"OKAY, WHO DID IT?"

Remus was jerked awake early Saturday morning by Sirius's voice bellowing through the dorm room. He flailed a bit, trying to quickly get out of bed, as he was worried something bad happened, and wound up falling out of bed. He sat up, rubbing his head, and looked over to see Sirius's curtains were no longer merely red but had a crude cat face print all over them. He knew immediately it was James because they barely looked like cats.

Sirius glared as Remus began laughing from the floor, but ignored him for the time being to yank back James's curtains, demanding he get up.

"Bloody hell, Siri, it's like 4 in the morning," James moaned as he sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"It's eight," Sirius grumbled. "I know you did this."

"Did what?" Sirius pointed, and James slid his glasses on, his expression making it very obvious that he had been the one to do it. "Huh, wonder who did that."

Sirius grabbed one of James's pillows and smacked him; his glasses went flying as he finally gave into the laughter. "Wow!" Sirius said sarcastically as James fumbled for his glasses. "Wonder who did that!"

Their voices finally dragged everyone else out of bed. Peter began giggling almost as soon as he poked his head out. Spinnet launched right into complaints, wanting to know why they were being awoken so early.

"Cause James is a twat," Sirius said.

"Yes, we knew this already," yawned Spinnet. "Any particular reason you're waking us up at a miserable hour of the morning to tell us what we all already knew? And why are there hamster faces all over your curtains?"

"They're cat faces!" James snapped, quite indignant. Sirius raised his eyebrows, and James gave a sheepish smile. "Er, heh, at least I'm assuming..."

Sirius gave him another smack of the pillow before stomping over to help Remus to his feet. "Look what you did to poor Remy."

"Right, that was completely me and not you screeching," said James, rolling his eyes then grinning at Peter who was giving him a thumbs up since Sirius wasn't looking.

"Can we go back to bed or are you going to start shouting again?" Struthers asked. "I don't even see the big deal about hamst—uh, I mean, cat faces on your curtains.

Sirius just grunted. "Oh, go back to bed, all of you. I'm getting a shower."

Remus climbed back into bed, beginning to drift off right away except right when Sirius opened the door to leave, James went, "Meow."

Sirius let out a roar and soon he and James were rolling all over the floor, wrestling with one another, James laughing wildly while Sirius swore furiously.

/\/\/\/\/\

Remus didn't see the other Marauders until well after noon and as soon as he sat down James suggested they sneak into Hogsmeade since it had been a while, pointing out if they left now they could be back before too late in the evening. Sirius and Peter both agreed while Remus shook his head.

James pouted. "Aw, c'mon, Remy! You liked it there."

"I—I don't want to sneak out again," he said, poking at his food. "I only did it for a specific reason, and shan't do it again."

James blew a raspberry. "Come on! You've done it once, what's the big deal with doing it again?"

Remus kept shaking his head. "No. Sorry, but... I can't do it again. It's... I shouldn't have done it in the first place. I feel guilty enough over that as it is."

"Don't you want to get drunk again?" Sirius asked innocently.

Remus shot him a swift glare. "I was not drunk! I—"

"Yeah, yeah, happy," James said, flapping his hand. "Maybe it's a good thing if you don't go, then. I want to get loads of butterbeer and if you're there Madame Rosmerta might not sell us any."

Remus turned his glare to him, while Sirius and Pete snickered. "I hope she doesn't sell you any," he said, and James gave an offended gasp.

"You want me to stay here, with you?" Pete offered.

"No, that's okay, thank you," Remus answered. "I can do homework. I should."

"How much homework do you still need to do?" Sirius asked, pointing his fork at Remus.

"Ah—" Remus stared down at his food. Technically he was pretty much done with everything, he just wanted to go over everything, triple check it all, and probably redo a few sections of various essays. "A bit."

"Mmmhmm."

They left shortly after they ate, James promising to buy Remus some sweets, Remus threatening him if he did. Once they were gone he holed up in the library for a while, doing some homework before working on some ideas he had. He was getting close to doing the spell he really wanted to do—it'd be awful—but so far no luck. Eventually, Aegis showed up and the two of them left the library to go spend some time together elsewhere. At first they tried playing a card game in the Great Hall, but some Slytherins kept making rude remarks so they left, going to the Pits Passage instead. They still hadn't nicked a broom to go down into the one pit, though they both hoped they'd be able to soon.

