'Will you carry him?' James asked, looking at Feodair. 'Please?'

'Firenze will take him. I'll take you and Peter Pettigrew. Quickly now. There's no time to waste.'

'Pete, help me get him up.'

Between them, James and Peter managed to haul Sirius onto Firenze's back, laying him on his stomach with his arms and legs dangling down either side. Firenze started off immediately, at a much slower speed than James knew he was capable of to avoid jolting Sirius off, and James climbed onto Feodair behind Peter.

They caught up with Firenze and followed behind him, and James kept his eyes on Sirius. Every few seconds, a small plume of white rose from the general area of his face, reassuring him that he was still breathing. If he was going to die from the core drainage, then he'd already be dead, wouldn't he? That first Transfiguration lesson seemed so long ago, and the memory was foggy. What had Professor McGonagall said? If you're lucky, you'll be in a coma until the next full moon? There must be more to it than luck, though. She'd been trying to scare them, so maybe it wasn't as serious as she'd made out? She'd never mentioned a potion that could save you, and James knew from experience that there was one.

'I'm afraid we can't enter the school grounds,' Feodair said, as Firenze came to stop at the edge of the tree line. 'You'll have to take him from here.'

James slid off to the ground and moved to Firenze's side. 'Thanks. You've been a great help.' Peter joined him and together they lifted Sirius back down. 'Gods, he's heavy.'

'What's happened?' Professor McGonagall demanded, appearing out of nowhere right in front of them.

'Shit,' James squeaked, dropping Sirius' arm in fright, but he recovered from the shock quickly. 'We think his core was drained, Professor.'

'Purly!' Professor McGonagall called, and a moment later a house-elf appeared next to her with a pop. 'Take Mister Black to the Hospital Wing and tell Poppy his core's been drained,' she barked without waiting for the elf to ask. Purly nodded, grabbing Sirius' arm and disapparated away again.

'Is he going to be okay?' James asked.

Professor McGonagall's face was grim when she answered. 'I don't know, Mister Potter. How long has he been in this state?'

James looked at Peter. He was better at keeping track of time than James was.

'We found him about five minutes ago,' Peter said. 'But it was maybe another three minutes before that, when we—'

'When you what?'

Peter struggled, opening and closing his mouth, but he said nothing.

'Are you kidding me?' James said. 'We still can't tell anyone about—' His tongue glued itself to the roof of his mouth before he could finish. 'Fuck!'

'Mister Potter! I understand you're upset, but please try to control yourself.'

'Sorry, Professor.'

She nodded at him. 'Now, let's walk to the castle while we talk. This is to do with the Creature Hunt, yes?'

James nodded, falling into step beside her with Peter on her other side.

'I don't know what's involved,' she said as they walked at a brisk pace towards the castle, 'but I know it creates a protected area in the Forest. And I know the Chiefs of Entertainment are unable to use magic during that month. Does it take your magic in some way?'

James put his hand out, palm down, and wiggled it.

'Sort of? Okay.' She was silent for a minute as she thought about it. 'So Mister Black was in the area as it happened, and he wasn't involved in the first part last month?'

James nodded again. She was good at this.

'Did you know he was there?'

'No,' James said. 'He was supposed to be with… Oh shit! Remus!'

'One thing at a time, Mister Potter. There's nothing you can do for Mister Lupin right now.'

James was torn. He needed to know if Sirius was going to be okay. But Sirius would want him to go to Remus. Why had Sirius left in the first place? James blinked when Professor McGonagall clicked her fingers in front of his eyes.

'I need your attention on me, Mister Potter.' They had reached the doors of the castle and she pushed one open and ushered them inside. Before pulling out her wand. 'Expecto patronum!' A silver cat burst from the end of her wand, leaping once before turning and facing the teacher, its tail swishing through the air behind it. 'Albus. There is a medical emergency. Please meet me in the Hospital Wing as soon as possible.'

The cat twitched its ears and bounded away up the stairs, and McGonagall turned back to James as they followed it. 'Do you have any idea why he might have followed you tonight?'

