DISCLAIMER: This story is in no way associated with, or makes any claim to, Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or any other fandom/celebrity/anything else you may recognise. It all belongs to their respective owners. No money is being made from this story which is purely written for entertainment.

TIMELINE: Part 1 in Roads Travelled. Post BTVS season 2, and during the Marauders last year at Hogwarts.

20 October

Wincing slightly with every step she took, Buffy slowly made her way up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. Opening the door, she tiptoed inside quietly and carefully closed the door behind her so Lily wouldn't wake up.

"Where have you been?" A soft voice said, breaking the silence.

Buffy jumped, staring at the redhead who was watching her from her bed. "Lily! I thought you'd be asleep by now!" She said, rather flushed and self-conscious, considering she didn't look her best.

"I got worried when you didn't return from your patrol when you said you would," Lily said quietly, glancing towards Michaela's bed to make sure the Chaser was asleep. Her green eyes widened as she took in the state her friend was in, and she let out a gasp. "Why do you have blood on your clothes? Are you hurt?"

"Oh, this?" Buffy gestured towards her body dismissively, grinning awkwardly. "This is nothing. I just…had a little accident. It's just a small scratch. Don't worry about it. I'll be right as rain in the morning – Slayer healing, you know. You should go back to sleep," she prompted, pulling off her boots and climbing up onto her bed.

Lily gave her a worried look. "If you say so…"

It didn't sound like she believed her, and Buffy inwardly winced. She knew her explanation was bad, but she didn't want to worry Lily, who, if she knew the Head Girl correctly - would force her to go to the Hospital Wing.

"Yes, I say so," Buffy said instead, smiling and closing the draperies around her bed. "Goodnight." As soon as she was safely hidden from view, Buffy sighed, grimacing slightly.

Patrol had, as she had complained about to Lily, been officially dead every time she'd been in the Forbidden Forest – except for tonight. She'd wandered deeper in than ever before, and had been rather surprised to suddenly find herself in the middle of a vampire nest. The undead beings had been rather easy to overcome – it was clear they didn't see much action – but they had been many, and Buffy hadn't had much action herself lately. And she now had several scrapes to show for it, not to mention a large gash stretching across her entire stomach.

Buffy winced as she pulled off her sweater, hissing, and she grabbed her wand to perform a silencing charm, and a cleaning and sterilising charm. She frowned a little as she saw some of the blood refused to wash out, and she sighed. Maybe she didn't have the charms down perfectly yet…but Lily had only shown her in haste.

Yawning, she fell down with a thump against the pillow, too tired to bother with her jeans. She closed her eyes, letting sleep take her.

21 October

"Remus, I've been thinking," Buffy told Remus, leaning over the back support of the sofa on which Remus was sitting, reading.

"Yes?" Remus looked up from his DADA book. "Oh, hey, did you practice those spells I showed you?"

"Yes," Buffy said, nodding. "I caught up on them rather quickly; Sirius and Lily helped."

"Speaking of Sirius," Remus said. "Do you know how things are between him and Mandy? I haven't dared to ask him – it seems like a touchy subject."

"Well, they've become really close friends, believe it or not," Buffy said. "Whatever they talked about that night by the lake, it helped. They seem really comfortable around each other now. And Mandy's always looking for excuses to study in the Gryffindor common room, and I've seen Sirius look for her in the library more than once, which is a huge shock! Whatever issues they had, they've obviously been sorted out."

"Good." Remus grinned. "How long do you think it will take before they start dating?"

Buffy sniggered. "I don't know. It's impossible to tell. They both seem content with what they have." Remus nodded. "Anyway, speaking of magic practice, I've been doing pretty well lately," Buffy gave him a nervous smile. "But something I have been neglecting is…well...working out."

Remus blinked, trying not to flush as his mind suddenly summoned up a rather enthralling picture of a barely clothed and sweaty Buffy 'working out'. "Working out?" he repeated weakly.

"Yes. Though I have been patrolling, I have been neglecting my Slayer duties a bit. I didn't think it mattered, since I haven't stumbled upon anything evil in the forest more than once – it ended badly then, but I got so busy I totally forgot." Buffy took a deep breath. "But then last night, there were vampires there again and, well…" Looking around to make sure they were alone, Buffy lifted up her shirt discreetly, revealing a bandaged stomach.

