In the early days of their friendship, there was always the secret.

The secret was closely guarded; no one knew how to get its Keeper to speak it. Even at eleven years old, the secret was kept with the utmost care, almost like it was protected by an Unspeakable. No matter how much nosy friends and acquaintances tried to get it out of him, the attempts meant nothing. There was no possible way to get the secret out of its warden.

On the rainy Tuesday that our story begins, a boy sat on the Hogwarts Express in a compartment by himself. This was the way he preferred to spend his time: in solitude. Alone. Unaccompanied. It was easier for him this way, easier to keep those things that should be bottled up inside and to let out what should be let out. In his case, he couldn’t tell the difference, and so he mainly spoke only in his mind. This seclusion worried him, but in all honesty, it also made him feel safer. No one could get it out of him, no one could penetrate the walls he had built up. He felt better.

He didn’t know that his entire earth was going to be tilted on its axis in only a few short hours. He didn’t know that the start of this slope was going to start in a few short moments when his compartment door would open, and a pudgy boy with blonde hair would suddenly stand in front of him.

“I’m sorry!” this new arrival exclaimed when he saw that he was in the company of another. “I didn’t know anyone was here; I can leave, I’m sorry.”

The other boy stared at him with a puzzled look, as though he had never seen anything quite like him in his life. He gestured to the seat across from him, and the blonde boy sat down with a smile.

“I’m Peter, Peter Pettigrew,” he said, extending his hand.

“Remus Lupin,” said the other, his voice a tad raspy from lack of use.

“Are you just starting this year too?” Peter asked. When Remus nodded, he continued, “I’m excited! I reckon I’ll be in Hufflepuff, a load of my father’s side have been in it.”

“My father was a Ravenclaw,” Remus said softly, “and my mother was a Gryffindor. I’m not sure what house I’ll be in; I’m just lucky to even be here.” Automatically, his face betrayed that he had said something wrong.

“I’m the same, honestly,” Peter said. “I didn’t do anything magical until just last year; Mum thought that her side won out and the Wizarding gene hadn’t been passed on. I was so excited to actually be coming here, you know?”

Remus nodded. ‘Excited’ didn’t begin to describe how he felt about going to Hogwarts. His father had always told him that, with Albus Dumbledore as the headmaster, there would always be a place for Remus at Hogwarts. He had never believed it, never felt that he could be accepted for who he was, but his father had been correct in the end. His acceptance letter had arrived just days after his eleventh birthday.

He and Peter sat in silence for a few minutes, each of them staring out the window and thinking of a topic for conversation. After Remus decided that the silence had stretched far enough, he looked up to say something. At that exact moment, the door slammed open violently.

Standing there was a boy that Remus recognised from when he had been boarding the train; he had seen him in a compartment consisting of three other passengers, two boys and a girl. This boy had shoulder-length, messy black hair and a dark expression.

“Room for one more?” he asked, in what was more of a sneer than anything else. “Splendid.” He sat down next to Peter, who looked rather intimidated.

Remus decided to come to his rescue; Peter was, after all, the only one that had joined him out of the numerous people walking past the compartment. “And you are?”

“Sirius Black, at your service,” the new boy said, sounding moderately more cheerful, but still not in the same vein as ‘pleasant.’ “I’ve just rescued myself from a most awful surrounding, so if you don’t mind, I think I’ll be staying here.”

“No problem,” Peter said, subtly inching away from Sirius. “I’m Peter Pettigrew.”

“Remus Lupin,” Remus introduced himself. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Charmed,” Sirius replied distantly. “You know Lucius Malfoy is down the train, harassing some incoming students. I wouldn’t leave, if I were you.”

“He’s the tall, blonde one, right?” Peter asked.

Sirius smirked. “Intrigued? But yes, as a matter of fact, he is.”

“He tried to hit me with something,” Peter whispered. “Asked if I was new, then pulled out his wand and tried something. I’m not sure what spell it was; it left a scorch mark on the wall behind me, I ducked out of the way.”

“Idiot,” Sirius snarled. “He should know better than picking on first years the first day of term.”

“You’re older?” Remus asked.

“I wish,” Sirius replied. “No, I’m a first year.” Remus and Peter looked confused. “My cousin is his girlfriend. The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black--” Here, he rolled his eyes-- “has been in Slytherin for ages, and they assume I’ll be the same. I’m spared from their sick initiation.”

“That’s what they call it?” Remus chuckled dryly.

“That’s what I call it,” Sirius said. “You think there’s a better word for it?”

“Cruelty.”

“I couldn’t agree more. Hey, what’s that mark on your hand?” Sirius gestured to the half-moon shaped scar just below Remus’s thumb.

However, before he could answer, the door flew open. “Sirius, what the bloody hell is going on out there?” yelped the bespectacled lad standing in the threshold. “Your cousin’s going on a murderous rampage.”

“Come on!” Sirius growled, standing up. “I’d best be off,” he said to Remus and Peter. “My cousins, Bellatrix and Cissy, like to harass the newcomers almost more than Lucius does. It’s pathetic, but it’s what they do.”

“And you can control them?” Peter wondered aloud.

“Not in the least,” Sirius said as he and the other boy made their way into the corridor. “But it’s always worth a shot. I’ll see you at school; maybe we can talk sometime!” And with that, the two black-haired boys disappeared down the train.

---

“Black, Sirius.”

