The four boys stayed up that evening instead of their usual pre-Astronomy naps, all of them feeling quite victorious over escaping getting caught, James, Sirius, and Peter all congratulating Remus on his brilliant plan to get an alibi like he did. However, they were not deterred. The next day before Potions Sirius asked Remus what the coda flower looked like. Remus (a bit exasperated since it was in their Herbology book!) showed him but as it turned out, they didn't need to even break into the storeroom at all. During class Sirius just said he forgot his potions kit so after a long lecture from Slughorn, he was permitted to go to the cupboard and fetch the ingredients needed. When he came back, Remus heard Sirius whisper to James that he got the flower.

After class, Slughorn had Sirius stay behind and they thought perhaps he had been caught, but it turned out Slughorn just wanted to give another lecture to Sirius about bringing the proper tools to class. Sirius came out grumbling, hissing out that next time he'd rather they just steal from the storeroom because anymore of that and 'I'll go nuts I swear I will'.

James and Sirius worked on the potion while Remus was at study group, after which he hurried up to the bathroom to see how they were coming along, sitting with them until it was done. Of course they made Peter test it out (which Remus thought was unfair). When all his hair stood on end they high fived each other and began bottling the potion up so they could take it to the kitchens on Saturday.

()

Friday afternoon Remus started feeling that panicky, sweaty, dizzy, scraping feeling again-like he needed to escape his friends. He wasn't really sure why, nothing bad had happened. It just sorta started. This time he took a few deep breaths, said he really needed some time to himself, and went up to the dorm to hide under his bed. He still felt shaky, but began to calm down-except he also felt pretty bad for having to do this. It isn't fair. None of them have this happen. He wished he knew more about werewolves so he could say for sure that's what it was, but what if it wasn't? What if he was just... broken?

Sometime later the door opened and Sirius's fancy shoes approached Remus's bed, then he dropped down to the floor to look. "Doing all right?" Remus just shrugged. "Do you need anything?" He shook his head. "Okay. Do you want me to check on you before we go to sleep so you don't sleep under there? Or leave you alone?"

"Y-yes p-please. Check on me, I-I mean."

"Okay. Um. Is it anything we did or...? I mean, if we upset you..."

"No," he whispered. "Just... that... itchy feeling again..."

"Okay. It's okay. I'm just wanting to make sure we didn't, erm, do anything. I'll see you in a bit."

Remus did wind up falling asleep under the bed, and Sirius woke him up at around nine, helping him out. Spinnet cast disgusted looks at the sight of Remus coming out from under the bed. Remus went to the bathroom to change into pajamas then hesitated outside the dorm door, since there was an argument going on. Spinnet and Sirius, no surprise there. Spinnet was going on about Remus being insane, Sirius was threatening to cut Spinnet's tongue out.

"Did you learn that from your family?" Spinnet sneered. There was a crunching sound, gasps, and a thud at the same time Peter yelped out Sirius's name while Struthers yelped out Spinnet's name, and then Remus threw the door open to find Spinnet laying on the floor, blood pouring from his nose. Sirius was standing over him, James with an arm around Sirius's chest to hold him back.

Sirius yanked away from James and stormed out of the dorm. Remus quickly stepped aside, quivering a bit from fear, but as Sirius passed him he didn't look angry, he looked sad. Also he smelled like a mixture of anger and sadness, but more sadness. Remus watched him disappear into the bathroom then he crept into the dorm. Spinnet got to his feet, wiping the blood off, glaring at Remus as if it were his fault.

James mumbled something about Sirius before runnig out, going to find their friend to see how he was doing. Remus just disappeared behind his curtains, not sure what to do besides blaming himself. If he hadn't been under the bed, the fight probably wouldn't have started. He stayed up as everyone else went to sleep until finally James and Sirius returned. Remus peeked out a crack in his curtains, watching the two of them climb into James's bed. He figured they'd stay up talking but nothing else happened, so he closed his curtains figuring they had fallen asleep talking again-except, Remus would have heard them if they were talking. Even with the sound absorption on James's curtains Remus could still hear inside decently well. Did they just go to sleep? In the same bed?

Remus shook his head and tried to go to sleep despite the feelings of confusion and guilt.

()

"Feeling better today?" Peter asked at breakfast, since he hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Remus the night before.

"Uh-huh, thanks. I'm sorry for being-"

Sirius rapped his knuckles very lightly against the top of Remus's head. "No need to apologize, told you loads of times before, s'ok if you need to do that. Doesn't bother us."

"Not at all!" promised Peter. "I mean, I might not really understand it but, you know, it doesn't bother me either. It's okay!"