James shrugged. 'He's been suspicious all month, but we couldn't—'

Professor McGonagall sighed. 'You couldn't tell him anything or answer his questions. That is most unfortunate.'

James thought that was a bit of an understatement, considering Sirius could very well die. His feet were itching to run, but he held himself back. 'Professor? Is this any way we could move a bit faster?'

She looked down at him, her face filled with sympathy. 'I know you're worried, but he's in the best hands right now, and until Madam Pomfrey has finished administering treatment, we'll only be in the way.'

James didn't really feel comforted by that. He'd still rather be in the room so he could know at the first possible opportunity if Sirius was going to be okay or not. The second option didn't bear thinking about. He had to be okay. If he wasn't…

Peter coughed, clearing his throat. 'Professor? What are his chances?'

'It depends on so many things,' she said. 'I couldn't possibly say. But the full moon being tonight is a point in his favour.'

James took a few deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart. He really needed to cancel the alarm he'd no doubt sent to Remus, but there really wasn't any point until he wasn't panicking anymore. Gods, he hoped Remus wasn't hurting himself too much. They reached the doors to the Hospital Wing and Professor McGonagall led them inside.

'How is he, Poppy?'

The medi-witch glanced up at them briefly before looking back at her patient. 'He's been thoroughly drained. What did he cast?'

'He didn't,' Professor McGonagall said. 'It's more complicated than that. Some kind of ritual spell was performed in the Forest which involves draining magic from a prepared core, and Mister Black was caught up in it.'

'Some kind of ritual spell?' Madam Pomfrey was leaning over Sirius, one hand pressed to his bare chest, the other clutching her wand.

'The participants are unable to tell me more about it, but the Headmaster should be here soon. I believe he has more knowledge on the subject.'

She looked up. 'It was the Creature Hunt Ritual?'

'Yes.'

Madam Pomfrey nodded and muttered a few words under her breath (an incantation?), then she stood up straight. 'I think he's going to be okay, but the next hour will be critical. You should contact his family, Minerva.'

'No!' James shouted, turning pleading eyes on Professor McGonagall. 'No. Please, Professor.'

She hesitated. 'I have to. The rules state a family member must be informed.'

'But they'll kill him, Professor.' James' voice was no more than a whisper. 'If they find out what he was doing tonight, they'll kill him.'

She stared at him in silence for a moment and then, 'Purly?' The elf popped into being beside her and looked up with questioning eyes. 'Please ask Professor Slughorn to collect the other Mister Black from his dormitory and send him here.' The elf nodded and vanished again, and Professor McGonagall looked back at James. 'I will ask his brother to inform their parents. I'm trusting you to make sure he does so, Mister Potter. You understand?'

James nodded. 'You can count on me, Professor.'

'Good. Why don't you both sit down? You must be exhausted.'

'Professor?' Peter said as James took a seat next to Sirius' bed. 'Would it be okay if I left? I don't think you need both of us here.'

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow. 'I would have thought you'd wish to stay until you know your friend will be alright? But you can return to your dorm if you prefer.'

'I'll walk you out,' James said, climbing back to his feet. When they reached the door, he pulled out the invisibility cloak and handed it to Peter. 'Do your best to calm him down, yeah?'

'Yeah, you know it's not me he wants, though.'

'Well, he's going to have to make do.'

Peter took a deep breath and nodded before meeting James' eyes. 'Write to me when you know, yeah?'

James agreed, and Peter headed down the corridor. Just as he slipped the cloak over his shoulders and vanished, Professor Dumbledore rounded the corner at the end. James' eyes widened slightly before he managed to school his expression. That was close.

'Mister Potter,' Professor Dumbledore greeted as he drew closer, his eyebrows drawn in concern. 'Are you involved in the medical emergency? Was Mister Lupin involved?'

James shook his head quickly. 'No, Sir. Remus is still locked up. It was the Ritual.'

'For the Creature Hunt?'

James nodded. 'Sirius was there, but he wasn't supposed to be. His core's been drained.'

Dumbledore's frown deepened, and he swept past James and into the ward. 'How is he, Poppy?'

