By the time Wednesday morning dawned, the temperature was completely back to normal and some of the ice was beginning to melt. Dumbledore announced that outdoor classes could once again commence, and James took that to mean they were allowed to be outside whenever they wanted. So during their first free period, the four of them went outside where they slid down a very icy hill on a shield which resulted in Peter getting quite injured when he crashed into a snowbank that turned out to be an ice-bank instead.

James and Remus helped Peter back to the castle with Sirius in the lead, carrying the shield under his arm until he found a place to dispose of it so nobody could see. Madame Pomfrey shook her head at Peter's very bloody face and very swollen knee before nudging him behind a curtain; he needed to remove his trousers so she could properly heal his leg.

"I was wearing embarrassing pants," he moaned afterwards, practically clinging to Sirius. "She saw them."

"What pants?" James asked, grabbing Peter's trousers and trying to peer down.

"Oi!" Peter slapped his hand away. "They're old and—kinda stained and—have holes in them. She saw."

"She's a nurse, I'm sure she's seen worse," Sirius promised. "Hey that rhymes."

"I wonder how many bums she's seen," James pondered and Sirius and Remus giggled at the thought, even though she had seen Remus completely naked many times.

Peter narrowed his eyes. "I wasn't—that isn't what—it's not that I—oh! I'm not meaning like that! Not—not like that! It's embarrassing, is what I mean. That she saw them. STOOOP!" he howled as James tugged at his trousers again, grinning in a teasing manner. "You're being rude."

Peter was mopey about the Pomfrey incident all day, and got quite ferocious whenever James or Sirius teased him about it. Tensions grew so much that Remus was very glad when Ancient Runes started and he was able to get away from them, even if it meant having to deal with Lily. They had been avoiding each other all day and as Remus took his seat, he wondered if she was still mad.

The answer was clear enough when she came into the room and took a different seat than normal, away from Remus. His heart sank a little then he straightened up, clenching his teeth as indignation swept through him. He was a victim in all of this, just as much as Magpie was.

Then Magpie herself came in, clutching her books to her chest, shoulders slumped, hair covering her face as she shuffled in. Remus tried not to look her way, feeling awkward when she took her usual seat which was right behind him. He realized that there was every possibility she had chosen that seat at the beginning of the year because it was behind his, so she could look at him. At least Sirius usually sat behind him in all the other classes, so this wasn't something that would happen at every lesson.

After supper he was left alone, which was a relief since the meal had been awful. James and Sirius wheedled at Peter who snapped back, growing grouchier with each passing minute. Afterwards, James had practice, Sirius had detention, Peter went to his Photography Club, and Remus holed up in a secret passage to work on bubble charms. He felt like it was at the tip of his fingers, doing what they wanted to be done. It was making him go a little nutters.

In a rush of frustration, he shot a blast of ice at the wall and sank down, glaring at the spot. Slowly his brain ticked away until he realized how stupid he was being. Utterly, impossibly stupid.

He got back up, going over to touch the ice on the wall. It didn't need to be a frozen bubble, it could simply be an illusion. It didn't have to be anything solid at all! Of course!

He flicked his wrist, creating a pale blueish sort of see-through wall. He twisted his wrist, turning it into a cylinder shape before flicking it into oblivion. He then tried again, this time forming a small dome which grew bigger until it surrounded him. It didn't look one hundred percent right but it looked on the right course to work.

"I believe I've got it figured out," he told Peter when he went to pick up his friend, so excited he couldn't even stand still and kept bouncing from foot to foot.

"Figured what out?" Peter asked glumly as his shoes shuffled loudly against the stone.

"Project Shake It Up," he said, barely noticing how sad Pete was. "The dome. I've figured it out! It doesn't need to be a bubble at all. I'm so stupid!"

"Mm."

"It will be a lot of work, however I believe less work than the frozen bubble would have been."

"Mm."

His arms gestured rather wildly in front of him as he spoke; he was very excited and it was hard to contain his energy. "All this time I kept thinking there actually needs to be a dome but that's wrong. I was wrong. It doesn't need to be solid at all, does it? I only kept thinking it needed to be, since… well, that's how snow-globes are but it doesn't!"

"Mm."

"It only needs to look ri—" Peter's monosyllabic responses finally sank in, and his arms fell to his sides. "Erm, are—are you all right?"

Pete looked up, his eyes a little puffy which startled Remus. "No. I'm not."

