The following days after that night were interesting. Sirius hardly seemed to talk and almost seemed to be ignoring us. We were all at a loss as to what to do. James tried to plot a prank one day at lunch and we almost had him it was clear that he was listening in and was about to get involved when Narcissa his older cousin walked past giving him an almost warning glance. Sirius immediately sat back and didn't even glance once over at James' plans and us.

This gave James pause in his plans and though he didn't say anything I could tell that he was a bit hurt and disappointed that Sirius wasn't becoming involved with the prank. It was one that Sirius half came up with. "Well that's the plan mates," remarked James looking a bit grim. He was missing his partner in crime. The plan was to capture Mrs. Norris and change her fur color, trap her, and leave her to be discovered. The key was to keep Filch distracted long enough to do it. James mentioned that it would be the start on his list of detentions that he and Sirius were bound for. Sirius grunted slightly and then left the dinner table. It seemed that there was little that would distract Sirius into being like he normally was.

The plan was set in place but failed miserably. James got the detention and Peter got severely scratched by Mrs. Norris. Nothing else worked the plan was better thought out with a fourth man but our fourth wasn't much for anything.

The following night James had detention and I marked it down for the list of detentions. I also decided to keep a quite tally of detentions that Peter and I received. Of course James being the only one with a detention was in the lead, as I marked the tally that night I wondered if James would always be in the lead with Sirius not picking up pranks again. When James left for his detention Sirius seemed a bit fidgety like he felt guilty but he didn't say anything and then went for a walk as he claimed. I kept busy by reading for a time till Peter complained of boredom and asked me to play some snap with him. By the time James' detention was to be over Sirius had returned with him both covered in polish and laughing. They never really explained what happened between them but informed us that they had detention the following night. I looked at them with a raised brow of interest and received no explanation I then dutifully marked things putting James at two and Sirius at one. I knew the competition was back on.

James and Sirius went to detention the following night and concocted a few more plans. Detention was meant as a punishment for James and Sirius but it never did seem that way. They returned laughing and carrying on about a potential prank that they would like to carry out.

Things seemed at peace once more and we made an attempt at the failed prank again and succeeded Sirius took the detention this time while the rest of us saw to Mrs. Norris. It sent Filch into a tizzy. Filch swore that the old punishments would be brought about when he discovered who turned his cat fuchsia. (He never did discover that it was us.) This brought the detention tallies between Sirius and James to an even keel at two each. Of course things did not stop there as another full moon approached the tallies were rested with James at six detentions Sirius at seven Peter at three and myself at one though I'm certain I deserved a second had Sirius not covered for me. Part of me wondered if he covered for me just so he could get one up on James. It was by this time that Narcissa decided she was not going to have Sirius acting in such a manner.

"Sirius," called Narcissa in an airy and commanding tone.

Sirius rolled his eyes and turned to face her. "What do you want Cissy?" he asked in a bored tone.

"Stop the incessant pranking, I don't want another howler from Auntie Walburga, complaining about your detentions," she ordered.

"What? Afraid you might try to drown yourself again?" asked Sirius in a taunting tone.

"Don't test me!" threatened Narcissa a dark look in her face. It was rather quite surprising because she didn't always come across as one who could be so dark. "I can make your break pure misery!"

"Hey lay off," warned James tired of the threats.

"Don't test me Potter I don't have patience. It will be you and my cousin here that I'll be after if there is another howler!"

"Go back to your darling Lucius," answered Sirius, "Or should I say luscious Lucius?"

When I heard that one I had to suppress a smile and James and Peter both snickered as Sirius gave one of his 'I'm more superior than you' smirks.

"Who told you that name?" demanded Narcissa loosing a bit of color in he cheeks.

"Andromeda," answered Sirius with a smug look on his face, "I'm sure Malfoy would love to hear about that one!"

"You do and you die!" with that Narcissa left in a huff, she never really bothered us again, though I can't say the same of the other Slytherins. Many of them had quite choice words for Sirius and the company he now kept. Of course he and James wouldn't stand for it and got into a fair few fights. It finally reached the point that even Professor McGonagall got involved again threatening to kick them out of the school for such behavior. The response was that the Slytherins started it and it was a matter of self-defense. Professor McGonagall didn't seem to buy it though it was fairly true and stated that she would speak to Professor Slughorn about it. It didn't help too much, for within three weeks a group came after our group. In the end I ended up loosing my temper. It is a rare occurrence but an unfortunate side effect of being a werewolf. Before I knew it I was actively involved with the fight. Of course it did not last long with Professor Flitwick stepping in and putting an end to the brawl. He then assigned a detention for that night. It was then that I came to my senses.

