The cold of Sirius' hand was what woke him up. During the night it must have slipped under Remus' shirt for warmth and ended waking him up. He rubbed his eyes before removing the hand and placing it back on Sirius' side of the bed.
Darkness crept in through the windows so Remus knew that it was still late enough to get a few more hours of sleep. He tried to lie back down only for his hand to find something sticky on his pillow. Figuring it was some of Sirius' drool he went to the bathroom to clean his hand. But something stopped him, there was something off about the room. Glancing towards Peter and James' bed he could see that the curtains had been thrown aside as if they were both in a mad rush. He didn't like the feeling that was coming over him at the look of the curtains and figured a hand full of drool was better than facing whatever had scared his friends off.
Crawling back under his covers he nudged Sirius to wake him up. There was no response and Remus didn't want to make a big fuss in case whatever it was heard him so he placed his hand over Sirius' mouth and turned his head to face him.
Cold blue eyes stared up at Remus' startled form. He had removed himself from his bed at the sight of those lifeless eyes and swallowed a scream when they neither responded or blinked. He could hear himself whimpering and refused to assess what it was that had took his friends life but knew sooner or later that he would look.
It happened when a creak sounded too close to his bed. Swallowing a sob he tried to lay in his bed without retching and closed the curtain slowly. Sirius was still staring at a blank spot on Remus' person and when he tried to turn him away again he spotted the liquid that he had thought to be drool was too dark in colour. It matched the pool that dented the pillow near his head and the quilt where Sirius had been previously looking. It also matched the stains further down the quilt and one of the colours origin points on Sirius' neck.
Remus didn't even know if he could call it that anymore. Tendons stood out from shredded muscles and he heard himself squeak breathlessly when he could see spots of the pillow where skin should be. It looked like an animal had been at him and Sirius had lost terribly.
Another creak and heavy breathing sounded outside his closed curtain and he wondered if he would be next. If this was it. He closed his eyes and tried to quiet his panting gasps that were filling the room. 'It did no good to panic' he thought as a hand grabbed his arm and he screamed louder than he does every month.
"Remus for Merlin's sake!" he kicked out and heard his foot connect with something as he opened his eyes to the bright light of the sun.
Sirius was looking concerned at him while James was doubled over at the bottom of his bed. "What?" He gasped looking from Sirius to James and to Peter who was standing a good three feet away from his bed.
"You were having a nightmare. Quite bad too, we couldn't wake you up. As of now we're half an hour late for Charms," Sirius said smirking slightly. Remus couldn't help looking at his healthy face and full neck earnestly. It was a dream. Another one then.
"Oh," He finally bit out "Sorry."
"It's fine. So long as you are," Sirius reassured and Remus noticed the worried glance he shared with James.
"I'll just..." He pointed to the bathroom and quickly removed himself from the room.
This was the third time this week that he had woken from a bad dream. The seventh time in two weeks that it had happened. Usually Sirius was still asleep but then he hadn't just spent the night in the dungeons looking for secret passageways. He knew that this was all Peter's fault. And Sirius'. It was their fault that they were so concerned about Remus that they had to make him worry about his excuses. Worry about how he acted and what he said when he was talking about home. He missed when they were all oblivious to where he went but knew that now they had seen him go once, and now that he had made the excuse, it was going to be the norm. He could no longer live without this lie while he was at school and he also could no longer offer his home for Sirius in the summer. Not if his perfectly well mother was going to be there.
He sighed and pulled his hands violently away from the tap when he realised he was rubbing off the phantom blood that had been on them. They were never going to make it to Charms that morning so Remus took his time to collect himself in the shower.
It was always them in the dreams. It alternated which one had been mauled and sometimes it was all of them. Not to mention that he was always the cause of it. The creaking and the panting he heard outside of his bed had revealed itself in the second dream like this to be him. Another him that had distorted itself monstrously into a feral beast covered in blood. There was a particular one where he had seen himself gnawing on Peter's leg before he woke. All talons and fangs with eyes that glowed menacingly from the dark pits that were meant to be eyes.
"Are you okay in there," James' soothing voice asked through the door.
