Disclaimer: mes sœurs means my sisters in French. I also don't own the Three Musketeers.

"If I had my way, I would tear this old building down!" – The Grateful Dead, 1976

Remus Lupin felt a wave of pain crash over him and grabbed his head as it throbbed maliciously; he thought about reaching out for the pitcher of pumpkin juice, but decided against it. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, not even bothering to look at the full breakfast on his plate in front of him. He knew that if he tried to eat it, it would come right back up his throat.

"You alright there, mate?" James whispered. "Is it worse than normal?"

"I'm fine," Remus grumbled as he placed his head on the vacant spot on the table in front of him. He closed his eyes and tried not to focus on his discomfort. The table felt cool against his burning skin and he attempted to savor the small sense of relief it gave him.

"Bollocks," Sirius said as he filled Remus' goblet with pumpkin juice. "You're as white as a sheet. Here, drink this. We all know you love it almost as much as you love chocolate."

"Mmmmm, chocolate," the werewolf managed to mumble, his head still plastered to the table. His mouth watered at the mere thought of the succulent sweet and at that moment, he would have done just about anything for a Honeydukes chocolate bar. It was one of the best ways to fight off his pain.

"Maybe you should take the day off, Moony," Peter said nervously as Persephone Davies and Geoffrey Wood began to stare at Remus and whisper. "It's Friday, I'm sure the staff wouldn't mind you leaving early … to see your mother."

Remus opened one eye and saw that the eavesdropping students shrugged, as if to say the drama was old news and unimportant, and went back to eating their breakfast. Even though he felt delirious, the deception brought a slight smile to his face.

"Oh, Remus!" he heard a familiar voice cry out. "Are you alright?"

The Gryffindor's head snapped up off the table and in the process, collided with the sausage plate that Sirius had been levitating towards himself. Remus let out a string of expletives and Sirius desperately apologized. The werewolf sighed, rubbed his temples in vain, and peaked up to see Marianne, who was now standing beside him. His breath caught in his throat and he did his best to act normal. How could he have been so stupid, letting himself put his face on the table? He was being too obvious!

"I'm fine. Really."

"You don't look fine," she replied, raising a brow and putting her hands on her hips. "In fact, you look downright terrible."

"He's just a bit peeky today. Nothing really to worry about - right, Moony?" James said, playfully slapping Remus on the back.

The werewolf grunted in pain and now, it was the Head Boy's turn to apologize profusely. Remus held up a hand to stop James from groveling and pinched the bridge of his nose again as another wave of pain crashed down upon him. He caught a faint whiff of chocolate and felt like ripping the place apart to get it.

Merlin, just his luck. He could have dealt with a day of classes, but he was not prepared to deal to Marianne and desperately wanted her to leave him alone to wallow in agony. However, luck really did not seem to be on his side this morning. Remus suddenly winced as he picked up on two shrill voices echoing through the Great Hall. He spread his fingers out across brows, recognizing the piercing tones immediately, and braced himself for the energy overload he was about to encounter.

"You have to hear the news!"

"It's cousin William!"

"He's engaged!"

"To the American!"

"After dating for three months, you know."

"Oh, hello there Remus!"

"Calm down mes sœurs," said Marianne in an attempt to hush her younger sisters.

The Gryffindor removed his hand from his face and gazed at the siblings before him; they all shared the same shade of dark brown hair, short stature, and expensive taste. Marianne stood in the middle and wrapped her hands protectively around her sisters. Gabrielle, a Fourth Year Ravenclaw, positioned herself to her eldest sister's right and scowled when her youngest sister Nanette, a Second Year Hufflepuff, stuck her tongue out at her. Marianne held them tighter to her sides when they started to quarrel in front of the Marauders. She quickly realized their early morning vigor was too painful for Remus' ears.

"Run along now, you can tell me about the engagement later."

"But it's a scandal!" Gabrielle retorted, adjusting her black-framed glasses on her upturned nose.

