Author's note: CW discussion of Muggle medical practices briefly so mentions of knives and needles

-x-

Things did not get any better. During Astronomy, it was very clear James and Sirius were furious with each other. Sirius and Peter huddled on one side of the Astronomy tower, both of them shooting rather dirty looks at Remus, who stuck by James's side.

Remus had nightmares all night, of his friends all hating him and revealing his secret. He woke up several times, panting hard; at least he didn't scream any and wake Sirius up. Or else Sirius was that mad, which was a possibility…

Except, the next morning Sirius woke up early enough to go with Remus to breakfast. He shuffled alongside Remus who kept stumbling and yawning, from not getting much sleep. Sirius, as always, looked perfect.

"So," Sirius said when they sat at the Gryffindor table.

"So," yawned Remus.

Sirius propped his elbows on the table, watching as Remus sleepily piled food on his plate. "You're taking his side, then?"

Ugh. "Whose side?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

Sirius pursed his lips. "James."

"About what? Taking his side in what? Him and Peter? You know I'm not."

"You know perfectly well he and I are…" Sirius trailed off, trying to think of a good word to use. "Unhappy with each other," he finally settled on.

Remus shook his head, spreading marmalade on his toast. "Yes. You've both made that very clear. No, I am not taking his side. I'm not taking yours either," he added when Sirius's lips twisted into a smirking sort of smile, which immediately faded at those words. "I'm not taking either side since I haven't the faintest what the two of you are arguing about."

"He's being dumb."

"I'm sure he'd say the same of you."

Sirius angrily blew a strand of hair away from his face and then let his arms fall against the table so he could rest his cheek against them, staring up at Remus from beneath his long eyelashes. "He's invading my privacy."

Remus paused before taking a big bite of toast, thinking carefully about his words. "All three of you have invaded mine. Especially you."

Sirius shot straight up at that, fury etching across his face. Remus tried not to tremble or wince, tried to keep eating his toast like he wasn't terrified he had said the wrong thing. Even if it was true.

"That's different!"

"How so?"

"You—he—we—" Sirius spluttered. "I don't—that isn't the same thing at all."

Remus set his toast down, heart pounding hard. "Sirius, I don't like the idea of James invading your privacy. However since I don't know what's going on, I can't make a judgment one way or another. I can't say he's the one in the wrong, or you. For all I know, he genuinely did purposely invade your privacy. Or he asked something innocently and it was blown out of proportion. I don't want to take sides, and I hope you don't make me."

Sirius stared hard at Remus for several long seconds. "He is in the wrong," he said firmly before swinging his legs over the bench and striding out of the Great Hall.

Merlin.

Of course his other friends had seen Sirius storming off and questioned Remus about it on the way to Arithmancy. Lily was suspicious, while Aegis seemed worried.

Sighing, Remus explained that not only were Peter and James fighting but now Sirius and James were, and he didn't know what happened and didn't know who instigated or exacerbated the fight, therefore he couldn't take sides. Neither were telling him what happened.

"I asked Sirius not to make me take sides, and he left," Remus finished.

"Arse," Lily spat out. "I thought Potter was the twat but that's real twattish behavior. Is Potter making you take sides?"

Remus shrugged. "I don't know, I stood with him during Astronomy last night, but we haven't spoken today."

"Hmph."

"What are you going to do?" Aegis asked. "It seems like Mr. Black doesn't like the idea of you not… instantly believing him. Or taking his side."

"No, he's not happy about that," mumbled Remus. "I don't know."

"What if Potter did start the fight?" Lily asked.

"I know you hate James and want to blame him for everything, but I don't know what happened," Remus said, a little sourly. Lily had the grace to look a little apologetic. "I suppose I'll wait and see how James is in Muggle Studies."

Except James seemed very happy in Muggle Studies. He bounced in like he wasn't fighting with two of his friends, and cheerfully flung himself into his usual seat next to Remus, telling him good morning, and promptly started chattering on about something or other. Sirius and Peter sat behind them, both of them giving James annoyed looks. At least they weren't glaring at Remus…

Muggle Studies was a regular lesson, and not a fun one full of music or television. Lewis sat on her desk and talked about various Muggles' medical advances. Anesthesia for surgery (""You mean Muggles would be awake when—um—medical Muggles would cut into their bodies? With knives?" asked Archimedes Bottlebrush, looking absolutely disgusted), x-rays showing bones, mold growing leading to the discovery of penicillin, etc, etc.

