Remus began his week of detention on Saturday morning. He had to be at the greenhouses by eight in the morning which was, in his opinion, far too early for detention. James's Sunday morning practices were worse, but at least all Remus had to do was sleepily watch his friend fly around; he didn't need to really do anything.

It was quite chilly and very foggy when he trudged out of the castle. He got lost once before finally stumbling into Greenhouse Three, the one he was supposed to go in. Sprout was already there, looking disgustingly cheerful for such a miserable hour. At least the hour made sense when she explained what he was to do: help her replant some plants that could only be moved during the morning hours.

"After around eleven, noon hits they become very testy being touched," she explained.

They went to the back of the greenhouse where there were several tables set up with loads of plants that were getting too big for their pots. They were a magical variant of morning glories. The second years hadn't studied them quite yet, but Remus recognized them from the book. In the afternoon they started curling up on themselves and their razor-sharp leaves would attack anyone who tried to bother them.

At the moment they were perky, their petals quivering with joy as Sprout complimented them.

"You need to compliment them," she explained as she handed him some gloves.

"Is this detention or a lesson?" he asked, intrigued. If it was more like a lesson then he definitely didn't mind.

"Both, I suppose," Sprout laughed. "You'll start with filling the pots. I need a mix of 70 percent plain dirt, twenty percent Grade B compost, and ten percent dragon fertilizer."

Remus began mixing everything together, being careful with the measuring. He began dumping the mix into the pots as Sprout began moving them, then when he had all the pots filled he helped her with moving the biggest, sturdier plants. They finished up a little after eighty-thirty and after that Sprout took him to one of the storage rooms to mix compost. There were dozens of enormous barrels that needed turning, and a sickly rotting stench in the air that made him gag a bit.

"Isn't this done by magic?" he asked.

"It can be," she said. "Just as there are also spells used to clean trophies. This is detention, Mr. Lupin. Start cranking."

He grabbed the handle and tugged, hoping he wouldn't need to rely on full werewolf strength to turn the barrels! However, while the initial pulls were a struggle (mostly due to his height), once he got it going it wasn't too difficult. He did work up quite a sweat and by the time Sprout released him, he was completely soaked.

/\/\/\/\/\

The next couple of days were a blur of hanging out, playing pranks, playing Wild Adventures, preparing to study for the exams, starting to study for the exams, and doing his best to avoid Malfoy who continually glared at him whenever they were in the same vicinity—minus the Great Hall, thankfully. Mostly when they happened to pass each other in the halls. There was also, of course, detention.

On Sunday it was with McGonagall, writing an essay on why what he did was wrong. Since it only took about twenty minutes he was afraid he'd be made to do cleaning afterwards, as twenty minutes hardly seemed to be a decent detention. But after McGonagall looked it over, she discussed with him the finer points of the essay, then reminded him of the dangers of using advanced spells on himself. All he did was nod in agreement, not pointing out he couldn't do any damage to his body. She also tried talking to him about everything, however he didn't really know what to say in response; that discussion sorta fizzled which he felt guilty about. The detention only lasted about thirty-five minutes total.

On Monday, he had to write lines along with Sirius who spent the entire time balancing the quill on various parts of his body, until Professor Talkalot yelled at him and Sirius wound up with more detention. Remus asked him after what his lines were supposed to be, not sure why Sirius had detention.

"I shall not dump toads on first years attempting to use the loo," Sirius laughed.

"When did…?"

"Friday, when you were at Study Group," Sirius explained, throwing an arm around Remus. "We get very bored when you're not around, you know. In fact, if you look at it that way, it's your fault."

"Oh, it's my fault you dumped toads on first years who were trying to pee?" Remus asked, feeling very tired at the accusation though not surprised.

"No," Sirius said, holding him a finger. "It's your fault I dumped toads on first years who were trying to poop."

"Sirius!" Remus moaned, and his friend burst into laughter.

