Tuesday 20th March, 1973

'You've been in a coma for a month,' James said, leaning towards him. 'How are you feeling?'

Sirius stared at him. An entire month? Fuck.

He remembered watching James and Peter holding hands across a giant tree stump, and a feeling of dizziness and nausea overcoming him before everything went dark, but then nothing. Except Remus' voice saying that he missed him. Remus' voice wishing he could kiss him. Remus' voice asking for forgiveness. He turned his head to look for him, needing him to know immediately that he wasn't to blame. There was nothing to forgive. Peter was on the other side of his bed, and Madam Pomfrey was standing at the end, but Remus wasn't there, and the other bed in the room was empty.

'Where's Remus?' His voice didn't sound like his own and his throat was dry and sore. Why wasn't anyone offering him a drink? Apparently, he'd been asleep for a month, for Merlin's sake. It should be pretty obvious he'd be thirsty.

'It was the full last night. He's still at the Shack.'

'Has the moon set?'

James nodded. 'Yeah, a couple of minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey wanted to make sure you were okay first. It's alright. Moony had a good night. He's not hurt.'

'Let me check you over, Mister Black, and I'll go and collect him.'

Sirius tried to lift his arms to spread them out in a "go right ahead" gesture, but they were too heavy to move. 'Merlin, I feel as weak as a baby kitten.'

'That's to be expected,' Madam Pomfrey said. 'I have some potions for you that will help, but first…' She waved her wand, causing a rush of warmth to wash over him, and read through the parchment that emerged from the end a moment later. 'A little muscle atrophy, but otherwise, you're in good health.'

'All thanks to your tender care, I'm sure,' Sirius croaked out, giving her a weak smile. There was one more thing he needed to know before she left. 'Do my parents know what happened?'

'My understanding is that a family member was informed, as per school policy.'

Sirius frowned. What the hell did that mean? Which family member? 'Okay, thanks. Is that everything you needed to check? I'm worried about Remus.'

She smiled. 'Yes, you need to drink these,' she handed him three small potion vials, 'and then I'm sure you'll be fine for a few minutes. I'll go and get him now.' She turned away and stepped to the door, opening it to find Professor McGonagall stood on the other side with her fist raised.

'Ah, Minnie, I should have known you wouldn't be able to resist visiting me in my sickbed,' Sirius said, grinning at her.

'Mister Black,' she said, giving him one of her best stern looks over the top of her glasses. The expression filled him with warmth. 'It's good to see you with your eyes open. I'll sit with him while you collect Mister Lupin, Poppy.'

'Thank you, Minerva. I'm sure he'll be fine, but that does make me feel better about leaving.'

She conjured herself a chair and took a seat beside Peter. 'It's not a problem. Someone needs to explain to him what happened, and since his friends can't, that honour falls to me.'

Sirius listened intently, sipping his disgusting potions, as Professor McGonagall launched into an explanation of the events of the previous full moon, the reasons for James and Peter's strange behaviour, and the effects of the ritual, all culminating in his core being drained of magic, putting him into a month-long coma.

'Do you have any questions?' she asked when she was finished.

'Yeah, two. First, why didn't Professor Dumbledore think to tell Remus what the ritual would do?'

'I assure you, Madam Pomfrey and I have been quite vocal in our disappointment regarding that very question, Mister Black. The Headmaster claims it didn't occur to him.'

'Well, thanks for that,' Sirius said, pleased that his voice was sounding a little more normal after the potions. 'I appreciate you speaking up for us.'

'It's my job,' she said, but there was definitely a pleased looking smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. 'You said you had two questions?'

'Yeah, Madam Pomfrey said you'd informed a family member what happened to me?'

Professor McGonagall's gaze shifted to James for a moment before settling back on him. 'Your brother was told of your condition and asked to pass the message on to your parents. However, I have not heard from them other than their request to have you home for the Vernal Equinox. I assume this is because they saw no point in visiting you while comatose and are waiting for you to wake up so they can speak to you directly.'

Sirius glanced at James, who waggled his eyebrows at him with a smirk. He was safe then. They didn't know anything. He sent out a mental thanks to whoever was responsible for creating Minerva McGonagall and blessing him with her as his Head of House. 'That makes sense, yeah,' he said out loud. 'Thanks.'

'I have no idea what you're thanking me for,' Professor McGonagall said, her eyes twinkling. 'School policy states I must inform a family member, and I did precisely that.'

The door opened again and Madam Pomfrey walked in with her wand pointed at the air in front of her. She directed it to the empty bed and down before stepping closer and tapping the air just above the pillow, making the air shimmer and ripple into the form of Remus, eyes closed and covered by a sheet.

'He's fine. Not a mark on him,' she said, glancing over her shoulder to smile at them before waving her wand again and conjuring a curtain between the two beds, blocking Remus from view. 'Just getting him dressed, then you can see him.'

'Right, well, I'll be off then,' Professor McGonagall said, climbing to her feet. 'The Headmaster is expecting you in his office at midday to Floo home, Mister Black.'

'Oh, Minerva, one minute, please,' Madam Pomfrey said, making her pause on her way to the door. A moment later, the curtain disappeared again and Remus was tucked under a soft blanket with his pyjama clad arms resting on top. 'When I left to collect Mister Lupin, one of your students was lurking around the entrance to the Hospital Wing. I questioned her, but she couldn't explain what she was doing there. It was strange.'

'Which student?'

'A Miss Evans?'

'Shit,' James said. 'I mean, oh dear. Sorry Professor. Um, I think I know why she was there. One of her group was injured during the Creature Hunt, so they were at the command centre. Lily was looking at the map a lot, and it showed Remus as a werewolf. She must have noticed.'

'She knows Remus is a werewolf?'

James shook his head. 'No, she knows one of the Marauders is a werewolf. She doesn't know we're the Marauders. She must be trying to figure out who we are.'

'Wait,' Sirius said. 'You had the Creature Hunt without me?'

James looked at him like he was an idiot. 'We had to, mate. The protection only lasts a month.'

'Oh. Well, that sucks.'

'I think we have larger concerns here, Mister Black,' Professor McGonagall said. 'I take it you had Miss Evans and her friends sign the contract so she can't tell anyone what she knows?'

