Disclaimer: Still not JK Rowling. Oh how I wish. . . .

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Lunch was finished quicker than usual. Remus' appetite was failing him in the face of the approaching full moon, and his stark summary of the rules he had to live by seemed to have put James and Sirius off their food as well. Even Peter, surrounded by the three of them picking at the remains on their plates, kept looking up nervously and declared himself finished long before they would ordinarily have expected. With twenty minutes before lessons started again, they headed outside to enjoy the good weather while it lasted. They were on their way out of the Hall when Remus saw Professor Tabblesworth heading in the other direction.

"Professor!" he called on a sudden whim. No one else was likely to be able to explain how he had ended up with Padfoot for a Patronus. The others hesitated, as Tabblesworth approached with a smile.

"We'll see you outside, Moony," James said. He nodded, and James and Peter headed through the huge double doors to the grounds. Sirius stayed, his face expressionless. It was impossible to tell whether he just had nothing better to do or whether he'd guessed what Remus wanted to speak to the Professor about and was as keen as him to find the answer.

"Mr Lupin!" he boomed as he reached them. "Something wrong?"

"Not exactly, sir. . . I was just wondering if I could ask. . ." He cursed his stammering tongue and forced himself to spit it out. "About the Patronuses. That dog, you see. . ." He hadn't exactly thought this through, how to ask without giving anything away. "Um. . . It's a real dog. It. . . ah. . . belongs to a friend of mine." Tabblesworth's eyes flicked to Sirius, hovering behind them and trying – failing – to give the impression that he wasn't listening intently to every word.

"I see," he said thoughtfully. "Shall we take this outside, boys, I think we're rather in the way here." He gestured for them to precede him into the Entrance Hall and they exchanged a worried glance. A few people had been walking round them but it wasn't like they'd been blocking the doorway or anything. Tabblesworth had to have another reason for taking them away.

Tabblesworth's office wasn't far from the Great Hall; he showed them in there, and then perched on the edge of his desk, watching them with a slight frown. Remus looked nervously around before taking a seat facing him; Sirius leant casually against a bookshelf, apparently still trying to pretend that he was here by mere coincidence.

"Sir?" asked Remus.

"You're not in trouble, don't worry. So, your Patronus. Usually they represent something about yourself. Your inner being, if you like. I assume you've picked that up from the books?" Remus nodded. "There's been limited research in the field, but there is some evidence to suggest that when a person falls in love their Patronus will change to reflect the person they're in love with." Remus heard Sirius shifting uncomfortably behind him, and couldn't help but agree. This conversation was not taking a welcome turn, and he was very glad that Tabblesworth had chosen to move it from the Great Hall.

"From your point of view the interesting thing is the reasoning behind it, which as far as I can see would apply equally to close friends. There are two theories. One, that the Patronus is something that makes you feel safe, someone you rely on. Second, that it is the memories themselves that give it shape, so if they all relate to one specific person. . ." he shrugged. "As I say, there's not been much research, certainly not enough to say which is true." He smiled, suddenly looking like an overgrown schoolboy. Or a bear-cub, even, thought Remus, remembering his Patronus. "I'm hoping to study it myself; it's a fascinating area of Defence. Anyway, you two have nothing to worry about. Your Patronuses both look good and strong, no matter what they are, and you've clearly got a handle on the charm. I suggest you get back to your lessons."

They left the room side by side, but not speaking. Remus shot a sideways glance at Sirius. He seemed to be lost in thought. Well, there was enough to think about, that was for sure. He glanced at Sirius again to catch him doing the same; they both looked quickly away again, and he thought he felt a faint blush spreading up his face. And he wasn't sure that the queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach had anything to do with the full moon any more. He kept facing forward, after that, as they walked through the entrance hall and looked around.

"Did Prongs say where they would be?" asked Sirius.

"Er. . . no. . . Hang on, is that them?" They were sitting on a wall only a few paces along. Peter waved; his other hand held a slice of cake.

"Hey guys," he said cheerfully. "You were a while."

"Yeah, well," said Sirius. "You know Tabby. Once he gets going. . ."

"Did he say anything useful?" asked James, looking keenly at them. He suspected there was more going on than met the eye, Remus could tell.

"Moony loves me."

"What?" All three of them stared at Sirius with the same startled expression, Remus definitely going red now.

"Well, that's a new one on me," he said, forcing a joking tone through a lump in his throat and horribly aware that James and Peter were staring at him as well. "How did you figure that one out?"

"You do, don't you? You lurve me!" Sirius wore his most infuriating grin, and Remus rolled his eyes at him even though he wanted to do nothing more than sink to the floor in relief. It was a joke.

"Don't let it go to your head," he warned. "And you had better not keep this up when anyone else can hear. I have a weird enough reputation without that rumour going round."

