"I think we all have to fight the werewolf in us."

- William Kempe

4.

The conversation a day later in the dorm room is long and painful. They speak about everything, right from the beginning, until they all understand. Remus talks a lot, looking none of them in the eye. James's voice more than once rises to a crescendo, he and Sirius both cry again, and Peter looks horrified when Remus very reluctantly shows him the original scar on his back, yanking his shirt up to expose some ghostly, twisted skin. The scar, warped and ugly because his body was so much smaller when he was bitten, stares back at all of them. Sirius wants to touch it and James immediately does, very lightly with his one finger, but Remus flinches as if he's been slapped and he's trembling. Sirius quickly, awkwardly, tugs his shirt back over the ugly mar.

Remus says everything. It's terrifying and a huge relief. They don't think any less of Remus. They think more, or maybe the same, or maybe it is less of what they thought before and more what they think now, they explain. Remus looks sad. Peter feels stupid and James feels sick.

They talk about fear, and the future, and pain, a lot about pain. Remus has to explain. Sirius and Peter encourage it, feeling like it's theraputic to share the burden but James sits there with his lips pressed tightly together and thinking he's only torturing himself reliving it. Remus and James give the facts about werewolves. Sirius brings the drama and hysteria. Peter is the first to worry about Remus's discovery to the world outside of their dorm, while James is the first to voice his fear of Remus's illnesses coming back to him. What'd he do without Remus? What'd any of them? Sirius cries again.

Remus begs them not to feel sorry for them and Peter clutches Remus's arm and tells him that they don't and Sirius tells him they do and it's not fair. Sirius shuts up for a while and drifts off. Remus is so kind. He's so clever. He'd never hurt a fly. Not like him and James, who hexed Snivellus's underwear to glow yesterday.

Brilliant, beautiful, tragic Remus. He's the best person they've all ever met. It's not fair this would happen to him. Life isn't fair.

James says Remus isn't a different person and nothing changes. Peter says Remus isn't a different person and everything changes. Sirius runs with the idea and swears they will find a way to help him. They will fix this together. James remembers reading about werewolves and suddenly looks heartbroken, and slams his arms around Remus tight. Remus nestles close, feeling weakly undeserving of this friend.

Remus doesn't remand Sirius for his drama like he normally does. Be specific Sirius, come on, buck up, be sensible now, so silly and emotional, making a big passionate scene out of everything. Remus doesn't criticise him. It's like he's still silently waiting for them all to realise and be horrified. Sirius says that he wanted to know what was going on so he could fix it and make him happy and now he can't think of a thing to do. Remus smiles his sad smile, but it's a little different, like a little genuine happiness is nestling in amongst his sadness, rather than plastered fakely over it.

Sirius takes to affectionately calling him Wolfy, which makes Remus feel very slightly a part of their new plan that being a werewolf is a grand adventure, which in turn makes him feel happily nauseous, or maybe nauseously happy. Peter once nicknames him Moon-boy, which makes him feel sickly patronised but he doesn't know quite why. James, he thinks, seems to think so too, because he makes a weird face and quickly changes it to Moony.

By the end of the week, all three are calling him Moony. Remus lays back in his bed each night feeling panicky yet calm, dizzy yet grounded, very light headed, and he hears Sirius whisper "Night, Moony" and can't help but smile. Much as he often wonders what he did to deserve this, he now wonders what he did to deserve this, as well. He's been here less than two years and he's already messed up the precarious arrangement on which he was even allowed to be here, at this, the best place he's ever been.

He sleeps much better, now.

"Confront them with annihilation and they will then survive. Plunge them into a deadly situation and they will then live:

When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory."

- Sun Tzu

Finis.

Thank you for reading and to my beautiful reviewers.

Next, I'll be uploading some little Sirius/Remus fragment-things hanging around on my hard drive, and I think, another chaptered lycanthropy-centered Sirius/Remus story I have where they're a bit older (not a sequel or anything). Another one I'm thinking of posting is Year the Seventh, which is a few Sirius/Remus things that happened in seventh year but I don't think its all quite finished.

To come very soon. :)