"Is it the pants thing again?"

"No!" he snarled, causing Remus to shrink back. Pete breathed heavily until he turned away. "All right, fine, yes. Yes it is."

"James teasing you?" he asked delicately.

Peter shook his head. "No, I don't care 'bout that. I don't like that Pomfrey saw those old pants. I shouldn't've worn them. I should have worn nice ones."

Remus stuck his hands in his pockets, trying to figure out the right thing to say. "Well. You didn't know you'd end up with a twisted knee. It isn't as if it was planned…" Peter only growled at that. "Er, besides, Pomfrey's seen loads of worse things like Sirius said. She's seen me starkers, you know. It's loads better than that, isn't it?" Not even that helped. This was dire. Remus needed something even more embarrassing. "You know, she's probably seen Malfoy in his pants. If she can stomach that, you've got absolutely nothing to worry about."

That, at least, got a slight smile. "It isn't the point though. Not that she's seen worse or might have seen worse. It's just that she saw them in the first place."

"It's only Pomfrey…"

Peter went pink. "Don't say 'only' like that!"

Remus stared at Peter who grew even redder as he made a strange gurgling sound. Oh. Oh. "Peter—"

"L-let's go find the others—"

"Do you fancy Madame Pomfrey?"

Peter froze where he stood, posture entirely stiff. "No," he squeaked, ears going bright pink.

Remus's jaw dropped but he quickly shut his mouth, then covered it. "You do."

"Hhhnmnnnnnggg!" Pete whirled around, shoving Remus back against the wall. "Please don't say anything to the others!"

"Oh Merlin, you—"

He clamped his hand over Remus's mouth. "Shhh! All r-right, yes, that's—that's the g-girl… woman… I've—I've been…" He trailed off and gave another squeak, letting Remus go. "Please, please, please don't tell them. They'll go absolutely mental over this if they knew—"

"I won't," Remus promised quickly. "I won't breathe a word. I swear. But. Erm. Petey. She—I mean, she is a lovely woman and all but… she is… old enough to—to be your mother."

Peter scowled. "That doesn't matter so much, not in a couple of decades."

"Decades?"

There was a glimmer in his eyes. "I'm willing to wait."

"Oh Merlin."

Peter sighed. "Age difference doesn't matter so much, not for magic people. We live to be real old. When she's sixty I'll be in my thirties. Um. I think. Wait. Errrr. How—how old is she?"

"I know she's a couple of years older than Fawley. I believe she is in her mid-thirties."

His face brightened. "Only twenty years! That's hardly anything. When she's sixty I'll be forty. That's nothing. Loads of witches and wizards marry with bigger age differences than that."

Remus stared at his friend in complete shock at all of this confession. Where did this even come from? Why was this even happening? How could Peter have fallen for Madame Pomfrey for—

You fancied Prewett, a voice whispered and he felt himself heating up, trying to convince himself that was different. He never had any fantastical notions of actually being with Professor Prewett. It was simply a crush, nothing more. Not like this.

Bloody hell, James and Sirius would never shut up if they knew, he thought, then realized Peter was watching him. He wanted to tell Pete that he was being a cracked cauldron, all sense dribbling out. Except Pete didn't seem to want the cauldron repaired and sense poured back in. They had known for a while he was smitten with some girl—some… woman. Remus figured it would be best to let it run its course.

"I won't say anything," he said again, hoping that would suffice.

For some reason, he thought James and Sirius would somehow sense something had been said between them, that Remus knew some secret. But they were too distracted by a fight. Their own fight. Peter and Remus walked into the dorm to find James and Sirius shouting at one another. It was soon made clear that Sirius had gotten another headache during detention (doing lines) and James was tired of him not doing whatever was needed to prevent the headaches.

"It's my business," Sirius snarled out. "Remy, you agree with me, right?"

Of course he didn't. Not just because it was ridiculous Sirius refused to wear glasses, but he was being an absolute hypocrite due to the fact…

"You didn't let my lycanthropy stay my business," Remus replied flatly as he sat at his desk. Sirius's mouth hung open in shock.

"Wow," James said, clapping. "Good one, Remus. See? Now. Whatever the issue is, isn't not having headaches better?"

"No." Sirius pushed back his hair as he stalked over to his bed. "I prefer getting headaches. Matter is closed now."

"I don't get it," Peter said. "I don't understand what it could be? Do you have to take a potion every day?"

