Wednesday, 14th February 1973

Sirius didn't bother to hide his amusement as three of the four girls got more and more annoyed at the clouds floating above their heads. Of course, Remus being the sadistically clever bastard that he was, the spell was linked to their emotional state. So the angrier they got, the worse it rained on them, making them angrier. It was a beautifully vicious cycle. All except for Mary. Sirius was impressed to see the cloud that had been forming above her head with the worry, quickly shrink away to nothing when she realised what was happening. She either had excellent self-control, or she found the whole thing more amusing than annoying. Either option gained Sirius' respect.

'You might want to calm down before the thunder starts,' James said helpfully.

'What?' Lily asked, her tone sharp. The anger in her face looked comical as she dripped all over the Entrance Hall. 'Thunder?'

James shrugged. 'Yeah, it needed to be dramatic, you know?'

'What about lightning?' Marlene asked. The cloud above her head shrank and whitened as her annoyance turned to fear.

Remus shook his head. 'Do you really think we'd risk killing you?'

'For the record,' Sirius said. 'I wanted the lightning, but I was overruled.'

Remus rolled his eyes. 'Despite Sirius' love of danger, it's perfectly safe. You won't get hurt, just… soggy.'

'So it's convenient we're learning the Drought charm this week,' James said. He glanced up at the clouds again. They were looking quite menacing at this point. 'But again, you'll need to calm down first.'

'Might help if we leave,' Peter said. 'Don't want to miss the Valentine's messages, do we?'

'Oh, right,' James said. 'That's today, isn't it?'

'Don't act like you didn't know,' Lily said. 'You did it today on purpose.'

Sirius grinned. 'Impact score, Evans. You want to win, you need to consider these things.'

An ominous rumble sounded from the cloud above her head, and she looked up with alarm.

'Think that's our cue,' James said, turning towards the doors to the Hall. 'Bye girls.'

Sirius blew them all a kiss and turned on his heel to follow James. 'Au revoir, mes petits chatons détrempés.'

The sound of Marlene's laughter drifted after him as he entered the Great Hall.

'What did you say?' Remus asked, falling into step beside him.

'Goodbye, my soggy little kittens.'

Remus laughed. 'They did look like angry kittens, didn't they?'

'Where do you want to sit?' James interrupted, looking at Remus.

Sirius watched Remus scanning the table. The Hall was packed this morning—which was weird. How could it be fuller? Did a lot of people usually skip breakfast?—and there weren't any large gaps that they could all fit into comfortably.

'I think we might have to split up,' Remus said.

'Unthinkable,' James said. 'Hold on.' He walked over to the middle of the table where there was a gap on both sides big enough for one person to squeeze in. 'Hi,' he said. 'I'll give three galleons to anyone here willing to move seats.'

The students on either side looked up at him. They were a mix of ages, and the older ones quickly looked back down, uninterested, but two third-year boys exchanged glances and shrugged. 'Yeah, alright.'

James grinned and pulled out his money pouch, counting out the six galleons and handing them over. 'Thanks, guys.'

The boys pocketed the coins and picked up their plates as they stood. 'Thank you. You just paid for our weekend.'

James turned and waved them over with a bow. 'Your seats await.'

Remus shook his head as he sat down, and a clean plate appeared in front of him. 'You're mental, James. Six galleons just so we can sit together, really?'

'Worth every knut,' James said. 'Fuck it. I'm not walking all the way around.' He dropped to the floor and crawled under the table, popping up on the other side a moment later and taking his seat opposite Sirius.

'Yeah,' Peter said, slowly. 'Think I'm going to take the longer route.'

Sirius took a peek at the wall behind the teacher's table as Peter set off on his long journey to reach his seat. It was still blank, but it wouldn't be for much longer. Only one of the teacher's seats was empty, Professor Kettleburn's, and Sirius could see him approaching the Entrance through the window.

Seconds after the final seat was filled at the teacher's table, a ripple passed through the wall behind them and the stone took on the light cream colour of parchment. The student body reacted with an admirable amount of restraint. They'd been warned not to draw attention to the display, so heads turned minutely, elbows nudged, and ankles were kicked, but nobody openly stared as the first message wrote itself across the wall in a neat script of two-foot-high letters.

Hogwarts students,

Happy Valentine's Day! This isn't just a day for lovers, so take a moment today to tell those you love how much you care. Be they a relative or a friend, everyone likes to hear 'I love you,' once in a while.

And in the spirit of the day, a big 'we love you all' from us,

The Hogwarts' Marauders

The message scrolled itself up and out of sight after a few seconds, and a new one began to appear.

Lisa O'Connor,

I think you're amazing. Will you be my date tonight?

Tony

To Jasmine,

Wanna go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?

Love Tyler

Dear Josh Tanner,

You have the cutest smile I've ever seen

From your secret admirer

And so they went on. The first messages seemed to all be from people hoping to win a date with the person they fancied, or they were unsigned. As the meal progressed, there was the occasional outburst from various parts of the Hall as someone reacted to seeing their own name on the wall, but they were spaced out enough to not draw the staff's attention, and they remained unaware of the words being written behind them.

'Sirius,' Remus said, nudging his arm and nodding at the wall. Turning his head just enough to see it, Sirius quickly scanned the writing.

Sirius Black

I think you're really hot. If you want to know who I am, meet me at the top of the Astronomy Tower at 7 pm.

?

James smirked at him. 'You going to go?'

'No.'

'Why not?'

'If they don't have the guts to tell me to my face, then I'm not interested,' he said, shrugging, and trying not to smile when he felt Remus' leg press against his under the table.

'Good point,' James said. 'Can't have you being seen with a coward. It would ruin your entire image.'

'Exactly.'

There were two more unsigned messages for Sirius by the time the first of the faculty stood from their chair. The moment they did, the ripple passed back through the stone in the opposite direction, turning it back to its original colour.

'Popular, aren't you?' Remus asked, giving him a sideways look.

Sirius smirked at him and waggled his eyebrows. 'Apparently, but you know I only have eyes for you, darling.'

Remus raised an eyebrow. 'Strange, because I don't recall seeing anything up there addressed to me.'

'Well, of course not.' Sirius bumped Remus' shoulder with his own. 'I'm smart enough to know you'd hate that. I'll give you your present in private later.'

'Well, I'm expecting a very public display of affection from you,' James said. 'I'll be unbearably disappointed if you don't deliver.'

Sirius winked. 'I've got you covered. Don't you worry.'

'Fancy hanging out with me today?' Remus asked, looking at Peter. He jerked his thumb at James and Sirius. 'As far away from these two as we can get?'

'Hey!' Sirius said at the same time as James said, 'What? Why?'

'Just to avoid the stares,' Remus said. 'When whatever you have planned happens.'

'You can just slink into the background,' Sirius said. 'You don't need to avoid us all day.'

'I was kidding, Sirius.'

'Oh.'

Remus laughed and reached for the teapot in the middle of the table. 'I think you need more tea.'

