Author's Note: I've got some wacky thing going on with one of my fingers, so it's hard to type. Please review!!

Remus Lupin was sad to say that he was slowly becoming attached to the boys he shared a room with. He vowed he would never let that happen, but it seemed he was breaking his promise, and the longer he stayed with them, the more difficult it became to keep his secret.

James was the most difficult because he was so interested in knowing everything about a person. He was a truly kind-hearted boy, and all he knew in life was helping people. Unfortunately, he did not understand when it was better for him to stay out of it.

"You don't look good."

James also had a tendency to be completely blunt.

"Thanks," said Remus, looking away as James sat down across from him.

Remus had been trying to eat a bowl of cereal for a quarter of an hour, but his stomach just wouldn't have it. He knew the full moon was approaching, but his stomach pains were mostly caused by nerves. He was not sure how he would be able to hide it from his—dare he even think it—friends.

"Are you going to be sick?" James asked.

Remus stood up from the table and left the Great Hall without answering him. Sighing, James did him the favor of eating the rest of his food.

Remus made a very tough decision to skip classes for the day. It was not only risky because of all the work he would miss. He also had to worry about what James would think and say, but he couldn't go. He was at risk of passing out in the middle of a lesson, which probably would not be too good.

Sirius was trying to concentrate on brewing his damn potion, but James continued to interrupt.

"So, it's definitely an illness."

"Yes, James," said Sirius, rolling his eyes.

"You want to be careful with that, Mr. Black," said Professor Slughorn, chuckling.

Sirius looked closely at the jar in his hand, seeing that James had given him the wrong one.

"You're an idiot," said Sirius, grabbing the jar of black beetles next to the spot where the previous jar had been. "You need to focus on something other than Remus."

Sirius picked out the right amount from the new jar to place in his cauldron.

"I am focusing on other things," said James.

Sirius did not have to look up from the ingredients to know that James was staring at Lily. He rolled his eyes. "You'll have more luck becoming her friend," said Sirius, "if you don't kick her chair."

James looked offended. "What?"

"You—"

"Shh," said James. "Listen, I'm going to interrogate Remus after Transfiguration. "Are you sure that's enough of those?"

"Yes," said Sirius.

James shook his head, dropping another beetle in for good luck. "I think that should improve the color."

Sirius sighed. "Well, I'm going to fail now," he said. After all that work…"

James looked skeptical. "What are you talking about?"

The potion suddenly turned blue.

"It's bubbling," said James.

Without warning (according to James; Sirius thought that bubbling had been a pretty good warning sign), the potion blew up in their faces.

James wiped his glasses on his shirt, grinning uneasily. "Well, look on the bright side. Mine's fine. I'll probably leave out the spice of the extra beetle."

"Good plan."

"You left me without a partner in Transfiguration!"

"Sorry," said Remus.

James sat down on his bed, pulling his shoes off. He smiled. "I'm only kidding. Are you feeling better?"

Remus tried to sit up straighter. "Not really," he said honestly.

"Where are Sirius and Peter?"

"Peter's talking to Flitwick about his last test, and Sirius got pulled over by Slughorn."

"And you abandoned him?"

"I had no choice," said James.

James took out his Charms book. "I have to do this, and I was paying no attention in this class."

Remus laughed. "You should—" He took a deep breath. "Never mind."

James looked up from his homework. "Are you sure you're doing okay? You're so pale."

"I'm always pale," said Remus.

James chuckled. "True."

James went back to working on his Charms, and Remus tried to rest, but he should have known that just because James was working on home, it didn't mean the conversation was over.

"Remus, I was wondering if you might like to spend the Christmas break at my house. I mean, I understand if your family wants to be with you, but I thought I'd ask."

Remus looked back at James. He was not looking at Remus, however. He was copying things from his textbook onto a piece of parchment.

Did James really want him as a friend this badly? Remus had thought that it was merely a friendship made to keep peace in the dormitory and in Transfiguration, but James clearly considered him a good friend.

The thought scared Remus a little bit. He had promised himself that he would not be enticed into a friendship. He was lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend school with other students. Did he have to ruin his school life by giving his friendship to someone who would reject him, then tell the whole world about his secret. Remus felt ominously close to betraying his vow.

Peter disturbed Remus' thoughts by walking into the room at that moment.

"Hey," he said. "Sirius not back yet?"

James shook his head. "I'd like to extend my offer to you, Peter. Want to come to my house for the holiday?"

Peter's answer seemed to require little or no thought. "Yeah," he said. "I'll write my parents now."

Peter scurried to open his night table drawer for quills and parchment.

Remus decided that if his friends were going to abandon him eventually, he would have to live his life with them while he could.

"I would like to go. I'm just not sure my dad will be okay with it. I don't live with him, so our time together is limited."

