Breakfast the next day was a subdued affair, or at least it was for Sirius. The others weren't aware of last night's argument so they chatted amongst themselves as normal, but James clearly wasn't speaking to him. He struck up a conversation with Remus, and didn't even mention Sirius's name once. He was most likely making a point: Sirius was near enough to hear him, but Sirius was now, essentially, sitting all on his own, not talking to anyone.

Remus almost felt sorry for him; after all, Sirius couldn't help who his family were, and he was clearly trying to be different from them, he just hadn't quite managed it yet. But that was as far as Remus's empathy was willing to go. It wasn't Remus's job to educate him on why he was wrong. If Sirius cared enough, he'd find out himself, so until Sirius apologised, Remus wasn't about to extend the branch of friendship any further towards him. He felt bad for James though. James was clearly upset by the whole thing, conflicted. His usual smile no longer reached his eyes, and he was a little lost without Sirius. While he had many admirers, Sirius was really his only friend. By lunchtime, he was wandering aimlessly around the school. Remus noticed, and went up to him.

"You alright?" He greeted. James shrugged his shoulders in response. "Haven't you spoken to Sirius yet?"

"Not yet. I'm still angry at him."

"He was a dick," remarked Remus. "But you'll probably feel better if you talk to him." James laughed lightly. "What?"

"Nothing. You swear a lot. It's funny."

"Oh." Remus was usually oblivious to his swearing. His mother reprimanded him sometimes, but his father had never minded. When he and Remus went to Quidditch matches, they both swore like sailors, Remus in a mixture of both English and Welsh, which made his dad laugh.

"Sorry."

"Nah, it's alright. I like it." Remus asked James if he wanted to hang out with him and his friends instead, and James immediately agreed.

They met up with Peter and Owain by the lake. They'd lost the spot under the tree to a couple of fifth years, but the previous day's temperature had turned into a full on heatwave, so Owain and Peter were cooling down with their feet in the water.

"Since when is Scotland this hot?" moaned Owain as James and Remus arrived.

"You can talk," replied Peter. "You live in Wales."

"And you live in Manchester, so we've all got problems."

"Alright?" greeted Remus. Owain and Peter nodded in response, and Peter shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand to look up at James. "James, this is Peter and Owain. Owain and Peter, James." They all greeted each other while Remus took off his shoes and socks to dip his toes in the lake with the others. James followed suit.

"Where's Sirius?" asked Owain. "Thought you two were joined at the hip."

"Oh. Me and Sirius aren't speaking right now."

"How come?" asked Peter.

"No reason. Just a stupid argument." Remus could understand why James didn't want to tell anyone what the argument was about, because it would end up spreading like wild fire and Sirius would end up being hated by half the school. It wasn't worth it.

"That's alright," said Owain, lying back on the grass and closing his eyes. "We'll look after you."

"Where's Lily?" Remus asked, changing the subject.

"With that Severus kid," replied Owain.

"Snape?" asked James.

"You know him?"

"No, but I've seen him hanging out with Mulciber, and that guy's bad news."

"Isn't his family like major You-Know-Who supporters?" interjected Peter.

"Yeah. So anyone hanging out with him can't be good. Lily needs to be careful. She's muggleborn, isn't she? Evans?"

"Yeah," replied Remus. "But she insists Snape is different, so I guess I trust her."

"Whatever. As long as Mulciber doesn't get any ideas." The rest of the conversation became more light hearted, mainly because at that moment, Owain was accosted by a bee, and his subsequent reaction involved him yelling in fright and diving into the lake. It took five minutes for the others to calm down from laughing, just as Lily wandered over.

"Why's Owain all wet?" She asked as her opening greeting. Owain had jumped back out once the bee had flown off and he was now attempting to dry himself off with magic.

"He was trying to escape from a bee," giggled Peter. Lily smiled and sat down.

"It was bigger than my bloody fist," claimed Owain with a scowl.

"Liar," laughed James. "I couldn't even see it."

"Yeah, well. Maybe you need better glasses then." Owain turned to Lily. "Where's your Slytherin friend then?" he asked.

"Severus? He had an essay to finish. What's James doing here?"

"Well hello to you too."

"Hi. Sorry. I'm just used to seeing you with Sirius, that's all. Have you two fallen out?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"No, but I noticed you weren't speaking to him during lunch."

"I can speak to other people you know." It was James's turn to scowl, and Remus tried to move the focus away from Sirius.

"Lunch is nearly over," he reminded them. "We should probably get back to the castle." Owain now fully dry, so they all picked up their shoes and socks, hopping from foot to foot trying to put them on, and made their way back into the courtyard ready for the afternoon classes.

