When Sirius, McGonagall, and Flitwick reached the castle, McGonagall insisted on escorting Sirius to the Hospital Wing for a check-up to make sure he was unhurt, despite his insistence that he was fine. They arrived to find James with his shirt off and his back to Madam Pomfrey, who was hovering over him with her wand out.

'What happened?' Sirius asked, hurrying over.

James waved him off. 'It's just some cuts and bruises. Nothing exciting.'

'Where is Miss Evans?' McGonagall asked.

'Peter took her up to the Tower to get some sleep. We thought it better if she wasn't here to see Remus missing all night.'

'She's not hurt?'

James shook his head. 'No, that Lord Voldemort guy shot a Killing curse at us, but we dodged it and it blew up the wall of the tunnel. That's how I got these,' he pointed over his shoulder, 'But I stopped any of it hitting Evans.'

Professor McGonagall smiled. 'Very chivalrous.'

'What's happening with Remus?'

'He's loose in the Forest,' Professor McGonagall said, looking towards the window. 'Hopefully, he stays in there until morning. Not that there's much we can do about it.' She sighed heavily. 'And I have no idea how we're going to find him.'

Sirius looked at James with a raised eyebrow, and James hesitated for a second but nodded, so Sirius turned to McGonagall. 'About that. I… um… that is to say, we… we have a way to find him.'

'How?'

'So, um, a while ago we did a spell,' he said. 'It links us together so we know when one of us is in danger and we can find each other.'

'Why would you do such a thing?'

Sirius shrugged. 'It was after that time Professor Tenebris took Remus and we had to find them, remember? You helped us. We wanted to make sure we could find each other next time.'

'The results were much more intense than we expected,' James said. 'But we're getting used to it. Came in handy tonight, actually.'

'How so?'

'Well, we're linked in a circle,' James said. 'We're not all connected to everyone. And the alert comes in the form of what the person is thinking when they realise their life is in danger. We've been practising and we're pretty good at sending intentional messages to each other now. When Sirius found out where I'd take Voldemort, he told Peter, and Peter fetched Professor Tenebris and met us at the other end, letting me know he was coming telepathically. It wasn't needed in the end, but if the trap hadn't worked, the backup would have been welcome.'

'The point is, I can use the tracking part of the spell to find Remus when the moon sets,' Sirius said.

'I can't find any damage from the spell,' Madam Pomfrey said. 'I've checked him thoroughly. They must have done it correctly.'

'Can it be removed?' McGonagall asked.

Madam Pomfrey shook her head. 'As far as I can tell, the spell is designed to be permanent. I can't even find any sign of it. It's fully integrated into their own magic.'

'Good,' Sirius said. 'I don't want it removed.'

'Yeah, me neither,' James agreed.

McGonagall shook her head, closing her eyes briefly. 'Let's just hope you remain friends for the rest of your lives, because you'll definitely regret this spell if you don't.'

'We will,' James said, sounding absolutely certain of it, and McGonagall smiled fondly at him.

'Professor?' Sirius asked. 'What happened to the guy that opened the door? He was still alive when we last saw him, but…'

'I found him and took him to St Mungo's. He was still alive when I left, and he has no memory of what happened.'

'Do you think we could not tell Remus about it? He'll never forgive himself.'

McGonagall and Pomfrey shared a look between them, and McGonagall nodded. 'Yes, I think we can agree to that. Decide between yourselves what you want to tell him and let us know.'

Sirius nodded. 'Thanks.'

'You're all done, Mister Potter. You can get dressed now. There's still a couple of hours until moonset. Why don't you two get some sleep?'

'One more thing first, Poppy,' McGonagall said. 'Miss Evans will need to be reprimanded for being off school grounds in the middle of the night. Which means you all will need to be reprimanded, too. I'll call all of you to a meeting together tomorrow afternoon, so make sure you have your story straight.'

James nodded. 'We will. We're not going to sleep, though. Not with Remus out there.'

'Yeah,' Sirius agreed. 'Not a chance of that happening.'

'That's just as well,' Professor Dumbledore said, walking into the room with Professor Tenebris and Madam Rosmerta. 'I have some things to discuss with you.'

'Albus,' Professor McGonagall said. 'What happened?'

'Lord Voldemort escaped the trap before Rosmerta and I arrived. But on the plus side, the school is safe thanks to Mister Potter. Let's see, I think fifty points for showing amazing courage and fortitude would be appropriate.'

'Thank you, sir,' James said politely, but when Dumbledore turned his attention back to McGonagall, he rolled his eyes at Sirius. James really didn't care a jot about House points.

'The passage has been cleared and made safe,' Dumbledore said. 'And its presence so close to Professor Hawthorne's classroom may be enough to raise some questions regarding Emhio's conviction, if you would be so good as to inform the Ministry, Minerva.'