James was pretty busy too, since the final Quidditch game—Gryffindor versus Slytherin—was coming up fairly soon. Remus hauled his schoolbooks with him to the practices, trying to cram information in his head while also trying to ignore Sirius teasing him for studying a month ahead.

On Tuesday Remus realized a problem: he had detention with Flitwick at six that night… and Occlumency. He hadn't thought about it until breakfast, and quietly panicked, unsure as to what to do about the situation. He didn't want to go to Dumbledore about the problem but perhaps McGonagall could help him? She knew about his Occlumency lessons. He hoped to simply put off detention, though was very aware of how unfair that would be. Except he'd be missing the next Tuesday's Occlumency lesson and did not want to miss so much!

After Herbology Remus excused himself from his friends and rushed to the Transfiguration classroom, waiting until the students finished pouring out. There was one student left, talking to McGonagall, and then Remus was able to go in to explain the issue. McGonagall listened carefully, frowning as he spoke.

"I had not thought of that," she admitted, walking over to one of the windows to look out at the grounds.

"I—I know it—I know it's wr-wrong to ask for d-detention to be another night," he said, awkwardly tugging at his sleeve, "but—but I'll be missing next week—"

"I understand," she said, turning around to face him. "Occlumency is extremely important for you. I'll inform Filius you'll be unable to attend detention tonight, and instead you will have detention on Saturday."

Remus felt rather weak with relief. "Th—thank you so much, Professor. I c-can't even begin to thank you."

Sirius found it very unfair when Remus explained to them what he run off for. "I want to miss detention tonight too!" he complained.

"Like you won't try to skip it anyway," Peter muttered.

Sirius shrugged. "Fine, I want to legally skip it."

"First of all, I am not skipping it, I am merely doing it another night—"

"Pffft."

"And second of all, not doing your detention last night is why you have detention tonight," Remus pointed out.

Sirius made a face, sticking his tongue out. "Nnenenennanenee," he whined out in a mimicky sort of way. Remus just rolled his eyes, trying not to give in to giggles.

At Occlumency, Fawley and Remus spoke quite a bit about the fact he would be taking all the electives; last Tuesday they hadn't really discussed the electives much. She was excited for him, and proud of him which made him glow.

"What have your parents said?" she asked.

"They haven't replied yet," he said. "I sent Arthur—since the school owls hate me and I hate continually asking my friends for help—anyway, I sent Arthur but he's slow now so I probably won't get a response for a while."

He worried about if Arthur made it home safely to Wales. The vet had said Arthur would be fine after the Easter holidays, and it was only a small letter. It had been a week now. If it took Arthur an extra day or two to get there, and a couple days of rest, then a few days to get back then he figured Thursday at the earliest.

"I hope they're not too mad…"

"Why would they be mad?" Fawley asked suspiciously.

"Er… the money," he explained. "The expense."

Fawley went silent for a minute then started to say something. He knew what she was going to say before the words came out. He considered cutting her off however if she wasn't going to offer to help it'd be a bit embarrassing to act like he expected it.

But no, she indeed said, "I could help."

"Miss Fawley—"

"Remus," she said firmly, frowning deeply. "You're a very intelligent young man. Consider it an investment rather than charity."

"Investment in what?" he asked bitterly. "My fancy Ministry career?"

Fawley pushed some hair back, laughing very softly. "Your future, whatever it is you decide to do with it. Besides sassing people, I mean."

He ducked his head, twisting the hem of his sleeveless jumper around his finger. "Ah, er, s—sorry."

"I don't mind," she promised, reaching over to put a hand on his arm. "It's more than fine. I enjoy your attitude, it's very nice to hear you giving lip. You… you've changed so much since we first met."

"I—it'll be two years, in about four months," he said, marveling at how fast time had gone by. Two years (almost) already!

Fawley shook her head. "Hard to believe. You've gone from a very frightened eleven year old, to a thirteen year old coming into his own."

Remus smiled at that. "Have I changed that much?"

"Very," she said, squeezing his arm. "You could hardly speak when we first met, and were terrified of getting into trouble. Now look at you."