"No, and the matter is closed, ended, over with, end of discussion," Sirius growled.

Remus twisted in his seat. "As someone who knows what the issue is, Sirius is being stupid. I can confirm that."

"Oh, bugger off. Pete, how did Photography club go?"

"Erm—"

"Stop changing the subject," James said. "You've been whining all evening and refusing to go to Pomfrey again."

"I could go with you, if you need to go," Peter offered and suddenly Remus realized that every time someone had needed to go to the hospital wing lately, Peter had gone with them. Sneaky. How had none of them realized that?

Sirius chucked his pillow at Peter. "I'm not going. It doesn't hurt very much anymore, anyway."

"You described it as 'agonizingly splitting' earlier," James pointed out. Sirius only grunted. "Very well. What do we have that could make him do… whatever it is that he needs to do?"

Sirius sat upright at that. "Are you threatening to blackmail me to make me wear—" He stopped quickly, color draining from his face.

James stared. "Wear…? What? You need to wear something?"

"No, I was going to say—"

"DO YOU NEED GLASSES?!" James shrieked, leaning forward, looking rather excited.

"No," Sirius said in a very convincing manner. "I need to wear… a silly hat to bed. It… helps… my skull."

"Good try up until the hat bit," Remus said then gave a squeak, ducking as Sirius chucked his other pillow at him.

"You need glasses," James said, standing over Sirius with his arms folded. "You do, don't you?"

"No!" Sirius swung his legs out of bed, looking ready to hit James. James kept staring at him. "I—don't—need—all right, all right, I give up. Fine. I—I need reading glasses, all right?"

"Wait." Remus turned again. "Reading glasses? You don't even need to wear them all the time and you're throwing a tantrum about it?"

Sirius glowered. "I'll look daft with glasses."

"Thanks," James snapped.

"Not you. You—your face is suited for glasses. Mine isn't! I've worn your glasses before, I look like a bloody idiot!"

James shrugged. "So get a different style." Sirius remained silent. Everyone stared at him as he slid down a little, inspecting his fingernails very intently. "You… didn't even think about the fact it'd look different, did you?"

"Of course I did," Sirius lied, going faintly pink.

"Are you really puttin' up with your headaches 'cause you don't wanna look silly?" Peter asked, sounding confused. Sirius shrugged. "That's… kinda dumb, Remus is right."

Sirius slumped down in his bed, pressing his finger between his eyes.

"You don't need to wear them all the time," Remus reminded him. "You could start by only wearing them around us, when you do homework and stuff like that. See how that goes. Then if you feel better, you could start wearing them in class when you need to."

Sirius glanced around at his friends before going to his desk, opening a drawer he kept locked. "You have to be honest with me, okay?" He pulled a glasses case out of the drawer.

"You've had a pair all this time?!" James demanded furiously.

"Yes, Pomfrey gave them to me. I've told her I've been wearing them. Lying about my headaches. Been telling her you've been hexing me."

"Is that why she threatened me with detention and practically insulted me the last time I saw her?" James demanded.

Sirius ignored him, opening the case and hesitating, looking rather distressed. "You will be honest?'

"Yes," all three promised.

Sirius sighed and pulled the glasses out, slowly unfolding them and putting them on. They were narrow ovals, very thin-rimmed, and Remus wondered if this was what a heart attack felt like.

"Those look good!" James announced.

"Whoa, Sirius, no, yeah, those look really good on you!" Peter agreed.

Sirius turned to Remus, who wondered if it was possible for a thirteen-year-old werewolf to have two heart attacks one right after the other. His entire body felt sweaty, and his heart was racing so hard it was shocking that nobody else could hear it. Everything inside his body was all twisted up as a pool of lava made its home somewhere in his stomach.

Sirius looked very good in his reading glasses.

"Yeah," Remus managed to squeak out, knowing that Sirius was waiting for his opinion. "It—they—you—er—looks good. Looks good." He quickly turned back to his homework, clutching his quill tightly to hide his shaking hand. Bloody hell, bloody hell, bloody Merlin hell. Thank Merlin they were only reading glasses because if Sirius had to wear them all the time, Remus wasn't sure if he'd survive.

"You promise?" Sirius asked dubiously.

James smacked his shoulder. "You look stupid in my glasses and I'd look stupid in those, but you look damn good in those, Siri, I promise. I swear on my Marauder name. And my broom. And my invisibility cloak. And my—"

"Thank you," Sirius said, chuckling a little. "I—it—I dunno. I thought they'd look… dumb."

