Author's note: First of all CW for period accurate thoughts on mental health. Remus calls himself crazy/refers to some of his neurodivergent issues as craziness which I want to make clear I absolutely do not agree with or like, however it is most likely what he would have thought in this time period. Also internalized homophobia which I promise is going to be resolved somewhat soon!

Second of all I have made a decision about Sirius's story which is, unfortunately, to cancel it. I honestly had every intention to write it and was excited to but I barely have the ability to keep up with Shifting Lines at the moment. So what I am going to do is take the first chapter of Blackened Sky and add it to the one shots, and simply have a lot of one shots from Sirius's POV, especially of some of the scenes we want to see. Which does mean we can see scenes like his broken arm hopefully sooner than we otherwise would have. Sorry about this, but I want to do what is best for the story and for me. I hope y'all understand, thank you!

-x-

Can't believe September is over.

Remus stood a few yards from the entrance of the Quidditch pitch, his hands in his pockets, his cheeks cold from the wind blowing against him. It was a grey sort of day, and he could smell the sharp turning of the leaves in the breeze.

It was hard to believe that it had been a month already, a month of school—it had been one of the toughest months of school he had dealt with, besides his first month and the month after the Marauders revealed they knew his secret. Maybe it was harder, it was a little difficult to tell sometimes.

Remus gave a huff when he heard the Quidditch team still talking. It sounded like James and Kirke might have been arguing. He hadn't gone to the practice, instead opting to sleep in a little. But now he was waiting for his friends and the practice was definitely running well past its time.

A moment later Sirius and Peter wandered through the entrance, both their cheeks rosy from the cold. Peter waved as they jogged over, explaining that yes, James and Kirke were arguing, and Bell was getting annoyed.

"Kirke accused James of showing off instead of doing his work," Sirius said, leaning against Remus from the side the wind was coming in from, providing him a bit of a shield.

And this is why this month has been so difficult, Remus thought, heat surging through his body from the hardly-there touch between their arms. He looked down at the ground, wondering how anyone dealt with these sorts of… feelings. Unless these feelings weren't like what others had. After all, they were wrong feelings—dirty, gross feelings—so maybe proper feelings that boys had for girls weren't quite so…

So…

"—consuming."

Remus's head jerked up. "What? Consuming what?"

Sirius and Peter both stared at him. "Costumes," Sirius said slowly. "I said costumes. James is already on about Halloween costumes."

Costumes. Not… right.

Remus took a few steps, trying to seem as casual as possible. He kicked at the ground, pretending like a small pebble was why he was moving away. "Oh, is—have—have you talked to Regulus again?"

Sirius looked absolutely baffled. "About costumes?"

"Tutoring."

Sirius laughed and reached out, tousling Remus's hair. "Where is your head today? We didn't stay up that late, and I know you got some sleep. You seem so out of it."

Remus managed a smile. "Yeah, I—sorry. Costumes. Did James have any idea?"

"Nope," Peter put in. "But I did. I think we should do something like the animals we've been learning about in Magical Creatures."

"You'd make a terrific puffskein," Sirius added, grinning at Remus. "Small and fluffy."

Remus glared at him. "I'd really rather not dress up as an animal, in all honesty, but if that's what you three want I suppose I can deal with it."

"Wh—oh." Sirius made a face. "Maybe not."

Peter cringed as realization dawned on him. "Merlin, Remus, I'm so sorry I wasn't thinking—"

"No, I—"

"Nono! We won't, I don't like that idea—"

"Peter!" Remus snapped. "It's a good idea. I'm just saying we should think of other ideas too, as animals is—it's low on my… what I'd like. But I will do it, if that's what we decide. I'm not fussed about it."

Peter looked like he might argue more, but just then the Quidditch team started leaving the pitch. James stormed over, grumbling about Kirke being an arse. He complained all the way back to the castle, smacking Sirius with his carrying case when he flung his arms out for emphasis. Unfortunately, he continued storming and just after they went into the school, they nearly ran right into a group of fourth year Hufflepuffs. Remus recognized them as the group that had been bullying Rivers the previous year, the ones the Marauders pranked for Simon and Rivers.

"Watch it, Pratty!" Catterick snarled out.

"You watch it, Catterprick!" James retorted, continuing forward without even stopping.

Catterick got his wand out and before anyone could do anything, James's feet slipped out from under him. He went tumbling head-over-heels a few feet down the corridor, his carrying case clattering to one side. Sirius's wand was out, as were the wands of Catterick's two friends. Remus tried not to groan as he ducked under a badly aimed spell, yanking his own wand out. Peter looked terrified as he got his out.