Remus eyes widened. "You got hurt?" he sounded worried.

"Yes. I'm fine though – it will be gone soon enough. But I really need a place I can practice, because I do not want to end up on a vampire menu," Buffy finished. "I can't work out in the courtyard or the Great Hall for obvious reasons, but I thought that maybe you or the other guys knew of a place?"

Remus looked thoughtful for a second and then he lit up. "I know exactly what you need," he assured her, standing up, book forgotten.

Buffy stared in bemusement at Remus, who was pacing back and forth in front of a blank wall opposite a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy on the seventh floor. "Tell me again what we're doing here, exactly?" she asked.

Remus shushed her. "Be quiet. I need to concentrate."

"Ooo-kay," Buffy said, more confused – and amused – for every second that passed. Then, her eyes widened as a door suddenly appeared on the blank wall, once Remus finished his third round in front of it.

Remus opened the door, and Buffy's jaw dropped. The room was filled with Muggle training equipment, weapons of all kind, and more stuff than Buffy thought she would need, and the Slayer felt like swooning. She was in Heaven! "How did you find this place?" she said, while admiring a large mediaeval crossbow.

"It wasn't that difficult," Remus said, scratching his head embarrassedly. "The guys and I found it while running from Filch in our fourth year. It's called the Room of Requirement, and can only be discovered by someone who is in great need of it. By walking past the portrait three times, and thinking hard of what you need, the room appears, equipped with your desires."

"That is so amazing," Buffy said, still in awe. "So, if I wanted, say, a horse – not that I do want one – it would appear?"

"Uh…I guess there is some kind of limit," Remus said, shrugging. "I don't think it would be able to give you living things. I'm not sure, though. But something it won't give you is food – because it's one of the five exceptions to Gamp's Law on Elemental Transfiguration."

Buffy blinked, and gave Remus a blank look. Gymp's Law on Elmy-what? "Never mind that," Buffy finally said dismissively, deciding it was just one more thing she'd never learn – or cared to learn – about. "This is still awesome!" She grinned widely, and pulled off her shirt.

Remus let out a squeak and quickly turned around, eyes shut tightly.

"Re?" Buffy was laughing, bewildered. "What are you doing?"

"You're…uh…a girl," he said nervously as if that explained it. "And I'm...not."

Buffy blushed deeply as she realised she had been about to undress in front of him. In front of Remus. Was her subconscious trying to tell her something? Perhaps something in the lines of that she wouldn't mind getting naked with Remus…alone…in a room that gave you whatever you needed…? "Sorry," she said, brushing away that thought. She did not like Remus. He was only a friend. She was still in love with Angel. Right? "I...forgot."

"That's reassuring," Remus mumbled to himself, still embarrassed, and not so sure he was very flattered that Buffy had 'forgot' he was a boy.

"Sorry," Buffy repeated, while kicking off her boots. "Can you return here in, say, a couple of hours? I just have to give this room a try!"

"Sure," Remus gulped, and started to make his way towards the door, eyes still closed. "I'll…uh…see you later. Ow!"

Buffy's lips twitched as Remus missed the door and walked into the wall. "Yeah. Later."

"It was so embarrassing," Remus moaned, having finished reiterating his conversation with Buffy to James and Sirius, who had been playing Gobstones in their dormitory.

"I don't know," Sirius said, grinning widely. "I would have enjoyed the sight. Why'd you close your eyes?"

James smacked him on his head. "You're so disgusting, Pads." Sirius stuck out his tongue in answer. "It's not so bad, Moony," James said comfortingly.

"Not so bad?" Remus looked up with an expression of despair massaging the bump on his forehead. "She 'forgot' I was a boy!"

James winced. "Alright, maybe that part was pretty bad."

"Pretty bad?" Remus exclaimed. "James, she regards me as one of her girl-friends! It was humiliating! I had to remind her that I am not of the female species! How can that be good in any way, shape or form? Please, enlighten me!"

Sirius, still grinning, put an arm around Remus' shoulder. "Really, Re, it could be worse. She could think of you as a brother."

