The great hall of Hogwarts was a cacophony of jovial chitter chatter of students. Excitement levels ran high to be back together after their winter recess; plates and forks click clacked amongst the various house tables. James and Lilly sat together with eyes sparkling between each other whilst discussing the upcoming quidditch match.

Remus took another bite of his warm buttery mashed potatoes, listening to Sirius' mixture of woeful comments about his family nearly wiping him off their family tree and his relieved comments of gratitude to be back to school away from them at last.

Peter sat next to Remus unsurprisingly stuffing his face with a heaping jumbled pile of food from the impressive welcome back feast laid out before them. Remus suppressed a laugh at how much Peter displayed rat-like features in the way his front teeth quickly nibbled on a pork chop bone.

As he scraped another portion of mashed potatoes onto his fork, he noticed a strange flicker of light blinked from his entire white dinner plate. He looked up with a mischievous smile at his mates, his eyes darting rapidly between them to determine which of them had cast this daft prank upon him. However, they each appeared oblivious to it.

Remus glanced down again at his plate and noticed his food was magically shifting into a familiar pattern that filled him with a sense of sick dread. Then the plate began to float upwards in front of him, the food vanished, and a white glow increased in intensity. Dark rounded spots on the plate flattened into a distinct arrangement causing a disturbing cold chill to creep along his skin.

Wait. What...what was happening?

No. Not here. Please not here.

Remus looked down in trepidation feeling the horrifyingly familiar growth of his fingernails painfully morphing into claws while fur sprouted unnaturally from his skin. The plate had become the moon in front of him and he was transforming in front of the entire school. The bursting pain of his skull shifting into the cursed shape of a werewolf raged inside of him.

He couldn't stop it. He couldn't even push or slide himself under the table to hide from the others. He could do nothing but helplessly transform in front of everyone. Students everywhere now had their heads turned in horror watching him. There was nothing he could do. There was nothing he could do but simply sit there making a complete humiliating spectacle of himself. Perhaps making spectacle of himself would at least be better then biting someone.

But would they be safe from him? That truly was his worst fear ; the moon causing him to recklessly bite someone.

God, surely one of them would cast a stupefy spell upon him any second now. Come on, someone stop staring and stop him.

The white glow from the plate shone brighter and brighter with increasing painful intensity. He squinted holding up a wretched werewolf paw between the spheroid and himself trying to block the terrible blinding lunar light.

POOF - everything instantly turned white which now completely obscured his vision.

Suddenly, the entire scene shifted and changed locations. The white light slowly faded away like fog. He was not in the great hall anymore. He was somewhere else.

Where though?

It was not Hogwarts. It felt like a familiar location he had visited before in the Muggle world.

As the whiteness faded away, he looked down to check his hand... if it was a hand. Thank Merlin it was indeed his hand, a human hand again and not the wretched werewolf paw. He was with his mother. They were walking swiftly through the streets of London.

Where was she going in such a hurry?

She kept glancing around as if she was searching for something. Somehow he immediately knew they were heading to meet his father to go to Diagon Alley. He had seen her like this before. It was probably to get school supplies. That was usually the only time they visited London.

A strange, rhythmic sound whacked repeatedly behind him. He turned around but nothing was there. There was only Muggles seemingly oblivious to the sound, bustling about the busy sidewalk. The sound continued, though, loudly in Remus's ears. Whack, whack, whack, whack. He could not escape it.

"Mum. Mum! What is that sound?" he asked her desperately.

Hope Lupin gazed at him silently in confusion. He gazed back at her with a pleading expression. She only shook her head at him unknowingly.

Whack, whack, whack, whack.

Again, he spun around this time and reached for his wand he usually kept at his side. But his wand was not there. God, he hated that feeling. He was unarmed and hated feeling so vulnerable. His wand had grown to become like an extra limb to him. This time he saw the glowing face of Big Ben towering above him. He turned to tell his mother. But she was frozen like a statue... like she had been stupefied.

