AN: Oh dear, it's exam time. Currently in the library studying for my first two out of five exams :O. Still found time for you guys though!

I shot an extremely apologetic look at Professor Flitwick when I hurried into class several minutes late. I slid into my arranged seat (Professor Flitwick had created a seating chart after Sirius and James levitated the bookshelves, sending books flying and causing many – thankfully minor –injuries) beside Lily Evans.

"Good afternoon, Remus." Lily said, "Where have you been for the past few days?"

My heart hammers a little as I filled Lily in with the fake story I had concocted, "You know… that my mother is ill, right?"

Lily looked shock, "No, I didn't, I'm sorry Remus."

"I've been home to visit her a few times… but it doesn't look good." I shrugged my shoulders hating the lie.

Lily smiled a sympathetic smile and pushed over her charms notes. I smiled gratefully, neither James nor Sirius bothered to pay attention in charms.

I glanced over at my friends who were making faces at each other from opposite sides of the classroom. Sirius noticed me and over exaggerated a wink in my direction, while lazily flicking his wand and completing the charm correctly.

Lily followed my gaze and James dropped his wand then hit his head on his desk diving to retrieve it while Sirius roared with laughter and Peter let out a quiet squeaky laugh before returning his concentration to the object he was supposed to be charming.

Lily turned towards the front, "I'll never understand how you are friends with those buffoons."

"Well, to be fair Lily, you don't really know them all that well… you don't really know me all that well." I defended my idiotic friends, who were the best idiotic friends anyone could ever ask for.

"I know that you are a straight A student and that they spend most of their time in detention. I know that they disrupt class when you could teach the class. I know that James Potter is an arrogant toe-rag and that Sirius Black is only in Gryffindor to spite his mother… they think they are the best on the Quidditch field and off, but they're not. And the way they treat Peter… like half-pet half-servant, I've never seen you do that. You're much kinder, you're much smarter and you are a much better person all around. So why are they your friends?"

I laughed at Lily's rant, as I finished duplicating her perfectly legible handwriting onto my own sheet of parchment. "Lily, while most of those things you say are true, there's so much more that makes them worthy of being my friends…" I paused here, "And I'm not such a good person, I'm really not."

"Nathaniel Hopkins, I presume?" I asked the young man (couldn't have been more than 18) with the blonde curls and green eyes.

Nathaniel took a few steps back, settled into a low crouch ready to pounce if he needed to, "How did you find me?"

"A mutual friend informed of your whereabouts," I waved this piece of information off nonchalantly.

"I don't have any friends." Nathaniel growled, "Not since they found out…" he trailed off.

"Found out you are a werewolf Mr. Hopkins?" I asked feeling a slight grin coming to my face.

Nathaniel looks taken aback, "How did you know?"

"Well…" I began, "for one, I'm a werewolf too, so I noticed you immediately of course. And two, I have been an undercover spy in Greyback's pack for the past several months, you know who Greyback is?"

Nathaniel nodded but did not relax his position. "Undercover spy? For what?"

I quickly explained the whole situation, finishing with, "Nathaniel, Greyback sent me to find and kill you and the other rogue werewolves as well."

Nathaniel set his jaw. "Well, so are you going to kill me or what?"

"No, I'm not. What have you been doing to survive the full moons Nathaniel?"

"My father is an expert potions brewer. He taught me how to make the wolfsbane potion. I use it frequently, except… not for the last two months. My father was murdered. Greyback came back for me, as if ruining my life once wasn't enough."

"Can you use magic Nathaniel? Or should I say, do you consider yourself a wizard as well as a werewolf?" I asked, trying to coax the scared young man into trusting me when no one had trusted him.

"Yes. I wanted to go to school, but Mama said it was too dangerous for the other kids, I was homeschooled instead." He explained.

"I went to Hogwarts." Sharing information is a key tactic in helping gain people's trust, "I made great friends there. Did you live in a magical village?"

"On the outskirts of one yes," Nathaniel nodded, "When it wasn't the full moon I would play with the other children there…"

"I met one of those friends you used to play with. She had figured out what you were and kept it a secret all these years, until she ran into me and found out I could help you. The Order of the Phoenix wants to offer you their protection and in return if you are willing would like you to aid in our fight against Voldemort." I explained.

Nathaniel straightened slowly, shivering at the mention of his name. "You want to help me?" he asked, his voice filled with tentative hope. He had been let down before.

"Of course I do." I told him gently, "Out of all the people who claim they understand, I'm one of the few who actually does. I used to teach at Hogwarts too, you know, perhaps you've heard of me. Professor Remus Lupin?"

"No way! I've heard that you were the best DADA teacher ever! And that you were sacked… because some greasy haired professor didn't like you!" He exclaimed, now sound excited.

"Well, in a nutshell yes…" I suppressed some laughter. "So what do you think Nathaniel? Do you think you could have found a friend in me? Do you think the Order of the Phoenix will be able to help you? And are you willing to fight?"

"I'm willing to fight." He responded immediately. "I think that this secret society will be able to help me… and… my friends have always called me Nathan."

"Well, then Nathan, let me take to you to meet Fred and George. I think you'll like them."

The time at Hogwarts always passed by in a flurry of celebrations, detentions, homework, and well, to put it plainly, magic. Most of these memories were good ones, filled with laughter and learning. Of course, there are the bad ones that creep in just before I close my eyes at night. The hours and days I spent in the Hospital Wing after a particularly rough full moon. The full moons before Sirius, James and Peter became Animagus, and it was just me alone in the Shrieking Shack, unable to attack anything except for myself and the furniture that surrounded me. The prejudices I had to face from those who were aware of my condition. One professor in particular comes to mind.

