Tuesday, 2nd January 1973, 10:00 am

'Let's just get your cloak on,' Peter said, swinging the dark grey material around his mum's shoulders. The clasp hooked itself into place, and he smiled. 'There, you're all ready.'

'Where are we going?'

Peter sighed, the tightness in his chest increasing. He'd reminded her three times already, but she'd forgotten again. After his nan left, she'd been lost in the past for three days straight, finally showing awareness of reality for a few minutes at a time the previous day. The muggle drugs Peter fed her reduced the soporific effect of the Elixir, but they also made her feel invincible. As soon as they were alone in the house, she'd fired cleaning spells around like confetti at a wedding, overexerting herself both physically and magically. And this memory loss was the result.

It was his fault.

'St Mungo's, mum. For your check-up.'

'Oh. Is it January already? That was fast.'

Peter was saved from answering by Bella's arrival. She breezed into the room, looking radiant in a light blue, knee-length dress, her golden hair left loose to stream down her back. 'Good morning. Sorry, I'm late. The cat caught a mouse, and it was running around the kitchen. Took me a while to catch it. Are we ready to go?'

'The cat or the mouse?' Peter asked.

'The mouse.'

'Good she didn't kill it, I guess. And yeah, we're ready.'

'Wonderful.' She moved to hold his mum's arm and guide her towards the fireplace. 'Come on, then, Ida. Let's get you through the Floo.'

'I don't like the Floo.'

'I know, but it's only a few seconds, and then we can see Healer Huxley.'

'Oh. He's such a nice man.'

'I know. You want to see him, don't you?'

Peter smiled as his mum stepped into the fireplace with Bella, disappearing in a flash of green. Bella was so good at making her cooperate without upsetting her.

The hospital was thankfully quiet when they arrived, and Peter and Bella were able to guide his mum up to the fourth floor without too much difficulty.

'Hi, Ida Pettigrew. She has an appointment with Healer Huxley at ten-fifteen?' Peter told the receptionist, who was flicking through a magazine at the desk.

She tapped her wand on the cover of the appointments book beside her without looking up at him. 'Have a seat. The Healer will get you when he's ready.'

'Thank you.' Peter turned away, joining his mum and Bella in the waiting room, hoping they wouldn't have to wait for long. She seemed okay right then, but that could change at any moment.

They were in luck and it was only five minutes before they were called through to Huxley's office. He welcomed Ida with a kind smile, ensuring she was comfortable on the bed before beginning his questions. 'How have you been the past six months?'

'Oh, quite good, I think.'

'Has your pain level changed at all?'

'No, it's still about the same.'

'That's good. Let's have a look at you then.' Healer Huxley switched his quill for his wand and crossed to the bed. 'Let's start at the bottom, shall we? How are the ankles?'

As Huxley carried out his examination, using both magical and muggle methods to build a picture of his mum's condition, Peter found his mind drifting back to the day the damage had been caused. The details were hazy, but he thought it had been morning, perhaps near lunchtime. He remembered being hungry at the hospital, but the sun was still bright enough to hurt his eyes, so he didn't think it had been dinner time.

He'd been playing in the garden, practicing brewing potions like his mum, using bits of grass and leaves from the trees and bushes. He would mix them up in an old saucepan with a big wooden spoon. There'd been a loud crash inside the house and a scream. He'd been worried his mum had hurt herself. It wasn't until he was halfway through the kitchen that he heard his dad start shouting. His voice had sounded funny. Like he couldn't talk properly. Peter had never heard his dad sound like that, and he'd slowed down.

Instead of barrelling into the living room like he'd planned, he'd approached the doorway with caution, peeking into the other room while keeping his body hidden behind the door frame. The bookcase that usually sat beside the fireplace had been pushed over, and the books were spread across the floor, many crushed beneath the weight of the toppled shelving. It's funny the things you remember.

'You know you're not supposed to drink,' Peter remembered his mum saying. He'd thought that was strange at the time. People needed to drink to stay alive, so why was his dad not supposed to? Arabella had since told him his mum was talking about alcohol. That his dad must have had a problem with it. Most people just get happy when they're drunk, she said, but some people get violent. His dad was one of those people, apparently.