Spells flew back and forth, not many of them landing. Catterick and his friends were rather bad at dueling—very bad at aiming—however, they were good at shields. The Marauders' spells bounced harmlessly to the side, not one landing on a Hufflepuff. The Hufflepuffs were very smug about this, even though none of their spells landed either.

Until one of them did.

Peter went flying backwards through the air and crashed into a wall. There was an awful crunching, splintering sort of sound a split second before he dropped to the ground. The Hufflepuffs hesitated while the Marauders ran over, terrified Pete had been severely injured.

"I'm fine, I—oh. Oh!" He gave a loud wail as he sat up. "NO! NO! NO!"

"Petey?" James asked.

Peter was crying now. Great big tears rolled down his cheek as he stared at a pile of what appeared to be bits of metal. It took a second for Remus to realize what it was: his camera. He had had it with him, of course, at James's practice and now it was—

"BROKEN!" Peter gulped out, picking up one of the pieces. "You b-b-broke my CAMERA!"

Sirius whirled around, face furious. "Damn."

Remus glanced back. The Hufflepuffs were gone.

"They'll pay for this," James growled out, sinking down to his knees next to Peter. "Can you—Remus, can you repair it?"

"Huh? I—what? I don't—" Remus stared at the broken camera. "I don't know if I'm good enough to fix something as sophisticated as a camera. Perhaps we should go to Professor McGonagall, or Professor Flitwick."

James began picking the pieces up. "C'mon, Peter, we'll get this fixed—"

But Peter was too busy crying to notice or care. Sirius and Remus knelt down as well, gathering up the strangely warm broken pieces, making sure they had everything. Remus tipped his pieces into Sirius's hands then gently took Peter's arm, pulling him up. "Come on," he whispered. He made sure to grab James's carrying case as they headed down the corridor.

Professor McGonagall wasn't in her office however Flitwick was in his, cheerfully telling the boys to come in. James and Sirius deposited the broken camera onto his desk, saying that there had been an accident and could he possibly fix it?

"Oh dear." Flitwick bent in, peering at the pieces. "What was it?"

"A camera, dunno what kind," James said, rubbing the back of his head.

"A Q-Q-QuikWiz," Peter sniffled. "1967 model."

"From what I remember, QuickWiz is a very durable brand," Flitwick muttered, prodding at the pieces. "What exactly happened?"

"The spell hit it directly."

"What spell?"

Peter rubbed his eyes, ignoring the stricken look on James's face. "Flipendo."

Flitwick studied the four boys. "Why were you hit with the knockback jinx?" Peter went quiet and none of the others spoke. Flitwick straightened up, giving them looks until his eyes settled on Remus. Of course. "What happened, Mr. Lupin?"

Remus began squirming, thinking it was vastly unfair he was being targeted! "Er—the thing is—sir—see—"

"Catterick," Sirius said with a bored sort of yawn. "Some things were said and I lost my temper about it and shot a spell back and they—him and his friends—began firing spells at me. One of their spells missed and got Petey."

"Mr. Black, you know dueling is against the rules. Ten points from Gryffindor. Reparo!" The pieces shifted, sliding back together until it formed what looked like a camera. Flitwick picked it up, turning it over in his hands, pushing some of the buttons. "Hmm. I don't think it worked properly. Is it… working?"

He handed the camera back to Peter who pushed some buttons. He tried to say something but instead a hiccup came out, and he shook his head instead, more tears flowing out.

"I'm terribly sorry, I don't know much about cameras. You're in the Photography Club, aren't you? Perhaps Miss Craggy can help you."

Peter gave a forlorn sort of nod, clutching his camera. "Thank you for t-trying, sir."

"I'll speak to Pomona about what happened," Flitwick said. "Have a good day."

"Craggy?" James exclaimed as soon as the door shut behind them. "Like a Slytherin would ever help us!"

"She's President of the Club," Peter sniffled. "She became President this year. I voted for her. She—"

"For a Slytherin?" Sirius asked incredulously. "You? Voted? For a Slytherin?"

Peter shrugged. "She knows photography. She might be able to…" He trailed off, looking at the camera.

Remus put an arm around him, ignoring the disgusted faces of the other two. "In that case, let's go find Craggy."

