Author's Note: Hey guys! So good to be back, decided to post a little early to celebrate! Thank you all so much for your patience, my hiatus was much needed and I feel a lot better now. I'm still struggling with some things of course but I am definitely ready to get back to posting chapters! Thank you ALL for all the lovely messages of love and support 3

-x-

"Today we are taking a small field trip."

It was Tuesday morning in Muggle Studies, and those words made everyone sit up a little and pay more attention than usual. Professor Lewis was sitting on her desk with a beehive hairdo the color of oranges, a bright orange swirled blouse, and matching orange trousers. They were a little tight across her rather large bottom, but despite the vivid colors that should have been too bold… it fit her.

"If everyone will please follow me?"

She hopped down off the desk and left the room without even looking backwards to make sure they were following. Everyone hurried out of their spots to follow her, none of them knowing where they were going. Lewis's long, dangly gold earrings chimed as she walked, and her high-heeled boots clicked along the stone floor, producing a sort of music. Remus soon realized everyone had unconsciously followed her stepping rhythm, that tap tap tap tap.

At least Remus was well-rested. He skipped all his lessons the day before, except for Astronomy at midnight, and had slept through dinner too, although the Marauders brought him food. While he was still tired… he felt better than he typically did after a full moon.

Professor Lewis led them to the sixth floor, to a very long corridor that had no doors anywhere except for one. She opened the door which was labeled Muggle Studies Storeroom and stood in front of the open door, blocking any light from falling into the darkness.

"Today we will be learning about various modes of Muggle transportation. We have seen cars, we have seen aeroplanes, and we know about trains." She dragged something out of the storeroom. "Can anyone tell me what this is?"

Four hands shot up. Remus, Sirius, Peter, and Celeste Falkfeather of Hufflepuff. Lewis called on Falkfeather who correctly identified it as a bicycle.

"Correct!" Professor Lewis swung her leg over the seat and put one foot on a pedal. "This is a very popular mode of transportation. You don't need to pay for petrol. All you need are your own legs." With that she pushed off, her legs pumping as the bicycle raced down the corridor. She wheeled it in a U-turn and came back, putting the brakes on, tapping the little spike that kept it upright (Remus thought it was called a footstand maybe?), and got off. She began explaining loosely the history of bicycles and said she would be showing films later. For now…

She pulled another bicycle out of the storage.

"Two at a time can ride down the corridor and back, and if anyone wishes to go again they may. Here is how you do it."

She showed them how to sit, pedal, maneuver the front wheel, and everything else they might need. When she asked for volunteers of course James and Sirius had their hands up immediately. She chose James and Kioko Tanaka who also had her hand up and, after much explaining, had them seated properly on the bicycles.

"These are not fully Muggle bicycles," she explained. "These are enchanted not to fall over. They will wobble and you may feel like you'll fall, but you won't. If you wish to attempt a truly Muggle bicycle… I do have one in the storeroom. However, you may not try it until I've seen you go back and forth without incident."

Tanaka did vaguely all right. She was slow and wobbly, and would have fallen a few times. James was not all right at all. He would have fallen every other second it seemed, but that didn't deter him. He kept trying and kept wobbling to one side or the other. By the time he finally reached the end of the corridor, Tanaka had made her somewhat smooth return back and Sirius was getting on the bicycle.

One by one (or two by two, really) the students tried the Muggle invention. When Peter got on it was clear he had ridden before. He went back and forth with absolutely no wobble and everyone cheered for him when he returned, which made him blush, squeak, and hide behind James. Aegis did all right, except when he crashed into a bench.

Remus was one of the last ones to go, along with Buckling. He could smell the fear on her, and could see it in her eyes. He knew he was just as afraid. Even though it wouldn't fall… there was still a little seed of terror inside his stomach. He got on the bicycle and tried to push off like Lewis showed him and knew he'd have fallen over if it wasn't magicked. It took him a few tries and soon he was wobbling wildly along the corridor, going almost as slow as Tanaka had. He crashed into a couple of the statues, as well as the wall multiple times, and had to put his feet down more times than he could count. When he finally got back the other Marauders cheered for him and he very happily relinquished the bicycle back to James who wanted to try again.

