It was hard to sleep with someone else in the house. For one, he was conscious there was someone not family there. He didn't know if it was his canine instincts of just general unease that had him tossing through the night. He missed his pillow, felt possessive over the stupidest things. He couldn't help thinking about this being his time with James, time that was being taken away from him by someone who had him all year. It wasn't fair. He kept thinking about how things would be different now. James was already only hanging around him because he had no one else to play with. Sirius here now meant that James didn't need his little play friend anymore, he had a real friend.

He should have known it was too good to last.

A couple of bangs and loud sniggers woke him the next morning. The noises continued over breakfast, James and Sirius messing about and making plans to play Quidditch all day. Something Remus couldn't join in with because he hated Quidditch and there was no way he would be able to keep up with two people who were good at the sport, he barely kept up with James ordinarily.

Instead, he decided to get the summer really started by preparing James for going back to school. Sure, it was the beginning of summer and he had weeks to get all this stuff done. But people didn't understand that James wasn't an ordinary boy. He had to plan these things, prepare, otherwise it would never get done.

Like his hair. It had to be cut, and fast. This morning he swore he saw half a Berties Bott every flavour bean stuck in there, and more tangles than was good for it. Which meant a trip to the barber. The appointment was easy to set up. Getting James there on the other hand was the true battle.

He bought some muggle sweets, hoping the bribe would be enough. Just to be on the safe side he even made an appointment for Sirius, maybe the thought of going through the trauma of losing hair with a friend would lessen the blow.

He also went over to the shops to buy cleaning supplies. One James was bad enough, two, and he didn't even want to know the mess that would be there at the end of the summer.

When he got back James and Sirius were in the living room, the two of them hunched over books and looking for all the world to be doing school work. If they hadn't been sniggering Remus would have actually believed them.

He hid the sweets as he unpacked the bleach, trying to listen in and decide whether he should intervene or not. When he heard the word 'goo' uttered he decided it was time to herd the two of them out and towards the town. They had a full two hours, but who knew what could happen in that time.

'I made an appointment at the barbers,' He said in passing and the effect was immediate. James was up and making excuses to his room before Remus got 'barbers' out of his mouth.

He made sure to block the door, herding James as best he could to the front door and to his shoes. It took bargaining, bribing and the enticement of sweets to get him out the front door. Sirius was laughing the whole way there. At least until they got into the barbers and heard his own name mentioned.

'Wow, no. I am not getting this cut.' He even stroked his hair like it was the best thing around. Something he had to disagree with. It was shaggy, long and looking like it didn't know what a brush was. The only reason it looked nice was because James was next to him, if it came to James and a homeless person in terms of grooming the homeless person would always win. He blamed the Potter genes. But that wasn't to say Sirius was neat himself, the only reason Remus hadn't found a problem with it yesterday was because, firstly, he was a stranger who Remus didn't honestly think would be hanging around for long, and two, because it had been tied up.

'There's sherbet in it for you if you sit in the chair and let the guy do his work.'

James was more on board now he knew Sirius was getting the chop too. He happily stuffed his mouth as he enticed Sirius into the chair.

'I'm not getting it cut,' Sirius hissed, more to James than him this time.

'But it looks stupid,' Remus pointed out, watching James go into hysterics.

Sirius grabbed his hair defensively. 'What would you know about it?'

'He's using it as a sign of rebellion against his parents,' James said, taking on his teacher tone. The one he usually took when Remus asked about something from his books. He thought it was a superiority thing. Remus just found it annoying for any reason. 'They want him to have nice soft locks that are pure-blood short, so Sirius is growing his out.'

Remus didn't understand teenage rebellion at all. 'But if you're not living with them anymore, what's the point? I mean, you're with us now, and your hair looks stupid.'

Sirius floundered for a bit, long enough for James to get called over to the chair, Finally he just huffed, 'Fine,' and went quietly to his own fate.

He barely recognised them when they were done. James was always a hopeless case, but at least he was a semi neat hopeless case. Sirius on the other hand, well, if Remus thought he was handsome with tangles and hair hanging over his face he was something else with an actual style to his hair. It was still long, reaching the top of his neck in careful waves. It was still capable of hanging in front of his face, but this was in an artful way. One that had Remus wondering why he was so focused on Sirius. He'd never... it was weird.

He threw the sweets at them as a reward, trying to get a hold of himself as he led them back to the Potters house.

Mr and Mrs Potter were overjoyed with their new looks. Well, Sirius'. James was always a lost cause. They even got the camera out and made them pose for a few photo's, telling them they would want photos like this when they were older. He could tell through the complaints they were secretly loving the attention.

