WARNING – The following chapter contains descriptions of martial arts self-defence techniques.  Please use your common sense and do not attempt to perform any of them on friends or siblings; they can cause a lot of harm if done incorrectly.  If you wish to learn martial arts or self defence, I suggest that you get yourself signed up for lessons and be taught be a qualified tutor.  Thank you for reading.

Chapter Eight; The Gentle Warrior.

Sirius slept badly.  Nightmares about being trapped within a burning building full of fire and smoke plagued him throughout the night.  He couldn't breathe.  He could hear screaming around him, but when he tried to get away he discovered he couldn't move; a knife was being held to his throat.  A dark shadow swirled around him and the fire reached for him, his arm immersed in flame, searing in agony –

Sirius jerked awake, realising a moment later, that the pain in his arm was real.  He'd rolled over in his sleep and had been lying on it.  Pulling it out from under the bed covers, Sirius found cruel blue-black bruises had come up during the night.  His arm was stiff and very sore.  Sirius bit his tongue as a painful throb shot up his arm; he'd moved it too quickly.

The sunlight pouring in the window gave Sirius the impression that he'd been asleep too long.  He dragged himself out of bed, dislodging Cosmic who had turned up in the early hours, returning from a night of hunting and prowling round the streets, to curl up on the end of his bed.  Moving into Sirius' vacated warm spot, the cat promptly curled up and went back to sleep. 

Sirius entered the kitchen to find it deserted.  A note lay on the table.

Sirius,

Richard and I have gone out for the day.  We won't be back until late this evening – there's lasagne in the fridge for dinner.  Ursa is out with Bethany; she'll be in town, then at Beth's house in the afternoon and back around six so you've got the house to yourself.  Lock up if you're going out.  We'll see you later.

Love Mum.

Not feeling very hungry, Sirius made himself a piece of toast then went back upstairs to get dressed.  He pulled on a long-sleeved shirt with some difficultly; his arm protesting against the movement.  He wandered round the house locking all the windows and doors, and then headed over to Mrs. Fennel's house.

Mrs. Fennel greeted him cheerfully and quickly steered him in the direction of the fireplace.  The twins were out in the garden playing with a Quaffle but as soon as they'd heard the doorbell, had come running back to the house.  The last time he'd made the mistake of waiting and saying hello to them, Sirius had ended up having to answer an endless stream of questions about Hogwarts and magic.  Charlotte and Victoria had clung to him like limpets, and every time Sirius had tried to get away, they would burst into tears, begging him to stay with their huge pleading eyes.

Sirius escaped into the fire just as the girls came in the back door.  Their disappointed cries followed him into the Floo network.

Preoccupied with his thoughts, Sirius was startled to be so abruptly expelled from Remus' fireplace.  He fell onto the rug using his hands to keep himself from kissing the floor.  A sharp pain shot up his arm and he bit his tongue hard to keep from crying out.

'Padfoot, are you all right?' came an anxious voice.  Remus was standing over him, looking concerned.

Sirius got on his feet, ignoring the pain.

'Yeah, I'm – umph!'

Sirius fell to the floor again as Peter came flying out of the fireplace, arms flailing and crashing into him.  Both of them hit the floor with a crash.

'Oh!  Sorry, Padfoot!  I'm really sorry!'  Peter started to babble in his haste to get off him.  He'd only just got to his feet, however, when James shot out of the fireplace as well, slamming into Peter, sending him scrawling over Sirius again.  James wobbled precariously, lost the battle to regain his balance, and promptly fell on top of them both.

'Ow!'

'Sorry, I didn't mean – '

'Get off!'

Remus stepped forward to help them.  He seized James' hand and pulled him up.  Peter rolled off Sirius, clumsily getting to his feet, grabbing hold of a nearby chair to heave himself up and to keep from falling over again.

Sirius was still on the floor.  He slowly pushed himself up, his left arm shaking.  Remus' sharp hearing caught a low hiss of pain, but Sirius turned away slightly as he sat up.

'Sirius, what's wrong?'  Remus moved towards him, trying to see him better, but Sirius ignored the question, clambering to his feet.

'Nothing, I'm fine,' he said shortly, pulling the sleeve of his shirt down, though not before Remus spotted the large ring of buries encircling his wrist.  He looked quickly at Sirius, his eyes confused and disturbed.