It was back in the common room where Remus and James ran into Sirius. James refused to give him the time of day, and Remus could see how hurt Sirius was by James's rejection. It was only out of pity that Remus decided not to follow James's lead.

"He'll talk to you eventually," Remus said, rather cooly. "He's just angry."

"But I don't get it. I don't know what I've done wrong."

"Well, then... find out." Sirius just looked defeated, and he silently excused himself to the corner of the room where an armchair sat, not wanting to follow James into the dorm room. As much as Remus didn't want to waste his time educating someone on blood status, Sirius's moping was rather a drag. He sighed and wandered over.

"Look, if you really care about knowing why you're wrong, then I'll tell you, but if you're just going to sit around feeling sorry for yourself then I won't bother." Sirius looked up at him.

"You're just going to tell me that my family's crap, aren't you?"

"Yeah, maybe I will. I hate to break it to you, but your family supports people like me getting killed. All because my mum's a muggle." And because I'm a werewolf, he refrained from adding.

"And how do you think I feel?" Sirius pleaded. "I just want a normal family. It's not fair. So it's better to tell myself that they're not that bad."

"Better for who? Better for all the muggleborns who are being killed for no reason?"

"My family isn't killing anyone," he murmured, so quietly that it sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

"They're not against it though. Isn't that just as bad?" Sirius fidgeted with his hands. Despite what Sirius was saying, Remus wasn't as angry at him as he was a day ago. Sirius was only a kid, and to have to admit that your family is—frankly, shit— wasn't exactly easy.

"I'm sorry," Sirius eventually said. "About what I said. There's nothing wrong with wizards marrying muggles, even if they're purebloods." Remus was rather surprised. He wasn't expecting Sirius to apologise so soon, and it seemed genuine enough. He hoped so anyway.

"I suppose I forgive you," conceded Remus, if only to take the easy option out. Sirius could prove himself at a later date; right now, Remus just wanted the tension in the common room to go away. "But if I hear anymore blood purist talk, I won't forgive you so easily. Your family isn't an excuse for being an arsehole." Sirius nodded.

"I have to speak to James now." He stood up, but paused for a second and turned back to Remus. "Um. Thanks. Thanks for talking to me."

"You're welcome." Sirius gave a brief smile and continued for the dorm room. Remus changed seats and plonked himself down in front of the fire. He was feeling a little more optimistic about Sirius than he was, or at least, he didn't feel as scared of him. But now Remus felt a responsibility to keep Sirius away from people like Mulciber, in case his faltering views were reinforced by future Death Eaters; a responsibility he didn't really want. Remus's father was right. Hogwarts wasn't all fun and games. It could be a dangerous place, and for the first time since he'd arrived, Remus genuinely feared the next seven years.

Sirius and James made up pretty quickly once Sirius had apologised, and Remus found himself to be quite glad about it. Sirius was happy again, and when Sirius was happy, he was actually very fun to be around. So was James, whose smile reached his eyes again, and there was no more tension hanging over them all like a dark cloud.

Weirdly, Sirius and James's brief argument had brought them all closer together. James wanted to continue hanging out with Remus, Peter and Owain, and therefore Sirius was introduced to them too. Since none of the others knew about the argument, there was no animosity when Owain shook Sirius's hand, or when Peter waved at him from where he was sitting.

The group of three had now become a group of five. Six whenever Lily was around, and sometimes it could be eight if Lily brought Mary and Marlene, although this wasn't often. They were only eleven after all, and the boys and girls preferred to stay in their own groups.

But Remus was happy with their group of five. It meant he always had someone to hang out with.

Remus had also gone through another full moon during this time, which basically went the same way as before, with a few minor differences. For starters, Madam Pomfrey had warned him that she wouldn't be able to spend every full moon with him, and nor would this be practical, so she was helping him become more independent. She taught him how to calm the Whomping Willow with the immobulus charm, and now that he had been at Hogwarts for a whole month, he was much more prolific at getting around the castle on his own without being seen. So in fact, the second full moon managed to increase his confidence with spending nearly every foreseeable full moon at Hogwarts from now on.

However, there were still a number of worries, including one which wasn't present during his first full moon here. The problem was, he now had friends, so his absences were much more noticeable. In fact, he couldn't see how his friends wouldn't eventually realise that he was absent every full moon. He brought it up with Madam Pomfrey, and she said there were really only two options. He could either spend more— but unnecessary— time in the hospital wing during the month to interrupt the pattern, or he'd have to forgo spending the day after the full moon in the hospital wing, and risk falling asleep in class. She was against the latter option, but Remus wasn't keen on being even more absent for no reason.

