By the time Remus had finished telling them about the cauldron-making instruction manual in Professor Tenebris' office, and his crazy plan for them to break in and steal it, the smoke had cleared enough inside the cave for them to return and inspect the damage. Considering the cave was an enclosed space, Peter was wondering where it'd all gone because it hadn't dispersed into the passage where they'd taken cover. That was until they actually walked back into the cave and it became obvious where the smoke had gone.

'Pretty sure there used to be a wall there,' Sirius said, stating the obvious.

Remus hummed in agreement. 'The one we took the mica from. We must have weakened it.'

'There's a lot of light coming in through the hole,' James observed, walking towards it. 'Yep, that would be the outside. I think we just made a new secret passage out of school. That's pretty cool.'

Peter, Remus, and Sirius joined him, gazing out through the hole they'd accidentally blown in the cave wall. They seemed to be situated about a hundred feet up the mountain that bordered Hogsmeade, and they could see the village nestled below with Hogwarts towering over it in the distance. The incline to reach where they stood wasn't particularly steep, and it looked like it would be easy enough to climb down and back up again.

'Yeah, pretty cool,' Peter said. 'Except there's a crazy madman that wants to get into the school, and we just created a way in with no security.'

'Shit,' James said.

'That about sums it up, yeah,' Remus agreed.

'Guess we know how we're spending the rest of today,' Sirius said. 'What security spells do we know?'

'I know a few from when I was researching spells for the passageway trap,' Remus said. 'But I don't think that's the kind of thing we need for this.'

'No,' James agreed. 'We need to conceal the entrance, not just trap anyone who tries to use it. And then we need to protect it with a password or something.'

'We're going to need some books,' Remus said. 'Pete and I can go back to the library. You and James stay here to guard it.'

'You're better at defensive spells than me,' James argued. 'You should stay.'

'True, but this is just a precaution. I doubt anyone is actually going to discover it that quickly. And I know my way around the library better than any of you.'

James had no argument for that, so Peter and Remus left, leaving James and Sirius to guard the newly created entrance into the school, and headed for the library. Remus wasn't lying when he said he knew his way around the maze of books and he led Peter around at speed, pausing only long enough to scan a shelf and grab a book, passing each one to Peter to carry as he moved onto the next set of identical-looking shelving.

When the stack of books in Peter's arms was high enough that it was threatening his ability to see, Remus finally decided they had enough, and they headed to the front desk to check them out. Madam Pince eyed them suspiciously, but Remus had a bit of a reputation for strange research by that point and it probably went a long way towards explaining why she didn't question them. The outcome would undoubtedly have been different if James had been the one with Peter instead.

The lack of alarms from James and Sirius, while they were completing their book retrieval quest, was comforting, and they weren't surprised to find them unharmed and laughing together, sitting on one of the mattresses from the tent, when they returned to the cave with their 'treasure' (if books could be considered treasure). Okay, he might be taking the quest concept a little far. Although Remus would definitely consider them treasure, so maybe not. Anyway, the point was, no one had tried to force their way in during the hour Peter and Remus had been gone, and that was good.

They settled down in the pool of sunshine streaming in through the hole, using it both to light the books and keep them warm in the coolness of the cave, as they started sifting through the books, looking for anything that would help them conceal and protect the new entrance. Peter didn't particularly enjoy research. He found reading about anything that wasn't related to potions or herbology tedious and struggled to stay focused on it, but he felt responsible for causing the security breach and so he forced himself to concentrate on the work.

By dinner time, they'd figured out a way to block the opening. It was similar to the way the Malediction had blocked the entrance to the school on bonfire night, but they'd be charming it to look like rough stone instead of weathered bricks. There were two problems with the idea. One, it wouldn't allow them to use it as an exit when they wanted to get out of school. It would be blocked off permanently. And two, they would need to be outside when they blocked it off so they could charm the covering to look like the surrounding stone. The second one wasn't that big a deal—they had other ways to get back in—but the first was a problem (according to James) because it was just such a convenient location for them to have an exit. It would do for the night though, and with an agreement to return as soon as they'd found a way to make the wall passable, they decided to go ahead.

Peter volunteered to run back to the school for food while they began working on it. The process would take at least an hour, and they were all starving already, but with the amount of magic they would be using, they'd be ravenous by the time they were finished. It was a long trip to the Great Hall and back again, and Peter was out of breath by the time he returned with a selection of some of the more transportable foods available that evening, finding Remus, James, and Sirius waiting for him. The hole was almost completely closed up. All that remained was a gap just big enough for Peter to squeeze through.

'Wow. Either you all worked really hard, or I took a really long time.'

'Little of both probably,' Sirius said, grinning. 'Where's the food?'

Seating himself on the mattress next to James, he deposited the food in the middle and they all got stuck in, munching through his haul in record time.

'Kind of still hungry,' James said, a little mournfully when there was nothing left. 'What's the time? Will Honeydukes still be open?'

Sirius shook his head. 'No, it's well past closing. You'll have to wait until we get back. I'm sure the house-elves will be happy to help.'

'Ooh, house-elves! Could we ask Peony to bring us something?' James asked, looking hopeful.

'Absolutely not. I'm not risking her getting into trouble for that. You can wait.'

James huffed but gave in. 'Fine. I don't want her to get into trouble either.'

After packing everything away, they stuffed their bags through the hole first before taking it in turns to climb through, and then James, Sirius, and Remus worked together to close up the remaining gap. It took about ten minutes, and Peter was getting pretty bored by the time they were finished, but he didn't want to risk messing it up by trying to help when he hadn't practised at all, so he tried to be patient while he had nothing to do.

Finally, they were confident that the entrance couldn't possibly be noticed by anyone who didn't know it was there, which was literally just the four of them, and they started down the mountain to Hogsmeade. As he'd thought, the slope wasn't steep, but it was harder to keep his footing than he'd expected due to the number of small stones that littered the area, and the unevenness of the ground which was covered with a thin layer of undergrowth, hiding the tripping hazards from sight.

They managed to stumble their way to the base of the mountain without suffering any injuries, though, and once the ground under their feet was decidedly flat, they turned around and peered back up at where they'd come from.

'I can't see it,' James said first. 'You?'

Remus shook his head. 'Nope. I sort of know where it should be, but I can't see anything that looks suspicious.'

'Me neither,' Peter said. 'It just looks like a normal mountain.'

'It's completely hidden,' Sirius agreed. 'Are we taking the Three Broomsticks' passage back?'

'No, I think the girls' passage will be safer,' James said. 'It's on the other side of the village, though.'

'We can just skirt around the edge, can't we?' Sirius asked. 'Stay out of sight.'

