Four Little Words

"And I don't trust you
Cause every time you're here
Your intentions are unclear."
-Maroon 5, Through With You

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Potter, you know I'd give you a day off if I could," Moody grunted, looking up from the paperwork he was filling out. James could see ‘Fabian Prewett' on the top of it, and Moody moved his hand to cover it.

"Not even one day, Moody?" James tried again. "An afternoon?"

"Potter, we're short on manpower as it is," Moody nearly yelled, but decided against it and just grunted it. James sighed.

"All right," James turned to go.

"Wait a minute, Potter," Moody said, pulling out a stack of papers. "Pass these around, would you?"

James took the stack of papers moodily and stalked out the door. He knew that they were short on manpower, and he knew that he was just being a baby, but seeing the Prewett's brother-in-law and eldest nephew carrying boxes of their things was a bit too much for James to handle.

He started shuffling off papers to the Aurors he passed by, not even noticing their blanched expressions once they read what was on the papers. He flew one by Lily, not even pausing to note the look of pure disgust on her face as she crumpled up the paper and threw it back at him (she missed, of course). He finished his round by walking into Sirius' office and putting the paper over his dirty magazine.

"Oi, can't you see I'm busy here?" Sirius grumbled. Then his eyes swept over the memo and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "What are you on?!"

"Hm?" James said, looking up. "What?"

"The hell is this?!" Sirius demanded. "Some sort of perverse joke?"

"No!" James said, alarmed at Sirius' reaction. "Moody gave it to me to pass out..." He grabbed the memo from Sirius and read over it:

To all Auror personnel:

As you have undoubtedly noticed, we are becoming increasingly short on staff. Please do your best when fighting to not die, because the new Aurors will not be ready for employment until the end of the summer.

Cheers,
Auror Head Office

James was quiet for a few minutes and then stood up, about to run out the door back to Moody's office to yell at him, but Sirius stood up to sit him down before he caused a scene.

"I can't believe that Moody even, I mean, he's got to know that-" James said.

"Disgusting," Sirius said, pointedly. "Completely lacking in any tact. I'll bet you anything that Moody was told to do that."

"I hope so," James pouted.

"What's the ruckus in here?" Dorcas said, popping her head in. James noticed that Sirius' demeanor changed rapidly when he saw her.

"Nothing!" he snapped. "Go away!"

"But-" Dorcas said, looking taken aback.

"Go!" Sirius flung his hand out in front of him. Dorcas withdrew her head, expressionless.

"The hell was that about?" James hissed.

Sirius grumbled and put his feet up on his desk, moodily. "Ever since Gideon and Fabian died, she's been hovering like a....like a...." he couldn't think of a word.

"Girlfriend?" James offered.

Sirius' face darkened even more. "Yes. Like a bloody girlfriend. Actually, it's worse than that! She's been asking if she can come over and make me soup and tidy up a bit in my flat and..." He threw his hands up in frustration.

"...and that's a bad thing?" James asked.

"YES!" Sirius sat up. "I don't want a bloody girlfriend! Our agreement was we were going to be shagmates and that's it. Now she wants to cuddle, Prongs. She wants to cuddle..." Sirius' expression was hovering on the edge of insanity.

"Cuddling isn't that bad, you know..." James said tentatively.

"It is when you want to bloody go to sleep and she wants you to hold her," Sirius looked disgusted.

James just sighed. He knew it was useless to argue with Sirius on the subject of women.

"I mean, it's bad enough that I indulge her enough to let her stay the night with me, but really, I draw the line at cuddling," he continued. "And the other morning, she even started making me breakfast."

"All right, Padfoot, I get that you don't like to be taken care of," James sniggered.

"It's not that I don't like to be taken care of," Sirius corrected. "Women feeding me grapes on top of a golden toilet is one of my favorite fantasies."

James blinked.

"What?"

"I think that living in that house for the first sixteen years of your life screwed with your head, Padfoot," James said, slowly.

"I'm often inclined to think the same thing too," Sirius grinned.

There was a knock at the door and Sirius barked, "Go away Dorcas!"

"What was that for?" Lily said, opening the door. Sirius grumbled and waved her in.

"Nothing, nothing."

"Why-?" Lily asked.

"Don't worry about it," Sirius shook his head. "What do you need?"

Lily turned to James and her brow furrowed. "What was that all about ‘Please don't die?' That was really uncalled for, James-"

"It wasn't me, it was the head office," James said, not looking at her.

"In any case, that was just horrid-"

"We know, Lily," Sirius interrupted. "Was that all?"

"No," Lily huffed. "Have either of you noticed Remus has been acting oddly lately?"

"You mean, other than completely wigging out in the middle of a battle?" James asked, snarkily.

"Something's wrong with him," Lily glared at James. "He won't talk to me, at all..."

Sirius exchanged a glance with James. Lily was waiting for them to do something.

"Fine, we'll go talk to him," Sirius stood up. "Is he in his office?"

