Once in a Blue Moon (COMPLETE)

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Getting Nowhere
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The Christmas holidays arrived, and with them the realisation that all four Gryffindor sixth year boys were staying at school for the holidays. They were determined to make it a double celebration since Peter was also celebrating his seventeenth birthday.

“Midnight feasts are the best!” James exclaimed as he looked through the goodies that Remus and Peter had brought up from the kitchens. “Best way of celebrating Peter’s birthday. Now he’s of age and the world is his… er… whatsit… them things you find in the sea…”

“Crabs?” Sirius suggested with a Firewhiskey induced snicker.

“Oysters,” Peter supplied as he raised his bottle of spiked butterbeer and grinned round the room at his friends. “The world is my oyster and I can do magic outside of school now. I’m totally legal.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Sirius said as he leaned down from where he was perched on the end of his bed and grabbed his own bottle of butterbeer from the stash that James always seemed to have. The stash that had been spiked earlier that day with a bottle of Firewhiskey stolen from the cellar of The Hog’s Head.

“Do you think Lily would have joined us if we’d asked her?” James speculated some time later when they’d all eaten their fill.

Sirius snorted quietly as he tried to suppress his laughter. The love hate relationship between the two of them had reached new heights this year, with James feelings for the fiery redhead going from one extreme to the other on an almost weekly basis.

“What’s so funny?”

“The idea of Lily doing anything you ask her,” Remus supplied with a smirk. “Not a snowball’s chance in hell would pretty much sum it up.”

“But, how can she say no to a party?”

“Because you’d be the one asking,” Sirius suggested with a grin.

“It’s what I’ve been telling you since fourth year,” Peter added. “You need to lower your standards a little and try to focus on someone else.”

“I tried that last year,” James pouted. “Don’t you remember me asking Esme from Ravenclaw to go to Hogsmeade in the spring?”

“Yeah, but you only did that to make Lily jealous,” Remus pointed out. “And picking a Ravenclaw for that little stunt was asking for trouble.”

“There was no reason for her to slap me,” James muttered.

“Why not try asking a girl out, without an ulterior motive revolving round Lily?” Peter asked. “You’ll have to eventually.”

“Why will I have to eventually?”

“Because she’s never going to say yes,” Remus, Sirius and Peter replied in almost perfect synchronisation.

“It’s not like I’m trying to steal her away from someone else,” James huffed. “She’s not been on a date all year.”

“I think she’s wanting to concentrate on her N.E.W.T.s this year,” Remus pointed out.

“I believe she said she’d rather fail the whole lot than go on a date with you,” Peter chimed in with a wicked grin.

“I think the subject needs changing,” James announced with a final glare at Peter. “So, who would you guys have invited to our little party if you’d bothered to plan this properly?”

“It’s a bit hard to plan a party properly when the first you hear about it is someone waking you up at quarter to eleven screeching ‘party!’ in your ear,” Sirius pointed out.

“Hypothetically then,” James amended. “If you could invite any girl in the school to our party who would it be?”

“Rochelle,” Peter said dreamily, his eyes going out of focus.

“In your dreams,” James teased. “She’s been off the market since last year.”

“You said hypothetically,” Peter pointed out. “What about the rest of you?”

“Charlie,” Remus replied without hesitation. Sirius felt a flicker of unease at the promptness of Remus’s response, but consoled himself with the thought that at least his eyes hadn’t started to glaze over as Peter’s had done, or as they had done on Sirius’s own birthday, some six weeks ago now.

“Boring,” James groaned. “She’d just bang on about tomorrow morning’s Quidditch practice all night. She’d also point out that none of us are getting a full night’s sleep and the food here isn’t part of the team’s dietary requirements.”

“I’d keep her quiet.” Remus smirked and waggled his eyebrows.

“And how would you plan on doing that Mr Lupin?” James asked with a grin of his own.

“Well, she might find it rather difficult to talk if my tongue was in her mouth,” Remus replied in a mock serious tone.

James and Peter howled with laughter, and even Sirius couldn’t help cracking a smile at the joke. Though his own amusement was less at the comment, and more at the memory of just how Remus’s tongue had felt in his mouth. As such, his own mirth was soon gone.

“What about you Sirius?” James asked, taking a swig of his butterbeer. “Who would you most like to bring to the party?”