'Yeah, that's probably best,' James agreed. 'We'll go this way.' He jerked his head in the direction that wouldn't take them past the Shrieking Shack, and Remus let out a small breath beside him, sounding relieved. The sun was low in the sky and they kept to the shadows as they crept around the edge of the village, past the small back gardens of the houses. Some of them were well kept, others were overgrown wastelands. They were passing one which was mostly lawn with a few small flowerbeds around the edge, the grass littered with toys, when the back door of the house opened and a middle-aged woman stepped out. They attempted to hurry on, but she caught sight of them and startled.

'Sirius?'

They all stopped when the woman called Sirius' name, and Remus looked at him, wondering how he knew her. Sirius frowned at first, but after a moment, his face cleared of confusion and he smiled.

'Oh, it's you. Hi! How are you?'

The woman walked across the grass towards them, smiling a little as she glanced between them. 'I'm well. Thank you for asking. And you?'

'Good, yeah.'

'I recognise you,' she said, nodding at James. 'Potter, right?'

'Yeah. I prefer James, though. You were there at Easter?'

She nodded and Remus' stomach sank. She must be one of the hostages James had rescued, which means she knew about him. That was why she looked so nervous, glancing between him and Peter. She was trying to work out which of them she needed to be afraid of.

'Yeah, I'm glad to see you escaped. Did they hurt you?'

James shook his head. 'Tried to, but we already had a trap set up in the passage that I took them down. They got stuck, and we ran.'

She smiled widely at that. 'I wish I'd seen that. You were very brave. A Gryffindor, I'm guessing?'

'Yeah, we all are,' James said, standing taller somehow at the praise, and probably at the assumption. 'This is Peter. He went to get the teachers, and this is Remus. He wasn't there, though.'

'Yes, he was,' she said, turning to face him when James spoke his name. She looked him over and chewed her lip for a moment before saying, 'You're shorter than I thought you'd be.'

Remus frowned. 'What?'

She shrugged. 'I don't know. I just assumed werewolves would all be tall with big muscles, you know? Scary-looking.' She glanced at Sirius and her eyes widened before she turned back to Remus, looking stricken. 'Oh, shoot, that was rude, wasn't it? Your friend looks like he wants to kill me.'

'Yeah, he gets like that.' Remus reached around and tapped Sirius lightly on the back of the head. 'Cut it out.'

Sirius scowled at him in response. 'I don't like people being rude to you.'

'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be,' she said, looking genuinely upset. 'Can we start again? My name's Alison, and it's nice to meet you, Remus.' She held her hand out to him, and Remus looked at it for a moment before slowly lifting his hand to shake it. Her grip was gentle but sure, not at all tentative. She wasn't afraid to touch him. In fact, she didn't seem afraid of him at all.

'It's nice to meet you too.'

She smiled. 'I haven't stopped thinking about you since it all happened. They said you were in the Forest. I hope you weren't hurt? I've heard there are acromantula in there.' She shuddered as she spoke the name of the giant spiders, so she wasn't completely fearless then.

'No, I wasn't hurt,' Remus said, a little confused about why she cared. 'The centaurs kept an eye on me, I think. One of them was there when they found me the next day.'

'That's good. I'm glad you're okay.'

'Thanks.' He glanced at the others, but they didn't seem to know what to say any more than he did. 'We should probably get going, we need to… sneak back into school.'

She chuckled. 'Don't worry. I'm not about to tell on you. Before you go, though. I wanted you to know, I locked my kids' windows.'

'What?'

'So they won't open them on a full moon? Sirius said you'd want me to lock them.'

'That's…' Remus looked at Sirius, who was looking at his shoes. 'Yeah, thanks. I'm sorry if my being here is scary for you, but Professor Dumbledore says he's put extra security on the house, so I shouldn't get out again.'

'No, it's okay,' Alison said, smiling at him. 'I admit, I was scared at first, but Sirius talked some sense into me. He's very convincing.'

'Yeah, he is,' Remus said, giving Sirius another look. He was putting on an innocent expression at that point, and Remus didn't believe it for a second. 'Do I need to apologise for him, too?'

She laughed. 'No, he only told me what I needed to hear. I was being unfair to you, and he pointed it out. I hope my own children grow up to be as protective of their friends as he is. But don't let me keep you. You said you need to go?'

'Yeah, it was nice to meet you,' Remus said, feeling more awkward than he ever had in his life before.

'You too. Bye then.' She gave them one more smile and then turned, making her way back to the house.

Remus waited until they were a few houses away before questioning Sirius. 'What on earth did you say to her?'

Sirius shrugged. 'Nothing that wasn't true.'

'Lock your kids' windows?'

'Look, Minnie was trying to convince them all not to report you to the Ministry, but she wasn't getting anywhere. Alison said she was worried about her kids, so I decided to play on her heartstrings a little. That's all. I told her how you were bitten and suggested she keep her kids' windows locked. It was supposed to make her think about how she'd want her kids to be treated if the same thing happened to them, and it worked. So I don't know why you're mad at me.'

'How many people were there? Five, you said?'

'Yeah,' Sirius nodded. 'But only four of them remember what happened. And Rosmerta too, but she was with Dumbledore.'

'So four people in the village know how I was bitten?'

'I don't know if they all live in the village.' Sirius was beginning to look worried and his voice was getting posher with every word.

Remus took a deep breath and thought about it. Sirius hadn't been blabbing his secrets for no reason. He'd done it to help him. By the sounds of it, it was a tense situation, and as he said, it had worked. Alison seemed like she was sympathetic towards him now, and that was good. It was mortifying to know that four strangers knew about his stupidity, but it was nothing compared to what could have happened if Sirius hadn't managed to convince them.

'Alright,' he said after a few moments of silence. 'I'm not mad at you.'

'You're not?'

'No. Let's just get back to the castle, preferably without bumping into any more of them.'

Sirius pulled a face. 'I can't guarantee we won't.'

'Yeah, I know. It was supposed to be a joke. I was trying to lighten the mood.'

'Yeah… didn't work.'

Remus made himself laugh, finally triggering a smile from Sirius, and he took his hand, squeezing it. 'Really, I'm not mad.'

And it was true. He didn't have the space to feel anything extra on top of the guilt and remorse he was carrying. The day's forgetfulness potion had worn off while they were in the cave researching. Luckily, everyone's attention had been firmly on their own books at the time, and no one had noticed the way he jerked and stiffened as the memories poured back in.

Remembering everything in such a sudden rush every evening was unpleasant, but he couldn't deny that forgetting each day was helping him to concentrate on his school work, so it was worth the few minutes of discomfort it caused when it wore off. And he felt fine in himself. Taking it every day didn't seem to be having any adverse effects on him, so there was nothing to worry about. He was coping just fine.

