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The next few weeks flew by and the boys were excited about going home. Well Sirius wasn’t, he knows the misery he’ll be facing, and this is the first visit home since he was sorted into Gryffindor House. James gave an invitation to the boys to spend a day of two of the break with him. Peter couldn’t because his family goes away for the holidays however, Sirius was a definite yes and Remus thought for a moment.

“I’ll ask my parents it should be ok though,” knowing the full moon was on December 31st.

They chatted about this all the way home. The four friends said good-bye and prepared for the holidays.

Remus and Sirius kept their word and visited James during the holiday. They had a blast thinking up new practical jokes to play.

“Our target for the New Year will be Snape.” said James

“Not that I’m up for a good howl at Snape’s expense, but why?” asked Sirius.

Remus was thinking interesting choice of words. Do they suspect anything?

“From what I heard, since Remus used him for a punching bag, Snape will do anything to get him expelled,” James said.

“I apologized to him, it was a bad day. And it’ll never happen again.”

“He’s got your number buddy,” said Sirius.

“But so do we and nothing will ever change that. We’ll always be there for you,” said James.

“Let’s make a blood pact to each no matter what happens we’ll be the best of friends,” smiled Sirus.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. What if we miscalculate how deep we go?” Remus was sure this wasn’t going to happen but he felt the pull of the moon and the scent of blood, well it was going to be hard.

Sirius had a knife in his belongings that he carried around ‘just in case’. He took the knife and pricked his forefinger with the pointed end, he winced as it pierced his skin. It really hurt. That was all Remus could take he ran to the bathroom and opened a window sticking out his head hoping to get the smell of blood out of his system. He looked at his reflection in the mirror and his eyes were more amber then their normal blue. The wolf was trying to come out.

“Look what you did Sirius!” exclaimed James.

“How was I supposed to know he was so squeamish?”

“Well Sirius it does look gross.”

“It’s a blood bond, it’s unbreakable.”

“Well maybe when Remus is a little older we’ll try it again,” Sirius said sarcastically. Then he sighed, “So much for the pact.”

James was thinking of an alternative, “I’ve heard of this thing called a spit swear, maybe Remus will want to do that. Not as effective as a blood bond, but until Remus is ready for one it might do the trick,” said James

“Hey Remus we’re not doing the blood thing,” said James through the door.

“Is Sirius with you?” asked Remus timidly.

“Yeah.”

Remus took a sniff, but he could no longer smell the blood. The wolf started to subside, but knew tomorrow night he would take his revenge. He opened the door, just when Sirius noticed his eyes.

“What’s wrong with your eyes they’re all a weird color almost yellow?” asked James.

Remus went totally white. “Really?”

“Yeah, it’s kinda cool,” smiled Sirius.

“I have a hazel eyes they turn color depending on my mood.”

“So that’s why they’re yellow because you’re chicken,” Sirius laughed hardily.

“Sirius, cut it out. Not everyone is into blood and gore,” James said in defense of Remus. “You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“We figured we would do a spit swear,” said James proudly.

“What’s that?”

“You spit into hand and then we rub our palms together.”

“That sounds good.”

“A blood pact would have been better,” moped Sirius.

“Sirius, drop it,” James said giving him a dirty look.

“I swear that we will always be friends, no matter what.” Said James.

“I swear.” Remus thought let’s see how long that will last if they ever find out about me.

“I swear.” said Sirius.

The boys spit into their hands and rubbed their palms together

“What about Peter?” asked Remus. Feeling a little bad that he wasn’t here.

“Don’t get me wrong I like Peter, but you two are my best mates. I’m glad we have had these past couple of days together,” James said with all seriousness. “I know New Year Eve is tomorrow and we’ll be separate but let’s have a toast anyway.”

“To a great rest of the year at Hogwarts.” Toasted Remus.

“Here, here” said James and Sirius in unison.

“To great friendships”, toasted James.

“Here, here.”

“To a happy and healthy New Year”, toasted Sirius. “Especially to you, Remus.”

“Thanks.” Knowing full well the new year will be just as bad, except now he has friends.

After much talking and laughing they finally went to bed. Remus couldn’t remember when he had so much fun. Remus couldn’t sleep from all the excitement he sat up and looked out the window. Sirius, who was also having trouble sleeping looked out the window too.

“The full moon is beautiful against the snow.”

“It’s not full, yet.” I would know, in fact you would know you’d be dead by now, thought Remus.

“Really, it looks full. It’s full three days a month.”

“No it looks full two of the days, it’s only full once. Twice when there is a blue moon.”

“Into Astronomy?”

“No, just the moon.”

“It still looks cool.”

“Yes it does.”

Remus laid down and went to sleep. A couple hours later he was thrashing and whispering “No, I can smell the blood leave him alone. It’s gone, the blood is gone.”

“Remus, Remus.” Sirius tried to wake the boy caught in a nightmare.

“James, wake up.” James woke up put his glasses on and ran to the bed near the window. He shook Remus violently, the boy finally woke up. He sat up startled his eyes shone in the dark.

“You okay, mate?”

“Yeah.”

The next morning John Lupin showed up in the fireplace, waiting to take Remus home.

“I hope that he was no trouble,” said John.