How did Mum do it? he wondered, remembering the stories she'd tell of bicycling around town before she was married.

Lewis allowed Peter to use the regular, proper bicycle since James and Sirius wanted to see him on it. He was visibly embarrassed as he climbed on and easily went back and forth along the corridor without issue. Lewis made James go a couple more times on the enchanted one before she allowed him on the fully Muggle one. He fell over multiple times but didn't care. He was having a terrific time and groaned when Lewis said it was time to return to the classroom.

"Can I try again later?" he asked as he reluctantly helped wheel the bicycle in. "I want to learn!"

Lewis smiled. "If you wish, I have some free time after supper."

James hesitated, glancing briefly at Remus. "I—er, I have plans though… I suppose not till seven…?" He gave Remus a curious look who nodded. James's session with Miss Fawley didn't start until after Remus was done, which was around seven. "Yeah, I could do that if you don't mind, Professor."

"Could I try too?" Sirius asked.

"Of course, Mr. Black. Anyone else?" She looked at the other students but none of them were as eager as James and Sirius. "All right, let's get back to class."

The rest of the class was watching films about bicycling including other types, like the ones with the giant front wheel. They also learned about roller skates, hot air balloons, and various types of boats and cars. When Lewis dismissed class, James, Peter, and Remus got their things and started to leave.

"Sirius?" James asked. Sirius was still staring at the telly with a strange expression on his face. "Hey, Sirius!"

"Hmm?" Sirius blinked and then got up. "Oh, right."

They walked through the school with no real aim, James asking Peter all sorts of questions about bicycles and being impressed when Peter said he had learned at a very young age. Sirius had a faraway expression, not paying attention to the conversation whatsoever. James asked Remus if he ever rode and Remus gave him a rather scornful look back, asking if it looked like he had ever ridden one before.

They went to one of the courtyards and sat along a wall, legs dangling down, James still yammering on about the bicycles, Sirius still looking at something only he could see. When James asked him, Sirius only shook his head and said that he was impressed by some of the things Muggles could come up with.

Then, almost shyly which was weird since it was Sirius, he asked, "Did you see some of those things that are like cars? But not?"

"Like the trucks and tractors and stuff?" Peter asked.

Sirius began swinging his legs, kicking his heels against the stone. "What did Lewis call it? A motorcycle?"

"The thing like a bicycle and a car had a baby?" James asked and Sirius nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

Sirius shrugged. "They seemed neat looking."

"They did," James agreed. "So did the hot air balloons, they were like giant LiftAways only with baskets underneath. Now why didn't we ever think about tying them to a big basket to carry us in?"

Remus groaned, rubbing his eyes as he foresaw a very dangerous stunt in the very near future.

And he was right, although not with the LiftAways. Not yet, at least.

It was after Divination. Remus was walking by himself, since David said he needed to get something from the dorm. He was wandering down a corridor when he ran into Lily, and the two headed towards the Great Hall together, talking about their Charms assignment Flitwick had given them earlier. Suddenly, there were loud shrieks from down the corridor. They were on the first floor, and since it was supper and most of the castle was headed towards the Great Hall… the corridor was rather crowded.

Then there were shouts of WATCH OUT! And Remus knew that voice. He flung himself back against the wall, yanking Lily with him just as Sirius came blasting down the corridor on a broom. Tied around his waist was a rope and holding onto the rope was James whose shoes had somehow grown wheels. They looked a lot like the roller skates Lewis had shown them earlier in the day.

"HIYA REMY!" they both shouted as they zipped past them. Sirius turned a corner and James went crashing headlong into the wall. He lay on the floor looking quite unconscious.

Remus began running and right when he got to them, James sat up with a dazed expression in his eyes. "Brilliant!" he laughed, feeling around for his glasses. Remus picked them up, handing them over. "That was fun!"

Sirius had returned at that point, jumping off of James's broom, the rope dangling down to the floor. "You all right, mate?"

"Yes!" He grabbed Sirius's arms as he tried to get up. "That was utterly fantastic!" He held his arms out as he lost balance as soon as he let go of Sirius, his feet wheeling about. "Remus, you should try!"

