THERE IS A REFERENCE TO "FRIENDS" IN THIS CHAPTER; THE ONE LINE IS COURTESY OF WHOSOEVER WRITES "FRIENDS", JUST BECAUSE IT'S AN AWSOME SHOW.

Sirius spun around. "What?" he said to Freya, seeing nothing behind him. "What is it? Tell me!"

She just stared at him, her eyes wide and her vision blurred. She kept walking backwards, stumbling against the table and crushing the broken glass from her glasses. The blood wine stained her shoes as she continued retreating.

"Sirius," she whispered.

"What?"

"Sirius Black," she said, sounding as if she had just heard his name and realized that it had been on the news in the Wanted section for the past year. "You're Sirius Black."

"Freya…" he said, taking a step towards her.

"No," she whispered, starting to walk backwards faster. "No. Oh god, no!" She turned around and started for the Eiffel Tower at a sprint.

Sirius didn't follow her. He just watched as her silhouette grew distant, feeling like someone had reached down his throat, pulled his small intestine out of his mouth and wrapped it around his neck. He held out his hand, caressing the air in which she had just stood.

What is this? he thought. Why do I feel like this?

Back in England, nothing seemed like it should have been. One night in Paris had accustomed him to clear skies and vast landscapes. The yellow moon was almost full tonight, and low in the sky. Sirius sighed, gazing longingly out the window. What had made Freya run like that? What had scared her so much to leave?

When Remus came home with Lily and James after a night of double shifting (they had been covering for Sirius at the Ministry), they found him asleep at the window, strings of drool leading from his mouth to the floor. His black hair was disheveled and he snored slightly as his bare chest rose and fell with each breath.

Lily covered her mouth, trying hard not to laugh at the sight, but James and Remus, who were both quite used to finding him like this, lifted him up and set him down in his bed.

"I imagine his date didn't go as well as he had hoped," said James with a sly smile, staring at Lily. She playfully slapped his arm.

"Shut up," she said, hiding a smile.

Remus drank a butterbeer silently, his eyes closed.

James lifted an eyebrow questioningly. "You OK, mate?" he said.

The man opened his eyes as if coming out of a trance. "Huh?"

"You OK?"

"Yeah," he said. There was a pause when the only sound was the ruffling of James' owl perched on the windowsill. "It's just, the night before the full moon. You know how it is."

"Yeah, I know," said James.

"Do you want to stay at our place tonight, Remus?" said Lily, touching his arm in a comforting manner that made James stiffen. He ruffled his hair.

He inhaled, considering it. "Nah, no, it's fine. It comes and goes, just like every month. Don't worry." He looked at Lily with a hunger in his eyes. "Thank you," he whispered.

James cleared his throat loudly. "Lily and I best be going, then, Remus. We'll see you tomorrow bright and early, then, eh?"

Remus waved to the two as the left the apartment, closing the door as quietly as they could behind them. When he turned back to his butterbeer, he jumped in surprise to see Sirius standing in the doorway to his room.

He looked groggily at Remus, rubbing one of his eyes. His hair looked as if it had been blow dried upside down.

"Mr Moony, I dare say," he croaked.

"What dare you say, Mr Padfoot?" said Remus tiredly.

"I think one has a crush on another's girlfriend. Could this possibly be true?"

"How was your date with the mystery woman?"

"It was … indescribable. She took me to Paris."

"You don't look very happy, though."

"It's just … well, the evening was coming to an end, and it was really romantic and everything, and we kissed, this … amazing kiss—" Sirius trailed off. Remus cleared his throat and Sirius continued. "But then she got all weird and ran away."

"Got weird?"

"Yeah, like, she kept saying 'Oh my god', and 'You're Sirius Black'."

"What…?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought! So anyway, I came back to London, hoping maybe she will too and I can talk to her again. It's just … I want to see her again, you know?"

Remus smiled. "No," he said quietly. "I don't."