Remus sat quietly in the library, alone for the first time in a week and thankful for it. It was great having friends, but the voices in his head needed their share of 'Moonytime' too.

He sat and successfully finished a whole piece of homework, an achievement in itself and moved on to the next, with only a small woop of triumph and hand-dance. He took his Care of Magical Creatures book out of his bag and straightened up. As he did so he became aware of a presence at his side that a second ago had not been there. He did what any creature of the night would do and leapt out of his skin.

The presence giggled and placed a calming hand on his arm. He turned to look as he wrestled his heart back into his chest, which was putting up a pretty good fight. It was a Huffelpuff he kind of knew from prefect meetings, fifth or sixth year. She was pretty, blonde, (this was the extent to which he noticed her features) and nice (he assumed.)

Were he not having fantastic sex with the hottest thing in the school (on the planet) he might have been attracted to her, but such is life.

There she was...sitting there...looking at him...smiling. He was unnerved. Talking to new people was a pretty rare occurrence this late in school and he couldn't quite remember how to do it.

"Erm, hello?" That seemed to go alright. He relaxed a little.

"Hey Remus. It's Rosaline, Rosaline Windsor." She raised her eyebrows as if he really should know this. And he did know it, or had at some point, so his wide eyed look of confusion wasn't strictly necessary.

Luckily, she had retained the power of speech. "Er, ok." (More or less.) "The thing is Remus, you're friends with James Potter and Sirius Black and that aren't you?"

Thank God, it wasn't about him, another beat of sweat retreated under the surface of his temple. You never knew if someone was going to produce a pitchfork and lunge at your throat with a cry of werewolf!

"Yes I am what can I do for you?"

"Well, you know Sirius Black?"

Remus blinked. Was this a trick question? He erred on the side of caution and nodded slowly.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but he's been single for a while now hasn't he?"

In the eyes of the school Sirius had indeed been single for two years. In fact-Shit! What if this Rose girl had figured it out! His heart made another bid for freedom but he kept his face impassive.

"Yes, yes he has as far as I know. May I ask why?" His insides were freezing over and burning up all at once. She quickly looked around and leaned in slightly. Remus followed suit, dreading her answer.

"Do you think I'd stand a chance?"

Remus laughed inwardly and looked up at her. She was looking extremely hurt and a little angry. Possibly he had laughed outwardly as well. Damn.

Well she shouldn't try it on with his man should she? Still, oh bother, why must he have a conscience?

"No no no! Please I wasn't laughing at you!" At least he was safe, she knew nothing. He shifted to friendly nobody mode and smiled kindly at her. "Rosaline, I wasn't laughing at you I promise." He said earnestly. "The thing is Sirius hasn't really been in the right frame of mind to be in a relationship lately."

She 'Oh'ed' softly and nodded. "Yes I heard about his family, the poor thing."

"Yes and what with that and this trouble outside Hogwarts and school in general..." They were both speaking in hushed voices, as if they were discussing Sirius' impending demise.

"I completely understand." Rosaline said. "Maybe what he needs is someone to take his mind of it."

Bloody hell, the words 'dog' and 'bone' flitted through Remus' mind and he tried very hard not to roll his eyes. He was perfectly capable of taking Sirius' mind off everything thank you very much and he had expertly demonstrated this the night before. Mmm, treacle. He made sure his smile was definitely inward however and merely smiled sadly and cocked his head.

He gave a pitiful sigh. "Rosaline, I can trust you can't I? I can feel that you are a very honest, kind person." He looked into her eyes with his own beseeching, deep, swirling honey ones, holding her gaze.

"Of course you can." She breathed.

"I think, now I'm not 100 sure, but I think Sirius may already have someone."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

"I think so yes." He said tragically. "James may know for sure, I couldn't say. I get the feeling it's someone he see's outside of school."

Now she was shocked. "You don't mean, he isn't seeing a muggle?!" She looked horrified. "No wonder he wouldn't want anyone to find out, his family would kill him!"

"They would." He went cold when he thought about what the Black's would do if they found out about the two of them. "So you see why you mustn't tell anyone."

