The full moon is approaching and it has Remus dragging himself around due to his lack of energy. He hated full moons. Although he didn't approve, his friends always joined and made it bearable.
The boy hated what he is- a monster, that's what he told himself at least. He got plenty of stares in the corridor from random students which made him feel like an outsider.
The students knew of the scars on his body, but how he got them was the big mystery. He ignored the whispers from his classmates as he went throughout his day. His friends would speak louder to drown out the whispering and if that failed, they'd lead the boy to another location.
"You look horrible," Sirius comments as Remus takes a seat at the Gryffindor table. James slaps the back of Sirius' head, knowing Celeste would do it if she were there with them.
Remus lifts his head from the table and glares at his friend. "Thanks, that's just what I wanted to hear at this moment."
"You can't say things like that, Sirius. You know it's his time of the month." James tells Sirius, slightly sniggering at his wording.
Sirius loudly laughs, earning a roll of the eyes from Remus as he finds his friends unamusing. "If you say one more pun I'll personally kill you with my bare hands."
"Oh looks like Mr. moony is going to result in his muggle side when it comes to violence."
"Would you shut up? I'm not in the mood." Remus snaps, getting up from his seat and he storms away from his friends.
James and Sirius looked at each other and share a concerned expression. Sometimes they take things too far and don't think of the consequences of their actions.
The boys gather their things along with a plate of food, and they quickly follow the werewolf out of the Great Hall.
"Remus, wait!" James calls after the boy who doesn't slow his pace. "We're sorry!"
"We're sorry, we're idiots!"
Remus stops in his spot and turns to the two boys, "I didn't quite hear that, what did you say?"
"We're sorry," Sirius repeats, raising his eyebrow at the boy. Remus shakes his head and taps his finger against his chin as if he is thinking for a moment.
"No, no- after that."
"We're idiots?"
"Bingo, yes you are! Ha!" Remus laughs to himself and turns once again, making his way to the library to do some studying.
James and Sirius looked at each other surprised, but follow their friend anyway.
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"Rem, you need to eat. If you don't then you'll be too weak for your transformation tonight." James tells his friend, passing him a plate of food.
Remus shakes his head, but Peter passes the boy a strawberry. James and Sirius raise their eyebrow at the mousy boy but he just shrugs.
"Something is better than nothing."
"Fair point," Sirius mumbles, sliding a bowl of fruits to the fatigued werewolf.
"I'm not hungry, leave me alone!" Remus snaps, laying his head against the table.
James rubs Remus' back softly, doing his best to ease the tension in the taller boys back. "Come on, Rem. I know you're not in the best mood and you're about to be in the worst pain in a few hours, but eating will help you feel less shitty in the morning."
"James has a point y'know," Peter says, watching as Remus lifts his head. The bespectacled boy winks at Sirius as Remus grabs a fruit from the bowl. "See doesn't that make you feel better?"
"Oh my god, you look horrible, Remus," Lily repeats Sirius' words from that morning. The girl sits next to Remus as he blankly stares off into space. "Are you sick?"
The three boys watch as Lily touches the back of her hand to Remus' forehead. "He's fine, we're handling it."
"He looks like he's dying," She says to Sirius who rolls his eyes at her choice of words.
"We are aware, but as Sirius said, we're handling it. Don't you see him eating fruits?" James adds, and now it's Lily's turn to roll her eyes.
"I don't think fruits are the answer to this. He needs to go to the hospital wing."
As dinner is ending, students are slowly making their way to their common rooms. "Of course, we will take him right away."
The three boys stand from their spots and James moves forward to help Remus to where he needs to be. They take the boy to the whomping willow, looking around to make sure nobody is around.
Before his friends begin to retreat, they realize his eyes beginning to fill with tears. James is quick to step forward and brings his friend into a tight hug.
"You're braver than you think- that's why you're a Gryffindor. If it were someone else, they wouldn't be able to do this every full moon." He pats Remus' shoulder, softly smiling at his best friend. "You're strong, and we're always here for you. We love you- we'll see you soon, buddy."