"No..." Lily quieted. "That's the other thing. He hasn't come into work today."

"WHAT?!" James stood up. "Moody wouldn't give me the day off?"

"Moody doesn't know where he is either, and he won't let me go, and I figured you two are better at sneaking off than I am..." Lily bit her lip. "Please?"

"Come along Prongs," Sirius said, standing up. He put his hands on Lily's shoulders and bent down to her level. "We'll bring your Remsie-bumpkins back to normal, all right?"

"He's not just mine, you know," Lily reminded him, harshly, brushing his hands off her shoulders and marching back to her office.

"Ouch, mate," James sniggered. "Come on, let's go drag Moony out of his flat..."

"How long has it been since we've been over to Moony's house?" James asked, as they waited in the lift up to Remus' floor.

"A while for me," Sirius said. "I haven't taken the Muggle way before....why are we taking the Muggle way again?" Sirius asked.

"Moody said once that he got hit the wrong way with a paint spell when he was a kid and can sense when truant Aurors leave the office," James said, intelligently. "And I thought he wouldn't be able to sense it if we just walked out, instead of Apparated."

Sirius stared at him, then took two steps forward and bopped James on the head. "And you believed him?!"

"Owww!" James whined as the lift doors opened. Sirius stalked out of it, shaking his head incredulously. James followed, still pouting and rubbing his head.

"Which one is it?" Sirius asked.

"This one, I think," James said, slowly, pushing at the door that was cracked open. Upon further inspection, the door seemed to have been kicked through, because there were evidence of trauma on the edges.

"Moony?" Sirius said, worry starting to seep into his voice. The flat was completely trashed; his already weathered couches were slashed, his books completely ruined, papers, stuffing, and muddy footprints covered the flat.

"Moony?" James called, looking around. They heard movement in the bedroom and they scurried back to see if he was there.

"Are you ok?" Sirius blinked. Remus was trying to fix his completely destroyed bed and was apparently having no luck at it.

"Physically, yes," he said, quietly.

"What happened?" James said, going over to help him fix up the room.

Remus sighed and flung over last night's Evening Prophet to James and Sirius.

"Werewolves responsible for St. Mungo's massacre?" James read aloud. "Where the bloody hell did they get this?!"

"Because there were werewolves there," Remus said, trying to mend a particularly large gash in his mattress. "Most of the werewolves in London, if I'm not mistaken."

"But, how come we didn't see them?" James asked. "And how do you know?"

"Because," Remus said softly, as if he was instructing James on a particularly complex spell. "A human can't really tell the difference between a human and a werewolf. A werewolf just...knows...when there's another around. I would wager to say that there were close to forty werewolves involved in the massacre."

"Is that why you...well...flipped out?" James asked.

Remus paused and swallowed. "The Aurors figured out that the humans there were werewolves and started conjuring silver arrows. I..." He trailed off and cleared his throat. "It was quite cowardly of me to run off like that."

"So why's your apartment trashed?" Sirius asked, still leaning against the wall, not helping.

"Apparently, after people read the Evening Prophet, they arranged a raid on the werewolves' homes in London, and from what I hear, they're still going at it, because the Magical Enforcement is just ignoring it. I wasn't here when they came this morning, luckily, because from what I've heard, they killed anyone they found in the house."

"What you've heard?" Sirius asked. "Who are you hearing this from?"

"....other werewolves," Remus said, tentatively, as if this information would incriminate him.

"So, you wigged out at the battle because the Aurors were killing your friends?" Sirius asked.

"No," Remus said, quickly. "I never...it's hard to explain, Sirius. It's like you have a connection with these people that you have no control over."

"So, do you all go to Werewolves Anonymous or something?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know them by face or by name, Sirius," Remus explained. "I just know them by something, I can't really tell you what it is."

"But you talk to them?" Sirius asked.

"Padfoot-" James interrupted.

"No, James," Sirius said, waving him off. "Do you talk to them?"

"We don't get together and play cards, if that's what you're asking," Remus glared at him. "I told you, I can't explain it. I just know things that go on in other werewolves lives."

"And why haven't you told us about this telepathic thing?" Sirius asked.

"Because I knew you'd react this way," Remus nodded. "Dumbledore knows."

"Sirius," James interrupted, hotly. "Just stop it." He looked to Remus. "Look, mate, we believe you, but Lily's nearly tearing her hair out in worry about you-"

Remus sighed. "Don't tell her about this, please? She'd probably try to go hex the people who did this into oblivion."

"We won't," James shook his head. "Promise."

Remus smiled in gratitude.

"And we'll even help you tidy up, right Padfoot?" James threw a nasty death glare at Sirius who was still looking skeptical. Sirius nodded, while rolling his eyes.

"I appreciate it," Remus said, quietly.

"What are mates for?" James clapped him on the back.

"Yes, what are mates for?" Sirius mumbled, inaudibly.