"Are either of you going to explain what he's going on about?"

"It's the Patronus thing," said Remus, exasperatedly. "Tabby explained it, but he also mentioned. . . Padfoot, if you keep fluttering your eyelashes at me I'll hex them off. . . he also mentioned that it's most common with. . . you know, couples."

"Go on, then."

"It's to do with what memory I was using, I guess, and it must have been the same for him, though if you're hoping to get him to talk sense for long enough to tell you. . ."

"Hey! You shouldn't talk about me like that, Moony, I'm your. . ."

"I will hex you. I'm not joking."

Sirius' grin disappeared at his sharp tone, and he actually looked quite hurt. "Only messing around," he muttered sullenly, looking down at the floor and scuffing his foot. Remus had to swallow a sudden urge to hug him and make it all better, and scowled at him instead.

"What memory was it, then?" asked James hastily.

"Oh, well, um. . ." He went red again. "It was. . . well, it was you guys. The first time. . ." he looked around to make sure they weren't being overheard. "The first time you came and transformed for me."

They looked at him in silence, which was, predictably, broken by Sirius.

"Moony, you really are a big girl, aren't you?"

"Wow, thanks, Padfoot." A thought occurred to him and he grinned to himself. "I guess that's why you love me," he added, fluttering his own eyelashes. Why should he take all the stick for this?

Sirius looked totally taken aback, and James howled with laughter. "Ha!" he exclaimed through tears of mirth. "So busy taking the piss, he forgot he's got the same problem!" Remus couldn't help but grin at the success of his little joke; even after six years of friendship he was still surprised, sometimes, when he could make them laugh and smile. The bell rang for the next classes before James had fully recovered himself. Peter ran off down the fields towards Care of Magical Creatures with a curse at his lateness, his schoolbag bumping awkwardly against his bulk. James was still wiping away his tears as the rest of them wandered inside.

"See you later," he said as he veered off towards the Muggle Studies classroom. "Don't get up to anything, now, will you?" he added with a grin, and they both pulled faces at him, earning strange looks from a group of passing third years, who probably thought that seventh years – not to mention a prefect and the Head Boy – should have grown up a little.

"You've got History of Magic, right?" asked Sirius. Thankfully, the awkwardness seemed to have worn off now.

"Yeah. But it's not my turn to stay and make notes, so I'll see you in ten minutes or so. Where will you be, common room?"

"Uh-huh."

He had realised barely a month into sixth year that taking History of Magic at N.E.W.T. level had been a mistake. It wasn't that the subject wasn't interesting, on the contrary, he loved history, but Binns' teaching methods did not improve. Luckily, the only other three people foolish enough to have taken the subject swiftly reached the same conclusion themselves. They had reached a very useful arrangement to solve the problem, which worked mainly because Binns only ever seemed vaguely aware that he had a class at all.

Remus took his seat at the back of the classroom with a smile to the others. Binns drifted through the blackboard, and in his reedy voice requested last week's homework. Four long, neatly written essays were handed in, and then he settled down a few inches above his chair and began, his eyes staring into middle distance as his voice droned on.

They waited long enough to be sure he had really got into his flow, and then a well-aimed Muffliato from Remus covered the noise as he, Melanie and Simone carefully returned their books to their bags, pushed back their chairs and crept towards the door. Phillip gave them a doleful wave as they closed it quietly behind them and straightened up in the corridor outside.

"Excellent," said Melanie briskly. "I guessed he'd be covering the expansion of the Statue of Secrecy today; I've already read up on that. Free time, how wonderful."

"How rare," corrected Simone. "Is there much to read?"

"It's a fairly short chapter."

Simone nodded, and sighed. "Well, I've got double Herbology homework to catch up on as well as this reading. Sprout slated my last essay; I've got to redo it. How did you do, Lupin?"

"Oh, not bad," he said. "An E." He was starting to get a headache, and the girls' chatter was not helping. "I'll lend you my notes if you like, but they're back in the dormitory. . ."

"Better not, then," she said, sighing again. "It wouldn't do for me to be seen loitering outside the Gryffindor common room." She tapped the green-and-silver badge on her shoulder with a humourless smile. "Your people would think I was up to something, and mine would hex first and ask questions later. Thanks, anyway. See you."

"It such a shame," said Melanie as Simone headed towards the library and they turned in the other direction. "She's really nice, but everyone just sees the badge and doesn't look any further."

Remus nodded, feeling like a complete hypocrite. James and Sirius were two of the worst for that. "Never mind, a few months and there'll be no badges to look for. You two'll keep in touch, won't you?"

"I hope so." They reached the passageway where Melanie had to turn off towards Ravenclaw Tower. "See you around, Remus."