When we went to visit Remus early the next morning, he was already out of bed and ready to leave.

He looked anxious for some reason and I could only guess why. "I need your help," he immediately said as we walked through the doors.

What were we supposed to say? No?

"Need help with your lady?" James teased him.

I grinned at the look on Remus's face. "No," he finally responded after the initial surprise on his face diminished. "I just want you to do something for her."

I grimaced. "Why?" Did he want us to start including her in everything? I mean, she wasn't that bad when you thought about it...but if she was going to become what Lily was to James, I just couldn't handle it again.

"Can you...maybe, give her something today?" Remus was still down at the floor, mumbling softly. "Like...a belated birthday present?"

James and I looked each other with eyebrows raised. He actually wanted us to get involved with a girl he fancied? She must mean a lot to him.

"Sure," James agreed. I mean, who were we to say no? Remus never asked for much – we practically had to beg him to allow us to become animagi. Remus deserved this.

However, searching through our things for something we could just give away was harder than we thought. I had absolutely nothing – well, if she wanted crumpled-up clothes or parchment airplanes, then maybe. But I doubted she would want that.

What did I know about her? Nothing expect for the fact that she liked writing. ...Nothing.

Well, I would have to work with that.

Looking up, I saw James setting a box of chocolates on his bed, obviously satisfied with coming up with it at the last minute. Peter was throwing off the covers of his bed (I don't know what he thought he would find in there...) and then moved to rummage through his desk drawers. Maybe...we were putting too much thought in this.

Or maybe not enough.

Her eyes grew wide at the sight of presents on her chair. She walked up to them cautiously as if she wasn't sure they were for her. I couldn't blame her: this was a pretty random gift-giving.

Her gaze fell on James's present first. He was grinning at her as she opened it slowly, meticulously, as I found myself growing tired of watching her. But she looked happy for once. There was a genuine smile on her face as she looked up and said, "You didn't even know it was my birthday."

James shrugged. "Ah, well, I knew I was saving them for a reason." Yeah, for us. "Happy birthday Ivy."

Peter's present was put together at the last minute – a chocolate frog covered in a sheet of paper. But Ivy still managed to say "thanks Peter" in that truly thankful voice of her's.

I watched as her eyes finally fell on my present. It seemed like it took her even longer to open mine. Her eyes stared down into the box (that previously held my...oh, I don't even remember anymore) and I knew she didn't know what to think.

Because, seriously, who puts a piece of parchment in a big box? Someone that's amazing, that's who. Besides, an IOU is more thoughtful than random chocolate. She probably didn't understand what I meant.

"That IOU is for anything you can possibly think of," I quickly explained. She continued to stare into the box and I wondered briefly if she was crying.

I hoped she wasn't – I didn't know how to deal with crying girls.

"You didn't have to get me anything. All of you." Her voice cracked in the middle of her sentence and I knew she felt – how do you say it? - out of place.

James quickly caught onto it. "We wanted to," he exclaimed. "And next year, we'll actually know about it ahead of time." Nice add-on.

"And you deserve to have a great birthday." And there's Moony – feeling guilty as usual.

So I grinned and, in a spur of the moment type of thing, decided that I should remind her. "Well, I also promised you that I would help you with your story. So, consider my present my debt to you." Maybe I was feeling bad for her, but I found myself wanting to do...something.

"Thanks," she responded softly.

There was a short pause, and then James leaned in to whisper. "Now, don't let this out to any of the other girls. They'll be jealous you have Sirius as your love slave."

She looked like was going to faint. "What-" she tried speaking, but it only came out as a squeak.

Looking at the expression on her face, I could only laugh. "I did say anything, my dear." And when that familiar shade of red appeared on her cheeks, I realized how much I missed the teasing of Ivy Bennett. It was just too easy.

"Don't traumatize her," Remus tried to end all of the fun. Coming to rescue of his little girlfriend. "They're just joking," he quickly said to her.

I just put on my best grin. "That's what you think, Moony."

And when Remus just shook his head with that smile on his face, I knew he was laughing inside.

Ivy even managed to smile. She actually had a sense of humor – wonderful.