'I was able to stabilise him once Minerva told me the cause, but his condition's still critical. What can you tell me about the Ritual? I helped out with the Hunt in my seventh year, so I was able to guess some of it, but…'

'The first half prepares the participants' cores to collect magic from the environment, keeping them in a dormant state in the process and effectively cutting off their access. The second half drains that magic, stopping when only the caster's own magic remains. If Mister Black wasn't there for the first part but was for the second, then there would have been nothing preventing his core from being drained completely, except for the fact that he was inside the protection of the spell. The moment the spell was completed, the protection would have activated.'

'So that's why…' Madam Pomfrey trailed off and hurried over to Sirius' bedside, pulling out her wand as she moved. She placed her hand on his chest again and it glowed as her magic went to work on him. James chewed on his thumb nervously as he watched from the corner, trying to be unobtrusive so they wouldn't throw him out. After what felt like an eternity, Madam Pomfrey stopped muttering incantations and lifted her head. The sight of her smile made James' lungs empty in a rush of relief.

'It worked. He's going to be fine. We just need to keep him comfortable until the next full moon.'

'Oh thank the gods,' Professor McGonagall said, pressing her hand to her chest.

'That is wonderful news, Poppy,' Professor Dumbledore said. 'The school truly is blessed to have you. Can I have a quick word in your office?'

'Of course. I'd like a quick word myself.' Madam Pomfrey led the Headmaster to the room at the back of the ward and the door clicked closed behind them.

'Sirius?' Regulus' voice came from the direction of the doors, and James had to move to be able to see him. He had outer robes draped over his pyjamas and was staring at his brother's body with wide eyes. 'What happened? Is he alright?'

'Your brother is going to be fine, Mister Black,' Professor McGonagall said, moving towards him. 'He's suffered severe core drainage and will be asleep until the next full moon, but he is going to wake up.'

'You're sure?' Regulus asked, allowing the teacher to lead him to a chair.

'Madam Pomfrey is positive.'

Regulus nodded. 'Thank you, Professor.'

'Can I ask you to inform your parents of his condition at your earliest convenience?'

'Oh,' Regulus frowned and then nodded. 'Yes, I can do that, Professor.'

'Thank you, Mister Black. I'll leave you with your brother now.' She glanced over at James and gave him a pointed look before turning in a flurry of robes and swiftly leaving the room.

'You're not going to tell them, are you?' James asked quietly, moving closer to the bed.

Regulus rolled his eyes. 'Of course not. Do you think I told you what they do to him for fun? No, he'll wake up on the next full moon and they won't ever need to know about it.' After a short pause, he added, 'When is that, anyway?'

'Not for four weeks,' James said. 'It's a full moon tonight.'

Regulus looked up at him with wide eyes. 'A date. I need a date.'

James knew the exact date, of course, but it would look weird to Regulus for him to know that, so he made a show of working it out. 'The nineteenth,' he said at last. 'It'll be the nineteenth. But he'll wake up when it sets, so the twentieth.'

Regulus groaned. 'The twentieth is the vernal equinox. We have to go home.'

'Shit. What time?'

'It's just after seven in the evening. They'll want us there by midday.'

James pulled out his Astronomy textbook and pretended to examine the moon charts. 'The moon sets just after seven. He'll have about five hours to recover.'

'Let's hope it's enough,' Regulus said. 'Standing in the garden for six hours isn't exactly easy.'

'No, I don't imagine it would be.' James' mind was whirling through possibilities. Strengthening Solution? Polyjuice? Could one of them pose as Sirius? That would be pretty dangerous. 'I'll think of something to help him.'

Regulus nodded. 'Yeah, I'll think about it too. I'm sure we can come up with something in four weeks. Where are your other friends? Remus and Peter?'

James had already thought of an excuse to explain their absence and was able to answer with no hesitation. 'McGonagall would only let one of us stay. I won. Actually, I need to let them know he's going to be okay.' James rummaged through his bag until he found his Linked Notebook and flicked through to the page he shared with Peter.

Good news. He's going to be fine. He'll be in a coma until the next full moon, though. How's Moony?

