Disclaimer: I'm the owner of nothing.

AN: I'm late. I turned up late with this chapter. I missed a week and now I'm behind in my schedule. . I didn't really feel like writing, I got of the grove of it for a long while and this chapter was painstakingly slow to write. I wasn't in the mood to write it, therefore I had to force this one out, so maybe that's why it had barely anything to do with the plot.

Extra disclaimer: This chapter is more filler than anything else. I got carried away writing. Sorry. It's filler in the sense for time to pass on, for you to see school shenanigans, her relationship with the boys, and one little hidden piece of plot that'll shine next chapter.

Also, I feel like I typed the word 'feather' a hundred times.

Anyway, sorry for the wait. Enjoy this chapter and all that.

If this chapter disheartens you, then I got a spoiler for you. I'm a couple chapters away from reaching the climax of Faraday's sixth year at Hogwarts. And I'm excited for that.

Chapter 28: Hogsmeade

March was beginning to reach its end, and my workload incremented in ways that had me question my sanity every day. I don't know how I managed to keep up with everything I had to hand in and know, and sleeping five hours a night had probably something to do about it. Lily fussed over my lack of sleep every time she saw the bags under my eyes acting up in violet glory, but there was nothing to be done. Her situation was pretty much the same as mine, and most times she didn't have time to lecture me about trying to keep my appearance a tad better.

I was particularly pushing myself to be on top of all my classes so I could enjoy the next Hogsmeade visit. It was the following day, and I wanted to relax fully on the outing without lingering thoughts of work I had to get done. In my mind it was imperative that I did so, even more considering that Lily had proposed we stick together for it. She had ended things with Uric a little over a week ago. She claimed that she was alright, and she did function to perfection in her normal routines, but there was still sadness to her. I tried not to pry when her emotions got low, but I knew cutting ties with a person that had been a constant in her life wasn't easy. So helping her enjoy the visit to Hogsmeade was important.

She and I needed the rest.

Like some un-dead creature, I stood away from my dorm mates as we waited to go inside the Potions classroom. The Slytherins of my year huddled together, as we always did, at one side of the hallway, while at the other stood Mary, Dorcas and their other dorm mate. Lily was nowhere to be seen yet, and I vaguely remember her saying something about Prefect duties. Hence the reason I hadn't joined the girls. As much Gryffindors as they were, they wouldn't brave the glares of my housemates just for me. Plus I wasn't close to any of them to leave my normal spot. I waited for class there and that was the place Lily and I would stand when we lingered around after Slug Club.

My eyes dropped heavily, as I could see Gertrude a little away from me, poring over her plans for Hogsmeade and the date she had with her seventh year boyfriend Rabastan Lestrange. Her voice bounced off the walls and mixed in with those of the Gryffindor girls. Among my housemates, I could hear the low voice of Severus Snape. My glance landed on him for a moment as I tried to fight back my exhaustion. He had the attention of all the Slytherin boys of our year, Ivan Rosier, Adrian Flint and Gertrude's cousin Gregor Goyle, as in a shushed tone he pointed at something in his Potions text book.

I looked away, not interested in catching any of their eyes. At that moment the door to Potions class opened and before any student came out, I saw something strange. It glided down from the ceiling, a single golden feather.

Watching it as it swayed from one side to another as it made its way to the floor, I wondered at it. It was too short to be a wayward feather from a random quill, and its color seemed strange, as if it wouldn't belong to any living animal. It was too vibrant and shinny, and for the life of me I couldn't think of any fantastic bird that could possessed plumage like that.

"What are these?"

I heard the commotion to my side. Looking, I couldn't really believe what I was seeing. Over my housemates was a shower of feathers, all gingerly falling from the stones ceiling from an unknown and unseen source. They appeared pure in their dive, falling on Slytherin shoulders and robes as they went. The golden feathers had everyone either confused or mystified, and for a couple of seconds we watched the strange occurrence. Then Flint tried to swat away the ones that had nestled on his shoulders, his forceful move giving light to the fact that the feathers had stuck itself unto him. His actions started a fuss, as more Slytherins realized that the plumage was sticking to every body part they landed on, and more horrifying, no one could get them off. It was then that I realized that they were falling on me too.

Getting covered in golden plumes, and not understanding anything of what was going on, I bumped into Hestia, who had walked back trying to escape. I shook myself and swatted at my robes' sleeves, the feathers pilling up on me, as they got stuck on the fabric. They landed on every part of me, my shoulders arms and chest, as well as they piled on the bag I had hanging from my shoulder.