"Muggles eat mold to fight off illnesses?" Janus Lovell demanded, sounding disgusted.

"Not like our potions are much better, with animal body parts and poisonous thingies in them," said James with a laugh. "We've found ways to make horrible things safe to heal us, it looks like Muggles have too."

"Good observation," Professor Lewis said, and James beamed. "Two points to Gryffindor for that one, Mr. Potter! Actually that leads me into my next topic which is a comparison of our medicinal plant discoveries compared to what Muggles have discovered… for instance, Muggles know that willow bark can help with pain however because they don't have access to the plorris plant, they don't know that willow bark and plorris leaves can eradicate a fever instantly…"

At the end of the class she assigned a long essay that covered those comparisons as well as others, encouraging students to find out more on their own.

"I had no idea Muggles knew so much about medicine," James said as he gathered his things. Then, as if they were all still friends, he turned to Peter and said, "Didn't you say they use needles for medical stuff?"

Peter stared wide-eyed at James, mouth slightly open, obviously shocked that James was literally acting like nothing happened. He closed his mouth, licked his lips, and glanced at Sirius as if to see what he should do.

"Why are you talking to us?" Sirius demanded, getting out of his seat and swinging his satchel over a shoulder.

"Because Pete's the one who said it," James replied levelly. "The thing about needles."

Sirius snorted. "C'mon, Peter. Remus, you coming with us?"

Remus gave Sirius a pleading look from behind his fringe but Sirius just kept his eyes on Remus, waiting. "N-no, I'll st-stay with—with James."

Sirius blinked twice before turning away. "Suit yourself. C'mon, Petey."

Remus hovered a little miserably while James slowly gathered his things. "You can go with them," he muttered, not looking at Remus. "You don't need to be on the outside like me."

"You're not on the outside," Remus replied. "They're mad at you, they'll—you'll all make up soon, I'm sure of it."

James straightened up, hazel eyes locking onto Remus. "I dunno if Sirius will forgive me."

Remus tugged at James, pulling him out of the classroom and a little ways down the hall for more privacy, so nobody could overhear. "He forgave me in the spring. I'm sure he'll forgive you."

"The spring?" James looked a little confused. "Oh. That."

It was such a miserable, consuming time in Remus's life it felt odd that it was an 'oh that' moment for someone else. It hadn't twisted James up, hadn't shattered his very soul like it had Remus. Oh, that. "Yeah." Remus shuffled from foot to foot. "You know, Miss Fawley might have some good advice."

James rolled his eyes and began walking, Remus scurrying to keep up. "Should I even go tonight? Peter won't want to practice with me there."

Remus tugged at his sleeve, wondering if he should bring it up or not. Finally he decided to say, "D'you think perhaps you—you might—you—you—" James looked at him expectantly. Remus swallowed and forced out, "You should apologize to them?" His voice got higher and squeakier with each word and the last syllable was hardly more than a faint squeak.

James scowled, his forehead wrinkling. "I don't see why I should apologize. All right, maybe to Peter—" Really? "—but I—Sirius—we—he—" He groaned loudly and pushed his glasses up. "I was only trying to… he completely overreacted, you know."

"I don't know."

"Er, right."

Remus began chewing at his thumbnail. "He said you invaded his privacy."

James slumped down a little, shoving his hands in his pockets as he began scuffing the floor with the toe of his trainers. "I might've. Maybe a little. Not that I meant—not that I thought—I didn't think it'd be like that, you know? I mean, I knew it wasn't—I knew I shouldn't—but he's my friend and I was—well, I guess it doesn't matter. Maybe I should apologize. I don't want them mad at me."

Remus hoped James would, though they spent their free period out in a courtyard playing cards and working on homework. Well, Remus worked on homework while James did weird punches and kicks at the air. James didn't want to go to the Great Hall for lunch so they wound up eating outside too, and didn't see the other Marauders until Transfiguration class.

James and Remus arrived first, taking their usual seats. Sirius and Peter came in shortly after and, after a few awkward seconds, they sat several seats away. James stiffened a little, but kept his eyes on the front of the room. Sirius and Peter's new seating arrangement caused a flurry of annoyance as other people needed to find new seats too. Fenella McCormack was the only one who voiced any irritation, stating loudly that it wasn't fair for 'Barmy and Pokey' to be taking up the twins' seat, making the twins move to where two others usually sat, which displaced McCormack and her friend.

