Remus had detention with Professor Kettleburn that evening, which made him worried. Kettleburn scared him a little and knew so much about magical animals that he always wondered if the teacher would guess his secret. He was also a little worried it might be something wild and dangerous… but it turned out that all he had to do was clean out some cages. They smelled bad and most of the animals in the room were afraid of him, but it could have been worse. Except when one of the animals kept hissing and swiping at Remus, and Kettleburn remarked how it was usually a very docile creature. Remus turned a little red, mumbling that some animals didn't like him. Kettleburn gave Remus a look and didn't press the matter. Either way, he was relieved when it was time to go.

He was released a little early and happily strolled through the castle, figuring he'd go meet up with Peter. James and Sirius also had detention, but theirs was till curfew or probably a little after.

Peter was just leaving the club room when Remus showed up; he hung a little ways away since he smelled strongly of animals and cleaning supplies, waiting for Peter to say goodbye to the other club members. He had an envelope clutched in his hands and his eyes were shining when he approached Remus.

"Eww!" Peter pinched his nose. "What were you doing, rolling in fertilizer?"

"Thanks," Remus grumbled, walking alongside his so-called friend. "Kettleburn had me cleaning out cages. I'll get another shower, don't worry."

Peter dropped his hand. "It's all right, I appreciate you coming with me anyway." He fiddled with the envelope, face heating up. "Actually, erm, I had a question for you. I wanted to ask you alone anyway, away from the others. I mean, I'll ask them too, probably, but I wanted to ask you first because you're less likely to laugh at me. I know," he added when Remus opened his mouth. "You wouldn't laugh at me. But I don't know. It's silly."

"What is?"

Pete took a deep breath. "They're having a photography contest—"

"Yes, you should enter," Remus said immediately.

Peter went pink. "H-how—I mean, what? I—I—you think so?"

"Isn't that what you were going to ask?"

"Yes…"

Remus smiled. "Of course I think so, you're very talented. Where is the contest?"

Peter opened the envelope, pulling out sheets of paper with information printed on them. "Daily Prophet, due in two weeks. Craggy wants all of us to enter, or all of us that can afford it. There's an entrance fee. It's not real big, though, I—I can afford it, it's fine, it's not that. It's…"

"What's wrong?"

He bowed his head. "It's not only against the other students, though, it's also against anyone. I don't think I'd do well. Against professionals I mean."

Remus pushed his fringe back. It was getting really long, he'd need to visit the hair witch before the holidays. He liked it long but… not when it was borderline actual hair and not a fringe anymore. "Do you want to enter?"

"I—I think I do."

"Think?"

Peter clutched the papers tightly. "I do. But what if I fail? What if I submit a photograph and everyone laughs at my photo and says 'wow what a stupid photo the photographer must be a dunce who is it' and they post it in the paper withmynamesayinghowstupidandpatheticIamand—"

Remus grabbed Peter, shaking him slightly. "Breathe!" he commanded, and Pete obeyed, gulping in some air. "Now out. You'll be fine, your photographs are beautiful. Even if you don't come in first I doubt anyone would laugh at them."

"Whose laughing at what?"

They both jumped as James and Sirius appeared, and Remus realized he and Peter had been standing on one of the moving stairwells in the Grand Staircase for their entire conversation. Other students were moving about, but James and Sirius had spotted them on their way back from—

"You should still be in detention," Remus noted, glancing at a nearby clock.

"Yeah, we should," James agreed. "Laughing at what?"

"My photos," Peter moaned.

"Who is laughing at your photos?" Sirius demanded, eyes narrowing. "I'll—oh, Merlin, Remus, you stink!"

"Yes, I'm well aware of that, thank you."

"What did you do, roll in shit or something?" James asked.

"That's what I said," laughed Peter. "Only not as rude."

Remus spread his hands out. "I helped clean cages. I'm sorry, it isn't as if I have a choice in what they make me do as punishment." The cleaning solutions had smelled awful, but the animal smells weren't as bad as the others apparently thought. He resisted the urge to sniff at himself. Was it really that bad? "You two should still be in detention."