His dad had punched her then. Smack. Right in the face. And she'd fallen to the ground with a thump. There'd been so much blood streaming from her nose, Peter couldn't see her face. But his dad hadn't stopped. Peter had stood there frozen, watching, while he kicked her over, and over, and over again. Even when she stopped trying to get away, he just kept going. Peter hadn't even tried to help her. It wasn't until his dad finally ran out of steam, walking out the front door and calmly closing it behind him as if nothing had happened, that Peter's feet unglued themselves from the floor and allowed him to move.

He'd run to his mum's side and tried unsuccessfully to wake her up, getting covered in her blood in the process. The stuff had dried to his skin, and he'd scraped it off with his nails while sitting in the hospital, waiting for someone to tell him what was happening.

When he couldn't wake her, he'd remembered the ads on the TV and grabbed the phone, giving the lady their address and following her instructions to check if his mum was breathing and open the front door. The fireplace had been right there. His mum had been lying right in front of it.

He wondered if the guilt would ever go away.

'Well, everything looks about the same, Mrs Pettigrew,' Healer Huxley said, pulling Peter from his memories. 'You can get dressed again now.' He turned away from the bed and caught Peter's eye. 'Can I have a word?'

Peter joined the Healer by his desk and took a seat. 'What is it?'

'Your mum's condition has deteriorated again. It's not a considerable change, but it is worrying. Have you noticed much of an increase in pain or longer periods of delusion?'

'Not really, no,' Peter lied. 'But it's hard to tell with the pain. She tries to hide it from me.'

'Yes, that would make it difficult to gauge. What about you?'

'What about me?'

'How are you managing? I know you always say you're fine, but it has to be hard for you.'

'I actually have more help now,' he said. 'My friend's mum has started coming over every day to help out.'

'That's good news.' And he did appear genuinely relieved to hear it, making Peter wonder just how worried the Healer had been about him. 'Alright. I'm going to suggest increasing the potency of the Elixir a little. These are the adjustments you'll need to make.' He handed Peter a sheet of parchment, and Peter looked it over, his heart sinking. He'd already brewed the batch to see Bella through until the summer. He'd need to redo it all.

Monty's apprenticeship could not have come at a better time. There's no way he would have been able to afford the extra ingredients without it.

-o-o-o-o-

Saturday 6th January

Sirius was all packed up and more than ready to leave the house of his family and return to his home with his friends. But he didn't want to head downstairs until the last possible moment, not wanting to give his mother time to ruin what had been an unexpectedly peaceful two weeks. Or give himself time to ruin it, which was probably more likely. The act of holding his tongue had been growing harder and more exhausting by the day.

He knew Regulus would already be downstairs, playing the perfect, dutiful son while their mother fussed over him. As usual, when he thought about how differently they were treated, resentment flared in his chest, but he squashed it down. It was good that Regulus avoided sparking their mother's wrath in all the ways Sirius found so hard. But there was a small part of him—tiny, really. Minuscule. But it was there—that wished Regulus would be a little less perfect all the time, so Sirius wouldn't look so much worse in comparison.

So when the knock came at his bedroom door, he was confused. Regulus was the only person who ever came to his room—Mother always sent an elf to get him, and elves didn't knock, they just apparated in—and if it wasn't him, he didn't know who it might be.

He walked over and pulled the door open. 'Father?'

'Sirius. Are you going to let me in?'

'Of course.' Sirius stepped aside, and Orion walked in, waiting for Sirius to close the door before speaking again.

'I was hoping I'd catch you before you went downstairs. I have something for you, but couldn't think of how to get it to you without it being reported to your mother. Then it occurred to me, there are no portraits in here.'

'Yet,' Sirius said.

Orion chuckled. 'Indeed. Here.'

Sirius took the parchment and, finding it blank, turned it over, but it was empty on the other side too. 'What is it?'

'That's what you have to figure out.' Orion smirked at him. 'Once you've done that, you'll know you deserve it.'

Sirius raised his eyebrows at him. 'Is that a challenge, father?'

'Oh, yes.'

Sirius grinned. He loved a challenge, and Orion didn't know his friends. They'd have it figured out within the week.

'Right, let's get you downstairs, then. If your mother asks, I was in here giving you a stern lecture on what's expected of you in the coming term.'

'The sternest. I'm extremely cowed,' Sirius agreed, laughing.

'Yes, I can see that.'

By the time they reached the drawing-room, they'd both composed themselves, and Mother gave Sirius' Slytherin coloured robes an approving look before taking both his and Regulus' arms to apparate them to the station.

