A/N: Thank you so much for reading, reviewing and favouriting me and my story, you're officially one of my favourite people if you have :P Please keep writing more reviews, more chapters on their way in the not too distant future! Enjoy

*

It was the June of that year before James, Sirius and Peter made any significant advance in their attempt at becoming animagi. Everything had remained very steady and gradual till then. Horns got bigger, pads got paddier, noses got pointier, patches of fur appeared sporadically upon their bodies and limbs became shorter or longer depending on which animal they were trying to become.

Remus was away transforming, so the other boys had gotten their books out and begun practicing again.

"Okay" lead James "1, 2, and concentrate! Con...cen...trate..." James was shaking with effort. His horns grew to full adult sized stag antlers, his ears became deer's ears, his legs and arms became sleek and long, hands and feet became hooves. His face lengthened, eyes moved to the sides of his head, nose became flat, square and black. His body became thicker and longer, neck did the same. He grew velvety light brown fir all over his body. Before long James Potter had become a fully grown stag, standing on his back legs before bucking forward, standing with all 4 hooves on the ground

"Holy Fuck!" Barked Sirius, amazed "This is fucking phenomenal James" he laughed and flung his arms around James the stag's neck. Sirius looked at his own arms, which were, dogs...arms? He looked down at himself, he was covered in thick black fir his own body was that of a dog, his legs, dogs legs, when he'd barked with amazement, he'd actually barked! He let go of James and walked to the bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror, he had become a huge, black shaggy dog. He re-entered the bedroom of the dorm, to find a mostly human Peter (having grown a rats tail, whiskers and ears but nothing else) with his eyes agog, an expression of astonishment smacked across his round face. Sirius looked up at the stag James, his eyes were screwed up, and he quickly transformed back into human James, Sirius followed suit.

"That... was AMAZING" squawked James, he danced on the spot and began jumping up and down and laughing.

"I KNOW!!!" Sirius reciprocated the jumping and laughing, and flung himself into a violent, jumpy hug with James.

"Wow guys, that was brilliant" said Peter sadly, his ears, whiskers and tail shrinking away.

"Aww, don't sound so down Peter, you'll get it soon enough, you're just not as fast as me and Sirius is all. Me and Sirius who are now FULLY FLEDGED ANIMAGI!!!" he screamed, an expression of pride and utter delight glowed on James's face.

*

The dream commences as always. We're in our garden again, the moon is full, and Sirius assures me I'm still safe. Sirius brushes his hair behind his ears and steps forward. Our bodies intertwined once again. As always, he leans left, I lean right. Our lips connect delicately; his tongue gently works its way into my mouth, and begins to wind it's self round my own, I taste him; his last meal, his toothpaste, his saliva, similar to my own, but somehow sweeter – addictive. My hands, entangled in his hair, now slip down his neck, feeling the crevasses of his spine, my hands soon find themselves clapped firmly around his arse. I squeeze, his storm cloud eyes flash like lightning, and he moans softly and bites down on my lip. His hands, which had been round my waste, slip down the front of my jeans they begin to

"Upsey Daisies Remus! It's Lunch time!"

Fucking hell "Good morning Sirius" he said exasperated, he had been lying on his side, he rolled onto his back and Sirius giggled "What?"

"Oh nothing... more interesting dreams?"

"I suppose, how did you know?" said Remus frowning a little, looking at Sirius, his eyes flashing wickedly as they had just done in his dream, he raised his eye brows and smirked. He nodded his head towards Remus's crotch

"Scouts could camp under that Remus" he giggled. Remus looked downward and found himself pitching quite an obvious tent.

"Holy fuck" Remus's head flopping into his hands

"What?"

"This is incredibly embarrassing!"

"No it's not, I don't think any less of you for it" he put on his flirting voice "in fact, I'm quite impressed to be perfectly honest" Remus asked any deity that jumped to mind not to let him be as astonishingly red in the face as he thought he was.

"Shut up" he gathered up his clothes and shuffled into the Hospital Wing Bathroom. It was bad enough that over the months his Sirius dreams had gotten gradually more graphic, but the fact that Sirius had seen that just dragged his shame to a whole new level. Fantasising over Sirius had become a daily occurrence now, he would elegantly worm his way into any stray thought Remus had, his day dreams were now constantly occupied by him and Sirius in one compromising position or another. What was worse, perhaps, is that after his first dream, when Sirius had asked him who he was dreaming about, Sirius had (quite rightly) become convinced he was the subject. Remus took care of the souvenir his latest dream had given him (by thinking about Sirius, how else) pulled on his clothes and exited the bathroom, to find Sirius waiting impatiently for him

"You were ages in there!"

