Remus and Peter immediately burst out laughing. Sirius looked more confused, insulted, and outraged than they had ever seen him. James, however, looked rather annoyed at Sirius.

"Are you actually saying," James said, angrily, "that you really were the one who attacked her in the woods? Are you mad?"

"I-it-she was-" Sirius stammered sheepishly.

"My God," James said, his eyes slightly glazed as the events of the last two days were brought into new light, "Remus, I-I'm so sorry... I wasn't thinking, and I..." James' voice trailed off as Remus was forced to think about what had been said once more. 'Your kind...' No. A voice in his head said firmly to the memories pushing at the barriers of his thoughts. It will be behind us now. I won't have to think about it anymore, and- A second voice cut into his thoughts, but he still said it, didn't he? Just saying he's sorry doesn't mean he didn't mean what he said... Remus shook all of the thoughts from his head and returned to face James, who was now looking disgusted with himself.

"Look, mate, it's alright. I was wrong to jump to any conclusions about Sirius," Remus said, putting his hand on James' shoulder, "and I am truly sorry, Sirius," He said, turning to his other good friend. "You all have trusted me in far worse situations, and I should have-"

"But you were right, weren't you?" Sirius interrupted Remus' apology. The tension grew between them all, none of them knowing what to say to another.

Peter, who did not have any real place in the situation other than being a witness, broke the silence timidly. "So, what really happened, then, Sirius?"

Silence remained for a few more moments, and then Sirius began to talk. "Remember when we went into the forest last full moon?" Sirius quieted his voice after a warning look from Remus. "Yes, well, I lost something in the woods, and it was rather important, so I had to go back again..."

"What was it that was so important?" James asked Sirius.

"Well, you know my Uncle Alphard died a while ago, and he left me a vault with a load of money in it, and I somehow dropped the key. I was trying to remember where I last had it, so I went to the forest, of course as a dog so that I wouldn't be seen, you know..."

Remus shook his head in disbelief of Sirius' foolishness, and noticed James said something under his breath that sounded oddly like "you idiotic overgrown puppy..." Remus laughed inwardly.

"So anyway," Sirius continued, ignoring their comments, "I saw this little rabbit hopping around the side of a tree, and, I don't know what it was, really, but I felt like chasing it... it was like my animal part took over."

Sirius' solemn face, a rare occurrence, was revealed, although James made light of the situation by commenting, "I'll have to watch out for that! I could be jumping in front of cars the next time I turn into a stag..." Remus and Sirius did not understand this, having grown up in highly magical areas, but Peter chuckled and James smirked at his own joke, both of them having grown up near-by to muggles.

"Yes, so, I was chasing this rabbit-thing, and it kept getting away, but I finally turned one corner and jumped after it, and it was gone," Sirius carried on with his story. "But the odd thing was, this girl was there, and when I had lunged, I sort of hit her, and..." Sirius gulped. "You all know the rest, I suppose."

"So, you're saying that you went out in broad daylight transformed, attacked another student, and transformed back in front of her, even though you're an unregistered animagus?" James asked incredulously.

Sirius gulped again. "Yes, that's it in a nutshell, I suppose."

"But did you find the key to the gold?" James said with a grin.

"Ye-yes!" Sirius looked relieved that James had taken this so well. "I'm going to buy myself a flat as soon as I find a good enough one!"

Sirius, James, and Peter went on talking about gold and good areas to live in for the rest of their break, and then headed off to class when the time came. Remus remained silent and mulling over Sirius' story in his mind. Something about it didn't seem to make sense, but he couldn't put his finger on it, exactly. Remus was more focused, though, on thinking about how Sirius had caused him, indirectly, to almost lose his friends, as had happened a few times before. And, as had happened every other time, Remus had been neglected in the end, and Sirius had been automatically forgiven.

If you hadn't figured it out yet, I'm making Remus rather bitter, or more, I'm trying to explain why he should have been more bitter than he was... I hope you like it! This one was kind of short, so I'm putting up the next chapter with it. R&R!