"Be right out," he finished putting his tie on before joining the worried boys in the dorm. "Suppose we'd better get down before we're late to another lesson," they all nodded and made their way out slowly. Sirius handed him a slice of toast that one of them had fetched in the kitchens before they woke him and made idle chatter about anything that came to mind.
"James was thinking of pranking McGonagall but I said to put it off until third year when he's safely in the Quidditch team. Otherwise he'll never get a chance," James also tried to alleviate the mood but often just verbally sparred with Sirius.
None of them mentioned Remus' nightmare for which he was thankful for. The last tremors of the dream were still haunting him and he frequently found himself looking into Sirius' vibrant eyes or watching him swallow.
"You look like a vampire," A quiet observation sounded. He turned to Peter who was nodding his head towards Sirius. "You keep looking at his neck. You're not part vampire are you?" He backed away slightly.
"No," Remus scoffed feeling hurt that such a small sentence could send his friend half way across the corridor. He hoped that they never found if this was Peter's reaction to a vampire.
"Whose not a vampire?" James inquired peering at the both of them. They had ten minutes until Charms started and James had taken the initiative to seat himself on the floor.
"Me," he joined James and nudged Sirius along when he tried to jokingly sit on his lap.
"The floor's dirty," was all he offered before sitting on his bag instead.
"Why would you think he's a vampire Peter? I mean look at him," As if that was all there was needed to disprove such a statement.
"I dunno James, he does have quite a mean streak. Remember the first month we were here," Sirius baited.
"They were asking for it."
"True Sirius and remember that time when you ate the last of his chocolate stash. He locked you out of the common room for two nights," It seemed they were going to talk over Remus' head.
"I just thank Merlin we found the kitchens. Who knows what would have happened when he realised that Peter ate the last of his sugar quills." They were smirking at Peter.
"You what!"
"Guys," Peter whined. "You promised you wouldn't tell."
"Then there's the fact that he kicked me in the stomach this morning. I still haven't received an apology and I doubt I will," James turned the sympathy up by bringing some crocodile tears into the mix.
"Poor you." Sirius leaned over him and patted James' arm "And to think you were all ready to defend him to Peter as well," Remus scoffed and rolled his eyes but folded.
"I'm sorry for kicking you," James just waved him off and nudged him over to Sirius.
"All is forgiven. It didn't hurt that much anyway," Sirius scoffed this time re-enacting what James did this morning by holding his stomach.
The students from Transfiguration arrived then and they were all ushered into the classroom. February had seen the last of the snow since the rain had started again and Remus' monstrous snowman had died the week before. All of Gryffindor had paid homage to the being that had scared them through the month.
The next week was Valentines day and that afternoon saw the four boys in the common room discussing what it was they were going to do for it.
"I mean everyone's going to be loved up so it's only right that we do something to save them from themselves," James ranted. He had the idea that they should prank the whole school and it was quickly being taken up by Peter and Sirius.
"We have the map to attend to," Remus pointed out. They had discovered a couple of theories that would allow them to create the map but it required crossing spells with one another, meaning that the dorm was becoming a volatile zone full of experimental magic.
"We can put it off for one day Remus," James argued "Besides we haven't pulled a prank in ages. I really want to use my cloak again," He whined dropping pitifully to his knees in front of him.
"Why do you need me involved," He tried and only received a aghast expression from the messy haired boy.
"Why do we need you? You're our friend, nay, our brother in this crusade against the school. We need your skills to pull this off," He ranted.
"You and Sirius are more than capable of pulling it off without me," He didn't want to get involved in something that would just result in him getting a detention. His birthday was coming up after all and he didn't want to spend it cleaning cauldrons.
"What about me?" Peter called up. Remus just scowled in his direction which made the boy quieten down. He still hadn't forgave him for eating Remus' sweets.
"But you have the best ideas. Well, not the best, but the most creative. Well..."
"This isn't persuading me," He looked to his left to see what Sirius thought about all this.
"Leave him alone James," Was all the boy said before he turned back to his essay that they were all meant to be writing.
"But-"
"Now," And he pushed James' parchment towards him again. The boy picked himself up from where he had dropped to his knees and made his way to the blank parchment.
