Strangely, it was Peter who saw the notice first. He flung himself down at the breakfast table, breathless and grinning, and said, "Quidditch tryouts start next week."
Sirius gaped at him, speechless for once. James, who (much to Remus' disgust) was in the midst of coating his eggs with syrup, stopped pouring long enough to squeak, "Really?"
Peter nodded excitedly. "There was a notice in the Gryffindor common room. Frank Longbottom just put it up." He paused to drink from the glass of pumpkin juice that Sirius had just passed to him. "I suppose you're trying out?"
"Of course we are!" said James. He began to shovel syrupy eggs into his mouth with shocking alacrity.
Remus had to look away. He took a nibble of his toast and tried not to think about what James was eating. Glancing across the table at Sirius, he breathed a small sigh of relief. Sirius didn't even like his food to touch; he wasn't about to drown it in syrup.
"What about you, Remus?" Sirius asked around a mouthful of half-chewed bacon, the sight of which, Remus reflected, wasn't much better than James' eggs.
"No," he said. "I, um. Well, there's that Potions essay due..."
"Next week!" said Sirius. "A whole six more days away!"
"Well," Remus said, somewhat peevishly, "I don't want to leave it till the last minute."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Keep that attitude up, and someone's bound to make you a Prefect."
The common-room fire was making him drowsy, but Sirius was too comfortable to go up to bed. James and Peter had both left an hour ago, while Remus was still writing his Potions essay. He'd only just finished.
"You should go on up to bed," Remus said. "If you fall asleep in that chair, I'm not carrying you upstairs."
Sirius yawned. "Well, I couldn't leave you alone down here."
"Why not?" asked Remus. "What was I going to do, stab myself with a quill? Get attacked by rogue parchment?"
"It could happen," said Sirius. "You never know." He tried picturing Remus being attacked by his essay and managed to keep a straight face for exactly three seconds before bursting into bark-like laughter.
Remus waited patiently for him to calm down, trying not to notice the way the firelight played across Sirius' shaggy hair, throwing bluish highlights into the black. Instead he busied himself with rolling up his parchment. He told himself that the strange tingly effect was not due to the proximity of Sirius Black, but to sheer exhaustion.
"Remus?"
"Yes?"
Sirius chewed on his bottom lip for a moment, then asked, "D'you fancy someone?"
Remus, trying not to hyperventilate, choked and shook his head. "No," he finally managed.
"Well," Sirius continued, "suppose you did. How would you go about getting them to notice you?" He watched as Remus brushed his fringe out of his eyes with slender, ink-stained fingers. The longer length really did suit him better, Sirius decided, and he hoped Remus would keep it that way.
"Are you sure you should be asking me?" said Remus. "Maybe you should ask James. He's always trying to get Lily Evans interested." He chewed on the end of his quill and added, "Who is it?"
"Um." Sirius debated for a moment. "It's more of a hypothetical question, actually."
Remus yawned, picking up his books and parchment, and headed towards the stairs. "It's late. You should get some sleep."
"You go on," Sirius said, waving him off. "I'll be up in a few minutes." He was acutely aware of the boy's level gaze on him. Remus shrugged and headed up to the dorm. Sirius watched him go, and wondered why his dreams had to be haunted by tawny hair and amber eyes.
"I can't believe we both made the team!" Sirius crowed, exuberantly throwing himself across his bed.
James snickered. "I can't believe you made the team," he said, expertly ducking the pillow Sirius immediately threw at him. "What was that move, anyway?"
"It was a classic Sloth Grip Roll," Sirius said, with an injured tone. "If you actually knew anything about Quidditch, you'd know that."
"I know enough about Quidditch to know you're just covering up for nearly falling off your broom," James said. "Oi!" Sirius had found a packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans in his nightstand and had begun flicking them at James.
The door edged open, and Remus stepped gingerly around it, barely able to see around the stack of books he was carrying.
"What the bloody hell's that?" asked Sirius in disbelief. "A little light reading?"
Remus placed the books atop his school trunk, ignoring Sirius' comment, and pushed his hair out of his face. His fringe was really getting much too long, but he couldn't be bothered to trim it. "Well?" he asked. "How were they, Peter?"
"Brilliant," Peter said loyally, positively glowing with a mixed expression of envy and admiration. "Gryffindor's sure to have the best team now."
"James?"
James puffed his chest out a little and said, "I made Seeker!"
"Congratulations," Remus said, and he sincerely meant it. "Sirius? How'd you do?"
"Beater," Sirius proudly proclaimed.
Remus smiled. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me in the least. Did you try out too, Peter?"
"No," Peter said, with a small shake of his head.