James nodded understandingly. "My parents are together, but my dad's a workaholic, so I don't see him much."

James looked away. "So, you'll try to come?"

"Yes," said Remus. "Now, you look pale."

"Yeah," said James, rubbing the back of his next. "I'm fine."

At the risk of being bothered again about his own problems, Remus decided to just keep his mouth shut.

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"Oh, DON'T even pretend you understand!"

Sirius stopped in his tracks, hearing two students arguing around the corner from him. Perhaps they would be done quickly.

"I don't. I don't care. How long does it take a person to pick up and move on?"

Sirius couldn't deny that he was nosy, and he wanted to know what they were talking about, but he knew they would either stop talking or attack him if he dared to cross their path.

The girl sounded tearful. "I am trying. It's not that easy, okay?"

The boy just sounded irritated. "Well, I'm trying to help, but I have a lot going on in my life right now."

What a selfish jerk. Sirius didn't care who they were. Assuming he was the boyfriend, Sirius knew the guy should not have been treating his girlfriend that way.

"And I don't?"

Sirius couldn't help himself. He took a quick peek at the couple, and then he turned back. He recognized the girl immediately. She was the girl James had pointed to in the Great Hall the first night of school—his sister. Sirius could now see why James did not like her boyfriend.

"Look, I get it."

"Do you?"

"It's been six months, okay?" said the boyfriend. "I just—"

"Let go of me."

Though Sirius could not see it, he must have grabbed her…or she had tried to walk away from him…or something. He wished he could watch invisibly.

"And what's with your obsession with your brother now? Think he can't take care of himself?"

"I'm worried about him," she said, beginning to cry.

"He's a big boy. I think he can handle it without you sending him notes."

"I can't send my brother notes?"

"Ciara, I'm getting a little tired of you."

"Then, walk away!"

There was a moment of complete silence. Sirius had almost thought the two of them had dropped dead, and then he heard a loud slap.

"Don't ever speak to me that way."

Sirius was sure he knew what happened. Still, he had no proof. The boy had clearly looked around to make sure no one was around before he hit his girlfriend.

Soon enough, the couple walked away. Unfortunately, they left together. As soon as they were gone, Sirius continued his walk back to the common room.

When he arrived, he saw Lily Evans sitting alone with a book in her hand. Bypassing the other insignificant students, he made his way over to her.

"Hey, Lily."

Lily looked up from her book. "Oh, hi."

Sirius cleared his throat. "Can—can I call you that? Are we…are we like on those terms?"

Lily raised her eyebrow. "You can call me Lily," she said, laughing.

"Oh, okay," said Sirius, relieved. "I was wondering if I could interrupt you for something."

Lily put her book down on the table. "Absolutely."

"Okay," he said slowly. "Suppose I was eavesdropping, and I heard an argument…and I think I may have heard this guy slap his girlfriend…I mean, I don't know, and I have no proof. And, I mean…maybe this…was an accident."

"You can't accidentally hit someone," said Lily.

"Well…you know. I just…maybe I should keep it to myself, right? Like, I don't even know them."

"Hmm," said Lily. "That's kind of hard because…what can you really say?"

"Exactly."

"And you said you don't know either one of them?"

"Well…not directly…" Sirius was beginning to wish he hadn't started the conversation.

"Sirius," Lily said sternly, "tell me who it is."

Sirius collapsed in the chair across from her. It was very difficult to disobey Lily.

"James' sister."

Lily grimaced. "I think you're going to have to tell him."

Sirius had been afraid of that. He laid his forehead on the table with a groan. "I wish I knew nothing."

"You decided to eavesdrop," said Lily, sounding only somewhat sympathetic.

Sirius picked his head up from the table, pushing his dark hair out of his face. "James gets kind of weird…when he's mad. Like, he's always smiling, right? When he gets mad, you can hardly tell. It's more like he freezes, and then he goes back to normal. I don't like seeing it."

"Believe me. You would rather see James angry than see me angry, so don't hide this from him," said Lily, using her demanding tone again.

"Yes, ma'am," he said.

"Does James," said Lily, looking thoughtful, "ever mention his parents?"

"Yeah," said Sirius. "Why?"

Lily looked up at the staircase nervously, and she motioned for Sirius to come closer. "I hate gossiping like this, but…okay. I talk to his sister Mercedes at lunch sometimes."

"Okay…" said Sirius slowly.

"And she is obsessed with knowing anything and everything about my parents and Alice's parents, Gabriella's…it's crazy."

"Mhmm," said Sirius, now a tad bit more interested.

"Well," she glanced around nervously again, "she always says things are really rough around their house since about six months ago. Their mother is always—always working."

"James says his dad is working all the time too," said Sirius. "That's not so weird."

