Elsie woke up to the sound of her enchanted alarm clock beeping and screeching, running around in the room on its two tiny legs. "Oh, just shut up," she grumbled into her mattress, before she sat up and threw the pillow at the little device.

After that, it only screamed even louder, continuing its job, trying to get the girl out of her bed. With another growl, Elsie rolled out of her bed, walking towards the door and throwing a last, hateful glance at her clock as it jumped back at the nightstand and fell in silence.

Juliet was sitting at the kitchen counter, drinking coffee and reading the Daily Prophet which was levitated in front of her, but peeked from behind it as she heard the approaching footsteps. "Morning," she said in a cheerful tone, waving her wand to make a coffee for her friend. Her behaviour surprised Elsie; it seemed all of her anger vanished from yesterday.

"How is that you haven't got a hangover?" she asked, leaning against the counter. They spent their night with drinking every bit of alcohol they could find at home, talking about how much they love each other, how every other people are sucks, and a lot of other thing that none of them could really recall by now.

"You know I hardly ever get a hangover," Juliet started, slipping down from the tops and folding up the newspaper. "And I needed to get myself together, I've got some things to do."

Elsie bit her lip and turned her head away from Juliet, grabbing her mug which was floating near to her. "So… do you still want to talk with Sirius?"

Juliet frowned. "Yeah, and I'm going to! Why, did you think I'll just let him get away with this?"

"No, I'm just saying… maybe we misunderstood something. I mean, why would he lied about that?"

"That is exactly what I'm going to find out," she explained, turning to leave.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Elsie asked grudgingly.

The blonde girl shook her head as she turned back for a second. "No, just go to your classes. I want to talk to him in private anyway," she said with a small, forced smile before took her shoes and jacket on and Disapparated from the house.

Elsie cast a few spells to clean their always messy kitchen – always, when Juliet woke up first – before she had a shower, put on some fresh clothes, picked her bag up and left the flat too, walking in the cool autumn weather. Her head was still aching a bit from the alcohol and sleep deprivation, but it was nearly nothing compared to the puzzlement she felt.

It bothered her too, not knowing who lied, Remus or Sirius. Because it wasn't even a question that one of them definitely did – the only question was which one of them and why.

And it seemed pointless, too. If they went to Lily's, why couldn't Sirius tell that to Juliet, and if they just went out to drink, why Remus couldn't tell that to Elsie? It seemed stupid, and she started to believe that they definitely just misunderstood each other. But even if they did, it wasn't easy to let go of that little missing part from the story, and the more she thought about it, the more her headache hardened. By the time she reached the walls of the school she wished she hadn't even left the house.

She plopped down on her usual seat at Mr. Pitts' class, immediately letting her head fall on the table. The loud, mixed talks around her just made her consider even harder that she should just Disapparate from the room, but another voice made her to rise her head up again.

"Tough night?" Lydia asked, her hair dyed royal blue now, taking her things out from her bag. "Juliet?"

"Tough night," Elsie answered shortly, searching for her textbook and pen. Lydia just shook her head with a smile and straightened herself when the professor arrived into the classroom. Without saying anything, he walked around the room and handed essays back to the students.

Elsie's face fell when she saw her own paper. Maybe because she hadn't slept much, or maybe because she was in a bad mood anyway, but she couldn't just swallow it when she saw the "A" in the parchment. "Are you kidding me?"

Pitts turned back slowly, raising an eyebrow. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes, there is. Acceptable, really? I worked a lot on this!"

"Do you think you'd deserve a better grade, then?" Pitts asked with a tiny smirk, walking closer back to Elsie's desk.

"Of course I deserve better! This is easily one of the best pieces I've ever written – and you give me a fucking A?" she asked loudly, standing up while every head turned towards them with loud gasps and shocked laughs. "You know what, I don't even care about class anymore! Nothing is good enough for you, is it? I could be the next Hemingway and you'd still say my work is garbage. I like this writing, and I don't care about your opinion," she finished and picked her bag up, but before she could leave, the professor snatched the paper out from her hand and scribbled down something. When he gave it back to her, the A disappeared, and an O was standing in its place.

"Sit down," he said, continuing his walk. Elsie slowly took her seat, though she couldn't understand the situation at all. Lydia leaned closer, looking at her friend's paper.

"He never gave an O to anyone before!" she gasped, talking with whispers. "Merlin, what the hell was that, Elsie?" she chuckled. "I've never seen you like this! I can't believe Juliet missed it."

