August, 1972

Laughter was a thing of nightmares in Grimmauld place, but Sirius seemed hell bent on changing that this summer no matter what it cost him. He'd only just discovered what the real meaning to the word party was last year when Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup, and he refused to live through another of his mothers parties without James at least! It's not as if his parents could disapprove, though Sirius hadn't acknowledged to anyone in this household his best friend being a pureblood, even not a well renowned one, was pure coincidence.

Still though, his summer had not started off the best. He'd apologized out of pure moral obligation to his parents for his slight on the family household for winding up in 'the wrong house' but it certainly hadn't been sincere enough to escape punishment. He rubbed his shoulder ruefully for the reminder and instead sought help.

He seemed to have patented his superior look while Sirius was away.

"Alright then, what can I say to get you to agree?" Sirius pleaded, even putting his hands together in hopes his brother would, for once, understand why Sirius wanted his help.

He contemplated this for several moments, even tapping his chin to mock him, but Sirius could see he was not chewing on the inside of his cheek, his brothers giveaway. He'd already made up his mind and was toying with him. "Reggie, please!"

"Alright," Regulus gave in with a grin, and Sirius released a breath, his brother had been going to help all along. "Only if you promise to let me hang out with you two tonight though."

"Yes alright, now go," Sirius ushered him back out into the drawing room eagerly without thinking twice.

He'd been avoiding everyone so thoroughly he hadn't even realized the party was tonight, his parents would be furious with him daring to ask a guest over so last minute. He had all of his fingers crossed regardless they'd cave for Regulus though.

The floorboards of the old house groaned beneath his feet, he had to stand with his ear pressed right against the closed door of father's study to even have a hope of hearing-

"What is Master Sirius doing?"

Sirius yelped in surprise Kreacher had snuck up on him, then scowled more at himself than anything. He wasn't used to watching his own back anymore, he'd grown so used to Remus and Peter doing that for him.

"Nothing! Go away," he snapped at the rotten elf ruining his sneaking, but too late, father had heard. The door swung open and Sirius had indeed been standing too close, it smacked him in the face. He staggered backwards in surprise, cursing and clutching at the pain shooting across his nose. His eyes were welling up at the throbbing as he blinked up at his father to see him scowling down at him.

"Honestly Sirius, what are we going to do with you," his booming voice echoed in Sirius' head, making him shrink back several more steps. "This is not the sort of behavior we raised you to have, now you're trying to get your brother in trouble!"

Sirius glared balefully at Regulus' repentant look. He had no clue if Regulus had gone in there and snitched on him or if Orion had simply heard him outside.

To his surprise though, father continued, "however, luckily for you, Andromeda is not going to be in attendance, so we have an extra seat at the table. Your friend may come, Potter was it?"

"Yes sir!" Sirius said in delight, straightening his posture at once and almost quivering with more excitement than he'd ever recalled having here at home.

His father's stern look was not promising, despite the fact he'd already given in. Sirius suddenly had a bad feeling about inviting James over here. Surely though his parents had said their peace and wouldn't suddenly turn on James and punish him like they had Sirius? His parents weren't known for holding back on any emotion they'd had, and if this were the case, they'd have invited him over themselves by now to do such a thing.

Orion walked away without another word, and Sirius recognized his dismissal by sprinting up to his room. His letter to James was already written out, his tawny speckled owl, Buggle, was sitting by the window and ready to take off. Sirius sprinted to him and gave him a friendly scratch on the neck, but the owl still refused to leave until he bent forward and allowed him to nibble on his nose before waving him out.

"I'm glad your friend gets to come," Regulus' voice surprised him by piping up behind him.

Sirius turned with an uneasy smile in place. "Yeah! I'm sorry Andy's not coming though, she's the only other fun one around here! It's a damn shame she graduated last year and I didn't even get to say hi, if James wasn't coming I'd go spare!"

"Will you tell me about Hogwarts again," Regulus asked eagerly, going over to his bed and flouncing on it.

"Are you sure you should be hearing of that from me?" Sirius politely mocked as he laughed. Despite the disgrace of him being in the wrong house, his parents didn't even seem aware of the trouble he'd caused during school. The multiple detentions for being caught out and visiting the forest with James, Remus, and Peter, nor his fantastic and yet failed attempt at the end of last year to cause as much havoc as possible during the last week of school to get the entire castle to say his name. He still expected McGonagall to give him detentions for that when he got back though.

Regulus just nodded eagerly as he rummaged through Sirius' bedside drawer, finding his wand and pulling it out reverently. It must be killing him he still had to wait until next summer to get his own. Until then Sirius couldn't imagine blaming him for continuing to slip in here and inspect his. They'd both been as bad trying to nick their parents, but then, the end results of that was still felt far more in him than his little brother...

"Tell me about the Quidditch games," Regulus prompted when Sirius still hadn't answered. His shoulder did still twinge quite a bit, and he just knew he'd get in trouble again for saying the wrong thing to Regulus, but he just couldn't deny him this!

It was the most they'd talked to each other all summer, and after three long weeks Sirius was surprised to find himself enjoying this again just like he had before he'd gone to school. He wasn't sure why Regulus had been avoiding him before today, though Sirius had been licking his wounds and hadn't wanted company before this regardless so hadn't asked.

Sirius was starting to get antsy though when dusk was falling and Buggle wasn't back yet. He was getting distracted and snappy with Regulus when it was his own fault his brother had to repeat his questions, and finally shouted at him to get out so he could change as he heard the first knock. Thankfully, despite his bodies stiffness, he was presentable as he came down the stairs and unsurprised to see Regulus had beaten him, as usual, and his parents were giving him dirty looks for lagging.

He didn't hear a word of anything they said anyways, bouncing restlessly on his feet and receiving even more stern glares than usual for his inattentiveness as he kept watching the door, his stomach sinking lower and lower that maybe Buggle hadn't even gotten there yet, maybe the Potter's were out and wouldn't get it until tomorrow, maybe James was grounded for some reason, maybe James just didn't want to come, maybe he didn't want to even be friends anymore-

"Sirius!" His mother's voice called for him in the kitchen.

He nearly broke his neck still trying to watch the door and descending in slow, painful steps to see what this was about now- "James!" He called in delight to see him stepping out of the fireplace and dusting soot from his robes.

"Hey mate," he grinned in delight, before turning to his mother with a properly repentant look for her understandably miffed expression for a guest popping through their fireplace. McGonagall may have even let them off without detention though James sounded so sincere when he said, "I'm sorry for my entrance mam, but my parents don't like apparating much these days, and my dad checked and saw the network was open."

His explanation didn't soothe her much, but she gave one sharp nod and shooed them out of the kitchen, saying supper would only be a few more moments. She turned back to watching Kreacher flit about with a careful eye, though he'd never been known to burn anything as far as Sirius knew, nor did he care. He grabbed his arm and hauled him up the stairs, hugging him with such delight he didn't even notice his shoulder for the first time in weeks.

"Couldn't live without me eh?" James laughed as he hugged him back.

"You have no idea!" Sirius shouted in his ear, grinning so hard it hurt. "I can't believe I'd forgotten how boring this place was! I've actually done all my homework!"

James mock gasped and took a step back from him, before pressing his hand in concern to his forehead. "Mate, you might want to go lay down, you're talking nonsense!"

"I know," Sirius nodded without remorse. "The letters you lot have been sending me have been all that's getting me through! Oh, speaking of," he tried to pull James up the stairs eagerly, "I want to show you something Remus sent me!"

James followed agreeably, but stopped and just as quickly turned Sirius back around. "Hang on real quick, got a surprise for you!"

Sirius nearly shouted at the top of his lungs for him to stop, what James was now attempting was ten times more dangerous than angering Filch. Yet James ignored his hissing protest and went through the throng of arriving guests talking in their usual sniffy voices. It was all things he'd heard so often growing up around here he usually didn't think twice about it anymore, but with James darting in between them all, it somehow took a new, darker edge. Rodolphus and Rabastan were chatting about something repugnant again once more no doubt, the last time he'd overheard their conversation it had definitely been some illegal Muggle Baiting and he hadn't been around them since. Aunt Misaponia was back in her creepy black shawl that covered her whole face, having an intense conversation with Aunt Druella about some recent werewolf sightings in Brighton Borrow, the cruel twist to his aunties lips that she hoped they'd catch it and bring back the old hunting sport made his stomach twist. Regulus was in the back corner of all things, though with Bellatrix approaching him he could understand wanting to be anywhere else. His brother was also trying to catch his eye, but he had no will to look at anything else but his best friend.

Sirius hated the fact that James probably recognized him more for the fact of how much they looked alike than Sirius bothering to point him out.

"Excuse me Mister Black," James began in the same polite voice.

Orion turned away from talking to Narcissa and looked down at him with a bit of bewilderment. Sirius hoped that would last.

"My parents offered Sirius to come over to our place after the party for the rest of summer, you know, to say thanks for the invitation."

Sirius' heart was now lodged in his throat with hope, he twisted every one of his fingers together that fate would be on his side twice in one day!

"Sirius," his father called to him without looking away from James. Sirius was at his side in the same second, trying harder than he ever had in his life to school his face to match his dads of cool indifference. He even folded his hands behind his back in just the way they liked, a submissive, exposed gesture he instinctively detested keeping his hands away from his pockets, his wand.

"You've finished all of your homework son?"

"Yes sir," Sirius promised at once. "Kreacher checked it all off the list sir!"

"And you're done causing your mother and I more grief, yes?" There was a note of menace in his voice that was missed by no one. He watched with shame as Narcissa openly laughed, but he schooled himself not to let any of it show, not now! He'd already known he was a topic for them to laugh at, so he'd already had practice at it.

"Yes sir," he said again, meeting his eyes properly.

Orion nodded to himself, but Sirius didn't quite believe until he'd spoken, "yes, alright then, I'll tell your mother."

"Th-thank you!" Sirius yelped in disbelief. It was, hands down, the kindest thing his dad had ever done!

His dad scowled in disapproval for the stutter, and eager to not ruin this moment, he showed as much decorum as was humanly possible as he walked out of the room, but couldn't hold it in any longer when he turned the corner and bounced on the spot like he had to take a piss!

"You are the best friend ever!" Sirius swore, holding his arms painfully tight and shaking him in his delight.

James was laughing at the whole thing like he'd seen the funniest show. There was an odd edge to it though, one Sirius recognized when he'd asked before about that howler mum had sent him at the beginning of the year. He had no wish to discuss that now, and hopefully never again!

Sirius dragged him back up the stairs, and James followed happily, but his tread started to slow the farther up he went. He kept gazing around with an odd, pinched look on his face. He tried to stop on the second landing and go inside, but Sirius twitched uneasily and grabbed him to continue their ascent, so instead he turned his gaze at every shadow the lit candles didn't reach, and especially the shrunken house-elf heads.

"Sirius-" he began in the same, stiff tone that was beginning to make Sirius feel uneasy.

They'd finally reached his room though, and Sirius was suddenly positive he didn't want to know what James was going to ask, so he pushed it open eagerly and ran to where he'd stashed it away. The windowsill came loose if you pried a certain nail up, and it was completely hollow beneath. Nobody knew that but him, not even Kreacher he was sure.

