Chapter Three

To Dwell On Dreams and Forget To Live

He's delirious. A sea of black surrounds him, spotted with scattered flecks of blue and white. A mosaic of light. Then the bright light grows bigger until it surrounds him, and suddenly he's lying somewhere soft, and blurry shapes are moving in and out of view. He hears voices as if they were underwater. A soft hand touches his face. He doesn't know whether to feel safe or afraid. Where is he? How did he get here? A blurry figure in green stands above him and asks him something, but it's muffled. He asks again. "How are you feeling?" "Fine," he groans, and the response is a reflex, the question almost rhetorical. "No," he corrects himself. "Where am I?" His words are sluggish. He feels drunk. A whisper. Someone touches his hand. And then there was blackness.

"James?"

The voice is far away. He tries lifting a hand to grasp at it through the darkness, but he can't lift his arms. There was a game he used to play when he was a kid, where you would lie on the ground and someone else would press down on your arms and legs, saying that they were sewing up your limbs with sandbags, and when you were told to get up, it actually felt like your whole body was heavier. He felt like he'd been strapped down and sewn up so that he couldn't escape.

"James! Wake up you lazy sod! Breakfast is almost over!"

Something soft and heavy collided with James's face, and he jerked awake.

"Whazat?" he slurred, shoving the pillow to the floor.

"We've got Care of Magical Creatures this morning," Sirius was saying as he pulled on his socks. "Don't want to be late. Kettleburn always tells his best stories at the beginning of class. Here," he added, throwing James his shirt.

"Ok, could you stop throwing things at my face?" James grumbled.

"What's with you?" asked Sirius. "You're normally a morning person."

"Was dreaming," said James, rubbing his eyes of sleep.

"Ahhh, and you're grumpy because I interrupted," said Sirius with a sage-like nod. "What did she look like?"

"Who?"

"The girl you were dreaming about."

"Just because the only dreams you ever seem to have are wet ones doesn't mean it's the same for everybody else," said James. He was still half in bed as he pulled on his shirt. "I was dreaming about the flying accident, I think. Or being in the hospital afterward."

"I thought you couldn't remember anything from it," said Sirius.

"I can't," said James. "But I've been having the same dream ever since the accident, so that has to be what it's about. It's always the same thing. I think it's the hospital ward. Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

"How weird is it, do you think? That I can't remember so much of that day?"

Sirius looked at James for one long, hard moment before responding.

"It's weird," he said. "But weirder things happen every day, I suppose. Could have been worse."

"Could have been worse how?" James asked, disbelieving.

"You could have been stuck with me and my family over the summer, and forced to remember every minute of it," Sirius suggested. "If only I'd fallen off my broom like a twat..."

"You might get lucky and find someone pushes you down a flight of stairs," suggested James nonchalantly. "For, I don't know, calling them a twat or something."

"I'll just have to watch my step on the way to breakfast, then," Sirius said cheerfully, grabbing his messenger bag from his bed. "Ooh, wait," he said slowly, turning back to James and looking as though he had remembered something incredibly grim. "I forgot – Care of Magical Creatures." He put a hand on his stomach, as if to gage how hungry he was. "No, not worth it. I don't know about you, but I think I'll put off eating until after CMC – I don't wanna risk losing my breakfast if another skrewt decides to take a bite out of Kettlebrain's forearm."

"Thank you, Sirius," said James as they exited the room.

"For what?" he asked.

"For saying it's weird. For not compromising honesty for comfort."

"Anytime, mate," said Sirius. "You're weird as hell, and don't you forget it."

"Ok, now you can shut it."

They met Remus and Peter at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Remus had had an early class that day, so he had been up long before James and Sirius and, not being very hungry in the mornings, was only just eating now.

"Almost thought you guys were going to sleep through class," said Remus as James and Sirius sat down on the bench opposite him. "Grab something quick before breakfast ends."

"Nope, CMC next," said James "We'll be waiting 'til after class gets out before filling our stomachs."

Next to Remus, Peter made a noise mid-chew that sounded distinctly like regret as he looked down at his now empty plate. Sirius looked him up and down disapprovingly and sighed.

"How do you always manage to forget to hold off until after CMC?" Sirius berated him. "I swear to Merlin, if you throw up on me again–"

"Remus was eating, so I didn't–"

"Remus isn't taking CMC this year, Peter, remember?" James said. "Not after last year."

