"Oh my gosh, Remus!" Grace ran over to where the boy had collapsed. Luckily, he didn't fall far as he had been standing in front of one of the beds when he fainted. The three boys gasped, unaware that she had been standing there the whole time.
"Grace?!"
"Oh, hi!"
"What are you doing here?" Peter asked, rushing over with the boys to see if Remus was all right.
"My dormmates- and then Teresa- and Ella- I'll explain later. I can't believe he just fainted!"
The four of them were silent for a second, processing what had just happened before Grace crossed her arms and faced them.
"Now, you three better not treat him differently now that you know. You're his best friends, and you can't abandon him because of something he has absolutely no control over. He doesn't mean any harm."
The room was silent as James, Sirius and Peter all began to think. They'd been told their whole lives that werewolves were dangerous, filthy creatures, who enjoy attacking and killing humans, like Fenrir Greyback, who was the only example of a werewolf that they knew. But Remus wasn't anything like Greyback, so could he be trusted?
After James and Sirius had figured his secret out, the trio hadn't really decided what to do next. They knew a confrontation was due, but they hadn't planned this far ahead.
Their thoughts were interrupted when Remus' eyes fluttered open, causing them all to look over. "Wh-what.. oh." He then leaped off the bed, causing him to bend over and grab at his head "I can understand if you don't want to talk to me anymore-"
"Remus! Stop trying to talk and lie back down," Grace ordered, and he reluctantly agreed, but still continued to talk "I can move dorms if you'd like- just please don't tell anyone."
"We won't tell anyone, we promise," James said, but after receiving a sharp glare from Grace he continued "And we'll keep being you're friends. I mean it's not your fault." His words made Grace smile.
"You- what? You still want to be friends with me?" Remus gasped "But I'm a monst-"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence," Grace instructed him, making him smile.
It wasn't long before the boys engulfed him in a hug, soon joined by Grace.
---
"Did I seriously just faint?" Remus asked later that night. It was a Saturday, so the four of them decided it wouldn't hurt to stay up for a little while longer. They were all currently sitting a circle in the centre of the room, wrapped in blankets they had pulled off their beds and sharing the packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans that Peter's mother had sent him.
"You sure did! Went as white as a ghost and then flopped onto the bed," Grace said, making Remus groan.
"So how long have you known?" James asked, turning to Grace.
Grace then launched into the story of how she came to discover a werewolf in the forest behind her grandparent's house, and then how they met four years later.
"So, who else knows about your, uh, furry little problem?" Sirius asked, throwing an orange coloured bean in his mouth, before spitting it out again "Salmon."
Remus glared at him before replying "Well, you guys, Grace, my parents, Dumbledore, probably McGonagall too, and Madam Pomfrey."
"Where does the passage lead to?" James asked, grabbing a red bean "Under the tree," he added, seeing Remus' confused face.
"Have any of you ever heard of the Shrieking Shack?" Remus asked, as James tossed the bean in his mouth and smiled "Ooh, Strawberry!"
"I think I overheard some fourth years talking about it once. 'The most haunted building in Britain'. That one?" Peter asked.
"Yep. That's where it leads."
"So you're the thing that's haunting it? That's so cool!" Sirius said, surprising Remus. He still wasn't used to people describing anything to do with his lycanthropy as 'cool'.
"I guess so."
"Does that make you the most haunting thing in all of Britain then?" Grace asked.
"I guess so," Remus repeated, grinning.
"I dare someone to eat the brown one," Sirius said, holding up a brown jelly bean. The brown ones were known to be extremely unlucky, often disgusting flavours such as wood or dirt.
"Sure," James said, grabbing it, before throwing into Grace's open mouth, mid-yawn.
This made them all laugh, however when Grace began to chew, she smiled. "Chocolate."
There was a chorus of groans from the group. "Damn you, Thorne."
"What's up with your dormmates?" Sirius asked "Who did you 'accidentally' offend this time?"
"It wasn't an accident! All I said was that Teresa's hair potion thing was pointless. I don't even understand how that offends her," Grace said, running a hand through her shoulder length blonde hair "I just don't understand those girls."
"Speaking of girls," Sirius said, leaning towards James "How's Evans going?"
Lily Evans was another second year Gryffindor who it appeared James had a crush on. The group all found it hilarious, as the girl in question despised James, with good reason. Some of the things he and Sirius said to her best friend Severus Snape were simply quite mean in Grace's opinion. The Slytherin boy wasn't completely innocent either however, often replying with his own rude comments.
"She still hates me. But she smile in my direction yesterday! It was at Abbey and Ely behind me, but it was still in my direction!" James exclaimed, earning a laugh from the others.
---
Two updates in under one week whattttt
the world must be ending.
Get ready for another time skip.
(Also dont be afraid to vote thanks)
-Grace
YOU ARE READING
The Forest - R.L.
Fanfiction(Remus Lupin - Marauder's Era ) She was wandering through the forest when she saw it. A wolfish being, about as tall as herself, with scruffy grey-brown fur and a snarl forming on its lips. But she wasn't afraid. --- Grace Thorne is an eleven year o...