James ignored him, turning back to Peter. "All right, then, what's this about your photos?"

Peter sighed and told them about the contest, and both boys exclaimed cheerfully that of course Peter would do well and James offered to pay the entrance fee. Peter shook his head, swearing it wasn't anything big and he could pay it. Then he asked if they were sure the judges wouldn't laugh at his photos.

Then another voice broke through and said, "I'd appreciate it if some people didn't block the stairwell. Oh. Potter." They all turned to look down at a Ravenclaw boy standing a few steps below them. There was something vaguely familiar about him. And something very gorgeous about him, which Remus very, very, very quickly shoved into the deep recesses of his brain. "I'd congratulate you on your win but… you didn't help with it."

"No, but we still beat you," James retorted.

"Only because Bell told Charmer to go right for the Snitch," the boy said with a sneer. "It wasn't a proper game."

"Bell still got a score past you," James said and Remus realized that the boy was on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. "We only had two Chasers and still beat you—"

"Ah, the pre-Snitch score was even, ten to ten," the boy snapped. "I admit, though, Charmer is a decent Seeker. What do you have in your hands there, Pokey?" Suddenly he reached out and snatched the papers from Peter's hand. Remus's jaw dropped in shock at the sheer audacity. "A photography contest?"

"G-give that back!" Peter stammered.

Sirius reached down, plucking the papers from him. "Merlin, you're bloody rude, aren't you? What gives you the right to do that?" He handed the papers back to Peter.

The Ravenclaw leaned back against the banister. "I was only curious what my cousin was up to."

James, Sirius, and Remus all stared in disbelief at the Ravenclaw. Then they looked at Peter then back at the Ravenclaw.

"What? Oh, Pokey didn't tell you?" The Ravenclaw laughed. "You didn't tell them?"

"S'not something I exactly like to brag about," Peter muttered.

"You're… cousins?" James demanded.

The Ravenclaw yawned. "Unfortunately."

Remus couldn't believe it. The Ravenclaw was almost as tall as Sirius, and slightly dark-skinned with wild dark brown hair, a strong jaw, and dreamy sort of dark brown eyes. There was no resemblance whatsoever between him and Peter.

Not that Peter wasn't attractive or anything, he was… just in a different, fairer way.

Not that the Ravenclaw was attractive at all, of course.

"You're related to the Fenwicks?" James demanded. "You never said!"

Peter ducked his head low. "My mum's a Fenwick," he mumbled in an even lower tone than what he said before.

"Shame you got the Pettigrew look about you, eh?" laughed the Ravenclaw. "And the Pettigrew smarts, and the Pettigrew talent—which is to say, a big fat Muggle nothing."

Ah, this must be the pratty cousin Pete mentioned he didn't want to spend time with, Remus realized. Don't blame him.

"Oi!" James whirled on the Fenwick. "Peter's worth ten of you."

"Only if the employer is looking for someone to scrub out toilets," Fenwick snorted. "Did you ever tell them the family thought you were a Squib until you got the letter?"

Peter turned bright pink at that and he took a step back, nearly tripping backward on the stairs which made Fenwick laugh.

"Talking about that sort of thing is rude," Sirius said coldly.

Fenwick held his hands up. "My apologies, truly. Peter's family, and I assumed you were like family to him. I thought we could speak freely. I do apologize if I was rude." He straightened up, smiling. "Anyway, I should let you go, shouldn't I? It's nearly eight, your curfew. Unless… oh, of course, you probably have detention slips that allow you to be out after hours." Fenwick slipped past the four of them and then paused. "Oh, and Potter? Looking forward to next year when we actually get to play against one another." He gave James a dazzling smile before glancing at Remus. He gave Remus a once-over for some reason before turning and heading up the stairs, jumping across the small gap before the stairs connected to the landing, and disappearing down a corridor.

"What an arse!" Sirius said angrily.

"How come you never said he was your cousin?" James asked Peter.

Peter slumped down on the stairs as they began moving again. "Because I don't like it! The Fenwicks are all so… smart and strong and talented and good-looking. How was I s'pposed to say I'm related to them? Look at me, I'm—I'm nothing compared to them!"