They reached the other end of the village without further incident, and James showed them where to cut through the bushes to access the cave that hid the Malediction's passage, which came out behind a statue of Gregory the Smarmy on the fifth floor. Before they left, James showed them which brick to tap to open the passage from the school end, in case any of them needed to use it without him.

When they reached the dorm ten minutes later, Remus excused himself to meditate, sinking into his mindscape and making a beeline for the Whomping Willow. He needed to pay his penance for forgetting the man he hurt for his own convenience, and watching what he'd done to him was the only way he knew how.

The following day, they spent the free period between Herbology and Defence continuing their research, and when they returned to the cave after lunch, they had a working idea of how they could make the entrance usable but still secure. It ended up taking them the entire afternoon to put their plan into practice, though, and Remus once again found himself surrounded by his friends when the memories came rushing back. But this time, they weren't as distracted.

'You okay, Moons?' Sirius asked, reaching out to steady him when he stumbled under the weight of the forgotten memories.

'Yeah,' Remus said, trying to focus on reality instead of the images of blood and pain flitting through his mind. 'Just got a bit dizzy. Think I need to take a break.'

'Have some chocolate,' James said. 'Sugar will help. It's in my bag.'

'Thanks,' Remus said, tucking his wand away and grabbing James' bag from the pile while they all kept working on making the stone incorporeal while still keeping its physical appearance in place. Eating the chocolate would give him a few seconds to get his head back under his control. He nibbled on it slowly as the memories whirled around in his mind, sorting themselves out and piecing themselves back together where they'd become fragmented by the alterations the potion had made that day. It always took a while, but sometimes it was quicker than others. It seemed to depend on how much the potion had needed to change that day, and today was a quick one, thankfully. By the time the chocolate was gone, he was feeling composed and ready to present a normal face to his friends.

But when he tried to stand back up, Sirius frowned, pointed a finger at him, and said, 'Stay.'

'Excuse me?'

'I said, stay. We can finish this off without you. I don't want you making yourself ill.'

'I'm fine, Sirius.'

'No, you got dizzy. And Madam Pomfrey said the moonsickness is worse when you use more magic. So no magic for you for the rest of the month.' Sirius paused, and then added as an afterthought, 'Except schoolwork.'

Remus raised his eyebrows. 'Are you giving me orders now?'

'They're not my orders. They're Madam Pomfrey's, and you should always listen to your mediwitch.'

Remus huffed, but relented, relaxing back onto the mattress without arguing further. He couldn't explain that he wasn't actually dizzy from using too much magic, so he'd have to accept being sent to rest, even if it did grate on him to watch the others working while he did nothing.

'Good boy,' Sirius said approvingly.

'Shut up.'

Unfortunately, Sirius just found that funny, so it didn't have the desired effect, but it had been worth a try.

They left him sitting there with nothing to do for half an hour before they announced they were done and called him over to test it with them. He'd been on the verge of falling asleep from boredom, so it was with sheer relief that he climbed to his feet and walked over. The stone wall didn't look any different than it had before, but when Remus ran his hand across it, he could feel the magic thrumming expectantly, like it was waiting for something.

'What's the password?'

'I wanted it to be, "let me out. I need to go shopping," but they overruled me,' Sirius said, pouting in the way that made Remus want to kiss him.

'That was too long,' James said. 'We decided on "Libertas." Try it.'

'Freedom?' Remus asked, nodding thoughtfully. 'I like it.' He pulled out his wand and tapped the rock face. 'Libertas.'

Instantly, the dark grey stone seemed to fade. Beginning in the centre and spreading out to the edges, the rock turned translucent. It was still there, but it looked like the ghost of a wall, present but not solid. Remus reached out a hand, brushing his fingers against it, but instead of making contact, they sank into the image and his hand was enveloped in cold.

'Cool.' He drew his hand back and grinned at the others. 'You did it.'

'We did it,' James said, grinning back at him. 'To close it back up you have to say, "Sera.' As he spoke the Latin word for lock, the stone darkened again, turning solid before his eyes.

'That should keep Voldemort out,' Remus said, touching the stone again to confirm it was back to normal, and it was cold and firm under his fingers. 'He'll never find it.'

'We made a secret passage out of Hogwarts,' James sang, grinning. 'Shame no one will ever know it's here after we leave.'

'Yeah,' Peter said. 'Even if someone else finds this cave, it's unlikely they'll find this.'

'We could leave instructions,' Sirius suggested. 'Paint a doorway onto the wall and write the passwords over it?'

'No.' James shook his head. 'If too many people know about it, it'll be noticed.'

'What if we just left instructions for the next generation of Chiefs?' Remus said. 'And not just this passage, but all the passages we've found. That could be our Legacy.'

'What like, give them the Marauder's Official Exploration Log?' James asked, frowning. 'That doesn't seem anywhere near as cool as a knife that unlocks any lock and unties any knot.'

Remus shook his head. 'No, we'd need to put the information into another form, like, I don't know… some way to tell them when they're close to a secret entrance and how to open it.'

'A map,' Peter said. 'We could make a map of the school, showing all the secret passages and how to get into them.'

'Oh, now that's cool,' Sirius said. 'I remember when we first started. I wanted a map more than anything. I got lost so many times.'

'There must be a reason they don't give us maps when we first get here,' Remus said. 'I remember wishing I had one too.'

'Well, stuff moves, doesn't it?' Peter said, shrugging. 'Some of the rooms are in different places on different days of the week, and there's that staircase that doesn't like the fifth of the month and disappears. Making a map is probably going to be difficult.'

'Yeah, but that's what makes it perfect as a Legacy item,' James said. 'And we've got five years to figure it out.'

'I wonder what happens if you're on that staircase at midnight on the fourth. Do you think it'd still vanish?' Sirius said. 'Would it take you with it? Or leave you behind?'

'We are not testing that,' Remus said immediately before James could get any bright ideas.

'You never let us do anything fun.'

'We literally just finished making a new secret passage out of school. You're telling me that wasn't fun?'

'Yeah, but that was an accident. I bet you would have said no if we'd planned it.'

'If you'd planned to make an explosion big enough to blow a hole in the wall? Yeah, I think I would have probably said no.'

'See. No fun,' Sirius said, tapping the end of Remus' nose. When he pulled his finger away, Remus snapped his teeth, trying to bite it, but unfortunately, missed.

'Ooh, feisty Moony,' Sirius said, laughing. 'I like it.'

Remus rolled his eyes. 'You would.'

James had been watching them argue, his expression getting more and more impatient the longer it went on for, and he finally stomped his foot in annoyance. 'Guys!'

'What?' they both said at the same time, turning to look at him.

'The map?'

'Oh right,' Remus said, then he frowned. 'What about it?'