They chattered about random things until somehow the conversation turned to Muggle stuff. Remus asked him if he knew much about Muggles and Aegis shook his head.

"Not really. My Uncle and Aunt are... quite pro-Muggle, however we certainly know a great deal less than, say, you would having grown up with a Muggle parent. My cousin wishes to go to a Muggle museum sometime."

"A... wizarding Muggle museum or an actual p-proper museum done by Muggles?" Remus asked.

Aegis laughed. "The latter. I've never heard of a wizarding Muggle museum. Considering how little Purebloods know, I can't imagine it would be very... educational."

Remus smiled behind his cards, remembering Sirius's face when he tried to explain a hoover. "No, probably not. It kinda b-boggles my mind, sometimes, how little James and Sirius know. It's very strange to think as sheltered as my—my home life was, how sheltered they are in other ways."

Aegis nodded at that, setting a card down. "You were sheltered?"

"Er, y... yeah, I—I wasn't... I wasn't able to go out much."

"Due to your illness?"

Remus ducked his head. "That's right. It's pretty much always been just me and my parents. I... didn't really know m-many people before coming to Hogwarts, and don't know much about... wizarding society in general. It took me ages to even figure out why—why people disliked Sirius. The whole Black family thing, I mean."

Aegis was giving him a strange look now. "So... you really did not know much about... the politics of some of the Pureblood families?"

"Not really," Remus admitted. "I'm still a bit clueless."

"Ah..." Aegis flushed slightly and began focusing on his cards. Remus wanted to ask what was up, however didn't want to press him; he suspected it was the whole other-Slytherins-hating-him thing.

"I knew a little about the Potters," Remus said, trying to break the awkward silence. "They're always in the papers."

"Speaking of which, did Mr. Potter really get rid of his broom?" Aegis inquired.

"Yes." Remus tried his best not to sound bitter. "He has a MoonGlide now."

"Those don't come out until—"

"Yeah, it was specially made." Aegis frowned, and Remus realized he hadn't been able to sound impassive at all; his jealousy had come out in his tone. "You know, I realize I d-don't know," Remus said quickly, before Aegis could comment on the jealousy thing, "do you enjoy playing Quidditch? All this time and we—we never really talked much about Quidditch."

"I enjoy flying," Aegis said. "I do not have any strong feelings one way or another over Quidditch, though I support Ravenclaw's endeavors to win. It's fun to watch, I'm simply not as fervent a fan as others seem to be."

"I... w-wasn't feeling well, during James's first game, and wasn't able to pay much attention," Remus said. "Hopefully, his next game I can. Not sure when it is..."

"Against Ravenclaw," Aegis said with a smile. "March seventeenth."

"Oh! That'll be—" Remus stopped, heart seizing up. "March s—seventeenth? I thought the—the Hufflepuff-Slytherin game was..."

"This month, on the seventeenth," Aegis explained.

Remus swallowed. "Oh, all—all right..."

"Is something the matter?"

He shook his head, holding his cards tighter. "No, I got confused over the—the dates, is all."

March seventeenth, he thought miserably. A full moon. He knew James had told him at some point, but it had dropped out of his mind. The good news was it would be the first night of the full moon, so there was every possibility he could go. The bad news was he would probably be so tired it'd be difficult to pay as much attention to what was going on as he'd like. Plus if the game went on too long he'd have to leave early. Although the sun would set around 6:30, which gave them plenty of time for the game. Surely it wouldn't go on for four hours, right?

"How—how long do games usually last? It seems like the last one hardly went on at all," he said.

Aegis's face darkened. "The Slytherin team did not play very fairly, that's why," he said, rather icily. "Games do tend to last a lot longer, however they injured the Ravenclaw Keeper, making them bring in the reserve—who is, admittedly, very good—and they decided to go for a few quick points and then the snitch. They did not feel the need to build up points, which means they are overly confident nobody else will be scoring much. Or else they're worried Ravenclaw might get too many this season, and wanted to keep their score low."

"I see," Remus said, not really understanding. "It's strange hearing someone rooting against their own House."

"Very few people in Slytherin seem to be inclined to feel comfortable being seen with me," Aegis said tensely. "It is difficult to root for Slytherin when hardly any appear to care for me."

