James walked fast. He didn't know where he was going, or what he was going to do when he got there, but he sure knew one thing: he was never going to forgive Sirius for what he had done. Never.

Portraits on the walls seemed to fly past him as he increased his speed so he was nearly running, and his fists clenched balls of rage. How could he, how dare he, how could he do that to him! And as for Sumner…James's lip curled into a sneer. They were just welcome to each other! He didn't need either of them! Growling, he stamped up a staircase, taking no notice as it started to move and nearly causing him to lose his balance.

Thump, thump, thump.

For just a second he froze, then he carried on striding up the stairs, teeth gritted. Unfortunately the thumps continued up the staircase, faster than he could walk, and he could hear laboured breathing behind him, and the next second Sirius sprang into view, making him start.

"Holy…how fast do you walk, boy?" he panted, falling into step beside him. James ignored him, and walked faster.

"James?" They reached a landing, and James made an abrupt turn, striding furiously along the stone floor and throwing Sirius off for a second, who made a few running steps, then stood right in front of him, forcing him to a stop. James stepped sideways. Sirius did the same. Snarling, James tried to step the other way, but again, Sirius mimicked him.

"Look, just piss off!" shouted James, shoving Sirius away, but it was like trying to heave lead. Sirius folded his arms and looked at him.

"No."

James glared, and Sirius stared straight back. "Sirius," he said eventually, forcing his voice to sound calm, "Just leave me alone, ok?"

"I said no, didn't I?"

James wanted to scream at him, and without warning he turned and strode away from Sirius's calm, dark eyes that dared to be bloody patronising. He wanted to hit him when the thumping footsteps caught neatly up with him again, and Sirius once again was matching his steps, and out the corner of his eye he could see him looking at him. Setting his jaw, James stared icily into the middle distance.

"What the hell is up with you?" Sirius had a bite of anger in his voice, and the urge to hit him returned to James even stronger. He couldn't stop himself from retorting.

"What d'you mean 'what the hell is up with me'? What d'you think is up with me, Sirius? Or are you so thick you don't even realise you just stole my girlf…" James bit his tongue hard, nails driving into his palm as his hands clenched even harder.

Sirius sighed. "Look James, you're being stupid - "

"Oh, I'm stupid now am I?" James replied tightly, and walked faster. So did Sirius. "Look, I don't care if you're going out with Sumner, alright? Get it? I'm totally fine with it!" His sentence ended in a yell. Sirius nodded.

"So…" he pondered thoughtfully, "You don't care that the prettiest girl in the year just rejected you and treated you like shit?"

"No. I. Don't." James ground out, though his heart throbbed painfully as he remembered the look on Vicki's face as she glanced over her shoulder at him, as though she'd never met him in her life. "Happy now?"

"Yeah." Sirius nodded, "Thanks. Now I know how to take it."

James snorted, then frowned as he tried to process Sirius's words. They didn't make sense. "What?" he said aggressively, looking at Sirius, vaguely aware that they had stopped walking, "What did you say?"

Sirius shrugged at him. "I know how to take it now."

"Stop being so bloody cryptic! What are you talking about?"

Sirius met his eyes. "I'm not going out with her, James. So I know how to take the fact that I'm not going out with the lovely Vicki Sumner, either."

For a moment, James was rendered speechless. This didn't add up. "So…you're not going out with…her?" he got out eventually.

"Yup."

"She's not your girlfriend?"

"That's right." Sirius had a bit of a grin on his face. "De'ja vu, anyone?"

For a long moment James simply stared at him, then he shook his head and shrugged casually. "Well. I never really thought so in the first place."

Sirius smiled broadly. "'Course you didn't mate," he laughed as they both turned and started strolling back down the stairs, "'Course you didn't…"

0o0

Remus never thought he would be relieved to see James and Sirius pissing around instead of saying nothing; but for this once, he was. He had been vaguely worried to think of the pair of them arguing over a girl, and possibly end up not speaking to each other, leading to all kinds of awkward scenarios that he just didn't want to think about.

Grinning slightly to himself, he watched Sirius's and James's heated debate over inter-house Quidditch ("I know Slytherin's a house of scum, James, but you have to admit they know their stuff on the pitch!" "What? Did you even see their latest attempt at a goal in their last match?") but there was no real malice in their voices. Peter was following the conversation closely, and every now and then attempted to pipe up with a comment, only to be drowned out by James, or Sirus's over-bearing voices.

Remus didn't even attempt to join in. He had no opinion of Quidditch, after all, he had never even seen a match. He usually pleaded the excuse of homework whenever one rolled around, or sometimes it was simply that he had been too…ill. He shuddered involuntarily, then glanced edgily round to see if anyone had noticed. It was safe to say none of them had. Somewhere along the line James's argument had become too frustrating for Sirius, and he had resorted to sticking his fingers in his ears and singing "Deck the halls with bows of holly,' while an incredibly annoyed looking James attempted to continue the discussion with Peter.