"Sorry, where are-"

"Wanking perhaps?"

"Fuck off Sirius"

"Sorry" he said mockingly, waving his hands in the air as they exited the Hospital Wing and made their way down to the Great Hall

"Where are Peter and James?"

"Feeding Peter, you should stop asking me that"

"Why?"

"Because, at meals times, the answer will always be "feeding Peter"" they laughed "Dreaming about me again then?"

"No, and I never will, no matter how much you clearly want me to"

"Me thinks the wolfy doth protest too much" Sirius grinned maliciously, Remus whacked him on the arm "OUCH!" Sirius grabbed the place Remus had hit him, his face wore an expression of either mock or genuine outrage, Remus could never tell which

"Sorry, it just gets annoying" Remus didn't mean to hurt him, but he insisted on, however inadvertently, digging at the rawest nerve he had

"Gets annoying how much you blatantly want to do me?" Remus glared, he wasn't that transparent

"I can't believe that Lily thinks James is the arrogant one"

"Lily?"

"Evans"

"Oh yeah, she wants to do me as well" he playfully licked his lips, Remus raised his eye brows

"And what, pray tell, evidence is this based on?"

"None really, everybody seems to want to some Black action – Blaction, if you will"

"You really do have one of the biggest ego's I have ever come across"

"I know, but you love me for it, don't you?" he winked

You have no Idea

*

Remus and Sirius were a matter of metres away from the Great Hall. Recently, the Slytherin's had become rather lazy in what had appeared to be a vendetta against Remus, only hexing him very occasionally, with spells so weak Peter could block them. But on this day, Malfoy had been the one of his group of Slytherins to spot Remus

"Fag" he called, adding what could've been a rather nasty stinging hex, had Remus not quickly cast a shield charm. Usually, he would've ignored this and carried on walking but Remus had been with Sirius, who was known to go to some extreme measures to defend his friend (having put both Crabbe and Goyle in the hospital wing in January with a single curse)

"What the fuck do you think you're doing Malfoy?"

"Oh no" he spat lazily "Fruit Lupe's got his boyfriend with him, I'm terrified" he sneered, he always sneered

"Sirius, just ignore him-"

"No Remus, I'm not letting him get away with treating you like this!"

"Oh goodness Black, I really am scared stiff, look at his angry face, horrifying isn't it" he laughed, Sirius's "angry face" had always maintained a childish pouty quality

"Fuck you Malfoy, you inbred shit"

"Ha! Me, inbred, this is coming from a Black!"

"That's coming from someone trying to fuck my cousin"

"I am not trying to fuck Narcissa!" snapped Malfoy, looking surprisingly hurt

"I know you aren't trying to fuck her, I heard you love her. I was talking about Bellatrix, I see the lust in your beady little eyes. But whichever floats your boat, I think they're both fuck ugly and clearly mental, but like I said whichever..."

"LEVICORPUS" Sirius found himself dangling upside down from his ankles; his robes flapped down and hit him in the face. Sirius was glad he put trousers on under his robes today. "Never, speak like that about Narcissa again"

"I'll do what I want"

"Promise never to speak about her like that again"

"No fucking way"

"Sectum Sempra!" Sirius felt a horrible burning sting on his stomach and chest; his flesh most certainly had been cut, he felt a damp warmth running down his torso

"What the fuck did you do to him Malfoy?" growled Remus

"What the fuck has he done to me Remus?"

"What's wrong Fruit Lupe? Feeling protective of your boyfriend? Want the nasty sixth year to leave him alone?" he mocked. Sirius had no idea what was happening, his robes hung over his face and he couldn't move his arms, the pain on his body had worsened

"Drop him Malfoy! He's going to bleed to death"

"I am?" He heard Malfoy's cold hollow laugh

"Drop him!" The laugh became almost hysteric "I'm warning you Malfoy" Remus's every word was growled "Put him the fuck down" the laugh became hideous, unbearable and Sirius could tell without seeing Remus's face, he was glowering at Malfoy, in the dreadful way he sometimes did glower, the way that made his every delicate feature seem distinctly wolfish. Sirius had no idea, what had happened next. He heard Remus give a low, hollow growl, the sound of feet scraping on the stone floor; he'd heard Malfoy shriek and he'd fallen to the floor and been knocked unconscious.

*

Sirius woke up an hour later, Madam Pomfrey leaning over him, re dressing the deep cuts on his mid section.