"I'd hardly call a bankrupt English aristocrat marrying an American heiress a scandal," Marianne smiled as she released her sisters and pushed them towards the large doors of the Great Hall. "It's been done too many times before!"

She began to rapidly lecture them in French after they groaned in disagreement. Remus normally found her voice to be passionate and musical when she spoke in her mother's native language, but this morning his heightened senses picked up on her harsh tones as she shooed her sisters away. Finally, the middle Minot chased her younger sister out of the Great Hall and Remus let out a large sigh.

"Well," Sirius began, but then decided he had nothing more to say about the matter. James and Peter nodded awkwardly as they continued eating their breakfast and Remus hoped they weren't reading his wildly sexual thoughts about Marianne.

"I am so sorry for that," she pleaded as she sat down in the empty seat next to him. "They can be a bit much sometimes."

Remus blinked several times and tried to focus on her green eyes, but his fever and attraction to her clouded his vision; his werewolf senses picked up on her pulsating aura and it overwhelmed him. She was so pretty in the morning light. He felt his head slip to the side, but his heart began to race when Marianne quickly placed her hand to his cheek.

He closed his eyes, allowing himself to revel in her touch for one small moment.

"You're burning up! We have to get you to the Hospital Wing."

"Trust me, Marianne," James chuckled, "he'll be fine. We'll monitor him and if it gets worse, take him there."

"Alright," the girl replied warily with a sigh, ultimately trusting him.

She then reached into her pocket and pulled out an already opened box of Muggle Fauchon chocolates and Remus perked up when he realized that she was the source of the earlier scent he'd picked up on. Remus watched as the shiny black and pink box glistened in the morning light – or just in his imagination, he wondered – and he subconsciously licked his lips. The prize was right in front of him and he had to stop himself from immediately reaching out and gobbling the contents.

"Go on. Take them," she laughed as she pushed the box towards him. "A friend of mine sent these to me and they are the best I've ever tasted. Hopefully they help your pain. Or whatever side effect you have from your last prank."

She winked, gave him a small pat on the shoulder and walked away to presumably to find her sisters before he could put a sentence together to thank her.

"Whew," Sirius sighed with relief. "I knew she wasn't buying it. But I'm glad she thinks it's just from a prank, not because of …"

"Your furry little problem," Peter quickly interjected.

"Well go on! Eat them!" said James after a moment of silence. "We all know you want to."

Remus bit his lip as he gingerly slipped the top off to find six chocolates left. His stomach dropped as he put one in his hand and raised it to his mouth; for appearances sake, he ate the chocolate to seem normal, but inside he desperately wanted to get rid of them. He needed to torture himself for almost giving his lycanthopy and romantic feelings away.

"Be careful, Wormtail!"

"I'm doing my best, Padfoot!" Peter Pettigrew grumbled as he hoisted more of Remus' weight onto his shoulders.

The werewolf moaned in pain at the sudden movement and Sirius wrapped a hand around his waist to steady him. Peter welcomed the boy's extra strength and tried to put his protesting muscles at the back of his mind as he carried Remus up the stairs. He hadn't been well enough to climb to the Headmaster's office on his own.

James cautiously scouted ahead, the Map in one hand and his wand in the other; he peaked around the corner and when the coast was clear, motioned for them to follow. They quickly and quietly dropped Remus off at the entrance to Professor Dumbledore's office and blended back into the shadows as the werewolf struggled to recite the password. Peter heard the office door begin to move once Remus finally got it right and turned to leave.

"Wait," James said, putting a hand on Peter's arm. "I want to make sure he gets to the tunnel safely."

"Prongs," Sirius countered, "Dumbledore knows we know, but he can't find out about the other piece. We're already on thin ice after … "

Peter knew he couldn't bring himself to verbally acknowledge his mistake with Snape.

"We should clear off," Peter agreed, trying to get them to move. "As not to arose suspicion. We'll meet up with him later."