The four of them trooped down to the dungeons, ignoring the stares they got from some of the Slytherins lounging around. When one demanded to know what they were doing near the Slytherin dorms, James stood at full height and said they needed to speak to Elspire Craggy. Of course the student refused to help, though another one offered to go find her. Ten minutes later he came back, saying Craggy wasn't in the common room or her dorms.

They checked the Great Hall then the library, asking Slytherins most of whom told them where they could stick it. Finally they found her out in one of the courtyards. Craggy was lying on her back, giggling as a Ravenclaw boy trailed a flower against her bare arm.

"Cra—Craggy?" Peter squeaked.

She sat up and the Ravenclaw boy narrowed his eyes. "What do you four want?" he asked with disdain.

"It's fine, Arty, he's in my club." Craggy stood up, brushing off her trousers. "What's going on, Pettigrew?"

All bravado seemed to leak out of Peter and all he could do was stand there in silence. James took the camera from his hands and held it out to Craggy. "This broke. Flitwick mended it, but it's not working."

"Broke?" She took the camera, a deep frown on her face. "How on earth did you manage to break a QuikWiz?"

"Besides being Butterfingers Pettigrew," muttered the Ravenclaw so low that Remus was sure he was the only one who heard him.

"A spell it it—um—hit me, well, hit the camera and me, and then we smashed into a wall."

Craggy sat down in the grass and began doing spells, taking the camera carefully apart. "Blimey." She began poking about at the insides, her forehead creased. "What spell?"

"Flipendo," Peter replied, and the Ravenclaw snorted.

"Whoever did the spell is a dunderhead, and fu—er, messed this up pretty badly. Knockback shouldn't have done this unless whoever used it is absolutely useless at the spell." She glanced up. "I'm sorry, I don't think I can repair it. This is beyond my ability. You could probably take it to Welkmore's but I don't know if even they'll be able to get this in working condition again."

"I—I don't know if—um, how much would it be? Do you think?"

She blew a strand of hair away from her face. "Several galleons from the looks of it. Maybe more than buying a new one, really." She put the camera back together and held it out. "This thing's been absolutely fried. Sorry, Pettigrew. You can borrow the Club's camera in the meantime."

Peter was struggling to hold back tears. "Thank you," he whispered, clutching his camera so tightly his knuckles went white.

She put a hand on his shoulder before turning away, going back to the Ravenclaw boy. The Marauders left the courtyard and as soon as they were in private Peter began crying again.

"I'll help pay for the repair," James said immediately. "If it doesn't work I'll buy you a new one."

Peter said something under his breath.

"I'll buy you a better one, how's that?" James offered. Peter stared at James, slightly bug-eyed. "You know, brand new. 1973 model."

"You—"

"Or get Catterick to, he ought to, he broke it," James continued. "Either way, don't worry, mate, you'll get a better camera, yeah?"

"I don't want a new one!" Peter snapped. "I want this one!"

"All right, we'll find you another nineteen-sixty—errr—whatever model."

"I don't want a new one."

"Well, what are you going to do, then, hold onto that bit of broken metal and plastic? Rather silly. No, we'll get you a new one, it's all right, don't worry about it."

"No!" Peter looked frustrated. "You don't get it, do you?"

Sirius cautiously reached out. "Petey, we'll get it figured out—"

Peter stepped away from him. "You can't just buy a new camera, you can't just replace it!"

James adjusted his glasses. "Why not? Is it expensive? That's fine, money's not important."

Remus bit his bottom lip, knowing exactly what Peter was meaning and knowing that was exactly what Peter wouldn't want to hear.

"Of course it's not," Peter grumbled. "Not for you! It's not the money, it's the—the camera!" He waved it about. "This one. I want my camera, not a replacement!"

"It is that camera specifically that is special to him," Remus tried to explain. "It'd be like if your broom needed repairing and instead someone got you a new one."

James looked a little bewildered. "As long as it was the same broom or a better one, why would I be upset?"

Peter said, a little coldly, "I think you're too rich to understand."

Now James stared in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"My mum gave me this! This! For getting into Hogwarts! It is a special camera to me! A present, to me, for finally being what she—" Peter stopped quickly, going red. "It doesn't matter. Bloody hell."

"If it can't be repaired, you'll have to get a new camera," James said stiffly.

"Because that's what people like you do. Break things and just buy a new one."

"Why're you mad at me?! I didn't do it!"

"No but you started it—"

"I started NOTHING! Catterick attacked me and you damn well know it!"

"You just stormed right ahead without caring about anything around you, like usual!"

