"N-now you've t-taken your aconite?"

"Yes, I have."

"I'm promised to have the Wolfsbane for - for the F-February moon."

"It's alright."

"I meant t-to have it sooner, of course, but it's qu-quite rare yet and --"

"It really is alright, Mr. Scamander." Ned Veigler's eyes shone in the darkness of Professor Uruquat's office. Ned, Elphinstone Uruquart, Newt Scamander, and Albus Dumbledore stood about the room, the shutters drawn tight as the last bits of sun peeked in around the cracks. Ned sat in the cushiest chair by the fire, his face drawn in a wince of pain as he clutched his side. A teacup perched in his other hand had aconite leaves floating about.

Newt looked wholly apologetic and anxious. 

"How about little Bradley, then?" Ned asked weakly, "Oughtn't you be with the child as the full moon rises?"

Newt's head turned. His briefcase lay open on the chair opposite of Ned, and strange noises emitted now and again from within, as well as the flickering form of Dougal the demiguise, who sat on the top rung of the ladder leading into Newt's laboratory, peering out over the edge of the briefcase, too worried to stay wholly invisible. "Teeny is- is seeing t-to him," Newt replied. "St-still young yet. Th - the little one st - still finds it qu - quite exciting to change..." He looked quite sad and jangled.

"Perhaps a bit of tea for you, Mr. Scamander?" Dumbledore said, his voice gentle. "I find that a spot of tea always helps to calm the nerves."

Newt turned about, "Oh - I - yes, perhaps."

Dumbledore waved a wand and produced two cups of chamomile tea, piping hot. He took one himself and smiled as Newt reached for the other, his eyes meeting Elphinstone's over the edge of the cup as he took the first sip. "A lump for you, Mr. Scamander?" he asked.

"N - No. Thank you." The cup chattered against the saucer as Newt held it, his hands shaking.

Elphinstone was pacing by the window and he peeked between the shutters, his hand going to his wand, which was tucked in a sort of leather holster on his hip. "Nearly time then," he said, and he crossed the room quickly.

"Thanks to you once again, Professor, for allowing us to use your study for the transformation," Dumbledore said. "It is quite important that we keep Professor Veigler well tended until we've managed to work out exactly what is going on with the moon cycle symptoms that he is having."

Newt looked at Dumbledore, then back to Ned. Unspoken, of course, was the fact that it was not only Ned having the symptoms, but also Remus Lupin. Though Remus's condition was unknown to Professor Urquart.

"Yes, thank you," Ned said, his voice gravelly and low from the pain he was in. "It's the only room in the castle that I know will keep me in once I've transformed. Fortified it myself when I taught here, years ago."

Elphinstone Urquart nodded, "Of course, Mr. Veigler. I only wish I could do more."

"A solid stunner will be quite enough, sir," Ned said with a weak smile.

Newt Scamander quickly sipped from his tea cup, his face pale.

"Ah. The moon rise," Dumbledore's voice was quiet as he nodded at the shutters, but none of them needed look to see that the moon was indeed risen, for the evidence was all too clear.

The golden light at the cracks in the shutters had turned silver as they spoke, the sun's rays too weak compared to that of the moon's reflection of it, and the night had come and Ned Veigler dropped the teacup he'd been holding. It shattered on the floor and Dumbledore quickly waved his wand and the cup resumed it's unshattered state and hopped up on the desk across the room. Newt put down his cup on the table and reached quickly to close his briefcase lid, shoving Dougal's head down in as the demiguise's eyes had widened with concern for Ned Veigler, his body gripped by the moonlight.

Elphinstone Urquart raised his wand.

Claws and teeth and fur and bone, Ned Veigler changed from the wild haired man that had been sitting before them moments before, emerging a wild haired wolf instead, a burly, strong wolf with glowing yellow eyes, landing on the floor by the fire with his impossibly long teeth bared, his claws digging through the carpet. He looked up and his great, wolfish mouth opened wide and the long, low howl was just about to be emitted when --

"Stupefy."

Newt Scamander covered his eyes as the wolf fell to the floor.

Lily sat staring out the window at the woods far over the lake. She was hugging her knees, sitting on the cushion on her sill in her dormitory. Her cheek pressed against her legs as she stared out at the way the moonlight glinted across the treetops.

