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January 8, 1975
There’s a large rat sitting in the middle of his bed.
It’s definitely a surprise, in that it’s unexpected. But when James and Sirius barreled into him outside the common room five minutes ago, yelling that they had a surprise for him and he had to come upstairs right away, he’d expected something more... exciting.
“That’s a rat.” he observes.
“Yes,” Sirius nods, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“Well spotted,” James adds, grinning. “Nothing gets past you, does it Remus?”
“ Is this the surprise? This rat? Is this supposed to impress me?”
“No.” There’s a worrying light in Sirius’s eyes. James’s smile might fall off his face it’s so big. “But this might.”
Nothing happens.
“Er... is it supposed to be doing tricks or something?”
“Any day now,” Sirius mutters out of the corner of his mouth.
James gives the rat a worried glance. “Oh please don’t tell me you’re stuck like that -
Remus jumps back, his elbow colliding painfully with the door. Peter is standing on his bed, out of nowhere.
“What the fuck - where the fuck did you come from?”
Peter tries to step forward, stumbles on the soft mattress, and falls back onto his pillows. “Please don’t ask me to show you again,” he says faintly. “I’m still getting the hang of it.”
“What - did you just Apparate?”
“Nah, mate, I think the crack you heard was your elbow hitting the door,” Sirius says helpfully.
“Besides, you can’t Apparate or Disapparate inside Hogwarts, remember?” James adds.
“Hang on... but where did the rat...” several pieces fall into place in Remus’s mind... but no, no, definitely not. They couldn’t possibly be that colossally stupid. Could they?
“... where did the rat go?” He repeats weakly.
Sirius’s eyes might just pop out of his face.
“Oh. Oh no, please tell me you idiots, you utter imbeciles didn’t -
“Now you’re getting it,” James says as Sirius yells, “Surprise!”
Remus scrubs his hands over his face, sinks down to the floor, letting his head fall back against it with a thunk.
"What the fuck," he whispers. "What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck... why?" He looks up. "No, wait, scratch that, I don't know if I want to know. Not yet. Let's start with something easier. What are you both, then?"
James and Sirius look a little uncertain.
"Oh, go on. I know you two can transform too. You wouldn't let Peter go through that all by himself."
He blinks and there's an enormous black dog where Sirius was just standing, wagging his tail and panting excitedly. And in place of James is a -
"What the fuck James?"
The stag tilts its head, antlers close to scraping the ceiling. Then James is back, shrugging at him. "I dunno. Not like I chose this form. It just kind of happened."
"No, wait, is this why you were stuck in the hospital wing with antlers for a month last year?"
"I had a tail," Peter pipes up, still sprawled on the bed. "Easier to hide, though."
"Okay. Okay," Remus shakes his head, shakes it again, wishing he could un-remember the last ten minutes. "This is so fucking illegal. So fucking illegal - I assume you aren't registered? Yes? Because McGonagall would never allow you fucking morons to attempt such complicated magic, even under her direct supervision -
"Er, no," Sirius is back, pawing at the floor with his foot. "No one knows. All unofficial. So, maybe... don't tell anyone?" He looks up, a hesitant smile on his face.
Remus lets his head fall against the door again, harder this time. It doesn't knock the knowledge that his three best friends have just taken an insane risk for no discernible reason from his mind.
"This is so... this is such... I assume it's done? The... process," Remus waves a hand, words failing, "whatever, I assume you're finished?"
"Yep. Done this morning, actually."
"Right. I don't want to know," Remus holds up a hand before they can explain any further. "I think for now, the less I know about any of this, the better."
"You know, I hoped you'd be more excited about this," Sirius pouts.
"Yeah, I'm excited," Remus shakes his head, "I'm thrilled my only friends in the world took such a magnificently stupid risk with their lives for... how long, exactly?"
"Erm," James runs a hand through his hair, "about two years?"
"Two years!"
"One and a half, really," Peter interjects again.
"Oh, only one and a half, never mind then!" Remus laughs, looking incredulously between the three of them. "Only one and a half years you put your lives in danger, and for what?" he demands. "Why? I want to know, now, I want to know why."
"For you," Sirius says quietly.
Remus opens his mouth, closes it again.
"I told you we shouldn't have surprised him like this," Peter whispers from the bed. James glares at him.
"For," Remus finally finds his voice, "for me? What do you mean, for me?"
Sirius looks at James, who shrugs back.
"Someone answer me, please."
Sirius sighs, walks over to him. "It was my idea," he says, sinking to the floor across from him, their knees inches apart. "You remember how I - I wanted to come with you, when we first found out. About your transformations. I wanted to keep you company."
Remus nods.
"And you said werewolves can't be around humans when they're transformed," he continues, "that you'd be too dangerous to us."
Remus frowns, seeing where this is going. "So... you're saying -
"We figured, if we can't keep you company as ourselves, we could keep you company as animals," Sirius finishes, "yes, that was the plan. You wouldn't have to worry about us and... you wouldn't be so alone."
"I'm sorry we kept it a secret from you for so long," James adds. "But, well... we knew you wouldn't approve. We knew you'd discourage us from doing it." He has the decency to look sheepish about it.
"You're damn right I would've," Remus agrees. "I maintain that this was colossally stupid of you. You could have died, and you could still be arrested."
"You'd be worth it," Sirius says simply. "Even one night where you didn't have to be alone, locked up in that horrible shack. If we can give you that, whatever else happens is worth it. We all agreed."
"Even I did," Peter adds, sitting up.
Remus takes Sirius's hand, his eyes suddenly stinging. "I... I don't know what to say. I... thank you. Thank you," he says again, just for Sirius, falling forward to hug him, burying his face in his shoulder. "I can't even tell you how much I appreciate this," he mumbles, "I don't even know - for you to do this for me - it's... thank you."
"Of course," Sirius says softly, squeezing him a little tighter. "We'd do anything for you, anything, you know that."
"So," Remus sniffs, pulling back a little to look over at James. "What now? What's the plan?"
"I'm so glad you asked, Remus." James's blinding grin is back. "I have plenty of ideas."