"This is not good," I mumbled to myself the reality of things gradually hitting home more and more.

"Don't worry mate I don't think your dad will be that upset, he seemed to be an all right bloke," answered James patting me on the back.

That wasn't what was bothering me, though Professor Flitwick did mention writing home, and that would be an issue on its own but I was more pressed with the current issues at hand.

"I have to go," I answered and broke away, "I needed to get out of the detention as soon as possible, never had I expected a problem like this. I needed to speak with Professor McGonagall as soon as possible. It was my only hope of getting out of the detention. If it had been her she would have placed the detention so that there were no conflicts with the moon. Professor Flitwick did not know of my condition and had assigned a detention I could not attend.

It took me some time to find Professor McGonagall to speak with her, when I explained my situation to her it was clear that she was not pleased. She said that she would speak with Professor Flitwick and work something out for there was no other choice in the matter. I spent the rest of the evening before the moon feeling exceptionally guilty for my actions and the problems they caused. In a way I betrayed the trust that was placed in me.

The moon was as usual but it was the time after that was problematic. "Remus! Where were you during detention?" asked James he had that prying look in his eyes that seemed to say he wasn't going to take another excuse for an answer.

"Yeah, you missed out on all the fun," sarcastically answered Sirius taking a seat waiting for the same kind of answers as James.

"It was horrid," offered Peter in negation of Sirius' sarcastic remark.

"Something came up," I answered stalling trying to come up with a lie quickly this one was more difficult than usual. I didn't have much time to come up with one ahead of time seeing as I did have the moon to deal with.

"Something came up?" asked James skeptically.

"That's a brilliant answer Remus. Tells us exactly why you missed out!" added Sirius.

I sighed at this, what was I supposed to day? "There was an owl from my dad, my mum is getting pretty sick," I lied not knowing how much truth was in my words.

"So why did you go running off earlier?" asked James eyeing me.

"I was feeling pretty sick at the time," I answered quickly which was a truth though only a half-truth. I looked to each of my friends hoping they would buy the lie.

"For some reason I feel you are lying," admitted James shaking his head, "I just can't figure out why."

"Remus is lying?" asked Peter a bit confused.

James and answered Peter's question at once me with a resounding 'no' and James saying, "I think he is."

I bit my lip in response, "Why would I lie?" I asked.

"That's my main question," answered James shaking his head before walking away.

"I – I have a detention to serve tonight to make up for the one I missed," I offered before walking away as well, with Sirius calling after me. "Have fun!"

After that confrontation things were a bit tense between the guys and myself. I dreaded the coming final moon, how was I supposed to lie to them again. I knew it would only increase the tensions. I had a feeling that I may be loosing my friends never to have them again. It tore me up inside but it was the life of a werewolf something I should have been used to by that time, but I had gotten used to friends and in a way was spoiled. I had never had them before and I had become dependent upon them and now didn't want to loose them.

No matter how much I dreaded the approach of the moon there was nothing I could do to stop it and I knew the need to lie was inevitable. I knew with this next set of lies it would destroy my friendships. Thus I approached the moon like a man walks to the gallows. If there was anything I could have done to delay the moon to avoid it, I would have but there was nothing to do.

Thus when the fateful night game I slipped off as usual hating my condition more than ever. The moon went as usual and I awoke and tried to go on with life as usual. For the first time on a moon there was no questions asked of me there was just some slight whispering between James and Sirius and nothing more. I hated the whispering, it was almost worse than the questions. It was fortunate that I couldn't dwell on my issues for long seeing as there were finals to study for. In the end exams went well, and before any of us knew it we were on the train home.

Conversation continued much like it did before the Christmas holidays, save for the difference of talking about summer plans. It was clear that Sirius did not really want to go back home and James insisted that Sirius come and visit. Of course both Peter were welcome to come visit as well.