"Can you see the thestrals?" Ali was suddenly beside Lily, having come in her open door, and was crawling up onto the sill as well.

Lily nodded.

"I can, too," Ali said quietly.

The girls sat in silence, watching as, just over the treeline, the skeletal forms of the black horse-like creatures broke the canopy, leaves fluttering from their wings as they swept and looped in the silver moonlight. The blackness of the lake seemed to shiver in the wind and a slight drizzle was just beginning, the threat of rain hanging in the breath of the night.

"They're beautiful, even though they're terrible," Ali commented. "Like even in the middle of all the pain and terribleness that seeing them represents, I sort of wouldn't want to unsee them, either."

"I would," Lily said. "I'd like it very much if I couldn't see them. It would mean that everybody was still alive. I wish that nobody could see them at all, and all of the people who have watched their loved ones die would have them back."

Ali sighed.

Lily said, "I wish everything Voldemort's broken could be undone, really."

"Don't we all," Ali whispered.

And Lily sighed, her heart aching for everyone in the world - but most of all for James Potter. She wondered if he was safe out there.

"ARRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

The howl echoed through the trees.

Yes! Yes! LET'S HOWL. I LOVE HOWLING.

"ARRRROOOOOOO!! ARRRRR-OOOOOOOOOOOoooOOOOooOOOOO!" Padfoot howled along, leaping about the wolf, his black tail wagging with such fervor that his whole body seemed to shake, his fur puffed up and thick to make himself look larger. "AAAAAAAARRRROOOO!!!!!" 

Moony looked over at the dog beside him, shaking and quivering about as he was, and lowered his muzzle, his eyes still yellow and dark. He was still just the werewolf yet, and Padfoot was a buzzing nuisance. There was a honking, throaty sound and Moony looked up to see the tall-antlered stag waiting a few feet away on the stones, the fat rat on his head, tail turned around the prongs. A wind blew over the lake, ruffling the fur on the wolf's back.

Moony, the dog beside him said. And the wolf looked over at him, their eyes locking. C'mon, mate, you know who you are. 

The stag shifted his weight, eager for the connection to be made so he could run. The woods seemed to beckon him.

S - Sirius?

Ayyy there you are, Moonshine. The dog's mouth seemed to smile, his body wriggling before the wolf, bouncing back and forth eagerly.  Welcome back, mate.

The wolf stared at him, then looked over at the stag and rat again. James? Pete?

They can't understand you, mate, they aren't canines like us.

But it's them? 

Yeah it's them. Of course it is. It's us - it's the Marauders, Moony. You're Remus John Lupin, the Sexiest Werewolf the Grounds of Hogwarts has ever hosted.

There came a barking laugh from the throat of the wolf, The only Werewolf the Grounds of Hogwarts has ever hosted, you mean.

Padfoot's great bushy head shook, Untrue, you're forgetting Veigler and that little shyte of Mr. Scamanders now, aren't you? 

Alright well, still not much of a competition for me in winning the title of sexiest, now is it?

Padfoot barked a laugh, Oh I don't know. Ned isn't so hard on the eyes, now is he?

And Moony let out a playful growl, a yap, and jumped at Padfoot, who leaped over a log and set off across the stones, barking loudly as he went, his tail out straight, the wind in his fur. He was chased by the wolf, of course, and there was the scrambling stag that bounded alongside them, honking happily as the rat clung tightly, his whiskers flickering with worry.

They dodged through branches and over brush, leaping over logs and creeks, the stars and moon their only navigation. Padfoot barked and sang in dogspeak as they went and Moony paused to howl and hunt, prowling after squirrels and rabbits. They came to a marsh and they watched as Prongs dashed about, the upkicked snow whispering alongside him as he went and, on his head, the rat stretched and held onto a higher branch of his antlers, his little mousey toes clutching on, looking about and smelling the air that carried delicious scents from Hogsmeade village far off over the trees.

They played a sort of hide-and-seek that was a bit more like being hunted for Prongs and Wormtail, and Padfoot had to snap at Moony a couple times to keep him from being carried away in the rush of it, nearly losing himself to the wolfish instincts to capture and tear the flesh away from the bone, though that didn't stop them from playing it. And Prongs stripped bark from tree trunks as snacks and Wormtail even came down from his perch to gather some berries from a brush.