Fighting down a yawn, Remus looked sleepily round the common room, almost too tired to move. It was pitch black outside the windows, it being December, and the entire common room buzzed with chatter and noise. The fire leapt in its blackened grate, casting long, spidery shadows across the floor that seemed to beckon Remus with fingers of darkness. He watched them dance and leap from one surface to the other, then yawned again, feeling drained. Unconsciously he did a mental count up in his head, then felt his stomach twist as he realised there was only seven days left until the next full moon.

Don't think about it, he told himself, and he closed his eyes against James, Peter and Sirius's happy faces, It's no use dwelling on it, you know that.

Laughter rang at him from all sides of the common room. Merlin, these days were going so fast. It only felt like it was yesterday when he sat in the Great Hall for the first time, alone, trying to ignore the stares of what felt like everyone in the entire castle boring into his head.

"I've looked all over, and I can't find it anywhere!"

A high pitched, slightly hysterical voice penetrated Remus's cloudy thoughts, and looking up he saw Lily Evans standing over to one side of the common room, clutching her hair and looking close to tears. A girl talking to her murmured something he couldn't hear, patting her shoulder but Lily threw her off with a jerk of her shoulders.

"Don't give me that crap, it's gone! I know it has!"

Her face seemed to crumple, and she didn't even notice as her friend gave an angry toss of her head and stalked off, leaving her to stand there alone. Remus stared at her for a moment, and felt quite alarmed as her eyes filled with tears which were hastily blinked away. Dropping her head so her dark red hair hung curtain-like over her face, Lily started walking past him in the direction of the girls dorms.

"Lily?" Remus called softly as she passed, but either she didn't hear him or chose to ignore him. "Lily!" he tried slightly louder, and was rewarded with her lifting her head and glancing round to see who had said her name.

"Over here!" he called again, kneeling up on the arm of his chair to gain her attention, and Lily summoned up a weak smile when she saw it was him.

"Hey, Remus," she said, coming over and leaning heavily on the back of his chair, "You ok?"

"I'm fine," mumbled Remus, "I was just wondering if you were alright. You looked…sad?" He finished his sentence with a question in his tone and an embarrassed smile on his face at the lameness of his words, but Lily didn't seem to mind.

"It's just…oh, it won't mean much to you. But I've lost this necklace and…and it's really important to me…" she ended her sentence with a shrug and a sad smile. "I guess I just can't let it go."

"Necklace?" Remus repeated, slightly surprised. "Well, I can't say I've seen anything. What did it look like?"

Lily sighed, her fingers going up to curl round her neck as though to play with a chain that wasn't there. "It's a green heart," she said eventually, staring into space, "A heart pendant, made out of jade. It has, like…" she gestured with her hands, trying to describe what she could so clearly see in front of her eyes, "Like an etched out design on it, of a flower. Gold. And it has my name on the back." She sighed again, more loudly this time. "You ever seen something like that lying around?" The hurt in her eyes was showing clearly. Wordlessly, Remus shook his head.

"I'll keep a look out for it," he added helpfully, and Lily nodded.

"I know it seems like a load of fuss over nothing but…my dad made me that, Remus. So I want it back." She straightened up suddenly, aware that she was plunging into dangerous territory. "I'd better be going. See you around."

"Bye," Remus said, but she was already gone, jogging lightly up the girls staircase, long red hair rippling out slightly behind her. Turning back, he noticed all three of his friends had paused their conversation to stare at him. Raising an eyebrow at them, he stared back.

"What," said James, pronouncing each of his words carefully, "was she doing here again?"

Remus regarded him carefully for a moment. "She'd lost something." He didn't know why, but the aggressive undertone in James's voice prompted him to be vague.

"Lost what?" came the immediate reply.

Remus hesitated. Lily had seemed so upset…and her necklace had appeared to be of great importance to her. It wouldn't do to have James teasing her about it. But then, he couldn't exactly lie to him. "A necklace."

"That's it? Merlin, and there was me thinking it was something important." James snorted and sat back in his chair, firelight glinting off his glasses. Remus felt a sudden surge of annoyance.

"It meant a lot to her, James! She wanted to know if I'd seen it!"

"Oh, right," retorted James, voice heavy with sarcasm, "And you'd notice if you saw a necklace lying around this massive castle, would you? You don't even know what it looks like!"

"I do!" Remus shot back, aware that Peter and Sirius were staring at him, "She was describing it to me!"

"Oh yes, let me guess." James adopted a high, falsetto voice, "Oh, Remmy, I'm so worried! I've lost this necklace, it has a silver chain and a, er, pendant on the end! Have you seen anything like that before, Remus?"

"Er – excuse me," interrupted Sirius, "Is this a private argument, or can anyone join in?" Both Remus and James ignored him, eyes locked. Inside Remus's heart was pounding in terror: was he actually fighting with James?

James was smirking at him, and any trace of fear was won over by anger. Remus ground his teeth, feeling for a second the wolf stirring within him, wakened by the smug, mocking expression on James's face. "You shut up!" he barked loudly, making several people in the common room look round in surprise, "You don't know what you're talking about!"

