The day before a full moon was always stressful, this one even more so. They'd run through a gauntlet of homework and practice quizzes all week, and there were a few more days to get through before the salvation of the weekend. Hazel sat up in Gryffindor Tower, quietly studying for Arithmancy and waiting for Remus to get up from a nap. She would've joined him, but Professor Vector had been threatening a quiz for the last week.

It was early enough in the term that everyone seemed to be out enjoying themselves and not working late into the evening. The younger students were out at club meetings, rotating between them to see what they wanted to join and what they'd rather not. Some of them were watching the Quidditch teams start to practice. Others were out on the grounds, enjoying the last shreds of daylight after dinner.

While the other Marauders were out on the Quidditch pitch, Remus went to take a nap. He had a long day ahead of him, after all. So Hazel found herself alone, perfectly content to read until she heard footsteps on the stairs. "Hey." Remus bent down to kiss her cheek. "What are you working on?"

"Arithmancy," she answered, holding up her book so he could see the cover. "I'm reading about all of the fascinating properties of the number four."

"I really hope you don't actually think that's fascinating," he laughed, dropping into the seat beside her and kissing her cheek for good measure. "Erm, could you do with a break?"

"Sure. What's up, Rem?" She set the book aside, noticing how sleepy he looked. He'd spent the evening sleeping, and was planning on sleeping in as late as he could the next morning to prepare for the next night's full moon. "Y'know, you're pretty cute when you're tired."

He turned a bit pink, biting his lip as he reached for her hand. "There's umm, something I wanted to ask you." She nodded, waiting for him to continue. "So… you already know that sometimes before a full moon I'm irritable and tired and really hungry all the time but sometimes I'm also really, uh, really…"

"Horny?" she smirked. "It's okay. I assume it's only natural, what with all of the heightened senses and everything. I read about it once."

"Yeah..." He intensely avoided looking at her, focusing on a spot above her left shoulder instead. "And I was wondering if, er, if you wanted to, if you could…"

"Help you out?"

"Yes?" His eyes flicked back to hers, relieved to find that she was smiling.

"I think that can be arranged," she answered, leaning in to kiss him.

Remus stopped her before she got very far. "Wait. Umm… it's not like it was when… not like last time. It's, uh, the stuff I want to do when I'm like this around the full moon… it might hurt you. I've never tried it, obviously, but I don't want to hurt you."

She kissed him again, draping her arms over his shoulders and shifting a bit so one of her legs was draped over his. "What do you want to do, Rem?"

"I… I want to… I want it to be a lot harder and a lot faster than it was last time," he whispered, their lips nearly touching as he talked. "I want to bite you - not hard, but I want it to leave a bit of a mark - and, and pull your hair and I might want to spank you to see what it's like… but we don't have to do any of it if you don't want to, I just… think I might want to try it? If you want to?"

Hazel leaned in once more, kissing him deeply, taking his hand, and leading him towards the stairs. She said nothing until they'd locked the door behind them, closed the curtain around the bed, and she'd cast a muffling charm. "Now you're going to have to go slow at first," she said, starting to undo her buttons, "but I'm not against any of it. Just ask like you always do."

"R-Really?" He stared at her in the darkness, watching in awe as she started to cast her school robes aside. "You're sure?"

"Yeah. Like I said, I want to help you, Rem. And if helping you means sleeping with you in the process… well then, how much luckier can I get?" The mischievous grin was unmistakable, even in the dark.

He gave a low growl as he pushed her down into the pillows. "You'll see."

When James, Sirius, and Peter came back from Quidditch practice, they stopped in the doorway. "It's not usually locked, is it?"

"No. I bet the elves did it. Alohomora." Sirius was the first inside, but he immediately turned back to the others after he sighted the closed curtains of one of the four-posters. "I guess Moony's already turned in for the night. We should probably get to bed soon too. Dogs and coffee don't mix."

"What's that buzzing noise?" Peter asked as he stashed his broom under his bed.

James shrugged as he put his own Quidditch gear away. "No idea. You think one of the guys across the hall tried to turn on the radio? The Muggle radios always give some weird static feedback around here. I don't think Davis has figured out they hardly work here."

"No idea, but I need a shower," Sirius announced. "I'll tell him to turn it off if I see him."

"When do you think I should take the charm down?" Hazel asked, curled into Remus' side.

"Eh, let them wonder for a bit," he answered as he kissed the top of her head. "If we take it down, we can't talk. How are you feeling?"