Remus had taken Care of Magical Creatures with the boys in their third year; the boys had wanted to learn more about interacting with magical creatures ever since they found out that Remus was a werewolf, and Remus, unaware at the time that the boys knew anything about his condition, signed up for the class simply because everyone else in his dorm had done so. However, many of the creatures that they had worked with over the term had been unexpectedly hostile towards Remus, making it difficult for him to do most of the work in the class. In retrospect, Remus concluded that he probably should have known better, being that Mrs. Norris always seemed to be quite skirmish around him (something James and Sirius considered a great benefit to his condition), and the fact that he could never walk into the Magical Menagerie without making the owner scratch his head at the heightened amount of squawking and growling within his shop. James, Sirius and Peter had confronted Remus at the end of third year when he said that he wouldn't be signing up for CMC again because he was rubbish. James, realizing that Remus was more upset over the fact that he couldn't tell anyone the truth, simply came out and asked him if it was because of his unique problem. Remus had asked in disbelief what he meant. "You know," James had said. "You're – um – furry little problem?" The boys then confessed to a dumbfounded Remus that they had known about his secret for a while, explaining that if he thought they would stop being his friend because of his condition then he had a whole year of solid friendship proving him wrong. James was particularly adamant about the fact that just because Remus was a werewolf didn't mean that there was anything 'wrong' with him. However, one secret that the boys did keep from Remus was that they were currently working on a way to help him with his transformations. If anything went wrong and the entire plan fell through, they didn't want him to be disappointed.

"You missed the morning mail. Pan had this for you, from your Mum," said Remus, holding up an envelope to James.

"Thanks," he said, opening the letter.

Hello, Sweetheart!

I hope your first weekend back was time enough to get you settled in before the start of classes. The house feels empty without you. Your father and I have already had Bathilda Bagshot and Alice Fortescue over on separate occasions since you left on Saturday. You remember Alice, don't you? You must, she flew for Gryffindor when she was at school. Anyway, she had the most wonderful news! I believe I told you about that young man Alice has been seeing, Frank Longbottom. Well, don't tell her you heard it from me, as she wouldn't like to know that I was counting her owls before they've been delivered, but she couldn't wait to tell me that she may very soon be engaged! She seems nervous, the sweet girl, but from what I know of Longbottom he's a sensible, decent young man, and a fantastic Auror, and he'd have to be a fool not to take her.

Tell Sirius your father and I send our love. He stopped writing us at the end of August – tell him we'd still love to hear from him. And I hope Remus is feeling better. That boy always seems to be under the weather, doesn't he?

I wish I had more to write you now, but as I said things have been slow since you left. Anyway, your father and I can't wait to hear about your first week of classes.

Love and hugs,

Mum

"How's the fam?" asked Sirius.

"Mum asked about you," said James. "Says she wants you to keep writing her."

"I never got a response from my last letter to you parents," said Sirius.

"She said that same thing," said James. "Just write her again. She must have forgot."

"No problem," Sirius said happily. "It's quite refreshing to have a mother who's interested in hearing from me."

"You three had better get a move on," said Remus. "Kettleburn always pulls out the best stuff on the first day."

"Ooh, are we still taking bets on whether or not he lost another limb over the summer?" asked Sirius excitedly.

Sirius ended up regretting this last statement when he, James and Peter actually arrived to their Care of Magical Creatures class out on the sunny lawn by the Forbidden Forest. The class had been going rather well for the first five minutes, until Professor Kettleburn's left glove came clean off his wrist, along with what the class had believed to be his left hand. Monica Adams let out a terrible scream as she stared in horror at the gloved hand, which was twitching like an upside down spider on the grass. Other reactions ranged from expressions of severe nausea, to paralyzing white-faced shock, to a few colorful curses.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Professor Kettleburn was shouting as he scooped up his fake left hand in his right one. "Had a nasty turn with a re'em at a ranch I was visiting in North America. Got this with the gold the farmer gave me from its pelt to keep me quiet," he added, waving the twitching glove in the air with his good hand before strapping it back onto his wrist.

"What's it made of, sir?" asked Patrick Goldberg, who had always had a taste for the macabre and was never shocked by anything for two long.

"Animated wood from a mahogany tree grown by the Abenaki people of northeastern America. That's where these fellows come from, as a matter of fact," Kettleburn said, gesturing to the cage of baby rabbits he had attempted to lift before his hand had fallen off. "Had to barter with at least five – no – ten different men to get them. Almost lost my other hand in the process!" he added delightfully.