"I just - "

"Thank you for your assistance Mr. Potter," Professor Dumbledore said with a soft smile as he and Remus emerged from his office, although Remus was invisible under a Disillusionment Charm. "But I will take it from here."

James grimaced.

"Yes, Sir."

The Headmaster started down the hall towards the grounds. The three Marauders followed, watching Professor Dumbledore act as if he was taking a normal, solitary stroll around the Castle. They finally peeled off and started climbing the stairs to the Gryffindor common room; Peter let out a yelp out of surprise as James shoved them into a corner window lookout spot and threw the Cloak over their heads.

"Oi!"

"Quiet! I don't want anyone to run into us and ask us what we're doing, alright?"

"What are we doing?"

"Making sure he makes it ok."

Peter huffed and rolled his eyes.

"He'll survive Prongs - Dumbledore will make sure he gets to the tree. And it's hard to get a good view of that monstrosity if you're in the Castle. So no one is going to see anything and figure it all out if they run into us."

"Well, the view's sort of clear from here," Sirius mused as he moved his head to look out the window. "From this height."

"Oh, shut it. No one is going to see and find out!"

"I just want to be sure he's ok, Wormy! It's … particularly bad this time, innit?" James whispered.

"Definitely worse than normal," Sirius confirmed. "He can usually get to Dumbledore by himself."

Peter felt his retort die on his lips; his heart started to race after his friends finally acknowledged what he had been trying to ignore. Remus' wolf demeanor had softened now that he had company during his transformation, but every once and awhile, he would still get violent. Peter knew this would be one of those nights and he was not looking forward to it.

"He'll attack us this time then," he whimpered. His mood softened as he started to accept what was about to happen.

"Hopefully he won't be too bad," Sirius grumbled.

"Look!" said James. "Down there!"

They watched Professor Dumbledore emerge from the Castle and walk towards the Whomping Willow, still pretending that he was not escorting a werewolf student to his transformation destination. Without waving his wand and giving away the secret, Professor Dumbledore cast a non-verbal spell to touch the large knot, freezing the branches. He then walked to the tree and gave it an affectionate hug. Peter had to hand it to him; if anyone had been watching, they would have just thought Professor Dumbledore was just being some crazy nutter, saying a personal goodnight to the recent addition to the Hogwarts grounds. After a minute or so, the Headmaster unfroze the tree and headed back into the Castle.

"Alright boys, let's roll," Sirius grinned as he held out the Map for them to see. "Coast is clear."

The three Marauders snuck down to the grounds as the sun began to set and Peter started to lose the feeling in his legs. Although he considered Remus to be one of his best friends and was forever grateful for his introduction to James and Sirius, he still dreaded their activities during the Full Moon of every lunar cycle and tonight was even worse than normal.

At first, when he couldn't master a solid transformation into an animal, he asked to be the human one under the Cloak in charge of sneaking them out of the Castle. He had dreadfully accepted that he was not a gifted wizard. But Sirius and James asked him to change his form from a lion to a rat. They explained that it would be easier for him to transform into something smaller because it would take less time to learn. At the time, he welcomed the advice and was extremely proud to have mastered advanced magic.

However, as the years progressed, he began to love and hate his role; he loved being the only one who could conquer the Whomping Willow, but dreaded scurrying around the Shack in order to avoid Remus' costly swipes. He longed to be a large animal like Sirius or James. They could actually protect themselves instead of running and hiding.

"Oi, Wormtail!"

Peter snapped out of his daze as Sirius playfully shoved his shoulder. It took a couple blinks, but he finally realized that they were already outside. It was time for him to transform and freeze the tree.

"Right … see you in there then."

He closed his eyes and felt his body fluidly reconstruct itself into a rat.

As he began to snake through the grass towards the terrible tree, his old feelings from the last time he transformed enveloped his thoughts. Although he had managed to avoid seeing or thinking about Luciana for the entire week, his transformation brought back her spicy scent. He suddenly stopped and sniffed the air longingly, hoping to catch a whiff of her alluring gravitational force.