The girls never came into the Hall for breakfast, but they were in Herbology, Lily still looking mildly disgruntled but not enough to create her own weather. James took the first opportunity he could get to sidle up to her. 'Did you break it?'

'No,' she grit out, the tiniest of clouds starting to form. 'Please, leave me alone.'

James grinned. 'As you wish, my lady.'

'Prat,' she muttered as he returned to their table.

'It's no fun if they don't get annoyed all day,' Sirius whispered when James reached him. 'We need to get them wound up.'

'Yeah, I know. But how without making it obvious that's what we're doing?'

Peter grinned. 'Leave it to me.' Acting as if he was doing something important, Peter strolled over to their class trays of Leaping Toadstools stacked on shelving under a bench at the back of the greenhouse. Crouching to reach them, he pulled out his wand and cast a quick freezing charm on one, plucking it out and slipping it into his pocket before standing back up quickly. The whole thing took less than three seconds, and Sirius took a quick look around, but no one seemed to have noticed.

After a minute of mucking about by the sinks doing Merlin knows what, Peter wandered over to the girls and struck up a conversation with Mary. As he chatted to her, Sirius saw him slip his hand back into the pocket of his robes, and then between the fronds of the Devil's trumpet plant Lily was tending. A moment later, he brought his conversation to an end and returned to their table.

'Give it a few minutes for the toadstool to wake up and Lily's plant is going to go mental,' Peter said, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

'Genius,' James said, laughing. 'Let's make ourselves busy.'

When the chaos began several minutes later, the boys were innocently pruning their own plants on the other side of the greenhouse. With no warning, Lily's plant let out an ear-splitting hoot, and she jumped, knocking over the pot, which rolled onto the floor and smashed. The crash startled on the other Devil's trumpet plants in the greenhouse and suddenly the air was full of trumpeting and all the students were covering their ears and staring at Lily. She blushed, but her gaze drifted around the room until she locked eyes with James, and then she shook her head as if disappointed in him.

'Damn,' James said. 'I really thought she'd get mad.'

'Alright, everyone. Calm your plants, please,' Professor Sprout called over the noise, bringing the class back to order.

Somehow, the Malediction managed to give them the slip during break time, and they decided not to try to trigger a rainstorm during Transfiguration, not wanting Professor McGonagall to put a stop to the fun by breaking the spell. Flying lessons, though, were the perfect opportunity.

Despite Sirius' best efforts (well, the best ones he could employ in front of James and Peter), Remus couldn't be persuaded to come and watch their lesson, claiming to have something he wanted to research in the library, but he wished them luck in their mission to make the Malediction lose their collective shit. Which was nice of him. Even nicer were the words Sirius heard in his head not long after they parted.

'You look so good in your flying gear.' And then a minute later. 'I'm going to snog you senseless tonight.'

'Excited?' James asked as they mounted their brooms.

'Yeah, a bit. Why?'

'You're grinning like a maniac.'

Sirius laughed and pushed off, soaring into the sky with James hot on his tail. That wasn't why he was grinning, but he was happy to let James think it was. 'Catch me if you can,' he yelled before angling right and falling into a barrel roll in an attempt to shake him off.

James followed him into the tight turn, but slowed down for it more than he usually would, and Sirius evaded him easily, coming out of the roll and shooting into a dive. Again, James followed, but at a more cautious pace than he usually flew. Just like the last three weeks. Sirius hadn't taken much notice of it during the first week, assuming James was feeling unwell. But after three weeks of it, Sirius was more than concerned.

The most frustrating thing was, neither James nor Peter would even admit there was anything wrong. And Sirius had really thought they'd cracked it when Remus pointed out they hadn't used magic at all since the Ritual. But then the very next day, James and Peter proved their theory to be rubbish by duelling spectacularly in Defence. So what the hell was going on?

As he and James raced, Sirius had been intentionally working his way closer to where the girls were flying, and now, with the kind of reckless abandon James was refusing to engage in, Sirius angled his broom towards the small gap in the middle of their formation and accelerated to top speed as he came up from behind and beneath them. Hurtling into their space with no warning, James right behind him, Sirius yelled, 'Sorry!' and continued on his way, seemingly oblivious as the girls scattered in fright.

It was the third time he did it that the fun really started.

'Jesus fucking Christ, Black! Will you stop!' Lily's scream of anger was accompanied by a loud clap of thunder, and Sirius whipped his broom back around to look.

James pulled to a stop beside him. 'Gods, she looks beautiful in the rain.'

Sirius tilted his head to the side as he assessed the sight before him. The enormous cloud floating above Lily was emptying what could only be described as a deluge on her head, turning her hair into long red rat-tails and making her robes cling to her skin. Her red face, flushed with anger, only added to the overall picture. If James could find her attractive even in this state, then Sirius wished him all the luck in the world in his one-man quest to win her affection.

'Time to go, I think,' he muttered.

'Yeah,' James said. 'Probably.'

Safe in the knowledge that the rules forbid the girls from telling Madam Hooch the truth about what happened, they flew to the other side of the Training Grounds and joined Peter in flying the obstacle course while Madam Hooch flew over and tried to end the rainstorm, finally sending the girls to the ground and calling for assistance.

An owl arrived for them at the beginning of lunch, just as they were taking seats a little closer to the teacher's end of the hall than usual. James pulled it open, read it, and handed it to Sirius.

Our No-Longer-Furry Opponents,

Professor Flitwick was able to break your spell and end the spontaneous soakings, and we have scored you as follows:

In the category of creativity, we award you a six. The Precipitation charm wasn't particularly interesting, but linking it to our emotional state was clever.

For execution, we begrudgingly give you ten. We didn't see you do it.

For impact, we give you eight. Both meals and classes were ruined, but it could have been worse.

Finally, for skilled use of magic, we give you five. Precipitation Charms aren't difficult, and neither is linking a charm to someone's emotions. You can do better.

That gives you a total of twenty-nine. Well done, but we'll get you back soon.

Your Damp Competitors.

'I think we deserved more than a five for skilled used of magic,' Sirius said, passing the scroll to Remus. 'They had to get a teacher to break it.'

'We're still winning, though,' James said. 'And they're right that we can do better.'

'Oh, look, Sirius,' Remus said, nodding at the wall behind the teacher's table. 'Another message for you.'

Honestly, if Sirius had known every bloody girl in the school was going to send him a Valentine, he'd have vetoed the whole thing before Remus could set it up. Regardless, he glanced over to read it.

The brightest star in the sky should feel honoured to have been named after one as beautiful as you.

Sirius frowned, but it turned into a smile when his favourite voice in the world told him, 'It's true, you know?' He was the only one who could hear it, of course. Remus was getting quite good at sending him messages on command. James glanced between them suspiciously, but before he could say anything, Peter started choking on his pumpkin juice.

James began to pat him on the back, but Peter slapped his hands away. 'No, James, look,' he said, trying to point with his eyes, and they all turned their heads.