"I don't think so! You two are going to get in astronomical trouble!" Remus hissed as Lily ran over as well. "You're not supposed to fly inside!"

Lily gave him a disgusted look. "And why are you wearing roller skate—wait, are those your regular shoes?"

James grabbed Remus as he almost fell over again. "You know about roller skates, Red?"

"Of course I do, you dunderhead!" she scoffed, before glancing over her shoulder. "You're in trouble now."

Remus looked and saw Professor Hawkwood coming down the corridor, following the pointing fingers of other students. Sirius swore and quickly shoved the broom and rope into a nearby storeroom.

"I've been told one of you was flying down the halls," Hawkwood said when he arrived at them; at that moment Remus also spotted Peter jogging towards them.

"I guess you could call it that." James grabbed Sirius's arm as he lifted one foot to show the wheels sprouting out the bottom of his trainers. "I was rolling down the hall fast. Flying, you could say."

Hawkwood glanced around at the three innocent faces (the Marauders) and the annoyed one (Lily). Peter arrived then, huffing and puffing as he bent over, hands on his thighs. "Miss Evans, was there a broomstick?" he demanded.

Remus thought Lily was going to give them away but all she said was, "Potter wasn't on a broom at all, unfortunately. You should give him detention for the wheels, though. Ten nights of it."

Hawkwood nodded. "I was informed that it was, in fact, Mr. Black on a broom."

Lily briefly looked anxious before she tossed her hair back and smoothly said, "I don't know, I didn't notice. I only noticed Potter being the absolute idiot he usually is. He crashed into that wall there. It was hilarious, except it didn't knock him unconscious."

"Do you see a broom?" Sirius asked, putting his hands out, palms up. "I was chasing after James."

Hawkwood looked at each of them again before sighing. "Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter. Remove that silly spell from your shoes at once."

After he left Sirius fetched the broom, while James asked Peter about why he hadn't warned them about the teacher. Peter protested he had been looking out, it was just that Hawkwood came down a back staircase. Remus muttered that he had probably done so as he was the Divination teacher, and there were some back staircases that led from the Divination tower to the first floor; they took longer which is why Remus rarely used them, though they were usually less crowded. Peter folded his arms, looking a little smug.

"If I had seen'm sooner I would have come warned you."

"Well, I guess it all worked out anyway," James said, rubbing his arm. "The only weird thing is…" He turned to face Lily. "Why the hell did you stand up for me?"

"I didn't," she snapped. "I wouldn't. I was defending Sirius."

"Yeah, Potter, she was defending my honor." Sirius gave Peter the broom before taking Lily by the waist and giving a grin as he held her close.

"If Cassie saw that she'd probably have a fit," Remus noted.

Lily stared before turning to Sirius. "You didn't tell him?"

Sirius released Lily and ran his fingers through his hair. "Er, I suppose not. Cassie dumped me."

Remus's jaw dropped and from the looks on James and Peter's faces, they already knew. "Wh-what? Why?"

Lily pressed her lips thin. "Er, I'll leave you to explain." With that she quickly left the Marauders alone, making Remus wonder all the more what happened.

"What is going on?" Remus asked. "She dumped you?"

"Because of you," Peter said.

Sirius whirled on him, smacking his shoulder rather roughly. "Shut up, it isn't because of Remus!"

Remus took a step back, heart pounding hard as those words settled into him. For the briefest, minutest of seconds he thought—but it was banished quickly. He didn't think he could speak (or breathe) so he remained silent until Sirius continued.

"It was partially because of the party, really. Saturday night." He stuck his hands in his pockets, looking awkward. "And… also because I spent all day with you Sunday. And didn't spend any time with her yesterday either. I guess she hoped to celebrate her first game and the fact she's on the team now which I didn't think about."

"You—you didn't spend all day with me Sunday," Remus pointed out, feeling bewildered.

"It was Sirius's idea to say it," Peter said quickly and Remus frowned.

