I stopped writing suddenly, holding my quill in place as a thought occurred to me.

For the past couple days, I had been trying to figure out what was wrong. It wasn't something simple, like a forgotten essay or a missing quill; it was something more important.

Peter had suggested that I had the flu, but I quickly dismissed that thought. It couldn't be the flu for I didn't feel sick. I had a nagging feeling that something else had changed.

Then, all of the sudden, I realized something was missing.

Placing the quill on my parchment, I sat back in my chair and stole a glance at the girls' staircase. Two girls were descending the stairs right now and neither one of them was the girl I wanted to see.

I slowly sat back, gathering my quill and parchment together. Was I just going to go over and say something to her? Did I even want to confront her? Why did I care?

That was easy; I immediately knew the answer. I just didn't understand it. I cared because I had noticed a minuet detail about someone. And not just anyone: a girl.

This posed a small problem, for I didn't have time to worry about girls and I certainly didn't have a chance anyway. Being a werewolf, I couldn't voluntarily put anyone in danger like that.

Yet, I stared at the staircase, waiting.

I sat forward when I caught sight of her at the top of the staircase. She came down earlier than the rest of her roommates, lip between in teeth in determination to get past the common room and to the portrait hole. Her eyes were dead set on her goal, not noticing how I had scrambled out of my seat.

Clearing my throat a couple times, I finally shouted out, "Ivy!"

She didn't stop. She probably didn't even hear me.

"Ivy, I have to talk to you," I said, falling into step behind her and she strode toward the exit.

I didn't expect her to stop. I began planning how I was going to follow her all the way down into the Great Hall without making it seem as though I was a creepy stalker. However, she surprised me by turning around and raising a quizzical eyebrow at me.

Ivy Bennett. We were both Gryffindors in the same year. We both acknowledged each other in class and there were even times when we sat in the same group at meals. Since she was friends with Lily, we often ran into each other at events like the last Hogsmeade trip. We weren't really friends, merely acquaintances, which was the reason I didn't understand my revelation.

I hadn't heard her voice for a whole week. I hadn't heard her speak a single word.

The revelation startled me and made me cringe. It made me sound like the stalker I didn't want to be. It wasn't normal to realize that there was a voice missing.

But she really hadn't spoken in a whole week. And that concerned me; something was wrong.

"Ivy, are you okay?" I asked her, checking her face for signs of flushed cheeks or tired eyes.

Her eyes bore into me and I blinked back at her. It looked as if she was trying to communicate with me without using any words, but I didn't understand what she was trying to say. Then she shrugged and took a step forward to leave.

"No," I stopped her. "Say something."

She blinked and her eyes grew large. I realized with a jolt that she knew. She had figured out that I had noticed her lack of communication.

I watched in apprehension as she cleared her throat and then said, "I'm okay."

By the way her voice was barely audible, I knew she was lying. "What's wrong?" I added, but I was already relieved that she had said something.

There was that familiar voice – the soft, careful voice that had previously been missing.

She looked at me and then began walking toward the portrait again. I quickly followed her, watching her every step. "Nothing, Remus," she said and then, after a short pause, added, "I can handle it."

It just seemed as though something was troubling her and I didn't understand what it could be. She was the quiet, tiny Gryffindor that nobody had a problem with. What problems did she have?

I had to know – it bothered me for some reason.

Even though there was a sickening feeling in my stomach, I ignored it and began to follow Ivy around to see exactly what was bothering her.

I waited for the moment that she would turn around and yell at me for following her around. But she never said anything, even if I had followed her every step for three days.

She knew; I caught her eyes on me more than once. She would always watch me for a few seconds and then, as if she was finally done analyzing me, finally looked back down and continued what she was doing before.

I was sitting in the common room, trying to make sense of it all, when someone interrupted my thoughts.

"Remus, are you staring at Ivy?" I looked up and saw Lily Evans staring down at me curiously.

She sat down in the chair across from me as I asked, "Have you noticed that she's been acting a bit strange lately?"

Lily quickly glanced over at the girl who was sitting on the opposite side of the common room. "I was going to talk to her about that. Mary took her favorite quill."

