"Ugh," James muttered under his breath, his handsome faced pursed in concentration. Frustrated, he threw his book down onto the floor, the light of the cheerful fire in the common room playing off his features. It was later that night, and James, for once, was having difficulty completing his homework. Professor Lovegood, though understanding as she may sometimes be, was also sometimes a bit of a mad woman, and it was rumored that some of the spells she had them learn were entirely of her own creation. James normally did very well in her class -- well, he did excellent in all of his classes -- but this particular spell was simply eluding perfection, a fact that just wouldn't do. Sirius, who for once, was actually studying, his dark hair hanging into his eyes as he scribbled off answers to his herbology homework, glanced up. "Alright, James?"

James shrugged, leaning forward on his hands and glancing around the common room, deciding to take a break from studying for a while. His eyes fell on Lily, in the corner, bent over some book. She was curled up in everyone's favorite squishy chair, the light of the fire just enough for her to see the pages by, but dark enough to cast the chair into shadow. She made such a pretty picture there, that James almost smiled. Then he stopped dead. What the bloody hell am I thinking? He asked himself immediately. Did I really just use the word 'pretty'?!

Horror now etched on his face, James turned promptly to Sirius. "Black," he said solemnly, "I think I've lost it."

"Potter," Sirius replied without looking up, "I don't think you ever had it."

"I didn't?"

"Nope," Sirius assured him. "So you haven't really lost anything."

"Oh. Alright then." James paused. "What were we talking about?"

Sirius glanced up, a grin playing at his lips. "No idea." James grinned back. "Right then."

Slightly reassured, James returned to scoping the Common Room. His eyes lingered on the moon, glowing brightly outside the open window. It was almost full now -- another day or two and its cycle would be complete. His eyes lingered on the night sky for a few moments, before he sighed, once again bringing his attention towards his tossed book. "Where's Pete and Remmy?" he asked suddenly, just noticing that he hadn't seen either of them since dinner. Once again, Sirius did not even look up to reply. "Pete is with Frank working on Potions; And Remmy, I dunno."

James sighed, leaning back in his chair. His hair flopped into his face as he tried to remember all the homework he had due tomorrow, but his clouded brain was working extra slow tonight. His eyes landed near his feet, on the book that had been thrown asunder. The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection seemed to glare mockingly at him, as if to say, 'Are you done stalling?'

Frustrated, James snatched the book and bounded out of the Common Room. "Where are you going?" Sirius called out, bewildered. "Maybe Remmy can help," James called over his shoulder. Sirius stared after him for a moment, and then shrugged, settling back into his work.

James caught his breath as he reached his dormitory, pushing open the door with his shoulder. He glanced up to look eyes with Remus, and he stopped dead, his eyes widened. His eyes raked over his friend in surprise. "What are you doing?" he asked after a moment, standing stock-still in the doorway.. Remus had his book bag open, but was unloading his books and things and placing them in his chest. A neat white shirt covered a wrapped package, and Remus carefully tucked the edge of the package into his bag, making sure to cover it with the shirt so James didn't have a good view of it. "Packing," Remus said matter-of-factly, though James knew Remus well enough to know when he was tense. "Packing?" James echoed, taking another step into the room. The door clicked shut behind him, and he placed his book on the bed, suddenly very worried that Remus was about to up and disappear and hadn't mentioned it to anyone.

"Yes. That's right."

"Well, what for?" James pushed, unconsciously crossing his arms and moving over slightly so his stance blocked the doorway. Remus noticed this, and gave James a slight, quick smile. "James, you don't need to barricade the door. I've got to..." he hesitated impeccably. "Go away for a few days. I'll be back before Tuesday, I should suppose."

"Tuesday?" James repeated, still not moving. "But it's Thursday now!"

Remus glanced up, eyebrows raised. "And who said you didn't know the days of the week?"

"But you'll miss Halloween!" James burst out. "And our prank," he added as an afterthought. Remus's face cleared slightly. "Have you got it to work then?"

James half-nodded, half-shrugged. "Kinda. McGonagall told Sirius that she had never heard of anyone being able to transfigure wind, but Peter talked to Hagrid about the Enchanted Ceiling, and apparently you can get it to reflect other things too. And not just reflect, it can be an exact replica." James shrugged. "So, Sirius and I are going to make it reflect Cosmic Catastrophes: The Hurricane of 9 b.c.." Remus shook his head slightly, but smiled, though his face still seemed strained and he continued packing. "You'll have to tell me all about it."

