I do not own Harry Potter and anything that you may recognize from another source within this story. Harry Potter is the property of the lovely J K Rowling, and I will never stop being grateful for the wonderful world and characters she created.

November 22nd, 1972

Sneaking around Hogwarts at night wasn't nearly as exciting as one would think. Thanks to James' Invisibility Cloak as long as they were quiet all they had to do was huddle close together and try not to trip up on each other. It was, Peter mused, almost too easy.

Tonight, their target was the Hospital Wing. They were visiting Remus as he'd come down with a case of food poisoning. Remus swore he must have ate something rotten, but James had persisted they had all ate the same food so there was no possible way that only Remus could have ended up ill. Whatever the reason though, Remus had disappeared into the Hospital Wing sometime after dinner last night, and when they'd tried to visit earlier Madame Pomfrey had turned them away saying that Remus was resting and couldn't be disturbed. So here they were, sneaking in instead, which served her right for trying to keep them away from Remus.

"Sirius, if you keep trodding on my foot I'll hex you in your sleep," James hissed suddenly.

"It's not my fault! Yours are so big I don't have any room for mine," Sirius whispered back. The insulted look on James' face threated to cause Peter to burst into laughter but a loud thud coming from an unused classroom across the hall caused them all to freeze for a second, and then as the classroom door started to open, shuffle as quickly and silently as they could out of the middle of the hallway. It wouldn't do to get bumped into while invisible after all.

The shadowy figure that exited the classroom was too short to be a professor, but better safe than sorry. The figure strode forward quickly and as they passed underneath a window and the moonlight hit them, Peter could see they were dressed in Slytherin robes. They turned the corner and were out of sight quickly enough.

"Wasn't that your brother, Sirius?" James whispered, causing Peter to pull up short surprised he hadn't recognized that himself.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, a pensive look on his face. "I wonder what he was doing out here so late."

"Like you're one to talk," James whispered back, already leading them forward again.

"Shut up! This is completely different!" Sirius shot back, voice louder than it should have been. Peter glanced around anxiously but the coast still appeared clear.

"Sshhh! I'm just saying, no need to get your knickers in a twist."

As Sirius took a breath to, no doubt, continue the whispered argument another figure appeared in the classroom doorway. Peter squeaked and grabbed a handful of both James' and Sirius' robes to drag them to a halt. Thankfully, neither James nor Sirius protested the rough treatment as they seemed to notice the figure themselves.

Small, as Regulus had been, but instead of green and silver this figure was dressed in red and gold. They walked forward under the window and Peter could see that it was the auburn haired boy from the sorting. The boy looked around curiously and pulled out his wand. With a whispered word the tip lit up and bathed the surrounding area in a soft glow.

"Is someone there?" the boy said, waving his wand back and forth slowly. Peter held his breath as the boy glanced around and his startlingly green eyes landed and then lingered on where they stood. Beside him James and Sirius were tense and still. After a moment or two that felt so much longer, the boy lowered his wand and with another word, put out the light. "Guess not," the boy whispered, glancing away and then making his way up the hall.

Even after he was out of sight the boys continued to stand still, as if made from stone for several seconds before James let out a slow breath. "That was too close," he whispered.

Peter agreed with a nod that no one could see and swiped the back of his hand over his sweaty forehead. Beside him Sirius let out a slow breath. A beat passed and then James started walking again. Peter and Sirius followed and thankfully, they ran into no one else on their way.

When they reached the large double doors to the Hospital Wing James eased one open slowly, and Peter and Sirius squeezed in. As James gently shut the door, Peter looked around and spotted a lump on one of the beds in the corner.

He stepped out from beneath the cloak and padded quietly over to the bed side. In it, Remus slept quietly, still rather pale and strangely, Peter could make out the edge of a bandage peeking out from beneath his pajama top. "Remus," he said quietly, reaching out to gently shake the boys shoulder. Remus woke with a start, wild eyes frantically looking around, but relaxed when he saw it was Peter.

"One of these days Madame Pomfrey is going to catch you," he said, voice scratchy from sleep.

"We come all the way down here, almost get caught, and that's the welcome you give us?" Sirius said with a pout, flopping down into one of the visitor's chairs. Remus came awake a bit more at that, and with a wince, he sat up.

"You almost got caught?" he said, brows furrowing.

"By Sirius' little brother and that Hadrian kid," James replied, sitting at the edge of Remus' bed. He shrugged. "Just a couple first years. What were they going to do? Tell McGonagall and then explain why they were out after hours too?"

Remus frowned and then glanced toward Sirius. "What were they doing?" he asked.

"Good question," Sirius said, rocking back in his chair. "They were hanging out in an empty classroom together though, seems a bit dodgy to me."

Remus narrowed his eyes a tad. "Because it was your brother or because Hadrian is a Gryffindor and Regulus is Slytherin?"

"Both," Sirius replied, "Just because he's just a first year doesn't mean Regulus can't be up to something."

"He's your brother," Remus persisted, and then flinched back a bit when Sirius leveled a fierce glare at him.

"He's a little snake, Remus. He's just like the rest of my family, up to their eyeballs in the dark arts" he said grimly.

"You were talking to him at the beginning of term," James said and Peter could feel the tension skyrocketing. He willed James to shut up but apparently James didn't notice how obviously Sirius did not want to talk about this. "You were fine with him then weren't you?"

After a beat or two of silence where Remus and Peter glanced uncertainty at each other, Sirius blew out a slow breath. "Things change," he said, and then when James opened his mouth again, "Just drop it, will you?"

James closed his mouth and nodded after a moment. The silence that followed was just a tad too awkward for Peter's taste. "So, how're you feeling Remus? Any better?" he said quickly, trying to ignore the faint squeak in his voice.

As Remus answered and the conversation started to pick up again, Peter resolved to ignore his own curiosity about Sirius and his brother. It was obviously not a situation he wanted to get involved it.