Sorry guys… My computer crashed and it took Dell a week to solve the problem, which never happened, and another week to send me a brand new computer. You'll probably get chapter 7 asap because I feel guilty.

Fefe: Thank you so much for the review! Im sorry I couldn't get this up sooner.

Another month passed uneventfully, and the students of Hogwarts were growing increasingly worried. Whenever James was approached about it, he very diplomatically would say that it was between the four of them. The students could tell, however, that the problem was between Sirius and Remus, and James and Peter were involved by association.

James had even given Lily the tired diplomatic answer. This had put her off. James was supposed to be walking on air that she would even talk to him. But no, he said it was between the four of them and left.

Which led her to Peter.

The small boy looked up from his toast, his eyes narrowing just slightly.

"Good morning, Peter," Lily said cheerfully, her hands on her hips and a look in her green eyes that suggested business.

"Morning, Lily," he said, almost cautiously.

Lily smiled broadly and sat down with a flourish. "Where are the rest of the Fantastic Four?"

"James and Sirius have Quidditch practice. I don't know where Remus is."

"Perfect," Lily almost purred. "Because I need to talk to you."

Peter set his toast down, finished chewing, and looked steadily at the redhead. He said nothing, however.

"What happened between Sirius and Remus?"

"Nothing," Peter said quickly, almost defensively, and then closed his eyes, realizing how stupid the answer was. James was so much better about this. "It's not my place to say."

"I'm not trying to pry, Peter," Lily said gently, lying. "I'm just worried. As is the rest of the school, if you can't tell. We have a right to know."

"No, you don't," Peter responding, bolder now, and he sat up a little taller. Lily matched his posture, surprised by this reaction. "No one has a right to know." Lily couldn't know this, but Peter wasn't talking about the source of the argument anymore.

She sighed, realizing Peter wasn't going to give in very easily. She leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Does this have anything to do with Remus' lycanthropy?"

Peter coughed, and had anything been in his mouth, Lily would have been covered with it. "What?"

"You heard me."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Lily."

"Come on, Peter. You know very well what I'm talking about. And I'm never going to believe that you don't know about it, so you can stop wasting time for both of us and tell me."

Peter just stared at her. This was… frightening. Yes, frightening was the word.

"Is that why your whole group is fighting?" She asked again, prompting him.

"Yes," Peter whispered, and his terror grew. Was he betraying Remus as well? "How did you know?"

Lily waved her hand dismissively. "Remus and I are friends, and I've had almost six years to piece it together. It wasn't that difficult."

"How long have you known?"

"Not long. What happened two months ago?" For her part, Lily was disinterested about how or why she knew. She didn't see how that even mattered.

"I still don't think I should tell you. It's between Remus and Sirius, and one of them should be the one to tell you. And I doubt that Sirius will say a word… he knows better now."

Lily's eyebrows creased, repeating his words in her mind. "Oh… did Sirius tell someone about Remus?"

"How do you do that?" Peter asked, a slight mousey squeak to his voice, which he often got when he was in situations like these.

Lily smiled. "Who did he tell?"

"I don't know. Read my mind like you seem to be so good at doing."

She laughed. "I see those three have taught you sarcasm."

"Sorry," Peter mumbled, and she waved a dismissive hand again.

"It's all right. I'll figure it out. Thanks, Peter."

Peter nodded bleakly, feeling absolutely terrible. He hadn't actually told Lily anything, right? He left his toast unfinished, and headed back to the dorms to get his books for his first class, with a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that today was not going to be a good day.

"Remus, can we talk?"

The prefect looked up from his parchment, his eyes narrowing slightly at James. "Sure." The confrontation was quite similar to how Lily had approached Peter, except that James was less showy about it.

James sat down across from Remus. "You're not going to like what I have to say. But you have to just listen until I'm done, okay?"

One eyebrow rose, but Remus closed his Charms text. "I'm listening."

James nodded and sighed. "Okay. Look, Sirius is a right git and you have every reason to be mad at him forever. But he's so torn up over this, Rem. He only came to the shack because he wanted things to be easier for you. And I have to agree, the night would have been a lot worse without him. And yes, you asked him not to go and he did… but he was doing it for you. That's all he's been thinking about for the last month, is you."

"But when it came to getting revenge on Snape, he wasn't thinking about me at all," Remus answered, outwardly unmoved.

"You don't know what that argument was really about," James said softly, then continued before Remus could ask. "And it's not my place to tell you. All I'm asking is that you try and remember that Sirius is really trying. I'm not asking you to stop being mad at him, just recognize that he's trying."

Remus paused, and when he finally nodded, the hard, uncaring Remus he had been showing the world shattered. It was a profound moment, and James caught it and held onto it.

"I don't want him to try."

"What?" James asked, surprised. "Come on, Rem, we all know that you can't stay mad at him forever. You've never been able to."

"I'm not mad at him anymore," the words rushed out of Remus' mouth, and he let the next words spill out just as quickly. "I want him to stop trying because I know I'll eventually give in, and when I do, I'm completely vulnerable to his next betrayal."

"Whoa," James breathed, feeling suddenly like he had opened Pandora's Box. He was in a situation he was unfamiliar with. Being the go-between and the mediator was Remus' job. He hadn't the faintest idea how to handle all of this. "Sirius made a huge mistake, and he admits that. It was a betrayal, to all of us, but he would never do it on purpose, and I know he'll never do it again. That last thing he wanted was for you to get hurt."

"Then why did he do it?"

"You'll have to ask Sirius." When Remus rolled his eyes and huffed, James sighed. "You have to talk to him, Rem. Maybe not today, or even for a while, but eventually. Pete and I can't keep splitting our time between you two. I never even see Pete anymore."

"I never asked you to do what you've done."

"No," James agreed, "And neither did Sirius. But we do, because we're friends with both of you, and that's not going to change. And you don't think this is just a little childish?"

Remus gave him a sharp look, and James put his hands up. "All right, all right. I have Quidditch practice. Just… think about what I said."

Remus did. There were things about life that Remus simply knew. One of these things was that people tended to let you down, especially if you turned into a deadly, fury beast once a month (except in the case of girls, and Remus supposed because they lacked the fury quality). He had tried very hard not to let anyone in. Sirius often commented on a wall that Remus had built around himself, and the young werewolf really couldn't deny that. But somehow, these three managed to weasel their way in, and he did trust them, against his better judgment. Sirius had broken that trust, and Remus did not feel that the boy deserved another shot at it.