Remus woke to the feeling of something slimy on his face. He groaned. He had woken up the same way almost every morning since they had arrived at James and it was starting to get old. When he didn't immediately get up, the blankets were ripped none too gently from his body.

"Merlin, Pads," he groused. "Just because you can turn into a dog doesn't mean you should do it at every opportunity."

He opened his eyes to see the black muzzle of his best friend's dog form. A stream of drool was dangling from his tongue, threatening to drop at any moment and land in Remus' eye. Remus whacked him on the side.

"Turn back, you beast, you're slobbering all over me," he groaned. Padfoot jumped off the bed, turning back into his friend as soon as his feet touched the floor. Remus pulled his blankets back up and over his head.

"Suit yourself," Sirius' muffled voice said, "but in five minutes James is coming in here to check on you, and you know his wake-ups are worse."

Remus flipped the blanket back off his head with a sigh. "Don't you lot know how to sleep in?"

Sirius sat down on the end of Remus' bed, looking self-satisfied. He was already dressed in a combination of muggle and wizarding clothing – light blue jeans and a dark green button up shirt with a flared collar. He had a light set of black robes on over top. That was when Remus remembered – they were going to Diagon Alley for their school things today.

"Diagon Alley," he squeaked, jumping out of bed. "Why didn't you wake me sooner?"

He knew Sirius was laughing at him, but ignored the other boy in favour of pulling out some clothes.

"So now you want to get up?" Sirius stretched out in Remus' place on the bed. Remus rolled his eyes and didn't bother responding. Once he had gathered his things he ducked into the bathroom for a quick shower, hearing Sirius snickering behind him.

When he emerged Sirius was nowhere in sight, so he made his way downstairs to the Potter's dining room, following the sound of excited voices. Mr Potter – Fleamont, Remus had to keep reminding himself, although if he had a name quite like that he'd much prefer to be called by his surname, really – was piling pancakes onto plates for each of the boys. Remus felt his stomach give a small flip. It was getting close the moon again, and recently his body had begun rebelling at the thought of eating any food but meat. He hated it, though, so he put a smile on his face and sat down next to Sirius at the table.

Thankfully, Fleamont had also made sausages and bacon, which he divided up between the boys. Sirius must have seen his facial expression, too, because when everyone else was focused on their food, he pulled a couple pancakes off of Remus' plate and replaced them with more meat. Remus felt his stomach settle.

"What's the plan for you boys today?" Euphemia asked as they ate. James, on the other side of the table, was almost vibrating with excitement. He was also shoving food down his throat at an alarming rate, and choked when he tried to answer. Peter thumped him on the back.

"School supplies first," Sirius answered instead of James. "Then Gambol and Japes."

"Then Quality Quidditch Supplies," James finally spluttered out around his food. Remus grinned in spite of himself. The excited energy was infectious, even if he was tired.

"I'm meeting Mary for lunch, after that," Peter put in. Remus cast a smirk his way. Peter and Mary had been simply disgusting for the three days the girls had been at the Potter's house. They got along far too well, in Remus' opinion. Mary was like a female Wormtail.

James mumbled something that Remus didn't catch, but it had made his mum squeal. "It's nothing mum," Remus tuned in to hear James grumble. "Just lunch. As friends."

"Does she know that?" Sirius asked teasingly. James jumped, and Remus was pretty sure Sirius had kicked him under the table. He turned to Remus, then, who tried to ignore the flush he felt when Sirius focused his gaze on him. "Guess that leaves you and me for lunch, Moony."

"Only if we can go to Flourish and Blotts after," Remus responded, hoping his face wasn't turning red at the thought of him and Sirius, alone together, like on a date, his mind supplied helpfully.

"You bore me, Moony," Sirius complained. "If we can go to Quality Quidditch Supplies after, though, then I'm all yours." He waggled his eyebrows at Remus, who felt himself definitely flush this time.

"Whatever you want, Pads," he said with a sigh.

The boys cleared the table for the Potters – the thing that had shocked Remus the most over the years, and Sirius, too, was that the Potters didn't have a house elf. Almost all rich, pure-blooded families did. When he asked James, the other boy had just shrugged and said that his mother preferred to do the cleaning herself, and his father was an excellent cook thanks to his background in potions, so why would they need one?

