Almost as soon as James promised himself that he would not allow Quidditch to interfere with his determination to be a good friend, he was forced to break that promise.

"I'm sorry," he said for the tenth time at dinner that night. Remus rolled his eyes.

"James, it's not big deal," he repeated. "I'm not a little kid. I don't need a babysitter."

"Besides," Sirius added, "we'll take care of him."

"I know," James said heavily, pushing his food around on his plate. "But we always walk with him to the hospital wing. All of us."

"It's really not a big deal," Remus insisted.

"I just don't want-" James began, but he stopped halfway through. He had started to say, "I don't want to ignore you again," but he couldn't say it without revealing what Remus had told him.

"You're not," Remus said quietly enough that Sirius and Peter couldn't hear. "Now go to Quidditch practice," he continued in a louder voice. "You're going to be late."

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James knew that it was a very small thing, not walking with Remus to the hospital wing. He knew it was silly to worry about it. Still, he felt guilty. As he walked back to the castle that night, the sun had already set and the full moon was already out. He stopped for a moment and listened and sure enough, he could hear Remus's howls.

Like any day following the full moon, James took careful notes in class and tried to shoot down any questions about Remus's absence. It was a bit stranger than usual in Ancient Runes because he didn't even have Peter and Sirius there. It felt odd to be the only Gryffindor in the room. Well, the only boy Gryffindor.

"Where's Remus?" Lily Evans asked when James entered the room alone. The rest of the girls at her table were busy talking and giggling.

"He had to go home," James said easily. "Something about his mum being sick."

"You want to sit with us?" Florence Flume asked, looking up at him and gesturing to the last empty seat at the table. James hesitated for a moment.

"Hey James!" John Viridian, a Ravenclaw boy, was waving him over. James paused. On one hand, he could go sit with the Ravenclaws, but then he would have to tell them why Remus wasn't there. It was best to avoid questions. On the other hand, Florence Flume was Sirius's ex-girlfriend, and James was fairly certain that she still liked him. It was definitely best to avoid those kinds of questions. With a quick wave at the girls, he rushed over to sit with John. Fortunately, Ancient Runes was a class that required students to pay attention and didn't allow much time for talking. James focused on taking detailed notes, doing his best to write neatly so Remus would be able to read it.

"Who has notes duty?" Sirius asked conversationally as he, Peter and James walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts that afternoon.

"Not me," Peter said immediately. "We have that big project coming up, and I don't want to risk messing up."

James glanced briefly at Sirius as he sat down. He would have liked to have argued with Peter, but he had a point. His notes could be hard to read, and were usually very disorganized. They wouldn't be doing Remus any favors by giving him Peter's notes.

"I already took notes for him this morning," James said. "Your turn."

Sirius didn't argue. They never argued or complained about taking notes for Remus. It was the one very, very small thing that they could do to somehow make their friend's day a little bit easier.

They stopped talking when Professor Pittiman came in and began taking the register. James still wasn't sure what to make of the no-nonsense woman. There was nothing overtly wrong with her so to speak, but she made James uncomfortable. He thought it might be because she was rather boring and his mind tended to wander, and she always seemed to know when a student wasn't paying attention. Remus had gotten his wish on the train. Pittiman was an author, an expert on the modern Dark Arts that were most relevant and dangerous to the current wizarding community.

"Lupin, Remus." James's head jerked up as she called Remus's name. She looked over at the group of boys, noticing the empty seat beside them. "Where's Mister Lupin?" she asked curiously. Most of the Hogwarts staff knew about Remus's condition, but not everyone. Apparently no one had filled her in yet.

"He's sick," Sirius said immediately with just the right amount of casualness.

Out of the corner of his eye, James saw something that caused a flare of panic in his stomach. Lily Evans was frowning, looking back and forth between him and Sirius. As class began he quickly charmed his, Sirius and Peter's parchments.

-We've got a problem.

Sirius glanced at him irritably.

-I'm trying to take notes for Remus!

James rolled his eyes and explained.

-I told Evans this morning that Remus was gone visiting his sick mum. You just said that he was gone because he is sick.

