David, being the wonderfully perceptive person he is, didn't even notice when I was too tired to toy with dangerous substances the next morning and played solitaire with three packs of Exploding Snap instead. I'd notice the same thing I had on the run, however— when I got to bed tired, I usually didn't dream, and until I got an owl from Lily I didn't even want to think about dreaming or her and James's death. I s'posed if she actually convinced me to go talk to Sam Walker's father I'd have to think about it then.

Over the next couple of days, I started to relax, and late night runs started to become a part of a routine— though it didn't always work when it came to warding off nightmares. Then I found I was in for another shock.

At least this time I wasn't in bed— as David had charmingly put it, I had "started to grow up"— in other words, I'd actually taken work home. After grumbling enough, David had gotten me to attempt to help him with the accounting and quickly realized I told no lies when it came to my abilities with numbers. Actually, I was crossing out and trying to connect the various results of experiments at the time, trying to find something I could do with it.

I heard the door open and turned around, figuring Lily had come in person to tell me what Sam's father had said. "You should've sent a letter," I grumbled, squinting to see the human-shaped bit that didn't precisely fit with the rest of the scene— Lily in an illusion. I didn't see it. I raised an eyebrow and groped around, finally coming in contact with something silky. At least as curious as I was slightly annoyed, I took hold of it and yanked. The invisibility cloak slid off.

"Remus?"

Moony nodded and took the cloak back. "James'll kill me if he figures out it's gone," he pointed out, folding it, which mildly surprised me— Rem was hardly our neatest member; that title had to go to, surprisingly, Peter. I supposed he was trying to avoid explaining.

When he looked up, I nodded to chair. "What brings you here?" I wanted to know.

Remus sat down but didn't answer me immediately. Finally, he started haltingly, toying with the edge of the cloak. "You remind me of Sirius in more than looks, you know. . . ."

I stiffened— was this going where I thought it was going? "Well, I've heard the same thing from Lily Evans— some on, I've had two Gryffindor sixth-years here so far and both of them are the prefects. You might as well spill while my patience holds out."

He bit his lip, but finally looked up, and a question poured out faster than I thought it would. "There are secrets you don't tell anyone, you know, right?"

I shook my head— I wasn't going to let him know that I'd known his secret for ver twenty years about now. "Yeah— I've had one you wouldn't believe for the last couple of moths. Why d'you ask?"

"Well, I'd kinda like to keep mine!"

I nodded. "Fair enough. Keep your secret out of it, but I'd like a straight answer if you don't mind," I told him evenly, wondering if he'd manage it fully or not.

"There was a black dog in the Forbidden Forest last full moon, only it wasn't a black dog. . . ." Remus muttered, this time meeting eyes with me again.

"What d'you mean?" I asked him, trying to act surprised.

"A black dog," Remus repeated. "A shaggy, black dog that someone might have mistaken for a grim. A dog with a humans eyes. An animagus. I ought to be able to recognize a human shaped like an animal."

"And what does all this have to do with your sneaking out of Hogwarts in the middle of the night and telling me about it?" I asked, still trying to sound surprised.

Remus lifted an eyebrow. "I don't sneak out for nothing, Scott. I know from the look in your eye you know exactly what I was talking about."

I pretended to think about it. "You were the wolf. . . ."

Remus looked affronted. "What are you talking about?" he demanded, putting on roughly the same look of surprise I'd been wearing.

"The wolf. This dog you were talking about, he tackled and pinned a wolf that night. The wolf curled up in submission, until another dog, a smaller one, also black and shaggy, and a stag came along. Then the first dog took off. I believed," I added, "that they accompanied by a fat rat."

Remus's brows lifted even higher.

"I think," I added absently, "that we both know by now that we're speaking of the same event."

"But . . . how did you know Peter. . . ." Remus muttered under his breath. Then he shook his head and changed tactics. "There's no 'Barker' on the list of registered animaguses," he accused.

"Nor is there a Black, a Lupin, a Pettigrew, or a Potter," I pointed out, acting as if I thought Rem was an animagus instead of a werewolf— it simplified things, and all in all probably made him a bit more comfortable with the situation. I smile flittered across me face. "We all have secrets, eh, Remus?"

He flushed furiously and shook his head, looking back down at the cloak in his hands. "We have our reasons," he answered hotly.

"And I have mine," I answered coolly.

"I'm quite well aware of that," Rem snapped back at me. "Goodness knows that being able to transform takes long enough. The only way to get it in a moment is too . . . too get bit by a werewolf. . . ." He faded off, shrugging. I let him be.

After a couple of moments, though, he cocked his head. "Is Scott Barker your real name?" he asked.

"And if it wasn't d'you think I'd actually tell you it wasn't?" I asked him with a grin. "I can honestly say it's the only one you'll ever hear."

Remus shook his head. "That doesn't tell me an awful lot," he pointed out.

"Little you'll hear from me will," I admitted. "The real question was why it was you— I thought you were the good boy when we met."

Remus chuckled. "People think that. Then they get to know me. Sneaking out, yeah, that's more James and Sirius, but they wouldn't treat it seriously— I wanted to know. You and Sirius are too much alike, even if you're quite a bit bigger than Padfoot is."

"Oh, I dunno. Sirius isn't at full height yet. Are you gonna tell them?" I added, trying not to think how much it might change things if we knew there was another unregistered animagus in the vicinity.

"Only if thy catch me— and to say the least, you don't live with Padfoot and Prongs for years without picking up a few tricks. I can almost guarantee you that James'll never know I borrowed his cloak. Then again, if I do, I might tell them I'd snuck off somewhere else."

I couldn't help but grin slightly. "The other two probably would've. You'd probably best get up to the castle before they— or worse, McGonagall— find out you're missing. Not to mention you should be asleep by now at your age."

Remus nodded absently. Slipping the cloak on, he disappeared, and I opened the door, letting him slip out before I shut it. I ought to be sleeping, too, though, come to think of it.

I had another dream, this one one of the strangest I'd had in recent years— Remus hadn't been there when I was arguing with Lily and James about secret keepers, but in the dream he was. I caught what I was saying, running over the words I remembered and constantly regretted. Breaking off midsentence, I turned to Remus. "Talk me out of this, mate," I pleaded with him. "You don't know how important it is. Please!"

He looked at me oddly for a moment, then shrugged. "I could try , Sirius," he said softly. "But when was the last time I actually managed to talk you out of anything?"

"No," I yelped. "Rem, you've got to!"

"It'd be easier to move a mountain," Remus reminded me. "Care to tell me why it's so important that you be talked out of this particular venture?"

"Because Pete's the traitor!"

"Peter?" Remus turned the idea over in his head. "You failed the sobriety test on your way over here, didn't you? Pete's Muggle-born and not the most talented dueler either us have ever met. Voldemort would as soon kill him as look at him, Padfoot."

"No, Rem, listen. He—"

I chose that moment to wake up, thrashing and sweating over it. I glanced out at the window— still pre-dawn darkness. I rolled over and buried my head in the pillow, muttering. Hopefully they wouldn't come twice in one night, because I didn't think I could handle another one like that.

Author's Note: New chapter! Took me long enough (apparently not enough of you knocked on your computer desks. . . . Sirius: Or— Me: Don't even START, Padfoot), but anyway, I tried to tie in both subplots in this one— did it work? Moony— no, I didn't mention it before. I didn't stretch Rem's character too much, did I? Still, I appreciate all reviews, comments, etc. And about the driving age— I'll get to that fic eventually, but thanks much for helping me sort out the planning! Cheers! — Loki