The next day was Care of Magical Creatures Day, or so that's how the boys advertised it to Remus. It seemed that he no longer recalled the timetables or even what any of the classes were in the first place.

It was a Friday, meaning that they only had three classes, but for longer times, Care of Magical Creatures being one of them. Sirius was a little iffy about bringing Remus, strictly because of all the dangerous creatures their professor brought in to show them. But Remus was excited and there was no way he could say no to that face.

It was sad, really, because he acted like he'd never been to this class before.

On their way across the grounds, little Remus was up ahead, all bundled up, holding James's hand by a finger. He had his little mittens and earmuffs, a coat and a Gryffindor scarf tied around his neck. The rest of them were bundled up too, of course, but not to the extent that Remus was. It was all Sirius's doing. He wanted to make sure Remus was extra warm.

Sirius stayed behind a bit to walk with Lily, for he wanted to talk about Remus. "He can't remember any of his classes?" She questioned. Sirius shook his head, frowning.

"But classes are so important to him!" She exclaimed.

"I know," Sirius answered, digging his fists deeper into his pockets. "And the full moon is in two days."

Lily looked pained. "Do you think he even remembers he's a werewolf? I mean, if we're going off of his five year old memories and mentality merging with and even overtaking that of his seventeen year old self as it seems to be doing, then how do we even know what all he's aware of? Because in that timeline, he'd have only just been turned months ago. He might not even know very well yet. He's too young to know what it all means."

They walked in silence as Sirius digested all that Lily said. "I can't decide if him not knowing is a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, it's a whole lot more confusion and fear and pain he doesn't understand, but on the other, it's blissful ignorance. Look at him, he's so happy," Sirius said, pointing ahead to where Remus was tugging on James's finger to look at the cloud he was pointing at.

"I dunno, Sirius. We'll just have to figure it out as we go, I suppose."

When they finally reached the area set aside for Care of Magical Creatures class, Remus wandered back over to Sirius, breath fogging in front of him and a shivering mess. Even as a teenager, Remus was always so cold.

So Sirius picked him up and tucked him into his own jacket and sort of bounced him around as they listened to their professor tell about the Billywigs that were flying around the students' heads.

Remus reached for one. "Look! Look! Ooooh it's preeeetttyyyyy."

"No, don't touch that," Sirius reprimanded quickly, spinning Remus away. The last thing he needed was for Remus to get stung by a billywig and levitate away.

Remus pouted, shoulders slouching in disappointment. "But it's pretty," he said sadly.

"I know it's pretty, Rey, but you can't touch it."

Remus didn't want to stand by him anymore after that and instead defected to Lily and James.

"Tough luck, Padfoot," said James as he patted Sirius on the shoulder. "Should've let the tot touch the billywig."

Lily overheard and playfully whacked his arm. "That's a stupid idea and you know it," she scolded, holding Remus's hand.

James just chuckled nervously.

Remus forgot that he didn't like Sirius pretty quickly.

On the way back inside the castle, James and Remus argued back and forth about magical creatures.

"Noooooooo," Remus was saying. "A Phoenix is NOT a turtle!"

James tried to hide his smirk. "It is too! I just saw one, down by the lake. They're turtles that are bright red and breath fire, of course! We learned this last year in class!"

"Ughhh!" Remus groaned, stomping his feet and tugging angrily at James's coat sleeve.

"A Phoenix is a BIRD! With WINGS! They. Are not. TURTLES!" He shouted.

"Alright, better stop before he throws a tantrum," Lily suggested quietly, grabbing Remus hand and leading him away where he was easily distracted from where Peter was making him a snowman.

Later that evening, Remus was drunk with giggles as Peter the rat ran across his bed, doing all sorts of rat tricks to keep him entertained while James, Sirius, and Lily did homework on the other side of their dorm.

Every once in awhile, James would look over and smile and Remus and Peter. Remus's face was flushed as he clapped at the rat.

When James glanced over once more, it was to see that Peter was gripped tightly in Remus's little fist. Remus was still giggling, playing with the rat that he was unintentionally strangling.

James let out a strangled gasp as he sprang up and ran over to Remus.

"Let go, let go, let go," he said, prying the rat out of Remus's hand. Remus looked confused, like he was about to cry.

As soon as the rat was free, it scrambled to the other side of the dorm, where it quickly transformed back into its human form. Peter gasped and wheezed, looking back at the innocent little boy in terror.