'Of course,' James said. 'I'm not stupid.'

'Good. We'll have to be even more careful to conceal Mister Lupin's condition from now on. You won't be able to visit him anymore, obviously—'

'I think that would be detrimental to Mister Lupin,' Madam Pomfrey objected. Sirius would have hugged her if he wasn't so weak. 'It's my professional opinion that his friends' company helps him recover faster from the transformation. What we need is another entrance to this room so we can bypass Miss Evans' curiosity.'

Professor McGonagall's eyes gleamed with that spark of mischief Sirius kept seeing there, and she smiled. 'I've never created a secret passage before. Where do you suggest we put it?'

'If we start in this wall,' Madam Pomfrey said, pointing to the wall the heads of the two beds rested against, 'we can carve down through the rock to ground level, and come out beside the Lake. That will make it easy for me to bring Mister Lupin in after the moon without being seen by anyone inside the castle.'

Professor McGonagall nodded. 'Yes, that works. I'll speak to the Headmaster about it, but I'm sure he'll agree that it's necessary.'

'What about the problem of Remus being absent from class every full moon?' James asked. 'If she notices that, she might figure it out.'

'I don't see how that can be helped,' Professor McGonagall said.

'I have an idea,' James said. 'But the teachers will all need to be in on it.' Professor McGonagall waved him on, so he continued. 'One of us polyjuices into Remus each full moon, so it's a different person missing each month. Peter could be him this morning, and I'll be him this afternoon.'

Madam Pomfrey shook her head. 'You won't be able to do it today. If you take hair from him now, you're going to feel just as bad as he does.'

'And I'd prefer you get his consent before carrying out this plan,' Professor McGonagall said. 'However, if Mister Lupin agrees, I see no problem with it. How will you explain your absences?'

James shrugged. 'Illness. Accident. It doesn't really matter as long as it's a different person each time.'

'No, I suppose not,' Professor McGonagall said, smiling at them all before turning to the door. 'Let me know if Mister Lupin agrees to the plan and I'll inform your teachers.'

After she'd left, Madam Pomfrey performed another round of tests on Sirius and pronounced him to be recovering well, before leaving them alone.

'I have to go home at midday?' Sirius asked as soon as the door closed behind her.

'The Vernal Equinox is this evening,' James said. 'And your parents don't know about the coma, so you have to be there.'

'Wait,' Sirius said, all the separate pieces coming together in his mind. He'd been in a coma for a month. The Vernal Equinox was that night. That meant it was the middle of March. 'I missed Remus' birthday.'

'You slept through it, but he was in here most of the day,' Peter said. 'And we're celebrating it this weekend. James' too.'

James nodded. 'We're holding a joint Moony-and-Sunshine day. It's going to be brilliant. But that's not important right now. We need to talk about the plan for you going home.'

'The plan?'

'We tried to find a potion that would help you get your strength back faster, but we couldn't find one,' James said. 'Not unexpected, really. If there was one, Madam Pomfrey would have given it to you.'

'Okay?' Sirius said. 'So I'll be weak. I'm sure I'll cope.'

'Yeah, you will,' James said. 'Because you're going to be here, taking a nice nap in History.'

'Huh?'

'And I'm going to be at your house, adding flobberworm mucus to a dark magic potion.'

'And how exactly is that going to work?'

'Polyjuice,' James said, like it was simple. 'We found some hair from before the ritual in your brush. So I'm going to turn into healthy you, and you're going to turn into healthy me.'

Why don't I just turn into healthy me?' Sirius asked.

'It doesn't work,' Peter said. 'Remus tried it yesterday when he was feeling like shit. Nothing happens if you drink your own Polyjuice.'

'I don't like it,' Sirius said. 'You're not going to know who anyone is. You'll get caught.'

'Regulus will help me,' James said. 'And I'll avoid talking to anyone as much as possible. We don't really have time to argue about it. Madam Pomfrey could come and kick us out at any moment.'

Sirius couldn't deny the thought of going home in his current state filled him with dread, but could he really let James take his place? What if he said the wrong thing and ended up in the cellar? Not to mention he wouldn't be able to kiss Remus until the Polyjuice wore off. 'I'm not sure this is a good idea, Sunshine.'

'Too late for that, Twinkles,' James said, the words ending in a groan.

'Oh, for fuck's sake, James.' Sirius watched with irritation as James transformed from a messy-haired athlete into a sleek-haired aristocrat, clutching an empty vial.

'You better take yours before Madam Pomfrey comes in and finds two of you here,' Peter said, handing Sirius a clear vial filled with a golden potion.

Sirius scowled at it before bringing it to his lips and swallowing it down. Figures James' potion would be the prettiest.

The transformation into James was the easiest he'd experienced. They were a similar height, so he only needed to shrink an inch or two, while his muscles grew a little and his face reformed itself. When it was over, he blinked several times, trying unsuccessfully to clear the blurriness from his eyes.

'Here,' James said in Sirius' voice, handing over his glasses. 'You'll be needing these.'

'Bloody hell, you really are blind, aren't you?' Sirius said, placing them on his face. 'Gods, these are uncomfortable. How do you put up with it?'

James shrugged. 'You get used to it. Now hurry up. We need to swap clothes and wands.'

'Wands?'

'Yeah, I think even your mother will notice if you have the wrong wand.'

'Shit, you're right,' Sirius said, pulling back the sheets covering his legs. He started unbuttoning his pyjamas while James tugged off his shirt and trousers. When they were done, James climbed into the hospital bed in Sirius' place and Sirius took the chair James had been sitting in earlier. 'I'm still not happy about this.'

'I know, but think how nice it will be to spend the evening with Remus instead of at your house. I'm doing this for him as well as you, you know? He's really missed you, and I think he blames himself, too, because he's the one that told you to follow us. So you two really need to talk.'

'And I've arranged to spend the evening with Mary,' Peter said. 'So you two can be alone.'

That did sound wonderful. As long as James could fool his entire family into believing he was Sirius and nothing went horribly wrong.