He knew the matter wasn't dropped but kept telling himself that he would make it up to James after his birthday. For now he just concentrated on the many ways that the troll war could have been prevented.
He had another dream that night which left him shaking. The mirror fragments around him showed him nothing facing up to the bathroom ceiling. His friends were huddled in the corner with their wands pointed threateningly out towards him. They were scared like Peter was earlier and had every right to be as Remus' claws skated across the smooth floor. He couldn't pick himself up since he was unused to his bulk and the floor provided no grip around him. All that could have helped were the bits of mirror shining up at him. He finally got the courage to pick himself up again when he saw Peter trying to speak in Remus' dream scape. The words didn't reach him but they didn't have to. The look of disgust on Peter's face was enough to convey what he was trying to say.
The glass cut into his skin and the light that reflected from somewhere in the darkness shone brightly into his eyes. He made the mistake of looking into one of the mirror shards and caught pits of black with gold shining out of them.
"Again," Sirius sighed when Remus blinked from gold to blue.
"Sirius?" He croaked feeling his throat strain on the word.
"I'm going to ask Pomphrey for something. This is getting out of control," Remus sat up and halted the boys movement.
"Don't. I'm just worried about something. Once I figure it out I'm sure the dreams will stop," He hoped and wondered how he was going to stop himself from worrying about his secret.
Sirius sighed but gave in to Remus' request. Thankfully it was a Saturday which meant that they had a divided team of duellers in the morning and experimental magic on the other side of the dorm and they switched in the afternoon before pairing off into their other groups for the nightly excursion of exploration. Remus had looked up a particular charm he was excited to try out and hoped that the afternoon would come quick.
Breakfast was a quick affair with the boys loading their plates and eating as much as they could before storming back to the dorm to get to work. Peter and Remus were in charge of the experimental of the morning and they had decided to try and charm the object with both a navigation and searching spell. They used a muggle map which Remus' dad was more than happy (if not suspicious) to post to him. If the ink they put on the map would stay there then they knew that they could transfer the magic onto another sheet of parchment and start plotting the map.
"There it stayed on longer this time," Peter chimed but Remus just scowled. The aim was for it to stay permanently not just for a little longer.
"We'll try the other spell with the seeking one. Pass the book over," He pointed towards the large tome that Peter had some difficulty moving. Remus wondered when the boy would realise it was easier to levitate them instead of carrying them.
"Are you sure it wont end up like last time?" He was referring to the incident last week where a mixed spell had resulted in the glass on the windows to implode in the dorms.
"It shouldn't. At worst it's probably going to attack someone's cat," He commented filtering through the heavy pages until he found the page he wanted.
"Best hope it's not McGonagall," Peter joked.
"Hmm?"
"She's an animagus," he explained "Her form's a cat. I thought it would be..." Remus offered the boy a smile.
"It was. I just didn't get it." He jotted down more notes on the spell he was using to make sure that it shouldn't be too volatile "I didn't know wizards could actually do that. Change their forms."
"What's with the attitude Lupin?" James jeered from the onslaught of a levicorpus. "Jealous because you'd probably end up an owl," he sent a jelly legs and a boil hex back.
"Owls have talons and can fly. If that's your version of a tame animal then I seriously fear for your brain," He quipped hearing Sirius snort in mid spell.
"Whatever," He brushed off "I'd love to be one though. Wouldn't you Sirius. I'd be something majestic like a lion."
"Or a squirrel," Remus muttered making Peter laugh.
James just stuck his tongue out at him "What would you be Sirius?" He fired another hex and shielded from Sirius'.
"I dunno. Something cool though," He got past James' defences and had the boys wand in his hand in seconds.
"I think I'd like to be a shark," Peter mused and Remus gave him a condescending look.
"You do realise that you would only be able to use your form underwater," he clarified and watched as Peter re-evaluated his choices.
"A rhino then. I could charge at all the Slytherins and make them scream," He laughed.
"Hmm, that would be fun," Sirius mused handing James' wand back after holding it out of reach. "I think I'd like to be something sneaky though. Something that could blend into everyday life like McGonagall. She probably takes naps on the Hogwarts roof and spies on the naughty students. The best thing would be though that we wouldn't know it was her since she would look like a cat." He widened his stance again "Something cool like that would suit me."
