Art Thou Jealous

"Should we wake them?"

"Poke his leg."

"Oh, wait a sec."

Sirius and Remus bolted up at the bright flash and sound of Peter's very loud camera.

"Prats, both of you," Sirius shouted.

"It's time for breakfast," Peter said importantly. "So you'd best collect yourself and meet us down there."

Peter and James left for the Great Hall, leaving Sirius and Remus to properly wake up.

"Oh, no," Remus moaned, looking at the mess on the floor. "We never finished, did we?"

"I sure as hell didn't," Sirius said, standing up and running his hands through his hair. "It'll just be a detention a low grade. Nothing dreadful. You worry too much."

Remus watched Sirius run up the boy's staircase and sighed. He knew that Sirius was right, but he also had his reasons. Being a werewolf had accustomed him to worrying. The slow discovery that he, Remus, wasn't interested in girls only reinforced it. The knowledge that he was possibly falling for Sirius made matters worse.

He began gathering the school supplies that were littered around the couch. He read a section of Sirius' paper, smiling.

A white shirt landed on Remus' head, signaling that Sirius had returned.

"Come on, Moony," Sirius said. "Or there'll be no bacon left!"

Remus struggled out of his sweater vest and wrinkled shirt while Sirius shoved their belongings into school bags.

"Hey," Remus protested, "that one's mine!"

"Put your shirt on and let's go," Sirius said, waving away Remus' complaint. "We'll sort out whose quill is whose when we get to class."

***

"I must say I'm rather disappointed," Flitwick said with a frown. "Our first Saturday rehearsal, and we'll be short our Hamlet and Horatio."

"I know, Professor, and we're sorry," Remus said earnestly. "I promise, it won't happen again. We just forgot about the assignment and--"

"We'll forgive and forget, Mr. Lupin," Sprout said. "It's no harm done. We should be able to work on scenes without the two of you. But we'll expect you to talk to your friends and catch up on what you missed!"

"Naturally," Sirius said smoothly.

"All right, well run along," Sprout said, shooing the boys away. "Your special permissions only protect you until ten!"

"See, that wasn't so bad," Sirius said as he and Remus headed to the Gryffindor Tower.

"I'm a prefect," Remus reasoned. "I should be responsible."

"Everyone mucks up some time," Sirius said. "Quit beating yourself up about it. You should be more concerned that Peter has a picture of us in a compromising position."

"What?" Remus demanded quickly.

"I'm talking about this morning, Moony, calm down," Sirius said with a laugh. "You're jumpy today."

"Yeah, well, moon's only two days away," Remus said, looking out the window as they passed.

"It'll be fine," Sirius said firmly. "It always is."

"Well, we're not going out this time," Remus said. "I could have killed somebody last month."

"Only if they were stupid enough to be wandering around the forest on a full moon," Sirius argued. Remus glared at him. "Okay, okay, we'll stay in. Maybe drink some tea by a roaring fire."

"Shut up," said Remus, but he was smiling. "Bibblebabble."

The Fat Lady's portrait swung open, and Sirius and Remus went upstairs to find James and Peter in the dormitory.

"Am I Hamlet now?" James asked.

"No, you're a twat," Sirius said, tossing his school bag at James.

"We're not really in trouble," Remus explained.

"They're just 'disappointed'," Sirius said. "Which I guess is meant to make us feel worse."

"It's working," Remus said.

"Not on me!" Sirius grinned.

"We were just discussing the moon," Remus said, changing the subject.

"As were we," Peter said. "James thought that we could try to find the Acromantulas this time."

"First of all," Remus said, "we're not going anywhere this month."

"But--"

"Too close a call last time."

"And secondly," Sirius added, "Acromantulas are native to South America, so there aren't any in the forest."

"But Hagrid said--"

"And thirdly," Remus concluded, "if they were in the forest, I'd rather avoid them than seek them out."

"But Wolf Remus could eat them for a tasty snack!" James argued.

Even Remus laughed at that.

"No spiders, Prongs," Remus said finally. "This is my pack, and I say no spiders."

"Then it's no spiders," James agreed, a little downtrodden.

"So what'll we do, stuck in the Shack?" Peter asked.

"Play chess?" James suggested.

"You won't be able to do much of anything," Remus said. "You'll be busy keeping me under control. Thanks to you lot, I'm used to running around. I'm going to want to get out."

"So why don't you?" James said. "It'll be fine."

"Not this month," Remus said.

The full moon was the one night Remus was the leader of the four, and he knew the other three would obey his wishes.

"You'll still come, though, won't you?" Remus asked, sounding a little unsure.

"Of course we will, Moony," Sirius said softly.

"Wouldn't dream of leaving you cooped up alone," James said firmly.

"It'll be fun," Peter said. "We can play party games!"

Remus rolled his eyes, knowing that he had the best friends a wizard could ask for.

***

Detention was the day of the moon, and it showed. Remus and Sirius sat in the Arithmancy classroom, sorting through boxes of paperwork. Remus looked tired, and after nearly tripping a second time while carrying one of the boxes, Sirius demanded he remain seated.

"I'll carry the boxes from now on," he said. "Got it?"

"And to think," Remus said, sitting down gratefully, "by rights I should be Prince of Denmark right now."

"And I, ever your faithful servant, my lordship," Sirius joked.

"Run some lines?" Remus suggested.

"I don't know mine well enough," Sirius admitted. "It's only been a week."

"Well, I've more than you. I need to get an early start."