As in one, all the three Marauders shuddered. "Yeah, that would be seriously off-putting," James agreed. "And don't you start," he added as he saw Sirius open his mouth, most probably on his way to fire off one of his 'Siriusly-serious'-jokes. Sirius pouted. "Still, Moony," James continued, "look at it from the bright side."

"What bright side?" Remus muttered.

"Now, you have a perfectly good reason to prove to Buffy you are a boy," James finished, ignoring Remus' input. "It is time you stopped being friendly and chivalrous, and go about this the other way."

"The other way?" Remus sounded rather worried.

"Yes," Sirius said. "The way of charm, sexiness, and animal magnetism. Believe me, Moony, when you are done with Buffy, she will be begging you to take her."

Remus let out a noise of disgust. "I'm not so certain I want to go that far," he said.

"And that is not what I meant," James said, glaring at Sirius. "Ignore Sirius. What I meant was that you have got to stop acting like…a girl."

It was Remus' turn to glare. "You're not helping. And I don't understand why I come to you two for advice anyway. What with Sirius being the one who used to regard shagging every woman in Britain before he turns thirty his personal goal, and you pining after one girl for what seems like forever, mind you, unsuccessfully."

Sirius clutched his chest; eyes widened and lip theatrically quivering. "You wound me, Moony, you really do." Remus rolled his eyes.

"Kiss her."

"Huh?"

"Kiss her," Lily repeated, smiling at Remus. "To prove that you are definitely not a girl, but a man, with needs and desires, kiss her."

"I can't just walk up and kiss her!" Remus protested. "That would be…rude." He was seriously starting to wonder if all his friends were out of their bloody minds. Did he not know of a single person in this castle he could count on getting some advice that actually sounded sensible?

"Then I can't help you," Lily said calmly, returning to her Daily Prophet. "If you keep insisting all the obvious solutions are improper, you won't get anywhere." She shrugged. "So unless you are willing to do anything drastic about your current dilemma, I suggest you begin to accept that Buffy sees you as nothing more than a…girl-friend."

Remus opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Shaking his head, he left Lily, leaving the redhead grinning behind her paper.

"Uh…b-buy her gifts?" Peter suggested, shrugging. "I wouldn't know." He was starting to question Remus' sanity. Why would Remus come to him for advice on girls? And on a girl he, Peter, was attracted to as well? Not that Remus knew that little piece of information… And, maybe the fact that Buffy seemed oblivious to Remus' feelings – or maybe even pretending they weren't there so she wouldn't have to deal with them - meant that maybe all hope wasn't lost for him, Peter. He just might have a chance!

Usually, Peter wouldn't even dream about hitting on the same girl one of his friends liked, but he had a right to be happy too, didn't he? He was so tired of being in the background all the time! It had to be his turn soon, right?

"Too awkward," Remus said. "Anything else?"

"Well…ask her out on a date?" Peter said, regarding his friend curiously. "Isn't that what you normally do when you like someone?"

"I would never be able to work up enough courage," Remus said. "I'd just stand there, stuttering and stammering; with sweaty hands and end up blurting out a question about homework and making myself look like an idiot."

"Oh." Peter cocked his head to the side, all the while making up his own plans. If Remus never worked up enough of that Gryffindor bravery to do something about his crush, well, then Remus would only have himself to blame when Peter eventually decided to ask Buffy out for himself. He could only play the patient friend who is 'not jealous in the least' for so long, after all. "Then I don't know. Sorry."

"That's okay, Wormtail," Remus said, sighing, before leaving Peter behind.

'Dear mother,' Remus wrote. 'I like this girl, but she only regards me as a friend. What do I do? Love, Remus.'

Staring at the short letter, Remus let out a groan of frustration, before crumpling the parchment into a ball and setting it on fire with a flick of his wand.

He grabbed a new parchment.

'Dear dad,' he began. 'I think I am in love with this girl I know, but unfortunately she seems to forget that I am a boy. Any advice? Your son, Remus.'

That parchment joined the first in the ashtray. In his mind's eye, he could almost see his father rolling on the floor with laughter as he read his letter, before writing a response. And it would not be very helpful.

He couldn't believe that after all the reasons he had come up with that showed what a bad idea pursuing a relationship with Buffy would be, he was still crazy enough to try anyway, and even ask his parents for advice on how to proceed.