James turned slowly on the spot in here as well, his face scrunched up like he was looking at Snivellus again. Sirius could understand why now though, the vibrant green wallpapers, silver four poster bedding, and black plush carpet was not at all to his liking either. He hadn't enjoyed it even before he'd found pride in the scarlet Gryffindor colors.

"Here," Sirius showed him eagerly and to distract himself as well, he was still high on enjoying this night.

James took the Muggle magazine, the little post it note from Remus still stamped on the front in his neat block lettering. 'I know I promised I'd explain cars better, but I thought you'd like these even more.'

James peeled it off and tapped his finger curiously on the sticky side, but Sirius slapped his fingers and put it back on at once with precious care. James finally started to relax as he flipped through it. Neither of them really understood most of the contents it held, Muggle machines for sure on two wheels, motorcycles of all shapes and sizes, but Sirius had spent the past weeks eyeing every page and watched eagerly as James did the same.

"I've been particularly fond of this one," he tapped eagerly on the third page, the one that had flames all along its chassis.

"Of course you do," James nodded, before a look of delight lit his face. "Then you should enjoy this!" Without warning he drew his wand, and shot it at the wallpaper. The green turned the same bright scarlet as the flames, the Gryffindor colors.

Sirius at first beamed at the sight, before his face drew tight with unease. "Ah, James, I don't know," he rubbed uneasily at his shoulder, but then he saw James' unrepentant smirk, the same one that had drawn him out of bed that very first night. It was as infectious as ever. His parents obviously liked James and thought him a good influence, surely they could have some fun!

"Well, since you got the ball rolling, I'm more than happy for a bit of redecorating!" He drew his wand as well, but instead lit the wand tip with a little flame, intending to incinerate the bed sheets so his parents would have to buy new ones, hopefully in a color he liked.

He, again, was not expecting the floorboards to creak until it was far too late. "Master Sirius, dinner is served-" Kreacher's bullfrog like voice startled him though, the guilty conscious of doing something he knew he shouldn't be causing him to yelp in fright and throw his wand to the floor and claim innocence. Unfortunately, his house-elf happened to be standing right there, and the still lit tip caught on his loincloth.

The elf wailed in surprise and tried to move away, beating at the smoldering's. Not fast enough, it took enough material away it fell loose from his hips, and he vanished with a loud crack.

"Oh shit!" Was all Sirius had in him to say, before James burst out laughing, hard. Sirius couldn't bring himself to join in, he felt like he was going to vomit from stress. Snatching his wand back as if it too were still on fire, he grabbed James and practically flew back down the stairs to find that blasted elf and command him not to say a word of this, his irrational panic not even lending to the idea he should just call Kreacher back and do just this.

They made it all the way into the kitchen and stumbled right through the door, much to everyone's displeasure. He received a unique and dirty look from each member of his family for his ungainly appearance, but he noticed none, eyes skittering in all directions and finally finding his Mum at the head of the table. Her ear wasn't bent towards Kreacher yet though...

"May I be excused?" He rasped.

She began to sneer at him, a haughty retort clearly on the tip of her tongue no such thing was going to happen until dinner was done, but then she really saw the green tinge around her sons face and realized he was in fact honestly about to be sick. That was ten times more deplorable than missing one meal, so with a resound nod he was again dismissed. Kreacher appeared in the kitchen with a crack, fluffy loincloth in place once more, just as he reached the fireplace. James' scrawniness came in handy as he easily fit inside with him, and not laughing anymore, he took a pinch of green powder out of his robes and whooshed them away just as his house-elf opened his mouth.

Sirius stepped out and fell to his knees, nearly panting with the exertion not to vomit from stress. Oh, he was going to get an earful when he got home, or his parents wouldn't even wait until then, and they'd come right through that fireplace and give him another punishment.

"Bloody hell Sirius, what's with that place?" James knelt beside him and gave him a gentle pat on the back, his voice genuinely concerned.

"I've been asking myself that since I could talk," Sirius told him honestly as he sat back, ignoring the fact his hand was still trembling slightly as he pushed his hair out of his face and finally took in his new surroundings.

He fell in love at once, deciding right then he didn't ever want to leave. They were in a study of sorts, but unlike his dads, the desk in front of them only housed normal looking quills, and the book titles that caught his eyes were strange in comparison to the ones at his home, not a single copy of The Sacred Twenty-Eight visible in sight. Instead you could see every corner, there was a golden crown molding lining the walls, and the portraits of all the Potter's in this family were smiling at their appearance.

"Wow," he blinked in surprise.

"Let me know if you've gone blind from whiplash," James snorted, that odd, tight tone of his voice coming back at once. "I don't know how you were able to see your own ugly mug in that place it was so dark."

"I always thought that was the point of it," Sirius said honestly. He stood, still eyeing the fireplace and expecting it to explode any second, and hoping more witnesses would deter that, asked, "where are your parents then?"

"Probably already went to bed, they were expecting me to be much later," James said with a shrug.

Sirius wasn't sure how he felt about that news, but more adults around may have made things worse too. James wasn't giving him much time to dwell on it, as he grabbed Sirius' arm and began the grand tour. It was even more odd than Hogwarts, he seemed allowed in every room without fear of being told off.

2

"Off to the left there is Knockturn Alley," Fleamont Potter said with a paternally stern glare at James and Sirius. It was so much more mild than Sirius had ever seen in his life it was laughable, especially as he finished, "we won't be visiting there of course though."

Considering he'd caught the two boys trying to walk exactly down there, it was no wonder the two started giggling. Fleamont shook his head in exasperation and left them to it as Euphemia called her husband back over, the two having been interrupted of their slight bickering if they needed more unicorn shavings.

"We can try again later when they nip off to the Leaky Cauldron," James said with a longing sigh.

"I don't know why you wanted to go at all," Sirius rolled his eyes and was more than happy to go back to the cobbled street proper. He'd been having the best summer of his life with the Potter's and had no desire to ruin it anyways. "I tried to tell you, it's just a bunch of musty shops and crusty owners. My dad's been in nearly every one, and not one of them have anything on Quality Quidditch Supplies."

"Something new to see," James shrugged remorselessly, that grin that had lead him into talking Sirius over there in the first place still prevalent. "Ah well, speaking of," he waved to get his parents attention and they nodded to see the two boys going into said shop instead.

They all finally began to leave a few hours later, both boys clutching new Quidditch gloves. Sirius was stammering his thanks the Potters had insisted on buying it for Sirius, and he was just as thrown his parents would have cursed his own ear off if they heard him like this.

"It's a shame Remus couldn't come too," James finally cut him off with an eye roll anyways. "Can't believe his dad got his stuff the first day letters were sent out, who does that?"

"We haven't seen Peter though, and it's his birthday," Sirius was happy for the change of subject as he looked around once more at the dwindling crowd inside the Leaky Cauldron. "Wonder why he never- oh!"

Bustling in just as Tom was about to lock the door, a woman with stringy brown hair and a familiar, pointed face was politely trying to tell him otherwise. She was clutching Peter's shoulder with an aggrieved look.

"Peter!" Both boys called in excitement. He looked relieved to see them, while Euphemia and Fleamont quickly understood the situation and politely stepped in to add their pleas for Tom to at least give her a chance to see if any of the shops were open behind them.

"Sorry," Ms. Pettigrew apologized once again profusely to anyone who would listen. "I had a customer who was running late, and I've been trimming her kids clothes for years now, couldn't turn her away-"

"We perfectly understand," Euphemia laughed off.

Tom came back in through the door though and was shaking his head. "Sorry folks, really am, but everything else is already closed."

"Oh," she sighed, "alright then. Ah, could we have a room then, if possible? So that we don't have to make the trip back tomorrow."

Tom nodded and went behind the bar to fetch a key.

"Mum, Dad, can we come back up here tomorrow?" James was now quick to ask.

"I don't see why not," Euphemia nodded while Fleamont laughed at the eagerness in his son's voice.

"You two will probably have eaten all the food in the house again by then anyways," he added.

Sirius was just as happy and added in his thanks even as he couldn't take his eyes off of Sophie Pettigrew. He'd never seen a Muggle before. To his surprise though, nothing about her stood out, certainly no clear reason why Peter's father had abandoned the two at such a young age their friend barely remembered him. If it wasn't for the clearly Muggle attire, she could have just as easily been a witch as surely as Mrs. Potter, he'd always wondered if there was something that would claim otherwise, but he wasn't seeing it.

2

September

"It's been good getting to know you Sirius," Euphemia said for the fourth time that morning as she gave him his third hug. No part of him wanted to protest such a thing, despite the fact this was now happening on the crowded platform, considering it was only the third hug he'd ever had.

He looked up again at her kind, hazel eyes that were so like James. Her graying auburn hair was pulled into a loose ponytail that had several flyway strands. She looked nothing like his mother in any way it was possible to.

"You two have fun now," Fleamont added, his lined face getting a new laughing crease, "or at least, try to learn something in between your bouts this time."

"Don't worry dad," James waved off, scanning the crowd for Remus and Peter still. "If they didn't kick us out last year, I think we're safe."

His parents laughed. Sirius couldn't drag his eyes away from the oddity anymore than he had the rest of the summer.

He didn't get much of a choice though when James finally cried in triumph, and he was being dragged backwards onto the billowing train. Mr. and Mrs. Potter waved to him the whole time with smiles.

Sirius had to force himself to turn around and climb the stairs or James was going to do it for him backwards, and he too spotted Peter and Remus watching their approach from a compartment.

"Relax Sirius, you can come back over on Christmas," James snorted when, instead of making a beeline over there, he glanced back off the train one more time.

"Yeah," Sirius muttered reflexively, rubbing his shoulder one more time in remembrance before shaking it all off and jogging after James just as enthusiastically now.

Just as they reached the door, Evans passed, a curious look on her face as she peeked in. She saw who it was, and looked around in time to see their approach so that she could fix the appropriate scowl in place.

James wasn't deterred, as usual. "Hey Evans! Ditched the Snivellus yet?"

"Ditched your arse yet?" She snapped back before flouncing away. Mary Macdonald in the compartment across saw this and got up, but by the time she opened the door to wave Lily in she'd vanished again. The girl gave them a look of exasperation before closing it in their face.

"Some people," James rolled his eyes before finally entering.

"You do know you have a crush on her," Sirius politely informed him. Neither of the other two even had to ask, witnessing the whole thing. James on the other hand looked at him with genuine bewilderment.

"Crush on who?"

Sirius decided he really was an idiot and grinned at the other two instead. "Had a good holiday?"

"Oh, it had its ups and downs," Remus rolled his eyes. "Sorry I couldn't come see you lot, my parents are ah, oddly strict about meeting new people."

"Can't be any weirder than mine," Sirius said with chipper as he threw himself into the seat beside him.

"I brought some presents to make up for it though," he offered, jumping onto his seat instead as James finally stopped watching the door like he really thought Evans would come back and closed it to take his own seat.

Remus rummaged for a bit before coming back juggling four odd looking cans, still wet from perspiration.

"Oh," Peter's eyes brightened with sudden excitement, while the other two didn't recognize the odd label on the side.

"Here, it's called pop, you two won't have tried it, but Peter was complaining all last year the school doesn't have any," Remus passed out the cans.

