The Furry Little Problem [HARRY POTTER FANFICTION]

The Furry Little Problem

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, November 1972

Werewolves did not knit.

James Potter made a minute adjustment to his binoculars and peered through them once more, certain that his eyes must be deceiving him. But it was true. His friend Remus Lupin, whom James strongly suspected was going to morph into a werewolf in just under two hours, was helping the school nurse with her knitting. Her knitting. James reckoned that if any of Remus's fellow lycanthropes could see him now, they'd chuck him out of their creatures of the night club.

"What's he doing now?" Peter Pettigrew, another of James's mates, wanted to know.

"Winding Madam Pomfrey's yarn," James reported with disgust.

"Sure he is," Sirius Black, James's best friend, snorted. "Because Remus, Madam Pomfrey, and the giant squid are getting ready to knit a jumper together."

"No, he really IS," James's eyes were still glued to the binoculars. "He's sitting up in bed, and Madam Pomfrey is winding her yarn – Oi!" James shouted in surprise as Sirius snatched the binoculars for himself. "Give those back!"

"You were hogging them," Sirius evaded James's hands and elbows.

"Because they're mine!" James scowled. He, Sirius, and Peter were in the Hogwarts grounds hiding under James's Invisibility Cloak and staking out the hospital wing, breaking approximately twelve school rules in the process. They'd been there since their last class had let out, skipping dinner in favour of the promise of adventure, mayhem, and lycanthropy. But though they'd been watching avidly for signs of Remus's transformation, there'd been nothing so far to indicate that Remus was going to change into anything more dramatic than another pair of pyjamas. Or possibly, given this latest development, a jumper knitted for him by Madam Pomfrey.

"You were right," Sirius reported in amazement, watching a sweaty, exhausted Remus functioning as a yarn spool. "He really IS helping with the knitting." He tossed the binoculars back at James. "We have GOT to have a talk with our mate Remus. No self-respecting werewolf would be caught dead winding someone's yarn."

James snorted his wholehearted agreement, and then pressed his eyes to the binoculars once more. Ever since he, Sirius, and Peter had begun to suspect that Remus might be a werewolf, they'd been insanely jealous of him. Roaming the Hogwarts grounds and the Forbidden Forest, staying up all night, getting into fights with other werewolves….some people had all the luck.

Or they would if they ever did anything other than lie in a bed looking miserable. James stifled an impatient groan. They'd been nearly positive that Remus was a werewolf. He, Sirius, and Peter had studied up on werewolf symptoms and checked Remus's illnesses against a lunar chart, and it had all fit together. The only evidence they'd actually lacked was visual confirmation and they'd been planning for weeks to get that confirmation during tonight's full moon. But now, after all that time and effort, there wasn't even anything to see.

"Less than two hours till the full moon and nothing's happened," Sirius voiced James's thoughts aloud once again. "Remus hasn't even grown any extra hair or spouted a tail or anything. Who knew werewolves were such a snore?"

James and Peter both nodded. This was proving to be a major letdown. But James for one refused to go home. If his mild-mannered mate Remus really was going to morph into a ferocious werewolf, James wanted to be the first in line to watch him do it.

Upstairs in the first floor hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey finished with her yarn and began to knit in earnest. His job done, Remus slumped back against his pillows and shut his eyes, his face nearly the same colour as the pillowcase.