The arrhythmic thumps coming from above almost covered the sound of a quill scratching against parchment, but Peter had left the notebook open to the right page on his lap so he wouldn't miss it, and he let out a heavy breath when he read James' message.

'James says he's going to be fine, Moony. Please calm down,' he called through the trapdoor, knowing it was useless. Moony couldn't understand him, but maybe he'd pick up something in the tone of voice.

Not good. Sounds like he's throwing himself against the wall over and over again. Moony's going to have one hell of a bruise tomorrow. Did you cancel the alarm yet?

No. Haven't had a chance and Regulus is here now.

Well, do it as soon as you can. It might help. Say you need the loo or something.

Give me five minutes.

Peter dropped his pen on the notebook and leaned his head back against the wall. The thumps were still going on, interspersed with whines and growls. He'd never heard Moony this agitated before. It was awful. 'Moony. You really need to calm down. Everyone is fine, I promise.'

The wolf ignored him and continued with its mission to break a hole in the wall. Peter had already cleared away their belongings, including the empty bottle of Firewhiskey, and there was nothing to do but wait for the moon to set and hope Moony didn't do too much damage. What a fucking disaster. Why had Sirius followed them?

'Do you know why?' he asked out loud, looking up at the trapdoor. 'Did Remus know he was going to follow us? Were you both that suspicious of us? Why couldn't you just trust us? Trust that there was a reason we weren't answering your questions?'

'Sometimes the people we share the most with are the hardest to trust,' Professor McGonagall said, making Peter jump out of his skin.

'Professor… Um… hi?' Peter quickly shut the notebook on his lap and scrambled to stand, but Professor McGonagall held up a hand to stop him.

'Calm yourself, Mister Pettigrew. You're not in trouble. I knew you'd be coming here when you left the Hospital Wing. I just came to let you know Mister Black is going to make a full recovery, but it sounds like you already have that information?'

'Oh, yeah.' Peter chewed his lip, wondering how to explain without telling her anything.

'You have a way to communicate without an owl?'

He nodded, and she smiled at him.

'Wonderful. It's always good when students take some initiative. May I sit?'

'Um, yeah. Do you want a cushion?' Peter was thoroughly confused. He was out of bounds in the middle of the night, and Professor McGonagall was behaving like they were old friends who'd bumped into each other in the park.

'That would be lovely. Thank you.'

Peter pulled one of the miniaturised red cushions from James' bag and enlarged it with his wand before placing it on the floor beside him. Professor McGonagall settled herself on it with more dignity than Peter thought possible for such an action.

'I don't suppose you have a spare blanket, too?''

'Um, yeah, I do,' Peter said, pulling one of the fluffy gold blankets out. 'Aren't you going to make me go back to the school?'

'No, I don't think we need to cause Mister Lupin any more distress tonight. I'll just keep you company until the moon sets. This is a lovely blanket.'

'It's James'.'

'Yes, I thought it probably was. He does like House colours, doesn't he?'

Peter snorted. 'You should see his bedroom. It looks like a Gryffindor dorm room.'

'I wouldn't have expected anything else,' she said.

Their conversation was interrupted then by a howl from above, and Peter glanced at his teacher. He couldn't howl back in front of her. She'd think he'd completely lost his mind. But she met his eyes and wiggled her eyebrows at him before cupping her hands around her mouth and giving a better imitation of a wolf's howl than even Sirius could manage.

'Well, answer him, Mister Pettigrew. I don't want him thinking I've eaten you.'

'Right,' Peter said, and swallowing his embarrassment, he tipped his head back and howled.

'Very good,' Professor McGonagall said when he was finished. 'It could use some fine-tuning, but I'm sure you'll get plenty of practice over the years.'

And if that wasn't her covertly giving permission to continue spending the full moons in the tunnel, Peter didn't know what else it could be. 'I'm sure I will, Professor.'

The sound of the wolf throwing himself against the wall had resumed as soon as they were done howling, and Professor McGonagall glanced up. 'I take it he's not usually this upset?'

Peter shook his head. 'I think he knows Sirius is hurt.'

'You've managed to bond with him to that extent? Without ever being in the same room?'