James huffed. 'Are we all agreed?'

'Yeah, I think it's a great idea,' Remus said.

'Same,' Sirius said. 'We can make it look really cool.'

'It was my idea, so obviously, yeah,' Peter said.

James grinned, his irritation vanishing in an instant. 'Excellent.'

With their task complete, causing the inadvertent creation of a brilliant Legacy idea, they left the cave, heading straight for the Great Hall for dinner before meeting the girls in the Common Room for a game of Merlin's Adventure. Since there were eight players and only four characters, they decided to play in teams of two. Remus immediately asked Dorcas to partner with him. She had a level head, and he thought she'd argue with him the least. Sirius looked offended for half a second before requesting Marlene be his partner, and she agreed with a grin. With a glint of mischief in her eyes, Mary asked Peter to partner with her, and James looked delighted to be left with Lily as his teammate. Lily didn't seem that upset about it either.

Lily and James ended up winning the wand spin to play as Merlin, and Remus and Dorcas picked the house-elf. Marlene and Sirius chose the centaur, leaving Mary and Peter to play as the goblin, and it was one of the most hilarious games Remus had played. James and Lily would have made a formidable team as the leaders of their group. They were both smart, analytical thinkers, with a deeply rooted desire to win. Unfortunately, they were both also strong-willed and when they disagreed on a course of action, their arguments could last for minutes at a time, neither of them willing to back down. Either the designers of the game had planned for this eventuality, or the game itself became bored when not given instructions, because each time it happened, after a few minutes, the game would do something to force them to act. Sometimes it was an ambush, or a hidden trap would spring. One time that stuck in Remus' mind, a random drunk guy apparated into the middle of their group and challenged them to a drinking contest, which Marlene and Sirius proceeded to win (Remus and Dorcas' House-elf character had passed out after the first goblet.)

It was late by the time they finished the game, and they said their goodnights and left for their separate dorms. Despite his exhaustion, Remus forced himself to stay awake until the others fell asleep so he could spend a couple of hours in his mindscape, making up for forgetting by remembering. He hated watching the memory. The pleasure he felt when his teeth sank into the man's body sickened him, but he deserved to suffer for what he'd done, so he kept watching it, over and over, until he was too exhausted to continue.

The next morning, he slept through breakfast, but the others brought him a bacon and sausage sandwich when they woke him up. The last lesson that day was History, so he risked taking the potion a little early while he was showering, knowing the others would probably be napping when it wore off, meaning they wouldn't notice anything. He was right, they were, and they didn't, despite the force of the memories making him gasp.

On Saturday, they planned to return to the cave to mine some more mica for their second attempt at making a cauldron. Remus had originally planned to only take the Forgetfulness potion on school days, but mining was going to be boring, and he'd have to keep up a show of being okay for hours. The bottle he'd taken from the Hospital Wing had contained enough to last him through to the holidays and then some, so he didn't need to worry about running out, and it wasn't like it was hurting him. He was fine.

Swallowing, he flushed the toilet and left the cubicle, heading for the small glass next to the sink for a drink. There was an unpleasant taste in his mouth. Once he'd washed it away, he joined the others in the dorm and they left for the cave. They searched every square inch of the walls, floor, and ceiling over the next two hours, but the only place they could find more of the mineral they needed was in the ceiling of the passage leading to the cave. It was risky, but as long as they didn't cause any more explosions down there, it should be fine. And it didn't look any different when they were done. They'd only collected enough to make one very small cauldron, so their next attempt would be their last unless they could find another cave to mine.

'How good are you at potions?' Lily asked the moment they closed the Fat Lady's portrait behind them on their way out of the common room.

James shrugged. 'Not as good as Pete, but I'm decent. Why?'

'Well, I told you Sunshine uses Polyjuice to disguise himself, right?' James nodded, so she continued. 'I thought we could play him at his own game.'

James frowned, genuinely confused as he followed her onto the Grand Staircase. 'What do you mean?'

'If we brew some Polyjuice, and arrange a meeting with him, then you can Polyjuice into me and talk to him yourself. Maybe you'll be able to get him to reveal something.'

Merlin, this was getting complicated. 'Why do you think I'll be any better at it than you?'

She flushed a bit, avoiding his eyes as she answered. 'I just get all… and I can't think straight.'

Well, that made the butterflies that lived in his stomach wake up and fly around. 'Okay. Do you know how to brew Polyjuice?'

She shook her head. 'No, the recipe is in the Restricted Section, but that shouldn't be a problem with your cloak.'

'True,' James said. 'We can go now if you want?'

She agreed, so they continued down the Grand Staircase, leaving on the fourth floor and slipping into an alcove to don the Cloak. They had to wait by the doors for a good twenty minutes before someone else arrived and pushed them open. Not many people were visiting the library so early on a Sunday, apparently. But they slipped in behind the seventh-year Ravenclaw and headed for the Restricted Section.

Climbing over the rope that guarded the entrance while staying covered by the cloak proved to be a tricky manoeuvre, but they managed it with only a small amount of fevered whispering.

'It's called Moste Potente Potions,' Lily whispered once they were safely hidden within the shelves.

'Alright. Don't touch anything else,' James told her. 'Remus said some of the books make noise when they're picked up.'

She nodded, and they began their search, staying together under the cloak with James scanning the upper shelves and Lily the lower ones. It took them a while, but they eventually found it, and James slipped it into his bag before they made their way back out. As they approached the library doors, they got lucky. A small group of Hufflepuffs and one Ravenclaw were just arriving, and they were able to slip back out before the doors closed behind them.

'Where do you want to go to look at this?' James asked.

'The party room's only one floor down?'

James nodded. They would need to buy ingredients, and that room was conveniently close to the Honeyduke's passage, which she would definitely insist they used now she knew about the Cloak.

'This is really complicated,' Lily said ten minutes later, reading through the recipe that James practically knew by heart. 'The lacewing flies need to be stewed for twenty-one days, so it'll take almost a month to brew. There's barely enough time.'

'We can buy pre-stewed lacewing flies,' James said, thinking he'd just take some from the Den. They had loads. 'I'll owl order them. They don't stock that kind of thing at the apothecary.'

'Oh, I can't afford to do that,' Lily said. 'I thought we could just nick what we need from Slughorn.'

James shook his head. 'Safer if we buy it. If Slughorn notices boomslang skin and bicorn horn missing, he's going to know exactly what it was stolen for. I can pay for it.'

'It'll be so expensive, though.'

James shrugged. 'Don't worry about it. Really.'

'Well, if you're sure.'

'I am.'

'The fluxweed has to be picked under a full moon,' Lily said. 'And the next one's on Thursday. So if you can get the pre-stewed lacewing flies by the end of the week, we can brew it next weekend.'