WHAP!

Peter squeaked as an oncoming branch almost hit him. He quickly pushed thoughts of her out of his mind and focused on the task in front of him. The tree threw its limbs at him, trying to thwart his plan, but he expertly maneuvered around its attacks. Years of experience had sharpened his agility and he danced through the open bits of ground until he reached the base of the tree. After touching the knot with his tiny paws, the tree suddenly froze.

"Well done, Wormtail!"

"You're the most strategic part of this whole operation! I don't know how you always manage to best that tree. I don't think I could …"

Peter felt a rush of air pass by him and looked down the hole to see James and Sirius grinning at him as they entered the tunnel and took off the Cloak.

"Now come on!"

As Peter watched his friends transform into their animals forms and scurried after them, he couldn't help but smile at their praise. His old feelings regarding Luciana quickly died. Why did he need someone powerful like her when he had his friends that so desperately needed him?

Sirius Black let out a nasty growl as he looked Remus' werewolf form straight in the eyes, daring him to move. James had tried to stop him from ripping the cupboard door off its hinges to barricade himself, but the wolf had anticipated his moves and shoved him to the floor. Sirius' blood trickled out of a large gash over his right eyebrow and he could taste its coppery flavor in his mouth. His muscles ached, but he tried to push his fatigue out of his mind.

They only had thirty minutes left of darkness. He had to continue; the whole ordeal would be over soon enough.

The werewolf, however, didn't budge. He lingered over James' limp body and Sirius dug his claws into the wood floor beneath him to stand his ground. Remus tilted his head back and let out a booming howl; he started to throw his body weight into the broken door to create a blocker.

Sirius chose to attack and launched himself at Remus. He knew it was a risky move – after all, if Remus decided to snap his jaws at him, he'd be cursed as well – but he had to stop him from getting outside the shack. The bet paid off. Remus yelped in surprise and tumbled backwards to the floor, Sirius' limbs intertwined with his. As Remus took a few minutes to lay on the floor and recover from getting the wind knocked out of him, Sirius felt his eyes start to flutter and close.

His brain transported to the last time the werewolf had been this violent; Sirius remembered how scared he'd been that night. Remus had started off just as sick, but they didn't understand how much stronger he was going to become. They were just trying to test if they could let Remus wander outside of the Shack and in the Forbidden Forest since their presence during his transformation had substantially calmed him down. He wasn't supposed to run away.

When the sun finally rose, James found Remus curled up into a ball next to a stream, deep in the Forbidden Forest. A small rabbit corpse was right beside him and his skin was covered with its blood. Although he didn't bite any humans, Remus fell into a deep depression and the boys made a pact to never let him outside the Shack again.

Sirius' eyes flew open when Remus began to stir next to him. With a large huff, the wolf jumped to his feet and Sirius grit his teeth as he did the same. Remus ran towards the other side of the room to lure him away and slammed Sirius into an old desk, breaking its legs in the process.

The piece of furniture collapsed on Sirius and crashed onto his lower back; he yapped loudly with surprise. The pureblood desperately tried to free himself from the rubble, but was still anchored by his captured tail. Sirius clawed at the desk and managed to bat away a few splinters of wood when he noticed a shadow fall over him. He looked up to see Remus grinning maliciously.

His heart stopped. He knew the outcome of the situation would end in a lot of pain for him.

The wolf howled again, but just as he began to reach out towards the large black dog in front of him, James rammed his antlers into his side, knocking him into one of the decaying walls. Remus quickly regained his balance and failed to notice that his weight had left a small dent in the wall.

Sirius wanted to help James as he and the wolf continued to fight and began to climb the flight of stairs to the next level, but couldn't free himself from the rubble. He barked loudly in frustration to alert James of his plight and tried used his muzzle to push more of the desk away from him.