"That—that is understandable. You were wanting to be in Ravenclaw?"

"Yes, most Silverlockes end up in Ravenclaw," he replied. "I assumed I would too. I hoped I would be."

"I can see you in Ravenclaw." Remus immediately flinched as soon as the words were out. "I—I didn't mean... ah, that probably sounded rude since you wanted—and you're not—"

"It's fine," he promised, not sounding mad. Hopefully not sounding mad. "I was thinking of asking Pandora to come to Study Group sometime soon. I know we don't choose our electives until April, however I figured if we talk to her soon that will give us time to think about what she said."

"That sounds good to me," Remus said, wondering how in Merlin's name he was going to choose.

The conversation shifted to other things, and wound up on the topic of Valentine's. Remus considered asking Aegis whether or not he found girls of interest. He never really talked about that sort of thing. With Sirius having obvious interest in girls (and kissing them already—on purpose, not 'to see' like Remus had), Peter making it clear he liked girls, James occasionally saying things, and Lily often chatting about boys... it'd be nice to know if Aegis was more on the Not Yet side of things. If he was. Which he might not be, maybe he did have a lot of interest and simply never spoke of it.

However as much as Remus wanted to know, he didn't dare. It would probably be too personal, and he didn't want to intrude.

Still, it would be nice to know he wasn't alone in the Not Yet camp.

/\/\/\/\/\

James was far too energetic in the morning, bouncing around as he got ready for Quidditch practice. Peter and Remus opted to stay in bed for more sleep while Sirius went to watch the practice. Remus slept on and off until well after eleven, and at that point Peter was awake, ready for the day. The two of them went down for an early lunch, Peter telling Remus all about their Hogsmeade visit the day before since the others hadn't had much of a chance to talk to him privately.

Remus was mid-yawn when Peter said, "Oh you know that haunted house?"

Remus snapped his mouth shut. "Er, y—yeah?"

"'Parently some locals tried breaking in the other day," Pete said, eyes going big. "They got caught trying to use the blasting curse through some of the boarded-up windows but the spell re—re—rebonded back—"

"Rebonded?"

"You know, it, um, bounced back."

Remus searched his brain to figure out what 'rebonded' might be. "Re... bound?"

"Yes, that's the word Madame Rosmerta used," said Peter with a nod. "Sent the kids flying back, hurt them pretty bad. It's kinda weird to think that someone's put so many spells up on that place to keep people away. I wonder what goes on in there." Remus gave a noncommittal sort of noise, putting his hands in his pockets to hide the shakiness. "James says we're gonna sneak in at night to listen."

"Th—that's a very bad idea," Remus said quickly.

Peter sighed, trying to mess his hair up in a similar manner that James did, but since James's hair was thick and naturally wild, and Pete's hair was rather thin and straight all he succeeded in doing was making a slightly tangled mess and not the flyaway sort of mess that James managed. "You surprised?"

"N... no. Who would be surprised James has a bad idea?" Remus asked, and Peter laughed.

They had just reached the second floor when they passed some older Gryffindor students. One of them stopped, turning to face them. "Hey!" she said, and Peter and Remus both froze, assuming Sirius and James had done something. "Lupin." She walked over, her prefect's badge flashing in the light. "Professor Dumbledore wants to see you."

"M... me?"

She gave an annoyed sigh. "Yes. Wasn't told any particular time so..."

Remus nodded, taking a step back. "I—I guess I'll s-see you later," he told Peter. The prefect was giving him a curious and rather smug look, as if figuring he was in trouble. Which he might be. Was he? What had he done recently? Well, loads of things with the Marauders however as far as he knew he hadn't really done anything worthy of seeing Dumbledore.

Remus made his way to the corridor outside Dumbledore's office and wound up stuck outside since he wasn't sure what the password was. "Pepper imps," he said, hoping it'd be the same thing as last term. The gargoyle stared blankly. Blast, he thought, shifting his weight. "Chocolate f-frog? Er, cauldron cake. Ahh... chocoballs?" He began going through various sweets and when he got to gummy butterflies the gargoyle moved. He figured that was the password, but when the gargoyle finished moving Remus found himself looking up into Dumbledore's eyes.

"Ah, Mr. Lupin. Come in. I apologize for not sending the password to you."

Remus stepped onto the moving staircase behind the headmaster. "I—it's ok—kay, sir."

