First thing in the morning the three Marauders went to the hospital wing. James was awake, sitting up in bed with a tray of breakfast across his lap. There was a huge bouquet of flowers on the table next to him as well as an enormous box of very fancy chocolates which he immediately offered to share with his friends. Sirius and Peter each grabbed one happily. James had to cajole Remus into taking one.

"They're from Mum and Dad," he said once Remus picked out the smallest one. "So're the flowers. They came by to see me last night. Mum is maaad! You should have seen her. She wants a inquiry into the whole thing. She and Dad had this big row cause Dad kept saying 'well there's always rivalries my dear'." James snorted, shaking his head. "She blew his head up."

"What?" Peter choked on his chocolate.

"She's done it before. That's one of her favorite things to do when people cross her. Blow them up. Like a balloon."

"Oh."

"You thought I meant exploding him, didn't you?" James teased while Peter pretended that he most certainly had not. "I've said it before. Remember? When I blew up that dumb Ravenclaw's head? Remy, don't just stare at the chocolate, eat it. Anyway, Pomfrey came running out all upset cause my dad's head was all inflated and he was practically floating around..." Remus nibbled at the chocolate then stuffed it into his mouth. It was so good. He tried to savor it on his tongue but soon it disappeared. "Pomfrey told them if they couldn't behave then they had to go. Like they were kids. My father kept trying to apologize but every time he talked he kept drifting backwards cause of the air coming out of his mouth-it was hilarious, I wish you'd been here. Mum apologized, smoothed it all over; promised a donation or something, I dunno."

"Your parents sound great," Sirius laughed.

James grinned. "They are. Hopefully you'll be able to meet them this summer. They're going to love you. All of you. I really want you guys to visit. Stay overnight. It'd be great! If your parents are worried or anything, they can come stay too," he added to Remus. "Our house is big enough. It's a mansion, actually. Then they'd be right there if anything happened."

"Th-thank you," Remus said, trying not to sound anxious. "I'll k-keep it mind. I'm n-not sure if it would w-work out or not, though."

"Maybe we can do it when you're in a stretch of not sick," Sirius suggested.

Remus narrowed his eyes. "I-I never know when it's... a stretch of-of n-not sick or-not."

"Oh, right," Sirius said in a sort of offhanded matter which raised Remus's suspicions. What had he meant by that? He wanted to ask however did NOT want to draw attention, or make it seem like he was suspicious. Yurgh, how come he said that?!

Soon they had to go to their own breakfast since James wasn't allowed out of the hospital wing till later in the day. He gave them each another piece of chocolate (this time Remus took a bigger one) then the Marauders left, talking about how awesome James's mother sounded. Remus wasn't really talking though, mostly still worried about Sirius. A stretch of not sick. What did he mean? Sure he had loads of stretches of 'not sick' especially when he pretended it was his mother being sick however surely he got the point across that he randomly became ill, right?

He fretted all through breakfast, poking absentmindedly at his food. Then on the way to Transfiguration Sirius asked what was on his mind. Remus acted like he didn't know what Sirius meant. Peter snorted at that. "You didn't eat and you didn't study," he said, rolling his eyes at Remus. "Even I know something's up."

Remus wrapped his arms around himself. "Oh, er, nothing r-really." Then, of course! The best response. "I'm not feeling too well. I feel a little woozy."

Sirius gave him a curious look. "What do you mean?"

Do I have to spell it out for you? Remus thought a bit crossly. "I don't know. I might g-go see Pomfrey this afternoon to-to make sure I'm all right."

"Another relapse?" Peter asked rather sadly. Remus nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you," Remus replied, trying to ignore the fact Sirius didn't look convinced or the fact his eyes almost felt like they were burning holes through Remus's skin, right into his deep secrets. He kept his chin up, giving off an aura of 'just a sick normal human that's all'. Sirius just watched him the entire way to class.

()

James was released from the hospital wing during lunch while Remus tried to check in. He didn't tell Pomfrey that he was worried Sirius was getting suspicious, just that he wasn't feeling great and didn't want to go to Potions. Unfortunately Pomfrey told him he couldn't really miss class unless he was actually sick-which he couldn't be-or if it was during a full moon. She told him if he wanted to rest away from everyone he could come in after Potions.

So he trudged to Potions having to tell them that he was really all right. Peter clapped his hands, James smiled, and Sirius looked unsurprised. Remus felt very sick now-properly sick, like he might vomit. He tried to think back to anything Sirius had said before, any hints, but he couldn't think of any. Course he couldn't really focus anyway with how awful he felt.

