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Chapter Text

It had been a good day.

 To be more specific, it had been a great day. It was everything James thought was a good day; quidditch, little Harry, and of course, Lily.

 Lily. Lily bloody Evans. Although, she is now Lily Potter as of five years ago. But she will always be Lily bloody Evans to me, James thought. Ever since he fell in love with her in his second year at Hogwarts, and she finally fell for him in sixth year. Those were some of the happiest days of his life, those days at Cornwall, him finally being able to display his open affection for her. James knew that Lily would argue against this and say that he had been trying to ask her out since ‘the beginning of time.’ He could almost see her rolling her eyes, and Sirius in the background laughing and slapping him on the back, Remus smiling at their stupidity. 

Oh, and James is ever so grateful for all the people in his life. After all, Lily did bring Harry into this great wide world. Little Harry is something that you cannot express or describe with words, or at least that was what James thought. He couldn't believe that the little niffler of a toddler would be having his fifth birthday tomorrow. Yet little Harry seemed so mature of his age already; sensible (most of the time) empathetic and caring. James was proud to call him his son. 

Of course, his day was just going to get better as he and his two best friends were going to spend the night together. It was a bit different to a usual boys’ hangout night, but sometimes James thought it was better. James hurried down the stairs to hear two large cracks outside the front door.

 “Moony and Pads are here, Lily!” yelled James up the stairs. 

“Coming down in a moment! Harry is just putting his pajamas on!” drifted a shout from the end of the hallway upstairs. 

James skidded down to the front door and opened it hastily. “Just in time! Takeaways will be here any minute.” he said breathlessly. 

On the doormat stood two young men; one rather tall with a number of silver scars wearing a long brown shirt, the other with long dark hair and a grinning mouth wearing a leather jacket.

“Are you sure there aren't burn marks on your gorgeous floors from all that skidding, James?” said the man with long hair with a smirk. “We could hear it from out here.”

“Oh, shut up Sirius,” retorted James with an identical grin stuck on his face. 

“Can we come inside now?” complained the tall one as he pushed into the house.

“Stop whinging Moony,” Sirius called in a playful tone after Remus. “These are the people buying you dinner, you know.” 

“I did want to pay, but both of you refused for me to do so.” Remus said back over his shoulder. 

James and Sirius walked after him down the hallway to the living room. “Sorry about that,” Sirius said to James in a whisper, “The moon has made him very irritated today. The whole morning he was complaining about me ‘breathing too loud.'” 

“You'd think that after over ten years you would know that I can hear you from here,” came Remus's call from the living room.

James and Sirius entered the spacious living room to find Remus sitting in the corner of the sofa opposite two armchairs. This is one of James's favorite rooms in the house, because it hasn't had any drastic changes in it since he lived here in his childhood with his parents. After their deaths over five years ago, this was the place where he could feel their comforting presence the most. Once again, James wished that Harry could have met his wonderful grandparents that made James the person he was today. 

“Stupid werewolf,” Sirius murmured as he ambled over to Remus, pecked him on the cheek, and flopped onto the couch next to him. Remus rested his head on Sirius's shoulder, and James smiled at their affectionate gestures. 

Poor Remus, James thought. Even though he has known since he was twelve, James still couldn't get over that his best friend had to go through this agony every single month. Honestly, he would've shouldered all that pain himself if it meant Remus could stay unharmed. He guessed that was the Gryffindor in him. James put his hands in his jeans pockets and leant on the door frame.  

“So, where is my outstanding godson and the missus?” Sirius asked.

As if on cue, little Harry ran into the room crying, “Uncle Padfoot! Uncle Moony!” He then enveloped Sirius in an enormous hug with his tiny arms.  

“Hey kiddo,” Sirius chuckled, a smile playing on his lips. “How are you today?” 

“Look! I put on my pajamas all by myself! That means I am a big boy now!” Harry stood up with a jump and threw his arms up in the air, showing off his pajamas clad with red reindeer. 

“Hey!” James said, sounding mock offended. “What about your favorite father? He needs a hug too.” 