'Shouldn't be a problem. You want to go and buy the rest of the ingredients now?'

'Yeah, but we're taking the Honeydukes passage this time. No more excuses.'

James laughed. 'I knew you were going to say that. Luckily, it's on this floor.' They left the room, and James led her to the statue of the one-eyed witch, tapping it with his wand. 'Dissendium.' The hump on her back opened up, and James waved his hand dramatically. 'After you.'

'How on earth did you figure out the password?' Lily asked, stepping forward to peer into the hole.

'Someone told us it,' James said. 'Go on. It's safe, I promise. But head-first is more fun.'

She eyed him sceptically, but hoisted herself into the hole, head-first. A moment later, the sound of her laughter drifted out of the hole, followed by her voice. 'You were right. That was fun.'

'Told you,' James said after launching himself down the slope after her and climbing to his feet at the bottom.

On the way to Honeydukes, they discussed their plans. James explained why they needed to go into the apothecary separately, one of them buying the Boomslang skin and the other the Bicorn horn. The leeches were a standard ingredient in their potions kits, and the Knotgrass and Fluxweed could be picked from the grounds of Hogwarts, which they arranged to do on Thursday night, meeting in the common room at midnight. James hoped Moony wouldn't be too upset that he had to leave for a while.

They managed to sneak out of Honeyduke's without a problem, and the shopping went smoothly at the apothecary. James went in first to buy the Boomslang skin, and he'd been in so many times with Peter by that point that the owner didn't question him. They stayed outside for ten minutes before Lily took her turn, letting the stream of customers push the memory of James' purchase to the back of his mind so he wouldn't link the two ingredients together, and she got in and out without a hitch too.

'Celebratory butterbeer?' James asked when she emerged from the shop smiling.

'Do you think we should?'

'It'll be fine. Ros is cool. She won't tell on us.'

'Alright.'

As they strode down the street towards the Three Broomsticks, the happiness inside him built to the point that James thought he might actually burst, because this was starting to feel very much like a date. He'd taken her shopping, and now he was taking her for a drink. If he tried to hold her hand, would she let him? Something told him she might. He didn't dare risk it, though. If he was wrong, it could ruin everything.

'Go sit down. I'll bring them over,' he said when they stepped through the door. It was still early on a Sunday morning, so the place was almost empty. There were a couple of people by the window, eating a late breakfast together, and a few singles dotted about, but that was it.

'Morning, Ros,' James said, stepping up to the bar where Rosmerta was busy charming some dirty glasses into the back room to clean themselves.

She turned at the sound of her name and her face broke into a grin when she saw who it was. 'Well, if it isn't the wealthy shadow from my cellar. How are you, lad? You've got some guts, I'll give you that.'

'I'm good, thanks. How are you, though? After the…'

She pulled a face. 'I'm okay. No lasting effects. Well, not physically, anyway. The memories, though…'

'I can imagine,' James said. 'I'm sorry that happened to you.'

They'd been talking quietly already, but she glanced down the bar before leaning over it and lowering her voice even further. 'How's Remus? Was he hurt in the forest?'

James shook his head. 'No, he's fine.'

'That's good. I won't talk about it anymore, but I wanted to make sure he was okay,' she said, before standing back up straight and raising her voice. 'What can I get you?'

'Two butterbeers, please.'

'Didn't feel like just helping yourself today?' she asked, flicking her wand to summon a couple of glasses.

James laughed, running his hand through his hair. 'Yeah, about that…'

'Ah, don't worry about it. You always pay for what you take. The alcohol though… what exactly are you doing with that? Because you're a bit young.'

'It's for parties,' James said. 'For the seventh years.'

'Oh,' she nodded, then her eyes widened. 'Oh. Are you the—'

James made a shushing motion before she could finish the question. 'Yes, but shush. Lily doesn't know.'

Madam Rosmerta mimed zipping her lips closed and grinned at him as she passed the glasses over, filled to the brim with warm butterbeer. 'There you go. Enjoy.'

'How much do I owe you?' James asked, pulling out his money pouch.

'Oh no. That's on the house,' Madam Rosmerta said. 'Consider it a thank you for saving my life.'

'Oh, thanks,' James said, smiling widely as he picked up the glasses. 'It's really not necessary, but thank you.'

'Go on with you, and good luck with your lass. She's pretty and I think she likes you.'

'Do you think?' James asked conspiratorially. 'I've been wondering.'

'Definitely.'

James grinned even wider. 'Thanks, Ros. See you soon, yeah?'

When he reached the table Lily had chosen, he passed her drink to her and took a seat, lifting his own glass to his mouth to take a sip. It was sweet and warm. Just what he needed.

'Thanks,' Lily said, pushing some coins across the table at him.

'What's this?'

'For the drink.'

James pushed the coins back. 'She didn't charge me, and even if she had, I wouldn't want you to pay me back.'

'Why didn't she charge you?'

'Because of Easter. She was thanking me.'

'Oh,' Lily said. 'Is she okay?'

'She said she's fine apart from the memories.'

'Yeah, that's got to be hard.' She frowned for a long moment, seeming like she was thinking, and then, 'Do you think she knows who the werewolf is?'

'Even if she does, I doubt she'd tell us.'

'Yeah, you're probably right.'

'Not that it matters. I'm positive the polyjuice plan will work. I'm great at getting people to spill their guts to me.'

'Yeah, you are weirdly easy to talk to,' Lily said, making James smile widely. 'The only question is how we're going to get a hold of Sunshine to arrange a meeting.'

'That is a tough one,' James said. 'I'll have a think and see what I can come up with.'

'Yeah, me too.'

Sirius stared at himself in the mirror on Monday morning and tried not to cry. Was this because of the three hours they'd spent shut up in the secret passage next to Professor Tenebris' classroom the day before, fruitlessly waiting for the red light on Sirius' Snitch-O-Scope to go out to indicate that she'd left the area? But that didn't make any sense. As far as he knew, spending hours in a dusty passage, while unpleasant, didn't cause hair to… do this!

He didn't know how he was going to show his face in the Great Hall for breakfast. And then classes. Oh gods, he had Potions with the Slytherins that afternoon. Snivellus would be euphoric if he saw. He'd have to say he was sick. That was the only solution.

'Good morning, Twinkles,' James said, walking into the bathroom as cheerful as always. Apparently, he was unaware that the world was ending. Well, he wouldn't be living in blissful ignorance for much longer.

'It is not a good morning, Sunshine. It's an extremely terrible one.'

'Why's that?' James asked, finally looking at him and doing a double-take. 'Woah, bloody hell. What happened to your hair?'

'I don't know!' Sirius wailed. 'It's horrifying, isn't it? What do I do, James?'