His smile grew more, and he felt a little heat in his cheeks. "It is really… bizarre to think back to how I was." His first few months at Hogwarts almost felt like a dream. Something that didn't happen. He remembered being so adamantly intent on following his parents' rule of no friends. Well, that didn't work out so well.

"It's going to be wonderful to see you grow even more as the years go on."

He knew she meant his personality and attitude, yet he couldn't help think about the word in any other form but physical. "Yes, well, hopefully I do grow a lot. I'm the second shortest in my year! The only one shorter than me is a Slytherin girl, and only just barely."

"You've got plenty of time to get taller," she reassured him.

"According to Your Body at Hogwarts most boys stop getting taller in their sixth year. Sixteen!" He clutched at his hair miserably. "That's only three years away!"

"Remus—"

"And the average growth per year is two and a half inches. That's only seven and a half more inches, if I grow at the average rate."

"Remus—"

"Which puts me at around five foot fourish. James is almost that tall. Sirius is already taller than that! I'm going to be a shrimp." He flopped back, folding his arms, kicking his heel against the couch. "Though," he added with a sniffle, "considering the fact most of wizarding society seems to think werewolves are all great big hulking brutes, that does work in my favor."

Fawley waited for a few seconds, looking very amused. "Are you done?" she finally asked.

"Yeah," he sighed.

"Feel better?"

"A bit."

She nodded, leaning forward so she could reach out for his temples. "Good. Now. Let's begin, shall we?"

It wasn't until he was headed back to the Gryffindor tower that he realized he never convinced her not to help with the expense of his books. Perhaps she'd forget about it. Hopefully she would.

/\/\/\/\/\

"I didn't tell them why."

It was Wednesday morning. Remus had woken up early (well, early for a Wednesday) to go to the library with Lily and Aegis to study together, since he missed Monday's Study Group and would be missing the rest of the week. He wondered what the others knew, and Lily told him they knew he had detention. Just not what for.

"I can imagine the smugness of Twycross and Craft if they knew why," sighed Remus, tapping his quill rather angrily against his parchment, leaving little splattery dots everywhere.

"When are they not smug?" Lily asked, causing the two boys to snicker. "Honestly, sometimes I think they drive me crazy more than…"

"Than who?" Remus asked with a grin after she trailed off. Lily stuck her lower lip out, not saying anything. "James?" he continued. "Do they annoy you more than James annoys you?"

"No, nobody can annoy me more than Potter," she said rather huffily. "I was going to say Black. They annoy me more than Black."

"Aren't Misters Potter and Black pretty much one and the same?" Aegis inquired.

"No," Lily snapped, while Remus tried not to laugh too hard. "Potter is a thousand times worse. A million. More than a million!"

Before Remus could remark on this, Aegis said, "I do not know if I can fully agree with you on that one. Though Mr. Black has been less abrasive towards me of late, I think I still prefer Mr. Potter."

Lily looked a little uncomfortable at that, obviously not knowing what to say in return.

"I thought you said they were one and the same," Remus said to break the awkwardness, or attempt to.

Aegis shrugged. "Oh, if you are meaning in the manner of annoyance, yes, they are the same. However Mr. Potter seems to be a little nicer towards me than Mr. Black is. Therefore, I prefer Mr. Potter. Though, that is apt to change. Of course, neither of them have done anything to me by way of pranking whereas I know they have pranked you, Lily."

Lily made a face. "Ugh, I still think Potter's to blame for the custard in my dresser. I don't know how, but I just know he is!"

"By the way," Remus said, turning to Aegis, not wanting Lily to talk about the custard in case she saw anything in Remus's face, "you never did say what electives you chose."

Lily narrowed her eyes but he was saved by Aegis's response. "I have not said. I am taking Study of Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and… Muggle Studies."

Lily's eyebrows darted up. "Muggle Studies?"

"Yes," he confirmed with a wry smile. "I am very aware of the fact I am the only Slytherin in my year to take it. Professor Slughorn was rather surprised by my choice."