They all crowded around the hearth of the fireplace with Mr Potter, who was coming with them. He took some floo powder off of the shelf.

"Do you boys have your mirrors?" he asked, looking between Sirius and James. It was strange, sometimes, how similar he and James looked – Fleamont was like an older copy of James, from his skin tone, to his slight build, to his hair – although James had the same bright smile and dimples as his mother. What was uncanny, though, was how much Sirius looked like the Potters despite not being related, Remus thought. It had been untrue when they were younger, of course, but since Sirius had moved in with the Potters he seemed to take on their relaxed, excited energy – the way they all carried themselves, their lopsided smiles, their bright eyes. Remus just wished he knew why it was so frightfully attractive in Sirius, but not in James.

He was broken from his reverie, having missed the response of Sirius and James, by Peter. "Remus needs robes!" he exclaimed, stopping the whole party in their tracks.

Remus looked down at himself – he had pulled on some jeans and a t-shirt without really thinking about what he was wearing. Now that he was paying attention, though, he realized that everyone else was wearing robes over their muggle clothing.

"Why?" Remus enquired, confused. He had never worn robes to Diagon before. He always preferred muggle clothing, it was what he had grown up wearing, and robes were too hot in the summer.

He saw the elder Potters exchange looks, didn't understand what they meant. Was it because he was going with the Potters – did they not want to be seen with people who looked like muggles? But that couldn't be it, the Potters weren't like that. Plus, Remus had met up with them in Diagon before, and they had never cared then.

After a moment of tense silence, Sirius sighed. "C'mon, Moony." Remus let Sirius take him by the hand and lead him out of the sitting room, back towards the stairs that led to their rooms at the Potters.

"What's wrong?" Remus asked when they were out of earshot. Instead of answering, Sirius tightened his grip on Remus' hand for a moment, before abruptly releasing it. "Pads?" Remus prompted.

"It's not…" Sirius began. "It's not anything to do with you, or the Potters, or what you wear, really." They entered Remus' room and Sirius went to the wardrobe, pulling out a set of robes for Remus. He tossed them on the bed. "Hold on," Sirius said, before leaving the room.

He returned a moment later, holding a light brown shirt with a flared collar, similar to what Sirius was already wearing.

"This will be big on you," he said, passing the shirt to Remus, too, "but I think I know enough tailoring spells to make it fit better."

"Okay," Remus said, still uncertain and definitely confused. He sat down on the bed next to his robes and pulled his shirt off. "I still don't understand why?"

Just then, James and Peter poked their heads through the door. "Good choice," James said when his eyes landed on the shirt that Remus was buttoning up.

"We figured we should check on you two," Peter added. "Sorry for pointing it out, Rem. It's not a good time to be in Diagon – or anywhere wizarding, dressed like a muggle."

"Why?" Remus asked, more confused than ever by Peter's explanation. Sirius raised his wand in front of Remus, head bent as he worked to shorten the length of the sleeves and width of the collar. The shirt moving around on Remus tickled, and he fought the urge to squirm.

"Okay," James said after exchanging a shrouded look with Peter. Remus was confused, felt almost like he wanted to cry. What was he doing wrong? Why was everyone acting like this?

"It has nothing to do with you, Moony, promise," James said in a rush, clearly noticing the look on Remus' face. Not for the first time, Remus wished he could shroud his emotions better. "It's just…" he trailed off for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face. Remus could feel his anxiety increase with every moment James was silent. Finally, the other boy came over to sit down on the bed beside Remus and slung an arm around him.

"It's been bad this summer, in the wizarding world," he said, finally. "It's not so bad, here in Godric's Hollow – we've been left well enough alone because it's a magical and muggle community – and because the Potters are a big, international pureblood family. No one wants to challenge us, really. But…"

Sirius and Peter had come to sit down with him, too. Remus was more apprehensive than ever – why were his friends already up and prepared to comfort him. Why was he so oblivious to what was going on in the wizarding world?