"Unless..." he suggested. "You let me take the Morfosis potion. Then I can take it in here every week and my visits won't be unnecessary." He looked at her expectantly. His campaign to shorten the waiting time to taking the potion was very much ongoing, but Madam Pomfrey was becoming good at refusing to indulge him; although he saw it as less of an indulgence and more as something blatantly necessary. But all she could do was apologise and reiterate that it was up to his parents.

As for his parents, every time he wrote to them he always made it clear that he was ready for the potion in subtle, indirect ways. When he talked about his friends he referred to them as "the other boys" in case his parents had any doubt in their mind that he was another boy. Unless he was talking about Lily, and in which case, he used it to his advantage, making it sound like he had a crush on her in his letters, calling her pretty, and kind and funny. And while he did find her to be all of those things, he was fairly certain he didn't have a crush on her, but by his logic, if his parents thought some kind of relationship was imminent, they'd be pressurised into letting him transition as soon as possible.

Perhaps it was manipulative, but Remus could honestly say that he didn't feel guilty. Transitioning wasn't what he wanted, it was what he needed. So what if his parents were put under a bit of pressure? He was nearly twelve years old. He was under constant pressure from his own body threatening to go through the wrong puberty. If anything, he wasn't being manipulative enough.

After the second full moon, when he woke up the following day in the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey told him that his friends had visited, which made him very happy to hear. It was obvious that they had visited by the mound of sweets left on his bedside table. Madam Pomfrey disapproved as expected, but she didn't protest too much. Remus had found her to be especially lenient with him.

When he was finally discharged, Peter was the first person he bumped into on his way to the Gryffindor common room.

"Remus!" He beamed. "You alright, mate?"

"Fine, thanks," Remus smiled back.

"Did you get our sweets?"

"Yeah, blimey, how did you even get that much?"

"They're all the sweets we had saved up. I gave you the Bertie Botts and stuff and Sirius gave you all the chocolate, and—." One thing noticeable about Peter was that he was incredibly shy around people he didn't know, but once he opened up, he could be even more talkative than James. He rambled on the entire journey back to the common room.

Once the two arrived through the painting of the fat lady, they saw James, Sirius, Owain and Lily all sitting around the fireplace. When they saw Remus they all greeted him excitedly. Sirius even hugged him, but then immediately pulled back, flushed red, and offered Remus a handshake instead, which made Remus laugh as he took it.

Him and Sirius had actually grown quite close. Ever since their conversation when Sirius and James had fallen out, Sirius had largely taken on board what Remus had said, and whenever Remus would sit in the library during lunch, Sirius would join him and Remus would catch him reading from the muggle studies curriculum.

"Bit advanced that, isn't it?" He whispered to Sirius. Muggle studies wasn't an option until third year.

"It's interesting," was Sirius's response. Remus soon discovered that Sirius was an avid reader, but the only books he'd been able to get his hands on at home were blood purist bullshit, and it had put him off reading entirely. Remus tried to help him, and introduced him to all sorts of literature. He showed him all the Beedle the Bard stories: Sirius hadn't been allowed to read them, as his parents viewed the stories as "disgusting pro-muggle propaganda". He'd only been allowed to read 'The Warlock's Hairy Heart', since it was about a pureblood warlock intent on preserving his magical lineage. But Sirius's parents hadn't told him that Beedle the Bard was the author, so he was surprised when he found out.

Remus also showed him muggle stories, like Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan, and it became something of a routine, Remus giving Sirius a book to read and Sirius spending days engrossed in it. James found it amusing.

"Can't believe my best friends are both book nerds. I should be hanging out with future athletes instead." He grinned at Remus's raised eyebrow, though Remus wasn't expecting James to refer to him as a best friend. It felt too soon, and Remus didn't feel like he had lived up to that title. He thought he was the only one in the friend group who didn't have a best friend. Lily's best friend was Snape, James's best friend was Sirius, Owain and Peter were pretty close. Remus just drifted between them. But now James had grounded him with a 'best friend' label and... it felt great! He wondered if Sirius saw him as a best friend too. He wasn't about to ask though, in case it made things awkward between them.

Halloween was encroaching and the weather finally had that autumn chill in the air, so scarves and hats were needed for sitting out in the courtyard. Despite being over a month away, people were already making plans for the upcoming holidays. Nearly everyone would be going home to spend Christmas with their families. Everyone, that is, except Sirius.

"Your family don't want you at home?" asked Peter, with vague shock. They were all in the Great Hall, discussing their plans, and Sirius was already certain he'd be staying here.