“He is such a well mannered young man. You have done a great job with him,” said Gregory. “Remus! You’re father’s here. Mr. Lupin I was hoping you and your wife might come for a visit after the boys are back in school.”

“That would be nice,” said John.

The boys came bounding down the stairs.

“Bye Sirius, James, Mr. and Mrs. Potter , thank you for having me.” With that they left.

“Sirius is your mother coming for you?” asked Mrs. Potter.

Sirius laughed, “Are you kidding, she wouldn’t step in what she would call a “blood traitor” house like this. The mere idea that you would think of entertaining a half-blood like Remus. Her words not mine. She was pretty upset that I would even want to associate with him. So I didn’t tell her he was here. She would never let me come over. I’m glad I’m not like either of them. Is it okay if I stay a few hours longer?”

“Of course Sirius.”

The boys went back upstairs.

“I wonder what his nightmares are about,” said James.

“I wonder why his eyes keep changing and why they glowed last night.”

That night as the Black, Potters and Pettigrews were all celebrating the new year, the youngest Lupin was raising havoc on his body. John and Heather were apprehensive as this was the first transformation without the protection of the shack to run around in. Morning came and John went to the shed. It was a bad transformation as they thought it would be. John brought Remus to his room. He finally came to that night.

“Happy New Year, son.”

“What time is it?”

“Seven o’clock at night.”

“Remus, I figured you won’t go back to school on the train.”

“What, I’ll feel better tomorrow, please.”

“If most of the wounds are healed, and I have Poppy waiting for you at Hogsmeade.”

“Fine.”

The next morning, most of his wounds had healed John decided the best transportation was the Knight Bus. John waved his wand and the bright purple bus appeared. Heather did not make the trip as she was really upset that Remus was going and John just was letting him. John helped his son onto the bus and the conductor took his trunk. Remus left Swoop at school in the owlery so it was one less thing he needed to take. If Remus was in a better state he might have thought the ride on the bus was fun. But right now it just hurt. They finally made it to King’s Crossing. It was ten forty and most of the cars were empty. John helped his son into the last compartment.

“Lay down here.”

“But I need to make room for my friends.”

“Remus, you shouldn’t be here, and the train hasn’t left yet.”

“Okay.”

John conjured a pillow and blanket. “Here.” Remus was too tired to argue and still in a lot of pain, though he wouldn’t tell his father. John checked the last of the bandages to make sure none needed to be changed . Except the one on his side they looked good. He was changing it when Sirius and James walked in.

“What happened?” asked James.

“He had a bad skiing accident yesterday. He’s resting but I think he’s in more pain then he lets on. I gave him potion earlier today, could you give him this in an hour and then every three hours until you get to Hogsmeade. Madame Pomfrey will be waiting for him there.”

He gave his son a kiss on the forehead.

“Poppy will be waiting for you in Hogsmeade. Have a safe trip, I love you.”

John looked at his son one last time and thought maybe his wife was right to want to keep him home at least another day.

“So much for having a better year,” sighed Sirius.

Just then Peter walked into the compartment. He looked at the boy lying on bench.

“What did you guys do to him?” asked Peter.

“He had a skiing accident,” said James.

“Didn’t he go over your house?”

“Yeah, but this happened yesterday,” said Sirius.

“How was your trip?” asked James.

“It was cool, if you ever get a chance you have to get to Paris for the holidays. It was beautiful. Maybe you can take Lily,” teased Peter.

The boys laughed.

About an hour later Remus woke up groaning.

“Hey there, how you feeling?” asked Sirius.

“Like a truck ran over me.”

“Here take this your father left it for you,” James said as he handed Remus the potion.

“What is it?”

“Your Dad said it was something for pain.”

“Good.”

“So what happened?” asked Peter.

“I was sledding and..”

James and Sirius looked at each other. “Your dad said it was a skiing accident.”

“If you let me finish, I was getting to that part. I was sledding but the kids I was hanging with wanted to go skiing. It was my first time so I just miscalculated a turn skied into some ruffage got scratched and smashed into a tree.”

“How’s your face?”

“My face didn’t get hit.”

“Maybe it should have.” The boys started laughing.

Remus winced in pain. “Don’t make me laugh.” The potion was starting to take effect and Remus was falling asleep again. The ended up giving Remus the potion one more time, and soon he fell back to sleep. When they got to Hogsmeade sure enough there was Poppy, she had Hagrid with her. James and Sirius helped Remus up from the bench.

“What’s that on the bench?” it was wet and red. He’s bleeding let’s get him off of here. Sirius grabbed his waist his robes were soaked and Remus screamed in pain. The got him off the train then Hagrid picked him up and they proceeded to a special carriage, which left before the students were able to get in their carriages.

Lily turned to James, “I wonder what that was about?”

“Remus had a bad skiing accident.” Lily wasn’t the only one interested in what happened. James turned around and there was Snape. “Get outta here Snivellus, this is a private conversation.”

“It seems your friend has a lot of ‘accidents’. I think there is more to the story.”

“Who cares what you think.”

James, Sirius and Peter climbed on a carriage. They went back to school had dinner and went to the hospital wing.

“How’s Remus?”

“He’s resting. Poor thing shouldn’t have traveled so soon after the tr...” Poppy forgot who she was talking to “accident.” James and Sirius again looked at each other maybe Snape was right, maybe there was more to this ‘accident’?