For two bloody weeks Camellia Norewood was the topic of conversation among his friends. And Remus was absolutely sick of hearing about how much the girl needed to be put in her place, or whatever stupid thing his friends were going on about, all because she'd ruined some prank they'd tried to pull. That wasn't even the part that was bothering him the most; what really irritated him was that Max Norewood, her younger brother, went on and on about how great she was and how he couldn't understand why she seemed to be an enemy to the rest of the Gryffindors. Remus really didn't mind the first year, he enjoyed his company actually, but he was sick of hearing about Camellia Norewood. She hadn't ever approached them in the five years they'd gone to Hogwarts together and the one time she did, it made things unbearable for him. He was furious with her, and Remus hardly even paid attention to her.

He couldn't count on both hands the number of times he'd stormed away from his friends while they made idiotic plans to get revenge for their prank being ruined. They'd taken it as a personal offense that she would even consider ruining what they'd done. Remus was the one who should actually be upset because it was his spell that he'd worked hard on to perfect, but they didn't care about that. They were incredibly childish about the whole thing, but Remus didn't bother to try and correct their behavior. After five years he knew there was no chance for them to grow up. Which, he thought as he sat studying on what could be the coldest day they'd had so far, was part of the reason why he loved his friends so dearly.

Remus was trying hard to focus on his Transfiguration homework. He'd neglected to do that for possibly the first time ever because he'd been helping Max with his Defense essay, which was something he did from time to time, and then he'd had to go on a patrol with Lily. By the time he'd sat down on the sofa in the common room with his textbook he'd pretty much passed out. When he'd woken early the next morning there was a blanket carefully placed on top of him and his textbook and essay had been set on the small table next to him. He knew immediately that it was Sirius or James, because it wasn't the first time that had happened. But it was the first time he'd freaked out because the assignment was particularly challenging and he wasn't sure if could do it as easily as he normally did. Which had led him to avoiding his friend's pleas to hang out and he'd gone outside to work on it.

Not long after he'd gone outside he'd been joined by about fifty other students, but at least they avoided sitting near him. That was all he really needed to have happen. If people could just avoid him then Remus knew he would be able to- "-wrote me yesterday," Remus caught as a group of Slytherins passed by. "-Pathetic girl can't even get a date by herself," He recognized the voice as Evan Rosier's, though the girl they were talking about remained a mystery that Remus didn't care about. The only reason he'd even started listening was because he was getting bored just sitting there and scribbling on a sheet of parchment. It was pointless. There was no way he would be able to finish the essay without losing his mind.

Remus packed up and began the journey back to the Gryffindor common room. His friends would most likely be there or in the kitchens-he swore sometimes they ate their weight in one day-but he didn't want to carry a textbook around the entire day when he ended up running off with them.

The corridors were surprisingly full as he tried to make his way through them. To some it was probably too cold to go out to the grounds, though Remus thought that was particularly wimpy, and others just didn't like going outside period. Though why that meant half the student body was grouped outside the great hall was beyond Remus. There was nothing interesting about that spot, so he was slightly amused by the gathering. Until, of course, he heard a sudden shout of, "Camellia!" The voice was not one he recognized so Remus assumed it wasn't someone from his own house. He realized he was right when he pushed his way to the front and saw Sirius' brother with one hand holding Camellia Norewood's wrist and the other pulling his wand out. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he yelled angrily.

He didn't understand how that girl had suddenly brought attention to herself after Remus hadn't noticed her for five years, but he had to admit she was doing a damn good job of it. The expression on her face was simply one of shock though Remus was half sure he saw something resembling fear in her wide blue eyes. It surprised him slightly that her eyes were almost exactly like Max's, only just a little darker of a shade. Though what really surprised him was the fact that he was even bothering to pay attention to the eye color of the Slytherin girl. She was dripping wet, which made the entire thing kind of funny, though there were splashes of red on her legs and hands. He had no idea what had happened but Remus was glad he'd missed it; there was a good chance people standing too close would have gotten hit with whatever had been thrown or dropped on the girl. "Next time don't mess with us, Norewood," Sirius shouted out in warning, though his voice was filled with glee.

Regulus Black looked like he wanted desperately to say something at that moment, but Camellia beat him to it. "Go to hell Black," she said, her voice venomous. "All of you, I hope you all-" She stopped herself suddenly, closing her eyes for a moment before she turned on her heel and marched away with all the dignity Remus was sure she could muster. He didn't know why she hadn't finished her statement because she'd had every opportunity to chew his friends out, but she'd just stopped. The simple act of doing that intrigued him slightly, though Remus knew he could never ask her because of his friends.

He made his way through the slowly disbanding crowd of people to where James and Sirius stood laughing like idiots and Peter was laughing nervously as well. "Care to explain that?"