Remus looked up from the spot on the floor at which he had been staring intently. The boy from the train walked up to the Sorting Hat. Professor McGonagall, the deputy headmistress, placed the hat on Sirius’s head, and he sat down. Remus hadn’t thought this boy was capable of being scared, based on his first impression, but the look on Sirius’s face disproved this initial theory. He looked scared out of his mind, that is, until the hat shouted to the entire hall that he had been sorted into Gryffindor. Indeed, then he just looked elated.

Back to the floor until he heard a name he recognised; it just so happened to be his own. He walked up to the hat, cautiously, half-expecting Professor McGonagall to tell him that he was no longer allowed to attend the school and it was time to go home.

Whatever he had expected, it was definitely not to be joining Sirius at the Gryffindor table. He walked over to the house table, slowing down as he debated where to sit.

“Remus, over here!” Sirius called. He was grinning broadly and pointing to a seat next to him. “You can sit with me; you seemed all right.” He winked. “But for all I know, you could be hiding some deadly secret.”

Remus paled.

~~**~~

In the middle of his second year, Sirius had finally had enough of Remus’s secrecy. He called James and Peter into the dormitory one night in late December, the fourteenth night that Remus hadn’t spent in the dorm with them since the start of first year.

“What’s wrong with the boy?” Sirius inquired, sounding harsher than he meant to. “I mean, why does he keep disappearing? Someone’s injured; someone’s dying; I don’t buy it anymore.”

“Sirius, please,” Peter said softly. “Maybe his family really is unfortunate.”

“Maybe it’s the Black influence speaking, but I don’t buy it anymore.” Sirius ignored Peter. “Fourteen family members have died and been injured in fourteen months of school. Doesn’t it seem a little odd to you?”

“Sirius, will you shut up?” James said. “Peter might have a point; Remus isn’t from an pureblood family, is he? He mentioned that his mum is Muggleborn. Muggles might just have less longevity than wizards do. Clearly they do, as Dumbledore’s practically one hundred.”

“Fourteen family members in fourteen months!” Sirius exclaimed. “Are you missing the most obvious thing? It’s once a month. The boy disappears once a month. Isn’t it clear?”

Peter’s eyes widened as he stared past Sirius. Sirius turned around and looked out the window. Clouds were slowly drawing themselves over the moon, like bedclothes covering a mattress.

But not before they noticed what it was.

“A full moon,” whispered James. “Oh, Merlin.”

---

Remus had spent most of the next day in the hospital wing. He had visited his friends and told them that Madam Pomfrey wanted him to stay under her care for a day or two so that he could finish the grieving process away from the watchful eye of his classmates.

“Oh, no problem!” Sirius said jovially as Remus told him this. “We’ll see you once you’re fully recovered. I’ll take your homework for you. Hell, I’ll do your homework for you!”

Remus raised an eyebrow but smiled nonetheless. “Thanks, I hoped you’d understand!” He walked back out of the dormitory, looking more tired than they had seen him before. As the door shut behind them, Sirius turned back to James and Peter.

“A total lie!” Sirius yelled. “He just needs to recover from his transformation!”

“Hey, do you want to quiet down?” James hissed. “You don‘t need to spread this rumor.”

“Why couldn’t he tell just us?” Peter asked, sounding hurt. “We’re his best friends!”

“We don’t even know that’s the case!” James cried out. “We could be overreacting over a family with a high mortality rate.”

“Merlin, James, are you the only one who doesn’t believe this?” Sirius exclaimed. “We should go to Dumbledore! He’d know!”

“Why is it so important?!” James roared. “Why is it so crucial that you know? Do you need to make fun of him for it? Is that the case? Do you just need to feel superior? Are you going to leave him the second you find out that he’s not like you? Is that what this is all about, your illogical need for superiority? Because Remus is my friend, and I thought he was yours, too. And if you think I’m going to let you find this out simply to spite him, you’re wrong.”

“Damn it, James!” Sirius yelled. “Why do you need to expect the worst in me? Why am I always the bad guy? Is it because of my family, because they’re all evil? Well, in case it’s escaped your notice, James, I’m not them! I don’t have a problem with Muggleborns, I don’t have a problem with half-bloods, and I don’t have a problem with werewolves. So shut up about how you think I’m judging him, because right now, you’re judging me.”

James sighed. “I’m really sorry, Sirius. I shouldn’t have said that; it wasn’t fair to you.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Sirius agreed. “But what are best mates for? Unnecessarily rowing with each other, obviously.”

James shrugged. “Exactly. So, what do you reckon we do?”

“Before anything else,” said Peter, who had been watching the scene with wide eyes, “we should do some research. You know, make sure Remus really is a werewolf before we go accusing him of it.”

“So you mean we can’t go up to the hospital and accuse him of it right now?” Sirius winked. “Ruin all my fun, why don’t you.”

---

The three boys sat in a corner of the library, stacks of books piled six high around them. The sun was slowly disappearing behind the trees of the Forbidden Forest, casting an eerie shadow across the grounds. Peter skimmed through Beasts of Northern Britain and the Surrounding Magical World while James investigated the contents of The Wolf Within and Sirius scanned absentmindedly through Magical Water Plants of the Highland Locks.

“Do you think you’re helping?” James asked him irritably.

“Of course I am,” Sirius replied. “I’m not talking, am I? I’m letting you get on with your business.”

“You were the one who was so insistent on finding out about Remus’s condition.”

