Not this bloody place again…

Remus winced as he opened his eyes and sunlight streamed straight into them. Snapping them closed again he tried to move his head out the light, but it was shining directly on his face, no matter where he moved.

Ow. Light. Hurts.

Confused, he rolled over, eyes watering as a cool breeze wafted over him, only to be met with beds, gleaming white floor, and several cupboards, or in other words, an empty Hospital Wing. This wasn't so unusual if it was absent of students, but usually Madam Pomfrey was somewhere about. His brow furrowed as the throbbing pain in his hand started to increase steadily, and he attempted to sit up, only to find his muscles were as weak as spaghetti.

"Hello?" he called out cautiously, but his voice only squeezed out in the tiniest whisper, and his throat felt swollen and dry. Swallowing, he gripped the bed's neat white blankets, fighting to remember what had happened to him.

It's not full moon already, is it?

That couldn't be right. The last time he'd thought of that, he'd had a whole week. So why did he feel so…so pre-moonish?

Voices outside suddenly drifted into his hearing range, and he looked up sharply, reaching out automatically for his wand, only to find it wasn't there. Looking down he realised for the first time he was wearing Hospital Wing standard pyjamas, which hinted he'd been here all night, or for a day. Or at least for a long time.

The voices were getting disturbingly closer, and Remus pushed himself upwards with shaking arms, looking desperately around for his wand. He was still looking when two people came into the infirmary, and he snapped his eyes upwards, feeling his heart rise in relief as a smiling Madam Pomfrey came towards him.

"Good morning, Mr Lupin," she said airily, marching past his bed and reaching upwards to tug his curtains closed again, relieving the burning sunlight on the back of his neck, "How are you today?"

"Er…" Remus looked past her and felt a jolt of surprise to see Professor Dumbledore standing at the foot of his bed, hands folded in front of him and regarding him with twinkling eyes. "Ok, I guess…" he glanced down at his hand, which, as though in reply, gave another twinge.

"Come here." Madam Pomfrey dragged a chair close to the bedside and gently took hold of his wrist, and began to unwrap the dressing. "These need to be changed every day." Ignoring his look of plain confusion she bent her head over his hand, concentrating on her task, deft fingers unravelling the white material until Remus began to feel air hit his sore palm, making him gasp slightly in pain.

"Mr Lupin, do you remember anything of what happened to you last night?" she asked, soft brown eyes glancing up into his face before looking back down again.

Remus barely heard her. His eyes were fixed curiously on his hand as Pomfrey peeled off the last of the material, then his stomach twisted at the sight of raw, blistering skin, and he hastily looked away, feeling suddenly quite ill. At the end of his bed, he thought he heard Dumbledore suck in his breath sharply, though when he looked over the ancient Headmaster wasn't even looking at him, but appeared to be inspecting the ceiling.

"Lupin! Look at me, boy, this is important." Madam Pomfrey's tone was loaded with severity, and he reluctantly swivelled his head back round to stare at her. His hand still lay, bright red on the spotless sheets, shamelessly uncovered. His head swam with confusion as he blinked at Madam Pomfrey, the absurdity of the situation finally coming around to him. Then again, he had wound up in this place so often it was no longer a surprise to find himself wake up in it any more. But still, he usually did have his memories with him.

"What is the last thing you remember, Remus?" the Medi-Witch questioned gently, bringing him back from his thoughts. After casting an uneasy look at Dumbledore, Remus fixed his eyes on the floor, thinking. He wasn't used to anyone but Madam Pomfrey who knew of his 'secret' around him when he was in the Hospital Wing, and Dumbledore's silent, watchful presence was making him feel uncomfortable.

His mind whirled backwards. If he was honest, the last thing he could remember at the moment was eating dinner yesterday, but he had a sneaking feeling that wouldn't be of much help, so he shielded his eyes with his good hand and stared at the blankets. After dinner they had gone back to the common room – he had been talking to James…he had argued with James…

The necklace.

Suddenly, it all came pouring back to him. Remus looked up fast. "I touched a silver chain," he blurted out, suddenly terrified. Silver could poison a werewolf, if it was not counter-acted by the antidote instantly.

Then again, I'm still here, so something must have gone right.

Madam Pomfrey nodded and looked vaguely satisfied as she scribbled something on a clipboard. "Foolish boy!" she hissed under her breath, "What were you thinking?"

"I didn't mean to!" Remus responded, nettled. The healer only made an impatient noise with her tongue and gestured towards the peeling skin of his hand.