James raised an eyebrow to Sirius, who rolled his eyes. Kettleburn, who was always one for theatrics, loved to tell his classes highly exaggerated stories about his many injuries and dealings with breeders of magical creatures. His favorite story by far was the one about how had he lost his right leg, which was also replaced with an animated wooden fake. His stories altered every time he told them, growing more and more violent and elaborate. Next week he would probably be telling them that the re'em supposedly responsible for taking his hand had chewed it slowly off of his wrist while sitting on his chest.

"These," Kettleburn continued, gesturing towards the cage of pure-white, red-eyed baby rabbits, "are Mateguas. Kits, actually, not fully grown ones."

Several of the girls in the class made cooing noises as they got closer to the cage to examine the fluffy creatures.

"Now, they may not look it, but these little balls of fluff can be quite dangerous," Kettleburn warned. "Anyone know why?"

Sidney Valois, who had a particular affinity for working with magical creatures, raised her hand. "Mateguas feed off of subconscious thought. Anyone who gets too close to one can get trapped in his or her own dreams."

"Precisely, Miss Valois, ten points to Ravenclaw," said Kettleburn. "Now, while the easiest way for this to happen is for the witch or wizard to already be asleep, a wandering mind can also be your downfall if you find yourself in the midst of one of these creatures. Of course, young Mateguas don't have the power to trap a human in his or her dreams – only the mature ones can do that. However, kits can give off a feeling of sleepy serenity that wizards who are prone to daydreaming – Miss. MacDonald – are particularly susceptible to. Once your mind starts to wander it becomes increasingly more difficult to get it back on track. There are a host of other forest-dwelling creatures that have similar effects on wizards, and there are several ways to fend them off. Now, let's take a closer look, shall we?"

"I have never known anyone to fall asleep in one of Kettleburn's classes before," said James once class was over and everyone was walking back up the green to the castle. "Poor Mary," he added, stifling a laugh. Mary had gotten a bit too close to one of the Mateguas and had actually fallen asleep with her face in the grass. When Sidney finally shook her awake at the end of class, half of her face was caked in dirt. Now Mary was refusing to talk to Sidney for not waking her up before class was over.

"He usually has something a bit more exciting to start off the term, doesn't he?" said Peter.

"I'm willing to bet he's not all that ready for too much excitement yet," Sirius muttered back. "Sleep-inducing rabbits are probably the most excitement what's left of him can take for a while. Third years are gonna be disappointed. Remember our first class with Kettleburn?"

"I'll never forget it," said James. "A real live Demiguise. Unbelievable."

"It was, until he got it to stop being invisible," said Peter.

"I overheard some third years over breakfast saying something about a chimera," said Sirius. "I don't think they're gonna be too happy with rabbits after hearing that."

"Mateguas," corrected Peter.

"Whatever," said Sirius. "It's no Demiguise."

"Please, a chimera?" said James. "Kettleburn may be theatrical, but he's not insane. Well, he might be insane, but he's not suicidal. Well, ok, there's strong evidence to suggest he may be suicidal, but… where was I going with this?"

"No idea, but speaking of animals," said Peter. "When are we gonna get re-started on the – um – you know?"

"Well, I wanted to start tomorrow, but I didn't factor in Remus," said James. "If we're still not telling him, we can't exactly brew the thing in our dormitory."

"I'm way ahead of you, mate," said Sirius. "You remember my cousin, Andromeda?"

"Yeah, the cool one in the family," said James. "Only Slytherin I ever liked."

"Ok, well she told me about a secret passage she used to sneak off to with some guy she was seeing last year – and what do you mean, 'the cool one in the family?' What am I?" said Sirius.

"The Black sheep," said James.

"Ha."

"But she was in Slytherin," said Peter, remarkably the only one of them who was staying on track. "How can we be sure nobody else knows?"

"Because she kept it secret," said Sirius. "She didn't want anyone knowing who she was sneaking around with – nobody from Slytherin anyway, cuz they wouldn't have approved. You want to know who it is? You'll never guess–"

"Ted Tonks," said James distractedly as he went over the timetable he had taken out of his bag.

"What – how do you know that?" asked Sirius. "I only just found out who is was from her this summer!"

"Walked in on them – er, well let's call it snogging – in one of the common showers down by the pitch," he said, putting the schedule away. "I waited until Andy had left, but I couldn't resist asking Ted about it."