Mrs Potter finally let them go when she had found the one photo she liked. She had Remus help her find a frame, using a it as a way to get him alone for a little talk.

'You're going to have to excuse Sirius if he says something offensive Remus,' She started. 'He comes from a different lifestyle to us, and I know he seems more open minded than other wizards but he still comes from a pure-blood family. He just needs some time to get used to our way of life.'

'Way of life?'

The pointed look at him had him realising she meant the werewolf thing. She was right too. Over the years he had seen many of the kids he had been stuck in that containment centre with on the streets or around the Potters for gatherings. All of them were with their families and none of them looked well. He'd even seen some families without their werewolf, the mention of them over dinner resulting in a tale Remus had nightmares about. The pure-bloods had taken the idea of having a werewolf helper seriously, they didn't give them luxuries and treated them mostly like animals.

In comparison Remus was living a five star life. He had his own room, meals three times a day- sometimes more if the Potters decided he wasn't looking healthy enough- he got sweets, alone time and really only had the option of cleaning up around the house. Actually, more often than not, Mrs Potter would tell him to leave this or that alone, sending him off to do something else while she did it herself.

He could see why Sirius might think it weird. But so far Sirius hadn't even mentioned the half breed word or looked at him oddly. He listened to Mrs Potter say more about giving Sirius some lenience, before the pretence of finding a frame ran out and she sent him off.

He had meant to go to his room for a while and read. James had Sirius now, he didn't need him to mess around with. But when he got there the book he wanted, one of James' discarded fifth year DADA books, it was gone. He thought he had left it in another room of the house just as his nose picked up a new smell in his room. One that wasn't James' or the Potters. It was familiar, earthy with a hint of dog. Sirius.

He fought the stupid canine urge to pee on everything, cursing the moon for being so close and bringing all these instincts out. He picked another book instead, curling up next to the window and enjoying the waning summer sun.

The next week was difficult for Remus. The moon made him crazy without his house being upended, and Sirius wasn't helping things along. He hogged the bathroom every morning, and even when Remus got there before him it seemed living with four boys at Hogwarts had evaporated any pretence of boundaries since he came in anyway. Remus found himself cursing more than once when Sirius came out dripping all over their clean floors with nothing but a towel around his waist. Handsome as he was, that didn't give him the right to make a mess. Then there was the smell, Remus was hissing his way through the house by the time the full moon came around. Sirius was everywhere, venturing into Remus' room more than once without permission, and he didn't know why but it felt like another canine was invading his life and driving him mad.

He ended up holing himself away in the kitchen, willing the hours down to nightfall. Any other time of the month he was wishing the moon away, but when it was the actual day of the full he just wanted it over with.

Thankfully James had taken Sirius out to the muggle village for the day. Or not since the very thought of Sirius taking more time with James away from him had him in even more of a state. This was his time, not Sirius'. It wasn't right.

'They should be back soon,' Mr Potter said, appearing out of nowhere.

'Right.'

A few chocolate bars appeared before his nose, the smell appealing to his stomach but he still kept his hands to himself. He knew he would just be throwing them up later, good chocolate should be kept until after he was finished tearing himself apart. So Mr Potter took the bars away and sat next to him on the kitchen floor.

'Can you move Sirius into my room tonight. I won't be sleeping there, and it seems a waste to leave it empty.'

Mr Potter looked like he wanted to argue, then sighed, nodding his agreement. 'But only until you're better. And only because I heard the two of them conspiring last night. There's something wrong with that boy.' Remus knew he wasn't talking about Sirius.

Strangely Sirius was the one to complain this time, telling Mr Potter he didn't want to move, which prompted Mr Potter to reveal he knew the two of them had been plotting. The move had been quick, just switching Remus' covers for Sirius', but of course there was still some arguments.

'I said you could have the room.'

James was smirking from his open doorway, watching all of them bustle about in the hallway. 'It's only temporary Sirius. Remus wouldn't really give you his room. He's not that nice.'

Sirius sent him the look Remus was thinking, they all knew that wasn't true. Remus would gladly give Sirius his room, had even tried to. James was just trying to make things easier.

'Where's he even going, I mean, you're just going to have to move everything back.'

James rolled his eyes. 'It's a sheet and pillow, not your trunk. And he's going to the cellar, you know how werewolves work don't you Black?'

Sirius paled, looking Remus over again. 'You mean he's-? Right.'

Remus thought his reaction odd. 'Your family have a werewolf, you've seen transformations.' He remembered the day the Blacks had came. The parents tall, slim and beautiful, with two boys stood rod like beside them. It was hard to connect one of these boys to the one in front of him.