James sank down onto the step next to him, putting an arm around him. "You're not nothing, you're everything. You're better than him."

"Thanks, but I know that's just friendship talking. He's tall, dark, handsome, and smart, and I'm short, pale, goofy-looking, and dumb."

"You are not dumb," Remus said fiercely. "And you're not goofy-looking either. As for short and pale, I'm shorter and paler than you."

Pete lifted his head. "Yeah but you aren't ugly, you even got someone after you!"

"You mean Magpie, right?" Sirius asked and Pete nodded. "She's simply not good at hiding her feelings, you could very well have loads of girls after you—"

"Don't lie." Pete quickly stood up, looking on the verge of tears. "Please. I appreciate you wantin' to be nice and helpful and stuff but I—I-I-I know I'm nothing like the Fenwicks. That's why I didn't want anyone to ever know."

"Benjy Fenwick is a complete and utter arse," James said, standing to grab Pete's shoulders. "You're a terrific, wonderful, and incredible person, Peter Pettigrew. And all right maybe he is a bit more handsome by what some people think but I disagree with that, cause I think you look bloody sexy."

Peter stared rather bleakly. "Oh boy, my male best friend who took a blood oath to be loyal to me says I'm sexy," he said flatly. "That helps."

James punched his arm. "Oi, I mean it, though. Surface looks aren't everything, you know. It takes more than that. I mean look at Evans, everyone says she's pretty but really she's a disgusting cow so she's very ugly."

"James," Remus warned.

James ran his fingers through his hair. "Er, right. Look at Sirius!"

"Am I a disgusting cow?" Sirius joked.

James grinned. "Your family is, and you got your looks from them, eh? But you're better looking than any of them, because you're nicer. Better. Petey. Blithe. If I were a girl, I'd go for you in a heartbeat."

"Same here," Sirius said and he stepped on Remus's foot.

"As would I," Remus agreed, voice squeaking slightly; he felt annoyed at Sirius doing that. He would have agreed even without the foot-stepping!

Peter sighed and then hugged James tightly. "Thanks, guys." He hugged Sirius too but hesitated before Remus. "Erm, I'll hug you after your shower. Thank you." He smiled at all of them. "I don't know how much I believe it, but I do feel better."

"Good!" James put an arm around Peter. "Now, let's go find a photograph for you to enter the contest and reducto all the other contestants outta the water!"

-x-

The Marauders stayed up rather late that night going through Peter's photographs and picking their favorites. By two in the morning they had a pile of twenty-eight, seven from each of them. On the way to Muggle Studies the next day James suggested they get some input from the girls, which made Peter go into a slight panic. He didn't want the girls to know about this, insisting they'd only laugh.

Muggle Studies was a relaxed day as the previous day Princess Anne had gotten married—something even the wizarding world knew about—and Professor Lewis had some film about it. She talked again about how live television worked, bringing things like this into the homes of millions of people. They watched the royal wedding, the girls more interested in it than the boys.

"Oh, her dress was beautiful!" sighed Eloise Nettle which set off a discourse about Muggle versus wizarding fashion.

In a lot of cases it wasn't very different, mostly just subtle changes. Lewis even showed them some photographs of Muggle school uniforms which looked quite a lot like the Hogwarts uniforms. The trousers or skirts, crisp white shirts, jumpers or sleeveless jumpers, a tie of some sort. The Muggles seemed to wear blazers more often though some of the students at Hogwarts wore blazers under their robes. Remus wouldn't have minded one, really; he thought they looked very smart. But it wasn't an essential piece of the uniform, so he hadn't gotten any. James and Sirius both had blazers which they rarely ever wore.

Lewis perched on her desk, talking about how Muggle and wizarding fashion had been different for a long time and it was only recently that they started merging again. Some purebloods, of course, and old-fashioned minds never wore recent fashion. They stuck to the very old school rule of literally nothing but robes, saying that's how it had always been and always should be.

"Yes, Potter?" Lewis asked when James laughed at that.

"It hasn't always been like that!" he said. "Look at brooms. If we always wore nothing but robes with nothing underneath but what we were born in, then brooms wouldn't be a mode of transportation at all!"