“Fine.” Sirius slammed his book shut. “I’ll go find something else.” He disappeared between the narrow bookshelves.

“Hey, James?” Peter said. “I think I found something. Come look at this.”

James set his book on the table, marked his page, and stood behind Peter. “Where?”

“Here, read this paragraph,” Peter instructed, pointing to a section halfway down the page. James’s eyes skimmed down the whole page until they reached where Peter was pointing to, and then he read intently.

The werewolf is one of the most dangerous magical creatures in our world due to the fact that it is seemingly normal for most of the month. A human that has been bitten by the wolf is an average human being every day, except for the day of the full moon. Under the glare of the moonlight, it will begin a painful transformation into a wolf. The details of the transformation are unknown, but it is known that while in the form of a wolf, the werewolf is only dangerous to humans. A werewolf can be differentiated from a common wolf by numerous characteristics such as the shape of the snout, the pupils of the eye, and the tufted tail. There are many restrictions towards the werewolf in the workforce, such as-- James stopped reading.

“Well, that explains what a werewolf is,” James said, “but didn’t answer if Remus is one. He’s gotten dressed in front of us in the dorm before; does he have a tufted tail, have you noticed?” he asked sarcastically.

Sirius rejoined them before Peter had a chance to answer. “So I found something else that may help, but the book was in the Restricted Section, so I couldn’t bring it back.”

“What? How did you even get back there?” James asked incredulously.

“Here.” Sirius threw James’s Invisibility Cloak towards him. James didn’t even question how Sirius had managed to get it from him without his noticing. “So I was reading, and do you remember the train ride in first year?” He directed his question towards Peter. “When I asked Remus about that mark on his hand?”

“Yeah,” Peter answered slowly. “You don’t think…”

“This book said, among much more gruesome things, that a werewolf always has a scar from the bite. What if that’s it?”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit unusual for a wolf to bite someone on the hand?” James rolled his eyes. “I don’t think that’s it.”

“You don’t think what’s it?” asked a voice from behind him.

James spun around to see Remus standing there. “Oh, er, that…” He trailed off.

“What are all these books?” Remus asked, tilting his head to get a better look at the titles. “The Wolf Within? Why are you reading that?”

“Because we were intrigued by them…” Peter whispered.

“By whom?” Remus seemed to be getting angrier by the second.

“Remus, what’s that mark on your hand?” Sirius inquired.

He looked down. “I tripped and fell in my yard and cut it on a rock; it left a scar.”

“Sure.” Sirius’s voice was quiet now. “I’m sure that’s what it is.”

“What are you talking about?” Remus’s hazel eyes were wide.

“Are you a werewolf?” Peter asked gently.

It wasn’t possible for Remus’s eyes to be wider.

“Remus,” Sirius spoke softly. “Remus, you can tell us. You think we’re going to judge you? Just please tell us.”

“We’re your best friends; we don’t even care that you’ve kept it a secret,” Peter put in.

“Speak for yourself,” Sirius muttered so that no one else could hear.

“Remus. Please.” They were the only words James had spoken since Remus’s arrival, and he said them with a kind of desperate urgency.

Remus opened his mouth to speak, but thought better of it. His answer was a single nod, so abrupt that if one had blinked, they’d have missed it.

“Thank you,” James whispered.

And he stepped forward and hugged his friend.

~~**~~

Now that the secret was out, its keeper was more at ease. His cause for worry had been averted, and now that he was certain in his friendships, he felt much more tranquil. His friends now felt compelled to come to his aid in telling people why he had disappeared, instead of giving out shaky excuses.

In late September of their third year, the first full moon had arrived. Sirius winked at Remus when he was hurrying off to the hospital wing, Peter smiled encouragingly, and James assured him that the transformation would be better than the last. It was the least they could do; there was no way of telling their friend that they understood it. They didn’t know what it was like to be forced into a new body every month for one tormented and tragic night. They didn’t know what Remus felt.

“What if we did know what he went through?” James suggested that night.

“James, drop it,” Sirius groaned. “I am not being bitten by a werewolf, my family would have me out on the streets before I could say ‘lycanthropy,’ and at the current point in time, I have nowhere else to go.”

Peter looked up from his Charms essay. “No werewolf infliction for me, thanks. I have a hard enough time keeping up with the lessons as it is; I don’t need to miss a day or two of classes every month.”

“Honestly, you’re both idiots!” James exclaimed as he jumped up from his armchair. He disappeared into the dormitories for a moment, then re-emerged with a cloak over his arm. “I’ll be going myself, thanks,” he said, when Sirius jumped up to accompany him. “Like I said, you’re idiots.”

Sirius glowered at him and sat back down. “Need any help with your essay?” he asked Peter.

The blonde boy shook his head. “No thanks, I’m almost done. I figure I just need to figure out a proper conclusion tying Cheering Charms and Engorging Charms together.”

“That’s bloody impossible,” Sirius commented.

“You’re telling me.”

By the time Peter had written one sentence of his conclusion, the portrait hole swung open and James walked in. He threw a book onto the table in front of Sirius and Peter, smiling smugly.

“What the hell is this?” Sirius asked, prodding it with his wand. “Complex Transfiguration for the Advanced Student? How did you convince Pince to give you this?”

“Funny,” James scowled. He flipped the book open to page three-hundred and ninety four, pointing to the section halfway down the page. “Still oblivious?”