Fawley's going to see all this on Tuesday, he thought miserably as they began working on their potions. Of course it's Sirius who's saying stuff, suspecting stuff. Or am I overthinking it? Does he really suspect something? He spent a lot of time staring at me before but-maybe it's something else? Except why would he make that weird 'stretch of not sick' comment? Wishful thinking?

He glanced to his side where Sirius sat. Sirius turned his head, smiling quite cheerfully at Remus who gave a shaky smile back. No, he doesn't suspect, Remus decided. If he suspected he'd be acting different. He wouldn't be this friendly with me. He'd be detaching himself from me, pulling away, wanting to spend less time... He thought of Sirius the previous night, leaning against his chair, face right by Remus's face. No, he'd never be that close if he suspected.

It was like his heart began soaring, and he grinned. It felt wonderful knowing for sure! Because if Sirius even had a hint of worry that Remus was a werewolf he would never in a million years touch Remus. Nobody would. Especially not a pureblood who knew what werewolves were.

"Something funny?" Sirius whispered right in Remus's ear, mouth so close Remus could almost feel his lips.

"No, just-feeling happy right now," Remus replied, still grinning.

Sirius's eyes softened a little and he squeezed Remus's shoulder. More proof he had no clue. "Good. You need to be happy more often, you frown too much."

"Do not."

"Do so. Your forehead is always wrinkled. You're going to get wrinkles before you're twenty."

"Am not!"

"Frowny boy."

"Shut up." Sirius put his fingers to the corners of his mouth and tugged down for a ridiculous face. Remus gave him a light shove while he laughed. "Focus on the potion, doofus."

"Whatever you say, frowny boy."

()

The next couple days went by in a blur of studying plus giving vague advice for the Big Revenge, as James and Sirius were calling it. On Saturday at breakfast Remus intended on asking Sirius to help him in the library to write down information about the confundus spell (he needed someone to copy the diagrams since he was crap at drawing) however he stopped himself, realizing 3/4ths the room were dressed in yellow and black or had some of the colors on them. Including the other Marauders.

"Is... something going on?" he asked.

"Hufflepuff versus Slytherin," James replied in a 'duh' voice. "Second to last Quidditch match. You had no idea, did you?"

"None," Remus sniffled. "Anyway, I'll be spending my time in the library-"

"Shocking!" Peter said with a fake gasp.

"-getting information about the confundus spell."

James pulled a face, not wanting to be reminded of what happened the other night. Sirius had told him everything, laughing the entire time, making sure to let him know it took both him and Remus to get James dressed. The previous night when James was starting to strip to get changed into pajamas he wound up throwing a pillow at Sirius who asked if he needed help again.

Peter gave a sigh. "Can I please not be a target this time?"

James opened his mouth but Remus cut him off before he could talk. "This is something better practiced without a real target at first. Anything messing with the mind... I'd feel more comfortable if we didn't use real people."

Peter looked relieved while Sirius snickered. "So, Slytherins? They're not real people."

"It can't be hard if Snivellus managed it," said James, glancing over at the Slytherin table. Someone must have been looking because James gave the two finger salute before returning to his breakfast.

After a bit everyone went to the pitch except for Remus who retreated to the library. He perused through several books until he found some good, detailed information about confundus. He read through it all multiple times then copied it down carefully before turning to proper studying he needed to do. How do I always get wrangled into this? he thought as he set out some books he needed. Why do they always want to do advanced spells? Why can't they just... settle for the spells we're learning now? Course, he had to admit to himself he loved doing more advanced stuff. The fact that they managed just... made him feel so good. And powerful. Though... there was a line between advanced and too advanced that he hoped to be able to see. He had already hurt himself (killed... himself?) using powerful magic once already, he didn't want it to happen again. Or happen to his friends. Whatever happened to him after the doorway spell could have killed his friends so he had to make sure to keep them reigned in as best he could.

But as James said... if Snape could manage a poorly done confundus, so could they.

()

Slytherin won the game, completely by cheating according to the Marauders. James recounted the game as Remus pretended to listen. He caught some words, something about penalties, shouting, there was a bit about an elbow in a face, then a long rant about how Gryffindor needed to beat Ravenclaw by a certain amount of points otherwise Slytherin would win the Quidditch cup. Remus didn't follow that line very well. In his opinion the final game should be between the top two, not the possible winner against the definite third. Or maybe he misunderstood the rules completely (he sorta hadn't read the Quidditch book James gave him; he needed to do that over the summer). Sports just seemed so weird.

