Remus Lupin was eating his dinner in silence and nodding occasionally when Peter or James addressed him, though his friends suspected that he scarcely heard a word they spoke, given that he had nodded when Peter asked him if would ever consider swimming naked with the Giant Squid in the middle of winter. He had hidden his distress from the morning's encounter rather well, a skill he attained after years of hiding his lycanthropy. Though he seemed disinterested, his friends assumed that he was simply too tired to be involved.
Sirius stormed into the Great Hall, slamming open the doors and marching his way over to the Gryffindor table, not acknowledging anyone who spoke to him. It was rather peculiar behavior, and as such had roused the attention of a sizable number of students.
The students watched, some looking curious, others downright excited, as Sirius approached his three friends. Remus, deep in thought, had not noticed his friend at all, though James and Peter were looking at Sirius with worried expressions.
"What –" started James.
Sirius grabbed Remus by his shoulders. He jumped in surprise as Sirius literally dragged him out of his seat.
"What are you doing?" exclaimed a bewildered Remus.
Sirius did not answer; instead he looked over his shoulder as he dragged Remus out of the hall and called to James and Peter, "Coming?"
The two stood up immediately, dinner forgotten, looking rather perplexed, though they followed Sirius and Remus out of the hall.
Sirius did not speak until they had entered an empty classroom opposite the Great Hall.
Remus was finally able to straighten up, and as he did, he looked at Sirius with a mixed expression of annoyance and confusion.
"What the hell was that about?" he demanded as he rubbed his arm. He had gripped him so tightly he thought he might develop a bruise.
"Padfoot, what's going on?" asked James, looking concerned.
"Maybe," started Sirius, glaring at Remus, "dear Moony would care to explain. I don't understand it myself, you see."
"Understand what?" said James, bewildered, as Remus looked at Sirius with understanding slowly dawning upon his face.
"Well, you see, Prongs. It is funny, really," started Sirius, though he did not look amused at all. "There I was, interrogating a rather depressed looking Rose –" Remus visibly cringed at the mention of her name " – making sure to be considerate but at the same time trying to get information about who her mystery man might be, when Rose suggests that I already know. Strange, I thought, how would I known? Apparently she asked him out, but he rejected her. Apparently he never meant to kiss her."
Sirius paused, his eyes locked on Remus. Remus looked back at him, looking worried, and his skin slightly paler than usual. James and Peter looked back between the two, still very confused.
Remus sighed. "I suppose you are annoyed that I didn't tell you myself?" he asked, dejected.
"As a matter of fact, yes," replied Sirius, and his annoyance seemed to dwindle and was joined by an expression of concern. "How could you not tell us? We're your friends, Moony. We know your biggest secret, but you didn't trust us with this?"
"What are you saying?" interrupted Peter. "He already knew who the guy was, and didn't tell us?"
"Are you going to tell them, Remus, or shall I?" asked Sirius.
James and Peter looked at Remus intently.
Remus resigned to his assigned task and said miserably, "It was me. She kissed me. She asked me to Hogsmeade this morning. I said no."
"She kissed you?" cried Peter, while James exclaimed, "Are you mad?"
"Why didn't you tell us, Remus?" pressed Sirius.
"Tell you what?" he muttered, "That she kissed me yesterday in detention? That I kissed her back and was caught by McGonagall? Or that she cornered me in the library this morning after charms and asked me to go Hogsmeade with her, and then ran away in tears when I said no."
"Yes, that, Remus! That is exactly what you should have told us!" exclaimed Sirius, throwing up his arms in frustration. "Now, we have two important issues here, one, why didn't you tell us, and two, you are bloody infatuated with the girl, why did you reject her?"
"I'd like to know that too, Remus," said James, looking at him intently. Peter nodded in agreement.
Remus turned away from them all, his expression pained. "I don't want to talk about it," he muttered.
Sirius grabbed him by the shoulders again, this time gently, and guided him to a chair.
Remus obliged, allowing himself to sit down. He sighed again.
"Fine. However," he stressed, "You must promise to respect my choice," he said, looking directly at each boy in turn.
"No," said Sirius stubbornly, while James and Peter simply looked uncertain.
"Sirius!"
"Just tell us."
"I don't deserve her," said Remus gloomily, looking away from his friends and staring at the blank wall ahead of him. "She doesn't know what I am - if she did she would never want to be involved with me."
Remus did not even show any recognition that he had heard his friends cry out in outrage.
"Rubbish!"
"You are mad."
"She won't, Moony!"
Ignoring them completely, he continued.
"What good is it, allowing myself to get involved now, pretending it will all end nicely? She will find out sooner or later, and she will regret the day she ever let herself care for me. She deserves someone normal, someone who can make her happy."
A stunned silence following his bitter pronouncement.
"Remus…" said James, shaking his head, "What are you saying? She won't care about your furry little problem. We didn't care."
"Do you have any idea how many people I thought would not care? When they find out, they can't even look at me anymore."
