James sighed, laying down his quill.
"Moony?" he asked impatiently, waving a hand in front of his Remus' face. "Pay attention!"
Remus blinked suddenly, and his eyes lost the unfocused look they'd had for the past five minutes.
"…what? What is it?" he asked, sounding slightly dazed.
James waved the piece of parchment he'd been scribbling on in front of his friend's nose.
"Finished! And, seriously, why are you even bothering to do this if you're going to sit and dream into space?" He grinned fiendishly. "Who is it, hmm? Mildred Blaine, that speccy bookworm you sit behind in Potions?
Remus blushed hotly, snatching the parchment that was being dangled in front of him.
"For your information, Prongs, this was your bloody idea in the first place. You were failing Transfiguration, remember?"
He straightened out the crumpled, blot-ridden parchment and gave a short cry of disbelief.
"Were you even listening to me?" he asked incredulously. "Have you completely forgotten everything we've learned in the last five years?" Letting it drop, he sighed, putting his head in his hands. "Prongs, some of these spells don't even exist. Hell, some of these words don't exist! You moron- what the hell have you been doing in class?"
"Chatting up Renetta Greene," James replied promptly. Seeing his friend's look of utter disbelief, he defended himself. "What? She's no easy catch! I won't have it said that I'm not prepared to put in that extra effort to woo a fair maiden."
"In McGonagall's class?" Remus asked in disbelief.
"Why not?" James' grin was wider than ever.
"How in the name of Merlin have you managed to get away with it?" he asked, somewhere between awe and disapproval.
James chuckled. "I can cast a pretty damn good silencing charm, though I do say so myself."
Remus shook his head.
"He casts a silencing charm good enough to fool McGonagall and can't pass Transfiguration…" the boy muttered to himself. Then his gaze hardened. Sitting straight up, he looked directly at James.
"James Potter," he said, glaring. "You are going to read every single one of these books." He jerked a thumb at the rather wonky pile of Transfiguration textbooks beside them on the dormitory table.
Standing up, he flicked his wand, sending the topmost tome thudding into James' chest. "Starting with that one."
Turning on his heel, he flung himself onto his bed, and the curtains shot closed.
A couple of hours later, the sun was just beginning to set when Remus drew back the curtain of his four-poster. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he looked across the room at James, still diligently studying.
"D'you think he's alright?" he asked quietly.
James looked up. "What?"
"Sirius." Remus paused, looking down at his feet. "D'you think he's alright? He should have been back hours ago, and it's beginning to get dark…"
James snorted. "Moony, he's out chasing rats. He's probably having so much fun he lost track of time. He always does- you know that."
Remus sighed. "I know. But…"
James groaned. Closing his book, he put his elbows on the table.
"Look, there's never anything in that forest that would attack him. Except for possibly you. And you're here." He grinned. "Happy?"
Standing, Remus walked over to the window, which was open to let in one of the few late June breezes that ruffled the still, hot air. Outside, the Forbidden Forest loomed dark and menacing.
"I guess…" He turned, leaning back, his elbows on the windowsill. "Besides," he pointed out, "as a werewolf, I'm only a danger to humans. Which you'd know, pumpkin-head, if you paid attention in lessons!"
"Hey!" retorted James, standing up. "I have no problems whatsoever with Defence Against the Dark Arts, as you know full well!"
"Yeah? Only because you're cribbing off me. Don't think I haven't noticed."
"Now, now ladies. Claws back in," came the amused voice of Sirius.
Turning, the others saw that he leaned against the doorframe in that irritatingly nonchalant way he liked so much.
"Sirius!" cried Remus, completely forgetting that he'd been about to jinx James.
"Hey, down boy!" grinned Sirius, walking into to the dormitory, and took a flying leap onto Remus' recently vacated bed.
"Come off it, Padfoot, that's my bed!" protested Remus, poking the irrepressible Black in the ribs with the handle of James' broom.
Sirius merely laughed. "You gonna make me, wolf-boy?" he growled.
"You know," James began, grinning in the way Remus had come to dread, "I never said that you wanting to leap on dear Blackie had anything to do with your allergy to moonlight…"
He gave a yelp and fled, slamming the door behind him just in time to deflect the book that had been aimed at his head.
Remus stood there fuming, a barely audible growl issuing from between clenched teeth, his face bright red. Sirius studied him, intrigued, from where he still lounged on Remus' bed, hands behind his head, one knee bent.
"Lovers' tiff?" he enquired, his voice full of concern, and his eyes widened as Remus turned on him.
"Don't you bloody start!" he snarled. "Just because you come on to anything within a two-mile radius, whether or not it's wearing a skirt, doesn't mean that everyone else does! I don't! I'm normal!"
He gave a strangled cry, and fled from the room, crashing into James. They both landed in a heap on the floor, and Remus scrambled upright and fled.
James just sat there, watching the retreating form of his friend in amazement.
"Well, bugger me…" he muttered.
"I'd rather not, if it's all the same to you, Prongs," came Sirius' voice from the doorway.
James got up, turning.
"What the hell did you say to him, Sirius?" he asked, staring at him
Sirius shrugged. "Be damned if I know," he replied. Sitting down on his bed, he looked up at James, suddenly serious.
"To be honest," he said slowly, "I don't think he's been his normal self for a while now. He's twitchy. Nervous." He caught a look from James, grinned, and added, "More than normal, I mean. And he keeps staring into space all the time."
Walking over, James sat down on his own bed.
"D'you know, you could be right?" he agreed, "I caught him at it this afternoon. Completely out of it."
They sat in silence for a while, mulling it over. Suddenly James sat bolt upright, crying out,
"Eureka!"
Sirius grinned. "I can't smell that bad, I only had a shower half an hour ago."
James rolled his eyes. "Hah hah. No, seriously. He's in love.