'He's a pack animal, and he's been alone his entire life.' He shrugged. 'And Sirius was the first company he ever had, so he likes him the most. James and I didn't start coming until a few months later.'

'But he has a bond with you, too,' she said. 'He was upset last month when Mister Black didn't leave.'

'You saw us here last month?'

'You missed Astronomy. I had to find you.'

'Oh. Well, that's embarrassing.' She raised her eyebrows at him in question, so he elaborated. 'You knew we were lying about getting trapped in a room all night.'

She laughed. 'It was a good excuse. I might have believed you if I hadn't known exactly where you were.'

'Can't believe you still gave us detention.'

'You skipped a class,' she said. 'If you can't take the consequences of a choice, you shouldn't make the choice.'

'Hold on,' Peter said. 'Earlier, you said you knew the Chiefs couldn't… you know… for a month, so why did you give us all those detentions for not doing our work?'

She peered at him over the top of her glasses. 'You made the choice to accept the position. You have to take the consequences of your choices, Mister Pettigrew. There are always consequences. Anyway, it seems like you and Mister Potter found a way around the restriction. You've been doing your work fine for the past two weeks. Or have Black and Lupin been helping you without me seeing?'

'No, we worked out how to channel the magic from enchanted items. We've been using chess pieces.'

'Really? It took the Chiefs of Raucous Revelry until fourth year to find a workaround. I'm impressed.'

'Well, I think we had more incentive than most do, with only half of our group in on the secret.'

'That's true. Mister Black doesn't seem the type to let things drop if he's not getting an answer.'

'He was getting very annoyed with us,' Peter said, chuckling. 'Brought it up every chance he got.'

'I imagine he felt rather hurt that you were keeping secrets from him.'

'I think so, at first. Then he started getting angry. After a while, he seemed more worried than anything. But I thought he'd forgotten about it after we started channelling.'

'That probably confused things a lot.'

'I just don't understand why he followed us.'

'My best guess would be that he was concerned for your safety. You were behaving oddly and wouldn't answer his questions. Perhaps he thought a third party was involved.'

Peter huffed a laugh. 'That does sound like Sirius.'

'And Mister Lupin is self-sacrificing enough to have agreed to the plan.'

'Yeah. He is.'

Professor McGonagall was quiet for a while, leaving Peter to process the information, and then she sniffed, looking around, 'Mister Pettigrew, why does it smell like alcohol down here?'

Peter chewed his lip, staring at her in silence, unable to think of a single plausible excuse. 'I wasn't here before moonrise. I met James at the edge of the Forest to go to the Ritual site.'

'That doesn't answer my question.'

'No… I don't want to answer.'

'Mister Pettigrew,' she said, looking at him sternly. 'Either tell me the truth or empty your bags.'

Peter thought about James' invisibility cloak and swallowed. 'Remus drank a bottle of Firewhiskey before moonrise to see if it would help with the transformation pain.'

'An entire bottle?' Professor McGonagall asked, sounding completely astonished. 'That should have knocked him out.'

'Well, he is a werewolf.'

'What an incredibly stupid and dangerous thing to do. What if he'd refused to go through the trapdoor?'

'James and Sirius were planning to stun him if they had to. They wouldn't have let anything happen.'

'Still, I'll be having stern words with Mister Lupin in the morning.'

'Can you wait until after we've told him about Sirius?'

She looked at him, and her face softened. 'Yes, it can wait until he's processed that news. Talking of, I think he's stopped trying to get out.'

Now she mentioned it, Peter realised he hadn't heard any thumps for a few minutes. Had Moony worn himself out already?

'Why don't you try to get some sleep? I'll wake you if anything changes.'

Peter agreed easily. He was extremely tired after the Ritual and the horror of finding Sirius. He pulled out and enlarged another couple of cushions and made himself a makeshift bed. It felt a little weird to be going to sleep in the presence of a teacher, but he tried to ignore it and closed his eyes. Sleep didn't take long to claim him, and the next thing he knew, Professor McGonagall was gently shaking him awake.

'The moon's about to set,' she said when he opened his eyes. 'Madam Pomfrey should be here soon. I thought you'd want to be awake.'

