Author's note: I want to make it clear that I don't think sharing a bed with people automatically makes nightmares go away. However I do feel in some cases it sometimes can help ease them a bit.

/\/\/\/\/\

When Remus woke up in the morning, he was dimly aware that he had only had a few foggy nightmares that hadn't done much to his sleep. He had fully expected violent nightmares of his friends dying and… he was somewhat sure that was what had been in his nightmares. It just hadn't been bad enough to wake him up. He wasn't really sure why until he realized he was in between two bodies.

James and Sirius.

We all slept in the same bed, he remembered, opening his eyes more. It was pretty dark in James's bed, though a bit of light filtered in through the cracks. He found himself staring at James's profile; sometime in the night he had rolled onto his back and was now sprawled, one arm flopped across Remus, and one of James's knees was jammed up against Remus's leg. Behind Remus was Sirius, who was still on his side and curled up against Remus, an arm across him as well.

For some reason the weight of James and Sirius's arms on him felt nice. He wanted to bury himself deeper and have the weights of his friends on and around him, to be kept safe in the pile. To be lost in a tangle of arms and legs and quietly beating hearts and gentle breathing.

Stop it! He tried to shake off the weird thoughts, and failed. Okay fine then, he thought angrily at himself. If you're going to act like that, you should get out of bed. But he didn't want to wake up his friends. He wasn't even sure what time it was. It was after dawn, he could tell that much by the faint light.

Remus shifted a little and James made a sleepy sort of sound, wriggling his arm so an elbow now dug into Remus's chest a bit. Remus cautiously reached up, adjusting James's arm, then curled back up, closing his eyes. He was unable to get back to sleep so instead he lay there and enjoyed the sensation of—

Cwtch.

—of the nice feelings.

Sirius moved a little, his head tipping down to press against the back of Remus's neck. Was that how James and Sirius slept? All over each other, holding on? He had sorta seen them like that once or twice.

A few minutes later there was a slight snuffling, whimpery sound and then Peter woke up. "Uwaaah?"

"Morning," Remus whispered.

He saw Peter sit up, James's arm sliding down his chest. James slept soundly, not waking up from the sensation of his arm moving. Peter blinked at Remus. "Morning," he whispered back, rubbing his eyes. "What time?"

"Dunno."

"No wake," Sirius murmured, nuzzling against Remus's neck.

"Sirius?" Remus whispered, but Sirius didn't respond. He must have been talking in his sleep. Except Sirius was a very light sleeper, so it was odd he didn't wake up from the whispering.

Peter reached through the curtains for James's alarm clock. "Is not six," he said then lay back down, clutching the alarm clock as he fell right back asleep.

Remus had slept with his arms tucked up against his chest but now he moved one arm to go around James. James made a 'mmmm' sound and snuggled closer. Remus kept inching his hand over until his fingers brushed Peter's arm.

With that, he drifted back to sleep.

/\/\/\

Remus woke up again when James was up and trying to extract himself from the pile. "Oops," he said when he saw Remus stir. "Didn't mean to wake you up."

"I'm fine," Remus promised.

"Want to sleep," Peter murmured, rolling onto his stomach and pushing his head under the pillow.

James pat Peter's back. "Sleep," he said then began making his way to the foot of the bed to get out. One foot hit Remus, an elbow smacked into Peter, and then Sirius yelped in pain as James accidentally kicked him. At that point it was pointless for any of them to go back to sleep. Besides, it was now six-thirty; they had all been sleeping for a good ten hours.

"Morning," Sirius yawned, rubbing his shin.

"Feeling all right this morning?" James asked as he slid backwards off the bed.

"Me?" Sirius asked and James nodded. "I… guess so?"

"I think James is worried about the cuts you received," Remus explained.

"Oh!" Sirius stretched out his arm. It was smooth, pale, and unblemished. "It looks like everything healed well and I don't think I got any blood poisoning."

One by one they got out of James's bed, and Remus eyed Spinnet's bed, wondering what their dormmate had thought about three beds being obviously empty and one having their curtains shut. Or maybe they thought the Marauders were staying up somewhere else and didn't realize they were in James's bed at all!