"There's a lot of…" James tried again, but trailed off, clearly searching for the right words. "There's a lot of anti-muggle sentiment. And anything to do with muggles – including half-bloods and muggleborns. It's safer to just…not dress like muggles, or reveal your blood status, or talk about muggle culture when you're in the wizarding public right now. Hogwarts will be different, though."

"Okay," Remus said cautiously. "So I shouldn't wear muggle clothes, I get it now. But why are you all looking at me like I'm about to panic?"

James ran the hand that wasn't around Remus' arms through his hair, a telltale sign of agitation to anyone who knew him well. He felt Sirius lean into him, and Peter shifted uncomfortably on Sirius' other side.

"Just tell me, please," Remus breathed. He had begun to have an idea of what it would be. Because of course, it was what it always boiled down to, for him.

"There's a lot of…anti half-breed panic," James said the last words so quickly Remus could hardly pick them out.

"You mean anti half-blood?" Remus asked, knowing that wasn't it, knowing that it wasn't what James had meant at all. Sirius' hand was on his knee, now, squeezing a gentle, comforting pressure that was grounding him.

"Moony…" Peter began, "We don't think anything of it, obviously. And it's not like anyone can tell, just from looking at you out in Diagon Alley."

"But it's better if you don't draw attention to yourself," Sirius added. "But that's easy enough. A nice shirt and some robes and now you're the most dashing wizard to have ever walked the streets of Diagon." He smiled blindingly down at Remus, who felt the knot in his chest loosening at Sirius' complement. James squeezed his shoulders before letting his arm drop.

"We didn't want to scare you," James said, finally. "It's just..you might see things or hear things in Diagon that will make you – all of us react – and it's better to at least look the part of a pure-blood wizard when that happens, you know?"

"Yeah," Remus said, taking a steadying breath. James and Peter stood up, but Sirius was still beside him, hand on his knee. "We'll be alright, though, right?"

"We'll be fine," Pete said with a reassuring smile. "You have us with you, after all."

"Plus we have the mirrors," James added. Remus gave him a questioning look.

"The ones Prongs and I use at school, for pranks?" Sirius said to Remus. Remus nodded in acknowledgement. The mirrors had allowed them to avoid so much trouble over the years. "Dad has a third one," Sirius continued. "So James will have one and I'll have one in Diagon, and if anything happens we can just call for him and tell him where we are."

"That's a good idea," Remus said. He stood up, letting Sirius' hand fall off his knee, sure he was just imagining Padfoot's look of disappointment. "Now come on, we've wasted enough time."

The four boys all grinned, dashing out of the room and back to the fire place, eager to be in Diagon.

Remus ended up stepping through the floo last. He always hated the spinning sensation – it made him feel weak and sick. Peter caught him when he stumbled out of the other end of the floo in the Leaky Cauldron and kept an arm around him for support as they made their way outside. The boys stood by, chattering animatedly while Mr Potter tapped the bricks on the wall with his wand. Remus watched curiously as the wall shifted open to reveal the alley behind it – he wondered what kind of spell made the wall do that.

Then they were in Diagon. The sights and smells assaulted Remus all at once, and he leaned more heavily on Peter for a moment. He saw James and Sirius each cast a quick look back at them, but the two were vibrating with excitement already and eager to get moving. Remus did his best to give them a quick, reassuring smile. He extracted himself from Peter's arm as he recovered from the assault on his senses, too. He wasn't feeling his complete best but was also determined to make sure his friends weren't worrying over him the whole time.

"Right," said Mr Potter, halting them all under an umbrella outside of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream. The cobblestone was rough underfoot here, Remus could feel it even through his trainers. "We'll do school items all together, then you lads can split up and do what you'd like for the afternoon." The boys all grinned at each other. "Do you have your lists?"

Remus watched in amusement as James looked to Sirius, who looked to Peter, who looked back at James. Of course none of the three had brought their actual school lists – there was a reason Remus was the most organized of the lot.

"I have it," he said, once he felt like the silence had gone on long enough. "Only a couple new books and some potions ingredients, really."

"Let me see," Sirius snatched it out of his hands. "We need two new books for Defence – I wonder who this new bloke is who's teaching us."

"You can't call your new professor a bloke, Sirius," Mr Potter said with a sigh.