Even if Lily hadn't practically forced him to try and act on his feelings, he reckoned he probably would have anyway sooner or later – he liked her too much to stay away. And as much as he'd told himself that being her friend would be enough, he knew that wouldn't be enough. At this point, his feelings for her went so much further than friendship – something that was made even more obvious by his body's reaction in her presence.

Remus entered the Room of Requirement, not an ounce wiser than when he had left it, and all in all feeling rather miserable. He'd begged Poppy for advice as the matron healed his swollen bump, and the only response he got was hearty laughter and a pat on the head. As a last desperate resort, he'd even considered asking McGonagall, actually having gone so as far as to stop outside her door, prepared to knock, before he'd finally come to his senses and run as fast as his legs could carry him away from there.

In the middle of the room, Buffy was moving slowly with a katana, motions deliberate in some sort of enthralling dance. She was barefoot, dressed in dark blue tights that ended at her knee. Her upper-body clad only in a black sports bra, her stomach only covered up by the bandage. Remus gulped, standing frozen in the doorway, barely capable of breathing at the sight.

Buffy stopped, and turned towards Remus, still on a high from practice and completely unaware of the effect she had on the werewolf. "Hi," she said, sounding rather breathless and wiping away some sweat from her face. "I forgot the time, sorry. This room is brilliant!" She said enthusiastically.

"I'm just glad I could be of help," Remus choked out.

Buffy grinned. "Just give me a sec to get dressed and then we can get to dinner, okay?"

"Okay," Remus squeaked out.

Buffy's grin widened, and she grabbed a towel out of thin air, using it to wipe the sweat off from her throat. It was too much for Remus, who finally lost all sense of decorum and 'proper' behaviour and ran up to her…and kissed her.

After what seemed like an eternity to him, Remus moved away, face flushed and lips slightly swollen. "Buffy, I-I like you," he got out. "A lot. I tried not to. I really did. There are so many reasons why a relationship with you is a bad idea, my lycanthropy, for one thing. Because of it, I've never allowed myself to get close to anyone in a romantic way, or even consider a real relationship with anyone. I never thought it would be worth the risk. But with you, it's different. With you, I want to try. I'm willing to try."

Buffy stared at him with wide eyes.

"She ran away," Remus repeated miserably, in the boy's dormitory once again, recounting events for James and Sirius for the second time that day. "How is that a good thing?"

"Well…" Sirius sounded amused. "Look at it from the bright side. She wasn't crying."

"Am I that bad of a kisser?" Remus continued mournfully. "I didn't think I was that bad!"

"I'm sure you're not a bad kisser, Remus," James tried to assure him, feeling more awkward by the second.

"It must have been my speech then," Remus said, shoulders slumping. "It was probably too cheesy. Or I came on to strongly. But then again, it's probably more probable that she only sees me as a friend. Like anyone, let alone me, could ever measure up to her ex-boyfriend. Angel was the love of her life."

"Was being the key-word there," James said, trying to be comorting. "This is now."

"And I repeat, she ran away," Remus said, sighing. "Well, at least I tried. And it might have been for the best – "

" – Oh, please don't give us another version of your 'she's better off without me' speech. It grew old the first time around," James moaned.

"That doesn't make it any less true. Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Prongs, but it's time I face the facts: I asked Buffy out. She turned me down. The End."

Sirius slapped Remus hard on the back. "Don't you worry about a thing, Moony. Buffy might have turned you down, but it's not the end of the world. Because I, Sirius Black, conqueror of female lips of all shapes and sizes, am here to save you!"

He was promptly bombarded with pillows.

"What's wrong?" Mandy asked, giving Buffy, who hadn't moved an inch from her bed since Mandy entered the dormitory half an hour ago, thinking they could study together. Buffy had agreed, but, she hadn't actually done any studying.

"Nothing," Buffy said, voice monotone, not even blinking.

Michaela looked up from the Quidditch magazine she was reading. "Good luck getting anything out of her," she said, amused. "She's been like this for an hour."

Mandy threw Buffy an incredulous look. "An hour? Whatever it is, it is definitly not nothing!"

"I just did something really stupid," Buffy muttered.

"…Yes?" Mandy prompted after another long silence. Michaela put down her magazine, interested to know whether the blonde would finally say what was bothering her.

Buffy sighed, turning to face the dark haired girl. "Remus kissed me."

