Remus woke abruptly to find Sirius keeping watch by his bedside. His thick head of black hair hung down, obscuring his face; he was dozing. Remus didn't wake him immediately. Instead, his eyes were drawn to a small red stain on Sirius's robes. It wasn't very noticeable since the robes were black, but Sirius, though not as obsessed with looking good as James had once been, did like to be attractive, and unless you were in a rock band, stained robes were definitely out as far as 'attractive' went.

"Sirius?" Remus whispered, shaking his friend's arm slightly.

Sirius's eyes fluttered half open. "Wha—? Izzit time for Charms already?"

"Nope," Remus said, grinning. "You just dozed off, I expect," he added as Sirius opened his eyes, sleep fading swiftly from them. ""What're you playing the sentry for anyway? Am I in danger?"

Suddenly the memory of the night before flooded back to Sirius, and he groaned. Why he had agreed to be the one to tell Remus, he'd never know. Well, no, that wasn't true, he did know why. He'd been the one who insisted Remus be told in the first place. Still, he should have made James do this. He really didn't want to see his friend unhappy, as he would undoubtedly be.

He hitched a grin onto his face and answered, "Nah, I just felt like keeping you company. No point in trying to do homework without you, is there? That's what James and Peter are up to, though."

"What time is it?" Remus asked, pulling his knees tightly into his chest. "How long did I sleep?"

"Broke your record, mate. It's four o'clock in the afternoon."

"Sirius..." He took a deep breath, glancing out of the window at the washed-out autumn sky before turning back to his companion. "Why did I sleep so late? What happened last night? I dreamt... I dreamt of the time when I first became a werewolf..." His voice was small, and he buried his face in his knees as if to banish the memory, to rub it out from behind his eyes.

Sirius couldn't look at him. There was no easy way to do this. He had gone through the possibilities for ages, and had come up with nothing better than just telling him, straight out. "Remus, last night we were near a house. You... almost bit a little boy."

The werewolf's head shot up, his eyes full of terror. "No. No. I didn't. Please tell me I didn't."

Now there was pleading in those stormy grey eyes as well. It broke Sirius's heart to see that. With a great effort, he managed to shake his head, unable to speak because of the lump that had risen in his throat.

Remus looked stricken, and guilty as all hell. He began to rock back and forth, clutching his knees to his chest. Sirius got up and moved to the bed, putting an arm around his friend's shoulder, trying to calm him, but this gesture only seemed to aggravate his pain. A whimper escaped him, and suddenly tears were flooding his face. Sirius felt an urge to wipe the moisture from his cheeks, but there was altogether too much of it.

"It's okay," he whispered to the top of Remus's head. He'd stopped his crazed rocking, and now sat quite still, almost as if dead.

Remus glanced up at him, tears still streaking from his eyes. "No, it isn't okay. That poor boy... I traumatized him... I could have killed him. And all because I was stupid enough to think that..." He stopped abruptly. He had been about to criticize his friends, and he didn't want to do that, not now, not ever. Gulping, he squeezed his eyes shut, willing the tears to stop. They did, eventually. Then he continued, "Stupid. I was stupid. Should have obeyed Dumbledore... but..."

Sirius watched his friend's face closely. Remus wasn't looking at him. "Remus, it's okay. I agree with you. At least, I think I do. I mean, I think I know what you're saying..." He was rambling, dammit, get to the point. "You should stay in the shack for your transformations." A silence greeted his words. Remus had stopped crying.

"But I want to come with you," he said quietly.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine without you for one night."

We'll be fine without you... The words echoed horribly in Remus's ears. "Okay," he replied dully.

"Listen, Moony, it'll be fine. We just won't transform anymore, we'll explore the grounds and stuff with James's invisibility cloak."

But it won't be the same, Remus thought sadly. Aloud he said, "Sure... Sirius, d'you think you could bring me back something from dinner? I'm starved."

"Of course!" Sirius smiled encouragingly at him. "I'll go get it straight away. Oh, by the way, Moony, it's going to be just you and me tonight. Wormtail's got detention, and James has got a date," he concluded importantly.