They materialised on the platform, which was less busy than on the first day of the year, but still teeming with parents. The absence of school-age children in the crowd had Sirius and Regulus saying a hurried goodbye to their mother before boarding the train.

'Are you coming to our compartment?' Sirius asked once he was alone with his brother.

Regulus shook his head. 'My friends are waiting for me.'

'Alright. I'll see you at school then?'

'Send Peony if you want to speak to me. I'll meet you somewhere.'

Sirius nodded. 'Bye, Reg.'

They headed in opposite directions; Regulus towards the front of the train and Sirius towards the back. The last compartment, as always.

'Twinkles!' James crowed when he pulled the door open, launching himself at him with a grin big enough to split his face in two. 'We're all together again!'

Sirius laughed, hugging him back, and winked at Remus over his shoulder, making his secret boyfriend blush. It was brilliant. Remus was as reactive as he'd been back at the beginning of first-year, and Sirius was enjoying every second.

'Have you seen Moony's new haircut?' James asked, releasing him. He moved back but stopped dead, looking him up and down. 'Wait. What the hell are you wearing?'

Sirius laughed again, already unbuttoning the robes. 'I had to appease my mother. Don't worry, I didn't plan to keep them on.' Underneath, he'd worn his favourite muggle outfit; a navy-blue t-shirt that clung to his body and looked fantastic with his pale skin and a pair of black flared jeans. He watched Remus' face as his clothes were revealed, and he was not disappointed. His boyfriend couldn't keep his eyes off him.

He took his seat beside Remus and tweaked his hair, replicating their meeting on new year's eve. 'I like this. You didn't tell me you got it cut.'

Remus looked at him with laughter in his eyes. 'It was supposed to be a surprise,' he said, repeating his own words from that night.

'It was. And it suits you. You look gorgeous.' Sirius wanted to finish the re-enactment with a kiss, but he held back, knowing he'd gain more enjoyment in the long run by sticking to the plan. Instead, he twisted in his seat and leaned back, settling his head in Remus' lap.

Remus was still blushing, but ran his fingers through Sirius' hair without hesitation. James retook his seat and stared at them both, radiating joy bright enough to banish a dementor.

'Why are you grinning at us like that?' Sirius asked. 'You look insane.'

'Because you and Remus are friends again. All is right with the world.'

'We were never not friends. It was all a misunderstanding,' Remus said.

James shrugged, but the happiness in his face didn't lessen at all. 'Yeah, I know. But it's still nice to see it for myself.'

Sirius let his eyes drift closed, enjoying the feeling of Remus' fingers combing through his hair as the conversation turned to recounting events from their holidays, though they quickly found there wasn't much to say. With Remus' notebooks, they'd been in near-constant contact since Christmas day, and they all already knew everything that the others wanted to share.

That was until Remus asked, 'So what was the meeting with your dad about on boxing day? You said you'd tell us about it later.'

Sirius opened his eyes and sat up, taking Remus' hand when his movement dislodged it from his head. 'It was mostly boring,' he said. 'Lots of stuff about managing the family vaults and properties. I didn't realise being Head of the Family would involve so much paperwork. I swear, I'm going to die of boredom within six months of inheriting.'

James laughed. 'We won't let that happen, Twinkles.'

'What? You going to do the paperwork for me?'

James shrugged. 'If I have to.'

'I don't mind paperwork,' Peter said. 'I'll help, too.'

'Do a lot of paperwork, do you, Bubbles?' Sirius asked with humour in his voice. Peter didn't laugh like he'd expected. Instead, he chewed on his lip, glancing at James, who nodded at him.

'I kind of have to,' he said, shrugging. His gaze moved between Remus and Sirius, meeting both their eyes briefly, before looking down at his hands. 'I probably should have told you both this a lot sooner.'

Peter barely looked at them as he described what had happened in his home on the 3rd May 1970, and all the ways his life had changed as a result, but he finally looked up, a smile making its way to his face, when he spoke of the day things began to improve.

'It was my tenth birthday. Mum didn't know it, of course. She'd only been taking the Elixir for a few weeks at that point. So there weren't any presents or anything. I wasn't expecting any, but an owl came that morning, and I got it in my stupid head that it was bringing me a present from my mum. That she'd ordered me something.'

Sirius winced, his heart breaking for little ten-year-old Peter.