Even though Remus followed her around like a lost puppy – wolf – for the next week, I didn't see much of Ivy until she came bursting in the common room one night, her eyes scared and her hands shaking.

Remus, who was looking away, didn't notice it at first. I just kept staring at her as she made her way across the room, stopping in front of us.

What could possibly have scared her that badly? A spider on a wall? Wouldn't doubt it. Remus finally looked up and noticed the fear on her face, doing a double take.

"What's wrong?" he asked, that look of worry immediately crossing his face. If she was scared, he immediately became worried. They were obviously made for each other.

I moved to see them more clearly. She began babbling nonsense and Remus had her sit down on the couch to calm her. I almost expected him to put his arm around her to comfort her but Remus probably didn't want to be too direct. It was an opportune moment – he should have taken it.

Wait – what if it was about -

"Oh, we've been meaning to tell you about last week," James exclaimed before I could. Yes, she was probably worried about what happened to Remus last week. "Don't tell anyone," James added.

What if she had already told someone? Would she do that to Remus? Hopefully not. He didn't need anybody ogling at him like some creature. He didn't deserve that.

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" I said for emphasis.

She looked at us all, her eyes almost shining with tears. "I promise."

I tried to grin at her – make her feel like it wasn't such a big deal – but I just couldn't force a happy smile on my face. Remus, however, could. "Thanks, Ivy," he told her.

I could have sworn I saw her shudder.

"Padfoooooot..." I heard someone loudly whisper in my ear as they shook me awake. I groaned, pulling the covers over my head.

"Go away," I mumbled.

But that only caused me to be shaken further. "You will never believe what...or should I say who is in Remus's bed."

My eyes snapped open and I immediately bolted upright. "What?" I asked. No way...there was no bloody way that someone was in Remus's bed...other than Remus.

James grinned and turned around, toward the direction of Remus's bed. I quickly scrambled out of my covers, trying to be as quiet as possible and followed him.

Hoping that whoever it was was still awake, we pulled the hangings to the side to catch a glimpse.

Bloody...hell.

She was sleeping all curled up in a little ball on the far side of the bed. From what I could see, she still had her clothes on. But that didn't necessarily mean anything.

I leaned forward to take a closer look – make sure it was really her. Yes, I could tell from the blonde hair. Ivy Bennett was sleeping in Remus Lupin's bed. Remus was never going to let this down.

I grinned and, deciding it was time for her to wake up, sang, "Wakey wakey, eggs and bake-y..."

James tried to sound concerned, but the grin in his voice told me otherwise. "Shh, Padfoot, you're going to scare her."

Her eyes just flew open and immediately focused on us. She looked...awkward. "Wh-" she began to say but her voice didn't seem to be working.

So, James took the silence as an opportunity to continue with our morning welcome. "Oh, look Sirius, she's finally awake."

I grinned again. This was just too good. "How was your sleep?"

She obviously didn't know how to answer by the way she was blinking at me. "Uh-" Did she even know the correct...vocabulary to use?

"Imagine our shock," James began, looking quickly over to me. I nodded in response. "-when we woke up to find you in dear ol' Moony's bed."

Actually, it was really anybody in Remus's bed. But, of course, it made it so much better that it was the girl he fancied. Or maybe...they were together now. Hopefully they were if she had spent the night with him.

"It was really a bit of a shock," I added. "You know, we knew Remus liked you and all, but we never thought this would happen."

She looked absolutely lost. Me and James nodded at each other and we immediately went to go sit on either side of her, making sure she had no where to run to.

"So, how was he?"

I cannot even put into words how great it was to see the horrific expression on Ivy's face. She couldn't even talk.

"Oh, come on," I nudged her. "I've actually heard that he has some really wolf-like tendencies." James just about snorted.

She just stared at me with nothing to say.

"Don't try to deny it," James tried again. "We've heard stories too, you know." Stories about Remus with girls, no, not really. But being a wolf, why yes, we've heard those stories.

"We're just friends," she finally formed a couple words.

Wait – what?! No, she couldn't be serious! James and I shared a look of surprise before I exclaimed, "Friends with benefits?" Who knew Moony had it in him? "You're going to break the poor guy's heart!"

"No-" Ivy began stuttering.