'Padfoot, your arm – '

'I said I was fine,' Sirius snapped.  'Don't you listen?'

Remus looked very taken aback, backing off uncertainly.  James and Peter stared at Sirius in surprise.

'Padfoot, Moony only asked if you were okay,' said James evenly.  'There's no need to be so snappish.'

Sirius didn't say anything.  Remus looked hurt and he avoided Sirius' eye, heading out into the back garden.  James cast Sirius a reproachful look before following, Peter scurrying after them.

Sirius followed a few moments later.

The Lupins' garden was huge.  Several trees growing along the back fence cast a cool shadow over part of the long grass.  Wild flowers bloomed everywhere in a multitude of colours, butterflies bobbing through the air above them.

The Marauders sat down under the trees in the shade.  Remus sat down a reasonable distance from Sirius, clearly still upset with him.  Sirius felt bad for snapping at his friend, but his arm was still aching unpleasantly, and the pain made him feel irritable.

James had brought a copy of the Daily Prophet with him.  Smirking in a very satisfied manner, he opened it out with a flourish, and began to read aloud.

Spectral Demon Dog Sighted On Moor

Recently under investigation following concerns raised over possible lycanthrope threats to the local community, the village of Bodmin, Cornwall, experienced a second night of terror as wizards and Muggles alike became victims of a series of harrowing attacks by what is believed to be a spectral dog.

The ghostly assailant was sighted on Bodmin Moor yesterday in the early evening as night began to fall.  Shrouded in fog, the animal was near invisible until it came within mere feet of its intended targets; among them a Muggle couple on a camping holiday and a group of young witches and wizards practising Quidditch.

Young Cassandra Delphi relived her terrifying experience for our Daily Prophet reporter.

'I heard noises in the dark, it was like nothing I'd ever heard before; a low haunting sort of groan, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.  Then this monstrous beast came out of nowhere and attacked us.  It was enormous – must have been at least the size of a pony!  Its eyes glowed like fire – '

Miss Delphi was so overcome by her fright she visibly shuddered but bravely continued her account.

'It was so fast; it couldn't have been real.  Its fur was almost transparent.  We did think it was a ghost but it physically struck my boyfriend before disappearing into thin air.'

All visual accounts have confirmed that the dog is indeed a ghoul of some kind.  Experts at the Ministry of Magic Spirit Division have been notified.  They believe the dog to be either a restless wraith that is attempting to claim the moor as its territory, or simply someone's pet gone astray.  Whilst no one has yet reported a ghost-hound as missing, the Spirit Division are exploring every avenue in an attempt to trace an owner.

Previous suspicions of werewolf activity have been revoked in light of this new development.  Plans to capture the free-roaming canine are under consideration.  In the meantime, residents of Bodmin are cautioned to stay inside after dark.  Once the dog has been found, a temporary home will be arranged until its owner can be traced.

'So how about that then?' James smiled, folding the newspaper up and tossing it onto the grass.  'No werewolves in Cornwall, just a stray ghost hound wandering around!'

Remus smiled appreciatively. 

'Thanks guys, that was brilliant!  All my parents are worried about now is my running across this creature if it isn't caught by the next full moon.'

'That's better than putting up another 'For Sale' sign, isn't it?'

'Definitely, I really like it here.  I don't want to have to move again so soon.'

'There's not a lot to do around here though, is there?' asked James, looking over the fence in the direction of the village.

'I find stuff to do,' said Remus, leaning back against the tree behind him.

'Like what?' asked Peter.

'I practise Ju Jitsu with my dad a lot,' said Remus.  'He goes mental if I don't practise enough.'

'Ju what?' said Sirius, James and Peter simultaneously.

'Ju Jitsu,' said Remus, pronouncing it slowly.  'It's a martial art.'

'You mean like Karate or Judo?' asked James, sitting up with interest.

'Yes, only Ju Jitsu is primarily a method of self defence.'

Sirius glanced up at Remus, but he wasn't looking at him.

'But does it have the belts?' asked Peter.  'Like in Karate?'

'The grading is similar to Karate.' Remus thought for a moment.  'I had to give up the lessons when I moved here, but I think I remember my sensai saying that there were about fourteen belts.'

'Do you have one then?'  James looked very impressed.