Sirius shrugged and looked down at his empty bottle and wished that he still had some left in it, so that he could take a swig and avoid answering the question a little longer.

“I think Sirius is holding out on us,” Peter drawled. “Who is she?”

“No one,” Sirius muttered before forcibly rallying himself to answer in what he desperately hoped was the same light and teasing manner the others had displayed. “I just can’t bear to choose from all the beauties here. I’d invite them all.”

“Be a bit crowded in here,” James snickered.

“Cop out of an answer,” Peter accused. “At least narrow it down to half a dozen or something.”

“And let you nutters try and set me up with one of them?” Sirius laughed. “No chance!”

“Who? Us?” James asked innocently. “Like we’d play matchmaker like that. No Sirius, we’d let you get the girl yourself. Promise. You’d have no trouble; you’re the best looking of the four of us. If Remus can get a girl on his own, you’ll have no trouble.”

“Hey!” Remus exclaimed, realising somewhat belatedly that there had been something of an insult directed at him in James’s little speech.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” James groaned, raising his hands in surrender as Remus threw a pillow at him, spilling James’s drink in the process. “But, you’ve got to admit that you and Charlie do make a bit of an odd couple.”

“Odd, how?” Remus asked with a frown.

“Well, not odd exactly,” James amended, backtracking rapidly at Remus’s earnest expression. “Just not who I’d have picked out for you, if I’d been setting you up with someone.”

“They’re not the oddest couple in the school though,” Peter commented. “Look at Vincent and Sophie… the brains of Ravenclaw and the dingbat of the Slytherins.”

“Or what about Connie and Steven?” James snickered. “He’s about seven foot tall and she could pass for one of Flitwick’s relatives.”

“She needs a stepladder just to kiss him,” Sirius added with a laugh of his own.

“At least she won’t have to bend too far to suck him off,” Peter chuckled, much to the hilarity of the others.

“I still reckon there’s something going on between Dumbledore and McGonagall,” Peter speculated a few minutes later.

“There is not,” James replied with a sigh of total, utter impatience. “I told you before…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know…” Peter interrupted. “Dumbledore’s gay. I still say you’ve got no proof of that.”

“He is?” Sirius asked in surprise.

“Don’t tell me you hadn’t heard that rumour?” James asked. “That one’s been flying around on a regular basis since first year.”

Sirius shook his head mutely. He was quite sure he’d have remembered that particular rumour if he’d ever heard even so much as a whisper of it.

“Ah well,” James said idly. “Each to his own and all that.”

“I still say it’s a load of old rubbish,” Peter replied. “Dumbledore and McGonagall are just perfect for each other.”

“What do you think Sirius?” James asked with a grin.

“I can’t really picture Dumbledore and McGonagall together,” replied Sirius, shuddering slightly at the thought.

“So, you agree he’s probably gay?” James pressed on.

“I didn’t say that,” Sirius hurriedly amended.

“So, what do you think about the idea of two blokes together?”

Sirius felt his face flushing and was grateful that it was the middle of the night, and that most of the candles had long since been extinguished or melted completely. He wondered whether he was imagining the way that James’s voice had lost its teasing and playful quality, and sounded far more serious than it had previously. Nor did James sound quite as inebriated as he had only moments before. It was almost as though James was probing him for an answer that he already knew. Or maybe Sirius was just paranoid following his conversation with Charlene.

He ducked his head and shrugged his shoulders, not daring to risk a glance at Remus, even though he was more than a little curious as to what, if anything, he would add to this particular conversation.

Finally the conversation drifted on to other topics and Sirius looked across at Remus. Remus however was looking steadfastly at James and Peter and refused to meet his eyes even once.

Later that night Sirius was lying awake long after he believed the other boys had gone to sleep. The thoughts of the kisses he’d shared with Remus were plaguing his mind, and the more he thought about them, the more restless and uncomfortable he became. That, of course, only reminded him of their activities in Hogsmeade… which did even less to help him fall asleep.

“Can’t sleep?”

Sirius jumped slightly at the sound of James’s voice.

“Probably too much sugar,” Sirius replied quietly. “Next time someone should bring back healthier food for the parties.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” James laughed. “Anyway, it’s not the sugar and you know it.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Well, I’m restless because I’m thinking about Lily. I recognise the signs.”

