7.

Remus kept his eyes closed, afraid that the pounding behind his eyelids would only grow if he opened them. Everything hurt. His body seemed to be made of nothing but sharp aches and dull throbs, and he was so tired-

"Moony?" a far away, fuzzy voice said.

Remus didn't react. He just lied there, and felt himself start to drift off-

"C'mon, Moony, let's get you up onto the bed." Someone tugged at his arm and lifted his shoulders. "Ugh, Wormtail, gimme a hand?"

Someone else pulled on his other arm, and Remus was able to drag himself out of his semi-conscious state in time to get his feet under him, so James and Peter didn't have to carry him. They helped him stumble over to the bed, and as soon as Remus hit the mattress he let the exhaustion wash over him.

"Pomfrey's going to be here in a minute, Moons, we gotta go, okay?" James' voice seemed so far away. "We'll come see you in the hospital wing this afternoon, all right?"

Remus let out a quiet noise of agreement and opened his eyes blearily. Soft, golden light was beginning to trickle its way through the window. One more full moon down. "Thanks," he said softly, amazed at how much effort it took to say that one word.

James grinned at him. "No problem."

Remus glanced over to where Peter was pulling the Invisibility Cloak out of the wardrobe they always stashed it in. A thought tickled the back of his mind, and it took a moment for it to form completely. "Where's Sirius?"

James hesitated for an instant before saying, "He couldn't make it."

"Oh." For some reason the sting of that statement hurt worse than anything else.

"We have to go," Peter said, a little nervous twinge in his voice. He hated cutting it close.

"We'll come see you this afternoon, okay?" James repeated.

"Yeah," Remus nodded, and closed his eyes.

When they got back to their dormitory Peter collapsed on his bed with a happy sigh. "You know, I like running around with Moony during the full, but I'm always sssoooo tired afterward." Peter yawned hugely and James grinned.

"Just be glad you're running around as a rat and not a werewolf," he said, thinking of all the times they had carried Remus to the bed simply because he was too exhausted to move.

"And that it's saturday," Peter said, and a few moments later he started snoring softly.

James didn't sleep. He sat on his bed, staring at the curtains Sirius had drawn around his bed, and thinking. After a while there was the soft rustle of blankets and the creak of bedsprings. A moment later, Sirius opened his curtains and sat up, swinging his legs over the edge and rubbing his face groggily. He looked at James, sitting wide awake and fully clothed on his bed and asked, "Whatcha doin, Prongs?"

"Nothing, really. Pete and I just got back from the Shack a while ago."

Sirius stared at him for a moment before flopping back down onto his bed and saying, quietly, "Fuck."

"I bet you have a good reason for forgetting," James said coolly, even though he was pretty sure he already knew what that reason was, and didn't think it was good at all. When Sirius didn't reply, he added, "Remus is fine, by the way." He waited for Sirius to say something- anything- but the silence stretched on and finally James broke it. "I hope it was worth it."

"What?" Sirius asked, still lying down and sounding as though he really didn't care.

"I saw you chase after that flamer from Ravenclaw- Liam Gray." James said, knowing he was being insulting and cruel but at that moment thinking that Sirius deserved it.

"What?" Sirius asked again, though he sat up this time and gave James a bewildered look.

James didn't buy it. "You ditched your friends to hook up with a guy you've spoken to maybe twice in your entire life, so... I hope it was worth it."

Sirius stared at him for a moment before sputtering, "That is not what happened!"

"Then what did happen?" James frowned, not really believing him.

Sirius faltered and started to gnaw on his fingernails. "I just... I just forgot, I guess. I ran into... Regulus- and I forgot."

"You forgot?" James asked incredulously. "Padfoot, we've been doing this for a year now. Becoming animagi was your idea. How could you forget?"

"I have my own problems, you know," Sirius snapped. "I just forgot. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You definitely have problems," he agreed. After a moment James decided to forgive him and asked, "What did Regulus have to say?"

But Sirius just snorted, shook his head, and started getting dressed.

"Where are you going?"

"To see Remus."

"He'll be sleeping."

