Best Friends Do Keep Secrets

"Bugger, where did I put that pocketknife?" Sirius asked himself looking through his school trunk. "Damn! I can't believe I lost it," he said throwing his dragon hide gloves back in his trunk.

"Padfoot? Are you there Sirius?" called a voice from Sirius's nightstand.

Sirius stood up, went over to his nightstand and picked up a small triangular shaped mirror. Sirius looked into the mirror but instead of seeing himself reflected back he saw the rather pale and kind face of Remus Lupin starring up at him. "Alright there Moony?" Sirius asked his friend.

"About as alright as someone who knows they're about to be forced into transforming into a wolf can be," Remus said in a matter of fact tone.

"Glad to hear it, mate," Sirius said smiling.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm here in the shack now. Remember the moon rises at half past sundown, and to not com-"

"Moony, we know," Sirius interrupted him. "This isn't the first time we've come to visit you in wolf form. Nothing has gone wrong. So no worries, mate. Do you have the other two way mirror with you?"

"Yep, it's sitting on the mantle above the fire place," Remus said jerking his head to the left to where the fire place was located.

"Okay, I'll let you go, that way you can get ready for The Change. Don't worry if we're late. I can't find my...," Sirius paused; he couldn't tell Remus about the pocketknife. "Wand. I can't find my wand," Sirius said with difficulty, he hated lying to Remus, but it was best.

Remus looked at him as though to ask him if he really couldn't find his wand but instead said "Okay, bye Padfoot."

"Bye Moony," Sirius said setting down the mirror, smiling. Sirius looked around the room he shared with his four best friends. "Now where the bloody hell is my pocketknife?"

"Padfoot, did you hear from Moony yet?" James asked coming into the room.

"Yeah, I just heard from him. And he's got my half of our set of two ways," Sirius said looking through the top drawer of the nightstand. "Prongs, have you seen my pocketknife?"

"I last saw it in the bathroom, on one of the sinks. Why it's in there I can't tell you," James said sitting on his bed putting on his shoes.

"I had to use it to cut the gum out of my hair that you so kindly stuck in it," Sirius said with mock sweetness walking over to the bathroom.

"Hey! It's not like I did it on purpose. It's not my fault you stopped dead while I was blowing a bubble," James said smiling broadly.

"Yeah well I still had to cut a lock of my hair off because of it," Sirius said, coming out of the bathroom with the pocketknife in hand. "There's still gum on it," he said pulling a bit of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum off the silver blade.

"I don't see why you bring that with you, Padfoot. I mean Remus would never hurt us," James said standing up and grabbing his wand.

Sirius snapped the blade in and slipped the pocketknife into his back pocket before answering James. "Prongs, I know that Moony would never hurt us on purpose. They only reason I bring this pocketknife is because up until the last part of the tunnel, you have to be in human form. Now grab your cloak and lets get going."

"But what do I--"

"James, we don't want to keep Remus by himself too long. Now come on," Sirius said angrily, heading out the door and down the stairs.

"Sirius, wait! What's wrong?" James called after him.

Sirius didn't answer him but continued down the stairs into the common room. It was empty except for Peter who was sitting in a chair by the fire. "You ready Wormtail?" Sirius asked him.

Peter nodded and stood up as James came down the stairs carrying his Invisibility cloak. James walked over to the other two and looked at Sirius. "Padfoot what's wrong with you tonight?" he asked urgently.

"James!" Sirius hissed, "Do you want to want to wake up the whole house?" He paused waiting for an answer, when one didn't come he continued. "Okay lets get going, we've got a long way to go to get to the tree, and we don't want to keep Moony waiting." He stared pointedly at James.

"Right, Peter how about you trans now," James suggested. "That way me and Sirius can move faster in the cloak, and you can look around the corners for us."

"Okay, sounds like a good idea," Peter said, looking around as in making sure no one else was in the room. One minute James and Sirius were looking at their friend Peter, who had his eyes closed in concentration, the next they were looking down at a brown rat.

"Ready Padfoot?" James asked quietly, holding up the cloak.

"Yep," said Sirius taking a step closer to James. James threw the cloak over both of them and they disappeared from view. They headed over to the portrait and climbed oddly out of the common room, being sure to hold the portrait door open for Peter to get through. After shutting the portrait door they started on their long and slow walk to the grounds. Peter ran along in front of them making sure no teacher, prefects or ghost were around the corners.

Sirius was glad that they we're finally under the cloak and were out in the corridors. They had to make as little noise as possible meaning James couldn't ask him any questions and Sirius could think about what James had said. Remus would never hurt us, that's what James had said. And for the most part Sirius knew that this was true, and if he hadn't had that dream the night before the first moon that they would be joining Remus for, he would have never bothered with bringing his pocketknife with the pure silver blade.