Remus started a little, forgetting completely that of course Aegis would go to Slughorn to hand in his elective choices. "Did he try to talk you out of it?" he asked.

Aegis shook his head. "No, no, quite the opposite. He was pleased, in his own way. He said it has been a long time since a Slytherin has taken the class. Though if you ask me, I suspect it is more from peer pressure rather than disinterest. I am a little worried about what will happen when my classmates discover I've taken it." He twisted the quill even more then dropped it, frowning. "Or others."

"Other Slytherins?" Lily asked, and Aegis nodded.

Aegis left first, as he had a class at ten, and after he left Lily asked if Remus knew why the Slytherins treated Aegis so poorly. He said he didn't know, that he really had no idea, and all he really knew was about the same thing Lily knew: it had something to do with his bloodline.

"Sirius knows, I think," Remus said, scratching doodles on his homework. "I haven't asked. It isn't really my business, unless he wants it to be."

Lily stared at him for several long seconds. "You don't want to intrude on him? Aegis, I mean."

He shook his head. "No. If—if he wants to tell me he will. I think that's best."

"Yes, that makes sense," she agreed.

After lunch Remus caught up with Aegis, wanting to ask if Malfoy had been bothering him anymore. Aegis chuckled, saying that no, Malfoy was still avoiding him for the most part. He knew Malfoy would start up again sooner or later, but in the meantime it was nice. He did add that the previous evening something had happened in Malfoy's dorm, but Aegis had had an alibi since the last time Malfoy had gone in, so Malfoy couldn't really blame him. Then Remus and Aegis made plans to do something on Saturday, depending on when Remus had his final detention.

Last night, when I was at Occlumency? Remus wondered. Did the Marauders prank his dorm?

When Remus asked them before History, James and Sirius both denied it, but he could tell they were lying. So he turned to Peter, which the others declared to be vastly unfair, and questioned him until Peter admitted that yes, they had gone into the Slytherin dorms again and filled Malfoy's wardrobe with dead spiders and insects along with sticking solution. They also enchanted his homework to say 'Pratty Malfoy' instead of Lucius.

"He threatened you," Sirius used as a defense when Remus glared.

"That is no reason to escalate the situation or risk Aegis being accused!" Remus snapped back. "Enough! Okay?"

James and Sirius exchanged glances. Then, "Okay," they agreed.

They went into class, Remus hoping that would be that.

/\/\/\/\/\

Detention Wednesday night was with Professor Spring up in the Astronomy tower. Professor Spring rarely left the tower, so the only interactions Remus really had with him were about the class; it was a little strange helping him sort through the storage room. Spring didn't really talk much, mostly he grumbled and complained about various things, none of which seemed to have to do with Astronomy. Soon Remus realized he was complaining about the possibility of having to retire.

"They won't get to me," he said firmly, shaking a lunascope at Remus.

Remus shrank back. "N-no sir," he agreed.

In Remus's opinion, it was a miracle Spring even still taught. He had to be in his early hundreds at the very least, probably mid! Remus kept his mouth shut, not commenting on his teacher's various mumbles. Finally, after forty-five minutes it was over, and Remus bolted out of the tower, nearly colliding with James and Sirius who were waiting at the bottom of the steps.

"All right there?" Sirius asked, grabbing hold as Remus almost fell over.

"What are you doing here?"

"Throwing a party," James replied, rolling his eyes. "What do you think? We're waiting for you."

Remus immediately grew suspicious. "For what?"

Sirius folded his hands together, smiling pleasantly. "Because you're our friend and we missed you,"

Now he knew something was definitely up. "What did you do this time?"

"Nothing," they chorused.

Remus folded his arms. "It wasn't anything to do with Malfoy, was it?"

"No!" they both promised. Remus narrowed his eyes.

Sirius was the one to give in. "All right, we might have maybe accidentally did a sticking charm—maybe a permanent one—to the library door handle and now some Slytherin is stuck there. No, it had nothing to do with Malfoy, we promise. The fact it was a Slytherin was mere chance."