Three hours later, James was already beginning to regret his Polyjuice plan. Being stuck in the Hospital Wing when there was nothing wrong with him was the most boring activity in the world. Sirius had his bag with all his school work, so he couldn't do homework, or read his Ancient Runes books. He'd occupied himself for half an hour, practising with Sirius' wand, but it hadn't taken long to get full control of it. The wand responded to him like he was a long-lost friend, delighted to be in his hand, and Sirius claimed James' wand worked just as well for him. Now he was just bored.

Movement from the other bed in the room promised to put an end to that, though. He'd been hoping for a chance to test his acting skills before the main event. How long would it take Remus to realise he wasn't Sirius?

'Moonbeam?' he asked, using Sirius' favourite form of his nickname. 'You awake?'

Remus turned his head towards the sound of his voice. 'Sirius?'

'I'm here. How're you feeling?'

Remus' eyes fluttered open, and he smiled. 'Never mind me, how are you feeling? Can you get over here? How long have you been awake?'

James grinned as he stood up, padding the two steps across the floor to the other bed as Remus pulled back the covers. 'Woke up at moonset, and it's almost eleven now, so I'm feeling a lot better. James said you had a good night?'

'Yeah, I don't feel too bad, actually,' Remus said as James slipped into the bed beside him. He lifted his arm, inviting Remus to cuddle up on his chest the way Sirius always did, and Remus obliged. It was so hard not to laugh. He couldn't believe he hadn't questioned it yet. It wasn't like he didn't know about the Polyjuice plan.

Remus took a deep breath with his face buried in James' chest and sighed. 'Gods, I've missed you. You don't hate me, do you? I shouldn't have told you to follow them. It's all my fault. I'm so sorry.'

James shushed him and stroked his hair. 'I could never hate you, Moons. I don't blame you at all.' He felt a little bad about it, but it was what Sirius would say when they did eventually talk, he was sure.

Craning his neck back, Remus looked up at him and James smiled back. Then Remus pushed himself up, scooting closer, and put his hand on James' cheek. 'I've missed this the most, though,' he said before leaning forward and kissing him softly.

James froze, not breathing and clamping his lips together. What the hell was happening?

The sound of a throat clearing came from the direction of the door, followed by. 'Er, Moonbeam? What are you doing?'

It was Remus' turn to freeze. He pulled back, his hand still on James' cheek as he blinked twice. 'Bugger. I forgot. You're not Sirius are you?'

James shook his head frantically and finally managed to separate his lips enough to speak. 'I'm James.'

They both turned to look at the people in the doorway, Sirius in James' body, and Peter, who was staring at them with wide eyes.

'He pretended he was you,' Remus said, his face rapidly turning bright red.

'It was supposed to be a joke,' James said. 'I wanted to see how long it would take him to realise. I didn't think he was going to kiss me!'

'A likely story,' Sirius said, moving further into the room and taking a seat on the end of Remus' bed. 'I'm starting to think this whole Polyjuice plan was just a ploy to steal my boyfriend.'

'Boyfriend?' James asked. 'Wait. What? What?'

'You heard me,' Sirius said, smirking at him.

'Have you two been..? Oh my gods! How long?'

'Since Christmas,' Sirius said, grinning. 'You two were completely oblivious.'

Peter still hadn't moved from the doorway, but he snapped out of his daze at that moment to comment, 'So that's why you kept sneaking into each other's beds.'

James threw his arms around Remus and hugged him hard. 'Oh my gods, I'm so happy for you. Fucking finally. Thought you two were never going to work it out.' After a couple of seconds of stunned stillness, Remus hugged him back and James waited no more than half a second before he pulled away and launched himself at Sirius. 'I knew it! I knew you liked each other.'

'I'm glad you're happy for us, Sunshine,' Sirius said, patting his back. 'But we have some work to do, and we don't have much time.'

'What work?' James pulled out of the hug and frowned at him in question.

'I, or you I guess, borrowed this from the library,' Sirius said, pulling a thick, hardback book from James' bag and passing it to James. 'You have just under an hour to learn the names of all my living family members and their relationship to me.'

The cover was adorned with a golden tree and the words Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy. 'All of them? I'm never going to remember it all.'

'We'll focus on the ones that are most likely to talk to you… me… gods, this is confusing.'

James flicked through to the B's and found Black and Sirius leaned closer so he could see the pages. 'Dead, dead, dead,' he said, pointing to the names. 'Keep going. No, they're all dead, too. Ah, here we are. Okay, that's my grandfather. His name's Pollux, but I call him Grandfather, obviously. He's a bastard. Avoid him if you can. If not, just try to be polite. He likes talking about Charms theory, so you could distract him with that. He's married to Irma Crabbe.' Sirius flicked through the pages until he found her. 'Here, isn't she ugly? She's a complete bitch, so just try to avoid her. But if you have to speak to her, address her as Grandmother, and avoid any mention of muggles unless you want to listen to her go on a rant about cleansing the bloodlines.'

James frowned at him. 'I can't avoid talking to everyone, Sirius.'

'Why not? That's what I do.'

'Why not show him the ones that are safe to talk to?' Remus suggested.

'That's a short list, Moonbeam.'

Remus shook his head. 'It is so weird to hear James calling me that.'

James laughed. 'Once we're back to normal, I'm going to randomly call you Moonbeam to confuse you.'

'Don't you dare,' Sirius said, sifting through the pages of the book. 'That's my name for Moony. Ah, here we are. So you know Narcissa and Andy. She won't be there, of course, but this is their older sister, Bellatrix. We all call her Bella. She's an evil piece of work, but I outrank her so she can't do anything to me. She's smart, though, so be careful if you do to talk to her.'

James nodded and studied the picture. She was beautiful, with long black curly hair and a flirty smile, and her eyes held a sharp intelligence. He made a mental note to avoid her if he could. There was something about her that gave James chills.

'This,' Sirius said, grinning for the first time since he'd opened the book, 'is my Uncle Alphard. Talk to him, if you can. He's great. I call him Alphie when it's just the two of us, but call him Uncle Alphard if other people are around.'

'What about if it's just Reg with us?' James asked.

'Alphie.'

The picture beside the name showed a middle-aged man, clean-shaven and proud, and James thought his smile suggested he had secrets no one else knew.

'He looks a lot like my father, though,' Sirius said, flicking back a page and showing James another picture of a very similar-looking man. 'So be careful.'