"You could sneak into the girls dorms easily," Peter joined liking the idea of being something common.
"Yeah!" James agreed
"And there was me thinking that we would have two more years of peace before the idea of girls consumed the group," Remus lamented hearing James and Peter huff and Sirius chortle.
"Too right Rem," Sirius dismissed and disarmed James again.
That afternoon, once they had finished their food in the great hall, they paired off with James and Remus going off into the dungeons while Peter and Sirius took over the map. Sirius whined constantly about being left with the map for longer since he had spent most of the afternoon agonising over it.
Filch was still sniffing around the dungeons despite not having found anyone in two months. They often joked in the dorm about moving stuff around to mess with the caretaker but usually when it came to it they chickened out. James had them both huddled under the cloak as Filch passed once again and Remus smothered a laugh at the cat that practically ran after him. James usually liked to partner with Remus for exploration because of that fact. Apparently the cat could smell them under the cloak and frequently gave chase to them resulting in some close moments. But with Remus the thing didn't hang around and seemed to like leading Filch away from them more often than not.
James took the cloak off as soon as they were out of sight and shared a smirk with Remus. They were next to the entrance to the Slytherin common room and made their way through the corridor to the stairs that would lead further into the castle. Sirius had discovered it last week and was almost tempted to go down. It would have meant he would miss their group curfew though and he ended up telling James to look the next week.
"What do you suppose is down there than?" James asked leading Remus to the old wooden door.
"Guess we'll find out," He replied taking the initiative to unlock the door.
The stairs were dark with no light to shed any insight as to what was lurking in its depths. James lit the end of his wand and cast it downwards to see if he could make out anything. Apart from a cobweb with a slightly larger than normal spider there was nothing but darkness.
Remus felt a nudge on his back and held the wall to stop himself from falling down the stairs. Glaring back he huffed when James cast an eyebrow in the direction of the stairs. He lit the end of his wand before taking them slowly. The ground was smooth under his feet and the walls close together meaning that they had to walk one behind the other no matter what.
It soon opened out into a chamber of little size that sectioned off into three ways. Remus glanced back and saw the tip of James' lit wand follow into the chamber before he to stopped dead. So far they had an hour and a half before they were required to go back to the dorm but with so many ways they could possible only explore one section tonight.
"We could split up," James suggested looking interestedly in the section to the right.
"No," Remus immediately replied. He didn't like the idea of splitting up "Just pick a way and we'll do that tonight and Sirius can do the other next week."
James walked over to the door leading to the right and opened it with a casual "What makes you think he's coming down here next week," and leapt back from the door in case something was to come out.
"With all the whining he was doing you'd have to petrify him not to come. Especially after this," He followed James down another shorter flight of stairs that held solid wall on one side and iron bared chambers on the next. "Dungeons," He touched one of the bars which was solid under his finger.
"I knew it," James cackled and ran up to the third chamber down before opening the bars. "An old place like this was bound to have an actual dungeon!"
They explored for an hour in the chambers that were down there. The corridor they were in held thirteen prisons before abruptly closing off with a dead end. Remus thought it was kind of morbid that the founders had a dungeon like this in the castle.
There was nothing of interest in any of the cells. It seemed that whoever, if they had, inhabited these cells had taken their belongings or anything of interest with them. James refused to head back up the dorm even though he had explored all thirteen of them more than once and it took Remus ten minutes of convincing for them to head back up.
"You can come next week with Sirius," He bargained leading the forlorn boy up the stairs to the other dungeons. He did a quick look out before dragging James up. Filch was still otherwise occupied some place else.
"Fine," He took the cloak out just in case and 'nox'ed his light.
Sirius was livid when they regaled their story to him. He pleaded with James to let him go to the dungeons next week and even though James had already decided he would he made sure that Sirius begged for it. Remus was just content to sit back on the bed and watch them argue. Peter had long since abandoned the map project for sleep. Apparently they had some luck in that department as well as the dungeon. Sirius mentioned that they had gotten the ink to stay on the map so far and it was all just a matter of waiting to see if it would last the night. Usually spells would ware off or fade after a couple of hours so as long as the ink stayed on the map until tomorrow morning they wouldn't know if they had managed to make it plotable.