Elsie just shrugged, half happy about her grade, half confused about why she got this after talked with a teacher like that. After Pitts dismissed the class, she stopped in front of his desk, but didn't really know how she should ask what she wanted to ask. Pitts packed a lot of papers into his suitcase and waited before most of the students left the room before he slowly looked up the girl.

"You want to know why I gave you an Outstanding, yes?" he asked, and as she nodded in answer, the professor went on. "Because that was exactly what I wanted. Well, not shouting at me in front of my whole class, but in a way, I want this from all of my students," he started, going around the desk and standing in front of Elsie. "Be a writer, or a journalist, you will get critics every single day. Some of them will be true, more of them will be not. Do you think I am cruel? Publish something and wait people to start criticize you. All of you will become little crying babies and give up long before you could reach anything."

She listened him carefully. He had a harsh style indeed, and Elsie wasn't sure that kind of teaching method was good for everyone. "But how could I grow, how could I become better when every time you read my work, you just criticize everything? You tell us was what was bad, never what was good."

"I give you a very simple answer. You shouldn't give a fuck," he said with raised eyebrows, causing Elsie to snort skeptically. "You don't believe me; I understand. I wasn't like that when I was your age either. But let me tell you, writing is something that you should do for yourself, in the first place. You don't write for other people – you write, you create because this is something you love to do. And why the fuck should I let other people tell me how to do what I love to do the most?" he said without hardly taking a breath. "You're a good writer, I can tell you that. But you need to work on your self-confidence. Don't try to impress everybody, you can never do. Impress yourself."

Leaving Elsie speechless, he walked out from the room with a smile. The students from the next class had already started to fill the place, so Elsie left too. By now her headache was nearly unbearable, so she decided to go home instead and skip the rest of her day.

The moment she arrived to the empty house, she dropped herself onto the couch in the living room, pulled a soft blanket on herself, and fell asleep within a few minutes.


Not a long time ago Juliet arrived to Sirius' flat, knocking loudly on the door for a long minute before he finally opened it. Judging by the look on his face and his lack of clothes, he just woke up, and definitely hadn't slept much. Juliet just smiled at him sweetly, while he looked completely confused. "Hello, uhm, what are you doing here?"

"I was just in the neighbourhood and I thought I come in for a little talk, may I?" she asked, not waiting for his permission as she was already walking inside. She stopped in the middle of the living room with crossed arms across her chest, still smiling. "Did you have fun last night?"

Sirius' eyes widened; for a long moment he didn't know what Juliet was referring to. "Oh! Yes, sure… Remus is still fast asleep and actually I'm uh, really tired, hangover, you know, so much firewhi…"

"Cut the crap, Sirius" she cut him off; her green eyes angry in a way Sirius had never seen before. "Next time maybe you should talk to your friend before you lie about your whereabouts."

Sirius swallowed hard before started to talk in a low voice, "Juliet, listen. It isn't what you think it is."

"Oh, then what is this?" she asked with a faked surprise in her voice, and before Sirius could've start to speak again, she went on. "I don't care about your explanations, Sirius. I know we aren't in a relationship, but I thought that's the point! You could tell me anything without worrying about it. If you get bored of me, just tell me, because I'm not going to waste my time of someone who treats me like a chewing toy," she said louder and louder, but dropped her voice as she added, "You either tell me the truth, or you will never see me again."

She was sure Sirius would simply send her away, or just start to come up with some stupid excuses, but he gently grabbed her forearm and led her closer to Remus' room.

"Why are you…?"

"Shh," he cut her off, carefully opening the door. At first she couldn't see anything as it was dark in the room, but a couple moments later she saw what Sirius wanted her to saw: the ripped, bloody clothes on the floor, and Remus, sleeping in his bed with bruises on his face and bandages around his chest. Her eyes widened, and before she could watch him for too long, Sirius pulled her out from the room and closed the door silently.

"What the hell happened to him?"

"He's a werewolf," Sirius answered in a low voice, ignoring the girl's silent gasp as he went on. "He had been since he was a kid. For a couple years now we've helped him at every full moon. James, Peter, and me… as Animagi. Illegally."

Juliet couldn't decide whether if she should believe him or not, but only a few weeks of knowing him was enough to know this is something he could probably do. "Show me," she said, deciding she'd only believe to her own eyes.

Sirius let out a low growl. "I'm really tired," but in the next moment, he quickly transformed into a large, black dog.

"Oh my God!" Juliet yelled, but quickly walked away as she was still standing in front of Remus' door. "Oh my God," she whispered this time, while the large dog hurried after her, but quickly transformed back. "Why haven't you told me?"

