Spinnet wasn't in the dorm the next morning, and was late coming to breakfast... as was McGonagall. They came into the Great Hall roughly around the same time. Remus stared at his breakfast, having a feeling he knew why. He spent Charms distracted, and Herbology feeling nauseous, poking seeds down into the dirt, barely aware of Sirius and James goofing off, or of Peter constantly whispering to Remus, 'am I doing this right?'. He drifted after the three of them back to the castle for lunch, already prepared for McGonagall who was, indeed, waiting for him outside the Great Hall.

Sirius, James, and Peter hesitated when McGonagall said she needed to speak to Remus, then they gave him encouraging looks. Remus silently followed McGonagall into the side chamber near the Great Hall. He wasn't sure what was going to happen except most likely expulsion. He was causing problems with the other students, waking them up, there was no way he should be staying. I hope I get to at least say goodbye to my friends, he thought as he sat down, setting his bag in his lap so he had something to mess with nervously, fingers tugging at the strap as he waited.

"Mr. Spinnet came to me this morning," McGonagall started gently. Remus just stared down at his bag. "He says you've been having nightmares often which cause you to... scream...? And wake the dorm up?"

"Yes, P-Professor," he mumbled, hunching over even more.

"Do you sleep walk?"

The question took him entirely by surprise and he just stared at her with an open mouth. "Uh? No? I... d-don't think so, at least."

McGonagall sat down, removing her large pointy hat, setting it beside her. "What kind of nightmares are you having? Do you remember them?"

"Usually... they're-th-they're connected to... to..." He waved his hand rather helplessly as a way of indicating his lycanthropy. "S-sometimes I'm attacking someone, or-or I'm b-being killed." His nose began itching though he managed to stop the tears before they started. He felt humiliated to be mentioning this, telling someone, baring his evil side; it was the same feeling he got when Pomfrey saw the bloody, gory mess, and now when Ms. Fawley saw his full moon memories.

"I see. Are you still asleep when you begin screaming?"

"Sometimes. Sort of? I-I mean, I wake up screaming. So... I s-suppose so?"

"Did you have them at home?"

Remus began twisting the strap of his bag nervously. "Y-yes. I-I'm s-s-sorry I guess we d-d-d-didn't think to mention-"

McGonagall held up her hand swiftly. "No, that's not what I meant. I just wanted to know whether it was a recent development or not. I wanted to make sure it didn't start when you came to Hogwarts."

"No, ma'am. I-I'm sorry about this... I am, I didn't... I don't..."

McGonagall's eyes softened at how fearful he sounded. "You're not in trouble, if that's what you think. You cannot control your nightmares."

"Th... that's what Sirius keeps telling Spinnet," Remus mumbled.

"He's right. Now, just so I know which options we have before us to help things, you don't know beforehand when you will have nightmares, correct? They're not... the same nights?"

"No. Usually they happen after-the full moon but-not always... Sometimes they're t-triggered by things said but I never know what will," Remus said, words tumbling out. "Like one night I had a really bad one when-when Sirius told me he wasn't going to bite, you know, joking about me being so, er, terrified, and anyway that night I had-had one of... me... you know... b... biting..."

McGonagall nodded as he spoke and when he finally finished (cheeks flushed with his confession) she cleared her throat. "That means dreamless sleep potion is out of the question, though I doubt it would have worked for you anyway."

"It-it doesn't," he admitted. "M-my father's tried that on me before, when-when I was a bit younger."

"I think... the best course of action... is to put some spells on your beds," she said, looking at the far wall as she thought. "A spell to absorb some sound. It won't completely silence outside the curtains, however if we put the spells on your curtains as well as theirs, enough sound should be absorbed that they aren't awakened."

Remus sat up straight then leaned forward, right at the edge of the seat. "That's a possibility? I-I was looking up silencing spells but because it's just curtains I didn't think they'd work."

"They wouldn't," McGonagall agreed, "unless you're an expert. Professor Flitwick could easily do such a thing however I do not want to completely silence a student's bed anyway. I believe all six of you are going home for the holidays, so Albus, Filius, and I will do some experiments on the beds over the holidays. To find out what works best."

"Wh-what if I have a nightmare in the mean time?" he asked.