"And why is that?"

"You'd look up and there's everything to see," James said point blank which sent a ripple of giggles through the entire class.

"He is right," Aegis said which startled everyone; Aegis almost never spoke up in class. "Fashion for our kind started changing when brooms became popular."

"They used to complain about splinters in their… nether regions," Remus said and that caused more giggles. He couldn't imagine the early days, sitting with nothing between your personal parts and a splintery broom. He was sure there were complaints about splinters in other parts of the body, but those weren't as casual fact as the other. Splinters in the bum were slightly nicer to hear about than splinters in the bollocks.

"Trousers and hose did start becoming more popular in our world as broomsticks became more popular," Lewis agreed. "It was in the nineteenth century when broomsticks started becoming a regularity… and it was earlier this century when our clothes started changing too. Is it just because of brooms or something else?" She looked around expectantly. "Anyone? Buckling?"

Buckling lowered her hand, looking embarrassed. "Safety…?" she suggested, ears turning bright red.

Lewis smiled and nodded. "Precisely. We couldn't really get away with wearing robes out in public whenever we had to go through Muggle areas. And the places where Muggles didn't go… they became rare, almost impossible. Now there are only a few spots in our country, heavily spelled to keep us out of their sight. In the nineteenth century, as the Muggles started the industrial revolution, we had to start adapting as our world shrank. As it became easier for them to travel, with their trains and eventually cars."

"And bicycles," piped up Pocklington.

Lewis laughed. "And their bicycles. This meant we had to get used to Muggles seeing us, and this meant our fashion needed to merge with theirs. For most magical people it's only the surface, a costume, so to speak, to wear. As the years pass it becomes more natural, more part of us. Your generation, for instance. None of you think twice when you put on your casual, weekend clothes, do you? Hands up, how many of you wear nothing but robes on the weekends? Not every weekend, mind you, but sometimes?"

Only two hands went up, one belonging to Bottlebrush and one belonging to Edelman.

Lewis looked over everyone. "Raise your hand if you have never, in your memory, worn full, proper robes attire?"

Only two hands rose again. Catchlove, and Remus's. He may have worn some as a baby, but he couldn't remember them. He had always worn trousers of some kind. Of course he was raised by a Muggle mother, and they never went anywhere. If they had gone out to some fancy restaurant on occasion, or a nice event, he would have probably worn robes. He wondered about Catchlove and her family, why she hadn't ever worn them. Even Peter had, apparently.

The discussion about fashion continued, and it wasn't as boring as Remus thought it might be. He wasn't completely interested in fashion itself but it was interesting to think about why wizarding fashion was the way it was, changing over the years to match Muggle fashion except for some people.

Everyone was so engrossed in the topic that for the first time, the class ran until ten-forty-five. Remus shook his head, marveling at the fact that clothes of all subjects had done that.

-x-

Over the past few weeks Sirius had slowly stopped complaining about the headaches he'd occasionally get, even though they all knew perfectly well he still got them. He kept quiet, probably (Remus assumed) not wanting to argue about them. But after Transfiguration that afternoon he couldn't hide the fact he had a bad one. He kept rubbing his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose, and giving off the occasional soft whine.

"If you say one word about Pomfrey I'll hex your nose upside down," Sirius warned when James started a sentence with 'maybe you should'.

"Well, you should," James grumbled.

"I'm fine."

After Charms, though, he wasn't. He was in a lot of pain and kept a hand pressed over his eyes to shield the light. Remus begged him to see Pomfrey or at least go lie down in the dorms. Sirius joked about Remus trying to get him to skip class, and Remus said if he was that unwell he should.

Sirius spent the entire Astronomy class wincing whenever Professor Spring raised his voice or else kept his arms folded on his desk with his head down. Spring caught him like that and took some points from Gryffindor, but Sirius didn't care. After class was over he said he'd feel much better after lying down in the dark.

"We'll try to get him to go to Pomfrey," Peter told Remus before Remus split apart from them and went to Divination.

