Monday, 8th January 1973, 7:00 pm

Sirius was sitting on his bed, back against the wall, a sheet of parchment spread across his Transfiguration textbook propped against his knees, adding to the half-finished poster for the Creature Hunt, and valiantly attempting to keep the grin off his face as James sped around the room getting ready for Quidditch practice. Any minute now, he'd be properly alone with Remus for the first time since New Year's Eve.

He was beginning to regret the whole keep-it-from-James-and-Peter plan. Not being able to kiss Remus whenever the urge hit him was driving him crazy. Especially since the urge hit him a lot.

Sirius sneaked a glance at his boyfriend, who was on his own bed for once, also pretending to be indifferent to James' and Peter's impending departure from the room. He was doing a far better job of it than Sirius was, of course, looking completely engrossed in his book on alarm spells. Or maybe he wasn't pretending. Maybe Sirius was the only one of them dying for some alone time together.

No. That couldn't be right.

'Have you seen my Quidditch gloves, Twinkles?'

Sirius looked over and laughed. It looked like every item of clothing James owned was piled in a heap on his bed. 'Yeah. They're under Pete's desk.'

James' gaze dropped to the patch of floor below his desk. 'How the hell did you know that?' he asked, dropping to his hands and knees to fetch them.

Sirius shrugged. 'They rolled under there after you threw them at him last night.'

James' laughter drifted out from under the desk. 'Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Right, I think I'm ready. Are you ready, Bubbles?'

Peter rolled his eyes from his position—leaning against the wall beside the door. 'I've been ready for fifteen minutes.'

'Are you sure you don't want to come, Sirius?'

Sirius shook his head. 'No, I need to get these posters finished. What date did you want on them again?'

'I knew you'd forget.' James jogged the short distance to his desk and chucked his notebook at Sirius' head. 'It's in there. Alright, have fun, you two. See you later.' And then they were gone.

'Oh, thank the Gods, I thought they were never going to leave,' Sirius said, making to put his stuff down.

Remus held up a hand. 'Wait.'

Sirius paused, waiting, and about four seconds later the door flew back open and James ran in, red in the face and breathless. 'Forgot my broom!'

Sirius and Remus both watched him run across to his bed, grab the broom from underneath it, and run back out the door, slamming it behind him.

'Alright, get over here,' Remus said, grinning. Sirius was more than happy to obey, crossing quickly to Remus' bed and pushing him back against the pillows as he kissed him hard. 'Gods, I missed you today.'

Remus kissed him back for a few moments before pulling away. 'We've been together all day. How could you possibly miss me?'

'Your lovely face was right there in front of me and I couldn't kiss it.' Sirius pouted. 'All day, Remus! It was torture!'

Remus laughed, making the corners of his eyes crinkle adorably. 'Well, you can now.'

'Now that is an excellent idea, Moonbeam,' Sirius said, before doing exactly as he'd suggested.

Sirius was a big fan of the new haircut. The curls were the perfect length to bury his fingers in. Not to mention he now had unrestricted access to the sexy scar on Remus' neck, and he finally got to fulfil his fantasy of kissing it, (causing Remus to make some thoroughly delightful sounds) though he stopped Sirius when he tried to pull the collar of his t-shirt down to see where it lead. That was a mystery for future Sirius to solve, apparently. Future Sirius was a lucky bastard.

The t-shirt was another new thing Sirius was a big fan of. Every evening so far, when they'd returned to their dorm at the end of the day, Remus had removed the long-sleeved jumpers he always wore when he wasn't in his school robes, and lounged around in t-shirts instead. Now, granted, the t-shirt sleeves almost reached his elbows, but there were exposed forearms (Sirius was as surprised as anyone else that forearms were sexy, but the proof was right there!). It was progress. And Sirius was a big fan of progress. Like the progress he was making with his fingers right then, inching under the hem of Remus' t-shirt.

Remus' hand grabbed his wrist and pulled it away. Damn. Foiled again. Alright, fine. Message received. Future Sirius really was one lucky bastard.

It felt like no time had passed at all when Remus' watch buzzed to alert them that only thirty minutes remained until James and Peter's return.

'Fuck, already?' Sirius asked, a little breathlessly. 'Please tell me you set it wrong.'

Remus sighed. 'I wish I could. But you have thirty minutes to get two-hours work done on those posters, so you better get to it.'

'I hate that you're right.'

Remus pulled himself into a sitting position, shifting back on the bed and straightening his t-shirt. 'Weirdly, I hate that I'm right, too. Come here.' He pulled Sirius in for one last kiss, and Sirius made the most of it. Remus hummed with appreciation as he pulled away, making Sirius' stomach flip over. 'Okay, now go. I banish thee from my bed.'

'Can I at least come back later?' Sirius asked, pouting at Remus as he walked backwards to his own bed.

'I don't know if I trust your wandering hands while I'm sleeping.'

He wasn't sure if Remus was joking or not, but just in case he wasn't, 'I wouldn't do that, Moons. I just want to cuddle.'

'Yeah. No. I know. It was a joke. A bad one, apparently. Of course, you can come back later.'