“Animagus Transformations?” Peter asked. “What’s this going to do?”

“Why am I the only one that can do something around here?” James cried. “An Animagus transformation is when a wizard can transform himself into an animal at will, and then return back to his human form.”

“That’s insanely advanced!” Sirius said, at the same time that Peter asked, “Wait, why is that important?”

James rolled his eyes. “Because, Peter, if we can manage to do this, we’ll be able to be with Remus during his transformations. Don’t you remember when we were reading last year, that a werewolf is only dangerous to humans? If we’re animals…”

“Then we’re not in any danger!” Peter grinned. “Remus would be so happy!”

“But you’re forgetting that it’s highly advanced magic,” Sirius said. “Just look at the name of the book it’s in. I’m guessing this is from the Restricted Section?”

“There’s a reason I had the cloak,” James explained.

“Fine, there’s still the fact that this is advanced magic,” Sirius said, “way beyond the capabilities of a couple thirteen-year-olds. And it can go horribly wrong; you can get stuck halfway as an animal and a human. My uncle Alphard told me a story about how this one witch he knew ended up living for ten years as half-antelope, half-woman. She had to live in a colony of centaurs for the rest of her life before they killed her in a stampede.”

“I’m sure.” James nodded. “But anyway, I think we should try. I mean, if something does go wrong, and that doesn’t mean that it will, we can always go to Dumbledore. I reckon he’d be able to reverse anything that happens.”

“We’ll be expelled directly after, and I hope you realise that,” Sirius stated. “So nothing can go wrong.”

“I can barely work a simple Levitating Charm,” Peter said sadly. “I doubt I’ll be able to do anything like this Animagus transformation.”

“That’s why you’ve got us!” James smiled widely. “We’ll help you out, and if whoever manages it first can tell the others what to do.”

“You’re a bloody idiot, James Potter,” Sirius said in amazement. “But I’m just as bad for agreeing to this. Just one condition; Remus can’t know that we’re trying it. It’d be horrendous to get his hopes up, just to end up missing the mark in the end. If we can accomplish this, he can know. But not until the day we successfully transform, and not just once either. We need to make sure it’s not simply by chance.”

“Agreed,” James said.

“It’d be cruel,” Peter stated. “He won’t know until it works.”

~~**~~

By the time fourth year rolled around, it appeared that the Animagus transformation wasn’t going to work out. James had admitted sadly that he had only been able to find that one book on the subject in the library, and Sirius’s knowledge on the subject was limited to Uncle Alphard’s stories about unfortunate witches who had turned half-antelopes. Peter had been desperate to find information on the topic, and returned from the Christmas holidays with a present better than anything James and Sirius could have expected.

“Peter‘s returning today, right?” Remus asked. He, James, and Sirius had stayed at the castle for the winter vacation while Peter holidayed in France with his mother and father.

“Yeah, I think so,” Sirius replied. “His last letter told us that his parents were Apparating home as opposed to Muggle transportation, so that’ll be loads faster.”

As if on cue, the portrait hole swung open and Peter rushed in. “James, Sirius, come here! You’ll never guess what I learned!”

Remus looked up. He had been sensing something different ever since the middle of their third year, but he hadn’t said anything because he was afraid that they were acting different because of his condition. He knew that if that were the case, they would’ve alienated him long before then, though, which was the one thing that convinced him it wasn’t his lycanthropy.

“We’ll be right back,” James called to Remus as he and Sirius ran out of the common room after Peter.

Remus sighed heavily and looked around the common room for something to do while he waited for his friends. He saw Lily Evans, a petite redhead in his year, sitting near the fire and he strode over to where she was.

“Hi, Remus!” she said cheerfully, looking up at him. “Care to sit down?”

“Sure, of course,” he said, seating himself on the sofa next to her with a smile. “How have your holidays been?”

“Oh, just fabulous!” she grinned. “My mum wrote to me saying that my sister has a boyfriend--can you believe it? Most likely the vilest creature on the face of the planet, judging by the letter, but it’s something!”

“This is good news that your sister has a potentially awful boyfriend?” Remus asked with a chuckle.

“Well, not good news…exactly,” Lily answered. “Just that I think she’s been so bitter about Hogwarts that she deserves this. It’s karma.”

“What do you mean, she’s been bitter?” Remus asked.

“Well she’s jealous, of course! Sev and I were looking in her room one day last summer, and there was a letter she wrote to Dumbledore,” Lily whispered. “She was begging him to let her come, but because she’s a Muggle, it couldn’t happen. So she’s taken it out on me, as though it’s my fault.”

“That’s too bad,” Remus observed. “I didn’t know you lived near Snape.”

“Yes, he lives several minutes away from my family,” Lily replied, sounding slightly colder. “Not that you’d know that, none of you have bothered to get to know him.”

“Lily--” Remus cut in, but Lily plowed on.

“I don’t like how you always pick on him, I’ve told you that before! It’s immature how you need to take out your frustration on someone less fortunate than yourselves.”

“Believe me, no one’s less fortunate than us,” Remus said softly.

“Please, you’re the most popular boys in the school next to the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.” Lily laughed. Ravenclaw house had the greatest Quidditch team at the school; they had won the Quidditch Cup consecutively for the past decade, something that James was struggling to change as a Chaser for Gryffindor.

“Yes, well, we have numerous secrets.” Remus winked. Some were just hidden more than others.