"That would have been a cheerful conversation," he started, looking at the girl in disbelief while he dropped himself on the couch. "Hey, I'm Sirius Black, my best friend is a werewolf and I'm an illegal Animagus, wanna hook up?"

"Not like that, you idiot," she huffed, sitting down next to him. "I thought you were lying to me."

"Technically I was. But honestly, I don't think it's something that you just tell to anyone, is it?"

Juliet smiled sweetly again. "I'm not anyone, Sirius."

"You certainly are not," he cocked an eyebrow and leaned closer for a kiss, but Juliet leaned back.

"Elsie should know about this."

Sirius' features hardened immediately. "Not from us. It isn't our secret to tell."

"Since I know about it, it's my secret too, and I won't keep secrets from my best friend," she said firmly, causing Sirius to let out a long sigh.

"Juliet, if Remus want to tell her, he will. He's so unconscious about it anyway, let him to decide it when he will tell her. I'll talk to him, but you don't tell her. Please."

She looked at him silently with narrowed eyes, biting her lip.

"Juliet…"

"Okay, I'll keep my mouth shut! But then you will talk to him."

Sirius nodded, changing the subject quickly. "Good metaphor choice with the chewing toy, by the way," he said, causing Juliet to let out a short chuckle. "So, aren't you going to your classes today?" he asked, lazily unbuttoning the first few buttons of her red shirt, tracing his thumb through the hem of her lacy black bra. "Pretty."

"Not planning to," she answered with a tired sigh. "You need to make it up to me that you lied, so…" she said a moment before Sirius gabbed her hand with a mischievous smile, pulling her up from the couch and into his bedroom.


Elsie only woke up hours later, well rested, to the sound of Juliet slamming the front door shut. "Sorry, I didn't know you were sleeping here," she said apologetically as she walked in, seeing her friend sitting up in the couch with a yawn.

"It's okay," she answered, rubbing her sleepy eyes. "So, how'd it go? Which one them lied?"

Juliet plopped down next to her slowly, not taking her eyes off her. "Well… both of them. I really shouldn't tell you," she said, and Elsie only had a time to open her mouth before Juliet already went on. "I tell you, but you can't tell to Sirius! He'd kill me."

Elsie rolled her eyes. "Like it's a big deal for you! Aren't you always saying make-up sex is the best?"

The blonde girl's eyes widened in surprise. "That's actually a really good idea! Thank you," she winked.

"Will you tell me what happened, then?"

Juliet let out a slow breath before she started. "Remus… he's a werewolf."

It all made sense, Elsie realized as her friend explained everything to her that Sirius explained to Juliet a couple hours prior. His wounds, his condition last day, his behaviour with her in the past weeks…

They both agreed on that Elsie should go and talk with him; and she, without thinking it about twice, left the house appeared at Remus' a few moments later.

But in the moment she arrived, fear filled her lungs; she just realized she didn't think that through at all – what she should exactly say to him? Sirius opened the door after Elsie lightly knocked against the door, like she hoped no one would hear it. He wasn't surprised to see her at all, in fact, he expected her; he just stepped aside to let the girl in. "Juliet told you, right?"

"She did. Be angry at her, she planned some make-up sex."

He raised his eyebrows. "Is she at home?" he asked, and Elsie nodded while she took off her coat. "Great. Then I should go and be angry at her," she said with a grin while he grabbed his jacket off of the hanger and left the house.

Elsie quickly walked through the living room and knocked at Remus' door before she could change her mind, waiting until he murmured a low "come in". Remus closed his eyes and let out a slow, tired breath as he saw the girl. It felt so familiar, too familiar, and he wasn't sure he was ready again to play the same again, he didn't know what he should say this time at all. He knew she knew, from a single look at her face.

She sat down at the edge of his bed, looking at the bloody bandages. "You should change these," she said with a low, raspy voice. She helped him to take them off before he leaned back against the wall again, as every of his remaining energy left him. Elsie conjured some water in a bowl and started to wash the blood off of his chest, trying to clean his wounds up as much as it was possible. "Unfortunately I don't know any proper healing spells. Or potions," she said almost shyly.

"It help a lot too, thank you," he replied with a smile, deep inside being happy as she was there.

She stopped after she vanished all of the blood, looking up into his brown eyes now. "Sirius told Juliet and she told me," she started to explain. "This is why you were avoiding me? Because you're a werewolf?"