James laughed nervously. "Careful, Rey."

But Remus was looking on at Peter in awe. Sirius and Lily stopped their homework to watch the interaction, though Sirius wasn't really doing his homework in the first place.

Remus pointed at Peter. "Pete? Where'd you come from?"

Peter froze, turning to share a look with Sirius.

Remus clapped, excited once again. "Do it again, do it again!"

Peter shrugged and turned into a rat again and Remus squealed. "Look! Look, it's a mouse! Look, it's a mouse!"

When Peter turned back, Remus gasped as his eyes widened in surprise. "Whoa," he said. It was crazy, everytime the rat disappeared, there was his friend Peter! What a coincidence!

Sirius looked pained. He recoiled in frustration and sadness at the fact the Remus didn't remember or could've even comprehend that Peter was an animagus. It saddened him greatly. Would be think of Sirius and Snuffles as two entirely unrelated beings? Or would he remember that it was Sirius all along?

Sirius padded over to Remus and picked him up, spinning him around as he squealed in delight. Sirius set him on his hip and gathered some pajamas for him.

"Time for bed," he said and Remus threw his head back, almost causing Sirius to drop him.

"But I don't WANNA!" Remus complained. He'd successfully wiggled enough that Sirius was forced to set him down or else drop him right on his head.

Remus giggled in triumph and took off. James and Sirius made a game of trying to catch him. Sirius knew it wasn't a wise idea to get Remus so worked up before bed, but hearing him laugh like that...

Sirius hasn't seen Remus so happy in a long time, five years old or not. Sirius figured he'd better enjoy it while it lasted. After all, the full moon was the day after tomorrow. Present day Remus would've already been feeling the affects of the moon, but he hoped that, since Remus was so little, he wouldn't start to feel it until closer to the moonrise.

Finally, Frank and Alice knocked and opened the door.

Frank was smiling and laughing, Remus's giggles really were contagious, and asked, "What on Earth is going on in here?"

Remus shrieked as James just about got him, but he squeezed himself behind the headboard of James's bed.

His voice, muffled by his hiding spot, shouted back to Frank, "They's gotta catch me if they wants me to go ta beeeeeeeeeeed!"

"Well...good luck with that then. Good luck, Remus," Alice called, waving goodbye and heading off to her dorm with Frank behind her, heading to go to his dorm down the hall.

Remus called after them, "They won't EVER catch me!"

Lily glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed, deciding to intervene before they got more noise complaints. Plus, nobody wanted to deal with a crabby five year old who didn't get to bed in time.

Lily reached into Remus's desk drawer and grabbed a bar of chocolate she knew he kept hidden there. She broke off a small piece, because she knew too much sugar would be a terrible idea.

"Remus, if you come out and go to bed, I'll give you chocolate."

There was silence in the seventh year boys' dormitory. Finally, Remus's head poked out from behind the headboard.

"What kind of chocolate?" He asked suspiciously. Lily held it out, beckoning him closer.

"It's milk chocolate, Remus. Your favorite."

His little face disappeared again and they could hear him muttering, "Hmm. Hmmmm," to himself as he thought about it.

The four of them tried desperately to control their giggles. Finally, Remus wiggled out of his hiding spot in pursuit of the chocolate.

He took it like it was some sort of treasure and nibbled on it, savoring it. Sirius wanted to groan aloud at how long Remus was making that little piece of chocolate last, but he kept quiet.

When Remus was done, Sirius helped him brush his teeth and put on some pajamas and Remus crawled up onto his own bed.

Sirius felt like he'd been smacked. He'd expected Remus to crawl into bed with him, just like he always did. But Remus hadn't and it hurt Sirius. Because that was just another thing Remus had forgotten.

Sirius turned over, away from Remus's bed, and pretended to be asleep as the tears rolled down his cheeks. It was so much more than Remus not wanting to cuddle with him. He was just so upset in general that his precious, loving Remus had to endure this, on top of everything else he's been through.

Well, maybe that's not fair to say. Remus wasn't really the one enduring it. It was those around him. Remus wasn't really aware of anything at all. Just his immediate existence.

So as Lily wished them all goodnight and left their dorm and as Remus muttered a tired. "G'night," Sirius quietly cried himself to sleep. The bed felt empty when he was all by himself.