McGonagall raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"I-I don't want to wake them up..."

"They'll simply have to deal with it, and if they have any complaints they can come to me," she said, a hint of ferocity in her voice that both frightened Remus and made him feel better since it meant how much on his side she was about this.

"I don't want to cause problems..."

"You aren't," she said so sternly that he shrank back. "It isn't your fault." Her hand twitched a little as she debated whether or not to do it, then she settled her hand on his shoulder. "You've been subjected to more than any child should ever go through... more than any adult should ever go through. Frankly, I am amazed you do not have nightmares every night, that you're able to get through the days like you do when many would simply give up. You're a very brave wizard, Remus." Her eyes locked onto his, and he felt his breath catch in his throat as she said, "The most Gryffindor student I've had in a long time."

()

That evening after curfew, McGonagall came into the common room. Everyone stared at her, expecting bad news or something, however all she said was for the first year boys to please follow her as she went up the boys' staircase. There was a lot of whispering as the six boys headed up as well, and the general consensus of the common room was that Sirius and James had done something big, though that didn't explain why she needed to see all of them.

James and Sirius seemed to be thinking the same thing because as soon as they were all in the dorm, James went, "Professor, we didn't do it!"

"And what, pray tell, is 'it'?" McGonagall inquired.

"Whatever you're gonna yell at us for," James said.

"I wasn't going to yell at any of you however if there's anything you wish to confess..." She trailed off, waiting. "No? As I thought. No, I am here because Mr. Spinnet spoke to me today about Mr. Lupin's nightmares-"

"Traitor!" Sirius snarled, jerking towards Spinnet.

"Mr. Black," McGonagall warned. He stopped, skulking back to James's side. "I also spoke with Mr. Lupin about what we should do, as well as Albus, and we've come to a decision." Sirius looked askance at Remus who kept his chin up. McGonagall explained about the sound absorbing spells they'll be working out over the holidays which was well recieved by at least Spinnet who smiled until she added that if there were any nightmares in the mean time she hoped that nobody would cause any trouble for Remus. She also spoke briefly about how nightmares are most certainly not any indication of a person's mental state. She said that last bit with a severe look at Spinnet.

"I hope this resolves the 'problem', and wanted to make sure all of you were in agreement." Everyone chimed in with yeses, except for Sirius. McGonagall looked at him. "Mr. Black?"

He frowned, stepping forward. "Can I talk to you a minute, Professor? Alone? In the hall?" McGonagall hid her surprise fairly well and then left with Sirius, the door shutting behind them. They were whispering but Remus's ears easily picked it up. "I don't want the spell on my bed."

"How come?"

"Because if he has nightmares I want to wake up."

"You... want to be awoken by his screams?"

"N-no! I mean yes. I mean... I don't want him to be screaming but if he does, I want to wake up."

"Why is that?"

Silence except for a sort of shuffling sound. "He-he should... have... someone there for him." Sirius sounded very awkward and embarrassed. "When he wakes up."

"I see."

"I... I used to have some nightmares too so... I mean, I don't know what kind of nightmares he has but-well, I mean..." Sirius began sputtering, losing track of what he should say. He had been trying to sound grown up, and was failing completely.

"I understand, Mr. Black. And I think it is very kind of you to do this. Are you absolutely certain?"

"Yes."

"Very well. If you change your mind, please let me know so we can charm your bed curtains as well."

They came back into the room, Sirius looking rather uneasy and restless. He kept running his fingers through his hair, avoiding both James and Peter's curious gazes. Remus pretended like he hadn't heard everything they said however his cheeks were a little pink, and he felt grouchy. They were doing this so he wouldn't wake anyone up. He didn't want to wake anyone up! He didn't need anyone there for him. He figured after the first time it happened he could probably convince Sirius to get the spell done.

Once McGonagall left, Sirius spun to face Spinnet again, growling out, "You are a traitor."

"Everything's going to be sorted," Spinnet answered. "Loopy won't be bothering us anymore."

"You heard her, he's not crazy, so stop calling him that!" Sirius said and Remus couldn't help but think, You hypocrite, you said I was last night, to James; at least, out of my mind which is the same thing. Wasn't it?