They'd made their way over the far reaches of the land, further than they'd gone before on a full moon night and they were tired and curled themselves up in a great knot a great way from Hogwarts, sleeping through the remaining small hours of the night, the werewolf among them, his jaw perched calmly on the shank of the stag.

It was a good deal colder when they woke. In their animal forms, they had fur and fat to keep them warm, and the temperatures dropped overnight so that they woke to find a fine powdering of snow had fallen and dusted over Prong's bum, which stuck out from the sheltering overhang of rock and brush where they'd fallen asleep. Only Remus awoke in his human form, wrapped tightly in the fur of Padfoot. There were a few small scrapes on his cheeks from running through a thorn branch, and a couple small bruising nips from Padfoot when the wolf had started to go too far with their games.

Remus sat up, running a finger gingerly over one of those bruises, feeling the muscle lumping up, and he winced a bit. "You've gone and left a mark," he scolded Padfoot, who lapped his face. "For gods sake Sirius, I'd much prefer a good morning snog from human Sirius."

"I'd much prefer if you lot didn't snog just yet at all," said James, turning back from his stag form.

Padfoot barked.

"How far do you reckon we are?" Peter asked, transforming just outside their little grotto. He bent down to look at them, hugging his arms about himself, too round to go back in as a human. James and Remus barely fit, and Padfoot was smushed as far against the back of the stone as he could go. "Do you suppose we could be lost?"

"Nah," James replied.

"Well how are we supposed to find our way back?" Peter asked, "Without the stars to guide us?"

"We'll use the sun, ninny," said James.

Peter ducked away from the mouth of the grotto.

Remus rubbed his arms against the cold. "Didn't bring any of our food, did we?"

James laughed. "Uhh... no, it's probably down by the lake still."

"Spiffing." Remus crawled out from the grotto.

Peter was standing on a stone overlooking a cliffside, looking about. He glanced over his shoulder as Remus limped over. "What's there to see, Wormy?" Remus asked.

"Hogsmeade," Peter replied.

Remus looked over the cliffside at the village below and, beyond that, the sloping road that wound alongside the lake's edge that climbed up to the black form of Hogwarts castle. Smoke puffed from the chimneys, and owls fluttered over the post office, their wings carrying them on the thermals.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Peter asked, looking at Remus.

"Very," Remus replied.

Peter looked from Hogsmeade to Remus for a moment, then asked, "Do you reckon that James and Sirius really think of me as one of the group?"

Remus's eyes met Peter's. "I do."

"Sometimes, I rather feel as though I'm not," Peter explained, "And it's really difficult because I don't know how to be better at being one of you."

"You are one of us already, Pete," Remus said in a reassuring tone.

Peter shrugged.

"Really, Pete," Remus said, "You mean a great deal to all of us."

Peter had been thinking of this for some time, Remus could tell, because of the way his eyes stayed steadfastly forward as he spoke - he wasn't working to conjure the right words to say to explain himself, they were there at the ready, and he wondered how many times Peter Pettigrew had lain awake into the morning thinking about these things.

"You're a very important member of our group," Remus added after the pause, "And not one of us would trade you in for any other."

Peter forced a bit of a rueful smile at Remus then, and said, "Well it's just that I doubt that Sirius and Lily Evans and you and Maryrose Jenkins and everyone would've gone looking for me if I was taken by Lord Voldemort off to some prison. I mean it's not much of a competition between me and James - James would win every time."

"But you were taken, Peter," Remus said gently, "You were taken - and we did go after you." He didn't tell Peter that it was incidental that they discovered he'd been missing at all, and he very much hoped that Peter never found out.

"Yeah, but only on account of James was there, too," Peter said. "What if it had been just me?"

Remus said, "We still would've come, Pete."

Peter answered, "Sometimes, when you lot call me a git and a ninny and fat and all those sorts of things... sometimes I don't really believe that."

Remus was about to answer him when there came a shout from behind them and they both turned to see Sirius was waving a coin purse in the air. "Look'it what Potter's got, you lot! Breakfast at the Three Broomsticks, you reckon?"

"Ohhh yes, breakfast!" Peter's eyes lit up and Remus thought that perhaps Peter was just having a sore morning and would be quite alright after a heaping serving of bacon and tea.