Remus lay on the floor of the shack for a long time before he could force himself to get up and move. He would have lain there for well into the day, except that he needed to get into the infirmary before anyone else woke up. As it was, the sun still had not risen.

He was shivering, naked, and alone. And bloody. More so than usual. He realized this when he lifted his hand to wipe the hair out of his eyes, and his vision became blurred and. . . red.

He knew why. He had had no one and nothing to take his aggression out on, nothing to distract him, so he had taken it out on himself. Just like when he was little. What he didn't know is why none of the Marauders had come with him the night before. It was the first full moon since they had become animagi that they hadn't come.

He rolled over, and groaned at the pain that this caused. He ached and the various marks on his body stung. Moving slowly, he gingerly got dressed, and walked slowly to the door.

He stopped and took a breath, resting against the door for a moment. It was torn to shreds, and Remus winced, wondering what had enticed him to get out. It explained the deep gashes on his sides, anyway, where the wolf must have squeezed through the opening.

Getting back to the castle was going be difficult.

Madam Pomfrey met him at the willow, for which he was thankful. She usually didn't come anymore, unless he took a particularly long time, because James, Peter, and Sirius always brought him to her. He thought nothing of her early arrival.

"Good morning dear," she greeted him, her voice soft and sad.

Remus allowed her to wrap an arm around him in support. He leaned heavily against her on the way to the infirmary, and by the time she had closed the curtain around his bed, he wanted to pass out.

"All right, Mr. Lupin, let's see the damage," she said kindly, waiting for Remus to unbutton his shirt. This frustrated Remus slightly, as it had taken him the better part of 10 minutes to button it up earlier. Madam Pomfrey knew better than to try and help the boy. Remus was always easily agitated the morning after a full moon, always trying to convince her that he was fine and fully capable of doing, well, human things.

When he finally shrugged himself out of the shirt, Madam Pomfrey raised an eyebrow, surveying the extent of the wounds, and then looked back to Remus. She sighed as the young man winced, the air hit the wounds that would soon turn into fresh scars. Madam Pomfrey began cleaning Remus up, applying salves and giving him various potions.

"If the boys come, shall I let them in?"

Remus nodded, waiting for her to leave before he finally closed his eyes and tried to let sleep envelope him.

James and Peter came into the hospital wing the second Dumbledore let them out of his office. Sirius and Snape were still there, as James imagined they would be for some time.

They came up to Remus' bed slowly, Peter looking everywhere but at Remus, and James to worried to look anywhere else. Remus was badly beaten from the night. Once Moony realized Snape had gotten away, unscathed, he had probably turned on himself in frustration, and the results would leave Remus hurting for a long time, in more ways than one.

"All right, Remus?" James asked cautiously.

Remus opened his eyes, ready to answer yes, even though he wasn't, when the look on his friends' faces told him something was wrong. It was a look that said they needed to talk about something… it was the same look he had gotten when they confronted him about his lycanthropy in third year. Peter looked nervous, unsure of what to do, James looked like he was taking charge, but he wanted to be sure he handled the situation correctly. The only face missing was…

"Oh God, I hurt Sirius," he breathed, causing both of his friends to look at him, stunned.

"No!" James said quickly. "Sirius isn't hurt. No one's hurt."

"Then why isn't he here?"

James and Peter exchanged glances before James looked back to Remus. "He's in Dumbledore's office. Something happened last night."

Remus' eyes were flashing yellow; he was panicking, close to losing control. It happened sometimes when he was angry, too. "What happened?" he whispered, scared to hear the answer.

"No one was hurt," Peter said, piping up for the first time.

James nodded. "Sirius and Snape got into a fight, about you, and Sirius…" James closed his eyes, unable to watch Remus for a reaction to what he was about to reveal. Peter, however, kept his eyes on their friend. "Sirius told him how to get to the shack."

This statement was met with total silence. James finally opened his eyes, for a second wondering if Remus had even heard him. The pained, betrayed expression in the werewolf's eyes told James he had been heard.

"Snape's okay?"

James and Peter nodded.

"He knows?"

They nodded again, this time with a little less enthusiasm.

"Were you two in on this? Did you know?" Remus asked, suddenly angry, because he might have just lost everything.

"No!" James and Peter both answered, vehemently. James continued. "Why would we do something so stupid? We have a pact…" he glanced at Peter. Remus didn't know about this pact, but there was no sense keeping it from him. "We had a pact to protect you, both from hurting yourself and from anyone finding out. Sirius lost his head when they were in that argument."