'And you call your parents Mother and Father, right?' James asked.

'Yeah. If they tell you to do something, suggest you do something, or otherwise make any kind of comment about you doing something, you do it immediately. Understand? You're being me, but you're not being reckless, rebellious me.'

James nodded, seriously. 'Don't worry. I'm not an idiot.'

They spent another ten minutes going through the book until James' head was spinning from all the information. 'Alright, that's enough. I'm going to lose track of everyone if we keep going.'

'You should draw him a map of your house,' Peter suggested from his position beside Remus' bed. He'd been quietly sharing a packet of chocolates with Remus while they'd been studying the book, but it seemed they were done because he screwed up the empty bag and shoved it in his pocket.

'Good idea,' Sirius said, rummaging in James' bag for a sheet of parchment. 'You won't need to know where everything is, so I'll just show you how to get to the most likely rooms you'll need to go to.'

If brains could explode from taking in too much information, too fast, then James' would have done so. As it was, by the time Sirius was finished mapping the important areas of his house, James' head was aching like a bitch. So he was beyond grateful when Madam Pomfrey walked in to announce Regulus was there to collect Sirius.

They all wished him luck, and the looks on their faces as he left made him feel like he was on his way to his execution. Honestly, they had no faith in him. He was going to do great. Even Remus had been fooled by his Sirius impression.

James smiled at Regulus as he left Madam Pomfrey's office. 'Good morning, brother.'

'It's good to see you on your feet with your eyes open, Twinkles,' Regulus said, smirking as James joined him and they turned towards the doors. 'Honestly, sleeping for a month. How lazy can you get?'

James laughed. 'I recommend it. It was quite relaxing.'

Regulus' forehead creased into a frown, briefly, but by the time they'd made it into the corridor, his expression had cleared. 'Are you feeling up to this?'

'I'll be fine, Reg. Don't worry.'

They turned the corner and suddenly James found himself pinned against the wall with a wand to his throat.

'Who are you?' Regulus growled.

James swallowed. 'I'm James. What gave me away?'

Regulus took a step back, releasing him, and lowered his wand. 'You didn't tell me to fuck off when I called you Twinkles. You didn't get annoyed when I questioned your ability to cope.' Regulus reached forward and took James' Crest between his fingers. 'And there's no lion charm on your necklace. You realise this is completely idiotic and you're definitely going to get caught, of course?'

'The risk isn't as high as it would be for Sirius,' James said, tugging the pendant out of Regulus' grasp and tucking it inside the neck of his robes. 'He's so weak, he'd never make it through the ritual.'

'And you're prepared to be tortured, are you?'

'I'm hoping it won't come to that,' James said. 'But if it does, I'll survive.'

Regulus raised his eyebrows. 'We'll see if you're still this blasé when we return tonight.'

'So you're going to let me do this, then?'

'It's your funeral, James. But at least it's you, I suppose. You're more likely to make it through this than Remus or Peter.'

They fell back into step, heading for Dumbledore's office, as Regulus continued to question him.

'How much has Sirius told you of what to expect?'

'We've been through most of your family in Nature's Nobility, and he drew me a map of your house. When we arrive, I'll be told to go change, and then I have to go to the garden and wait until it's my turn to add an ingredient to the potion.'

Regulus nodded. 'That's the usual routine, yes.'

'After, there's usually some kind of party? Lots of talking and exchanging veiled insults.'

Regulus laughed. 'That's one way to put it. Just try to stay out of sight. I'll keep an eye on you and come to your aid if it looks like you need it.'

'Thanks,' James said, smiling at him.

'Thank you,' Regulus said.

'For what?'

Regulus shook his head. 'No, you said "thanks." The correct phrase is "thank you." Please, tell me you know how to speak properly?'

James reached over and ruffled his hair. 'Don't worry your little head about it. I can be a posh git when I need to be.'

Regulus scowled at him, smoothing his hair back down. 'Don't ever do that again.'

James grinned back at him, which only served to make Regulus' scowl deepen. The boy really needed to loosen up. This was going to be a blast. Fooling the entire Black family might be the greatest challenge he'd ever faced, but James never lost a challenge. Not least because he prepared for every eventuality. He had his invisibility cloak and a handful of floo powder in case he was discovered and needed to make a quick getaway; a plentiful supply of polyjuice potion portioned into tiny bottles fitted with straws for easy slurpability—Peter's best brew yet; and a vial of Core Cleanser in case he was forced to drink the potion, which reminded him. 'I almost forgot,' he said to Regulus, pulling a potion vial from his pocket as they rounded the corner at the top of the Grand Staircase, heading towards Dumbledore's office. 'This is for you.'

'What is it?

'A potion to cleanse your core of dark magic.' Regulus still looked confused, so James expanded his explanation. 'You know? In case you can't get away with not drinking the ritual potion.'

'Why wouldn't I drink it?'

James was taken aback by the question. He'd assumed Regulus had stopped drinking it when he was old enough to understand what it did, the same as Sirius had, but apparently that wasn't the case. 'Because you're eleven and it's dangerous? And also because it's dark magic?'

'Dangerous how?'

James shrugged. 'I'm not sure, really. Remus just said it was.'

'Oh well, if Remus said it, it must be true.' Regulus pushed the bottle back at him. 'Thank you, but I don't need this.'

'Keep it. In case you change your mind.'

Regulus shook his head, but put the bottle in his pocket. 'I won't, but if it makes you happy.'

Having reached the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office, they came to a stop, facing each other.

'Well, good luck, James. I hope this won't be the last time I speak to you.'

'It won't be. I have a getaway plan if I need it.'

Regulus nodded and turned to the statue. 'Fruit pastilles,' he said clearly before muttering under his breath, 'whatever the fuck they are.'

'Pretty sure they're a muggle sweet,' James said as the gargoyle slid aside to let them through. 'Dumbledore has a thing for them.'

'It sounds disgusting.'

James shrugged. 'Don't know if you don't try it.'

'True,' Regulus allowed as they stepped off the moving staircase at the top. 'Though I doubt I'll ever have the opportunity to find out.'