'Yeah, thanks,' Peter said, sitting up. He cleared away the cushions and pulled a flask of tea from James' bag of supplies. 'Do you want some?'

'Tea? You really come prepared, don't you?' She asked with a chuckle. 'Yes, I'll take a cup. Thank you.'

Peter shrugged and poured her a cup. 'It's James. He thinks of everything.'

'Minerva? Is that you I hear down there?' Madam Pomfrey's voice sounded from the tunnel.

'Yes, Mister Pettigrew and I kept Mister Lupin company last night. How's Mister Black?'

Madam Pomfrey came into sight around the corner with a smile on her face. 'He's doing just fine. When I checked on him this morning, he'd gained back a little colour in his face.'

'Are the boys still with him?'

'His brother went back to his dorm in the early hours to get some sleep, but Mister Potter is still there. I tried to get him to leave, but he refused to budge.' She pointed her wand at the trapdoor. 'Alohomora.'

'I'm not surprised.'

'No, neither am I,' Madam Pomfrey said, climbing the ladder. 'Back in mo. Oh dear, what have you done to yourself, sweetheart?'

Peter swallowed. That didn't sound good.

Professor McGonagall looked at him. 'Whatever it is, it can and will be fixed. He's going to be fine.'

Peter couldn't do anything but nod. He knew Remus would be fine physically, after a period of healing, but he hated knowing he was hurting, and if he had any new scars… well, the healing from those could sometimes take a while. He'd been quiet for days after he'd gnawed all the skin off his forearms. And without Sirius to comfort him, it wouldn't be good. He knew that much.

It was only a few minutes before Madam Pomfrey lowered Remus through the trapdoor on a stretcher, following him down a moment later.

'How is he?' Peter asked.

'He's broken half the bones in his body and he's basically one giant bruise, but he's going to be fine,' she said, offering him a reassuring smile before turning to Professor McGonagall. 'There seems to be some kind of flesh scattered about up there, but I can't find any injuries on him to account for it. Can you get a sample so we can work out what it's from?'

'Oh,' Peter said. 'That was us. I mean, we bought him a present?'

'You put an animal in there with him?' Professor McGonagall asked, sounding horrified.

'No! Not that he would have hurt it if we had. Werewolves only attack humans. But no, I bought him a hunk of raw meat enchanted to smell like a human. I think it was actually beef.'

The two women stared at him like he was crazy, which, to be fair, it probably did sound a bit crazy. But what else did you get for a werewolf?

'Well, that explains it, I suppose. Was the blanket from you, too? He was curled up in it.'

'That was from James.'

'Well, he definitely seemed to like it. Shall we go?'

Peter followed the two witches back to the castle—hauling all four of the Marauders' bags—and up to the Hospital Wing. When they arrived, they went into Madam Pomfrey's office, and he went straight to James. 'How is he?'

'No change,' James said. 'How's Moony?'

'Lots of broken bones and bruises, but nothing that will scar.'

'That's a relief. I don't know how we'd have dealt with that without Sirius.'

'Yeah, me neither. Did you get any sleep?'

'A bit. You?'

'Yeah, a few hours. Professor McGonagall came down and sat with me all night. Mate, it was so weird.'

James gasped. 'No! Shit. What did she say?'

Peter launched into an explanation of their entire conversation, telling him everything from her knowledge of their inability to use magic all month right up to her theories on why Sirius had been at the Ritual site.

'So she's not going to stop us going every month?'

Peter shrugged. 'Didn't seem like it. She didn't tell me not to.'

The door to Madam Pomfrey's office opened, and they both looked over to see Professor McGonagall walking out. She smiled at them both. 'Madam Pomfrey's healing him up. She'll let you know when you can go in. Try to get a little sleep today, though, won't you?'

They agreed although Peter knew neither of them had any intention of doing so, and she left the ward, probably heading for her own bed.

'I guess we better talk about how we're going to break this to Moony,' James said, his eyes on Sirius' abnormally still form in the bed. He looked so small.

'Yeah,' Peter said, letting out a heavy breath. 'Any ideas?'