James was not ready for the wind to be blown out of him by the little four year old bowling into him. But then, maybe it was because Lily had just entered the room, and that took his breath away every time. 

She looked perfectly normal with a simple sky blue sundress and her hair tied up in a low ponytail, but for some reason she looked as beautiful as ever. Lily caught him staring at her and smiled the most stunning smile on this side of Hogwarts. “You know that you have to pick up the takeaways,” she says to the young men. 

James straightened up so abruptly little Harry tumbled off him onto the floor. “Oh crap, yeah,” he said. “Forgot about that.”

Remus lifted his head and stood up. “Don’t worry, I’ll go get it. Need some fresh air anyways,” he says while heading to the door. “Where is the store again?”

“On the corner by the camping supply shop,” James called after him as he heard the front door open and shut. James bends over and lifts Harry back up on his feet. “You okay buddy?” James says to Harry, kneeling down to face his cute little face. “Sorry about that, can’t get our dinner getting cold.”

Little Harry grinned. “I’m okay. It didn’t hurt!” 

Yet again, James couldn’t believe that this caring, resilient four year old was his actual son. It still seemed like just yesterday that he had entered Hogwarts and had the sorting hat put on his head. He still remembered as clear as nothing when the sorting hat proclaimed him Gryffindor to the rest of the school, the feeling of pure joy that he was sorted into his favorite house. Now he looked back and felt that his time at Hogwarts went so fast, and now he was a freaking father. James didn’t even know if he was doing right, even though he now had almost five years of experience under his belt. 

 Lily headed to the kitchen to set the table, while Harry rushed back to Sirius and snuggled up next to him on the sofa. “So,” Sirius started to speak with an arm around Harry, “what did you guys get up to today?”

“Most of the day was spent playing quidditch out in the yard, to my great liking,” James replied. “And guess what? Harry scored his first goal today! Didn’t you, buddy?”

Harry snuggled closer to Sirius. “But you helped me…” he trailed off.

Sirius applauded for Harry. “A goal is still a goal Harry! Very proud of you, my favorite godson!” Sirius said. 

Harry beamed, setting his face alight with joy. 

A call resounded from the kitchen. “You know that you were actually supposed to cook dinner tonight!”

James scoffed. “Takeaways are much better than baked beans on toast though. Put your hand up if you like takeaways?”

Sirius and little Harry’s hands shot up, and James raised his hand too. Lily walked out from the kitchen, red hair billowing with the breeze. She looked around the room, contemplated, and sighed. “Remus would back me up,” she muttered while coming over to James and kissing him on the cheek. James wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. 

Sirius sat up a bit. “I disagree greatly, since Moony is the one who wants to have takeaways four nights a week,” he stated. 

“Can we have takeaways four nights a week mummy?” Harry asked pleadingly.

“Definitely not,” responded Lily, untangling herself from James’s arms and failing dismally.

“Stay here for longer,” James murmured into her ear, kissing it softly as he did so.

“No!” Lily giggled while still trying to disentangle herself from James's long tan arms, however he just held her tighter.

“What's wrong with me?” demanded James over Lily's giggles. “Do I need to take a shower or something?” He leant over and started kissing her nose all over repetitively, much to the disagreement of her due to all the giggles.

“Get a room!” Sirius said loudly as the two broke apart. 

For the second time that night, there was a loud crack outside and the front door opened. “That was quick, Moony!” James exclaimed. 

Remus entered the room with a big paper bag in his arms and headed towards the kitchen. “Wasn't very busy there,” he responded. “It's probably bad luck or something to eat takeaways on a full moon.” 

“That does sound like a very muggle thing,” chuckled Sirius while hoisting a giggling Harry onto his back to take to the dining table.

                          *****

Everyone was now seated at the table and digging into Chinese food. James watched Remus with a smile as he piled a cup of everything onto his plate so there was a steaming mountain on his plate. The room was filled with the aromas of fried food and sesame. He bit into a spring roll, relishing the crunch of it. 

“So where are you three going tonight?” Lily asked between mouthfuls of fried rice.

“I'm thinking of that magical forest in Wales this time,” Remus replied without looking up. “That alright with you, Prongs?” 