Oh no, oh no, oh no. Remus felt sick, his stomach curling into a tight, acidic ball as James and Peter faced each other, their voices rising into a shout. Fighting. They were fighting. James and Peter were fighting. Sirius looked at Remus with wide eyes and Remus began breathing rapidly, panic beginning to take over.

"Guys—"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE BLAMING ME FOR WHAT CATTERICK DID!" James screamed.

"I'M NOT SAYING IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT BUT YOU JUST—JUST—YOU DON'T CARE WHAT'S AROUND YOU AND WHEN YOU DO NOTICE A PROBLEM ALL YOU WANNA DO IS THROW MONEY AT IT!"

Sirius grabbed James's arm and Remus took that as a cue to take Peter, pulling him back a little. "Come on you two, this isn't—you're not—" Remus tried, unable to figure out what words might help the situation. "Pete, come on, you're not really mad at James, you're just mad about the camera—"

"AM SO MAD AT JAMES!" Peter snarled. "Spoiled rich brat!"

James looked livid. "You've completely cracked your cauldron, Peter, and are making NO sense whatsoever! It's just a camera! Not even a very fancy one, at that."

Peter took a swing and would have hit James if Remus hadn't yanked him back in time. James went for his wand but Sirius snatched it out of his hand before he could do anything.

"STOP IT!" Sirius shouted. "For Merlin's sake, cool your damn CAULDRONS!"

Peter wrenched away from Remus but didn't go for James. Instead he turned, storming away. James got loose from Sirius, taking his wand back, and stormed in the other direction before storming back, taking his carrying case, and then storming back off.

Sirius and Remus watched them both go helplessly.

"What just happened?" Sirius asked. "Pete—Peter snapped. Peter snapped."

"The camera means a lot to him, it's not something replaceable," Remus said, twisting the hem of his shirt tightly around his finger. "He's upset right now, and James hurt him by suggesting they just get a new camera." He knew how Peter felt. He knew if something very special to him was ruined like his copy of The Hobbit or Gwyllgi… someone suggesting he simply replace it would feel insulting.

Sirius ran his fingers through his hair. "No offense, Remy, but I don't get that. No, wait. I mean I do. Sort've. I get the camera is special to him but if it can't be repaired, what's he going to do? Never take another photo?"

"N—no, it's not… I mean, he'd have to get a new one but—but he's hurting right now," Remus tried to explain. "James was a little flippant about it, even though he didn't mean to be."

Sirius let out a long sigh. "Which do you want?"

Remus looked both directions. "You're better with James. I'll take Peter."

"Right. See you later. Good luck."

Remus trotted off in the direction Peter had gone, having no bloody clue how to even begin to fix this mess.

-x-

Using his nose Remus soon found Peter one floor up, sitting in a side corridor, turning his camera round and round in his hands. He glanced up as Remus approached and frowned, insisting he wasn't going to apologize to James.

Remus sat down next to him. "I wouldn't expect you to."

"Oh."

Neither spoke for a minute or two. Pete gave a sniffle. "I'm being dumb."

"No you're not," Remus replied immediately.

Peter didn't say anything else as he fiddled with the strap of the camera. Finally, "This camera, it—it means a lot to me. The thought of just gettin' a new one isn't—I don't—" He bowed his head, sighing. "Can I tell you something? Super private. I mean, don't—you can't tell anyone else, not even Sirius or James. Especially not them."

Remus wrapped an arm around Pete's shoulders. "You know I can keep a secret."

"I wasn't…" Peter trailed off, clenching the strap now. "Mum thought I was a Squib."

Remus stared in shock at his friend. Peter stared straight ahead at the opposite wall.

"I, uh, I didn't really show any signs of magic, as far as she knew, for my entire life. Until I got the letter." His voice had dropped to a pained whisper. "Mum was so happy. When I got the letter. She wouldn't stop crying from joy and wouldn't stop hugging me and—and for my birthday she got me this, as a special present. It was kind've expensive and I'd been wanting one for a while and—well, yeah. That's why. Cause of the letter. Cause we found out I wasn't a Squib."

Remus had no idea what to say. He knew perfectly well he had been doing magic since he was a wee little baby and it never crossed his mind about others who hadn't. Surely Peter must have shown some signs of magic, though.

"Please don't tell anyone," Pete said again.

Remus gave him a hug. "I'll never tell anyone, I promise."

"Sometimes when I'm doing real bad in class I think maybe it was a mistake and I am."

