Past - In the previous chapter, Sirius finds out that Remus is dating Caleb (and that the boy is a dick head) and James and him join together to combat the evil.

We watched from the stands, raised tens of feet from the ground, February wind lashing about us as we huddled in the front row of the Gryffindor supporters. Remus had decided to place himself beside me. It could have been a taunt, to see how long it to for me to break, or he could have actually become just as blind and obnoxious as he seemed to pretend when he was around Clabe (a growing favourite nickname, coming shortly after Kaaleeb).

I shuffled closer to the side, hanging out over the drop to observe the pretentious little twat as he gallivanted around the arena, trying to show off, but what seemed ultimately failing. I didn't quite understand what Remus found so appealing about the boy: he wasn't particularly clever – more snide and malicious – and spent most of his time looking rather ill, like he hadn't quite recovered from jaundice, and therefore would most likely give Snape a run for his money in the 'I'm going to die in the near future' category.

I sank back into my place and gave Remus a cold, hard look. "Your boyfriends an abusive dickhead."

"Isn't he just? I think it comes to use best in bed," he grinned, a grin that he'd adopted off Kaaleeb, one that feigned charm and eloquence but was actually just a mask for what I liked to call knob-cheese-ism.

I sighed and gave him a quick glance. "Why are you with him? He's trying to kill one of your best friends with a bludger…"

"Oh," he giggled, with an ignorant little smile "I was unaware of this."

"Have you even been watching the game? Just because he hasn't killed James yet doesn't mean his isn't trying!"

His shoulder gave a submissive shrug and he turned away to view the game.

I lowered my head and rested my arms against the railings, not sure whether to believe the words that were dancing on the tip on my tongue. "Remus, I've never thought of you as a monster, in any shape or form, but this man is turning you into one. Please…" My head swivelled to gaze at him and contemplate the nothingness that drifted around his face. "My offer still stands…"

He flashed me a sideways look and continued to watch the match, clearly he hadn't read the card I'd given him.

I closed my eyes and waited for the game to end and the hostilities to float away.

X

"And the Gryffindor captian has been knocked off his broom! That was a pretty bad blow to the head! Do you think Brown'll be disqualified? Because that was a bit of an unprovoked attack!"

My head shot up, boiling with rage. How dare that unworthy bastard hurt my best friend? He could go and die in a fucking hole. Before anybody could stop me I'd drawn my wand and was hexing the shit to the ends of the earth.

"Sirius! What that fuck are you doing?" Remus snarled, yanking me down beside him, if not to stop me, then to drag himself up and march to Caleb.

These people were really doing my head in.

X

The infirmary was cool, white, dull, the air tasting of disease and smelling of boredom, only filled with the sounds of scurrying feet and the occasionally throaty cough - a place that you would rather spend less than one of your waking hours in… though I had a strange feeling that I would be spending my every free minute next to that metal framed bed over the coming week, praying for James' recovery.

Lily leant into me and let out a hefty sigh, waiting as Remus spun round and left the room. "At first I couldn't understand the whole 'Daddy', 'Mummy' thing you and James had going, I just thought you were just being miserable because he found someone new. But seeing this, seeing what Caleb's done, I can't help but feel protective for him."

I heaved and looked down to her. "Welcome to the family… I don't know what that bastard's done to him but I want my Remus back. You know what I got him for Valentines Day?"

She nodded. "I think James said something about it…"

"He knows the plant: he reads enough to know what it's like, what damage they can do." I rolled up my sleeves to show her the gashes, still sore and red as if they'd been made yesterday. "He didn't even say thank you… The Remus I know would have at least have the good grace to thank me for it…" I wrestled the fabric back over the marks and gave her a curt smile.

"Sirius, you need to have them looked at, they could be infected."

"They weep, which means progress in the world of cuts and bruises. Besides, I deserve them for what I did to him." I bowed my head to gaze at James, as he sat in his forced slumber. "Lily… Is love supposed to hurt?"

She sat silently, thinking for a moment, and then she turned to me. "I suppose you could say that… there are times when it does… But pain is what tells us we're alive, right? So it can't be bad."

"I'd really like to believe that… I just feel so lost… At one point I genuinely thought that those girls would help, that falling in love like that would just be a game, easy… And now I've learnt that it hurt everyone, so why won't he just come back? I want to love him, I really do… I just find myself wanting to destroying his world at the same time…" My head dropped against the bedclothes and I slowly drew my eyes shut. "Is it my fault he's like this?"

She placed a reassuring hand on the back of my head and played with my hair. "It's no one's fault but his own for letting himself get into this mess."

I shifted from the bed and stood. "I need a walk… thanks for everything…."

X

Rather than pacing and chewing over how to fix the chaos I'd got us all into, as I had intended to do, I found myself waiting unreservedly by the Ravenclaw common room. I still don't know why, just something had drawn me there, some cold part of me that hadn't seen the light of day in months. I leant my head back against the cold stone and sighed into the frost nighttime air around me. What, exactly, was I trying to accomplish? To beat up Caleb and get an extra weeks detention? I knew that if I did see him, every part of me would be itching for a fight, to knock his pathetic lights out… or at least leave him with the harsh message that if he ever thought of hurting my Remus John Lupin, his sad little life would be on the line.

"Sirius Orion Black… what an event to see you in this sort of place…"

I recognised the voice, or at least the family it was from - the kind appearance that was founded on a thick bedding of snide – though in the child's case, I'm sure it was only a sound he'd adopted from his half brother.

"Fabian Epaphroditus Brown," I swivelled my head to look at the boy, a grin fixed on my face, partially in mocking, partially for the hot headed girls around him "who'd have though you were such a pimp?"

He gave me a quick wink. "What can I say? You've been quite the role model for me… But this is only my night job…"

My smile broadened. Oh this was just precious! I was going to take Kaaleeb's baby brother (the only thing he seemed to have any kind of complex about) and then use the kid to crush – him – like – a –fly!