James nodded in agreement however he was too excited about their prank to waste time talking about something as boring as feelings. Instead he started going on about the possibilities to get the potion into the desserts, how they were going to get around the house-elves noticing. There was a lot of discussion and finally Sirius just said grouchily why not go into the kitchens right now to see what was going on? So after they finished eating, down they headed. There wasn't much preparation yet although Remus asked.

Ever since Remus had shown his friends where the kitchens were, Peter often disappeared into them and had a rapport with the house-elves as good as Remus did, and between the two of them they managed to get information that the elves would start their work around three pm. Bibble whispered she'd set aside some of the big cake just for her two favorite students, which caused both of them to blush gratefully and thank her, which caused her to squeak and bow and go into a tizzy over being thanked.

When they went into the Great Hall for lunch, they saw frilly decorations everywhere. Loads of pink and white and purple, and all four boys made gagging sounds as they found seats. Lily-sitting nearby-made a comment about the 'lovely decor' to Remus, and James pulled his bowl of noodles up to his mouth then made fake retching noises, dumping the noodles on the table as if he had thrown them up.

"You're SO disgusting!" Lily complained as he laughed.

James picked a noodle up and held it above his head, letting it drop down into his mouth. He made loud smacking noises then picked up another noodle. His eyes were on the noodle so he didn't notice Lily get her wand out. The spell shot out just as James dropped the noodle in his mouth and then he began gagging, making real retching noises as he spit the noodle out-except it wasn't a noodle anymore, it was a wriggling worm.

"EWWWWW!" several students around them exclaimed.

Lily grinned and Remus couldn't help but grin too. It was absolutely nauseating, but brilliant. At least Sirius was laughing, slapping the table, so he didn't feel like too much of a traitor to James. Peter made a sort of urrruping sound, running from the hall, hand over his mouth.

James began wiping a napkin across his tongue, glaring at Lily. "Why'd you do that for?!" He swept the worm off the table and began chugging at water. A tear was glistening on his cheek from the retching.

Lily put her wand away quickly. "You deserved it, James Potter! You're nothing but a miserable ghoul!"

"Whiny hag!" he spat right back out.

"Pratty plimpy!"

James went for his wand. "Cheeky chime -"

But then Sirius clamped his hand over James's mouth and with his other hand tugged at James's wrist, pulling the wand back down. "Yo, we don't wanna get in trouble right now, we have a mission this afternoon!" Sirius hissed into his ear.

Lily's cheeks were bright pink and she got up from her seat, storming out of the Great Hall. Remus watched as a second later Snape rushed from the Slytherin table after her, shooting dirty looks at the Gryffindors.

James shoved Sirius's hand away. "Remy, I have no idea how you could be friends with her. She's absolutely horrible." He looked at the pile of noodles on the table and scooped them back into his bowl before shoving it away, settling for a sandwich instead.

Remus wanted to go after Lily too but knew if Snape was there it was just end up in an argument. Or worse, a fight. Lily would just be more hurt. So he waited until later in the day to find her and make sure she was all right. Which she promised she was, she was just 'sick' of 'that Potter' which Remus couldn't really disagree with, though he did compliment her on her quick transfiguration work. He spent some time with her, playing checkers in the common room, until around three-thirty when he went down into the kitchens with the guys.

Remus and Peter were going to be the distraction. They told the house-elves they just wanted to see all the neat work the elves were doing and asked about various bowls of batter. There was one giant mixing bowl full of chocolate for the Big Valentine's Cake. The house-elf in charge of the cake explained it was going to be a big heart, showing the two a picture that the prefects in charge had given her. While she was distracted, Sirius and James made their way as sneakily as possible to the big bowl and began pouring the potion in. James gave the bowl a few stirs to mix it. They also added the potion to a few other things. Remus thought some of the house-elves probably saw them, but as none of them commented he couldn't be sure.

By the time supper rolled around none of them had been summoned to McGonagall's office which was a good sign. The decorations had gotten worse throughout the day, though; there was lace everywhere, and sparkly pink confetti hearts floating through the air. Remus was very glad the dessert thing was for older couples and not a mandatory feast. James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus ate as fast as they possibly could then ran out before they could be infected by the sickening sight.

"Are you going to study group?" James asked as they wandered the third floor corridors, nothing else better to do. "Or are ya gonna stay in to see if any Gryffindors come trooping in with wild hair?"

"Maybe. I doubt anyone will come back from that dessert until after our curfew anyway."

At six-thirty though (the time the thing was starting) Remus thought of the fact he could eat a piece of chocolate cake in ten seconds flat so he excused himself from the group a bit early and hurried up to the common room. His friends had taken prime viewing spots across from the entrance to the tower, and Remus flung himself down onto the couch between Peter and the corner.