~*~*~*~*~

It was the night before the first full moon that all the Marauders would share. It was the middle of their fifth year and having just successfully mastered transforming into their respectable forms, the Marauders planned to celebrate by spending the fast approaching full moon with Remus. This year was going to be different, Sirius had told Remus so. They weren't going to let Remus spend another full moon alone now that they could all transform. They had planed the next night out perfectly so nothing would go wrong. Their plan was based heavily on Sirius's two sets of two-way mirrors. One set was in the shape of triangles and they other set were squares. James had a square one where Remus had a triangle one. They would use the mirrors as check points to make sure they had the all clear to come.

Once Remus got into the Shack he would call Sirius on his two-way to let the others know that he was there and it was a good time for them to start out for the tree. Remus also took Sirius's square mirror to the Shack and set it somewhere it wouldn't get broken during Remus's change. Once Remus calls Sirius the other three Marauders would head down to the willow. Once they got to the tree, Peter would transform and press the knot on the tree to stop it, then Sirius would transform and head down the passage to the Shack. After ten minutes or so James would use his mirror to see if Remus was fully changed and that Sirius was there. If James heard a bark that meant that all was clear and that he could start to head down the tunnel. Peter would press the knot again so James could get into the tunnel and then Peter would join James. James would have to walk very fast down the tunnel in his normal state. Only once James got to a certain part in the tunnel could he transform into his animal form, seeing as a stag was quite a large animal and the tunnel was fairly small. That was the only tension in the plan, James would be heading to a werewolf as a human, so while James was still in the tunnel Sirius had to keep Remus the wolf occupied until Peter showed up signaling that James had changed.

They had even done a test run of their plan a few days before the full moon so by the night before the full moon they were confident that it would go off with out a hitch. All four had decided to go to bed early seeing as tomorrow night they wouldn't be going to sleep. Sirius climbed into his bed, drew the curtains closed and settled into his pillows not knowing that he would be getting a very sleepless night's rest.

Sirius was running on all fours down the tunnel that lead to the Shrieking Shack. The stone passage was cold and wet and his nails scrapped on the stone. He ran along the tunnel for what felt like ten minutes before emerging into the Shack. Sirius looked around and saw a large brown wolf standing in front of a torn up couch. Hey there Remus, Sirius thought at the werewolf that was his best friend.

Hey Sirius. I thought you weren't coming, Sirius heard Remus's voice in his head.

Of course I was coming, Sirius thought at him, I meant what I said, you'll never have to spend another full moon alone.

Thanks Sirius, Sirius heard Remus say. Just then Sirius heard a loud squeak over from where Sirius had just emerged from. Both dogs turned to see a brown rat coming out of the tunnel, a shadow of a stag could be seen behind the rat and the unmistaken sound of hooves on stone.

Wormtail's here, Sirius thought, and Prongs is coming up the tunnel. Just at that thought the werewolf started to growl. It was the most unpleasant sound Sirius had ever heard. He couldn't see what Remus would be growling at. The sound of hooves was getting louder along with Remus's growls. Sirius looked back to the passage to see James climbing out of it. Sirius now knew why Remus was growling, James was human.

The werewolf bared his teeth and snarled at James. REMUS! It's your mate, James! You don't want to hurt him! Sirius thought franticly at Remus. But Remus was no more. At the smell and site of a human the werewolf had completely taken control and Remus was just along for the ride.

The werewolf lunged at James knocking him over. Peter's squeaks of terror echoed deafeningly off the room's bare walls. Sirius darted towards the tangle of limbs to try and pull James away from the werewolf. Every time Sirius tried to get close the James the werewolf would turn its attack on him, snapping and trying to bite at him. Sirius was forced to back up and try to find another way to get closer. James was barely visible under the werewolf, he was putting up a good fight but appeared to not have his wand with him. James gave a yelp of pain and Sirius saw a small river of a dark thick substance trickle across the wooden floor. Blood. James had been bitten, there was a large gash in his right arm.

Maybe if Sirius attacked the werewolf it would back off of James and come after him instead; leaving James a chance to escape. Sirius charged at the werewolf, hoping that a surprise attack would knock the large wolf away. He headed the werewolf in its side with great force. This merely seemed to piss off the wolf more; it took a swipe at Sirius that sent him crashing across the room, he skidded to a painful stop to see the werewolf still on his friend.

Sirius had a sudden idea. James! Transform! Werewolves don't hurt other animals! Transform now! But Sirius heard no words come out of his mouth, only a series of barks. He couldn't communicate with James in his Animagi form. And he couldn't turn back into him self for fear of being attacked too.

Then the werewolf backed away from James. Sirius suddenly thought that James must have transformed and that was why the werewolf stopped. He got back on his paws and headed over the blood stained floor boards to where James was lying still in his usual form. As Sirius approached James he thought that he would now have two friends that were werewolves. But upon looking at James face he knew why the werewolf had backed away. Werewolves were known for playing with their pray even if they had no intentions of eating it, but once their toy dies they lose interest quickly. And this is what had happened. James had died.

