"OH!" 

Sirius was startled awake by the shouted exclamation, flipping over in the bed, and hitting the carpet in a particularly clumsy belly-flop with an UMFPH! He scrambled for his wand, snatching it up from where it had landed beside him, and leaped to his feet, braced and ready to cast a spell, jumpily aiming every which way. "What is it? Where is it? What's happened?!" he gasped.

Peter was standing up on his bed, clutching the map and the parchment that he'd been working with, his eyes wide and straw-coloured hair all stuck up in odd places from where he'd been tugging it as he worked in deep concentration. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear," he muttered, and he sat down quickly, bouncing on the mattress and held the chart and the parchment up for Sirius, "Look, look here!" 

Sirius stared at the strange runes and scribbles across the page. "What is it? I can't read that shite, Wormtail!"

Peter threw them both down on James's bed, which stood between Sirius and Peter, and he hurriedly dragged his fingers across the chart. "See this here, look, right there - oh it's all right there!"

"WHAT IS RIGHT THERE?" Sirius yelled.

"Sirius?" Remus's voice was a groggy murmur.

"Go back to sleep, Moon-moon," Sirius said gently, "I'm sorry I woke you." Remus rolled over, having only barely awakened to begin with, and promptly went back to snoring. He looked at Peter, then, more quietly, "What's right there?"

"The Good Wolf," Peter stammered, "The Good Wolf is going to die."

Sirius stared at Peter, then looked at Remus, then back to Peter.

Peter was shaking, "The Good Wolf is going to fight Greyback and he's going to die because of it." He looked up at Sirius, tears in his eyes, "That's what the Fates say."

"Fuck the fates!" Sirius declared. "We don't even know who the Good Wolf is, it might not even be Remus."

"Who else is going to fight Greyback here at Hogwarts?!" Peter demanded.

Sirius stared at Peter for several long moments.

"I asked where the fight would take place and it says at the castle - well Hogwarts is the only castle I know of where Fenrir Greyback is getting Wolfsbane potion from and is home to a Good Werewolf." Peter jabbed his finger at Remus's slowly rising-and-falling back as he slept deeply once again. He turned back to Sirius. 

Sirius's jaw quivered and he went 'round the bed quickly, blocking Remus from Peter, as though this would guard him against the vision that Peter had been given for the future. "You're a liar," Sirius said thickly, "You're lying. There's nothing in the Fates about my Moony and that disgusting Greyback, there's nothing there about it."

"Except there is - Remus is the good wolf, obviously, and Greyback --"

"Will fucking die before he'll lay a hand on my Moony if it's the last bleeding thing I do," Sirius growled.

Peter's eyes widened. "But --"

Sirius glared at him.

Peter swallowed back whatever protest he'd been about to make and nodded, deciding that he'd tell James later on because if anyone would listen to him - it would be James Potter.

"I don't know Wormtail, it seems kind of like... guesswork to me," James said, turning over the Horary Chart.

Peter shook his head, "There's no guessing about it. See here, that's Jupiter and over here's the moon... and..."

"Alright, but what's that got to do with Remus?" James asked, squinting at the chart with confusion.

"It's the answer to the question," Peter replied. "If you look up the exact minute a question is asked, the Fates align the stars a certain way to reply and --"

"But how many questions were asked that exact moment? Surely more than one in the world was asked at that particular time. Couldn't be that all the questions had the same answer, now could it?" James asked logically.

Peter floundered. He'd never thought of that, but yet the question he had asked was seemingly answered by this celestial pattern. "I - But -"

"This could have a thousand million interpretations, Pete," James said apologetically. "You're just choosing to see the poor side of things because you're a pessimist."

"I know I am, but --" Peter flushed.

"I'm sorry, Peter," James said, "It just doesn't make sense to me is all."

"Maybe it would if you'd stayed in Divination longer!" Peter replied grumpily.

James sighed. "Yeah, maybe Pete."

"Well... well I did, and I'm telling you that the Good Wolf needs to be careful. Moony needs to be careful." James started to reply, but Peter cut him off again, "Remember that I was the one who said last year things that if you lot had listened to me then maybe you wouldn't have been kidnapped by You-Know-Who. Remember you said you should've listened to me." He stared up at James, pleadingly.

