A/N: This is just a little extra piece that is for those who have expressed impatience at when the rest of the marauders would discover Remus's secret.

By way of an explanation this is how this story came about. Now when I wrote the Origins stories I did a lot of planning and stuff. I know it is kind of hard to believe but I did. I worked out timetables for both the Slytherins and Gryffindors so that they were consistent about what classes they were attending on what day. And most importantly I mapped out the full moons so that Remus wasn't accidentally wandering around the school on one of them.

By a sheer fluke I realised that the way it was working out there would have been a full moon on 1 September on the second year at school…and that is when the idea for this fic appeared in my mind.

I wrote it a while ago but never posted it as I was intending at the time to continue the Origins stories and use a large portion of this as the opening chapter. However since I'm not doing a second year for them now I decided to divert from my Remus only POV and this is the result.

Bonus Chapter

"Less than two weeks now, until we're back at school," James commented to his friends as they sat idly on the grass outside the Lupin farmhouse on the sunny August afternoon.

"Our second year," Peter replied with a grin. "We won't be the youngest in the school any more."

"Which house do you think your brother will be placed in?" Remus asked Sirius.

"Slytherin," he replied without hesitation. "Our parents will be proud that unlike me, Regulus is keeping up the family tradition."

Remus detected the familiar note of bitterness in his friend's voice but before he could say anything to steer the conversation to safer ground a shout from the other side of the building brought them all to their feet, eager to see what the commotion was.

Remus ran round the side of the house to see that two kneazles had once again decided to try their luck at the chicken coop. Remus's father was attempting to catch the larger of the two cat-like creatures whilst the smaller, nimbler of the animals was running at speed around the yard.

Sirius, James and Peter drew to a halt beside Remus and the four boys laughed at the sight of old Mr Lupin dashing first one way and then another, in his efforts to apprehend the kneazles.

"A little help, boys," Mr Lupin called with exasperation as the kneazle doubled back on its tracks and shot between his legs, causing him to lose his balance entirely.

Remus stopped laughing long enough to point out the second of the animals, which was making its way towards the kitchen, having decided that it might have better luck with Mrs Lupin's cooking than it had had with the chickens.

"I'll go round the back and come at it from the other side," James suggested, disappearing round the other side of the farmhouse before anyone could reply.

Peter headed over towards the chicken coop in order to help Mr Lupin as Sirius and Remus moved towards the kitchen door with as much stealth as two young boys could manage.

"Oh no you don't!" Mrs Lupin muttered as the kneazle put a paw onto the doorstep and used Remus's new broom to encourage the animal to take itself off in another direction.

"Mum!" he complained as he grabbed the broom off her.

"Well you should have put it away like you were told to last night," Mrs Lupin scolded good-naturedly as she shut the lower portion of the door.

"Kneazles can jump through that upper half you know," Sirius pointed out with a grin.

"Don't be cheeky, or I'll hold your favourite pudding back," Mrs Lupin replied.

Sirius laughed again, ignoring the false threat, knowing that when dinner was served there would be pudding aplenty for him, and if not, his natural charm would ensure there soon would be.

"Where's it gone?" Remus asked after he returned from putting his broom away.

"Over there," whispered James, pointing towards the lavender patch that stretched from under the kitchen window right along the length of the building. Sure enough the kneazle was sniffing and scratching at the lavender and Remus, James and Sirius made their move to close in on it.

Creeping slowly forward the three boys inched their way towards the kneazle. Sirius was the nearest and reached out to grab the animal. Unfortunately his timing coincided with that of the second kneazle escaping the clutches of Mr Lupin and Peter and the shouts from chicken coop distracted him so that he fell forward into the flowerbed as both creatures made good their escape out of the yard and into the adjoining meadow.

With the excitement over, Remus and James dropped down to the ground, much to the consternation of Mrs Lupin who tapped sharply on the window to remind them to be careful of her plants. They edged away from the flowers and waited for Sirius to do likewise. It was a moment before Remus realised that Sirius's attention had been caught by something and he wasn't moving out of the lavender at all.

"What is it?" James asked as Sirius pushed aside the plants to reveal the narrow, dirty window of the basement.

Remus drew in a sharp breath. The basement was the only room in the house his friends had never seen, and for very good reason. The basement contained the cage that contained him each month when the moon was full, when he turned into a creature of nightmares, a werewolf.