James' lips twitched as he stared at the problem, but he didn't laugh, and Sirius was grateful that he was making an effort. He couldn't bear for anyone to laugh at this, even if it was his best friend. 'It's not that bad.'

'James,' Sirius said, feeling a little proud of how calm he sounded. 'I look like a bloody puffskein.'

James made a weird choking sound at that before managing to compose himself. 'Mate, if you don't want me to laugh, then you can't say things like that because you're making me have brain images, and I only have so much self-control, you know?'

'I don't see what's remotely funny about this.'

James sucked his lips between his teeth for a moment, a sure sign he was holding back a laugh. 'You look like a puffskein. I've never seen such fluffy hair before. How is that not funny?' He reached out a hand to pet Sirius' hair—which was admittedly extremely fluffy—but Sirius swatted his hand away.

'Don't touch it, for Merlin's sake.'

James held his hands up. 'Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Look, we can fix this. I'll be right back.'

While he was gone, Sirius turned back to the mirror, examining himself from every angle. His usually sleek and shiny hair, which fell into place effortlessly, was a dull and fluffy halo around his head. There was no other word to describe it. It was fluffy. How had this happened?

'Right,' James said, walking back in clutching a bottle. 'This'll sort it out.'

Sirius took it and looked at the label. 'Your dad's hair potion?'

'Yep. Trust me. If that doesn't work, nothing will.'

'What if I've been cursed? Does it work on cursed hair?'

James frowned. 'Is there such a thing as a hair curse?'

'I don't know. Probably. What else could this be?' Sirius pulled the stopper out and poured some of the potion into his hand. It was thick and gloopy but smelled a little like roses.

'A bad hair day?'

'Blacks don't get bad hair days.'

James rolled his eyes. 'Is this the same as the Blacks don't get spots thing? Because clearly, they do.'

'I'm telling you, James, someone is fucking with me,' he said, smoothing the potion over his hair. 'I bet it's the girls.'

'Why would the girls be fucking with you?'

Sirius shrugged and picked up his hairbrush. 'Because they think it's funny?' Brushing the potion through his hair, he watched with relief as it tamed the fluff back into its usual sleek perfection. 'Your dad's a genius, by the way. Remind me to get him something nice for Christmas.'

'Yeah, he is, and I will, but I doubt the girls are behind this.'

'No harm in asking them, is there?'

'No, I suppose not,' James said, making eye contact with him via the mirror. 'You look fantastic.'

'Thank you, Sunshine. So do you.'

James smiled, ruffling the messy bush that he called hair. 'I always do, Twinkles. Ready to wake the sleepyheads?'

'Yeah, let's go.'

Remus and Peter grumbled about being made to join the waking world like they always did, but they dutifully went to shower and returned in better moods. Sirius didn't get a chance to question the girls until after Charms, but when he did, they vehemently denied having done anything to him, or to anyone else, which left Sirius, once again, without a theory. Regulus had asked him to let him know if there were any new symptoms, though, and Sirius thought fluffy hair definitely counted, so he called Peony and wrote a note for her to give to him.

His response left a lot to be desired.

While that is worrying, there's definitely something weird going on with you, I have to ask, did anyone get a photo?

RAB

Screwing the note up with a growl of annoyance, Sirius threw it into the fire and returned to his bed to carry on studying the book on mind magic. He wanted to be ready for Professor Tenebris' lesson the following evening. It was a difficult branch of magic to get his head around, relying less on incantations and wand movements and more on intention and will. He would need to search through Moony's mind, locate both Remus and Moony within it, and persuade them to swap places. It was going to be tough, but he knew he could do it. He was determined, and when he was determined, he could do anything.

'Right,' Professor Tenebris said, putting down her quill and scanning the parchment between them. It was covered in all five of their handwriting, bits scribbled out here and there and other things written around them to replace them. 'I think we're ready to try this out.'

'On the boggart?' Remus asked, eyeing the crate that was still sitting innocuously at the back of the room.

'Not yet. I think we should test it on you first. Give Sirius a fighting chance.'

'On me?' Remus asked, startled. 'But… You don't want to put Moony in charge of my body. That would be a disaster.'

She shook her head. 'We'll just do Sirius' part. The wolf won't be able to control you without Peter casting his part, too.'

'I don't know if this will work,' Remus said. 'I don't think Moony's in there.'

'Oh, he definitely is,' Professor Tenebris said.

'I've never seen him.'

'Then you haven't been looking hard enough.'

Remus couldn't deny the truth of that. He hadn't tried to find Moony inside his mindscape, not even a little bit. And there was a reason for that. He had no desire to come face-to-face with the monster that lived within him, even if it was inside his own mind. 'Can't we just do it on the boggart?'

'Sirius needs to get a feel for what he'll be doing and I don't think he needs the wolf distracting him the first time he tries it. It's not going to hurt you, Remus. This is hardly the worst thing I've made you do.'

'No, I think that was probably when you fatally poisoned me,' Remus said, scowling at her.

She chuckled. 'Temporarily fatally poisoned you.'

'I think I'd go with the time she dropped you in a river of boiling water,' Sirius said.

Remus shook his head. 'That was worse for you than it was for me.'

'Alright, we can recount my greatest hits later,' Professor Tenebris said. 'It's already past curfew. Let's get on with this. Sit up and face each other.'

Remus huffed. He clearly wasn't getting out of it, so he might as well get it over with. 'Fine,' he said, sitting up straight in his chair and facing Sirius. 'Have fun in my head.'

'Can't wait, Moonbeam,' Sirius said, lifting his wand to begin the spell.

Suddenly Remus was sitting inside his mental Hogwarts. He could tell he hadn't just been banished to a different part of the real Hogwarts because sunlight was streaming in through the windows, and it was nighttime in reality, but also because he was still fully aware of his physical body, sitting in the Defence classroom. He could move both, and he could speak from either mouth. However, his physical body reacted about twenty times slower than the mental one. It was quite a weird experience.

He glanced around, but Sirius wasn't with him. He was alone inside a room he didn't recognise, sitting in an extremely comfortable chair. A small table next to him held what looked like a mug of tea, and there was a small stack of books beside it. The walls were lined with shelves, which were absolutely packed with even more books. Was this where his consciousness hung out when he wasn't meditating?

He picked up the top book from the pile on the table to read the title. Cerebral magic was printed across the front in normal English, but when he opened it, the information inside was a mess of symbols and squiggles that he couldn't make sense of. The second book was called spell etymology, and the third was Love magic. They were all subjects he'd been using right before Sirius cast the spell on him, the knowledge he'd been accessing that evening.

He was about to stand up and go to look at the books on the shelves when they disappeared. The double vision and weird time difference ended, and he found himself back in the Defence classroom.