"Mum!" he cried again but as he reached for her he paused. Something odd caught his eye about his own hand that made him stop in his tracks.

His hand was changing; still partly skin yet also sprouting dark fur.

No, not this again, please Merlin no. Others, strangers on the street had paused to gape at him. They just stood there nearby facing him motionless with expressions of curiosity. He was transforming again.

Whack, whack, whack...

Why was that bloody clock so loud?

The gigantic face of Big Ben now floated away from its magnificent tower and morphed into a full moon shape floating towards him.

No No. Not here. Go away.

It continued the obnoxious whacking noise. He tried to cover his ears but it wouldn't stop. He didn't want to hurt anyone. He never wanted to hurt anyone; no one deserved it. His mum, or others, or any innocent people that were too close by could be bitten by him. Noooooo.

White light blinded him once again. The familiar excruciating pain from mandibular and tooth expansion intensified.

He didn't want to bite anyone. He never did. No. Merlin please noooooooooooooo!

"Remus! Remus! Wake up! Wake up, mate. Wake up! Come out of it, lad. Come on. Wake up!"

Remus blinked his eyes open. When he focused his blurry eyes back strait he saw Sirius was shaking his shoulder and holding a wand with a blinding glow in between them.

Remus was drenched in cold sweat and he gasped huge breaths of air. He felt like he had just popped up over the surface of deep water after being submerged underwater too long. He grabbed Sirius' arm with a firm grip to steady himself and just gave him a frantic pleading stare. He was at a loss for words.

"Easy. Easy, mate. You're safe. It was all just a dream. It's just me. Padfoot. It's me and the others. We all heard you hollering this time. Crikey, it must of been bad."

Remus simply nodded in agreement and then looked around the dark dorm room to orient himself. His vision always because more enhanced at seeing in the dark when the time grew close to the full moon.

Peter and James were sitting up in their beds silently watching him. Their faces looked worried but mostly were heavy with pity. Merlin, he couldn't stand to be pitied. He turned away from them sheepishly and felt his face grow warm.

"I do apologize... I, I do apologize for waking all of you," he finally managed to tell them softly.

He was still somewhat out of breath but now feeling a bit more calm. Though the anxiety meter had dropped down some notches inside of him, he still couldn't bring himself to meet their gazes. They were too kind to tolerate his frequent nightmares. He hated that he woke them. They didn't deserve to have their sleep interrupted.

He didn't deserve their friendship.

Remus squeezed his eyes shut in embarrassment. He focused on steadying his shaky breaths in and out.

1-2-3-4 inhale, pause, 1-2-3-4 exhale.

It dawned on him that his hand was still squeezing Sirius's arm. He relaxed his fingers and dropped his hand down limply onto his bed. Sirius didn't seem to mind the iron grip Remus had fixed upon him. But when he let go of his arm he still muttered, "Oh sorry."

"Nox," Sirius whispered and the light at the tip of his wand ceased glowing. He embraced Remus with a light hug and replied, "It's quite all right, Moony…quite all right. Rest easy now, mate." Then after a quick smooch on top of Remus' sweaty head, Sirius left his bedside; scrambling in a canine-like manner on all fours through the dark dorm room back to his own bed.

"No harm done, mate," James called out reassuringly from across the room.

Remus heard a crinkling sound in the room and suddenly Peter tossed something onto his bed. It landed with a thud on the rumpled blanket over his legs.

"Eat it. You n-need it more than I do," Wormtail declared in the dark.

Before Remus had even reached down to grab it, his heightened sense of smell close to the full moon immediately identified it as a Honey-dukes bar of chocolate. Remus turned to Peter and gratefully whispered, "Cheers, mate."

Then he eagerly unwrapped the golden foil, broke off a small piece and quickly popped it into his mouth. Unfortunately, he had learned one of the joys of lycanthropy meant he could only tolerate a limited intake of chocolate. He had learned to truly savor a small bit at a time.