'It wasn't. Obviously. It was the first bill from St Mungo's. For the carer coming three times a day to look after her. I couldn't believe how much it cost. I panicked, I guess, knowing without even doing the maths, we wouldn't be able to afford it for long. I ran outside, all the way to the end of the garden, and just cried. That's when she came.'

'Who?' Sirius asked.

'Arabella Figg.' Peter said the name with the kind of reverence usually reserved for royalty. 'My neighbour. She'd seen me from an upstairs window and came to see if I was alright. It wasn't until I looked at her that I saw what I'd done to the garden when I ran through it. Everything was destroyed. It looked like a hurricane had hit it. I was terrified I was about to be arrested for breaking the Statute. But she told me she was a squib, so it was fine. I told her everything.' He laughed. 'Merlin, she must have regretted coming down, but she listened, and she told me everything was going to be fine.'

'She sounds nice,' Remus said.

Peter nodded. 'She's amazing. She taught me how to cook and do all the housework stuff. And she helped me get a permit from the Ministry to do potions' related magic so I could save money by brewing mum's potions myself. I don't know where I'd be right now without her. Not on my way back to Hogwarts, that's for sure.'

'She looks after your mum while you're at school?' Remus asked.

'Yeah.' Peter smiled at James. 'And Effie's going to be helping her now, too.'

'How did that come about?' Remus asked.

James winced, but Peter didn't seem to notice the sudden tension between him and Remus. Sirius wasn't sure how he could miss it. The air in the compartment felt like treacle.

'Mum had a rage fit from the potion on Christmas day. She shouted, and it made me jump. I guess that was enough to set off James' alarm because he leapt out of my floo a few minutes later, ready to do battle.'

'And when he went home, he immediately told his parents everything, of course?' Remus asked, his voice laced with sarcasm.

Peter frowned at Remus, finally seeming to notice something was going on. 'What's up with you?'

'Nothing,' Remus said. 'It's fine. Don't worry about it.'

Peter glanced between them before shooting a questioning look at Sirius. He just shook his head, telling him to drop it. On the plus side, the conversation had derailed his explanation of his own recently acquired duties at home, delaying the inevitable. However, it had also revealed that Remus still hadn't forgiven James his loose tongue, making him worry all the more about how Remus would react when Sirius revealed how he'd be spending his summer.

There was no time to dwell on it, though, because things went from awkward to a living nightmare in the blink of an eye with the seemingly innocuous event of the compartment door opening.

'I thought I'd find you here,' Marlene said from the doorway, smiling at Sirius as if her presence wasn't a complete disaster. 'What? No kiss for your girlfriend?'

'Marls!' Sirius said, attempting to inject some joy into his voice despite the feeling of Remus' hand pulling away from his. 'Hi! Let's go out in the corridor, shall we?'

'Oh. Alright.' She waved to the others as Sirius pulled her out and pushed the door closed before tugging her hand away from his grip. 'Ow, Sirius. What the hell?'

'Sorry. Shit. Sorry. I panicked.'

'About what?'

He looked around, but they were right at the back of the train, and there was no one else in the corridor of their carriage. Still, he lowered his voice in case James and Peter were trying to eavesdrop. 'I couldn't let you kiss me. Remus and I—'

'No way!' she squealed, covering her mouth with both hands.

'Shhh!' Sirius hissed, waving his hands to get her to be quiet.

'Sorry. Sorry,' she whispered. 'But, ahhh.'

Sirius grinned. He'd known she wouldn't be upset that he had to break off their fake relationship, but her joy on his behalf was unexpected. 'Yeah, I know. We haven't told James and Peter yet, though. So.'

'Why not? You think they'd be weird about it?'

He shook his head. 'No, not at all. We just thought it'd be funny to see how long it takes them to notice.'

She laughed. 'Are you taking bets?'

-o-o-o-o-

Well, that was less than subtle, Remus thought, watching Sirius' retreating back as he dragged Marlene into the corridor. Did he really think Remus would get upset if his fake girlfriend happened to kiss him before he had the chance to tell her their fake relationship was over?

'What was that about?' James asked, also staring after Sirius.

And wasn't that just spectacular? Sirius acted like an idiot, and Remus was left to do damage-control. He supposed he'd better get used to it. 'I don't know. Maybe he's decided to break up with her,' he hedged.

