The Bonds of Spirit are stronger than the Bonds of Blood

Chapter Thirteen

Guiding Remus into the room, Sirius sat down cross-legged in the centre of the floor. James returned his arms and legs back to normal while Peter smiled apologetically at Remus before sitting on Sirius' right. James sat down on his left while Remus sat facing the trio, looking incredibly irritated and slightly scared. Sirius took a deep breath before speaking. "We wanted to help you, Remus, so you wouldn't have to be alone during the full moon. So after quite a bit of thought, I suggested the idea of transforming ourselves into something else, like an animal. I dragged James to McGonagall's office and she told us all about animagi, the wizards who can change into a specific animal at will! She told us, well indirectly told us, how we would need to practice Human Transfiguration, and mentioned we'd need these mandrake leaves, not entirely sure what for but we got plenty of em! We knew if we told you about what we had planned we'd only worry you, so we snuck off here to practice. We were going to tell you all about this as soon as we had a better grasp of this type of transfiguration. But isn't this great? Soon enough we'll be able to keep you company during the full moon and you won't have to worry about hurting us!" Sirius finished his explanation with a bright grin, happily awaiting his friend's reaction, while James and Peter nodded. James spoke up in the silence. "We know you've dealt with this on your own for years now, but you shouldn't have to do that anymore. We want to be able to be there for you even when the full moon forces you to keep your distance from everyone else." He said, giving Remus a gentle smile. Peter smiled at this and said "Yeah! What kind of friends would we be if we didn't even try to be there for you?" The three looked eagerly towards Remus, awaiting his answer. Sirius was worried that Remus would be mad at them for going so far, but there was no way he would stop now. He would help Remus whether he was willing to let him or not!

Remus looked at his three best friends, utterly astonished. They were willing to put themselves at such risk, for him? He thought over their words, noticing the battered copy of Advanced Transfiguration and the mandrake leaves which were sticking out of the cover. Shaking his head he gave them a smile and said "I can't believe anyone would do so much for me... When I found out you were gone I thought... maybe you regretted being friends with someone so dangerous..." He trailed off as he found himself engulfed in a great hug. Lifting his head he found James, Sirius, and Peter embracing him at once. James said "Now why would we regret becoming friends with you?" Peter added "You can't get rid of us so easily! We'll be friends till the end of time!" Sirius chuckled and added "If we didn't want to be friends with you anymore, why would we keep hanging around you every chance we get? Besides, there's nothing wrong with a little danger!" He winked at this, causing Remus to laugh. With a smile Remus said "Alright, alright, I get it! But if you are going to become animagi we are going to do this properly! Firstly, no more sneaking off without me! Someone has to make sure you lot don't kill yourselves trying to transform! Secondly, we are doing some proper research on this. You have some mandrake leaves, right? But you don't know what they are for! With something this intricate you can't afford to miss or take steps out of order! We'll need to check and see if the library has anything on this kind of transfiguration...." He trailed off as he started to formulate a plan for how to move forward. Sirius grinned as he watched Remus plan. Finally everything was coming together nicely! He traded glances with James and Peter, relieved that they could now work together as a proper unit, instead of hiding things and sneaking off to act on their own.

Lily was anxiously pacing in the common room, awaiting Remus' return. He had been gone for quite a while, as the common room was now entirely empty of students. She hoped he hadn't run into any trouble. Granted she didn't really know Remus, but Sirius really cared for him so Lily remained worried. She vowed to speak with him more if she got the chance! After all, unlike the others he was studious and actually cared about following the rules. And he was always polite, even if the person he was speaking with only berated him for some small accident. He seemed like he would be an amazing friend, but Lily couldn't help feeling like he was hiding something. She thought, maybe, like Sirius he was hiding some serious scars that no one seemed to notice. Mid-pace she heard the portrait swing forward and quickly hid on the staircase to the girl's dorm. She didn't want to interfere with anyone coming through, but she hoped to at least find out how Remus, Sirius, and their friends were. Peaking around the corner, she found Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter, all arm in arm and smiling. She sighed with relief, releasing a breath she hadn't realised she had been holding. At least for now they were safe, and if Remus was smiling then all was well. As they headed towards their dorm, she overheard part of their conversation. "So we'll need to hit the library as soon as possible, we definitely need some clearer instructions on this whole process." Remus said as he climbed the stairs. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll go hunting for information tomorrow, alright? For now just relax! At least we have some sort of a plan! We aren't going into this completely blind, ya know!" Sirius responded, sending the quartet into a bought of laughter. As their footsteps echoed and died away, Lily couldn't help but wonder what they meant. What process? Were they studying? Was Remus forcing the others to take their school work more seriously? If not, then what exactly were they up to? These questions burning in her mind, Lily headed back upstairs to hopefully get some sleep.