"I'll be nice and bruised in the morning," she smiled, reaching up to kiss him. "But fantastic. That was… I don't know what I like better. Sweet and slow, I think, but I could get used to this near the full moon."

"Good, because I don't think this is going to be a non-full moon thing. I just… normally I don't feel like that, it's not me. But near the full moon I don't feel like I'm a hundred percent me."

She traced one of the scars on his chest, Remus starting to lazily run his hand through her hair. "That's okay. I like you, Rem. Full moon you, new moon you, waxing and waning moon you… It's all one beautiful Remus Lupin, and I love you."

"I love you too." In that moment he was intensely grateful, not for what they had just done or for the deep waves of pleasure it had brought him but for the fact that she stayed despite the werewolf he would soon become, despite everything. Despite what he was, she was still there, curled into his side, nearly unblemished skin pressed to the scars that had haunted him since childhood. "I love you so much."

"Do you mind if I stay here tonight?" Hazel asked, looking up at him in the darkness. "I can go if you'd rather be alone the night before a full moon, but I've missed falling asleep next to you. I like it."

"Please don't go," he whispered. "Before every full moon I used to have these nightmares about hurting someone, about killing someone… After Snape they just got worse. But last month, when you were there… they weren't as bad. Could you stay?"

"Of course."

"Just… sneak out in the morning, put on a Disillusionment Charm or something. I don't want the guys to know about this just yet," Remus sighed. They'd bothered him relentlessly about it, about whether or not they'd slept together yet and when they were going to. It may have been a bragging point for some of them, but Remus didn't want them knowing everything, at least not right away.

But it would be of no use. The door opened again, Peter calling the others over to his bed. "Okay, i know the map messed up a few times when we first built it, but I don't think it's messed up since, right?"

"Not that I know of," James said. "Why?"

"Ooh, I see why. Look at our dorm," Sirius laughed. "Bet they're still awake too. Hey Moony, tell our fifth roommate goodnight when you get the chance!"

Even though Hazel made it a point to disappear before the others were awake, just waking Remus up to kiss him goodbye, she would overhear them bothering him about it as she walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. The Ravenclaw table, luckily, hadn't heard them yet. Though James, Sirius, and Peter all kept trying to get her to look at them in Transfiguration so they could wink at her, Hazel adamantly refused. They would have something else to worry about soon enough. With less than twelve hours until the full moon, they would find another distraction. Or so she thought.

Hazel and Sev were on their way down to Potions when Sirius and James passed by. They naturally started to walk a little closer together, Hazel drawing her wand just in case either of them wanted to try anything. But it wasn't Sev they were staring at. "Hey Ashmore, what's that on your neck? Werewolf bite you last night?"

She automatically raised a hand to her neck, wondering if any of the marks were actually visible. James and Sirius burst into fits of laughter. "Haha, so it is true!"

"Let's go find Moony, I'm gonna give him hell for this."

It was only when they were safely in the dungeons and unpacking their books that Hazel turned to Sev in an attempt to explain. "They're absolutely awful, both of them. Joking about werewolves biting people…"

"Come off it," Sev rolled his eyes as he set up their brass scales. "You and Lupin -"

"What Remus and I do is none of their business. They're not entitled to know anything about anybody. Especially not after how they used him to try to hurt you," she fumed, lowering her voice as the classroom started to fill up.

"So you and Lupin did -"

"I don't want to talk about it, Sev." With a sigh she sat back in her seat, glancing over to where he was still setting their things up. Sev didn't ask anything more, though she could tell he was burning to know. He was good like that. He would ask a ton of questions, but he knew when to stop. And he knew that "no" or "I don't want to talk about it" was a clear "leave it alone", unlike some people. "Alright, if you want to know, since you're one of my best friends, and since I know you're not going to be tempted to spread it around the school," she leaned in conspiratorially, "yes, we have, and yes we did. We didn't want Potter and his lot to find out just yet, but I'm sure the whole school knows by now."

"I'm sorry." It wasn't the response she was expecting. "I'm sorry the whole school knows your business, I mean. I know what that's like. If you want to talk about it, we can, and if not, that's fine too."

"Thanks, Sev," she smiled, Sev offering her a smile in return as Slughorn walked in and put the day's ingredients up on the board.

He couldn't help but feel a bit sick to his stomach as Slughorn started talking, zoning out and wondering what it felt like, what kissing her would feel like, what exactly she and Lupin had been up to... No. What the hell is wrong with you? She's your friend. But you've never wondered about anyone else. But she's your friend. Stop it, you need to pay attention.