James looked pleased by that possibility, which made sense. He'd been opposed to Sirius and Marlene's relationship from the start, claiming to "know" Marlene was wrong for him. Remus suspected jealousy fuelled his objection more than anything else. He could only hope James would be more accepting of Sirius and him as a couple, since Remus wouldn't be taking Sirius' time away from the group.

'Do you think so?' Peter asked. 'I thought they seemed really happy together.'

'How are things going with you and Mary?' Remus asked instead of responding. Changing the subject would probably be best if he didn't want them to figure it out.

Peter happily regaled them with snippets from her letters over Christmas, and Remus tried not to stare too much at the compartment door, waiting for Sirius to return. It's not that he was worried about what he was doing with Marlene, Remus told himself. He was just concerned about Marlene taking it badly because then Sirius would feel guilty, and he might do something stupid.

Worrying about the possibility of Sirius doing something stupid was a perfectly logical concern. He wasn't being paranoid.

What was taking him so long?

How long could it possibly take to tell someone, "Hey, I have a real boyfriend now, so we're going to have to end the fake relationship we were using to hide that we both fancied our best friends?" That had taken him, what? Five seconds to think? Even allowing for Marlene to respond, he should be done.

And yes, he knew full well he was being ridiculous.

Remus forced himself to stop looking at the door and instead stared out of the window at the passing scenery of fields filled with fluffy sheep. The fact that he could still see the door reflected in the glass if he focused his eyes the right way was purely incidental.

Of course, Sirius wouldn't tell her and then immediately leave. Marlene was his friend. They were probably exchanging holiday stories. Both of them came from pureblood families. It was likely they'd even attended some of the same parties during the break. They probably had loads in common to talk about. Far more than Sirius had in common with Remus.

Why would Sirius choose Remus over Marlene, anyway?

He'd kissed Remus on impulse when he was drunk. And, Merlin knows, Sirius hated to back down from anything. He'd been furious with Regulus for causing him to lose face with his mother. What if his insistence that the kiss wasn't just a drunken mistake was more of the same?

His heart beat harder in his chest. Sirius might be pretending to like Remus because he was too proud to admit he messed up.

Remus didn't turn his head when the door opened. Nor did he make any acknowledgement when Sirius sat beside him. But when Sirius' head appeared in his lap, he forced himself to look down.

'You okay, Moonbeam?' Sirius asked when he met his eyes.

Remus nodded and lifted his hand to run it through Sirius' hair, but Sirius grabbed it out of the air to thread their fingers together.

'I heard you,' he said, tapping a finger against his temple with his free hand. 'And you're wrong. I'm not.' Then he poked Remus in the stomach, making him let out a less than dignified squeak. 'Idiot.'

'You should really be more careful about who you insult when you're in such a vulnerable position,' Remus replied, before digging his own fingers into Sirius' side, tickling him until he squirmed so hard he fell onto the floor. James obviously took that as his cue to join in on the Sirius torture, and Remus quickly bowed out, lifting his feet off the floor to give the two more space to wrestle on the compartment floor.

The rest of the journey passed uneventfully, with nothing more exciting happening than the arrival of the food trolley and James and Sirius competing to see who could eat the most every-flavour beans without gagging. James won with sixteen, but Sirius claimed he'd been cheated by the unlucky drawing of a soap flavoured bean.

On setting foot in the castle, Remus made it a priority to retrieve Cosmo from the kitchens (where she'd spent the Christmas holidays being thoroughly spoiled by the house-elves) and return her to her rightful place on their dorm room windowsill after being greeted with much fussing by the other Marauders.

The next morning, after they'd all had a refreshingly good night's sleep (and a rather enjoyable early morning snogging session behind the privacy of Sirius' bed curtains in Remus' case), James called a Marauder meeting and dragged them off to the Den.

'Alright. We have lots to cover today,' he began, as they all found somewhere to sit.

'We really need more chairs if we're going to be holding meetings here all the time,' Sirius said, interrupting James mid-speech. He was perched on one of the two desks. Peter had taken the other, and Remus was in one of the two desk chairs. James stood in front of the enormous calendar, Remus' muggle pen in one hand and a notebook in the other, frowning with irritation at being interrupted.

'Sirius, I just said we have a lot to cover, and you want to talk about chairs?'

'I'm just saying, why do we even have to meet in here? I mean, I get why Fab and Gid did. But we have a dorm to ourselves. So why can't we have meetings there?'