Sunshine,

I hope you come tonight. I'll save a song for you.

It wasn't signed, but it didn't need to be. They all knew who it was from, and James was grinning from ear to ear. There would be no beating this, but Sirius was going to try. Moving some of the dishes out of the way, cramming some together and stacking others, he cleared a space on the table, pulled out his wand, and cleared his throat. He pointed it at the floor first, casting the spell to make the music play, and then at his own throat, 'Sonorus.' Ignoring his friend's questioning looks, and Professor McGonagall's shouts to get down, Sirius climbed onto the table and began his performance.

He started by transfiguring a goblet into a tiny stool, which he took a seat on as he sang the first lines of the song. 'Well, I don't know why I came here tonight. I've got the feeling that something ain't right. I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,' He wobbled dramatically on the stool, and then stood up, 'And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs.'

'Maybe detention will help you to figure it out,' Professor McGonagall called.

'Clowns to the left of me!' Sirius cried, waving his arm towards the Slytherins. 'Jokers to the right!' This time indicating the Gryffindors. 'Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.' He pointed at James and held out his hand, inviting him to join him on the table. James took it, climbing up beside him with a grin as Sirius continued singing. 'Yes, I'm stuck in the middle with you. And I'm wondering what it is I should do.' With impeccable timing, Professor McGonagall was marching towards them, so Sirius squeezed James' hand and nodded at the floor. They both jumped down and started backing away from her.

'It's so hard to keep this smile from my face. Losing control and running all over the place.' As he sang the line, Sirius span on his heel and made a run for it, James right beside him. 'Clowns to the left of me! Jokers to the right. Here I am stuck in the middle with you.'

They reached the end of the aisle and split up, heading in opposite directions as Sirius continued the song. 'When you started off with nothing. And you're proud that you're a self-made man.'

'Not strictly true,' James yelled from the end of the Hufflepuff table.

'And your friends, they all come crawling. Slap you on the back and say, please . . . Please . . .'

Professor McGonagall seemed to have given up on chasing them down and was returning to her seat at the teacher's table, so Sirius and James took the opportunity to come back together before the next verse started.

'Your verse, James,'

James pointed his wand at his throat and cast the Charm to amplify his voice. 'Trying to make some sense of it all. But I see it makes no sense at all. Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor? I don't think that I can take anymore.' When it was time for the chorus, Sirius joined back in, and they sang the lines together, arms around each other's waists. 'Clowns to the left of me! Jokers to the right! Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.'

'Right, that's quite enough, boys. You've had your fun,' Professor McGonagall said, after casting the counter charm to end the music. 'Back to your table now, please.'

Sirius groaned. 'There was another whole verse, yet, Professor.'

'Then I advise you to finish serenading Mister Potter in your dorm.'

A ripple of laughter went around the Hall, and Sirius and James grinned at each other and took a bow before returning to their seats at the Gryffindor table.

'You two are a nightmare,' Remus said as Sirius sat back down beside him.

Sirius nudged him with his elbow. 'You love it.'

As it turned out, he didn't continue serenading James when they got back to the dorm. In fact, James didn't stay in the room at all. Peter asked him to join him in the Den while he brewed the potion for the second half of the Ritual, which left Sirius alone with Remus for the first time in days after he'd taken them down and returned alone with the Knife.

'So you think I'm beautiful, do you?' Sirius asked, pushing Remus back against the pillows.

'You know I do.'

Sirius hummed and kissed him. 'Yeah, but I still like hearing it.'

'You're beautiful.'

'So are you.'

Remus looked away, but Sirius wasn't having that, gently pressing on his cheek until Remus looked back at him.

'You're beautiful.'

'I'm not.'

'You are. Does my opinion not count for anything?'

Remus huffed. 'That's not fair.'

Sirius shrugged. 'I never said I play fair. But look, if I can accept that you think I'm beautiful, why can't you accept that I think you're beautiful?'

'It's not the same. You just have to look in a mirror to see it's true.'

'Yeah,' Sirius said slowly. 'But I'm pretty sure you're not just talking about my face when you say it, are you?'

'No,' Remus said. 'Your heart is just as beautiful.'

'And that's where I struggle to believe you. But I will because it's you. So will you try to believe me, please?'

'Fine,' Remus said. 'But only if you kiss me again.'

Sirius grinned. 'More than happy to.'

Remus stopped them after a few minutes, though, pushing Sirius off and sitting up. 'We need to talk about James and Peter again.'

'Are you always thinking about them when we're kissing?'

Remus laughed and shoved him. 'No.'

'Hm, are you sure? Because it's starting to feel like it.'

'You're such a prat.'

'Alright, fine,' Sirius moved to sit beside him. 'Obviously, we were wrong about the magic. So what's the new theory?'

'The centaurs did something to them,' Remus said. 'I did some research, and I couldn't find anything about bonds between humans and centaurs, but the two species have been at odds for centuries. What if they used the bond with James to control him in some way?'

Sirius frowned. 'It didn't sound like that when they got back. James was all excited about getting to ride on Firenze's back.'

'But if their memories had been altered…'

'Then they wouldn't know,' Sirius said. 'That's worrying. They were acting really out of character for a couple of weeks, but they seem normal now.' Then he thought about James' reluctance to take risks in flying class, and added, 'Mostly.'

'I think you should follow them on Saturday.'

'What? No. I'm not leaving you all alone.'

'It'll be fine. You won't be gone long, and I'm getting drunk, remember? Moony might not even notice.'

Sirius was quiet for a full minute, thinking it through before finally saying, 'You really think it's necessary?' Remus nodded and Sirius sighed. 'Fine, I'll do it for you.'

'Thank you.'

'You're welcome,' Sirius said. 'Now come here so I can kiss you some more before they get back.'

'When are we going to tell them? I really don't think they're going to figure it out.'

Sirius shrugged. 'Do you want to?'

'Sort of, but also sort of not. It's fun having a nice secret.'

'Yeah, I know what you mean. Alright, how about this, if they haven't figured it out before your birthday, I'll give you a snog as your present.'

Remus laughed. 'You're on.'

James and Peter returned from the Den in time for dinner, where there were yet more messages for Sirius in amongst the rest. By halfway through the meal, the messages were becoming less romantic and more rude, and when a giant picture of a penis drew itself on the wall, the laughter that erupted around the Hall finally drew the teacher's attention to the display going on behind them. To say Professor McGonagall was less than impressed was an understatement. She vanished the offensive drawing so hard that she sent one of the stone bricks away with it and had to quickly conjure it back into being.

It was a shame that Professor Flitwick had broken the Precipitation charm, Dorcas mused as she put the finishing touches on the ice-rink. They could have sent Lily to fly around on a broom while thinking about Potter, and they would have had more than enough water to cover the pitch in ice within a few minutes. As it was, they'd had to borrow four Endless Pitchers from the kitchen and pour the water onto each section, freezing it as it hit the ground. It had taken hours, but it was worth it. The Pitch looked amazing.