'Come in,' Dumbledore called before they had the chance to knock. They pushed the door open and stepped into the office, finding Professor Dumbledore waiting for them next to the enormous fireplace. 'Good morning. How are you feeling, Mister Black?'

'Well enough,' James said. 'Madam Pomfrey gave me some potions to help me recover my strength.'

Professor Dumbledore smiled. 'Wonderful. Well, don't let me keep you. No doubt your family is eagerly awaiting your arrival.' He held out the dish he was holding, which was full of emerald green floo powder.

'After you,' Regulus said when James glanced at him. So he took a handful of the powder and nodded to Dumbledore before throwing it into the fireplace and stepping into the bright green flames. 'Twelve Grimmauld Place.'

'You really think he can pull this off?' Sirius asked as they watched James leave the hospital room with Madam Pomfrey.

'If anyone can, it's James,' Remus said.

Out of the three of them, Peter thought James was definitely the right choice to take Sirius' place, but that didn't mean he would get away with it. The latest batch of Polyjuice was the best he'd ever made, though. It should last a good two hours, if not three, and James had the invisibility cloak if it all went to shit. He'd be fine.

'Right, you three,' Madam Pomfrey said, walking back in before Peter could respond. 'I think it's best if you leave before classes end for lunch. You can get Remus up to the dorm before the corridors fill up.'

Sirius grinned and pushed James' glasses back up his nose. 'Sounds like a good idea to me. We'll wait outside while you get dressed, Moons.'

It didn't take Remus long to pull his school robes on and they were soon climbing the many staircases to reach Gryffindor Tower with Remus leaning heavily on Sirius on the way and Peter carrying his bag and opening doors when needed. When they finally reached their dorm, Remus didn't waste any time collapsing onto his bed while Peter went to his desk to grab the food they'd collected from the Hall at break time.

When he turned back around, Sirius was standing awkwardly next to Remus' bed, looking at him. 'Do you want me to lie down with you? Or is that weird? Do I even smell the same?'

'You smell like James, but no, it's not weird.' He patted the bed. 'Kissing would be weird, but cuddling is fine.'

'What does James smell like?' Sirius asked as he lowered himself onto the mattress, jostling it as little as possible.

'Freshly cut grass and the breeze in summer,' Remus said, snuggling up to him.

Peter walked over to join them, taking a seat at the foot of the bed. 'You hungry, Moony?'

'Fucking starving,' Remus said, taking the offered sandwich and passing a second one to Sirius. 'Thanks, mate.'

'Do you think James will be pissed if I eat junk food in his body?' Sirius asked.

'It's just a copy, so it wouldn't affect his real body,' Peter pointed out. 'But we could tease him about it.'

'Bit mean when he's doing you a favour, isn't it?' Remus asked.

'Nah, he'll see the funny side,' Sirius said. 'You had any alarms for him?'

Remus shook his head. 'Not since he left Hogwarts.'

'That's either very good news or very bad news,' Sirius said.

'I'm sure it's good,' Peter said after swallowing his food. 'James knows how to be you.'

'He knows how to be Hogwarts-me. I'm not so sure he knows how to be at-home-me.'

'Are they that different?' Remus asked, peering up at him.

'I don't think you'd even recognise me, Moonbeam.'

'I don't believe you. I'd recognise you anywhere.'

'You were so sure James was me that you kissed him, so…'

'That was unfair use of Polyjuice while I was in a vulnerable state. I can't be blamed for that.'

Peter laughed. 'Talking of Polyjuice. We have a proposition for you.' Remus raised his eyebrows in question, so he continued. 'It seems Lily's been snooping around trying to figure out who the werewolf Marauder is—'

'Shit. I thought she might have noticed, but I hoped I was wrong. I guess not.'

'Oh, she definitely noticed,' Peter said. 'She was hanging around the entrance to the Hospital Wing when Pomfrey left to get you this morning.'

'Minnie's going to build a secret passage to your room so we can get in and out without being seen.'

Remus' eyebrows went up in surprise at Sirius' words. 'Wow. I thought she'd just ban you from visiting.'

'She tried. Pomfrey wouldn't let her,' Sirius said, laughing. 'Said she thinks we help you recover faster.'

'But McGonagall seemed pretty excited to build a secret passage instead.'

'So, what's the proposition?'

'We're worried Lily will notice you're gone every full moon now she's looking for it. She already asked me in Herbology where you were. I told her you were with Sirius, but she knows he's gone home, so that won't work this afternoon or in the future. We thought one of us could Polyjuice into you every month. McGonagall agreed to it, but she said only if you agree, too.'

'Oh.' Remus fidgeted with the buttons on Sirius' robes for a minute. 'I don't know if I'm okay with that.'

'We thought you'd be reluctant,' Sirius said. 'We'd all promise not to look at your scars or anything, obviously. And we'd behave so you don't get into trouble.'

'You'd behave for me?' Remus asked, smirking at him.

Peter chuckled. 'It must be true love.' The startled looks he received in response to his throwaway words were unexpected, but absolutely hilarious. He bit his tongue to hold back the laughter as they both stared at him with wide eyes.

Remus was the first to recover with a small cough. 'It's only been a few months. I don't think we're quite there yet.'

'Um, yeah,' Sirius agreed, looking at a spot on the wall just beyond Peter's shoulder. 'Bit too soon for that, mate.'

'I was joking,' Peter said. 'But that was funny as fuck. Your faces.'

'Shall we get back to the point?' Sirius asked. 'What do you think, Moons?'

'Who would be turning into me? Peter?'

Peter nodded. 'Me today. Probably Sirius next month and James the month after. Then the last month of the year you can be the one missing again.'

'Right, so all of you, then.' Remus chewed his lip. 'You swear you won't look?'

Peter placed his hand on his heart and held up the other. 'I solemnly swear on Arabella's life.'

There was a noticeable upturn to the corners of Remus' mouth when he nodded. 'Yeah, alright. I'll take that.'

'Great, so all we need is some hair that's a few days old,' Sirius said. 'Can't use your current hair or Peter would turn into current you and that would kind of defeat the purpose.'

'Check my hairbrush,' Remus said. 'It's in the bathroom. I brushed my hair yesterday morning, though. Won't Peter feel moonsick?'