Remus was a little early and when he took his seat he decided to ask his tarot cards about Sirius. He hadn't done any pulls outside class for a while… and then as he was shuffling he thought back to all the times the cards tried telling him he was like that. His face heated up and he ducked his head, letting his long fringe cover his face.

Sirius, he thought as he shuffled. Headaches. His headaches. Sirius's headaches, what is causing his headaches?

He flipped one card over. The knight of pentacles. Remus consulted his book, brow furrowing a little as he read. The card represented hard work, reliability, productivity, utility, being of service, being stubborn… a lot of things that didn't quite sound like Sirius other than stubbornness. Then again he wasn't asking what Sirius was, but what was causing his headaches. Hard work? How would that cause headaches, especially since Sirius didn't work very hard unless it came to pranks?

Remus put the card back in the deck and began shuffling again, not intending to pull until another thought tugged at his conscience. What would happen if I am… okay… being like that? His heart began thudding in his chest and something caught in his throat. Goosebumps spread across his arms as he shuffled more. What would happen if I… take that part of me… and… not hate it?

The nine of pentacles. Well, he didn't have to go very far in the book to see what that meant. And as he read the words the lump in his throat grew bigger.

"Success," said a voice that made him jump almost out of his skin. He stared up, wide-eyed in fear, at Hawkwood who was looking down at the card. He hadn't heard his teacher approach, and he burned with embarrassment as if Hawkwood knew what he had pulled the card for. "The nine of pentacles is a good card, depending what you pulled it for. It represents stability, that you've achieved something. That you are being or will be rewarded for your efforts. That you should reward yourself when you've accomplished something."

"Than—thank you," Remus squeaked out somehow past the lump in his throat. He quickly put the card back in the deck and the deck in the box, wishing he could disappear.

He decided to completely ignore his second pull and instead pondered over the first, trying to figure out what it could mean. The stubbornness? Was there perhaps something wrong with Sirius and they were getting worse because he was being stubborn about not seeing Pomfrey? That could very well be it.

Sirius wasn't at supper and James said that he was still laying down. Remus put some food in a napkin and took it up to the dorms, carefully pushing open the door to their room. It was pitch black except for some faint moonlight coming in from one of the windows.

"Sirius?"

"I'm awake."

Remus tiptoed over and offered the food. Sirius looked terrible and it took a lot of effort not to haul his stupid bum down to the hospital wing. He could have done it. He was strong. He could fling Sirius over his shoulder and take him there. And it was tempting, very tempting.

"I did a tarot card pull for your headaches," Remus said softly while Sirius chewed on his sandwich. "My cards say you're being stubborn and should go to Pomfrey."

"Oh, is there a card that says that?" Sirius grumbled. "This card means 'go to Pomfrey', hmm?"

He sat down on the edge of Sirius's bed. "No, but it means you're being stubborn and I agree. What if it's something serious?"

"It is," Sirius said and Remus's heart skipped a terrified beat. "I mean, they're my headaches after all. They're very Sirius heada—ow! You shouldn't hit someone who has a headache."

"And you should go see Pomfrey!"

"I agree." The door opened and James and Peter came in, James especially looking annoyed. "We've been telling him all afternoon but he's ignored us."

"Why are you being like this?" Peter asked and before Sirius could reply, he went on with, "If it was one of us you'd be dragging us to the hospital wing. You're always onto Remus about his health, why do you get to ignore yours if he can't ignore his?"

Sirius chucked a piece of chicken at him. "Arse! I hate you, go away, you're not my friend anymore."

"He has a point," Remus said and ducked as some chicken was flung at him.

"And you, you're all traitors."

"We're all worried," James said. "And if you so much as think of throwing food at me I'm going to dump that pitcher of water over your head. Yaa!" James ducked as an entire baked potato was thrown. "Wingardium leviosa!" He jerked the pitcher of water and upended it, flooding Sirius's bed and drenching him.

"You rat!" Sirius got out of bed, wincing in pain. "I'm hurting and you're attacking me."

Remus suddenly collapsed to the floor, giving a cry of pain and clutching his middle. All three stared at him as he curled up on the floor. "Oh God, oh my God!"