'Of course. I'll do it first thing in the morning.'

'Poppy, would you give Rosmerta a check-up? She was placed under the Cruciatus curse, twice.'

'Oh, you poor dear. Come with me. How are you feeling? Any tremors?' Madam Pomfrey said, hurrying to Rosmerta's side and leading her to a bed with an arm around her shoulder.

'If you don't need me,' Professor Tenebris said. 'I'd like to stay with Ros.'

Dumbledore inclined his head. 'Of course, Deasura. Go and be with your friend.' Once she'd left, he turned to James and Sirius. 'Now, what can you tell me about the spells that were used to break into the Shack?'

'Must you question the children now?' McGonagall said. 'They've had a long night.'

'It's okay,' James said. 'But I don't know how much use we can be. All we heard was the banging. It was really loud, but I have no idea what spell would have caused it.'

Sirius nodded. 'Yeah. They were trying for at least a minute before they got through, though.'

'Evans might be able to tell you more. I think she was sitting outside the Shack, waiting to see who was collected in the morning, so she might have heard something. But she's gone to bed.'

'I'll speak to her tomorrow, then.'

'I'll send her to you after I've had a word with her about leaving the school grounds,' Professor McGonagall said.

'Thank you,' he said. 'Now, regarding Mister Lupin. Have plans been made to locate him when the moon sets?'

'Yes,' McGonagall said. 'Mister Black has admitted to magically creating a telepathic link between himself and Mister Lupin, which can be used to track his location. We'll set out the moment it's safe to do so.'

'Irresponsible, but fortuitous given the circumstances,' Dumbledore commented, not seeming phased by the information in the slightest. 'And what of Mister Lupin's unwitting rescuer?'

'I delivered him to St Mungo's with his memory of the evening removed. He's alive,' McGonagall said. 'We've decided not to inform Mister Lupin, though. His friends believe the guilt would be unbearable for him.'

Dumbledore nodded. 'I agree. This was not his fault, it was mine, and the guilt is mine to bear. I never imagined anyone would be so determined to enter and I'm afraid I neglected to defend against such a powerful attack, but there are additional security measures I can put in place to ensure this never happens again.'

'Oh, that reminds me,' Sirius said, pulling the collection of wands from his pocket. 'I still have all these wands. They didn't belong to any of the hostages.'

'Let's see,' Dumbledore said. 'I think these two,' he plucked two of the wands from his hand, 'belong to me now.'

'Four of them will be from the people I found stunned on the edge of the Forest,' McGonagall said. 'The last one probably belongs to miss Evans.'

'Who stunned them?'

'I did,' Sirius said. 'They were attacking Remus.'

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. 'Indeed? Well, those four wands will belong to you now.' He nodded at the wands in Sirius' hand. 'Can I ask what happened after you stunned them? With Mister Lupin, I mean. You must have been scared?'

'Yeah, a bit. I thought I'd really fuc—. Er, messed up, but Remus just looked at me, growled a bit, then he howled and ran into the Forest. I think he recognised me.'

'Really? That is interesting. Very interesting indeed.' Dumbledore ran his hand down the length of his beard thoughtfully. 'This may be the first instance of a werewolf choosing not to attack a human. It's a shame it has to remain a secret. If we could show that werewolves are capable of affection towards humans they've bonded with, it could go a long way towards establishing better rights for them.'

Sirius glanced at James and was unsurprised to see him staring unblinkingly at some invisible point in the far distance. It's what happened when one hundred per cent of his attention turned inward, stuck in some train of thought so utterly fascinating that he forgot to be present in reality too. And Dumbledore's suggestion that there might be a way they could help in the fight for better werewolf rights was bound to have triggered such a train of thought. Sirius could practically hear his brain working through all the potential problems and ways to solve them.

'Right,' Dumbledore said. 'Can I ask that you not speak to anyone about what happened in Hogsmeade last night? I'm concerned it would cause a panic among the student population, and please inform Miss Evans to do the same. I think that's everything. Please, let me know when Mister Lupin has been located, and his condition. Goodnight.'

Dumbledore left, and McGonagall turned to Sirius. 'I suggest you take some time to practise with those wands, Mister Black. Spare wands can be useful, but less so if you've never used them before.'

Sirius nodded, slipping them back into his pocket. 'I will.'

'I have a few things to see to, but I'll be back at five-thirty to escort you into the Forest. I suggest you at least try to get some sleep.'

'Did Moony really run away from you?' James asked when she was gone.

'Yeah, they were torturing him, and one of them said they were going to try the cruciatus curse. I flipped. Wasn't thinking about what would happen after, when it was just me and him. I just stunned them all. But he looked at me and I swear he recognised me. I could see him fighting his instincts to attack me. And then he just turned around and ran in the other direction.'

