Chapter 10

Some Gryffindor

"Finally, I feel like I've been waiting for this forever." Sirius said as they walked towards the Quidditch pitch.

"We just found out about it three days ago, Sirius." James laughed though he knew how Sirius felt, he was exited to.

"Ya, but I haven't been able to get on a broomstick in a month. Did you see the new one that just came out?" He asked and they got into a very detailed conversation about the new Cleansweep that just come out.

Remus just sighed and stuck with Peter in an effort to calm him down. Sirius was right; Peter and broomsticks didn't seem like a very good combination. To tell you the truth Remus was also worried, he really didn't want to get hurt on top of one of those things.

"Alright I want everyone to pick a broom." Their teacher told them without even bothering to introduce themselves. When they were all standing by a broom she continued. "Good now put your right hand over the broom and say up! Alright go ahead." She said and they started to do as she told them. Only three came up the first time, Sirius, James, and Frank Longbottem. This successfully calmed Remus, obviously this wasn't just his and Peter's first time doing this. After fifteen minutes, the only one that didn't work was Peter's. Peter was completely and totally afraid of it, and somehow it could tell.

The teacher sighed. "Alright Pettigrew just pick up the broom." She said impatiently. Peter turned red and picked up the broom. "Now I want everyone to mount their brooms like this." She showed them how to mount their brooms, while ignoring Sirius' groans. They copied and she walked around and checked everyone's grip. Sirius and James of course were doing it perfectly, Remus's hands were spread too far apart, and she had to constantly remind Peter that the broom wasn't going to eat him and it was ok to touch it, but other than that they did pretty well so far. Even after she had them kick off the ground no one fell off or anything, although Peters shook quite a bit. Overall, it was a pretty good lesson.

That didn't stop Sirius and James from complaining about it on the way back to the common room.

"We didn't even get to move around any. It was so boring." Sirius said and flopped over the back of the couch again, so he was sitting upside-down again.

Remus decided to change the subject. "Did you guys get that Defense Against the Dark Arts report done?"

"Ya, last night. Not sure how right it is though. "James answered and Sirius nodded.

"You copied each other didn't you?" It wasn't a question he already knew they had.

"No, we just worked together. And don't say that's cheating because he didn't say that we couldn't do that."

"That doesn't mean you can do it." Remus gave up and started to read a book he had borrowed from the library.

"Hey Remus, since we have no homework to do, and we still have five hours till curfew, and you've read that book four times now, can we go work on the map." Sirius asked, he didn't like how long it had been since they worked on it. They had finally gotten the outside done, now they needed the inside.

"I have not read this four times, only twice." He said, but put the book down anyway. "Where do you want to start?" He asked as Sirius ran up to get the map.

"It makes more sense to start at the ground floor. It is the only floor that we are 100 percent positive we have the measurements right." James answered. Sirius came down the stairs in a rush and they headed for the first floor entrance

"We want to make this as accurate as possible, so we want to start by finding out how thick the wall of the entrance is." Remus said and went to measure the entrance. After they finished with the entrance they measured how wide the room was and how far away the walls were from the door. Calling them accurate would be an understatement. They even measured how high the room was though they didn't think that they would need that. They didn't realize that they were out past curfew until McGonagall showed up and gave them all detentions.

"There has to be a faster way to do this. There is no way we are going to get this done in time." Sirius complained when they got back to their dorm.

"Calm down we have a whole year, and the rooms we just did were really big. Although there are ways to go faster. Such as cutting out some of the unnecessary measuring. Like how tall the room is. Completely unnecessary, we're making a map, not a 3-D model."

"True, that did feel rather ridiculous."

"It was your idea, James," Sirius teased as they went to bed.

That night Remus wasn't the only one having trouble sleeping. Sirius was having nightmares. He tried to keep quiet so no one woke up, but Remus wasn't fooled. He had enough of them to recognize them without even trying. At first, he ignored it, knowing Sirius would rather deal with it himself, but after Sirius woke up half screaming the third time Remus knew he had to help. He walked over to Sirius' bed, not as quietly as he could have, but he didn't want to scare Sirius again.

"Sirius are you alright?" Sirius sighed and sat up.

"Either you're an extremely light sleeper or I wasn't near as quiet as I thought." Sirius chuckled humorlessly. Remus noticed he was shaking.

"I wasn't asleep," he said reassuring Sirius. Remus sat down at the end of the bed. "And I'm a light sleeper." He laughed trying to make him feel better. Sirius smiled pretending it helped. Remus could see though it easily though.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Remus asked hoping the answer was yes.

"Not really." Sirius looked down at his feet. He didn't even want to think about it let alone talk about it.

"Are you sure? It might help you feel better." Sirius just nodded. "Ok, you don't have to. Do you want me to stay here or do you think your okay on your own?" Sirius though about this for a while. Choosing between feeling better and maintaining his pride. He looked at himself curled up in a ball, shivering like crazy, and realized that he didn't have much pride left at the moment.

"Stay" he said quietly. He hated that he felt like he needed someone with him. Remus just smiled, sat next to him, and leaned on the headboard.

"You can lie down if you want, I don't want you to lose any sleep because of me." Remus just shook his head and laughed.

I'm not going to get any sleep no matter what position I'm in. Trust me you aren't depriving me of anything" He said and closed his eyes.

"How do you know that?" Sirius asked trying to keep the conversation going. It was one of the few times he was putting off going to sleep.

"I can just feel it." He said in a tone that made Sirius sure that Remus didn't want to talk about it. So he changed the subject.

"Do you really think that we can get this map done by the end of the year?" Remus smiled he knew Sirius changed the subject on purpose and once again thanked God that he had such good friends. Most other people would have just kept perusing an answer.

"Believe it or not I really think we can."

"Really? But you were so sure it wasn't possible." That was all he needed to reassure him, if Remus though they could do it than they could do it. There was no doubt in his mind anymore.

I guess I changed my mind." Sirius laughed and lay down.

"I'm glad." Sirius was getting really tired, but was afraid to close his eyes. He didn't want to see his mother again that night. Wasn't enough that he was dreading going home, but now she has to haunt him at school.

"Go to sleep, Sirius" Sirius couldn't believe Remus could read him so well.

I'm not tired" he lied Remus chuckled.

"I'll wake you up if you start having another nightmare." Sirius nodded and closed his eyes, trusting Remus, and fighting off any fear he had. He chuckled, fear, he was afraid of his own mother. Some Gryffindor he was.

Thankfully, Remus didn't have to wake him up. Just having his friend beside him was enough to chase away all of Sirius' nightmares.