"Did everyone sleep okay?" James asked as he stripped off. When everyone said they had, he looked pleased. "I thought it would help."

"It helped you?" Sirius asked Remus, taking hold of his arm as the others left.

Remus looked up into his face, not wanting to admit how much it had helped. "Yes. I—I had nightmares but they weren't very intrusive. They didn't… wake me up."

Sirius brightened up, his eyes going big. "Really?"

"Yes." Remus pulled away so he could get his toothbrush and potion. "I was worried about sharing a bed because I was afraid I might start… thrashing."

"Do you think it was… sharing a bed that did it?" Sirius asked softly.

Yes. "I don't know."

Sirius kept staring at Remus with a strange expression and throughout the morning kept giving Remus odd looks that began to make him uncomfortable. It was weird enough being down in the Great Hall at seven am on a Sunday morning. They had gotten up that early loads of Sundays due to James's practice, but they never ate in the Hall; they usually only took food to the pitch. They were practically the only ones in there. In fact, the only teacher at the High Table was Professor McGonagall.

"So…" James stirred his porridge, his old glasses looking rather funny on his face since he had grown since last using them. "Yesterday…"

Peter shook his head. "I'd rather forget about it. I don't want to talk about it anymore, I don't want to think about it anymore. It—it was the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

"What do you think the passages were for?" James switched his gaze to Remus.

"How am I supposed to know?" he asked, rather on Peter's page about the whole thing. He almost got his friends killed, he didn't want to talk about it. "That place is certainly not mentioned in Hogwarts, a History."

"What do you think was behind the stone door?" James pushed.

Remus felt like screaming. "Something deadly."

"It must have been something five-X," James said, not noticing or caring about the stiffness in Remus's voice. "What else would it be to scare…?" At least he didn't finish the sentence. "What five-Xes are there?"

"Dragons," Sirius replied without hesitation.

James looked excited at that thought. "What if it is a big dragon down there? What if it's a… what were they? Red-snouts? Or the red dragon? What if it's connected to the one room?"

Remus stared at James, unable to believe his ears. "What does it matter? We're never going back there anyway."

James folded his arms on the table. "If we took my broom—"

"NO!" Peter screamed, gaining the attention of everyone in the Great Hall. "James are you out of your mind?!"

"I'm with Peter on this one," Remus said, trying to stay calm. "A little over twelve hours ago we were in a situation that could have ended all our lives and you wish to return?"

"With my broom," James said hesitantly. Peter stood up and stormed out of the Great Hall. James pushed his glasses up, looking even more unsure now. "It's not—"

"You almost died." Remus stood as well, hands on the table as he leaned in very close to James. "We got you out within seconds of the roof collapsing. You. Almost. Died. Besides." He grabbed a piece of toast, not wanting to be around James at the moment if he was going to be like this. "It's collapsed. You can't go back."

He turned on his heels and followed Peter out. He easily tracked his friend to the main doors and saw Peter a few feet away, staring up at the grey sky. He tensed when Remus approached, then relaxed when he saw who it was.

"He's an idiot," Pete mumbled.

Remus tore his toast in two, offering half to Peter who took it. "He is. Come on." He took Pete by the sleeve and pulled him over to a bench so they could sit down. Even though he slept forever and healed up, he still felt tired from all the wandering.

Pete sank down, staring at the bit of toast in his hand. "Why would he want to go back?"

"I think he wants to know the purpose for the passages." Remus chewed and swallowed. "I think… also… he wants to know what's behind that door."

"What do you think it is?"

Slytherin's monster. "No idea," he said, biting into his toast. Once he chewed and swallowed he added, "Something very dangerous."

Peter scoffed. "He's an idiot. He's such an idiot. How can anyone be that stupid?"

Out of the corner of his eye he saw James and Sirius jogging over. He elbowed Peter to give him warning; Pete scowled while Remus chewed methodically on his toast.

"Guys!" James bent over, hands on his thighs as he sucked in gulps of air. "I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking. I shouldn't have even brought it up. I guess I was just—well, it's not important. I'm sorry. I really am."

