Best Friends

Best Friends

*

Revelations

*

Time seemed to fly past now. Sirius and Remus, now sided with Severus, were starting to get an upper hand in the silent war. However, they got their own share of nasty blows as well.

At the moment, however, everything seemed rather calm. Sirius and Severus were alone in the library, as Remus wasn't at school -- he'd claimed he had to be home with his sick mother, who seemed to have some mysterious disease.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd that the teachers let him go home every time?" asked Severus with a frown, raising his eyes from his DADA book. They were currently not planning new pranks -- a truly rare occasion, especially when Remus wasn't there to nag at them for not doing their homework -- but were instead doing research on their DADA projects. "This is, what, the fourth time he's away! And that is, fourth time during the time I've been with you. Before that, he was also away at least two or three times!"

"Well, maybe they take pity on him," said Sirius, shrugging. "Besides, Rem's rather sickly himself. Maybe they think that worrying over his mother without seeing her might make him sick."

"But still!" argued the Slytherin, now completely forgetting the book. "And what kind of a disease might make her seriously ill only once a month and then have her well for the rest of the time?"

"Girly things?" suggested Sirius with a grin, then broke into childish giggles. Like most boys in his age, he'd just started to realize that there were indeed differences between boys and girls, and had only a vague idea about what those differences were. Also, just like most boys in his age, he found it all incredibly funny.

Even Severus laughed -- he was, after all, in that fateful age, too. Then, however, he frowned again. "And he always looks a bit ill whenever he comes back -- and a bit before he leaves. You don't think he's getting the same disease his mother has?"

"Merlin, I hope not," breathed Sirius once he got over the giggling fit. "It must be really awful if he's allowed to go to meet her every time the disease hits."

Nodding slightly, Severus turned the next page in his book. "Are you going to research a Dark object or a creature?" he asked from Sirius.

"A creature," the Gryffindor said with a broad grin. "To be exact, the vampire. Can I make some questions to you?"

Severus shot him an icy glare. Calling Severus a vampire was definitely the oldest and most overused joke among their group of friends.

"Just kidding," Sirius laughed. "Well, the teacher gave me werewolves for a subject," he then said. "They're really quite interesting."

"He did?" asked Severus, raising his eyebrows. "I thought we weren't going to cover them until on our fourth year."

"He said I'm good enough to research them," said Sirius with a self-satisfied smirk. "And I've already found some interesting facts. Like, you cannot tell a werewolf from a usual human except for a couple of little things."

"And what are those?" asked Severus. However, no matter how interesting werewolves were, his mind was still halfly concentrating on Remus. It was a bit worrying, really -- what if the boy's mother's disease was indeed inheritable?

"Well, for a first thing, werewolves are all allergic to silver." And an image floated into Severus's mind.

"How much money do you get from your parents, Remus?" asked Sirius curiously.

"A Galleon every two weeks," the smallest boy replied absent-mindedly.

"A Galleon every two weeks?" echoed Severus. "Why not some Sickles every week?"

"Because I'm allergic to silver." At the other boys' laughter, Remus said defensively, "Hey, it's true! Some people are allergic to nickel, I'm allergic to silver. What's so unbelievable about that?"

Suddenly, Severus felt very cold. He almost didn't hear when Sirius continued, "And if they're bitten when they're just kids, the Lycanthropy will disturb their growth, so they'll be smaller."

"Why're you so tiny, Remus?" inquired Sirius teasingly. "I have to crouch down to get to face-level with you!"

"Shut up, you prick," Remus said, blushing slightly. "It's not my fault that I have some kind of a growth disturbance."

"Werewolves are often sickly and thin, because the transformations wear them down, but they heal fast, and are usually much stronger than they look like." Sirius didn't seem to notice Severus's disturbed thoughts.

"You should eat more, Remus," scolded Severus as he caught the two Gryffindors in a corridor. "You're far too thin for your own good."

"He's right, you know," Sirius said, serious for once -- no pun intended, unless you asked Sirius himself. "You look like a breeze might knock you over -- or like you could catch cold if you drank too cold water!"

"More likely pneumonia," muttered Severus. "And are you sure you should be up and about yet? That was one nasty blow you got in the last Potions lesson when Potter sabotaged our potion!"

"Honestly, you both sound like my mother," muttered Remus, sounding a bit annoyed. "I should do this and I shouldn't do that. I'm really fine, Severus, thank you very much, and I don't seriously think Madam Pomfrey would have released me from the Infirmary if I wasn't."

"Well, at least on that he's right," Sirius commented. "Pomfrey declared him healthy after two hours, while I had to stay in the Infirmary for five hours. And it was he who took the full blow of the potion! And on that note, Remus," he then added, now directly at the smallest boy, "how on earth did you manage to push me aside? No offense, but you are so tiny!"

Remus flushed slightly. "Desperation gives you strength," he muttered, then added something so lowly that neither of the boys could hear what he said.

"Also, they usually have really strong senses, superhuman, really. They can identify a person for their scent only! And, they see very well in dark."

"Back down!" hissed Remus. "Filch is coming, I hear his footsteps!"

"Are you sure?" asked Severus with a frown. "I don't hear anybody."