"No, they definitely fit your face real good," Peter promised. "And you look really smart."

"Remus?"

"I already said they look good."

"You're not looking at me."

Remus took in a quiet breath, steeling himself before turning to face him again. Sirius's eyes were fixated on him from behind his lenses and he was nibbling at his thumbnail, looking achingly cute to the point of Remus wanting to dive into cold water and stay there for the rest of his life, because any second now his entire body was going to explode like a firecracker.

"They really—" Remus paused, realizing he could tell the truth. This was one of the few times he could get away with saying something that would otherwise sound suspicious. "They're a good addition to your appearance. They add to your attractiveness. Honest." How he managed to say that without croaking, coughing, or literally dying he wasn't sure.

"Are you all right?"

Apparently he hadn't been casual enough. "I'm just panicking over trying to finish this essay," he lied.

"Oh. And I'm the stupid one?" But Sirius smiled, taking his glasses off. "Well. Maybe I'll wear them sometimes. Sometimes. Maybe." He put them back in their case but instead of putting them in the drawer, he set them on top of his desk next to his bed. "Now, let's discuss Shake It Up before Struthers and the arse comes in."

Remus returned to his homework for a little while, until enough time passed that it seemed normal as he casually gathered his bath things and went to get a cool shower.

X

Lily forgave Remus the next day, and Remus forgave her. She hugged him tightly, apologizing for 'overreacting' to the whole Magpie incident, and he said he could understand why she was upset he hadn't done it himself. Lily linked arms with him, and told him that Magpie was still heartbroken but was doing better.

The rest of his free time on Thursday was spent working on the illusion of a dome, and by the time he went to sleep that night he was exhausted. He was still tired when he woke up, but he was also excited since the photography contest winner would be announced in the Daily Prophet.

Peter whined the entire way down to the Great Hall since James, Sirius, and Remus kept insisting he had a good chance of winning. He continually protested and when the paper arrived at breakfast (James had ordered a copy), he refused to even look at it.

"You do it," he moaned, covering his face.

"If you're so insistent on not being the winner, why are you acting like that?" Sirius asked while James and Remus began going through the pages carefully.

Peter peeked between his fingers. "Cause if I'm in there it's as dumbest, ugliest, worst photo ever or—or something."

"Here it is!" James shook the paper out and folded it so the contest was displayed prominently. "Oh wow."

"Wow?" Pete asked.

"Peter—"

"I didn't win," he said, suddenly sounding unsure with a slight hint of hope.

James shook his head. "No, you didn't, but you are mentioned."

"Huh? For—"

"Best Student Photograph," Remus said, grinning.

Peter stared in utter disbelief, then snatched the paper away. The winner's photo—a rather gorgeous image of a brindled hippogriff flying in front of the sun—took up most of the page, then there was a small picture of the runner-up, and then in a small box with a very small copy of Pete's picture it said: Best Student Photograph: P. Pettigrew for 'Black Lake Sunset'.

There was a loud shriek and then suddenly several students of all the houses began crowding around them, with Craggy pushing through to congratulate Peter. He looked up, gobsmacked and shocked. One of the girls even threw her arms around him, which made him go brilliantly pink.

Remus edged away from the chaos, feeling a headache coming on from the noise.

"What's going on?" Lily asked when he almost ran into her.

"Peter was mentioned in the paper, for the photography contest," Remus explained, wishing he had his earplugs with him. "It's very exciting."

"Did he win?"

"No, but he was mentioned as the best student picture." Remus would have continued edging away however an owl was watching him, fluttering above with a letter in its claws. When Remus stopped moving, the owl dove down and dropped the letter in his hands. He recognized his mother's handwriting immediately. "I'll be back," he told his friends even though they couldn't hear him, and left to hide out in a bathroom for privacy, rather dreading what this might say.

As soon as he opened it, he saw a lot of the writing was smudged from tears. It took him several minutes to decipher it, and sure enough it was a lot of sadness and guilt-tripping about the holidays.

I've told Lyall I don't want to go anywhere I'd rather have you here, she had scribbled rapidly, and I know you said you want me to go on holiday but how can I enjoy myself being away from you? I'll go, if that is what you truly want, which Lyall says it is, and you wrote to me about it, but I want to make TRIPLE sure that this is what you TRULY want: to stay at that school, and for Lyall and I to go on a holiday somewhere.