"You could have at least sat in seats that are usually empty!" she snapped before sitting down. "How hard is that?"

"The Vasileious could have sat in empty seats too, you know," Sirius said haughtily. "No need to blame us."

"We like the middle row," complained Zeus Vasileiou.

"Well, I like where I sat!" retorted McCormack, and soon all eight students involved in the seating arrangements began arguing until Professor McGonagall clapped her hands loudly, telling them to please be quiet.

"Seats do not have names on them," McGonagall said sternly. "However I understand having preferences. Mr. Black, Mr. Pettigrew, is there any reason not to sit in otherwise unoccupied seats?"

"Oh of course, we don't matter!" Sirius said harshly as he stood. "No seating arrangements, but it's our fault, like always." Several students gasped at his tone of voice and McGonagall's lips pressed into a thin line.

"Four points from Gryffindor, Mr. Black."

"Why don't you add detention on top of it?" he asked, stomping off to another seat with Peter meekly, silently following him.

"Mr. Black, is there a problem?"

Sirius sank down into his new seat and gave a very sarcastic smile. "No, Professor."

"I'd like to speak with you after class," McGonagall said before turning towards the blackboard to begin the lesson. Sirius muttered something under his breath so softly that Remus couldn't quite make out what was said. "What was that?"

"Nothing, Professor."

Passing notes in Transfiguration was one of the most dangerous things to do, but Remus couldn't wait until the end of the lesson. He scribbled out a quick, Are you all right? What's going on? and send it back to Sirius. They usually didn't sit so far apart, and it was a little difficult getting the paper to him.

A moment later Eloise Nettle—who was sitting behind Remus—leaned forward. "Keep me out of this, dummies!" she hissed out, handing him the reply note from Sirius.

Remus whispered an apology as he opened the note. It didn't have any words on it, instead Sirius had drawn a vicious looking snake with messy hair and glasses, words ballooning out of its mouth saying it was a stupid twat. Remus rolled his eyes, tucking the note in his book.

After class, Remus stayed in the hallway with Peter, waiting for Sirius. James strolled down to the end of the corridor and lounged there, casting glances towards Remus. McGonagall had spells on her door so Remus was unable to hear anything, but it didn't take long before the door opened and Sirius came out.

"What happened?" Peter asked, pouncing on Sirius.

"I have detention now, too," he said cheerfully. "We argued."

"You argued with Professor McGonagall?" Remus asked.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "I might have, yeah. She asked what had my wand in a knot—"

"She didn't say that," Peter cut him off. "Professor McGonagall wouldn't use a term like that."

"Not in those words, but in essence. Anyway, I told her James was an arsehole. She didn't like my language and told me if me and my friends were fighting to keep it out of the classroom. So I said, you didn't see me fighting with James, did you? She said she meant my attitude so I asked her if it was a baditude. She told me not to give her cheek, and I told her she was giving me a saditude. So now I have to write lines tonight."

When he finished talking he turned to face James at the end of the hall, and Remus was worried a fight would start. But instead Sirius turned back to them with a smile.

"Shall we go to Charms? Or are you—" he looked at Remus, "—walking with him?"

"I'll walk with him, so he isn't alone," Remus said.

Sirius snorted. "Of course, we couldn't let the Great James Potter walk a few minutes by himself. That's sacrilege."

Remus shrugged, walking backwards. "You wouldn't want to walk by yourself either." He turned—almost running into a suit of armor—and then went to James.

After Charms there was a free period and the two of them couldn't go back to the courtyard since it had started raining; instead they hung out in a random corridor, since the Great Hall was far too loud. Remus checked over the homework due later in the day while James tossed a rubber ball against the wall.

"Hey."

"Hmm?"

James caught the ball and turned to Remus. "Hey," he said again. "I know what we can do." Remus bit his lip, not liking the sound of that. "You can do the cards!"

"Cards?"

James sat down. "Yeah." He indicated the homework in Remus's lap which was Divination. "You know. Those future card thingies. Tarot. Do tarot, for this."

"For what? Your fights?" Remus asked, feeling a headache coming on. "You want me to do a tarot reading for your fights?"

"Yes, it might give me, um, an idea of how to fix this." James adjusted his position so he was cross-legged. "Plus gives you practice, right? Aw come on, please?"

