I am back! Okay, this is only a teensy one-shot, and there is absolutely no romance or smut, but this has been rattling around in my brain for days, so I thought I should share it. As much as I do in fact ship Wolfstar, I've decided to not let them have had any romantic history in this, purely because I'd've got carried away with it all if I did. Please enjoy, guys. It's good to be back.

Remus Lupin was on patrol around the castle again. Dumbledore had given two teachers patrol duties every night, so lucky, lucky Lupin had drawn Thursday nights with Flitwick. Thankfully, they had to spread out over the wide area of the castle and after the first long patrol, they split up and did separate parts. Dumbledore was worried, as he rightfully should be, but Remus was just pissed off. It was better than being heartbroken all over again. Three of his best friends and twelve Muggles were dead, thanks to his other best friend. Aforementioned best friend had been locked up in Azkaban for twelve years, until he'd escaped, Merlin knows how. Remus kicked a statue angrily. He still didn't understand how Sirius Black could have so easily betrayed them all. He turned onto the third floor corridor and saw a figure flying up by the ceiling.

"Loony, loopy Lupin," sang Peeves the Poltergeist.

"Fuck off Peeves, I'm not in the mood." Remus replied snappily. He thought for a moment and realised why his temper was so short – it was only six days until the full moon.

"Ooh, loopy Lupin in a bad mood? Shame your little friends aren't here anymore, isn't it?" Peeves shot back nastily. Remus' heart clenched. Prongs, Wormtail, Lily. How many more were to die at Sirius' hand? Not that James and Lily Potter had died at Sirius' hand, but he was the reason they were dead; selling them out to Voldemort like he did.

"They're dead, remember, Peeves? Prongs and Lily were killed by Voldemort, and Wormtail was killed by Padfoot."

"Sirius Black... Padfoot. Why did you call each other those daft names, Lupin?" Peeves asked. For the first time he could remember, Peeves wasn't talking in a sing-song voice. He wasn't hanging upside down in the air. He wasn't even pulling weird faces. He was simply floating in the air, talking to Remus.

"We thought we were cool, the Marauders and I. We made up stupid nicknames, and then we pranked anyone and everyone we wanted." Remus laughed, remembering the days when everything was right, and perfect.

"Moony, they called you. Why?"

Remus laughed a little, though his face faltered at the memory. "I was always looking up at the moon, obsessed with the lunar cycle. So one day, Sirius re-christened me and I had a nickname: Moony. I'd called him Padfoot, because his feet were always padding on the tiles in out bathroom. We named James Prongs, because he stood proud, like a stag. Stags have antlers, antlers are like prongs. Wormtail's was a rather unfortunate accident, one that was discovered by James and Sirius. See, Sirius had put a rat in Peter's bed as a joke, and Pete screeched like a banshee when he got in bed, but then he'd seen the tail and claimed that it looked like a worm: hence the name Wormtail."

"Sounds like fun." Peeves said. For the first time in a long time, Remus felt like he had a friend, and he felt terrible about lying to him. The truth about the nicknames lay in their Animagus forms, and because of Remus' 'furry little problem'.

"Time of my life, it was here, you know. As much as I miss it, I hate it here now. Too many memories. Feels like every room I go into, every corner of this castle has a memory of my school-days. It's so hard, Peeves, walking around here, and seeing James pranking the Slytherins, or Peter eating, or Sirius chasing skirts." Remus announced miserably. And it was true, he saw it all the fucking time. And of course Harry was the spitting image of James. Remus sank down heavily against the wall and drew his knees up against his chest. Beside him, he felt Peeves do the same.

"You know how I came to be here?" Peeves asked suddenly.

"No idea," replied Remus.

"I was a student here. Thing is, I wasn't nearly ready to go. I was much like Padfoot and Prongs, and especially like the Weasley twins. Still am, I suppose, but with each passing year, I try to cling to my youth, so I become sillier, and ruder, and a little more 'out there' than I did the year before. Dippet didn't want me to stay. He wanted me out, and that was that. However, Dumbledore took pity on me and convinced Dippet to let me carry on living here, in the castle. Eventually, I became something a little more than human: Hogwarts had given me just a touch of her magic, to allow me to become what I am today. I'm less than human, but so much more."

"Was Dippet the Headmaster back then?" Remus asked the short man next to him.

"Oh yes," replied the poltergeist, "but it was a couple of years before he retired, that I was allowed to remain. Tom tried to 'recruit' me, you know."

"Tom? Tom who?"

"Tom Riddle. Voldemort. Whatever it is you want to call him. We were classmates. He wanted as many people on his side as he could, when he first started out. I turned him down, said 'no, thank you'. He wasn't best pleased."

"Sorry for making that bit of gum wedge itself up your nose, by the way." Remus said suddenly, making his companion turn to look at him in surprise.

"Not at all, Remus. I've always admired you, you know."

"Cheers, Peeves. I need to finish my patrol." Remus said, and stood up. He dusted off his bottom, and his friend pretended to gag beneath him. With a small smile and a wave, he set off on the rest of his patrol. He spared only one thought for Sirius Black as he went: the moment he saw Black, he was going to kill him with his bare hands.

It was with a light heart that Remus went to sleep that night, though he did wake up once or twice to a mischievous cackle in the dark.

What did you lot think? Please do review, because it really makes me happy to have feedback. Know this, I will not tolerate outright rudeness, so if you didn't like it, be tactful in your explanation of why, don't just be a git.

In other news, I am absolutely on my way with my Ginrius fic (I'm thinking maybe ten chapters for that), so watch this space, because it SHOULD start being up by the end of February 2012 (hopefully). Any queries, or just wanna chat? PM me.

Keep reading, and drop me a review,
Lottie.