"Payback, my dear Remus," Sirius said, trying not to laugh as James snorted. "For ruining our positively delightful prank two weeks ago,"

"What did you do to her?" he asked curiously, wondering how his friends had actually come up with the plan without letting Remus in on it in some way.

"Really it was only just some water," Peter mumbled, smiling slightly.

"And a bit of paint," James threw in.

"Complete, of course, with those wonderful firecrackers I found in London this past summer," Sirius laughed.

"I see," Remus said, laughing slightly himself. "How did you manage to get those into the castle? Anything related to fireworks isn't allowed in,"

"I have my ways," Sirius said cheekily, rolling his eyes. "I just can't get her face out of my mind when they went off," He was smiling in a rather odd way, but Remus decided not to comment on it.

"Her face? Try that idiotic little scream she made," James smiled.

"I wish you'd seen it, Remus," Peter said. "It really was great,"

"At least you've decided to join us once more and ditch that silly book,"

Remus was about to respond when he realized that Max was standing slightly behind Sirius and James, looking furious. He was glaring at all of them, even Remus despite the fact that he'd really had nothing to do with the prank. For a moment he thought Max was going to speak up, but instead he turned away and ran up the stairs.

He'd quickly gone from feeling fine with what had happened to feeling awful. Remus didn't even know why his emotions had switched so quickly because the kid got on his nerves from time to time, but the look on his face when he realized that Remus' hadn't stopped the whole thing from happening made him feel like the worst person in the world. He'd never known the face of an eleven year old could hold so much anger, but it had and Remus wasn't sure what to make of that. "Max!" he called, starting toward the stairs himself so he could try to make things right with the younger Gryffindor.

"Remus why do you even care? Just let him go; he'll get over it and you'll have to start helping him with homework again," James said, shrugging.

"But he-" Remus tried, attempting to get his arm out of James' grasp.

"Let him go, mate. He probably doesn't want to deal with you right now anyways. After all, you did just have a part in humiliating his sister and he worships her from what I've seen,"

"I didn't do anything," he protested angrily, watching his friends roll their eyes.

"Yeah, Moony, but he doesn't know that," Sirius said.

"So let me tell him,"

"Remus can't you just do that later? We've wanted to have you around all day but you've been avoiding us," Peter said. It was his argument that made Remus sigh, because he did miss his friends and he didn't feel like running after a first year.

"Just stay with us, okay? That kid will be there tonight,"

"His name's Max," Remus muttered, though it was the last thing even close to an argument that he made.

Much of their afternoon was spent in the kitchens, hiding out from Professor Slughorn. From what they'd heard he'd been incredibly angry upon learning that one of his students had been pranked, and he wanted to give out detentions to every person who'd seen it and done nothing to help. Which was impossible, Remus was sure, but his friends had decided that hanging out in the kitchens and casually talking about whatever came to mind was safer than wandering the corridors and possibly running into the angry man. He agreed with their judgment on the matter, as Remus had no desire to get a detention.

Overall, it wasn't too awful of a day. Remus had gotten a decent amount of work done, he'd enjoyed his time with his friends, and he'd even talked Max into forgiving him before the younger boy went to bed. And then things calmed down.

Remus continued to help Max with his homework and he found that he genuinely enjoyed the youngest Norewood's company. Every now and then Max would ask Remus to take a walk with him and they would end up talking about whatever was bothering him at that moment. Camellia Norewood once again slipped into the shadows, and Remus was sure half of the reason why she did that was because of embarrassment over what his friends had done to her. Remus, however, didn't forget about the girl like everyone else seemed to. Because for some reason, in the back of his mind, he couldn't let himself believe that she was really that bad. He was holding onto that image of her running out of her common room on their first night when she thought something had happened to Max. Thinking about her every now and then, though it was usually brought on by Max, did not mean that he intended to talk to her.

And his plan worked wonderfully until a few days before the full moon in the beginning of October.

Remus had woken up early, which had to be a product of going to sleep early as well. He'd canceled his study session with Max and had gotten one of the Ravenclaw prefects to switch patrols with him because he'd been exhausted. There was no reason for feeling that way as he didn't feel sick and he'd gotten plenty of sleep the previous night, but Remus didn't mind getting more rest.

It had been over a week since he'd last written his mother and they had an agreement about writing at least four times a month. He knew if he didn't write one soon then he wouldn't get to it and then there would be an argument over Christmas. So really he was just saving himself the trouble by waking up early and writing a letter. And while Remus knew he could just borrow James' owl which tended to live in their dormitory, the walk and the fresh air he would get while in the Owlery sounded nice.