'I'm only a yellow belt,' said Remus, sounding a little embarrassed.  'That's only the second grade belt, after the white.'

'What's a sensai?'  Peter looked confused.

'A sensai is the instructor; it's Japanese.  Ju Jitsu means 'the art of softness', or words to that effect.'

'Softness?'  James snorted derisively.  'Doesn't sound very lethal.'

Remus rolled his eyes.

'Don't be fooled; this art was the one implemented by the Samurai warriors and ninjas of ancient Japan – so it can be very lethal.  It's one of the oldest of all martial arts; in fact, Karate and Judo were developed from Ju Jitsu techniques hundreds of years ago.  As for the name, the softness, or gentleness, actually refers to you learning to remain calm and in control of the situation.  It isn't about brute force or being able to do high kicks and jumps; it's more about learning how to execute the techniques against an attacker with minimum force but with the most effective results.  And of course without getting yourself hurt.'

Sirius could feel Remus' cool gaze on him, but when he raised his head Remus was no longer looking at him.  James and Peter were looking at Remus, seemingly very impressed.

'My parents wanted me to learn how to defend myself since I can't use my wand outside of school until I'm seventeen, so self-defence classes seemed to be the obvious answer.'

'Can you show us?' said Peter, eyes sparkling with interest.  'I want to see.'

'Yeah, go on, Moony,' said James.

Remus gave a shy smile, and then got to his feet.

'Okay, but I'll need someone to attack me.'  He looked down at Sirius, who was rather focused on some ants in the grass.  'Padfoot?'

James shoved Sirius' shoulder; he meant it playfully but he'd touched his left arm, right where the bruises were.  Reluctantly, Sirius got up.  They both moved out into the open space, facing each other a few feet apart.

Remus held out his arm.

'Grab my wrist,' he instructed.  'Hard.'

Sirius didn't move; he looked hard at Remus.  Remus simply stood there, offering his wrist.  Then, without a word, Sirius stepped forward and grabbed Remus' thin wrist, gripping it firmly.  In a blur of moment, Remus had suddenly pulled his hand free, seemingly without effort.

'Hang on, what did you just do?' said James, standing up.  'I missed it.'

'All right.  Padfoot, grab me again.'

Sirius seized his wrist, holding it tighter than before.  This time Remus explained and demonstrated it slowly.

'What you have to do is simply rotate your hand in a small sharp circle,' he said, slowly moving his hand up and over Sirius' hand,  'until you come to the weakest point which is the gap between the fingers and thumb, then just pull free.'  And he smoothly drew his wrist out of Sirius' grasp, which had weakened because of the awkward position Remus had manoeuvred his hand into.  'It's called the Magic Circle, because it'll work whichever way you turn your hand.'

'Clever,' said James.

'Of course you can make it easier by using your other hand; just protrude the knuckle of your middle finger and grind it into the back of the attacker's hand and they'll let go more easily,' said Remus.   'Some the techniques are quite easy, they just take a bit of practise to get them right, and to remember what to do when you really need to use them.

'That's the hardest part really,' he admitted.  'A lot of people have a tendency to freeze up and forget what they could do to help themselves; it's perfectly natural but if you practise these enough, it practically becomes a reflex and you won't even have to think about it to do it.'

'What else can you do?' asked Peter eagerly.

'I'll show you what to do if someone grabs the front of your shirt.  Prongs, you attack me this time.'

James reached out and seized a fistful of the shirt Remus wore.  Once again, Remus showed them step-by-step.

'Okay, first you grab their hand,' he said, putting his hand over James'.  'Then aim a strike at the face.'  James moved his head back slightly as Remus put his fist close to his face.  This retreat loosened his grip on Remus who then withdrew his fist, pulled James' hand off him and, using both hands, slowly twisted it over so that the back of the hand was now facing him.

'This will hurt so I won't do it too hard,' said Remus warningly.  'The idea is to apply pressure to the wrist joint and get the attacker off balance.  See where I've got my fingers on the wrist where it bends?  By pushing on the back of the hand with my thumbs, I can push the hand forward but since my fingers stop it bending properly, it hurts.'

Remus gently applied a small amount of pressure but stopped the moment James opened his mouth to say, 'Ouch!'   Remus swiftly sidestepped, once, twice, twisted to the side, and brought James to the floor.  James landed scrawled on his back, amazed.

