I woke abruptly to sound of something metal being thrown on the ground. James was laying on one of the cots in the Hospital Room, eyes wide with fear as a very pissed off Lily Evans pointed her wand in his face.

"What did you do to Sev?" Lily demanded. James looked shocked for a moment then the look on his face changed to one of quiet rage, a look I rarely saw on James, and never directed at his dearest Lily Flower.

"I didn't do a goddamned thing to Snivellus. In fact, the little shite should thank me for saving his ungrateful arse. To be completely honest, I am so fucking sick of your accusations, Lily! The two of you aren't even friends anymore. You are just looking for excuses to hate me. I have done absolutely nothing to you, aside from a few meaningless pranks that caused no actual harm. All I want is for you to get to know me, dammit." He paused and took a breath, his face going from fury to frighteningly calm. "Actually, I'm done. You can leave, now."

My jaw dropped and I nodded proudly as James stood up to Lily for the very first time. Lily looked as if she were going to start yelling at him again. She opened her mouth to speak and then changed her mind, storming out of the room.

I applauded James slowly as I entered the room. He looked to me and smirked. "Alright there, Moony?"

"I'm as fine as I'll ever be after a full moon. You, on the other hand, look a little worse for your wear." James looked down at the bloody bandages on his torso.

"Oh come on, Moony, what kind of Marauder would I be if I let a couple of scratches stop me?" I shook my head and sat on the bed.

"You know that's not what I meant."

"I know. I guess I'm just sick of it. Every bloody time someone says anything negative about me, she believes it. I bet Snivellus didn't even say anything. She just assumed it was me. I didn't even hurt him. I saved his sorry arse. I got hurt instead of him. He should be on his knees thanking me. Bloody nosy prat." I raised an eyebrow.

"What exactly happened last night?" James looked down at his lap. He looked like he was about to speak when Poppy burst into the room.

"Now, Remus, I told you to stay in bed. Mr. Potter here needs to have his wounds tended to."

She shooed me out and I sat back on the bed I'd woken on. It was a rare occurrence for any of the others to be in the Hospital Wing with me. We usually just healed each other. We actually rarely even needed to heal each other. The injuries were never as bad as the ones James was sporting with false bravado in the next room.

Over the next couple of days, I didn't have my usual visitors. Usually, all of the guys came to visit. This time around, it was only Peter. Don't get me wrong, Pete is a riot and great to be around. People seem to think he's the wimp of the group, we Marauder's play that image up, it helps when James and Sirius have detention and I have prefect duties. But I couldn't help but wonder if James' scratches had anything to do with his and Padfoot's absence. It wasn't until Lily came that I finally got some answers.

It was the day I was supposed to be released and I was more impatient than usual to get out of the Hospital Wing. Usually, it wasn't that bad, but without James and Sirius it was far too quiet for my liking. I was sitting on my cot, staring at the wall, trying my hardest to remember pieces of the night of the full moon. My head was beginning to hurt when I heard the sound of curtains being thrown apart. I turned around to see a very pissed Lily Evans. Over the years that I'd known her, Lily rarely had occasion to be angry with me. In fact, if she was angry with me, it was probably for sticking up for James and Sirius when they were behaving poorly. Thus, seeing her angry face with no sign of the two troublemakers kind of frightened me.

"Now listen here," she growled, drawing her wand menacingly, "I understand that Severus and I are no longer friends, but I would expect you to rise above such petty bullying. I don't know what exactly you did to Sev, but he's more hurt than I'd ever seen him. The fact that you were the mastermind behind all of this is what upsets me most of all. You act like you are completely innocent but then attack a completely innocent person. You make me sick!" Lily's voice had gotten louder as she spoke, and her face had reddened, showing her fury even more. I now see what James meant when he said she was cute when she was angry, she looked sort of like a red Pygmy Puff.

"Lily, just because James finally grew a pair and stood up to you, doesn't mean you need to go jumping down the rest of our throats. I've been in here for nearly a week and had no knowledge of Severus being hurt. I haven't even seen him in here." She took a deep breath and exhaled sharply.

"I heard from Jessie, who heard from Alice, who heard from Frank, who overheard Amos, who was eavesdropping on Severus being threatened by Sirius, who was telling him not to tell anyone what you had done." I raised an eyebrow, shocked at the gossip system at Hogwarts. I also furrowed my brows, wondering what had happened. The only thing that would make sense was… But there was no way anything could have happened.

"Lily, I am frankly quite appalled at you, believing rumors like some common gossip. I'm afraid I must reiterate what James said: you are letting your bias cloud your judgment. You and I both know I do not condone most of the foolishness the boys get into and I'm honestly a bit offended at how quickly you believed ill of me. I thought we were friends." Unlike Lily, my voice got a bit quieter towards the end of my rant. She opened her mouth to respond but then thought better and exited the room.

