The Gryffindor common room was oddly quiet for seven o'clock on a Saturday evening. The buzz that normally occupied the room was non-existent: from my place on the couch all I could hear in place of the mindless chatter was James and Peter arguing about their Charms homework, Robert Ellison telling Jefferson Franklin about his mother's career as Beater for a Quidditch team, and a few first-years that I didn't know wondering whether Professor McGonagall would give them detention if their Transfiguration essay was four inches short.

I paid no attention to any of them, instead letting my mind wander into more pleasurable territories. Territories that concerned a certain werewolf. My werewolf. I still couldn't figure out how we'd managed to keep our relationship from getting acknowledged beyond the Marauders and Lily. It had been a full six months (almost seven) and yet no one but the five of us knew about Remus Lupin and I.

The door to the boys' dorms swung open. The whole room shook as it banged shut, interrupting my thoughts. As it was probably just a fifth-year complaining about being overworked because of OWLs, I ignored it.

My plan to mind my own business was thwarted when something landed with a soft thud beside the sofa. I opened an eye and lifted my head a little to see Remus sitting on his haunches, staring ahead, his eyes flashing daggers.

I took an arm from under my head and wrapped it around his shoulders. He said nothing. I knew he wouldn't like me to make a scene in front of the first-years so I closed my eye and rested my head back on the armrest, my arm staying where I put it.

I could feel his shoulders heaving as he calmed himself, and whispered two words outside the earshot of everyone else: 'Come 'ere.' He complied, albeit silently, and lay next to me on the sofa, facing away from the rest of our peers. He tangled his legs in mine and rested his head on my chest. I moved my hand from his shoulder and threaded my fingers through his hair.

The room was plunged into a deafening silence, and I was painfully conscious of the fact that the awareness of the rest of the Gryffindors was on us. I focused solely on the man in my arms, listening as he spoke for the first time since entering the room. 'Pads,' sighed Remus.

'Moony,' I muttered softly.

He didn't speak for quite some time, so I chanced a glance around the room. James and Peter had the sense to at least look like they were giving us our privacy, although they had stopped arguing. Robert Ellison tapered out mid sentence and he, Franklin, and the first-years sat gawping at us. The room was not as empty as I'd made it out to be – a group of second-years had books open in front of them, clearly having been in the midst of reading. A group of sixth-years, fourth-years, and a few of our fellow seventh-years sat in the corner of the room, and at the tables, fifth-years studied for OWLs. Evidently, my ears hadn't picked up on the resounding noise.

I pulled my eyes back to Remus, whose tired eyes met mine. He pleaded silently, tears shining in the green eyes I'd got so used to. I ran my fingers through his hair, my heart breaking. What had happened?

'I tried,' he mumbled, his voice cracked and barely audible. 'I tried so hard.'

'What did you try, Moons?' I asked.

'It hurt. So much. I couldn't stop it from hurting.'

'Your scar?'

'I just—' And then he broke down into tears.

'Hey,' I whispered. 'Hey. Let's get out of here. We'll go back to the dorm and—'

'Not there!' he cried. 'No! Please, no!'

I backtracked instantly. 'Okay,' I breathed. 'Okay. Tell me where you want to go, love. I'll take you there.'

He didn't reply. I did a quick mental check: the full moon was a week ago. His tiredness and mental state was a given for now, but it shouldn't be this bad.

'Remus, we need to leave,' I repeated. 'You need fresh air.'

I realised he wasn't going to give me an answer so I sat up slowly. He sat back, not meeting my eyes. I got off the sofa, turning back to him so as to avoid looking at anyone else.

'Can you stand for me?' I asked, and even as I asked, I understood that he was far too weak to do so. His feet hit the ground and he sat on the sofa, slumped.

'No,' he whispered.

'Okay,' I told him gently. I held his right hand with mine and put my left around his waist. I pulled him up and slung his right arm over my shoulders, supporting most of his weight. I half walked, half dragged him out of the common room, helping him out of the portrait hole before climbing out myself.

I held him up again, walking along the corridor, ignoring the stares from the other students.

'Black,' I heard a voice say. I looked up to see Professor Slughorn peering down at us, his face set in an expression of concern.

'Yes, sir?' I asked.

'Take your young friend down to my classroom,' he told me. 'It'll be empty in there.'

'Thank you, sir,' I murmured gratefully, and walked on. 'Remus?' I said in alarm.

His eyes fluttered open. ''M here,' he mumbled.

'Stay with me, love. Slughorn's classroom isn't far from here.'

My brain whirred, trying to figure out what went wrong. Something to do with his body hurting and him not being able to stop it from hurting. But what?

We reached Slughorn's room and I opened the door, pulling Remus in after me. I sat him in the nearest chair and knelt in front of him. 'Remus?' He'd slumped sideways. 'Remus, hey. Look at me.'