Remus gave him an evil grin. 

'I could put another lock on your wrist while you're down there.  Want to see?'

James shook his head vigorously.

'No, no, that was plenty,' he said.  Remus let go of his wrist and James lay there massaging it for a moment.

'Rotate your wrist a few times, that'll ease the pain,' said Remus.  'I should warn you that bruises come as standard with learning this.'

Peter's smile faltered.

'D-did you ever get hurt?  Learning this stuff?'

'Occasional bumps and bruises, nothing serious.  You have to be very careful when applying locks because if you go too far you can really hurt someone.  If someone has you in a lock while you're training and it starts to hurt, just do this.' Remus slapped his hand twice against his thigh; two loud claps rang out in quick succession.  'That's the signal to alert your partner to stop, and you have to stop as soon as you hear it.  If you don't, you could seriously injure someone.'

James and Peter nodded, eagerly waiting to hear more.  Sirius stood a short distance away, and, despite his initial reluctance, couldn't mask his interest, watching and listening attentively.

Remus watched James clamber back onto his feet and brush himself off.

'Maybe I ought to show you guys how to fall properly,' he said thoughtfully.

'What?  Hit the ground?  Didn't I do that already?' laughed James.

'It's the very first thing I was taught, Prongs, and it's relevant to almost all the techniques.  If you'd broken your fall correctly just now, it wouldn't have hurt so much.  I'll show you …'

Remus proved to be a very good teacher, taking them all through each manoeuvre slowly, explaining it carefully, and then letting them have a go at it.

Sirius paid close attention as Remus demonstrated how to break a fall correctly.  Remus dived forward, tucked his head, used his forearm to cushion the fall, and rolled back up onto his feet in one smooth motion. 

'Just start from a crouch,' Remus said.  Peter was looking scared.  'You don't have to try to dive through the air.  It's just like a forward roll, go on.'

James bravely went first and was ever so surprised to find himself back on his feet in seconds.  Peter tried, managed the roll okay, but fell backwards as he tried to get up. 

Slowly, Sirius crouched on the grass.

'Tuck your head down, Padfoot,' said Remus.  'Then just lay your forearm on the ground and roll forward.'

Sirius did as instructed, rolled forward and his momentum brought him back up onto his feet.  Much to Sirius' relief, his arm hadn't hurt. 

They tried the break fall again; Sirius hoped that none of them noticed that he only practised using his right arm.

Remus then showed them a variety of other break-falls.  Sirius winced as Remus dropped straight from a standing position, hitting the ground with his forearms.  Luckily Remus moved onto blocks before insisting that they try them out.

'There are ten different blocks,' Remus explained.  'Well, actually there's eleven but the last one is rather awkward so we don't really use it.'

Peter, James and Sirius took turns trying to punch Remus, aiming at his head and his stomach; Remus blocked each punch quickly and feinted a return strike.  'You always follow a block with a strike, that's one of the basic rules.'

Sirius wasn't overly keen on trying these but Remus partnered with him, using a minimum of force, although Sirius refused to show that his arm stung.

'Really, the more force someone uses to hit you, the more it hurts them when you block it. By using your forearm to strike at their wrist or middle of their forearm, you deflect the strike and cause them some pain at the same time, then aim a strike at the chest or face; whatever you can reach.'

What impressed the Marauders further were the techniques used whilst lying on the floor in case someone managed to get you down.  As Remus pointed out,  'Just because you're down, doesn't mean you're out.' And he skilfully sent Peter tumbling to the ground with hardly any effort at all.

'Escaping from someone attempting to strangle you is easier than most people would think,' said Remus, as Peter nervously put his hands around his neck.  'What people fail to realise is that while your assailant's hands are occupied, you still have full use of your own.  First, you trap one hand so they can't run,' Peter gave a nervous whimper as Remus pinned his hand to his shoulder.  'Strike the face with your other hand, grab their trapped hand, pull it off and twist the arm.'  Peter staggered as Remus applied the arm lock, stepping in and pushing down gently on Peter's shoulder blade.  'You can then just push the arm a little further …' Peter slapped his thigh quickly and Remus immediately let go.  'Alternatively, you can do what I did earlier to Prongs when he grabbed my shirt, it works in the same way, only you twist the arm in the opposite direction to bring the attacker to the floor.  Plus you can kick them once they're down so they won't get up straight away and you have a few moments to run.'