Further down in the letter she added that if he came home for Christmas, she'd be willing to talk about That Night.

Anything you want or need to know, my love. I realize now keeping this from you has hurt you and I am sorry for that. I was trying to keep you from being hurt and keep myself from reliving those moments… hours… when I thought you were dead… when I thought I had lost you, my beautiful, wonderful, perfect son. I love you, darling. Please know how much I love you.

He reread the letter a couple of times before crumpling the parchment into a little ball, squeezing his eyes shut. After a few seconds of shaking, he threw the ball as hard as he could, watching it bounce off the wall and roll to a stop a couple of feet away from him. Slowly he pushed himself up, picking the letter up and opening it back up so he could fold it and tuck it in his satchel.

By the time he returned to the Great Hall it was nearly time for Potions, and he wasn't able to eat anything else. Not that he was very hungry anymore, anyway. Still, he grabbed a piece of toast and followed behind the others, making positive, affirming noises at Peter as they went on about the contest.

"It—it was a lucky shot," he protested, still pink.

"But you got it," James said, slapping Peter's back. "You saw it, and captured it! That's you! If I had taken the picture it'd be a blur. Or my thumb would be in the shot."

"Giant Thumb attacks Hogwarts," Sirius joked.

"That'd be the headline if Snivellus ever went on a rampage," snickered James as they went in, glancing over at Snape who sneered back even though he hadn't heard what was said.

After a long and stinky Potions lesson, Remus went to the owlery with a short letter for his mother, insisting that this was what he wanted. That it would do her a lot of good to go on a holiday with his father, and knowing she was having a good time would be the best present he could get. He knew she'd write back to say that having him home would make her the happiest, but hoped she wouldn't fuss about it too much.

X

Remus slept in late on Saturday morning. He still had a night to go before the full moon, but his bones felt weary and heavy already. It took more effort than he expected to force himself out of bed, and going down to the Great Hall took most of what little energy he had remaining. He put food on his plate but instead of eating he folded his arms on the table and put his head on them, drifting back to sleep again until someone woke him up.

It was Cassie.

"Are you all right?" she asked, looking down at him with a worried expression.

Remus sat up, glancing around for Lily or the Marauders; none of them were around. "Tired," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "I didn't sleep well."

"You look terrible." She sat down next to him, hesitantly lifting her hand. "D'you mind?"

"Um, about—about what?"

She took that as a yes and pressed her hand against his forehead. "You feel very warm and clammy, you might have a fever. Maybe you should see Madame Pomfrey?"

Remus squirmed a little, wishing someone else was there. He and Cassie never spent any time together alone, and he wasn't sure how to act. "If I don't feel better soon, I will," he finally said.

She was straddling the bench next to him, her dark brown eyes piercing his. She was very pretty, for a girl, and it was easy to see why Sirius fancied her. Before he could thank her for her concern, she spoke up again. "I also wanted to say that I think what happened with Magpie…" She paused, and Remus tried not to wince, figuring she'd berate him. "I think if she didn't have the guts to tell you that she liked you, there's nothing wrong with Sirius being the one to tell her—indirectly—that you didn't like her."

She began fussing with the collar of her shirt which looked like a James shirt: it was bright orange paisley with a very pointy collar, and looked nice with her dark green waistcoat and brown trousers. She reminded Remus a little of an orange tree.

"I know Lils was put out about it, she kept saying you should have been the one to deal with it, but I wanted you to know that I never saw anything wrong with—with how it happened. Honestly, in my opinion, everything was engorgioed out of control. Lily was dumb for being mad at you about it."

He gave a slight nod and muttered a thanks, wondering if this was really happening: that he was sitting here talking about that with Sirius's girlfriend. It felt so awkward and uncomfortable, and part of him was afraid she might somehow figure out he was like that. That he thought her boyfriend was… cute.

"Anyway." She swung her leg around the bench so she could stand up. "I hope you go see Pomfrey soon. Feel better." She gave him a smile before leaving the Great Hall.

Remus slumped down as soon as she disappeared through the doors, rubbing his forehead as he repeated everything that had been said in his head. Or rather, everything Cassie said since he barely spoke. It was nice she was concerned over his health, and he thought perhaps he should try harder at being friends with her for Sirius's sake. She wasn't a bad person. Not really.

Sighing, he picked up his fork and ate his late breakfast before returning to his dorm to go back to sleep.