As soon as they went into his office, Remus noticed Dumbledore's phoenix was at the end of its current cycle. It looked on the verge of bursting into flames any second. Remus eyed it, then scurried to sit in the chair Dumbledore indicated.

"How are you doing, Mr. Lupin?" Dumbledore asked as he swept into his seat, locking his pale blue eyes on Remus.

"Ah—er, I—I'm—f-f-fine. S-sir. Thank—thank you."

"Are classes going well?"

Remus floundered, really unsure what was going on. "Y... yes, sir. Yes, ah—classes are—are w-wonderful."

"No issues with any of the teachers?" Dumbledore inquired.

"N—no," he whispered, then thought about Slughorn pressing him about the Slug Club. That didn't really count though, right? "Everything is g-g-good."

Dumbledore smiled. "How are the occlumency lessons?"

"Er, f-fine. Miss Fawley is... a wonderful t-teacher."

"Good. And your friends? Is everything... well with that?"

Remus thought he detected something heavier with the way Dumbledore asked that question over the others. "Very—very good," Remus answered, trying not to sound too anxious.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he asked, "Getting into plenty of trouble with them?"

"Ah—hopefully n-n-not too much." Remus looked down, tugging at the end of his jumper sleeve, twisting his fingers into the loose wool. "I t-t-try not to, at—at least."

"The four of you seem very close."

Remus glanced up, not sure what to say since it didn't seem like a question. "Y—yes?"

"In fact, it seems as though I don't see any of you without at least one of the others, usually all four together," Dumbledore continued.

"We—yes, we spend—we're t-together a lot." He suspected he knew what Dumbledore was going to ask, and if he did then that meant Fawley truly was keeping his secrets.

When Dumbledore spoke the words, they pierced into Remus. "They don't know? Or suspect?"

He doesn't know? Remus lifted his chin, focusing on keeping his breathing steady to avoid panicking. His stomach yanked itself up into his throat, and he clenched his teeth to keep the bile back. He wasn't sure if he could do this. Lying to his parents was hard enough, but lying to the most powerful wizard in the country—probably the world—who had done so much for him, risked so much for him? Could he?

He managed to somehow put a vague sort of smile on his face and said, "No", lying right to Albus Dumbledore's face.

"If they ever suspect anything, you will come right to me," Dumbledore said. It was an order.

"Yes sir," Remus whispered.

"Even though I am sure you trust them, it is still exceedingly dangerous for them to know," he said, very firm. Very intense. "It is unsafe for werewolves to be very close to those who don't know. The hatred against werewolves is strong, and can break the bonds of even the closest of friendships or even family or romantic relationships." His voice grew heavier, pressing down on Remus. "While it may seem easy to trust them... I must warn you that even those we feel that we can trust wholly and explicitly can turn against us without warning. They are your friends, but you cannot fully trust them. You understand that, correct? You cannot fully trust them."

Remus squirmed under Dumbledore's penetrative gaze. He wondered if the headmaster was using legilimency. Surely he'd be able to tell if Dumbledore was doing that or not, right? "Yes... sir..." he forced out, trying to empty his mind just in case, trying to put up his wimpy barrier.

"Now." Dumbledore's smile returned, and he put his hands on his desk, linking his fingers together. The heaviness was gone. It felt as though a dark cloud had been brushed aside. "I brought you here to inform you of some things that happened in Hogsmeade last week."

Remus opened his mouth to ask if he meant the attack on his house then quickly shut his mouth, realizing there'd be no way for him to know unless he (or someone he knew) snuck in. "Wh—what happened?"

Dumbledore's expression turned slightly curious for a second or two. "Three young wizards decided to try to break into your house. They were unsuccessful, as my charms and wards on the place are very strong. However, due to the rather violent reaction, there has been some gossip about the house. I thought I should let you know, in case anyone tries anything while you're there. That way hopefully you don't panic or get frightened."

Remus has the sneaking suspicion that Dumbledore had actually brought Remus to his office to warn him about his friendship with the Marauders, not this. But he nodded. "Yes, th—thank you. I shall be very c-careful."

A few minutes later Remus was heading back down to the Great Hall, mind whirling. Did he read my mind? he wondered as he wandered through the halls, more aimlessly than he realized. What if I told them they do know and they still like me? And will keep it secret? Would he still erase their memories? How can Dumbledore not know though? How can he say I can't trust them? I can trust them. But of course he doesn't know I can trust them.