Sirius grinned. 'Can't wait. Right posters. Let's do this.'

Luckily, when time was limited and any sane person would look at the amount of work to be done and say it was hopeless, Sirius called it a challenge. Nothing motivated him like an impossible deadline. And by the time a red-faced and sweaty James and a grinning but shivering Peter walked through the door, he was almost done.

'These look great, Twinkles,' James said, stopping to take a look on his way to the bathroom.

'Took me ages,' Sirius said, biting his tongue as he watched Remus cover his mouth over James' shoulder. 'How was practice?'

'Brilliant!' James said, grinning madly. 'The pitch from mum and dad is paying off already. We're going to wipe the floor with Hufflepuff.'

'He was fantastic,' Peter agreed. Then, after a moment's pause, 'The rest of the team was good, too.'

Apparently changing his mind about the bathroom, James switched direction, going to his bed instead and beginning to strip off his Quidditch gear. 'I'm bloody exhausted, though. I'm glad we don't have a lesson with Tenebris this week. I don't think I've got the energy for one of her crazy scenarios.'

'You can't be that out of shape,' Sirius said, laughing. 'We've only been away two weeks.'

'Well, I may be exaggerating for effect.' James had finished removing his protective gear and flopped onto his bed, still wearing his practice clothes. 'Everything hurts.'

Sirius smirked. 'So, I'm guessing you don't want to help me with my homework for Charms, then?'

'Don't you dare.'

Sirius pulled out his wand and pointed it at James, wiggling the tip menacingly. 'But I need to practise. You don't want me to fail, do you, Sunshine?'

James tried to get up but seemed to lose the will and fell limp. 'You don't need to practise. We use that spell on a daily basis. But if you must torture me, go ahead. I don't have the energy to fight you.'

'Well, that's no fun,' Sirius said, tossing his wand back onto the mattress next to him.

In one fluid movement, with a speed Sirius wouldn't have thought possible if he hadn't witnessed it himself, James sat bolt upright, whipped his wand from its holster, and pointed it at Sirius. 'Rictusempra!'

Sirius immediately collapsed, curling into a ball instinctively to try and escape the sensation of a million fingers, which was, of course, impossible. There was only one way to break the tickling charm, other than casting the counter charm, and that was for the victim to consciously ignore the effect; simply refuse to acknowledge it. So far, Sirius had never managed to achieve this feat, but he would. That's why he and James kept casting it on each other. Practice.

'Finite incantatum,' James said after what felt like an unbearably long time, but wouldn't have been more than ten seconds. That's what they'd agreed on.

'Dick,' Sirius said between giggles as he tried to compose himself.

'I can't believe you fell for the "I'm too weak to fight you" ruse.'

'To be fair, you were very convincing,' Remus said. 'I genuinely thought you might be ill.'

'The red cheeks definitely helped,' Peter said.

Sirius finished off the last of the four posters while James showered. 'These are ready to go up,' he told him when he returned from the bathroom, hair sticking up in all directions.

James groaned. 'Urgh, I suppose we better do that tonight.'

'No need,' Sirius said, grinning. 'Peony, can you come when it's safe for you to leave, please? No rush.'

'Genius,' James said, laughing. 'That is going to save us so much time!'

Peony appeared in their dorm room about twenty minutes later. 'Peony is sorry for the wait, Master Sirius. Peony was working for the Masters' mother.'

'You have nothing to apologise for,' Sirius said. 'I told you to come when it was safe, and you did exactly that. Now, I have a very important job for you. I need you to hang these posters on the notice boards in each of the House common rooms. Can you do that?'

She nodded enthusiastically. 'Peony will do it right away.'

'You'll have to wait until they're empty,' Sirius said.

Peony's ears drooped, and she tugged on one of them, hard.

'Stop hurting yourself,' Sirius ordered, gently. 'Tell me what you're thinking that's making you think you have to punish yourself.'

'Peony can hang the posters without being seen even if people are in the room,' she said, letting go of her ears, but looking at the floor while she spoke. 'But if Master wants Peony to wait, then Peony will wait.'

'Hold on,' James said. 'You can make the posters appear on the noticeboards, and even if people are looking right at it, they won't see you?'

Peony nodded. 'Yes, Mister Potter.'

'Call me James.'

'Yes, Mister James.'

James laughed. 'That's awesome. We're doing that.'

'Does Master Sirius agree with Mister James?'

'Yeah, definitely, do it now, Peony. And next time, if you think you can do something better than the way I'm asking you to do it, I want you to say, okay?'

She nodded. 'Yes, Master Sirius. Peony will tell you.'

'You're a very good elf, and I want you to give yourself a treat tonight, okay? Or whenever you can, without being punished for it.'

Peony grinned, her ears perking up and her eyes going wide. 'Thank you, Master Sirius.'

'You deserve it. Right, off you go, then.'

'That was really sweet of you,' Remus said, smiling at Sirius after she disapparated. Gods, he looked so beautiful when he smiled. Bedtime couldn't come soon enough.

He shrugged. 'If you don't give them permission, they never do it. I want her to be happy.'