Remus hoped it would stay. It would mean that they could finally start getting the foundations of the castle started and also that there would be no more arguments like the one taking place. If they managed to start drawing the map then there would be no more waiting in the dorm whist two of them were exploring. All of them would be.
"Well I suppose since you did such a good job with the map that maybe you could come next week," James relented and put an end to the threats Sirius was sending his way.
"Good," He agreed and bid James goodnight. The messy haired boy just waved over to Sirius' bed where Remus was sitting before retiring himself. "Budge over Rem." He got up and tugged the curtains closed while Sirius warmed the quilt up. "Try not to kick to much tonight. I'm still recovering from last night," He joked when Remus finally lay next to him.
"Sorry," he apologised looking at the bruises that Sirius was pitifully whining about. "I'll try to control my unconscious body." They both smirked with Sirius' morphing into something concerned "Don't," he warned knowing that he was going to ask about the nightmares again. "I'll be fine just..."
"Okay," He relented and stole most of the pillow. Remus rolled his eyes before getting comfy again "Hey Rem?"
"Hmm?"
"Happy Birthday," Sirius whispered and smirked at him when he opened his eyes.
He decided by eight the next morning that he really shouldn't have told James when his birthday was. For one, when he woke up he punched James in the face, it was his own fault really since he knew that it was obvious Remus was having another bad dream. The next reason why he shouldn't have told James was because he had transformed the dorm, whilst Remus had been pitifully whimpering, into something a unicorn wouldn't even touch.
Gold and Red streamed everywhere with lions that actually roared at him whenever he passed. Then there were the cannons he had hidden around the school. Remus didn't know when James had done it but he was constantly on alert ever since he passed a chair in the common room. He was still wiping off red streamers that had stuck themselves to his person when he entered the great hall.
Sirius had ran ahead and piled high his plate with what looked from afar to be chocolate cupcakes. "We had the elves make a special breakfast for you," James told him sauntering over to Sirius. He may have given in to the cupcakes.
The others were sharing his birthday breakfast of chocolate pastries when the owls came in. As expected his mum and dad had sent him a card with some chocolate as well as something wrapped in bright blue wrapping paper. The others were practically bouncing in their seats for him to open his present so he drew out reading the card for as long as possible.
"Open it already!" Sirius near screeched.
Remus smirked at him "Come on Remus we have our own prezzies to give," James begged.
He took apart the paper and was a little stunned at the stuffed wolf toy that fell out. He took the little note that came with it. Saw this and thought of you, love dad. Remus was half tempted to laugh at his dad's idea of a joke.
"Cute," James offered from his side so Remus passed the wolf to him.
"Where are these presents I've been promised then?" He asked them. James set the wolf in his lap before reaching under the table with the other two for their presents.
James had gotten him a ticket "It's for the Quidditch world cup! It's on over the summer and I thought we could all go. Don't worry Pete I've got one for you too," he grinned and explained about how it was a Potter tradition to go whenever it was hosted in England. Sirius already had a ticket since his parents were making an appearance for social purposes and since James didn't know if the other two had he got them tickets.
"This must have-"
"Nonsense!" James argued before Remus could object "We're going and that's that!"
Peter had gotten him a new scarf since his old one had died tragically in the second week of experimental spellcasting. As well as some sugar quills.
"Just thought it would make up for the ones I ate," He added sheepishly.
"You're forgiven Pete," he smiled and held out his hand for Sirius' present. It was small and neatly wrapped leaving no gaps to claw at which meant that Remus had to pry it open with a knife because he had no fingernails to speak of. Inside was a black box that opened to a clasp for a cloak. It looked expensive and when Remus tried to pick it up he realised that it was pure silver.
He dropped it to the table with a hiss and poured most of his pumpkin juice on his hand to relieve the burning. He held his eyes shut against the stinging and fought back tears, only looking up when a hand was placed on his shoulder.
"Mister Lupin are you alright?" It was professor Dumbledore. He knew the answer to his own question already and was just waiting for Remus to unclench his hand from inside the jug of water. "Come along and we'll make sure Poppy has a look at it." He held Remus' arm steady while he tried to bite back the lingering pain and stand up. He didn't dare look at his friends as he left the hall.