Sirius shook his head. 'We don't think so. The pain you're in now is because of damage, so that would pass on, but before the moon, the pain is caused by your body preparing to transform. Since the full moon's over, that shouldn't happen.'

'Theoretically,' Peter said. 'But there's only one way to be sure.'

Steam billowed from the bathroom door when Peter pushed it open and he paused. With all the drama around Sirius' trip home, neither he nor James had remembered to set up Remus' bath. But there it was, filled with lavender scented bubbles, and a pitcher of pumpkin juice, together with a goblet, sat on a small table beside it. House-elves really were wonderful creatures, he decided, heading for the counter in front of the large mirror.

There were a few loose strands clinging to Remus' brush, and he pulled the vial of Polyjuice from his pocket before plucking them out and adding them to the potion. It fizzed a little as they melted in, and then the liquid turned from mud-brown to a beautiful pale turquoise. Peter tilted his head to one side as he watched, and then nodded to himself. The colour suited Remus. Like the sea, he was calm most of the time, but he quickly became destructive when his anger was aroused.

'Oh, what a gorgeous colour,' Sirius said when Peter returned to the dorm room with the finished potion. 'Kind of jealous I don't get to drink it.'

'You know it's still going to taste like shit,' Peter said. 'Doesn't matter what it looks like.'

'I told you your potion would be beautiful,' Sirius said, looking at Remus. He leaned towards him, but Remus pulled back, wrinkling his nose.

'No kissing. You still look like James.'

'Oh, right. I forgot.'

Remus patted Sirius' chest at the disappointed tone in his voice. 'I know. It's annoying to me too.'

'I should probably change into a set of your robes before I take this,' Peter said. 'Mine will look ridiculous on you.'

Remus pointed at the trunk sitting at the end of his bed. 'They're in there.'

After digging them out from the chaos inside Remus' trunk, Peter eyed them dubiously, imagining trying to squeeze his much rounder body into the tight fitting fabric. 'Hm. This might be a problem.'

'Just close your eyes when you drink it, and don't open them until the transformation's done and you've pulled the robes on,' Sirius said. 'Is that okay with you, Moons?'

Remus nodded. 'Do you think you can get dressed with your eyes closed?'

'How hard can it be?' Peter asked with a shrug. 'I'll go in the bathroom then. Back in a minute. Oh, by the way, your bath is waiting for you in here.'

'I'll take it when you two go to class,' Remus said, smiling at Peter as he walked backwards through the door.

Inside, he stripped down to his underwear and lay Remus' robes out on the counter so he wouldn't need to fumble around with his eyes closed before putting the potion vial to his lips and tipping his head back. It was just as disgusting as he'd known it would be, and the pain kicked in immediately, making him gasp. Somewhere around the moment he fell to his hands and knees, he wondered if he'd ever get used to transforming into another person, or if it would still make him whimper when he was a seventh year.

As the pain dissipated, he waited on his knees for a minute, eyes tightly closed, for it to ease completely, but it didn't. The surface pain of his skin and flesh reshaping had ended, as had the deeper pain he imagined was his organs transforming, but the pain in his joints and muscles remained. It was nothing more than a slight ache, but it was uncomfortable and didn't seem to be going anywhere, so he pulled himself to his feet and felt around on the counter until he found the material of Remus' robes.

'How do you feel?' Sirius asked as he left the bathroom.

'There's pain, but I don't think it's bad enough to be what Remus was feeling yesterday morning. It's like how my muscles feel the day after a lot of running from Filch, and my joints hurt when I move them.'

'That's just the normal, everyday pain,' Remus said.

'Moonbeam,' Sirius said, his tone concerned. 'The normal amount of pain is no pain.'

Remus shrugged. 'Not for me, it's not.'

'Why didn't you ever say?' Sirius looked completely crushed. 'You're always in pain?'

'It's not a big deal. It's just always there. I'm used to it. I don't even really notice it most of the time.'

'How bad is it, Bubbles?'

Peter shrugged. 'It's bearable. Like, if I stop thinking about it, I can pretend it's not there.'

'Like I said. Why do you always assume I'm lying?' Remus' tone was huffy with annoyance.

Sirius dropped a kiss in his hair. 'Because you always downplay how much pain you're in.'

'Not always. Not since you asked me not to lie to you, actually, and that was almost a year ago.'

'Oh. In that case, I'm sorry. I thought you were still doing it.'

'Don't be sorry,' Remus said, smirking at him for some reason. 'Just don't do it again.'

Sirius laughed and kissed the end of his nose. 'Promise.'

Remus wrinkled his nose again and shook his head. 'Nope, no more nose kisses while you look like James. Too weird.'

Peter glanced down at himself and adjusted his robes, pushing Remus' curls out of his eyes when he looked back up. 'How do you put up with all this hair? It keeps getting in my eyes.'

'Just be glad you didn't turn into me before Christmas,' Remus said, laughing.

'True, that would have been awful,' Peter agreed, thinking about the mounds of hair he used to have. 'Alright, I'm going to need your wand and bag, but otherwise, do I look right?'

'Kind of,' Sirius said, at the same time as Remus said, 'No, you look weird.'

Peter raised his eyebrows at them, and they looked at each other.

'He looks weird to you because you've only ever seen yourself in the mirror. James looked weird to me, too.' Sirius said. 'But that's what you actually look like. You just need to hunch a bit more, Bubbles. Moony holds himself like he's sorry for taking up space.'

'I do not,' Remus said. 'I just don't want to touch anyone.'

Peter chuckled and did as instructed, attempting to make his body smaller.

'Yes, that's it. Perfect.'

Remus huffed and pulled his wand out, stretching his arm towards Peter. 'Here, don't break it.'

'I'm not going to break it,' Peter said with a chuckle, giving the wand an experimental wave. It didn't feel as comfortable as his own in his hand, but it didn't reject him either. He pointed it at James' bed and transfigured the covers pink. 'Seems to work for me.'

'Excellent,' Sirius said. 'We should probably get going. We need to tell Minnie the plan's going ahead before Charms.'

'Yeah.' He went to stow Remus' wand, only to find his holster already filled with his own. Pulling it out, he passed it to Remus. ' Here, you might need this. Where's your bag?'

