Chapter Two: Of Mornings and Premonitions

Sirius grumbled as he felt something, or rather, someone roll him out of the bed. His screech of protest was cut off as he hit the stone floor with an audible thud.

"Ow…" He rubbed his backside from where he now sat and looked up into the amused eyes of his friend. "I know I'm not that hard to wake up," he grumbled.

"Rise and shine, your highness," came the voice of one grinning James Potter.

"Not before the sun does," Sirius said shooting a quick glance out his window to see the pale predawn light before climbing back into his bed and under the warm blankets… only to have said blankets yanked from atop him, exposing him to the cold air.

"James!" the prince hissed, wrapping his arms about his chest for warmth and infinitely glad that he slept with pajama bottoms on. "It's bloody cold!"

"I could always fetch Tristan. I'm sure he'd love to help you warm up! Then again… you could always just get dressed since your uncle will be seeing us off in less then an hour," the knight replied in a far too cheerful voice in Sirius' opinion. Stupid git was enjoying this.

Sirius yanked his blankets back and smirked. "Plenty of time if you ask me, send him up."

James scowled and moved to grab the blankets again. This time, however, Sirius kept a good grip on his end and pulled hard. The knight stumbled and fell onto the bed, landing on top of the prince who smirked up at him.

"Why, James!" Sirius said batting his eyelashes, "I never knew you felt this way!"

"Prat," James said, rolling off of his friend and pushing him once more off the bed.

Sirius smirked at him from his spot on the ground. "That's right. You're still saving yourself in the hopes that you can win over my bride-to-be."

James growled and leapt off the bed, tackling Sirius. "That assumption would be incorrect, your majesty," he said as Sirius easily escaped his grip. "You see, unlike you, I don't chase every pretty face I see. I bet you wouldn't even know love if it bit your royal ass."

The prince shrugged nonchalantly. "Who needs love? I'm perfectly happy the way things are."

James just shook his head. "I wish I could say you'd eat those words, but I somehow doubt anyone who could be brilliant enough to get you to fall in love with them would be stupid enough to want to spend the rest of their life with you."

He was met with a well aimed pillow, courtesy of Sirius.

Grinning, he caught it and tossed it back. "I'll tell you one thing, Siri, after all the rumors from the previous suitors, I don't envy you."

Sirius scowled and was about to comment when James cut him off. "Hurry up and get dressed, your highness. We'll be leaving soon. Peter's already gone to fetch the carriage and your uncle will be down shortly to see us off. Come when you're ready."

Sirius nodded as James left the room before setting about to dressing himself.

Bright light from the midmorning sun streamed in through the small window of an equally small shack on the outskirts of a wooded area. Remus' eyes tightened as he felt the warm rays on his face.

Groaning softly, he rolled over onto his side, away from the invading light. He immediately regretted the action as he felt the suddenly prominent aches from the various cuts and bruises that marked his skin.

He tried to sit up, but was stopped by a sharp pain in his side from an especially nasty looking gash that Remus suspected was quite deep as well since it still oozed blood despite the passage of time from moon down to sun up in which his other cuts had already began to cake over.

Lying back down, he pulled the worn, thin, frayed, chewed, and barely there blanket from the floor and over his body. Alice and Lily always got mad when he did this as it was usually covered in dust and dirt, and grime didn't mix well with open wounds.

This transformation had been so much better than the last one, with all those hunters shooting game in the forest, the wolf had gone crazy and for the first time (and Remus prayed the last) he had awoken days later in a bed and not on the floor of the small hovel.

Lily and Frank would be along any minute.

As if on cue, Remus heard the latch of the door being undone before swinging open. Rolling over and suppressing a moan of pain, he glanced up to see Lily and Frank… minus the redhead.

"Where's Lils?" He managed to ask, rough voice cracking.

"Dumbledore came to get her. Apparently the castle is expecting an important guest later this morning." He paused and Remus watched as Frank's eyes took in the mess. He no longer flinched at the state he found Remus' body in every month, nor the dried patches of smeared blood, dirt, and fur that littered the tiny room.

"How're you feeling?" Frank asked quietly, as he bent to pick the weakened boy off the floor. Feeling more than hearing the soft sounds of pain Remus tried to hold in.

"Awful," he croaked, voice raw and sore as he shut his eyes and tried to relax against Frank. It took Frank less than a minute to cover the distance from the shack to his back door, but it was enough time for Remus to have fallen asleep again.

"How's he doing?" Alice asked worriedly as her husband walked in the back door. She followed him to the spare bedroom, pulling the blankets back so that he could lay a rather limp looking Remus down. She scowled slightly at the old blanket he had wrapped around him already… only he could think of being decent for them in such a condition.

"Better than last time, though that's not saying much," Frank replied as he laid Remus on the bed and pulling the covers up to cover the boy before pulling the worn blanket out from underneath. Remus whimpered slightly in his sleep.

Alice gazed down at him, with sad eyes as she set the bowl of warm water and a box she had been carrying down. Gently, she lifted the clean sheets and pulled them down just enough to expose the worst of his cuts on his arms and chest.

Pulling a cloth out of the box, Alice dipped it into the warm water. After wringing out the excess, she pressed the cloth softly but firmly against the gash on his side that had caught her eye as needing immediate attention.

Being as careful and gentle as she could, she dressed his wounds, doing her best not to wake him. After finishing, she returned the cloth to the now dark pink pool of water before pulling the covers back up to his neck and tucking him in the way Lily usually did.

Standing up, she blew out the bedside table's candle and closed the door softly behind her.

"Guys, I really don't think this is a good idea. I mean, seriously, she might remember what you looked like, your highness."