James was the one to explain. "See, we thought if we told people we visited you in the hospital wing after sunset it might help things. You know, so students think you're there after the sun sets. And if any teacher asked us about why we're lying about visiting you in the hospital, we can say it's for an alibi."

Remus opened and closed his mouth, thinking about this. He really couldn't find any fault in that particular plan, and had to admit it was rather clever. "That is actually a very good idea."

All three stared at him in shock.

"What?"

"You're approving of one of our plans to help you out?" Pete asked incredulously.

"Of course, it is a good plan and it doesn't require much on your part." He gave a shrug. "It isn't stupid, it isn't dangerous, and it isn't illegal. I think it's a good idea."

Sirius laughed and flung an arm around him, rubbing his knuckles furiously on his head. "Finally, one of our Help Remus Out Ideas is Remy-Approved!"

Remus squawked protests, fighting to get free. "If you keep that up, I shan't approve it for much longer! Anyway, erm, I—I am sorry. About Cassie, I mean."

Sirius gave a forced laugh. "Her loss. Come on, supper awaits and then it's bicycle time for me and Jimsy."

-x-

Occlumency went a little better than last time, at least. He thought maybe going through the full moon helped things, helped sort of… ground him? At least the full moon had been ages after what happened with Lily. If it had happened right after, he knew the moons would have been really bad. Now, though, he felt that ripping himself apart and being mended back together… made him… anew. He was still Remus, still… like that… but the stress of his transformations had helped push back the stress of being like that.

It was strange to feel that way, to feel a sense of relief from what was usually a horrific, painful nightmare. He considered asking Fawley about it, to get her advice, but still wasn't ready to talk about that part of him.

He still struggled with pushing Fawley out of his head, though, and by the time they switched to trying to see the night he was bitten he had a terrible headache. He managed not to throw up, at least, but was staggering when he returned to the secret passage where the others waited.

"You should be more careful," Sirius said, offering Remus a cold, damp cloth to drape over the back of his neck.

"Says the guy who has headaches every week and refuses to see Pomfrey," Remus retorted, sinking to the ground with his head down, the cold cloth feeling good. "Didn't you have one today?"

"Bicycling went well," Sirius said, changing the subject. "Except James broke a bone."

James snorted. "Only a little bit. It was so fun though, Lewis is going to teach us some more again later, or I might nick the bicycle myself."

"She'll probably know it was you," Peter said.

"Not if I return it soon. Or maybe I'll ask my parents for a Muggle bicycle for Christmas. Anyway, come on, Pete, we've got psychic work to do."

After they left Sirius sat across from Remus, watching him. Finally he asked if he was sure he was all right, and Remus gave a small nod which sent some more pain spiking through his skull. They sat in silence for a few minutes until the pain started to ebb away. He pulled the cloth off his neck and pressed it against his face.

"What did you do Sunday night?"

"Hmm?"

"When you told Cassie you were with me."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Broke into Sluggy's office."

"Oh, right. James and Peter still don't know, do they?"

"No. I figured I'd leave it up to you to decide when to tell them." Sirius moved over next to him now, shoulders touching. "Since it was your idea."

Remus rubbed the cloth across his eyes. "Maybe we should leave it. I said before, I—I don't know if we'd ever be able to prove it. We might only cause a lot of unpleasantness if we try to pursue this."

Sirius bumped against him. "I think Snivellus did it. I think he wrote to Kirke, and sent him the potion, and sent James the chocolates."

Remus lowered his hands, twisting the rag around. "I don't know if he could have afforded it."

"Someone else is involved too—"

"With Snape?" Remus gave him a wry look. "Not even many Slytherins like him. I don't think there's much we can do, unless we get the teachers involved and if we try to point the finger at Snape then I don't think they'd believe us. Everyone knows perfectly well how much we hate Snape. Most likely they'd think we were only trying to get him into trouble."

"So we just drop it," Sirius said flatly. "What if he tries again? What if he keeps trying to slip potions into James's stuff so he can't play?"

Remus wrung the cloth, a few drops of water splattering across his trousers. "We should bring that up to McGonagall, at least. Do… you want to go do it now?"

"Remy."

"What?"

"Really?" Sirius looked agog at him. "You… really?"