Michaela let an eyebrow rise while Mandy squealed, then stopped as she realised Buffy wasn't joining in. "And…is that a…bad thing?" she asked hesitantly.

Buffy let out a noise of frustration, grabbing her pillow and burying her face in it, hoping to suffocate herself. "Yes! No! I don't know!" She exclaimed, voice muffled.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Michaela asked calmly, "but the impression I've gotten the entire time you've been here is that Remus likes you, and you like Remus."

Buffy sighed, removing her pillow from her face, admitting defeat, as she realised it took more than that to kill a Slayer. "Maybe. I don't know what I feel."

Mandy's eyes suddenly lit up in realisation. "You think you might still be in love with Angel."

"Who's Angel?" Michaela asked with a frown.

"Buffy's ex-boyfriend," Mandy explained.

"Ah, I see," Michaela said, nodding.

Buffy's sigh deepened. "I'm just so confused!" She exclaimed with a loud groan, falling back down on the bed.

"Well…what was the first thing you did after Remus kissed you?" Mandy wondered.

Buffy looked up with a confused look. "What has that got to do with anything?"

"Your first reaction when something like that happens is usually a good indicator of what you feel deep down," Mandy explained sensibly. "If you froze, you're probably not ready for a relationship. If you tried to fight against it, then you're definitely not. If you returned the kiss…well, you understand where I'm going with this."

Buffy flushed deeply, biting her lip. She had returned the kiss…which had been very nice by the way…in fact, Remus had been the one to pull away…but he hadn't been the one who ran away afterwards… Where did that leave her? "Well…I guess I did return the kiss…"

"And did you pull away first, or he – "

"He did."

The Ravenclaw gave her a knowing look. "See?"

"But then I sort of fled the scene. And after he made a really sweet and nice speech too!"

Michaela winced in sympathy for Remus, guessing that would not have been good for the Gryffindor's self-esteem.

"Ah. I see your problem," Mandy looked thoughtful. "But you didn't pull away. You enjoyed the kiss. It was only afterwards you ran, after your mind came back to you and you started to question your feelings."

"Huh?"

"What I'm trying to tell you, Buffy, is that you do like Remus, but you are afraid to like Remus, because you think you should be in love with Angel. You feel like you're betraying him, by maybe liking someone else. Am I right?" Before Buffy could answer, Mandy continued. "Of course, I may be wrong – after all, I don't know anything about how your relationship with Angel came to an end…"

"He died," Buffy said shortly, and Mandy's eyebrows hit her hairline while Michaela let out a sympathetic noise.

"Ah. No wonder you're feeling guilty and confused."

Buffy looked down. What Mandy said had made an awful lot of sense…but it was also disturbing. Angel was dead…but he was still haunting her, preventing her from moving on, because she was still clinging onto his memory. 'Will I ever be able to let go?'

23 October
"You have got to stop moping," Lily told Remus sternly, hands on her hips, looking every bit as angry as she was from where she was standing in the middle of the boy's dormitory. Remus just grunted in answer, burying himself deeper into his pillow.

Lily rolled her eyes, and then pulled the covers from him, ignoring his noise of protest. "Get up from this bed right now. It's Sunday afternoon, and you've been lying here since Friday evening. This is becoming ridiculous."

Remus glared, yanking the covers back.

Lily sighed, sitting down at the edge of his bed and patting his hand comfortingly. "I know how you must be feeling – "

" – No, you don't," Remus snapped, pulling his hand away.

Lily did her best not to scream of frustration. "I will not let you stay here a second longer," she said. "The other boys might be alright with that and think 'you'll get over it,' but I know you, Remus Lupin, and I know that if you had it your way, you would remain in this exact position until the end of days. I am not going to accept that! Now, get up, get yourself together and stop being so bloody pathetic!" The last words were yelled out, and Remus stared at her in shock.

Lily opened his trunk with a flick of his wand, and with another flick made a shirt, a couple of pants, boxers and socks soar over to land in Remus' lap. "Now, get dressed and socialise. I need to make sure a certain Slayer does the same." And with that, she left, flinging her red hair over her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Buffy hissed, glaring at Lily who was now in the girls' dormitory, throwing clothes on top of her bed. The Head Girl's irritation was rising due to both of her friends' mutual stubbornness when it came to doing things for their own good.