When he finally reached the Owlery, where soft hoots could be clearly heard, Remus immediately decided to duck behind a tall pillar. He'd seen Max being hugged tightly by Camellia and he didn't want to interrupt. Max probably wouldn't be mad at him but Remus couldn't say the same for his older sister. She'd probably try and hex him because he'd simply walked up at the wrong time. "But it's not fair," he heard Max complain, his voice trembling. "He can't expect you to just-"

"Don't worry about it," Camellia whispered, a soothing tone to her voice that Remus was pleased to hear. She was actually very good with her younger brother, which wasn't something Remus had expected. "I'll take care of everything, Max, just focus on school, all right?"

"But you said they're bad, Cam. You can't-"

"Shh," she whispered, and Remus was sure she'd grabbed her brother and held him tighter. "Let me worry, okay? I'll be fine,"

There were more hushed words that Remus found it harder to hear, but he didn't want to move and end up getting caught. He knew he shouldn't have been eavesdropping but he'd made his choice and there wasn't a way he could just change his mind now. After a few more minutes Remus saw Max leave in a hurry, looking nervous about whatever they'd been discussing. He fully expected Camellia to walk past too, but instead a wand was pressed into his back. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I was just-" Remus began, turning around and looking at her with a bit of shame clear on his face.

"What did you hear?"

"Nothing, I-"

"Then what were you doing hiding that awfully?"

"I-I just wanted-Can you lower your wand, please?" he asked, watching her wipe at her eyes before he realized that she looked ready to cry. To his surprise she did as he asked and folded her arms across her chest, looking at him skeptically. "I came to send a letter to my mother. I saw you and Max and I didn't want to disturb you. All I heard was that something about things not being fair and you telling him not to worry,"

Camellia Norewood was silent for a few seconds, and she stared at him in a way that was beginning to make Remus uncomfortable. Maybe it was because her mouth was in such a thin line that it looked unnatural, though that was just a possibility. "Quit eavesdropping, Lupin. It doesn't suit you," she said stiffly before walked away once more.

Remus was content to let her go. He wanted to send his letter off and he didn't want to deal with her anyway, but something made him call out, "What, exactly, is unfair?"

She stopped and faced him again, raising an eyebrow and frowning. "That's none of your business," she stated.

"I realize, but whoever said curiosity is a bad thing?"

"It is. Now leave me alone, Lupin,"

She turned away from him again and started down the steps leading away from the Owlery. Remus watched her for a moment, thinking about how cold she'd been and wondering what she wanted to keep secret so badly. After a moment he hurried to the steps and frowned slightly. "If it is unfair," he said loudly, "I'm sure there's someone who could help you. With whatever it is,"

"There's no help for someone like me," she said quietly, so Remus almost missed the words. They only served to make him more curious about the girl than he'd ever been before. Which, he knew, was not a good thing. "Now leave me alone, Lupin. I'm sick of interacting with you,"

"You don't have to be so nasty," he muttered, turning around and walking over to an owl. He gave it a treat that he'd stolen from James before letting the bird take the letter in its beak and fly away. He was ready to go back to his dormitory and wake up his friends, because they would be insufferable if they were late for breakfast. For a few seconds Remus was sure she'd come storming back to tell him how wrong he was, but the Owlery stayed empty. She'd left, without giving him another thought. He wasn't bothered by that, after all he definitely tried not to think about her, but something about the interaction made him feel odd. He was sure she would have felt the same, but she obviously wasn't as curious about why he got the feeling as he was.

Upon arriving back in his dormitory Remus was met with loud laughter. At least, he realized, he wouldn't have to deal with waking them up. They could be horrors in the morning, especially Sirius. Peter was the best, he knew, because as long as he was dressed in five minutes he was willing to help. Peter always was a sweet guy, timid as he could be, and Remus was just as proud to call him a friend as he was to call James and Sirius friends. He sometimes worried that Peter didn't realize how much they loved him because James and Sirius couldn't go a day without teasing him, but Remus tried. He was sure that was what mattered.

"Merlin, Remus, what were you doing out of the dormitory at this ungodly hour?" James asked as Remus pushed the door open.

"It's half past seven," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"The only reason we're up is because Pete here saw a rat and screamed. Rather ironic, isn't it?" Sirius asked, punching Peter's shoulder lightly and smirking.

"It was not a rat, I'm not afraid of rats you idiots," Peter said indignantly. "I'm fairly sure it was someone's cat,"

"There's not a cat in here, Peter," James said, rolling his eyes and smiling. "It's okay, you were scared by your own kind. Sometimes I get spooked by deer,"

Peter hesitated before asking, "Really?"

"Of course not," James laughed, throwing an arm around Peter's shoulder and walking him out of the dormitory.

"Shall we then?" Remus asked.

"Of course, Moony, I'm dying of hunger," Sirius said dramatically before he grabbed Remus' hand and pulled him to the great hall for breakfast.