Rating: Um...T? There's not really much swearing, so I'm saying this just to be safe.

Ships: None really, which means no slash. There are slight hints of WolfStar if you squint (reeeeeally squint) , but that's all

One more thing: I hated the fanfics that made Peter a super dumb suck up. Peter became an animagus when he was 15, and James and Lily trusted him enough to be their secret keeper, so Peter was really a part of their friendship group, and not just a mindless follower. Just wanted to put that out there that Peter is going to be a good friend and character in this

This is my first fanfic on this sight! Please no flames, I'm still figuring this out! So this is a marauders-find-out-Remus-is-a-werewolf oneshot (its actually pretty long for a oneshot but I'm too lazy to split it up into chapters) and it takes place in the marauder's second year. Yeah, thats all I gotta say about that. Please enjoy. Bold is me talking, normal text is ths story

FEBUARY

12 year old Remus Lupin shifted uncomfortably in his armchair by the fire in the Gryffindor common room. His stomache was queasy, his head was pounding, and all of his muscles under his skin were twitching and jerking.

Because Remus was a werewolf, and tonight was the full moon, the one day a month where the normally quiet and reserved Remus would turn into a murderous, bloodthirsty beast. And it was a huge secret.

Remus never had trouble keeping his secret in the past. His parents lived far away from other people, wizard and muggle alike, so there weren't many people to keep his secret from. But now he was at Hogwarts (Hogwarts! He still couldn't believe his luck) and he had 3 amazing friends: Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew. Those three friends were simultaniously the best and worst things to ever happen to him.

They were the best because now Remus was never alone anymore. He now had people to joke and laugh with, people to talk to, people to pull pranks with (as well as halfheartedly scold for pulling said pranks) and it was amazing.

But there was always the fear, the feeling that was always bubbling just below the surface, that his friends would figure out his secret, and he didn't think he could bear it if that happened. For one, his friends would be sure to abandon him. After all, what decent wizard would ever want to talk to, let alone be friends with, a werewolf? He could just imagine James's look of shocked disgust, Peter's fearful eyes, and Sirius's cold anger.

And secondly, Remus was unregistered. If his friends found out, he would be reported to the ministry and executed.

Remus mentally shivered. He would neved let that happen.

Sadly, Remus was all to familiar with being abandoned. He remembered when he was seven, and he had made the mistake of getting too close to someone, a boy wizard his age who lived across the street from him. The two were rarely seen without the other, and Remus had thought he had made a real friend. So one day when they were practicing quidditch in Remus's yard, Remus had looked the boy in the eye and told him that he was a werewolf.

That's when the boy had punched him in the nose.

He had pretty much given up on friendship after that.

Remus felt an extra sharp stab of pain in his head and couldn't help but wince slightly. He put his head in his hands to block out the light, hoping that it would make his headache lessen.

James noticed this gesture immidietly, and nudged Sirius, pointing at Remus. Sirius looked at his friend with concern.

"You alright, Remus?" Sirius asked quietly, putting his hand on the young werewolf's shoulder. "You have a headache?"

"Yeah." Remus muttered, clenching his teeth. Remus's eyes were closed, so he did not see the look James and Sirius exchanged, nor did he see James pull out a notebook and subtly start writing in it.

Remus opened his eyes a bit to look out the window. The sun had just started to fall. Remus had to get to the shrieking shack before he transformed, or else his friends would be in for a quite nasty shock. "I gotta go, lads." Remus announced, forcing himself to his feet.

"Oh, yeah." Peter said, sitting up from his position sprawled across the fireplace. "Hope your mum feels better soon, Remus!"

"Yeah, bye Remus!"

"Bye." Remus disapeared through the portrait hole.

As soon as he was gone, Sirius sat up straight and looked at James expectantly. "Add headaches to the list of symptoms." Sirius said.

"On it." James said, already furiously scribbling in his notebook.

Sirius knew Remus had to be lying about where he went every month, he just knew it. Why did Remus always look so pale and sickly before he left? Why did he leave every month at about the same time, but with no visible patteren? Why was he sometimes covered in scars when he came back from visiting his 'mum'? It didn't make any sense.

Which is why Sirius, James, and a somewhat reluctant Peter (who did not like snooping in other people's buisness, especially one of his friends') had started tracking Remus's dissapearences. The dates, the symptoms, even his excuse for leaving. Sirius knew that if they got enough evidence, they would somehow figure it out.