"She isn't some slimy Slytherin, she is part-veela herself, she probably would be able to understand what it's like to be different," added Peter.
"Oh yes," said Remus sarcastically, "It must be so difficult, being pretty! She doesn't even look like a veela - she looks completely normal."
"But –"
"Look, don't push it. I know you mean well, but this is something I decided a long time ago. I won't go out with a girl who doesn't know what I am. I'm not going to mess around with girls like that. They deserve better."
"Rose deserves the right to choose too, Remus," said James, sounding uncharacteristically gentle.
"And you aren't exactly making her happy now, the girl was almost in tears when I left her!" said Sirius, "She likes you Remus, you being a werewolf won't change that!"
"It hasn't exactly been a walk in the park for me either – you know how much I like her. Rose kissed me - it was completely surreal. But I can't let it happen again, even though I want to, more than anything else. Give it a few weeks, she will get over it, and it will all be for the better."
None of the boys seemed convinced.
"She might get over if she thinks you don't like her, but you won't get over her," said James.
"You're right," Remus said sadly. "And that's my problem to deal with, not hers."
He stood up and walked out the classroom. No one tried to stop him.
Rose did not sleep well that night. Lily had explained the situation to Mary at dinner and the three girls had spent hours discussing multiple theories about why Remus had rejected her.
"But he obviously likes you!" Mary had said. She favoured the idea that Peter also had a crush on Rose and that must be why Remus was pretending not to like her.
"I mean, James fancies Lily so it can't be him. And I haven't seen anything to suggest that Sirius has feelings for you. Have you, Lily?" Mary asked uncertainly. Rose could see she looked worried at the prospect.
"No, I really doubt he does," Lily said reassuringly.
"Definitely not!" Rose said quickly.
Looking reassured, Mary continued her speculation.
"Peter makes the most sense - he is always so shy around girls that it would be easy not notice that he likes you."
Rose was not convinced and her sleep that night was interrupted by the image of Remus saying no to her over and over again.
The following morning, Rose made her way down to the Great Hall with Lily and Mary by her side. They had refused to allow her to skip breakfast.
"No, absolutely not! You can't avoid him forever," Lily insisted. "Besides, you need to eat. Just act normal. Look at James. I've rejected him so many times and he doesn't let that affect him."
When the pair entered the Great Hall, it was to Rose's great relief to see that Remus was not there yet. They deliberately choose seats in a crowded part of the table – they knew Remus would sit with his friends when they arrived, and since the four of them would not fit, they would have to sit somewhere else.
In fact, she was so comforted by this thought, and so engrossed in her breakfast (she had eaten very little yesterday) that she did not even noticed Remus enter the hall with his friends, until Mary nudged her rather painfully.
"Ouch! What was that -"
Rose immediately fell silent when she noticed that Remus was walking past them with James and Peter. James said hello to Lily (who ignored him) though Remus, looking rather embarrassed, did not look at them at all.
"Well that was awkward," Mary said once the boys were out of earshot. "He is too shy to even look at you."
Rose poked at her breakfast miserably.
"I've completely ruined our friendship. I'm such an idiot," she mumbled.
"Don't be ridiculous, Rose," said Lily gently. "He just needs time to get used to the situation. He'll be fine soon. And don't you dare start moping again. I'm going to watch you until you finish that whole plate."
Rose knew that Lily was not joking and forced herself to continue her breakfast. Lily was right, of course. She usually was. There was no use going hungry.
"I wonder why Sirius is talking to Eloise Pritchett?" Mary asked worriedly.
Rose looked up and noticed Sirius and Eloise standing by the Ravenclaw table. She looked like she was flirting though Sirius was smirking. She could not hear what they were saying but as Sirius walked away from her, she heard him reply to her.
"Wouldn't you like to know."
Eloise looked at him furiously but Sirius, who had his back turned to her, did not notice. Instead, his eyes found Rose as he walked towards where his friends were seated.
"Alright, Rose?" he asked her, winking rather suggestively as he too walked past them.
Rose could not help but blush. She strongly suspected that he was trying to annoy Eloise and sure enough when she looked at the Ravenclaw table, the fourth year was glaring at her.
"What was that about?" Mary asked, looking from Rose to Sirius and back with a curious though strained expression.
"I think he teasing me about Remus," Rose lied. She did not think Mary would be happy to know that Sirius was pretending to flirt with her to annoy other girls.
"Oh, okay," Mary said, though she did not look convinced and continued her breakfast in silence. Rose thought she should say something, though as she was trying to think of something reassuring to say, something curious caught her eye. Jacinta was at the Ravenclaw table, talking to Eloise. Eloise was talking animatedly - she seemed very annoyed about something, and Jacinta was nodding along encouraging. Rose felt uneasy, wondering if their conversation had anything to do with Sirius. She shook her head and told herself she was being paranoid. Why would Jacinta be interested in Sirius?
