"Moony?" Remus looked up from staring at the same word in his book mindlessly, his thoughts elsewhere.

"Hm?"

"You're not eating again." James said, indicating to Remus' plate.

"I'm not hungry."

"Then why put food on your plate. It makes us all more worried." Peter nodded in agreement, his mouth currently full.

"You're going to have to eat your breakfast sometime."

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Peter chimed in.

"I know, I know. I just... I don't get hungry in the mornings."

"That's a lie. You eat like a Goddamn wolf when you're hungry so, what's bothering you?"

Remus shook his head. "Nothing. I'm just thinking."

"You see, when one of us says that," Sirius said, indicating with his knife at himself, Peter and James, "it means something is worrying us. And I don't know what goes on inside your head, Moony, but I'm guessing it means the same for you too. Because no one is 'just thinking'."

"People with brains are 'just thinking' a lot of the time." Remus bit back. Sirius laughed.

"That is a good one, Moony. Leave it for people who have fragile egos. Like Prongs."

"Hey!" James shoved Sirius, who just laughed. "I do not have an ego."

"Sure you don't." Remus said, laughing and rolling his eyes.

"Look, at least eat, like, a piece of toast." James said, steering the conversation back, away from him. "We're worried about you, Moony." Each word was slow and deliberate. Remus sighed.

"Fine." Remus took a piece of toast from a nearby plate and ate it. "Happy now?"

"Yep."

"But you're still gonna have to eat more than that at lunch, Moony."

"Fine, fine, whatever." Remus sighed. "Let's just go to class."

"Hello and welcome to Defence Against The Dark Arts." Professor Hazel greeted as the class of First Years filed in. "Please find a seat next to someone you can trust, wouldn't want defence to turn into something more sinister." Frightened eyes darted about the class as many people shied away from people in a different House. Sirius and James didn't seem fazed by it.

"Padfoot?"

"Prongs?"

They both nodded and ran up to the front of the class, bagging a desk right in the middle of the first row.

"Wormtail?" Remus asked. "You're really the only one I know here."

Peter grinned in relief. "Sure. Where should we sit?"

"Um, somewhere away from... everything."

"Okay. Then, over here I guess?" Peter bounced over to a desk in the back row, right at the end. Remus breathed in relief.

"Yeah. That'll be perfect." Remus sat down in the seat by the wall and stacked his books on his side of the desk so he could barely be seen.

There was quite a bit of milling about by the entrance to the classroom as people paired up with their friends and sat down. Severus and Lily ended up sitting next to Peter and Remus, Severus leaning as far away from them as possible, as if they were going to contaminate him.

"Are you alright, Moony?" Peter whispered, getting the hint that Remus didn't want to be seen.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Remus took a deep breath. "Just... tired, that's all."

I need to keep remembering that the moon is a cycle. I need to keep remembering that the moon is a cycle. I need to keep remembering that the moon is a cycle.
Bye,
Blaize