'I think I'm all done over here,' she called out, cupping her hands around her mouth.

In the distance, she saw Lily's head lift and turn. 'Me too. Marls? Mary?'

'Just finishing up,' Marlene called back.

'Just about done!' Mary shouted.

They'd started in the middle and worked their way out to the edges, so they were spread out across the furthest corners of the pitch, and Dorcas used the low wall for support as she slipped and slid her way back to the entrance. Doing the same from the other direction, Lily smiled as they reached each other.

'This is going to be so much fun.'

'Yeah,' Dorcas said, checking her watch. 'But we better get back up to the Tower so we can come down with everyone else.' She watched Mary and Marlene helping each other across the ice to the exit and laughed when they slipped and fell on their asses. 'You okay?'

They were both laughing, but it was Marlene that answered. 'Just bruised pride, I think.'

It was hard to tell if the flush in her cheeks was due to the cold, the exertion, or embarrassment, but it didn't really matter because, as was always the case with Marlene, the addition only added to her beauty. She was gorgeous. It was undeniable. And Dorcas was only a little jealous. Not in a "you're so much prettier than me and I hate you for it" way. It was more of a "I wish I was as pretty as you, but I'm not, so just let me be close to you" kind of jealousy.

They never did make it back up to the Tower. As they were climbing the Grand Staircase, they heard footsteps coming down and slipped off onto the fourth floor to hide as they passed. After waiting there for ten minutes as several more small groups headed down to the Quidditch pitch from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, they returned to the Staircase and followed them back outside.

'Where are you meeting Peter?' Dorcas asked as they drew closer to the arena. Mary was the only one of them with a boyfriend since Sirius had dumped Marlene (the fool), so the rest of them would be attending as a group while she had a romantic evening with her beloved.

Mary was scanning the silhouettes of the people walking ahead of them. The moon was almost full, so there was a fair amount of light even in the dead of night. 'He said he'd wait for me by the entrance if we didn't see each other before.'

'Is that him?' Marlene said, pointing at four figures near the entrance. Two of them were shoving at each other while the other two stood at a distance.

'Looks like Potter and Black to me,' Lily said. 'Which means that's more than likely Peter.'

Dorcas rolled her eyes. Like she didn't mess around just as much as James and Sirius when they were alone. Just a couple of nights ago, Lily and Marlene had had a full-on pillow fight in their dorm, making a terrible racket. Dorcas had ended up hiding in the bathroom until they were done.

The music drifting from the Pitch got louder the nearer they got as they headed towards the group of boys and as they got closer, the two figures—that were indeed James and Sirius—stopped play fighting to greet them.

'Evening girls,' Sirius said, waiting until they were close enough to whisper before he added, 'the rink looks great.'

'Doesn't it?' Marlene said. 'I hope you're going to save me a song.'

'Of course,' Sirius said, winking at her. 'For old time's sake.'

Marlene laughed, though Dorcas couldn't see what was funny about it. Everything she'd ever read or seen on the television suggested you were supposed to hate your exes, but Marlene and Sirius didn't seem to hold any hard feelings towards each other at all. It was extremely weird. But Dorcas could hate him enough for both of them. So she glared at his back as he linked arms with Marlene and led the two groups into the Quidditch arena, stopping at the bucket just inside the entrance to read the sign.

Drop shoes inside to turn them into skates.

'I assume Reparifarge will turn them back again?' Sirius asked as he unlaced his ridiculous boots.

Dorcas tuned them out and turned her attention to the pitch. There were already quite a few students skating around, flushed and smiling under the twinkling lights that floated ten feet in the air. Lots of them seemed to be couples, but there were plenty of friend groups too, which was brilliant. While the event was for Valentine's day, they hadn't wanted to leave out people who were single.

'So, how hard is this, then?' James asked. He'd changed his shoes into skates and was lacing them up. 'Doesn't look too difficult.'

'It's easy, mate,' Sirius said. 'I'll show you.'

'Have you never been ice-skating before?' Mary asked.

'I didn't even know it was a thing people did until Pete wanted to make an ice-rink for your date.' He finished lacing his skates and tried to stand up on the blades, wobbling dangerously. 'Right. If I break my ankle, I'm blaming you,' he said, pointing at Peter.

'What? Why me?'

'Because this ice-skating thing was your idea in the first place.'

Peter seemed to consider that, but Remus interrupted before he could respond. 'I don't think Peter can be blamed. Lily and Mary are both muggleborn. There's no reason they couldn't still have had this idea without Peter's date activity.'

Dorcas felt a bit insulted that Remus didn't think her capable of thinking of ice-skating, but he didn't know she'd been raised in the muggle world, so she let it go. Everyone just assumed she was a pureblood because of her name and didn't ask questions, which suited her just fine. No one needed to know her mum was a squib.

'I won't let you break an ankle, mate,' Sirius said. 'Come on. I'll show you how it's done. Are you coming, Remus?'

'I think I'm just going to watch for now.'

Several expressions flashed across Sirius' face that Dorcas couldn't interpret before he grinned and nodded, leading James out onto the ice. Lily and Marlene followed, and Peter took Mary's hand, kissing her softly before they disappeared too. Dorcas watched everyone leave and stood where she was for several seconds, debating with herself, before walking over to Remus. 'Not a fan of skating?'

Remus looked at her for a moment before turning his eyes back to the Pitch. 'I'm not what anyone would call an energetic person. Why aren't you out there?'

Dorcas shrugged. It was too difficult to explain, and she didn't really understand it herself, so she went with a vague, 'I'll join them in a bit.'

Marlene and Lily were skating hand in hand, attempting twirls and spins and laughing when they failed. Dorcas tried not to feel left out, but it was hard sometimes. Just because she wasn't as outgoing as they were and often chose not to join in with activities that were loud didn't mean she didn't want to be asked. Sometimes she did want to join in, but if they didn't ask her, she wasn't sure if she was wanted and she didn't know how to ask.

She used to think it was because she was a secret witch living amongst muggles, but then she got to Hogwarts and found magic kids were just as difficult to understand as muggle kids. It was embarrassing.

'Have you skated before?' Remus asked.

Dorcas nodded. 'My mum took me when I was little.'

'Want to show me how?'

'I thought you weren't energetic?'

He chuckled. 'Yeah, I'm not. Which is why I'm not asking Sirius. But I think you'll be gentle with me.'

Dorcas studied his face. He was smiling, crinkled eyes and everything. He seemed completely genuine–like he actually wanted to spend time with her–and there was nothing to suggest he was joking. 'Yeah, alright. Let's go.'

The next hour was spent first teaching Remus how to stay upright on his skates, and then skating side by side with him as they skirted the edge of the Pitch. He turned out to be great company, not overwhelming her with conversation, but never making her feel like he didn't want her there. It was nice, and by the time everyone started heading back to the school, she'd decided she quite liked him.