"No." Remus tightened his hold. "You're not, you're talented, Peter, all right? You're very talented. You're one of the best in Potions, and you do good enough in everything else. You hold your own in duels even with older students. You are a good wizard."

Pete leaned into the hug. "Thanks. I dunno. But this camera was always—you know? It—sometimes when I would get a bad grade I'd look at this camera and remember getting that letter, remember how happy Mum was and—and it always made me feel better. Now this is… gone."

"It's not gone," Remus said, resting his head against Peter's shoulder. His chest was hurting from the pain Peter was feeling. "Even if you have to get a new one, you don't need to get rid of this one. You can always keep it."

"That's true." He turned the camera over again and sighed. "I guess I shouldn't've blown up at James."

Remus tried to choose his words carefully, thinking about what he might want to hear because this sort of situation was well out of his comfort zone. "It can be really frustrating to deal with someone who has an attitude of, oh if something breaks I can buy a new one. It can feel very dismissive. You were distraught and he didn't really see why, and that's hurtful too. It's understandable that you got upset."

Peter gave him a look. "You sound like Miss Fawley."

Remus flushed slightly, but smiled. "That's a compliment."

"Oh, yeah, definitely." He set the camera aside before twisting around to hug Remus back. "I'm so glad I have a friend like you. You're such a good friend."

Remus felt his entire being light up with joy at those words. A good friend. He was a good friend. He was a good friend. From someone who knew he was a werewolf. Not only that, someone who had been afraid of werewolves. "Thank you." His voice choked up a little and he hugged Peter more, to try to hide how emotional he felt over those words. He wished he could have something like the camera to remind him of those words whenever he questioned whether or not he was a good friend.

"Is it bad I'm still mad at James though?" Peter asked when they pulled apart from the hug.

"No, it's okay to still be mad," Remus assured him. "Just… try not to hit him, all right?" He could tell Pete wasn't anywhere near as mad as he was half an hour ago, and figured the two would make up before bedtime.

And they probably would have, if James wasn't such a prat sometimes. Remus had no idea what Sirius talked to him about and hoped he had tried to get James to understand Peter's side of things, however an hour later when the four Marauders met up again in the common room, James got a very lofty sort of look on his face.

"Well?" he asked Peter.

Pete stared blankly at him. "Well what?"

"Aren't you going to apologize?"

Remus winced, wondering what the hell Sirius had said. Pete stared at James, stuttering a little until he managed to form a coherent sentence. "Um. No? You—you should apologize t-to me—"

James gave a laugh. "Why? For offering to buy you a new camera? Fine, I'm so sorry I wanted to help you."

Merlin, Remus groaned inwardly.

"You really don't get it, do you?" Pete demanded.

"No, I don't get why you're so mad I tried to help!"

"It isn't about the help, it's—it's—oh never mind!" Peter turned and went up to the dorms.

James folded his arms. "What's got his wand in a knot?"

"You—you hurt him," Remus managed to say. "I think he was expecting an apology." As was I, he added silently.

"I apologized for trying to help him," James said in an aggravating sort of tone. "Because what else have I got to apologize for? I didn't—how can helping someone—how can offering to help someone hurt them? I'm sorry I was willing to pay several galleons to buy you a new camera? What sort of apology is that?"

"It isn't—it—" Remus didn't want to push the matter, didn't want to risk starting a fight between them too, but James was being so annoying! "The camera is special to him and you acted—you brushed it off, you—you dismissed it, like it meant nothing. It isn't that you offered to help, it's that you didn't seem to care about his feelings." Every word was hard to get out, and he felt himself heating up with embarrassment at having to explain this.

James sucked in a deep breath. "He didn't seem to care about my feelings when he accused me of being the reason it happened, when it wasn't my fault at all! You know—" James shoved his glasses back up his nose, "—that hurt too!"

"I know," Remus said, since he wasn't sure what else to say. He began floundering so much that he was struck hard with panic and said, "Erm, Lily's motioning for me, I'll be—yeah." He took off, going over to where Lily was curled up in a chair reading. "Please pretend you have something important to say to me," he whispered as he sat on the arm.

Lily raised her eyebrows, glancing over at James and Sirius. "Fighting, are you?"

"Not me—not—no. I mean, well, no, James and Peter are fighting and I—"

"Peter!" Lily closed her book, looking rather excited. "Peter is fighting? With Potter?"

Remus slid down into the chair next to her. He was small enough that it was only a little bit of a squeeze. "Yes, and I have no idea how to fix it, or what to say."

"It's Potter's fault isn't it?"