Spinnet opened his mouth like he might argue but then Struthers grabbed his arm. "Come on, let's go back down to the common room." And he pulled him out before a fight could start.

"Whatcha need to talk to McGonagall about?" James inquired.

Sirius glanced at Remus then quickly away. "Nothing. I'll tell you later."

()

Remus was very anxious that he'd have another nightmare before the holidays, which was only made worse as he began worrying that his worrying would trigger another nightmare. After Astronomy that night it took him ages to finally drift into sleep, and he woke up when the alarms went off feeling extremely relieved he hadn't (though very tired from only a couple hours of sleep). Despite his exhaustion, it took ages for him to get to sleep Thursday night, but on Friday he fell asleep almost the second he hit the pillow. During these times he did have scary dreams though they were the ones that were good to him, not tearing him out of sleep, not causing screaming.

Things were tenser than before with Spinnet, as Sirius now considered him an absolute traitor, going out of his way to 'prank' him, in Sirius's words; 'bully' was the one Remus used. Spinnet found himself tripping all the time and eventually figured out Sirius was the cause resulting in a loud argument. He found worms in his bed again, then mice. One day found his sneezing rose petals, another day he was bit by a Fanged Frisbee hidden in his dresser drawer. In History on Thursday, during Spinnet's usual nap, Sirius levitated Spinnet's pot of ink, dumping it down his back. He didn't notice until Struthers pointed out Spinnet had ink all over the back of his neck well after class ended. On Friday, Sirius used the very last of his itching powder in Spinnet's shoes so Spinnet spent Charms very twitchy, trying to scratch his feet from where the powder filtered through his socks.

At breakfast on Saturday, Sirius somehow snuck very hot sauce into Spinnet's eggs. Remus had had it at that point and begged Sirius to stop. "He's a twat," Sirius said, watching with wicked pleasure as Spinnet fanned his mouth, tears down his cheeks, trying to find some milk to drink.

"You keep that up and I won't tell you the idea I had for our bat-bogey hex, to make it even more epic."

That got Sirius's attention, as well as James and Peter. "What is it?!" Peter demanded.

Remus shook his head. "I'll tell you guys after the holidays, and only if Sirius stops bullying Spinnet."

"He called you-"

"I don't care, you've done enough."

Sirius pursed his lips and then huffed. "Fine."

James leaned in close. "Will you tell me?"

"After we get back," Remus said. James sat back with a pout.

Truth was, he did have an idea, he just couldn't be sure if it would work, and wanted time to work out the details. It'd involve very advanced magic... magic they wouldn't be learning until much later, if at all. He also needed to find the spell, planning on spending that day doing some research in the library between studying for the next week. If it didn't work out he'd have to come up with something else to make it more epic but he had nothing, so...

I just hope I can get this figured out, Remus thought, noticing how excited his friends were now.

()

Even though Remus had dismissed Sirius and James insisting these exams didn't matter, he wasn't as panicked or worried as some of the others in the study group (mostly Craft and Twycross). He knew he'd do well in most the classes, the only two he wasn't so sure about-three, the only three he wasn't sure about were Potions, Defense, and Flying. However he doubted Flying was even that important so it didn't give him any anxiety. The other two though...

I think I can do decently enough with written stuff in Potions, he thought on Sunday evening as he did his best to tune out James and Sirius jumping on Spinnet's bed. But Dedenne is why I'm not doing well in Defense so I don't know.

As it turned out the exams really weren't as intense or as bad as Remus had expected, though they weren't as easy and simple as James had promised they would be. Flying wasn't even all that bad, as it wasn't a proper exam, their grading didn't matter, and Hooch allowed Remus to only take the first few parts, letting him sit out the trickier sections, as he allowed her to think the incident with Mulciber had left him too traumatized to fly.

The worst one was Potions, as they had to individually make a cure for boils potion. Remus did his best though it didn't help during the entire time he could hear his friends snickering and James kept shooting looks over his shoulder towards Mulciber and Avery, remembering the balloons. Once they were all finished Slughorn waddled around the exam all the potions. He gave a dismayed sigh over Remus's mess.

"I don't even know how you managed this one, Mr. Lupin," he said, spooning up some of the thick, jelly-like substance and then letting it gloop back down into the cauldron. "Hopefully the written portion will make up for this, as this potion is a D."