Glancing sideways, he saw both Sirius and Peter's eyes widen.

-Maybe she forgot already.

-Of course she didn't forget, Peter. She's Evans. She's nosy and she never forgets anything.

After he finished scribbling that last comment, he removed the charms from their parchments. After all, Sirius really did need to be taking notes.

----------

"Where's Remus?" Lily demanded, waylaying them in the corridor after class.

"What do you mean?" James asked, raising an eyebrow in what he hoped was a calm and collected manner.

"I mean," Lily said with irritation, "you told me earlier that his mum was sick, and then during class Sirius said that-"

"Does it really matter?" Sirius asked, looking completely untroubled. He tried to step around her, but she blocked him.

"Yes, it matters!" She stomped her foot, her hands on her hips. "He's my friend, and you guys are lying!"

"For once in your life," James said, rolling his eyes and successfully slipping past her. "Mind your own business, Evans."

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An hour later they returned to their dormitory, food and notes in tow. Peter grabbed the hangings around Remus's bed and pulled them open.

"Wake up, Moony," Sirius said, sitting down on the side of his bed.

Remus rolled over, yawning and wincing in the shadows. "Did you bring me food?" he muttered, sitting up halfway.

"Of course," James said, holding out the stack of sandwiches.

"Don't they ever have anything besides sandwiches?" Remus grumbled just before stuffing an entire sandwich into his mouth.

"He's always so charming the day after a full moon," Sirius said lightly, smirking at Remus. Remus had enough grace to look somewhat abashed, or as abashed as he could look with his entire mouth full of food.

"Sorry," he said once he had swallowed. He sat up the rest of the way to face his friends, allowing the light to really hit him. Peter squealed and James couldn't keep from gasping. Only Sirius was silent, his gray eyes widening soundlessly.

Remus flinched self-consciously and withdrew back into the shadows. "It's not as bad as it looks," he said hurriedly.

"Let me see," Sirius said, pushing the curtains around his bed back farther so that his face was clearly visible. James walked over to join him.

"It's nothing," Remus insisted, embarrassed, but he let them look at his face.

A gash had been ripped from just under his left eye all the way down to under his chin. It was thick and deep, the skin around it was swollen, and much of his face was bruised.

"We're going to need a good story," Sirius said with a frown, standing back and allowing Remus to withdraw from sight again. "Especially after what happened today."

"What happened today?" Remus asked immediately, looking mildly alarmed.

"Your girlfriend was determined to find out why you were missing," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"We had a little slip-up with the story," Peter said nervously. "She's the only one who noticed, though."

"Who's my girlfriend?" Remus asked blankly.

"Evans," all three boys said together, and Remus scowled in frustration.

"She's not my girlfriend." They'd had this conversation a hundred times. James found it slightly entertaining to see Remus's frustration as he continually insisted that he and Lily Evans were nothing more than friends.

"Maybe we could say you got attacked by a wild animal," Sirius mused, back on the topic of Remus's cover story.

"I did get attacked by a wild animal," Remus pointed out before jamming another sandwich into his mouth.

James frowned. He hated it when Remus said things like that.

"No way Evans will buy that," Peter said, shaking his head. "You sick, your mum sick, and a wild animal attack?"

"Well, maybe he wasn't really sick, he was just in the hospital wing because he got attacked..." Sirius mused.

"Where on earth would I get attacked by a wild animal?" Remus's words were barely understandable around the food. "There aren't a lot of manticores running around the castle."

"What about the Forbidden Forest?" James suggested. "They say there are plenty of dangerous things in there."

"Maybe you were visiting your sick mum, and while you were there you got hurt..."

"Yeah, because that story worked so well when I tried it on you guys." Remus rolled his eyes at Peter.

They tossed around possibilities for several minutes, lounging on their beds and laughing. As Remus leaned over to grab the last sandwich, the light hit his face again. He looked absolutely awful. James knew that the wounds must be extremely painful, but if Remus felt it, it didn't show.

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Okay, broken internet, broken computer, 4 essays, 2 tests…

Y'all might not be getting an update next week. Just letting you know.

Once again, many thanks to my beta, confusedknight.