Remus yelped as he ran into a statue, nearly tumbling to the ground. A nearby painting laughed but thankfully there weren't any students around to see him. He rubbed his nose and glanced around, realizing for some reason he had gone to the third floor, not down towards the Great Hall at all. He was more out of it than he thought.

He sighed, slumping down on a nearby bench. They're good friends, of course I can trust them. He understood Dumbledore's concerns. He had thought the same before everything happened, right when they told him. Those moments were a little foggy, but he remembered being terrified they had called the Ministry.

He considered going back to confess, except he had a nagging feeling that no matter what he said it wouldn't change Dumbledore's mind, and the Marauders would be obliviated.

I do have to be careful, he thought, finally getting back up. He had to protect his friends, and that meant making double sure nobody besides Miss Fawley figured out that the others knew.

/\/\/\/\/\

Naturally the other Marauders wanted to know what Dumbledore wanted, and Remus wasn't sure how to reply. He didn't want to tell them the truth: that he was being warned about being too close to them. He didn't want to tell them the lie: that his house had been attacked, because they couldn't know that that was his house. So he went for the first things discussed: whether he was doing all right with Prewett, and with his occlumency lessons.

"Just a check up?" James asked, sounding disappointed.

"Yes," Remus answered, hiding a smile. "We didn't get in so much trouble Professor Dumbledore had to step in."

James snapped his fingers. "Drat."

Sirius was giving him a strange look. "Is that really all?"

"Y—yes." He knew his stutter gave it away, and Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Er—there were a—a few other questions. Private."

"About your furry little problem?" James asked as he stuffed food into his mouth.

Remus groaned. "Yes, and please stop calling it that."

"I'm just glad you're okay and it wasn't you getting into trouble," Peter said, nodding. "I couldn't imagine you getting in trouble instead of them, but I was worried."

"Thank you."

/\/\/\/\/\

That night he had a nightmare, though it wasn't one of his typical ones. It started out with the Marauders walking through a soapy corridor, talking about various things until James started up with the furry little problem thing again. They stopped walking and James began shouting about it for some reason and then a nearby cat turned into Professor Dumbledore. A-ha! he said, brandishing his wand which had a silvery sort of gleam to it. Remus begged him not to do anything but Dumbledore said it was too dangerous, and began obliviating James, Sirius, and Peter. Dumbledore disappeared, and Remus tried talking to the Marauders but they had gone back to the beginning of the first year, only worse. They all began calling him Loopy Lupin, laughing, Why would we want to be friends with a lunatic like you? Their laughter grew louder and louder and Remus fell down, covering his ears, crying as they pointed at him, calling him names.

When Remus woke up, it was quiet. He wasn't screaming or thrashing or anything, however his cheeks were very damp. He brushed the tears away, staring at the curtains, half wanting to wake them up to make sure—they were still friends, right? He knew he was being ridiculous. It was just a nightmare, of course they were still friends. They hadn't been obliviated.

It took him forever to get back to sleep and when he got up in the morning he could hardly breathe as he got out of bed. Sirius and James were both up already, James chattering about something or other while Sirius fixed his hair in the mirror. Remus sat on the edge of his bed, trembling violently, wanting to ask if they knew who he was.

Sirius glanced over and gave Remus such a weird look that Remus almost threw up, scared his nightmare had been real. Terrified Dumbledore had obliviated them in the night somehow. Deep down he knew it hadn't happened, it had been a nightmare, but part of him was worried it had actually happened.

"You all right?" Sirius asked, fingers moving to tie his tie.

"M—me?"

"No, your pillow. Yes you!"

"Oh. Um—yeah. Yes."

"You look out of it," James said, bouncing over. "You get sleep?"

"Yes," Remus said, relieved. "Bad dreams is all."

"You didn't..." Sirius trailed off, frowning. "Scream," he finally said.

Remus got out of bed, going to the wardrobe to rummage for a clean uniform. "No, they weren't that bad."

The last of his fears disappeared when James shook Peter awake, and Peter was the same as always. They all were. It had only been a horrible nightmare. The only problem was, dream and reality were sort of bleeding into one another again... like they had with the glitter nightmare. And that was kinda scary too.