AN: First of all, thanks so much to all the reviewers! I was not expecting all of those nice comments. XD

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING. *sniffle* I wish I did. Warning: same stuff as last time.

Flyboyfan23: Thank you! I try to put in as much angst and emotion as I can. ; )

KidFlash14: I'm glad to know you're following this story! Thanks, I'll make Remus find out soon enough…but will it be too late by then? *dramatic music* ; )

Franky239: I am aware that Sirius is Padfoot and not Moony. Can you point out where I made my typo, cause I can see 2 times Sirius called Remus Moony and a few times his friends called him "Pads" as short for Padfoot?

And without further ado…

"It's the first full moon tonight," James declared. "We ought to start off our year with something good. Besides, we haven't done any pranks this year, and September's almost over!"

"I wouldn't call a full moon good," Remus snapped, lifting his eyes from a book. "And don't be so loud, for Merlin's sake."

Sirius yawned, resting his head against a bookshelf. Had he not slept? James wondered. Usually his friend was so outgoing and boisterous. "Touchy, touchy little wolfie," he sang, turning back to Moony with a grin.

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up," Remus growled, voice low and gravelly.

"Okay, okay, sorry." James rolled his eyes, knowing his friend's reactions and general moods became harsher as the full moon approached and that it was better not to push him.

"So what should we do?" Peter asked.

"Can't we just see what happens when we get there?" Sirius suggested. "It all depends on how Moony is."

"Yeah, you're right," James assented. "But we still have to plan a prank." He looked hopefully at best friend, hoping to gain support from the lanky teenager, but Sirius seemed as though he was about fall asleep right there in the library. "Hey, mate, you should go to sleep."

"What?" he mumbled, eyes opening in a flash. "I have to do homework, Prongs."

"Well, you're not getting much of it done now," James commented. "Come on, you have to be rested for tonight. And eat something."

"I'm not hungry," Sirius whined.

"How can someone just not be hungry?" protested James.

"Just 'cause you eat about everything in the dining room doesn't mean I have to!"

"Calm down," Remus snapped. "Sirius, just eat a bite of something."

"Fine," he huffed. Thus, Sirius ended up staring at the food in the Great Hall, unable to bring anything up to his mouth.

He finally swallowed a few bites of chicken, something like guilt in his grey eyes.

The three Marauders bade goodbye to Remus, who was going to the hospital wing, then headed up to their dorm.

Peter immediately fell asleep, but James stayed up and worked on an essay while Sirius was taking a shower. He noticed Sirius took longer than usual, but waved the matter away. Just wants to make sure his hair is perfect. Of course he does.

When his friend finally came out, pulling a sweater over his pajamas as he did, James greeted him with a, "go to sleep, you idiot. You took forever."

"Night, Jamie," Sirius sang, ducking the book the other teenager threw at him before getting into bed and pulling the curtains around him closed.

oOo

"You reckon we should let him sleep? He looked right exhausted today."

"He doesn't eat, the bastard." Remus' voice came in a clipped tone.

"What? Of course he eats!" James exclaimed.

"Are you blind?" Remus huffed, irritated. "He's clearly missed out on a few meals. No idea why, though. Now come on, we're wasting time!"

"M'wake," Sirius mumbled sleepily, opening his eyes and bringing up a hand to rub at them.

"Well, let's go!"

Sounds like this will be a bad moon, he thought forlornly before getting up and following his friends outside under the invisibility cloak.

Finally in the shrieking shack, Remus began to transform, hunching over in the darkness, fur bursting from his body, agonized yowls tearing themselves from him.

Sirius winced. He hated this. He hated seeing one of his best friends transform into a dark creature, one who had no remembrance of the gentle, kind teenager he'd once been. Sirius loathed seeing Remus in pain, scratching at himself and everything around him in a fury. He's done nothing to deserve going through Hell and back again once a month!

Already turned into their Animagi forms, the three others approached him. Sirius was the first to prance closer to Moony, distracting the wolf from biting himself.

He growled and lunged at Padfoot, but the dog slipped around him, engaging him in a fight. Prongs and Wormtail let them battle it out before both, Sirius especially, were worn out. As soon as they began to calmly engage in some more play, Moony viciously lunged for Wormtail.