"And you didn't think to tell me?" cried Sirius.

"He swore me to secrecy," said James. "And then he called me a 'voyeuristic little git,' shoved me out of the showers and threatened to hex me all the way to Hogsmeade and back if I told anyone." Though this was true, what James failed to mention was that he had also been a bit jealous of Ted for scoring with Andy, and that this had kept him from wanting to bring up the incident at all. Though Andy was a Slytherin and a seventh year when James was a third, he had harbored a bit of a crush on the spirited older girl for a while and was less than pleased by what he found in the showers that day. "So, yeah, I wasn't in a rush to spill it."

"Even to me?"

"Especially to you, Sirius," said James. "Please," he added, when Sirius gave him an affronted look. "Andy would have been the first person you asked about it to find out if it was true. And Ted is not an all talk and no action kind of guy. Oh, stop pouting – where is this secret passage, anyway?"

Sirius still looked a little miffed, but he answered anyway.

"I'll have to write her again to find out exactly where it was, but I remember her saying something about having to go through a mirror to get there."

It took Sirius almost two weeks to hear back from Andromeda, which ended up working out because by then James's wand arm had completely healed, which meant that he was now able to perform all of the more complex flicks and swishes to go along with the incantations that would have otherwise given him trouble. The next day, they rose early in the morning, careful not to wake Remus, and followed Andromeda's directions to a small corridor on the forth floor. There were no windows in sight, so it was dimly lit, and there were no classrooms either, not even a single door, which would decrease their chances of being seen jumping into the passage during the day. Instead, a series of somewhat macabre paintings lined the walls along with a few mounted pieces of armory. The only thing they didn't see was a mirror.

"It's got to be around here somewhere," said Sirius. "This is the passage – see, look, this is the painting she was talking about," he added, pointing to a scene in oils depicting what looked like a giant devouring an army of knights.

"Down here!" Peter whispered loudly. He had walked down to the end of the corridor, which was almost completely in shadow due to the lack of light. Sure enough, mounted to the end wall was a huge mirror in an ornate silver frame. It looked ancient, and much of the reflective glass on the edges was worn away so that it added a ghostly kind of dinginess to whatever it reflected. Standing on either side of the mirror was a suit of armor. They gave an extra heir of decorum to the whole thing, making James feel for a moment as though he were asking for an audience with a king. Or the Queen of Hearts, he thought wryly as the helmet on each suit turned to look at them. Through the looking glass we go.

"What was the password again?" asked James.

"I got it," said Sirius. He stepped forward so that he was facing in the mirror the same way one might face a hippogriff. Slowly, tentatively, he raised his right hand so that his palm was pressed against the glass. Then, in a low voice so quiet that it was barely audible, he said, "Mirare invertus eschauen uer innardi."

Instantly, the mirror began to react to Sirius's words. Ripples began to pulsate outward from Sirius's palm as if the reflective surface had suddenly turned to water.

"Don't move your hand," James reminded him.

As the ripples increased in size, the reflection of the three boys in the mirror began to fade, looking more and more transparent with each new wave. Then they began to see it – a room, deep and dark, appearing in the mirror that definitely wasn't a reflection of the corridor behind them.

"Grab my other hand," Sirius told James.

James took hold of Sirius's free hand and Peter did the same with James, forming a link.

"Ok, go," said James once Peter had latched on.

James watched as Sirius stepped through the glass as though he were dipping into a body of water. First his arm, then his head and body – until he had disappeared from view with the exception of the hand that was still holding James's. James followed, feeling a cool, wet sensation on his skin as he stepped through the rippling glass. It only lasted for a second, and when he arrived on the other side he was completely dry. Peter appeared next to him a second later. A moment after that, right as James moved to take his wand out to light it, three torches flared up one right after the other, revealing a cozy, circular room of cool grey stone.

"Whoa," said Peter in awe. He was looking back at the mirror, which had stopped rippling and was now showing the corridor they had just left as though they were looking through clear glass.

"Cool, so we can make sure the coast is clear before we leave," said Sirius. "Man, I owe Andy one for this. It's perfect!"

"I think they use a similar charm for the general entrance into Saint Mungo's," said James, recalling the feeling of passing through the display glass when he used to go into work with his father. "Ok, so we'll bring the things here later today," he continued. "We'll use my cloak."

"Let's do it when Remus has Divination," said Sirius. "We don't want him getting suspicious."

These words of warning, however, proved too little too late when the boys met Remus at Defense Against the Dark Arts class later that day.