---

“What’s your news, Peter?” James asked.

“Yeah, Remus is starting to get suspicious of us, disappearing all the time,” Sirius said.

“I was at this lodge in the mountains,” Peter said, “and there was this one warlock there. One moment he was sitting there, and the next there was a goat in his place! Anyway, I asked him about it, and he told me that he could control it at will. I asked him what he meant, and how to learn how to do it because my friends and I were planning on becoming Animagi--”

“Thanks!” Sirius snapped. “Now we might have the Ministry on our tails!”

Peter frowned. “Right, didn’t think of that… Anyway, he told me that he read about it when he was at Beauxbatons in the book Transformations Avancées, which I found in the bookshop in town. It’s in my bag; I read through the chapter on Animagi, and I think it’s going to be insanely difficult and will take years of study, but I think we’ll be able to do it. At least,” he muttered sheepishly, “At least, you two will.”

“All or nothing,” Sirius said jovially. “Let’s take a look at this book, eh?”

~~**~~

In March of 1975, they hit a breakthrough.

“James!” Sirius shrieked. “James, James, James! I did it; I bloody did it!” He was jumping up and down like a little girl.

“Merlin, Sirius.” Peter laughed. “Let’s see it then, if you really managed to.”

Sirius closed his eyes, relaxed his body, and all of a sudden, a big black dog sat in his spot. James fell off his bed in shock, whereas Peter burst out into hysterical laughter. Sirius transformed back into a human, and he fell back onto his bed and yelled in triumph.

“I DID IT!”

James didn’t think he could smile wider. “Okay, what’d you do?”

“I just emptied my mind--”

“Not that hard for you.”

“Shut up. As I was saying, I emptied my mind and relaxed and focused on simply being the animal. Nothing else. What was I?” Sirius asked.

“A huge black dog,” James answered. “Just like Orion’s dog.”

“Great, Father’s even influencing my illegal Animagus form, how lovely.” Sirius chuckled. “Go ahead, you try now.”

James shut his eyes as tight as he could and allowed every muscle in his body to go limp. He fell to the floor in a heap, and his eyes shot open. Sirius and Peter were howling with laughter. “It’s not funny!” he groaned.

“It’s hysterical!” Sirius wiped a tear from his eye. “Okay, okay, Peter, you can try now.”

“All right…” Peter stood up and filled his minds with thoughts of being the animal, nothing other than being an animal. Walking, thinking, existing only as an animal. He felt a sharp pain shoot through his head and opened his eyes; Sirius and James were frantically searching for a wand.

“What happened?” Peter yelped.

“Oh, damn it,” Sirius muttered under his breath. “You have rat ears! How the bloody hell do we fix this?”

“I what?” Peter shrieked. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Just stand still,” James instructed, lifting his wand. “I learned this from that book you bought last year. It’ll forcibly turn you from your Animagus form back into a person, so I’m really hoping it’ll work for partial transformations, okay?”

“Do it!”

James waved his wand at Peter, nonverbally using the spell. All at once, Peter felt as though a weight had been lifted from his head as his ears went back to normal.

“Holy shit,” was all Sirius could say.

---

“Okay, guys,” James said seriously. “It’s been almost three years since we started researching Animagi, and only one of us has pulled off the transformation. We’ve read up a little bit more, and I think it’s time to try again. Peter, are you ready?”

“Yeah.” Peter nodded. “Sirius, care to go first, just to see if you can still do it?”

“My pleasure,” Sirius answered. Within seconds, a shaggy dog was sitting in his place. It tilted its head as if to tell James and Peter to get on with it.

James sighed. “Right, well, here goes nothing. Let’s go at the same time, okay?” Peter nodded again. James closed his eyes, feeling that he’d rather not see whatever misfortune became him, and did exactly what Sirius told him to.

Be the animal. Feel the animal. Exist only as the animal.

And the boys’ dormitory suddenly held no humans, but instead a dog, a stag, and a rat.

---

It took them a little while. Both James and Peter wanted to be sure that they could control their transformations and that it would happen consistently. There was nothing they wanted less than to go into the Shrieking Shack and have the transformation not happen; that would be a lethal mistake. But, two months after Sirius’s original change, they agreed that it was time.

“Let’s go find Remus,” Peter suggested. The three boys walked out of the dorm, finding the common room empty except for Lily Evans.

“Oi, Lily!” James yelled. She turned around, an exasperated expression on her face.

“Yes, Potter?”

“Where’s Remus; have you seen him?”

“You lose track of your friends, that’s reassuring,” Lily said with a roll of her eyes. “Madam Pomfrey came to get him; I guess his cousin was hurt rather badly in an accident at work, and he needs to go to the hospital to see him.”

“Thanks,” James said to her. He ran up to the dorm, grabbed his Invisibility Cloak, and rejoined Peter and Sirius. They walked out of the common room and threw the cloak over themselves, walking down the stairs slowly and quietly so as to not alert Peeves to their presence. By the time they reached the grounds, they were certain that it was too late and Remus would already be a wolf.

There was no going back once they reached the Whomping Willow--that much was for sure. Peter transformed into a rat under the cloak and scurried forwards to hit the knot on the tree that would stop the branches from moving. Sirius had been curious as to how Remus and Madam Pomfrey got past the branches every month and where he went, and Remus had told them about the knot and passage to the Shrieking Shack.

