I was half expecting everything to go back to normal on Monday, since Mary had got her chocolate and caused me enough grief—surely, that was all she'd been after. But then, as I was leaving Transfiguration, Mary was walking in front of me, very slowly. I tried to get around her, but it was no use. James and Sirius smirked at me and ran along, Peter following them, to Astronomy. We had just made it out of the door and into the wide hallway—so I could pass her—when all her books and papers and quills she'd been carrying slipped from her arms and scattered all around the corridor. I groaned quietly. There was no one else in sight to come to the rescue.

Mary sighed and crouched down to begin picking things up. I joined her, cursing my three friends who'd abandoned me in my time of need.

"Thanks, Lupin," she said gratefully. "I'm so clumsy sometimes."

"Yeah—er, you're welcome." I had gathered up a heavy stack of books in my arms and we stood up together. I reached toward her, thinking to give her things to her, but she turned away and started strolling down the hall, content to let me carry them.

I sighed and continued after her. We were going to be late to Astronomy—and I would walk into the classroom carrying her books. I knew what that would look like; I also knew what James and Sirius would say. I nearly shuddered at the thought.

"So," Mary said, glancing over at me. "Astronomy."

That's her attempt at making a conversation? Not that I can talk, considering my own ineptitude, but that was dreadful.

"Yeah," I said, my voice sounding strained. "We're supposed to get our quizzes back."

"Right. How d'you think you did?"

I scoffed. "That quiz was a joke—an O for sure."

She was quiet for a moment and I instantly started backpedaling, worrying that I had come across too conceited and arrogant. Now that I think about it, that did sound like something Sirius would say—they're rubbing off on me. That's not good…

"Well, I mean—it was hard… kind of, but I studied and stuff so I probably did pretty well… I think. How 'bout you?"

She smiled softly, but didn't respond because we had reached the classroom. I gulped as we discreetly slipped inside. I didn't expect to go unnoticed, but I was still startled when Professor Sinistra deducted five points from Gryffindor and the class turned around to gawk at us.

James, Sirius and Peter were sitting toward the front of the room, like they never did, and I wasn't going to walk all the way up there to sit with them—too much unwanted attention. So, I sank down into a desk in the back row. To my continued dismay, Mary sat down next to me. I suppose I did have her books, but… still. I slid them across the desk toward her and she murmured her thanks. I nodded and pretended to be absorbed in what Sinistra was saying, despite the fact that I had no idea what she was saying. I couldn't catch a word over my day-nightmares swimming through my head; most of them had to do with what my friends would say the next time they got me alone. Maybe I do need new friends…

We got our quizzes back and I got an O, as I expected, although I got a point deducted for some reason or another. I didn't really care enough to check why. Mary took her quiz, held her breath as she flipped it over, and flinched. Then she turned it over on the desk and slumped in her chair.

"That bad?" I asked her, wondering how it was that anyone could bomb an Astronomy quiz.

She nodded shyly.

"What'd you get?"

She shook her head. "It's really bad."

"So… a P?" I guessed.

She laughed. "A P would be 'really bad' for you, wouldn't it?"

"You got worse than a P?" I whispered, quite taken aback. Not that Peter hadn't received truly embarrassing grades, but I never saw Mary MacDonald as the type.

She sighed heavily and that sufficiently answered my question. We were now supposed to be reading from our books, or something, so I flipped mine open to a random page and Mary followed suit. The room was quiet, but we were in the back, so I reached over and tried to lift a corner of her face-down quiz.

She caught my hand, stopping me, and raised her eyebrows. I felt my face burn as I withdrew my hand and sat back. "Did you get a T?" I whispered.

She paused for a second and then nodded her head, not looking up from her book. She was staring at a page of text about the moons of Jupiter, but she didn't flip the page for the entire class period. No wonder she's so rubbish at Astronomy.

Finally, Sinistra broke the silence. "Next week we'll meet in the Astronomy Tower for observation. Bring a coat because it will be chilly. Class dismissed."