"She's completely against the topic of her dad, though. It's like he's a major taboo."

Sirius shook his head. "James is the total opposite. Everything is 'my dad this' and 'my dad that.' He practically worships the guy."

Lily sighed. "That's why I'm so curious, Sirius. May I call you Sirius?"

Sirius knew she was making fun of him, so he rolled his eyes and didn't bother to answer.

She went on. "I'm curious because their stories don't seem to mesh. According to James, his dad got some huge promotion, right? According to Mercedes, their dad is out of work."

"Weird," said Sirius.

"I know," said Lily. "Well, that's enough discussion about this for me."

"Yeah," said Sirius, feeling bad for talking about James behind his back. He got up from the chair. "Lily, I have to ask you."

"Hmm?"

"Do you hate him?" he asked.

"James?" Sirius nodded. "Hate is a very strong word. He just…annoys me purposely, all the time, and I don't know why. I never did anything to him."

Sirius decided not to hurt his friendship with James further by spilling the secret of his crush on her, so he shrugged.

"See you later," he said.

Sirius took his time walking up the stairs, deep in thought. Was it possible James had been lying to them? Besides the fact that he may have lied, why would he have lied about something so stupid? Still, his sister could have been lying too. Who was to say James was wrong? That was probably it. Sirius trusted James.

Sirius opened the door to his room.

The first thing Sirius noticed was Frank was missing again. "Hey," he said, announcing his presence. "Where's Frank?"

Remus chuckled. "Stocking up on food for me. James said I looked malnourished."

"You are sick, my friend," said James, smiling up at Sirius in the doorway. "What kept you so long?"

"Oh, you know Slughorn," said Sirius, walking over to his bed.

"Why'd he want to talk to you, Sirius?" asked Remus.

"James decided to ruin my potion this morning," said Sirius, glaring in his direction.

James smiled guiltily, closing his textbook. "I'm sorry."

Sirius shrugged. "He knows you did it, and he spent ten minutes praising my abilities, knowing that you had to have screwed it up."

James threw a pillow at him. "You know what, I was going to ask you to come stay with me over Christmas, but if you want to tell the world how much I suck…"

Sirius' eyes widened. He wouldn't have to go home or stay alone at school? Maybe he would even be able to find out the mystery of James' dad…but if there really were a mystery to discover, would James want them all over at his house?

"No need to look shocked," said James.

"Oh," said Sirius, coming back to reality. "Yeah, I'd love to go, and my parents will be happy to hear they'll only be dealing with one son…my dad, especially."

Sirius had thrown in the 'dad' comment, hoping James would show some sort of expression that would prove something was up, but James just smiled wider.

"So, you'll be able to?"

"Yeah," said Sirius, trying to hide his disappointment with James' lack of reaction.

"Great!"

"Your parents must be crazy busy, James," said Peter. "I mean, nine kids, and now they're taking in three more?"

"Just four of us officially live there," said James. "Two are married with their own kids, two are just out there in the business world, and one shows up almost every night. My mum can handle it."

"We are pretty unmanageable," said Sirius, grinning. He threw the pillow back at James. The thought of spending Christmas with the Potters was sounding better and better, and the bad thoughts from earlier on seemed to be disappearing.

"Nah," he said. "We're not that bad."

Frank returned with food spilling out of his arms. "I grabbed all I could."

"Yes!" said Sirius, lunging for it.

James grabbed some too, and he threw a few cauldron cakes at Remus. "Don't pass out."

"I'm fine," said Remus, laughing at James' concern.

Sirius sat down on the floor with James and Peter, occasionally grabbing some more food to eat or throw to Remus. He found himself staring, and he knew James noticed.

"What?" he asked, running his hand through his hair nervously.

"Nothing," said Sirius, looking down at the pile of food that sat before them. "So, Frank, tell me about your parents?"

He felt very stupid, but ever since Lily had mentioned the weird confusion about James' family, he had gotten it stuck within his mind that he had to know. He was James' friend, after all. That was fair, wasn't it?

"Umm…" Frank looked rather confused. "They're nice people."

"Remus?"

Remus, too, looked bewildered. "Uh…mine are fine."

"What about you, James?" Sirius asked.

"Mine are fine as well," said James. "Okay, I haven't had a chocolate frog in like forever."

James grabbed one from the pile, delighted. He didn't look any unhappier than he had before Sirius forced him to answer a very stupidly planned question.

Then, he whispered, "I'm not a liar."

Before Sirius could respond, James had resumed the chocolate frog discussion with Remus.

No matter how sincere James sounded, Sirius didn't believe him. Hopefully, this tiny new obsession wouldn't turn out like James' own obsession with Remus' illness.

Author's Note: Pleeeease review!