Remus bent forward to demonstrate how to pop the top, before Peter cut in, "wait Remus, you forgot to show them the best part." Silently begging him to play along, he began shaking his up vigorously. "You've got to do this part, otherwise all the flavor will stay at the bottom."

"Ah yes, how could I forget," Remus actually managed to say with a straight face.

The two blissfully unaware purebloods did so without a second thought, and regretted it as the fountain of fizz shot out of the top, hitting their holders in the face, and didn't quite stop even as they were released to the ground. The carbonation got everywhere, shooting up to the ceiling, making sure to splash across the window's and dowsing their trunks as well.

By the time James had taken off his glasses and found something dry to clean them off on, he replaced them to find Remus and Peter, not having been saved and dripping as much as them, on the sticky floor, laughing. Sirius and James exchanged a proud smile before joining in.

2

Lily was trying her best to smooth out the scowl as she finally lost the sound of their voices as well in the hubbub with enough distance. She was still glancing hopefully into every compartment she passed with a much friendlier smile in place now ready to find Sev, she couldn't imagine where he could have disappeared to while she'd been saying goodbye to her parents. It had been a short conversation anyways, since Petunia hadn't even come along this time.

Finally she spotted his familiar figure leaning on the door of a compartment and opened her mouth to call out, when she spotted who was inside and just as quickly closed her mouth, flushing in embarrassment for what was to come.

Mulciber caught sight of her first, and his mouth twisted in a mockery of a smile. Sev didn't even seem to notice as he kept nodding animatedly to Rosier, but she cleared her throat loudly before she heard a word, she really didn't want to again. "Hey Sev."

"Hey Lily," he turned too fast to face her, the guilty look on his face deserved for once. He breathed in the awkward air for a few moments as he glanced into, and out of the carriage, before offering, "ah, would you like to-"

"Sure, let's go find our own compartment," she said eagerly, turning away without a look back so she could pretend she didn't see his momentary flare of disappointment he'd been about to invite the opposite.

They had to pass nearly to the other end of the train again, but that was fine with her, before they settled down in a compartment with some whispering sixth years who ignored them just as thoroughly back.

"Kind of hard not to bring them up when you keep sneaking off to talk to them the second I turn around," she promptly accused, the look Mulciber had given her still giving her voice a sharper edge than needed.

"It's just, not as easy as avoiding them for you. They were asking me for homework help-" he quickly reassured.

"We're not even back at school yet," she rolled his eyes, but immediately felt guilty for the reminder and her tone eased with it.

"Exactly, they were being preemptive so they wouldn't have to bug us later," he finished with a shrug.

She decided not to point out the more obvious lie, he'd clearly been the one to seek them out, hanging outside their compartment and all.

"We'll talk shop and not have anything else to discuss in between," he shrugged again, a beseeching look on his face to let it drop.

She had half a mind not to, but then she remembered how just last week she'd snuck over to his house after another fight with Tuny, and when she hadn't wanted to admit what it was about this time, he'd let it drop as well. She paid back the favor now, and the two managed to laugh the rest of the trip.

2

Rain had just begun drizzling lightly down on them all as the train came to a halt. Remus and Peter waited patiently as James and Sirius grabbed their respective owls and followed out with the crowd.

The familiar shout for the first years rang once more, but this time they got to ignore Hagrid and continue with the rest up to the school carriages.

James and Sirius eagerly darted forward, cutting off a group of girls who scowled at them, but Peter stopped in surprise rather than joining them.

"What?" Remus asked a bit impatiently, the cold drips getting down his neck.

"What do you think those horse things are?" Peter asked quietly, like he was afraid someone would overhear. Or something apparently.

Remus looked everywhere, even doing a full three-sixty, before turning back to him with an odd frown.

"What-"

"Would you two come on!" James shouted from the carriage, where the girls were now pulling their wands out with threatening faces.

Remus grabbed Peter and all but pushed him inside, closing the door firmly behind him.

Sirius was still ringing water out of his hair and James was fluffing his back into its usual mess, the two already trying to talk about Quidditch tryouts. Peter frowned he was the only one weirded out by the freaky looking things and turned to Remus to ask again.

"What horse things?" Remus gave him a truly bizarre look, easily breaking up the other two.

Peter looked at them like they were crazy, and gestured to the moving carriage. "What, you think this thing is pulling itself along?"

"Um, yes, just like they all were," James frowned at him.

"You chose now to pick the oddest joke Peter," Sirius informed him with an eye roll before turning back to James.

Peter sat stunned for several moments before turning determinedly back to Remus, who just finally laughed like he thought Peter wanted. He decided he had no choice but to let it drop though as they reached the entrance hall, James and Sirius setting their birds down along with everyone else' pets as they traveled inside the school. 

Remus was tempted, like he was last year, to stay behind and watch curiously how they vanished to their respective dorms while they ate, but the promise of food and warmth was too tempting.

James and Sirius listened avidly to the melody the Sorting Hat got going, not so much the nonsense words about danger coming and banning together or some nonsense, just humming along for the good tune.

When that was done, they even brightened at the short assembly of first years to be sorted, the less newbies the faster they got to eat!

"Going to try out for the team this year Sirius?" James whispered quietly as McGonagall started with her parchment, Otto Bagman waving to the lot as he went up first.

"My parents never got me my own broom," Sirius reminded with a huff, "they were supposed to this year, but the plans sort of got interrupted."

Twins Carrow went to Slytherin quickly while James drummed his fingers around before snapping them. "You could borrow mine for tryouts! I know it's only reserve players, but maybe we'll get lucky. Then, if you make the team, you could mail and ask them for one. I'm sure they'd be happy for that."

"Who's the captain anyways?" Peter asked as their table applauded and the boys didn't even look up to see who.

"Guy named Vosper," James actually answered, jerking his head down a ways to a sturdy built fellow, fourth year with dark coloring and nearly shaved bald.

"I'll bet I make the team before you do," Bless Shilling interrupted with an impish grin at James as Holly Harkimer went over to Hufflepuff.

James scoffed heavily for the challenge. She was a slight thing, with thistle blonde hair that looked so fine it was nearly transparent. "That Shacklebolt bloke won them all their games last year, and he hasn't graduated yet. It's the only position you could hope for." Not to mention he was going for the same spot next year when he did leave, and James had every expectation he'd make it there first.

She pouted and her eyes sparked with challenge, but then they were interrupted by a first year choosing to sit by them, Hestia Jones looking at Nearly Headless Nick with clear curiosity. Quirinus Quirrell, a twitchy, nervous looking kid went off to Ravenclaw, and there were already barely a dozen students left to be sorted thankfully.

"But it's his last year," Bless lowered her voice but leaned in closer to keep going. "I'll bet I make reserve player, and it will count as being on the team!"

"If you put in a good word for me with Evans, I'll give you some pointers," James suddenly offered, watching her dark red hair a few seats down, clapping politely as the Slytherin table burst into applause.

Bless looked more offended than ever and sat back in her seat just as the last girl was sorted, and Heather Valson joined them at Gryffindor next to Hestia Jones. Heather could have almost passed as Evans' sister, she had dark red hair too, but he could already tell she was a shy one, as her face was just as red from embarrassment as the ghost of their tower introduced himself.

Professor Marie Kimbell only got the most passive of applause as Dumbledore introduced her as the new Defense Against the Darks Arts teacher, and the four Gryffindor boys didn't even bother to join in. She certainly didn't look like much. Despite her youthful face, she had a shock of white hair going haywire from her head in all directions, and even as she'd stood to wave she'd knocked her chair over, and knocked Flitwick out of his seat as she righted it, and spilled Burbage's drink as she retook her seat.

"I hazard a guess she'll be teaching us the tripping jinx in her first lesson," Peter chuckled.

Remus swallowed uncomfortable and avoided looking at her, not having much of an appetite despite the fact there wasn't a full moon for weeks. He just hoped she didn't turn out to be some secret monster as well, or Sirius and James would probably be plotting how to get rid of her next.

2

"Holiday is not going to get here fast enough!" Peter moaned as he glared at his mountain of homework as if hoping it would start doing itself.

"It's the first week of classes, even Sirius hasn't started complaining yet," James laughed at him.

Sirius clearly wasn't any more up to doing it though as he hadn't even pulled his own books out yet, instead turning to James with that now familiar troublesome grin. "So, time to get the cloak out?"

"Definitely," he returned at once. There were only a handful of Gryffindor's left this late at night, and none of them paid any mind as the four got up and walked casually up to their dorm, and apparently never came back down for the night. Never mind the Fat Lady got bored and swung herself open  moments later, she apparently did that all the time.

The path down to the Entrance Hall was more than familiar enough to them now they could have done it blindfolded, though that wasn't particularly recommended as Professor Sinistra was on patrol, and she had eyes that would spot the tiniest of movements when they came across her on the second floor.

Peter found himself breathing in the fresh air with relief when they were finally traipsing across grass, circling around Hagrid's hut before going to their favorite entrance. The grounds were especially dark tonight, it was a complete new moon so natural light source was scarce, but at least Remus seemed in a particularly good mood as he lead the way this time, determined to hunt down that bowtruckle nest they'd only caught hints of their last trip here months ago.

"Bowtruckles migrate you know," he was saying candidly, wand tip lit and ignoring James and Sirius making a game out of stepping on the most branches. "Their tree could have contracted a disease, or they would have run out of wood lice."

"Honestly Remus, unless you're trying to find a dragon in here, I'm not liking your odds," Sirius laughed at him, stamping down with both feet on a particularly knobby branch.

They were getting pretty deep into the forest now, all four of them had to light their wands just to see their own hands let alone each other, when they stopped in surprise upon hearing a human voice, and it was cursing.

It wasn't Hagrid, but it was the only thing they were sure of.

After a few moments and the voice neither faded, nor grew, James and Sirius began edging forward curiously, Peter staying so close to their heals he nearly took Sirius' shoe off, Remus hanging by James' elbow with an uneasy frown.

"Who goes there!" The voice shouted just as they came around a very large tree, and their wand lights they'd grown accustomed to blinded the poor centaur.

He bellowed and tried to get to his feet, but two hooves remained prone beneath him and he fell back to the ground.

"Sorry," the boys chanted at once as he shook his head while they all lowered their lights.

He was the oldest centaur by far they'd come across, a beard as long as Dumbledore's but the same color gray as his hide, and in a very thick braid. He had a crossbow strung across his back, but now that he recognized them at least as students rather than an enemy, his hand stopped twitching for it, and he instead leaned forward to pick up something else from the ground. It sort of looked like a crude spoon with a hook at the end.

"Ah, foals from the castle," his voice was deep, and still rather menacing enough they would have kept their wands close anyways.

His two legs that had not supported him weren't bent at a wrong angle or anything, and he in fact turned casually back to bending his torso at an awkward shape to pick at his hooves with the little item again like this was a common enough occurrence.

"Err, you alright?" Remus offered, very aware of every word he spoke, the last thing they wanted to do was offend him.

"Yes young ones, I simply was not expecting company," he stated without looking up from his task. "This is a sacred grove of trees that do not listen, and monsters do not enter."

"Ah, right then," James decided it was all the explanation they really cared to get, experience had already taught them these guys could blather on for ages. "You enjoy that then." He waved his friends hastily away who did not argue the point.