"But where are you going?"

Remus hesitated. "Home," he said finally. "My..mom is kind of sick. I'll be back soon."

"Aw, Rem, is she gunna be alright?" Remus looked at the floor as he swung his bag over his shoulder. "Yeah. She'll be fine." But James wasn't convinced, and suddenly his heart felt very heavy. Bad things always seemed to happy to Remus -- he had fallen sick late September as well, a ghastly illness that had lasted for days. Maybe he was born under an unlucky star, or something.

"Well, tell her we hope she fells better."

"I will." Still, Remus didn't look up, but James didn't press it. "When do you leave?" Remus glanced up finally, though not at him, but at the sky. His eyes, too, lingered on the glowing sphere casting a ethereal light over all of Hogwart's ground, and on second look, James could see the moon was fuller then he originally expected. "Now," He said softly, and James's brow furrowed, and he moved slightly aside from the door. "Oh..alright. I'll take notes for you tomorrow then."

"Great," Remus said, bending down to tie his shoe. "See ya. Happy Halloween."

"Happy Halloween," James repeated. Remus walked out of the room, his heart in his throat, blood pounding in his ears. It was all he could do to keep his feet moving, to not turn around and face James, to beg him to understand--

The door clicked shut behind him. James stared after him, his mind awhirl. When he heard Remus's footsteps die away in the hallway, and the shouts of farewell (along with the mock sobbing from Sirius -- "I'll never forget you, Remus, come back to me!") James slowly opened the dormitory door, and headed back downstairs; the book lay forgotten on the bed.

------------------------------------

"Now then!" Professor Sprout clasps her hands together, smiling briskly at them. There was a large amount of earth lining her eyes and a particularly dark smudge above her left nostril, and of course, the pounds of dirt under her nails. "I hope everyone did your homework last night--" Sirius scrambled inside his bag, finally producing a rather torn up and exhausted looking assignment, beaming at Professor Sprout, who smiled warily back. "Because today you will have the hands on experience of pruning alihotsy bushes. Now, if you all will just review your notes for a moment while I see whose here and whose not.."

James tuned her out as she preceded to go down the register, pausing to mutter, "Ah, yes, o dear," when she reached Lupin's name. Sirius, not James, noticed this, and roughly nudged his friend with his elbow. "Where did you say Remus went again?"

James shrugged, reaching for his dragon-hide gloves. "Home. His mom is sick."

"Ah," Sirius said, leaning back in his chair as he adjusted his goggles. "Will she be alright then?" Peter asked nervously. James just shrugged. "Dunno."

"Now, if you'll all pass your homework to the front, please..there's a good fellow, Pettigew, I see you read the assigned pages last night--" Peter flushed, as Prof. Sprout pursed her lips, scanning over several pages of homework. "And I see you, Mr. Potter did not, otherwise you would have known that you do not eat a pruned alihotsy bush, as it will cause a..er..temporary adjustment of the senses."

Lily frowned. "Adjustment of the senses?" she questioned while James glowered at the Professor, deciding then and there to ace her stupid test about stupid alihotsy bushes.

"Heightened, almost," Professor Sprout explained. "Sort of supernatural -- you can hear things dozens of meters away, and see miles into the distance." Sirius grinned. "So, basically you're like..Super-Wizard?"

Professor Sprout shrugged. "I suppose you could say that. But the effects are relatively short lived and as you can see--" she gestured towards the bush itself, a horrible, decrepit looking thing with long, black branches and thick orange roots, "the pruned version of this plant is not very appetizing. We use it more for quick-healing potions. Now, if we've all had enough chatter, we could get down to work..."

They separated into threes, Frank working with Dedalus Diggle, a rather excitable Hufflepuff, and Alice Angio, a pretty girl with a sweet face.

James, Peter, and Sirius quickly completed the assignment without any major incidents (There was one incident when the plant, which had extremely long tentacles and a decided dislike of pruning, snatched up Peter's wand and caused a wad of flames to sprout into the air, directly at Frank's group, which was working next to them. Peter did not seem surprised in the least when Dedalus looked in the mirror and saw he was without eyebrows, sympathetically informing the Hufflepuff, "Don't worry, mate. Occupational hazard.") The three stooges sat back in quiet discussion as the rest of the class continued to work, the plans of an unforgettable (and decidedly windy and wet) Halloween in the making.