Falling asleep with Remus in his arms felt different now, Sirius mused later that evening, and he didn't think it was because there was less hair vying for pillow space with his face, though his nose was grateful for that. He kissed the back of Remus' neck and smiled when Remus hummed. Whatever it was, it was better.

'Fuck, why can't I move?' Sirius' voice asked in Peter's head, pulling him out of his dreams and into cold reality. Literally. Why was it so cold? Peter tried to open his eyes, but they wouldn't obey. Neither would any other part of his body. Was he in a bodybind?

Breathe. There's no need to panic. Bodybinds can be broken.

Peter began the process of searching his core for foreign magic while trying to keep his breathing deep and regular to stave off the panic that was creeping at the edges of his mind. Being paralysed brought up memories he didn't want to think about.

Routing out the magic holding him hostage was made all the harder by the repetition of Sirius' alarm going off every few minutes, but it did help to know he wasn't the only person in this predicament. If both he and Sirius were bound, it was more than likely Tenebris. Or James. But probably Tenebris. Telling them the lesson was cancelled only to launch a surprise attack in the middle of the night was exactly her style.

There!

Peter gathered his magic as he chased the interloper, finally cornering it and forcing it out. Then he opened his eyes, blinking several times before looking around. No wonder it was cold. He was in an empty room of the castle and judging by the darkness outside the window, it was still the middle of the night. Checking his pyjama pockets as he climbed to his (bare) feet, he was unsurprised to find himself wandless. Definitely Tenebris. James would have at least given him socks. The stone floor was freezing.

Right, so. First task. Find the others.

It was at that moment that Peter realised they'd made a huge oversight with the tracking spell. He needed a wand to activate it. Tenebris hadn't left them with their wands the first time, so why would she in the future? Merlin, they were stupid.

Unless.

It couldn't take much just to activate the magic that was already intertwined into his own. Maybe he could do it wandlessly? He didn't want to just stand around wasting time, though. Alright, plan. Head towards Gryffindor Tower to retrieve socks, shoes, and something warm to wear, maybe a jumper? Because it really was freezing. And on the way, attempt to activate the spell wandlessly. Of course, if he were successful, the spell wouldn't let him go anywhere that wasn't the fastest route to Sirius, but that was a risk he had to take. If he didn't get his socks, well, his toes would probably survive.

He checked the number on the door as he left the room—23c, third floor—and thanked their relentless exploration of the castle for the fact that he knew where he was. Turning right out of the door, he started up the corridor, trying to concentrate on both not stepping on parts of the stone floor that were overly sharp, and collecting his magic to push into the chain hanging around his neck. 'Reperio,' he muttered each time he tried.

Within a couple of minutes, he'd reached the Grand Staircase and was on his way up, thinking longingly of warm socks and shoes. 'Reperio.' Nothing. He really hoped Tenebris hadn't told the Fat Lady not to let them in again. That would really suck. Maybe he should go to the kitchens and raid the laundry instead. But the thought of willingly descending into the underground parts of the school in his current state of dress made him shiver, so he threw that idea out.

'Bubbles!' James' voice called from nearby. Peter looked around but he couldn't see him.

'Where are you?'

'Shit, sorry,' James appeared, one floor up, pulling the invisibility cloak off. He was wearing shoes and socks, and a fluffy red jumper over his pyjamas that looked wonderfully warm.

'You got in the Tower?'

'Yeah, here,' James chucked his backpack down and Peter caught it, pulling it open as James descended the stairs to join him. There were three jumpers inside, three pairs of socks, and three pairs of shoes. Peter pulled out the ones that belonged to him and put them on, starting with the socks.

'I would give you anything you asked for right now,' Peter said, pulling the socks over his frozen toes. 'Fuck, my feet are cold.'

'Right now, all I want is your hand so I can stop this damn alarm,' James said with a laugh.

Peter gladly accepted James' outstretched hand and let him pull him back to his feet—now they were covered in two layers and beginning to warm up—and pulled on the jumper.

'Have you managed to activate your tracker yet?'

Peter shook his head. 'Been trying, but can't get it to work. Is that how you found me?'

'Yeah, took me a while. I think you have to really want it to work, because as soon as I was in the dorm and warm again, I managed it.'

'Alright, I'll give it another try. Give me a sec.'

Peter focused, and gathered his magic, drawing it up to his chest and pushing it out to the surface where the chain sat against his throat. 'Reperio.' Immediately, he felt the familiar tugging in his chest, and he spun until it was pulling him forward. 'Sirius is down.'

'Course he is,' James said. 'Bet he didn't need to be warm before he wanted it enough to make the spell work.'

Peter chuckled, heading down the stairs. 'Well, if it was Lily at the other end of your spell, I doubt you'd need to be warm first, either.'

'Probably not, no,' James agreed. 'We should get under the cloak so we don't get caught.'

'What time is it, anyway?' he asked as James swung the cloak around their shoulders.

'About half one in the morning.'

Peter groaned. 'Fuck's sake. We're going to be knackered tomorrow.'

