent of Remus's condition.

"All you can do for him is be his friend." McGonagall said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "He is being taken care of in the best way we can provide."

"Sorry for getting distracted in class." John said.

"It's alright, so long as you pick your grades up. I can't have one of my students falling behind now, can I?" She smiled. "My door is always open if you need to talk." She paused, letting the offer really sink in.

"Do you have any chocolate?" John asked before she could continue.

"Er, it just so happens I do, but do not expect me to have some on my person at all times." She told him, opening a drawer in her desk. "The headmaster stopped by between classes and handed it to me, though I have no idea why."

"Thank you, Professor!" John chirped, taking the chocolate bar. Two of the eight squares had been eaten, but he didn't think it would be a problem.

"Well, off you trot. You shouldn't miss lunch."

John nodded and rushed out of the class, not telling her he wasn't exactly headed for the Great Hall. He thought she'd seemed rather motherly, though he had to wonder why she'd taken any interest in him. None of the other classmates had been singled out by her, save for James. It made sense with James, though. He was gifted in her subject; a fact that perhaps made John's performance in the class even worse as he was constantly comparing his own poor skills to his friend. So why in the world had she wanted to speak with him specifically? She'd done it last year after the exams as well.

Shaking that thought away, he hurried off to the Hospital Wing. His friends had left without him and he wasn't sure he would be able to reach it before Madam Pomfrey returned from her brief lunch break. He glanced down from the moving staircase he was waiting on and felt his heart rate spike as he spotted Avery and Mulciber walking up the stairs that would lead to the exact landing he was on. It almost felt like the castle sensed his panic, as the stairs moved faster than he'd ever seen them move before. He ran the rest of the way to the Hospital Wing and nearly collapsed as he went through the double doors, lungs like shrivelled figs. Relief washed over him, though his eyes burned and he felt like a coward.

He'd run away. What sort of Gryffindor was he? What kind of boy was he? John hurriedly wiped the wetness from his eyes as he regained his breath. Boys don't cry, he told himself, repeating it until he was sure he'd stopped. And for that matter, men don't run from fights. He wondered if Professor Vertstone could help him with defencive magic. Or Professor Flitwick? He'd heard the little old wizard was a dueling champion. Sufficiently distracted from his previous line of thought, John tried to listen for any sound of Madam Pomfrey.

"Hello?" John called out, realizing the room was quiet.

"Oh, it's just John." James said from behind a curtain hiding the same bed Remus had been in last time. John went over, noticing they had drawn a chair for him. He sat in it and took a moment to focus on breathing.

"What did McGonagall want?" Sirius asked, his voice quiet as Remus was still sleeping. His chair was closer to the bed than James and Peter's.

"Oh, just something about grades. I haven't been paying a lot of attention lately apparently." He tried to shrug it off like it didn't bother him. He scooted his chair closer to Remus and sighed. "At least he looks better than last time." He commented, pulling the chocolate bar he'd received from McGonagall out of his pocket.

"This is better?" James exclaimed, eyebrows knitted together with concern.

"Yes, much. I wonder why?" John hummed, ignoring Peter's shaky mumbling and instead focusing on Remus shifting slightly in bed.

"Remus?" Sirius leaned over the boy.

"Si… rius?" Remus asked after prying his eyes open. Sirius smiled at him.

"You're alive!"

"Mm…"

"Why wouldn't he be alive?" John asked, raising his eyebrow.

"He didn't look very alive." Peter pointed out.

Remus squeezed his eyes shut, his nose scrunching up a bit. It was sort of cute. John buried that thought and watched Remus look around at all of them. He didn't look very panicked, and the movement of his head was sluggish. His eyes weren't entirely focused, and John determined that he was definitely sedated. He wondered how magical sedation worked? Before anyone could say anything, he held the chocolate bar up. Remus licked his chapped lips.

"Did the smell of chocolate wake you up?" John asked, amused.

"... Maybe?" Remus posed it as a question.

"Here, give me some of that." Sirius said, taking the bar from John's hands. He started, glaring at the other boy. "Open your mouth, Remus."

Remus did so without questioning, and John heavily suspected it was because of whatever sedative charms had been placed on him. Nobody in their right mind would willingly allow Sirius to feed them anything, even if the thing in question looked to be delicious chocolate. Sometimes laxatives looked like delicious chocolate, after all. What a horrible prank the boys had pulled on Severus last month. John didn't want to remember that incident any further, as he had felt secondhand embarrassment just from watching it unfold.

"I hope we get to see you back in the dorm soon." John said.

"We've been taking notes for you!" Peter squeaked.

"And we're going to find the kitchens so you can sneak chocolate anytime you want!" James said, a grin on his face.

"What…?"

"Don't worry about it." John patted Remus's arm, taking care not to touch anything that looked bandaged.

"We'll tell you again later." Sirius added.

He put the chocolate bar on the mattress, within easy reach of Remus. John somewhat wished he'd been the one to feed Remus the chocolate, though he squashed that thought and wondered instead why Sirius had bothered to do it in the first place. Remus looked content though, so he decided not to ask. Peter's stomach growled and he blushed at the looks sent his way, mumbling as he pointed out none of them had eaten lunch. They decided to head out before they were caught by Madam Pomfrey. Lunch was still being served, so they'd be able to eat before double Potions with Slytherin.

"Tell us if you need anything." James said as he stood from his seat.

"Yeah, and we'll hex the next bloke who rags on you for anything." Sirius jabbed his wand in a threatening manner.

"We don't care what you are, Remus. You'll always be our friend." John said, his gaze soft.

"Unless he's doing wizard drugs." Peter commented.

The four of them left Remus's bedside, and though the young werewolf was still sedated, he found himself feeling a bit relieved and a bit confused. It was a normal feeling, for anyone spending time with the second year Gryffindor boys. He closed his eyes, not fully registering that all of his friends had seen him in that sorry state. Madam Pomfrey returned soon after, but he paid her no mind, only hoping she didn't notice the chocolate bar he was now hiding beneath his sheets.

Word Count: 3,551

Fanfiction is saying my word count is 3,676 but Google Docs says otherwise and I trust Docs more.

Anyways, sorry about the long wait. I've been going through some stuff. This chapter was supposed to include more than just like, two or three scenes but oh well, that's just how it worked out. I have no guarantees on what's going to happen next by the way, but I have been thinking through the plot more, and I've solidified the ending of this first part more. I will say it ends fourth year, so unfortunately you guys will not be seeing the Marauders become Animagi, but there are plenty of other fics that do that and I'll write my take on the Animagus process in Part Two of the story

I don't know when I'll be writing more of Allie's fic, so I apologize for that. I haven't been feeling very inclined to write fanfiction with college and other things going on at the moment

I hope you enjoyed this chapter regardless! I would love to read any reviews, and I'll see you next time. I love all of you, bye!