Remus had heard the boys get up early that morning and sneak off without him. He had heard them whisper something about a project to one another as they attempted to pull their socks and shoes on as quietly as possible. In fact, Remus had suspected that his friends were keeping something from him for the past couple of weeks. Although, if he had to be honest with himself, he would have to say that it had started even earlier than that – towards the end of last year. There were times when he would walk into a room and his friends would instantly stop talking. He hadn't said anything about it before, but today was different. The full moon was approaching, and he was feeling a bit less accommodating than usual, so he decided to confront his so-called friends about why they were sneaking off without him all the time. And if it turned out that his worst nightmare was true – that they were pulling away from him because of what he was – then at least he would know.

"I just want to know that the reason why I'm not a part of whatever you're doing isn't because you think I wouldn't approve," he told the boys as they all sat down together in one of the middle rows of desks.

He tried to sound less hurt than he really was, fearing that his friends were beginning to regret having a werewolf as a friend, despite everything they had said to the contrary. Instead of saying this, however, he took another route by insisting that it must be because he tended to be less of a rule-breaker than the others, and that this must be why they felt that they couldn't trust him.

"Remus, I – we," stuttered Sirius.

"We weren't – we're not–" tried James, but it was no use. Normally James was a fantastic liar – he had once told a spectacularly tall tale to Professor Taft that got him out of three weeks of detention – but he couldn't bring himself to lie to his friend so barefacedly.

"It's not the fact that I'm not included," Remus cut them off. "It's the lies. There's no way a Care of Magical Creatures assignment takes up that much of all your time. And Sidney Valois had no idea what I was talking about when I asked her what she thought about it-"

"Books closed, everyone!" Professor Donovan called as he entered the classroom, and so the boys had to drop the conversation for the time being. "And wands out. Today's lesson is going to be a practical one. We're going to be practicing some of the more complex defensive spells we've been learning about this week."

Donovan was a middle-aged wizard with reddish-brown hair that was beginning to become peppered with grey. Despite this, he was fit and youthful for his age. He wore small, round spectacles over clear blue eyes that shone brightly whenever he talked. The whole class had taken quite a shine to him for his good humor and friendly attitude towards his students. He was also one of the better Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers that they had had in years. Their previous professor, Donald Parish, had been a little too keen on dueling practice, a characteristic that made his classes exciting for the first month or so until Madame Pomfrey started complaining that too many students were checking themselves into the hospital wing with class-related injuries. His predecessor, Calvin Crumpet, had been exactly the opposite. So fearful was he of students getting out-of-hand in his class that practical lessons were extremely rare. His hyper-anxiety made him an easy target for James and Sirius's pranks, although the boys couldn't help but feel slightly guilty and even a bit responsible when Crumpet up and abandoned his post in April due to a crippling fear of being outnumbered by a hoard of armed and restless students. In retrospect, this was probably why everyone got carried away the following year with Parish's lax attitude towards classroom safety.

Donovan's practical lessons proved to be a healthy balance between the lessons of his predecessors in that they were interjected with a few agreeable safety regulations, such as prohibiting students from hanging one another from the ceiling by their underpants, which even James and Sirius, avid pranksters though they were, could admit was reasonable. Today, James was paired with Lily, Sirius with Sidney Valois (which he was excited about, as he had taken a shine to the girl ever since she had prevented him from getting bitten by a bowtruckle in Care of Magical Creatures two weeks prior), and Remus with Severus.

"Ok, who votes we let him in on it?" James whispered to the other two after Remus had gotten up to meet his partner. They both nodded fervently.

"Pay attention, lads!" Donovan called, and James, Sirius, and Peter soon dispersed. "This lesson is fairly simple, but I will advise you all to begin slowly so that you get that hang of it. Now, the only spell that you should be throwing at your partner is a disarming spell. The point of this lesson isn't offensive techniques, its defensive, as the title of the class suggests, so I don't want to see anyone getting hit with a bat bogie hex or jelly legs jinx – you know who you are – or whatever other charms seem to be all the rage these days. I don't even know what came out of your wand last week, Mr. Potter, but I'd better not see it again," Donovan eyed James, who seemed to think that the professor had just given him a very high complement, as he was looking quite pleased with himself. Lily caught this and gripped her wand more tightly, silently resolving not to let her guard down with her partner today.

"All right, Evans?" said James with a cool smirk.