"You were just what?" Remus inquired.

James mussed his hair up as he got a rather sheepish expression. "I was just thinking that it might be neat to find something like that in the school. Which okay, isn't the brightest of ideas—"

"A pitch black room is brighter than that," Remus said.

James sat on the bench, squeezing in next to Remus. "I'm sorry. I really wasn't thinking things through. All I thought about was the adventure, and not… everything else. Don't you read adventure books sometimes? Don't you sometimes want to do something like that?"

Remus brushed the crumbs off his jeans. "Yes, actually. And I did. And look what happened. I almost died. You almost died. We all could have died. I think I am more than done with adventures for the time being, thank you very much."

Peter raised his hand. "I don't want to adventure at all. I like being alive."

James got a slight grimace. "Right. We won't. I won't. I'm not—yeah, no, that's not going to happen."

"Do you promise?"

"Eh?"

Remus met James's eyes. "Do you promise?"

James stared back for several seconds then glanced away. "Yeah, of course! Besides, you're right. It's all… buried now. No way in."

Remus did not like the way James said that, but there wasn't much to say. James was a reckless idiot, however it was very likely he would let it go for a while. Long enough for the end of school? Then would he forget about it over summer?

Remus frowned as he shuffled along behind his friends as they returned to the castle. Possibly.

James is never going to listen to me, he thought, wringing his hands. But…

He took a few jogging steps towards Sirius, seizing his wrist, making him stop. "Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

Remus glanced at the others then back to him. "I know neither of you believe me that there's something down there—" Sirius had the grace to look sheepish, at least, "—and that's all right. What you do know is it is dangerous down there. Very dangerous. We were extremely lucky. That might not happen again—"

"Remy, what's going on?"

"James," he whispered. "Please talk to him." He looked up through his fringe, knowing damn well Sirius was the only person James might listen to. Only… Sirius was just as recklessly stupid, so there was every chance Sirius just wanted to go right back down too. "Please?"

Sirius shifted from foot to foot, his heart rate speeding up for some reason. Did he want to go back down?

"Please," he said again, putting as much pleading into his voice as he could.

Sirius rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, all right, yeah, I—I'll talk to him."

He went up ahead, walking alongside James, talking softly with him. They both glanced over their shoulders at Remus then continued their discussion. They were quiet enough and Remus far enough behind that with the stiff breeze it was a little difficult to make out every word. He didn't know exactly what Sirius said, but a shudder of relief went through his body when he saw James nodding.

Thank Merlin.

At least, for now.

/\/\/\

The four of them returned to the Great Hall just in time for the first round of owl post to come in. Remus saw a few older students being given copies of the Daily Prophet and he remembered what Dumbledore had said. Mildritha Young would be mentioned. His suspicion of James's words were swept away as he wondered if someone would lend them their copy. A Gryffindor down near the end of the table set her paper aside in order to continue to eat breakfast, and Remus whispered to the others that they should see if they could borrow it briefly.

Sirius went down, charming the girl into handing over her paper with the promise of giving it right back. He returned to the Marauders and it didn't take long to find the article as it was on the front page. It talked about how Mildritha Young, who had been missing for seven years, had been found. It described her time working at Hogwarts, the searching that had been done for years after she went missing, etc, etc. For some reason the paper also mentioned her marriage to Edward Young as being 'strange'. Remus wondered out loud about this and Sirius knew the reason: the Abbotts, which was her maiden name, were one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight.

"If one of us marries anyone without pureblood heritage, it's usually considered 'strange'," he explained. "Says here Young is a Muggleborn. That must have caused some big trouble. Though the Abbott family generally isn't quite as…" He trailed off, trying to think of the right word.

"Obsessive over blood purity?" James suggested.

Sirius nodded. "Yeah. They're like the Weasleys and Longbottoms and all of those families." He bent back over the newspaper. "A little more open-minded than, say, the Carrows or Lestranges. Or mine."

"A little?" James muttered.

"James, how come the Potters aren't part've the Sacred Twenty-Eight?" Peter asked. "Aren't the Potters as ancient a pureblood family as the Blacks?"