Remus reluctantly pulled his deck out. As he shuffled the cards he thought hard about James and the other two, about their arguments, about James specifically. "The situation," he said, putting a card down. "The advice." A second card. "And the outcome."

"I know the situation!" James complained. "Sirius is being stupid!"

"Shh!" Remus got his book out before flipping them over. "The situation is the queen of swords. Embarrassment, absence, separation—"

"Liar, it can't be that accurate," James interrupted.

"Shh! It can also mean boundaries and communication, which all in all does seem to sum up both your fights going on."

James scowled. "Yeah, you cheated that one."

Remus scowled right back. "I did not! Now the advice is the knight of pentacles which means rectitude—"

"That sounds perverted."

"—responsibility, being slow and steady, patient, committed, persistence. The solution is the ten of pentacles which can mean gain, family matters, stability, success." Remus shut his book with a snap. "Rectitude means being moral and good."

"Ew."

"So the situation is this: you're apart from your friends—"

"WOW!" James mock-gasped. "Really?"

Remus elected to ignore him. "You're apart from your friends due to ignoring boundaries and having poor communication. In order to fix this, you need to do what is morally right and responsible. You need to be patient in this, but also persistent. And if you do this, we'll be a stable family again."

James snatched the book from his lap and began flipping through. "You're a liar, it can't be like that—how—how?!" He looked up, angry. "How can it be so accurate? You purposely pulled those cards."

"I did not, you saw me randomly pull them." Remus pulled the cards back, shuffling his deck a couple of times before putting them back in their box. "As for accuracy… I don't know. They just are." He didn't add that sometimes it scared him how accurate the cards could be. "Be responsible."

"Ew," he said again, wrinkling his nose. "I have to apologize, don't I?"

"That… would be the right thing to do," Remus said.

James looked down at his lap for several seconds before glancing back up. "Well. I asked for it, didn't I?"

"You did."

Sighing, he got to his feet. "Bloody hell. I don't like Divination. It's dumb." Remus put his things back in his bag, waiting and hoping… and then, "But maybe I will apologize…"

Thank you, cards.

Then James gave a giggle. "Hehe. Rectitude."

-x-

After Divination (which was mostly spent on discussing famous seers and prophecies) Remus went to go look for James in the Great Hall for supper. He glanced over the Gryffindor table and didn't see him, and after several minutes when he didn't show up, Remus gave a shrug and joined Sirius and Peter.

James didn't show up for Occlumency. Sirius wasn't around either, as he had detention, so it was just Peter and Remus heading towards the classroom. Peter was a little nervous about his second lesson, especially since if James didn't show up then he'd have a full hour.

"Hopefully it doesn't give me headaches, like you get," Pete said, which reminded Remus what was waiting for him.

Sure enough, as soon as he and Miss Fawley were alone she began lecturing him about never talking about the headaches, reprimanding him for keeping it a secret from her. She then wanted to know if he had any idea what was causing the headaches and he confessed he really wasn't sure. He did his best to describe them for her, and she pressed her lips together, plucking anxiously at her linen skirt.

"I've never come across this before," she said, sending an uncomfortable shudder through Remus's body. "Headaches… yes, I've dealt with people who occasionally get a headache from Occlumency. Never on a regular basis like this."

"Have—" he started before stopping. Miss Fawley urged him to finish the sentence and reluctantly he asked, "Have you ever taught a werewolf before?"

Miss Fawley was silent for several long seconds before, "No. I wanted to train Morrigan but she had no interest. She said since she wasn't going out in the public and was on the register, it didn't matter. However, I don't think it's because you're a werewolf."

"The simplest explanation is usually the correct one," Remus quoted.

"Occam's razor," she sighed.

"Well—that's more of a paraphrase, though I think most people assume that is exactly what it says," Remus automatically said and Fawley raised her eyebrows. Remus ducked his head, embarrassed. "Occam's razor is that things should not be multiplied beyond what is necessary." He heated up with awkwardness at explaining this to an adult, to Miss Fawley. It wasn't really his place. He rubbed his arm, returning to the previous subject. "In any case, what makes me different from the others you've taught?"

Fawley gave a slight huff. "You believe that you are getting headaches because you're a werewolf."

Remus tugged at a loose thread in his sleeveless jumper. "I don't know, however it makes the most sense when you look at it from—from the point of view of what makes me so different from your other pupils. Unless it's my age."

