Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing, and am making no profit

Setting: This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes a little AU.

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Chapter 13: Why?

"Let me get this straight," said James. "I leave you alone with my son for, what?" He looked at his watch. "An hour and a half?" Remus nodded, wincing. "And he's already been in a fight, stolen a wand and run off."

"Well … yes," said Remus guiltily. "That does about sum it up. Sirius went after him though."

"You reckon Sirius'll get my wand back?" Peter groused.

"I don't know Wormtail," said Remus tiredly, marveling at the one track nature of Peter's mind. "Why don't you go to McGonagall? Say you lost your wand. Don't say Harry has it - we don't need to get the teachers involved - just get her to give you a replacement so you can do your homework."

For a moment it looked as though Peter might argue, but then he took in James's state of woe and simply offered his friend sympathetic smile on his way out.

"Thanks," said James, once he'd gone.

Remus gave him a strained smile. "He's scared about his future. I mean, it was bad enough with Sirius and Fred, but now - "

"It's different," James agreed. "This isn't some stranger, it's my own flesh and blood." His eyes flicked to the window facing the Shrieking Shack and a muscle twitched in his jaw. Remus recognised the symptom. James needed to do something. Now. "I should go after them," he said. "Sirius might pick a fight. Something happened between him and Fred, some sort of fight -"

Remus tried to sound soothing. "I don't think Sirius will pick a fight with Harry."

"But if Harry attacked Peter - "

"Sirius wants answers," Remus said firmly. "He won't want to rub Harry the wrong way again. Besides, you should have seen the look on Harry's face when Sirius had a wand on him. I think they might be close in the future, and I think Sirius picked up on that too. He'll use it to his advantage. Maybe you should just let them talk."

James sighed in reluctant acceptance, and slumped down on the edge of his bed. "Why do you think Harry reacted to Peter that way?" he asked forlornly.

"I don't know," said Remus. It made even less sense than Fred's apparent hatred of Sirius. "What was he like?" he asked, meaning Harry. " We were down in the kitchen for ages last night. What did you talk about?"

James thought for a while before answering. "Quiet," he said. "A bit shy really - I mean, I suppose he has to be, there's so much he's not allowed to say - but he was a lot more quiet than Fred's been."

Remus snorted. "Wouldn't be hard."

"His patronus is a stag," said James, a touch of smug pride lighting his features.

Remus was impressed. "A patronus," he said, deliberately needling James by not reacting to the 'stag' part. "At his age! Who do you think taught him?"

"Lily," said James confidently. "She's good with charms."

"True," said Remus, choosing not to mention that it had yet to be confirmed that Lily was actually Harry's mother. Anyone who'd seen Harry's eyes could draw their own conclusions of course, and clearly James had.

"He was nervous," James continued. "Tense. Like Lily on our first date, only less suspicious of everything I did. Oh, and he knows about the whole werewolf-animagus thing by the way." He said the last in a rush, as though that might make it easier for Remus to take.

Remus nodded calmly. It was no surprise to him. "I thought he might. How else would he know about the shack?"

"Yeah," said James, shifting uncomfortably. "Yeah … Remus, look, I should tell you … Fred knows too. About you."

This was a surprise. There was short but deafening silence. "I don't think he thinks any less of you for it," James qualified, quickly filling it. "He mentioned it casually, you know. Sirius was afraid he might say something to the wrong person, but … he said he'd sort it out."

"Sort it out?!" Remus sputtered, finding his tongue at last. "Gee, I wonder what that little fight they had was about?"

"Remus - "

Remus held his hands up in mock surrender, effectively silencing his friend. "No," he said, his voice pitched higher than usual. "You know what? It's all right. I don't think Fred will tell anyone. He's been perfectly civil to me. However, I would like to know why you didn't feel the need to say something to me about this earlier."

"I didn't want - "

"To hurt my feelings?" Remus bit out, more irate every time James opened his mouth. "Good call."

"I should have told you earlier, I just - "

"You should have told me before you told Sirius."

"I'm sorry."

The apology was sincere - James actually appeared contrite - but Remus knew that if James could do it all over again, he would do it the same way. James and Sirius would always trust each other first, and Remus would always be kept in the dark if they thought the truth might hurt him. Despite this, Remus knew he wouldn't stay angry with either of them long. He never did. I may as well get over it now, he told himself. There are other things to be concerned with. He gave James one last pointed look, then shook his head, trying to clear it of the whole issue. He focused his attention back on the map, still in his hand. "He's coming back to the castle."

"Who?" asked James eagerly. "Harry?"

"No. Fred."

James moved quickly from his bed to Remus's in order to better inspect the map. "Where was he? I would've thought he'd be at the shack if that's where Harry went."

"He doesn't know about the shack," Remus explained. "He went looking for Harry at Hagrid's."

"Hagrid's? Why?"

"I'm not sure."

Sirius's name appeared at the border of the map.

"James - "

"I see him."

He was moving down the passage from the Shrieking Shack to the Whomping Willow, a little too fast for human legs. "He must have transformed," said Remus. "Harry isn't with him - Oh, the stupid git!"

Sirius had climbed from the tunnel at the base of the Whomping Willow and was now moving toward the Forbidden Forest. Remus knew first hand that the Forbidden Forest, with its cornucopia of dangerous magical creatures, was dangerous enough when traveling in groups. Sirius damn well knows it too. Under no circumstances should he be going in there alone.

"There's Harry," said James, apparently not as concerned for Sirius's welfare as Remus was. Remus tore his attention away from his friend to see that Harry was indeed following in Sirius's footsteps. He was moving at a slower pace than Sirius, but already he was close to the Whomping Willow. "He'll bump into Fred on the way back," said James, judging Harry and Freds' movements the same way he judged the velocity of quaffels and quidditch players on the pitch. Remus didn't doubt he was right. He laid the map down and ran his tongue thoughtfully around his teeth.

"What do you think happened?" he asked carefully.

"I don't know," said James, standing and grabbing his cloak. "But Sirius must have pretty upset to have gone into the forest like that. The last time he did that was after - "

"Yeah, I remember," Remus interrupted, not wanting James to invoke further memories of that day. He'd been furious at Sirius after "Snape incident" and had told him, in no uncertain terms, that he would never speak to him again. Sirius had been devastated. "You're going then?"

James held his hand out for the map. "You're not coming?"

Remus shook his head as he handed it over. "I don't know what's going on James, but I think the last thing Harry needs right now is to be crowded. Do you remember what Fred said last night? How he warned us - "

"That Harry's been through 'serious stuff'," said James bitterly, revealing his frustration with the lack of details on this point. "You don't think he's been really traumatized do you?" he asked, clearly pained.

Remus hid his suspicions behind a false calm. "I don't know, but there's something making them act the way they do. Both of them. Fred covers it most of the time, but there's something … " he trailed off, not sure how much conjecture was appropriate.

"Yeah," said James dully. "I know." He hurried out the door.

"Good luck," said Remus softly.