"Saving you from becoming a vegetable," Lily said calmly, while inwardly screaming with frustration. "Is it working?"

"No, you're just annoying me," Buffy said, while flinging away a skirt that came flying towards her face with a swipe of her arm.

"Good," Lily stated shortly. "That means I'm succeeding."

Buffy sighed and promptly pulled the covers over her head.

Lily put her hands on her hips. "Buffy, I am ordering you to get up from this bed. You can't stay here forever."

"Yes, I can," Buffy said.

"No, you can't."

"I can and I will," Buffy said, peeking up. "I will not show my face in public again."

"If 'public' means Remus, don't worry," Lily snorted. "He refuses to leave his dorm."

Buffy perked up. "He does?"

"Yes," Lily sighed. "You're both just as ridicilous. So you're safe. You won't run into him."

"Promise?" Buffy asked hesitantly.

"Yes," Lily said, crossing her fingers behind her back, deciding that a white lie had never hurt anyone. "You really hurt his feelings, you know."

"I didn't mean to," Buffy said miserably. "It's just – "

" – I know you didn't mean to," Lily interrupted her. "And I understand. But I understand Remus too, and I've known him longer. This – you and him, or the lack of it – has made his barely existing self-confidence evaporate into thin air. It will be ages, if ever, before he even dares to look a girl's way again."

Buffy looked down, feeling even worse about herself. "I am not blaming you," Lily continued comfortingly. "But maybe you should explain your actions to Re – "

" – NO!"
Lily held up her hands in surrender. "Fine. No talking to Remus. I get it. It was just a suggestion." She started to back out of the room. "So, I can expect you downstairs soon, then?"

Buffy sighed. "Yes, I suppose."

Lily grinned brightly. "Great!" She was whistling as she skipped down the staircase.

Buffy and Remus noticed each other coming down from their respective staircase at the same time, and their faces took on an identical expression of horror. As one, they whipped their heads the other way, before they slowly started the descent again.

"You lied to me," Buffy hissed in Lily's ear as she reached the redhead who was calmly sitting by the fire. "You said he refused to leave his dorm."

Lily smirked. "Did I?" she wondered, green eyes wide, a lift of innocence in her voice. "I'm sorry; I must have been mistaken."

Buffy glared.

"This is so humiliating," Remus muttered, sinking down into his armchair as deeply as he could, hoping it would swallow him whole.

"Oh, stop being so melodramatic," James said airily, while moving another chess piece. "Check."

Sirius frowned deeply, while considering his next move. "I don't know, Prongs," he said. "It is pretty bad." He sniggered. "I don't think I've ever managed to make a girl want to flee."

"Okay, that's it," Remus said, starting to stand up. "I'm leaving."

James grabbed him by the arm, pulling him back down. "No, you're not," he said. "You are going to sit here and be a man. And Sirius – have you forgotten about Mandy, and her 'running away as soon as she saw you coming-phase?"

"Like you said," Sirius said, sniffing slightly. "It was a phase. She got over it." Remus sighed. "Honestly, Moony, all kidding aside," Sirius continued, while moving his King to safety, "Buffy didn't make a run for it because she doesn't like you. She's confused."

Remus gave him a bewildered stare. "Confused? Over what?"

"Well, according to Mandy, Buffy is dealing with a lot of guilt," Sirius said patiently. "She feels like she's betraying Angel by liking someone else. Despite the fact the bloke has kicked the bucket."

Remus blinked. "That…actually makes sense," he said slowly.

"Good," James said, before checking Sirius once again. "Check. Because if we had to listen to you moaning over how bad of a kisser you must be one more night, it would probably have killed us."

Remus glared half-heartedly at a smirking James. "Haha." Then, Remus noticed something on the chess board, and he lit up slightly. "Sirius," he said. "Move that piece over there – that will save your King, and put James in quite a bind at the same time."

It was James' turn to glare, while Sirius' face lit up with glee. "Thanks, Moony." He sounded delighted.

"Yes. Thanks, Moony," James repeated, teeth gritted, and it was obvious he meant everything but.

"You're welcome." Remus gave James a smug look.

Published: 05/05 -09

Edited: 29/08 -13