James grinned. “Perfect,” he remarked. “Was that the one we went to last year with the doe that kept following me around?”

Sirius choked on his food and his laughter. “That was so hilarious! Moony started sniffing it and looking hungry after a bit, and then Prongs got all protective of it!” chortled Sirius. 

“Were you going to hurt the deer Uncle Moony?” Harry asked, a slightly distressed look on his face. James frowned.

Remus looked a little uncomfortable and stopped eating his dinner, half of the mountain leftover. “Uncle Padfoot was talking about the wolf, not me,” Remus said, glaring pointedly at Sirius. 

James cleared his throat. “You see buddy,” he said, “when Uncle Moony transforms, he doesn't know what he is doing, because it is the wolf controlling him. That is why it is dangerous for people to be around him at that time. Uncle Moony and I can explain it to you when you are a little older.” 

Little Harry looked better now. “Okay,” he responded, and went back to eating his dinner. Lily smiled at James from the corner of his eye. 

Sirius could be so tactless sometimes, James thought. He sighed and placed his cutlery on his plate. Sirius just needs to learn how to think before he talks. This is how he got into big trouble in fifth year when he couldn't keep his stupid mouth shut and endangered the lives of several people, including himself and Moony. 

Remus stood up. “If everyone is finished I can clear the plates,” he said. “Not hungry anymore,” seeing James looking at his half eaten plate. “Is it alright if I leave it in the fridge for tomorrow?” 

“That's perfectly fine, Moony,” James replied with his laid back tone. 

Remus cleared away the dishes with help from Lily, while James and Sirius talked about Harry's quidditch progress with Harry listening eagerly. After a few minutes, the two of them returned from the kitchen. Lily sat back down between James and Harry and wiped something of Harry's feet, while Remus kept standing and leant on his chair uncertainly. “So, is it still alright if we stay here after tonight?” Remus asked. 

“Of course, Remus!” exclaimed Lily. “I have already got a sleep potion ready for you when you get back. I've been asking Madame Pomfrey for a few tips.” 

“And don’t forget it's Harry's birthday tomorrow, so you get to be there for that too,” James added.

“Yeah, about that,” Remus started, but was cut off by Sirius.

“We know that you're going to want us to stay here for Harry, Moony,” Sirius spoke, “but we want to come with you, and Harry doesn't mind postponing his birthday to give you time to rest.”

“I have two birthdays now!” little Harry piped up. 

“Anything for our Moony!” James chimed in. 

“Ok, ok, now it's time for Harry to go to bed,” Lily sighed. “You've got a few big days ahead of you. Two whole birthdays!” she said to Harry.

“Can daddy tuck me in?” asked Harry.

“Hmmm… if you can get into bed in one minute,” James replied. “I'll count you down. 3…2…1… Go!”

Harry jumped out of his chair and sped out of the kitchen. James looked around the table and shared a collective grin with Lily, Sirius and Remus.

Chapter Text

Sirius and Remus waited by the door for James to come back downstairs. Sirius looked at Remus, and could instantly see why he was so in love with him. People sometimes said that love faded away after a while, but that definitely had not happened with Sirius. In contrast, he believed that his love has grown for Moony ever since sixth year. Sirius traced the lines of Remus's silver scars with his eyes along his face and neck, as he had done many times before.

Sirius could now see that Remus was getting restless, so he wished that James would hurry up. Fortunately, James appeared at the top of the stairs and galloped down the stairs to meet them.

“Are you guys ready to go?” James said.

“Yep,” Remus responded. “Let's go.”

Sirius opened the front door and breathed in the mild summer air. The three of them stepped out into the dusk and Apparated.

Sirius landed on soft ground covered in moss. He looked around and saw tall trees laden with moss and a waterfall bubbling in the distance. Sirius heard James and Remus walk up to him from behind him. Sirius turned around and grinned at him, hands in pockets.

“It’s going to start very soon, so maybe you guys just transform now,” Remus stated.

Sirius saluted him. “Yes sir, Moony sir!” he said, and promptly transformed into Padfoot, a big black dog.