I gathered up all my things quickly, ready to bolt before James, Sirius and Peter could catch up with me. But then Mary was talking to me and I realized what Sirius meant when he said I was too polite for my own good. I couldn't bring myself to leave as I watched my friends walk past me, teasing me with their smirks and eyebrows.

"I think I should get a tutor," Mary said, hoisting up all her books with great effort. They were pretty heavy, but there's no reason to make that face—she looked constipated. "Whew, these are heavy," she said as we left the classroom, once more side by side. I could almost feel the rumors spreading with every step we took.

"Yeah," I agreed. "You should get a book-bag. It makes them a lot easier to carry."

She frowned for some reason. Merlin, I was just trying to help!

"Anyway," Mary said, "I think a tutor would really help. I need someone who's really good at Astronomy…"

I thought for a moment that that could be practically anyone, as Astronomy has got to be one of the easiest subjects. "Well, Lily probably would tutor you," I suggested. "She's smart at everything, really, and she's done tutoring before, in Potions."

"Oh." Mary frowned again. What am I doing wrong? I swear… "Well," Mary continued after a few moments of hesitation, "Lily's alright, but… she's busy a lot, you know? Because she already does tutoring and stuff."

"Right." I thought for a while. "I don't know what to tell you, Mary. You could ask Sinistra and she could probably find you a tutor."

She rolled her eyes, seeming quite annoyed, and stopped, turning to face me in the hallway. I was totally lost, to say the least.

"Honestly, Lupin," she sighed. "Will you tutor me?" She said the words slowly and clearly as if she was speaking to a child, or someone who didn't understand English. You would've thought it was the tenth time she'd asked, from her irritated tone, which only served to confuse me further.

"Well, er, I don't know, I mean—I'm not the best in Astronomy…"

"You got an O on the quiz."

"I did get one question wrong, and I don't think I'd be a very good teacher…"

"Come on, please?" She seemed less annoyed now as she pouted up at me.

The words were coming from my mouth before I could stop them. "Well… yeah, sure. Fine."

A grin erupted on her face. "Really? Thanks so much! I owe you one, Lupin. When should we start?"

"Oh, uh… whenever you want. I don't care."

I wondered for a moment how it was that I managed to get myself into this one, and then I remembered: oh, right—I'm polite. That word was beginning to really not sit well with me. But, as I walked to our next class with Mary, I couldn't picture myself being anything less than inoffensive and constantly walked-on. Is that sad? I don't think it's extremely sad. I mean, I haven't exactly made any enemies the way I'm living life. The only one I have—Snape—is an enemy by association. If I wasn't friends with James and Sirius, he wouldn't care about me. We might even be friendly… ish. Okay, maybe I wouldn't be friendly with Snape if I had the choice… but I guess I do have the choice… hmm. I was actually glad when Mary said something to me, because it saved me from having to sort out my muddled thoughts.

"How about after school?" she offered and it took me a second to catch onto what she was talking about. Oh, right. I'm her tutor. Why is it that things like this only happen to me?

And I really did not want to start this after school. Maybe if I could put it off for a few days, she'd forget about it… or get a different tutor that would be more proactive. Hmm. I channeled James and Sirius and tried to think of a subtly rude way to say no, because I knew very well that no matter what Remus Lupin said it would come out sounding like a very inarticulate "yes."

"Well, I have other things I have to do today."

Hey. Did I actually manage to say an entire sentence without using the word "er"? This is fantastic!

"Okay," Mary said brightly. "Another time then."

"Uh, yeah… sometime. Cool."

So much for my brief moment of assertiveness. Now I'm back to my usual form, a pile of mushy submissiveness. Bloody wonderful.

I think I'm the one who needs to be tutored. Maybe I can ask James and Sirius about it.


A/N: All the chapters will be pretty short (1.5k – 2k), but the story will be short as well. What do you think of Remus? Should he give Mary a chance? Does he need to learn how to say no? Yes, yes he does. Please leave a few words (or more! More is good) in a review—I want to know what you think!