'It's tradition.'

'Is it?' Remus asked, deciding to side with Sirius. Partly because the chair he was sitting in wasn't terribly comfortable, and partly because he was still mad at James. 'I don't see how it could be. How would people have got in before Fab and Gid made that knife?'

James' mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he finally spoke. 'Fine. If you want to go back to the dorm, we'll go back to the dorm. Just give me a minute to get the calendar down.' He turned around and reached towards the corner of the parchment to peel it from the wall.

'No, James. Stop. We're here now,' Sirius said. 'And we don't mind meeting here. We just need more chairs.'

'Better chairs,' Remus said.

'Right,' Sirius agreed. 'Better chairs, and enough for all of us.'

James stared at him for a moment before slowly pulling his wand from its holster and pointing it at the desk Sirius was sitting on. The desk wobbled a bit before collapsing into a fluffy two-seater sofa. Gryffindor red, obviously. Remus wasn't sure James actually knew other colours existed.

Sirius yelped (which was extremely funny) as he dropped a foot through suddenly empty space onto the new seat.

'Can I start now?'

'Yep,' Sirius said happily, pulling Remus off his own chair to cuddle with him on the sofa. Remus didn't see any point in objecting. Sirius was far more comfortable than the chair had been.

Peter put his hand in the air like he was in class. 'Um, James, can you—'

James waved his wand at the other desk, and Peter fell onto his own fluffy sofa.

'Thanks.'

'If everyone's comfortable now?' James said. Remus sensed the sarcasm, but felt it lacked the necessary feeling behind it to make it truly cutting. 'The most important task coming up is the Creature Hunt.'

'How soon is that?' Sirius asked.

'Well, the ritual to protect the students while they're in the Forest takes a month to cast,' Remus said. 'It's in two parts, and both have to be done on a full moon, so the earliest we can do it is—'

'Wait, what?' Sirius said. 'No one said we'd have to do it on the full moon.'

'Shit,' James said. 'I forgot that part. I read it before I knew.'

'It's fine,' Remus said. 'It only takes two people, so one of you can still stay with me.'

'Me,' Sirius said, pulling Remus closer and tightening his arms around him.

James had his back turned, examining the calendar, and Peter couldn't see their faces from his position, so Remus risked giving Sirius a quick peck on the lips and was rewarded with a beautiful grin for his trouble.

'So the first Saturday after the second full moon is the 24th. That gives you six days to recover, Moony.'

Remus nodded. 'Yeah, that's plenty.'

'So what do we need to do to get ready for it?' Sirius asked.

James picked up the Journal from the prep area of the brewing station, flipping through to the right page, and passed it to Peter before opening his notebook. 'There's a potion that needs brewing for the ritual. We need to write the lists and charm them, but the Journal says we should do that after the ritual.'

'Why?' Sirius asked.

James shrugged. 'It didn't say.'

'It's pretty vague about the whole thing, actually,' Remus said. 'It's weird because it's usually ridiculously detailed about everything.'

'Guess the twins wanted it to be a surprise,' James said.

Sirius grinned. 'I bet it's really cool, then.'

'If you want to do it, too—' Remus started.

Sirius didn't even let him finish the offer. 'I'm staying with you.'

'We need to recruit some helpers, too, to lead the teams to their starting positions. And they need to be able to do the disillusionment charm. Oh, and we need to organise lessons for the 1st and 2nd years.' James was reading from his notebook and looked up at the last task.

'Not much, then,' Sirius said.

'Most of the ingredients for this potion need to be freshly picked from the location to be protected,' Peter said. 'And we'll need to do it soon because I'm going to need to start brewing this by Thursday.'

'Alright, I'll put that down for Wednesday afternoon,' James said. 'We can start brewing Thursday.'

'I'll get some posters drawn up to announce the event and recruit volunteers for the lessons and the Hunt itself,' Sirius said.

'We should probably locate the ritual site in advance,' Remus said. 'Don't want you and Peter getting lost out there in the middle of the night.'

'I was thinking the same thing,' James agreed. 'We can do that on Saturday. In case it takes a while to find.'

'I'll have to stay here if you want the potion ready in time,' Peter said.

'Oh. But that's not fair,' James said.

'It's fine. Only one of us needs to know where we're going. And you have a better sense of direction than me, anyway.'