Sirius made a snorting sound, which he hoped neither denied nor confirmed James’s guess.

“Here!” James said and Sirius felt something cold hit him in the face.

“What’s this?” he asked as he picked up the magazine James had slung at him and rubbed his nose.

“What’s it look like?” James asked with a snort.

“A magazine?” replied Sirius, a cold feeling of dread settling over him as he wondered if James had been rifling through his trunk. “I don’t think a bit of light reading is going to help me sleep,” he added, trying to force lightness into his tone.

“It’s not that sort of a magazine,” James responded. “Go, take it to the bathroom, sort yourself out, then come back and get some sleep.”

Sirius sat up and began to fumble with the oil lamp on the bedside table. He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to see the magazine that James had thrown at him or not.

“Don’t turn that on in here,” James warned. “You’ll just wake the others. Go to the bathroom and you’ll see what it is.”

“Okay,” Sirius replied as he climbed out of bed. The sooner he got this over with the better.

Once in the bathroom, Sirius lit a lamp to see what it was that James had thrown at him.

“Oh, thank Merlin,” he whispered as he looked at the cover of the magazine which displayed a somewhat scantily clad witch beckoning provocatively below the title Wicked Witches. The muggle porno magazines were nothing compared to the moving wizarding ones and Sirius immediately wondered where James had purchased this, as well as whether there were any showing blokes for sale.

On the one hand Sirius was slightly embarrassed that James had ascertained his problem quite so easily. On the other hand, at least he hadn’t figured out the identity, or even the sex of, the person Sirius was enamoured with. It seemed that James wasn’t quite so adept at guessing who was gay and who was straight as one might think from what he’d said earlier that night.

Sirius sat down on one of the benches, hesitant to go back to the dormitory just yet. With nothing else to do he opened the magazine and flicked through it idly. The pictures of the topless witches winking and flirting at him from the pages did nothing for him. If he’d ever had any lingering thoughts or doubts that maybe it was just a phase, and that he’d stop thinking of Remus every waking minute, they vanished forever as he flicked disinterestedly through the magazine.

The most interesting thing he actually found in the magazine was a picture of two witches sitting astride a muggle motorbike. Needless to say it wasn’t the women who had caught his attention.

“Nice bike,” Sirius said to himself with a grin.

“I didn’t lend you that for the bikes,” James said from the doorway with a grin. “I thought you’d fallen asleep in here or something,” he added by way of explanation for his presence.

“Lost track of the time,” Sirius mumbled, starting to get up from the bench. James waved him back down and sat down beside him instead.

“The others are still asleep,” he commented.

“We should be getting some sleep, too,” Sirius replied, moving to get up again.

“Hold on a minute,” James asked, placing a hand on his arm to stop him rising to his feet.

“What is it?”

“You haven’t used the magazine,” James commented with a pointed look at Sirius that caused his face to flush red with embarrassment again.

“Yeah, well, I… er…”

“Girls don’t… um… do it for you, do they?” James asked quietly with a quick glance to the door to check he hadn’t been followed by one of the other boys.

Sirius groaned, realising now that Charlene was right, and that other students were wondering about his sexual preferences. Somehow this conversation with James was even more uncomfortable than the one he had had with Charlene, though he suspected that had a great deal to do with his being incredibly aroused right now, and James’s blatant acknowledgement of that fact. “Er…”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” James assured him hurriedly. “I know we’ve not always been the best of mates, and that I’ve teased you in the past about being a queer. But, I never really thought you were, I was just having a laugh. But, if you are…well…I just thought you might want to talk.”

“The past is in the past,” Sirius said. “We’re friends now, aren’t we?”

“Sure,” James nodded. “But, even if you don’t want to talk to me about this, at least talk to Remus.”

“Remus?” Sirius whispered, as thoughts of bolting returned.

“Well, he is your best friend, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he’s my best friend,” Sirius repeated quietly.

“He’d understand,” James assured him. “He’s good with stuff like that. He’s listened to me go on about Lily for hours, and even offered some advice for what to do about the problem.”

“Lily’s a problem now, is she?” Sirius teased.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” James replied. “And stop changing the subject. Do you go for blokes?”

Sirius nodded and sighed.