Remus chewed at the inside of his cheek to stop himself from tearing up yet again; since the potion had used the onions he had been dripping tears half the class anyway.

"You're even worse than Pathetic-grew!" Avery laughed after class, pushing past Remus who kept silence. Peter had gotten an A, a passing grade. Remus couldn't even manage that. Then again Peter hadn't been on the verge of puking while he made the potion, or coughing and choking and trying to ignore the violent scents. He supposed at least it wasn't a Troll grade...

"Really, that wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be," Lily said on Friday after their Herbology exam, their last exam (though they still had one more Defense class to go to).

"At least we know what-what to expect from now on," Remus pointed out. She smiled, bumping him lightly.

"You're still coming to the party tonight, right? We should go down together."

"Y...yeah... though I'll p-probably be going down with the boys," Remus said and Lily wrinkled her nose. "Who are you taking?"

"Cassie," Lily replied. "Alice didn't want to go, plus since that Bogwell might be there Cassie really wants to go. She's really into Quidditch. You're bringing Black, aren't you?" She looked like she had just sucked on a lemon as she asked that.

"Yes, and James is bringing Peter. Is, er, Snape coming?"

"As far as I know... Why?" She looked at him curiously but he didn't respond. Then it dawned on her. "You don't think they'll do anything to him, do you?"

"Probably not, not at a p-party, plus if they go for anyone it'd probably be Avery," Remus said, reasoning more with himself than her.

That evening it took all of a couple minutes for Remus to figure out what to wear. He only had one top that would do for a 'dress nicely' invitation: a simple v-neck grey jumper. It was fairly new so no signs of rattiness, though because it was so new it was also too big on him. He put that over his school button-up and trousers, then felt a little ill when he saw the others. James was wearing very crisp khaki slacks as well as a fancy red jacket, while Sirius wore his usual black clothes but he had put a set of very silky-looking black robes over, that practically floated as he walked. At least Peter was just wearing a regular top too with no sign of a jacket or robes so Remus didn't feel completely out of place, though Peter's clothes fit him and his trousers weren't part of the uniform. Remus tugged at the sleeve of his jumper, hoping nobody else would realize that that's what his pants were, knowing perfectly well they would.

Down in the common room, Lily and Inkwood were waiting. Lily apprehensively, Inkwood with impatience. Lily looked very pretty in a green dress and white sweater, a green ribbon holding back her curled hair. She walked quickly over to Remus, shooting a glare at the boys as if daring them to stop her from going down to the dungeons with them. James made a face, but didn't say anything.

"I'm excited to see what this is like," Lily chattered as they made their way through the school.

"Probably full of stuffy coots and a lot of..." Here James put on a very posh, affected sort of droning voice, "Oh hulloooo Mr. Black, Iiii have a witty Ministry story that's simply oodles of laughs."

"Did you read that article in the paper yesterday?" Sirius replied, in a nasally tone. "It was about that event that happened."

"With those people?"

"Yes, that one."

"Well I simply must dash and rub elbows with someone else." The two boys dissolved into giggles. "That's about how these sorts of things go anyway," James told Lily in his normal voice.

"Oh, like you've been to fancy parties," Lily sneered.

James pointed at himself. "I'm a rich pureblood. Of course I have. Hobnobbed with the best of'em."

"Yet you still haven't learned any manners?" Lily asked in a fake shocked tone. James just blew a loud raspberry at her and she squealed, ducking behind Remus so the spittle wouldn't get on her. "You're disgusting."

"I hope I don't make a total fool of myself," Peter whined.

"S-s-same here," Remus managed to get out and gave Peter a hopefully reassuring smile.

All too soon they were heading down into the dungeons. There were other students going that way, all of them in fancy clothes or robes, making Remus and Peter feel even more out of place. Lily slid her arm through Remus's arm and squeezed. Even though she looked very pretty (in Remus's opinion, at least) she was terrified.

"I wonder how many other Muggleborns will be here," she whispered for Remus's ear only, revealing the reason for her terror.

James and Sirius burst through the doors without a seconds thought, Inkwood following excitedly, and then finally the three others, all with rather shaky knees.