James tilted his head. "Oh, we are very old and very pure. Some people say it's because 'Potter' is a common Muggle surname but—"

"So is Black," Sirius laughed. "It's a very flimsy and stupid excuse."

James laughed too. "Yup. It's 'cause of my grandfather. Because he was extremely pro-Muggle. Actually, he was so pro-Muggle he got into a huge row with a Minister of Magic about it. Grandfather said we should help the Muggles during that… war. The first one." He looked very proud about that fact, not that Remus blamed him. "That was a few years before the Pure-Blood Directory came out which started the Sacred Twenty-Eight hippogriff shit."

Once the four of them read through the article (it said there were no suspects in her murder, nor did it mention anything about who found her) Sirius returned the newspaper to the girl. When he returned, James began talking again.

"You know, even though yesterday was horrible, some good came out of it." James propped his elbows on the table, resting his chin in his hand. "The Abbotts and the Young guy can put their loved one to rest now, as Dumbledore said."

After a few seconds of quiet dwelling on this statement, the others agreed. Remus couldn't imagine how hard it had been for the families when Mrs. Young (Professor Young?) had been missing. Seven years.

Who killed her, though? And why? Had it been something to do with the… 'curse'? Remus had never really thought there was a curse on the Defense position though… now he wasn't so sure. Seven teachers had come and gone in the seven years since Professor Young's murder. He could still hear her voice. He killed me, used my death. He had been planning on looking through the book on sacrificial magic he had found in the room, but he also wanted to try to find out any and all information on Vinctums that he could.

After he was done eating he opened his mouth to excuse himself to go to the library, then realized he didn't want to be apart from them. Even for research that he really wanted to do. The thought of going off by himself filled him with a trembling fear that made his mouth go dry, and his bladder feel weak. Suddenly he wanted to grab them and not let go.

The others seemed to be of similar mind since they stuck together like glue that day. Even when Lily showed up to ask Remus if he could talk to her privately, the two of them only went a little ways away so the Marauders were still in sight. Lily, naturally, wanted to know why the hell the Marauders had limped into the common room the night before looking like they had been through some big battle. Remus shuffled from foot to foot, tugging his sleeve, trying to figure out what to say. Finally, he said they had been exploring some secret passages and it hadn't exactly been safe.

Lily put her hands on her hips. "Remus, you—you need to be careful! What if something had happened? What if—"

"I know," he said, voice a little strained. "We've realized this. I'd really—I'm not particularly in the mood for a lecture, at the moment. Please."

She studied him then her hands dropped. "Yeah. Well, I'm glad you're all right." She gave him a tight hug. "Does this have anything to do with why the trophy room is closed off?"

"It is?" he asked, though he wasn't very surprised. Of course the Ministry employees would need to look in the passage, in the pits. He shuddered at the thought then lied, saying no, he had no idea what was going on.

Thankfully, she seemed to believe him and asked, "Do you want to do something later?"

"Er…" Again, the thought of separating from the Marauders made him nauseated. "Not today. I'm very tired."

"Oh." She sounded disappointed which made him feel worse. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Yeah, tomorrow."

"Hey," she said as he turned to leave. "Maybe we could all listen to some Muggle music tomorrow? After Transfiguration? We can also plan for… you know, the Overgrowth thing."

Remus stared at Lily in absolute confusion until he remembered they still have two more weeks of classes. He'd have to go into Potions class the next morning with everything weighing down on him. "I'd like that." He gave her a small smile before returning to the boys.

The day stretched on in an unbearable way. None of them wanted to do anything. Nothing felt good. They tried Wild Adventures which was a bit much for their brains, especially Remus who stared at some of the tokens wondering if one of them was the thing behind the stone door. They couldn't wander around the school because none of them wanted to ever walk again. They couldn't plan for Operation Overgrowth because they couldn't focus.

But they didn't want to do nothing. It was agony. They were simultaneously incredibly bored and too overwhelmed to do anything at the same time. Remus considered suggesting they sneak into Hogsmeade, thinking McGonagall's idea of distractions might work… however that would involve walking. So he kept silent.

