Awoo, Lupin Was Actually a Werewolf

After making an irrational decision, Lily still showed up in the common room as promised. A Troll must have eaten her brains for her to go wandering around at night with the Marauders again.

"Over here, over here." She heard someone calling softly to them from a corner. It was James, Sirius, and Peter. This time, Lily didn't use a Disillusionment Charm, instead slipping straight under the Invisibility Cloak to join them.

"I hope Remus is all right."

Peter usually spent the most time with Lupin, and he was the most worried about him now. Lily glanced at Peter without saying anything. Even if he was a traitor, the friendship he had shared with them as a boy had been genuine, and that was not something she could judge.

"Come on, let's see if Remus is back. He always sneaks back in the early hours. This time, we'll go meet him and find out exactly what's happening with his family." James held up the Invisibility Cloak as he headed out of the tower.

A full moon hung above the spires of Hogwarts Castle, spilling cold silver light across the corridor's stone floor. The four squeezed beneath the ample cloth, determined to follow him tonight and find out what was going on.

"Don't walk so loudly. Filch just passed the third floor." Lily kept her voice low as she walked on the outermost side, watching the corners for the other three. The Invisibility Cloak covered all four of them, leaving only four pairs of shoes showing beneath its hem as they crept downstairs along the wall. The witches and wizards in the portraits lining the castle corridors either rested with their eyes closed or turned their backs to the passage. None noticed the group of Gryffindors hidden in the shadows.

The wooden door of the Hospital Wing opened gently, and Madam Pomfrey walked slowly out, supporting Lupin's slender, trembling body. His face was a sickly, pale green, and his fingertips shook uncontrollably. He could only stand by leaning against Madam Pomfrey's shoulder, and there was fear in his eyes that he could hardly conceal. The four immediately held their breath, pressing themselves tightly against the wall beneath the Invisibility Cloak as they watched the pair cross the lawn toward the Whomping Willow, whose branches thrashed wildly all year round.

Madam Pomfrey bent down with practiced ease and pressed a hidden knot low on the trunk. The thick branches, which had been lashing wildly at the air, instantly froze. A narrow, dark opening appeared beneath the roots, and a cold, damp wind swept up from underground. She murmured a few reassuring words to Lupin and watched him bend down and enter the opening alone. Then she waited quietly at the entrance, without going down with him.

"Here's our chance. Once she goes back to the castle, we'll slip in," James whispered into the others' ears.

They lay hidden behind the bushes. After about a quarter of an hour, Madam Pomfrey made sure no one was nearby, then turned and walked slowly back to the castle. Once she had disappeared completely behind the castle's archway, James threw off the Invisibility Cloak, and the four hurried to the roots of the Whomping Willow.

Sirius pressed the knot to hold the branches still. Lily bent down and entered the opening first, followed closely by James, Sirius, and Peter. The long, low underground passage smelled of dirt and rotting wood. It wound downward, leading straight to the Shrieking Shack on the edge of Hogsmeade.

The moment they pushed open the shack's broken wooden door, a strong, oppressive animal stench hit them. Tables and chairs lay overturned inside, and claw marks of varying depths crisscrossed the wooden walls. Moonlight slanted through gaps in the boarded-up windows, falling on Lupin, who was curled up on the floor in the middle of the room.

"Remus, what's wrong?" James spotted Lupin lying on the floor as soon as he came in.

His body was twisting uncontrollably, his bones making a series of sharp, grating cracks. Pale gray fur sprouted wildly beneath his skin, and his once gentle, clean-cut features rapidly twisted and elongated. His fangs pierced his lower lip, drawing dark red blood. With his last shred of human reason, Lupin looked up and saw the four who had rushed in. His voice was broken and hoarse, full of panic and pleading. "Go... Leave now, all of you. Don't stay here!"

James hurriedly tried to go forward and see what was happening. "James, don't go near him!" Lily grabbed the back of his collar and yanked him back to a safe distance.

Before she had finished speaking, the last trace of humanity in Lupin was swallowed completely by the moonlight. His werewolf body fully formed, thick gray-black fur covering him from head to toe. There was no trace of reason in his golden, vertical pupils. A low, ferocious growl rumbled from his throat, and he pushed off the floor with all four limbs, lunging straight at them. His sharp claws went for James, who was closest.

Lily cast several Impediment Jinxes across the werewolf's path, sending him staggering backward. She seized the chance to pull James back toward the door. "Go, now!"

A Binding Charm wrapped around his front paws. "Levicorpus!"

Invisible ropes wound around the werewolf's legs, yanking his enormous body into the air and leaving him hanging upside down from the shack's rotting ceiling beams. He thrashed his limbs wildly, roaring and struggling as his sharp claws flailed. "Let's go! The spell won't hold for long!" Lily grabbed Peter, who was still frozen in place, while Sirius pulled James by his robes and ran outside. None of the four dared linger. They turned and raced back the way they had come through the secret underground passage.

As Sirius passed through the opening, he remembered to press the knot again. Once all four had emerged from the passage, the Whomping Willow's branches sprang back into motion with a crash, thrashing wildly and sealing the entrance completely. Clutching the Invisibility Cloak, the four rushed into the castle's shadows without looking back and ran all the way to Gryffindor Tower. Only after they had shut the common room's wooden door did they dare stop to catch their breath.

The four sat by the fireplace. "Remus, he..." Peter trembled, his heart still pounding after his escape from the werewolf. "Remus is a werewolf." Sirius finished what Peter had left unsaid. "I can't believe he kept it from us for so long."

James was a little sad that their good friend hadn't trusted them completely, but given the circumstances, it was understandable. Perhaps anyone would have struggled to fully accept that a friend they spent every day with had suddenly turned out to be a werewolf.

"He didn't dare tell you because he was afraid you'd shun him for it. It isn't his fault, after all, and he's never hurt any of you." Lily sighed. In the end, Lupin's identity as a werewolf had been exposed. Soon he would discover just how much his friends trusted him.

They would even practice becoming Animagi because they wanted to keep him company through the nights of the full moon. It didn't seem like such a bad thing, though she didn't know how guilty Lupin would feel the next day when he remembered nearly hurting his good friends. After the three Marauders thought it through that very night, they began looking for a way to stay with Lupin during the full moon.