'Well, we knew he liked you the most,' James said. 'But that's mad.'

'Yeah,' Sirius agreed. 'Gods, I'm so worried about him, James. There's a fucking acromantula in that Forest. What if he tries to play with it?'

'Do you feel like he's afraid?'

'No. The alarm stopped about half an hour after he ran into the Forest, so I guess he was having enough fun to cancel it, unless…'

'He's not dead,' James said. 'Don't even think that. He's just having a fucking blast.'

Sirius sat on the bed next to James and put his head in his hands. 'I hope so. I hate not knowing.'

'Yeah, me too, but we've got to think positive. Moony's not an idiot.' James put his arm around Sirius' waist, pulling him into a sideways hug and Sirius let his head fall onto James' shoulder.

The time until the moon set passed interminably slowly, but after a lifetime, McGonagall returned as promised to escort Sirius into the Forest to look for Remus. He waited until they were inside the tree line before he activated the tracking spell, and it tugged him further in.

'He's this way,' Sirius said, pointing, and they walked on in silence, occasionally shifting direction to avoid an obstacle, but as always, the spell led him via the quickest route, and apparently, when in the Forest, the magic had decided "quickest" meant "least obstructed," because the route was surprisingly clear.

The invisible rope tugged him towards a small clearing and as he approached, a familiar voice called out. 'Who goes there?'

'Firenze?' Sirius called back. 'It's Sirius.'

'Sirius Black! It is good to see you,' Firenze said when Sirius stepped through the trees. 'You are here for Remus Lupin?'

'Yeah,' Sirius said, looking at the heap of animal skins in the centre of the clearing that the invisible rope was insistently tugging him towards. 'Is that him? Is he okay?'

'Yes, it is chilly this morning. I did not wish him to be cold after he transformed back. And he is well, I think. How did he get out?'

Sirius explained what had happened as he moved closer to Remus. The only part of him exposed to the air was his head, so Sirius stroked a finger down his cheek to satisfy the tracking charm, before standing back up to introduce McGonagall to Firenze.

'It is good to meet you,' Firenze said. 'James Potter and his friends speak highly of you.'

'Do they?' McGonagall replied. 'I find that surprising considering the amount of detentions I've given them.'

'None of them were undeserved,' Sirius said. 'We should get him back to the school.'

'I will escort you to the edge of the Forest,' Firenze said.

McGonagall conjured a stretcher beneath Remus so as not to disturb him, and Sirius went over, tucking the animal skins around him more securely before Firenze led them out of the clearing with McGonagall levitating the stretcher ahead of them.

Remus was sitting up in his hospital bed staring at Sirius and trying to comprehend what he was being told. He'd escaped the Shack and run wild in the Forbidden Forest after being tortured by followers of Lord Voldemort and apparently deciding not to maul his boyfriend to death for some reason.

'You're sure I didn't hurt anyone?' he asked at last.

'Yes, McGonagall did a thorough search as a cat,' Sirius said, looking him right in the eyes. That's what was making him uneasy. Every time he confirmed that Remus hadn't hurt anyone, Sirius made sure to look him right in the eyes. It was freaking him out because Sirius didn't do that. When he talked, his eyes darted around the room, looking at everything and anything that caught his attention and only occasionally looking at the person he was conversing with, even if the conversation was an important one.

The last time Sirius had looked at him so intently while talking to him had been at the Quidditch match when he'd promised he hadn't touched him.

And that had been a lie.

'Alright,' Remus said at last. 'You should go. Lily's going to be looking for you if she didn't see you last night.'

Sirius smiled and leaned closer, kissing him gently. 'James will be down later to get you, and I'll come with him if I can.'

Remus nodded. 'Bye.'

After he left through the new secret passage, Remus made himself comfortable and closed his eyes, concentrating on his breathing and clearing his mind. There was one place he knew of where he could find out the truth of what happened the night before. He'd been refusing to acknowledge it for a long time, but he'd secretly suspected for a while what he would find there if he looked.

His mindscape formed before his eyes and he strolled through the gates and onto the grounds before turning towards the tree on the edge of the manicured lawns for the first time. He didn't need to freeze it. It recognised him as the rightful owner of the memories and allowed him to pass into the tunnel at its roots.

Remus swallowed as he approached the trapdoor at the other end of the passage, but he gathered his courage and pushed it open, climbing inside. Nothing could have prepared him for what he stepped into. Instead of the Shrieking Shack, the trapdoor in his mind led to a bare stone room containing nothing but an enormous bookcase. The lower shelves were stocked with books, but the upper shelves remained empty, waiting to be filled.

Figured his mind would organise things this way if left to its own devices.

Remus moved closer so he could read the spines. Embossed in gold on each one was a date, and as he got closer to the present, he began to recognise them. They were the dates of the full moons. The final book on the topmost shelf that was filled bore the date April 17th - 18th 1973, but as he reached for it, he hesitated.