"Believe me now, and hide," Remus snapped quietly. So, they all backed away to the short side corridor, hoping that the shadows would hide them.

"We're in luck," whispered Remus when the dark form of the caretaker had passed the corridor. "He didn't have Mrs. Norris with him." The other boys agreed with him, although Severus couldn't help but wonder. How on Earth had Remus managed to see that the cat wasn't there, when it was so incredibly difficult to even see Filch in the darkness, as there were no lights in this part of the dungeons?

"Severus? Hey, Severus, are you listening at all?" asked Sirius with a deep frown.

The Slytherin forced himself to stay calm. "I'm okay," he said weakly. "Go on."

"Fine," said Sirius, although he passed a doubtful gaze at him. "So, if a werewolf is kept away from people at the full moon, it will bite and scratch itself. I don't really think they're that bad -- it sounds like the transformation is the worst for the werewolves themselves."

It was a rare situation, as Sirius was not there with Severus and Remus. However, they didn't have to fear the Potter's "army," since they'd long ago learnt that not only were Remus and Severus quite qualified hexers all by themselves, but also the revenge was always vicious.

Severus was currently in the middle of a long explanation. However, as he grasped Remus's arm to emphasize his words, he noticed that the other boy flinched slightly. Being a Slytherin, Severus had, despite his young age, seen many things and styles of life. Therefore, he didn't hesitate a bit before drawing Remus's sleeve up.

Then he gasped in shock and surprise. The small boy's arm was full of cuts, scratches, and small scars. "Remus?" he asked, slightly fearful. "You - you aren't cutting yourself, are you?"

"No!" exclaimed Remus, sounding as horrified as Severus felt. "It's just -- my parents have a new cat, a really vicious one. As it didn't know me, it kept scratching and biting me all the time as I was with them. Really, Severus, it's nothing else. I -- I would never hurt myself on purpose. Not on purpose."

Severus nodded slowly. Remus's desperate speech didn't assure him one bit. Remus had only visited his parents a couple of days ago -- he should have had only the scratches, even if the story was true. Those scars could not be the cat's doing.

Therefore, he kept Remus under constant watching for the next couple of days, even though he didn't say anything to Sirius. He cared far too much for his few friends to let any of them hurt themselves -- not that he'd ever confessed it to anyone. But as Remus didn't seem to show any new signs of possibly hurting himself, Severus slowly relaxed, and let the whole issue be as the cuts had healed very fast, so they couldn't be deep. However, he did not forget.

"Severus? Severus, you're not listening to me at all. What's wrong?"

The Slytherin was startled awake from his thoughts only to find Sirius waving a hand in front of his face. "Sirius?" he asked quietly. "I -- when's the next full moon?"

"Tonight," replied Sirius immediately. "Why do you ask?" he then asked curiously.

"Well..." Severus drew a deep breath, then quickly cast a silencing charm around them. As Sirius watched him curiously, now really eager to hear what he had to say, Severus dropped the bomb. "Sirius, I think Remus is a werewolf."

*

"Remus?"

The small boy startled and turned around, cursing inwardly for not being on watch. To his great relief, he saw only Sirius and Severus, not Potter's gang. He didn't feel well enough at the moment to face anyone in a duel of hexes and curses. "Hi, guys," he said quietly.

Now, however, his friends surprised him. Instead of asking how his mother was, like usually, Sirius asked casually, "Say, Remus, how are you?"

"I'm fine," replied Remus with a small, nervous laugh. He most certainly didn't feel fine. Not at all. "How are you?"

"It was not just a polite phrase," said Severus, raising an eyebrow, like was his habit. "We're really interested in hearing how you are doing."

"But I'm fine!" snapped Remus, oblivious to the fact that he'd stopped and his friends were slowly advancing on him. "Why can't you just believe it?"

"Because you don't look fine," said Sirius calmly. "Are you going to tell us how you are doing, or do we have to go to ask Madam Pomfrey?"

"What would she know?" asked Remus back, although inside, he was getting fearful. Just what did Sirius and Severus know? "I've been visiting my parents, if you've managed to miss that."

"But we don't think you were visiting your parents," said Severus, now stopping right in front of him. "Instead, we think that you have been here, at Hogwarts." Then, leaning close to his ear and whispering so that nobody but Remus could hear a thing, he continued, "You were hiding... Because it was the full moon."

Remus watched his friends with wide, startled eyes. He was also wondering what they would do. Would they tell everyone? Or would they just simply abandon him?

"Don't worry," Sirius said, however. "We're not going to tell anyone, nor are we going to leave you over this." With a small, although weak smile, he continued, "It's not your fault that you are... a werewolf."

And that was too much for Remus. He just broke into tears, tears of tension and fear and immense relief, now that he knew what his friends thought. Sirius and Severus exchanged brief glances over his head, then both closed him in a clumsy, yet comforting embrace.

However, this moment of absolute friendship was interrupted by a harsh shout. "Oh, isn't this just so beautiful," said Potter mockingly. "One queer crying like a girl and the others together hugging him!"

"Get lost, Potter," snapped Sirius, "unless you want me to take care that you do." Then he simply turned around, and he and Severus started to lead Remus away. This was not the time for fighting. Their friend was more important now.