His efforts were in vain. Sirius felt his muscles finally give way and he collapsed onto the ground with a huff. His brain continued to berate him, but his body refused to move. He took several deep breaths, closed his eyes, and whined mournfully.

Suddenly, he heard a female voice. It was soft and low, but his canine senses heard it loud and clear. He couldn't be sure who was talking or where the voice was coming from, but she was blathering on about something she had learned in Potions. Her whispers grew louder and as her voice began to echo around his head, Sirius realized it was Gemma's voice. He knew her words were figments of his imagination, but the thought of her spurred him on. He jiggled and kicked his legs and stood up to force the desk to flip backwards and off his tail. Sirius barked triumphantly and then sprinted up the stairs to continue the fight.

He failed to see Remus looming in the corner and when he reached the top of the stairs, instantly felt the air whoosh out of his lungs when the wolf whacked him with his large paw. Sirius felt his back legs give way and suddenly, he bounced and tumbled down the flight of stairs he had just climbed. His desperately tried to regain his balance, but instead smacked his head against one of the walls. Sirius blacked out completely by the time he hit the base of the stairs.

The Hospital Wing was eerily quiet as rays of sunshine began to filter through the windows. James Potter sat in silence with a slight grimace on his face as he looked over at his two best friends. Remus had several bandages around his arms, but was mostly unharmed. Sirius, however, was much worse. Madame Pomfrey had mended most of his wounds, but the cut above his eyebrow proved to be too difficult.

As the Head Boy began to yawn, he noticed Sirius stirring in his bed. His concern soon turned into laughter when he realized the boy was having one of his puppy dreams; Sirius' legs twitched and he let out a small yap before finally waking up. James watched with a smile on his face as his friend adjusted to the bright morning daylight.

"Owwwww."

"Morning, mate!"

"Where are we? How the fuck did I get all these?" Sirius asked quizzically as he scanned over his own body to survey the damage.

"Moony tricked you," James replied, just above a whisper, as he leaned back into his hospital bed. "Again. And where do we always end up after a bad Full Moon?"

"Bastard," Sirius muttered and attempted to cross his arms over his chest in defiance. However, he underestimated how painful the movement would be and howled in agony. James heard things crash onto the floor and several seconds later, Madame Pomfrey thrust back the curtain and entered their private domain. She took a seat at Sirius' side and touched his head lightly with concern.

"How are you feeling, dear?" she asked in a soothing voice. "What hurts?"

"Oh I'm just fine now that you're here, Poppy," Sirius charmed as he flashed her one of his notorious, sensual grins. "You always know how to patch me up." The nurse sighed deeply and patted his arm before standing next to his bed.

"I'm afraid I couldn't do everything this time," she frowned slightly. "You're going to have a scar above your right eyebrow for the rest of your life." James snickered.

"It will only add to his roguish reputation - the ladies won't mind!"

"Thanks Prongs," Sirius chuckled under his breath. He then turned his attention to Madame Pomfrey. "Anyways, I just want you to know, I really do appreciate you trying to heal me after -"

He turned to James, unsure what to tell the school nurse; he didn't know what lie his friend had already told her.

"Your spell backfired during our Defense practice duel," James filled in. "I tried to stem the bleeding and patch you up myself, but you needed something more advanced …"

He turned to Madame Pomfrey, giving her an appreciative smile. She gave him one in return.

"Well thank you Mr. Black. Please let me know when Mr. Lupin wakes up," she murmured softly and pushed the curtains back to their original position to give them their privacy.

"Muffliato. You string that poor woman along too much," James chuckled as he reached for his glasses and rubbed them against the fabric of his white shirt to wipe any smudges away. "I know you do it to keep her from asking too many questions about our involvement with Remus during the Full Moon but still, you're toying with her." He blinked a couple of times and inspected his glasses the best he could before putting them back on his face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Prongs," Sirius said, playfully rolling his eyes. "Where's Wormtail?"