The prince grinned as he handed his cape to James. "Not likely Pete. She barely looked at let alone socialized with us when she visited those oh so many years ago. And I like to think I've grown dashingly handsome since then."

James snorted at his friend, clasping the cape around his neck and shaking it out so it fell loosely behind him. Peter shook his head.

"I still think it's a bad idea."

"Ah, where's the harm in a little joke?" Sirius asked, clipping James' sword to his side. It hadn't been easy switching outfits in a moving carriage with three other people, but the stupid sword… it took him a bit to figure out how to sit with it at his side. "And honestly, it's not like we aren't switching back again tonight. It'll be fun… Besides, I've always wanted to be knight!"

Peter scowled and James chuckled.

"Come on… help us out! You know you want to! I'll even settle for being a count and let you play prince for a bit," James cajoled the other boy.

Peter actually appeared to consider it for a moment. The slightly pudgy, watery eyed boy did like the idea of being a prince; someone who everyone listened to, a person they looked up to… even if it was only for a day.

"Alright," he agreed hesitantly, though a smile tugged at his lips.

This earned him a whoop from Sirius and a cheer from James, as the latter unclasped the cape from around his neck and handed it over.

Queen Rose sighed exasperatedly as she watched Lily walk back and forth, back and forth, while she was supposed to be letting her mother help her get ready.

"Will you please sit still for a moment? Honestly, what's gotten into you? You keep pacing and fidgeting and-" The queen almost squealed as she turned wide, hopeful eyes to her daughter.

"Are you actually anxious to meet this suitor?"

Lily paused in her pacing; all thoughts of Remus' well being coming to a crashing halt in her mind. She bit back the word no before it slipped out. Instead, she forced herself to agree.

"Yes, mother, perhaps a bit."

Rose clapped her hands together excitedly and hurried over to her daughter's wardrobe.

"We simply must find you something stunning to wear!"

The princess stifled a sigh of annoyance, she was, after all, grateful that the queen was no longer questioning her fidgeting behavior. She hadn't liked to lie, but then again, no one, save a few, knew about Remus… most thought he was missing, or on the rare occurrence someone did see him in the castle, a nameless servant.

Since being cursed, he'd changed drastically: chocolate brown eyes had turned golden, his skin had paled considerably, and a significant amount of weight loss from the energy to transform had left him rather frail looking. Despite all this, she mused, he was still rather handsome with that shy, innocent, boyish quality… though she could never convince him of such. He'd become painfully withdrawn since that dreadful day just over a year ago. Lily didn't know all the details of what had happened to him except that she completely loathed whoever this Marvolo man was. And she was reminded of that hate when she cleaned Remus' wounds every month… he was covered, absolutely covered, in scars that he never let show at any other time if he could help it… as if he were ashamed-

"Well?"

Lily's attention snapped back to her mother. "Pardon?"

Rose sighed.

"Dearest, I know you're excited and all but try not to get too lost in your thoughts. I asked you which one you wanted to wear."

Green eyes scanned the two dresses, a dark emerald colored one and a soft white one. Everyone always said the green one looked much nicer on her, made her look fetching and brought out her eyes.

"The white one." It was far more comfortable, and she could care less what she looked like for this Sirius fellow whom she couldn't ever remember meeting though her mother and father swore up and down they'd spent a week together at some point visiting him.

Her mother nodded and laid it out on the bed.

"Hurry and dress, Lily dear, our guests will be here shortly," her mother said, gracefully sweeping towards the door before grinning back at her daughter. "Your prince will be here soon! I can't wait to see how he's grown!"

This time, Lily did sigh. Rolling her eyes, she shut the door after her mother left. She walked over to the window and glanced down at the willow tree that had been hollowed out and doubled as an entrance to a short, underground tunnel that the royal advisor had had constructed as a gift to help make it easier for Remus and herself to slip out to the Longbottom's house.

A soft knock sounded at her door.

"Come in."

She didn't turn around as she heard the door open, but she instantly recognized Dumbledore's voice when he spoke.

"He's fine, my dear," he said, joining her by the window and glancing down at the willow as well.

"No, he's not. Just because he survived doesn't make him and all this fine!"

Albus nodded. "As true as that may be, there is little else you can do but be grateful that he is surviving… and, therefore, considering all that is possible for now, he is fine."

Lily wiped an angry tear that had slid down her face and tried to smile. "Mother thinks I'm excited over the new suitor."

"Ah, so I heard. She was in quite a good mood when I passed her in the corridor."

Soft blue eyes twinkled amusedly as the princess groaned.

"Perhaps you will get along with this one."

Lily arched an eyebrow curiously. "Have you seen something in that crystal ball of yours?" she asked teasingly.

"I am not as apt in the ways of magic as I once was," Dumbledore chuckled lightly, "but this," he pointed to a small carriage off in the distance heading their way, "perhaps it might not hold the prince of your dreams… though I dare say young Remus might be glad for that."

Narrowed green eyes turned to the Royal advisor and gave him a calculating look. "And what is that supposed to mean? I highly doubt Remus will care one way or the other as he doesn't fancy me as you have so cleverly implied. You might want to re-consult that crystal ball, your Excellency."

Dumbledore merely chuckled lightly and patted her shoulder.

"In fact, he doesn't fancy anyone," Lily continued. "He's so sweet, he deserves someone, but now…" she shook her head. "But even before the curse, it was always, 'she's too pretty', or 'she's too nice', or 'she deserves better than me.' I kept trying though… I still do. There's someone out there he's bound to like."

"Perhaps you need to appeal to his tastes," Dumbledore's smile was evident in his voice despite being hidden behind a snowy white beard.

He was met with a raise of the eyebrow. "Believe me; I've tried every type imaginable. There just aren't any girls he likes."

Albus chuckled. "My point exactly."

TBC