It was beyond late when they finally made it back out of the forest, deciding that was all they could stand for today, they'd be back next weekend anyways. The homework was somehow even harder to concentrate on than before though without the taste of free air no matter how many windows they opened.

2

"Did you see Alice Smith finally stopped wearing her hair up in pigtails?"

"Honestly, she's a year older than us, it was silly, but the fact she just cut it all off like that!"

Ersa Melano and 'Pepper' Persephone Iken didn't even seem to notice him standing right there as they kept up their gossip of what the summer had changed, but when James came strolling around the corner and waved a hand to beckon to him, both girls finally stopped and burst into giggles at the sight of him.

Peter was happy to hang by his side instead as they waited for the other two to show up in front of Herbology, until Evans arrived looking very put out, and James of course instantly noticed.

"Need a friendly ear Evans?" He called at once.

She gave him a glowering look that would send a fly in the opposite direction but didn't deter his smile one jot.

Sprout came out anyways and ushered them all inside, but only got halfway through her demonstration of repotting a mandrake when Remus and Sirius finally showed up.

"Ten points from Gryffindor," she said, earmuffs still on and not even looking away as they crept in.

Hue and Henry snickered on James' other side as they sidled up beside the only two pots left next to Peter, he honestly couldn't blame them.

Sprout made repotting the ugly baby plant things look easy, but not only did James have to pry the little thing out of the dirt, it fought madly not to go back into its sanctuary, the teacher likely could have come around twice and done it all for them by the time he was half done. Sirius got it slightly worse though, as he got a particularly feisty one that batted off his hastily shoved on earmuffs, and he fell to the floor as he got a full blast of the young's cry.

James made to bend over him in concern, but Sprout tapped him on the shoulder and waved him off to just leave him there.

When finally they were all sweating and filthy, but the mandrakes at least repotted, they removed their earmuffs to see Henry and Hue full on laughing as Sirius finally came out of it and sat back up. James still couldn't blame them and had to fight off his own laugh the rest of the day.

2

October

"Err, Professor Kimball," Lily tentatively raised her hand. "The book's, upside down again."

"Ah, yes, right you are Eve," she gave the same wild laugh like this was news to her, despite the reminder she'd had to be given every class so far. She then proceeded to drop the book as she tried to put it back upright, and somehow knocked over a whole pile of assignments sloppily done up on her desk to the floor.

The lesson continued in the same hectic way, the woman could barely get through a sentence without some catastrophe happening around her, and Lily was beginning to wonder how anyone learned anything without Sev around, he did so much independent study in this class she was starting to consider asking him to just teach her.

"I swear, the woman's cursed," she passed Pettigrew assuring his friends as they finally began traipsing out. "Her own curse might break the curse on the position!"

"I'd bloody hope not," Lupin sighed, rubbing at his dark eyes. He'd dozed off again halfway through the lesson, and been rudely awoken as a window pane had exploded for no foreseeable reason but the teachers mere presence. "I don't want to deal with her the whole semester, let alone forever!"

She bit her lip to stop herself agreeing with them as she made it into the crowded corridor.

2

"At least if he had to get sick, it was the weekend before Halloween," Peter muttered as he darted off.

"You know, that's the third time he's used his mother as an excuse." Sirius said, glancing up from his astronomy homework. Then again, it didn't take much for him to look up from any homework.

"Right?" James agreed, quickly shoving his own homework aside in favor of this conversation. He was cheating off of Sirius anyways. "I half expected him to use the detention excuse again. There's only so many times he can skip out on our homework groups and not realize we wouldn't notice."

"Lay off him guys," Peter sighed, flipping through pages of Full Functioning Phases of the Lunar Years, "if he doesn't want to tell us he shouldn't have to."

"Which is why we haven't demanded answers yet," James agreed. "We are not heartless, if he doesn't want to tell us we're not going to make him."

"We're just wondering when he'll stop lying about avoiding us." Sirius agreed. If it wasn't for their coming Quidditch tryouts he'd go after him this time, Remus was hardly keeping to his promise about not freezing them out by still lying excessively, but he wasn't outright avoiding them either, appeasing James and Peter enough they were more prone to let it be.

There was silence for a few moments as the three of them continued their studies, the next interruption coming when Sirius finished his homework with a flourish, then pushed it over to James, despite his protests. "Of shove it mate, I was sick of watching you crane your neck anyways. We've got quidditch tryouts in an hour and I don't need to hear you complaining about it."

James huffed, and an argument quickly broke out between the two, consisting of how much the other complained. Normally when this happened Remus would let it continue on until it reached the levels that it was disturbing others, and Peter would simply watch, silently wondering who would win this round, and secretly placing bets with Remus. They had a tally going, and so far James was winning.

This time however, the argument was escalating without a reprimand, and without an audience. Peter had not looked up from the book, or indeed even flipped a page for quite some time.

Not until Madam Pince came around the corner herself and told the two to quiet down did all three boys jump, and quickly stuff their homework aside.

Peter asked if he could borrow the book, while James and Sirius headed down to the pitch, leaving him alone in the hallway to pull the book back out, and flip to last month.

2

"I told you he wouldn't be back yet," Sirius told James as he dramatically threw himself across Remus' bed, and then threw his arms over his eyes for extra effect.

Peter didn't move from his bed, he still had astronomy charts spread out all over the place.

"What, not even going to ask how we did?" James huffed at the arse while packing his precious Nimbus 80 back into his trunk.

"I would have heard you shouting like loons from the pitch if you'd made it onto the team," Peter muttered without looking up.

"Well no one made it on reserve! Vosper's an idiot!" James snapped anyways in answer.

The two grumbled a bit more, Sirius making sure Peter heard him say at least Remus would have asked how they did, but when his brow was still furrowed in concentration over his paperwork they gave him up and just decided to miserably go to bed.

Peter took his time folding everything up and getting himself dressed, and they laid in silence for a good twenty minutes before he piped up, "hey guys, werewolves are real, right?"

"Yeah, why?" James' voice already sounded groggy.

"Going to release a great dog into the castle for a Halloween treat?" Sirius snickered, clearly still wide awake.

Peter's voice kept coming out in weird stops and starts, and the other two imagined he was fighting off a yawn, rather than arguing with himself whether to keep them awake today. "No, just, Trocar mentioned them last year, but I wasn't sure, I mean, well, what are they like? Muggles have stories about them, but I've long since learned they don't seem to be the same."

"Mum and dad have mentioned them a bit," James said around a yawn, "I'll tell you some of the horrors I've overheard if you really want to hear a scary story later."

"We should definitely wait until Remus comes back around for that," Sirius laughed, "the creature nut job will get a kick out of some of the things my parents have said about them."

Peter didn't answer, he curled up tighter into himself in bed and looked out the window while the other two finally drifted off to sleep, but he couldn't quite convince himself the howling was all wind that night.

By the next morning, James and Sirius seemed to have completely forgotten his silly questions though, and by Tuesday afternoon when Remus stumbled into Charms class looking like death warmed over, Peter just didn't have it in him to bring it up himself, yet.

2

November

"The nerve of you four!" McGonagall was seething as she towered down upon them, almost the size of the goalposts visible as they stood in the shadows of the pitch. She hadn't even taken them up to her office this time, she was still shouting right here on the grounds. "This is the third time I've caught you out here this year! Not to mention how many times last year! I've given every detention under the sun and moon, I've taken at least a thousand house points from you, what am I to do!"

"Could always add some, just to mix it up," Sirius offered hopefully.

"Quiet Mister Black." She snapped with so much force Sirius hopped back a step. She breathed through her nose for several agonizing seconds, before opening her eyes with a new gleam in them James most definitely did not like. "You four are banned from the Quidditch match this weekend."

The whole castle could have collapsed behind them and they wouldn't have noticed.

"What-"

"But Professor-"

"I said quiet," she repeated in a much calmer tone, that still had the desired effect of shutting their traps. "Perhaps this will finally teach you lot not to be out of bed, wandering the grounds! I am disgusted with you, I've never met a bigger group of marauders! If this happens again, you will go to see the headmaster!"

She marched back to the school, and they had no other choice but to follow as she had them back in front of the Fat Lady in no time. She eyed them hawkishly as they crawled into the portrait hole, but slumped to the floor on the other side in whatever protest they had left as she finally departed.

"Worst, birthday, ever," Sirius spoke first the fuming protest, glaring daggers as she left.

"I can't believe, I-" James seemed stunned into silence, he looked like he may never speak again.

Remus considered offering the part at least they hadn't made the team, but he figured that would just get him murdered. Peter didn't really say anything, but then, he'd been quieter than usual this past fortnight.

"Maybe we should knock if off, just for a bit guys," Remus finally spoke, though he wasn't remotely tired tonight, the principle still stood. "We didn't even bring the cloak this time because it already barely covers our feet, maybe we could make this bi-monthly excursions instead of every week or something."

"You'd like that, sleeping every chance you get," Peter muttered. Remus got a chill up his spine, but to his utter amazement James and Sirius didn't protest for now as they finally stomped off to bed.

2

The two were still in a fouler mood than Peter had ever seen over the next two weeks at having missed Gryffindors win over Slytherin, and it probably wasn't helping the tower was still laughing and cheering about it at every available opportunity. They retaliated by being utterly obnoxious at any available moment, almost set half the common room on fire once, and Remus and Peter were now practically doing their transfiguration homework, since they were trying to find some way to protest McGonagall that wouldn't get them banned from the next one. They hadn't even suggested sneaking onto the grounds again, despite the next match being Ravenclaw vs Hufflepuff, there was no way they were going to miss it.

But Remus did.

Sirius was at least trying to pretend he didn't care as much as he was saying he didn't, analyzing the match in excruciating detail and the guy was once again missing that whole day. By now they had at least figured this pattern out, he'd show up by Monday morning looking like Pomfrey had tried sucking the life out of him or something.

Nobody was accusing the matron of doing this to him though, but Peter was already wondering who else knew. Who else was in on it. He kicked himself for letting Remus vanish this time, hardly noticing himself the other two had been so boisterous to get out for this one, but he went to his trunk and pulled out his charts again just to triple check this was the next date he had circled, despite the fact he'd already known his answer as he spread them out.

"Are you trying to finish all seven years of Astronomy homework before Christmas?" James demanded when he clearly wasn't listening as he slumped on the bed, giving up for now his rhapsodizing about that last Quaffle score.

"No," he whispered, looking from them to Remus' empty bed. He had no choice this time, he had to say something. "I think Remus is a werewolf."

He'd been repeating the word in his head for a month now, but it was the first time he'd allowed himself to say it.

He was not expecting James and Sirius to burst out laughing.

"Don't be ridiculous Pete," Sirius snorted, digging around in his trunk still for the scorecard he kept for all the Quidditch house points, wanting to go over those numbers again.

"Yeah, if that guy's a bloodthirsty monster bent on eating us all, I'm a snidget," James shivered even as he smirked.

Peter finally handed over his charts to James, who rolled his eyes as he took it, and suddenly went very still. He started flipping backwards. He opened his mouth.

"I'm sure. Every time he's gone missing. Like tonight."

Sirius finally looked up from his own search, going over to snatch the papers away with another eye roll. He nearly ripped them in half, and a few of them scattered to the floor from James' suddenly numb hands.

