There was nothing more to say, nothing more to hurt after Remus had told Sirius that he couldn't forgive him for the Snape betrayal or the kiss. It was terribly ironic, Remus later thought to himself, that this breaking point in their friendship had actually improved things on the whole.

They no longer ignored each other. There was no point. Being openly angry was equally pointless. The Marauders were whole again, four boys buzzing about the castle grounds in the blaring sunshine, enjoying the remnants of their Fifth Year, free of OWLs and homework and study and professors. It was almost time to return home for the long golden stretch of the summer holidays, and it felt almost like the end of every previous year.

The only flaw in the picture image of blissful post-exam magical mayhem was the constant ache in Remus' gut – well, that, and Sirius' frequently overcast expression.

It was all in the eyes. Such wide grey eyes couldn't hide emotion well, especially from those who watched. Remus almost wished that he wasn't hopelessly drawn into those stormy depths, not least because Sirius' eyes never seemed to be reciprocally focussed on him. How stupid, really. Why would Sirius look at Remus these days, anyway, after everything that had been done and said?

Why would Remus, sprawling across verdant lawns in the lazy summer heat, crack open an eyelid and peer past Peter's prostrate form to Sirius' face? Why would the ache in his belly intensify at the glimpse of a momentary anguish in hooded silver eyes, when he had explicitly forbidden himself to care?

James had the answer – or so the creases in his brow would scream as he took Remus aside one Thursday, the second-last day of the school term.

"You're being stupid now, Moony," he whispered urgently, ducking behind an abandoned couch in the common room and motioning Remus to join him. "I know that Sirius has basically lost your trust forever, mate, I know he completely screwed things up with the whole Snape thing, but – but you better believe that he's sorry. I don't care that you guys hang out with me and Wormtail now like nothing happened. All I care about is that Sirius has been having nightmares for days now – no, not about you – about going home for the summer, from what I can tell. He needs us more than ever, you know."

Crouching awkwardly, trying vainly to smooth his feathery hair beneath armchair level, Remus lowered his eyes from James' intense gaze. Yeah, so he'd heard Sirius fumbling about restlessly in his sleep for a few nights now. He had tried not to think too much of it. It wasn't his business anymore, was it? However, down here with James, examining a used piece of Drooble's Best, Remus was aware that Sirius' pain was his business. After all, he had contributed to its welfare recently; pain thrived in those stormy eyes whenever they caught the werewolf's watching stare.

"His family," Remus muttered to the chewed-up gum; it was less of a question than a statement of fact. Even though he hadn't spoken directly to Sirius about his personal life for over a month, Remus knew that the dark-haired boy had been dreading the annual return to his despised family.

"Did you know that his hideous witch of a mother has been sending her darling son regular letters concerning the disgrace he has been bringing upon the family ever since school started this year?"

"No," Remus said truthfully, peering up at James' serious expression now, slightly shocked. It was far from unusual to hear that Sirius was unwelcome in the family – he had loads of Regulus' increasingly bitter taunts to put up with every other morning at breakfast – but letters? Written insults, unshielded hostility? Remus felt a twinge of something that felt awfully like sympathy for Sirius, an emotion that he should not by rights be feeling. He had given up pity rights when he had rejected Sirius' apology, or whatever it had been, in the Hospital Wing.

Something inside him cared less than nothing about pity rights. Something inside him, or several things inside him, or maybe his entire sodding being had forgiven Sirius weeks ago during the terrible aftermath of the Snape incident, when Sirius had crashed to his knees in public, in tears. Many somethings grasped now at this opening of compassion in Remus' conscious mind, and held his eyes to James'.

"Look, mate. Please. Sirius would kill me if he knew I was asking this for him, especially after last full moon and all, but please. His family is going to be awful to him this summer, and he's really going to need all his friends behind him for this one. I don't know if he could put up with it all in his current state of mind. He's a bit skewed right now, you know. And he cares so much for you, Remus. He would stay in dog form the whole month through if you would allow him in again like you did when you were a werewolf."

"What?" Remus yelped, hushing his tone as he remembered that they were hiding from curious observers. "I scratched up his back, James! Is that what letting him in is?"

"No. After you scratched his back up, Moony, you played with him like normal, like nothing had happened."

"I play with him? I mean," Remus continued, hastily remembering the underlying issue, "look, James, I can't control how I act during a full moon, you know that." He dropped his eyes, unwilling to add to James' suspicions, but knowing that he should, for both Sirius' and his sakes. "It's not just the Snape incident, James. I think you know that."

"Does it really matter what it was, you silly berk?" James said dryly, rolling his eyes. "Do you think that whatever Sirius did to you will make you feel better when he rolls back to school in a state of complete and utter depression next year?"

The ache in Remus' belly intensified at James' words, and he grimaced unhappily. Of course he couldn't let this go on; James had been right all along. Things were not right, they were far from right, and even Moony could sense that under the blinding cloak of the full moon. Remus had been betrayed by Sirius. He had been completely exposed, and in so many ways.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the moral high ground was slowly slipping away from beneath the lycanthrope's feet. After all, hadn't his rejection of Sirius' friendship been a betrayal in itself?

Nothing excused Sirius, that hadn't changed. The recklessness of his thoughtless actions was completely his own. But hadn't he demonstrated (to the entire common room, nonetheless) just how much he regretted what he had done?

Even the kiss had been an apology, hadn't it? Sirius had thought that Remus wanted it or something like that. It had been an incredibly misguided, soul-destroying request for forgiveness – or at least, that was how Remus viewed it. Or how he had to view it.

And now it seemed that the pressure was on Remus to offer some form of happiness to Sirius to keep him going through the long, dark months of the summer holidays. Remus knew he owed it to his erstwhile friend. And some form of reconciliation might even provide some light to Remus on those nights under the waxing moon.

The only question was how?

A/N: *cringe*

I am totally, desolately sorry for the pitiful length of this chapter, but I thought that a snippet-y teaser would be better than nothing. I'm going away for a week, and won't have access to the internet (heaven help me).

And I PROMISE that the next chapter will contain a certain kind of sexy, sexy conciliation – with the right encouragement of course. ;)

xx Froody