"How on earth did you manage it, then?" she retorted, throwing a significant look over at the headmaster, "Surely you knew what you was touching was silver. Couldn't you sense it? All werewolves seem to have an automatic instinct to avoid dangerous substances."

"Yes, thanks, I do know," snapped Remus, then felt appalled at himself. When had he started answering back to those in authority? Raising her eyebrows, Madam Pomfrey muttered something and ticked a box on her clipboard. Aghast, Remus opened his mouth to apologise, but that was when Professor Dumbledore took a step forwards, and he flinched, looking at him.

"Mr Lupin," said the old man gravely, "How did you come to be touching silver?"

So now he decided to talk. This was obviously what he had come for. Feeling cornered, Remus looked from the headmaster to Madam Pomfrey, who was leaning forwards slightly and regarding him with bright brown eyes. For just a second Remus hesitated – and instantly knew where he had gone wrong. Now they thought he had something to hide. Briefly he thought of the row he and James had had, of the glinting chain flying towards him, of instinctively cupping his hands to catch it, and wondered how he could possibly say all that in the shortest way possible.

"Someone threw a necklace at me," he said eventually. "I didn't recognise it as silver, and caught it. I must have passed out because the pain was so bad." He shrugged. "I don't know why you're making such a fuss over this."

Pomfrey stood up so fast her stool was knocked to the floor with a loud bang. "Why are we making such a fuss?" she shouted, her cheeks flaring up scarlet, and Remus gaped at her in shock. "Don't you realise you could have died, if your friends hadn't contacted me as quickly as they did? Do you really put your life at such a low cost?"

"Poppy," said Dumbledore loudly, "Calm yourself." Looking over at Remus, he shook his head, then offered him a small smile. "Do please think about the meaning of you words before you say them, Mr Lupin."

"That isn't all," Madam Pomfey spat, making Remus start and stare at her. He had never seen her look so angry. "When your friends levitated you in here, they hung around, asking questions. Questions I obviously couldn't answer, and had to send them out without any proper explanation." She took a deep breath, then carried on with her rant, unable to feel the sudden nausea swirling in Remus's stomach. He had a feeling this wasn't going anywhere good. "So that Potter, he went to the headmaster, demanding an explanation of what was wrong with you!" She glared at him, eyes narrowed slits. "That is what all the fuss is about, Mr Lupin."

He felt as though someone had just kicked him in the stomach. "What did you tell them?" he asked urgently, swinging his gaze round to Dumbledore, who only looked at him with serious blue eyes. "You didn't…" Remus felt his heart begin to thud painfully, "You didn't tell him the truth…?"

"No," replied Dumbledore quietly, "I did not. But I did not lie, either." He looked Remus directly in the eyes over his half-moon spectacles. "Your friends are very curious as to what has happened to you, Remus."

He didn't even hear the last part – he was so relieved. Remus sank down in his bed and gazed up at the ceiling, his heart still lurching inside him. For a moment there he had genuinely believed Dumbledore, of all people, had given him away.

"Mr Lupin?"

He looked up. "Sir?"

There was a moment of silence as Dumbledore regarded him almost… severely? "Please keep in mind that your friends will one day discover where you go every month."

He stared at him, heart rate picking up slightly. Surely he wasn't suggesting…?

"I am not forcing you to tell them," the headmaster continued, as though reading his mind. "I am merely warning you. The friends you keep are not the sort who like to be kept in the dark, Mr Lupin."

Remus could only look at him. There wasn't anything he could possibly say to such a blunt statement. Why on earth was he telling him this? Did Dumbledore not think he already knew, had thought about such things many, many times before?

"Thank you, sir," he said in a low voice, "But I do know."

Why did people insist on telling him such obvious things? They may as well have pointed a finger at him and screamed: "YOU'RE A WEREWOLF!" They all said the same things, the kind of words which made Remus want to retort: "Nah, you don't say," in the most sarcastic way possible. It was what Sirius or James would do. Why couldn't he be more like them, for once?

"You are carrying a great secret, Mr Lupin, but why should you keep it from those closest to you?"

Because they'd screech and run away in terror, snarled Remus mentally. Merlin, was the old guy on drugs?

"If you don't mind me saying, Professor," he said loudly, "but you don't really understand what it is like to be me."

"True as that may be," Dumbledore concluded, now looking more solemn than ever, "I do still understand what it is like to harbour grave secrets from those I love, and wonder if I should tell them. My wisdom almost always tells me I should, and it is that I follow, instead of the butterflies in my stomach."