His friends hadn't seen the basement because they had no idea what he was; what he became. It was a secret that he'd struggled to keep during his first year at Hogwart's and he knew that Sirius was the one who had come closest to figuring it out. He'd wondered, the previous Christmas whether Sirius knew his darkest secret; he'd even come close to telling him. But he had never known for sure and so had maintained his silence.

"It looks like a cage," Sirius said as he used the cuff of his shirt to clean the glass.

"A cage?" James repeated, leaning forward himself to see inside.

"It's nothing, just my dad's old junk," Remus said as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"Pretty big cage," commented Sirius. "What's he use it for?"

"To put nosy little boys in," Mr Lupin joked as he and Peter strolled across the yard. "Come on, I think tea's ready."

"What's it really for?" Sirius asked as he too stood up and wiped the dirt from his clothes.

"Just to keep animals in. We used to get some dangerous ones coming from the woods. I'd contain them in the basement until the Ministry sent someone to collect them."

Remus breathed a sigh of relief at his father's quick thinking before realising that it was, in all likelihood, a lie he'd told many times before. The lies seemed to come easier to his father than they did to himself, he hoped that one day he'd be able to emulate the older man. He didn't dare allow himself to hope that one day his friends would find out about him and accept him when they knew the truth.

Remus ran up the stairs, his father close at his heels and his friends not far behind at the sound of the scream.

"Mum, what is it?" he gasped as he turned into the room and came face to face with something he'd never seen before, but instinctively knew what it was. Himself, in his werewolf form. His confusion only lasted a moment before he realised that the creature was a boggart, the second he knew of to have found its way into the house, and the first that he himself had seen.

"What is it?" James called out from behind Mr Lupin who had efficiently pulled out his wand and was torn between moving forward and exposing the form of the boggart to the boys and staying where he was and letting the creature continue to terrorise his muggle wife.

"Go back downstairs boys," Mr Lupin ordered. "You too Remus."

Remus stepped back and edged his way around his father to guide his friends back down the stairs.

"Just a boggart," he said to Sirius who was at top step and craning to see over Mr Lupin's shoulder. "Come on, dad 'll get rid of it."

James and Peter turned round to go back down the stairs and Remus tugged at Sirius's sleeve to steer him along with them. Sirius eventually allowed himself to be pulled away from the door and halfway down the stairs Remus heard his father's strong voice calling out the spell to vanquish the creature.

"What form was it in?" asked James, flinging himself onto the sofa in anticipation of extending the excitement just a little longer.

"I couldn't tell," Remus lied, sitting down himself across the room.

"You were right in there," Sirius pointed out. "How can you not tell what it was?"

"It was at the other side of my mum," Remus pointed out, knowing the lie was weak and wishing his parents would come back downstairs and relieve him of the need to tell any more.

"What did you see?" Peter asked Sirius. "You were nearest to the doorway."

"I'm not sure what it was," replied Sirius with a frown. Remus shifted uncomfortably in his seat, with the uneasy feeling that Sirius had seen more than he was letting on, and that he was one step closer to uncovering his secret.

Platform 9¾ was crowded when Sirius arrived with his younger brother Regulus in tow. He quickly found James and Peter and they hovered near the barrier to wait for Remus.

"He's cutting it fine," James said as they looked anxiously at the last minute stragglers hurrying to the train.

"He'll make it," Sirius said. "He was always more punctual than the rest of us. He won't miss the start of term."

Unfortunately the minutes ticked on and there was still no sign of Remus when the boys finally boarded the train.

The train was absolutely packed and they struggled to find somewhere to sit.

"Here this one has plenty of room," Regulus said as he looked back at the rest of the group.

"We're not sitting with him," said Sirius as he looked through the window and saw Severus Snape alone in the compartment.

"I think we might have to," James said in a dismal tone. "Everywhere else is full. We should have grabbed a compartment and gone back to look for Remus."

"Have you found him yet Peter?" Sirius called out in the other direction.

"No, he's not at this end," Peter replied as he too came to a halt outside the compartment.

"He must have missed the train," James said as he pushed his way into the compartment.

Regulus took the seat opposite Severus and Peter took the seat beside him. Sirius and James sat near to the door so that they could keep an eye open for Remus walking past.