James followed suit and transformed into a regal stag. Padfoot wagged his tail and started to chase Prongs in circles around Remus. From the corner of his eye Padfoot could see Moony smiling, which made Padfoot very happy.

Suddenly, Remus's expression changed to fear and agony, so Padfoot and Prongs trotted over to the nearest tree and watched as Moony's transformation took place. The transformation was as ugly as ever, with bones snapping and elongating and Remus screaming in pain. Finally, the wolf was crouching in front of them and sniffing the air. Padfoot wagged his tail again. The wolf looked their way. Its eyes brightened with joy and a familiar playfulness. And so another Marauders full moon began.

*****

Remus woke up sputtering and coughing lying on the forest floor. Padfoot, still pumping with adrenaline from the night's events, bounded over and licked his arm.

“Gerroff, Padfoot,” Remus groaned. Sirius transformed back to his normal form and crouched down next to Remus. James, also back to human, came over too.

“Are you okay Moony?” James asked. “That night was a pretty good one,” he added, grinning.

“I think everything is fine,” Remus responded. He tried to sit up, but failed.

“Fuck,” Remus muttered. “Dislocated shoulder.”

“If I said that in front of Lily, she would kill me,” James remarked.

Looking at Remus, Sirius now saw that his arm was hanging at a funny angle. He saw Remus get his wand out, so he said, “Oh no, you don't. You know perfectly well that you are not supposed to do those sorts of healing spells on yourself.” Sirius looked at James. “Lily probably knows a healing spell, won't she?” He inquired. I don't know any.”

“Most likely,” James replied. He ran a hand through his messy black hair. “I think you should side-along with me Moony, just to be sure.”

Remus grumbled. “Fine,” he said.

Sirius got to his feet and helped Remus up, careful to steer clear of his bad shoulder. “Come on Moony, side-alonging isn't that bad. Be nice.”

James linked arms with Remus and disappeared. Sirius followed shortly after.

After landing on the doorstep, James spoke to Sirius and Moony. “Remember to be quiet, since Lily and Harry are still asleep.”

“Got it,” Sirius whispered and winked. Remus snorted.

The sky was a light gray, with the sun not quite up yet. The streetlights of the small quaint neighborhood were still on, but those were the only lights to be seen. James unlocked the door and tread down the hallway. Sirius and Remus followed him up the stairs and down the corridor to the door of James and Lily's room. James opened the door slightly and slid in.

Sirius tucked a strand of hair behind his ear and glanced at Remus. He had dark circles under his eyes, and looked ready to fall asleep right there. Sirius reached out for his hand and laced his fingers into Remus's. “Sorry about that comment last night about the doe,” he murmured, looking at Remus's gorgeous face. “I didn't mean it that way.”

Remus looked down at him. Sirius hated when he did that, it made him feel so short. “It's fine,” he said, squeezing Sirius's hand, “I know you didn't.”

The door opened fully and James came back out, followed by Lily in pale green satin pajamas. Her wand was clenched in her hand. “Morning Remus, Sirius,” she said with a yawn.

Remus nodded at her with a smile and Sirius replied, “mornin’ Evans.”

Remus glanced at Sirius and Lily looked at him quizzically. Fortunately, he realized his mistake. “My apologies, Mrs. Potter,” he added with a curtsey, “force of habit.”

Lily stifled a giggle. “Now, which arm did you hurt, Remus?” she inquired looking over to Remus now.

Remus held out his injured arm. “Padfoot wouldn't let me do it myself,” Remus muttered.

“And I'm glad he did,” Lily tutted. With a flick of her wand, Lily performed the spell and Remus's arm was back to normal.

“Thanks Lily,” Remus said, beaming.

“You're welcome,” Lily replied. “I left the sleeping potion on the table in your room.”

“Okay. I'll head to bed now then,” Remus mumbled. Sirius could clearly see that it was taking all of his energy to not start snoring.

Sirius linked his arm with Remus's. “Let me escort you,” he said in a mock upper-class accent.

“Sleep tight Moony,” James whispered to them as Sirius and Remus headed down the hallway to the room reserved for them.