Third year is usually the year (I taught Harry in his third year) that the Hogwart's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor chooses to concentrate on the dark and sometimes dangerous (if not handled properly) creatures of the magical world. Of course, this means near the end of the third year, students are informed about werewolves.

Our professor that year was Ichabod Youngstein, an older man with a grey beard and a bald head. He wore tiny square spectacles that perched on the edge of his noise and talked in a deep booming voice. For the most part, he was an adequate teacher. However, he was completely insensitive when it came to how his students were feeling.

I was already nervous about the approaching full moon and so when we sat down and Professor Youngstein ordered us to open our textbooks to page 357, and I became much more pale when I saw the title at the top of the page.

How to Identify a Werewolf

James and Sirius who sat on either side of me and had also opened their textbooks, turned and looked at me. James frowned, a crease appearing between his brows and Sirius let out a low growl. Peter, who was to the left of James, finally found the right page, and let out a sympathetic little sound, before opening his mouth only to have James hush him. "I'm alright," I sighed, reassuring my overprotective friends, "It had to happen sometime." I keep my voice to a whisper so only James, Sirius and Peter can hear me.

Professor Youngstein began his lecture, "Werewolves are very dangerous creatures. They of course, start out as humans, but once bitten they become something completely unrecognizable."

I felt a frown form on my own face as I stared blankly at my open textbook. "Most werewolves are bitten as children…"

A painful memory comes into my head of my screams and an intense pain. My hands curl into fists at my sides. "The children then lose all sense of innocence becoming monsters overnight…"

I remember Dumbledore coming to speak with my parents directly after they had written him back concerned about mine and other students' safety. Dumbledore reassuring me that all the teachers would be aware of my condition and would be able to intervene in an emergency, but there would be no emergencies because the proper precautions had been made.

This realization just makes me angry, and I am now aware that Professor Ichabod Youngstein is targeting me on purpose. "Every full moon, approximately once a month, the human-looking beasts become full-fledged werewolves. They are ghastly, vile creatures who are some of the most dangerous magical creatures in existence…"

My vision is blurred by tears as each insult repeated over and over again in my head. I could not leave though; then it would have become obvious. Sirius glared daggers at Professor Youngstein and James was visibly shaking with anger, while Peter kept throwing me concerned looks every three seconds or so.

James thrusts his hand into the air.

"Mr. Potter," the ignorant professor acknowledges James.

"Is it not true that werewolves were once wizards and so they can still use magic?" he asked his voice calm and cool.

"Yes Mr. Potter, werewolves do remain the ability to perform magic which makes them all the more dangerous. Any creature who can pass as a human, obtain a wand and then use it while they are a dark creature is much more dangerous than a dark creature by itself," Youngstein made eye-contact with me and I could hardly believe the smug look that was on his face.

Sirius growled again and raised his hand this time, "But sir – it's not a werewolf's fault if they've been changed. They can't help it, you said it yourself most of them are children, right?"

"Right, those are the children whose parents should have been protecting them. Or it's the parents fault for angering a werewolf in the first place…or children who broke the rules and were attacked because of their own stupidity, that's who gets bitten. Well-behaved, rule-abiding children with decent parents do not get bitten by werewolves. Now, that's enough questions, you will all read the chapter on How to Recognize a Werewolf and answer questions one through twenty, due next class. You may begin now."

I continued to stare through tear-filled eyes at the page, never turning it as the other around me scrambled to pull out parchment and quills or else just bury their noses in the books. What if people made connections? What if people found out? Not everyone would be as understanding as my friends. James purposefully dropped his quill on the floor so he could lean his head down next to mine and whispered, "Are you okay Remus?"

I did not answer him with a vocal response, just shaking my head. He turned to look at me, practically sideways and continued his whisper, "Professor Icky's a prat… and a git."

I said nothing, still willing tears not to fall down my face. James gave my shoulder a quick squeeze as he returned to his upright position. Sirius was still glaring at Professor Youngstein, and appeared to be biting his tongue.

Finally, after another forty-five minutes of pure torture, silence except for the scratching of quills the bell rang. My friends packed up quickly, and then stood waiting for me, as I hid my face in my shoulder and put my belongings in my bag as slowly as possible. Professor Youngstein had exited the class quickly at the bell, and the rest of the students were following him out.

From my peripheral vision I saw the flash of Lily's red hair as she exited the classroom, I overheard her say to her friend, "I don't really agree with Professor Youngstein…it seems like he has the same attitude about werewolves that some Purebloods have about Muggleborn wizards and witches."

My heart swelled grateful to hear that at least someone else (not including my closest friends of course) thought that our professor was wrong. Sirius interrupted my thoughts when he burst out what he must have been holding back for the entire lesson.

"I am going to kill him!" he exclaimed standing and banging his fist on the desk in front of him. I simply shook my head at him and sighed.

"No, Sirius, you can't do that, but… thank you…"

"Why not, Remus? He was so unfair and it's just wrong…and I am just so mad… how are you not mad?" Sirius ranted.

"I have always been aware of the prejudices that arise from my… ahem, furry little problem…"I shrugged. "I can't be mad at people for having an opinion."

"Even if it's a stupid one?" Sirius asked.

I chuckled, "Even a stupid opinion."

AN: LONG chapter. There will hopefully be more soon, but as I said it is exam time.