At lightening speed, the delicious sweetness on his tongue traveled from there to his innermost depths; where it soothed his tortured soul. Chocolate always seemed to faithfully chase away the dark chill of the relentless haunting of the moon. He made a mental note to himself that he really ought to make it a regular practice to keep at least a bit of chocolate in his pocket at the ready.

"It was the moon again, wasn't it? It's going to be tomorrow, isn't it, after my quidditch game. I'll put a brew on."

James asked knowingly while getting up from his bed, lighting his wand and beginning to fiddle with a tea kettle near the little stove in the center of the dorm room. Remus' enhanced night vision could see the details of his funny hair sticking up in odd directions instead of merely silhouetted shadows.

James pointed his lighted wand and fussed with his spectacles to better see the tea kettle. As Remus looked around the room scanning the activity of his mates, it seemed that none of them felt like settling back down to sleep after his startling verbal outbursts after it jerked them out of their slumber. Remus sighed and replied in a somewhat shaky voice,

"Yes. But, I'd rather not talk about it. Perhaps tomorrow night, I think it would be best if you three don't come see me in your animagus forms. Surely, you'll be knackered after the game and need your sleep. It's fine to skip this month."

Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail immediately nixed his suggestion nearly all together in unison.

"N-nnnoooo."

"No way. We're still coming!"

"Not a chance, Moony. We haven't got too many months left until summer holiday and there's still so much more we need to add to our Marauders map."

"Yeah, we simply can't afford to skip a month!"

At the mention of the map, Remus tapped his wand against a stone in the wall behind his bed. He whispered an incantation. The stone rattled a bit. Then the stone magically slid out of the wall and slowly floated a short distance where it hovered the air. He reached in the hole and pulled out the Marauders map that was carefully tucked inside.

Suddenly, Sirius impulsively shouted,

"Bombarda!"

Sirius pointed his wand at the floating stone near the wall by Remus's bed. A flash of blue light streaked across the room and hit the floating stone with a forceful boom sound upon impact. The hovering stone exploded into hundreds of tiny pebbles that dropped from the air. Remus instinctively covered his head with his hands and bent forward.

"Merlin's sake, Padfoot! What did you do that for?"

Remus barked in irritation at him. Sirius shrugged with a mischievous chuckle. Then he replied, "Dunno. I couldn't resist the temptation, I suppose. I just love that exploding charm. Gotta practice it somehow, right?"

Remus shook his head, and told him while sweeping off the remaining pebbles scattered on the edge of his bed, "Well, you be the one to find a replacement stone for it tomorrow, all right? I liked that hiding spot for the map."

"Yeah yeah. Will do," Sirius answered him with a little nonchalant hand wave.

"You've got to think these things through more, Sirius, or somebody could get hurt. Thank Merlin one of these pebbles didn't take out one of my eyes," Remus scolded while waving around his glowing wand looking for any bits of the shattered rock he missed.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders again and replied, "Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

James approached Remus's bed and handed him a cup of steaming tea. James rolled his eyes at Sirius and quipped, "You need that phrase on a tee shirt, mate."

Then after Remus took the tea and thanked him, James picked up a pebble and playfully threw it at Sirius. It bounced off Sirius's chest and James told him,

"Mooney is right, you know, Padfoot. If you want my honest opinion, you've got thoughts as quick as a silver arrow broomstick but with no brakes."

Remus raised his tea cup and agreeing with James said, "Quite right."

Sirius picked up his wand and stated, "Well, I didn't ask for your opinion, Prongs. Let's move on shall we? Accio marauders map."

Remus sipped his tea and had set the map down temporarily on the crumpled heap of blankets on his bed. Suddenly, the parchment floated up into the air and swiftly flew directly into Sirius's hand. Sirius' eyes darted quickly around the surface of the map; eagerly scanning the drawings, reviewing what areas they filled in and which areas they had yet to complete.