Remus pointed at the floor next to his bed with Peter's wand. 'You should use my stuff, but swap out our Notebooks so we have the right ones.'

There was a sharp twinge in Peter's back as he bent to pick up the bag and he winced, but he quickly located the Notebook and put it on Remus' bedside table before grabbing his own to replace it. 'Alright, I'm ready.'

Disappointment crossed his features, but Sirius dropped another kiss in Remus' hair and climbed to his feet. 'I hoped the Polyjuice would wear off before we had to leave, but I guess Peter's brew was too good.'

'Sucks for us,' Remus said, smiling at him. 'But it's good for James, so we shouldn't complain.'

'I suppose,' Sirius said. Then he winked. 'I'll just have to make up for it later.'

Peter moved towards the door to give them a moment, calling out a goodbye to Remus as he walked through it. It was sweet seeing them so happy with each other, but it was going to take some getting used to.

Remus checked his watch for the seventh time in five minutes and sighed, closing his book. James had been at Sirius' house for four hours and in that time, Remus had only received one alarm, right at the start. A less than confident, 'Well, here goes nothing,' which had stopped ten minutes later. He hoped that was because James had the opportunity to cast a Cheering charm on himself, and not because he'd been immediately discovered and killed.

But that wasn't why he was obsessively checking the time. He was concerned for James, of course, but there was nothing he could do to help him from Hogwarts, and the lack of alarms suggested he was staying calm and collected. No, Remus wasn't watching the seconds because of James. He was behaving like an idiot because any moment now, Sirius would be released from class, and Remus couldn't wait to see him again.

Of course, he would still look like James for a while, but that couldn't be helped. The Polyjuice plan had been the best thing they could come up with, and waiting a few extra hours for a kiss was a small price to pay to keep Sirius safe. Even if every second that passed without one felt like an eternity now Sirius was finally awake. He'd done his best to occupy himself while he waited, starting with a long soak in the bath as soon as they left, but he couldn't focus on reading or school work and there wasn't much else to do when he was alone and still sore from the moon.

It was embarrassing to say the least that he couldn't keep the grin off his face when the door finally opened, but the fact that Sirius was smiling just as widely helped.

'Hey, how you feeling?' he asked, dumping his bag and joining him on the bed.

'Better now.' Remus cuddled up to him and took a breath through his nose. It was weird. Sirius looked and smelled exactly like James, but being near him still eased the pain. There was absolutely no logical explanation for it.

'As soon as the potion wears off, I'll leave you alone,' Peter said. 'It shouldn't be long.'

'I've been thinking about that,' Sirius said. 'You said nothing happens if you take your own, but what if you take your own when you're already Polyjuiced?'

Peter frowned. 'I hadn't thought about it, but that might actually work. James has all the Sirius potion, though, and we don't have any Peter potion.'

'You might have left some hairs on your pillow last night,' Remus suggested. He could deal with waiting for Sirius to turn back, but if they could be alone sooner, that would be amazing. It didn't seem like Sirius blamed him for the coma, but they still needed to talk about it.

Peter walked over to check, bending over the pillow and running his fingers over it gently. '… Here's one… two, and three. Perfect. Good idea, Moons. I'll just run up to the Den and get a dose.' He carefully deposited the hairs in a bottle before crossing to the door. 'Back in a minute.'

The moment the door closed behind him, Sirius breathed a sigh of relief. 'Thank the gods. It was so weird seeing two of you.'

'Not as weird as seeing James look at me with his Lily face,' Remus said with a chuckle.

'Merlin, I hope this potion wears off soon. I want to kiss you so much.'

'You don't hate me then?'

Sirius frowned. 'Why would I hate you?'

'I told you to follow them, and you ended up in a coma for a month because of it.'

'That's not your fault. You didn't know what would happen.'

'Still.'

'Moons, I don't hate you because you can't predict the future. Stop being ridiculous. Have you been worrying about this all month?'

The sick weight that had been suffocating him for four weeks finally lifted and Remus took his first proper breath since learning why Sirius was unconscious. 'Well, not all the time.'

Pulling Remus tighter against his side, Sirius kissed his hair. 'Silly, Wolf Boy. I could never hate you.'

Remus smiled and snuggled in to him. 'I could never hate you, either.'

A few minutes later, Peter returned brandishing a small vial of Polyjuice and an excited grin. 'Right then, let's see if this works.' He added his hair to the potion, and it rapidly changed from muddy brown to a blue so pale it was almost white. Wrinkling his nose at it, he put the bottle to his lips and—.

'Wait!' Sirius shouted. 'You need to change first. If it works, Moony's robes will strangle you.'

'Just take off the robes and put your dressing gown on,' Remus said. 'In case it doesn't work.'

Peter retreated to the bathroom to do as suggested, looking a bit sheepish for almost ruining Remus' robes, and returned wrapped in his fluffy blue dressing gown to try again.

Nothing happened for a moment after he swallowed the potion, and then all at once the curly hair lightened and shortened, straightening out as it went. His skinny frame plumped up as his face became rounder and his eyes turned from light brown to blue. He was Peter again.

'It worked!' Sirius said. 'This is fantastic.'

'It'll certainly come in useful to be able to change back to ourselves without any waiting,' Remus said.

'But for now,' Peter said. 'I have a date to get ready for.'

Wrapped in the scent of freshly cut grass and a summer's breeze, Remus watched with amusement as Peter scurried around the dorm, entering and leaving the bathroom several times as he prepared to meet Mary for the evening. It took him a good fifteen minutes, but eventually, with a grin and a wave, he left and they were alone.

'How long until you look like you again, do you think?' Remus asked.

Sirius checked his watch. 'Any minute now, actually. They've been lasting about three hours, but I took the last dose early, just before Charms, so it wouldn't wear off during class.'

'If you're feeling okay, we should take some hair so you can turn back into James for dinner and turn back again after.'

'That can wait. I have something much more important to do first.'

'And what might that be?' Remus asked, tilting his head back to look at him with a smirk.

'I've got a month's worth of missed kisses to make up for.'

Remus hummed his approval. 'That does sound like an urgent and important task. However, I'm not sure we'll be able to fit them all in before dinner.'