At study group there was some tension between Pierce and Silverlocke. Bones hadn't shown up at all, while Pierce kept giving Silverlocke these looks then finally asked him why he wasn't off celebrating. Two pink spots appeared in Silverlocke's cheeks and he replied he didn't particularly support the Slytherin Quidditch team. After that, Pierce stopped glaring at him.

Lily seemed really quiet during the whole time in the library as well as on the way back. She walked next to Remus, arms clutching her books to her chest, chin down. Remus shuffled beside her, not sure what to say. He figured it was the hostility towards the Slytherins that caused this, though perhaps it was something else. Finally he asked if she was all right. Lily shrugged, then sighed.

"Just sick of all this... anti-Slytherin stuff. They're not all bad. I don't understand the whole... tearing apart thing. Rivalries are one thing however this hatred just..." She shook her head at that.

"Slytherins," said Twycross who had been listening in, "are pretty awful. Most of them. It's their own fault. If they weren't such bullies maybe people would be nicer to them."

Lily glowered. Remus-whose arms weren't full, as his books were in his bag-flicked his wand, whispering the tripping jinx. Twycross stumbled a bit then spun around, eyes wide. Remus's wand was safely tucked away, both him and Lily looking quite innocent. Twycross frowned then turned back round, going a little faster.

Lily snickered. "I shouldn't laugh but-thanks."

"If she wasn't such a bully maybe people would be nicer to her," Remus muttered sarcastically and Lily laughed so hard she dropped her books.

()

On Sunday quite an incident happened. Remus had been sitting at his desk with Peter, going over Pete's homework, helping him out (probably more than he should but whatever) while Sirius and James were practicing spells, rather excitedly as they had just started on the fire spell in Charms. James already knew the spell fairly well but Sirius definitely needed the practice which was odd since generally it seemed easy for him to accidentally set things on fire; apparently purposely doing it alluded him a little. Remus had made sure everything was safe before they started-including a bucket of water on hand-however Sirius completely missed the little set out area, sending Spinnet's curtains up in blazes.

"Er, whoops."

Remus turned at the 'whoops' staring at the fire. They all just stared at it for a second then James grabbed the bucket of water, tossing it. It got most the fire, in his defense, however not all of it. The fire grew higher.

"ROLL ON IT!" Peter yelled.

"Are you NUTS?!" Sirius shouted back. James took off to the bathroom to get more water.

Remus ran over, grabbing the non-burning edge of curtains, yanking it clear off the beams. He dropped it on the floor, feeling the heat which brought him back to the night he burnt his arm at the house in Hogsmeade. He hesitated, feeling incredibly sick, remembering washing off his own burnt skin, unable to move.

Peter grabbed Spinnet's blanket, throwing it over the burning curtains then jumped on it. Sirius and Remus both shouted at him, but the fire was smothered out. James came running back in then hesitated. "Spinnet's gonna be furious," Pete moaned, revealing the blackened streaks all over Spinnet's blanket. "He's never gonna believe it was an accident." James dumped the water on the mess just in case.

"How'd you do that?" Sirius asked.

"Do what?" Pete asked. Sirius gestured at the blanket. "Um. I... don't understand what you mean?"

"You jumped on the fire and got rid of it," Sirius said, eyes big. "How? I thought water or magic were the only ways to get rid of fire?"

Peter looked at Remus who shrugged at Sirius's confusion. "Fire needs oxygen. Peter smothered it," Remus said, brushing his hair from his eyes. "That was very impressive, by the way." He was very glad Peter had jumped (literally) into action because of how much he had hesitated. He rubbed his arm, feeling that itchy awful feeling after his skin had been scorched through. Course it wouldn't have gotten too out of hand since James had gotten more water but still.

"Th-that's how my grandfather got rid of a fire once," Peter explained. "Threw a blanket on it and-and jumped on it."

"He didn't have his wand with him?" James asked, adjusting his glasses.

Peter blinked. "M... my Muggle... grandfather."

"Oh."

"Sand or dirt works well, too. Muggles also have something called a fire extinguisher which is a big canister full of foam that puts out fires," Remus said. Sirius and James both gaped openly at him. He eyed the messy pile of burnt cloth on the floor, marveling a little at how dense James and Sirius could be when it came to anything involving Muggles. Course they were purebloods and especially the Black family (from what Remus understood) wouldn't have anything to do with Muggles but still. He kinda wanted to laugh.