Remus then showed them how to escape someone strangling from behind.  James grabbed Remus around the neck and, sensing that Remus might hit him again, stood back as far as he could.  Remus smiled.

'There's not a lot of point doing that, Prongs,' he warned, clapping his hands behind his back.  'I don't need to see you to know whereabouts you are.'

Swiftly, Remus trapped one hand, took a big step back, twisted and elbowed James in the ribs.  In moments, Remus had wrapped an arm round James' waist, grabbed his upper arm, dropped into a long fighting stance, twisted his body, and neatly thrown James to the floor.  James gave a startled yelp as he hit the floor, shutting his eyes tight as Remus aimed a punch at his face.

'That's when you could have practised your side break fall,' said Remus, tutting somewhat like Professor McGonagall.

The 'lesson' carried on for quite some time, the Marauders really getting into it.  Sirius found that the more he practised each manoeuvre, the easier it became, not to mention that he hardly the noticed the pain in his arm.

Mrs. Lupin came out into the garden during the afternoon to fetch Peter; his father had just called and wanted Peter to return home.  Disappointed, Peter glumly left, though Remus promised that if they wanted to learn a bit more, they were welcome back at any time.

James departed an hour later, before his parents started worrying.  Sirius was just about to leave as well when Remus suddenly moved up beside him, taking hold of Sirius' wrist, right over the bruises.  Gasping in pain and surprise, Sirius swore under his breath and quickly pulled his hand out of the vice-like grip.  He glared murderously at Remus, but Remus simply gave him a sombre half-smile.

'Just checking you were paying attention.'

'Next time, try tapping me on the shoulder,' Sirius hissed, his temper flaring up again.

'Next time, try to remember how to do this,' said Remus, rotating his hand in the same motion Sirius had just used.  'You won't get hurt as badly.'

Sirius meant to glare, but it faltered.  He self-consciously rubbed his arm.  It wasn't as painful as it had been that morning.  Hesitantly, he slowly rolled up the sleeve.  The ugly ring of buries had faded to a sickly yellow and green.  Remus simply looked at them, then up at Sirius.

'I didn't want to say anything in front of the others and I know you don't want to say, so I'm not going to waste my breath asking … but I know what made those marks.' He held up his own wrist.  'I've seen those kind of marks before.  Hurt a lot, don't they?'

Sirius didn't say anything.  He looked at Remus questioningly.

'Mobs – occupational hazard of Dark Creatures,' said Remus softly.  'Why'd you think my parents wanted me to learn self-defence?  It's a good thing that Ju Jitsu doesn't require you to be physically strong otherwise after a full moon I won't be able to help myself the next time they show up on the doorstep.'

'Don't say that,' said Sirius, looking pained.

'Why not?  It happens to be true and I can't do anything to change that.'  He looked Sirius straight in the eye, looking more serious than his friend had ever seen him before.  'You, however, can.  Now, I don't know what's going on exactly, but don't let the problem get out of hand.  If you need help don't hesitate to ask for it.  We are your friends and I for one owe you a lot.'

Sirius felt deeply ashamed of himself.

'Moony, I didn't mean to snap at you earlier – '

'Forget about it.  I already have.'

They smiled uncertainly at each other.

'I guess I'd better get back,' said Sirius slowly.

'Yeah.  I'll see you?'

Sirius smiled, turned and stepped into the fireplace.  The flames roared and he was gone.

Remus stood watching the crackling green flames as they returned to normal.  After a few moments, he turned and walked away.

*

To Be Continued.

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Please review.  All comments and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated.

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Author's Notes.

Just as a reminder, please don't go trying these out on friends or siblings (however annoying you find them).  I have been practising Ju Jitsu for over a year now, and as the bruises on my arms will attest, these techniques hurt even when you're doing them correctly.  If you want to perform marital arts, sign yourself up for Ju Jitsu lessons, or another self-defence group.  I have included these in Heart of a Star as an example of one of the options open to people who fear being attacked. 