"What happened?" James asked nervously.

"I d-don't know!" Remus sniffled, curling into an even tighter ball. "My chest hurts, oh Merlin, oh hell, it hurts, it hurts!"

Sirius was on his knees next to Remus in an instance. "What's wrong? What do you mean your chest hurts? You need to go see Po—oh, fuck you. You're just trying to prove a point!"

Remus peeked out from under his arm. "I am, and it's been proven. What was that? I'm hurting so I need to see Pomfrey? Is that what you said?"

Sirius got up, making a disgusted sound and not deigning to reply.

Peter helped Remus to his feet. "Why are you doing this?" Peter asked. "You're being hyp… hypi… hypo… hyper…"

"Hypocritical," Remus supplied.

"Yes, that. You're being that."

He rubbed his forehead angrily. "Because it's nothing, it's really nothing. My headaches come and go, they don't stay, they're not constant. Everyone gets headaches! James, you had one last week!"

"You mean after I ran into the door headfirst?" James asked, raising his eyebrows. "Yeah, my head hurt after that for a bit. Have you been running into doors, then, when we're not looking?"

Sirius threw his hands up in the air. "All right, fine, you win. I'll go see Pomfrey. Happy?"

"Yes," all three chorused. Sirius gave them all a rude gesture and left with Peter, since James and Remus had detention. Peter promised he'd make sure Sirius would go to the nurse and Remus hoped that he wouldn't try to slip away.

-x-

Detention was down in the laundry rooms, folding bed linen. Remus soon shed his robes and jumper, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt because it was such hot work. James completely stripped down to his undershirt. Remus's arms soon grew tired as he folded, folded, folded, folded. Corner to corner, nice, neat squares, set carefully on various tables depending on where they were going.

"Stop," Remus hissed out when he realized James was slipping notes into his. He was working on the Slytherin sheets so Remus could only imagine the rudeness written down. "You're only going to get yourself into more trouble."

"Sometimes getting into trouble is worth it, Brains. Stop being so boring."

They worked until Launie, the head laundry elf (so named, Remus knew, because in the family he belonged to before he came to Hogwarts he had become an expert at laundry, which Remus found to be a little mean of the family to do, naming a house-elf after a chore) told them their detention was up. Remus put his jumper back on and rolled down his sleeves, but James simply gathered his clothes up, walking out still in his undershirt. On the way back to the tower he was stopped by a Prefect and had five points taken off for his state of undress.

Back in the dorms they found Peter at his desk, trying to work on homework. He looked up when they came into the room. "He is with Pomfrey," he promised. "At least, he was when I left. She was looking at him. Whatever was going on seems like it was gonna take a while so she said I had to come back here before curfew."

"But she is looking at him?" Remus asked as he headed to grab clean pajamas.

"Yup. Thank Merlin for that."

"Why is Black seeing Pomfrey?" Spinnet asked. "And why are you half-naked?"

James promptly tore his trousers and pants off. "Fully starkers now."

"Merlin, Potter, I don't need to see that!" Spinnet groaned, raising his magazine to cover his face. "Put some clothes on!"

"My penis wishes to be free."

"STOP TALKING ABOUT IT! OH MERLIN I am going to BE SICK!"

Remus retreated behind his bed curtains to change, giggling at James as he pranced about without a stitch of clothing on. "Sirius is having headaches, that's why he's seeing Pomfrey."

"Oh, poor boy," sighed Spinnet. "Can't handle a widdle ol' headache!"

"Avifors!" James growled, brandishing his wand.

Spinnet's magazine didn't fully turn into a bird, however it did grow feathers and a beak which began snapping violently at Spinnet, who screamed and threw the magazine across the room. The magazine tried pathetically to fly, flapping about a foot or so off the ground and leaving shiny, papery feathers in its wake.

"You're going to either turn that back or buy me a new one!" Spinnet said.

Remus fully emerged from his bed to see James standing before Spinnet's bed, hands on his hips, still naked. "Why don't you make me? Come on, I'm waiting."

Spinnet's hands were up and he was flinching away. "I'll give you a galleon to put that away Potter."