Sirius only had the past three, but he went white as snow regardless. The two exchanged an open mouthed look that almost resembled a scream. Sirius burst out laughing then, but it was a deranged kind of noise that did not resemble his usual carefree demeanor. "Oh shit." Was all he could finally say, eyes now locked on Remus' bed. "The sleeping, the moodiness, he never would change clothes in front of us, guess now we know why! Mum and dad would kill me missing this." He felt he almost deserved one of mothers punishments for this lapse in not putting together the obvious. What would they say about Peter doing so?

James still hadn't moved, his eyes frozen on the window where the full moon kept skirting out in between clouds.

"Are we, supposed to tell someone," Peter finally whispered. "McGonagall, or, Dumbledore-"

"No." James suddenly snapped, getting to his feet calmly, and bending to collect the papers. He carefully pried Sirius' fingers off the last three, and once he had them all neatly organized, he folded them up and tucked them under his arm.

"That's, all you have to say?" Sirius demanded. "No, we're not going to-"

"No, we are not." James stated.

"But, but he-" Peter wasn't quite hyperventilating, but the two looked almost as pale as Remus was while he'd been sleeping all day yesterday.

"He what?" James challenged, ruffling his hair in frustration as he looked desperately around the room now. "He likes sweets more than blood! He keeps up with when our homework's due better than all of us put together and he misses half the classes! He takes our detentions for us for crying out loud!"

Peter still had a tight knot in his stomach, but Sirius finally looked like he released a breath he'd been holding this whole time again as he spoke to his feet. "It's not like, you know, kids have been going missing at school, at least, they've all come back when they're pulled out. He, I mean, if he is though, but, he hasn't done anything, I think."

"Exactly! Besides, I'll bet you anything the teachers do know," Peter couldn't wrap his head around how James was just so eerily calm. "You ever seen them give him detention when he misses classes? Nope, but he got a detention from Slughorn last week when he let Sirius blame him for that firecracker. He's been nothing but a decent person, hell a good friend to us this whole time. We're not saying a bloody word."

"Shouldn't we, ask him though?" Sirius tugged his fingers into the nap of his hair and pulled anxiously. "Can't just, ignore it, can we?"

"He'll just deny it," James shook his head. "Obviously if he was going to tell us he would have."

"Hey guys, I turn into a monster once a month, see you in class," Peter mocked.

"Shut up," James snapped. He sucked in a painfully looking deep breath before unfolding the papers, and looking ahead to where Peter had circled the next seven months. "Look, next time he, well, disappears I guess," he paused to check the papers to be sure, "will be next month over Christmas break. We all stay over right, and we, follow him. See what happens."

"Are you mad!" Sirius had never been more sincere when he asked that in his life as he now looked at James. "I can't believe he ever let us go tromping around the grounds without saying anything, he could have eaten us!"

"Shut up!" James snapped, and he was starting to look angry at the pair of them. "You just said it Sirius, nobody at this school has gotten so much as a glimpse of this, you think the teachers just let him go trolling through the halls! He's got to be, somewhere, and we'll check to see. Then, when he, I don't know, changes back, we'll talk to him right then so he can't freak out."

"Good luck with that," Peter shivered, he couldn't imagine sitting next to him in class again, let alone looking for his den! This was proof, irrefutable in the gray pallor displayed on Sirius and James was trying to hide.

Sirius smacked him, but his hand was still shaking just a bit to really make the blow. He shook his hand though and looked more like he was telling himself than Peter, "James is right. We are going to talk to him Peter."

2

Peter still wasn't convinced, now that it wasn't just a theory, he could even sit in the same room with him, let alone talk to him, but curiosity finally got the better of him after a restless night and he snuck down to the hospital wing just as the sun began to rise. The doors weren't locked, as usual, and he cracked it open a hair's breadth to get a peek inside.

There was only one occupied bed, and Remus was face down, one arm dangling off, less color in his face than the white sheets and bandages. His heart stilled in his chest, he remembered the way Remus had ruffled his hair last week when he'd finally memorized the difference between kappas and hinkypunks. It was the two of them who sat around playing chess, or gobestones, or exploding snap while James and Sirius got a wild hair up their butt and started joking around as loudly as possible, the whole common room with eyes on them while they sat together and laughed at the pair, but nobody looked twice at them for it.

He was still half convinced James and Sirius were downplaying what a bad thing this was, no way had he misjudged their initial reaction, but whatever they'd heard about werewolves they weren't going to be telling him, and he never asked.

2

Sirius kept rubbing at his shoulder and biting his tongue the whole of that Tuesday, but every time he looked at Remus it was easy enough to keep his mouth shut like they'd promised. The guy could barely keep his eyes open, he was not up for an interrogation. He kept replaying the lessons father had gone over in his study about dark creatures and what you were supposed to do when you found one, but then he just wanted to be sick at the idea of that happening to Remus.

Even dead on his feet, his friend would still make snide comments under his breath about what was going on in class, he still hung around at the end of corridors to be their look out even when he had to lean against the wall to do so, he still smiled and laughed when Sirius and James sent tripping hexes at random in the corridors and claimed to have Kimbell's curse.

Still, by the time the next weekend came, and Remus was laughing along like normal as Peter started enchanting snowballs to chase students, and he was the one patiently going over their DADA homework before they turned it in, and he regaled them with fun facts about yetis, none of the three of them had brought it up since, all silently agreeing as they signed up to stay over Christmas. He deserved to be talked to before Sirius breathed a word of this to his parents, not that he really wanted to anyways, as he rubbed ruefully at his shoulder once more in memory. Remus had never so much as scratched him, let alone done that.

2

December

"Surprised Perky wasn't covered in tears rather than snow," Sirius snickered as the red feathered great-horn owl took off once more, while James quickly tucked the letter away before Remus and Peter got here for breakfast.

"They didn't say a thing against me staying actually," James sniffed, "just promised to mail my presents instead and sent me some chocolates, which I guess you don't want any of-" he looked up from securing his cloak over his pocket to see Sirius had already swiped a portion and rolled his eyes.

James bit his tongue rather than point out Sirius' own parents hadn't said a word to him the whole school year, again. It's not as if Buggle was the only owl in their house, someone had to own that one that sent Sirius the howler last year.

The other two finally arrived, and they were lucky the plates kept magically refilling with biscuits as others were starting to sprint off for classes on the edge of being late. Remus didn't eat with as much gusto as he had last night though, they'd finally told him, casually while crawling into bed, they all decided to stay for this break, and he'd gotten a shifty look that had nearly been as exposing as his pattern of disappearing.

"Evans is staying over," James cheerfully stated as he watched her cram one last bacon and egg sandwich into her mouth while flying past. "Just heard her talking to Snivellus about it!"

"That's great James," Remus' smile looked strained, and he was still kicking himself he hadn't thought up that excuse originally. He barely wanted to wait until the end of the month to confront him on this already, James didn't think they were acting any differently, but he also suspected Remus suspected they suspected.

His head started to hurt, and he missed every question McGonagall asked in class, earning him extra study practice he doubted he'd focus on as he snuck off to the library for another book on werewolves. None of the texts he found had much of anything nice to say though, certainly nothing that matched his own observations, and he hadn't even been able to ask his parents like he'd really wanted to.

They'd never outright stated anything, and that was part of James' curiosity, they just whispered about lycanthropes occasionally with a newspaper clutched in their hand and said they'd talk about it with him when he was older. Well, he was twelve, how much older did he need to be! Someone was lying, either these books that just kept going on about how dangerous Remus was supposed to be, or Remus was hiding some deeply homicidal nature, and James was already starting to lean towards the first.

2

At first Remus thought he was being paranoid when he woke up, but he'd had the feeling for months now and had tried to scold himself repeatedly for it. Sunlight was cracking into the high windows of the hospital wing, snow piling up on the sill not deterring that. He only ever had a blurry memory of the night before, only the hunger was the true highlight, and he didn't need to pull the sheets aside to see what had been the meal for this lack. Despite the fact he knew that she would have tried to put a few spells on to lessen the pain, he wondered if it was the throbbing wounds that had woken him up.

Then he heard it.

There was a shuffling off to the side, very close to his bed, but glancing over, he saw nothing. His eyes narrowed, and he reached for his wand, only remembering when he hit empty pocket that Madam Pomfrey would still have it. She always took his wand away until she released him back to the rest of the school. Still, when he heard the shuffling noise again, his fear really was mounting, and he opened his mouth to call out for the matron when he heard a familiar voice whisper, "Don't rat us out now Remus, we've been doing good all night."

"James!" he spluttered, loud enough that it would have called attention anyways.

"Jeez, did you eat all your subtlety?" Sirius said, poking his head up from behind a bed, wand in hand, and pointed at the hospital door.

"Peter, please tell me you're done," James' voice groaned from beside him, and Remus now knew why he wasn't visible.

"Yep," he appeared out of the shadows as naturally as ever from Madam Pomfrey's adjacent door that lead to her office. "Gum in the holes, we'll know if she tries to come out."

His last friend pulled the cloak off of himself then, and Remus could only balk at the three of them. As Sirius and Peter came to step up beside James, it turned into a choked off scream. They knew! They'd stayed over break for the exact reason he'd suspected. What was going to come next? Lynching? They didn't have pitchforks...

His three friends looked exhausted, like he had seen them before when they stayed up all night for something, and they were all grinning down at him with a knowing look he'd always been afraid would be directed at him some day. He hadn't banked on it being this soon. "Wha-, how did-" he tried weakly, then winced at the way his voice betrayed him and began cracking at once. It was always awful trying to talk when he first woke up.

"Here," Peter offered him a glass of water, "I figured this is why she left this by your bedside."

Remus took the glass silently, but it simply lay in his lap as he continued gaping at his friends. How was he going to explain this one! He had told them he needed to go to Saint Mungo's for the night because of an accident his father had, excuses flew through his mind, each more feeble than the last as to why he was lying in the Hospital Wing covered in bandages. Then he suddenly realized just how much they could see, and nearly spilled the glass on the nightstand as he made a vain attempt to sit up and cover himself with more than the light sheet.

"Don't bother," Sirius snorted, "we got a pretty good look at what you did to yourself when she was bandaging you up."

Remus started shaking then, edging away from them and looking towards both doors for a different reason. They had figured it out, it wasn't even a question now. He knew they would, there was no way it could last, but he had always thought his boisterous friends would simply stop talking to him one day. Or worse, tell the whole school and try having him kicked out. He had never expected them to, well he still didn't know why they were here!

"Would you quit looking like that," James sighed, flopping down on the edge of his bed and eyeing him with genuine concern, "you are already paler then the ghosts here."

He swallowed around his dry throat, now wishing dearly he had taken that offered water, but instead asked, "How did you-"

Sirius snorted and said, "Oh please. We've known for a month, did you really think we wouldn't notice? Especially as many times as you used the same excuse."

"Technically," Peter butted in, "I figured it out, and you two laughed until I showed you the dates."

James gave both of his friends scathing looks as he snapped, "you two aren't helping." Then he turned quickly back to Remus, the most beseeching look on his face he'd had seen in his year of knowing his friend, "Remus, why didn't you tell us?"