"His mum is 'ill' again." James said, scoffing slightly as he closed the notebook again. "He's honestly the one that looks ill."

"Yeah, you're right." Sirius agreed, sprawling in front of the fire. "And those scars - what's that about?"

"Do we really have to have this conversation every time Remus leaves? Its getting a bit old." Peter said irritably, thumbing through a book that he had to read for DADA the next day. "And besides, we're about as close as figuring out whats wrong with Remus as James is to getting Evans to go out with him."

"Hey!"

"Maybe... maybe Pete's right." Sirius said slowly, more trying to convince himself than James. "Maybe we're just overreacting. If something really bad was happening, Remus would tell us, right? Maybe we should stop worrying."

"...Maybe..." James said, still sounding unconvinced.

"Come on, Jimmy, your such a mother hen." Peter said, standing up and clapping James on the shoulder. "You need to stop worrying so much. I'm sure Remus is fine. I'm going to bed."

"Yeah... yeah, me too." James said slowly, standing up and following Peter upstairs. "Oh, by the way, if you ever call me 'Jimmy' again, I will personally castrate you with a rusty razor blade."

"Noted. You coming, Sirius?" Peter asked, turning around to look at Sirius, who was still in his armchair, apparently lost in thought.

"Yeah, just give me a sec. I'll be up soon."

James and Peter shrugged and started climbing the stairs to the dormotory.

Sirius stayed behind, watching the dying embers of the fire slowly crackle down in the hearth. He had told James not to worry, but he himself was not convinced. There had to be some solution to this conundrum, right? Were they just overreacting? No, there had to be something going on.

But what was it?

Sirius sighed, stood up out of his armchair, slung his bag over his shoulder, and went up to the dormotories.

HPHPHPHP

Remus hobbled out of the hospital wing the next day, tired and miserable. The wolf had torn a deep slash into his leg last night, making it almost impossible for him to walk. He wanted nothing more than to just collapse in his bed and go to sleep, but his friends would be wondering about him. So, he reluctantly dragged himself to breakfast.

Sirius noticed Remus's limp as soon as he entered the great hall. He nodded to James, who pulled out his notebook and added limping to Remus's list of symtoms.

"Hey, Rem!" Sirius said a little too brightly as Remus practically collapsed into his chair. "How's your mom?

"Huh? Oh, y-yeah, she's fine, thanks." Remus muttered. He nibbled slightly on a piece of toast, not feeling very hungry.

Sirius and James exchanged raised eyebrows before looling back to Remus. "How's your head?" James ventured cautiously.

"Oh, it's fine, it was just a little headache." Remus said, attempting to wave his arm dissmissivly, but winced as the movement aggrivated the jagged cut on his upper arm.

"Okay, if you say so." Sirius said easily, ruffling Remus's hair, and they continued their breakfast as though the conversation had never happened.

But Sirius's curiosity was worse than ever now. He vowed to himself that it didn't matter how long it took him, one day he would find out what was wrong with Remus.

And a month later, they did.

MARCH

It all started about a month later in DADA class. Sirius, James, and Peter were all sitting at their chairs waiting for professer Leevey, but Remus was nowhere to be found.

Sirius noticed this immidietly. He nudged James, who was sitting next to him. "Where's Remus?"

James glanced around, seemingly just having noticed Remus was not with them. "Dunno." he said, shrugging slightly. "Maybe he's skiving."

Sirius snorted. "Remus doesn't skive, especially not Defense." Sirius glanced at the chair next to him, half expecting Remus to have materialized there somehow. "Maybe he - "

Professer Leevey entered the room in his usual bustling fasion. "Settle down, you all." He said, causing the class to fall silent. "Turn to page 394. Today we're learning about-"

He was interrupted by the door bursting open and Remus stumbling in. Sirius winced slightly. Remus looked awful. He had deep dark smudges under his eyes, and his face was a sick, ghostly white. He also seemed to be shivering slightly, and Sirius made a mental note to add fever to Remus's ever-growing list of symtoms.

"Mister Lupin, you're late." Leevey said with a frown. "5 points from Gryffindor."

"So sorry, professer, I must have lost track of time." Remus muttered, sliding dully into the chair next to Sirius. Sirius looked at Remus in concern.

"You alright, mate?" Sirius whispered. He placed a gentle hand on Remus's cheek to feel it. It was hot as a coal stove. "You're burning up! You should go to the hospital wing and get a fever potion."

"I'm- I'm fine. Don't worry about it, Siri." Remus whispered back.