Remus looked away. It was the reason indeed, but it was way more complicated than she thought. If he says no, she will ask more questions, if he says yes, he will lie, again… but before he could say anything, Elsie cupped his cheek with one hand and turned his face towards her. "I really don't care."

"You should," he answered in a painful voice.

"Why? I'm sure you could never…" she started, but Remus cut her off, knowing very well what she wanted to say.

"I'm a monster, Elizabeth, and nothing can ever change that fact. Don't be so sure I could never hurt anyone," he said almost angrily.

Her hand fell off of his face. "Your friends go out with you in every month. You live with Sirius. Have you ever hurt them?"

Remus shook his head slowly. "This is entirely different."

"Why?" she asked loudly, almost a shout as she was so desperate to find an answer, but he couldn't give her any. Elsie stood up, looked through the window for a few seconds before her eyes found his again. "I really do like you. And I know you like me too. But whatever is holding you back… it's you who makes everything impossible, not the fact you're a werewolf," she added in a lower voice. "And if you really have nothing to say, I can't think of anything else but that you don't care enough or at all."

She turned to leave as she got no answer again, but Remus, not even knowing why, grabbed her forearm and pulled her back down to the bed. He leaned closer to her, close enough so he could smell the well-known flowery scent of her hair, still holding her arm like he was afraid if he let it go, she'd leave him for good. "I do care. If I didn't care, if I wouldn't think about you, I would've taken you on a date weeks ago, and now I'd just kiss you if you let me, but I can't. I can't to do that to you."

"Do what, Remus? As far as I can see, the only thing that holding you back is that there's a small chance of that you could ever hurt me…"

"But there is a chance," he said firmly, his hand slipped down before he lifted it up and stroked her cheek gently with a small, almost invisible smile. "You deserve a lot better than me."

Elsie looked him in silence, not knowing at his point what she should say that she hadn't said to him already. She leaned closer and pressed a soft kiss on his cheek before she stood up again. "I really hope you'll change your mind," she said, even though she had the feeling his decision was final. As much as Remus wanted her to stay, to pull her back into his arms, he let her walk out from his room.


After two hours of sitting in the park, sobbing and thinking about everything and nothing, Elsie finally walked home with puffy eyes. She found Sirius sitting by the small kitchen table, who looked at her apologetically just for a second. "Sorry for eating your food," he started after he swallowed a mouthful of mashed potatoes. "But I'm starving and this is the best thing I've ever eaten."

"For that compliment, you are forgiven," Elsie said, turning to the countertops make some tea. "I'm not hungry anyway."

Sirius continued his dinner, looking at the girl's back. "Remus, is he okay?"

Her heart leapt at the mention on his name, and she could feel she could cry again, but chocked back her tears. "I guess he is," she said, causing Sirius to furrowing his brows – wasn't she with him all time long? But before he could've asked, Elsie quickly added, "Where's Juliet?"

Smiling in satisfaction, Sirius said, "I was angry at her and now she's very tired…"

Elsie rolled her eyes and even let out a small smile as she took a seat in front of the boy with her tea, avoiding his eyes, but she couldn't hide it enough that she wanted to hide. "Did you cry?"

"No," she said immediately, but seeing how stupid she probably sounded with her hoarse voice and red eyes, she added a low "yes" a moment later.

"Remus said something to you?"

She tapped her fingertips against the side of the small, white cup, looking into the steaming, dark drink as she started to speak. "He thinks I deserve better than him," she started, look up at Sirius. "No matter what I said to him, he thinks he'd hurt me."

He put his fork down and ran his fingers through his hair. He knew this side of Remus very well, but he also knew that in this case, there was a lot more behind the story, and he wasn't sure what he should say.

"Is he like this with every girl?" she asked suddenly, causing Sirius to let out a low chuckle.

"Yes. But believe me, you're a special case."

Elsie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Why?"

"Just… because he really likes you," he babbled out, pushing away his almost empty plate and leaning on the desk. "Listen, give him some time. He was always very unconscious, and I know it can be hard sometimes, but don't give up on him so easily. If he sees that you don't care enough, of course he won't care enough either."

She felt her ears burning with the shame she felt. She was so busy thinking about that maybe he doesn't want her she completely forgot about thinking about the reason. He was a werewolf, and even if she really didn't care about it, it could never be easy for Remus. It wasn't her who deserved better, it was him who needed to see that he deserved to be loved, too.