'Wha— Here,' he mumbled, doing his best to sit up straight.

'I need you to tell me what happened, okay? I need to understand what's wrong.'

'My scar.' He half-heartedly scrambled for the parting of his robes, then stopped and turned his head to the door.

'I've got you,' I said, removing my wand from my own robes and pointing it at the door. 'Fumos.' The small window in the door was obstructed from view as the thick yellow smoke settled itself at the entrance.

I turned back to Remus, who was trying to get his robes off. 'Here,' I said, slipping his arms out of his sleeves. 'And the rest?'

He nodded once.

Once Remus was topless, I stood back and my eyes fell upon the gash on the right side of his body. It was sliced open again, dried blood in patches in and around it. It was deep enough that if he were a Muggle, it would need stitches. I winced.

'Remus, what happened?' I asked, trying and falling to take my eyes away.

'I... It was hurting,' he mumbled. 'I tried to stop it hurting.' He rubbed his forehead, pulling himself upright again.

'How?'

'Some potion. I forget the name. It was meant to...' He trailed off, falling forwards.

'Remus! Hey, hey!' When he didn't respond, I stood up and took his shoulders. 'Remus, talk to me!'

'What?' he mumbled. 'Still here.' He sat back against the chair, rubbing his arm across his eyes.

'What was the potion supposed to do?' I asked, fearful of the answer.

'Heal the scar,' he sighed. I raised an eyebrow. 'I must have done something wrong—'

'Wait, you're telling me you made this potion?!' I exclaimed.

'I couldn't just go to Slughorn and ask for a potion to heal unbearable scars, could I?' Remus said indignantly.

'I suppose not,' I answered, though we both knew he could have gone to Madam Pomfrey. 'So you made yourself a potion? How?'

He slouched, winced and straightened up again. 'I took some ingredients from in here after yesterday's Potions class. The recipe was in Potions and Healing that I found in the library.

'I don't know. I think I messed up one single instruction and made something else because it said to pour on affected area and when I did...'

'What happened?'

He shook his head. 'It burned. So bad. Like I'd been thrown into fire.'

I winced. 'What the hell?!'

'I screamed,' he continued. 'It went on for at least half an hour. I screamed and screamed. And when it was over, I looked down at my scar and—and I saw it got worse.'

'Remus, I—' I pulled up a chair and sat next to him, taking his hand.

'And then I was just... replaced with fury. I was so angry because I was sure that it would work, so angry that I couldn't do it, so angry that I couldn't start again that I —' He yawned.

'Look,' I whispered. 'You need rest. Let me help you get dressed and I'll walk you back to the dorm.'

He flinched as soon as I'd said the word dorm. 'What?' I asked hurriedly. 'What is it?'

He sighed. 'Nothing. Sorry.' He picked up his shirt and dropped his arm back to his lap.

I helped him dress and then stood him up. As soon as his feet carried him, his knees buckled. His arms flailed and he scrabbled to grab hold of the front of my robes. I hastily put my arm under his knees and shifted him so his head rested on my shoulder.

I walked him out of the classroom and up to the Gryffindor common room and with a mutter of, 'Flabbergast,' the Fat Lady moved aside and let me enter. The common room was still as full as it was when we'd left, so I fought my way through to the dorms, ignoring the questions, murmurs, and comments of the other Gryffindors.

When I got into our dorm, I stopped short. I glanced at Remus, who had fallen asleep and then back to the shattered glass that littered the floor. Different liquids splashed out of the bottles and soaked the floor, and I knew that this was what Remus meant when he said was furious.

I sidestepped the glass, and lay him on his bed. I turned him onto his side and made to walk round to the other side, when a voice asked, 'So you two are a thing, then?'

I turned round to see Jensen Jenkins, our fifth roommate, sitting cross-legged on the bed, a magazine spread out in front of him. 'Have been for almost seven months,' I replied. 'But yes.'

'They're all talking about it, you know. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.'

'I know,' I said patiently. 'I don't mind.'

'Is he gonna be okay?' Jenkins nodded in Remus's direction, simultaneously getting off his bed.

I looked round to see Remus sleeping peacefully. 'Yeah,' I breathed. 'Yeah, I believe so.'

'Shall I, er, tell them all's okay?'

I didn't look at Jenkins as I said, 'Yeah, please.'

As the door swung shut after him, I lay next to my werewolf, pressing a kiss to his forehead before wrapping my arms around him and falling into a deep, peaceful slumber.

Well hey. Welcome to my first Harry Potter fic. Well, second. The first hasn't been posted yet, for reasons. Obviously this is Wolfstar, because they are my life and I love them and I can't life without them and they are my OTP. Did I mention I love them? Oh, I did? I'll mention it again anyway. I love Wolfstar.