A/N: I now submit, for your consideration and literary enjoyment, chapter 3…

"You lied to me." Harper's voice portrayed no emotion.

"Yes," Sonata replied, "But I'm being honest with you now. Doesn't that count for something? We weren't even together when it happened, I never cheated on you –"

"He's my fucking MATE Sonata!"

"I was friends with him first," she muttered under her breath, as though that made some difference.

"I just can't believe you would do this. No, not that you would do it – I get it, it was a wedding, you had both been drinking – but then you lied to me? You lied to my face of your own free will and told me nothing had happened. You reassured me. What kind of person can look into the eyes of someone they love and lie?"

Sonata had tears in her eyes now, "I'm so sorry Harper. I was just so scared of losing you. If I told you the truth I thought you would leave me."

"Then why come clean now?" he asked, anger biting his voice.

"Because I can't lie to you," she said, "I can't. I love you too much."

"This is sick Sonata. You say you love me, yet you do things like this?"

"It was a mistake! You think I don't regret it? He won't even look at me anymore. Our friendship is ruined."

"Good."

A tear slid down Sonata's face. She still loved Harper – at least she thought she did – but he was cutting her to pieces. And he knew it.

"Please forgive me," she whispered simply, "You know I can't be without you. We need each other."

" This is so typical of you Sonata. You go out and do something stupid after you tell me for the millionth time that you've changed. You aren't coming clean for me. You're coming clean for him. You probably don't even feel bad."

"How dare you?" Sonata practically yelled. He had finally struck a nerve. "How dare you say I don't feel bad? Do you want me to prove it to you? I can't eat, I can't sleep. I'm falling apart, what more proof do you need? Look at me."

And he did. He looked at the girl before him and realized suddenly how much she had wasted away. Her clothes hung off of her thin frame, there was no more light in her eyes. She looked like someone who had given up hope.

Harper took a deep breath. "All right," he said, "I'll take you back. This is the last shot Sonata."

A wave of relief swept over her as she kissed him. As long as she had Harper, Sonata knew she could get through anything.

A wave of nausea swept over Sonata as she sat up in bed. The dream, once again the dream of the fight between her and Harper at the beginning of the summer. It made her sick to think of the way she had groveled to get him back – the way he had acted as though he were a saint to even give her another chance. A final chance. It was wrong for her to lie to him, but it was also wrong of him to hold it over her head. Harper was not a forgiving person; he remembered every wrong done to him, and held grudges like no one she knew. There had been a good three months between that argument and the final break up, but none of those months had really been good. She could see now how he had manipulated her, whether intentionally or not. Sonata had always been an independent person, but when she was with Harper she felt as though she couldn't so much as breath without asking his permission. It had never seemed like a bad thing until it was all over, until she finally realized what Alyssa had meant when she said that Harper was a good friend, but an awful boyfriend.

Guilt had become Sonata's closest friend for a long time – even now she sometimes found it difficult to deal with the way things had gone between her and Harper – particularly because he wasn't doing well.

Unable to get back to sleep, she slid on a robe and a pair of slippers and crept quietly out of the Ravenclaw dormitories. It was 3am, and a snack, she decided, was exactly what she needed to take her mind off things.

It had become ridiculously easy for Sonata to sneak around the castle at night. It was a habit that had started three years ago, and one that she had become quite skilled at since. The rounds made by the professors and ghosts were methodical and timed to a T, so it had only been a matter of figuring exactly what places they weren't going to be at exactly what times they weren't going to be there. Just then, Sonata heard the sound of footsteps.

"Alohamora," she whispered quietly, and the door to the nearest classroom clicked open. Hidden inside, she glanced through the small window at the top of the door to see Professor Dumbledore and another man she didn't recognize pass by.

"…back to the dormitory," Dumbledore was saying, "I'm so glad you were able to fix the problems with the willow Dr. Elbertson – thank you for coming at this obscure hour."

"Of course Dumbledore, of course. I understand the need for privacy. I'm glad he could be with us to test it again. Quite gracious of him."

"Yes, you know for a young man it's really quite remarkable …"

The voices faded away, and Sonata re-imerged quietly, wondering why on earth an apparent magical plant specialist would be at Hogwarts at 3 in the morning. Dumbledore was prone to his eccentricities though, so she supposed that it probably wasn't so very odd.

Making her way down the hall toward a large painting of fruit, Sonata was surprised to hear her stomach grumble loudly. I didn't think I was that hungry, she thought, putting her hand on her belly. The sound came again, and this time she realized that it was not, in fact, from her.

"Shit," she whispered, and darted quickly into a nearby alcove, just in case the sound belonged to one of the professors, hungry after patrol.

"Ow!" the voice made Sonata jump a mile back into the hall, putting a hand over her mouth to stifle a surprised yelp.

"Sonata, is that you?"

To her surprise, Remus Lupin emerged from the alcove, a smile on his face. "Sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to scare you. But I wasn't expecting anyone, and you kind of stepped on my foot." He motioned down, and Sonata noticed with some surprise that he was wearing shoes, not slippers, with his pajamas. Not only that, but they were caked with mud. Strange, she thought to herself.