"Quiet, you two." Leevey snapped at them, and they both quickly fell silent. "So, as I said, today we're going to be learning about werewolves."

Remus, who was currently searching through his bag for a quill, froze. His eyes went wide with shock.

Leevey sent Remus a slightly evil smirk. "Yes, mister Lupin, werewolves. But I daresay you already know a lot about the subject, don't you, mister Lupin?"

Remus kept his face quite blank, but his trembling fist was gripping his quill so tightly that it snapped in half. He didn't seem to notice.

The other 3 marauders watched the scene in confusion. What was going on? How did Remus already know about werewolves? Why did he look so nervous?

"So, as I was saying. Werewolves..."

Remus was no longer listening. Stupid prejudice. His friends weren't likely to connect the dots (because, if Remus was honest with himself, his friends weren't the most observant bunch) but it still always hurt a bit when he felt Leevey staring at him with such loathing.

Of course, he knew he deserved it. He was a monster after all.

The bell ringing jolted Remus out of his thoughts. Was it time for dinner already?

"Now, remember, I want a two foot essay on werewolves next time I see you." Leevey called out to his class as they hurriedly exited the room.

Sirius ran up to James and Remus, a mishchievious glint in his eyes. "Werewolves, eh?" He said excitedly, not noticing Remus flinch slightly. "That's a fascinating subject. You three want to join me in the library later for the essay?"

"You? In the library? Studying??" James said in mock-horror, putting his hand dramatically over his heart. "Who are you and what have you done with Sirius Black?"

"Ha bloody ha." Sirius said sarcastically, shoving James into the wall. James did not look remotely abashed, just straightened himself up with a grin. "I happen to think werewolves are pretty interesting! What say you, Remmy? You joining us in our excursion to the evil place you call the library?"

Remus jumped slightly when Sirius said his name. "Um..." he said, his fuzzy brain trying to remember what excuse he had concocted for this month. Mum was ill? No, that was last month. Aunt's funeral? Yes, that was it. "Um, I-I would, but I have to go to my aunt's... funeral..."

Sirius nodded subtly at James, who pulled out his notebook amd wrote aunts funeral under Remus's excuse before saying, "Oh, yeah, of course. Sorry about that, mate. You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine, it's just - " Remus suddenly let out a gasp of pain and his hand flew to his head. He screwed up his face as if he was in intense pain.

"Remus! Are you okay?" James said in alarm, sending a startled look at Sirius. He put a cautious hand on Remus's forehead. "Merlin, you're burning up, mate. Maybe you should stay, just this once. I'm sure your parents would understand."

"I can't" Remus whispered through gritted teeth, stifling another groan as his head throbbed painfully again. "I really have to go, lads. I'm sorry." The three marauders watched apprehensively as Remus stumbled down the hallway and out of sight.

James tilted his head to the side to look at Sirius with his chin in his hand, piercing Sirius with his hazel eyes. "You reckon there's any chance of him telling the truth?" He asked, scratching his chin slightly in thought.

Sirius looked back at him with equal intensity. He was silent for several moments before he said, "...No."

HPHPHPHP

Sirius had gone to the library to study for his werewolf essay with everyone else (exept for Peter, who was currently cramming for an astronomy quiz the next day that the other three marauders had already finished) but his heart was not in it anymore. His curiosity about Remus was now overwhelming.

The most frustrating part of all of it was that he felt like he was so close to figuring it out. He felt like all of the puzzle pieces were there, floating around in his head, but they were refusing to connect. He forced himself to think about it over and over, to try to find the missing link that connected everything, but he was simply stuck.

Sirius sighed and flipped the page of his textbook, not really reading the words on the page.

"It's the full moon tonight." Peter remarked idly, studying his lunar chart for his astronomy quiz.

Full moon...

And that's when it snapped.

Sirius suddenly shot out of his chair so fast that he upset his ink pot, the contents spilling all over his half completed essay. He ignored it and stared at Peter with a shocked look on his face.

"Repeat what you just said, Peter?" He asked, eyes widened to the size of galleons.

"Um..." Peter replied, looking a bit confused, "...'It's the full moon tonight?'"

No.

He left once a month.

He always looled sick and pale before.

He always came back torn to shreds.

His clear discomfort when they started talking about werewolves in DADA.

No...

Sirius fely his jaw drop to the floor. "Give me your lunar chart, Peter." He demanded.

"Why - "

"Just give it to me!" Sirius said loudly, earning himself a dissaproving look from madame Pince.