"What?!" he demanded, annoyed.

Sirius smirked. "I'm the smart one this time. Hah! This is brilliant! Wait, it'd be better if you said I was the smart one. Go on, say it."

Remus blinked at him. "I've no idea what you're talking about."

"You're supposed to be in Occlumency," Sirius said. "You can't go see McGonsie. Say it."

He smacked his forehead, relieved that all the pain was gone now so it didn't hurt. "Oh Merlin, I wasn't even thinking! All right, stop grinning like an idiot. I'm tired."

"Excuses, excuses."

"And my head still hurts," he lied.

Sirius prodded him. "Say it."

He groaned. "Fine, all right then, you're the smart one. This time."

"YES!" Sirius pumped both arms into the air.

Remus scooted away, covering his nose. "Please don't do that, you didn't use a deodorizing spell today. Your armpits stink. Look, why don't you go talk to Professor McGonagall about concerns of it happening again? I think I might lie down anyway, try to get some more sleep."

Sirius lowered his arms. "D'you think she'd believe me? Maybe it will sound better coming from you? You're her favorite."

Remus felt like he might blush. "A—am not. She cares about all of us. Equally."

"And you especially."

He made a few huffing sounds then drew his knees up to his chest. "If you want me to talk to her, I will tomorrow. It's… your choice. You're better with talking to people than I am anyhow."

Sirius stretched his arms and legs out before getting up. "All right, yeah, I'll go talk to her. Here." He pulled his jumper off and handed it to Remus. "You can use that as a pillow. I'll be back in a bit, and if I'm not back by eight I'll head to the dorms instead, yeah?"

"All right, thank you."

Remus folded it up carefully and curled up on the stone floor, head against Sirius's jumper, breathing in his scent as he fell asleep.

-x-

Smooooooke on the water… a fire in the sky… smoooooke on the water…

It was the next day during the free period between Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and the Marauders were sitting in one of the corridors that lined a courtyard. It was sleeting heavily outside, so they had the area to themselves; which worked out fine since Sirius had lugged his portable record player with him in lieu of his books and was playing the Deep Purple album yet again. He had the album propped open and was trying to fix his hair to imitate the looks of the band. Since they all had long, thick, dark hair like Sirius, it wasn't too difficult for him.

"Muggle bands just sound so different," he said after finishing fussing with his hair (Remus thought it didn't look any different, really), and when the song ended he moved the needle. Thankfully not to play Smoke On The Water once more but to play his second favorite song on the album: Space Truckin'.

Maybe I'll get him a Muggle rock album for Christmas. Maybe Lily can find one for me, if they're not too expensive. Remus was sitting on the floor with his homework spread out around him, trying and failing to do some work. It was too cold and his fingers felt a bit numb. He had conjured up some bluebell flames onto a bench but it wasn't enough to completely warm him up.

The thought of Christmas sent a sharp pain through Remus and he sighed. He didn't want to go home for the holidays, though he knew his mother was desperately looking forward to it. Her latest letter had gone on and on about how excited she was to see him, how much she missed him, how lonely she was without him. It only made him feel sick and want to stay at Hogwarts. He didn't want to go home and be treated like a baby. He also didn't want to spend his holidays down in the cellar. How cold would it get through the winter? It got chilly enough in the spring, when he first stayed there. How bad would it be during snow and freezing temperatures?

Suddenly, he realized it was already halfway through November. There was only one more full moon before the holidays, and thankfully none during. The Christmas holidays started on the twenty-second this year which was only five and a half weeks away. Ugh. Two weeks being smothered by his mother.

Sirius played Smoke On The Water again and moved to sit next to James, planning out some big prank with him. Peter watched them a little glumly, obviously feeling left out. Remus tried not to feel left out, reminding himself of the Polyjuice potion every time he felt that particular emotion.

"What do you think McGonagall will do?" Peter asked Remus, tossing aside his comic book.

The night before Sirius had told the entire group about his conversation with McGonagall, and James had nodded, admitting he had been concerned too. McGonagall had told Sirius that she and the other Heads of Houses and Madame Hooch were all working on plans to make sure it didn't happen again, as well as what to do if it did. All she knew for sure was James was not going to be punished, and they'd do everything they could to make sure he could play without any risk.