It's a sad fact of the world that we live in that more and more people feel threatened when they're in a home or work environment, when they needn't feel afraid.  I myself took up Ju Jitsu classes after several years of bullying and the growing fear of physical attacks – I'm young, female, five foot four and slender in build with not a lot of physical strength; I look like an easy target, whether it's for mugging or rape.  And far too often I've heard about people disappearing and turning up dead, having been raped and/or strangled.  It really makes me wonder that if those unfortunate victims had known any form of self-defence, would they still be with us?  If anything, I believe they would have had a chance.

I never want to be in a situation where I have to use what I've learned, but if I do, I know I won't be helpless.  

Don't be a victim – learn how to defend yourself.

TiniTinuviel – Ah well, it wouldn't have quite the same impact if you could see it coming a mile off. ^_^  I was quite pleased when I came up with the haunting of Bodmin Moor prank., it just struck me as something the Marauders would find amusing, to play on an actual legend, and to help a friend in the process.  Not to mention that I had to think of a prank that didn't involve magic (excluding the Animagus transformation).

Prongs4 – I'm glad you enjoyed it; I certainly enjoyed writing it!  One of my favourite chapters that one.

NightSpear – The first blow indeed, and of course by 'first' it means that there will be more.  And it's not the only weapon Richard has at his disposal, as you will see in the next chapter.

Christy – I'm surprised that the idea isn't used more, too.  Okay, I've seen him acting as a Grim once (scared the living daylights out of Professor Trelawney in the process!) but I liked having more of a noble purpose behind it.  I read about the beast of Bodmin Moor years ago, not sure how it is I can remember it so well but I'm glad I did! ^_^

I like your evaluation of Richard being 'disturbing and aggressive', that's perfect!  I never thought I'd be able to write a character that could generate so much dislike.  Yay for me.  And never fear, I won't stop posting the fic.  I find it so irritating when people just stop  in the middle of  –

Just kidding.  ^_^

WallyTheWhale – Good word use there!  And yes, sadly, that happens to a lot of people; they fear they won't be believed because they can't prove it, so don't say anything and leave themselves open to further attacks. 

Nope, James' parents didn't catch him coming home in the early hours, so he wasn't grounded.

You didn't hate Peter?  Yay!  I agree, he had to have been a good friend at that stage, in fact, he must have been a good friend for quite some time if Lily and James agreed to trust him as the Secret Keeper.  He needs to be portrayed in a positive light once in a while to remind people that he was considered a good friend; he wasn't always a little backstabber, however much we hate him now.  I have been considering writing a short fic based on him, maybe showing how overshadowed he felt by his talented friends, but I haven't got round to planning it out just yet.  Too busy with planning the follow up to Tell No Lies and Take It Back – that one's over forty chapters long!

School?  Fun?  Do I detect a hint of sarcasm there?  Hee hee, I've finished school.  *leans back in chair and puts feet up on the office desk*  If only I could still take holidays like students …

The witch across the street is called Irene Fennel, and her daughters Charlotte and Victoria.  Glad you like them!  Strong vocabulary this week? *snaps a pair of earmuff on* Well, I'm kinda hoping you won't find a reason to, with this chapter anyway.  Save it for chapter nine!

Orion-San – Wow, little eager for the beatings, are we?  Oh well, each to their own.  ^_^  Oh, I can't ignore people for very long – if it's just them calling me by that irritating shortened version of my name and they don't get a response, they usually try again, addressing me properly.  They soon get the hint about what I want to be called.

Lil Lupin – Yay, I did okay on the apostrophes!  Getting the hang of them at long last.  Just need to remember there's one in St Mungo's for the next fic. 

Squintz1 – You thought that prank was funny?  Wait until you see what they pull later on in the summer!  I had so much pleasure writing it.  ^_^  You'll see why later on.

Semmel – Hello there!  Haven't seen you for a while.  Aw, 'The Greatest Gift' still your favourite?  To be honest it's mine too.  My first completed fic, and a Marauder story to boot.

Hey, you are actually totally right!  Not a coincidence in the slightest – I'm a bit of a Buffy fan and the episode of 'Ted' was one that helped to inspire this fic.  Richard owes a fair bit of his character to Ted, acting like the perfect gentlemen to some people but an absolute tyrant to others.  And you are right, there are too many people out there who are like both these characters.  Victims are often too scared to admit to being hurt, that's why it goes unnoticed for too long in many situations.  Hence the reason why Sirius won't admit it to his friends, but Remus is quite perceptive, he knows there's something amiss.