I sighed heavily. It was foolish of me, really, to believe Lily had been my friend these past five and a half years. Looking back, I see that she had mostly used me as a friend when all of her friends had other plans, or when she needed a study partner. I wasn't a friend: I was a necessary tool. I was so lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice the passing of time. Poppy helped me out of bed and into my clothes. I nodded as she gave me directions, not really listening, seeing as she gave these directions almost every month.

The entire castle was silent, I felt as if my feet hitting the ground were the only noise in the entire school. I headed towards the Gryffindor common room, hoping to find my mates there. I entered, only to see Lily and her friends sitting by the fire, books out and parchment strewn all over the floor. Lily gave me a cold stare before turning back to the girls, leaving me to walk up to the dormitory I shared with my best mates. It was empty.

I debated looking for the map for a few minutes before deciding I could sniff them out. I followed the scent of wet dog down to the kitchens, where it was joined by the smell of forest. James and Sirius were in here. I took a deep breath before opening the door. James and Sirius were sitting in one of the smaller tables in the back, clearly arguing. Their arguing was so intense, they didn't notice I was there until I tripped over Sirius's long cloak, hanging off of the table haphazardly. Sirius bolted up and his face went from irritated to downright terrified in seconds.

"Moony, what brings you down here?" Sirius said conversationally. If I hadn't known him as long as I did, I wouldn't have noticed the slight tremor in his voice. Almost like he's scared. I sniffed the air quietly and tried not to gasp when I smelled the pheromones radiating from the tall boy's skin. Sirius was scared of me. I was hurt, truly shaken to my core. How could he be scared of me after all we'd been through together? I decided to push my emotions to the side and give him a bloody good reason to fear Remus John Lupin.

"What the bloody fuck is going on here? I wake up in the Hospital Wing to see James torn up in bed, getting shrieked at by Lily. Then, neither of you came to visit the entire time I'm there, and Pete was avoiding the subject completely. Then, Lily bleeding Evans comes storming in, demanding I tell her what I did to Severus! Now I don't give a damn if we have to be here all week, you two are going to tell me exactly why the bloody effing hell I'm being treated like a monster!" Both boys were silent, eyes wide and neither seemed to be breathing.

"Well?" I demanded angrily.

"They're treating you like a monster because you are one." A cold voice said from behind me. I turned on my heel to face Severus Snape in all his glory (or lack thereof), sneering with disgust as he eyed me.

"At least Remus is transformed into a monster. You have no excuse, seeing as you were born that way." Peter interjected angrily. I hadn't even noticed him enter the room. I gasped when I realized what he said; he practically revealed my secret to Severus bloody Snape.

"Oh, don't worry dear Remus, I already know of your 'unfortunate condition' and have been sworn to secrecy by Headmaster himself." Snape's tone was a mixture of condescending and prideful. I let his words sink in before turning abruptly to face James and Sirius, both of whom were trying not to meet my fierce glare.

"How the hell do you know my secret?" I growled at Severus. The growl seemed to lower the temperature in the kitchens, forcing Snape to realize that he wasn't talking to any normal student; he was conversing with a werewolf, and a rather livid one at that.

"Well-" Sirius quickly interrupted.

"Snivellus was poking his nose around when it ought not be poked. Curiosity killed the cat. and your arse was lucky James got to you in time!" This time, it was Snape's turn to be outraged.

"Don't you dare turn this on me! Turn around and tell Remus how you lured me to the tree, advising me to prod the knob with a stick; how you laughed when you saw the fear on my face as a werewolf charged at me; how Potter was nearly killed when he leapt in front of me, knocking the werewolf to the ground; how Potter took me to the Hospital Wing even though he was bleeding. Tell Remus how you stood by and watched." Sirius growled and lunged across the room before a well-aimed Stunner sent Sirius crumpling against the wall. Lily Evans stepped out of the shadows in the corner of the room.

I immediately scowled. The wolf-like rage consuming me caused me to see red and begin to shake. I looked at Lily to see her eyes wide and fearful. I growled angrily and pushed past Snivellus to exit the kitchen. I stormed out of the castle, not bothering to check what the time was or if someone was following me.

I slowed down once I reached the Black Lake, heaving myself on a rock overlooking the still waters. The air was cold and I could smell the hints of winter in the winds. It was actually quite cold for mid-November and I'd forgotten my jumper inside. Now that I wasn't angry anymore, I could be alone with my thoughts.

"Well if it isn't Messr Lupin? Basking in the moonlight, I see." I growled under my breath and turned to face the tall, intimidating figure known as Regulus Black.

A/N: What'd you think? This'll be pretty short, but I really liked the idea. A lot of people write about Sirius being victimized, but I always saw Remus as the victim. Reviews?