"Nah, I'm already rich, I don't need your money."

"James, please at least put pants on," Remus said politely.

James grinned. "Since you said 'please', of course I will." He bounded over to his wardrobe and put not only pants but pajamas on as well. "Some people don't know how to be nice, all they do is order pe—Sirius!"

Sirius came into the dorm, giving the Marauders a faint sort of smile. He looked a little bedraggled. "Hey, how was detention? Did you stay the whole time?"

"We were folding sheets," James grumbled. "I put notes into the Slytherin sheets. What did Pomfrey say?"

"What is that?" Sirius asked as the half-bird-half-magazine flapped past him.

"Spinnet's magazine, what did Pomfrey say?"

Sirius raked his fingers through his hair, going past James. "We figured out my headaches," he finally said. James, Peter, and Remus all cheered.

"What was causing them?" Pete asked.

"Erm, it—it's not that important, really. The point is we know what's causing them and… things will get better!" Sirius put his arms out in a ta-da sort of position.

Remus scrambled out of his bed. "What was causing them?"

"Nothing, really," Sirius said. "I promise it's not important."

"Ouch! Spinnet, your magazine bit me!" Peter yelped.

"Blame Potter, not me!" Spinnet snarled back. "He's the one who did it and won't put it back."

Remus got his wand. "Oh for Merlin's sake, are you that helpless? Finite incantatum." The feathers and beak disappeared, and the magazine fell to the ground. Spinnet grabbed it, shooting all the Marauders rather dirty looks. "Well, you don't have to tell us if you really don't want to—"

"Yes he does," James interrupted and Sirius narrowed his eyes. "Come on, you can at least tell me."

"I'd really rather not," Sirius replied stiffly which made James's face fall.

"Is it 'cause Spinnet's here?" Peter asked.

James turned towards their roommate. "Go away."

"Oh no, this is my room too," Spinnet said.

"It—it's not." Sirius went over to his bed and sat on the edge, bending down to untie his shoes. "If it was something serious I'd tell you, honestly. It's really nothing."

"So there is a reason you've been having headaches but it isn't anything… dangerous?" Remus asked and Sirius shook his head. Slowly pieces began sliding together until he figured out what was going on. It also made the tarot card make a lot of sense. "Oh. Oh!"

Sirius sat straight up. "Don't 'oh' me. You don't know what it is."

"I think I do," he said, tugging at his pajama sleeve. "And if it's what I think it is then everyone's going to know soon—"

"No they won't."

"Sirius, if—you can't just—"

He stood up, eyes blazing. "I can do whatever I want."

James and Peter had been looking back and forth during this until Peter asked, "Is anyone gonna tell us what's going on?"

"No," Sirius said, glowering at Remus. "And if you say one word to them, Remus, I shall never speak to you again."

Remus folded his arms, smirking a little. "That might be a positive of telling them." He ducked as Sirius flung one of his shoes at him. "You're getting quite violent lately. But your aim is off, maybe you need—"

Sirius tackled him, screaming. Remus shrieked with both laughter and distress as Sirius began smacking repeatedly at his chest, telling him to shut up. He grabbed Sirius's wrist, trying to hold him off and being able to quite easily… until he realized Spinnet was there so he let his arms go slack and Sirius shoved his hands down, pinning them to the floor, his nose a hairs' breadth from Remus's nose.

"If you tell them, I'll murder you in your sleep."

It wasn't until later that night that Remus realized the position he had been in, with Sirius straddling him. At the moment he was too distracted by what was going on which was probably a good thing. "I won't say if you're that determined, but I am right, aren't I?"

"Yes." Sirius got off of him, yanking him to his feet. "So it's nothing bad."

"You're going to have to reveal to everyone eventually."

"No, I won't."

Remus sighed, shaking James off his arm who was begging him to tell. "I'm going to keep it a secret if that twat's so determined to hurt himself. If you want to know, bother him. I'm going to work on some homework." He pulled his arm free and went to his bed, shutting the curtains so Sirius wouldn't see him burying his face in his pillow and laughing as he tried to imagine what Sirius was going to look like wearing glasses.