James nodded in response and gestured to the magazine. “Sorry, not got any with blokes in to lend you.”

Sirius laughed shortly. “I have a few in my trunk, thanks.”

“You do? I’ve never seen you using them.”

Sirius gave him a look that reminded him what they were talking about.

“Oh, yeah, right,” James mumbled.

“I’ve not used them at school anyway,” Sirius said. “I only brought them because I couldn’t leave them at home. They’re muggle magazines, you see.”

“Muggle?” James asked excitedly. “Really? Can I see them?”

Sirius laughed. “You want to look at pictures of naked men?” he asked sceptically.

“Well, no, but I’ve never seen a real muggle magazine before…even Peter doesn’t have any and his mother’s a muggle.”

Sirius chuckled and shook his head. “Do you have any idea how much you are reminding me of my mother right now?” he asked.

James looked at him in confusion. “I am?”

Sirius nodded. “She caught me with the magazines just before we came back to school, and it was the fact they were muggle made that annoyed her the most.”

“Your mother caught you wanking to pictures of naked blokes?” James asked in astonishment.

“Merlin, no!” Sirius explained, shuddering slightly at the thought. “She just caught me trying to find somewhere to hide them on the morning we came back to school. She hit the roof.”

“So, does your mum accept that you’re gay?” James asked in surprise. “I thought the Blacks were real big on continuing the pureblood line and all that crap?”

“They are.”

“But you said it was just that you were buying muggle stuff that had annoyed her?”

“Yeah, well, she’s still insisting that I marry some pureblood brainless bint and produce an heir,” Sirius explained. “I can shag who I want, as long as I don’t let the family down.”

“I take it you’re not going to marry?” James asked, though it was not really a question.

“Never,” Sirius replied with a shake of his head.

They sat on the bench for a few more minutes until James spoke again. “I still think you should talk to Remus about all this. He’s your best friend; he deserves to know.”

“He already knows,” Sirius replied, as though this should have been rather obvious.

“He’s never said anything,” James commented. “Are you sure he knows?”

“Yeah,” Sirius muttered. “I’m sure.”

He’d have to have been obliviated not to know, he thought privately to himself. It might have taken a while for Remus to realise, but shoving his tongue down his throat had clued him in pretty quickly.

“Oh.”

Sirius looked up at James’s quiet exclamation. “Oh crap! Did I say that out loud?”

“Say what out loud?”

“What I just thought about…er…?”

“No. Care to enlighten me?”

“No!”

“O-kay,” James drawled. “So, about Remus…”

“What about him?” Sirius asked, far too quickly, causing James to raise a questioning eyebrow.

“How long have you fancied him?” James asked with a sly smirk.

“Crap!”

“Bit of a funny answer, that.”

“How did you know?” Sirius asked resignedly.

James laughed. “Couldn’t be anyone else.”

“Oh.” Sirius wondered if the whole bloody school knew how he felt about Remus. First Charlene, now James… At this rate the entire population of Hogwarts would know he fancied his best friend before Valentine’s Day rolled around.

“Well, how long?”

“A while,” Sirius replied with a sigh. “I’m not sure when it started exactly.”

“And I take it Remus isn’t… you know… interested. Is he even bi?”

“I don’t know,” Sirius lied; it wasn’t really his place to out Remus with the others, even if Remus wasn’t firmly in denial.

“Didn’t you ask him? Oh, I guess it might be a bit awkward, what with him having a girlfriend. But, you never know, he might swing both ways.”

“He wasn’t going out with her when he first found out about me.”

“And?” James asked. “I sense a bit more to this than what you’re telling me here.”

“I kissed him, all right?” Sirius snapped before burying his now flushed face in his hands.

“I take it he didn’t kiss you back?” James asked quietly. “I’m sorry, mate.”

“Oh, he kissed me back all right,” Sirius muttered without thinking of the implications of what he was saying, and what Remus might say when he found out. “Tongues and everything.”

“Urgh, that was more than I needed to hear.”

“Sorry. Anyway, he kissed me back, but then he said he thought I was drunk. It was back in fifth year, on his birthday. You remember we all got separated on the way back from the kitchens?”

James nodded quietly.

“It was in the common room after we got back. We didn’t speak for bit and then he came to tell me that he’d got a girlfriend, and next thing I know he’s going to Hogsmeade with Charlie for their first date.”