*****

Sirius woke up with a start, and found he was tangled in the bed sheets. With a grunt, he heaved himself out of the mess and popped his head out into fresh air. A quick glance to Moony's watch on the bedside table told him it was just past midday. He rolled over to face Remus, and surprisingly found him awake, staring back at him. Shit, Sirius thought, didn't mean to wake him up.

“I was already awake,” Remus spoke, reading his mind.

“Good,” Sirius replied, relieved. He shuffled closer to him, so their bodies were touching. “Feeling better now?”

“Much better,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around Sirius.

Sirius grinned a goofy smile. Remus grinned back, their faces only inches apart. “Let's try to keep it PG-rated when Harry is in the house, shall we?” murmured Remus.

“Good point,” Sirius whispered, still grinning away. “But I wonder if it will still count if you were making out with a dog?”

“Don't you dare transform, I will fucking bite you,” Remus responded in disgust. “That is real fucking creepy, why do you even think about that?” he added.

Sirius chuckled and squeezed Remus’s hand. “Okay, okay,” he said. “Are you sure that's your final answer  though?”

Remus shoved Sirius away from him. “Get out of this bed right now,” he demanded sternly, yet playfully.

Sirius smirked and hopped out of bed. He picked up the shirt that was strewn on the ground from the night before and slipped it on. “I had some rest yesterday before we came here, so you sleep for a bit longer Moony,” Sirius said to Remus.

“Sure,” Remus responded, and made himself comfortable again.

Sirius opened the door and slipped through it. “Love you,” he whispered through the crack before closing the door.

Quietly whistling a tune, Sirius strided down the corridor and the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, something small and warm ran into his legs. “Uncle Sirius!” a voice cried.

Sirius grabbed hold of Harry and lifted him up into his arms to see his little face. Harry squealed in delight. “Hey kiddo!” said Sirius. “Happy birthday! Do you like being a big five year old?”

“I don’t really feel older,” little Harry mumbled.

Sirius laughed. “Well to tell the truth I wish I was still sixteen,” he remarked.

Sirius put Harry back down onto the ground and ruffled his hair. “Is Uncle Moony awake yet?” Harry asked, hopping up and down on each foot.

Sirius scratched his head. “I told him to rest for a little longer,” he said to Harry, “but if you knock on the door and ask nicely if you can come in, you can see him.”

“Thank you Uncle Padfoot!” Harry exclaimed, and raced up the stairs.

“Quieter!” Sirius called after him.

Sirius loved his godson. Harry was so alike to James, and not just in appearance. The little boy's heart was so kind and so righteous, a virtue that Sirius always associated with James. When he grew up with James, he always saw that his best friend knew what was right and wrong, and consistently did what was right. It made Sirius smile with joy to see that this value had been passed on to little Harry.

Sirius headed to the kitchen to find James and Lily with cups of tea chatting. A plate full of homemade gingernut biscuits lay in between them. James looked up at him and said, “afternoon Pads.”

Sirius grinned at James and Lily and replied, “afternoon to you too.”

Sirius sat down in the chair next to Lily and helped himself to a biscuit. Still warm from the oven; delicious.

“Is Moony still asleep?” Lily enquired.

Sirius popped the rest of the biscuit into his mouth and finished eating it before answering. “He was awake when I got up, but I told him to get some more rest. Harry has gone to visit him though.” Seeing the look of concern on Lily's face, he added, “don't worry, I told him to be quiet and ask Moony before going in.”

“Okay, that's fine,” Lily responded. “By the way, the Weasleys and the Longbottoms are coming over tomorrow for Harry's birthday. That won't be too full on for Remus after the full moon?”

“Nah,” Sirius replied easily, “he'll be fine by tomorrow.”

“The Weasleys are rather a lot to handle though,” James chuckled. “I mean, seven kids? I think two is enough for us, honey-” James stopped talking abruptly, and looked over at Sirius, then glanced back at Lily guiltily, who had a poker face.

“Wait a minute,” Sirius said slowly,  looking between the two of their faces, “Lily, are you pregnant?”

Lily's face broke into a huge smile. “Yes,” she exclaimed and threw her arms around Sirius. When she let go of him, she asked, “are you alright?”

