Marauders wolfstar

Keep warm

It was only breakfast when James had come running up to the table that the other three were sitting at, eating calmly. Well, two of them eating calmly, Remus was leaning on Sirius asleep and sore from what was about to come that night.

"The map."
James said bluntly, slamming a piece of blank parchment on the table and making Remus jump out of his sleep.
"What?"
Sirius said, rubbing Remus's back as said boy groaned out a noise.
"The map! Don't you remember the map we talked about? Of the castle?"
James rambled. Peter snorted as he continued to shovel eggs into his mouth.
"Yeah I mean we talked about it vaguely but what of
it James? We never continued the idea."
Sirius said, letting Remus fall back to sleep on his shoulder with a sigh.
"But what if we did? What if we made an enchanted map of Hogwarts?"
James grinned as he talked, looking around at them before noticing Remus asleep and his eyes lost their shine.
"I almost forgot, how is he?"
James asked, Peter had stoped eating.
"He's been better, today seems worse then usual."
Sirius answered, smiling as Remus snored in his sleep.
"Do you think he'll be ok?"
Peter asked, looking at Remus worried.
"Yeah he always pulls through. But I suppose we should wait to talk about this until he's back and feeling better."
James said rather glumly before sitting down and severing himself some toast.

The rest of the school day went along as well as it could, James and Sirius took notes for once which always gave the teachers a bit of a shock and Peter helped Remus around. They switched it up each class.
By the end of the day remus was functioning but was incredibly sore, wincing every time he stepped forward. Before they knew it it was time for him to head to the shack.

"Are you going to make it there by yourself?"
Sirius asked, his brow creased in worry.
"Mhm."
Remus answered as he pulled the warmest jacket he had on which sadly had a lot of holes from lots of use over the years.
James and Peter shared a look with Sirius as Remus struggled for a second to put it on.
"Here take mine instead, it'll keep you warmer then that."
Sirius said, holding out his own warm jacket he'd gotten the year before. Most of the time he couldn't wear it because he got to over heated but Remus was always cold and he needed the jacket.
Remus stared at it for a second before sighing and taking it, sliding it on a lot more effortlessly then his own jacket.
"Thanks. I'll try not to rip it up."
Remus said, smiling slightly at his friends before waving timidly and leaving the room.
All the boys in the dorm sat quietly. They would never get used to this.

The walk to the shack always seemed longer on the full moon then any other day, but today was even worse. Remus dragged his feet along behind him trying to go as fast as he could through the dreaded tunnel he hated so much.
By the time he got into the shack it was late and already almost time to change. Pulling off Sirius's jacket Remus pushed it on top of one of the book shelves, hoping the wolf wouldn't find something as nice as that and destroy it.
Then Remus striped out of his other clothes and folded them as best as he could before tucking them under the only couch in the shack. This was his usual hiding place for his clothes.
All that was left to do was wait now. And wait he did.

Back at their dormitory Sirius was pacing back and forth on the floor while humming, not well I might add, some dumb song Remus had sent him over the summer to listen to.
"Will you shut it? I can sit here and worry if you keep doing that."
James sapped.
"Well excuse me I need to cope with this!"
Sirius shot back, looking to Peter for help who was just rocking a bit back and forth on his bed.
"Why aren't you yelling at Peter! He's making just as much noise as I am!"
"Hey leave me out of this!"
It didn't take long for this to become to loud for the rest of the school and someone to come in and tell them to shut it. It may have been a red haired beauty.

Who ever it was it worked and shut them up, they all sat in silence on the floor next to each other, not sure how to help and not sure what to do with themselves.
Once they heard their friends first howl though it was easy to understand why they were all so on edge.

Remus felt it creeping up his spine before he felt it physically. He never looked out the window to tell him if it was time or not, he simply relied on instincts.
The first shoot of pain went through his shoulders and he crumpled to the ground, crying and wishing what was about to happen wouldn't.
The next was the break of his elbows as they bent the wrong way, then his spine and legs. All of his bones cracking and breaking into new positions for the wolf that was coming out. As his jaw broke he finally let out a small sound of pain, even though he'd gone through this so much in his life it hurt more and more every time.
Nothing was stoping this now, the burning sensation had begun. He always recognized this as his skin changing, a fact that somehow helped him.
It wasn't his skin, it wasn't him.
This was all he repeated in his head as the last of his tears rolled down his burning cheek.
Slowly he felt himself slipping, and he stoped repeating, the pain wasn't registering anymore as he let his brain fall back and back into his head, until the only thing he heard was his own deep breath and a howl that he refused to believe was his.

Sorry for this being a day late. I got a little behind but I got this out so here ya go!