"Damn it!" Remus swore loudly. James, Sirius, and Peter turned to gape at him.
"Whoa! Where did that come from?" James asked, peering over Remus's shoulder at the newspaper he was holding. Remus was staring at the page as though the article had done him great personal wrong.
"Look! Look! Look what we've done!" Remus said, jabbing his finger at the page, "See that? See? That's what we get for being so careless! Dumbledore'll know it was me! That was completely reckless!"
James pried the paper away from Remus. He scanned the page, his face growing more and more worried as he read. Sirius reached over to pull the paper out of James's hands. "Unconfirmed sighting, blah blah blah… Hogsmeade… Accompanied by… blah blah blah… Oh, phew! You had me worried for a second!"
James stared at Sirius quizzically. Peter, who'd just finished reading, eyed Sirius as if worried he might have lost his mind.
"And now that you've read it your not worried? This has relieved you because…?" Remus asked, looking skeptically at Sirius.
"It's no big deal. Just some loony who thinks they saw a werewolf, it happens all the time. It's nothing to get all worked up about."
"No big deal? Are you joking? Sirius, look! It was in Hogsmeade on the night we were there! It says here 'sighted with a large black dog'! This isn't a coincidence! It has to be me!"
"So? They've got no proof!"
"Do you realize I am a registered werewolf? Do you know what that means? They have my name at the ministry! They have records of all my activities! They're bound to find out!"
Sirius looked concerned for a second, and went back to scrutinizing the text. "Wait, look at this! It pretty much says they're sure this guy is completely mad. He sees at least three werewolves a month and he doesn't call it a week until he's seen a dragon, a giant, an escaped dementor and a wanted death eater. They're not at all surprised that he's seen a mad werewolf and a rampaging grimm!"
Remus grabbed the paper back, reading the passage Sirius had pointed out. Slowly the color came back into his face and he relaxed his tense grip on James's arm. "Well… I guess…"
"Don't worry; they're not even looking into it! Why do you think it wasn't in the paper until they were low on news? It's been almost three weeks!"
"Yes… but this can never happen again! Do you know what might've happened if I'd been sighted by a credible witness?"
"They don't throw people in Azkaban just for being glimpsed at full moon!"
"If you're a werewolf they do! You've seen what's been going on at the ministry lately! People are terrified! They'd be glad to kill me if they had a chance!"
"Remus, look at me. I am really, really sorry for what happened, but no one is going to kill you while we're still alive," Sirius said earnestly, gripping Remus's arm.
A small smile crept on to Remus's face. He nodded slightly, meeting Sirius's eyes. "I know."
"We'll always be there for you, Moony," James added.
"I'll always be there for all of you!" Peter put in.
"We'll all be there for each other. Always. No matter what," James said, nodding.
"No matter what," Remus repeated.
"Nothing bad is ever going to happen as long as we still have each other."
A/N: I know, very short... but sweet I hope? Please review! Thanks to everyone whos been reading!