Recycled Pain

James POV:

What is Remus thinking?! Can't he see that Sirius is head-over-heels in love with him?! No, he has to go and kiss Snape, of all people.

I'm heading for the library, hopefully in time to put a stop to whatever Snape's manoeuvred Remus into thinking, when a thought stops me dead in my tracks: werewolves mate for life.

Shit! I speed up, almost jogging now, when I'm bowled over by another student sprinting in the opposite direction.

'No running in the halls!' I bellow, turning around to see Remus turning a corner at high speed. 'Jesus! What now?'

I pick myself up and race after him. It's not easy - he's got strength and speed reserves no human could match, but I think I know where he's headed.

Sure enough, when I make it outside, Remus is crouched in the branches of the weeping willow on the edge of the lake. I slow down to catch my breath, and notice that he seems to be crying.

'Moony?' I call softly when I'm sure he can hear me. 'What's wrong?'

'I'm in love.'

Oh. He's realised he loves Sirius. That's why he's running away from Snape. He's realised the kiss thing was a mistake. 'You want me to get Sirius, then?'

'What?' He stares down at me, eyebrows almost meeting. 'Why?'

'Well,' I begin slowly. 'So you can tell him you love him, for a start,'

He closes his eyes in what looks to be pain. When he finally speaks, it's almost too faint for me to hear.

'I'm in love with Severus, not Sirius.'

'What?!' I screech. 'You can't be! He's Snape!'

Remus refuses to meet my eyes. 'Werewolves mate for life, Jamie.'

'You WHAT?!' Oh, this is not happening! 'Are you telling me that you and Snape-'

'No!' He snaps, jumping down to glare at me close-quarters. 'And I don't think we ever will now.'

'But then what-'

Remus picks me up and slams me against the tree. 'Werewolves. Mate. For. Life.' He growls, looking truly feral, and for the first time in my life I find I'm scared of him. 'You know this. Snape knows it. What you don't seem to grasp is the reality. I don't need to do anything with anyone to be bound to them as my mate! The first time I kissed Severus was twenty minutes ago. He rejected me. But I can't move on! The Wolf has his scent. Has had it since fifth year,' he lowers me to the ground at last, the wild light gone from his eyes. 'Severus is my mate. It doesn't matter if I never see him again. I could live a hundred and fifty years and never be able to look at anyone else,' he looks at me sadly. 'Feel lucky James. You love Lily, but it's not a biological impossibility for you to love someone else.'

He turns and walks toward the castle, straight-backed as always, looking only forward, and I'm confused.

He ... I ... this is absurd, isn't it? It's Sirius he's supposed to be with, right? Right?

Sirius POV:

It's well after midnight now, but Remus is still up. I can hear him behind his curtains.

Snape and Lestrange are missing, too. Didn't even bother to leave quietly.

'Remus?' I call softly. 'You okay?'

I hear him sigh heavily from where I'm standing right next to his bed, one hand hovering an inch away from the curtain.

'Yes, Sirius. I'm fine.'

'Oh,' I sound lost, I know it. James refused to tell me what happened with Remus earlier, and Remus has been shut down and unavailable-for-comment all day. 'Night, then.'

'Yeah,' Remus sighs heavily. 'Night.'

I slouch back to my bed and collapse on top of the cover. I can't process the shit that happened today, it's too off-the-wall. Maybe Moony's got a crush on Snape. God knows why, but it's just a crush. Give him two weeks of Snape's normal dicky behaviour, and he'll be over it. I can wait, though. I'll wait until he's forgotten Snape, and then I'll show him how much I love him. Yeah.