'Oh, we got rid of him after a year. He- er...' He was guessing it was the thunderous look no doubt on his face that had Sirius shutting up. 'So, how long will you be down there?'

'Four days,' James said, his smirk turning into a full blown smile, 'What's the matter Black, you look like someone's just stole your broom.'

'Shut up Potter.'

The cellar was actually pretty large for the small house the Potters had. It was empty, mostly, and would have been an ordinarily nice place. Somewhere to store anything and everything were it not for the long claw marks imbedded into the walls and floor everywhere he looked. There were some sweet wrappers from last time he was down, along with the head of an old bear his wolf sometimes liked to chew on when it got bored of Remus' limbs.

'I'll get you one of those giant chocolate bars,' James promised, much like he did every full moon, as he led him down. 'And Sirius will bring you one of your books. That'll put a smile on your face.'

'Sure.'

The transformation was just as bad as it always was. His bones broke, reshaped and broke again when his wolf wanted something to munch on. His human side turned off around the time his shoulder broke, so he enjoyed a night of bliss, which was broken when he turned back. Of course he blacked out again as soon as the pain hit.

He came back around with his leg in a splint and his head bandaged. He only knew this because his hands always went to his face first. Mr Potter cautioned him against moving, handing him a glass that scorched his throat on the way down. Apparently there was nothing too bad with him, except his leg which had been a wrong angle when Mr Potter came down to check on him.

He expected James to make some remark about it, he always had something funny to say when he busted himself up. It was just his way, trying to cheer him up after a bad night. But James wasn't there, he couldn't smell him or anything.

'He's not here,' Mr Potter said. 'He was trying to be the first one down this morning and tripped over Sirius' broom. His arm's broken, your mother's taken him to Mungos.'

Sirius, he should have known.

He took a nap shortly after that, waking only when Mrs Potter woke him to change his bandages. He wanted to ask after James, but moving to let her heal him had him feeling dizzy. He figured it would be better keeping his mouth shut than being sick all over her.

It was nightfall when quiet sniggering woke him up. James and Sirius were sitting beside his bed playing some muggle board game, and it looked like Sirius was winning. He watched them mess about for a while, trying to suss out Sirius some more. He hadn't actually had a real conversation with the boy, and now the moon was out of the way he could see how he had been unfair to Sirius. He hadn't given him a chance. He remembered all the tall tales James would tell about him from school, sometimes wishing he was with them as they created mischief. He remembered James telling him about how funny, smart and witty Sirius was, and how Remus had mentioned more than once that he should give up on Lily and go for Sirius instead.

Sirius had made four jokes about James' hair by the time they noticed he was awake. His Sirius watching now obsolete when the boy decided to make an excuse and scramble out of the cellar.

James didn't seem to mind, grinning like a madman and hopping up next to Remus. 'You should have seen my arm Rem,' It was in a sling and looking as good as it had been last Remus had seen it. 'It was all oozing blood and there was bone sticking out. I think Sirius may have gagged a bit when he saw it.'

'Did not!' Rang down.

James ignored it, telling Remus that he wouldn't be the only one doted on this full moon. According to the nurses he was to rest the bone for a few days to make sure it set right. Remus thought it okay, but when he showed James his leg they both agreed that he had the worse end of the stick.

They played the rest of Sirius and James' discarded game before James' stomach required attention. He kicked James out when the smell of Mrs Potter's cooking became too tempting to ignore, waving off any offers to be carried up to the table. He wasn't well enough to move, but he was well enough for the chocolate bars hiding in James' pockets and in Mr Potters hands when he came to call them up.

He got another nap in, well, more than a nap since he woke up to Mrs Potter cleaning his wounds and James complaining about spending a day indoors.

'Think of poor Remus James. Even if it was sunny he couldn't go out.'

James moaned, rather loudly for someone who was meant to be keeping quiet for his sick werewolf. 'Still, that doesn't mean I should be indoors all day. All day, come on mum, it's just rain.'

'And you broke your arm yesterday. You and Sirius can play down here. Besides, I don't like how much you two have been keeping to yourselves.'

'We haven't been keeping to ourselves.' The bed dipped, James notably climbing on top of him and collapsing to his side. He felt a finger pushing his cheek 'Have we Rem?'

The slap Mrs Potter aimed at those fingers was felt more than heard, shooing James away and telling him to behave.

'He's awake you know, he's just putting it on to pry. You've become such an old woman Rem, always wanting to know the family gossip.'

'Says the boy who thought jumping over a broom that can fly was a good idea,' He croaked, peaking one eye open to be faced with a nest of unruly hair.