"What you need," Sirius said, "is to take it easy. You're looking more peaky than normal."

Remus sighed and closed his eyes. He looked as though he could fall asleep right there. Sirius looked toward the office where Professor Vector was sitting with the door partially ajar. Sirius scooted next to Remus and said, "Go on and rest a bit. I'll keep on with the papers."

"I couldn't, Padfoot," Remus said, snapping his eyes open only for the lids to droop again.

"I insist," Sirius said. Remus was too worn out to argue, and before he could stop himself, he curled up on the floor with his head on Sirius' knee.

"That's it," Sirius said, absentmindedly stroking Remus' hair with his free hand. Remus smiled. Sirius kept up a constant stream of commentary, but Remus was barely listening. He was stuck in a warm, comfortable place between sleep and wakefulness, only able to think about how lovely it was to be with Sirius now. Not that he would ever say it.

He fell deeper into his doze, but was vaguely aware that Professor Vector had entered the room. Remus heard Sirius giving some kind of explanation, but couldn't be bothered to wake himself enough to make sense of it. A few moments later, Sirius leaned down and whispered in Remus' ear, "Vector says it's okay, you've done enough. You want to go up to the dorm or the hospital wing?"

"No," Remus managed. "Want to stay here with you."

Sirius chuckled softly and patting Remus gently on the head. "I don't think you're even awake."

"I am," Remus mumbled, but it wasn't long before he slipped out of consciousness and into a blissfully blank sleep.

***

"I did enact Hamlet!" James said in greeting, as Sirius helped Remus into the Common Room.

"You'd better have my blocking notes," Remus said, attempting to sound stern.

"Notes?" James asked. "Who takes notes at play practice?"

"It's called rehearsal, Prongs," Remus said wearily. "This isn't Quidditch."

"Moony's going to have kip until it's time to go to Pomfrey," Sirius said, "so you buggers best leave him alone."

"Listen to you, sounding oh so responsible," said Peter.

Remus collapsed on one of the couches and shut his eyes. Around him, his friends talked quietly about the rehearsal and classes.

"Is he sleeping?" James asked after a while.

"Moony?" Sirius ventured. "Hey, Remus?"

Remus did not respond. He felt too comfortable and too exhausted.

"Guess so," Sirius said.

"I think tonight is going to be more complicated that we imagined."

Remus' eyes snapped open.

"What? Why?"

James picked up a book that was on the side table. He handed it to Sirius, who scanned it. As he read, James summarized, "After what Remus said, I went looking for stuff about containing werewolves after they've been wild. It looks like--"

"A nightmare," Sirius finished, turning to glance at Remus, who shut his eyes quickly. "What are you suggesting?"

"Well," James said shiftily, "Remus doesn't always remember exactly what happened during the moon, so I thought we might just take him--"

"No, James."

"But Sirius--"

"Talk about a breach of trust," Sirius said, shutting the book. "We can't promise to stay in with him and then all go gallivanting around the Forest!"

"He won't know!"

"He will," Sirius said firmly. "And even if he didn't, that's like if I shagged Lily Evans and you didn't know. It's still wrong."

Remus silently thanked Sirius. He could hardly believe that James would consider going back on his word. Especially when the full moon was involved.

"Fine, fine," James said, sounding a little irritated. "It was just a thought."

"I told him you wouldn't agree to it," Peter said.

"Did you?" Sirius demanded.

Remus opened his eyes a tiny amount.

Peter sighed. "Neither of us is trying to trick Remus or use his illness to have a good time once a month. We want to protect him, just like you do."

"I stand by what I said. It's a breach of trust."

Peter shrugged. "Then it's settled. A night in. I'll bring the gobstones."

James and Sirius exchanged looks, clearly intended to be exasperated. But when they made eye contact, the tension dissolved a little, and James smiled. Sirius punched Peter in the leg and said, "Gobstones my arse."

"I'll be back, gents," James said suddenly, hopping up. "My precious flower has arrived."

"Prongs, get back here," Sirius called "We need you in one piece tonight!"

Remus jolted, pretending Sirius' yell had woken him. Sirius grimaced.

"Sorry, Moony," he said, but Remus was sitting up.

"How could I miss the next episode of this never-ending saga?" Remus asked dryly. His sarcasm masked his resentment toward James for what had just happened.

"This is going to be mortifying, as usual," Peter muttered. He, Remus, and Sirius looked on as James conjured a bouquet, which was thrown in his face five seconds later.

"Lily!" James cried as she crossed the Common Room. "Why must you hurt me so?"

"No, Potter!" she called back over her shoulder.

"Rats," James said, snapping his fingers. "Foiled again!"

"Surprised?" Peter asked lightly. Sirius grinned.

"It's going to happen someday," said James resolutely. "The signs are everywhere."

"I knew you should've quit Divination," Sirius said.

"What signs?" Peter demanded. "I see no signs."

"Take this play, for example," James began. "She is the understudy for Ophelia. I am the understudy for Hamlet."

"So?"

"So, it's like destiny," James finished dreamily.

"Only if Remus and Leslie kick the bucket," Peter pointed out. "Which is rather unlikely."

James frowned.

"You'd best get to the hospital wing," Sirius said to Remus. "We'll see you tonight."

"Need any help?" James offered. Remus' anger suddenly abated as James offered his arm as a gentleman might to a lady. Of course he hadn't meant any harm.

"I'm fine," Remus said, prying himself off the couch. "I'll see you three in the Shack."