"Then to eat breakfast." By then he was dressed; he stormed out, slamming the door behind him. Peter grunted in his sleep but didn't wake up. James just sighed and kicked off his shoes, and decided that it was a good thing Sirius didn't want to be followed, because he was just too tired to try.

Sirius picked at his breakfast, eating little. The toast tasted like cardboard, and the look of the eggs made him nauseous. It was early on a saturday, so the Great Hall was relatively empty, and he was glad for it. He needed a little time in the daylight, away from his nightmares and friends, to think. He'd forgotten about the full moon, twice in the space of an hour. That was nothing short of ridiculous, but the only thing he could do about that was apologize and make sure it didn't happen again. What he couldn't do, is explain why it had happened at all, and that's what really got him. He really was a terrible liar, especially when he tried to lie to James, but he really didn't have a choice. Telling James that he'd run into Regulus instead of Snape was a safe lie, though. James wouldn't talk to Regulus, but if he ever got wind of the fact that Snape was blackmailing his best friend, he'd pounce and rip him to shreds, but that wouldn't stop Snape from telling the entire school...

He sighed and rested his head on the table, trying to think of a way to apologize to Remus, of a lie to tell his friends that would at least keep them at a distance if it didn't completely fool them-

thwack

Sirius jumped and sat up to see a pile of parchment that had been slapped down on the table next to his head. "What the-"

"My transfiguration homework," a sneering voice said, and Sirius twisted in his seat to see Snape standing over him. Snape regarded him for a moment before saying coolly, "You look tired, Black. Nightmares?"

Sirius just snorted and turned back to his breakfast.

"Wet dreams, then? About your own father? Disgusting."

Without thinking, Sirius was on his feet, his hand fisted in the front of Snape's robes, wand under Snape's chin, but Snape just raised an eyebrow at him and said, "Do you honestly believe I won't tell? I will. And I'll enjoy it."

Sirius knew that was true so, even though it bruised his ego and made him shake with fury, he let go of Snape and sat back down, turning, once again, to his breakfast.

"It's due monday," Snape said, and Sirius could hear the smirk in his voice.

Remus could feel the sunlight on his face. He was warm and comfortable, minus a few small aches and pains, and all he really wanted to do right then was fall back asleep- but he heard something, someone shifting in a chair, and curiosity beat out sleep. He opened his eyes and looked around.

"Hey, Moony," Sirius said.

Remus stared at him for a moment, trying to decide how he wanted to react. "Hey."

"How are you feeling?" Sirius asked, shifting nervously.

""M fine," Remus shrugged and sat up. "What happened to you last night?" And something had happened, he could see it in Sirius' face.

"What?"

"What happened? Why didn't you come to the Shack?"

"I... I ran into Regulus," Sirius muttered.

"What did he have to say?" Remus asked quietly. Sirius was lying to him.

"Just brother stuff. You know." Remus just stared at him, his face impassive. After a moment Sirius continued. "And afterward, I was... I just... I was kind of upset and I just... went to bed. Completely forgot about the moon, Moony, I'm sorry."

Remus shrugged. "It's all right."

Sirius looked as though he didn't quite believe him. "Really?"

"Yeah," Remus said. "Like I said last night, it's not your problem to deal with. So don't worry about it."

"Moony, that's not it-"

"Then what is it?" Remus interrupted.

Sirius opened his mouth to reply, but then promptly closed it.

"It's fine Sirius. Now if you don't mind, I'm tired. I'd like to go back so sleep."

Sirius blinked, then nodded and said, "Yeah, all right, Moony. I'll see you later." He left.

Remus lied back down and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes for a moment. He'd meant what he'd said the night before, that he couldn't and didn't expect his friends to take care of his problems for him... But then why did it hurt so much that Sirius hadn't shown up last night? He knew it was selfish of him to be hurt, to be angry, and he hated himself for it, but he truly couldn't help it. The fact that Sirius had lied to him hurt worse. Remus wasn't sure what had happened last night, but he was sure that Sirius hadn't talked to Regulus.

A/N: WOW. It has been SOOOO long since I posted ANYTHING and I am really really sorry. Hopefully now that school is winding I'll have more time to write. Anyway, it was kind of hard to get back into the swing of things, ('things' being writing fanfics). How'd I do?