James nodded, remembering, and although he very much doubted whether this particular situation was the same - or, really, if Peter had predicted the year before or it just happened to be an ironic roll of the stones - but he knew he at least owed it to Peter to pretend to believe in the divination stuff. And so James said, "I'm sorry, Wormtail, you're right."

"So you'll talk to Sirius? Because Sirius thinks it's rubbish."

"Yes, I'll talk to Sirius," James promised.

Peter hurriedly wrapped his arms about James's waist. "Thank you," he said thickly. "I wouldn't never wanna be the reason one of my friends was hurt and I feel like if you lot didn't listen to me, then I would be."

James patted Peter's back, "It's alright, Pete... We'll come up with a plan to protect Remus, I promise, and if Greyback comes, we'll be ready to fight him."

Problem was that over the next couple days, the boys were exceedingly busy. Between trying to tote Remus around the castle to classes and helping trying to do his homework as well as their own, all of the Marauders were equally exhausted come the night before the full moon. James sat in the common room with Lily on the evening before, nodding off as she went over their Transfiguration revision. "Are you even listening to me?" she asked, poking him in the shoulder.

James snorted awake, "Whatt? Uh?" he looked about in confusion, then saw Lily looking up at him expectantly and knew he'd missed something important. He ran a hand down his face, "Oh bloody hell, I'm sorry, Evans."

Lily looked around - other than Ollie and Wally at the table behind them, deeply immersed in their own revising, they were alone in the common room. She leaned closer to him. "Have you lot prepared everything for tomorrow? I was thinking in his condition that you ought to leave earlier than usual so that Remus has time to get all the way out to... the clubhouse." She glanced back at Ollie and Wally again, then turned back to James.

"Yeah, I reckon you're right," James replied. He yawned hugely, stretching his arms and letting one land over her shoulders as he sank deeper into the cushions of the couch and closed his eyes, legs spread wide before him.

Lily curled into the hollow of his shoulder and neck and rested her head on his chest, listening to his heart beat, her knees tucked up before her. She closed her eyes, too, listening as the gentle thump-thump-thump soothed her, reminding her that he was there and real.

"I'm going to miss you," James said.

"I'm going to miss you, too."

"A whole night without seeing you."

"I know."

"A whole night without kissing you and holding you and --" he paused, "Blimey I'm going to go mad when we go home for holiday - or next summer, for that matter!"

Lily said, "Well don't forget on holiday we have plans."

"We do?"

"Mhm, that space film I was telling you about back in Spring opens in December and it's getting brilliant reviews in America, and they're already saying there's to be sequels." Lily looked up at him.

"I forgot all about that!" James said, "I can't wait." He kissed her forehead. "I asked mum and dad if we could invite your family for Christmas, too."

"Yeah?" Lily asked. She smiled, "I'm sure mum will love the idea, but I doubt that Tuney would." She laughed.

"I'll get her a lovely necklace," James smirked. "With a charm of a giraffe."

"You wicked thing," Lily giggled, covering her eyes with one hand.

James was quiet a long moment, then, "I love Christmas."

"Yeah?" Lily asked.

"Mmhm," James nodded. "Sirius is all about Halloween, but my favorite holiday is Christmas. Always has been." He looked at her and smiled, "I loved it when I was a kid because of presents, of course. But now it's about more than that. It's just all about the warmth and the family and great food and everything... I mean, just those little twinkle lights that are about everywhere and candles and joy and everything... It's just happy."

Lily ran her hand over his jumper, smoothing the fabric against his chest. "I've always loved it, too." She paused and, keeping her eyes carefully diverted from his, she added, "I've always pictured having children and watching them be all excited to see what St. Nicholas has brought them, and just seeing their joy."

"Exactly," James said.

Lily's heart raced a little bit. "I'd love to cook a lovely holiday roast like my mum does. With all the fixings, and hang up their little stockings by the chimney."

James hummed in agreement.

Lily closed her eyes, going on listening to James's heart beating again.

"I do like Halloween, though," he said suddenly. "It's only a few days away."

"Yeah it is," Lily answered.

Behind them, Ollie and Wally were packing up their things and heading for the stairs up to the boys' dormitories. "Good night," Ollie called, and Lily waved to him, smiling as he scurried up after Wally.

James watched them going, listened for their door to close shut, and said, "Blimey, thought they'd never go..." and he turned, pressing his mouth on Lily's as she laughed and fell backwards onto the couch.