As James and Peter retreat to the common room, Sirius stays back a moment to make sure the boy is okay.
Sirius tightly hugs Remus, confusing the taller boy slightly. He clears his throat and scratches the back of his neck, "sorry-um I'm sorry. I'll see ya in a bit."
The raven-haired boy walks away, mentally scolding himself for his actions. He runs to the common room, accidentally bumping into Dorcas as he storms through the portrait door.
The girl scowls at Sirius but her features soften when she sees the flustered look on his face. He quickly apologizes, flinching as he waits for Dorcas to punch him for bumping into her.
"Sirius, are- are you okay?" She asks, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Sirius nods, "Never better."
Dorcas furrows her eyebrows at him when a big and fake smile is plastered to his face. "Are you sure about that? You look like you're going to be sick." She pauses for a moment, "look, I know we don't really get along or whatever, but I know you're going through a hard time with- y'know. Um if you need someone to talk to when you're feeling down- you know where to find me, yeah?"
She pats Sirius' shoulder and then makes her way to the girl's dormitory. The boy furrows his eyebrows at her actions but doesn't think too much of it.
He copies her previous actions and walks to his dormitory to get ready for the night. Just as he walks into the room, James walks out of the washroom with a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Put on some clothes, mate." Sirius covers his eyes, acting as if he's never seen James in a towel before.
"You should be glad that you're being blessed with my hot bod."
"In your dreams, Potter." Sirius scoffs, making his way to the washroom so they could hurry to the shrieking shack.
The three boys rush through the portrait door as soon as they are sure everybody is in their dormitories. They run towards the whomping willow, afraid that Remus has already turned and is tearing himself apart.
Outside of the whomping willow, they turn into their animagus form and run to the howling werewolf.
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The next day, James and Sirius carry an unconscious Remus Lupin through the tunnel of the whomping willow. The boys have pulled their friend down this tunnel plenty of times and it never gets easier.
They hated seeing Remus in the same pain every month. His friends would joke about his condition from time to time so he could realize that he's more than a dark creature. His friends know that he's worthy of all the love in the world and they made it their mission for him to realize that.
The boys take Remus to the hospital wing and lay him on a hospital bed next to Celeste.
"Oh dear," Madan Pomfrey rushes in and goes straight to the unconscious boy. She looks over the three boys briefly, frowning slightly before she shows her full attention to Remus.
All three boys have some sort of scrape on their bodies and dirt littered on their faces and arms. James has two deep cuts on his left cheek, dried blood from the spot. Sirius has a similar look except it's on his temple, he had blood from his temples down to his neck.
"Rough night, yeah?"
"You could say that." James huffs out, throwing himself into one of the seats next to the hospital beds.
You could see the exhaustion in their eyes, but they wouldn't sleep until they knew Remus is awake.
Sirius and Peter copy James' previous actions and rest their head on the bed that Celeste is lying on.
"Werewolf Remus is usually very compliant, but he hated us last night," Sirius mumbles, bringing his hand up to his cut up temples.
Peter agrees, also grumbling to himself about how tired he is. They thanked their lucky stars that it is the weekend and they get to rest all day to catch up on much needed sleep.
"Well it seems like he will be sleeping for a few more hours- go get some rest and when you're back, I'll mend those cuts."
The three shake their heads, declining the offer of sleep. They would rather be uncomfortable and tired rather than be comfortable and rested in their beds without their friend.
"And see, he's awake already," Peter comments, watching as Remus slowly begins to open his eyes.
The boy hisses at the bright light and squints slightly. "I feel like I got hit by a bus."
"You look like you were hit by a bus." James jokes and chuckles under his breath softly. "you were kind of wild last night," James mumbles, pushing his friend down as he tries to sit up.
"Your face!" Remus exclaims, eyeing the deep cuts on his friend's faces. "I'm so sorry, I keep telling you that you shouldn't be with me when I turn."
"That's complete rubbish- we keep telling you that want to be there for you."
Remus scoffs but groans afterward from the pain in his body. "You're lucky I'm too exhausted to argue with you right now."