Disclaimer: See First Chapter

A/N: Prelude to In which James makes a decision.

"Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now…" Airplanes - B.O.B. and Haley Williams.

May 1973 Gryffindor Boys Dormitory 21:12

It had been a difficult goodbye this time, now that they knew where Remus was really going. James liked to think that it had been easier for Remus who no longer had to fabricate a lie and who would no doubt allow them to visit him tomorrow.

Sirius had scoffed and told him not be to ridiculous. Naturally, Remus allowing them to see him in the morning looking his usual state, was about as likely as Lily offering James a good time.

And he knew that it was rude to spy and that Remus would certainly not appreciate it, but still, Sirius couldn't keep his eyes off his friend's bedside cabinet all evening, and eventually he coaxed James and Peter into looking with him, looking for signs of the wolf.

He found several books written by someone called J.R.R. Tolkien, books that Lupin had not added to his makeshift bookshelf he had created from the stone window ledge beside his bed. There was certainly half of Honeydukes in the second draw, mostly consisting of chocolate bars that had been nibbled at the ends. Confusingly, all of them had been labelled with separate tags, reading;

"Homesick"

"Peckish"

"Sugar craving"

"Bad Day"

And most interestingly, "Morning after" of which there were several bars of creamy milk chocolate.

"What's that?"

James gave him a half smile. "Like tomorrow morning."

"After full moons," said Peter, shuddering. "To think that's been there all along."

"Have you got some sort of problem, Peter?"

Peter raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "I just feel…I don't know…"

James frowned. "What's changed about him then?"

Sirius squirmed slightly. "Something huge, James."

"Oh not you too. For Christ's sake. Is that what this is about?"

He flung open the top drawer and rooted around the photographs there, Polaroid pictures cataloguing their first year. James watched the expression on Lupin's face as they made their way along the Charms corridor and the change from elation to concern suddenly made sense. He knew the day would come. That's why he had been so calm when they had confronted him. It knocked the breath out of him. The young boy, eyes shining with his shy smile, was a dark creature already, very capable of killing. And it was that moment that he understood the fear of what Remus was. For twenty-seven days, he was a bookish, shy little boy who organised his chocolate bars into piles for every occasion and took photographs of his friends, but on the twenty-eighth, he became a monster.

A picture fluttered to the floor and James reached for it, taking hold of the edge with a shaking hand, knowing that Remus would skin him alive if he smudged the photograph. It was a perfectly ordinary picture, one of himself, Peter and Sirius, glaring at the camera for interrupting them. It was the words underneath that made his heart stop, for in small, italic loops at the bottom, Lupin had written,

The most wonderful people in the world.

James flung it at Sirius and glared. "You tell him you feel that way then because he's certainly got no idea."

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "I didn't mean that. I just wonder what else he's hiding. I don't give a toss what he is. You know that." He moved his exploration to under the bed, lying on stomach and finding nothing. Lupin kept his space worryingly tidy.

They found nothing of interest until Peter lifted his pillow, revealing a little yellow box, hand painted. It bore unintelligible markings, slightly faded now. This was old. Peter opened it, tipped it onto the bed and gasped in horror.

"Voodoo dolls."

Sirius laughed. "I'm sure he's not into that, Pete."

Three small dolls made from matchsticks wrapped in sewing thread. One - the tallest - had bright blue dots for eyes and a shock of dark red felt on the tip of the match which they assumed was hair. The next -a woman - had black felt and black dots. The child - represented by its remarkably small stature - had black dots and red felt. Sirius smiled faintly. "Look, they're a family."

James pulled a piece of paper from the bottom and read, "Worry dolls were used by the Indian Mayans of Guatemala. Legend says they would tell their worries before they slept and the Worry People would take them away in the night." He frowned. "How strange. Cool though, huh?"

Peter licked his lips. "It's Remus," he said softly, pointing at the smallest. "Look properly. He's got the right hair and eyes and look, it's wearing a green jumper."

James unfolded one of three bits of paper. "His worries."

"I might never get over my fear of spiders."

Sirius grinned. "You wait until next week. We'll see if he ever did."

"I might never make friends."

Peter smiled. "Well, he's got us."

"Yeah," said James, "and we're snooping through his things. I really don't think we should be doing this."

Sirius scoffed. "Like you don't know what's in my mine and Peter's."

"Yeah, but you and Peter showed me. That's just…different."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "There's only one left for God's sake. Open it."

James shook his head and returned to his bed. "I don't want to know."

Sirius picked it up. "You in, Peter?"

James glared and Peter hurriedly shook his head, scurrying off to his own bed and picking up his Potions textbook, the only subject for which he ever revised.

Sirius unravelled it and held it up to the light. He soon folded it back up and returned the box to its spot under Lupin's pillow, not even reacting to the strange looks James was shooting him. He collapsed onto his bed and pulled the curtains round him with the words I will never be normal racing round his head.

"James?"

"Yes, Sirius?"

"If you're going in the morning, I'll go too."

James grinned, though Sirius could not see him. "Goodnight, gentlemen."

Sirius sat up and threw his curtains. "James, it's half past nine."

"Early to bed, early to rise. Go to sleep. You'll be up at six."