"I don't think Kirke'll do anything," James said, overhearing Peter. "I told him to his face that if he tried anything again I'd sue him. And he'd lose that. His family are nobodies and we're the Potters."

Remus thought that was a little disgusting to put it that way, but he kept his mouth shut.

"And he isn't on the team anymore." James was grinning wickedly now. "I've no problem getting revenge if he did try anything. No more worrying about causing problems for the team. He knows this. He won't try anything."

Sirius and Remus exchanged glances. They had kept their Snape theory to themselves which was probably for the best.

If Snape thinks things through, he won't do anything. If it was, in fact, him, Remus decided, going back to his homework. After all, McGonagall… or someone was probably going to keep an eye on Kirke. If something happened to James and it wasn't Kirke then Snape (or whoever) could be in trouble. And if it was Snape being clever, hopefully he was clever enough not to try to do it again.

-x-

The sleet stopped by afternoon but the grounds were still slushy on the way to Herbology, soaking through the cuffs of Remus's trousers and the hem of his robes. He felt self-conscious as he went into the greenhouse, hoping nobody would be staring at him or watching him after what happened on Monday. Luckily the only one who seemed to bother was Rivers, who stopped Remus on his way back to his table to make sure he was feeling better.

Lily also stopped him, taking hold of his sleeve and pulling him in close. "You need to do something," she hissed in his ear. "About Magpie."

Remus froze but Lily let go of him and, in a slight daze, he took his seat at the table behind her, resisting the urge to turn around to look at Magpie. Since Sprout began with a lecture, Remus scribbled a note and passed it to Lily. Lily wrote back, flicking it expertly behind her without looking back.

N says M cried herself to sleep last night because you never mentioned her flowers yesterday, not even in Divination when she said hello. What. Are. You. Doing?!

Remus flinched, crumpling the note up quickly. Magpie had said hello the day before and he had said hello back and that was it. He supposed a nicer boy would have thanked her for the flowers. Or even remembered them. Actually, he was fairly sure he left them in the hospital wing.

What do I tell her? Remus wrote back.

Tell her you aren't interested you dolt!

But he didn't know if he could do that, how was he supposed to do that? What if Lily was wrong and Magpie didn't like him and he made an utter fool of himself saying he wasn't interested to a girl who wasn't interested in the first place?

Except she did bring him flowers… except girls were weird about flowers. Lily had gotten him flowers before! Though they were good friends while he wasn't really friends with Magpie…

Still, what if he made an utter mess of the whole thing?

Sprout called for partners, only two together, and by the time Remus lifted his head, James was with Peter and Sirius had leapt across the greenhouse to partner with Tanaka, while giving Cassie a look. Remus knew what was coming before it did and when he glanced over his shoulder he saw Magpie coming right for him—

"Partners?"

He jumped and turned back to look up at Alice. "Y-yes, please."

Alice sat down between him and Peter, and Remus did his best not to look back again. "Wh-what is going on with Cassie and Sirius?" he asked, since he hadn't had much of a chance to ask Lily. He had been planning on doing so after Ancient Runes.

Alice rolled her eyes. "He keeps ignoring her, or at least that's what she says."

"You don't believe her?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I think he spends a lot of time with you lot. But… no offense, Remus, but he's very immature. He might look like a fifth year, but he barely acts like a second year."

Remus swallowed. "Why would I take offense to that?"

"He's your friend?"

"He is, but an immature one, you are right."

Alice giggled at that and Remus thought back to their conversation about how she wasn't too interested in dating. He wondered if he could talk to her and convince her to… pretend to go together or something. That would get Magpie off his back, and also make people think he was normal. Even though he didn't know Alice well, he thought he felt comfortable enough asking her to pretend to date. He could frame it as wanting their friends to stop thinking he was interested in Lily, or something. He would make sure she knew it was only pretend so she wouldn't think… and Lily would have to know the truth…

Then everything inside of him shriveled at the mere idea of asking her, and he wanted to empty his cauldron.

Maybe not.