“All right, Pete, you stay transformed and we’ll all walk in,” Sirius said. “That way, Remus will wonder where you are, and you can turn back into you when he asks.”

The three made their way to the Shack, not trying to hide how nervous they really were. When they reached a staircase after a quarter of an hour, they realised how foolish they really were to be venturing towards a werewolf. But he was their friend, and there was no way he would be abandoned any more.

They reached the door, and James pulled the cloak off of them and set it on the ground. “There’s no way we’ll need this anymore,” he said with a sort of finality. He knocked on the door once, and heard a low groan. Remus was still human.

James flung the door open, and the first thing that came to his mind was intense sadness. Remus sat in the corner of the room, his legs pulled up to his chest and a heavily depressed look on his face. He gasped when he saw his friends.

“You can’t be here!” he cried. “No, I could kill you! I could bite you! Why are you--where’s Peter?”

Sirius and James couldn’t help but smile as the rat on the floor next to them transformed back into their friend. “Hello,” Peter said with a smile. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“I’m going to kill you!” Remus hissed. “You need to get out of here; I’m going to kill you!”

“Werewolves can’t harm animals,” James commented casually.

“Taking Lily’s ‘pigheaded’ remarks a bit seriously, aren’t you?”

“Not at all, Remus, just speaking the truth.”

“But the truth doesn’t matter, because I can kill you! Do you not understand?”

“Ah, but you’re not dangerous to animals, or haven’t you been listening?” Sirius asked with a small smile. “See?” He and James transformed into their Animagus shapes.

“I’m dreaming,” Remus said weakly. When his friends were in front of him as humans again, he whispered, “But that’s advanced magic, well beyond the grasp of a fifth year!”

“We’ve been working on it since third year, in case you were wondering,” Peter stated. “There were a couple backfires along the way, though…” He thought back to that day in the dorm when James had simply fallen over and he himself had sprouted the ears of a rodent. “But we’re fairly good now. We’re going to stay with you while you’re a werewolf, so long as you don’t mind.”

“I do mind.”

“Ah, too bad.” Sirius winked at him, and sat down on the floor. He cocked his head, and in seconds he was a dog. He padded over to where Remus sat and laid down next to him, setting his head on Remus’s leg.

“Cute, very cute,” Remus said, with what appeared to be a smile growing on his face. “But I don’t think I can--” His words cut off and an expression of immense pain cut across his face. Sirius sprang up and ran over to where James and Peter stood, frozen in fear.

“Transform--you--idiots!” Remus strained to speak as his body was wracked with spasms.

“Shit,” Peter said softly as he took the form of a rat. James stayed human just long enough to make sure Peter’s transformation had gone smoothly, and then shrunk into a stag.

---

Four weeks later, all hell broke loose.

“Shit!” James yelped. “What the hell are you playing at?”

“I thought it’d be funny!” Sirius shouted back. “I thought it’d be a good joke!”

“Damn it, Sirius, that’s the least funny thing you could think of!” James cried over his shoulder as he looked around the dorm for a pair of shoes. He threw on the first pair he could find, which were Remus’s, and hurtled out of the dorm, Sirius tearing down the stairs behind him.

“What did you expect me to do, James? He’s been snooping around for the past three years, trying to find out where Remus goes every month; it’s just going to show him that he’s been meddling in the wrong person’s business!”

“And did you ever for a second think that by doing this, you’re going to expose Remus to the entire school?” James spun around, facing Sirius with a look of intense anger. “You sent Snape into that tunnel tonight, and you sealed Remus’s fate. Nothing’s going to be the same, Sirius--Snape could die, and Remus could be sent home. Did you think of the consequences to your actions even once?”

“James, I--”

“There’s no time for that,” James bellowed as he got to the portrait hole, which he flung open and ran out of without even closing it. “We’ll talk about it later, if I still want to speak to you.”

“What do you mean?” Sirius asked as he stood in the portrait hole, watching James’s silhouette disappear down the hallway.

“You know what I mean.” The words hung in the air long after their speaker had disappeared into the darkness.

---

James was sprinting down the stairs, trying to get to the Whomping Willow as fast as he could. He rounded a turn faster than he could handle, and he stumbled into the wall. But he didn’t stop. He tumbled right through the stone, landing on a sloped path that slanted downward. He smiled grimly; this was the passage to the Entrance Hall that he and Sirius had discovered in May of their second year. He ran down it at lightning-speed, his desperation to rescue Snape urging him onward.

He felt like a blur as he rushed through the tapestry that hid the passage from students walking through the Entrance Hall, but he didn’t stop to make sure it covered the opening. He just took off through the doors to the ground in time to see a dark shadow bending down near the Whomping Willow.

“Snape!” James shrieked. “You go near that tree, and you’re gonna die!”

“Potter.” James heard him sneer. “Why, if I expose Lupin’s precious secret, you’re going to kill me?”

“Snape, I’m not joking around!” He groaned as he saw Snape’s form disappear into the ground. “God damn it.” He skidded to a halt in front of the tree, leapt over a branch that lay on the ground, and tore into the passageway near the trunk.

“Snape, where the hell are you?” James shouted as he rocketed through the tunnel. “Snape!” An earsplitting shriek tore through the night air. “Oh, shit! Snape, get back here!”

