Hello, all! After one chapter of The Marauder's Years, I have hit a wall. Pathetic, I know. So, hopefully to get the creative juices flowing, here's a short story about the day of the full moon/the morning after… Hope it's good! Also, not beta'd. BTW, how do you go about getting someone to beta these things? Oh gosh, I'm rambling…Ahem, without further ado, here's the story.

..I'm not JK Rowling, which is obvious from my ever so eloquent speech above…

The sun shined, bright and promising into the window of the seventh year Gryffindor's room and stirred the four boys from their sleep. The first to rise was James Potter, the leader of their group. He looked around at the other beds, running a hand through his tangled black hair. Slipping his glasses onto his face, he took a better look at the group.

At the bed next to his, Sirius Black was violently trying to untangle himself from his sheets, unsuccessfully so far, at least. James could hear him cursing quite loudly, and with an undignified "BLOODY HELL!" he fell to the ground with a thud, then looked around. "'Lo James. Fancy seeing you here."

Laughing quietly to himself, he looked to the bed across from his. Peter Pettigrew was already sitting up, rubbing his hands tiredly over his face. His sandy blond hair stuck out at odd angles as he yawned and stretched his arms above his head. James then looked to the last member, and sighed.

Remus Lupin was usually already up, showered, and dressed for the day. However, this morning the curtains were still drawn around his bed. Soft groaning could be heard from behind them, signaling he was awake. James looked to Sirius, who was now standing and said to him, "You want to get him out of bed? I'll grab his clothes. Pete? You wanna be on breakfast duty?"

The three of them sprung to action: Sirius sighed and began toward the fourth boy's bed, James opened Remus' trunk and was busy choosing a tie, shirt, and trousers, and Peter saluted, turning on his heel and heading to the Great Hall. This was the routine on the mornings before a Full Moon. Remus was usually too tired, achy, and sick to really do much of anything, but the others knew that in the long run, forcing him out of bed would make things less suspicious, and give Remus at least a few more hours of normalcy.

Sirius POV-

"Remmy? Remus, up you get." Sirius pulled the curtains back from the sick boy's bed, and sighed. They were always sighing on these days.

Remus groaned and turned to face him, "Sirius? Wha-what time is it?"

Sirius was always much more patient with the boy than with the others, but on the mornings before the Full, his treatment of Remus bordered on coddling. "It's only half-past seven. You're fine, you've not missed classes or anything. James is getting your stuff, and Pete's getting breakfast. Now, let's get you up, shall we?" Sirius smiled his most charming smile.

The two of them had been through this enough, and Remus gave a weak smile and held out his hands. Sirius grabbed them and gently helped him first into a sitting position, then up to his feet. Remus winced and sat heavily on the bed. "I'm sorry, Sirius. I'm so sorry." Remus always got very apologetic, and Sirius, James, and Pete always tried their best to be patient.

"What for Remus? Did you waltz out that night thinking, 'you know what, I think I'll pet this werewolf.' No? Well then, nothing to apologise for. If you don't want to get out of bed, then just lie back down. We'll get you up in time for your date." Sirius waggled his eyebrows, though his teasing lacked conviction.

To his relief, Remus laughed and said, "Well, when you say it like that…" and held his hands back up. Sirius let out a bark of laughter and helped him back to a standing position.

"JAMES! Where's this boy's pants?" Sirius yelled over his shoulder, and Remus hit him on the back of his head.

After James and Sirius got Remus dressed with as much dignity as the two pranksters could manage, Peter returned with toast, jam, and tea and pretty much forced it down the werewolf's throat. James gave Remus a once over and when he was satisfied, the four of them filed out of the room.

Remus' POV-

First class of the day was Defense. Remus could care less what class they were in, or where he was, or really who was talking to him, if he was honest. His head was pounding, and he was losing the battle with sleep. Worst of all, the line was beginning to blur between the mind of the boy and the wolf, and Remus' control was beginning to slip. He lay his head on his desk, and tried to focus on his friends, teachers, classmates, whomever, and not on how much he wanted to bite, kill, eat-

"Remus! Come on, mate, wake up! Class let out five minutes ago!" James was shaking his shoulders, and Sirius and Pete were standing behind him, Peter holding his bag. Remus jerked awake, and in his confusion, growled and bit James' hand.

"SHIT Remus! Bloody hell, that hurt." He was looking at his hand, and then sighed. "Skin's not broken, no harm done. Maybe you should just skip the rest of your classes today, yeah? Come on. To the hospital wing!" James said, pointing heroically out the door and taking off at a sprint out the door. A few seconds later, he could be heard yelling "You wankers! You were supposed to follow me!" There was a pause, and the others looked at each other. Remus was still slightly horrified at the earlier event, but was finding it hard to care, or concentrate for that matter. They started walking toward the hospital wing, when Remus stopped. He looked impossibly sad, and weak, and tired, and Sirius wished, not for the first time, that he could fix this. But he couldn't. None of them could.

"I'm sorry, guys. I-I don't think that's ever happened before. If you don't want to come out this time, I'll be fine. I promise." Remus looked down at the ground. He sat on the stairs, utterly exhausted.

James walked back saying, "You guys suck. McGonegall was a bit pissed at my 'unruly display', and I lost fifteen points because of you lot. You alright there, Moony?" He looked down at his friend.

Sirius answered before Remus had the chance. "Dear Remmykins was just trying to convince us to stay in tonight due to his tiny lapse in self control. I was about to tell him that he can just piss off."

James chose to just ignore the conversation all together. "Come on, Remus. Up you get." He hoisted Remus to his feet. Letting Remus lean heavily on him, James led him to the hospital wing, Sirius and Peter following.