"How did Snape get out?"

James didn't want to answer that question, and when Peter realized this, he spoke up again. "Sirius came running into the room, telling us he made a terribly mistake. I ran to get Dumbledore, and James ran after Snape."

Remus looked at the bespectacled boy, as if asking for confirmation. James nodded.

"I could have killed you, James."

"But you didn't," James countered. "No one was hurt, no one was killed."

Remus took a deep breath, trying to battle the rage and the hurt he was feeling. Six years of a well kept secret, and it was all over now. There was no way Snape was going to keep this quiet. "I guess I'll be packing my things when I get back to the dorms, then."

"Don't say that," Peter begged him, and James looked at him, speaking gently.

"Let's wait and see what Dumbledore has to say, okay?"

Remus sighed. "It doesn't matter what Dumbledore says, James. Snape will never keep this to himself. It's just the leverage he needs against all of us, that he's been looking for since first year. Once students' parents find out, I'll have to leave." He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. He felt sick. "I can't believe this," he whispered.

"We can keep him quiet, we can," James promised Remus, suddenly more scared that he'd ever been. "He won't say anything, not as long as I'm around."

Sirius peered in the doorway, hopefully out of sight. He felt worse then he ever had before, and he was scared. Remus looked terrible, and it was his fault.

"Dumbledore's not going to kick you out," he stated, quietly, barely coming into the room all the way. "Snape promised to keep quiet, and Dumbledore says you'll be staying."

James had leapt to his feet, as if waiting for a cue from Remus to send the boy reeling. Remus looked at the boy, his best friend, aside from James and Peter, and his ultimate betrayer. He wanted to hurt him, to make him feel just a small bit of the pain he was feeling. He wanted to hug him, grateful that he hadn't been hurt.

Quietly, Remus asked, "Are you okay, Sirius?"

Sirius nodded. "Are you?" He knew it was a stupid question. Remus looked terrible and probably felt worse. Really, he was just biding his time until Remus started yelling at him. Because if he were Remus, he would be yelling a lot.

"Is Snape okay?" Remus knew he was, but he needed to hear Sirius say it, needed him to feel guilty about what he had done.

Sirius looked up, his eyes wide. "He's fine. He's… he's fine. Remus, I am so sorry. I screwed up really bad this time."

"Stop, Sirius," Remus interrupted. "I don't want your apologies."

Sirius sighed. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No, of course not. I think there are a couple of Slytherins in the hall you might want me to murder for you, first," Remus threw this at Sirius a little bitterly. Sirius deserved it.

Sirius fell back against the doorway, his eyes fixed on the ground. He couldn't bear looking at the boy he almost destroyed. "I didn't want you to kill him. I didn't want you involved at all. Merlin, Remus… I never wanted you to be involved in anything stupid like the rivalry between me and Snape. Is that what you think? That I did this on purpose?"

Remus didn't exactly want to have this confrontation in the hospital wing, but it looked like it couldn't be avoided. "Yes! Yes, I believe that you did it on purpose. Why else would you send him to the Shack, of all places, and on a full moon?"

"I forgot it was a full moon," Sirius said quietly.

"That's a lie!" James said angrily. "The whole goal was to get Snape to see what Rem was. You never forget a full moon."

Remus moved his body so that he was sitting up, his legs over the side of the bed, and then eased himself onto his feet, advancing on Sirius. "Do you have any idea what you've done, Sirius?"

Sirius stood up straight, arms crossed against his chest.

"No, Remus. I'm blind, deaf, and have been under a rock for the past few hours. I have no clue what I've done. Besides almost ruin two lives, I've pretty much ruined everything we've worked six years to hide. I'm pretty sure I just screwed up my chances with you, pretty sure both James and Peter now hate me as well, and hey, let's add that I nearly sent someone to their death, and that I almost made you a murderer. Did I miss anything?"

"No, Sirius," Remus said, gritting his teeth, so angry that he missed the remark about Sirius' chances with him. Just as well, as Sirius had not meant to say it. James heard it, though. "You have no right to be angry at me for this."

Sirius practically growled. "Get back in bed, Remus. You'll make yourself sick."

"Do not tell me what to, Sirius!" He growled in back, frustrated. He didn't know what to say. Maybe nothing could be said. He turned around, ready to storm back to his bed anyway, but changed his mind. If he didn't say any of this now, he never would, and as passive aggressive as he was, he deserved to get this out.