Remus tugged at his sleeve, not looking at her. "Erm, sort've but not really? It was someone else's fault, but James made it… worse." He probably shouldn't even be telling her this. It was probably something Peter didn't want getting out. Oops. Too late now.

"Potter makes everything worse," Lily said with a nod. "Doesn't surprise me. Well, I, for one, am proud of Peter for standing up for himself. He never does. Especially to one of his friends, even if that friend is a total dunderhead. Potter needs standing up against more often. You ought to stand up for yourself against him—"

"Lily—"

"You never say no to him, he just runs—"

"Lily, please," Remus croaked out. "This isn't about me and James, it's about them. How do I fix it?"

Lily frowned at him. "I don't know. Tell Potter to stop being a prat?" Remus gave her a look. "You asked. That's my answer. In fact, I think it's probably my answer for everything now. Lily," she squeaked out, sounding like Flitwick, "what year was this spell invented? Oh sir," she said sweetly in her own voice, "it was one of the years we tried asking Potter to stop being a prat!"

Remus tried not to laugh, turning to watch James and Sirius sitting on the other side of the room. James was pacing, hands flailing as he spoke, and Sirius sat there nodding. Then Sirius glanced over, catching Remus's eyes. He rolled his eyes and made a face, and Remus smiled a little, glad that it didn't seem to be James-and-Sirius against Peter-and-him.

"When you and Alice and Cassie fight, how do you make up?" Remus asked. All of his fights with his friends had been settled outside his control. When Sirius was furious with him, Sirius wound up apologizing. When James was angry with all three of them, it melted away when Remus had a particularly bad nightmare. And when James and Remus had fought about a year ago, James ended up breaking down and crying in front of Remus about his grandfather.

James and Sirius had fought loads but they always made up fairly quickly, usually ending in a tussling match and giggles.

How could he convince James to apologize?

"I don't know," Lily said, shaking Remus out of his thoughts. "I… haven't thought about it. I guess we're mad at each other for a while then get bored and become friends again. How long have they been fighting?"

"Erm, a little over an hour?"

Lily snorted and clapped her hand to her forehead. "Blimey, Remus, give them more than an hour!"

"I just don't like the idea of them fighting!"

"No, I understand that, but… there probably isn't much you can do right now." Lily slipped an arm through his, squeezing gently. "Let them cool down. The only way you're going to get them to instantly make up is to give them some sort of potion to calm them down."

Remus bit his bottom lip. "Hmm, tempting, however with my potion skills it's more likely to turn them into toads," he said which caused Lily to giggle. He considered bringing up the idea of the potion he did want to make eventually, to ask if she might help, however since he had no information yet he figured he should wait; what if he never found the recipe?

"Potter's already a toad," Lily said and for a second he wondered why she said that before remembering what he had just said. Once he realized, he felt embarrassed for forgetting so quickly.

"Normally I'd disagree but right now, yes, he is being a toad," Remus managed to say while his thoughts slipped and slid all over the place.

Lily gave a gasp of shock. "Remus Lupin, agreeing with me over how horrible Potter is! What a day."

He hated how much he needed to fight with himself to focus on the conversation, with how much his thoughts wanted to slip away into something else. "I—I'm not agreeing to that, only to the fact he is a toad right now."

Lily leaned against him. "Say it again."

Remus groaned. "James Potter is a toad," he said while Lily pretended to sigh in utter bliss.

Since they weren't talking for a few seconds, he spent the time trying to keep his thoughts in line. Sometimes it felt like it was getting harder and harder… like his brain was drifting down a stream and away from the present moment. He had always daydreamed and yes sometimes it was easy to get lost but lately it seemed so much easier to get lost, which scared him a little paired with all the other issues he had—like when his skin hurt from people talking or he wanted to wither into a dead husk when people touched him. All the strange things that started happening when he came to school.

No, he knew better. All the strange things that started since he began to be around people other than his parents. He doubted it was because he was a werewolf because other werewolves managed to slip into society and if this craziness was a mark, wouldn't the Ministry have said something? To be on the lookout for people who want to scream when someone else touches them?

Or maybe he really was simply Loopy Lupin, whether he had become a werewolf or not. But that was something he'd never know for sure about, so it was useless to dwell on—

"Remus?"

He jumped, realizing he had once again drifted. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"I asked if you wanted to play Scrabble."

He blinked a few times before slowly nodding. "Yes, that would be fun."

"No Welsh."

He managed a small smile. "No promises."