Sirius woke with a start. His heart was racing and he was drenched in sweat. He drew back his curtains and looked over at the bed on his left. There Remus lied sleeping, looking so peaceful and harmless. How could anyone guess that this seemingly innocent child could be a werewolf? Sirius moved his attention to the bed across from his own on the opposite wall. This bed contained a sleeping James, the bed to the left of James's was Peter's he too was sound asleep, he soft snores drifting around the room. They're all ok, Sirius thought to himself. It was just a bad dream because of the nerves. That would never happen.

Sirius rolled onto his right side, deciding to go back to sleep when an eerie glow caught his eye. Sirius propped his head up and looked at his nightstand. There sitting next to his wand was his pocketknife, gleaming in the moonlight. Sirius sat up in his bed, picked up his pocketknife and pulled out the blade; it shined brightly in the moonlight. Sirius looked over his shoulder at the sleeping Remus then back to the knife. I wonder what this blade it made of, Sirius pondered to himself. Sirius looked over his shoulder again at Remus, then to the blade in his hand and slipped off his bed. Sirius went over and stood next to Remus's bed looking down at the sleeping boy, Remus had one arm above his head and the other lied across his stomach.

"Please forgive me mate," Sirius said, his voice was small and quite. The voice seemed dead; it had nothing of the life it usually carried. "Its just... I don't any other ways to find out what's in this blade."

Sirius didn't know why he was doing this, how could he be doing this? Remus was his best friend and he had never given him any reason to distrust him before. And yet he gently pressed the blade against the back of the hand that lied on Remus's stomach. As soon as the cold metal touched his skin, Remus took a sharp in take of air and his hand jerked. Sirius backed away quickly and quietly away, bumping into his own bed. Sirius held his breathe praying Remus wouldn't wake up. The praying seemed to pay off for Remus stayed sleeping. Sirius put the blade away and went back over to Remus's bed. There on the back of his hand in the shape of the blade, was a red mark like a new burn.

That means the blade is silver or has silver in it, Sirius thought. It's a good thing he didn't wake up. How bad would that have looked if he had woken up to find his best mate standing over him holding a knife. Pretty damn bad.

Sirius climbed back into his bed, set the pocketknife on his nightstand and closed the hangings. Sirius lied down into the pillows thinking. I can bring my pocketknife with me so my dream will never come true. I can leave it at the end of the passage way so Remus never finds out. And since werewolves heal very rapidly, Remus's burn will be healed by morning and he'll never need to know about that either.

~*~*~*~*~

The arrival of freezing cold air brought Sirius back to the present in a heart beat. They had just stepped out side and were know standing on the front steps of the school. The grounds we're covered in snow that gleamed an unhealthy color of white under the light of the moon.

"What will we do about the snow?" James asked. "They'll see our foot prints in it. They'll know we've been out after hours."

"Prongs, are you a wizard?" Sirius asked.

"Yes."

"And don't you have a wand?"

"Yes, Sirius, I have a wand. What is the point to these questions?"

"No wonder Remus was made prefect over you," Sirius said to himself. "James, you prat, magic our foot prints away," Sirius placed heavy emphasis on magic.

"Oh... Right," said James embarrassed, and pulled out his wand.

They made their way to the Whomping Willow in good time seeing as they had to stop every once and a while so James to magic their foot marks away. Once they reached the killer tree Peter snaked his was through the swinging branches and pressed the knot on the trunk. The creaking branches froze, looking unnaturally still in the moonlight.

Sirius stepped out from under the cloak. He reached into his back pocket and took out the pocketknife. He could feel James staring at him as he put the pocketknife in his mouth. Sirius closed his eyes in concentration, emptied his mind of everything but transforming into a dog. His bones suddenly grew warm, transforming into shorter and thicker ones. He dropped to his knees and soon found himself standing on all fours.

Sirius opened his eyes to see his new line of vision at about three feet above the ground. Everything had quite a different perspective now, seeing he was half his normal height. Sirius padded over to a large gap in the roots of the tree and slipped between them into the tunnel. The passageway was pitch black but that didn't matter to Sirius, who knew it by heart. He ran flat out along the tunnel, eager to get to his friend so he wouldn't be alone too long. The entrance to the shack came into view and Sirius slowed to a stop right before the end of the tunnel. Sirius opened his mouth, dropping his pocketknife in a corner of the tunnel right below the entrance. He climbed out of the passageway and into the boarded up house, all the furniture was torn, bitten and had claw marks and everything was covered in a fine layer of dust and cobwebs. On a rug by the hearth was a wolf staring at Sirius with fixed eyes.

Sirius barked a happy hello at the wolf who returned it with a wag of its tail. The wolf had brown fur quite similar to Remus's hair; it was light brown with patches of darker shades of brown. But the one thing the proved that this wolf was truly his friend Remus was its eyes. They were amber in color, gold with a hint of green around the iris, and just as piercing as ever.

"Padfoot?" called a voice from above the fire place. "Are you there yet?"

Sirius turned to the fireplace, let out a tremendous bark and turned back to Remus. His eyes were full of life, he was clearly eager to get out and have some fun. Sirius prayed to himself that he would never be the one to take the life out of those eyes.