Did he really want to look at that one first?

Changing his mind, he pulled his hand back and crouched, reaching for the book dated March 17th - 18th 1965 instead. Nothing happened when he touched it, and he pulled it out. The cover was blank, smooth leather, and he flipped it open to see if there was anything inside, but the moment he did, his surroundings melted away and he found himself on all fours, blinking at a familiar room. Stripped of everything but the heaviest furniture, it was his childhood bedroom.

His mind was filled with emotions that didn't belong to him, a little confusion, a little fear, but mostly curiosity. He sniffed the air and his mother's scent filled his nose, but instead of bringing him comfort, it made his mouth water. He wanted to find it and bite it. His human mind recoiled at the thought, but the alien part that was in control was unaffected and continued searching, trying to find where the smell was coming from.

He followed the trail to the bedroom door and began scratching at the carpet, trying to break through, but when he found he couldn't, his frustration bubbled over and he head-butted the wall until it made him dizzy. The scent was pulling on his instincts, demanding he find it, but he couldn't, and he howled in frustration and pain. Because it hurt, smelling the scent and not biting it. Not physical pain, but something deeper that Remus, as a human, had never felt.

In his fury, he trashed the room, flinging his tiny body around until there was nothing left to destroy, then he scratched and bit himself. Remus' human mind watched it all play out, knowing there was nothing he could do to change the events that had already happened. He remembered waking up the morning after his first transformation and being horrified by the wolf's anger and brutality but watching it happen through Moony's eyes cast a different light on it. He hadn't been full of hate at all. He'd been suffering.

Remus watched a few more memories from those early years, but after a while, he couldn't continue. In every one, the scent of his mother, Lyall, or both of them filled every part of his mind and drove him insane with desire. They'd been torturing him, keeping him in Remus' bedroom for his transformations.

Skipping ahead, he pulled out the book marked March 12th - 13th 1971. The first full moon after his eleventh birthday, when Moony had escaped his confinement the first time.

The joy Moony felt when the door finally gave way under his onslaught against it, quickly turned to despair when he couldn't find the source of the smell on the other side of it. He'd torn through the front room, searching, but when the television crashed to the floor, the noise scared him and he bolted through to the kitchen, slamming into the kitchen door and flinging it open. Faced with the outside for the first time, Moony had frozen for several moments, just sniffing the air and looking around at all the space.

The delight that flooded him when he ran into the woods next to Remus' house brought tears to Remus' eyes. His happiness had been so pure and innocent. But he laughed when Moony met his first creature, a little grey squirrel. His shock had given way to intense interest, and the squirrel, somehow seeming to sense that the wolf was not a threat to him, had tolerated Moony's curious sniffing with an air of one being rudely imposed upon.

Remus couldn't bear to watch the memory of the next full moon when Moony would have found himself in the underground cage for the first time. He remembered those few months well. He'd woken up from each full moon more injured than the last and strongly suspected the wolf had been trying to end his life. There wasn't a single part of him that wanted to know what Moony had been feeling during those months.

Instead, he skipped a few and pulled out the book marked Sept 5th - 6th 1971, his first full moon at Hogwarts.

The wolf's curiosity was present there too, and from what Remus could tell, it was a major part of the animal's personality. He'd been afraid of the fire when he'd first seen it and had watched it carefully for a while before continuing to explore his new home. The scent of Madam Pomfrey had caught his attention, and though Remus could distinguish the difference, to the wolf, it smelled the same as Remus' parents had. That is to say, it smelled like it would be good to bite.

The scent was faint though and getting older by the second, so Moony quickly lost interest with the mystery of his new surroundings to investigate. The confusion the wolf felt regarding the change in his location gave Remus pause. He'd never considered how odd it must be for the wolf to wake up in a different place from where he'd fallen asleep.

Remus continued watching memories from notable months. The month Sirius had first followed him to the Shack, the next one when he'd been late, and last Easter when the wolf had waited all night for Sirius and he'd never arrived. The range of emotions Moony was capable of feeling surprised him, particularly how much he cared about Sirius. By the time he reached the first moon James and Peter had spent beneath the Shack, he was no longer surprised by the intensity of Moony's joy at having more packmates. Because that's how Moony thought of them. They were his pack. His desire to help and protect on the night of the Creature Hunt Ritual, however, shocked him.

Moony hadn't been able to understand the words of James' telepathic message, but he understood the feelings accompanying it, and he tried everything he could to get out. The need to rescue his packmate was even more compelling than the desire to bite when he smelled human scent. How was that possible?

Placing the book back on the shelf, Remus took a deep breath and eyed the last one on the top shelf again. It was time to stop stalling and see what had happened the night before.