"Then you must be his girlfriend," James reasoned.

She sighed (and pretty loudly too) and, with her voice actually raised, tried to say something. But it was cut short as Remus came back into the dormitory, staring at the three of us with the blankest expression I've ever seen on his face.

This probably looked bad.

Not as bad as what he did last night of course.

He bolted over to us, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the bed. Peter chose this moment to wake up and ask "what's going on?" as Remus disappeared with his girlfriend out of the dormitory.

We ignored Peter's question and got ready for the day's events. Which meant interrogating Remus.

"Mooooooonnnnyyyyyyy..." I caught sight of him already sitting at the table for breakfast. He knew better than to look up. "Remmmmyyyy..." I tried again. Sliding into the seat next to him, I gave him a grin.

He mumbled a hello, never looking up from his plate.

"How was your night?" I asked him teasingly.

I could tell he had rolled his eyes even though he wasn't looking up at me. "For your information, we didn't do anything. We slept in the same bed, but that's all we did. Sleep. You know, where you close your eyes and rest?"

James sat down across from us. "Denial," he exclaimed.

Remus looked up at him. "No, I'm telling the truth. We never touched each other."

Peter was staring at us strangely. "What are you talking about?" he asked again.

"Moony here," I began to explain. "-had a wild night with none other than Ivy Bennett."

As soon as I said her name, she took a seat at the table, away from us unfortunately. That didn't stop us from grinning over in her direction though.

Peter leaned forward, obviously interested. "You...did...stuff with her?" See, Peter is like this little kid who's too innocent to use "grown up words".

"No," Remus insisted. "I didn't-"

James looked at me. "It's okay if you did-"

Remus sighed. "Guys, nothing happened!"

I chuckled. "Ah, Moony. Don't be shy. Just fess up already."

It looked like he was about to crack. He held his head in his hands, and said, very clearly, "We. Did. Not. Do. Anything."

Maybe he was telling the truth. But this was just too good to ignore.

Remus tried to ignore us throughout the rest of day. However, he wasn't doing such a great job of it. Ever so often, he would interrupt our conversation with a "we didn't do anything" and "we're just friends".

We ignored him, even though his constant proclamations were starting to convince us that he really didn't do anything. If he had, he would be blushing every time we mentioned it. Being defensive just wasn't a Remus-type thing to do.

Remus got away from us after dinner by going to the library. We went into the common room instead and began a game of Gobstones. Essays could wait.

I was just in the middle of beating James down (and he was whining about how I was cheating) when the portrait swung open and someone stopped in front of us, sniffling quite loudly.

"You owe me a trip to the kitchens," the familiar voice babbled.

I looked up to see Ivy standing in front of me, eyes red and cheeks flushed. "What?" I questioned. Was she even talking to me? Why would I take her to the kitchens? Especially when she was crying?

"The IOU..." she whispered, looking down at the carpet.

Oh, yes, the IOU. Well, I couldn't possibly say no to her birthday present. I wasn't heartless enough to just ignore the crying girl in front of me. "Okay, let's go," I told her, standing up.

I didn't need to know why I was going. Just as long as we finished this IOU as quickly as possible.

But if she was going to keep sniffling behind me, I was going to crack and ask what happened. I would end up giving into Ivy Bennett.

My weakness? Crying girls.

Okay, so that's where I'm ending this chapter. Why? Because there's a bit of a change in the next chapter from Sirius. You know what that means...right?

I'm sick and half dead so I'm just going to die now.

But before I go, maybe...another preview of that one-shot I previewed last week?

I furrowed my brow. "Does that mean we're not friends anymore?" I wasn't going to let my fear show even though I was so afraid she was going to say 'yes'.
Sighing, she looked back at the table and the book in front of her. "I should say yes. It's only logical to say yes."
"But..." I pried, hoping that she had a 'however' or a 'yet' coming.
"However," she sighed and I had to stop myself from grinning. "It's been difficult these past months without your incessant badgering. I can't just erase you from my life."
This time, I did smile. "Good." And then, as if it had just came to me, I added, "Do you want to do something tonight?"
"Sure," she answered without any pause.

Thank you for everything! You're...too amazing for words.