'Yeah, but Herbology won't be hard, and it's essay day in Transfiguration. Then we have Flying. That'll wake us up.'

'And then we have to go search the Forest for potion ingredients. You know, when we signed up for this, no one warned me I was agreeing to be kidnapped from my bed in the middle of the night.' The invisible rope tugged him to the side. 'This way.'

James followed him off the Staircase at the first-floor landing. 'It's good practice, though, right?'

'I guess. I just hope this never actually happens for real.'

'Yeah, me too.'

Two minutes later, they pushed open the door to another classroom to find Remus and Sirius inside. Remus was leaning with his back to the wall facing the door, and Sirius was standing in front of him. It looked like they'd been cuddling to stay warm.

'Took you two long enough,' Sirius said, turning around with a frown on his face. Peter didn't think he'd ever seen Sirius' hair look so messy outside of their dorm room.

'Here, put these on,' James said, pulling out the clothes and shoes from his bag. 'You could have come and found us, you know? Remus' tracker is connected to me.'

'No can do,' Sirius said. 'Look at this.' He handed James a sheet of parchment covered in Professor Tenebris' handwriting.

'Well done for finding Remus,' James said, reading it aloud. 'I'm impressed. Unfortunately, he has been poisoned. You have until 3:30 am, at which point Remus will be dead without the antidote. Good luck.'

'How do you feel about dying, Moony?' Peter asked. 'Cause I really want to go back to bed.'

'Right now? I'm feeling pretty good about it.'

'You'll be sorely missed, Moons,' James said, patting him on the shoulder. 'Sorry, we couldn't save you.'

'No, it's okay. I understand. Sleep is important.'

'You're not serious?' Sirius asked.

'No, you are,' Peter, James, and Remus all said in unison.

Sirius huffed in annoyance. 'You realise she actually poisoned him this time?'

James' eyes widened. 'What?'

'Yeah, I doubt it's anything bad, though. I'm feeling pretty sick, a bit dizzy, and I don't think I can do magic?'

'Fuck. Alright. We need to get going. What do we need, Bubbles?'

After raiding Slughorn's—suspiciously unlocked—office for supplies, they proceeded to the Den to brew. As Professor Tenebris had promised, the process of determining the antidote was much more difficult this time. Without a sample of the poison, Peter had two choices. He could try to determine the most probable poison from Remus' symptoms. Or he could pinpoint it exactly using a sample of Remus' blood. An option Sirius was resolutely against for some reason.

'Doesn't he go through enough? You want to cut him?'

'I don't want to cut him. But it's the easiest way.'

'No.'

'It's not really up to you, Sirius,' James pointed out.

'Oh, for the love of—. Where's the knife?' Remus walked over to the prep table and grabbed an iron blade from the selection of knives, slicing it across his palm in one smooth motion. He didn't even flinch. 'Where do you want it?'

Peter hurried to his side with a bowl to catch the blood that was dripping from his hand onto the floor.

'Fuck, Moony. You are such a badass,' James said, a touch of awe in his voice.

Remus laughed, watching the blood cover the bottom of the white dish. 'It's just a small cut. It'll be healed in a few seconds.'

'Yeah, actually, you might need to do that a couple more times. I need way more than this.'

Remus obliged, cutting his palm open three times before Peter had enough blood to complete the process. Then he went and lay on one of the two fluffy sofas that sat against the wall where the desks used to be, looking pale and shaky. Peter wasn't feeling too great himself. He hated working with blood.

'What do you need us to do?' James asked.

Knowing neither James nor Sirius were great at remembering long lists of instructions, Peter grabbed a sheet of parchment and scribbled down a list of ingredients and how he needed them prepared. 'Here, get started on this. In that order.'

James gave him a salute, and Sirius took the list, reading off the items while James grabbed the different bottles and jars, putting them in order along the back of the table. Peter smiled at them and moved to start the cauldron heating up.

They each went to check on Remus periodically while they worked whenever they were done with something and had a few seconds to spare before starting on the next. He seemed to be doing okay. Was the poison Tenebris had given him actually fatal or was that was another lie to motivate them? It seemed unlikely that she'd risk actually killing him. But she might believe them fully capable of preventing his death and so didn't consider it a risk.

The potion turned golden yellow.

Okay, so she had fatally poisoned him. Peter didn't know if he should feel horrified by her recklessness or honoured by her faith in him.

'What's the time?'

'Two twenty-five,' Sirius told him after checking his watch.

Peter did a quick calculation. Ten minutes, add the bicorn horn, stir forty-nine times, about three minutes. Simmer for fifteen, add the rest, stir twenty-six times, simmer again for three minutes. 'Alright, I know what antidote we need to brew, and we have enough time. But one of you needs to run and get bicorn horn and be back here in ten minutes.'

'I'll go,' James volunteered. 'Back soon.'

James must have run all the way there, and all the way back again, because he returned in eight minutes, and immediately collapsed onto the other sofa. That was fine. Sirius had already prepped most of the ingredients he needed.

At 3:12 am, Peter handed a cooled gobletful of the antidote to Remus and watched him down the contents. 'How do you feel?'