"Maybe we should go check again?" James suggested, looking out of the window and down the corridor.

"Best to wait here," replied Sirius. "If he's on the train he'll be looking for us now. If he hasn't found us in a bit we can go look then."

"Maybe he's been expelled?" Severus suggested in an overly gleeful tone.

"Shut up Snivellus," James snarled as he followed Sirius's advice and sat back in his seat.

"It's Severus," Severus hissed in reply. Sirius ignored him and continued to look out into the corridor. He heard his brother greeting the Slytherin student and rolled his eyes.

"Isn't that the fourth year text book for Defence Against the Dark Arts?" Regulus asked.

"Yeah, Snivellus is the dark arts expert in our year," Sirius chimed in, unable to resist a dig at the other boy. "Isn't that right James?"

"Oh yeah," James agreed. "Proper little expert, at sneaking around and hexing people in the back."

Severus scowled and flushed at the, not entirely unfounded accusation. "At least I don't take on others only when it's four to one," he muttered, but Sirius and his friends ignored him in favour of the arrival of the trolley lady and Lily Evans who had apparently been searching for Severus in much the same manner they had been searching for Remus.

"Trust you to be in the last carriage," Lily said as she stored her belongings in the rack above the seats. "I was starting to think you'd missed the train."

"Looks like Remus has missed it," Sirius said as he took his seat again.

"She wasn't talking to you," snapped Severus, shooting a glare at the other boy.

Sirius shrugged and opened his chocolate frog. There was no point in arguing all the way to Hogsmeade.

Despite several trips back and forth along the train by each of the Gryffindor boys Remus was never found and they finally concluded that he must have missed the train.

At the Lupin farmhouse Remus knew when the moon rose and the silvery light came through the small window. It was the last thing he saw before the change overtook him; his last thought was that he hoped his mother would remember to send his owl to the school with his message for his friends that he'd missed the train and would be there in a couple of days.

Sirius Black sat at the Gryffindor table and scowled at his brother who was talking animatedly with Severus. He wasn't surprised at Regulus being sorted into Slytherin, he'd have been more surprised if he hadn't been.

"I'm really worried about Remus," James said as he toyed with his food. "Even if he'd missed the train he should be here by now. Surely his dad could have apparated him to Hogwarts."

"You can't apparate into the school," Peter pointed out.

"Then to the gates, or Hogsmeade," James replied. "He should have been here waiting for us."

"I'm sure he'll turn up with a really good reason why he's late," Sirius said as he grabbed a chicken leg. "Like Lily said back on the train. These things happen. People miss trains all the time. He'll have a good reason when he gets here."

"Like all those really good reasons why he was called away last year?" James asked with a snort. "You realise he disappeared every single month, even in the middle of the exams."

"That was odd," Sirius agreed. "No matter how ill his grandmother is I can't imagine that she'd want him pulled out of school in the middle of his exams. It's not like he could do anything."

"She doesn't live with the Lupins either," Peter pointed out. "Not even in the village. If the family's that close and she's sick, why wasn't she staying with them in the summer or during the Christmas holidays last year?"

"I guess we'll find out when he arrives," Sirius said with a shrug as looked up at the enchanted ceiling and looked at the clear night sky above.

Suddenly something in his mind clicked and he drew in a sharp breath of astonishment as the pieces of the puzzle that was Remus Lupin began to fall into place.

He looked towards Dumbledore as he made his start of term speech and wished he could escape to the dorms.

The start of term feast, which he had been looking forward to all day, suddenly seemed a colossal waste of time.

As soon as the school was dismissed he bolted from his seat and ran for the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. It was only when he reached the door that he realised he had no idea what the new password was.

Thankfully James and Peter weren't far behind him and they at least had had the presence of mind to speak with a prefect before heading upstairs.

Once through the portrait hole Sirius hurried up the stairs to the second year dormitory and began rummaging through his trunk. He pulled out his Astronomy textbook, sat on his bed and started to flick through the pages.

"What do you think Peter?" James asked. "Have you ever seen Sirius so eager to work?"

"Maybe he's been possessed?" Peter suggested with a smirk.

"I'm just looking something up," Sirius said as he searched through the thick volume that had clearly never so much as been cracked open before now.

"Hey what's that?" James asked as the sound of tapping came from outside the tower window.