'Well, alright. If you don't mind being left out,' James said, sounding dubious that anyone could not mind being left out. He turned and wrote the plans on the calendar. 'We'll meet with the volunteers the next weekend. That'll allow just over a week for people to see the posters and get interested.'

'Should I put that on the posters?'

'Yeah, say 2 o'clock on the 20th. Classroom 12c.'

Sirius gave him a salute and continued twiddling Remus' hair between his fingers. Remus was enjoying it immensely, and he thought he finally understood why Sirius insisted on him playing with his hair so often.

'Are you not going to write that down?'

'No, I'll remember,' Sirius said.

'No, you won't.'

'I will.'

James rolled his eyes. 'Fine, whatever. I think that's everything for the Hunt. The other upcoming event is Valentine's day.'

'Don't the teachers put on a dance for that?' Peter asked.

'Yeah, but I thought it might be cool if we did something, too.'

'Like what?' Sirius asked.

'I was thinking, some way of letting the students send anonymous valentines to each other?'

Sirius laughed. 'You just want to send one to Lily.'

'Don't you think Marlene would like it?'

'Oh, I broke up with Marlene.'

'What? When?'

'Yesterday, on the train.'

'Why didn't you say?' Peter asked. 'Was she upset?'

Sirius shook his head. 'Nah. Think she's got her eye on someone else.'

'Is there someone else you might want to send an anonymous valentine to?' Remus asked, leaning to the side to look at Sirius behind him.

Sirius hummed. 'Maybe. I'll have to think about it.'

'So you're in, Remus?' James asked. 'You'll need to find a way to do it.'

'Yeah. I'm in.'

'Excellent. Alright, other priority tasks.' He picked his notebook back up and flipped to the next page. 'We need to find a way to cancel false alarms using happy emotions. And decrease the sensitivity of the alarms if possible.'

'Another one for me, I guess,' Remus said.

James nodded. 'I also want to set some kind of trap up on the passage to the Three Broomsticks. Something to alert us if someone uses it, and keep them there, too, if possible.'

'And another one for me.'

'I'll help you, Moonbeam.'

'I think you'd be more of a distraction, to be honest.'

Sirius laughed. 'Do you mean you'd be too busy staring at me to read your books? I'm honoured, Moony. Truly honoured.'

'No, I meant you'd be too busy continuously bothering me for me to get any reading done.'

'What can I say? I enjoy bothering you.'

'And the last thing,' James said, interrupting them, 'is responding to the Owls about Emhio and putting together all the evidence for her trial. I'll do that. And that's everything.'

'Yeah,' Remus said. 'Not quite. I have something I'd like to raise.'

James looked worried, so he probably knew what was coming. 'Go ahead.'

'I'd like to know exactly how much of our business you've told your parents.'

-o-o-o-o-

James swallowed, but he'd been expecting this to come up at some point. He'd been on edge the entire meeting because of it. 'Yeah. Okay.'

'Do they know we're the Marauders?' Remus asked.

His voice still sounded friendly, but James didn't know how long that would last with the answers he had to give. 'Yes.'

'What about the Chiefs of Entertainment?'

He closed his eyes before forcing out his answer. 'Yes.'

'Have they read the Journal?'

'No!' His eyes flew back open with surprise. He hadn't been expecting that question.

'Well, that's something, at least. Do they know what we did to earn the legacy?'

'Yes.'

'They know about us sneaking into Hogsmeade? Trading with the merpeople? The bond with Feodair? All of it?'

A little anger had crept into Remus' voice with the last series of questions and James found it even more difficult to force himself to answer honestly. 'Yes.'

'What about the tracking spell?'

'No,' he said with a little relief at being able to answer in the negative.

'Project Gateway?'

'Merlin, no! They'd go mad.'

'Ah. So if it's something they'd object to, you know how to keep a secret?'

That stung, and James paused before replying, trying to keep his temper in check. 'Remus. I've said I'm sorry. I've promised to do better. I don't know what else I can do?'

Remus' voice held a noticeable growl to it when he answered. 'This isn't about you making amends. This is about finding out how many of our secrets you've already spilt.'

'Everything!' James said, probably a little louder than necessary, but he couldn't help it. 'I've told them about everything but the tracking spell and Project Gateway. And I know, okay? I know you're all pissed at me about it. But it didn't even occur to me not to tell them. I've always told them everything.' He dropped heavily to the floor, draping his arms across his knees, and let his head fall back against the wall. His voice dropped to barely a whisper. 'I hate having secrets from them. It feels… wrong.'