Remus screwed up his face. 'It feels like there's ice in my veins.'

Peter let out the breath he was holding. 'It's working.'

Suddenly, he was wrapped in a pair of arms. 'You're a bloody genius, Bubbles, and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise,' Sirius said into his shoulder.

Peter chuckled, the relief making him feel a little dizzy. 'I won't. But how about you let go of me now, and we all go get some sleep?'

Professor Tenebris gave them an approving nod as they walked into the Great Hall together the next morning, each of them taking it in turns to yawn. She seemed pretty tired herself, but that was her own fault for kidnapping them in the middle of the night. Peter felt no sympathy for her.

The morning went by in a blur of fatigue, but as James had said, flying in the cold January air did a wonderful job of waking him up, and by the time they entered the Forest after lunch, Peter was feeling energised. The frozen leaf litter covering the forest floor crunched underfoot as they made their way deeper into the trees and their breath emerged in clouds of white in the cold air.

Thankfully, it didn't take them more than an hour to collect what they needed. The timing of the Hunt had obviously been chosen to ease the gathering of the necessary ingredients, and they were soon back inside the warmth of their Den.

'You guys can go if you want,' Peter said, filling his cauldron halfway with water. 'I don't really need any help with this.'

Remus and Sirius left, Sirius claiming to have homework, and Remus not wanting to be around the fumes, but James stayed, getting comfortable on one of the Transfigured sofas and opening a book on Ancient Runes. Even though they didn't talk, it was nice having him in the room while he worked. The potion he was brewing was a simple one. It didn't need a whole lot of concentration, and Peter found his thoughts drifting to the messages he'd exchanged with Monty that morning regarding his first project for his apprenticeship.

While it was necessary for the student to study, memorise, and brew perfectly multiple complex potions during the course, the bulk of the work was made up of independent projects overseen by the Master Potioneer the student was apprenticed to. For the first assignment, Peter had to use the known properties of recognised ingredients to create a new potion. The potion could be for any purpose he liked, but it had to be something that wasn't already registered as a recipe.

Monty had loved Peter's idea. He might actually be more excited about it than Peter was. There was one person he knew would like it even more, though, if he could make it work. No one had ever made a potion to cure a werewolf's moonsickness before, simply because no one cared enough to bother.

But Peter did.

'Shit,' Remus said, between kisses. 'James just woke up.'

'Dammit.' Sirius leant back in, pressing his lips to Remus' for a long moment. 'Did he get out of bed yet?'

Remus cocked his head to listen and heard the faint sound of footsteps crossing the dorm. 'Yeah, he's coming.'

'Shit.' Sirius kissed him one last time, fast, before launching himself into a shower cubicle. Remus huffed out a laugh, straitening his t-shirt and turning to the mirror just as James pushed the door open.

'Morning, Moons,' he said cheerfully. 'Twinkles in the shower?'

'Yeah, he just got in,' Remus said, just as the water switched on. 'He'll probably be awhile.'

James banged on the cubicle as he passed to enter the next one. 'Hurry it up in there. Lots to do today!'

'Fuck off, Sunshine,' Sirius yelled back over the noise of the water, his voice bright and happy. 'I'll take as long as I damn well please.'

'I'll just have to send Remus in to get you, then.' James waggled his eyebrows at Remus before walking into his own cubicle and closing the door behind him.

'What a stupid idea. That would only make me take longer.'

'That's a great point. I'll send Peter.'

The noise in the room increased as James' shower switched on. Then the door to Sirius' cubicle opened slightly, and keeping his body hidden behind the door, Sirius' head poked through the gap and his hand beckoned Remus over.

Remus approached cautiously, not entirely sure what Sirius had in mind, but when he reached him, Sirius just grabbed the front of his robes and pulled him into a deep kiss with a groan of appreciation.

'Having a bit too much fun in that shower, aren't you, Twinkles?' James' voice called out, making Sirius laugh into the kiss.

'We'll finish this later,' Sirius whispered.

Remus' reply was just as quiet. 'Can't wait.'

Leaving them to shower, Remus returned to the dorm room and woke Peter up before heading to his trunk to get a jumper to wear to breakfast. His heart was still beating like mad from the close call in the bathroom and he smiled as he pulled a dark green jumper over his head. When he'd first suggested keeping their relationship a secret from James and Peter, he hadn't intended for it to last long, but he found he was thoroughly enjoying the risk of being caught, safe in the knowledge that nothing bad would happen if they were. It was so different from the secret of his lycanthropy and part of him didn't want the thrill of it to end.

They parted ways with Peter after breakfast, the three of them taking the Cloak and heading out of the main entrance, while Peter took the Knife and climbed the stairs to the Den. Remus had the Journal in his bag, and once they'd reached the cover of the trees—and James had tucked the Cloak away—he pulled it out and flipped through until he found the page describing how to reach the Ritual Site.

'It says to enter at the point directly opposite Hagrid's house and then proceed north until we reach a stream,' Remus said. 'So we should walk down until we get to Hagrid's.'