"Better than you're going to be," Lily replied coolly, looking forward to wiping the smirk off of his face. In reality, though, she was a bit nervous. James had recently had the bandages taken off his arm, and since then he had been a bit like a dog let off its leash at the park, performing spells that were more complex and showy than usual. She didn't want to end up getting hit with some strange hex solely for the heedless boy's entertainment.

"You can begin once you and your partner are ready," said Donovan, though everything he said after "You can begin" was instantly drowned out by the sound of flaring wands, spells crashing against defensive shields, and several whoops and hollers.

"Protego!" Lily shouted, for James had just sent a whirling stream of bright red sparks in her direction. The spell smashed into the invisible shield and exploded in a downfall of bright red sparks.

"What was that?" Lily shouted at him.

"Afraid you can't do better?" was James's retort.

Lily jabbed her wand so quickly, so nimbly at James that he didn't have time to stop smirking and react before the force of the spell caused his legs to trip out from under him, making him fall to the ground with a comical, "Ack!"

"That wasn't fair," he protested to Lily, who was laughing with evident satisfaction. "I wasn't ready."

"And how is that my fault?" asked Lily, not feeling the least bit apologetic.

"Whatever," James said, rolling his eyes. "So, can I turn around to go look for my wand now, are you going to hit me again?" he asked.

"Don't tempt me," Lily replied, and James couldn't help but grin to himself and shake his head as he turned around to pick up his discarded wand.

"Ok," he said once he had his wand, turning around to face her. "You ready for a fair fight now?"

"Is that what you have to tell yourself to get over losing?" Lily asked. "Because I'll remind you that we were in the middle of a duel, and you were armed."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," James muttered, readying himself once again. Keep it together, Potter. It's just Evans. Stop being a pansy and hit her with something good.

But he didn't want to hit her with anything. He knew that she was more than able to shield his attack, but still. On the other hand, he was also sure that fudging his aim for her sake wouldn't do any good for his image. What was he to do? And why was he feeling so inclined to impress Evans? What was so special about her, really? Besides her eyes and her smile and her biting sense of humor and the way her laugher sounded like Christmas bells–

"Protego!" he shouted, swinging his wand upward in a fluid motion just in time, as Evans had just sent what he was sure was a hex his way. "Don't think I don't know what that was," he said.

"I don't know what you mean," said Lily, feigning innocence.

"Whoa, nice one, Sev!" called Crabbe from farther down the classroom. James turned around, for he knew Remus to be Snape's partner. It turned out that Severus had cast such a strong defensive charm that it not only stopped the spell that Remus had send towards him, but rebounded it in Remus's direction with an impressive zing, flinging the wand out of his opponent's hand.

"Did you see that?" Severus asked Lily, bright eyed when he saw that she was watching.

"Yeah," said Lily, sounding impressed. "That was really good!"

James had to work hard to keep the look of slight disgust off of his face.

"You all right, Remus?" he called to his friend.

"Fine," he replied, rubbing his elbow where the spell had hit.

James turned back to Lily to get going on their practice again, but she was still smiling at Severus, and this time he couldn't quite rub the look of contempt off of his face.

"You'll have to show me how you do it so well," she was saying to Snape.

"Barbadigoum," James mumbled, his jealously easily masking his guilt over the deviousness of the attack. With that, the back of Lily's outer robe hoisted up behind her, came up over her head, and flew in front of her face. Fortunately she was wearing a skirt and leggings underneath – James wasn't so cruel as to pull that one without knowing she was – but nevertheless she was incredibly peeved.

"James Potter!" she shouted, her voice muffled from under the fabric as she tried in vain to pull it out of her face and back behind her head. James looked up at the ceiling as if he had nothing to do with what had happened, while somewhere behind him erupted the sound of Sirius's barking laughter.

"Uuugh!" Lily growled once she had finally pulled the robes off of her face, which was now bright red from both embarrassment and lack of air.

"Ah, Evans, there you are," said James pleasantly, the way you might greet someone who had just turned up for tea. "Care for a comb?" he asked, noticing that her hair was significantly more frazzled than it had been before so that she looked about ten times more fierce than usual.

"You," she spat. "Delinquidarium!"

"Protego!" James shouted, deflecting her hex with one swift swing of his arm.

Lily took a deep breath through her nose, realizing that she would have to calm down a bit if she wanted any chance of hitting Potter back with something good.

"Ok," she said as she exhaled. "You want to fight dirty, then?"