He opened and closed his mouth several times, looking like a gaping fish, and unable to decide what he was more shocked about. They didn't seem repulsed by him, angry, or even upset. James' question seemed to be more geared towards why Remus would keep it a secret at all...but this didn't add up to the things his dad had always said if wizards, especially purebloods as two of his friends were, found out about him.

Peter may have taken his silence as a still strained throat, true but not the reason for his continued stunned response, and handed him the water again.

This time he drank it all before finally saying, "I thought, ah-" he trailed off weakly, not really wanting to admit all the awful things he had feared his friends might do, so instead distracted them with a question of his own, and what he had been planning to ask in the first place, "How did you know I was here?"

"We followed you," James shrugged like that was the most obvious thing in the world, "saw you meet up with Madam Pomfrey at the Whomping Willow. Then we waited outside until she came back and took you out of there, and brought you up here."

"It was scary mate," Sirius shivered, "Pomfrey looked like she was dragging a corpse out of there, you floating dead and passed out like that, blood all over you both. No wonder you're always so stinking pale."

"So we waited in here until you woke up," Peter finished, "figured you wouldn't want an audience when you started yelling at us."

"Why would I yell at you?" He choked, then winced as his throat still scraped raw.

This time he reached, ignoring his aching muscles and pulling on the new wounds, and got his own glass of water as Sirius said, "That's what I said! Hell, we technically had the right to yell at you for keeping this a secret, it's by far the most interesting thing about all of us put together."

Remus nearly choked on his drink, and watched out of the corner of his eye as Peter thumped his back, before putting the glass down gently. Then he looked around at all three of his friends and whispered, "You're not-" he winced at what he was about to ask, and then trailed off unable to bring that to words. 'You're not going to tell?' Seemed preposterous now, with the way they were all looking at him with genuine concern.

James seemed to get it though, as he whispered, "All we're going to do is look into this. I don't think I can stand seeing you like this ever again, let alone once a month," he trailed off sadly, his hazel eyes taking in one of his friends so beat up.

Remus was lost for words, but he clearly didn't need any.

2

They waited until he was out of the Hospital, thankfully, to start asking questions.

"How long ago did it happen?" Sirius was the first to speak that evening. They were all sitting on their own beds, but Remus still felt hot and at the center of attention as James put down a book and Peter froze halfway through undressing.

"When I was five," he finally answered, rubbing at his shoulder. Sirius was watching intently with those gray eyes of his, and Remus decided he may as well forestall the next one coming. He took his shirt off, something he'd never done before in front of them, and let his fingers trail over the most prominent of the silvery marks marring his skin that did not fade with time like so many others that only glinted in the right light. 

It was twisted with age, the indents didn't quite show how close to his neck it had come, and very deep, he could still divot his pinky into an incisor. His heart pounded in his chest as he instinctively covered it anyways, though his hand didn't hide half the individual, silvery spots.

"Does silver hurt you?" Peter asked, wide eyed at the faint marks.

James threw his book at him and Sirius sent a tripping hex to back it up, but Remus just smiled faintly. "Yeah, if I touch it it burns like crazy."

"Note to self," he huffed.

"And your parents..." James' voice trailed off. Remus wasn't sure if he couldn't ask the whole question, or he wasn't even sure what he was asking. His stomach clenched painfully. As little as Sirius mentioned his own parents, Remus spoke of them less, but he told the truth of what he could.

"My dad angered, one," he couldn't bring himself to say the word werewolf in all his twelve years. It went unspoken for so long in his house. "He's never told me the story though, and I don't ask. I pity him too much."

His dad, and the werewolf. The first for not even being able to look his son in the face most days, let alone a specific day every month for what had happened. The later for his actions. It must have been an accident, no human would attack a kid in retribution. The details of how exactly his father had angered a werewolf and Remus had been bitten didn't matter, the poor werewolf must be fraught with guilt and he'd never been brave enough to ask his dad for more.

"My mum's a muggle," he finished quietly. "She, tries, in her way, but she hasn't much of a clue how to help, and my dad, well, let's just say I really like being at Hogwarts." He finished with a tone of finality he didn't want to talk anymore, and to his relief nobody brought it up again, or he probably would have started lying. They pitied him enough as is.

2

"Potter and his friends are being weirdly quiet," Sev told her for the third time that month. "I think they're up to something."

"Yes, you've said," Lily absently agreed. "Blue, or green?" It was Christmas Eve, and she was still having fun decorating an empty classroom for her own desires like she never could at home.

"Green," he stated, and she had her fun changing the colors for the fifth time.

"I'm just saying, they sneak around at all hours, and they keep whispering-"

"What would you have me do Sev?" She groaned as she moved to where she still had a garland of popcorn waiting to be hung up. "Spy on them for you?"

"No!" He yelped in disgust at the thought. "I don't want you in the same common room as them, let alone talking to them! You just never want to talk theories with me like Avery does, he was saying just before he left how-" He snapped his mouth shut as she crumbled up half of her decorations in her hand.

"It's not my fault I ended up in stinking Gryffindor!" She was already shouting while he waved his hands pleadingly to try and backtrack. "I'm sick of you constantly bringing it up that I can't sit around with all your cool Slytherin friends and make up wild stories about others all day!"

"I'm not, I haven't, it just came out," he sighed.

"Just forget it," she snapped, trying to force herself to say it like she meant it. "Come here and help me."

He jumped up at once and held the other end for her while she got it just right, but the two remained quiet and sullen as they departed that night. It did not improve her mood when she woke up to a law-degree journal the next morning, and Potter waiting in the common room with a present in each hand this time, one wrapped in shiny green material, the other done up with Snitches.

"I couldn't decide what to get you last year and waited too late, so this time I got both to make up for it," he told her grandly. It was barely past sunrise on a holiday, she couldn't believe he was even awake! His entourage certainly wasn't.

"Piss off," she enunciated clearly, and ground her teeth into her skull as he just followed along behind her.

"So I was thinking you could join us for a snowball war on the grounds, those two Slytherin girls and you could be a team, and I think Pepper stayed over too if you wanted to make it even-"

"I don't need you setting up playdates for me!" She shot over her shoulder.

"I thought you'd revel at the chance to throw a snowball at me," he kept going cheerfully, now juggling the presents as they went down a flight of stairs just to show off. Neither acknowledged as Professor Kimball fell down the stairs past them and landed on the bottom, springing to her feet and bustling off, it happened every other day anyways.

"I can do that without your permission," she shot back. She tried ignoring him after that, but he just kept following with that damnable cheerful look, and even started singing a carol when they rounded the corner and she was back in front of her classroom.

She stopped there and refused to go inside, lest he see and invite himself in, and now crossed her arms and scowled at him, hoping Sev wasn't inside already and heard. He'd come out in a foul mood, and the last thing she wanted today was another fight.

"Won't you at least open them?" he cajoled, meeting her eyes fearlessly.

"Will you stop trying to curse my friend every time you see him?" She shot back.

His smile dimmed finally, but he actually seemed to be considering for a moment before opening his mouth, and then he fell to the ground, cords wrapped all around his body. She heard something break as the two presents fall to the ground.

She realized too late she'd feared Sev coming from the wrong direction, he was at the end of the corridor with a sneer in place and wand raised to do something else while Potter struggled on the ground like a trapped rat.

"Sev!" She protested, inching closer to Potter to at least try and get the one around his neck off, but he came forward and grabbed her hand to pull her back. "We can't just leave him like that," she protested.

"Oh yes we can," he sniffed. "Those idiots of his will realize he's missing eventually, he's lucky I don't do worse to him." He gave a vicious kick to the snitch wrapped box, leaving a dent in both sides as it sailed into the wall and ricocheted back to hit Potter's head.

"Severus!" She snapped at how cold his tone was, this felt like beyond stupid payback, but then Professor Dumbledore himself came strolling along, and frowned at the display.

The two of them snapped to attention, Severus quickly tucking his wand back away while the headmaster came forward and tapped his wand gently. Potter sat up with a gasp, rubbing at his wrists with a look of such loathing at Sev it was a wonder he didn't pounce on him that second.

"What is happening here?" His tone remained calm, his blue eyes searching the three of them with a look that made them all feel like blurting out the truth that second.

Potter spoke up first though, shoving an almost painful looking smile into place as he said, "nothing sir, just an accidental spell, you know how it goes."

"I see," he did not look impressed, but to all of their amazement, he did not call out their lie. "Well in the future, you would do well to remember the teachers of this school discourage magic in the corridors, even on this fine holiday. A Merry Christmas to you all, and I will see you at dinner." He bowed his head, only hesitated a moment more with his eyes on them, before leaving.

"You didn't-" Lily began in astonishment, but too late she realized why. Professor Dumbledore's cloak had barely flicked out of sight before Potter got his own revenge by sending a return curse, and Sev found himself coughing on soap bubbles from his mouth.

She gave him a look of loathing right back as she sent a tripping hex at him, causing him to fall on his fat head once more as she grabbed Sev and the two left. They didn't talk about it the rest of the day, nor go back to their classroom, they just went down to the dungeons to check on their latest potion and only asked the other to pass an ingredient.

2

January

"Oh it's beautiful Sev!" She crooned as the simple-chain link bracelet flashed different colors of the rainbow every time she twisted her wrist. "Now I feel awful I didn't get you anything for yours!" They'd gone so long without even discussing presents for each other, she felt like an arse she'd apparently missed the memo this year.

"Don't be," he brushed off, but his smile was brighter than the butter yellow her bracelet currently was. "I just stewed it in that arquus potion for a few days, don't ask where I got the money for the bracelet though." He finished sheepishly.

"I won't," she laughed, "I love it!"

"So you'll wear it?" He still seemed amazed at the idea, and she threw her arms around him at the stupid question, being careful none of the links caught in his hair as he hugged her back just as tight. "I'm glad I gave it to you a day early then," he smiled more genuinely than she'd seen in a long time as she sat back first and trilled her fingers along it once more. "Now you can just wear it on your actual birthday all day."

"As if I'll ever take it off again even when it's over," she chided.

The rest of class had long since emptied, and other students were starting to arrive for their own potions class, so she and Sev finally got up and departed for the library to get some homework in before dinner.

The next morning she was accosted awake by something even worse than the birthday song though, an alarm trilling in sharp, high pitched frequency that set every Gryffindor startling out of bed.

She was one of the first to come stumbling down the stairs, and nearly pissed herself laughing at the sight of Potter standing shamefaced before McGonagall, holding his broom. It wasn't until what she was actually saying sank in though it wasn't so funny anymore.

"Ought to confiscate that from you, setting off an intruder alarm at any time of day! Detention Potter, for the next three months, and if you ever have that broom anywhere other than the Quidditch pitch you'll be in detention for life!" She stated in no uncertain terms, her tartan dressing gown as stiff as her spine as she marched out the door.

"That wasn't actually your present," he turned to her with only a slightly annoyed look, as if nothing had happened, ignoring several older and meaner looking students giving him looks of the same disgust she did as they shoved past him back to bed.

"You're unbelievable," she informed, going back up herself to get dressed for the day. She waited as long as possible to come back down, but realized her mistake as this had only given his friends a chance to join him and she was nearly trampled to death instead as he rushed to put yet another wrapped gift in her hands, but keeping his feet firmly off the last stair she hovered on.