"What happened?" asked Sirius, feeling horribly light headed

"Well, it seems that Mr. Malfoy used the "Sectum Sempra" curse on you during your argument, Severus Snape invented it, took us almost 45 minutes to get him to stop it bleeding. Malfoy used it while you were suspended upside down. When he refused to put you down Remus attacked him, I believe he jumped on him and began to hit him, he pushed his wrists down if he tried to get up. Malfoy dropped you and you were knocked unconscious. Because Mr. Malfoy had Remus worked up into such a fury, he didn't notice when you hit the floor. Luckily, Mr. Potter and Mr. Pettigrew had been walking by at the time. Mr Pettigrew brought you here and after Mr Potter had removed Remus from Mr. Malfoy, brought both of them in here as well. As Remus came out unscathed, he is now speaking to the Headmaster. Malfoy and you have to go in once you've recovered." Sirius rolled his head to the left to get a good look at what Remus had done to Malfoy. His eyes were mauve and badly swollen, they reminded Sirius of plums. He had dark purple blotches all over his cheeks; presumably where Remus's knuckles had collided with Malfoy's face. His lip had popped and his nose was bleeding, resulting in Malfoy being covered in blood. His gums were also bleeding, and every exposed piece of skin was covered in scratches.

"He got what was coming to him" grumbled Sirius. Madam Pomfrey frowned, but obviously agreed with him. She walked over to Malfoy's bed.

"Time to heal those wrists Mr. Malfoy, it's a simple spell and you'll have stay to take Skel-o-grow tonight" she said disdainfully

"No... Hurts too much"

"Do stop whining" Malfoy groaned and writhed when she touched his wrists "Well you should've thought about this before you started tormenting that poor boy" she snapped.

"What did Remus do to his wrists?"

"He crushed them when he held Malfoy down"

"Christ"

"Indeed" replied Madam Pomfrey, struggling to keep a straight face as Malfoy whimpered and squirmed "You'd think a seventeen year old would be able to deal with a healing spell wouldn't you?"

*

"Do you feel you're calm enough to speak with me now Mr. Lupin?" Asked Dumbledore, staring at Remus across the desk of his study. Remus had flown into a bad rage. He hadn't had one like that since... ever. He had had difficulty calming down; his breathing was still too rapid for him to speak properly.

"Yes" he said trying to sound as cool as possible

"Now, will you care to explain why you attacked Lucius Malfoy?"

"He was hurting Sirius, really badly, he was going to bleed to death, wouldn't put him down... levicorpus"

"I see, and you couldn't have used your wand to lower Sirius yourself?"

"Got so angry Sir... Wasn't thinking straight... wanted to hurt him so badly... laughing at me. Not usually like this... it's been building up for a long time"

"How so?"

"I hate him"

"With good reason as well" Remus's eyes widened at this "We've all heard the stories of you and Mr. Malfoy. The only reason I didn't expel him was due to his father's influence at the ministry, expelling him would have caused undue uproar and boys like him just aren't worth making such a fuss over. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes headmaster, I would"

"So you would also agree that, however deserved it was, Lucius Malfoy is not worth getting into trouble over?"

"I was more angry that he was hurting Sirius sir. And Sirius is worth getting into trouble for" He noted Dumbledore's "Do go on" eye brow raise "He'd do the same for me... It was just unfortunate that it was Malfoy trying to hurt him, and I'm, still a little unbalanced from the full moon"

"I understand Remus. You have to promise me you'll never attack another student again."

"Yes Sir"

"You have to mean it, another unprovoked attack will result in your expulsion" Remus's jaw dropped "I'm sorry Remus, but another incident like this might cause some questions to be asked about you, rather prying questions"

"I understand sir, I wouldn't have fought with anyone again. He was just being Malfoy, being Malfoy hurting Sirius. I can't stand seeing Sirius hurt sir, I just... I can't"

"I understand. I had a friend I felt for like you feel for Mr. Black. A simple curse for them is like a knife right in your heart" At Remus's confused look, Dumbledore simply smiled "You may leave now Mr. Lupin"

*

"Do you feel you're well enough to speak with me now Mr Black?" Asked Dumbledore, standing to the left of Sirius's bed in the hospital wing

"s'pose" he half smiled at the Headmaster

"Wonderful, Sherbet Lemon?" he asked offering the packet to Sirius

"No thank you sir" said Sirius, feeling like if he ate anything he might vomit. Sirius had never dealt badly with the sight of blood but his own blood was quite a different story

"Oh well, more for me" he said warmly, popping a sweet in his mouth "Would you care to explain the events which lead to yours and Mr. Malfoy's incapacitation?"