The first thing Remus noticed when he regained consciousness was the terrible throbbing in his head. The second was the weird, but not unpleasant, taste in his mouth. The third was the combined scents of all three of his friends surrounding him.

'Hey,' he said and was unsurprised when it came out as more of a croak than a word.

'Moony,' James said from beside him. 'You're awake. Hi!.'

'Hey, Moony,' Peter said from the other side. 'How you feeling? You got a bit battered last night.'

Remus waited for the third greeting, but there was only silence, and his heart rate picked up in response. Why wasn't Sirius saying anything? Forcing his eyes open, he turned his head, focusing immediately on the one thing that shouldn't be there. Why was there another bed in his room?

'What..?' he started, ignoring the pain of pushing himself up into a sitting position so he could see past James' head and confirm what he already suspected. It was Sirius, paler than Remus had ever seen him, completely still and silent, but undeniably Sirius. 'No!'

James jumped to his feet, putting his hands up. 'Moony, wait—'

'No! Tell me I didn't! James. Please. I can't…' Remus' hand went to his hair, pushing his fingers into the thick curls and tugging hard. 'Is he..? Tell me he's not…'

'Remus! You didn't bite him! Calm the fuck down, now!' Peter shouted.

Remus jumped and turned his head in shock to look at Peter.

Peter pulled a face. 'Sorry, but you were getting hysterical. You didn't bite him. He's not infected. He's in a coma, but he's going to be fine.'

'He's going to be fine?' Remus repeated, letting his hands drop from his head. 'Why's he in a coma?'

'Madam Pomfrey will explain. Because… well, she'll explain that too,' James said nonsensically. 'I'll go get her.' He hurried out of the room, leaving Remus alone with Peter.

'You never said how you're feeling?'

The door opened again as he started to answer and Madam Pomfrey followed James into the room. 'Like I've been hit by a truck, and my head is killing me.'

'Well, drinking an entire bottle of Firewhiskey will do that to you,' Madam Pomfrey said, passing him a goblet. 'Drink that.'

'Is it a hangover cure?'

'Yes.'

'Thanks,' Remus said. He didn't know how she knew about the Firewhiskey, but he was grateful she wasn't withholding treatment to punish him for it. He put the goblet to his lips and took a large swig. 'Wait, this is water.'

'It is.' She smiled at him sweetly. 'The best hangover cure there is.'

The sneaky witch, Remus thought as he downed the goblet. Annoyingly, it did actually make him feel a little better. She followed up the water by handing him his monthly nutrition potion and then Madam Pomfrey took a seat beside his bed.

'Mister Potter says he's told you that Mister Black is in a coma?'

Remus nodded. 'Yeah, but he wouldn't say why.'

'He can't say why,' Madam Pomfrey said. 'Last night, Mister Black decided to follow these two,' she waved her hand at James and Peter, 'when they left you to complete the second half of the Creature Hunt Ritual.'

Remus' insides went cold. He'd told Sirius to do that. Was this his fault?

'The Headmaster has explained that the first half of the ritual prepares the participants' cores to act as a magic store, gathering magic from the environment, and in the process prevents them from doing magic.'

'So that's why James and Peter weren't doing magic?'

'Yes. The second half of the Ritual drains the magic they collected and uses it to create a protected area. Unfortunately, Mister Black did not have excess magic to drain.'

'So it drained his?'

Madam Pomfrey nodded. 'I was able to stabilise him, and he will wake up after the next full moon and make a full recovery. The reason your friends couldn't tell you any of this is that the Ritual locks the tongues of the participants, preventing them from speaking, writing, or otherwise communicating any information about the effects of the Ritual. Fortunately, it's been long enough since Professor Dumbledore participated in one that the curse has released him.'

'Which means,' James interrupted, 'he could have told Remus and Sirius and saved all of this from happening if he'd bothered to think about the fact Remus wouldn't be able to be part of it.'

'Mister Potter,' Madam Pomfrey reprimanded. 'A little respect for the Headmaster, please.'

'Sorry,' James said, not sounding the least bit sorry. 'But you know I'm right.'

'Yes, and I've already said as much to him, believe me. But it's not your place.'