Butterflies? You really do have no idea. Remus gave a strained smile. "I would like to sleep now, sir."

Madam Pomfrey sprang into life. "Yes, yes, my patient requires much rest and sleep, Profess – Albus. You have worn him out quite enough." And she reached out and poured some smoking, familiar-smelling potion into a goblet, which Remus took with a sigh. More sleeping draught.

Dumbledore inclined his head respectfully, and stepped away. "I shall leave you to rest, Remus, but please do consider what I have told you. It would make such a difference to the life as you live it."

Oh, go away. Nodding politely, Remus tipped the goblet up and downed the potion in one go. It really didn't taste so bad after a while, he thought vaguely as Pomfrey helped him into a lying position, salty yet sweet…the effect was like a mallet to the head, and blackness descended abruptly on him, shutting him off once more.

0o0

James –

What the hell is up with you? You look like your dog has just died. Painfully. Write back or else.

Sirius –

I'm touched. You actually look at me in class? I was just thinking about Remus. No, not in that way, you perv, just…thinking you know?

J –

Who do you take me for? Some person with their mind constantly in the gutt –

"I'll be having THAT, thank you, Mr Black." Sirius leapt in shock as the parchment he was scribbling on was jerked sharply out his lap, and looking up he saw with a sinking heart Professor McGonagall was already reading it before he could do anything about it. Not that he could have done anything about it, but still. A few sniggers rang out through the classroom, and he turned to glower at the people behind him just as the note was crumpled violently up into a ball.

"Detention for you and Mr Potter, I think," McGonagall said crisply, before marching back up to the front of the class and dropping the note into the bin beside her desk. She gave James, who was unfortunately sitting right in front of her, a withering look. "Note-passing is not permitted in my class."

"Excuse me, Professor?" James cautiously raised his hand, and Sirius craned his neck to see him properly, "What time will it be for? 'Cause I already have one from Professor Bones."

McGonagall snorted as though this didn't surprise her. "The detention will be scheduled for tonight, Potter, at five o'clock, but with a note from Professor Bones it can be amenable."

Sirius couldn't help but grin as James put his hand back down with a nod and a murmur of thanks. He half expected him to whip out a diary and write it down. Honestly, he wouldn't put that sort of thing past James.

Keeping half an eye on McGonagall, he dipped his quill into ink and began doodling out a picture of a beaver – one with large teeth and glasses exactly like his dear transfiguration professor. Glancing up at the woman at the front, he added a few flies and stink lines for good-measure, then hastily crumpled it up and stuffed it in his pocket when the said teacher started walking in his direction. Within two seconds Sirius's quill was scurrying across the parchment in flat-out work, his brow furrowed in deep concentration as McGonagall came closer, and closer…and passed him without even looking at him. Heaving a sigh of relief, Sirius looked over his shoulder, then ripped off a corner of his work and scribbled out a quick note.

So who wants to try and forge Bones's handwriting?

The parchment came sailing back, faster than blinking.

You can, as it's your fault we got detention.

Opening his mouth in slight outrage, Sirius decided it would be safer not to risk writing back, and added the note to his pocket, and picked up his quill to start 'working' again.

It didn't really surprise him James had been thinking about Remus, in all reality. McGonagall shot him a suspicious look as she made her way up to the front of the classroom again, but apart from that ignored him totally. Sirius pressed the feather part of his quill thoughtfully to his cheek. Remus was still in the Hospital Wing, and it seemed Madam Pomfrey didn't suspect them being in there at all last night, so that was all fine. No – what he didn't get was why Remus was there in the first place. Or why his hand was bandaged up.

Catching James's eye, Sirius gave a jaunty wink, then lowered his head to the parchment, temporarily resting his head on the yellow material and breathing in its smooth, woody scent. Remus was hiding something from them. That much was obvious even to Peter. He had always been vaguely aware of it – well, perhaps not always, but for a while, anyway. Sirius sighed deeply, feeling his warm breath come back into his face. It had never occurred to him to attempt to drag it out of Remus before. Always, Sirius had automatically backed off from touching on other peoples secrets, having enough of them himself, but Remus…he was something different. There was something about the way he talked, the way he carried himself around that sometimes gave off the impression he had the whole world resting on his shoulders.

"Mr Black?"

Damn it. McGonagall sounded stern and tightly reproachful – so not a good combination. Opting for a casual response, Sirius kept his head down on the desk.

"Yes, Professor?"