"Of course not sir" Said Sirius, feigning the good cheer he was so well known for "Malfoy called Remus a, pardon my language sir, a fag and tried to hex him, so I asked him what the funk he thought he was doing, then he mocked me, the he insulted both me and Remus, then my family."

"Then he hung you upside down?"

"Oh – no, I insulted my cousin Narcissa first" He then stage whispered to Dumbledore "He loves her"

"And then he hung you upside down"

"Yes sir, he did. He told me to apologise, I was like, hell no and he was all like promise never to insult Narcissa again. And again, I was like hell no!"

"Then he used Sectum Sempra?"

"Precisely, then Remus got a little crazy when he refused to put me down" Sirius felt a pang of guilt "He's not in trouble because of it, is he sir? He was only defending me. He got a bit carried away, but he's a bit protective, that's all, he'd never hurt-"

"-anyone on purpose?"

"Exactly" smiled Sirius

"There's no need to worry Sirius. Remus is not in trouble, house points have been deducted, as they will be from Slytherin, more heftily as I believe it was Malfoy who provoked the two of you. I would like to inform you that Remus will be expelled if he attacks another student. And as it was you he felt so compelled to protect. I suggest you yourself try to stay out of fights, if it's not too much trouble."

"If it keeps Remus in Hogwarts sir I'll have absolutely no trouble at all" Said Sirius, shocked Remus could be expelled just like that but he was sure this was only a one off, there was no need to worry.

"Excellent, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and chat with Mr. Malfoy, what fun" Dumbledore said rolling his eyes.

*

"So you're definitely okay now Remus?" asked James eyes wide with concern as Remus exited Dumbledore's study

"Yes, James I'm positive, I'm calm. I have no desire to rip Malfoy's throat out" Said Remus flatly, they began to walk back to Gryffindor tower

"Okay, just checking" He said ruffling Remus's hair

"You... you really w-wanted to rip Malfoy's throat out?" asked Peter fearfully

"Haven't we all Pete?" said James warningly

"Ha, yeah, we all have I suppose" he said, terror still clinging to his voice

"You don't have to be scared Peter, I only went for him because I hate him so much and because he attacked Sirius. I don't hate you and you aren't hurting Sirius – you're safe" Said Remus reassuringly

"He shouldn't have to be told that" Growled James, glaring at Peter who now looked extremely guilty

"I'm going to the... uh... library" Peter said nervously, blushing under James's searing glare. He scurried off metaphorical tail between his legs.

"Thank god for that" mumbled James

"Yeah... I hate that ever since he found out about me, he seems frightened of me"

"You shouldn't give a shit about that, Peter's a pussy"

"I know, I do give a shit though. No matter how much I've been exposed to and told to expect fear and hatred, I never do expect it. And it always hurts" James smiled sadly and put a protective arm around Remus's shoulder "Dumbledore says he'll expel me if he ever hears I attack another student"

"You didn't attack him! You were provoked!"

"I was provoked, but only verbally, I shouldn't have touched him"

"You were only trying to help Sirius!"

"I could've used my wand James, there was nothing stopping me from using my wand... I stopped thinking. I just acted on this really strong instinct. He threatened my Sirius, I wanted to hurt him... I wanted to kill him"

"We all feel like that sometimes. I saw some creep staring down Evans's shirt yesterday, I wanted to kill him"

"You wanted to, you didn't actually try. For a moment, I turned into the worst kind of werewolf stereotype. Like an animal... I just can't believe..." his voice crackled, James tightened his arm on Remus's shoulder

"Cheer up mate, just stop thinking about it, you're not an animal, you're Remus, okay?" Remus sniffed "Okay? I know you wouldn't have done it if it wasn't Malfoy, or if he wasn't hurting Sirius" Remus nodded and smiled. James always had the most wonderful ways of making him feel better

*

It was later that evening that James had been alone in the dorm doing his DADA homework. He flipped absent mindedly through his DADA book, looking for the page on Unforgivable Curses, the Werewolf section caught his eye and he paused on it for a moment:

Aggression in Werewolves: it is a misrepresentation that all werewolves in human form are aggressive. It all depends on the humans own personality. Though, a normally docile Werewolf may become more aggressive before or after a full moon, especially so if the Werewolf see's what they may perceive as their "Mate" being threatened.

James paused on that word.

Mate.

When Malfoy attacked Sirius, Remus attacked Malfoy. Sirius, threatened... Remus, Aggressive.

"Don't be stupid" said James slapping himself on the head. "Stupid idea. Sirius is nothing more than a friend to Remus" a friend to, a normally docile Remus. Who suddenly became aggressive, when Sirius was threatened...

"Hmm."