All three of them tucked underneath the Invisibility Cloak, James, Sirius, and Peter walked back down into the common room, making their way toward the portrait hole as they tried not to bump into anyone.

     Although it was proven to be harder than they had thought, because all the older students were dancing to the loud music in the middle of the room, moving around and blocking the three boys' way.

     At last, they managed to leave the common room without being noticed, closing the portrait of the Fat Lady behind them. As quietly as they possibly could, they walked through the corridors and different floors of the castle, getting themselves up to the hospital wing.

     They walked through the open doors of the ward, looking around from underneath the cloak. To their surprise, the hospital wing was empty except for a Slytherin Chaser who had been knocked off his broom earlier that day during the match and had been injured.

     "Where's Madam Pomfrey?" Sirius whispered quietly so they wouldn't wake the Slytherin boy up.

    "Dunno. Maybe she —" James was saying, but Peter cut him off as he gestured excitedly at the ward's window closest to them.

     "Look over there!" Peter exclaimed quietly.

     The three of them moved in unison so they could get closer to the window and see what Peter was talking about, only to spot Madam Pomfrey there, walking through the grounds with a supportive arm wrapped around a young boy with sandy brown hair.

    "Holy crap! That's Remus!" Sirius cried out loudly before he could stop himself.

     "Shh!" James tried to silence him, but it was too late. The Slytherin boy on the bed at the back of the ward had stirred, his eyes opening.

    He looked around in confusion, but finding the ward empty, he closed his eyes again and went back to sleep. Peter sighed in relief.

     "Let's go after them," James whispered after they had made sure that the Slytherin Chaser was asleep again.

   Sirius gave a single nod in response, and so the three of them carefully turned around to leave the hospital wing. This time, they had to gain more speed and walk faster if they wanted to catch up with Madam Pomfrey and Remus. Thankfully, due to Remus's weak condition, he and the Healer were taking slow steps, so it wasn't too hard to get to them.

     The sun was still shining up ahead of them as James, Sirius, and Peter reached the two, following after them from a safe distance. There was still around an hour left to sunset.

     "Where are they going?" Peter whispered quietly, watching in astonishment as they realized that Madam Pomfrey was leading Remus toward the Whomping Willow, supporting him up with one arm so his knees wouldn't give away.

     "What the hell is going on..." James muttered, as though mostly talking to himself. The three boys had now stopped walking, staring ahead.

    They flinched, thinking that the tree was going to attack them any moment now, but their jaws nearly dropped at what they saw next.

     Madam Pomfrey took out her wand from her white robe's pocket, pointed it at a piece of wood which laid nearby, and nonverbally used the levitation Charm on it, causing the piece of wood to fly upward. The boys watched carefully as Madam Pomfrey float the wood closer toward the tree, and then lowered it, pressing a knot by the tree trunk with it. On cue, the Whomping Willow stopped moving, as though frozen.

     Their eyes then widened when Madam Pomfrey placed her wand back in her pocket and then led Remus through a hole inside the Whomping Willow, disappearing out of sight.

     "What — what just happened?" Sirius mumbled, blinking a few times in confusion.

     "I really don't think it's smart to follow them," Peter said quickly before James and Sirius could get any ideas. The tree had started moving again.

     "I agree," said James, nodding feebly, still not over the shock of what they had seen and the confusion of the things they still didn't understand. "I say we wait."

    "We can hide over there," said Sirius, gesturing with his head at a large rock near the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

     "All right." James nodded, and so the three of them walked over it and hid themselves behind the rock. They took the Invisibility Cloak off themselves, knowing that they were well-hidden now.

     "Where do you think the hole under the tree leads to?" Peter asked after a long pause filled with silence.

     "No idea," said Sirius, peeking a glance from over the rock at the Whomping Willow.

     "But why take Remus there? And why does he look so ill? Why does he get this way so frequently?" James huffed out in frustration, his mind bursting with unanswered questions.

    Sirius and Peter remained quiet, having no idea on what to respond to those questions, seeing as they were just as lost as James. Their minds seemed to be stuck inside a haze, with no way out.

     More than half-an hour had now passed since the Healer had disappeared into the hole beneath the tree with Remus, and now the sun was slowly setting in the horizon.

    "Look!"  James whispered in an excited tone, sneaking a glance over the rock.

     When Sirius and Peter followed James's gaze, they saw that Madam Pomfrey had now emerged back from inside the tree, but this time she was all alone. There was no sign of Remus.

    The three boys watched her as the Healer walked up the grounds of Hogwarts and went farther and farther away from the Whomping Willow and the Forbidden Forest, until they finally lost sight of her once she entered the castle.

     "This whole thing is fishier than I expected," James mused, letting out a sigh as he turned around and leaned his back against the large rock while they all were sitting down on the grass.

     "Okay, let's look at the facts that we already know," Sirius started, pursing his lips together thoughtfully. "Remus disappears a few times throughout the year. It's something that makes him sick, but not a kind of sickness that is cured at the hospital wing. Instead, Madam Pomfrey takes him here, through a secret tunnel inside the Whomping Willow. She probably does this every time Remus falls ill."

     "Not to mention Madam Pomfrey leaves Remus there — wherever it is — and then returns back to the hospital wing without him," James continued. "What do you think, Peter? Any fact you would like to add to our list?"

    "Not really..." Peter shrugged, only half-listening to what they were saying as his eyes were fixed on the beautiful night sky. "But the moon looks really pretty tonight, doesn't it?"

    James rolled his eyes. "That's completely irrelevant to the matter at hand right now —"

    "Merlin's beard..." Sirius suddenly whispered in horror, breaking James off. "MERLIN'S BEARD!"

   James and Peter glanced at his direction questioningly, seeing that Sirius was now gazing up at the sky intently, a look of realization and pure shock on his face.

    "What?" James asked, frowning.

     "I know — I found out — Peter you're a genius!" Sirius cried out, putting his hands on Peter's shoulders and shaking him frantically.

     "What did I do again?" Peter asked in confusion.

      "Well, what is it!?" James persisted, starting to grow irritated at Sirius's lack of answering.

     "I figured it out!" Sirius let out a laughter, his mind racing with all the possibilities. "The answer has been right in front of our eyes all along — how could we be so dumb to take this far to figure it out — it's so simple!"

     "WHAT IS IT?" James yelled furiously.

     "It's all about Astronomy!" Sirius laughed again, but before giving a direct answer, he started running back toward the castle as he gestured the two boys to follow him.

     "SIRIUS BLACK! YOU GET YOUR ARSE BACK HERE AND TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW THIS INSTANT!" James bellowed.

     "Just follow me!" Sirius yelled back, not turning to look back as he kept running. James sighed in annoyance.

     "C'mon, Peter," he said, running after Sirius with Peter right behind him.

      This mystery was ending tonight.