Chapter Text
Day
It was the day before the full moon, and Remus was antsy. His skin itched, and his hair stood on end all over his body. He felt feverish, and his joints ached.
He could deal with being a werewolf if he only felt the effects when the moon was full, but the run-up to it just made it all that much worse.
He needed to take his mind off it. As though Sirius had read his mind. He came sauntering in with that wild look in his eyes that could only mean one thing. Sirius had a prank ready to be played out.
Instantly, Remus forgot how bad his body felt. Sirius gracefully flopped onto the sofa next to him. He leant back, folding his hands behind his head. Looking completely at ease. Remus waited for Sirius to ask. He knew he was going to ask. Oh, how he needed Sirius to ask.
“Moony?” Sirius finally spoke, somehow managing to keep his face serious.
“Yes, Padfoot,” Remus replied, slightly breathlessly.
“I have a plan, but I need some help to pull it off.” He turned his head towards Remus. “Would you be interested?”
“Yes!” Remus said, unable to contain his excitement. This close to the moon, the wolf made it hard for him to control his emotions.
Sirius’s grin illuminated his face.
“Knew I could count on you, Moony.” He moved closer conspiratorially. “Third years are starting tea leaf reading in Divination this afternoon, and I have a rather large supply of nose-biting teacups…” He trailed off, not needing to say any more for Remus to understand.
“Yes! Sirius yes! Can we watch? I wanna watch!” He was vibrating with energy. That wicked glint flashed in Sirius’s eyes again, stronger than before. He pulled the corner of James’s invisibility cloak from under his robes.
“Way ahead of you, Moony, my old friend.”
The plan went off without a hitch. They vanished the ordinary teacups and replaced them all with the nose-biting ones. They picked a good spot at the back of the attic classroom where no one would accidentally walk into them.
The trapdoor was pushed open as the Divination Professor climbed into the room, followed by the small group of third-years.
“Settle down, settle down.” The crone-like witch called to the already quietly sitting class. “Everyone go and grab a teacup, and I shall bring around the tea.” The students each took one of the teacups from the shelf. Remus had to stuff his fist into his mouth to stop himself from laughing. He felt Sirius nudge him warningly. He tried to calm himself down before he gave them away.
“Make sure you drink all the tea before you start trying to read the tea leaves. Do not make the same mistake as my class last year. Poor boy scalded his legs trying to read without drinking any of the tea.” She shook her head solemnly.
“Poor, Pete,” Sirius whispered into Remus’s ear, then had to add his own hand to help cover Remus’s mouth as he shook with laughter.
The room was mostly quiet as the students all waited for the tea to cool enough to drink.
“Alright, class.” The Professor announced, “Your tea would be sufficiently cool enough now to drink from.” She picked up her own cup as the 15-third years all lifted theirs.
There was a moment of slurping and then Bedlam. People screaming, chairs flying and tea cups smashing. The class fled, trying to get away from the snapping china. The Professor was having a terrible time removing her cup from the end of her nose. It seems to be a particularly vicious one.
The chaos was more than either Remus or Sirius could have hoped for. Within minutes, the classroom was empty. The screams and shouts grew quieter as the third years ran from the tower.
Sirius pulled the cloak off them. They looked at each other silently and straight-faced for a second before they both fell to the floor, rolling around in peals of laughter.
“Godric, that went better than I could have ever imagined.” Sirius gasped between laughs, brushing the tears leaking from his eyes from his face.
“Sirius, that was perfect. I love your brain.” Remus choked out, an arm wrapped around himself as if he needed to hold himself together.
“Right, come on,” Sirius said, trying very hard to pull himself together, “Before someone comes to see what’s going on.”
They managed to climb back down the ladder without hurting themselves. Once at the bottom, Sirius threw the invisibility cloak back over them.
“Don’t want anyone seeing us coming out of the tower, or they’ll know it was us,” Sirius murmured to Remus as they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower, bursting into howling laughter when they pulled the invisibility cloak off, safe in their dorm room.
Night
His breath blew out in front of him in an icy haze. It was bloody freezing. He tucked his hands under his armpits, trying to keep them warm. He turned his gaze up to the skies. The stars beginning to twinkle as night began to set in. He looked to his star. The brightest star in the sky, and as always, once he’d found Sirius, his eyes drifted over to look for Regulus. He sighed, feeling the longing for his brother, always waiting for him.
“Padfoot, we’re gonna be late!” James called from near the Whomping Willow, Wormtail perched on his shoulder, ready to run under the branches and press the knot that immobilised the tree.
“Yeah, coming.” He called back, jogging lightly to get to them.
They rushed along the low, narrow passage to get to the shrieking shack. Remus would be along any moment, escorted by Madam Pomfrey.
When he arrived he looked tired. He kept wincing and rolling his shoulders. Sirius knew there wasn’t long until he changed. He transformed into Padfoot. James and Peter followed suit, transforming into their animagus forms.
Sirius watched his best friend, the man he secretly loved. Literally being ripped apart as the wolf struggled to get out.
The form on the floor stilled, no longer writhing.
In the place of Remus laid the silver-grey Wolf. Padfoot went over to nuzzle him, checking on his friend. The Wolf nipped at him. It stood and stretched, its joints cracking and popping. The Wolf always seemed to like Padfoot best. Maybe it was a canine thing. All Sirius knew was they would play and chase things through the forest all night under the full moon. He would do this every month for as long as Remus would let him. He loved being able to give his friend this small thing. He led the Remus Wolf out of the shack and into the moonlit night. The moon, Sirius and Regulus looking down on them.