Author's Note - Sorry for both the shortish post, the mean cliffie, and for likely weak writing. I just couldn't get this not to sound awkward. I blame med school brain liquification. But, as I had the time to write, I wanted to take advantage of it. A few small things...

It has been suggested I get a beta. I had thought that I was doing a fairly decent job of editing, but it has been intimated that I haven't. If I continue to get complaints about grammar, I'm willing to give it a try, but I'm not thrilled about it. If there's only one or two typos in a posting, I ask that you grit your teeth at my ineptitude in catching it. If there's obvious issues, please feel free to go ahead and point them out. I don't want people not reading because mistakes are detracting from their enjoyment of the story.

Chapter 5 – Nightmares

The one room in Grimmauld Place that had remained untouched by the rest of the Black family had been Sirius's old bedroom. Having never been to the Black house before, Remus had smiled to see that it reflected Sirius's choice of decoration their latter years at Hogwarts: Gryffindor colors and banners, motorcycles, and muggle posters of scantily clad women. Having had no time to clean out another bedroom as well as get the kitchen ready, the two men had simply drug another bed from one of the many guest rooms into Sirius's room. It was from this bed that Remus woke from his usual light sleep to muffled cries.

He glanced quickly about the room, his eyes easily piercing the darkness to see Sirius shifting distressed under the covers. With a frown, he climbed out of bed, stepping around furniture to the side of the massive bed. Sweat beaded on the man's pale brow, his face contorting in grimaces, as small cries of distress were quickly clamped off as if some instinctual part of him were trying to keep quiet.

"Sirius," he whispered softly. Sirius winced and, if anything, become more distressed. "Sirius," Remus said louder, reaching out and shaking the man's shoulder, "Sirius!"

Sirius bolted up, wild-eyed and flailing, before recognizing where he was. He took a few shuddering breaths before lying back on his pillow.

"Nightmare?" Remus asked quietly.

Sirius nodded.

"They happen often?"

"Not so much anymore," Sirius said, slightly breathless. "When I first broke out, I barely slept, but they don't happen so much anymore." He pulled himself up slightly in bed. "Sorry I woke you."

"Please," Remus smiled, "As often as I woke you guys up at school with my nightmares, I figure I owe you at least a few years of night's sleep."

Sirius opened his eyes blearily. The normal night time sounds of Hogwarts, owls hunting in the night, wind whistling by the tower, Peter's snoring, were interrupted by thrashing. Peering through the darkness, he could just make out Remus's covers shifting in the light of the half-moon. Not that he really needed to see to confirm. With a grunt, Sirius pushed back his bedcovers and stretched. Behind him in the next bed, he could hear James getting out from bed as well and begin to stumble across the room.

"Ow!" He hissed.

"You know, you'd think you'd remember where your trunk is," Sirius smirked, putting his own feet on the floor.

"You'd think I'd remember you move it at random because my bruised toes amuse you." James growled back.

Both boys made their way to opposite sides of the bed, a well practiced routine over the past three years.

"Moony, mate, wake up," James said softly, tapping his shoulder

"C'mon, Remus, wakey wakey," Sirius mussed his hair.

Remus shook awake, eyes darting back and forth until he focused on the other boys.

"Sorry mates," he whispered, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"No problem," James shrugged, pulling a fresh nightshirt from Remus's nightstand and offering it to him. Remus crawled out of his old, sweat-sodden shirt and put on a fresh one. They had long since stopped asking him what his nightmares were about. He would never say.

"So," Sirius said, producing a deck of muggle cards, "five card draw or seven card stud," he asked as he shuffled them expertly.

"Stud of course," James smirked, mussing his hair.

"Why thank you Prongs," Sirius bowed mockingly as he sat on the side of Remus's bed. Remus crossed his legs akimbo and leaned against his headboard as James settled on the other side.

"Seven card," Remus nodded and reached for the cards, "but I'm dealing. You cheat." None of the boys noticed that Peter was no longer snoring as they played until Remus fell back asleep.

"We never minded," Sirius smiled, "How else was I supposed to get good at muggle card games. You were the only one that knew how to play."

"Got a deck?"

Sirius glanced at him, then grinned, "I used to keep a pack in my drawer," he said, reaching towards his night table, "and voila," he came up triumphant with an old red bicycle deck. "Stud or draw?"

Remus chuckled, each getting comfortable on the bed as Sirius shuffled the deck.

"You wanna talk about it?" Remus asked as he took the cards he was dealt and organized them in his hand.

"You never did," Sirius said, glancing over his hand.

"Two," Remus put down his cards and accepted two from the deck as Sirius handed them to him.

Sirius drew three, then threw down his hand, "Nada, fold."

"Pair," Remus put down his pair of eights before picking up the deck and reshuffling himself. He shuffled a bit longer than usual before dealing slowly, "I used to dream that I'd transformed in the school and was killing everyone," he said quietly.

"Why didn't you want to tell us?" Sirius asked softly.

"I was afraid you'd realize that I really was a monster," he replied.

"Moony, we found out you're a werewolf in second year. You had those nightmares all during school." Sirius picked his hand up.

"I guess I always felt that you guys didn't really understand what could happen. Telling you I was dreaming about transforming in the dorm and eating you all slowly bit by bit might have made it sink in a bit further." Remus mumbled.

Sirius snorted, "Moony, did you think we were three years old? You only transform on the full moon. If somehow, Dumbledore became senile, McGonagall was away in Liberia, and Madam Pomfrey decided to take nightly disco lessons, we'd have made sure you got to the Shrieking Shack ourselves, though I doubt we'd need to because in the event of all of those happening at once, like as not you'd lock yourself in there."

Remus shrugged, "I never really understood why you guys wanted to be around me what with the furry little problem and my sunshiny personality."

Sirius grinned, "We needed someone to make sure we passed our classes." He ducked as Remus shuffled the deck at his head. "You never give yourself enough credit," he shook his head as Remus swept the cards up with his wand. "The Marauders wouldn't have been the Marauders without each of us."

Remus redealt the hand, "So you wanna talk about that dream."

Sirius was silent and took up his hand, throwing down one for a new card. Remus began to think he should change the subject when Sirius began to speak, "It was about the night James and Lily died."