'What happened?'

'I can't find you,' Sirius said. 'I was roaming the corridors for ages but I can't open any of the doors and I keep ending up back where I started.'

'I wonder,' Professor Tenebris said. 'Could you use your link to find him?'

'That's physical, though, not mental. It would just pull me towards his physical body.'

'It's physical when your physical body activates it, but what if your mental projection activates it? It's worth a try, isn't it?'

'We're not supposed to use it for personal gain, though,' James said. 'We think there might be consequences.'

'Nasty ones,' Peter added.

'You wouldn't be. Sirius would be using it to find Remus for his protection, just in a different way.'

'That's true,' Sirius said. 'And the magic should be able to tell my intentions, right?'

'Definitely. It's linked to your soul. It will know if your intentions are pure.'

'Alright,' Sirius said, raising his wand. 'Let's try this again.'

A second later, Remus was back in the brightly lit room of books. Gods, being forced inside his own like that was weird. A quick glance at the books on the table beside him revealed that he'd been right about them. They'd changed while he was gone, and the top one now read Tracking spell.

Standing up, he moved towards the nearest shelves and was almost close enough to read the titles on the spines when the door flew open.

'Found you!' Sirius said, grinning broadly. 'The tracking spell worked! Can you believe it? Oh wow, that's a lot of books.'

'Yeah, I think it's all my knowledge.'

Sirius raised his eyebrows. 'You sure know a lot, Nerd boy. Come on, let's find Moony.'

'How is the mental version of you even more energetic than the physical one?'

Sirius shrugged as he lead him out of the door. 'I keep a lot of it hidden, I guess.'

'That's… No. I don't like that. You shouldn't have to hide it with me. Stop it.'

Sirius frowned at him. 'I'm not sure I know how to.'

'Well… try. Do you know where we're going?'

'Not a clue. I was hoping you did.'

'It's a good job time moves slower for the caster than it does for the victim, or you'd be screwed,' Remus said, stopping. 'I think we probably need to go down.'

'Don't call yourself the victim,' Sirius said. 'You're the… receiver. You're receiving my spell.'

'Whatever. It's not important, is it? This way,' he pulled on Sirius' hand and led him towards the Grand Staircase of his mind. 'If Moony's anywhere, he's probably in the deepest part of the dungeons.'

'Why would you put him there?' Sirius asked, looking genuinely upset.

'Because I'd want him as far away from me as I can get him.'

Sirius frowned harder but didn't say anything, just jogged along next to him as they hurried down the stairs to the ground floor.

'How long has it been?' Remus asked when they reached the Entrance Hall and turned towards the dungeon stairs.

'Somewhere between two and three seconds,' Sirius said. 'We've got time.'

'That depends how close you are to Moony when you start the spell.'

'He fought his instincts to attack me for a good thirty seconds before he ran away. We've got plenty of time.'

'Might be harder for him if it's an enclosed space,' Remus said, remembering how intoxicating the man's scent had been when it rushed into the Shack.

'I'll practice and get faster. This is the first attempt. Where now?'

They'd come to a point where the corridor branched off in three directions and Remus peered down each of them. Two seemed to circle back the way they'd come, but the third went further in. 'That one,' Remus said, nodding at it.

'Buried him deep, didn't you?' Sirius commented. 'Might make it easier for me if you let him come up to the surface.'

'It wouldn't make any difference,' Remus replied, a little snappishly. 'You'll be searching for me in Moony's mind, remember?'

'Yeah. Right. I wonder where Moony keeps you.'

Remus decided to ignore the clear insinuation that Moony would be kinder to him than he'd subconsciously been to Moony. He didn't want to get into an argument with Sirius inside his own head, but it was a little upsetting that Sirius sometimes seemed to care more about Moony than he did about Remus.

'I think we've found it,' Remus said, coming to a stop and staring up at the enormous steel door at the end of the corridor they'd just turned into.

'Got him locked up nice and tight, don't you, Moonbeam?'

'Will you stop?'

'I'm sorry. I don't seem to have any filter here. Whatever I think just comes out.'

'That is unfortunate.'

'It really, really is. How do we open the door?'

'Should just be a simple matter of…' Remus trailed off as he reached out and touched the door, triggering a series of clicks that sounded distinctly like locks turning.

'How many locks does it take to contain a werewolf?' Sirius asked. 'Twenty-five thousand, apparently.'

'Oh my gods. For the love of Merlin, stop thinking before I punch you in the face. And we're inside my head, remember, so it will hurt.'

'You have a lot of violent thoughts, don't you, Moonbeam? Fuck, I'm sorry. Really. The thoughts just happen. I can't control them.'

'It's fine,' Remus said, trying very hard to make it be fine. It was hard though because Sirius was clearly judging him, and finding him lacking. The locks had finished clicking and when he pushed on the door, it swung open easily, as if it weighed no more than a feather. 'Come on,' he whispered, taking Sirius' hand as he stepped through.

The room was small, no bigger than his bedroom at home, and in the middle of it was an even smaller cage built from thick iron bars with heavy bolts holding the door closed. The wolf barely fit inside.

'Moony,' Sirius gasped, his voice full of pain. 'Oh, Remus, how could you? Is the cage really necessary? At least let him have the run of the room. This is cruel.'

'Sirius,' Remus snapped. 'Please.'

'I told you. I can't help it.'

'I know, but…' Remus was staring at the wolf inside the cage, which had bared its teeth at him and was growling threateningly. 'He's going to hurt me if I let him out.'

'Why does he look so evil?' Sirius asked.

'Because he's a werewolf?'

'Moony doesn't look like that. You're projecting your feelings onto him. Stop it.'

'How exactly do you suggest I do that?'

'I don't know. Stop thinking of him as a monster. He's not. He doesn't have red eyes for starters. He has gold ones, like you. And his fur is the same colour as your hair, not that ugly brown.'

Remus tried, he really did, but nothing changed. His feelings about the wolf were too deeply rooted to be changed just by thinking about it. 'I don't think we really need to let him out, do we? You get the idea of what you need to do, right?'

'Well, when I do this for real. I'm going to have to find you, let you out of wherever Moony has you locked up, and persuade Moony to get into the cage, so I do need to at least try to open the cage.'

'Bugger.'

'So if you could try to calm Moony down a bit, I'd be grateful.'

'I don't know how.'

Sirius shrugged. 'Tell him he's a good boy? Dogs like that.'

'He's a wolf, not a dog, but fine.' Swallowing, Remus took a step closer, and Moony's growling deepened, growing louder and not pausing for a second. 'Good boy, Moony. It's okay. I won't hurt you.'

Nothing changed in Moony's demeanour and Sirius frowned. 'I don't think he believes you. He can probably sense how much you hate him.'