The night had started off well. Moony had been overjoyed to have his whole pack with him again and Remus couldn't help but smile as he witnessed the behaviour Sirius had once described in a letter; the wolf running through the Shack like an excited puppy, up and down the stairs and back and forth between the downstairs rooms, but always returning to the trapdoor to bark or howl at his packmates.

After a while, he'd spotted the ball Sirius had bought for the wolf's "birthday" and begun playing with that instead. Remus had to admit, the gift had been a stroke of genius on Sirius' part. The wolf adored it, chasing it through the Shack, pouncing whenever he cornered it and barking with triumph before releasing it to repeat the process over again. The only thing that drew his attention away from the game was another presence entering his territory.

The wolf registered it as being a potential new friend, but when his welcoming barks and howl got no response, he quickly lost interest and returned to his game, though the presence remained nearby. That must have been Lily arriving. Sirius had told him they thought she'd been spying on the Shack before she was captured by Lord Voldemort.

The memory went on for some time with Moony playing and Remus' friends talking in the background. And then the banging started. After watching the previous memories, Remus wasn't surprised when Moony's initial fear of the noise, and the dangerous feeling of the presence causing it, gave way to protectiveness as Moony stood guard over the trapdoor and his packmates beyond it.

The door blew off its hinges and Moony growled at the wizard standing in the opening. He smelled wonderful, but Moony didn't leave his position guarding his packmates until the wizard fired a Stunning spell at him. The pain the spell caused had jolted him into action, and he'd sprung at the man. Remus watched in horror from behind the wolf's eyes as he sank his teeth into the wizard's arm, pleasure rippling through him at finally getting to bite.

The wizard had screamed, but Moony had continued his attack, biting into the soft flesh of his stomach until the man passed out and went quiet. Then he'd looked up and realised he was free. It seemed to be the only thing that saved the man because Moony was torn. He wanted to keep biting, but he wanted to escape more and, after a moment of indecision, he ran.

Remus felt sick. He'd infected someone, sentencing them to the same life of pain and horror that he'd been forced to endure for so many years. And he'd enjoyed doing it. He was a monster.

He couldn't bear to keep watching, and he wrenched his eyes open, painfully withdrawing from his mindscape and back to reality where he was sitting up in his hospital bed, breathing hard. Then he turned his head and vomited all over the floor.

James took the large bottle of Polyjuice from the cupboard and filled two single-dose vials with it, absently humming a tune while he worked. To the first, he added the hairs they'd taken from Remus a few days previously, then he plucked a few hairs from his own head and added them to the second vial before putting the stopper in and slipping it into his pocket.

Sirius had returned from the Hospital Wing (by broom through the window) a few minutes ago, with a smile on his face. Remus had believed him when he said no one had been hurt the night before, despite his escape from the Shack. Now all they had to worry about was Evans. She had seen James and Peter the night before while the moon was in the sky, but she hadn't seen Sirius and Remus. Which meant it was James' turn to pretend to be Remus.

He'd already changed into some of Remus' clothes, and since most of Remus' clothes were a little big on him, they were only a bit too tight for James but way too short. The trousers ended mid-calf. Not that it really bothered him. He was pretty used to dressing in the wrong size clothes at this point.

His job was going to be a lot harder than Peter's had been last month. With the new friendship they had with the girls, James was going to have to do a top-notch impression of Remus while actually interacting with other people. Last month, Peter had just had to pretend to be Remus in class, which meant taking lots of notes and not drifting off into daydreams. Peter had shown them the "notes" at the end of the day, and they'd had nothing to do with the lesson at all.

There was one thing, though, that James was grateful for. And that was the fact that Sirius and Remus had yet to kiss in front of the girls because he wasn't sure if he could do that. Remus kissing him had been weird enough, but Sirius was like a brother to him. And that was just not right. Cuddling was fine, and he could probably manage a peck on the lips if he had to for the sake of his disguise, it wasn't that different to kissing him on the cheek or the forehead, but he drew the line at snogging. That would not be happening.

James glanced at his watch. He didn't want to take the potion until it was time to leave and he still had a few minutes, so he checked himself over one more time. He had Remus' wand tucked into his holster and he'd smudged some ink onto the ends of the fingers on his left hand and down the side of the pinky because Remus seemed to perpetually have ink in those places.

'You ready, mate?' Sirius asked, coming out of the bathroom. He'd gone to take a shower to wake himself up a bit after returning from the Hospital Wing. James had managed to get a few hours of sleep after Sirius and McGonagall had returned from the Forest with an uninjured Remus, but Sirius had stayed in the private room waiting for him to wake up so he could break the news about the escape.

'Yeah, I think so.'

'Don't worry,' Sirius said, grinning. 'Being Remus is easy. Just stay quiet most of the time and occasionally say something extremely sarcastic and funny.'

