James sighed and flopped down into a chair by the fire.

"You're right Moony. Detention sucks." Remus looked at him, a suspicious glint in his eye. The group hadn't spoken as a whole since they'd had the argument over the lines a couple of days ago.

"Well, look on the bright side." He said eventually. "That was the last one."

"Are we talking to each other again?" Peter asked, looking up from wrestling with his tie.

"I guess."

"Oh good. I've been missing talking with you guys."

"Then why didn't you say something?" Sirius asked, carefully picking spikes out from under his nails.

"I didn't know how to start."

"You okay, Padfoot?" Remus asked. Sirius glanced at him before looking back at his hands.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"This is why we wear gloves when dealing with Wack-Ended Cacti."

"Two days ago, I didn't even know what a Wack-Ended Cactus was."

Remus shrugged. "Fair. But still. Wait, don't suck the wound." Sirius lowered his hand. "I read in a Herbology book that the best way to stop it stinging is..." Remus searched around in his satchel, a couple of books falling out. "Um..." He flipped through a book before pointing at a page. "Here. Oh, it's best to clean the wound with soap and water and then bandage it for a couple of days. Then you should be fine."

"Do you carry every book you have in that bag?"

"No. Just the ones I need for the day."

"That's a lot of books, Moony. Doesn't your shoulder?" Remus shook his head. James yawned and stretched, standing up.

"I'm gonna go check on Gryffin. Haven't had time with all these detentions."

"Can I come?" Peter asked. "I like looking at all the owls in the Owlery."

James nodded. "Yeah, sure."

"Take the cloak." Remus suggested, picking up all the books on the floor. "We're not really meant to be out after hours."

"Why?"

Remus looked up. "Because of You-Know-Who."

Sirius scoffed, shaking his hand free of spikes. "You really think the Dark Lord is going to come to Hogwarts? Where Dumbledore is?"

Remus shrugged. "I'm just saying, be careful. The Daily Prophet's been outlining what he's doing and it doesn't look good. He's got a load of Followers, Dementors, werewolves-" Here Remus stopped and cleared his throat looking down.

"Okay. If it makes you worry less, Moony." James said, grinning. He was eager to mend broken ties. Remus nodded. "And if you and Padfoot aren't coming, maybe you could patch him up. He can't do First Aid for shit."

"How'd d'you know that?"

"You had a splinter last week and cried." James said dead-pan. "Pretty sure the whole of Gryffindor knows."

Sirius scowled. "Before another fight breaks out, I'll go grab the cloak for you two." Remus said before backing away and running up the stairs.

"Padfoot, give me your hand." Remus snapped. "Stop acting like a kid."

They'd been at this for about five minutes. Sirius had gotten most of the spikes out of his right hand and was making one Hell of a fuss about Remus doing it. Sirius growled at the other boy as he snatched his hand away.

"Give me your hand or it'll just hurt more." Sirius faltered for a second and this gave Remus enough time to grab his hand and start plucking the spikes out.

"Ow. That fricking hurts, Moony."

"I said it would." Remus murmured, focused on his task. Sirius' protests turned into quiet whimpers that made Remus look up in surprise and concern. "Hey, don't cry. I know it hurts but it'll be over soon, okay?"

Sirius laughed thinly. "It sounds like you're going to kill me."

"Well I'm not." Remus muttered, looking back at Sirius hand. "Something that always distracts me from pain is thinking about something I really like. Why don't you try that?"

"Okay." Sirius squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus on anything but what was happening.

"And we're done here." Sirius sighed in relief and opened his eyes.

"Thanks Moony." Sirius shot Remus a grin which was sheepishly returned.

"Um, go clean the wounds well and then I'll see what I can do with plasters." Sirius nodded and grinned at Remus again before getting up and going to the bathroom.

Remus sighed and tried to stop how fast his heart was beating.

Yes, I'm going to finish this on Wolfstar. So... I'm going to put this book on hold until I finish It's Just Business. Then, I promise I will pick this right back up. Sorry.
Bye,
Blaize