"You never think before you act, Sirius. And you just took it too far this time. Had James not intervened, and Snape found me, I would have been forced out of the school. Dumbledore would have lost his job. You may very well have been kicked out of the school as well. I would have killed Snape, Sirius. I would have killed a boy!"

He clenched his jaw and turned away from Sirius, trying hard not to keep going, but he couldn't help it. He was so angry at Sirius. He was angry at himself too, for being so close to tears over this. His anger was enough to make him forget how sore and tired he still was, even. "You betrayed me, do you understand that? You betrayed my trust in you! What did you think I was going to do to him? Go up and lick him? Merlin, Sirius. What you did was thoughtless, careless, and selfish. I can't even fathom what in your mind justified what you did! I could have killed him! I would have never forgiven you for that." He knew his words were harsh, but if James hadn't stepped in, so much would have been lost.

"The next time you decide to try and kill someone, don't use me as your murder weapon!" He forced himself to stop the train of thought that followed this, mostly about Sirius having objectified him, turning him into something completely inhuman, a means to an end. As much as he would love to go off on that tangent, it was the most hurtful part of all of this, and therefore, the part he would always keep to himself.

He turned to leave, but his mind exploded with even more he needed to say. "You had better hope that Snape decides to keep quiet anyway. I don't know how well Dumbledore will be able to bribe him into keeping it a secret. If he tells anyone, I'm gone as soon as parents' owls start flying in. At best, he keeps it to himself, and has something to hold over my head and torment me with for the next year and a half. Not to mention if he talks to anyone in the Ministry. Do you know what they do to werewolves who even remotely attack a human? Do you?"

Sirius shrank away, not answering the question because he knew Remus didn't want an answer. He never meant for it to go this far, and he never even considered the kind of punishment Remus might get for his stupid prank.

"They KILL them, Sirius! Not only might you have made me a murderer, you could have gotten front row seats to my execution. I believe I'm entitled to a couple of days of anger and general brooding towards you."

Sirius couldn't respond to that. He really hadn't meant to hurt anyone. He never thought Snape would actually go in the first place! Mostly, Remus had put a terrible image in his mind. He saw Remus' getting shot with a silver bullet, Ministry officials all around, when it was Sirius who was to blame.

He sighed, his arms falling to his sides. "I'm leaving now. And if you never want to talk to me again, I'll understand. But I'm leaving now before I do something stupid, because that's all I can do, isn't it? Stupid, moronic, idiotic things. I wish you'd never met me. Then maybe this wouldn't happened." He was gone in an instant, not even giving Remus time to respond. When he was out of the hospital wing and around the corner, he sank against the wall and let out a sharp sob.

The weight of the world fell on Remus' shoulders then, and his knees gave out. He fell to floor, sitting and trying not to feel so much, because there was nothing else he could do.

Without saying a word, James moved to Remus and pulled him back to his feet, holding him in a gentle hug, mindful of the injuries on his body. He had tried to be quiet during Remus' argument with Sirius. It was between them, after all.

Remus didn't protest when James pulled him up and into a hug. In fact, it was all he needed to finally let go.

He cried.

"I don't know what to do, James. I just. . . I don't even know what to think."

It was true, too. For a boy who depended a great deal on logic, he was lost. His body hurt, he was tired, he was scared. Scared that the Ministry would find out, that Snape would tell everyone, expose him for what he really was, scared that he would have to leave, of having to tell his parents what had happened, scared that he would never see James and Peter or Lily again. And he was scared that he had already lost Sirius.

It wasn't fair. He was the one who was supposed to be able to walk away from Sirius for this, not the other way around.

James let him cry it out. He knew how Remus' mind worked, and how the fears and the worries must be affecting the werewolf.

"Remus," he said softly, looking down slightly at his friend, "right now, don't think, just at least know everyone is safe. Peter and I will fight for you. It's going to be all right."

"I'm so sorry James."

"You are the last one that needs to apologize, Remus."

Peter nodded in agreement. "It's okay to break down, sometimes, Rem."

"I feel guilty for hating him for much."

"We all sort of hate him right now," Peter replied, running his fingers through his hair.

But he loves you, James thought, and added it to the mental list of things he needed to talk to Sirius about.

Peter and James stayed in the hospital wing until Remus finally fell asleep, and then they shared a glance that said Sirius was about to really get it.