"Going for a walk around the grounds?" she asked, still looking at the offending footwear.

"What? Oh-" Remus laughed guiltily, "Yeah. I um, I sleepwalk sometimes. I'm remarkably clever at it apparently, as on occasion I actually manage to get out of the castle."

Sonata nodded, the look on her face clearly conveying doubt. If Remus had been outside, surely he would have been seen by Dumbledore and Elbertson…? Then again, she reasoned, there are plenty of other entrances into the castle. But security is heightned this year. Is there any way he actually could've gotten out?

"Well anyway, were you on your way to the kitchens?"

"Yeah," she replied, tucking her suspicions away. It hardly mattered after all. "I couldn't sleep. Bad dream."

Remus nodded, and the two continued on to the painting on the wall ahead of them, tickling the large green pear once they arrived. The painting swung open, and they stepped into the warm kitchens.

"Good evening sir, miss," said one of the passing house elves, "What can we be doing for you?"

"Just a little peckish," Remus replied, "Are there some leftovers from the feast?"

The little elf nodded, and sucrried off for a few moments before returning with a few friends, bearing goblets of pumpkin juice and the remains of a roasted turkey along with some apple tart.

"Oh wow," Sonata said, "Thank you. Really, this is lovely."

The house elves bowed away, returning to their work.

"Up early, aren't they?" Remus asked, cutting himself a slice of turkey.

"Not really – I think they usually have to start breakfast by this hour. Lots of people to feed."

He nodded, his mouth full.

The two ate and chatted lightly, happy to find that they had Transfiguration and Arithmancy together this term.

"I'm surprised we haven't had class with each other before," Sonata remarked.

"Well, they don't often put Ravenclaw and Gryffindor together in the lower years do they? It only now that we're choosing our own classes based on O.W.L.s. Not that I'm complaining," he added, giving her a shy smile that made Sonata's stomach flip flop.

As they stepped back out of the portrait and into the hall, a question occurred to Remus.

"You mentioned a bad dream," he said, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Sonata shrugged, "It's nothing really."

Remus eyed her carefully before saying confidently, "You're lying."

"I am not!"

"Yes you are. You're not looking me in the eye."

"We're walking side by side. If I looked you in the eye I would trip and fall on my arse."

He laughed, "Fair enough. But still," he stopped walking and turned her to face him, "Is everything okay?"

If it were anyone else asking that question, Sonata would have told them they were taking this way too seriously and it was nothing. But it wasn't anyone else. It was Remus. And she knew that he could tell this was important. Otherwise he wouldn't be pushing it.

"Just, just a dream about Harper."

"Your boyfriend?"

It was Sonata's turn to laugh, "Not anymore. That's just it actually. I keep having these dreams about what happened between us. All of the bad stuff. I was really horrible to him sometimes."

"I'm sure you weren't always the villain," Remus replied, the assurance in his voice making her a little more sure as well.

She shook her head, "No, but he had a talent for making me feel like I was. I don't know," she shrugged, "It's just still hard for me to handle I guess. He could really make me hate myself."

Remus looked at her silently, torn between asking more question and just letting it go. He had a knack for getting people to open up to him (whether he wanted them to or not), but this was different. He felt more as though he were prying for information. Sonata wanted to talk – he could tell – it was just a question of whether she was comfortable enough yet. After another few seconds of silent debate, he decided to let it go. After all, he didn't have much business asking about her ex-boyfriend when they'd only spent a few hours together.

"I'll tell you about it sometime," Sonata offered, "Just not tonight. It's sort of a long story and I don't want – " I don't want you to think badly of me, I don't want to blow my chance with you before I even have one. " I don't want to be too tired for our first day tomorrow," she finished lamely.

"Oh, yeah. Of course. I guess it is pretty late isn't it?"

"Pretty early, I'd say."

He smiled, "That's what I meant."

They continued walking in silence until a split in the hallway.

"Well," Sonata said, preparing to go left, "I guess I'll see you in a few hours."

"Good night," Remus said.

"Good morning," she replied, and with a wave, she turned the corner and disappeared. Seconds later though, her head popped back into view.

"And Remus," she called quietly. He turned around and looked at her expectantly.

"I'd like to hear what you were really up to tonight sometime. Sleepwalking?" she shook her head, "I hardly think so."

And with that, she was gone.

Remus stood alone in the hall for a few moments, shaking his head. If Sonata only knew what she was talking about – if she only knew the real reason. He shook his head. He could never tell her, of course. Somehow he doubted she would understand. How could she? No one understood. No one but James, Sirius, and Peter.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair and wishing that he could have a real chance with her. "But life isn't fair," he said aloud, "Life is never fair."

It had become Remus Lupin's mantra over the course of his first sixteen years. His condition was always difficult for him to deal with, but sometimes – like tonight, when he felt so close to normal, yet still so isolated – it seemed impossible.

He felt tears begin to form in his eyes, but he shook them away.

Crying would never fix what he was.

A/N: Poor remus : ( I promise things will start to look up for him! Reviews would be wonderfully appreciated.