"Might as well get it over with Evans," Black snickered.

"You can all jump in the lake," she informed them, shoving it back to him.

His eyes caught on the bracelet still glimmering on her wrist, and his smile dimmed. "I didn't think of jewelry, but I bet you'll still like this," he tried anyways, offering it back like this was a mistake anyone could make.

She nearly shoved Pettigrew to the ground as she stormed past, but he dogged after her the rest of the day until she finally lost her temper and snatched it from him, only to dump it in the girls trash bin she immediately ducked into during break.

When she came back out empty handed, he looked genuinely hurt, but she wasn't going to let herself be fooled by him again. "I don't know why you think I want anything to do with you, but let me make this as clear as your brain can handle. Go away, and stay away."

"See you in Charms Evans!" He waved as she went off. His friends snickered, but she at least had a moment to appreciate they were laughing at him with her that time.

2

February

"No, no, he definitely won't admit to it until seventh year," Remus told around a jaw cracking yawn.

"I still say the idiot is only in denial because he hasn't hit puberty," Sirius smirked as he scratched at his chin while eyeing Bless trying to talk to him, again. He looked bored out of his brain, she'd dropped the Quidditch pretense ages ago and was now openly discussing it was Valentines day. "I say next year."

"Fine then, I get until Christmas fifth year, that's the halfway point," Peter smirked. Remus still felt some amazement when they all shook on it and none of them batted an eye being in arms reach of him after nearly four months of knowing, let alone something this casual. James finally shook her off anyways and came back over, and they didn't bother to hide their smirks as he collapsed on the couch by Remus.

"Thought she'd never shut up," he grumbled as he picked up the radio and began tuning the station, trying to find something that wasn't Celestian Wareback, they loved playing her noise today for some reason.

All three of them burst out laughing, though he had no clue why, and didn't care to ask as Evans finally came back in. He hadn't seen her all day, and it was nearly curfew. She shot him an aggrieved look and all but ran up the girls dorm to his confusion, but he hadn't been planning to talk to her today so he wasn't sure what her problem was, he was hoping if he cut back some she'd be more relaxed when he tried again on his birthday next month. She'd see he just wanted to be friends eventually.

He finally found a Three Toads song and blared it happily, all four of them singing along nearly in key until a prefect came back down and snapped at them to get to bed. Remus seemed more than grateful to as he went off first. It was still three days until the full moon, but he was already starting to sleep an hour extra than normal every preceding day that week.

They didn't have to wait long until he fell heavily asleep, snoring away so loud they barely had to whisper a much more important conversation than this stupid holiday.

"I'm positive now a cure is out of the question, and it seems to be from lack of trying!" James sighed. "I finally found one ruddy text that talked about it, and it was recent too, some creepy git in Albania! Nothing out of the testing stages we could even hope to get our hands on though." He grimaced as he remembered the analytical way those tests were being done and the cold report he'd read. It made him sick to think a stranger werewolf was being tested on like that, let alone Remus being near them even if a cure was found from it.

"We'll just have to try something else, I filched one of Pomfrey's books," Sirius nodded, pulling it back out from in between his bed and frame and flipping through it once more. "Cures for Curses, most of these healing charms don't look too bad."

"That's so short term though," Peter sighed, sitting with his pillow against his chest and rocking slightly in thought, "and nothing that she isn't already doing for him. I don't understand how the guy doesn't keel over he looks so dead sometimes, it's got to be even more painful than we're just seeing."

"Maybe we're looking at the wrong things," James grumbled, "we should stop just looking at werewolf related stuff and try other branches of magic."

"I can't imagine where to start," Sirius sighed, more frustrated than anything they were just having to ask each other this. It wasn't a question anymore none of them were going to ask their parents, and dared not a teacher, just in case they weren't supposed to know and he left school for some reason.

"Subject by subject I guess," James said simply. "Toss me that book Sirius." He did so, and waited until James finally dozed off on those pages. Peter took a little longer to fall asleep, but eventually his snores rumbled out too.

Sirius got quietly out of bed and snuck over to Remus', prodding him and actually whispering, "you can stop faking that now." He grumbled and shuffled over as Sirius plopped down on the edge. "What exactly do you keep expecting to hear anyways?" He breathed into his ear.

"A reality check," he muttered, his mouth twitching in the darkness hinting at a smile.

"Sorry, you missed that part," Sirius shrugged. He leaned against the very edge of the pillow, still staring down at Remus hogging the majority of it with a sad smile. "We don't think you're as bad as you do you know."

"I'm just lucky it took you idiots so long to figure it out," he shot back, his voice going even quieter with every word so that he was nearly mouthing it by the end. Sirius had to lean down so his hair was on Remus' nose as he finished, "you lot wouldn't have taken so lightly to sharing a room with a monster at the beginning."

A flare of white hot anger shot through Sirius, he wanted to throttle Remus. No, he wanted to strangle anyone who had made him think it was okay to say that. "Remus, I haven't spoken to my parents since the beginning of last summer because of what they did to me for ending up in a house they didn't want," Sirius snarled, forcing his hand not to rub at his shoulder this time in the darkness. It was the first time he'd ever admitted anything had happened. "They are monsters, you haven't ever hurt anyone."

Remus digested that for a long time before deciding not to ask. "I've never told you that," he uneasily stated instead, curling his back against Sirius' legs to try and stop his sudden shivering. "You all just seemed to assume it."

"We know you haven't," Sirius brushed off this important detail like nothing. "Your parents are careful about keeping you away from people, just like mine tried. Didn't seem to work out well for either of them," he finished sardonically.

"Thanks," he finally said, uncurling slightly before finally real, deeper snores went in tandem with Peter's. Sirius smiled as he went back to his bed, already coming together with an excuse for Kimbell why Remus was going to sleep in and miss DADA.

2

March

"His name is Milkshake," Sirius told him like that explained everything. 

It did not.

"It doesn't even look like a milkshake," Remus hadn't even taken him yet, and Sirius was starting to pout.

"Sure he does, look at the way the fur blends together over his butt."

The cotton tail did indeed have brown, white, and a little black swirled in that spot, but Remus still didn't get it. "It's still a rabbit. Why a rabbit?"

"Is that not the first creature you think of when you hear the phrase, furry little problem?" Sirius demanded.

"It will be now," Remus promised. "James was still an idiot for even referring to it like that though."

"And now you have an excuse for when other people ask," Sirius declared, holding out the floppy eared bunny once more grandly.

"Sirius, I'm not taking a rabbit, no matter what you named it," Remus promised.

"But, I read this thing about how animals will be calmer if they have other animals with them, maybe you'd like it when you change," Sirius offered, and Remus couldn't help but smile at the sincere tone.

"As dessert," Remus reminded.

"Werewolves don't like eating normal animals!" Sirius butted back. "They scent out magic!"

Remus grimaced and decided not to ask why Sirius knew that.

"Oh, bunny!" Peter and James finally came up from their late dinner, the first immediately swooping in and scooping the fluff from Sirius' arms.

"See, someone appreciates me!" Sirius beamed.

"Rabbit stew?" James asked curiously.

"How dare you! We're not eating Milkshake!" Sirius yelped, jumping in between them and Peter now holding the rabbit even tighter.

"Last time we'll ever hear Sirius say that," James smirked.

"Sirius, you might as well give it to James, because I'm not keeping it," Remus insisted.

"Oh, but he's so fluffy!" Peter sighed, nuzzling his nose in between the cotton ears. "Whenever Buggle or Click come by they just bring dead rats."

"Actually that's a good idea," Remus nodded along, "we should give it to them as a treat, they can share it."

"You're a heartless monster!" Sirius huffed.

"And you thought a rabbit would soften me up?" Remus grinned, and Sirius decided right then this was all worth it, it was the first time he hadn't flinched at that joke.

"Admit it Sirius, you just forgot it was his birthday and nabbed this guy from- where did you get this?" James suddenly realized.

Sirius sighed, but admitted defeat. "Stole him from Corvus Higgs."

"You arse," Peter snorted, "I thought I recognized her, and her name is Tutu."

"Eh," Sirius shrugged without remorse.

"Give her back," Peter told, finally passing the rabbit back. Sirius grumbled all the way back to Ravenclaw tower about how unappreciated he was.

2

"So how does it feel to finally be a teenager?"

James startled awake and looked wearily up at Sirius. It was never a good sign when he actually woke up before him.

"I remember those long days of preadolescent-"

James used his own pillow to whack him. Sirius should have known better, James always woke up wide awake.

"Are we going to go through this every year," James finally demanded as he sat up and reached for his glasses. "As you have pointed out last year, you are 145 days older than me! It's not exactly a lifetime!"

"Middle child syndrome," Sirius nodded to himself, patting James obnoxiously on the head. "Always in denial of something."

James finally found his glasses and used his newfound sight to tackle Sirius accurately to the floor, the two wrestling around still not enough to get the others out of bed. Sirius finally won, he was a just a bit bigger and had him pinned to the floor for a solid three minutes before James gave in.

"What on Earth possessed you to be up this early anyways?" James asked as he ruffled his hair back to its usual mess while getting dressed, it had gone a bit tame while being squashed to the floor.

"Never went to bed," Sirius shrugged without remorse. "I'll probably skip afternoon classes for a nap."

"You do that more often than the werewolf," James snorted. "McGonagall's going to come up here one of these days with that megaphone and give us a heart attack for it."

"Worth it," Sirius smirked. "Come on, help me get these two layabouts up! Breakfast!"

"Layabouts," James rolled his eyes as he went to Peter. "I heard you and Remus up whispering half the night, I'll bet he fell asleep an hour ago if that."

"Double nap time then," Sirius shrugged while swinging himself onto said boys bed and jumping about.

"Double detention," James corrected while snatching Peter's pillow out from under his head and whacking him in the rump.

It finally took Sirius threatening to take a shower first to get the two out of bed, and indeed by the time Sirius was done in there breakfast was almost over anyways. Perky was still waiting patiently for him though, hopping in place with excitement for the parcel tied to her leg.

"Hello girl," James grinned ripping up a few bits of bacon for her before finally getting the small, squared shaped package off her leg.

"Feels too light to be a snack," James muttered, bouncing it lightly in confusion. He was still distracted from unwrapping it as Evans passed by, and he looked up hopefully she'd finally return the gesture and wish him a happy birthday.

She did no such thing, sitting down as far from him as she could and pulling a breakfast of fried tomatoes and potatoes into reach. It's not as if she didn't know it was his birthday, he'd gotten detention for posting a banner of the occasion over the Great Hall last night.

"I still can't believe McGonagall gave you detention today, now there's a heartless monster if ever there was one," Sirius distracted him with the unfriendly reminder, and snatching his present away.

"Hey," James yelped, trying to reach back across the table for it.

"Well if you're not going to open it, I am! I can't live in the suspense," he smirked as he slipped the wrapping paper off just as James made a lunge for it again.

One of the little mirrors fell right into a jug of pumpkin juice, the other into Sirius' porridge.

James got the dripping one out and used a napkin like a normal human being to get the drink off while Sirius tried to lick the lost porridge like a savage before Remus snatched it away and cleaned it properly.

"Why would they send me two, isn't one enough?" James looked dubious about the lone one regardless.