After her talk with Sirius, and several other ones with Juliet, Elsie let a whole week pass before she decided she would visit Remus. Even Juliet, who usually didn't waste her time on people who didn't care about her enough, could see that Remus' case was something else, and she should be a bit more patient with him. On their next free weekend, when Juliet went to Sirius' place anyway, Elsie joined to her and arrived together again at their house, where now Remus opened the door.

"Elsie, hi," he said in surprise, not taking his eyes off her.

"Hello, I'm here too, but never mind me," Juliet said in amusement, walking inside the apartment.

"Sorry, I just," he started, looking at the blonde girl for a moment before he looked back at Elsie while they got inside too. "I thought you don't really want to see me again."

"I've never said that. And I wanted to…" Apologize, she wanted to say, but was cut off by Sirius who pushed a glass of firewhisky into her hand with a grin on his face. "Are we celebrating something?"

He knocked his glass against Elsie's, drinking all of the whisky at once before he said, "We are. Lily is pregnant," he said with a proud smile.

"Poor girl," Juliet said while she sat down on the couch and refilled her own glass, causing Sirius to extend his arms questioningly.

"I'm going to be a dad; can't you just be happy for me?"

Remus frowned and stepped closer. "You know that you are not the father, right?"

"I helped a lot," he said, still proudly, sitting down next to Juliet.

"What, did you hold the candles?" Juliet asked with raised eyebrows, choking back a laugh.

Sirius let out an annoyed sigh. "I was James' wingman, okay?"

Remus leaned closer to Elsie, so only she could hear what he said. "In the first six years when Lily only referred to James as an 'arrogant, bullying toerag.'"

While Juliet and Sirius were too busy with bantering each other, Elsie put her untouched glass of firewhisky on the table and followed Remus into his room, where they sat down at the edge of his bed. She was fiddling with the hem of her sweatshirt for moments before she finally looked up at him and started to talk. "I'm sorry."

"What an earth for?"

"For leaving you," she answered, and seeing Remus immediately wanted to argue with her, she continued. "Listen, I didn't really think about it how hard it can be for you. I understand you are afraid, for what you can do, but you should trust yourself a little bit more. I do," she said, sitting closer. "And don't say I shouldn't. A bit late for that, I think."

Remus bow his head and let out a small chuckle, thinking about how the situation was so completely absurd; all those years, all that effort, and even the fact he wiped out her memories of him couldn't change her feelings at all. He was there again where he was years ago. "Elizabeth… sorry, Elsie," he said with another short laugh.

"You can even call me Elizabeth if that makes you feel better," she smiled too.

"I'm just afraid you think a lot more about me than I really am," he started in a low voice. "No matter what I say, being a werewolf is a part of me. Aren't you afraid of what could mean for you? Aren't you afraid of that I could hurt you, even if it would be unintentionally?"

Elsie shook her head. "Just because you transform into a werewolf once in a month it doesn't mean you're a beast. Remus, you're one the kindest people I've ever met. You could never hurt me, or anyone on purpose."

"But what if could?"

She bit her lip and tried to not argue with him, but it was hard – he was so stubborn on this subject. She kept her voice down. "I'd know it was an accident. Yes, being a werewolf is a part of you, but not because you chose it. And you wouldn't choose to hurt me either."

Her words had more effect on him than anyone else's in the past two years since the attack happened. Those words, that he could never have heard before from her as he obliviated her long before she woke up, before they could even talk about what happened.

"I'm not saying we should start to date right away," Elsie spoke up again. "I'll give you time to think this through, but I'd like you to ask to try to trust in yourself. We can be friends, and we'll see what's going to happen. How's that sound?"

"Alright," Remus said finally after nearly minute of silence. "Thank you."

She smiled at him kindly. "You know, I felt a bit stupid, not figuring it out earlier."

"Well, I like to think I'm doing a very good job with keeping my problem in secret," he said, causing Elsie to laugh.

"Your furry little problem, right?"

Remus chuckled too. "Did you also believe I had a rabbit?"

The girl shook her head and put a strand of loose hair behind her hear. "I didn't really care about it, actually. But girls in my year accused you of animal cruelty."

"Animal cruelty?" Remus asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Because they were convinced you had a rabbit, but since they've never seen it, they thought you keep it in your dorm, locked in a cage," she said, laughing at Remus buried his face into his palm.

"I've never heard this version before," he sighed. "But now I understand the reproachful glances."

Remus knew that he agreed that what Elsie said was dangerous and stupid, but looking at her face while she was laughing with him made him forgetting every danger, every bad choice he made in the past. He let himself flow with the events, unable to think clearly while his love wanted to be with him so much.