"What are you still doing in here?"
Rose gasped, dropping her quill in shock. She looked up at the stern librarian who was standing next to her. She was alone in the library, studying for the upcoming Defense Against the Dark Arts quiz.
"S-sorry?" stuttered Rose.
"Curfew starts in ten minutes. Out, now!" she snapped.
Rose did not need to be told twice. She quickly packed up her belongings as the librarian continued her search for other students.
"Mr Black! Out, NOW!" the librarian shouted a moment later.
Rose looked up and saw Sirius step out from behind a nearby shelf. She looked at him curiously.
"I didn't know you study," she said.
"I don't," he replied, as they walked out of the library together. "Why are you here alone? Don't you normally study in the common room with Lily and Mary?"
"They were working on the charms essay. I needed to study for the Defense quiz. It isn't my best subject," she said uneasily. She did not mention that she was avoiding the common room in case Remus was in there.
"Oh. You know who is really good at Defense Against the Dark Arts? Remus. You should ask him to help you, er, study," he said.
Rose blushed. She knew the teasing from Sirius was inevitable, but she found the whole situation rather embarrassing.
"I don't need help. Besides, I'm sure he's too busy to bother -"
"Nonsense, he is always wasting time helping people with things," he replied. "Don't you want to spend some time alone with him?"
"Sirius!" Rose said, now blushing furiously. "Remus isn't interested in me - he made that perfectly clear and I don't see the point of shamelessly throwing myself - did you hear that?" she asked, stopping suddenly.
"Hear what?"
"I think I heard someone laugh. A boy," she said frowning, looking up and down the empty corridor.
"I didn't hear anything," Sirius said, looking amused.
"I could have sworn…" she let her thought trail off. She was sure the laugh sounded just like James Potter, but why would he be following them? Besides, there was nowhere for him to hide. "Never mind."
"So. You were saying something about shamelessly throwing yourself at Remus?" Sirius asked as they continued walking towards the common room.
"No - I said I was not going to shamelessly throw myself at him! Sirius please - I've already ruined our friendship by being a complete idiot. I convinced myself that he was interested in me because that is what I wanted to believe. I misread all the signs and now Remus can't even look at me any more!"
Sirius looked startled at her outburst. She immediately regretted sharing this information with Sirius. She bit her lip, waiting anxiously for him to say something, but he did not. They walked in silence until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"You're not an idiot," he said, suddenly, catching Rose off guard.
"What?" she asked, confused.
"You're not an idiot. You did what you thought was the right thing to do and it didn't work out but that doesn't mean that your friendship with Remus is ruined."
"But he won't even look at me anymore," she said sadly.
"That's because he is ashamed that he hurt you," he said seriously. "He was really upset when you started crying. Remus doesn't like hurting people, especially not his friends. He is a bit soft, really. He probably should have been in Hufflepuff."
Rose smiled at the thought, but she remained anxious.
"So do you think if I just pretend that he didn't hurt me too badly, things can go back to normal?"
"Pretend?" Sirius asked, frowning. "Rose, just how upset were you?"
Rose did not reply, and Sirius seemed to understand. To her surprise, he put his arm around her shoulders in an awkward one-armed hug.
"I'm sorry," he said. "You shouldn't have to pretend."
"Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything -"
She was cut off when the portrait suddenly swung open.
"Mary, get back here now!" Lily demanded.
"No! Curfew already started and they still aren't back -" Mary stopped suddenly when she saw Sirius and Rose standing in the corridor. Her jaw dropped as Rose quickly stepped away from Sirius, and he pulled his arm away from her.
"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Mary shrieked, loud enough to catch the attention of everyone in the common room. "You and him, all this time - I thought -"
"Mary, please, you don't understand -" Rose started, but she was immediately cut off.
"Eloise was convinced - I didn't believe her! I said she was being stupid -"
"Eloise? What does she -"
"She saw you together! In the Hufflepuff corridor! I can't believe you let us think you fancy Remus and this whole time you - you were sleeping with Sirius!" Mary yelled.
"Mary, no, no, I would never!" Rose cried frantically.
"Don't lie to me, I'm not an idiot! I thought you were my friend, you - you - you whore!" Mary snapped, before turning around and storming up to her dormitory. A stunned silence descended upon the common room. Rose watched after Mary in shock, not even noticing that everyone was staring at her. She was in tears as she turned to look at Lily, who was staring at her uncomfortably.
"You don't believe her, do you Lily?" she asked desperately. Lily looked uncertainly at her and Sirius as though she was unsure what to believe.
"We'll talk later," she said, and she hurried off after Mary.
Rose, who finally realised that over thirty Gryffindor students were staring at her, was shaking uncontrollably. She could feel her palms heating up, ready to erupt in flames and she struggled to suppress it. Not knowing what else to do, she turned around and walked away from the common room, ignoring Sirius' call for her to come back.
AN - and the drama begins! Poor Rose! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.