Pomphrey managed to put a salve on his hand that was cooling his good hand down considerably. Dumbledore had left him in the hospital wing with a smile before he went back to the great hall for breakfast. The school nurse had said that he would need to use his other hand whilst the salve did its work before she carted him off to the common room for the rest of the day.
They were seated in the big chairs when he got back. Most of the other students were still asleep since it was a Sunday so they managed to secure a whole section to themselves. His presents were laid out on the table in front of them. Save the clasp which Sirius was fingering with a frown. They all looked up when he sat down next to them but didn't say anything.
He finally knew that he should break the silence "I really like your presents," He tried.
James nodded "That's good."
"How's your hand," Peter asked before being bumped harshly by James.
"A bit painful and I can't use it for the rest of the day," He told them smiling at Peter to show it was alright. "I should have told you that I'm allergic to silver," He finally looked at Sirius when he spoke and watched as the boy met his gaze. He looked a bit confused but relieved that he finally got an answer as to why Remus had to leave the hall like that.
"That's a weird thing to allergic to," Peter said and was bumped again by James who even glared at him this time.
"Not really," A high voice sounded behind him "A lot of people are allergic to metal." It was Lily who was looking at the clasp in Sirius' hand. "I'm guessing you had a reaction to it then?" He nodded. She turned to the others "It happened at Christmas when I asked him to put my new necklace on me. There was a horrible mark."
"It's still there," Sirius said turning to look at her. She looked sheepish for a moment and grasped that the others weren't as fond of her presence as Remus seemed to be feeling and left with a 'Happy Birthday.' "I should have known," Sirius muttered.
"You weren't to though. I should have told you," he argued "I really do like it," He offered.
"You can't wear it though." He scoffed and chucked it into his pocked "I knew I should have gotten you something else. What boy wants a clasp for his birthday."
"No! I like it," which he did. It was really a nice clasp. There was a lion head that stared up at you and Remus would have bet anything that it was magical in some way. He loved little things like that. "Why don't you wear it instead?" He asked "I'd get to see it but you'd wear it," Sirius just looked at him like he had went mad.
"That's not what a present's supposed to do," Remus just looked at it again and felt himself settle on the idea of Sirius wearing it.
"Sure it is. I'm meant to get enjoyment out of it. And if I see you wearing it I can see how it works. It is magical right?" He asked eagerly and urged Sirius to get it out again. He watched as the boy attached it to his robe before pulling another side closer to clasp on to the other side of the lion's head.
As soon as the two were in place the lion opened it's mouth in a mock roar and stayed there until Sirius pushed the nose of it and it released the other side smoothly. Once the demonstration was complete Remus knew that he was going to have Sirius wear it if only so he could watch it roar. Magic was really something.
After breakfast James urged Remus down to the Quidditch pitch so that James could impart some wisdom onto him. In reality it was Remus holding onto James for dear life as he treated him to a birthday fly and Sirius shouting insults from the stands. Peter was on the other side encouraging James into doing death defying stunts with Remus on board for which Remus shouted that.
"Peter I swear to Merlin shut up now or Sirius being locked out for two nights will be nothing to what I do to you!"
He vaguely heard Sirius egging Peter on to shout more stunts to James but was too busy trying not to die. It was when they flew dangerously close to the whomping willow that Remus feared enough to take charge. "Turn around!"
"What?" James called back.
"Turn around before we're knocked off!" He screeched trying to turn James himself. The boy stopped and turned around to get Remus to repeat himself but he didn't even know if he would have gotten anything out.
One branch swiped and hit James' broom sending them sideways and further into the whacking zone. Realising the peril that they were in James tried to dodge, as well as he could, the thick branches. They knocked the broom around like a child playing with a ball and as soon as they thought they were out of danger another one hit them. Remus didn't know how he hadn't fallen and guessed it was because of his death grip on James' ribs.
Two more shoves and one close call Remus could feel his leg starting to ache as the pain from the branches finally registered. James had been hit in the head on that last one and Remus knew they were going to have to think of a way out. He spotted it when two branches waved their way back to prepare for another hit.