Only Ivy would be that broken up about her quill. Of course it would be something as trivial as that. I let out a sigh of relief.

"You know what? I'll talk to her about it," I offered.

After all, I was itching to talk to her again. I needed to explain the way I had been acting for the past couple days.

She was sitting by herself in the library the next day. I knew it was the perfect time to talk to her. Nobody else was around and the rest of my friends were busy arguing with themselves.

Glancing over at her, I caught her gaze and she immediately broke it, looking down with flushed cheeks.

I smiled slightly at the way she blushed and made my way over.

She was transfixed on writing as fast as possible. I watched her for a second and then said, "Slughorn's essay?"

She sighed loudly and put down her quill. "Why have you been following me?" Her voice had an edge to it and I was momentarily surprised at how she was able to raise her voice.

"Your roommates have been talking about how you've been distant lately," I said, referring to Lily and then noticed her lack of writing. "And you haven't been writing. You've been lifeless, Ivy."

She frowned at me, the corners of her mouth turned downward in a way that wasn't unattractive at all. "So, you've been following me because-"

"I need to tell you something."

Ivy stared at me, clearly taken aback. But I really needed to tell her this. Hopefully, it would help her.

"What?" she asked.

"Hey, Remus! Hurry up!"

I flinched at James's comment and waved him away. Turning back toward Ivy, I said, "You didn't think anyone would notice, did you?"

"Notice what?" she asked.

I couldn't help but smile at her obliviousness. "I know your secret," I said in a quick whisper.

Her eyes grew large. "I don't know what you mean," she whispered.

I leaned forward and watched as she leaned back, trying to get as far away from me as possible. Maybe she really was afraid because I had followed her around for the past couple days.

"Hey, Moony!" James shouted again. "We're leaving."

Turning around, I responded with, "I'll catch up later." James gave me an interested look before he left. He was probably thinking the worst.

I turned my attention back to Ivy and saw her gaping at me as if I had done something surprising. Without even hesitating, I went back in our previous conversation, not being her obliviousness for a second. "You know what secret."

She shook her head. "Um, I don't know what you're talking about."

Was she really going to flit around this? I sighed and said, "Lily's seen it too, you know. She was going to talk to you, but I volunteered."

Her eyes widened even more and she looked truly frightened. Maybe angry. "You were planning this?"

I really didn't want her to be angry at me. I was trying to help and I hated it when people were angry with me. "Sorry." I said quietly. The look on her face softened and I could breathe again. "Anyway, it has to do with Mary, right?"

She nodded slowly.

"You are mad at Mary..." She was looking down at the table, visibly flinching as though she knew exactly what was coming and was afraid of my reaction. "...for stealing your quill."

I could hear her let out a sharp breath and then she looked up at me."Oh, um, yeah," she said. "She stole my quill and I'm mad."

Good, maybe now she could finally start acting like herself. "Lily was worried when she saw that you weren't talking to Mary or the rest of your roommates. She finally figured it out."

She was biting her lip, as if stopping herself from saying something. "Yeah, I'm over it though."

And then she began laughing. Quiet, breathy little chuckles. Why was she laughing? Was she trying to hide something else? Should I just leave?

"You were following me this entire time because I had my quill stolen?" she finally asked in the middle of her laughter.

Oh, she was making fun of me. I told myself not to be embarrassed but I couldn't help but fumble for an excuse. "Oh, well, I was worried about you..."

"But you don't even know me," she retorted.

I had the urge to laugh now. After following her around for the past couple days, I knew more about her than she could imagine. Instead, I said with a smile, "We Gryffindors have to stick together."

And when she smiled shyly back at me, I knew for a fact that I was blushing madly.

Props (yes, props) to Nathpollen for editing and being awesome. And Remus . Ivy (I have to put spaces or the username doesn't show up...crazy) for forcing me to write this. Happy birthday to RottenedRipe!

So, here's the beginning of Remus's POV. There's really no "rules" for this story and I'm just going to post whenever. Suddenly I See has the priority. Even if Remus is adorable.

Oh, and the voting for the Quibbler Awards is finally up....if you want to do that.

Thanks for being amazing!