With a bark, Padfoot threw himself at the wolf, their bodies colliding. Moony immediately forgot all about Peter, going for the black dog instead.

Twist around, jerk backwards, jump… Padfoot felt his muscles shake with the exertion as he leaped onto the wolf, bowling him over. Moony thrust him off, jumping atop Sirius mercilessly, who let out a tiny whimper, struggling out of the wolf's grasp.

Prongs immediately jumped in, fending Moony down and giving Sirius time to lick his wounds before returning to the battle.

Finally Moony calmed once again, eyes still glowing, but body slightly less tense as he chewed at the leg of a chair.

Padfoot slumped in a corner. I have to stay conscious. I can't be weak; Remus needs me.

With that thought, he got to his paws and faced the wolf once again.

oOo

"Sirius, what the hell are you doing?" James yelled.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" the sixteen-year-old said loftily, flicking the end of his cigarette and giving his best mate a half-smirk.

"Moony's in the hospital wing! And you're sitting on a ledge smoking like you'll never die!"

"Sod off, James," Sirius hissed, demeanor changing in the blink of an eye. He stuck the cigarette back in between his parted lips. "We aren't allowed in the hospital wing, or else I would be there."

He was, indeed, sitting languidly on a ledge outside the window, James noted, an arm draped over his knees, head lolled back against the stone. His white button-down shirt, the same one James was wearing, had its first few buttons undone, and he was lacking a tie.

"I came to tell you that we can go in, you bastard."

Sirius fixed him with an unreadable gaze before stubbing the cigarette against his arm and throwing it away from him. In a single fluid motion, he pulled himself back into the room through the open window and shut it behind him, turning to look at James and pulling the cuffs of his shirt down over his wrists.

His friend stared at him, brows furrowing and eyes widening, making him look like a deer in headlights. "Padfoot, you just stubbed that thing against your arm! It was burning!"

"I smoke, Prongs. What do you expect?"

"No one does that! That's self-self harm!"

Sirius rubbed a hand over his face, and for the first time, James realized how tired he must be. "Listen, it didn't hurt. I wasn't thinking. I won't do it again. Now come on, let's go see Moony."

Letting the matter go, albeit reluctantly, James followed his friend to the hospital wing, where Sirius immediately went to Remus' bedside, parting the curtains around the bed as he did so.

James looked down at the werewolf. He was so pale, skin like iridescent shadows, eyes mercifully closed. Prongs didn't miss the light brush of Sirius' hand against Remus', but disregarded it.

"Does he have any wounds?" his friend asked as Madam Pomfrey came bustling toward them.

"He has a gash on his right shoulder and is quite tired, but I healed the cut and will give him a Pepper-Up Potion," the matron reported.

"Did I miss anything?" came an excessively loud question as Peter burst into the hospital wing.

Sirius flinched, and James saw him tighten his hold on Moony's hand before, as if unaware he had been doing it, letting go.

"No," James snapped before Padfoot could voice a sarcastic comment in reply.

"Oh, okay," Peter squeaked, coming to a stop next to the other two marauders.

Sirius was staring at Remus, face an unreadable mask, but James could see the flashing emotions in his stormy grey eyes.

He rubbed the back of his neck with a free hand. James knew these days and nights were torture for all the Marauders, Remus for having to endure them; the others for having to watch their friend suffer. And it hadn't been a good first moon; the wolf seemed more enraged than usual, and Sirius exhausted.

But could what Remus had said actually be true? Sirius was eating, right? How could he not be?

Shaking the worrisome thoughts from his mind, he looked over as Lily Evans entered the hospital wing.

"I brought the notes from yesterday's and this morning's classes," she informed James as she walked up to him, handing him a pile of paper. "He told me he was going down with a fever so when he wasn't here yesterday I took notes for him." She glanced over Sirius, who was blocking her view of Remus, standing in a slightly protective stance.

James nodded, not able to believe Lily Evans had actually spoken to him without yelling or shooting insults. "Thanks," he managed.

She eyed him with some unreadable emotion before looking back to the bed. "Is he okay?"

James thought Sirius would literally growl, but instead he said swiftly, "fine. It's just a cold."

Lily bade goodbye and walked out of the hospital wing, leaving the marauders to their lonesome wait.

AN: So, I hope that was good. I'm honestly dying for more reviews, so…pretty please? If you could? Thnx XD