"Have you gone mad?" James said crossly as Sirius snatched the lunar chart from Peter. He then dug through James's bad and tore out the book on Remus's dissapearances.

"Surely not... it can't be...no, it's gotta be a coincidence..." Sirius muttered to himself as he opened the notebook. He looked at the notebook, then the lunar chart, then the notebook again. "Oh no..."

"What?" James demanded. Sirius didn't answer, and instead opened the book on werewolves he was looking through earlier. His eyes darted down the page.

"Oh no... oh merlin, no..." Sirius said in horror as he continued to compare the two notebooks. A trembling hand flew to his mouth. "Oh, merlin...oh, Remus..."

James, unable to take this insanity anymore, stood up and grabbed Sirius by the shoulders. "What in the bloody hell has gotten into you?" James demanded loudly, shaking his shoulders slightly. Sirius just looked up at him despairingly, and James frowned. On Sirius's face was a truly horror stricked look, and his grey eyes were glistening slightly. It was a very odd expression that James had never seen on Sirius's face before, and one he truly hoped he would never see again. "Mate? What's wrong?" He asked in a much quieter tone.

Sirius just sank back down into his chair, the same horror stricken look on his face He seemed to be at a slight loss for words. "I-I..." he started, his voice catching slightly in his throat. "I know what's wrong with Remus." He offered weakly.

"You do? What, what is it?" James immidietly demanded, crouching down to look Sirius directly in the eye. "Sirius? What is it?"

Sirius took a deep, shuddering breath, wiped his eyes slightly, and whispered, "Remus... is a werewolf."

HPHPHPHP

Remus lay on the floor of the shrieking shack, gasping and shuddering in pain as his head pounded inside his skull. A small beam of moonlight shone through the window, and Remus let out an agonized shriek and started writhing slightly on the floor.

His hands were the first things he felt start to transform. He groaned in pain as the fur forced its way out of his skin like needles. He heard several ominous cracks, the sounds of his fingers snapping in half.

Then the fur started to grow up his back, and Remus desperatly fought against the thoughts that were slowly creeping into his brain of rip, tear, kill...

No! Remus thought furiously, but he felt himself slipping as his face grew into a snout, his teeth enlongated until they pierced his bottom lip, and his pupils dilated into not the one's of a human, but of a monster.

And suddenly, he was no longer Remus Lupin anymore. He was a massive, snarling wolf, under the full moon's spell, his only thoughts kill, kill, want blood! KILL! KILL!

The wolf straightened to its full height, tilted its face towards the moonlit sky, and howled.

HPHPHPHP

There was silence for a few moments as James and Peter stared at Sirius with white-faced shock. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. They wouldn't believe it.

James was almost hoping that this was somehow an elaborate scheme, that any second Sirius would grin and say Ha! really had you going there!' because honestly it was something that Sirius would do and the idea that Remus was a werewolf was quite ridiculous.

But of course Sirius didn't. Because it was true.

As much as James didn't want to believe it, it was true. Their best friend, their fellow marauder, the person they had shared a dorm with for almost two years, was a monster.

No, not monster, he corrected himself. Not a monster. Not Remus.

James had definatly heard the horror stories about the dangers of werewolves from the wizarding world, and how they were monsters that couldn't be trusted. James wondered if he should feel angry, or disgusted with Remus for being a werewolf, or for not telling them about it, but he could only bring himself to feel very, very sad.

Remus was a werewolf.

"Bloody hell." James whispered, finally breaking the silence. James sat in the chair next to Sirius, staring at the wall blankly.

Sirius watched James's expression cautiously. He knew that James hated bigots, but at the same time, James was a pureblood, and purebloods often had very strong prejudices about werewolves. Sirius slowly put a hand on James's shoulder. "What are you thinking, mate?" He asked cautiously.

James looked back at Sirius, the same oddly blank look on his face. "...I dunno. I feel kinda... stunned, I guess." James gave his head a slight shake, as if to clear it. "I just wished we had realized it sooner, so he wouldn't have to keep sneaking around with it. It must be awful."

"But why was he sneaking around with it?" Peter asked, speaking up for the first time. "Why didn't he just tell us? We're his best mates, he shouldn't keep secrets from us."

Sirius shifted uncomfortably. "Because most people's view of werewolves aren't exactly... kind. I know that if I was a werewolf, I wouldn't exactly be broadcasting it to the world."