"I sent him to the kitchens to get some chocolate for Moony," James replied as he kicked up his right foot and crossed it over his left leg. "He didn't get nearly as many injuries this time ... but I'm sure he'll be cross with himself when he wakes up and realizes what he did to you."

"What did he do to me?"

"He led you upstairs and basically sucker punched you back down. You hit your head in the fall. I must say though, it was a bloody brilliant plan on his part. He's finally realized that it's better for him to take us on one at a time instead of together."

"Bastard," Sirius grumbled again.

"It's miracle he's only caught on now," James said, raising a brow playfully. "Imagine if he'd figured that out the first couple Full Moons. We would have been screwed!" He noticed that Sirius' face fell and stopped joking. "What's wrong, mate?"

"Everything. I was distracted last night. Don't try to argue with me. You know it's true," Sirius began and then huffed loudly. "I kept thinking about random things … like the Full Moon when Moony killed that rabbit … and the way Gemma's skin felt when I held her on Wednesday night."

"You really fancy her, don't you?"

"I do. I think about her all the time, but she doesn't seem to care if she ever sees me again. It's driving me insane. My brain was everywhere tonight. I was overwhelmed and off my game. I made a lot of stupid mistakes."

"Sirius, I don't -"

"James," he interrupted and then looked out the window mournfully, "I deserved a smack to the head – I could have been bitten if I continued on like that. I was so caught up and stressed out and it showed." He lowered his head in shame. "Merlin, I feel so lost."

"Well we're in the same boat then, mate," James replied and sucked in a breath through his teeth shortly afterwards. He ran a hand through his messy black hair and looked down at the bandages around his torso. Although he had promised Lily he would keep his distance, he still felt depressed and downtrodden. He had chased her for years and even though she rejected him every time, he still persisted. It was a ritual. But now that she was off limits and he felt hollow, dizzy, and off course.

He had tried to dive into his Head Boy duties to distract himself, but they usually involved contact with Lily, which proved to be a problem. Quidditch was useless as well. All of his teammates groaned and moaned about his extremely time consuming practice schedule and he finally realized that he could not punish everyone else for his sexual frustration. Although he hated to admit it, he had been looking forward to the Full Moon just so he could let off some steam. It was something to occupy his worried brain.

While the physical exertion cleared his head, he couldn't help but feel guilty. The Full Moons were about Remus, not about him.

James looked up at Sirius and locked eyes with him. After several seconds, he began to smile. The smile turned into a grin and soon he found himself laughing.

"What's so funny?" Sirius asked, raising a brow quizzically.

"We may be lost at sea," James said, "but I wouldn't want to be stuck with anyone else." He straightened his glasses and noticed that Sirius was smiling as well. "We're doing things differently this year. All of us are. But at least we have each other, you know? We are the Marauders. Nothing can break us. Not even women."

"What did that famous Muggle once write? 'All for one, one for all?'"

"Please don't kill me!" Peter squeaked as he thrust back the curtain and hastily closed it after he entered their private corner of the Wing. "I went to the kitchens to get the chocolate … but it looked so good! I had to have some. I tried to save most of it for Moony, but the house elves gave me the caramel and sea salt ones! They are my favorite!"

He held out the half eaten box and wiped some of the chocolate from his face.

"Well it's good to know some things haven't changed," James laughed and then reached out towards Peter. "Give us one of those, would you?"

After Peter gave him the box, he popped several chocolates in his mouth and savored their taste as he leaned back into his chair. He felt a wave of relief wash over him and figured out exactly why Remus demanded the dessert at all times.

Chocolate, James decided, was good for the soul.

Author's Note: So as you can see, I'm going to cycle between points of view and then converge them together before switching to another set of points of view. That's right – the next cycle will be in the girls' perspective. I know these first couple chapters have been really detailed but now you know what the boys will be thinking when they interact with their lady friends in the next couple chapters. I was originally going to stick with the Marauders all the way but felt that some of the plot lines would be unclear if I didn't explain it from other POVs.

The next chapter will be centered on Gemma!