Sirius grinned blindingly at him. "Sorry, Da'." Remus felt jealousy stir in his stomach at the fond look Mr Potter cast on Sirius. It wasn't that his own dad didn't look at him like that – Remus loved his parents dearly, after all – but it was always tainted by what Remus was. Clearly, Mr Potter didn't care what Sirius was or what his past had been, he loved him as his child all the same, despite everything.

James snatched the list from Sirius, then. "Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Herbology all have the same books as last year. New ones for Runes and Arithmancy – Merlin, Moony I forgot you took such boring subjects."

Remus rolled his eyes at James. They had begun walking in the direction of Flourish and Blotts before Sirius realized that Remus didn't have the book list for all the classes, just the ones he was taking, and the rest of the boys didn't know what they needed for Muggle Studies. Remus did his best to tune them out, taking in the sights around him instead.

The cobblestone on the road was worn down, probably from centuries of feet passing through. Shops lined each side of the street, bustling with activity – it was the week before term, when most Hogwarts students did their school shopping. Street vendors were parked down the middle of the laneway, selling everything from ice lollies that changed flavour every time you licked to alleged dragon heartstring (though Remus doubted the reliability of the latter, especially considering it was apparently selling for two Galleons).

There was the burnt smell of magic in the air – though Remus doubted anyone could smell it except him – it was the wolf that had a heightened sensitivity to smell, after all. It mingled with the smells of food and cologne, blood and sweat. Remus was finding it overwhelming.

"Are you okay?" Remus jumped at the hand on his shoulder. It was Peter, of course, who had been walking next to him the whole time. Remus did his best to pretend to himself that he wasn't disappointed it was Peter taking notice of him, and not…someone else.

"Yeah," Remus said, giving him a wane smile. "There's just…a lot." He gestured vaguely to the world around them. "It's so close to…that time for me that everything is just stronger. It's hard to describe."

Pete squeezed his shoulder. "We're almost at Flourish and Blotts. Will it be better when we're inside?"

"Probably," Remus said. "Thanks, Wormy." Peter gave him a blinding smile back. Remus truly loved all the Marauders, of course, but he often found Peter being most in-tune to his moods and feelings. They all four were friends, but James and Sirius were quite clearly brothers, had been since before Sirius had moved in with the Potters, and that had drawn Peter and Remus to become closer than they perhaps would have. On top of that – Peter was the only other Marauder who actually studied, which meant he and Remus spent much more time together.

The group stopped short as they arrived at Flourish and Blotts. It took some effort for Remus to pull himself out of the overwhelming feeling of being in public, and by the time he was able to focus it was clear that Mr Potter and the shop associate at the door of the store were in a heated argument.

"I will not have you pointing that wand at my children," Mr Potter was saying angrily. James, Peter, and Sirius all looked horrified, and were watching the argument, Peter's mouth agape.

"Just a formality," the shopkeeper was mumbling. He was small and looked young, possibly a boy just out of Hogwarts, and he seemed to quail under the look Mr Potter was giving him.

Because of the hubbub, it took Remus a moment to notice the sign on the door.

All patrons will subject to inspection to determine blood-status and breed before entry.

Remus felt immediately sick, vaguely heard Mr Potter shouting, now that "A spell can't determine anyone's blood or creature status you insufferable idiot!"

The world was collapsing on his chest. He tried to hide his laboured breathing, couldn't let the rest of Diagon see how much this was affecting him because that wasn't safe but his vision was darkening and there were sparks in his eyes and his lungs couldn't hold air and all he could see was the shopkeep's red face –

"Breathe, Moony," the voice was behind him and he might not have recognized it in his panic but of course he did because it was Sirius with his chest against Remus' back and his arms around his sides, squeezing his body back together again; picking up the pieces of his panic. "If they won't let us in, we'll go somewhere else. Nothing bad will happen."

Remus felt Sirius' chest move in and out, trying to emulate his steady breathing, feeling his heart slow and his vision return.

"If it weren't for me-" he choked out.

"We would never go in anyways," Peter said – Remus hadn't realized Peter was still beside him through the panic, his friend unwavering as always. "I can admit that you are our sense of morality usually, but sometimes we have morals without you, Remy."