"It's the Lupins' owl," Peter said as he let in the bird and took the letter from it. "It's from Remus," he said in relief when he recognised the handwriting.

"Bet he says he'll be here the day after tomorrow," Sirius commented without looking up from his book.

James took the letter and scanned through the contents. "You're right," he said in astonishment as he looked from the letter to his friend. "They missed the train and are waiting for the next one coming up from London."

"Why aren't they just apparating?" Peter asked.

"Because they didn't miss the train," Sirius said. "It's a lie, just like all the other excuses for Remus being called home every month last year."

James perched on the end of Sirius's bed and folded his arms to wait for Sirius to enlighten him and Peter as to what exactly was going on with their friend.

"Remus admitted he was keeping something from us when we stayed with him last Christmas. He said it was something big and that he'd get in trouble if he told me."

"Why didn't you tell us?" James asked quietly.

"I promised I'd stop you guys hassling him about it," Sirius said. "Though I couldn't resist pushing him myself. I thought he'd eventually trust me enough to tell me."

"You don't think that now?" Peter asked. Sirius shook his head.

"So what are you looking for?" James asked as Sirius put aside the Astronomy book and started searching through his trunk again.

"I'll tell you when I find it," Sirius said as he pulled out his Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook and ran his finger down the contents list. "Remus had nightmares you know, he thought we'd drop him as a friend once we found out what he was keeping from us."

James nodded. They'd all heard Remus crying out in his sleep on one night or another, normally during a night soon after his return from whatever family emergency had called him away.

"It must be next year we do them," Sirius muttered. "Wait here whilst I go borrow one of the third year's text books."

Five minutes later Sirius returned with another book which he was already reading intently when he walked into the room.

"Got it!" Sirius exclaimed as he sat back down. "It all fits."

"What fits?" Peter asked, looking more than a little impatient.

"This," Sirius declared as he placed the textbook onto the bed with the page open to a chapter about werewolves.

"Werewolves?" Peter asked as James picked up the book and began to read.

"This is a lunar chart," Sirius explained as he passed Peter the Astronomy book. "Look at the dates of the full moons this year."

"The one in June was in the exam week," Peter said.

"And there's one tonight," Sirius crowed. "Remus disappears from the school every time there's a full moon and always comes back with lame excuses and looking scratched and beaten up."

"If this book's accurate, I'm not surprised," James said as he swapped books with Peter. "According to this a caged werewolf would harm itself to try to escape."

"The teachers would have to know about it to make all the arrangements and you know they'd have told him to keep quiet. If everyone found out he'd have to leave the school," Sirius shook his head at the thought.

"That's why there's a cage in the basement," Peter exclaimed in realisation.

"I'll bet that's just used in the holidays," Sirius speculated. "It'd be too dangerous for him to leave the school, actually leave the school, and keep going home at such a time. He could get delayed on the journey there."

"I bet they've got a similar cage in the school somewhere to keep him in," James commented.

"It explains Madam Pomfrey always hovering around him too," Peter pointed out.

"Poor Remus," Sirius said as he shook his head. "How are we going to tell him that we know?"

James and Peter looked at each other and then back at Sirius. They shrugged as they realised they had no idea what they were going to say to him.

Remus arrived back at Hogwarts on the third day of term. It was late in the day and all the classes were just finishing.

He presented himself at Professor McGonagall's office and waited for her to arrive to give him all the notes that he'd missed.

Once he'd been checked in officially he made his way to the Gryffindor common room to greet his friends and find out what else he'd missed so far this year.

Lily greeted him as soon as he stepped through the portrait hole but Sirius, James and Peter were nowhere in sight.

He felt a pang of disappointment as he guessed that his friends were already up to some sort of mischief and he had once again missed out on the fun.

He smiled weakly as the other students greeted him and hurried up to the dormitory to unpack.

"Thought you'd never make it!" Sirius said the second Remus stepped through the doorway. "Good to have you back with us."

"We saved you some of the treats from the start of term feast," James said as Peter dug them out of the drawer and placed them on Remus's bed.

"We missed you on the train," Sirius said. "Had to sit with old Snivellus if you can believe that?"

"Sirius's brother got sorted into Slytherin," James said. "And the Quidditch team is short of a chaser this year. I'm trying out again."