"Jolly brilliant job though, ol' Petey!" James smacked Peter's back as Remus gathered up the destroyed fabric. "Jumping on a fire. Amazing!"

"That was really cool," Sirius agreed, patting Peter's back.

Peter glowed brighter than the fire he put out from the praise. "Aw, it was nothing," he mumbled.

"I'm going to go find some house-elves and see what we need to do to get new curtains put up," Remus said, pushing Spinnet's destroyed blanket into the bottom of Spinnet's laundry basket. "One of you needs to remake his bed. Hopefully we can get it back properly before he comes in."

"I'll come with you!" Sirius bounded to Remus's side.

They went as innocently through the common room as they could and once outside Remus said, "You just didn't want to make the bed, did you?"

Sirius scoffed. "Course not! I hate making beds. I can't believe Pete put the fire out. I'd've never expected that from him."

Remus didn't want to admit he hadn't expected Peter of all people to do such a thing either. "He is a Gryffindor."

"Still. He's not exactly..." Sirius trailed off. Remus raised his eyebrows at him, waiting. "Aw, Pete's a good kid but he's not exactly brave."

"Well, it seems that he is."

"I thought you'd put the fire out. You looked scared of it though."

Remus looked down at the bundle in his arms, trying to push the memory away. "I was burnt once. When I was younger." It wasn't a complete lie. Three months ago he had been eleven, not twelve, so that was younger. "I wasn't thinking when I yanked the curtains down but once they were on the floor I just-remembered."

"Was it bad?"

His stomach churned as he saw again his own flesh sliding off his body into the sink. "Yes."

"Oh wow, that really sucks," Sirius said, rubbing the top of Remus's head, messing his hair up. "I never knew you were afraid of fire. You seemed okay when you melted the snowmen."

"I'm not-really afraid of fire," Remus said, ducking away from Sirius's hand. "Usually. I guess sometimes it makes me remember while sometimes it doesn't."

"You've had a rough life."

You don't even know, he thought bitterly. "I suppose so," he replied with a wry smile. "I'm sure we've all had our trials."

To his surprise darkness went across Sirius's face and his friend glanced away. He sensed Sirius's muscles tightening up, sensed his friend practically withdrawing. He had done it himself plenty enough to tell that whatever he said had made Sirius go into a shell, so to speak. Remus wanted to apologize. He hadn't meant to hurt Sirius-but then suddenly Sirius was smiling at him again though it was very clearly a fake smile that didn't fool Remus one bit.

"I bet James's biggest trial was having to go to bed."

Remus laughed but it sounded hollow even to his ears. "Probably."

They continued down to the kitchens (the only place they knew where to find the house-elves) in awkward silence. Several thoughts flitted through Remus's head. Disconnected thoughts-Sirius and his cousin sounding tense and fearful when they discussed Sirius going back to the holidays, Sirius's mother gripping him tightly on the platform, Sirius's puffy eyes that night he heard Remus crying, just recently when he was curled up against James in bed, and for some reason when they came back from Christmas and Sirius had had a broken arm.

Why hadn't his family healed it up themselves? he suddenly wondered, suddenly suspicious. Then... out of the fog came the thought: His handwriting had been awful over the Christmas holidays. He glanced sideways at Sirius's pale profile. Had he... had a broken arm... the entire time?

"Hey, Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

"When you broke your arm back in-in January, which arm was it?"

Sirius frowned, puzzled. "Why?"

"Just curious."

"My right arm. Why?"

Remus wanted to say no reason however he knew Sirius wouldn't accept that. "Just thinking-you know, um, going through, er, trials and all. I remembered you had a broken arm. That's all."

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "All right," he said, rather hard. Slightly angrily.

It couldn't be though. He couldn't have had a broken arm for two weeks! It made no sense whatsoever! They would have taken him to see a healer, wouldn't they? But-also, why... why had Sirius lied about it, if that were the case? He said he fell down the stairs the morning he returned to Hogwarts. If he had a broken arm before, why lie about it? Why still have a broken arm? They were completely magic! They'd heal it! He wouldn't have had a splint or cast for two weeks like a-a Muggle! Why? What was...?

Remus shook his head slightly. No, he had to be imagining things, seeing vague shapes and trying to make them fit together. It was just... his imagination... right?