"James," He called sitting up straighter to reach his ear "See those two branches," He pointed "They're going to come towards us any second. You need to aim for the base of the tree where the branches meet," He pointed down to the place where the two intersected. "As soon as they start getting closer it's going to open up. Start diving when I tell you," He commanded and felt another branch batter his probably shattered leg. The two branches had gained enough distance for a hard hit and were starting to close in. He focused on the gap whilst James was dodging another wayward branch. The gap had started to open "Now!"
James dived and soon enough the branches hit where they had once been and the gap was big enough for James' broom with them both on it to fit through. He skirted the ground and Remus watched in horror as the tree seemed to know they were under it's branches and began to fall onto them. He urged James faster and they had just cleared the area when a gust of wind from the fallen tree propelled them into the open doors of the castle.
The tail on James' broom was shattered the moment it hit off the door which meant that he had lost control over which way they went. They ended up knocking over more suits of armour than Remus knew existed in the castle before James managed to get the broom to come to a skidding halt. He flew from the sudden momentum of the stop onto the floor, pulling James with him.
Sirius and Peter came charging in just as McGonagall came down with Filch. She demanded to know what was going on which James was more than happy to tell her. Filch protested that they had almost destroyed a Hogwarts relic and Remus had to hide his smirk since he knew better about the tree's planting. James was livid that Dumbledore didn't mention the existence of the tree for which McGonagall couldn't see any fault in. Somehow they avoided detention for their activities and were sent to the hospital wing with a grumbling McGonagall holding James' broom at length.
"Ow!" James whined as Pomphrey attended to the bleeding scratch on his head. "This is awful. My broom is gone, I'm injured and what's worse is that I have to wait until next Christmas for another one."
"Is that all your concerned about?" Remus called from his sick bed. The knee had been severely bruised and in need of looking at. "We almost died and you're complaining about your broom."
"But it was such a good broom," James moaned and fell heavily back onto his own bed. Pomphrey went to go get more dittany for them.
"Such a good broom," Remus got up from his own bed and lightly smacked James when he got onto his "I," hit "am never," another hit "going riding with you," he got him in the ribs in between James' laughingly batting hands "again!"
"Alright Remus," He called "Sirius help!" and Remus felt two hands gingerly holding him back.
"We'll get him later Remus," Sirius promised sending an evil look at James.
The boy just writhed on the bed and whined that "Everyone's out to get me!"
"Serves you right for trying to kill Remus on his birthday!" Peter chimed from the chair next to James' bed.
"Even you Peter? Oh why, why must you turn them so young?" He called dramatically to Sirius.
They both smiled at each other ignoring James' dramatics. Pomphrey gave them the okay after the feast in the great hall meaning a trip to the kitchens was required. When James announced that "The Birthday boy has arrived!" The elves went nuts and were delivering things to Remus that he didn't even want.
A cake was made and candles appeared out of nowhere for him alongside the bountiful feast. He made his wish almost as soon as it was set on the table just so he could have some cake. It was three layers of chocolatey heaven which Remus would hoard for days to come.
Finally they retired to the dorm where they changed lazily into their pyjamas vowing to never eat that much again. James collapsed into his bed the first chance he got telling all of them to leave him in the morning if he doesn't wake up. Peter stayed up with Sirius and Remus longer. He pulled out a wizarding chess set that some third year had left in the common room and tried to teach Remus how to play before annihilating Sirius.
"I'm telling you he's cheating," He muttered when Peter went to the toilet.
"He is not. Just face the fact that someone's better at you," Remus smirked and settled more comfortably next to his chest. "Hey Sirius."
He turned "Yeah?"
"I think I might go in my bed tonight," He said. It was something he had been thinking about this morning on the way down to breakfast.
"Okay. Make sure you close the curtains though. I know you like them open sometimes but I can never get to sleep with them," He said trying to figure out Peter's strategy.
"Actually I was thinking about going in alone. Y'know, you sleep in yours and me in mine," This time he had Sirius' full attention.
"But why?" He seemed genuinely confused at why Remus would want to sleep alone in his own bed. Despite the fact it was weird for them to be sharing in the first place.