"Did you get my owl?" Remus asked as he sat on the bed and picked out a sticky cake from the stash that his friends had saved for him.

"Arrived just after the feast," Sirius said.

"I can't believe you missed the train," James laughed. "I'd believe it of Sirius, lazy git, but not you."

"Just one of those things," Remus muttered.

"It was a nice full moon on the first day of term," Sirius commented casually as he settled onto the end of the bed. "Really looked good from the Great Hall."

"I'll see the next one no doubt," Remus lied.

"Will you?" James asked as he sat down on the opposite side of Sirius. Peter hopped onto the bed too and Remus realised that his friends had effectively penned him in.

"I don't think so," Sirius said with a shake of his head.

"Of course I will," Remus said. "I'm not blind."

"According to what we read you won't remember what you saw though," James said and Remus started to choke on his cake.

"Nice one James, real subtle," Sirius muttered as Peter thumped Remus on the back.

Remus pushed Peter's hand away from his back with a strangled cry like a wounded animal.

"Sorry Remus," Peter apologised hurriedly.

"It's okay," Remus assured him after he'd taken a swallow of pumpkin juice provided by James.

"Your back's all cut up isn't it?" Sirius asked.

Remus nodded. "It was an accident…there was…it was…I mean…"

"You mean that you didn't know what you were doing because you were…" Sirius's voice trailed off.

"Incapacitated," filled in James.

"Yeah," Sirius continued. "You were incapacitated at the time."

"Totally unavoidable," James continued, nodding enthusiastically.

"And we don't blame you for not telling us," Sirius assured him.

"I take it you think you've figured out some big secret about me?" Remus asked quietly.

"It's okay Remus," Sirius said. "We know."

Remus looked from one of his friends to another for several minutes. Slowly he realised that his friends had indeed figured out the truth.

On the one hand it meant no more lying to them, on the other hand it meant he'd have to go and tell Professor McGonagall.

"There's something we do want to know though." Sirius sounded unusually serious and Remus looked at him cautiously.

He waited for a moment but it was James who spoke the question his friends apparently wanted answering. "You're not going to stop being our friend now we know about your furry little problem, are you?"

"Furry little problem?" Remus repeated with a snort of laughter. "Only James Potter could call being a werewolf a furry little problem."

At his words his three friends let out whoops of delight.

"He admits it!" Sirius crowed. "I knew he would eventually!"

"You said you knew," Remus accused. "You did know, didn't you?"

"We figured it out," James admitted. "But this way you're the one that told us so we can't get into trouble."

"Git," Remus said as he threw a pillow at his friend.

"Ah, don't worry mate," Sirius said. "We'll not let you get in trouble alone. You're going to have to tell the teachers we know aren't you?"

"Professor McGonagall said I had to report it right away," Remus confirmed. "You've not told anyone else have you?"

"Course not," Sirius looked affronted. "What kind of friends would we be if we'd told the whole school?"

"Sorry," Remus muttered. "I'll go speak with her first thing in the morning. I doubt we'll be in trouble. She said if you hadn't figured it out by the end of the third year, she'd see you fail Defence Against the Dark Arts on principle."

"Good job we had this little chat now then," James said. "You don't think that she'd let us pass on principle this year as a reward for figuring it out so quickly?"

"I doubt it," Remus laughed.

"We'll come with you," Sirius promised.

"Thanks," Remus said and he felt his throat closing up and tears welling in his eyes as the worry of the last year evaporated with his friends' easy acceptance of his condition. He gave them all a watery smile.

"Well now that that's out of the way," James announced. "Onto more important stuff…like our first big prank of the year."

"You haven't done one yet?" Remus asked.

"Course not," said Sirius with a grin. "You're one of us, part of the team. We couldn't start without you."

Remus picked up another cake and took a bite as James and Sirius discussed the pros and cons of various pranks they'd got lined up for the year. He grinned at Peter and relaxed completely for the first time since he'd arrived at Hogwarts a year ago.

Despite all his fears and worries his friends had accepted him as he was and the joy of that knowledge was enough to banish even the pain of the worst of his werewolf inflicted injuries.

A/N: Yes Sirius did eventually figure out what Mrs Lupin's boggart was when he figured out the rest. He was just tactful enough not to mention it to Remus or the others. One of the few occasions when he was tactful during the course of this story...but there you go.