Later the next day, an excitable Sirius, a distractible Peter, an exhausted Remus and a starry eyed Lily sat on the bleachers of the Gryffindor section by quidditch playing field. They were cheering on James during a much anticipated match between their house and Slytherin.

Suddenly, all at once the entire Gryffindor section broke out in loud gasps of shock while the Slytherin section simultaneously broke out in a cacophony of laughter. James had nearly caught the snitch but suddenly his broom seemingly became jiggly like it was made of rubber. He jerked at it desperately but it only wiggled in response like a limp pasta noodle. James plummeted downward in uncontrolled circles at an alarming speed.

Lily instantly stood up from the wooden bench and screamed, "Nooo!"

Most of the Gryffindor section had shocked, open mouths with terror filled eyes fixed on him spiraling out of control. The Slytherin section continued to just hoot in mockery and sinisterly cheer in response.

Sirius stood up next to Lily and sputtered, "My god, what, what in bloody hell is...oh no, no no, his broom has been, it's been jinxed!"

Then Sirius instinctively bolted forward from the bench, pushing and shoving other students aggressively aside. He was desperately trying to get to the approximate area where James was about to crash on the ground.

Remus felt a jolt of adrenaline burst through his veins at the sight of it all. It woke him out of the near snooze he had been fighting prior to James' jinxed broom event.

Several times his eyes had shut in weariness as he had been trying to both listen to Peter's endless chatter on one side of him and Sirius' rousing comments about the game on the other.

Lily suddenly became weak at the knees and swayed. Remus jumped up just in time to catch her from behind. "I've got you," Remus mumbled to her in all the commotion.

The silver-colored spiked hair of the Quidditch referee, Madam Rolanda Hooch, seemingly spun in circles as her head rotated and her beady, sharp yellow eyes were intensely locked onto James' spiraling descent. Moments prior, She had blown fiercely on her whistle to signal a pause in the game.

Even prior to Madam Hooch's whistle blow, most of the Quidditch players high above had slowed or halted their brooms to gape at the mysterious turn of events with James. Many of the Slytherin team members mirrored their cheering section with snickers of laughter. Several Gryffindor players had attempted sharp nose dives on their brooms in futile rescue attempts behind James.

"Haaaaalt!"

A booming voice echoed across the stadium. Everyone quieted down and turned to see the Headmaster with his wand pointed to his throat for voice amplification. The great wizard then quickly switched the direction of his wand from being pointed at his neck to being pointed towards James' perilous situation.

Upon the spell cast by Dumbledore, James' jinxed broom significantly slowed its spiraling descent. Instead of horrifically smashing into the ground, he then tumbled more gently into the grass below. A domino effect of relieved sighs cascaded across the Gryffindor cheering section. Sirius clambered over the wall of the cheering section and made a dash strait for James. James dizzily sat up in the muddy grass and his hands were seen patting the ground trying to locate his spectacles.

Lily regained her footing and thanked Remus. When her gaze locked on James seeing that he was all right, she muttered, "Oh thank Merlin." Then Remus sensed someone glaring at him. He glanced around the Slytherin section and immediately spotted it was Severus Snape.

Severus had a look like he had just taken a sip of rotten pumpkin juice. Remus returned his gaze with a puzzled, confused expression. What? In response Severus then quickly looked away from him, switched his eyes to watch Lily and his face softened.

When the game was over and the hordes of students mulled about heading back up the the castle, Remus, Peter, and Sirius were chatting together about the mysterious broom incident. Lily was walking a bit behind them chatting with a girlfriend from Gryffindor. Severus Snape approached Lily and asked her if she was all right.

Suddenly, Remus felt light-headed and his legs wobbled in weakness as they traversed the hillside up to the castle. The sleep deprivation from the previous night and the pull of the full moon getting close to rising seemed to be catching up with him.

So often he had learned to push away his ailments. It was a form of compartmentalization to only deal with the realities of lycanthropy once he was within the safe perimeters of the shrieking shack each month. He tried to ignore his legs feeling like gelatin and kept quiet lost in his own thoughts.