James grinned broadly. "You should've seen her screeching, it was very funny."

Remus rubbed his temples. "Why did you—oh, never mind, I don't want to know. Hiding out then, are you?"

"A bit," Sirius said, then grabbed Remus's wrist. "Come on, Peter's club lets out soon, let's go meet him then we can hide out somewhere until everyone goes to bed!"

Remus let himself be dragged along. "You can't hide forever, you'll be caught tomorrow."

James turned, facing them as he walked backwards. "Yes but tomorrow maybe some tempers might have cooled down and it won't be as bad."

"James—" Sirius and Remus both tried to warn him.

"You've got to look on the positive side of—oof!"

He had walked backwards right into an older Slytherin. There were three of them, all looking quite furious.

"Are those the Slytherins that got stuck?" Remus whispered.

"Um, he's dating the one who got stuck," Sirius replied, indicating one of them.

James was being gripped tightly by said boyfriend, a fourth or fifth year who looked particularly awful. "Think it's funny, do you?" he demanded, whirling James around. "Could have permanently damaged her! She's in the hospital wing now, trying to get the door handle removed without too much damage to her skin!"

James tried to wriggle free. "It's not that difficult to get a sticking spell off someone!" he chuckled.

"It is when it's permanent!"

"Oh, was it permanent?" James asked lightly.

The Slytherin shoved him so hard he fell to his butt, then suddenly wands were out. Remus yanked his own out from his pocket, heart racing at the thought of fighting with such older students! Spells were being shouted out furiously, and most of them didn't seem very innocent. One of them blasted off a bit of wall when it hit.

Remus felt sick, and very scared. He thought the best course of action was to run and fetch a teacher, but there was obviously no getting out of this! So he began shooting spells, advanced spells that James and Sirius couldn't do yet. He began shooting the full-body bind though the Slytherin he accidentally paired off with was good with shields, blocking the spell easily.

What do I do!? Remus sucked in some air and whispered a spell, shooting it past the Slytherin who laughed at the 'terrible aim'. Remus shot another spell, 'missing'.

"Pathetic!" the Slytherin laughed.

Remus darted forward, shooting spells as rapidly as he could. Nothing too wild, simply doing spells for the sake of driving the Slytherin back. The moratempium spell went off, and fire blasted upwards right as the Slytherin stepped back into it. The timing couldn't be more perfect. The shield spell couldn't protect him from an attack from below! He screamed, jumping back as he tried to put the fire out. As he was distracted, Remus quickly hit him with the full-body bind, and put the fire out though it was very tempting not to.

Remus whirled around, panting heavily from all the spells he had done, sweat trickling down his forehead. He wiped his forehead off, staring at the sight of the others locked in their duels. James was bleeding rather profusely from his arm, though was easily holding his own. Sirius and his enemy were at a greater distance, flinging spells back and forth while trying to keep themselves safe.

Sirius looked more tired than James, but James was visibly injured so Remus turned to help him first. Having two enemies was a bit too difficult for the Slytherin and within a minute he was flagging. Remus tried to use the full-body bind but the shield was too strong. Then he maneuvered around, trying to get a better angle. The Slytherin now had James in front of him and Remus nearly behind him and didn't know what to do. He whirled around, putting all his focus on Remus.

"Nasusmusca!" James shouted, and bogies began climbing out of the Slytherin's nose, attacking him. "Engorgio skullus!" The Slytherin had a difficult time fending this spell off thanks to the bat bogies, and his head began swelling up.

Satisfied James could finish him off on his own, Remus turned around just as Sirius's enemy hit him hard with the flipendo spell. Sirius went flying backwards over Remus's head and his heart almost stopped.

They were near a balcony that overlooked the floor below.

Very near.

Feeling as though everything was in slow motion, Remus began running as fast as he could which, thankfully, was pretty fast, as long as he didn't trip. Please Merlin he didn't trip! The Slytherin Sirius had been fighting turned to fight James who had defeated the other one and was ready to fight the third.