"That's two hours for you tonight."

With a roll of his eyes Sirius sat up without a word, and with a nod Professor McGonagall turned away from him. Sirius pulled a face at her back. He'd had more detentions than hot dinners with teachers like her around – all he'd been doing was resting his head! The bell gave a shrill ring outside, and with a relieved murmur the class dropped their quills and started pushing notebooks into bags. James was already up and walking towards him as Sirius screwed his ink bottle cap back on and slung his bag over his shoulder just as Peter came and stood next to him. With a nod at each other, Sirius turned to walk out the door, but blundered smack into someone.

"Sorry," he grunted, trying to side step them, but as he did his foot trod on the end of the person's robe, and with a sudden thump Sirius saw, out the corner of his eye, someone fall to their knees. Surprised, he looked down and saw Evans sprawled on the floor and glaring up at him.

"Idiot!" she snarled, her face flaming red as she scrambled hastily back up again. "What the hell was that for?"

"I didn't mean to do it!" Sirius fired back at her, and then stopped, staring at her. Evans. Evans. He looked at her angrily flushed face, at her fly-away, dark red hair and felt a sudden pull of memory inside him. Merlin – what was it?

"Oh, put your eyes back in!" snapped Evans, and with a heated toss of her head strode away. Sirius stared after her, fighting to remember. Someone had said something about her – something important…

And then, quite without warning, he remembered.

"Evans's necklace!" he said loudly, ignoring the startled look Peter gave him. James had thrown the necklace to Remus, or rather, at Remus, Remus had caught it, and then instantly screamed, hurling it away from him…

The next thing he knew, a whirlwind of red hair and rage had hit him so hard he took several large steps back in shock, staring at Evans, who was looking far more dangerous then she ever had before. "What did you say about my necklace?" she asked breathlessly, green eyes flashing. "Tell me!"

James made a sudden strangled noise, and Sirius's eyes flew over to him. So did Evans's.

"Did you say something, Potter?"

"Nope. Nothing." James gave Sirius a frantic look. "Er – something caught in my throat."

Evans stared at him for a moment, then slowly looked back round at Sirius. "You just said something about my necklace," she stated quietly, "What was it?"

Sirius looked at her blankly. Inside his mind was teeming with wild, half formed thoughts and alibis, each one more stupid than the next. "I didn't say nothing!" he began defensively, for want of something better, "You must've heard someone else…"

"Black, don't fuck with me, ok?" Evans was looking even more riled now. "I heard you!"

"Look, I just said - "

"He did say something," cut over James loudly, and Sirius looked up at him hopefully. "He did mention your necklace, Evans." He smirked at her irritated face. "But we don't know where it is. Remus mentioned it to us last night – we were just talking about it." He grinned and added a slightly sarky: "For your information."

If looks could kill, James would surely be a dead man by now, Sirius thought, as Evans gave him the full narrow-eyed, laser beam glare. "If I find out you're lying, Potter…if you've taken my necklace…"

Damn, but James could lie well. "Yes, m'lady," he replied, giving her a mock bow. "We certainly will."

She looked him right in the eye, and James stared back, poker-faced. Then, finally, Evans turned and walked away, throwing only one suspicious glance behind her.

Sirius waited until he was positive she and any other stragglers had disappeared well out of hearing range before speaking. "Ok. We're screwed," he said, looking round at James and Peter's faces. "What're we gonna do now?"

"First things first," said James with a sigh, starting to stride out of the classroom as well, "Find that necklace before she does."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Well…what a nice, abrupt ending there. Ok, guys, I am SO, SO sorry for not updating any where NEAR as quickly as I should. I could say I've been busy. I could tell you I broke my wrist and couldn't type. I could claim my computer broke down, but I'm going to honest. I just (gulp) couldn't be bothered to write much at all these past few weeks…only luckily, inspiration found me again and I made this chapter into a lovely long one. Aren't you pleased? Aren't you happy for me?

Oh yeah, and I got two A's in my science exams. Remember I had to study for them ages ago? GO ME! Science is not one of my best subjects, so I was pretty damn pleased with that. But more importantly…

THREE (or four, depends how you look at it) DAYS UNTIL HBP! WOOT! I have a really important question for you guys. Who do YOU think the Half Blood Prince is? My friend thinks Neville. Still says so, even when I pointed out he's a pure blood. But whatever. Leave your thoughts in the review, if you drop one by…

Until next time, which will be AFTER the HBP!

Mooncheese xxxx