They can't go out running all the time and honestly, the shack is barely big enough for Prongs to stand up in -his antlers scrape the ceiling- so he's lying down generally but he's still big enough that Moony keeps tripping over him.

Moony accidentally kicks Prongs in the side while pacing and the deer bleats back in annoyance. Moony chuffs and keeps wandering around on all fours, occasionally rearing back into his bipedal form to scratch at the walls and Padfoot barks whenever the werewolf starts scratching at himself.

They can't go out tonight – there's an astronomy class who could potentially see them. They brought the map of course (which is a bitch to use when you don't have thumbs) but it only shows where people are, not how far their line of sight is.

Moony paws at the door to the tunnel underneath Hogwarts and the handle turns, the door opening.

They forgot to lock it.

Prongs' head snaps up in shock and Padfoot is up and bounding around, barking madly and trying to distract. Moony turns around and follows the bouncing dog while Prongs edges around towards the door.

When Mooney is the furthest away, Prongs folds down into James and he frantically searches his pockets for his wand – except he left his wand on his bed because he didn't think he'd need it tonight.

Moony smells human and a snarl tears out of him as he whips around. James throws himself through the door and tries to wrench it back shut long enough to try a wandless locking spell but Moony slams his way through and James scrambles back and explodes into Prongs.

But Prongs is too big for the tunnel and his antlers jam against the ceiling while his shoulders slam into the walls, shifting back in a sudden rush. James is left flat on his back and wheezing.

Moony falls over James and his jaw gapes open, only to scream in pain when Padfoot tears into his side. Moony rears up and bats Padfoot away, the grim hitting the edge of the doorway and then being thrown across the room into the small bed frame.

Moony turns back to the human but James is crawling under Moony's legs back into the shack and throwing himself just to the side of the door. Moony leaps for him and James shudders apart, tired but still fast enough to take the claws in deer form as they rake across his belly.

Padfoot snarls, hefting himself back up with a painful limp and Prongs kicks the door shut, hefting his bulk in front of it to barricade the tunnel shut.

There's a long pause as everyone waits to see what happens next.

Moony looks around, confused. He sees the blood spilling across the wooden floor in a slow trickle and whimpers sadly, crouching low and hunching over Prongs, trying to lick the injury clean.

Prong snorts and hits Moony with a front leg. They can't be infected while in animal form but it hurts like a bitch and licking isn't going to help anything. Moony seems sad though and whimpers at Padfoot too when the dog limps closer.

Prong tosses his head, nodding towards the tunnel. Padfoot hesitates but limps his way up and transforms back at the highest point.

"Mother fucking fuck," Sirius hisses and there's a click of his dislocated shoulder snapping back into place. "Gah, I can't believe we forgot to lock the bloody door."

Prongs bleats because Moony is slowly turning towards the noise – not yet able to see or smell Sirius but it's getting close.

"You want me to try and make a break for it?" Sirius asks, quieter this time. "Heal you, lock the door?"

Prong bleats twice for no. He's blocking it, and he's had worse injuries before - it's certainly nothing their self-studied crash course in medi-wizardry can't fix.

Moony starts to growl but soon after Padfoot is scrambling back down. At least tomorrow is a Sunday.

"You done hiding in your bed like a bitch?" Sirius asks when Remus slowly pulls open the curtains.

Remus doesn't even react, hunched in on himself as he starts to go through his trunk at the foot of the bed, searching for homework to do.

James sighs and straightens up where he's lying back against the headboard on Sirius' bed. He gets up halfway and cries out, clutching his stomach.

Remus is already hovering over James with his wand out and a diagnostic spell halfway done but it's a trap. James grabs Remus and rolls them both onto Sirius, who pins Remus' legs while James lays across his chest.

"How many times do we have to do this?" James muses, propping his chin up on a fist. "Come on, Prongs is an absolute unit of a deer, you think a scratch can hurt him?"

Sirius peers over James. "And Padfoot has short king energy but he wears it with style, fuck you very much you lanky mutt."

"I shouldn't even be hurting you in the first place!" Remus snaps back, struggling until James starts making pained noises and Remus stops because he doesn't know if it's all fake and he's not willing to risk it.

"I healed James already," Sirius scoffs. "Come on, Remus, you can be such a baby sometimes."

James smirks. "If you want to make it up to me, you can do my homework."

"Get me food from the kitchens," Sirius chimes in.

"Give me a back massage."

"Suck my dick-"

Remus surges up, James and Sirius tumbling off the bed. "And wow, look at that, I don't regret it."

James is cracking up. "Suck my-!"

Sirius' laughter sounds like barking. "I would do it because I'm a good friend."

James wheezes.

Remus frowns at them but he eventually smiles. "Should have slapped you idiots around a bit more."