"No… while I've never taught anyone as young as you, I know others who have and that isn't something I've heard of," she explained. "Perhaps…"

He lifted his head. "Yes?"

Fawley tucked some hair behind her ear. "There is another possibility which I doubt you'll be pleased about."

I'm broken, he immediately thought. "What is it?" Is it because of my unnatural feelings? he then wondered. Maybe it wasn't the literal monster inside of him but the other one. But Miss Fawley didn't know so…?

Fawley turned her head, a very faint look of amusement going across her features which confused him. "You are a very anxious young man, Remus my dear. You have a lot of stress and anxiety. You overthink and you push yourself too much. You don't get enough sleep and don't even try to argue that. I wonder if it is because of your stress and anxiety that triggers these headaches."

I am broken. "Oh." He reached up, rubbing his temple. "That might be it too." He still thought it was because he was a werewolf, though. "Do you want me to try taking a relaxing potion before our next session and see if that helps? Potions don't really work well with me—"

Shit.

He fell silent, eyes widening. The Pura Linea potion, it's—it's not going to work properly with me, even if I can find it. Would it? Perhaps while it wouldn't give him the full effect it might work enough to help him deal with—

"What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," he lied, pushing the thought to the back of his head for now. "I was saying, um, the potion won't work too well, however it will help some. We can see if that fixes the headache problem."

"Hmm, perhaps. I'll think about it."

"Oh—um, Miss Fawley?" He tugged one hand inside his sleeve and began twisting the loose, flappy end around. "I was… wondering… if you've given anymore thought to—to my request? About my memory?"

Her face hardened a little. "I don't know, Remus. It isn't—it's a very traumatic memory for you and I don't know if I should put you through that."

Remus twisted the sleeve even more, staring at the fabric. "Even if I want to see it again? I don't even—I don't remember it really and I want to know what happened. Please." Miss Fawley ran her tongue over her teeth, her unseeing eyes pointed at the wall beyond Remus. "Please?" he whispered.

"Very well. I don't think it's a good idea, however we will try. But remember," she added, holding up a finger, "it may not work. You were very young and every memory you do have of the event is extremely hazy. There is every likelihood that we won't be able to see. And it could be painful."

"I know."

"Let's do our regular lesson, and then the final few minutes can be dedicated to trying to… see the night you were bitten." She sounded faint at those last few words and he knew she was stressing out about it. He hated causing her pain like this but he wanted to know! "And tell me when your headaches begin, I want to chart them."

The lesson proceeded as normal other than the fact Remus actually talked about his headaches, telling her as soon as they began and how they felt. By the time the lesson ended, his head felt like someone was trying to squeeze it until it burst, and he almost felt like throwing up.

Fawley suggested he might not be up for jumping into the trauma, and he reiterated he wanted to.

"All right." Her hands hovered by his temples. "Think of what you do know about that night. Focus on every little scrap that is clear in your head."

Remus closed his eyes, not sure what to do. There wasn't much that was clear except the feeling of the wolf biting him. Shivering, he thought about that. Of the feeling of the long, sharp teeth piercing through his arm. He knew his father was shouting so he recalled that as best he could. He also thought about what his mother said—that his father had carried him bleeding into the kitchen. And he thought hard about his mother singing You Are My Sunshine.

Fawley touched his head, and he began screaming with pain. Her hands jerked back and Remus slid off the couch, panting hard, clutching at his head. It felt like someone had squeezed it to the verge of bursting!

"Remus?!" Fawley fell to the floor next to him, grabbing his arm.

"Head—head hurts," he panted out. "It f-felt like my brains were being ripped from my skull—"

She touched his cheek. "I told you it could be painful."

"I th-thought you m-meant emotionally," he whimpered, curling into a little ball, his head falling into her lap like a little kid. He told himself to get up and stop acting like he was five, but instead he pressed against her as one arm went around him and her other hand began stroking his hair.

"It shouldn't have been that bad," she whispered, cool fingers scratching gently at his scalp. "I think it was because of your headaches that made it worse."

He took in a few deep gulps of air before pushing himself back into a sitting position, off of her lap. "Maybe next time we can—can do it before the session."

"Next time? You still want to—"

"Yes," he interrupted. "I still want to. Please. I want to know what happened that night. How it happened."

She gave a small sigh. "Perhaps next time we can. Or… it might be better to attempt it later, after your friends have their session, if you don't mind."