James laughed. 'Yeah, that sounds about right.'

'And try not to stare at Lily.'

'That's the hard part,' James said with a chuckle. 'I have to stare at your ugly mug instead.'

'Ah, you poor lamb. How you suffer for us,' Sirius said, reaching up to ruffle James' hair. 'Come on, turn into my boyfriend already. Pete's all alone down there.'

'Gross,' James said, picking up the vial of Remus' Polyjuice and wrinkling his nose. 'Wish we could make this stuff taste better.'

'If there was a way, I'm sure Bubbles would've figured it out by now.'

James laughed. 'Yeah, probably.' There was no point in delaying it any longer, so he drank the potion in a single gulp and braced himself for the pain. The transformation into another person was as awful as always, but he was proud to say he managed to stay on his feet this time.

'Looking hot today, Potter,' Sirius said, smirking at him as he took off his glasses, placing them carefully on his desk.

'Don't start,' James said, rolling his shoulders and wiggling his fingers as he tried to get accustomed to the new body. 'Gods, is Remus always this achy?'

Sirius' smirk widened. 'No idea. I've not had the pleasure of being inside him yet.'

James blinked at him for a moment before shaking his head. 'Really? That was awful. Siriusly awful. Jokes are funnier when they're subtle.'

Sirius nodded. 'That was a perfect impression. Well done.'

'It was good, wasn't it?' James said, grinning. 'Right, let's get down there.'

'Less eagerness,' Sirius said. 'And don't move so fast.'

'Right,' James agreed, slowing his movements as he approached the door. Gods, this was going to be hard.

Sirius slipped past him on the stairs, taking the lead as they walked into the common room and joined the girls and Peter, who were sitting in a grouping of chairs and small sofas surrounding a low table. Mary and Peter were sitting together on a two-seater sofa, while Evans and Marlene were squashed into an armchair together, and Dorcas was sitting alone in another armchair. Sirius sat on the remaining empty sofa, and James joined him, snuggling in close and taking his hand as they all exchanged greetings.

'Potter still asleep?' Evans asked.

She was asking where he was! James struggled to keep the smile off Remus' face as he let Sirius answer.

'Yeah, didn't seem like he was going to wake up any time soon.'

Evans frowned at him. 'What are you smirking at, Remus?'

Widening his eyes in a mockery of innocence, James shrugged. 'Just find it funny how interested you are in James' whereabouts all of a sudden.'

'Well, he did save her from Lord Voldemort last night,' Marlene said. 'It's only natural that she might have developed a crush on him.'

Evans elbowed her in the side. 'Shut up, Marls.'

'Ow!' Marlene said pointedly. 'You got bony elbows, Lils.'

'I guess you haven't spoken to Dumbledore yet,' Sirius said to Evans.

'No. Why?'

'He asked us not to tell anyone about what happened in Hogsmeade last night. Doesn't want everyone to panic.'

'I've only told Marls, Cas, and Mary,' Evans said. 'We won't tell anyone else.'

James wondered how much she'd told them. Did they know about the werewolf? The tongue-tying curse wouldn't stop her from talking about it anymore. How could he find out without mentioning it?

'So what happened to you two?' Marlene asked.

'Er, maybe we should go talk about this somewhere else?' Sirius suggested, looking around at the crowded common room.

'Yeah, that's probably a good idea,' Lily agreed. 'We could go to the party room, but Potter won't know where to find us when he wakes up.'

'We have notebooks, remember?' Peter said. 'We can let him know where we are.'

'Notebooks?' Mary asked.

Peter explained what he was talking about while they made their way out of the common room and down the hall to the short-cut, and as they passed the entrance to the Grand Staircase, Sirius squeezed his hand, nodding towards it when James looked at him in question.

Right. Remus wouldn't go down the pole last time. 'I think I'll take the stairs again,' he said. 'I'll see you down there.'

It was annoying, but there would be plenty more opportunities to slide down the pole again. Right then, his job was to play a convincing Remus so Evans wouldn't figure out he was a werewolf, and if there was one thing Remus hated, it was heights.

No one argued with him and he took his time walking down to the third floor, knowing Remus wouldn't bother hurrying so he shouldn't either, even if the slow pace was akin to torture for him. Slow was fine when he had company, but when alone, he much preferred to walk at the fastest possible speed. He was all about the destination, not the journey. And when the destination included Evans, that was even more true than usual.

When he (finally) arrived, he realised Evans hadn't given him the password. Of course, she hadn't. She thought he was Remus, and Remus already knew the password. Shit.

He didn't have his notebook on him, and it would take too long to run down to the Hospital Wing and ask Remus. There was only one option. After debating with himself about how believable it would be for a good couple of minutes, he pulled out Remus' wand and used the fat end to bang as hard as could on the frame of the portrait.

'Do you mind?' the inhabitant asked, annoyed.