James rounded the corners, his mind racing, his heart beating harder than he could have ever thought possible. Time wasn’t measured in minutes and seconds; it was gauged in steps towards Snape and Remus. When he finally reached the staircase that led to the Shrieking Shack, he took the stairs two at a time until he reached the top, where Snape stood stock-still.

“Snape!” James roared. He grabbed the Slytherin’s arm and pulled him down the staircase, not listening to the snarls of the wolf that was surely right behind him or Snape’s whimpering. “It’s fine; I got you out of there in time.”

---

The Headmaster’s office had never felt colder. Dumbledore sat behind his desk, a grim expression on his face as he looked at Sirius, James, and Severus. They were seated in three cozy armchairs in front of him, although none of them appeared to be enjoying themselves. Sirius was visibly fuming with anger, but it was nothing compared to James, who looked as though smoke should be billowing from his ears. Snape simply looked frightened.

“Now, could you boys please explain what happened tonight?” Dumbledore asked, his voice at a normal volume but his blue eyes sparkling with irritation. It was a look that none of them were used to.

“W-well, Headmaster,” Snape started. “Potter and Black here sent me into the Whomping Willow tonight, no doubt with my death as their goal--”

“That’s a lie!” James shouted. “I saved your neck in there because I didn’t want you to--”

“You didn’t want murder on your best mate’s record!” Snape hissed coldly. “Or you didn’t want Lily to blame you. Whatever the case is, you did not act out of concern for my well being. You acted for your friend, and don’t expect anyone to believe differently.”

“I didn’t want you to die!” James shouted. “I--”

“Mr. Potter, that is enough!” Professor McGonagall said as she entered the office. “Headmaster, can you explain what has happened?”

“It sounds to me like Mr. Black had decided to play a prank on Mr. Snape,” Dumbledore began, “that involved leading him to the Whomping Willow to meet a fully grown werewolf.”

“That was foolish!” McGonagall snapped at Sirius. “An innocent boy could have died tonight; what have you to say for yourself?”

“He earned it!” Sirius said sulkily. “He’s been sneaking around for years now, trying to figure out where Remus goes every month; he had it coming!”

“You’re lucky nothing happened to him,” McGonagall said, anger apparent on her features. “Had he died, you would be on the train home tonight. Not to mention Mr. Lupin, as no parent in their right mind will want their children associating with him.”

“Professor, Remus is a great person!” James said. “You can’t send him home; he’s one of the greatest students in the school, and he’s our best friend, you can’t--”

“You should have thought of that sooner,” the teacher stated. “Albus, what do you think should be punishment for this? Mr. Black shall serve detention with me every Saturday for the entirety of the school year.” She turned to Sirius. “Does that sound fair enough recourse for your actions?”

“Yes, Professor,” Sirius said, his voice barely above a whisper.

“And as for Mr. Potter--”

“Mr. Potter has acted the part of the hero tonight, Professor McGonagall,” Dumbledore said. “He saved Mr. Snape from a terrible fate, at personal risk to himself.”

“Headmaster, you don’t really believe that he had nothing to do with it!” Snape gasped. “Black is his friend, of course he’d try to cover up for him!”

“You do not understand the severity of what you have witnessed tonight,” McGonagall said. “Snape, you must promise never to speak a word of this to anyone!”

“I swear,” Snape said softly.

“Potter, Black.” McGonagall looked to them.

“We’ve known for four years, Professor, we won’t say a word,” James replied.

“Mr. Snape, I believe the hospital wing would be suitable for you tonight,” Dumbledore instructed. “Professor, will you take him up to see Madam Pomfrey?”

“Certainly,” McGonagall said briskly. She placed a hand on Snape’s shoulder and guided him out of the office.

“I must say, I expected better from you, Sirius,” said the Headmaster. “After your not-so-quiet rebellion from your family, you’ve acted as only they would, sending an innocent person to be slaughtered. One can only think of what Mr. Lupin will say when he hears of the news.”

“He’ll be hurt,” James said softly. “He’ll be ashamed of who he is, and he’ll find a way to take the blame himself. He’ll feel like a monster all over again, and it’s all your fault!” He snapped at Sirius. “We’ve struggled for three years to make our friend feel better, and you’ve ruined it!”

“James, I must ask you to exercise caution in what you say,” Dumbledore said. “You are speaking to a friend.”

“He isn’t my friend!” James shouted. “He’s a murderer!”

“Hey!” Sirius yelled. “You shut up about what you don’t know; you have no idea what I was thinking!”

“Really? Because it sounds like you weren’t!” James thundered. “Do you understand the severity of what you’ve done? You could have killed a boy and ruined another’s life in the course of one night, all because he’s a Slytherin.”

“You’re the reason we hate him!” Sirius barked. “You! You were so dead-set on hating Snape when you found out that he and Evans were friends, and what were we going to do? Just let you carry the grudge on your own? It’s loyalty!”

“Loyalty is trying to kill someone?” James growled. “I don’t know you!”

“Boys!” It was the first time that they had ever heard Albus Dumbledore yell. “You will report back to your dormitory at once, and you will not speak a word of what happened tonight to anyone. If the students find out about Remus’s condition, he will be ostracized by his peers. You must not allow that to happen. Sirius, you will report for detention every Saturday for the rest of term, do you understand?”

“Yes, Professor,” Sirius muttered sullenly.

“Now, go back to bed. I trust you have some figuring out to do.”

---

“You idiot!” Peter yelled when James relayed the story to him. “You bloody idiot!”

