From The Beginning Till The End

James, Sirius, Remus, Arabella and Stefanie had headed over to the Evans to fetch Lily over a month ago. Then they Flooed to Lupin Villa and stayed there for a week. Mr. and Mrs. Lupin were ecstatic to see Remus's friends and had even allowed the kids the freedom of having the entire house. They had several games of Quidditch at the Lupin's Quidditch pitch during the stay, spent the nights watching the sixty-inch television and even learned to use Remus's computer. All of them had enjoyed themselves tremendously during that week.

At the end of the week, the five bid goodbye to Remus and headed towards the Black's Mansion via the Floo Network. Remus said that he had some personal matters to attend to and was unable to join them until a week later.

"What a beautiful moon!" Arabella commented as she looked out of the balcony from Stefanie's room.

"Full moon? Hmm... Do you think this could be the reason why Remus is away?" Lily asked thoughtfully.

"Why did you say that? Don't tell me you think Remus is a..." Stefanie's voice trailed off and she immediately shuttered at the thought that Remus could be a werewolf. Her encounter with the werewolf five years ago still haunted her. I wonder what happened to the boy who saved me.

"It is possible," Lily said slowly, then continued, "I noticed that he is away once a month during the full moon night, and skipping lessons the next day. And when he's back, he always has that tired look and dark shades under his eyes. I've seen some bruises on him before, which appeared to be healed magically in a few days." Lily looked blankly at the window as she recalled some of her memories.

"Come to think about it, it certainly looks suspicious. Now, if that's the case," Arabella stared at Lily with a peculiar expression on her face, "why didn't he tell us?" she asked her friend while her mind was whirling with thoughts. Werewolf. Didn't I have a dream about a werewolf when I was younger?

"Werewolves are not accepted in the magical community. Remus may be pure-blooded, but if he is a werewolf, his words and actions will be seen as erm.. well.. not trustworthy," Stefanie said as she tried to find the right words. Her two friends could see that she was feeling rather worried about the issue.

"So, the conclusion is Remus is a werewolf," Arabella stated.

"But, let's keep it as a secret. Don't even tell the guys!! I don't think he is ready to tell anyone of us now. We shall pretend that we don't know about it. Anyway, whether he is a werewolf or not, Remus is my friend and will always be," Lily said resolutely, looking out from the balcony. One doubtful thought crossed her mind. Remus can't be a werewolf, could he?

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"Do you think Remus is a werewolf?" James asked Sirius suddenly after he instructed his castle to move right. It was boring and they had no one to prank on. Since they had not much choice, they started playing wizard chess after many games of Exploding Snap and Gobstones. Moreover, Remus was not there and they felt that something was somewhat missing.

"Well, I did think of that. I mean he's always away with some lame excuse every single time the full moon approaches," Sirius said glumly.

"No wonder he always had that sad and lonely look in his eyes," James commented in an abstracted voice.

"What can we do about that anyway?" Sirius asked, suppressing a groan when his piece was smashed by James's knight.

"I know werewolves are harmful towards human, but to animals, they are harmless," James said as he thought about what he had read about werewolves.

"Does that mean we can become animals and keep him company?" Sirius asked in an excited voice, his blue eyes gleaming brightly.

"But how? There could be some kind of potion or perhaps charm, to turn us into animals for one night." James felt the anticipation began to stir inside him.

"Well, I think I have read about something known as Animagi somewhere. But I'm not too sure what exactly it is." Sirius scratched his head as he began thinking where he had came across the word.

"Oh Merlin! Sirius Edward Black can read?" James asked in amusement as he started laughing.

"Hey! And Checkmate!" Sirius pouted then a grin mercurially appeared on his face.

"Oi! That's not fair! I wasn't concentrating!" James exclaimed.

"Well, you lose and I win! Simple as that!" Sirius started dancing around his room gleefully.

"Anyway back to Remus, shall we confront him the next time when we see him?"

"I like the idea of pinning him onto the ground and force him to admit that he is a werewolf." Sirius grinned at the thought.

"That's not the point! So we shall ask him when he come and join us next week then? Next game." James gave Sirius a cheeky look. They had made a bet of ten Galleons for the winner that night and James was only leading by two games now after that loss.

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"REMMIE!!!" James and Sirius rushed towards the fireplace dramatically as soon as Remus slid out, dusting the soot off his clothes.

"JAMIE!! SIRIE!!" The three guys gathered into a bear hug.

"Remus! So glad to see you!!" Lily gave Remus a sisterly hug.

"Hey Bella, how are you?" Remus gave Arabella a big brotherly hug. "Yo Stefie, I missed you so much!" Remus gave the same bear hug but lingered a little longer.