It was not for nothing, that was for sure. It took longer than Remus expected but finally the older students start coming through the entrance, their hair standing straight on end. The four of them had to try their best not to just start laughing at the sticky-up hair and angry scowls. One girl was crying because she had spent ages trying to fix up her hair and now it was ruined. Remus felt a little bad for her, but only very little. The best of the night was hands down a fifth year girl who had extremely long hair. The portrait swung open and she had to duck down, facing the ground as she shoved her couple feet of hair in through the hole first, her body finally following. When she straightened up, she nearly fell over. Remus wanted to make a joke about Marie Antoinette but wasn't sure about his friends' knowledge of 18th century French fashion.

James stuffed his fist into his mouth to try and keep calm, while Sirius was practically smothering himself with a pillow. Peter was hunkered down, his face going purple as he held back his laughter. Remus had his hand over his mouth, making odd choking sounds.

It was just so amazingly perfect.

One of the boys that came through-his short blond hair looking very odd sticking everywhere-spotted the first years and marched over, accusing them of the prank. Well, mostly just James and Sirius both of whom got exceedingly innocent countenances, protesting the accusations. There was a bit of a shouting match. Remus had to give his friends credit for standing their own against a very bulky sixth year who towered over both of them. Finally some prefects came over (one of them with her hair in all directions) because for some reason the prefects seemed to think James and Sirius were guilty too.

"Just because something happened doesn't mean we did it!" James grumbled, folding his arms, lifting his chin trying to give a glare.

"Um, actually, pretty much it does," retorted the sixth year boy.

Remus snorted and tried to turn it into a cough when Sirius shot a scowl in his direction. Unfortunately, James's big head got to him, and he began grinning. "I know we're the Kings of Mischief and all..."

"So you did do it?" the female prefect asked.

James suddenly frowned, not sure how to proceed. "Er, uh, well-"

"Probably not, they're just first years, it's too advanced for them," said one of the male prefects.

"Wait a minute, now look here-" James started and Sirius elbowed him hard. "Oorrf."

The three prefects and non-prefect just eyed the two of them. Sirius popped a fantastic smile. "Great chatting, gotta go!" He grabbed James and dragged him to the stairs.

Peter looked at Remus who give him a bit of a frown back, then they took off as well before they could be attacked. By the time they got to the dorm their friends were in an argument ("I did NOT almost give it away!" "Mate, they were completely baiting you!") and rolled around on the floor, wrestling quite violently until Sirius won and James pouted.

"It was a brilliant prank," James muttered, messing up his always-messy hair.

"Yes, it was," Sirius agreed then his face lit up. "Especially that one girl!" He put his hands over his head, moving them up as high as he could, sending his friends into fits at the thought.

The next day it's all anyone could talk about and more than a few people glanced at James and Sirius. Students complained about the special night being 'ruined' which Remus thought was a little silly-if you were on a date and your hair suddenly stuck out everywhere and your date decided that was a ruining factor, it probably wasn't a very good date to begin with. Course, he didn't really understand anything about dating and relationships as it was so he could have been wrong about that.

At lunch Lily pulled him off to sit with her at the end of the table, by themselves. "You didn't have anything to do with what happened last night, did you?"

"The hair thing?" he asked, stalling for time to try and figure out how to answer. "I didn't do-do it."

She narrowed her eyes at that. "That isn't what I asked." Crap, he thought miserably, as she saw through his not-really-answer. "Those two did it, didn't they? Were you part of it? Did you know?"

"What's it even matter?" he mumbled, trying not to sound panicked or upset. "It d-didn't hurt anyone..."

Lily gave out a long sigh. "I thought so. Oh, Remus, why? That was so mean!"

He shifted in his seat, staring at his empty plate as she began chewing him out for allowing it to happen. He wanted to point out there was no stopping James and Sirius, and if he had actually tried to convince them not to they would have done it anyway. Plus it was funny. He remained silent, though, sort of just tuning her out, nodding occasionally. When she finished he said he was sorry and next time he'd do better at keeping his friends from spreading chaos, whatever she meant by that. It was really an overreaction, in his opinion. Lily hadn't even been affected and none of her friends had been either-it was all older students. And nobody had been hurt! It wasn't even like the Great Bogey Affair Of '72 (as James had started calling it) which, while it shouldn't hurt anyone either, certainly did a lot more than just stand some hair on end.

"Were you even listening to me?" Lily asked.

"Of course I was," he lied. There was one thing he was glad of: he knew James and Sirius and Peter probably wouldn't understand her reaction either. Indeed, later that night when he asked them they all agreed she was blowing the whole thing out of proportion and was wrong to even blame him, and of course she wouldn't understand she's a girl and girls are weird when it comes to hair (though Sirius didn't seem to agree with that, continually running his fingers through his inky black silk locks, looking like he agreed that hair was important).

All in all, they made Remus feel loads better except for when James said, "But you can't really say much, Remy, because you can give as lofty a lecture as McGonagall, I swear." and Remus sulked for the rest of the night.