Shrieking shack.

Merlin, I must really scream and howl loud for that silly nickname to be forming amongst the people of Hogsmeade Village. At least it's working to keep them away.

Remus' legs continued to fail him and he stumbled trying to stay upright. Peter noticed and immediately wove his arm under Remus to give him support. Students near Remus began to gape at him struggling to walk up with Peter's awkward assistance, including Severus Snape. He sniggered,

"Looks like the Gryffindors can't stop passing around a stupefying charm to each other today."

Lily furrowed her eyebrows and looked back to see a pale-faced, droopy-eyed Remus barely hanging onto Peter. Peter locked eyes with Snape and just gave him an angry glare. Lilly told him defensively, "None of us are stunning anyone, Severus."

"I told you there's something off about him, Lily," Severus whispered tersely.

"Oh just leave him alone, I told you already he's just ill," she said with annoyance.

Suddenly, Sirius piped up and stepped closer to them.

"Yeah, you heard her, 'Snivelus'. None of us were stupidly stupefying anyone. In fact, it's more likely YOU or another one of the bloody Slytherins were to blame for nearly getting James killed on the Quidditch field today. You're a jealous twat of James and Lily."

Severus frowned and nervously tucked a strand of greasy dark hair behind an ear. "Bollucks!" he seethed back at him angrily like a boiling cauldron.

Lily let out a huge irritated sigh and put her hands on her hips.

"Well, I'm going to go help Peter get Remus up to the Hospital Wing to Madam Pomfrey while you two settle your differences. Plus I wanna see if James is there getting checked for injuries."

Lily cast an accusative stare at Severus with her last statement. Severus immediately replied,

"It wasn't me, Lilly. I swear on Salazar Slytherin's grave...besides, some of my house mates don't even know the difference between a Stunning Spell and blasting a hole in the ground."

Lilly just rolled her eyes, shook her head and told him in frustration, "I'm just glad nothing worse happened. Goodbye, Severus."

Then she quickly walked away and ran towards Peter who was still lumbering ungracefully up the hillside assisting Remus.

Sirius slugged Severus in the arm to get his attention before he walked away. Then he goaded,

"Speaking of hole in the ground, I know something you don't know about why they planted the Whomping Willow this year."

Severus raised an eyebrow and replied with skepticism, "That's highly unlikely. It's more likely something to do with that looney Lupin lad."

Sirius let out an involuntary gasp of shock at the last part his remark. Then impulsively he grabbed the front of Severus' robes and shook him a bit.

"Now why the hell would Lupin have anything to do with that? What makes you say that?" he pressed him angered.

"Oh bugger off!" Severus replied pushing him awkwardly away and then swept off the area where his robes had been grabbed. Sirius gave him a feigned look of confusion.

Severus frowned and continued haughtily,

"I obviously know more than you think... oh come off of it, forget the innocent act because I saw Madam Pomfrey helping Lupin to that tree before one of his strange regular disappearances."

Sirius glanced around, lowered his voice a bit and continued, "Fine then. You should know, Remus said there's a secret knot on the trunk that stupefies the whole tree and gives access to a secret passageway underground."

Severus was quiet and the skepticism on his face began to fade to a look of cautious curiosity. Sirius glanced around again and then in a hushed tone explained,

"If you don't believe me, let me prove it to you. Meet me at the Whomping Willow at 3:00 am and I'll show you. It's true. They'll be plenty of moonlight out because it's a full moon so no trouble seeing your way about the grounds. There's a secret passageway underground all the way to Hogsmeade village...one branch of it I heard goes strait to the sweet shop. It's probably Dumbledore's shortcut to stocking up on his favourite fizzy sherbet lemon drops when he's all out. You'll see."

Severus listened with intrigue and then replied dubiously, "Perhaps I will, perhaps I will not." Then he walked away swiftly.