Finally, they were able to play a few rounds of cards, which at least was something. They played until lunchtime, then James offered to go bring back lunch. None of them really wanted to eat in the Great Hall again and they agreed. He asked Peter to go with him and soon Sirius and Remus were left alone.

Sirius began shuffling the cards again. "It's been such a strange day," he said.

"It has," Remus agreed, sitting cross-legged across from him on his bed. "It feels like it is… unending."

"It is going by very slow," he sighed then dealt cards out. "Maybe the afternoon will go a bit faster." He finished dealing then looked at his hand. "I'm glad James and Pete went to get lunch."

"Yeah, I'm—I'm not really in the mood for people," said Remus as he blankly looked at his hand.

"Well." Sirius licked his lips nervously. "I—I did sort of want to talk to you. Privately. I might have asked James to take Peter with him."

Remus peered over his cards. "Wh-what's going on?"

Sirius focused on his cards, avoiding Remus's eyes. "I don't really know how to say it."

That of course made Remus feel very panicked and scared. Was Sirius going to say something… awful? Was he going to accuse Remus of nearly killing them all? All right, he had, and he deserved to get yelled at for it but…

Then he thought about what Sirius had said down there, about his parents not caring if he died. Was he going to talk about that?

"All right, look." Sirius set his cards down and began running his fingers restlessly through his hair. "I don't know if you remember back in… January? I think it was?" He squinted at the ceiling. "Yeah, it was before Peter's birthday. You—you had a nightmare and I talked to you. You seemed really out of it. I… I said something, and you said you were too tired to think about it." He began drumming his fingers against his leg, very obviously nervous about something. "The next day you said you forgot what I said, but—well, I don't know if you were so out of it you hadn't, or if you said that as an excuse not to answer me."

Remus struggled to remember the moment then it came to him in a flood of hot embarrassment. He hadn't heard Sirius, due to the fact he had been thinking about kissing then imagined himself kissing Prewett. "I—honestly, I hadn't heard you, and I-I was discomfited to ask you to repeat yourself," he confessed with a slight squeak. "I felt bad for not paying attention. I didn't want to admit I hadn't been."

Sirius gave him a long look then laughed slightly. "Oh."

"You didn't tell me the next day."

"No…" Sirius raked his fingers through his hair once more. "No, I—I thought maybe you were trying to… avoid the conversation."

"I asked you!"

"Yes, well, I—I wasn't sure how to say it again," he said, a little annoyed. "It felt weird to say it the next day, in the light of day."

Now Remus was even more bewildered. "Why are—what is—I don't understand."

"Right, right. Okay." He cleared his throat. "I have nightmares too, and sharing a bed with James helps me when I have them." He was speaking rapidly, the words almost running together. "I told you if you thought that might help you, I would be all right sharing your bed, if you wanted." Now Sirius flushed faintly pink and he turned his head. "It seemed right when you had your nightmare but the next day, in broad daylight, I dunno it felt weird, so I… didn't say. But—but you said this morning that… the four of us… helped you, or might have helped you, and I was thinking maybe, well, if you thought it helped then I'd offer—I mean, if you—I'm babbling, aren't I?"

He's offering to share a bed, Remus realized, heat flaring up. He hoped he wasn't turning red. He felt like he was. He felt like he was on fire. "You… uh…" He struggled to figure out what to say. "You—nightmares? I mean. You, um, go to James and that… helps?"

"Yeah." Sirius rubbed the back of his neck, still not looking at Remus. "It helps a lot. I mean, it doesn't get rid of them. I still have them sometimes. But it's usually not as bad. Since you didn't really have any big problems last night I thought… I'd… offer again. If you don't—I mean, er, I understand, it's not like you—it's—it's up to you." It was so strange to see Sirius so flustered! "If you're not comfortable with me sharing, I'm sure James wouldn't mind. I mean, I can't volunteer him but…"

"I don't know," Remus blurted out. "Um. I—I appreciate the offer—"

"Nono, it's fine," Sirius said quickly. "Forget I said anything."