"Of course I won't. You can trust me Remus." She smiled warmly back at him. "It's a shame though. I really thought I might be in with a chance you know?" Her smile had dropped slightly but Remus couldn't quite bring himself to reassure her. Guilt was chewing his insides. He felt like a rat and briefly wondered if this was a normal feeling for Pete but dismissed it with a shake of his head.

"I'm sorry Rosaline, but at least you know."

"No, thank you for telling me, I would have looked a right idiot when he said no wouldn't I?!" She perked up and smiled at him again. Then, to his horror she hugged him, in a public place, where anyone could see. He stiffened, why did girls feel this need to force physical contact on him? He tilted his head up to avoid sticking his nose in her hair and winced as her hand dug into one of his wounds from the previous Tuesday.

"Oi Windsor! What do you think you're doing, molesting Lupin like that? Get your hands off him."

Both turned their heads to see Christine Morely, the tall, well-built Gryffindor keeper striding towards them, flanked by three of her dorm mates.

"You 'eard me, get off him."She yanked Rosaline off Remus by her arm and turned to him, concerned, "Is she bothering you Lupin? Are you alright?" She threw Rosaline a filthy look.

Remus stared up at her, stunned, his shock at being rescued by a girl only eclipsed by his horror at being rescued by a girl. He practically cringed in embarrassment.

The other Gryffindor's in his year all kept a subtle eye out, they were all used to him being ill and a bit pathetic looking on occasion and had probably picked up on a vibe given out by the other three Marauders, but really, how much of a threat did Rosaline Windsor look to them? She was considerably smaller and weedier than him and hell she was a girl!

He could hold his own perfectly well against other guys and had done so in the past, (so long as the odds were fair, he added to himself.) It wasn't his fault that Christine Morely was more butch than him, James and Sirius put together and felt this gave her the right to 'look after' him. The horror.

Recovering enough to locate his voice box he spluttered "Of course I'm alright! We were only talking, what are you playing at?"

Rosaline was rubbing her arm where it had been gripped by Christine and was looking completely bewildered.

Looking put out Christine drew herself up, which was an impressive sight. "You looked uncomfortable, we felt you may be in need of assistance."

Remus gaped at her. "And so you came to save me from this fearsome beast?" He indicated to the bruised but beautifully coiffured Rosaline whose bottom lip was trembling.

"I assure you that I am quite capable of conducting conversations on my own thank you without being at risk of fatal injury and I do not appreciate your interference! Now I think you owe poor Rosaline an apology." He later marvelled at how he managed to sound so formal when in such a rage, what he wanted to say was more along the lines of "what the fuck you crazy bitch, get out my face!" His features were on fire, he got a red nose when embarrassed. As if being a swinging werewolf wasn't enough.

Christine was also turning a beautiful rouge and it then occurred to Remus that, tough as he told himself he was, this girl could probably tear phonebooks in half and he had just made a fool out of her. With every ounce of willpower he possessed he stopped himself from cowering and waited for the hammer to fall.

"Oh you do, do you?" She said dangerously. "Well then I am sorry, so very sorry for interrupting your little chat about boys and make-up and clothes." (It bothered Remus considerably that she was partly right about this.) Her voice rose. "I wouldn't dream of interrupting your tea-party had I known, you great fairy!" She was booming now, everyone in the library was turning to see. "Next time Lupin, don't go asking me to save your arse ('but I didn't anyway!') Us girls have more balls than you." She threw out disdainfully before turning on her heel and striding out the library taking her scowling friends with her.

Remus and Rosaline were left wondering what the hell had just happened as the rest of the library whipped around to their friends to discuss the outburst, gleeful in his embarrassment.

Remus' head flopped forward. He looked down at his worn shoes that he tried so hard to keep looking smart, their dull shine was a testament to that. As he saw the shape of his head in them he groaned. He would never live this down.

A/N
OK so being smart isn't a uniquely feminine trait, I have an uncle who religiously cleans his shoes and another who won't leave the house without a pressed Armani shirt but you get the idea.
This just sets the scene and shows the basis of Remus' insecurities so I thought I would include it. After this I'll get down to business.