"Locomotor robes! Wingardium leviosa!" Remus cried out, running after Sirius, trying to slow him down so he'd land sooner and not—

But no, he was going to go over the balcony.

Remus dropped his wand and dove, grabbing onto the railing with one hand and seizing hold of Sirius with his other. Sirius's pale face went past him and then suddenly his full body weight yanked hard. Remus cried out at the feeling of his shoulder wrenching in a painful way, but held on tight to Sirius.

"Shit!" Sirius cried out, dangling now from Remus's hand, over a one-and-a-half-story drop. "MERLIN—WHAT—THE—MERLIN—"

Remus grunted, pulling Sirius up. The pain flared in his shoulder, and he wanted desperately to let go of his friend to stop the pain. It hurt so bad. "Shit—" he hissed out through clenched teeth. "Shit!" Tears streamed down his cheeks as he gave another hearty tug, then slight relief as Sirius managed to grab hold of the balcony railing.

Remus cried out at the pain as he kept pulling until Sirius climbed over the balcony, falling on top of him. Remus went down, not caring.

"What the hell—what in Merlin's name—what—fuck—what—" Sirius panted out.

Remus wrapped his arms around him, trying not to cry, relieved that Sirius was okay, not caring how much it hurt to hug him. He didn't realize at first he was whispering, "You're okay," repeatedly until Sirius pulled back, getting into a sitting position to hug Remus back.

"I'm okay," he said, holding onto Remus tightly. "What the bloody hell just happened?!"

"Thought you were g-g-going to—thought—you almost—"

"Guys?!" James had finished off the final Slytherin and was hurrying over, not realizing Sirius had almost had a very dangerous fall. "What—why is Remus crying?"

Sirius suddenly pushed Remus back a little. "Your shoulder is hot," he said, putting his hand gently on Remus's left shoulder.

Remus flinched in pain. "No, it—I'm f-fine—it's fine—"

"It's hot, and swelling up," he said, face darkening.

"What happened?!" James demanded.

"He saved me," Sirius replied, getting up and gently helping Remus up—by his right arm. "I would have gone over the side if Remus hadn't—how—how did you do that? Should you go to Pomfrey?" he added, when Remus reached up to gingerly touch his left shoulder.

"I d-don't know," he admitted. He rotated his arm, yelping when it felt worse. It didn't seem to be healing up.

"Yeah, we're going," Sirius said, not giving Remus a choice.

"S—someone needs to g-get Peter," he pointed out, deciding not to argue. The pain was coming and going in waves which meant whatever the problem was, his lycanthropy couldn't fully fix it. Which didn't make sense, since he knew he could heal broken bones. What happened?

"I'll get Peter," James offered.

"You're bleeding," Sirius said.

James looked at his arm. "Er, only a little, it's mostly stopped."

Sirius shook his head, then glanced rather miserably at Remus, as though he didn't want to leave Remus's side. "I—I guess I'll get him."

"I can get him," Remus offered and both of them stared at him. "Oh. Er. Right."

The three of them walked together until they reached the floor where Peter's club met, then James and Remus moved on. He was expecting the pain to go away by the time they reached the hospital wing but it hadn't, and he began panicking. The only thing that ever lasted this long was a dark art injury (aka himself, as a wolf).

"Pomfrey?" he whimpered when she came over to see who had come in. Remus glanced around for Slytherins and saw one bed had curtains around it. Probably the girl with the door handle stuck to her.

"Mr. Potter!" Pomfrey exclaimed, ushering James over to a bed. "What happened?"

Remus stood there awkwardly, not knowing how to say he was the one who needed tending to. James tried to explain, pointing at Remus while Pomfrey rolled his sleeves back. "Madame Pomfrey, Remus—Remus is—he—"

"It's not too deep of a gash," Pomfrey said, getting some potions out.

"Remus is hurt too," James said a bit loudly.

