James sits on Remus' beside after dropping off the day's homework and assignments he picked up while Remus stayed in bed. "Just sore still?"

"Yeah," Remus mumbles, lying on top of the covers and shirtless because he's too hot, one arm thrown over his face. "Fever too now I guess."

"Like after a full?" Sirius muses, sitting cross-legged on James' bed and flipping through a library book on creatures to find the werewolf section. "Pomfrey said you're not sick though?"

"Not sick with anything she knows," Remus sighs. "Waved me off with a 'werewolf problems' and a good fucking luck."

James frowns. "We could go to St Mungo's and get a second opinion?"

"They don't take my kind," Remus chuckles with a smile like he's baring teeth.

"I'll bring mum and they can try to say no," James insists angrily.

"Mm, it's fine, it's nothing too bad." Remus pulls his arm off his eyes and holds out a hand. "Sorry, did I make you upset?"

"No," James grumbles but he is upset now.

He flops down gently onto Remus' shoulder and arranges himself lying beside him with his back to Sirius, very practiced at being light-handed because the reason he started sleeping with Remus was to make him feel better after a full moon. (And then Sirius looked lonely so James started sleeping with him and it snowballed.)

Sirius conjures a towel and wets it, slapping it over Remus' face to help cool him down. Remus grunts into the towel and doesn't bother to move it.

James starts tracing the scars across Remus' chest, silver lines like shooting stars. "This one is my favourite, it looks like someone cut out your heart. It's wicked."

"I like that one," Sirius says, pointing over vaguely. "All the way across his chest. If you look at it with his nipples it looks like a smiley face."

James laughs so hard he almost falls off the bed if Sirius hadn't kicked his feet up against James' back.

"I fucking hate you both," Remus complains but his voice sounds fond.

Harry walks into the room holding a large tray piled high with food because Remus has been absolutely ravenous lately. He steps through the muffling spell around the two beds and holds up the tray. "Sit up, I got you some stuff."

"Thanks, Harry," Remus says, disentangling his arm from James and sitting up against the headboard, pushing the wet towel up so it rests on top of his head. "You're my favourite nephew."

"I'm sure it was a tight competition," Harry muses and drops the tray off onto Remus' lap. "Have we found anything yet?"

"Werewolves don't go into estrus," Sirius declares after reading a paragraph in the book.

"Fuck you, with the broom you rode in on," Remus declares before stuffing his face.

"I was just checking," Sirius laughs. "There's nothing here about your symptoms outside of a full, but then again there's nothing about adolescent werewolves."

James perks up where he's putting together a sandwich for Remus. "Wait, Remi, you're sixteen. We should all be getting our magical age of majority soon, is that it?"

Sirius perks up too. "What's the Lupin heritage gift?"

"That's a pureblood thing," Remus reminds them both around a mouthful of food.

Harry raises a hand as he takes a seat beside Sirius. "I have questions."

"I told you about the thing under the floorboards in the manor, right?" James says. "Over the winter hols, I'll be going down there, and that's the ritual for the Potter family. It means I'm now giving back to the reservoir instead of just taking and it'll be a lot more conscious when I pull power from it instead of it just protecting me."

Sirius smirks, razor sharp. "The Blacks have a ritual for the oldest heir, a fun little bloodletting but I do get a massive power boost. If they think I'll be using that for the family though, they're bloody well delusional."

"Do only purebloods get it then?" Harry wonders.

"Everyone does get something at random times, purebloods just have the rituals and knowledge to make it stronger and bring it out clearer," James admits. "Which is why I think Remi's thing might be a magical majority. He's been eating a lot and I think he's grown bigger really fast."

Remus looks up, already halfway through the tray of food. "Have I?"

"Yeah, I used to be eye-height with your nose, now I'm staring at your chin," Sirius chimes in. "Plus you broke your comb by holding it too hard this morning, remember?"

"It just sounds like a werewolf thing," Remus admits.

"Could be both," Harry offers. "I know a half-veela that got her wings in for her other form, back when she was sixteen. I don't know if it's a majority thing but Fleur said it itched a lot."

"Moony is getting stronger because the curse is interfering with your magic?" James suggests. "How's he been lately?"

"Loud," Remus admits. "I mean, you know, animal instincts just blaring at you suddenly. It's getting really annoying, I want to bite you like all the time and I don't know if it's a dominance thing like usual or an eat the yummy deer thing."

"I had such a time dealing with Prongs when he started up," James remembers. "He didn't want to be near Siri, absolutely terrified near you. Siri suddenly turned into Padfoot once and I was just gone, I was out the door."

Sirius starts laughing. "Oh, shit, I remember that! Padfoot thought we were playing chase and then you had to lock yourself in the bathroom."

"Moony wasn't very nice either so I feel that Prongs was in the right there," Remus admits.

"Bit one of my bloody antlers in half that first night," James grumbles to Harry. "I felt lop-sided for days."

"You looked cute though," Sirius chuckles. "You kept tilting your head like you were trying to fix it. Just mid-sentence – flop!"

James rolled his eyes. "So yeah, anyway…what were we talking about?"

"Moony getting stronger," Harry helps.

"Yeah, right!" James turns back to Remus. "So it could just be Moony really coming into things?"

"How long is it going to last?" Remus complains. "Because I'm already sick of it. How big does he want to get, because I really do not need to get taller, I'm going to have to start ducking under doorways soon. Actually, I'd like broader shoulders." He looks down at himself. "You think you could get me some abs, Moony?"

"If you get abs I'm gonna scream," James threatens. "You think I got mine from Prongs? No. Hard bloody work, Remus." James clambers up onto his knees, jostling Remus and his now empty tray on the bed, and then pulls up his shirt to show off the faint lines running across his torso and the v line of his hips. "Quidditch, lads!"

"That is not quidditch," Harry denies. "I've been paying since first year and I call bullshit. That's probably fast metabolism and muscle growth from you being a teenage boy, and all the genetics you didn't see fit to pass onto me, thanks for the garbage eyesight by the way, dad."

James just splutters and sits back on his calves, stunned.

"Nah, it's quidditch," Sirius drawls and straightens up, pulling up the front of his shirt to show also vaguely outlined muscles. "You're a seeker, it's different."

"Seeker is the only good position anyway," Harry with an exaggerated huff.

"Son, I will fight you on this," James says seriously.

"You'd both lose to me," Sirius scoffs. "Because I'm a beater, bro, I know how to beat off. Wink wonk."

"Harry, you grab his left leg," James orders, getting off the bed. "I'll grab the right, then we yank him dick-first into a bed post as punishment for that stupid joke."

Remus snorts out a giggle because he was mid-inhale and not prepared for that sentence.