The boys left early the next day, just as Lily had suggested. Remus was feverish and shivering, and James had to carry him piggy-backed, clinging onto him out onto the grounds while Sirius watched for anyone looking on. Peter rushed ahead in rat form to open up the Whomping Willow's trap door, and James hurried to get Remus into the tunnel and they hurried as best they could the distance from Hogwarts to the Shrieking Shack. It took hours - they had to keep pausing for Remus to be sick or else for James to take a breathing break from carrying him.

"Nearly there, Moony," Sirius said comfortingly as they neared the trap door of the Shack. 

"Yes we're nearly there, Moony," Peter echoed a couple steps behind them.

Remus groaned.

When they arrived, they set Remus on the couch and got him covered up with the blankets that Sirius brought along, giving him a tonic that Sirius had gotten from Madam Pomfrey to help reduce the fever, and Peter produced a nearly raw beef sandwich for Remus, encouraging him to eat. Remus was so tired that he could only eat a part of it, but some was better than none, and once he'd gotten that and the tonic down, he fell asleep, exhausted from the process of getting out to the Shrieking Shack.

Sirius sat on the edge of the couch, holding Remus's hand in his own, their fingers laced together. He stared down at Remus's knuckles and sighed. "I hate this," he murmured. "I hate Dumbledore for not giving him some of that bleeding Wolfsbane. It isn't fair."

Peter shook his head.

James was staring at his trainers, drawing circles in the dust on the floor as he sat beside the couch. He looked at Peter, who was nervously running his fingers over his throwing stones in their velvet pouch, and James took a deep breath. "We need to talk about what we plan to do if Greyback shows up tonight."

Sirius shook his head, "Kill the fucking bastard."

"Alright, but --" James raised an eyebrow, "It's not as easy as all that."

Peter looked quite thankful that James had remembered to bring it up. "I think we need to run and get back to Hogwarts as quickly as possible if he comes."

"I think we need to get Remus into the tunnel to protect him," Sirius mused. "And then fight him."

James was picking at his shoelace. "Obviously you would be the one to get him into the tunnel," he said to Sirius.

"Me?" Sirius asked, "I was thinking you should."

"Me?" James looked surprised, "Why in hell would I do it?"

"So I can fight Greyback while you do," Sirius answered.

James shook his head, "But you're Remus's Alpha, so you have more control over him than I do as a stag. And I wouldn't fit in the tunnel with my antlers. So it only makes sense you would."

Sirius made a face. "Alright, but you don't know how Greyback fights the same way as I do. I've fought him a couple times now and --"

"No but I don't need to get as close and vulnerable to fight him, either," James pointed out. "I have the antlers and hooves..."

"I've got teeth."

"Yes but so does he."

Peter was just staring between the two of them, glancing one to the other with nervous expression. "Why can't we all just run?" he asked, "I mean, Greyback is much stronger than any of us... even combined..."

James ran his hands over his shins. "Yeah."

"It would be so much easier if we just had bloody Wolfsbane for Rey, too, then it would be all four of us with our wits about us, all of us able to fight the bastard. We're so much stronger when it's all four of us," Sirius said.

Peter said, "Yeah, it's too bad." Really, he was thinking he rather preferred the running idea anyway.

James sighed, "I s'pose we could start by setting as many protective charms on the place as we can at least." He got up and drew his wand. "C'mon, Pete, let's go set them before moon rise comes." He glanced at the dying sunlight coming through the cracks in the boarded up windows.

Peter nodded, and scrambled up to his feet, too.

Sirius clutched Remus's hand all the tighter as the other two boys stepped outside the door, and he turned, looking at Remus's face, which was sheened with sweat from the fever. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and swept it over Remus's forehead, drying him off. "Don't worry, Moony," he said quietly, "We're gonna make sure you're safe."

Remus slept on...

The sun was failing, settling behind the trees of the woods, the rays stretching over the ground like great fingers of light, trying to hold onto it's grip on the earth, painting everything in a glowing gold cast. 

Fenrir Greyback leaned against a tree, his eyes set on the sliver of sun still peeking 'round, the lavender sky overhead deepening. He looked up hungrily, searching for the moon in the clouds... and his eyes lowered from the sky to the turrets of the castle, to the windows glowing with firelight all throughout, and he felt his skin prickling all over as his hairs stood on end, and a wicked grin spread over his mouth as the moon's light shafted from the night sky suddenly as the sun lost her grip at last, and he licked his lips as his bones began to crack and reform...