Summary: Remus wanted to share something with his friends. What he didn't expect was it sealing their friendship for a very long time.

Rated: K

Genre: Friendship

Competition/Challenge Block
Written For: Monthly Challenges for All (Year 7); Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry 2.0 (Term 3); The Houses Competition (Year 11)

Hogwarts:

Houses: R5 Slytherin History of Magic Stand-In Standard (Prompts: [Location] Shrieking Shack; [Word] Relief)

MC4A:

Beta:

Word Count: 1,366

Warning Tag:

Author's Note: Have a piece that has likely been through the wash a thousand times… now a thousand and one.

Baby Marauders? Yes, please.

Remus' Secret

Remus wasn't normally keen on breaking rules, especially the very few rules Headmaster Dumbledore put into place for him when he provided the Shrieking Shack for his monthly transformations. Remus was certainly grateful for the privacy and security of the otherwise abandoned house, but the Headmaster had to know that giving an eleven-year-old full access to such a space and expecting him to follow the rule of 'no one else should know about this' was completely unrealistic. Especially when said child befriended two of the most rambunctious kids the school had the honor of receiving.

In Remus' defense, he did wait almost a full school year before deciding to reveal the entrance that led to the house. He wanted to make sure they were trustworthy enough to confide in them a part of his secret at least; he wanted to make sure they were true friends first.

Deep down, Remus wanted to be liked by his new friends, and the secret house was an easy thing to brag about. It helped that the group had spent the last few days of term exploring the castle and finding secret passages tucked within Hogwarts' walls. The rest of their time off from class usually involved minor pranks, schemes, and jokes among fellow students.

These explorative adventures had Remus all the more excited to tell them about the shack—especially since he could tell them it was one that he had discovered.

"You know that creepy house at Hogsmeade we can see from our windows?" Remus said one evening as the four of them were packing their trunks.

Sirius stopped haphazardly stuffing a Muggle shirt into his trunk to glance out of the tower window. From there, the boys always had a great vantage point to view Hogsmeade. Whilst the smaller intricacies of the village were difficult to spot, the boys had gotten around this. They had been able to reconstruct and charm a toy telescope to see further than intended, and they used it to peer out at the Forbidden Forest and the small village from their dorm room, trying to spot any creatures creeping among the woods or seeing what shops were awaiting them for when they were able to go in a couple years time.

"The haunted house. Yeah. What about it?" Sirius asked.

"What if I told you guys that I know how to get in there?" Remus said, a quizzical grin playing across his features.

"No way," James said, immediately discarding his task to join Remus on the bed, staring out towards Hogsmeade. "How did you figure that out?"

"You can get there from the castle? Seriously?" Sirius asked, bemused.

"That is quite far from here. Are you sure it doesn't take you to Hagrid's house?" Peter reasoned, still slowly packing his trunk.

James wagged a finger in Peter's direction. "He does have a point."

"Yeah he does," Sirius added. "Seems like you aren't the only logical one among us, Remus."

Remus half-glared at the two boys now fully occupying his bed, nearly pushing his trunk off the foot of it.

"Fine. You lot don't believe me. But I'll prove it to you tonight," Remus said. "We can use that one passage that takes us to the kitchen and slip out through the garden door there."

It was all the four could talk about for the rest of the afternoon. Once Remus explained where and how to get there to them, everyone became nervous. The route involved strolling past a particularly aggressive and very temperamental Whomping Willow. The rest of the group were certain that Remus was playing a prank on them at that point, but he was somewhat surprised that they still met up with him and followed him out to the gardens from the kitchen that evening. The three stopped a safe distance from the tree, watching Remus apprehensively as he confidently approached the tree.

It started to vibrate awake, but before it could get too flaily, Remus pressed on the large knot at the tree's base, having the tree freeze as fast as it woke.

"Well, come on then," Remus called to his friends, flagging them over. "It's not gonna get you now."

He hopped down into the passage then, waiting for the others to slowly follow suit. His friends were whispering behind him but went dead quiet when Remus swung open the cellar door to reveal the inside of the Shack to his friends.

It wasn't much to look at—it was dark inside until Remus lit an oil lamp that sat on the fireplace mantle. The floors creaked under the weight of their footsteps as they entered the large main room. Hinges and broken boards groaned and whined from the light breeze moving through the gaps in the walls. There were very few furnishings. A small couch and chair were on one side with a large bookshelf stuffed with books. The rug was worn; its edges had seemingly been chewed on by critters. Each and every window had the shutters closed and were boarded shut, as was the door. Dim moonlight spilled through a dozen or so cracks.

Remus grinned as he watched the others wander around the space. James and Sirius went to the first floor while Peter examined the books and fireplace. It was only then that his smile dropped. Peter turned to face him.

"Have you been in here a lot?" he asked, gesturing to the books. "These books aren't dirty or very worn out as I would think they'd be in a space like this. Same with the furniture."

"Uh… I mean, I come here sometimes," Remus stammered, tension building in his chest. "I never really looked at the books much."

Peter raised a brow at that, seeming to know that he was lying. Peter's eyes moved past the books and towards the wall. His face paled and Remus turned around to see what the other boy was looking at.

On the far wall opposite the bookshelves, there was a huge gash in the wood there. It was obvious that a creature had made those marks. Remus' eyes widened.

"A-a-animals have been in here," Peter stuttered out. "That looks fresh… and big."

"Let's go see what James and Sirius are doing!" Remus said hurriedly, ushering Peter upstairs.

The pair were jumping on the oversized bed. Fur and dust whooshed into the air with each landing. The bedding was all torn to pieces, and the wardrobe was overturned nearby. Only Peter seemed to worry over another set of claw marks on the floor by the stairs.

"This place is neat, Remus!" Sirius said, landing on the mattress again with a thump. "I think it should be our new clubhouse. Whatcha think?"

"I don't know, guys," Peter said, pointing at the marks on the floor. "It looks like something else is occupying the space."

"Don't be a worrywart, Peter. I'm sure once whatever it is sees that there's people here it'll move on," James said.

"Yeah, it will move on," Remus reassured.

"Hey, since we have a clubhouse now, we need a name for our group. It is only fitting, right?" Sirius said.

"What do you have in mind?" Remus asked, taking a seat in the plush chair, ignoring the stuffing poking from the cushion.

"I don't know yet, but it has to be something that sounds cool—something that fits us as a whole," Sirius continued, flopping back onto the down pillows.

"We will come up with something," James said. "For now, let's keep checking this place out!"

"Yeah, this is a great find, Remus," Sirius said.

Peter worried his hands as he glanced between the other three. "If you guys are comfortable with it, then I am too."

Remus gave a quiet sigh of relief. His friends liked his little end-of-year surprise for them, and now they wanted to make up a name for their group to have forever. This whole school thing wasn't going to be as dreadful as Remus feared.

Now all he had to do was make sure he didn't ruin the place too much when he transformed, or accidentally injure any of his friends.

Maybe someday they would accept that part of him too.