Remus hummed at the warm softness pressing against the back of his neck, keeping his eyes closed for just a bit longer and relishing in the feeling of Sirius' arms around him.

'Morning, Moonbeam,' Sirius murmured into his skin as he continued kissing him.

'Good morning.'

'How you feeling?'

Remus assessed himself. No aches or pains, normal amount of tiredness. Nothing seemed amiss. 'I'm okay,' he started, and then he remembered, realised, why Sirius was asking. 'Oh.'

Sirius' arms tightened around his stomach. When he spoke, his tone was tentative, unsure in a way Remus had never heard from him before. 'Happy Moony Day?'

Remus stilled, frozen, for several seconds, before he rolled over, meeting Sirius' anxious but weirdly determined gaze. 'What?'

'You heard me.'

Remus blinked a few times. 'I'm not sure I heard what I think I heard.'

Sirius sighed. 'I said, Happy Moony Day.'

'That's what I thought you said.'

'So?'

'Are you ser—' Remus stopped, rethought the question, and started again. 'You want me to celebrate the wolf's birthday? The day my life was destroyed?'

'Okay, I know it sounds mad, but just… just listen a minute?'

Remus stayed silent, sitting up and crossing his arms before looking back at Sirius.

'Alright,' Sirius said, sitting up next to him. 'I know it was the worst day of your life and everything, but it's also the day Moony was 'born' for want of a better word, and you know, we all care about Moony, so… It wasn't him that ruined your life. It was the wolf that attacked you. Moony didn't ask for this either.'

'Technically, Moony's birthday would be four weeks later,' Remus pointed out. 'I didn't transform the day I was attacked.'

'Yeah, I know, but it's today that makes you sad, so…' Sirius was picking imaginary bits of fluff off the quilt and avoiding Remus' eyes. It was obvious he was worried he'd completely fucked up. Remus found the idea bizarre, to say the least, but it was also incredibly sweet and wasn't that just typically Sirius? A little bizarre and incredibly sweet.

'Alright,' he found himself saying. 'What did you have in mind?'

Sirius' face broke into a grin as he turned his head to finally meet Remus' eyes. 'Really?'

Remus nodded.

'James!' Sirius yelled, much louder than necessary. 'Peter! He said yes!'

A moment later, the curtains were pulled back and James and Peter climbed onto the bed, still in their pyjamas, and clutching presents.

'Oh my gods,' Remus said, laughing in disbelief. He'd thought it many times, but it might actually be true. His friends might actually be insane.

'Open mine first,' James said, handing him a bulky present wrapped in shiny red paper. 'Moony's going to love it.'

Remus raised an eyebrow at him. 'What is it? A human arm? Maybe a head?'

James laughed. 'I think it'd be heavier if it was.'

'Hm, good point.' He ripped the paper open and pulled out something black and extremely fluffy. Shaking it out, he discovered it was a blanket. A blanket adorned with the picture of a wolf howling in front of a full moon. He looked at James. 'It's very soft?' The words came out sounding like a question and James' face fell.

'You hate it.'

'No,' Remus said, carefully. 'I'm just… James, it's going to smell like every person that's ever touched it, and Moony's going to shred it to pieces.'

James perked back up. 'No, it won't, because I got it enchanted to repel smells, and dirt, and damage, and… It's basically indestructible.'

Remus laughed in surprise. Were these boys even real? 'Indestructible? I guess we'll see, won't we?' He lifted it to his face and rubbed it against his cheek. It was gloriously soft. 'It's lovely. Thank you.'

James beamed at him and then nudged Peter. 'Your turn.'

'Oh right,' Peter said. He handed over his own package. 'Here.'

Still feeling a little bewildered with the whole thing—he'd gone to sleep the night before, expecting to have to fight off the misery all day, and instead, he was fighting back a smile—Remus ripped open the second gift. He read out the label on the box inside. 'Customised treats for unusual tastes? What the hell did you buy?'

Peter wrinkled his nose. 'Okay, don't freak out.'

'Not a great start to any conversation.'

'It's made to taste like… like human, but it's not human, so it's fine.'

Remus stared at him for a moment in disbelief and then peeled back the lid. Inside was a large hunk of something that looked like raw meat. And the smell of it was making Remus' mouth water. He closed it up quickly before he lost his mind and tried to eat it.

'Does it smell good?' Sirius asked, peering at him with nothing but curiosity in his eyes.

'The full moon isn't until tomorrow,' James said. 'He might not be able to smell it properly yet.'

Peter was frowning at him with concern. 'Are you okay, Remus? I didn't upset you, did I?'

'No,' Remus said. 'No, I'm okay. It's a really thoughtful present. Thank you. I'm sure Moony will enjoy ripping it apart.'

Sirius grinned. 'Okay, my turn.' He grabbed the second present James had brought with him and handed it to Remus. 'Here you go. Something for Moony to play with until we can join him.'

Under the paper, there was a plain cardboard box with no markings to indicate the contents, so Remus eased the flap open and looked inside. 'It's a ball,' he said.

'Not just a ball. Take it out.'

It was quite heavy for a ball and very squishy, giving under the slightest pressure, but Remus managed to get a grip on it and lift it out. The ball seemed to struggle against him and then wrenched itself out of Remus' grip, shot across the room, bounced off the wall, and rolled under Peter's bed.

'What the hell?' Remus said.

Sirius laughed. 'It's designed for dogs. It tries to get away whenever it's caught.'

'That's actually really cool,' Remus said. 'Why didn't I ever think of this stuff?' It was a stupid question. He knew why. He hadn't thought of it because until he met these crazy people, he'd never thought of the wolf as anything more than a monster.

The ball suddenly shot back out from beneath Peter's bed, with Cosmo flying after it so fast she was nothing but a black streak, and Sirius jumped up to rescue the gift. 'That's not for you, Cosmo. It'll squish you flat.' After wrestling the ball back into the box, Sirius shut the flaps and placed it on Remus' desk. 'We'll release it in the Shack tomorrow.'

After such a cheerful start to the day, the rest of Remus' anniversary went surprisingly smoothly. It was becoming harder to think of it as the day his life was destroyed, because had it really been destroyed? He was at Hogwarts, and he had the best friends anyone could want, and the best-looking boy in the school sharing his bed at night. The transformations were awful, of course, but they were nowhere near as bad as they used to be, and it was only one night a month. The rest of the time, he would describe himself as happy. Once upon a time, he'd thought happiness an impossible dream. So, no. He could no longer describe it as the day his life was destroyed.

The next day he was on the verge of changing his mind again because this was shit. Shit, shit, shit. The pain was everywhere when he woke, and he groaned. Where was Sirius? Holding his breath, he listened, but the room was completely silent. There was no one else there. Remus moved his arm enough to pull the quilt over his head and took a deep inhale through his nose.

The pain eased a little as he breathed the scent that still clung to Sirius' bedding, but it was stale, so it didn't work completely. Regardless, it was better than nothing, so he stayed under the blankets, dozing. He wasn't sure how long it was before he heard footsteps climbing the stairs and the door creak open.