"If dirty suits you," said James with a debonair grin. That, more than anything else, caught Lily off guard. James chuckled, raising his wand, but then something else distracted him.

"Don't worry, Lupin, I'm sure you'd have done better if you could afford a proper wand," said Crabbe.

James darted his head over to where the jeer had come from. Remus, who had just retrieved his wand, suddenly grew very pale.

"I mean, we know you can't be wasting your money on decent clothing," teased Vanessa Krink with a delighted smirk. "So where's it all going?"

As Remus tried desperately to pretend as though he couldn't hear what they were saying while more and more people caught wind of the jeering, James, Sirius and Lily each gripped their wands furiously in their hands. James was first to react. He jabbed his wand discretely at Krink, Macnair, and Crabbe, all of whom were laughing at Remus, and muttered something under his breath. Seconds later, Vanessa let out a terrible shriek as she looked down to see her outer robes rapidly unraveling as the string that used to hold it together began to coil around her ankles. The same thing was happening to Crabbe and Macnair. All three were jabbing desperately at their ankles and the hems of their robes with their wands, but nothing they could do would stop the fabric from continuing to unthread.

Lily shot a glance over at James, who had a faint but satisfied smirk on his face, and she felt the corners of her mouth lift in a small smile, feeling a bit more warmly towards him despite the hex he had pulled on her earlier.

"Oh, dear," sighed Donovan, though he didn't appear to be incredibly displeased with what was happening. In fact, James was sure that he had heard what Krink, Crabbe, and Macnair had been saying. Donovan pulled out his wand and flicked it at the three Slytherins so that their robes ceased to unravel. "I think that's enough for today. It looks to me like you've all got a good handle on the spell. You three, stay put," he added to the Slytherins as everyone else started to pack up to leave. "Let me see if I can sort you out."

Lily packed up her things quickly, grateful for the early dismissal, and met Severus outside the classroom.

"I'd bet you anything that was Potter," he told her the second she saw him.

"So what if it was?" she said. "They deserved what they got. Did you hear what they were saying to Remus?"

"What about all the stuff those four get up to – they hex Slytherins all the time!"

"This had nothing to do with that, Sev, and you know it," said Lily, taken aback by Severus's stance on what she considered a simple matter of morality. "Why does it always have to be about house wars with you?"

"Why are you defending him?" asked Severus, who, for reasons beyond Lily's understanding, looked a bit hurt.

"Because they were making fun of him, Severus!" Lily hissed. "It was cruel!"

"Not him," said Severus. "Potter."

Lily bit her tongue, hoping that it would hold back her frustration. "You know," she finally said. "For someone who claims not to like him, you sure do bring Potter up an awful lot."

Severus looked so taken aback that Lily thought for a moment that he might have swallowed his tongue.

"I don't – I – I–"

"Forget it, that's not the point," said Lily. "Listen, I've got to go to the Owlery."

"I – I'll go with you," Severus offered, hoping for another chance to redeem himself in their conversation.

"No, it's ok," said Lily. "I'm not sure how long it's going to take, or what owl I'm going to – er – use… and," she trailed off. In truth, she just wanted a few moments away from Severus to cool off. "I'll see you in Charms," she finished, before walking away.

Severus was staring after her, not sure if he should go after her or not, when Remus nearly collided with him on his way out of the classroom.

"Sorry," mumbled Remus before picking up his pace again.

"Remus, wait!" James called, and he, too, nearly collided head on with Severus.

"Watch it, Potter!" he shouted, still resentful at the boy.

"Sod off, Snape," James threw back at him distractedly. "Remus, wait up!"

Sirius and Peter followed close behind.

"Remus!" James called for the third time once he had nearly caught up to him at the end of the hall. "Hold up. Just let us explai-"

"Thank you for sticking up for me in there," said Remus stiffly, not meeting any of them in the eye. He was still hurt that his friends were excluding him from – well, from whatever they were doing – but that didn't mean he wasn't grateful for what happened in the classroom. Still, all this did was make him feel guilty about being cross with them, which made him feel even worse.

"That's not what this is about," said James. "I mean, yeah, Macnair and his crew are gits, but we want to talk to you about what you were saying before class."

"Look, just don't try to tell me that I'm crazy, because–"

"You're not crazy," said Sirius. "You're right. We have been working on something without you."

Remus looked, if possible, even more depressed than he had a moment ago.