'You're probably right,' Sirius said, grinning at him. 'We'll need a few hours to properly make up for lost time.'

'Good thing that's exactly how long we have.'

'Still no alarms from James?'

Remus shook his head. 'No, nothing.'

'I don't know how he's managing to stay calm.'

'You know James. He's probably treating it like some epic practical joke.'

'So everything is funny instead of scary. Yeah, that does sound like our Sunshine.'

'Doesn't it?' Remus took a deep breath as he settled his head back into place on Sirius' chest and his nose filled with the scent of wood smoke and vanilla, making him sit back up. 'You smell like you again. You still look like James, though.'

'Must be the first sign,' Sirius said. 'Useful that you can tell before anyone else.'

'Yeah,' Remus agreed, watching as Sirius' hair started to grow rapidly. He reached out and plucked James' glasses off his face, folding the arms down before depositing them carefully on the bedside table, and by the time he looked back at Sirius, he was himself again. 'Gods, I missed you,' he whispered, leaning in to press their lips together.

'Missed you too,' Sirius murmured between kisses.

'You were unconscious.'

Sirius hummed in agreement. 'But I could hear you the whole time. In my head.'

'It worked? I wasn't sure if it would.'

'It worked.' Sirius pulled back to smile at him. 'I don't remember anything except your voice. Thank you for keeping me company.'

'I had to do something. Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let us visit for more than thirty minutes a day.'

'It wouldn't have mattered if she had let you come more. I don't remember anything that was outside of my own head.'

'Even if this is the only time it's actually useful, it'll have been worth it,' Remus said. 'The spell is an absolute pain in the ass most of the time, but I'm glad it allowed me to give you comfort when you couldn't hear us talking to you.'

'See, you all keep saying that, but I don't get it. I love hearing your voice in my head all day.'

Remus chuckled. 'You definitely got the better end of the deal. Try listening to James in your head all day and you might change your mind.'

'Hm, that does sound annoying.'

'It really really is,' Remus said, leaning back in. 'Now, enough talking, more kissing.'

'I like it when you're bossy,' Sirius said, smirking as he closed the gap.

They were a little late going down to dinner, mostly because it took a while to persuade Sirius to let him trim his hair, but they were able to find a gap on the benches big enough for the two of them. It wasn't like they required much room. They were happy enough to sit squashed together. Peter and Mary were nowhere to be seen in the Great Hall, but the other three members of the Malediction were present, and Lily eyed them speculatively as they passed. Remus hoped it was because they were planning another attack and not because she suspected he was the school werewolf.

'We could do it now,' Marlene said. 'Sirius went home for the afternoon and Peter's with Mary, so their dorm will be empty.'

Lily tore her gaze from watching Remus and Potter find seats at the table and turned back to her friends. 'No, there's still too many people around. We'd be seen.' Not that she was looking forward to a midnight excursion any more than Marlene was, particularly after her pointless early morning trip to the Hospital Wing.

She should have known it wouldn't be that easy. As if the staff would just let her see the werewolf being brought in after a full moon. Even if they'd taken all possible precautions and it was perfectly safe, which she was sure they had and it was, they wouldn't want to risk anyone finding out. Judging by Marlene's reaction when she'd done some careful probing of her friends' thoughts on the topic, there'd be uproar and the poor student would be driven out of school. Wizards didn't like werewolves.

Lily wasn't trying to out the werewolf, though. When she found out their identity, she would keep it to herself. She just wanted to know who Sunshine was, and the werewolf was her only lead.

'Yeah, we shouldn't change the plan now,' Dorcas said, picking through her portion of cottage pie with her fork and removing anything remotely orange. 'Things go wrong when you change it last minute.'

Marlene moved her plate over to Dorcas' and scraped the rejected pieces of carrot onto it. 'You just don't like it when plans change,' she said, mixing the extra veg into her dinner before scooping some up and popping it in her mouth.

'Those were mine,' Dorcas said, staring at her.

'You weren't going to eat them.'

'You don't know that.'

'I do. You hate carrots.'

'You still should have asked.'

'Girls,' Lily said, interrupting them before it could turn into a full-blown argument. 'Let's not fight, yeah?'

'Fine,' Dorcas said, shooting Marlene one last glare before shifting her plate a little further away from the thief and laying her arm on the table between them to guard it.

Lily rolled her eyes. Dorcas could be so weird sometimes.

Several hours later, the bad feeling between the two girls was as faded as the sunlight as they crept through the enormous double doors and out into the moonlit grounds. Lily pulled the sleeves of her coat over her hands to protect them from the cold air and grinned at her friends. It was always exciting to be out after hours.

They stayed quiet, communicating only with head jerks and facial expressions as they circumvented the castle to the base of Gryffindor Tower, but once they were there, Lily was forced to break the silence, pulling out her wand and two miniaturised broomsticks from her pockets. 'Engorgio. Engorgio.' She passed one to Marlene and mounted the other.

Dorcas joined Marlene while Mary straddled the broom behind Lily, wrapping her arms around her waist. 'Let's hope you're right that they didn't booby trap the window,' she whispered into Lily's ear as they rose into the air.

It only took a few seconds to reach the window of the boys' dormitory, and Lily peeked inside. With no fire in the grate, the room was darker than it was outside, and she couldn't make out much, but she was fairly sure no one was walking around, so she pointed her wand at the window and whispered the unlocking spell. 'Alohomora.'

The lock clicked open on the first attempt and she reached out, gripping the edge of the window and pulling it towards her, before flying through the opening and landing as quietly as possible in the middle of the room. Her eyes adjusted to the gloom quickly once she was inside, and she looked around, checking the beds. Three of the four had drawn curtains and were emitting various sounds from breathing to snoring, but the last one was empty. Had Sirius not returned from his trip home yet, or was someone in the bathroom? The covers hadn't been disturbed, which suggested no one had slept there that night, so they were probably safe.

Glancing at the others, Lily jerked her head at the bathroom door, and Marlene grinned in response. Being closest to the door, Dorcas took the lead, and they all followed her through, pausing just inside.

'Why do they have a bath?' Dorcas asked in a whisper.

'Let's wonder about that later,' Marlene said. 'We need to get the job done and get out of here before someone wakes up.'