Sirius slipped his hand into Remus' as they made their way through the trees, and Remus risked glancing at him. It was a mistake. Merlin, he was breathtaking. The cold air had brought a slight flush to his usually pale skin, and a few hairs has escaped the bun he'd secured them in, caressing his face as the breeze caught them. A smirk was playing at the corners of his mouth, and Remus wanted nothing more than to kiss it off. But he couldn't. It was infuriating.

'North from here, you said?' James asked.

Remus looked away from Sirius, realising they had reached Hagrid's home while he was daydreaming. 'Yeah, dead north.'

James laid his wand out on the palm of his hand and said, 'Point me,' and his wand spun around until the tip was pointing slightly to the right of where they were facing. 'Guess it's that way.'

'Where did you find that spell?'

'It was in the Journal,' Remus said. 'Just makes your wand point north.'

'Useful.'

'Only when you're following obscure directions to the ruins of some Ancient Ritual Site in the middle of a forest full of dangerous creatures,' James said.

'Which happens to be the exact activity we're currently partaking in, so, as I said, useful.'

It took them several minutes of walking before they reached the stream mentioned in the Journal, but Remus heard it before he saw it. The gentle tinkle of water trickling over stones long since worn smooth reached his ears whenever the breeze stopped rustling through the leaves for a few seconds.

'I think we're close.'

'That didn't take too long,' James said, checking his watch. 'What's next?'

'We have to follow the stream East until we reach the point where it bends left around a tree.'

'That's pretty vague,' Sirius said. 'There are trees everywhere. It's a bloody forest.'

Remus squeezed his hand. 'I'm sure it'll be obvious when we see it or it wouldn't have been used as a landmark.'

As he spoke, they caught their first sight of the stream, cutting a path across the forest floor and weaving its way through the trees. The water was beautifully clear and looked perfectly drinkable. Not that Remus would risk it. They'd bought food and drink with them in case they were still in the forest at lunchtime.

James crouched beside it and collected some water, which he'd need for the ritual. Then they turned right and began following the stream further into the trees. The forest really was a beautiful place with its moss-covered trees and the delicate winter flowers, poking through the leaf litter, refusing to bow to adversity. Occasionally, the weak winter sun broke out from behind the cloud cover and sent rays of green-tinted light dancing across the frost-covered ground. The walk would probably be quite romantic if James wasn't with them.

'Argh,' James suddenly shrieked. 'Ew, gross, gross, gross. Get it off.'

Remus turned to see him swiping frantically at his face, followed by his arms, and then his legs, and raised his eyebrows in question, laughing. 'You alright there, Sunshine?'

'Walked into a spider-web,' he said with a dramatic shudder. 'Face-first. Is there a spider on me? I feel like there's a spider on me.'

Remus dutifully examined him. 'Nope. You're good.'

'You should try looking where you're going, mate,' Sirius said.

James shoved him, laughing. 'Shut up.'

In the distance, Remus caught the sound of a branch snapping. 'Shush.'

James and Sirius immediately stilled. 'What is it?' Sirius whispered.

Remus shook his head. 'Don't know. But there's something nearby.'

'Wands out,' James said, pulling his own from the holster at his hip.

Remus and Sirius both copied him.

'Which way?' James asked.

Remus pointed to the other side of the stream and they all aimed their wands in that direction, waiting.

'James Potter,' a familiar voice said before a figure emerged. A half-human, half-horse figure.

'Feodair!' James cried, greeting him with the same level of enthusiasm he used for the Marauders.

'It's a pleasure to see you,' Feodair said. 'And you, too, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. But it might be wise to keep your screaming for a less dangerous location.'

Remus laughed. 'It's good to see you, too, Feodair. And that was James screaming. He walked into a spider-web.'

'I can't believe the bravery of James Potter could be defeated so easily.'

'It felt gross,' James said, his already flushed cheeks growing visibly darker.

Feodair chuckled. 'Of course. So what business do you three have in the Forest today?'

James glanced at them, and Remus gave him a nod. With the bond James had with the centaur, it should be safe enough to tell him.

'We're looking for the ruins of an Ancient Ritual Site. It's supposed to be in the centre of the Forest.'

Feodair smiled. 'I know the place. Would you object to an escort?'

'We have to follow the directions we were given so we can find it on the night of the next full moon, but you can come with us.'

Feodair frowned, glancing at Remus, hesitating. 'You'll all be entering the Forest on the night of the full moon?'

'No, just James and Peter,' Remus said. 'Don't worry, I'll be locked away as usual.'

Feodair's face cleared. 'That is a relief. You would pose no risk to anything that lives here, but I was concerned for your friends.'

'Remus would never put us in danger,' Sirius said, a little angrily.

Remus squeezed his hand. 'Calm down, he doesn't know me.'

'I meant no offence to your mate, Sirius Black.'

Remus startled at the word "mate". 'Oh, we're not together.'

Feodair just smiled again. 'Of course. My mistake. Let's follow your directions, then. The old ritual site is a place of ancient and powerful magic. It will do me good to visit it.'