"Let's take Remus to his room," Sirius instructed as he led Remus away from the girls. The girls gave each other a confused look and headed back to Stefanie's room.

Once the three guys stepped into the room, James locked the door and Sirius jumped onto Remus and pinned him down.

"So why were you away last week?" James asked with feigned sweetness.

"My grandpa was ill," Remus answered without hesitation. It really looked as if he had prepared for the question.

"Do you think we would buy that?" Sirius asked cheekily and gave James a

"W-What do you mean?" Remus asked, confused and fearful at the same time.

"Admit it, Remmy. We know about it already." James sighed, his face turning sober.

"W-What are you talking about?" Remus inquired uneasily. Fear was creeping up to him.

"That you are a werewolf," Sirius said in a tired voice and released Remus.

"H-How did you guys know?" Remus asked, trembling at the thought that his only friends had found out his darkest, deepest secret.

"We knew about that before Christmas. Being your good friends, we just wanted to hear it from you. But you never admitted," James said softly, as he positioned himself on the carpet.

"I-I don't know. Well, I guess I know what's going to happen." Remus sighed, grabbed his stuff and turned to head out of the room.

"And where do you think you're going?" Sirius shouted almost furiously and went after him.

"Home."

"And why are you going home?" James followed and looked at Remus quizzically.

"I understand that a werewolf is not welcomed and never accepted in the magical community," Remus said, without looking at his friends because tears were starting to form in his eyes. I thought I had found friends.

"You're such a dolt, Remmy. You are welcome and will always be accepted by

James threw a pillow at Sirius and even Remus turned around and smiled at the comical scene.

"Remmy, you'll always be part of me and Sirius. Just because you're a werewolf, doesn't mean that you have to be a loner again. You'll always be our best friend whether you're a werewolf or Remus," James said sincerely as he put an arm around Remus to steer him back into the room.

"That's right. We'll always be here for you. And that's why we are coming up with some brilliant plan so that you won't feel lonely being a werewolf," Sirius added excitedly.

"How?" Remus questioned them, with a slight smile at his friends.

"Well, we're still thinking about that. Anyway, how did you become a werewolf?" Sirius asked, trying to change the topic quickly but he was also curious as to how his friend became one.

Remus started his story about the time he was at the park when he was seven.

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Their last week of summer holidays had ended too soon. They spent the whole week playing Quidditch regularly, sitting around in the large hall chatting and playing wizarding games, and even played the Muggle hide-and-seek and 'police-and-thieves' in the huge garden in Potter's Manor.

"That was so fast!" James sighed as he settled himself in his favorite green couch.

"Time always flies when we're having fun," Lily replied sententiously.

"Shall we do this again next summer?" Sirius suggested.

"Well, it's nice to be prank-free and yet have so much fun!" Arabella

"But well, don't we all love lessons? Just think of how interesting Professor Binns's lessons are getting," Stefanie said, emphasizing certain words.

"Potter!!! Black!!! Lupin!!! In my office. Now!!!" Remus to be Professor McGonagall.

All six burst into giggles. They continued chatting into the wee hours of the night until they could barely keep their eyes open. All of them fell into a deep sleep on the couches in the middle of James's substantial bedroom.

"Wake up!! You're late!!" A female voice yelled.

"Mum, it's still early," James muttered sleepily and turned around but stuck because it was a couch and not his king-sized bed.

"It's ten-thirty already!!! Do you all want to travel to Hogwarts via train or another manner?" The voice boomed.

"Five more minutes please, Mum," Sirius mumbled and covered his head with a cushion.

Suddenly there was a large downpour of cold water on the six of them.

"What's going on?" Remus stuttered as he jerked upright from his sleeping position, fully drenched and feeling cold.

"Someone close the windows," James mumbled almost unintelligibly and continued to sleep.

"What's happening?" Arabella complained and got up slowly.

"FION!!!" Lily shouted happily and went to hug her.

"What is Fion?" James muttered. By now all the five kids were awake except James, who had been too used to this sort of waking up call to realize what was going on.

"James, if you don't wake up at this instant, your broom will be confiscated." Fion had muttered a spell and a deep and manly voice came out of her mouth.

"NOOO!! Dad!!" James jumped up from the couch, fully awakened and fully wet. All of them burst into hysterical laughter as they saw what James had just done.

"That is not funny!!!" James was blushing furiously. Trust Fion to humiliate me at this time.

"It's ten already. You kids better hurry up or else you are going to miss the train. Forty five minutes to get ready and we're going to Floo over to King's Cross," Fion told the drenched and half-awaked kids in a rather bemused tone.

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