The instant the words were out of his mouth, he regretted it. James's eyes flashed dangerously, and he leant forwards, eyes boring into Remus. "I don't know what I'm talking about, do I?" he hissed icily, and Peter gave a frightened little shudder next to him, "Well, I do know one thing. You fancy the knickers off that Evans girl, Remus, and don't even think of denying it."

Silence fell, heavy, intense, electrifying. Remus stared at James, completely dumbstruck. "I do not!" he gasped, embarrassment winning over his anger, "She's just…I mean, we're just friends, for crying out loud!"

"Course you are," drawled James, looking oddly triumphant, "So how come you're always talking to her, and always sticking up for her?"

"Because we're friends," snarled Remus angrily, rage pulsing through his blood again, red hot. "Merlin, can't a boy and girl be friends without people like you saying stupid stuff?" His frustration increased as James broke out into peals of laughter.

"You are so naïve, Remus! You think all that necklace stuff was real? I'll bet you any money she made it up, just to get the chance to talk to you!"

"That's stupid!" Remus clenched his fists as James forced out yet more antagonising laughter.

James looked up at him, eyes dark with sarcastic amusement. "Go on, then. What does her necklace look like?"

Remus halted for a moment, tearing his eyes away from James's mocking face, and tried to recall what Lily had said to him. It was a green…something. Green…

"A green heart!" he burst out triumphantly, "A green heart, with her name on the back, and a flower on the front!"

Again silence, only this time with such a deep chord to it that Remus felt his temper ebb and fade. Suddenly, he felt aghast. What on earth had happened to the world? When had he started arguing with James over something Lily Evans had said to him? He leant forwards to say something, anything to put the tense atmosphere back to the way it was, and he would have done, if Sirius hadn't said what he did next.

"Hey James, didn't you find something like that? I swear you showed me a pendant like that this morning."

James was looking totally taken aback, and sat looking at Sirius with his mouth open. Then, in a slow kind of horror he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a chain, with something green hanging off the end. Remus stared at it in disbelief. That sure didn't look like a heart to him, though it might have been once. Wordlessly, James pulled out another, separate dark green stone and held it against the other piece.

A green heart. Already, Remus saw how the intricate, fine gold lines made the picture of a flower – a lily, he realised. For a moment he was too amazed to speak. Sirius stretched out and took it, examining it closely, then flipped the two halves over.

"A green heart…" he said musingly, "With her name on the back, and a flower on the front." He looked up and met eyes with Remus, then glanced at James. "James?"

"I – well," spluttered James, going rather red, "I mean…I didn't really…well, I still know you fancy her! Here, go give her back her precious necklace!" Standing up, he snatched the chain with its pathetic half-stone dangling from it, and threw it at Remus, who instinctively put up his hands to catch it.

Remus wasn't the best of catchers. Usually, when someone passed a ball to him he let it go rather than suffer the embarrassment of dropping it. But today he saw the necklace, sparkling in the firelight fly towards him as though in slow motion, and he stretched out his palms, and caught it neatly in his hands. For a moment everything was frozen in motion, James just starting to stride away, Sirius and Peter staring, the silver chain nestled in his fingers.

Remus had known pain before. Being a werewolf, it all came as part of the package. He even knew what it was like to be burnt by fire – that had hurt, too. But nothing could ever match up to the piercing, sharp shards of fiery agony that bit and twisted into his skin now, and he screamed, throwing the chain to the floor. He doubled up, pressing his palm to his chest, eyes squeezed close, shrieking for the pain to fade but it never did, it continued to course through his skin as though a red-hot poker was being pressed onto his hand. The pain was building up, he could hardly see, darkness was pressing in around his eyes, there was nothing else in the world anymore, it was just him and the pain, him and the pain.

Something was shaking his shoulder. What did it matter? His hand was alight with acid fire! He tried to take deep breaths but his chest was straining against him, only permitting tight little gasps. Tears were blurring his eyes, God, if only he could escape from the pain but it was unbearable, it was taking over his whole body…

Someone was calling his name. Someone else was trying to prise his hand away from his chest, but he cringed away from them, locking his arm tightly against his ribs. It was the only soothe for what he could feel now, for what was taking him over.

A vision came in front of his eyes, and he realised he was looking at Sirius's hair, no it was the dark of the Shack, waiting for him to transform that night. James was talking to him – or was that the wind howling in through the gaps in the walls? Remus could no longer tell, he was locked on an island of fire, unable to comprehend a thing. There was a way out, though. He could sense it coming, and he flung himself into the grateful oblivion as he had never wanted to do before. His systems instantly shut down, launching him into beautiful, beautiful peace…

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Bwa ha ha ha! Cliffie! A terrible cliffie nonetheless, but still a cliffie! Well, I finished my exams, in case you were interested. I think I could have done a lot better, but oh well. Results don't come until July. Oh yeah, and big shout out to MutantJediBauer, for being my 100th reviewer!

Review thank-you's are now being posted on my profile. So go click on my name at the top to view it, and find your name. Love all of you!

Love and peace

Mooncheese xx