"Ooh. Um, well, the thing is I don't know if James will be here," Remus said and explained to her everything that had happened. The fight with Peter, the fight with Sirius, and the tarot cards. "Nobody's seen him since Charms class. Peter's around, though."

"Hmm, all right. After I work with Peter for a while, we can try again if you want."

Remus waited by himself in the secret passage down the hall, working on homework and trying not to think of the pain that almost shattered his head. Tried not to think that it might happen again. But when around forty-five minutes passed, Peter returned and told him she needed to talk to him. Remus went back and she tried again—without the explosive pain. It still hurt, just not quite as bad. It felt like she was trying to gently pull his skull apart instead of yanking it apart with steel hooks.

He got a fuzzy, faint whisper of sunshine, and that was it. They were back on the purple couch, and Miss Fawley was shaking her head.

"Not tonight. We can try again next week."

Is she even trying? he wondered, immediately feeling traitorous for thinking such a thing. Of course she is, he scolded himself. Then, Right?

Remus returned to Peter and they went down to Detention Hall to wait for Sirius, who was just finishing up his lines at the last possible second as usual.

"Drives them up the wall," he giggled as he swanned out of the room. "Everyone else finished ages ago. They're going to give me detention, they're going to sit there the whole time. I had nothing better to do. How was You-Know-What?"

"Real good," Peter said as they began walking. "Miss Fawley says she is, um, looking forward to seeing my progress. She says she's proud of me." He glowed a little at that.

"Why wouldn't she be? You're amazing, we're all proud of you." Sirius slung an arm across Remus's shoulders. "How come you're here and not with Mr. Ego?"

"James hasn't been seen since Charms," Remus said, trying to ignore Sirius's arm on him. "You haven't seen him, have you? Was he in detention?"

"Nope and nope."

They walked together back to the Gryffindor tower, and Remus noticed Sirius kept rubbing his forehead. When he mentioned this, Sirius shook his head and said he had another headache. Remus tried to convince him to go to Madame Pomfrey to which Sirius laughed, insisting it wasn't that bad, pointing out Remus didn't go see her when he had headaches.

"I heal," he pointed out.

"So will I, with some relaxation," laughed Sirius.

"Sirius—"

Sirius shot him a look. "If you continue to harp on about this then I'll pick you up and I'll—I'll—I'll throw you in the lake!"

Remus scowled. "Go for it. Pete's the one afraid of the lake, not me."

"Oi!" Peter complained. "I'm not afraid of the lake! I just don't like the kra—er, the giant squid."

Sirius's eyes glittered. "Fine, if you continue to harp on about this then I'll pick you up and put you somewhere high."

Remus lifted his chin, meeting Sirius's eyes. "You're unnaturally tall, picking me up is already putting me somewhere high."

"Prat."

"And you."

But Remus didn't push again about Madame Pomfrey, giving up for the time being; if Sirius had more, then he might just go to Pomfrey himself. But for now… well, he'd leave it.

Peter and Remus wound up in trouble. It was after eight pm and Sirius had a note stating he had been in detention, however the other two had no reason to be out. Remus tried to convince the Prefect they had wanted to walk with Sirius but she took a total of eighteen points off of Gryffindor.

James wasn't anywhere in the Gryffindor common room, nor was he in the dorms. Remus tried not to worry, since the others didn't really care. By nine pm he was thinking about going looking for him, but when he went through James's trunk he couldn't find the Invisibility Cloak. Which meant James had it. Hopefully that was a good sign.

James showed up late, waltzing into the dorm room right as Remus was about to nod off. It was nearly midnight and everyone else was asleep.

"James!" Remus scrambled out of bed, trying to keep his voice quiet. "Where were you?"

"Practicing," James said, stripping off.

"Wh—what? Quidditch? This late?"

"No, something else." James, fully nude, went to his wardrobe and got out a pair of joggers and a t-shirt. He put them on, not bothering with pants. "You'll see. Tomorrow."

"A… bad something else? A prank?"

James returned to Remus and pat his cheek. "You'll see. Now get some sleep, you look exhausted."

Remus stepped back, folding his arms across his middle. "You missed You-Know-What."

James took off his glasses, setting them on the edge of his desk. "Yeah, I know, sorry. I didn't think Pete would want me there. Was she mad?"

"Not really."

"Goodnight, Remus."

Remus's forehead wrinkled as he tried to figure out what the heck was going on with his friend. "G-goodnight, James."

He went to bed with a very bad feeling.