James' third patrolling day clashed with September's full moon. The duty was from ten thirty to twelve thirty. But the Marauders usually went down at midnight.

James broached the topic with Lily that day.

"Do you think I could get back a bit early tonight, Lily?" he asked politely.

"Already shirking duty?"

"No—no, really, I don't mean to shirk—it's just that I've got something urgent..."

"Then you need to exchange with someone, you know the rules, James."

Professor McGonagall swapped James with Hufflepuff Prefect Amos Diggory. It had been hard enough for James to give up two hours with Lily—but that it should go to Amos Diggory was almost too much.

But he never once thought of backing out, of course, because Remus needed them.

That night when James, Sirius and Peter were sneaking out under the Invisibility Cloak, they kept a careful watch on the Marauders' Map. James tried to ignore his sinking heart when he saw the dots labelled Lily Evans and Amos Diggory together on the 2nd floor.

Avoiding them, the exited the castle and as per their routine, brought out Moony as animals. They had decided to move around the lake that day.

Soon after Moony was out in the open, Padfoot and Prongs realized that something was off about him—the monster was in control tonight.

By then they had almost forgotten the misadventure in their 5th year, because every trip in the 6th year had been peaceful, and the two big animals thought they could control Moony.

But they were wrong.

As they reached the lake, Moony repeatedly tried to give them the slip. Padfoot and Prongs flanked him from both sides. And suddenly Moony bent down and clawed viciously at Wormtail.

Padfoot dashed in front of him and pushed him back. But Moony wouldn't be held back.

"Don't make me do this, Remus," thought Sirius desperately. But after a while, Moony slashed on him and Padfoot had no choice but to fight back.

Prongs had gone to see if Wormtail was safe, and Padfoot found it impossible to win against Moony. Moony was violent and untamed—within moments, Padfoot was bleeding terribly, and as his blood flowed into the lake, Prongs appeared, and used his antlers to push Moony away from Padfoot.

Though injured, Padfoot ran to help Prongs, and though James wanted to tell him to back off, he knew he couldn't manage Moony alone.

This time, Moony's state was so bad that they couldn't manage to take him back. So Padfoot and Prongs pinned him down all through the hours till the moon disappeared, and Moony transformed back into a tired unconscious Remus.

James carried Remus back to the Shrieking Shack.

"Don't come with me, Sirius. Go to Madam Pomfrey," said James, who had transformed back for moment. Padfoot shook his head—wherever they went, they went together.

Out in the air, James and Peter flinched at Sirius' state. His left side was almost completely bloodied; he couldn't even walk steadily.

"Don't worry, mate," said Sirius, seeing James' frightened expression. "Madam Pomfrey'll fix it up in a second."

James supported Sirius to the Hospital Wing while Peter scooted off to the kitchens to bring food for Sirius.

--------------------

The next morning, they found Remus drowning in misery and guilt.

"I'm so sorry, Sirius," he cried, feeling close to tears as he had the day he had hurt James.

"Don't lose sleep over it, Moony," said Sirius cheerfully. "We're all right now."

"We will never do this again!"

"We will, Remus," said Sirius firmly. "The out-of-control Moony appears less than once in a year. Besides, we like these adventures too."

"We enjoy these more than you do, Remus," said James.

"Yeah," said Sirius, with his wicked grin. "Actually you are doing us a favour.'

Remus wondered how he had ever been lucky enough to get these sort of friends.