Surprise!!! A new chapter just for you!!! Actually, this chapter should have been part of the last one…which is why this one is so short…but I figured what the heck, I'll go ahead and post it anyway…

I own nothing but my medication and this laptop…the rest is all JKR!!

Niobe, when she had found Remus, had not been able to convince him to talk, but she had at least convinced him to go inside, which he did, and went strait to bed with out a word to anyone.

Lily had helped Mina to calm down, take some dreamless sleep potion, and go to bed. Lily then lay in her own bed staring at the ceiling, thinking to herself… 'I kissed James, and I told him how I cared for him, ohgodohgodohgod…'

Sirius, after making sure that Mina was going to be ok and was in Lily's capable hands, grabbed his broom and went out flying. He pushed the rocket broom to its limits try to escape the battle going on inside his head. Remus was one of the truest friends he had ever had in his life, but Mina was family, and Remus had hurt her, badly. Why was the damned werewolf so stubborn in his self-hatred to not see that Mina loved him enough to accept all of him? Sirius knew Remus better that anyone. He knew how much Remus loved Mina. He also knew how much Remus did not trust himself…why couldn't Remus see that it wasn't about trusting himself, but trusting Mina? Sirius sighed as he landed and walked back up to the castle. Sirius loved Remus like a brother…but he was not willing to lose his sister…not for any reason. 'If this doesn't get straitened out soon' he thought 'it is going to get ugly'. When Sirius reached the dorms he saw that the other three were all asleep, including Remus. "Niobe must have found him' Sirius thought as he got into bed. That was a whole other line of thought that Sirius did not know what to do with. Seeing Niobe the way she looked tonight was a shocker. Sirius knew how much he cared about her as a friend, but seeing her in that dress, and the way she had kissed him…He sighed, he was glad that they had decided to remain friends after that little faux pas, but Sirius knew he was going to have a tough time getting that kiss out of his head. And on that thought, Sirius drifted off to sleep.

Remus, once he had heard Sirius snoring, rolled on to his back and continued to stare at the ceiling. He had a muggle song by the Beatles running over and over inside his head.

Boy, you gotta carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
Boy, you gotta carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time

He rolled over and stared at the curtains surrounding Sirius's bed. Sirius had gone through a mad muggle phase when he first left his parents house, and spent most of his remaining pocket money on muggle records. Sirius had been obsessed ever since. Remus had a decent collection himself. They used to trade albums back and forth by owl post all summer long. Somehow, all of Sirius's owls were always late. Sirius claimed it was because of where Remus lived and not because he was trying to hold on to Remus's entire Beatle's collection. Remus and his mother lived in a muggle village. It was easier for his mother to find work there. Remus, once he was old enough, started working odd jobs himself to help his mother. His father had died long ago, not long after Remus had been bitten. Though his mother never spoke of it, Remus had found out, from a rather vicious aunt who was visiting, that his father had died while hunting for Greyback. That was the other reason why they lived in the muggle world, to avoid his mother's relatives. Remus loved his mom dearly and they were the best of friends. She loved music, she had even bought him a guitar when he was nine and taught him to play. She also loved to dance. It was not unusual for him and his mom in the summer to put on one of Remus's records and go tearing through the house together dancing up a storm. But her sense of humor was not to be denied. It was common for his mother to switch the sugar and the salt, or for Remus to have a bucket of water fall on his head while coming out of the loo. She would always claim that it must have been one of the 'wee folk living in the garden' that had done it. When it came to pranks, the Marauders had nothing on his mom. God, he wished he could talk to her right now. He could write her a letter, but even with owl post it would be weeks before he could get a response. She was away making her yearly visit to her relatives, who moved to Boston a few years ago. She always made the visits while Remus was in school to save him the 'obligatory torture', as she put it.

Remus sighed as he reached over to the table by his bed and quietly pulled out a pen and parchment. At least writing her would occupy his troubled mind and give him some hope of future advice in figuring this whole mess out. He stared at the blank piece of paper for what seemed like hours before he finally put quill to paper.

Dear mum,

I hope the 'family' isn't giving you too much trouble. If they are I hope you are giving them just as much trouble back! I miss you, as usual, but more so now than ever. A lot has happened and I desperately need your advice…

What could he say? How could he put it into words…?

What would you do if you loved someone with your whole being…more than life itself…and you knew they returned your feelings…but, you also knew that you being with them could cause them to suffer…suffer more than if you left them…what would be the right thing to do? I know this makes no sense to you right now and I wish I could say more. Please tell me what you think…

Love as usual,

Remus

Remus folded the parchment and put it under his pillow. He would take it up to the owlery in the morning. It would be a good excuse for skipping breakfast. He knew he was not ready to face everyone yet. But he knew there was no way to avoid seeing everyone in classes…seeing her…the song kept playing on and on in his mind…

Boy, you gotta carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
Boy, you gotta carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time

It was his burden, his beast, to carry. There was no way he would subject Mina to the kind of pain he went through. He loved her. The wolf inside his howled for his mate, but to risk making her into a creature like him…Maybe if he was distant, if he just focused on his studies and ignored everything else, she would give up on him and save herself. His heart broke at the thought. But he had sworn to protect her…With his mind spinning, he drifted off to sleep and to dreams of him being locked in a cage, screaming, while Mina danced with Sirius further and further away. The tears rolled down his cheeks as he tossed and turned for the rest of the night.

James, who had been floating on air, had gone to sleep earlier firmly convinced that in the morning Remus would have come to his senses, that Mina would be healed, that Sirius and him would be magic at Quidditch practice, that Lily would declare her new found love for him to the entire school, that Niobe would make them all rich with her inventions, and that the Marauders would rule the world. It seemed logical to him…Lily loved him, and that was all the proof he needed that the world was a beautiful and perfect place. The rest of the gang would see that too. He fell asleep smiling to dreams of him and Lily in a small cottage in a village somewhere with a bunch of kids running in the yard and his friends all around him laughing and having a good time with his family.

Peter, who knew little to nothing as to what had happened that night, slept uneasily. Regulus's words at the dance running though his head "In the end, they won't win, and they sure as hell won't sacrifice themselves for you. When it all falls down, who will be left standing? It's all about the power…"

I wrote this kind of fast so I hope it didn't suck too much. Sorry it's is so short, but I had to get all this stuff out before I got to the next part, which involves drama, music, and just a touch of hair gel…

See you soon

Dye