'Well, I can't do anything about that right now,' Remus snapped. 'You don't hate him. Why don't you try?'

'Oh. The love magic. I forgot about the love magic. Hang on.'

Remus closed his eyes in despair and shook his head. It was Sirius' first attempt. He was bound to forget things. He would practise and get better at it like he did everything he set his mind to learning, and if he ever needed to use the spell for real, he wouldn't forget any of it. It was fine. Everything was going to be fine.

'There,' Sirius said. 'That's better. Hello Moony.'

At the sound of a happy bark, Remus opened his eyes again. Moony was still crouched—there wasn't really room in the cage for him to do anything else—but he was no longer growling. His ears were perked up, and his tail was wagging as much as it could in the space.

'Careful,' Remus said as Sirius moved closer.

'It's fine, Remus. He knows me now. I'm going to let you out, Moony, but I need you to stay here. Do you understand?'

'He can't possibly understand.'

'Shh, I'm working the spell.'

As Remus watched, Sirius reached out and drew back the first of the three bolts, then the second, and finally the third. Then he pulled the door open. Remus held his breath as the wolf crawled through the opening and stood up to his full height, giving himself a good shake before looking at Sirius, his tail wagging furiously.

'Good boy, Moony,' Sirius said. 'Can you stay here for me?'

The breath he was holding left him in a huff of surprise as the wolf sat back on his haunches before lowering himself to the floor to lie down completely, looking for all the world like a domestic dog.

'Good boy,' Sirius said again. 'Right, Remus, you need to get in the cage.'

'What?'

'Get in the cage.'

'I won't fit.'

Sirius eyed him and then looked at Moony. 'You're about the same size. You'll fit.'

'I don't want to.'

'Why not?'

'Because it's tiny. Look at it.'

Sirius raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing.

'Yes, I get your point,' Remus said, his voice tense with irritation. 'I'll get rid of the cage. Just lock me in the room.'

Sirius smiled at him before turning towards the door. 'Come, Moony.'

The wolf stood and obediently followed Sirius through the door. When it closed, Remus wrapped his arms around himself, listening as the locks clicked home. The moment they did, his connection to his real body vanished. He could no longer see, hear, or sense in any way what was happening in the Defence classroom. All he could do was wait.

How long would the spell last? What would happen when it ended? What was happening in the Defence classroom with his body? He had no way of knowing. Minutes passed, but he knew it wasn't that long in reality, just the spell elongating time inside his mind. After what felt like an eternity, the room around him vanished, replaced with the one he'd started in for no more than a second before he found himself back in the Defence classroom with his friends surrounding him, seeming to be holding him up, and Professor Tenebris peering at him curiously.

'He's back, I think,' James said. 'Hey, Remus. You okay?'

'Yeah, I think so,' Remus answered, giving himself a mental once over. He didn't feel any different. 'What happened?'

'I finished the spell, and you just went blank,' Sirius said. 'Like there was no one inside you anymore. It was creepy.'

'How long did it last?'

'Sixty-eight seconds,' Professor Tenebris said. 'That's more than I was hoping for, but it took Sirius a full fifteen seconds to complete the spell. I'd like to get that down to five if possible.'

'Most of the time was spent finding Moony,' Sirius said. 'I can do that quicker now that I know where he is, but that's not going to help me find Remus when I do it for real. And I don't think practising on the boggart will help, either, because the boggart isn't really Moony.'

'You'll be able to use your tracking spell to find Remus inside Moony's mind. It'll be finding Moony that's the problem when you do it for real because it's Remus' soul that you're linked to.'

'No,' James said. 'That doesn't make sense. Moony was upset when I got scared during the Creature Hunt Ritual. And Sirius, you got an alarm when Moony was frightened at Easter. The link still works the same for Moony as it does for Remus.'

Professor Tenebris tilted her head in thought. 'Well, if Remus and Moony share a soul, then the tracker should work for Moony too. Have you ever tried to track him with it?'

Sirius shook his head. 'Never needed to. I just followed the noise at Easter.'

'Well, give it a try now.'

Remus and Sirius faced each other again. Sirius lifted his wand and suddenly Remus was back in the room of books. He didn't know how he felt about the idea of Moony sharing his soul, but he tried not to dwell on it. It was just one more thing the beast had stolen from him. He'd barely stood up before the door burst open.

'That was quicker this time, I think,' Sirius said, grabbing Remus' hand and dragging him to the door. 'Alright, let's see if this works for Moony.' He closed his eyes, pausing for a second before saying, 'Reperio.' Immediately, his face broke into a grin. 'It's working. This way.'

They ran through the castle at top speed, not slowing for a moment, and they arrived at the steel door in record time. Sirius reached out and touched it, triggering the locks, and they waited before pushing it open. Inside, the cage was gone and Moony was loose, looking the same as he had when they arrived the first time. He crouched, growling at them.

'The love magic, Sirius.'

'On it.'

As Remus watched, Moony stood from his crouch, tilting his head to the side and then he gave a happy yip and walked over to them.

'There. Hello Moony. Ready to come with me again?' Sirius asked, reaching out a hand. Moony allowed him to stroke his head and followed him out of the room. 'See you in a bit, Moonbeam,' he called, before closing the door.

Another eternity later, he flashed back to the room of books and then into the Defence classroom. Again, his friends were surrounding him, holding him in his chair, but they let go when they noticed he was supporting his own weight. 'How long this time?'

'Sixty-eight seconds again,' Professor Tenebris said. 'And Sirius said the tracking spell worked on Moony, so that's excellent. Now we just need to think of a safe way to test the two parts together.'

There was really only one way to test it and it didn't seem like anyone else was going to suggest it, so Remus took a deep breath. 'You have to test it on Moony. The real Moony.'

'What?' Peter said. 'No, we can't do that. It's far too dangerous.'

'We could make it safe,' Professor Tenebris said thoughtfully. 'Ward off an area for us to stand that he can't get to.'

'He'd still be able to smell us, though,' Sirius said. 'It would drive him mental.'

'What about that potion you used when you poisoned Remus?' James asked. 'Remus couldn't smell you in the room.'

'That should work,' Professor Tenebris said. 'I've got enough left for the four of us.'

'Moony would still be upset, though,' Sirius said. 'Especially when we leave.'

'No more so than he usually is,' James said. 'I think it's worth it. This benefits Moony too. It's up to you, though, Remus. You're the one who might get hurt.'

Remus looked at Professor Tenebris. 'You'll keep them safe?'

'I promise.'

'Alright. We'll do it on Thursday.' He trusted Professor Tenebris more than anyone else to keep him from hurting his friends. Because she knew what it felt like to hurt someone you love.