“Hey!” Sirius shouted. “You think I haven’t heard everything from him?” He pointed to James. “What I did was wrong, okay? I’m sorry!”

“You aren’t!” James hissed. “You aren’t sorry at all, you’re pathetic!”

“I am,” Sirius whispered. “I almost ruined Remus’s life tonight.”

“Yeah, you did,” Peter said.

“I can’t believe myself,” Sirius moaned, leaning forward and hiding his face with his hands. “I’m an asshole.”

“No one’s denying that, you know,” James said. He sat next to Sirius. “Look, what you did was wrong. Remus is going to be so hurt when he finds out.”

“Then we’re going to do all we can to make him realise that this wasn’t to expose him,” Sirius said. “We need to be obnoxiously good friends.”

~~**~~

“No!” Remus said. “No, I refuse to let you come out with me tonight. It’s too dangerous.”

“Moony, you’re being stupid.” James sighed. “Come on, like we’re going to do something wrong!”

“You probably will,” Remus pointed out. “Don’t you remember March of fifth year?”

“Hey!” Sirius barked. “That was a mistake; I’ve grown up since then.”

“That doesn‘t make a difference, there‘s a possibility.”

“Well, we’re coming anyway. It‘s our last full moon at Hogwarts!” Peter said. “We’ll keep you in check; it’s not like Hogsmeade is so large.”

Remus’s eyes widened like saucers. “No! We’re not leaving the Shrieking Shack! You’ll get us all killed!”

“No, I think we’ll be okay, right, Padfoot?” Peter asked.

“Too right you are, Wormtail, too right you are. We’ll be fine, Remus,” Sirius said with a wink.

---

The dog barked as he walked past Honeyduke’s, almost like an invitation. The rat scrambled over the stones in front of him, and the stag nudged the wolf with his antlers. The wolf growled lowly, but walked in the direction of the sweets shop.

With a squeak, Wormtail crawled through a hole near the ground, and within minutes the door swung open. Padfoot walked in, giving Wormtail a pat on the back with his paw that almost crushed the smaller creature. Moony followed after, Prongs bringing up the rear to make sure the wolf didn’t escape.

Thoughts swam in the minds of three of the animals, each of them desperate to take some of the sweets back to the castle. Padfoot gazed longingly at a display of Sugar Quills, trying to figure out a way to carry them. Prongs stood next to him, head tilted to the side. He was deciding whether or not it was worth it to attempt to spear a package of Licorice Wands with his antlers. Wormtail was scurrying past the cash register from a pack of rats that lived under the floorboards that seemed to think he was a threat to their home. Moony, on the other hand, prowled the shop, growling at his companions. The stag turned to glare at him (if a stag could glare). This seemed to calm him down for the time being, but within seconds he was back to growling anxiously.

For the first time ever, Moony seemed almost impatient with them. Padfoot thought of all the times that he had joined them in their forays through the village, but all of a sudden, Moony seemed to be desperate to return to the Shrieking Shack. Prongs walked over to him and nudged him with his antlers, as though asking what the problem was. He noticed Moony glaring over his head, and he turned to look out the window. Walking down the street was the groundskeeper at Hogwarts, Rubeus Hagrid. He turned into the Hog’s Head, and Prongs looked around for Padfoot and Wormtail. They were standing by the display of Pepper Imps, staring at it with a look of utmost concentration.

Prongs dashed over and got their attention by knocking over a jar of Cockroach Clusters. They automatically seemed to know that something was wrong, and without asking for more information, they walked back towards Moony. Wormtail slunk out into the street ahead of the others, making sure that there was no one else there. Then, Prongs walked out, dashing back to the Shrieking Shack without waiting for the others, because a stag running through Hogsmeade was a lot more difficult to explain than a dog was. Padfoot guided Moony back to the Shack, and the four of them slipped through the door, which creaked loudly when it was opened. Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs led Moony up the stairs, and they left him in the room where their belongings all were. Prongs gathered his watch and cloak onto his antlers, while Padfoot picked up his and Wormtail’s accessories in his mouth. They crept out the door, down the stairs, and through the tunnel. When they were nearly to the Whomping Willow, they transformed back into humans.

“Merlin!” James exclaimed with a laugh. “Can you believe Hagrid being in the village, tonight of all nights? We were almost caught!”

“Glad to know you’re excited,” Peter mumbled as he fastened his watch around his wrist. “We were almost caught.”

“You’re not appreciating the adrenaline rush we would’ve got, had we been human at the time.” Sirius grinned as he put his wand into his pocket and threw James’s invisibility cloak around the three of them. “Reckon we better get up to the castle though, hopefully soon.”

They reached their dorm using the secret passages they had discovered throughout the years, as though they would never be using them again. They slipped into the Gryffindor common room, threw the cloak off, and burst out laughing again at the narrow slip they had given Hagrid. James was the first to stop laughing, his hazel eyes widening behind his glasses. Peter noticed second, gently hitting Sirius in the arm to get him to be quiet.

“Well, what the hell are you doing here?” Lily Evans asked, her arms folded in front of her chest. “Shouldn’t the Head Boy and his friends be in bed?” She winked at them. “You’ll be explaining your adventure to me now, correct?”

“Lily…” James began.

“Keeping secrets from your girlfriend?” she teased.

“Fine.” He grinned. “Sirius, explain.”

“Sure, sure, I’ll be the one who gets in trouble. Once again.”