Remus let out a sigh. "Sirius, no, I… can I finish? I appreciate the offer and it—it might help. I don't know. I'm not used to sharing a bed. Last night was the first time I've ever shared a bed since I was little and sometimes slept in my parents' bed." Sleeping with three of them was one thing, but sleeping only with Sirius was something else entirely and he doubted he'd be able to survive a night like that. "I think—I think maybe it's something we could… talk about the next time I have one?"

Sirius finally looked at him again. "Only what you're comfortable with."

Part of him wanted to say yes, part of him wanted to say never. "I don't think I'd mind," he whispered. "But my nightmares can be… stressful… so I don't know how I would feel in the moment."

"Oh, yes, that makes sense."

"Um, th—thank you. I really do appreciate it and—and, well, we'll see."

Sirius smiled. "Yeah."

Remus's heart fluttered a little and he ducked his head, letting his fringe fall across his face to hide any possible blushing, and they went back to playing cards until the other two showed up again with food.

/\/\/\

The afternoon went a little better than the morning, with the cards and, eventually, music. James let his radio play quietly so as not to intrude too much on their thoughts. Then at around two-thirty someone approached the door; this time Remus recognized Dumbledore's footsteps. What does he want? he wondered as there was a knock. Dumbledore entered the room, looking rather tired.

"Good morning. I hope you were able to sleep well last night? That's good," he said when they nodded. He stayed near the middle of the room, not sitting down this time. Remus wondered why he was there. Surely not to make small talk? As if reading his mind (which, as always, was a possibility) Dumbledore went on to say, "I'm here on behalf of the Abbott family."

That got their attention.

"What about them?" James asked.

"You didn't tell them who was involved, did you?" Sirius asked.

Dumbledore held up a hand. "No, I kept my promise. Nobody knows who informed me of the location. All the Abbotts know is that I know who did find her. They have given me this." He produced a large, bulging bag from his pocket, handing it over to James whose hands drooped from the weight.

James stared down at the bag. "It's money," he said, looking back up in confusion.

"There was a reward, for anyone who had any information on Mrs. Young," Dumbledore explained. "Hartwin Abbott said he felt that you—or rather, whoever found her—should have it."

James opened the bag and upended it, sending galleons clinking across his bedspread. Remus stared in shock. There had to be a few hundred galleons.

"Holy hippogriffs," Peter whispered.

James swallowed, glancing up at Sirius. Then he looked at Dumbledore. "Could—could you give us a moment?"

Dumbledore slid out of the dorms though didn't leave the hallway. As soon as the door shut, James picked up one of the galleons, twisting it between his fingers. His heart was racing, as were all of their hearts really. Remus reached out, fingers brushing against the gold. They all stared at the money in silence for nearly a full minute.

Then Sirius began counting. He slid them ten by ten. Ten. Twenty. Fifty. A hundred. Two hundred. There was still over twice that left and as Sirius began counting out another ten galleons James said, "I don't know if we should accept this."

Sirius stopped counting, the galleons slipping out from his fingers.

"What?" Peter gasped out. "But… it's a reward."

"How—how can we? I mean, it's a reward but… I don't know." James pushed his glasses up, hand shaking slightly, then looked around at them. "We found a skeleton. It feels… weird to take money for that. I—well, what—what do you guys think?"

Nobody said anything for what seemed like ages. Peter opened his mouth then shut it, brow furrowing as he peered at the pile of coins. Sirius picked up the galleon he dropped, running his finger across the surface. Remus knew if they split it four ways he'd get more galleons than he'd ever see in his entire life. He thought of all the purchases he'd need to make in order to take all the electives, and the fear that they couldn't afford it. I could, with this.

"I don't know," James muttered, sounding awkward. "Never mind—"

"No, you've got a point," Sirius said. "I…" But he didn't finish his sentence.

Remus crossed his arms, rubbing slowly, not sure what to say about it. He was torn. He understood James's point of view. However he also understood taking the reward would free up a lot of worry in his life.

"Peter?" James asked.

Peter whimpered, chewing at his bottom lip. "I don't know. I—I don't know." He gave a slight cry, shaking his head.