All three of them jumped when the heard a ghostly howl echo across the grounds. James went extremly pale and put his head in his hands. "Oh merlin... poor Remus..." he whispered, muffled slightly by his hands. Sirius put a conforting hand on James's shoulder.

"So... what do we do?" Sirius asked, rubbing James's shoulder consolingly. "Do we... I mean, do we tell Remus that we know?"

"Oh, that'll be a cheerful conversation." James said sarcastically. "'Hey, Remus, how ya been? By the way, are you a werewolf?'"

"We need to find a way to confront him without scaring him off." Sirius said, choosing to ignore James's sarcastic comment. "Because if he didn't tell us, it's clearly because he doesn't want us to know yet, and I'm sure he's not exactly going to be pleased to know that we've been snooping in his buisness."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." James agreed slowly, running his hand nervously through his messy hair. He let out a shaky breath.

"Library closes in 5 minutes, you three!" Madam Pince said loudly, peering around the corner of the bookshelves. "What are you three even doing in here? Not causing mischief, I hope."

"Of course not, madam Pince. Goodnight." Sirius said quickly, and the three marauders quickly hopped up and exited the library, leaving Madam Pince looking suspiciously after them.

HPHPHPHP

Sirius woke up the next morning with a pounding in his head and tear tracks on his face. Sirius sat up and frowned, scrubbing at the annoying wetness on his cheeks. Why was he crying last night?

Sirius absently glanced over to Remus's bed, and saw that it was empty.

Oh. Right.

Sirius shuddered. Now he remembered.

Remus was a werewolf.

Sirius checked his watch and started slightly. It was eleven o clock. He must have slept through half the day. Thank merlin for Saturdays, he thought weakly.

He looked over to the other to beds in the room. Peter was not in his, presumably having gone to the great hall to eat breakfast. James was sprawled out on his bed, one arm flopping off of the bedpost, snoring slightly. With a slight grin on his face, Sirius picked up a pillow from his bed and hurled it as hard as he could at James.

James groaned and groped for his glasses on his bedside table. "Can't you ever wake me up in a normal way?" He grumbled crossly, locating his glasses and shoving them onto his face, magnifying his still sleepy hazel eyes.

Sirius smirked. "You know that I can't, mate. That would be no fun."

"Idiot."

"Prat."

"Snivellus."

"Oi! That's cold, even for you."

James just chuckled in response. He glanced slightly at Remus's empty bed and frowned. "Where's our dearest Remus? I expect he's in the library, the bloody nerd, Merlin knows why he - " James suddenly stopped speaking, and the grin quickly slid off of his face. "Oh." he said, no more traces of laughter on his face. "Oh. Right. The werewolf thing."

"Yeah." Sirius said grimly, glancing out if the window. "Do you reckon we should Remus that we know?"

"Tell me that you know what?" Remus entered the dorm room, looking at them curiously. James' ans Sirius'eyes widened.

Ah, dammit.

Remus had a large scatch across his left eye, and James noticed that he was limping slightly under his robes. James swallowed thickly.

Sirius recovered from his shock quickly, and shook his head at Remus mock-solemnly. He hopped off of his bed, clapped Remus on the shoulder, and said seriously, "Mate, we've been keeping this long enough, and its about time we told you. We know about your secret affair with Severus."

Remus raised his eyebrows amusedly. "Oh, but Siri, you know that I only have eyes for you." He said jokingly, ruffling Sirius's hair before collapsing into bed and yawning loudly. "Blimey, I'm tired. I just got back from... uh, from my aunt's house."

Sirius and James exchanged meaningful looks. Sirius cleared his throat slightly before sitting carefully on the end of Remus's bed. "Well, there aren't any lessons today, so you rest up. You were ill yesterday, after all."

"Mmhmm..." Remus muttered, already half asleep. He burrowed sleepily under the scarlett Gryffindor blanket and closed his eyes.

Sirius smiled rather sadly. "Goodnight, Remus." He whispered, running his hand once through Remus's hair before standing up and leaving the room.

When he was almost out of the room, he heard Remus reply sleepily, "G'night, Siri."

THIS FIC IS NOT OVER YET!!

It was just a LOT longer than I thought it was going to be, so I've decided to split it into two sections. There won't be more than two, I promise!

And if I find out that I actually can't post a chapter two (I have the app on my phone and its weird) then oh well, it works well enough by itself.

Anyway, I don't even know if people still read fanfiction anymore, but if you do somehow stumble your way across this, please review! I want to know how I'm doing!

See you soon!