"Well, there's no point," said Sirius. "We don't really celebrate Christmas anyway. We don't celebrate anything. So I might as well stay here. I'd rather stay here. I heard the Hall looks great leading up to Christmas." What was odd was that Sirius genuinely didn't sound upset about not spending Christmas with his family, which if anything was even more depressing. Remus didn't like the thought of Sirius spending Christmas all on his own, and he had half a mind to write to his parents telling them that he wanted to stay at Hogwarts, but he knew he couldn't do that to them. Besides, he loved Christmas with his family, because it wasn't just his mother and father. It was also his mother's parents, his uncle, his aunt and a grandmother on his father's side. They weren't a big family, at least not anymore. Lyall's father had died from dragonpox when Remus was young, and the aunt on his mother's side, the one who had gifted him the dress years ago, had disapproved of Remus's male identity when she'd eventually found out: Remus and his parents couldn't keep his identity a secret from the family for very long, unless they cut him off from them entirely, and nobody wanted to do that. But other than the aunt, who Remus didn't like very much anyway, the rest of his family eventually came round to the idea that Remus was actually a boy. His grandparents were nice to him, if a little condescending sometimes, and his uncle treated him like any other boy, as did Lyall's sister. So Remus enjoyed spending time with them.

Not only that, but it was always a laugh when every year, without fail, his aunt tried to communicate with Hope's parents, who only spoke Welsh. After a few drinks, Hope and her brother refused to offer a translation, so the evening essentially turned into a game of charades, which was fitting for Christmas. Remus would eventually be bribed by his aunt to give a translation instead, and then his family would end up betting on how long Remus could hold out before taking any sweets or money his aunt— who, by this point, was quite drunk and didn't even need to speak to his grandparents anyway— was offering him. He managed to hold out for longer and longer each year.

Remus told all this to Sirius. He thought it was a good anecdote, and he wanted to make Sirius laugh, which he did. In between giggles, Sirius said that he wished he could spend Christmas with Remus's family.

"I asked James ages ago, but you know how he's going away." James was going to India with his parents, since he had family there, and he wouldn't be back until the holidays were over.

Remus knew Sirius's suggestion of staying over was probably a joke, but it made Remus think.

"Maybe you can stay over," he said. Sirius's eyes lit up.

"Really?!"

"It's only the seven of us, we have room. My aunt stays in a hotel anyway when she visits. You can share my bedroom and—" Remus stopped short. What was he doing? Sirius couldn't stay over. Someone might slip up. His grandparents usually did, and called him by his old name or referred to him as 'she'. It was usually an accident, but no one accidentally calls their grandson a girl. Sirius would get immediately suspicious. Of course, if Hope's parents accidentally referred to Remus as a girl, it would be in Welsh, so Sirius probably wouldn't notice, but his other grandma was different. She was English, and she could be quite the talker. It was way too risky to bring Sirius along. His parents would never allow it. Remus cursed himself for getting ahead of himself.

"Actually," he backtracked, a little embarrassed. "I forgot. There are more family members staying over this year. My uncle has this new wife, and she's bringing her parents, so there wouldn't be any room." This was all a lie of course; his uncle had been single for so long that it was now a running joke in the family, but obviously Remus had to lie to Sirius. He certainly couldn't tell him the truth.

"Oh." Sirius noticeably deflated, making Remus almost wince with guilt at getting his hopes up.

"Sorry," Remus said.

"No, it's alright. Hogwarts will be fine. And we can write and stuff."

"Definitely! I'll try and get you a present." Sirius brightened up at that, and he soon returned to his usual happy self, and Remus's guilt was able to dissipate slightly.

Hogwarts became rather chaotic leading up to the holidays. No one could focus in class, everyone was packing so things were constantly going missing, and the Great Hall was even louder than usual, which made it hard for Remus to sit in there during the full moon, and he had to regularly excuse himself. The only bonus was that the last full moon in December happened before term ended, so he didn't have to worry about transforming at home. There'd been a few holidays where the full moon had happened around Christmas, so his parents had to call up his family in advance and delay the visit, claiming that Remus was too sick for them to come round. The rest of his family didn't know that he was a werewolf. Lyall had said it was too risky for them to know, especially the magical members of the family, and Hope had agreed. It wasn't too hard to hide; all they had to do was ensure Remus was never with another family member during a full moon. It didn't limit his contact with them too much, and he didn't mind. Remus didn't really want them to know anyway. He didn't want his family to be scared of him.

A week before the holidays began, during breakfast, Sirius received a letter, brought to him by his mother's owl. He certainly wasn't expecting it, judging by his confused expression as he stared at the envelope. Sirius did receive letters, but they were usually only from his brother. His mum never bothered. This one, however, was clearly from his mother, judging by the over-the-top, cursive writing on the front, and the purple wax seal showing off the Black family crest.

"What does it say?" asked James, his mouth full of toast.

"Bloody hell," said Sirius, staring at the letter's contents. "She wants me to spend the holidays at home."