A Wolf and his Star

8, second year: Secrets

"Hey!" Sirius said.

"James asked Lily out again, he says she'll say yes someday." Peter said, answering my earlier 'why'.

"Are you okay moony?" Sirius said. I sat on my bead, my head was spinning a bit

"M'fine."

"You sure?" James asked

I looked at the floor. "I have to tell you all something."

"Of course, we are here for you, no matter what."

I laughed nervously. "Not for this, James..."

"Marauders for life, marauders forever, moony." Sirius said

"I'll just say it before I throw up or something." I swallowed hard to try to get rid of the lump in my throat. "I'm a w-werewolf."

James sat on his bed in shock. There were a few seconds of silence. "Guess you match that nickname more than we thought huh?" Janes tried to joke. That broke the ice a bit

"Really James?" Sirius said. He was the first to look me in the eyes, they had all looked to the floor in thought. "Does it- does changing into a werewolf hurt?"

"I-uh" i started. Sirius looked worried, not scared of me as I expected. I swallowed. "Um yeah. But I'm always a-one of them. I'm always a werewolf."

He nodded as if he understood . "Are you comfortable answering questions?"

"Yeah.. but aren't you scared? Of-of me?"

Sirius gave a weak smile. "You're moony. You fold your socks."

"You are still you." James added

Peter joined in, "you're a marauder!"

"I-wow... thanks guys."

James got up and put an arm around me. "Forever as always, our best friend."

"Where do you go?" Peter said

"What?" Janes asked

"He means during the moons." I said. " I go.. to- well it's the shrieking shack."

"What?" That was Sirius this time

"Yeah"

"You mean that shrieking is, well, you?" James said, horrified

"O-oh." Sirius sat down "that's a lot of pain for you to go through."

I started crying, like, absolutely bawling. All three of them hugged me. 

Remus

"Woah Sirius, you okay?"

"Mmhmm" he attempted

"You up all night or something?"

"Maybe."

"Why?"

"Uh homework."

"What homework kept you from your beauty sleep??"

"Uh project."

"What?"

"Shh m'sleep"

"I'll let you sleep when you tell me what you researched."

"Werewolves now go away"

oh

***

Sirius

I grabbed James and pulled him into an empty corner. "Ive been researching werewolves"

"I know it's kinda worrying to be honest."

"Whatever, so I learned that werewolves don't hurt anyone but humans unless they are absolutely starving."

"Okay?"

"Animals including Animagi!"

"You're not.. Siri, that's illegal! We have to register to be legal."

"It's worth it."

"You really think so?"

"I've talked to Remus about it, it's lonely and painful. I just want him to be less lonely."

"You know how hard it is?"

"Its worth it."

"If we mess up, there's a chance we'll be half human forever."

"Worth. It."

"I don't even know how to do it."

I smiled mischievously. "I got a book from the restricted section."

"Siriuis!"

"Anything for Moony, james."

"Let's talk to peter. "

That night was the full moon. We talked to peter. He had the same reservations as James, we had recently learned about animagi and their possible side effects.

We had to start on a full moon but i didn't think we were ready so we started the next moon, preparing during the waiting month.

According to the book, we needed three mandrake leaves, one each. That was easy enough, there were plenty of mandrakes growing in the greenhouses, nasty plants.

Second we needed dew that had not seen sunlight or been touched by human feet for seven days. Weird but not impossible.

Third, we each needed a chrysalis of a death's head hawk moth. We needed those kinds of moths for potions. Different potions needed different stages, fortunately, so we could get that from the potions teacher.

And then our hair. so that was it for the ingredients, but the actual process was harder. If we made a mistake we'd either have to start over, or have something bad happen to us.