AN: Here's just a quick little one-shot about one of my favorite characters in the world...enjoy!

Remus gazed longingly out the window, watching the three boys racing each other to their favorite spot under the beech tree. Peter was, of course, lagging far behind the other two, and was slowing down with every step. Sirius was narrowly in the lead with James hard on his heels, and Remus could hear Padfoot's shouts of triumph even from his height as the long-haired boy reached the tree seconds before James did.

See Remus,he thought bitterly to himself, they don't need you. They don't care that you're up here scraping century-old gum from under desks like a Muggle, while they're free to do whatever they please. Nobody down there notices the absence of Remus Lupin. And it was true; life at Hogwarts was falling into its normal Saturday routine. The distant figures of Lily Evans and her friends were sitting on the rocks by the lake, looking (as ever) very attractive even from so far away. Hovering at the forest's edge, a group of menacing Slytherins were acting the typical schoolyard bullies and ordering a small first year around. Snape, though he sometimes joined the crew by the forest, was leaning against a clump of bushes in strategic view of the lake, where he kept glancing furtively every few seconds, unaware that, under the beech tree, James was doing the same.

"Look at him," muttered Remus angrily, "Standing there like he hasn't a care in the world."

"No talking!" barked Filch, looming over him like a scraggy hawk. His cat wound herself around his legs and hissed at Remus. He had never been very fond of cats, a thing not helped by Mrs. Norris, and it was her, just as much as Filch's threats, that caused him to work even faster with the gum scraper, imagining each discolored smear to have James' face poking out of it.

It's not my fault I got into trouble, he thought, silently continuing his rant about James, I wasn't the one who suggested nicking the Halloween pudding from the kitchens. It wasn't me who alerted Filch to what we were doing by whispering too much. I didn't choose to be the last to enter the kitchens, or for Filch to catch me 'acting suspicious' near the still life painting/door. And was I the one who went on a Dungbomb spree earlier that day that had gotten Filch so worked up that, by the time I was caught, he screamed at me for nearly half an hour? No! We even had to hide the rest of the Dungbombs in a hollow in the beech tree so Filch wouldn't find them after that. It should be James taking this punishment, not me!

Still fuming, Remus moved on to the next desk and risked another glance out the window, but James, Sirius, and Peter had left already. No doubt they were down by the lake flirting with Evans. James was worse than Snape in that regard. That's right, James. You're a conceited, good-for-nothing, obsessive, self-centered, arrogant, bullying toerag, that's what you are! You need to deflate your head, James. You need to quit thinking you're better than everyone else. You need to— Stop it, Remus! Stop it! He started attacking the desk at double speed, hacking at a hardened circle of gum with such force that it flew off the desk and almost hit Mrs. Norris on the nose. He wished he could do the same with that kind of thinking. Remus had noticed from the beginning that anytime he was thinking 'disloyal thoughts' it would inevitably show. So he had trained himself to just stop thinking them, and it worked. For the most part.

Because Remus didn't know what he would do if he lost the only three friends he had.

And what about Lily? Said a voice from a small corner of his mind, Lily said she was your friend… But Lily was different. Lily was friends with almost everybody.

But she's not friends with James, said the same, sly voice, James is an arrogant, bullying toerag. And Lily is right about a lot of things. She was right about you.

Maybe she's right about James. Maybe…

Remus didn't even have the chance to finish the thought, because at that moment the door to the classroom burst open to reveal—

"Mr. Filch! Just the man I wanted to see!" cried James Potter. He threw his arms wide in obvious delight and strode purposefully into the room. Just visible from Remus's position under the desk was something clutched in his right fist, something brown and round that looked suspiciously like it was supposed to be hidden in the beech tree.

"Are those Dungbombs!?" Filch spluttered. Remus could already see the caretaker's face taking on the blotchy look that said he hadn't forgotten Friday's fiasco.

"Er—yes," said James. Somehow he managed to say it with a smile on his face. Mrs. Norris hissed at him. "And that's exactly why I've been looking for you. You see, Peeves—"

"Peeves!?" screamed Filch, his face turning even blotchier.

"Yes Peeves. He was setting off loads of Dungbombs, and—"

"Where?"

For anyone who knew him well, it was obvious that James was trying hard not to laugh. "Well, last I saw him, he was in the Trophy Room, and by the smell of the place—"

But Filch had already rushed off, followed close behind by Mrs. Norris. Remus leaped to his feet and threw down the scraper, beaming at his best friend. "James," he exclaimed, "I didn't know… I thought you'd…"

"You thought we had forgotten about you?" finished Sirius Black, appearing in the doorway wearing his customary cocky grin, followed by Peter Pettigrew, who looked, as always, very nervous at the possibility of being caught. "Come on," Sirius answered, "Do you really think we would do that?"

"Yeah," added James, smiling, "Friends stick together! Friends help friends skive off detention!"

"Besides, it was fun," said Sirius.

Remus laughed and hooked his arms around the two boys' shoulders. "Thanks you guys, you're the greatest, you know that?"

"Of course I do," said James.