'Sorry.'

There was a long pause before the portrait swung open, and Evans was peering at him curiously.

'Couldn't remember the password,' James said.

'That's not like you,' Evans said. 'Are you feeling okay?'

And she was right; Remus didn't forget things like that. And now she was looking at him suspiciously. 'Yeah, just tired. Didn't get much sleep last night,' he said, hoping that would be enough of an explanation.

'Yeah, me too,' she said, pulling a face as she stepped back to let him in. 'Last night was crazy. I still can't quite believe it wasn't all a horrible dream.'

'Even the part where James heroically rescued you?' James asked, wiggling Remus' eyebrows at her.

She blushed. 'Well, that part wasn't as horrible.'

'That's what I thought,' he said with a smirk as he stepped past her to join Sirius in the nest of cushions that were left from the party.

When he sat down, Sirius immediately twisted around and lay back, putting his head in his lap and pointing at his hair. 'Stroke?'

The fucking bastard was smiling at him innocently, but he knew exactly what he was doing. James was so going to get him back for this. As he began running Remus' fingers through Sirius' hair, he could see Peter struggling to keep a straight face on the other side of the circle. The only thought that kept him from losing his composure was that if he successfully pulled this off, it would go some way to making Remus trust him again.

'So,' Evans said, taking her seat between Marlene and Mary, 'what happened to you two last night?'

'Well, I don't know how much James already told you,' James said, knowing exactly what he'd already told her. 'We all went to stock up our butterbeer supply, but it was such a nice night, Sirius and I wanted to go for a walk around the village.'

'Me and James said it was fine,' Peter chimed in. 'Because we're nice like that.'

James nodded. 'They did. So we left them to cart the bottles back to our dorm and went out.'

'We were having such a nice time,' Sirius said, smiling up at James lovingly, 'we lost track of time. But I guess we'd been out for about an hour before we heard the bangs?'

James nodded. 'Yeah, something like that. We were behind Zonko's,' he said, naming a shop at the other end of the village from the Shack.

'Snogging,' Sirius added.

'They didn't need to know that, Sirius,' James said, primly. 'Anyway, we heard the bangs, and we were worried about James and Peter, so we crept back to the main street to see what was happening and we saw everyone tied up outside. We weren't close enough to hear anything, but we saw James come out of the pub and then take you and two of the masked people inside.'

'That's when I got my notebook and wrote to Peter. I figured he'd have gone back to the school to get someone. So we stayed hidden until Dumbledore showed up and scared the rest off. We thought about taking them out ourselves, but—'

'—I told him that was stupid,' James interrupted.

'We could have beaten them,' Sirius said.

James rolled his eyes. 'We're second-years, Sirius. Even James wasn't stupid enough to try to fight them.'

'Right,' Sirius said. 'Because tricking them into walking into a trap wasn't stupidly dangerous at all. James said Voldemort shot a Killing curse at him.'

'Yeah, but he didn't know they were willing to kill people at the time, did he?' James said, letting his fingers tangle in Sirius' hair so it would pull a little. It was a bit rich, Sirius calling what James did "stupidly dangerous" when he'd chased down a werewolf, but he couldn't say that, could he? So pulling his hair was the best revenge he could take in the moment.

'I think he was really brave,' Evans said, making James' stomach flip over and he sat up straighter, before remembering he was Remus and returning to his slouched position.

'Yeah, he wasn't sorted into Gryffindor for nothing,' he said.

'Doesn't anyone want to hear what I was doing?' Peter asked.

'We know what you were doing,' Dorcas said. 'Getting the teachers.'

'Yeah,' Peter said. 'And I had to run up about a hundred staircases. It was very heroic.'

'You were amazing,' Mary said, dropping a kiss on his cheek. 'If it wasn't for you, Dumbledore might not have arrived in time.'

Peter nodded. 'Exactly.'

'Guess you're going to have to start getting your drinks the normal way now,' Marlene said. 'Rosmerta will probably block off the passage.'

James laughed. 'What makes you think she didn't already know about it?'

'The first time we took a bunch of bottles,' Sirius said, 'we left the money with a note saying what we took, and the next time we went back, she'd put a price list down there with a dish for the money.'

'I think she appreciates the business,' James said.

'Might be hard to use it now that the staff know about it, though,' Evans pointed out. 'They'll be watching it, especially Filch.'

'That's true,' Sirius said. 'But we have our ways of getting about without being seen.'

Glancing at his wrist to check the time, James realised it was nearing midday, and he needed to leave to collect Remus. 'Anyway, I wanted to go to the library before lunch. I've run out of stuff to read,' he said, looking down at Sirius. 'So, you're going to have to move.'

Sirius huffed and sat up. 'Always choosing books over me. I don't know how I put up with it. Go on, then. Abandon me.'

