Moonlight Sonata

Chapter One –

A young Professor McGonagall began to lecture on and on about the importance to know how to safely transfigure a venomous snake into a cotton ball. As if Remus Lupin didn't know that already. To his left he saw his fellow Marauder, Sirius Black leaning against his left hand beginning to doze off. Monday's were so fantastic. To his right was James Potter, resident troublemaker absently righting notes addressed to a mysterious, 'LE'. He never revealed the actual identity of this person, but some people could easily figure it out if they took the time to look. Last but not least, directly behind Remus sat their loyal shadow Peter Pettigrew. He was trying desperately to listen to anything they said, even if they weren't saying anything at all. He'd always wanted to be one of the big boys in Gryffindor, but no one took him seriously. Who could?

Remus' eyes drifted over to the window and saw her…they had double Transfiguration with Ravenclaw today and Remus couldn't be happier. But he was the only one that knew, or he hoped to Merlin he was. She was taking notes like he was supposed to but he couldn't pay attention. She absently tucked her long blonde hair behind her right ear, and for a split second Remus thought she had looked over at…

"Mister Lupin," he snapped his gaze forward when McGonagall addressed him.

"Yes professor?"

"Would you mind telling the class which breed of snake works best with the Venocarta spell?" Oh, it was only a class question.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Python's are excellent in perfect conditions," He said practically word for word from the book, "but there are account's that Basilisks work very well."

"Very good Mister Lupin," her attention turned to the blonde girl by the window. Her. "Miss Reede, could you tell us the difference between the Venocarta and Repricarta spell?"

"Venocarta is specifically for snakes and Repricarta is for reptiles in general." Again, just out of the book. McGonagall smiled and began to explain the different effects the spells had on different reptiles.

Finally the bell rang, snapping Sirius out of sleep, and Remus out of his daze. The students excited the classroom heading to lunch. Remus tried to catch a glimpse of her on his way out but her girlfriends from Ravenclaw surrounded her. In the hallway, a fiery red head stopped in front of the Marauders.

"Hey guys…hello, Potter." She glanced quickly at James.

"Evans." His tone was flat.

"Hogsmeade weekend is coming up." She said shortly.

"I noticed."

"Good." She turned on her heal and headed toward the Great Hall with out another word.

Remus and Sirius exchanged confused glances and shrugged. They reached the Great Hall talking about how Monday's sucked and quidditch matches. James, who was the prized seeker of the Gryffindor, mostly talked about that. Peter caught on to everything they said and tried to put a word in here and there but it was always awkward and out of place.

When they were seated at the table and the food had appeared, groups of chattering third years were talking non-stop about their first trip to Hogsmeade. They were expecting a lot from the small village.

"They're going to be so disappointed when they see how small it is." Sirius said casually.

"What are you talking about Hogsmeade is cool." Peter piped up. Sirius arched an eyebrow at the blonde boy. Out of the four of them, Peter seemed the most innocent, and naïve. He had never had a good grip on the real world, making it difficult for him to gain friends. Luckily, there was only room for one more the compartment the other three Marauders shared in first year. Ever since he had idolized them, how cool they were, how popular, how smart, he envied everything about them.

"Hey, whose that Ravenclaw Evans is talking to?" Questioned James suddenly, giving a pointed glance over toward the Ravenclaw table where a red headed Gryffindor stood. She was talking to, oh no, her…

"She was in our Transfiguration class today wasn't she? Last name was Reede I think." Sirius answered trying to recall the girl's name.

"Her name's Octavia. Octavia Reede." Remus interjected suddenly.

Peter blinked at him confused, "How do you know Remus?"

"She's in my Ancient Runes class." His voice was distant, recalling many occasions of her constantly raising her hand in class to answer a question. It was one of the first things he noticed about her: her intellect. He wasn't as shallow as Sirius and James. He wasn't the most hansom boy in his year, making him learn early on that he'd probably never get the girls to beg at his feet. It didn't really bother him much after a while.

"I wonder what they're talking about." James asked in wonderment.

"Probably about doing each others hair or something." Sirius replied in a semi-sarcastic tone. Even if he was the resident heartthrob of Gryffindor, he still was clueless when it came to girly habits.

Lily gave a sideways look to the boys. The two girls nodded at each other before Lily walked back over to the Gryffindor table where the Marauders were watching. She sat across from them, a rarity coming from Lily. She never interacted with them - well, not with James at least -.

"You act like you've never seen two girls talk before." She gave them strange look and began eating her lunch.

Peter spoke first.

"How do you know that girl in Ravenclaw," he asked automatically forgetting Octavia's name.

"I met her outside of Transfiguration last Thursday. Really nice girl, her name's Octavia. She wants to go with me to Hogsmeade." Lily replied cheerily, having no quarrel with Peter.

"Really?" Remus said suddenly, but flushed at the curious look Lily gave him.

"Yeah just a girls day." She nodded. "You wouldn't be interested, all we do is talk about boys, our hair, the Yule ball that's coming up this year…" Lily trailed off.

"Oh Merlin not one of those again." James scoffed looking down at his plate.

"You really hate those don't you?" A glint appeared in her eye, "of course those are events that are usually enjoyed by Icivilized/I society."

Peter snickered loudly, "She called you uncivilized!"

"Yes Peter, I did." She arched an eyebrow and left the table, exciting the Great Hall with Octavia.

"A Yule Ball eh?" Sirius glanced around the Gryffindor table. "I wonder who the lucky girl's going to be. Octavia's pretty, isn't she Moony?" Remus looked up quickly at Sirius. "Although, I go for dark haired birds myself." Sirius added.

"Yeah she's pretty." Remus agreed.

"Why does she always call me 'uncivilized' and 'unemotional'?" James interjected mimicking Lily's voice in an annoyed tone.

Sirius looked at him curiously, "She didn't call you unemotional."

"Yeah, but she was thinking it." He murmured.

Remus continued to stare at the Great Hall entrance. A Yule Ball…could he get up the nerve to ask her? No, she doesn't even know him, let alone know him enough to go to a ball with him. Wait, Hogsmeade weekend! She'll be with Lily, who's his friend, maybe Lily and Prongs will start fighting again, and she'll be alone in this awkward situation. And he can whisk her away to get to know…

"Moony, Moony, REMUS." Remus snapped out of his gaze to see Sirius' hand waving in front of his face.

"Oh, sorry."

"Merlin, took you long enough." Padfoot looked at Moony curiously, "Who is she?"

Remus' eyes shot towards his fellow Marauder, "Nobody."

James smirked, "Well it doesn't matter anyway, Flitwick will shoot us with cheering charms if we're late again."

"We wouldn't want that, remember last time?" Peter piped up, gathering his things.

Remus looked at him and said softly, "No Peter we wouldn't."

The four Marauders excited the Great Hall, desperate to be on time for double Charms with Slytherin. A certain student by the surname of 'Snape' was waiting for James' intolerable cruelty. A certain teenage werewolf was already making plans to ask his best friends to go to Hogsmeade that weekend.