"Your parents don't strike me as the kind to hope you shatter that with your mug," Sirius agreed, still scooping bits of porridge into his mouth, though the use of a spoon seemed tame now.

"There's writing on the back geniuses," Peter rolled his eyes.

James and Remus simultaneously flipped them over and read out, "just say the name of the other holders mirror and you can talk as if there were no distance between."

"Cool!" James yelped at the same time Remus said, "James."

Suddenly he was seeing everything in double, a tiny Remus in the reflection and just a hint of the great hall behind him, even getting a better angle of Terrence Noble obnoxiously trying to give his fourteenth speech about the Ravenclaw Quidditch win from last month.

"Ooh, gimme," Sirius nabbed it back but decided against using it as a utensil this time, now grinning at James and the wall behind him.

"I swear you were the one raised by wolves," Remus rolled his eyes as he began stacking waffles onto a plate.

"McGonagall," Peter suddenly whispered, and with practiced ease the two slipped the mirrors out of sight like they already had their passed note-conversations in every class as she swooped in.

"Mr. Potter," McGonagall acknowledged.

"Professor," he grinned. His smile dropped in disappointment when she too didn't acknowledge the occasion.

"Your detention tonight is to help Madam Hooch with maintenance on the school brooms. That is all." She walked crisply away, hands behind her back.

"Wow," Sirius blinked spastically. "Nicest detention she's ever given in her life."

"I don't even think that should count as a punishment," Remus agreed.

"I told you she was fighting back a laugh last night," Peter smirked.

"Yeah, I can live with that," James beamed.

2

April

"I still don't understand why Toad Choir isn't an option," James grumbled, flipping the list over for the third time like more options would magically appear.

"You've had three years to go join if you wanted," Peter rolled his eyes while playing eenie meenie miney moe down the list. No matter where he started, he wasn't landing on a good option.

"Sucks they don't have any kind of arts one," James kept going with a pout, doodles were already along the edge of this paper just like they were all his homework assignments. They were getting pretty good too, you could tell what almost all of them were now.

"Well we all know what Remus is signing up for," Sirius shrugged, "I say we all at least take Care of Magical Creatures and copy his homework, problem solved."

"After the last assignment he did for me?" James scowled. "No way, I've still got detention from Flitwick for that!"

"I warned you to proofread," Remus said saintly. He didn't deny he did indeed already have that option circled, but was looking just as frustrated down the rest of the list.

"Too late, already did it! Got mine done," Sirius shrugged, putting the page back down grandly.

"Muggle studies eh?" James smirked after he gave it a look. "I thought you weren't trying to piss your parents off?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sirius said with a completely straight face. "They'll be pleased as punch."

"I told you Peter was lying about what that phrase meant," Remus frowned, but too late, Sirius responded by predictably socking him in the ribs.

"Will someone explain Arithmancy to me again?" Peter asked, biting at his nails.

"It's like Astronomy and maths mixed together to form hell," James sighed, but he wasn't looking at his own list anymore, Evans had just walked by folding her own up and he immediately circled two options without a second look at his own as he got a glimpse of hers.

"You're an idiot," Peter grumbled, but took Sirius' advice and circled Arithmancy with James, but he just had no care to do homework over his own muggle-born heritage, his friends teased him enough for that. James and Sirius would ask the inevitable questions without adding it to his own workload.

He eyed Care of Creatures with less than enthusiasm as Remus said, "I'm already flunking Astronomy, but can we all agree learning a new language from scratch sounds ten times worse?" As he finally circled Arithmancy as well.

"Doesn't sound so bad," Peter bit his lip. "Learning magic is like a whole new language, and we're picking that up alright."

"Most of us are," Sirius snorted, needlessly reminding him of his last abysmal Transfiguration class.

Maybe he'd like having a class to himself without these idiots in it, Peter decided as he stubbornly circled Study of Ancient Runes.

2

May

"Hey Zeta!" Lily finally spotted her huddled into a corner, nearly invisible behind Dirk Cresswell and the bookshelf.

"Oh, hi Evans," her voice was soft, her skin rather pale under the heavy black hair. In fact, Lily was pretty sure that was the first time she'd ever heard Ersa's sister speak. Seemed the only thing the two had in common were their looks.

"I just thought you'd like to know your sister's in the hospital wing," Lily offered in sympathy. "She's alright," she added at once as the girl looked to the door in worry, "just some accident I think, Sev didn't give me any details." She still intended to go back and ask for them, but she thought this more important. She liked to think someone would still tell her if something happened to Petunia.

"Ah, thanks," she whispered, collecting her things anyways. She got slowly to her feet with more care than if she were older than Dumbledore and shuffled out the door.

Lily looked after her in concern before looking back to Dirk for some kind of clarification. They didn't talk much, though they'd both been frequenting Slughorn's parties this past year, so she had no clue why she got a sudden cold chill from him. He however gave her a stiff look and went back to his book.

"Should, I, I mean, err, someone go with her?" Lily offered.

"I think you and your friends have done enough," he stated.

Lily took a step back in shock for the visceral tone, before her own temper flared, "and what's that supposed to mean!"

"That every time some accident happens, it always seems to be your group," he stated, eyes still locked on words, but his hand was twitching uncomfortably.

"Don't be ridiculous! Sev and those guys wouldn't-" Lily felt like the words were punched out of her, but Madam Pince swooped in then and kicked her out for the yelling she'd already done without waiting for her to add to it.

It only occurred to her after she finished her mental tirade at that Cresswell idiot that Zeta may have been that way, because she was scared of her? Lily stopped cold on the last flight of stairs, swallowing uncomfortable and mind traveling back through the scene again.

Sev had swooped in the moment she'd turned the corner, all she'd seen was Mulciber calling out he was going to get Madam Pomfrey while Avery hovered over Ersa who was holding her own head in confusion. Her best friend had pulled her back towards the library, it had been his idea to go tell her sister about this right away. Just because Avery and Mulciber were unpleasant to her though, that didn't mean what Dirk Cresswell was implying though, she finished with complete absolution. Mulciber and Avery were just as bad as Potter and his gang, but at least those Slytherin idiots made asses of themselves and not everyone else in the middle of corridors, it had just been an accident.

She never did make it down the last flight of stairs that night though, her own assurances all she could handle that day as she went back up to her tower alone that night, as usual.

2

June

James woke up rather befuddled what that tapping noise could be, half his brain still dreaming about tap dancing frogs of all things. He rolled over to see a black owl with a wickedly sharp looking beak as if someone actually cut it that way. It was perched in the window and almost trying to break in, and he clearly had been studying too long, as he didn't notice the red envelope clasped in its beak until after he opened the glass and it had flown in and dropped it on Sirius' chest.

"Oh no," his heart did its own number in his chest as he tried to dart forward, shooing at the bird, but only managing to get the S in Sirius out before it exploded.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK!"

Sirius jumped nearly clean to the ceiling, James would have been more surprised he didn't stay up there if he hadn't covered his own ears in pain. He was glad he hadn't put his glasses on, they might have shattered into his eyes.

"I AM SICK OF YOUR SELFISH ATTITUDE, NO YOU MAY NOT GO STRAIGHT OVER TO SOME BLASTED FRIENDS HOUSE!"

Even Peter's ear splitting squeal of terror and flopping out of bed didn't break the montage, the noise even got Remus to sit up, despite the fact tonight was a full moon.

"YOU ARE TO COME STRAIGHT HOME! YOUR FATHER AND I WILL DISCUSS YOUR DELINQUENCY! TAKING MUGGLE STUDIES, I AM DISGUSTED WITH YOU. IF YOU DON'T GO DIRECTLY TO SLUGHORN TO FIX THIS, WE'LL SEND YOU TO DURMSTRANG!"

Peter was panting like he'd just run the length of Hogwarts, James' ears were still ringing as it burst into flames, and Remus' eyes were painfully wide like he was still in a nightmare. Sirius watched the little black curling folds of paper with a look of complete disinterest. "I don't think she liked your suggestion much mate," he at least had the decency to speak at a normal volume.

Remus finally groaned to break the awkward long silence as he slumped back onto his pillow. The dark circles under his eyes looked like miniature planets, he'd already begged his friends not to wake him up for their final two exams today, his grade was good enough in DADA to get by without it, and he was going to fail astronomy regardless.

"Nope, sorry, I've got to ask," James finally said when the three of them went down to the lake during lunch. "Slughorn?"

"That's the part you caught on?" Peter snorted. "I want to ask where Orion came from? At first I thought she said onion."

"Like you're one to talk Oswald!*" Sirius huffed before answering James, "they're still in denial I think, they've yet said aloud the word Gryffindor."

"Sirius is-"

"No everything's not alright at home!" Sirius finally admitted in such a blustering tone, it was eerily reminiscent of the Howler still ringing in their head without the volume. "In case I haven't been subtle enough, my parents are arseholes! Don't worry though, they can't make me go to iceland, or wherever the hell that stupid school is. I'll, I'll," he'd lost the attitude without meaning to and was left with nothing to grasp on as he started to gasp.

"You'll run away," James said with pure sincerity. "Go straight to the Leaky Cauldron and Floo to my house, my parents always leave the channel open."

"Mum will come pick you up wherever your house is and come get you if I asked," Peter agreed.

Sirius had to take several deep breaths and repeat this in his head a dozen times before he was sure he wasn't going to cry. Finally all he could do was clear his throat and say, "thanks guys."

He gave one last look at the school, but he couldn't make his feet move to Slughorn's, or McGonagall's office for that matter. His parents had been wrong about werewolves, and they had never once given him a decent answer for any problem he had in his life without yelling at him. He was done caring what they had to say about anything.

Instead he turned resolutely towards the forest, the three of them hoping to get a last romp around the place this term.

The final week of school came and went once more, James and Sirius' abysmal Transfiguration grades only compensated by their extra looking around in broader and advanced topics in both Charms and DADA. At least they were assured with all their extra studying they could confidently say when the Werewolf Code of Conduct happened, and those Gargoyle Strikes in 1911 had been interesting enough to read about in their own right. Honestly the only memorable part of the experience was Professor Kimball managing to make the chandelier fall and break all the desks, and it was a relief to the entire student population when she announced the day after exams her retirement.

2

'Just ask him,' Lily kept telling herself over and over, she missed half of what Sev was chatting about she kept screaming it in her head, but she never did. Another student, this time Mary, had found herself with a nasty orange rash. The girl had almost scratched her skin off and was in tears before Bless towed her to the hospital wing after the feast.

Sev had said it must have been Potter and his friends, or any other student, or even the girls own fault for an accident she wouldn't admit.

Yet Potter and his lot were awful at the exact potion she knew could do that, there were no students who should have a thing against Mary, and her dorm mate had brewed her own finals potion perfectly. This was a side effect, one she knew intimately, as she'd warned Sev it would happen if he added that venom to strengthen it. 

'Just ask him,' she pleaded with herself, but Sev had said already he didn't know how it could have happened, he didn't share that potions book with anyone else. She still wanted to believe him.

HPHPHPHPHP

*Yes I also had to make up Peter's middle name, as well as James', which I imagine to be Flemont, considering JK's pension for naming people with their parents middle names. I thought Remus' was Lyall for the longest time before I found out it was John.