“Didn’t you talk to him when you were sober?”

“I wasn’t drunk!”

“Sorry. But have you talked to him?”

“Of course I’ve bloody well tried to talk to him,” Sirius snapped. “Loads of times.”

“Hey! I’m just trying to help.”

“Sorry.”

“It really is a while then,” James commented. “He’s being seeing Charlie for ages now.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sirius mumbled. “You won’t let on to Remus, or anyone, that I told you about that, will you?”

James shook his head.

“Not even Peter?” Sirius questioned.

“Peter won’t care if you’re a shirt-lifter,” James commented. “His favourite uncle lives with another bloke.”

“He does?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry, I won’t tell him if you don’t want me to.”

“Thanks,” Sirius replied. “Now, I think I’ll go back to bed.”

“Okay,” James replied quietly. “And Sirius?”

“Yeah?” Sirius paused in the doorway to look back at James who was only now rising to his feet.

“I’m sorry.”

“What for this time?”

“That there’s not much I can do to help with your problem.”

“It doesn’t matter. Goodnight James.”

Ten minutes later Sirius was back in bed, still wide-awake, and still uncomfortably aroused.

“Sirius?” James whispered. Sirius turned his head to see James rummaging around on the shelf near his bed.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Looking for something.”

“What?”

“This!” James exclaimed as he pulled what appeared to be a book from the shelf.

“You’re not actually doing homework are you?” Sirius joked.

“Hardly. No, this is my photo album.”

“And you need that in the middle of the night because…?

“Because it’s where I keep all the photos of us,” explained James, as though this was fairly obvious. “Here, pick any one you like.” He passed the album to Sirius who sat up to look James in the eye, but didn’t take the album.

“What for?”

“Well, there are a few of Remus in here,” James explained.

“What do I need a picture of Remus for?” Sirius asked. “I don’t think he’d like it if I put it up on the nightstand.”

“I didn’t mean to put on display,” James replied with a roll of his eyes as he sat down on the bed beside Sirius and began flicking through the album.

“How many pictures of Lily do you have in there?” Sirius asked curiously as he saw another page filled with pictures of the vivacious redhead.

“A fair few,” James replied with a shrug.

“There’s a word for this, you know?”

“Hmm?”

“Stalker.”

“Git!” James replied with a laugh as he flicked through the pages. “Here are a few of Remus from the party at the end of last year.”

Sirius sighed. “Keep them.”

“I’m just trying to help,” James whispered. “You said yourself you fancy him.” He pointed to one of the photographs. “What about this one?”

Sirius looked at the picture of Remus, shirtless and smiling at the camera.

“Looks like it would be in place in a magazine for blokes,” James continued. “He’s not wearing nearly as much as some of the birds in mine.”

“W-what?” Sirius spluttered. “You think I’d want a picture of Remus so that I can… so I… so that… I… I…”

“Everyone does it Sirius,” James told him calmly as he pushed the album back into Sirius’s hands.

“Not to pictures of their best mates, they don’t.”

James grinned wickedly. “Whatever floats your boat.”

“I don’t want a picture of Remus,” Sirius insisted with a scowl. “I don’t need a picture of him.”

“Are you sure?”

“Just put the album away.”

“Okay. But you know where it is, if you change your mind.” James finally took the album back and put it away on the shelf. “But seriously mate, you need to get this sorted out. Talk to him again. Or move on. You know… I’ve got a distant cousin in Hufflepuff who prefers blokes, too. I could set you up with him.”

“No thanks.”

“You sure? He’s a nice bloke, and I know he thinks you’re cute.”

“Cute?” Sirius looked aghast.

“Well, it was back in third year he said that,” James admitted. “We weren’t exactly getting along at the time, but he did ask who the cutie in the dorm was. Remus wasn’t officially here, it was just before I found out you’d got him hidden in here. And I’m pretty sure he wasn’t talking about Peter. I could have a word with him, if you like…”

“No thanks,” Sirius repeated. “There’s only one bloke I like, and it wouldn’t be fair on your cousin to lead him on.”

“He’d be so grateful for a date he wouldn’t mind,” James joked. “Besides which, he’d owe me the biggest favour ever.”