'Moons? You awake?' Sirius whispered, pulling the curtain back quietly.

'Yeah,' Remus said. 'Where have you been?'

'Damn, I'm sorry.' Sirius pulled his boots off before climbing into bed beside him and pulling him in to cuddle against his chest. Remus immediately took a deep breath and relaxed against him. 'I wanted to be back before you woke up, but we got cornered by Filch and had to take a massive detour.'

'We were getting the classroom ready for the Creature Hunt Test,' James said, answering the question Remus had actually asked.

'I don't think I'm going to be able to help with that,' Remus said. 'I know I said I'd try to be there, but I feel much worse than I thought I would.'

'I'm staying with Remus,' Sirius said. 'You and Pete can handle it, can't you?'

James nodded. 'Now everything is set up, it'll be easy. The fun part is next week, and you can both be there for that. But right now, I have a mission to complete. You coming, Bubbles?'

'Yeah, alright. Hope you feel better, Moony,' Peter said, following James to the door. They both paused to try phrases, unsuccessfully, on the parchment before walking out, and the moment the door clicked closed, Remus peeked his head up. Sirius didn't need any more prompting than that to press their lips together.

'Where are they going?' Remus asked when they finally parted.

'To procure you a large bottle of Firewhiskey,' Sirius said. 'I filled James in, and he thought it was a great idea.'

Which is how the three of them ended up, several hours later, sitting in the tunnel beneath the Shrieking Shack with Moony's blanket draped around Remus' shoulders, and his two boxed gifts beside him. Peter had opted not to join them for the getting-Remus-drunk portion of the evening. He didn't need to say why. They all knew what his dad had done in a drunken rage, and none of them tried to talk him into changing his mind. He would make his way down after moonrise and meet James to head to the Ritual site, after letting Madam Pomfrey know that Remus was safely secured in the Shack.

Sirius cracked open the lid of the bottle and handed it to Remus. 'Bottom's up, Moonbeam.'

Taking the bottle, Remus gave it a sniff and wrinkled his nose. 'It smells awful.'

'You're not drinking it for the smell,' James said. 'Just hold your nose and guzzle it.'

'Merlin, no,' Sirius said. 'Don't do that. Just sip it.'

Remus looked back and forth between them before deciding Sirius' advice was the safer option, and he took a tentative sip. It burned going down, but no worse than his throat felt swallowing after a full moon, and he coughed once. 'It's not so bad.'

'That's good, 'cause we reckon you should probably drink the whole bottle,' Sirius said.

Remus eyed the bottle with his head tilted to one side and then nodded before taking a larger swig and swallowing. It went down even easier the second time. 'Seems doable.'

After a few more mouthfuls, he thought he might be able to feel something. His insides felt snuggly warm, or maybe that was because of the fluffy blanket which really was very soft. He rubbed his cheek against it and giggled. Sirius smirked.

'How you feeling, Moons?'

'Good,' Remus said. 'Warm. Do you want some?' He held the bottle out, but Sirius and James both shook their heads.

'Nope. That's all for you,' James said. Unzipping his bag, he pulled out a couple of smaller bottles and passed one to Sirius. 'We've got Butterbeer.' Holding his bottle high, James made a toast. 'Here's to a painless full moon. Cheers!'

They all clinked their bottles together and took a drink.

'Do you really think it's going to work?' Remus asked. 'I find it hard to believe it could be that simple.'

'I wouldn't exactly call it simple,' Sirius said. 'I mean, it is for you. You've got us, and you know we'll make sure you're locked up before moonrise no matter how drunk you get. But most people in your position don't have anyone, do they? So, getting pissed before the full moon would be pretty dangerous.'

Remus swallowed another burning mouthful and coughed again. 'Yeah, that's true. I'm so lucky. So fucking lucky. You guys are the best, you know? I don't know what I'd do without you.'

Sirius and James exchanged a glance and grinned at him. Remus pointed at them accusingly, moving his finger from one to the other and back again.

'What? What was that? You looked at each other. I saw you. Tell me at once.'

'You're getting drunk,' Sirius said, still grinning. 'And as we suspected, it seems like you might be the kind of drunk that gets very… affectionate.'

'M'not drunk yet,' Remus said, feeling himself pout. Gods, what was he doing? Sirius was the pouter, not him. He looked at the bottle and he still had over three-quarters left. 'I've hardly drunk anything. And I'm a mighty werewolf. It'll take more than a quarter of a bottle to make me drunk.' He ended his speech with a firm nod and almost fell into Sirius.

'Whoops,' Sirius said, catching him.

Remus grinned into his face. 'You're very pretty, you know?'

'I know, Moonbeam,' Sirius said, helping him to sit back against the wall of the tunnel. 'So are you.'

'Oh no, careful!' Remus cried, leaning forward again. 'You'll get Moony's blanket dirty, and he'll be sad!'

'It can't get dirty,' James said. 'It's fine. Sit back before you fall over.'

'Okay,' Remus said. He looked at Sirius and whispered, 'Have you ever noticed that Sunshine is really bossy?'

Sirius nodded. 'Yeah, but you better do what he says, or he gets grumpy.'

'I do not.'

Remus widened his eyes. 'He can hear us! He's got some kind of freaky super hearing!'

'No, Moons, I think that's you,' Sirius said, laughing.

'Oh, yeah,' Remus laughed and took another swig of his drink. 'You all have lame normal hearing.'

'Wow, thanks, mate. Why don't you tell us what you really think?'

Remus pointed at James. 'Alright, I will. I. Really. Hate. Vegetables. They're gross. And you keep making me eat them. Bleugh. And, furth…' Remus stopped to hiccough and then continued. 'Furthermore, fruit is nice. I don't mind eating that. But the vegetables, James. The vegetables have to stop. Sirius?'

Sirius looked a bit scared, which Remus didn't like at all. 'Yes?'

'Hugs now.'

'You want hugs?'

Remus nodded and crawled over to him, laying his head in Sirius' lap. 'Stroke,' he said, pointing at his hair.

Sirius tugged the blanket from around him, where it was tangled around his shoulders, and spread it out to cover him properly, then started running his fingers through Remus' hair.

Remus hummed. 'S'nice.'

'Why do you think I make you do it to me all the time?'

'How's the pain?' James asked. 'Do you think you've had enough?'

Remus tried to think about it, but it was hard. 'Don't know.'

Sirius took the bottle from him and inspected it. 'Almost halfway.'

'We can't let him fall asleep,' James said. 'We'll never get him up there if he's asleep.'

'Yeah, James is right. Up you get, Moons. No sleeping for you.'

Remus grumbled under his breath as Sirius forced him to sit back up. 'Well, you're not getting kisses tomorrow. Hmph.'

'What was that?' James asked.

'He says I'm not getting cuddles tomorrow,' Sirius said. 'I'm not worried.'