James sucked in some air. "Remus?"

"I—" Remus hesitated, wheels turning in his head. "I—I think we should do a silent vote."

"Silent vote?" Sirius asked.

Remus nodded, folding his arms tighter against his chest. "Yes. You know, write down whether we—we should or not then… well, we go with the majority. If it's tied… a revote?"

"If it's tied, we'll keep it," James said firmly. "All agreed?"

"Yes," Sirius said.

"Yes," Peter said reluctantly.

"Yes," Remus said, getting up to get paper. "I think the best way to do this is if I write out everything, then nobody can tell who voted for what." He carefully sliced up a piece of parchment into eight even strips. Then he printed out Ys on four of them and Ns on the other four. They looked identical.

"Look, if yes wins, I won't judge anything," James promised as Remus handed out the strips of paper. "I mean, I'll gladly accept a fourth of that. I mean, Merlin, think of all the pranks or sweets I could buy with that! So—so don't feel like you should vote no just because I'm not sure. Because I also know it's unfair for me to ask you three to give up the money, since this—" He stopped, sliding his fingers past his lens to rub against his inner nose. "A fourth of this money is easily something I could receive from my parents. I—mmm—the thing is, it would be really… awful of me to say you should pass this up because I don't need the money as much as some of you might. It's not right for me, the rich kid, to make that decision. Oh bloody hell. What I'm trying to say is, I will understand and not judge if anyone votes yes. And I think if there is even one yes in there we should take the money, because I think it would be wrong to do otherwise, it would be wrong to take the money away from whoever said yes. Is that… agreed?"

"Agreed," they all said.

James nodded. "Also… vote… how you want. Don't vote no unless you absolutely, truly mean it. There's nothing wrong with wanting to keep the money. Please. If you want the money, put in yes. It's completely fine and understandable."

Sirius got the silly hat Remus had made him for his thirteenth birthday, and set it in the middle of the four of them. Remus looked down at his papers and, after a few seconds, put his in as his stomach twisted itself into knots. Sirius put his in second, face completely unreadable. After a moment Peter put his in, his face scrunched up. James was the last, his brow furrowed as he put his decision in. Sirius closed the hat and shook it up before pulling them out.

One by one he set four Ns out for everyone to see.

"Can I at least look at it again?" Peter asked, covering his face.

Remus drew his knees up, hugging them tightly as he thought of all that gold he could have had. It could have helped his parents out so much, though it'd be difficult to explain how he got it.

James, however, was shaking his head. "Wait, guys, are you sure? I don't—you don't have to say no because I don't like it, if you want the money—"

"I don't do things based on whether you like it or not," Sirius said, poking James.

"I—I said no because I don't feel comfortable profiting off of somebody's tragedy and demise," Remus said softly. "It feels macabre and insensitive."

Sirius pointed at him. "Yes, exactly. That's how I feel. Only Remus said it smarterer. Smartier. Smartester. Smartly. Yeah. I'm with Remus."

James ran his palms up and down his thighs, still uncertain. "Peter—"

"I don't want it," Peter said flatly. "I don't want to keep anything that has to do with the passages or the cavern or the tunnels, and especially nothing to do with the skeleton. I don't want to think about it, I don't want to remember it, I don't want to be reminded of it every time I take a galleon out to pay for something. That's why I said no."

James looked at each of them, nodding. "All right." He went over to open the door, letting Professor Dumbledore back in. "Sir." He stood straight as he held the bag out. "We've decided una—un—um—all together—"

"Unanimously," Remus coughed.

James gave him a crooked grin. "Yeah. We've decided unamiously that we can't accept this."

Dumbledore arched his eyebrows, looking extremely surprised. "It's a reward, Mr. Potter. The Abbott family wants you to have this."

James shook his head, thrusting the bag out more. "We've decided. And I'm very stubborn, sir."

Dumbledore took the bag and Remus watched it disappear into a pocket, feeling both happy with his decision and also very sad. "I see. I'll inform Hartwin. Have a good day."

He whisked out of the room, leaving them feeling a little bittersweet though all four knew perfectly well they had done the right thing.