James smiled at her. 'Knew I could count on you.'

Giving him a look, she stood up. 'You can stay for another thirty minutes, and then I insist you both leave and get some rest. Understand?'

'Yes, Ma'am,' James said.

After she'd closed the door behind her, Remus handed James his empty goblet and gingerly eased himself back against the pillows before covering his face with his hands. His eyes were burning with unshed tears. 'It's my fault. I told him to follow you. He didn't want to, but I insisted. This is all my fault.'

There was a shuffling noise beside him, and then the mattress sank. A warm weight settled around his shoulders and he was pulled against James' chest as his hand settled in his hair, gently stroking. 'It's okay, Moony. He's going to be okay.'

'What are you doing?' Remus mumbled.

'Oh, come on. I know I'm not Sirius, but I know how to give good cuddles.'

Remus laughed despite the pain in his chest. 'Thanks, Sunshine.'

'Any time,' James said, continuing to stroke his hand through Remus' hair. 'Why'd you tell him to follow us?'

'Gods, it seems so stupid now,' Remus said. 'I thought you were being mind-controlled by something, possibly the centaurs.'

James let out a surprised laugh. 'Well, I guess we were acting oddly. But the centaurs? Really? They're so nice.'

'That was the second theory,' Remus explained. 'The first was much closer to the truth, but then you started doing magic?'

'We worked out how to channel magic from chess pieces,' James said with more than a hint of pride in his voice.

'That's both really cool and really annoying.' Remus lifted his head to glare at James. 'We were so close to working out what was going on.'

'Technically, it's my fault,' Peter said. 'I drained the magic from a Snitch-O-Scope to brew. That's why I blew up the cauldron.'

'I knew there was something weird about that,' Remus said, turning his head to see Peter.

'Ow,' James yelped. 'Gods, your head is bony. I don't know how Twinkles does this all the time.'

Remus snickered. 'Sorry, I'll try to keep still.'

'My shoulder would appreciate it.'

It wasn't until Madam Pomfrey ushered James and Peter out ten minutes later that Remus could really focus on what he'd done. He'd sent his boyfriend to his death. He could have died. As it was, he was going to miss an entire month of his life. Sirius would never forgive him. He'd ruined everything.

'L'always f'give you, Moons,' Sirius murmured.

Remus' heart leapt, and he scrambled out of bed as fast as he could. Had Sirius woken up? But no. He was still just as unnaturally still as before. Remus took his hand, squeezing it gently. 'I'm sorry. I'll try to keep my emotions under control. You don't need me panicking in you head every few minutes on top of everything else.'

There was no response and Remus sighed, taking a seat on the edge of Sirius' bed. 'I'm so sorry I got you hurt. I wish there was something I could do to make you wake up sooner. But I'm going to take notes for you in every class so you don't miss anything, and I'll look after your plants in Herbology, and…' Remus couldn't think of anything else he could really do so he trailed off and squeezed his hand again. 'I'll visit you every day. I promise.'

Madam Pomfrey released him from the Hospital Wing that evening, and he slowly made his way up to Gryffindor Tower alone. Neither James nor Peter had come to collect him and when he finally reached the dorm, he discovered why. They were both fast asleep.

After dumping his bag on his bed, he wandered into the bathroom and found his usual bath waiting for him. He stared at it for a moment with his head cocked to one side. Had they prepared it before falling asleep? He shook his head. It didn't matter when they did it; it looked wonderful. He went back to the dorm and grabbed some clean pyjamas, a towel, and a sheet of parchment.

Having a bath. Don't come in. Remus.

After sticking the sign to the bathroom door with spellotape, Remus stripped off and sank into the hot water and bubbles. It was wonderful, but he couldn't get rid of the heavy feeling of guilt in his stomach that he was enjoying a blissful bath while Sirius was laying in the Hospital Wing because of him and he didn't stay in there anywhere near as long as he usually would.

James and Peter were still asleep when he emerged, so he tiptoed across the dorm and slipped into his bed. It was cold and empty. And it smelled of clean sheets and soap. He hated it.

He missed Sirius.