Remus felt himself choke out a laugh, tried to ignore the disappointment he felt when Sirius stepped away. James had stepped in now, in front of his father, looking deadly calm but radiating energy – the same way he did when McGonagall approached him to blame him for a particularly brilliant prank that he had definitely pulled off.

"Do it, then," James said, calmly. "Scan me. We'll see if it works."

The shopkeep gulped, but cast a non-verbal spell at James. He glowed orange for a second – it was bright and James made a face.

"Human, pure-blood," the shopkeep said, almost nervously.

James grinned wickedly at him. "Wrong," he said, firmly but quietly. "I'm a werewolf."

Remus could smell the terror coming off the shopkeep in waves – hated that he could – wished James had picked any other creature to prove his point.

"James Fleamont Potter," Mr Potter growled, before the shopkeep or any of the other boys could say anything. "It is absolutely not appropriate to use such a stigmatized group of people ,l890uoto get your point across."

"Dad-" James groaned, and Remus was sure he was going to say something about blowing his cover and revealing that James was not, in fact, a werewolf, when the shopkeep made a squeaking noise. They all turned bewilderedly to him.

"Fleamont Potter," he gasped. "I am so sorry, sir," he continued in a high-pitched, pinched voice. "I should never have questioned your-" he cast a disparaging look at the group "-family. You are on our accepted list, of course. You need only to identify yourself at the doors. I am so sorry for the trouble – please feel free to choose a potions book, on the house!"

Mr Potter gave the boy the coldest glare Remus had ever seen. He shuddered, despite himself – he had never seen Fleamont Potter look anything more than loving and indulgent.

"Take my name off your list," he said to the shopkeep, enunciating every word. "I will not stand for this discriminatory garbage. I won't be shopping here again, nor will any of my friends." He turned towards the Marauders, his face immediately adopting its usual gentle expression. "Let's go, boys. We'll find your books elsewhere."

In the end, they found a small hole-in-the-wall bookstore at the border of Diagon and Knockturn Alleys. The owner was a friendly, if frail-looking squib named Matilda who gave them all chocolate frog cards. Mr Potter took it upon himself to purchase books for all four of the boys, wouldn't listen to Remus' protests that he had his own money, and left Matilda a gigantic donation of galleons, promising to recommend the shop to all his friends as well as the Hogwarts teachers. When they left, Remus was still feeling distinctly sick to his stomach and panicky.

The apothecary was easier. It was clear that the shop owner had to qualms about letting anyone into his store, and they were in and out with distinct ease. Remus couldn't settle the feeling in his stomach, though. He wanted to vomit and scream and cry and rip the world apart all at once.

The boys were to split ways then, and Pete dashed off with hardly so much as a goodbye when he spotted Mary across the street. James stuck around, giving Remus concerned looks as he made plans with Sirius about when and where they would meet up, as well as how they would find Pete afterwards. Finally, James pulled himself away from Sirius but not before giving Remus a quick hug. He appreciated it, especially because James was clearly worried about finding Lily before she ran into any similar nonsense.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Moony," Sirius said with a lopsided grin. "D'you want to go into Gambol and Japes?"

Normally, Remus would have been absolutely positively on board with going into the joke shop. He didn't love it himself, he always thought the best pranks the Marauders did were the ones they came up with all on their own, but he could hardly resist seeing the exited expressions that always appeared on James and Sirius' faces. Today, though, he just wanted to disappear from the world. Instead of replying, he shook his head numbly at Sirius.

"Okay," Sirius said. Remus saw him take a breath – he knew he was being difficult. He wanted to help, to fix it – if he weren't a werewolf, even if he were still a half-blood, none of this would be a problem. Instead, they couldn't even go into Diagon anymore.

"It's not your fault," Sirius said sharply, as if reading his thoughts. "This is horrid, even by horrible pure-blood standards." Remus felt Sirius' hand brush his shoulder lightly before dropping, as if Sirius had thought better of it. "We'll go to Fortescue's – he's a good bloke, won't care who we are, and then we can wait for the others at the Leaky, okay?"