James laughed. 'He'd be punishing himself more than you.'

'I can hear you, you know?' Remus said, pointing at his ears. 'Super hearing, remember? Where'd my drink go? I think someone stole my drink. There's someone here! They must have stolen your cloak too, James.' Remus pulled out his wand, aiming it into the darkness of the tunnel. 'I'll find them. Stupefy!' Nothing happened, and Remus stared at his wand in consternation. 'My wand is broken! What am I going to do?'

'It's not broken,' Sirius said, laughing. 'You're just drunk. But you better give that to me, yeah?' He plucked Remus' wand from his hand and tucked it into his bag. 'Don't need you flinging around random spells down here. And your drink is right here.' He handed Remus the bottle and Remus took another large gulp. It was starting to taste pretty good, so he took another one.

'You know what we need?' Remus asked. He didn't bother waiting for an answer. They'd never guess it. 'Music!' he declared. 'We need music.' He took another long drink, swallowing three times before he lowered the bottle. 'You know how to do the music spell, don't you, Twinkles?' He pointed at Sirius but his face was swaying weirdly and he couldn't make his finger line up. 'Why're you moving like that?'

'I'm not moving,' Sirius lied. Why was he lying? 'But I can do the spell.'

Remus grinned as the music started up, and he jumped to his feet. The ground was moving underneath him and it was hard to stay upright, so he put a hand on the wall to steady himself. 'Dance with me!'

Sirius and James glanced at each other before joining him on their feet. Remus didn't know why. They liked dancing, didn't they? They were always trying to get him to dance with them. Though, it was hard to dance on the uneven ground, especially with the way it kept wobbling. But they managed, with a lot of gripping each other's arms and falling into each other. The falling seemed to be mostly Remus, and every time it happened, whoever caught him encouraged him to take another drink. All of it seemed marvellously funny to Remus, and he couldn't stop laughing.

Lifting the bottle to his lips, he tipped it back and a few drops dribbled onto his tongue. He lowered it and peered into the opening, closing one eye to see better. 'It's empty,' he said, sadly, tipping it upside down and shaking it to prove it In case they didn't believe him.

'I think it's time to get you upstairs, anyway,' Sirius said. 'Moonrise is in half an hour.'

'Ah yes,' Remus said, eyeing the ladder. He laughed. 'Ha. Do you think Moony will be drunk too?'

'We'll let you know,' Sirius said, walking over to Remus' boxes. 'James, can you open the trapdoor? I'll chuck these up first.'

Remus bent down and picked up his blanket that had fallen to the floor at some point. Probably during the dancing. Ha. That'd been fun. He hugged it to his chest, enjoying the softness against his chin, and watched James and Sirius levitating Moony's gifts up through the opening.

'Do me next,' he said when they were finished.

Sirius laughed. 'Sorry, Moons. You're going to have to climb.'

'So unfair,' Remus said. He tried to walk to the ladder, but stumbled over nothing and found himself in Sirius' arms again. Not that he minded that in the slightest. He smiled up at him, contemplating his lips. 'Hi.'

'Not now, Moonbeam,' Sirius mumbled into his ear, covering his words with a hug. 'In the morning, yeah?'

Remus hummed. 'Promise?'

'Promise. Will you go up now?'

'I'll try.' Remus eyed the ladder again. It wasn't very far. Just five rungs. But it looked exhausting at that moment. Reaching above his head, he stepped onto the lowest rung and gripped the top one, pulling to lever himself up, but he wasn't going anywhere. 'I don't think I can,' he said, sagging against it.

'Shit,' Sirius said. 'Alright, let's think.'

'We could levitate his clothes while he's wearing them,' James said. 'You know? Pull him along for the ride.'

Sirius shook his head. 'What if they slip off?'

'Oh, I know! His backpack.'

'Brilliant!' Sirius grinned and grabbed the bag from the floor, slipping it over Remus' shoulders. He tightened the straps until Remus complained. 'Sorry, Moons. They need to be tight so you don't fall out. There. Alright, you got your wand, Sunshine?'

'Yep.' James pointed his wand at Remus' bag as Sirius positioned him under the opening. 'After three. One, two, three, Wingardium Leviosa.'

The floor disappeared from beneath Remus' feet and the straps of the bag cut into his armpits, but it didn't hurt, and he giggled madly as he floated up through the trapdoor. Looking down, he could see Sirius and James looking up at him with expressions of intense concentration on their faces. They looked so funny, Remus broke into another fit of giggles. Then his feet touched the ground and the weight of the bag pulled down instead of up.

'You okay?'

'Yeah,' Remus sat down and peered over the edge. 'I'm fine.'

'Careful,' Sirius said. 'Don't want you falling back down.'

'You need to get undressed and chuck your stuff down,' James called.

'Yeah, I know,' Remus grumbled. 'I'm doing it.' He crawled away from the hatch a little and started pulling off his shoes and socks. The first shoe, he threw at the opening. It missed, but it hit the open trapdoor and fell down the hole.

'Ow!' James shouted, to the background sound of Sirius' laughter. 'That hit me.'

Remus cackled and threw the other shoe. This time his aim was true, but—.

'Ha! Caught it!' James yelled.

'Damn.'

He took the rest of his things off and stuffed them into his bag. His Crest was already in there—he hadn't wanted to risk breaking it in his drunken state—and his wand had been confiscated earlier. He giggled at the memory as he zipped his bag closed and pushed it until it fell out of his reach. Then he reached for the fluffy blanket and wrapped it around himself with a groan of pleasure.

'What are you doing?' Sirius asked.

'Blanket's so soft,' Remus said.

'Ah, alright. Can you close the trapdoor? I'll lock it from down here.'

Remus groaned but crawled over to it, peering down. 'Bye.'

'See you in the morning, Moonbeam.'

'Hope it works, mate,' James said. 'But if not, at least it was bloody funny.'

Remus grinned at him and then pushed the heavy door so it fell closed with a bang that shook the floor. A moment later, he heard the lock click, and he let himself relax. His head was spinning, or maybe it was the room, and he felt a little sick, but mostly he just felt really fucking happy. Weird. He laughed and pulled the blanket tighter. So cosy. Possibly the best idea James had ever had.

There was pain. In his muscles, and in his bones. But it was distant, not an immediate concern, so he ignored it for a while until his bones snapped and he groaned. 'Guess it didn't work,' he muttered as more bones snapped and he rolled onto his stomach to facilitate the transformation. 'Hope you enjoy being drunk, Moony,' he said, panting against the pain that still felt somewhat removed from him. 'I found it quite fun myself.'

He did scream eventually. The sound was wrenched from his throat by a particularly brutal part of the transformation, and after that, he couldn't keep it in and it all blurred together as the world and everything in it melted away.

Something smelled wonderful.

The wolf climbed to his feet and shook off the thing covering him, sniffing at it when it fell to the ground. It was hairy, like a creature, but it smelled of nothing, so he ignored it and followed his nose to find the thing that did smell.