"Pettigrew's not much on flying," Sirius said around a mouthful of chocolate. He'd found some slightly stale Chocolate Frogs in the bottom of his bookbag and was magnanimously passing them around. Remus took one dubiously.
"I don't like being that far off the ground," Peter admitted, as he accepted a Frog from Sirius. "I'd rather watch Quidditch than play it."
James and Sirius stared at him, unable to fathom how someone could not want to play the most widely popular and exciting wizarding sport. "Nothing," James said emphatically, "is better than Quidditch."
"Nothing," Sirius echoed solemnly. "So, who's coming to watch our first practice tomorrow?"
"Can't," said Remus. "I've got to go home for the weekend."
James narrowed his eyes. "Your mum's not sick again, is she?"
Remus shrugged. "Well," he said softly, "it really can't be helped."
"You go every month," said Sirius. "Can't you beg off just once?"
"No," said Remus. He gave Sirius a strange look. "Definitely not an option." He picked a clean set of robes off his bed and headed off towards the shower.
As soon as Remus had left the room, James poked Sirius with his wand. "That was incredibly insensitive, y'know," James said, "even for you. Unlike you, some people actually like their families."
Sirius stared thoughtfully at the closed door.
"Did either of you do the Astronomy homework yet?" Peter piped up. "Only I can't make this lunar chart come out right."
James sidled over to Peter's bed and sprawled across the foot of it. "Let me see," he said, taking the chart from the smaller boy. "No, this is wrong here. It's not coming out right because you've got the phases of the moon backwards." He pointed at the chart. "Here, see, and here. Anyway, it's a full moon this weekend, not a new one. Change that and you should get it working."
"Thanks," Peter said gratefully, taking back the chart and scribbling in the changes with his quill.
"James..." Sirius said in a slightly strangled voice. "Are you sure about that?"
They stared at each other. Your mum's not sick again, is she? You go every month.
"Oh," James said softly.
"Oh," said Sirius.
They watched Remus enter the Great Hall, stepping gingerly towards the Gryffindor table. The limp was barely noticeable, but that might have been due to the considerable distraction caused by the angry red welt across one cheekbone.
"Quit staring," Remus muttered, gritting his teeth as he eased himself into a seat.
"Have a run-in with the Whomping Willow, did you?" James asked casually.
"Something like that," Remus said. He sipped slowly at his pumpkin juice.
"We know," Sirius said suddenly.
Remus put down his glass. "Know what?" he asked carefully, not daring to meet their eyes.
"Where you were this weekend," Sirius whispered, leaning close enough to Remus' ear for his breath to feather the other boy's tawny hair.
Remus, already pale, turned utterly white.
Sirius sat back and added, "We're still your friends, you know. This doesn't change that. It doesn't change anything."
"But," James said, sounding slightly hurt, "you could have trusted us."
"Remus?" asked Peter. "Are you alright?"
But Remus never heard him; he'd already fainted.
"What happened?" he asked, groggily opening his eyes. Everything still ached horribly.
"You fainted, mate," said James, perched on the edge of the hospital bed.
"So," Remus said weakly. "You figured it out."
James nodded. "Yeah."
"And it doesn't bother you?"
James shook his head. "Was it supposed to?" he asked. He slid sideways on the bed until he was leaning against Remus' shoulder. "We'll always be there for you, you know. That's what friends do," he added softly.
Remus gave a bitter laugh. "I wouldn't know, actually," he said. "I never had any friends before coming to Hogwarts, not real ones."
"Really?"
"Well..." Remus gestured vaguely at himself. "On account of ... things. You get used to it."
"Do you?"
Remus thought, then shook his head. "No," he said truthfully. "You don't. I don't. Where's Sirius and Peter?
"Herbology. D'you want me to go to?"
"No," said Remus, suddenly terrified that he was about to start crying in front of James. "Stay. Please."
"Shove over a bit, then," said James, and Remus did, pillowing his head on James' chest, immeasurably grateful for simple things like friendship.
"James... I..." Remus began, looking up right when James happened to look down, but the words were cut off by the sudden unexpected pressure of James' lips against his own.
As kisses go, it was terribly awkward, with noses bumping and James' glasses sliding down his nose, not to mention the belated realization that they were both boys and therefore probably shouldn't be kissing at all, especially not in the Hogwarts hospital wing.
"Sorry," James whispered, as they broke apart.
"Don't be," Remus whispered back. They stared wide-eyed at each other a moment, then James rose and gathered his books.
"I just wanted to reassure you," James blurted out. "Nothing's changed because of the werewolf thing. Just so you know." He turned and hurried out of the room.
Remus touched his lips and wondered if he would ever get used to his friends.