As they moved off, Remus heard a rustle coming from the nearby undergrowth. 'What was that?'

'Just a cat,' Feodair said, unconcerned. 'You need not worry. Nothing here will harm you when you're with me.'

That was comforting, actually. Remus felt far more relaxed as they continued on, following the directions in the Journal—the bend in the river was obvious when they found it—and talking with Feodair about his life in the Forest.

After roughly half an hour had passed, Remus began feeling a tingle across his skin. 'Are we close?'

Feodair turned his head and smiled. 'Yes, you can feel it, can't you?'

Remus nodded. The magic in the air had activated every nerve ending in his body, but it felt welcoming. It wanted them there, and it was drawing them in. The sensation made him breathless. 'It's like it's saying hello.'

'I can feel something,' Sirius said. 'But nothing like that.'

'You'll feel it when we get nearer,' Feodair told him. 'You're not as powerful as your friend.'

It was another couple of minutes of walking before James and Sirius both inhaled sharply, almost at the same moment.

'Oh, wow,' Sirius said. 'That's…' He cleared his throat. 'Yeah.'

James chuckled. 'I'm forced to agree with that eloquent description, Twinkles. Bloody hell.'

The closer they came to the site, the more intense the feeling became and by the time Feodair stopped, announcing, 'we're here,' it felt like every hair on Remus' body was standing on end. Remus gazed around the small clearing ahead of them. It was pretty anticlimactic, to be honest. If it wasn't for the strange energy fizzling in the air all around him, he would have thought little of it.

Fallen stones littered the ground throughout the area, and near the middle, he could make out the remains of an ancient structure, a broken circle of roughly carved stones. In the very centre of the circle, stood the largest tree stump Remus had ever seen. It had to have been grown with magic before it was cut down. The thing was enormous.

'That must have been a bloody big tree,' Sirius commented.

'I was just thinking the same thing,' James said.

Remus laughed, the magic making him feel a little mad. 'Yeah, me too.'

Feodair frowned at them. 'This place always makes wizards silly.'

'Doesn't it do the same to you?' Remus asked.

'No, for my kind, it provides focus and clarity of mind.'

'Fascinating,' Remus said. 'I wonder what makes it different.'

They stood there for several minutes, basking in the feeling, flushed and breathless, and then Remus sighed. 'Gods, I wish I could be here for the ritual. I bet it's going to be amazing.'

The next evening, James lay on his stomach on his bed, kicking his legs in the air behind him, while he looked over his notes. His brain had a tendency to take any information he gave it to keep safe and launch it into the atmosphere, never to be seen again, so writing down anything he wanted to remember was a necessity. And these days, he had a lot he wanted to remember.

'How'd you get on today, Moons?'

Remus was cuddling with Sirius and didn't bother lifting his head to answer. 'Not great. Must have looked at fifty books, but couldn't find anything useful. I'll keep looking, though.'

That was disappointing, but not surprising. The tracking spell was supposed to be permanent, and altering its effects was not going to be easy, but if anyone could find a way, it was Moony. James wrote 'no progress' next to the item on his list and moved on.

'How's the potion going, Bubbles?'

'On schedule. Nothing to report,' Peter said.

'Excellent.' James just put a tick next to "brew potion." 'Twinkles? What's happening with your part of Project Gateway?'

'I finished the Intro to Arithmancy book. Remus is going to borrow the advanced book for me tomorrow. 'And I was thinking we should plan to copy the Animagus book over the Easter holidays. It'll give me something to do during the summer.'

'You'll be with me for half of it, but yeah, that's a good idea.' James flipped to his to-do list and wrote "Easter Holidays," next to "Copy Animagus book." 'Alright, is there anything else to record?'

'Nope,' Sirius said. 'You can relax, Sunshine.'

James grinned and tossed his notebook onto his bedside table, rolling onto his back and flinging his arms and legs out. 'Thank the Gods.'

He loved being a Chief of Entertainment, but Merlin, it was a lot of work. And getting kidnapped in the middle of the night really didn't help, either. They'd decided to wait for Tuesday evening's lesson to speak to Professor Tenebris about that whole thing, but none of them were happy that she'd actually fed Remus a fatal poison. What if they'd failed? And they were all concerned about what effect it might have on him in the long run. They were keeping a close eye on him in the run-up to the full moon.

'You doing okay, Moony?'

'How many more times are you all going to ask me that?' Remus replied. 'I'll tell you when I start feeling ill.'

'No, you won't,' Sirius said.

'Unlikely,' Peter agreed.

James rolled his eyes. 'No, you just get really pale and start pulling faces when you move.'

'You're all mean, and I'm not talking to you anymore,' Remus said, laughing.

'The biggest indicator, though,' James continued. 'Is that you start cuddling Sirius more. Which is why I asked.'

'I just like cuddles, and so does Sirius. Neither of us got them much growing up.'

'Hey, I wasn't criticising. Cuddle as much as you like. Cuddles are great. I'm a big fan.' The more they cuddled, the more chance there was that they'd realise they were besotted with each other. The sooner that happened, the better as far as James was concerned. They would make each other so happy.