"Because I don't like waking up and expecting you to be doubled over in pain. I've kicked you more times than I would have liked this past week along. At least this way one of us will get some sleep Sirius," He didn't really want to himself since he had grown accustomed to there being another person there but knew that Sirius did need to have a bed partner who wouldn't kick him silly if it was meant to be comforting to both of them.
"No," the boy said "I don't want to and neither do you so don't try and kick me out. I don't care how many times you kick me Remus I sleep better with you around than I do on my own," and turned back to the game. It seemed that Sirius had settled the manner since Peter came out soon afterwards and finished defeating Sirius' chess army.
They both ignored Remus' suggestion for the rest of the night. Peter had defeated Sirius three to one before the third year whose chess set Peter had taken knocked on their door for it back. After that they had four games of exploding snap with Peter keeping well away from the deck of cards after the incident before Christmas. They called it a night when they spent half an hour trying to give Remus' new stuffed wolf a good name. The argument between whether to stay true to the mythological magic of Remus' name and call the wolf Romulus and calling it Mr Snuffles was what finally prompted them to realise it was time for bed.
"I still stand by snuffles," Sirius declared sliding in next to Remus. He had shut the curtains closest to the window like Sirius suggested and was watching the boy throw the wolf in the air a few times.
"I dunno. Peter was right about the poeticness. After all he is a wolf and the children of Rome were raised by one," he teased.
Sirius turned to him with a mocking grin "Well you weren't and I still call you snuffles. Poetics is dumb and you know it."
"You never call me snuffles," He chuckled as Sirius put the wolf into some kind of dance.
"Really? Well we'll have to change that." He tossed the wolf around a bit more before pulling it close to himself "Are you sure that it doesn't do anything?"
"What are pure-blood stuffed toys like?" He asked instead.
Sirius shrugged "Never had one. But James said that his stuffed dragon could fly. Don't suppose snuffles howls at the moon or something?"
"No." He took the wolf off him and put it in the middle of them "It's a muggle toy so there's nothing magical about it. All it does is lie there until you move it."
"Seems boring," Sirius commented lying next to him and putting the wolf on his chest.
"To you maybe."
It was in mock howl now "Why did they get you one anyway? I would've thought you'd be too old for a stuffed toy."
"Says the person playing with it," He sighed not knowing how to explain his dads joke present "They saw it and thought of me," He settled on and thought back to what Peter had said about poetics. "Mum's a mythology fan which is why I'm named Remus and Dad spends every opportunity he can to remind me of it. The wolf was just a little joke." Which was the partial truth in any case.
"Damn," Sirius muttered "Guess we'll have to call it Romulus after all." He nosed the wolf close to Remus' face which he batted off. "Night Rem," He called and settled down to sleep.
"Night," He muttered back smirking at the fact that Sirius hadn't given the 'boring' stuffed wolf back.
He waited until Sirius had started snoring before getting up and moving towards the window. The room was still cold since it was still February not to mention there was a draft from the window. The moon hung half full and glaring back at him. The reason for his sleepless nights.
He didn't know what to do anymore. Ignoring what was happening while he was gone wasn't helping anything. It made them worry and people who were afraid often went outside boundaries to help those in need. They looked deeper into everything that someone did and Remus didn't need the scrutiny. He had already laid himself bare. They knew about the scars, the disappearances and now the silver. It wouldn't take much more prying before they started piecing things together. He only thanked Merlin that they were saving Werewolves until second and third year. Who knows what would have happened if they compared the signs of the wolf to him.
He needed to stop worrying and do it quick. He needed to keep to his lies and pretend that there's nothing out of the ordinary going on. He couldn't make them worried and he wouldn't. Now he just had to convince his subconscious to agree with him.
"This is all your fault," He heard himself utter to the window. Although whether he was talking to his reflection or the moon he wasn't certain.
Turning away from the window he wished that tonight would be a good night. A night where he would wake up without punching or kicking someone and in the morning have the energy to think up ways to get James back for trying to kill him.
Maybe he could hunt down all those streamer cannons he thought with a smile. A cunning plan starting to form in his sleepy mind as he stole his pillow back from Sirius.