"That sounds good," Remus responded, after drawing a deep breath. Truthfully, he didn't want to go anywhere except back to the Potters', but was gratified nonetheless that Sirius was taking matters into his own hands and making decisions. If Remus were alone, he probably would have been stuck outside Flourish and Blotts still, a gaping, panicking idiot.

He followed Sirius back down the street into the heart of Diagon Alley where Fortescue's was located and let the other boy buy him a bowl of ice cream that changed flavour every bite. Sirius insisted that Remus guess each flavours he had chosen, too.

"Dark chocolate, chocolate fudge, and chocolate brownie?" Remus asked after the first three bites.

Sirius pretended to fall over in shock. "How could you tell? They're all practically the same."

The answer, of course, was that the wolf knew. The wolf could always distinguish between flavours and tastes. But they were in public, so instead he smiled at Sirius and said simply, "I know my chocolate."

When they had finished, they wandered their way slowly back to the Leaky Cauldron, although Remus noticed that Sirius didn't dare suggest they go into any shops, even when his eyes lit up as they passed Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"How are you feeling?" Sirius finally asked him. Remus had known the question was coming, but still wasn't sure how to answer.

"I should have expected everything," he settled on saying. "I feel like an idiot."

"You couldn't have expected it," Sirius said. Their arms bumped as they walked. "Not even Dad did, and they've been paying the closest attention of anyone to make sure it was safe for us to visit Diagon."

Remus shrugged. He still felt stupid – he hadn't even planned on wearing robes and everyone else had already known that was a bad idea. He hadn't had a clue even though he'd been in the same place as them, receiving the same news, for three weeks of the summer.

"Do you think that spell would have worked?" Remus asked quietly. It was frightening, to think someone could so simply cast a spell to find out what he really was.

"No," Sirius said with a shake of his head that reminded Remus distinctly of what he was like as Padfoot – loyal and shaggy. Definitely shaggy. "It was a dud to scare people – there's no way there's a spell that can do that, it's next to impossible."

"I don't know, Pads," Remus said with a sigh. "I wouldn't be surprised if they're able to come up with something.

Sirius just shook his head again. "You should know this, Moony, it's not how it works. Blood status, or even creature status," he cringed as he said the words, "isn't something that can be found out like that. There's nothing different about you, except during the full moon." He cast Remus a wry smile. "And it's not as though they'd need a spell at that point to know what you are."

Remus smiled back in spite of himself – but Sirius wasn't done. "It's not like- like a disease," he continued, "that a diagnostic spell can detect. It's just you and you're just as human as the rest of us."

Something warm was growing in Remus' belly. He did his best to shove it down and ignore it, wasn't ready to be feeling things like that over Sirius' words – who was saying these things, of course, as no more than a friend.

"Still," Remus said with a sigh. "Even if it can't detect anything, it doesn't sit right with me. It means that muggleborns and- and people like me won't even try going places that are using a spell like that, just in case. And then what? Suddenly there's a whole part of society we can't access – just in case."

Sirius cast a look towards him that Remus couldn't decipher. Was he concerned? Should Remus have not said anything? Perhaps he did sound a little hysterical. Then, suddenly, Sirius was grabbing his arm, pulling him down an alley between two shops. They stopped moving when Remus hit a wall with his back. Sirius was crowding him, now, and Remus knew his breathing was uneven, hoped Sirius couldn't tell.

"Remus," Sirius said, his head bent inches from Remus' own, eyes piercing, "I swear to Merlin that I will tear down this world, brick-by-brick-"

"Padfoot," Remus tried with a nervous laugh, wanting to get out before something bad happened, before he cried, before he tried to kiss Sirius.

"No, let me finish," Sirius said, although he did take a half-step back, giving Remus more room to breathe suddenly. "I will tear down this world, brick-by-brick, until it's safe for you to live here. I won't stop, Rem, I swear, until you can do everything that any other wizard can do without being afraid. I promise."

"Pads," Remus tried again. He felt choked up, wasn't sure what to say or how to respond, too aware of the fierce love blooming in his chest. "You can't promise something like that."

"Too bad," Sirius responded, his dark eyes shining brightly in the dim alley. "I just did."