“Thought you’d get to the ulterior motives sooner or later.”

“Well, if you change your mind let me know.”

“Sure James. Now, can we please get some sleep?”

“Is that the polite way of telling me to shut up?”

“If you like.”

“Okay. Goodnight, Sirius.”

“Goodnight, James.”

James climbed into bed and turned out the lamp. Within minutes James was snoring away like the other two boys in the room. Sirius however was still wide-awake. He looked at the shelf where James had put the photo album. He had been telling the truth when he’d said he didn’t need a picture of Remus, all he needed to do was close his eyes and he could picture the other boy as clearly as if he were standing in front of him. He tossed and turned as he tried to fall asleep.

Unfortunately sleep was determined to elude Sirius, and eventually he gave in to the temptation that had been a constant presence ever since he had crawled into bed. Sitting up, he carefully closed the curtains around the bed and made sure to cast a charm so that no sound escaped into the rest of the room. Then laying back down he fumbled with the drawstring of his pyjama bottoms and slowly slipped his hand inside.

Sirius sighed and closed his eyes, remembering how Remus had straddled him on the sofa in Hogsmeade, and how he had kissed him. He parted his lips slightly and darted out his tongue to moisten them, imagining that the touch was coming from Remus once again.

Then Sirius imagined that Remus was in the bed with him, kissing him, touching him, caressing him. If he tried really hard, he could almost recall the feel of Remus lying alongside him as they rubbed up against each other and he knew he wouldn’t last long.

He kept his eyes shut for a long time afterwards, not wanting to let go of the fantasy. But eventually he cracked open his eyes, only to see that his bed was as empty of Remus as it had been earlier that night… as it had always been. His cleaned himself up and turned onto his side, hoping to get to sleep some time before dawn; his movements dislodged one of the bed curtains and he looked through it towards where Remus was lying in his own bed as awake as he himself was. He wondered how long he’d been awake for, and whether any sound had escaped the confines of the bed.

“Remus?” he whispered. “You awake?”

“Yeah, something woke me up.”

“You know what?” Sirius whispered, hoping that Remus wouldn’t reply that he had heard him.

“No,” Remus answered. “Can’t you sleep either?”

“No,” Sirius replied with a shake of his head.

“Why not?” Remus asked as he sat up and crawled to the edge of his own bed.

Sirius felt his face burning with embarrassment, even as the wicked imp on his shoulder whispered in his ear to tell Remus what he’d been doing, just to see what his reaction would be. “I’m cold,” he eventually replied with a shrug.

“Come over here,” Remus replied. “I want to talk to you anyway.”

Sirius nodded and climbed out of bed. He pulled on his evening robe and joined Remus on his bed. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to talk to you about the full moons,” Remus whispered as he pulled the bed curtains closed.

“What about them?” Sirius asked. “They’ve not been too bad the last few months, have they?”

Remus shook his head. “No, they’ve been okay. It isn’t that.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s Charlie,” Remus said. “She wants to come with us on the full moons.”

“What?” Sirius hissed. “She can’t.”

“She wants to ask Professor McGonagall for permission,” Remus said.

“We don’t need her there,” Sirius insisted. “Interfering and poking her nose in where it’s not wanted. I’m the one who takes care of you after the moons, not her. I’m the one that Moony pines for.”

“I know you take care of me,” Remus whispered, trying to encourage Sirius to keep his voice down so that they didn’t wake the others. “And I don’t want her there any more than you do.”

“You don’t?”

Remus shook his head. “She’ll freak out when she sees what I turn into.”

Sirius nodded, although he didn’t entirely believe that that would be the case. He knew that it was Remus’s own fear that was making him believe that she would run for the hills if she ever saw the wolf. If he had honestly believed that she would desert him, Sirius knew that he would probably do everything in his power to encourage Remus to allow her to accompany them.

As it was though, the main thing running through Sirius’s mind was that the full moons were his time with Remus. It was his place to assure Remus that everything would be okay in the morning, his task to watch over the wolf all night, and his job to look after Remus in the morning. He neither wanted nor needed Charlene tagging along with them.

“So, you’ll help me talk her out of it?” Remus was saying, and Sirius found himself nodding in agreement once more.

He had no intention of sharing the full moons with Charlene, and the sooner the girl knew that, the better it would be.