"Good friends are forever.
Good friends are for keeps."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things were not fine.

In fact, to claim that things were going poorly would not be too far off the mark.

First off, Peter had been feeling queasy most of the afternoon and he'd thrown up right after supper, but insisted on coming along as always. He puked twice more before they arrived at the Shrieking Shack. Then James forgot his glasses were on his nose, because he was wearing them, and panicked as Remus had just started to transform, sending all of them into a frenzy which meant tensions ran high and Remus was, against his will, more aggressive than usual. Sirius sustained a nasty cut to the face, then another to the side of his head, and James was nearly knocked out when he hit a wall hard, but Peter, other than the vomiting, was not injured.

Remus, in werewolf form, howled at the ceiling and, like usual, tried to get out of the heavily-secured room in the basement of the Shrieking Shack, but Sirius, in his dog form, batted him aside and Peter distracted him by skittering over his feet. The full moon was a half-hour from setting and all three of the animagi in the room were exhausted. James kept charging headfirst at Remus and half of the time, he missed and collided with the wall or another of his friends, and the moments when he did make contact, werewolf-Remus clawed at his face. The minutes seemed to pass like an eternity, but finally, Remus paused, stumbled, and fell to his knees. The moment he turned back to his human self, he passed out on the floor. 

Peter squeaked and came out of his animagus form, trembling, then needed to go vomit again and so stumbled up the stairs, making it halfway to the front door before he puked on the ratty old carpet. Still reeling, he used a bit of magic to clean it up and headed back downstairs, shaking his head wearily. James was sitting by the wall, cross-legged, leaning up against it with a dazed look in his eyes. Sirius, brushing black bangs spattered with blood from a gash on his forehead, knelt by Remus and shook his friend's shoulders gently. Stirring, the moon-afflicted boy murmured something apologetic, as he always did when he turned back, and Sirius wrapped him in a hug. He let Remus' head rest on his lap as they both caught their breaths and Peter wrapped his arms around himself, watching from the doorway.

"How's it look?" Sirius mouthed to Peter, meaning the wound on his forehead and the similar cut just behind his left ear.

"It won't scar if Madam Pomfrey has anything to say about it," came the quiet reply. James looked up from the side of the room and rubbed at his eyes. His glasses were broken in two next to him and he stared at them as though sad. Peter came to Remus' side, crouched, and patted his friend's shoulder reassuringly before getting back up and going to James.

"Reparo." The round spectacles knitted themselves back together again in a moment's time, but when Peter held them out for James to retrieve, he did not take them but gave a frown and bowed his head.

"This is all my fault." He ran his hand as though agitated through his messy hair. "I'm an idiot, I was wearing the damn things, I-" He drew his legs up to his chest and gave a hard sigh. "God damnit." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Remus."

"Oh, shut up." Peter looked to Sirius, who'd spoken, with a surprised and slightly-worried look. He knew they were all in low spirits after that, but not so much as to start a fight- right? 

"How many times have I done something stupid on these nights? How often do I forget something or make a wrong move?" Peter relaxed. Sirius was just reprimanding James in a brotherly way, of course, he should have expected that. 

"We just need to get back to the castle," he jumped in, standing from beside James and offering his friend a hand up. "Before Dumbledore or McGonagall sends someone looking for us." Sirius nodded and, as James took Peter's offered hand, lifted a half-awake Remus into his arms.

"No, no, I can walk-"

"Shush."

"Okay." James stumbled at first when he started to walk, so Peter slung his arm around his back and helped him along. In this fashion, the four best friends left behind the Shrieking Shack and headed down the secret passage back to Hogwarts grounds as the very first rays of the morning sun woke the Whomping Willow. James carried the invisibility cloak over one shoulder and the Marauder's Map stuck out of Sirius' back pocket. They walked at first in silence, and though the exhaustion remained, their heavy hearts lifted as the slope of the dirt tunnel slanted upwards and back towards their beds for some much-needed rest. Unfortunately, it was a Monday, so classes were also on the horizon, but Peter didn't want to think about that now, and it seemed like none of his friends did, either.

"I still can't believe you didn't kiss her, Prongs," scolded Sirius, and Peter gave a 'tut-tut' in agreement. "You're getting along so well, then she's the one who asks you out, and you go out to Hogsmeade, and you get all cuddly over butterbeer-"

James gave a laugh. "You were spying on us, weren't you?" 

Sirius grinned. "No, Bell wouldn't let me. But we were in town and just happened to see you and Lily Dearest mooning over each other in The Three Broomsticks."

"Hey, now, Potter," muttered Remus, who was now stumbling along, fatigued, as Sirius helped him in a similar fashion to how Peter was helping James, "mooning is my department." Peter laughed along with his friends, spirits rising. At least Remus' sense of humor was still intact despite his physical, emotional, and mental struggles tonight. 

"Back to my point-" Sirius shot a pointed but amused look at James as if mildly berating him for interrupting. "-you didn't kiss your dear Lilyflower."

James shook his head ruefully. "Nope."

Peter chuckled incredulously as Sirius gave a low whistle. Remus actually halted the group so he could turn around and swat James' arm reproachfully.

"James Fleamont Potter!" exclaimed their scar-faced friend, frowning at James. "You went on a date with the love of your life and you didn't even mention kissing her?" At the shaken head he received in response, he laid his hand upon his forehead and crinkled up his nose. "For your sake and hers, next time you get the chance, just do it, or you'll just get stuck in a back-and-forth of uncertainty of where you stand with her." He sighed. "That would be, I'm pretty sure, worse than just being friends." Turning around, he continued the march forward and the grey light of a foggy morning began to shine up ahead. Peter, who'd been lighting the way with the Lumos charm, Nox-ed it and tucked his wand in his pocket. A moment of silence fell.

"You're right, Moony."

"I usually am."

Peter smirked and Sirius grinned, ruffling his friend's hair. "At least you're in a good mood, mate. That's a once-in-a-blue-moon outcome after nights like these."

Groans all around. Remus let out a sigh that was at least eight seconds long.

"Oh, and Remus-" An exasperated look turned to Peter almost quieted his joke, but he went on. "-I hope you've got an appetite for breakfast, because we'll have to wolf it down if we're going to make it to class in time."

Remus pretended to swoon- "Not you, too!" -and James rolled his eyes so hard he winced. Sirius, on the other hand, smirked and brushed away Remus when he attempted to cover his mouth to hinder any more awful jokes.

"I just hope you aren't unaware-wolf of the Charms test this afternoon."

"Padfoot-"

"Oh! And are you looking forward to Howl-o-ween next week? I sure am."

"Not after than pun."

"Maybe Marshall McKinnon will bring us back t-shirts next time he goes to Howl-lywood."

"By Merlin, he's got an arsenal."

Peter was wiping away tears of laughter by the time he came out of the tunnel last of his friends, and they all had to take a moment to quiet themselves and stem their amusement before they could all get huddled under the invisibility cloak and head back toward the castle.

"You know, out of all of us, Moony, I think you curse the most. Would that make you a swear-wolf?"

"SIRIUS-"

No, things weren't entirely fine right now, but they would be. Soon.