Two members of his pack were below. One was missing, The Protected, but they would come. He wasn't concerned. His legs wobbled beneath him and he fell over, landing on his side with a thud. He huffed in surprise and climbed back up, shaking his head to clear it. Then he sat back on his haunches and threw his head back, howling.

His pack mates answered, as they always did, and he barked happily. But that smell was still there, and he wanted it. His legs wouldn't work properly, so he crawled on his belly, and when he was close enough, he sank his teeth into it. It was incredible. He bit down, again, and again, and again, ripped it with his claws, and held it in place as he tore into it with his teeth. Nothing had ever felt so good.

It wasn't until there was nothing left of it to tear into that the wolf noticed his pack mates had left. The Protected had never arrived, and now The Watcher and The Fighter were gone too. Maybe they were looking for The Protected. They would come back. All of them. And then they'd be together, the way they should be.

The wolf's legs seemed to have gained back their usual strength, and he padded over to the other new thing in the room. It looked similar to the one that smelled good, so he ripped into it with his teeth, and something dashed out, darting between his legs and through the opening into the next space. The wolf barked, jumping around, and ran after it.

He chased it for ages before he caught it, biting down with his teeth as his claws held it to the ground. But no matter how much he tried, he couldn't rip it, and it didn't smell good, anyway. He sneezed and let go. And it bolted from him again. Was it playing? The wolf lowered his front half to the ground, wagging his tail, and launched himself after it.

He was chasing the new creature for the fifth time when he was suddenly overcome with fear. His tall pulled between his legs and his ears lay flat against his head. It wasn't his own fear, though. It was his pack mate's fear. He didn't know how he knew that, but he knew it with every hair on his body. The Watcher was afraid, and they needed the wolf to come and help.

He launched himself bodily at the closest wall. And again. And again, and again, and again.

Need to get out. Packmate needs help. Need to get out!

The Creature Hunt Test that afternoon had gone well. All four members of the Malediction, and Regulus and his friend, had all passed the test. And they were the only competitors James had any interest in. Nothing had gone wrong, none of the failed contestants had complained, and his Polyjuice had remained working until he was out of sight. Add to that, Remus only screaming for the last three minutes of his transformation, and James was in an extremely good mood as he left the tunnel, freezing the Willow before dashing out of range.

As arranged, Peter was waiting for him just inside the tree line.

'Hey, how did it go?'

'Good,' James said as they fell into step, heading towards Hagrid's. 'He was just really giggly and kept hugging us. Made us dance with him, too.'

Peter laughed. 'That's good. Maybe I'll join you next month. Did it help?'

'Seemed to. Didn't start screaming until near the end.'

'That's great!'

James nodded. 'Yeah, seems like it, but we'll have to ask him in the morning if it actually helped.'

Feodair and Firenze were waiting for them again, and James jumped onto Firenze's back with a grin. Peter looked far less enthused, but he didn't argue against it, and James was grateful for that. It had seemed like the wolf was feeling the effects of the alcohol when he left, but he didn't know how long it would last, and he wanted to get back as quickly as possible. Also, he was quite eager to have his magic back. The chess pieces were a great workaround, but channelling the foreign magic wasn't the same as feeling the rush of his own.

There were no mishaps this month. Peter managed to stay on, and the centaurs left them at the edge of the clearing with wishes of good fortune.

James approached the tree stump, where the candles were still burning as if no time had passed at all. 'Ready?'

'To have my magic back?' Peter asked. 'Hell yeah.'

James chuckled. 'Yeah, me too. Potion first, then.'

Peter pulled two vials from his bag, handing one to James, and they both drank them down.

'Wands out now.'

Tugging his wand from the holster on his hip, Peter moved around to the other side of the stump and they clasped hands across it again.

'You remember the words?' James asked.

Peter nodded. 'Practised while I was waiting for you.'

'Excellent,' he bowed his head and concentrated on the feeling of over-fullness in his centre. 'Exhaurire potentia scutum custodire salus. Exhaurire potentia scutum custodire salus. Exhaurire potentia scutum custodire salus.'

Glancing up at the brightness around him, James locked eyes with a glowing Peter as they continued to chant the words of the spell. He trailed his eyes down the length of Peter's arm, to his own hand, and was unsurprised to note that he was also glowing. The light coming from their skin seemed to drift up into the air like smoke, coalescing into a single bright ball high above the tree stump, and leaving James feeling lighter. The build-up of magic inside him had been so gradual, he'd barely noticed it, but now it was rapidly disappearing he could feel nothing but relief at the lifting of the weight.

When the extra magic had all been siphoned into the air, James' core gave a sharp throb, objecting to losing any more magic, and James squeezed Peter's hand. They finished the last word of the chant, and stopped, staring up at the light above their heads for a moment, before James took out his wand and pointed it at the closest candle. 'Finite incantatum.' He repeated the spell on the other three candles and then bent forward to blow them out. The moment the last one was extinguished, the ball of light exploded, arching across the sky and then down towards the ground in an enormous dome.

At the same time, the scattered stones in the surrounding clearing sent out their own tendrils of golden light which snaked their way up to the sky, and out to the sides, weaving together until, 'It's recreating the building,' James muttered, watching as a circular tower came into being, made entirely of golden light. 'Bloody hell.' As he gazed around in awe, his eyes alighted on the tree stump, and he moved closer to get a better look.

A miniature forest had sprung to life on the wooden surface, and in amongst the tiny trees were little specks of different coloured lights.

'It's a map,' he breathed. 'Oh wow. This is amazing. Look, that's us.' He pointed to two white lights right in the middle, and then at two pale blue ones approaching. 'And that must be Feodair and Firenze.' He scanned the forest and found a large cluster of the same pale blue. 'That must be the centaur camp.'

'So, what's that, then?' Peter asked, pointing to a little white light, not too far away from them, which was flashing alarmingly.'

'I don't know,' James said, but I think it's that way.' He pointed into the thick bushes on the other side of the clearing. 'You think we should look?'

Peter nodded. 'Nothing else is flashing like that.'

They found they couldn't pass through the golden walls of light, so they had to exit through the 'door' and double back on themselves, but it didn't take long to reach where James thought the light would be.

'James Potter?' Feodair called as James was pushing through the bushes, looking at the ground for a creature in distress or whatever was causing the flashing light. 'Is everything okay?'

James' foot caught on something, and he tugged his leg back. As he did so, the top of someone's head appeared on the ground in front of him. At first, he lurched back, thinking it was a decapitated body part, but then he realised what he was seeing, and reached down, gripping the invisible cloth and pulling it away to reveal, 'Sirius! Oh my gods. Sirius! Wake up!' He shook him hard, but his eyes didn't open.

Suddenly, Firenze and Feodair were beside him. 'We must get him to the school,' Feodair said. 'Immediately. If his core has been drained by the Ritual…'

James didn't need him to finish. He knew exactly what that would mean.