'So dramatic,' James said. 'You could always come with me.'

Sirius perked up, grinning. 'I pick that option.'

'Come on, then. We'll see you later, guys.'

They had almost reached the Grand Staircase when James heard Peter's voice in his head. 'Lily said she was going to have a nap, but I think she might be following you.'

'Shit, Pete says Evans might be following us,' James whispered.

'Well, you didn't behave very Remus-y when she called you brave, did you? What are we going to do?'

'Go to the library?'

'And stay there until she stops spying? How much longer does the polyjuice have left?'

'About an hour. Up or down?'

'Up,' Sirius said, and they both turned onto the stairs, heading up. 'An hour might not be long enough. We need to lose her. Come on.'

They sped up and left the Grand Staircase on the fifth floor, hurrying down a few corridors before slipping into an alcove behind a suit of armour.

'Did we lose her?' James asked as Sirius peeked out.

Sirius pulled his head back quickly. 'Nope, she just came around the corner.'

'Maybe she didn't see where we went.' James peered out past the suit of armour, just as Evans was sticking her head into the alcove before theirs. 'She's checking the alcoves.'

'Shit.'

They stared at each other, both of them knowing there was only one option left to protect Remus' secret, and both of them were equally unhappy about it. Well, maybe not equally. At least he looked like Remus, so it wouldn't be as awkward for Sirius as it would for James.

Evans' footsteps were getting closer, and they were running out of time, so James took a deep breath and steeled himself before wrapping his arms around Sirius' neck and leaning in to kiss him. Sirius kissed him back without hesitating, trailing his fingers down his back and back up again. And then…

'Oh my God! Shit! I'm sorry. I'm going, I'm going.'

They jumped apart, both turning to look at the red-faced Evans, who was backing away quickly.

'Did you follow us?' Sirius demanded, sounding angry. 'What the fuck, Lily?'

'I'm sorry. Remus was acting oddly, and I thought… It doesn't matter what I thought. It was stupid. Of course, Remus isn't… Anyway, I'm going to go. You can go back to… what you were doing. Okay, bye.' And with that, she turned on her heel and hurried back down the corridor. James waited until he was sure she was gone before wiping his mouth with the end of his sleeve.

'We never speak of this again,' he said, not looking at Sirius.

'Agreed,' Sirius said. 'Except, I kind of have to tell Remus.'

'Except to tell Remus. Then we never speak of this again.'

They took the new secret passage that led directly into Remus' private room just in case Lily had gone to lurk outside the Hospital Wing, and when Sirius pushed the door open, he found Remus lying on the bed, fully dressed and staring at the ceiling. He didn't so much as twitch when they walked in.

Sirius exchanged a worried look with James—who looked like himself again, having taken his own Polyjuice in the passage on the way there—before turning back to Remus.

'You okay, Moons?'

Remus' lips barely moved when he answered. 'No.'

'What's the matter?' Sirius moved closer, making to sit down on the bed beside him, but froze when Remus sprang to life, jumping off the other side of the bed. 'Moons?'

'Don't touch me,' Remus said. He was shaking, and his eyes were darting around the room as if searching for an escape route.

Sirius backed away. 'Alright. I won't. Can you tell me what's got you so upset?'

'You lied to me!' he shouted, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

Sirius shushed him, glancing at the door. 'I don't think this room's silenced. You need to keep it down.' But as he said it, his heart was sinking. There could only be one thing Remus was talking about. It was the only lie he'd told him that he didn't already know about. But how had he found out?

'What happened to him?' Remus asked, his voice quieter but still angry. 'The man I attacked. Did he die?'

'No,' Sirius said. 'Minnie took his memory and dropped him at the hospital.'

Remus nodded. 'So I just cursed him to suffer for the rest of his life, then.'

'It wasn't your fault, Remus,' James said. 'He should never have been there.'

'And he was an asshole, anyway. He was helping Voldemort break into the school.'

'So that makes it okay?' Remus snapped.

'No,' Sirius said, trying to stay calm. 'But it's still not your fault.'

'It's never my fault, according to you. It wasn't my fault I was bitten. It was the wolf's. But somehow it's also not my fault I bit someone. It was theirs. You're contradicting yourself, Sirius. Make up your mind. One of them has to be my fault, so which is it?'

Remus was shouting again by the end, and Sirius really needed him to quiet down so he rounded the bed, crossing the room in two quick strides, intending to pull him into a hug, but Remus backed away until he was pressed against the wall.

'Don't.'

'Why won't you let me touch you?' Sirius asked, his voice going high with a mix of frustration and concern.

'I…' Remus pressed himself harder into the wall, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides as he struggled to find words. 'I just can't, okay?' he said, his voice cracking as a sob clogged his throat, and he sank to the floor. 'I can't. I don't know. I just can't.'