Pomfrey blinked at him then turned towards Remus. "My—my sh-shoulder hurts," he muttered.

"Your shoulder hurts?" she repeated, disbelievingly. "Oh. Well. Let me see. Here, Mr. Potter, rub this potion in to disinfect the wound." She hurried over, doing a spell over his shoulder, eyes widening when she saw whatever the problem was. "Oh! Your shoulder is—is dislocated. It is out of its socket. Er, hold on. This may hurt a moment…"

She flicked her wand, doing a spell which shoved his arm up in a strange way. He screamed at the blast of pain which immediately began fading.

"That should feel better," she said, then handed him a potion. "Rub this into your shoulder to help the muscles and the bruising."

Remus sat down, putting some of the salve onto his fingers and pushing it into his shoulder, having to go through the mime since Pomfrey couldn't know James knew Remus could heal on his own. Dislocated shoulder, he thought, which made sense as to why it couldn't heal on its own. He supposed his body was having a hard time putting his shoulder bone back into its socket, so to speak. Huh. He'd have to look up how to fix dislocated bones on his own for emergencies. It probably would have slid back into place eventually, but he definitely didn't want it to happen again and have to wait for it to pop back on its own.

Right when Pomfrey finished up with James the doors burst open and Sirius and Peter ran in.

"REMUS! JAMES!" Peter screeched, dropping his bag. "Sirius said—"

"We're both better now," James said cheerfully. "I had a gash and Remus's shoulder was dislocaled.."

"Dislocated," Remus corrected, not that James really cared about the proper term. He just hoped Pomfrey would let them go soon and not ask what happened, because everything was beginning to overwhelm him now that the adrenaline was dying down, and the pain fading.

The realization of what almost happened to Sirius settled into Remus's stomach like a rock. He wrapped his arms around his stomach, bending forward, seeing Sirius plummeting down in his head. He was dimly aware that Pomfrey was questioning them about what happened, and James making up some story. The words didn't penetrate the fog in Remus's brain so he wasn't sure exactly what was said.

After Pomfrey told Remus to return in the morning for a checkup, the Marauders left the hospital wing. Sirius had a hand on Remus's back, guiding him; it was pretty obvious Remus was out of it. Except he shouldn't be, it should be Sirius who was out of it—Sirius who almost…

Peter was demanding to know what happened, and James told him about his side of things. What he knew. When he finished, Sirius supplied the rest. That he had been flung over the balcony, and Remus saved him. Peter whistled, apologizing for not being there to help (though sounding slightly relieved he hadn't).

"Are you okay?" Pete asked Sirius.

Remus was glad Peter asked, since he didn't seem to have the words.

"I dunno, I guess," Sirius replied, restlessly running his fingers through his hair. "It's all a bit of a blur, to be honest. Except—well, let's wait till we're alone. Actually, here—down here."

Sirius led them down a side corridor then another side corridor. Remus staggered along, barely noticing where they were going, sucking in deep breaths as he repeated, it's over, it's done, to himself.

At least he thought so, until Sirius stopped in his tracks and said, "So, wanna tell us what that's about?"

It took several seconds for Remus to realize Sirius was talking to him. Slowly he turned, confused, especially when he realized they were in a dead-end corridor that, as far as he knew, didn't have any secret passages. Why were they there? "What? My shoulder?"

James and Peter both seemed as bewildered as Remus, but Sirius was staring at Remus, arms folded. "No. The fact you—" He paused, glancing around, then continuing with, "you held onto me—my full weight—then hoisted me up with no trouble whatsoever, other than a dislocated shoulder."

Remus stared.

"You lifted me up," Sirius repeated. "You lifted me up, Remus. You're practically half my size, and you—you held onto me as I fell—you caught me and held onto me—then you pulled me up without trouble. My full weight," he said again, to hammer the point home.

James and Peter turned their gazes to Remus who took a step back.

Well, he thought rather miserably, not wanting to deal with this revelation on top of everything that happened, shit.