I couldn't believe it. Regulus, who I had know all my life- and loved, though I would no longer admit it- had truly gone over. He was an actual Hogwarts Death Eater. How could he? He was never a killer. Never. Just a coward. And now…

He must've changed, I thought grimly to myself. A change that was definitely for the worse. I walked down the hall, desperately trying not to run. If I could've just ran, I would've felt so much better, but I would not give my idiot brother the satisfaction of seeing that he had gotten to me.

Turning the corner, I finally ran. No one could see me here. No one could see the tears gathering in my eyes. No one could see them trickling down my face. Or so I thought.

I met something solid. With a grunt, I fell backward onto the floor. I looked up. It was Snivellus.

"Well, well," he said softly. "What have we here? Sirius Black all alone? I wonder if he's nearly as brave without his friends? And oh look, the answer seems to be right in front of me. Only a few minutes away from his friends, and Black is crying."

"Shut it, Snivellus!" I said through clenched teeth.

"Why Sirius, you aren't upset that your brother's a Death Eater are you? After all, it isn't right for you to hold him back from making decent decisions…" he smirked, knowing he had struck a nerve.

"No!" I shouted, "I would never have held my brother back! At least not from decent decisions!"

"Ah. If you say so, Black. Regulus, strangely, speaks highly of you. He says your mother was devastated after you ran away. Says she cried for days. I think, however, that she couldn't possibly be devastated about you. Are you sure she wasn't merely annoyed that you happened to not burn all the pictures of yourself before leaving?"

I'd had enough, "Furnunculus!" I had hit my mark, causing Snape to acquire a large amount of boils in a small amount of time. It was a favorite curse of mine and had even been used once on James.

I laughed. Snape, however, did not look at all amused. "You'll pay for that, you filthy blood-traitor!" He screamed, eyes popping, "Cruc-!"

I knew what he was on to at once, but I was ready, "Petrificus Totalus!" Snape fell over, helpless; just the way I liked him. I had an idea of what to do with him. I was probably going to need tons of disinfectant after this, but I had a feeling it would be worth it.

Levitating Snivellus over to the stairs, I placed down my wand (still performing "Wingardium Leviosa") and, reluctantly grasping Snape's disgusting, greasy hair (I told you this would require disinfectant), I tied him to the banister of the staircase near the Slytherin common room. Excellent.

What I didn't hear was someone else walking down the hallway, muttering as if completely lost.

"So then Professor McGonagall comes walking down the hall, rants about how disgusted she is that a Gryffindor would do something as dishonorable to the school as tie a helpless student to the stairs. Nag, nag, nag, blah, blah, blah! And then she gave me detention and took fifty points from Gryffindor! Fifty!"

"Wow. That's harsh, Pete! Really harsh," I said. Peter was always the unlucky one, and I was always sympathetic about that.

"Yeah, tough luck, mate," James said. He wasn't quite so sympathetic, but he could tell it wasn't a good thing to show that he didn't care at the moment.

"I'm going to bed," Peter muttered. I could tell he didn't really feel like continuing any grudges that might have started inside him at this point. That was another thing about Peter that I respected. He wanted people to be on good terms with him. Unfortunately, no one ever was. I, however, sympathized with that and tolerate him. I'm basically the only one.

An awkward silence thickened between James and me. To my great pleasure, James broke it first.

"So, Moony, full moon's in a few days."

"Yeah." I was slightly wary, and completely aware of the fact that James just needed something to talk about.

"We should start planning as soon as Sirius is in a better mood."

"Yeah, sure" I shifted awkwardly. I didn't really feel like having this conversation, and I could tell James knew this.

"Well, I'll just go to bed I guess." He said, apparently feeling the tension growing. I nodded, watching him walk to and up the stairs. Strange. He didn't show any reaction towards Lily, whom he had just walked right past. I wondered at this for a few minutes, and then, unable to think of anything else to do, made my way tiredly up the stairs.

The next morning, I felt strangely tired. It was still strange to me, although it occurred monthly. It was the usual tiredness that warned me of the coming full moon.

Groaning, I sat up, and pulled open the bed-hangings. Looking around, I could clearly see that I was the only one left in the dormitory. I slept later than everyone else and was still more tired and weak-looking than them all.

It really wasn't fair, but at least no one (besides James, Sirius, and Peter of course) had discovered the reason behind my less-than-lively appearance. For that I was grateful, and I was confident that none of my friends would betray me, and tell someone without my permission.

Of course, I had been wrong. Only last year, Sirius had led Snape to discovering my "condition" through a foolhardy prank. Sirius thought it would be funny if he told Snape that if he prodded the knothole in the Whomping Willow, and stepped inside the resulting tunnel, he would see something to his advantage.

That something had been me. Sirius, of course had thought it harmless (it had been a horrible year for him last year, resulting in more rash acts than usual, and causing Sirius to later run away and stay with James). Luckily, how ever, James had found out what Sirius had done, came after Snape, and saved him from me. Sirius was almost expelled, and it had taken a long time for me to forgive him.

However, even after that, I was pretty confident that Sirius had learned his lesson, and that no one else could possibly be as dumb as he is, and therefore no one could possibly even think of betraying my secret. I should stop trusting people.