Sirius grew an identical smile to Lily's. “Are you kidding me?! This is amazing! Bloody brilliant! Another baby Prongs!”

Sirius could tell Lily and James were relieved that his reaction was a good one. He figured that they still remembered his reaction to their marriage, which Sirius regretted big-time. James came over to Lily and kissed her on the cheek while wrapping his arms around her. “We weren't going to tell you and Moony for another month,” James said, grinning like mad. “But I guess if you know now, we better tell Moony.”

Sirius went over to James and hugged him so tight Lily had to help James wrench himself free of his arms. Sirius wiped a couple of tears out of his eyes before straightening back up.

“Got some hay fever, Padfoot?” James teased.

“Oi! It's okay for a grown man to cry if they find out their best friends are having another baby!” Sirius said.

“Then I am very honored to have you cry for us,” James said with a deep, flourishing bow.

“The honor is mine,” Sirius replied with an even bigger bow.

Lily laughed, and said, “why don't we just tell Remus and Harry tonight then, James?”

“Sounds good to me,” James said.

Sirius loved his friends so much. His love for them was something you couldn't put into words. If something ever happened to them, Sirius didn't know what he would do.

Chapter Text

Remus sighed with a smile. He rolled onto his back with his arms behind his head and looked up at the ceiling. It was sky blue, with small fluffy clouds drifting lazily across it. When James and Lily were redecorating the rooms, they let Remus and Sirius do this room. Remus just wanted the ceiling to be painted a light tan or something, but Sirius insisted on enchanting it just like the great hall at Hogwarts. This meant that the ceiling was always portraying the sky outside. Fortunately, the ceiling could dim when they wanted to sleep. This sometimes made him feel very cheerful like he was back at Hogwarts, and at other times downhearted that he wasn't at Hogwarts anymore.

Remus sat up a bit. He could hear voices coming from somewhere else in the house. He heard  Harry crying, “thank you Uncle Padfoot!” and clattering up the stairs.

Remus didn't feel that tired anymore, yet he knew better than to disobey Sirus's orders. Luckily, he had a few books here from previous stays, so he decided to read for a while. He reached over for his wand on the bedside table and mumbled, “accio book.” A book from the bookshelf came zooming towards him, but Remus caught it just before it was about to slam into his face.

Remus was just about to open the book when he heard a soft knocking on the door. “Yes?” he said.

The door opened and a little head poked through the gap. “Can I come in, Uncle Moony?” Harry asked shyly, a light blush creeping onto his face.

“Of course,” Remus answered with a smile, “come here.” He motioned to the space on the bed beside him.

Harry jumped onto the bed, narrowly missing Remus's leg. He burrowed under the blankets and then appeared next to Remus, snuggling up to him. Harry looked just like his father, with messy black hair sticking up at the back and a wide smile. Remus smiled. He loved this little sweet boy.

“Can you tell me a story about you and Uncle Padfoot and Daddy from Hogwarts?” Harry said softly to Remus.

“Well,” said Remus, “I’ll have to think about which story to tell you because there are so many.”

“Tell me a marauders prank,” requested Harry.

Remus hummed as he tried to think of a prank. There were so many, he didn't know which one to tell little Harry. He propped himself up on the pillows and scratched the back of his head before saying, “has your dad ever told you about our first ever prank?”

“No,” Harry said while brushing the hair out of his deep green eyes.

“Well,” Remus said, “it was in our first year of Hogwarts and we were only a few weeks into the term. The Slytherins were-” ‘dickheads’ was about to slip out of his mouth, but opted for a more child friendly expression, “- very mean to us. Your dad and Padfoot decided that we needed revenge.

“There are these little plants called rose hips that they had in the greenhouses, which make you very itchy if you touch their hairs or seeds. So we stole some of those from the greenhouses and took the seeds out of them with gloves on. At night, we snuck down to the Slytherin common room with your dad’s invisibility cloak and waited for someone to come out so we could go in.  We went up to the boys’s dorms and sprinkled the seeds on all the beds.”