There was silence in the room for a moment, and then, 'Sorry to interrupt,' Peter said. 'But I don't… What's happening?'

'James told his parents I'm a werewolf.'

'Oh.'

'I'm not pissed at you, James,' Sirius said. 'You shouldn't have told them about Moony, and we already talked about that, but I don't care about the rest of it.'

Remus sat up and looked at Sirius. 'You don't?'

Sirius shrugged. 'Monty's practically a Marauder himself with the amount of help he gives us. And you can't expect him to keep secrets from his wife, so whatever he knows, Effie will know.' Sirius reached up and ran a finger down Remus' cheek affectionately while doing that flirty eye thing he only does when he's looking at Remus. 'I get why you're mad at him for telling them your secret, but I don't think we need to give him shit for the rest of it. Have you not told your mum anything?'

Remus shifted uneasily at the question. 'She knows about the Capture the Crystal Competition and the Halloween and Christmas events last year.' He winced. 'And she knows you all spend the full moons with me.'

James could have kissed Sirius at that moment.

'What about you, Pete? Got anything to confess?' Sirius asked, still holding Remus' gaze.

'Um, yeah, actually. I've not told my mum anything. But Bella pretty much knows it all. She's a squib, so it's not like she has anyone to tell.'

'So the only one of us who's not told anyone anything is me?' Sirius asked. 'That is really fucking surprising.' He did look genuinely shocked at the revelation for a moment before giving his head a shake. 'Okay, well, I suppose I'll have to magnanimously forgive you all for your loose tongues, so we can move on from this nasty business because I refuse to let us fall out over this.'

'Does Bella know about me, Pete?'

Peter screwed his face up as he answered, as if expecting a punch in the face. 'Yes.'

'Oh, for fuck's sake!' Remus exploded off the sofa, his hands going to his hair as he spun around to glare at Peter. 'You too, Pete? Really? I don't believe this!'

Pete cowered away from him, pulling his legs up to his chest. He looked terrified, and James jumped to his feet to get between them if it became necessary. But it wasn't. Seeing Peter's fear, Remus deflated, his hands dropping to his sides.

'I… I'm not going to hurt you, Pete. I would never.'

Peter was crying but trying to hide it behind his knees. 'I know. I just. Please don't shout at me. I can't…'

'Shit, Pete. I'm sorry. Can I..?' Remus approached him slowly, sitting next to him. 'Do you want a hug?'

Peter uncurled himself and fell into Remus' arms, tucking his head into his neck. 'I'm sorry. It was when I went home for Christmas last year. I told her I thought you might be, and she helped me get books to read about it. She told me not to bring it up until you did because you might be sensitive about it. So when I went home for summer, I told her you told me. I didn't think it mattered because she couldn't tell anyone. And she wouldn't, anyway. She gets almost as much hate from magical people as you do.'

Remus was rubbing Peter's back, looking stricken. 'It's alright, Bubbles. I'm not mad at you anymore.'

Peter pulled back, sniffing. 'Really?'

'Really. Just, can you promise,' Remus looked at James, 'both of you? Not to tell anyone else? Really, seriously, promise. Because this isn't like any other secret you've had. If the wrong person finds out, I'd be kicked out of school. And that's a best-case scenario.' He paused, swallowing, and took a deep breath. 'At worst, I could be executed for endangering everyone in the school. So, I really need you to take this seriously.'

'Considering Sirius is the only one who kept his mouth shut, that pun actually works for once,' James said, trying to lighten the atmosphere a little, and Remus did give him a small smile, so he counted it as a success. 'I promise Remus. I really do. I won't ever tell anyone ever again. I swear on my life.'

Remus nodded, accepting his words, but James wasn't sure if he believed him.

'They would execute you?' Peter whispered. 'As in, kill you? For going to school?'

'Yeah.' Remus' voice was quiet and sounded so resigned it broke James' heart. 'They really don't like werewolves.'

'I won't tell anyone else,' Peter said. 'I wouldn't have anyway, but I definitely won't now.'

'Thank you.' Remus collapsed back against the sofa, looking exhausted, and Sirius stood, walking over and pulling him to his feet, before wrapping him in a hug that he looked like he badly needed. James looked away. He really hoped those two would figure it out soon.