"But it's because," continued Sirius, "we're trying to surprise you. Or, trying to not disappoint you, in case it doesn't work out. Cuz it might not."

"What are you talking about?" asked Remus.

"It's about," said James, and he glanced around to make sure no one else was around to hear them. "It's about your… your furry little problem."

"My… Oh no, I knew it," said Remus tragically, grabbing his hair in his fists and looking up at the ceiling. "I knew it, I knew you guys would freak eventually–"

"What? No – shut up," said James. "We're not avoiding you because of it. Actually, the whole point is so that we can spend more time with you."

"I'm not following," said Remus, still sounding thoroughly depressed.

"Then follow me," said Sirius, and with a wave of his hand he started down the west corridor with the other three in toe, James practically dragging Remus along behind him.

"Where are we going?" asked Remus.

"Through the looking glass, Alice," said James. "To find a white rabbit – or something to that effect."

"Whoa," said Remus, once he was standing inside the secret passage behind the mirror.

"Yeah, pretty cool, huh?" said Sirius, looking around at the room once the torches had lit themselves. In the middle of the floor were all of the supplies that the boys had gathered over the summer – cauldrons, stacks of books, and piles of ingredients arranged in bags, jars, vials, and bundles of varying sizes. "And this," he said, pointing to it all, "is what we've been doing."

Remus looked around at it all confusedly.

"Extra potions homework?"

"No!" exclaimed Sirius, though he was smiling. "This is how we're going to help you!"

"By doing what, exactly?" he asked, going over to browse the titles of some of the books, hoping they would give him a clue. "Advanced Transfiguration?" he read aloud. "This is homework."

"Keep reading," said Peter.

"From Fellow to Fauna," he continued, picking up the volumes one by one. "The Alter Animalia… Becoming Beaste… Animagus – wait, this can't be what I think it is. Because if you've done even a little bit of research, which clearly you have, then you'd know that it is illegal to attempt an animagus transformation before you're legally of age!"

"So?" said Sirius, James, and Peter simultaneously.

"So?" exclaimed Remus. "So – so – why?"

"Why do you think?" asked James.

"I have no idea!" said Remus. "That's why I'm asking!"

"Think about it," continued James. "Werewolves can't turn other animals."

"No," Remus said after a pause wherein he absorbed the information being thrown at him. "Werewolves eat other animals."

"Not ones that it recognizes as kin," said James. "Same as any other animal."

"That's us, mate," said Sirius.

"You–" stammered Remus. "And your intention is to do what, then?"

"Keep you company, of course," said Sirius.

"We figured if you had company you wouldn't, you know, beat yourself up so much," said James. "Spend less time in the hospital wing afterwards. And don't even think for a second about trying to change our minds," he added, when Remus opened his mouth again to protest. "We're doing this with or without your help. I mean, we were doing it without before, only you had to ruin the surprise by getting all suspicious."

Remus looked around at them all, wondering what he had done to deserve friends like these.

"I… I don't know what to say. This is…" he sighed, taking it all in. "This has to be the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me."

"Ok, well, before we all start breaking out into hugs, I'll warn you not feel too grateful yet," said Sirius. "Now that you know you'll be helping us with it. And it's a lot of work, mate. No joke. Even James is struggling some of the higher level stuff."

"I'm not struggling, I'm – I just have to read it a few times," said James, who took great pride in his natural skill in Transfiguration.

"So," said Peter, grinning. "Are you in?"

"Well, it doesn't look like I have much of a choice," said Remus. "Thank you," he added, looking at them with all the gratefulness in the world, knowing that if he said something too sincere Sirius would get uncomfortable again and brush it off.

"Again, don't thank us yet," said Sirius. "We start tomorrow. Trust me, it's no slice of pie."

"Speaking of, I'm starving," said James. "If we run we can make it to the Great Hall before lunch is over."

"Let's get a move on, then," said Sirius, clapping a hand on Remus's back as the made their way over to the mirror.

"One thing, though," said Peter before they left. "I thought your cousin said this is a passageway. But it's just a room. Doesn't a passageway lead somewhere else?"

"Maybe she meant that the mirror itself was the passageway?" suggested James.

"Look, there's a grate there, in the floor," said Remus, pointing. "Maybe it leads somewhere."

"It could just be for air," said Sirius.

"Nah, I'm betting that any room clever enough to hide itself is clever enough to supply itself with fresh air without the use of a grate," said James, peering down at it. "But, lord, I'm starving. I think we'll save that adventure for another day."