Harry’s eyes were very wide in awe. “But what if there were people in the dorms?” he asked.

“That was not too hard,” Remus replied with an absent simile, remembering the memory like it was yesterday. “I snuck into the dorms where people were already sleeping and sprinkled the seeds on top of them. The others couldn't believe I pulled off.”

Harry wriggled around, snuggling closer to Remus. “Did they know you were a werewolf then?” he asked eagerly.

“No, they didn't. Padfoot and Prongs didn't know about that until the start of second year,” Remus said.

Harry nodded at him, his eyes full of young innocence. Remus sighed. He knew he would have to talk to Harry about his lycanthropy at some stage. Remus knew that the small boy was already asking questions about werewolves to Lily and James, so he thought that it was best that he had a talk with him about it. Obviously, it was much harder for him to be normal and do all the stuff he wanted to do. Now that he had grown up and gotten used to the lead up to the full moon and the exhausting aftermath, it was just a part of his routine in life, and had been ever since he was five. The same age Harry is now. As Remus looked into Harry's eyes, he wished that this innocent little boy would never have to go through what he went through.

“Look,” Remus started, “I didn't want to be a werewolf. People just don’t like werewolves. But sadly, it happened to me. As you know, I grew up in a children’s home. I got locked up there at full moons. When I went to Hogwarts though, it was much better. The school nurse there, Madam Pomfrey, looked after me before and after the full moon. I went to a house where no one lived for the nights of the full moon. I had to lie to your dad and Padfoot, because no one could know about my condition. If people found out, they would probably do bad things to me, so no one could know.

“At the start of our second year at Hogwarts, Prongs, with Padfoot, came up to me and told me that they had found out I was… a werewolf. They were really good with it, and they helped me every full moon after that. I wasn’t supposed to tell anybody, but the headmaster was fine with it as long as nobody found out. Then in fifth year, Prongs and Padfoot became animagi for me. They could change into a different animal when they wanted to, and they came with me at full moons so I didn’t hurt myself.”

Remus looked down at Harry, whose eyes looked like it was about to pop out of his head. “Wait, what?!” Harry cried while bouncing up and down on the bed. “Dad and Padfoot can change into animals? He didn’t tell me that!”

“Bugger,” muttered Remus under his breath. Fucking James, not telling Harry, he thought.

“Um,” Remus started, “he hadn’t told you yet?”

Harry shook his head vigorously with a wide grin on his face. “What animals can they turn into?” the little boy asked.

Remus sighed and refrained from swearing under his breath. “Let's just go downstairs now and you can ask them instead,” he said to Harry.

Harry sprang out of bed and danced over to the door. Remus took it more slowly, and winced as he heaved himself out of bed and put weight on his injured shoulder. Harry looked over to him and his expression immediately turned to anxiety.

“Are you okay Uncle Moony?” Harry asked.

Remus gave a weak smile. “I'm fine,” he said, “I just hurt my shoulder a bit last night, but your mum healed it for me.”

Remus walked over to the door where little Harry was waiting for him and opened the door. Harry raced ahead of him down the stairs towards the kitchen.

“Oi, Prongs!” he shouted out from the staircase as Harry disappeared from view.

“Hey Moony, you're up!” came a muffled shout back from the kitchen, followed by the sound of a chair scraping the tiles and footsteps coming towards him. Remus stumbled down the last few stairs and met James at the bottom. He was grinning like mad with his glasses askew with a few biscuit crumbs around his mouth.

“Alright Moony?” James said, patting Remus on the back.

“Yeah, fine thanks,” Remus replied dismissively. “Listen, I accidently told Harry that you and Padfoot were animagi. I didn't know you hadn't told him yet. I'm really sorry.”

James looked slightly surprised, but laughed. “It's fine! Lily and I were going to tell him soon anyway,” James said with the grin still on his face.

Remus raised an eyebrow at his friend, letting a tawny curl drop into his face. “Are you sure you're okay? You're smiling more than normal, which is saying something.”

Just don't worry, Moony. Ask no questions and I shall tell no lies.”

Remus smiled and rolled his eyes at the cryptic answer he got, before following James into the kitchen.