Which is why he didn't try to argue the following evening when Sirius told him he wasn't coming to Quidditch practice again.

'See you later,' James called out as he left the room with Peter. He was halfway down the stairs when he realised he didn't have his wand and he ran back up again. Sirius and Remus didn't look like they'd moved an inch in the time he'd been gone. Each of them sat on their own bed, working on homework. 'Forgot my wand,' he told them, grabbing it and running back out the door, slamming it behind him.

Practice was going well. They'd completed all their drills seamlessly, and Rivers had set the Beaters up with targets to practise on while he worked with the Chasers on a new manoeuvre which involved James flipping upside down to pass off the Quaffle to his teammate as they flew below him in the opposite direction. It was tricky flying upside down with just his thighs holding him on the broom and James was struggling with the move.

'Sorry, Captain,' he yelled as he chickened out for the third time, dropping the Quaffle to grab the handle of his broom. 'I'll get it this time, I swear. Thanks, Gemma.' He caught the Quaffle when his teammate threw it to him and steered his broom back to his starting position. Once Gemma was in position, he started again, determined to get it right.

Leaning forward to accelerate, Quaffle clutched to his chest in one hand, James flew a straight line towards the other end of the pitch as Gemma did the same in the other direction, but ten feet lower. As they got closer, James tightened his legs around the broom handle, crossing his ankles together, and leaned to the side, making the broom flip upside down. That was the easy part. The part that made his stomach swoop was next.

When Gemma was inches away from passing underneath him, James let go of his broom and used both hands to grip the Quaffle. Then he stretched his arms above (below?) his head as far as he could. Gemma, who was likewise stretching as far as she could, grabbed it from his hands as they passed. James whooped.

Then his stomach lurched as he felt his grip on the broom slipping. He grabbed for it, but it was too late. He was free-falling through the air. I never fall, he thought, stupidly, as the ground rushed towards him. Somebody screamed. Time seemed to slow down as he reached for his wand, tugged it out, and pointed it at himself. 'Arresto Momento!' he yelled. The familiar sensation of sinking through treacle surrounded him a second before he hit the ground with a thump, and pain radiated through every part of his body.

He groaned. 'Fucking, ow!'

Seconds later, Captain Rivers landed beside him. 'You okay, Potter?'

'Think I broke several bones, but other than that, just embarrassed.'

'Several bones?'

'I may be exaggerating.'

'James, are you alright?' Peter was running across the pitch towards him.

'Can you get him to Pomfrey?' Rivers asked.'He thinks he broke something.'

'Yeah, can you stand?'

'I think so.' James tried to sit up and pain shot through his arm, making tears spring to his eyes. 'Yeah, definitely got a broken arm.' To his dismay, his voice came out squeaky. They were all going to think he was a giant baby.

'I told you that move was too dangerous,' Gemma said. She'd landed with the rest of the team moments after Rivers. 'It's not even necessary.'

'Yeah,' James said, frowning against the pain as he stood. 'But it's going to look awesome if we pull it off during a game.'

'It won't look awesome if you fall off your broom during the game, and we'll be a Chaser down.'

'Can we talk about this when my arm's no longer broken?'

'Yeah, go on,' Gemma said. 'Tell Pomfrey it still hurts after she's fixed it and she'll give you some pain potions.'

James nodded, but he had no intention of taking her advice. As if he'd bring aconite-laced potions into the dorm, even if they did make you feel good.

'What have you done to yourself now, Mister Potter?' Madam Pomfrey asked when they arrived at the Hospital Wing several pain-ridden minutes later.

'I think I've broken my arm.'

'And how did you manage that?' She asked, waving him over to a bed.

'He fell off his broom.'

'Pete!'

'What?'

James looked at Madam Pomfrey. 'Don't tell anyone.'

She raised an eyebrow. 'Everything you tell me is strictly confidential, Mister Potter. But I don't understand why this, in particular, would need to be a secret. Were you breaking the rules at the time?'

'He's embarrassed,' Peter said. 'He never falls.'

'Pete! For Merlin's sake.'

Madam Pomfrey laughed. 'Your secret is safe with me, Mister Potter. Let's fix that arm, shall we?'

It didn't take her more than a wave of her wand to mend the broken bone. The pain lingered for a few minutes, but it was gone by the time she finished her evaluation, telling him he had no other injuries. She offered him pain potions for the night, but he declined, thanking her for fixing him up before leaving.

'Back to the dorm, then?' Peter asked.

'Yeah, Rivers won't let me play again tonight.'

It didn't take them long to reach the Tower, but James slowed down as he reached the dormitory stairs. 'Sirius is so going to take the piss,' he said to Peter.

'Don't be daft. He'll just be glad you didn't die.'

That did actually sound more likely. James grinned. He could use a good fussing.

He flung the door open. 'We're back. You'll never guess what happened!'

Sirius was halfway across the space between his and Remus' beds, frozen, and Remus was sitting up on his bed, flushed, and his hair was in a right mess. James glanced between them. 'Have you two been wrestling again? What did Remus say to offend you this time?'