"Oh right, I'd forgotten about that..." Momentarily Remus left behind his sadness and grinned. "James and Lily. What a surprise that was."

"Indeed. I was really surprised, she doesn't seem the type to forgive and forget very easily. And James was a bit of a git when he was younger, wasn't he?"

"We all were," Remus said with a laugh. "How odd to think of it all now... But anyway, what about some food?"

"Certainly, master," Sirius squeaked in a high-pitched voice, then bowed low, looking uncannily like a house-elf. Remus chuckled again at this and waved him off with a haughty "Very well, what are you waiting for?"

----------

When Sirius returned, he was accompanied by a tray sagging under the weight of so much food. He had brought copious amounts of everything on the table, and the tray had been difficult to carry up to the hospital wing, but he was determined to eat with his friend.

Remus was still sitting up in bed, though he looked much calmer. His face was sticky with dried tears. "Oh!" he exclaimed, upon spying the food on Sirius's tray.

"It's not all for you."

"Good, but even so, I bet we'll have enough left over to feed James and Peter when they get back."

"Peter, at least," Sirius said with a knowing grin. "I'm not at all sure we'll be seeing our friend Prongs tonight."

"Well, you never know." Remus shrugged. "So what did you bring for us?"

"Everything," was the prompt reply. "I think McGonagall's been in the kitchens, though, 'cause it's all Scottish..."

"Not... haggis?" Remus pretended to look mortified.

"Thankfully not. But what we have got is cock-a-leekie, smoked haddock—ugh, I never did like fish—also, a more conventional rye loaf, and shortbread. Not bad, considering."

"What do you mean, 'considering'?" Remus asked, leaning over to poke Sirius in the ribs. "My gran's a pure-blooded Scotswoman, so she is, and she can cook better than my mum."

"I've eaten at your house, your mum's good. I take back my remark and beg your gran's forgiveness. She must be amazing."

"She is. You'll have to come with me and visit her sometime." He picked up his bowl of cock-a-leekie soup and dipped his bread into it.

"It'd be more fun than visiting my gran," Sirius said darkly.

Remus sighed. He knew Sirius still hadn't really recovered from his disowning, even though he had run away, not been kicked out.

"Come on, your family must still love you, er—very deep down."

Sirius gave a short, barking laugh. "Fat chance, Moony, but thanks for the optimism. You're a real odd bird, you know."

"I do know," he replied with a smile.

"Remember when we first met?"

How could he ever forget? It was like spring had come again to melt his frost-rimed heart.

"Yes... we were all shopping in Diagon Alley for our school things. You were wandering round with an ice cream, and James was pressed up against the window goggling at the latest racing broom... you thought it'd be rather amusing to tap him on the shoulder, see what he'd do—you both ended up covered in spumoni."

"Haha, I'd forgotten that little detail... Let's see, our parents found us. I remember Mum wasn't too pleased with the Potters, but in a crowded street she couldn't be too horrible. So then we had to go and get our books and quills and things, we'd saved those for last."

"Typical." Remus smiled reminiscently. "And of course I was in Flourish and Blotts, innocently reading a book, when you two accosted me."

"Correction. We didn't accost you. It was a friendly hullo, more like."

"That's funny, your current friendly hullo doesn't involve scaring the person half out of their wits, does it now?"

"Harrumph! You were a sensitive little git back then. Still are, come to think of it... Well, not a git," Sirius amended, seeing the look on Remus's face. "But definitely too jumpy for your own good. Though I can't say I really blame you, Moony." He stood and moved to the window, staring out at the darkening sky. "Wonder where James has taken Lily anyway."

Remus had been thinking the same thing. He loved James dearly, and wanted him to be happy... but he also didn't like the feeling of losing one of his best friends to a girl. Lily was nice enough, and they did make a nice couple, though, and Remus was glad they she had stopped hating him. It had caused James so much anguish during fifth and sixth year that it was something of a relief not to have to hear him harping on about it.

"I miss him already," he said softly to Sirius's back. He saw his friend's shoulders twitch.

"Don't talk rubbish, Moony, he hasn't gone anywhere."

But they both knew he was lying.