Remus was trapped in a cage, a thick metal collar around his neck chaining him in place while throngs of people grabbed at the cage's bars and laughed and stared and pointed at him, ogling him like a creature in a zoo. His friends were there, James and Sirius and Peter and even Lily with her baby, and his father was there, too, and everyone he'd ever known and cared about. "Monster," they were saying. "Werewolf. Killer."

I'm not a monster, Remus thought, but when he tried to speak, a savage howl escaped his mouth instead. I don't want to hurt anyone.

"Yes, you do," said a voice from beside him, snarling into his ear; it was Fenrir Greyback, chained up beside him. "You'll never be one of them, Remus. They're the enemy. See how much they hate you?" The people outside the cage were jeering at him now, reveling in his pain and horror. "Just give in. You know you've always wanted to."

No, Remus thought, no, no, I don't want to! But his body wasn't giving him a choice—he was growing fur all over, and claws and fangs…the humans surrounding him were no longer his kind, and they smelled of meat and blood…how had he ever thought he was like them?

He broke through his collar, its metal bending like paper, and his cage dissolved…he lunged for the humans, relishing in their screams and terror and they had relished in his…Sirius was running from him, begging for him to spare him…Remus leapt onto him and dragged him to the ground, digging his teeth into his neck until he drew blood—human blood, Sirius's blood, the sweetest thing he had ever tasted, even sweeter than his lips….

"Remus." It was Sirius's voice, drowning out the sounds of his screams. He sounded angry. "Remus!"

Remus gasped awake. Sirius was standing over him, frowning with what appeared to be disgust. Pulling himself up, he found James and Lily standing behind the sofa he'd been sleeping on, a longhaired calico cat clutched in James's arms.

Sirius bent down and pulled something up off the carpet beneath the sofa—Harry, giggling and reaching for Sirius's nose. With a jolt of horror, Remus realized that the baby must've fallen off the sofa while he'd been sleeping.

"What the hell, Remus?" Sirius demanded. "You were supposed to be watching Harry, not taking a nap! What if you'd rolled over on him and crushed him or something?"

"It's all right, Sirius," Lily said, sounding significantly more calm. She took her baby from him and gave him a quick inspection. "He only fell a foot, and it was onto carpet. He'll be okay." She blew Harry a loud kiss, making him giggle even more. "Let's get you up to bed, okay?"

"Oh, really?" Sirius called after her as she made her way upstairs. "You're just going to let him get away with that? Falling asleep and dropping your baby—really?"

"Give it a rest, Pads," James said quietly. "We shouldn't have left him alone with Harry for so long."

"What, like he's not capable of taking care of him?" Remus felt his cheeks burn with shame. He'd told James and Lily that he could watch their son while they snuck out under James's Cloak to adopt their cat, a gift from Sirius to James after the death of James's owl Lexie. James and Lily weren't supposed to be leaving their cottage, of course, but it never took much convincing to get them to break the rules. Harry's fine with me, Remus had promised them. Don't worry.

"He's sick, Sirius," James said, his tone hushed like he didn't want Remus to hear. As if Remus wasn't already well aware he was sick. "He's depressed, and he needs help, and I don't know how to get it for him, but I do know that getting pissed with him every five minutes isn't going to fix anything."

"He's been like this for two years now, James," Sirius hissed back.

"And you think that's his fault?"

Sirius shook his head, scowling. "I don't know whose fault it is," he muttered. "All I know is that I want my Moony back."

Remus felt his heart clench at the hurt in Sirius's voice. I want him back, too, he wanted to tell him. But just like in his dream, he found he had no voice when he needed one.

Sirius turned away from him and headed upstairs after Lily. Silently James came to sit beside Remus, scratching his new cat behind the ears. "Her name's Charlie," he told him. "She's a clever one—she sensed me and Lils hiding under the Cloak and nearly exposed us by trying to yank it off. But that's why we picked her; we figured she'd fit right in with us Marauders."

Tears were welling up in Remus's eyes. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I can't believe I fell asleep like that. I'm so sorry, James."

"Hey, hey, hey." James shifted to wrap his arm around Remus; Charlie the cat meowed her annoyance and leapt off his lap. "Harry's fine, Re—it's all right. It's all right." He gave Remus's shoulder a firm squeeze. "Soon, finding someone to watch him isn't going to be an issue for us anyway; I promised Dumbledore I'd lend him my Cloak so he can study it, which means that Lily and I won't have a way to sneak out anymore." His mouth tightened. "Maybe it's for the best, you know? Seems a bit mental for us to keep risking our lives just for a bit of fresh air, as awful as it is to be trapped in here like this."

"Yeah," Remus said quietly, only half listening. He felt a tear slip down his cheek. "I'm sorry," he told James once again—he didn't know what else he could say.

James angled Remus's face towards his, studying his expression with a knot forming between his brows. "Oh, Remus," he said, as tenderly as someone like James ever could. "I'm sorry, too."

Remus let out a sob, burying his head in James's shoulder, and let his friend stroke his back and murmur reassurances in his ear as he struggled to fill the bottomless emptiness he knew was consuming his soul.