Indignant yells took my attention, and I saw Mafalda, Gertrude and her cousin prying away the feathers as if they hurt where they landed. Gemma had tried to walk away from the spot where the plumes fell, but she only managed to make the shower follow her where she moved. She stumbled unto Severus' back, who was equally trying to find a spot devoid of falling feathers. I heard laughing, making me turn toward it. There were students of another year lingering about; no doubt the ones that had just come out of Potions; being spectators of a show they had walked into as they exited their class. They didn't have any feathers on them.

Gemma cried out orders, her wand out and it also getting feather stuck onto it. Beside her, Snape tried to do the same, as it seemed that one of them remembered a good way to counter whatever was being done at us. I watched them utter spells and charms, and for a second I actually believed it would work, I think we all wished it did, but no. Their spells didn't work, and actually made things worse.

It stopped being a delicate shower; more feathers began to fall from the ceiling, pilling on people and making mounds on the ground.

This time it wasn't just on us, or at least, it was then that I noticed that Mary was reaching a similar state as mine, as I tried desperately to keep the sticky things from getting on my eyes. I had no idea what to do with myself, and deep down in my gut, though I hadn't been hurt, I felt a tad scared. It was most likely the confusion of it all. Everybody in the hallway was trying to get the feathers off of them, trying not to slip, and any use of magic only made the storm even worse. Heck, even protecting my eyes, at one point I could barely see past the falling golden flecks.

"They'll pay for this." I heard Snape say. It was then that I noticed that the feathers were beginning to change color. One by ones all around, the thousands of them began to shimmer, the golden morphing away to a more implicating color that had most the Slytherins in the room growling. Anger began to boil inside of me too as I realized what the colours of the feathers, first gold then a triumphant red, meant.

Professor Slughorn had to come out his classroom to undo whatever was causing the feather storm. He shot a spell to the ceiling, and there was a pop as whatever magic had caused the incident died out. When his demands for the ones responsible for the actions were silenced with empty accusations by the Slytherins toward a certain group of troublemakers, he gave us all the leave to get ourselves cleaned. With half an hour, he sent us back to our house, the same as the other students that had suffered the shower. I watched boys and girls walk away, muttering to themselves or their friends each looking like half plucked phoenixes as they went.

I cursed under my breath as I hastily went after my housemates, not in the right mind to use my wand to try clean myself and knowing that I must have look ridiculous. As we went, I saw Hestia and Mafalda try to utter spells against themselves. The others were doing the same, but nothing worked. We walked to Slytherin House, I particularly grateful that it was only a hallway and a staircase away from Slughorn's classroom. I wanted nothing but to get out of my robes and burn them if possible.

As I made my way down to the dungeons I saw how Merlin's portrait was swung opened by one of the Slytherin boys in my year that had run faster than the rest of us. I heard more steps coming down the stairs as I went, and the fact seemed strange to me. No one should be coming this way but us at that time of the day, and I was sure I was the one trailing behind.

I looked back, up the staircase and there was no one. My skin prickled under the feathers, as a deeper instinct put off every sort of alert inside of me. Something was afoot.

As I kept going, I kept hearing the steps. Mafalda was going through the portrait when I reached the foot of the stairs, but I decided to turn to the one silent hallway to the side. Not being noticed by the painting, I heard the definitive sound of Merlin closing Slytherin house, as I walked further into the hallway. The hallway only went further down the dungeons, and like my dorm, it stretched under the Black Lake. The doors it had were either storage rooms or actual dungeons with medieval chains and remnants of torture devices. There was one abandoned classroom down there, and the Slytherins used it as the base of the Duelling Society. If it wasn't for the weekly event, no one else but Filch, the Bloody Baron or Peeves prowled it.

The footsteps had followed me, and I turned around to face the empty hallway, ready with my wand inside a feather covered sleeve.

I glared in front of me, my vision went all the way down to the beginning of the stairs. I could feel something out of the ordinary, and though I didn't have a clear reason as to how I knew, I was certain that it had to do with Merlin or Morgana's blood. As I stared, a part of the hallway shifted, and from thin air stepped James Potter and Peter Pettigrew.

"I'm so sorry!" Peter cry out, coming to me with his teary eyes that seemed even more teary than usual. Their sudden arrival awoke in me the thought that what had just happened minutes ago was their fault. Gold and red was strictly Gryffindor in Hogwarts, and trouble was the Marauders trademark. Peter words didn't make me feel any better, it reminded me of my anger and somewhat fuelled it. He made as if to hold on to me, but in my feathered mess the last thing I wanted was to be touched. I took a step back feeling ridiculed by being seen as I was, and even angrier that it was because of their doing.

"What the hell is that?" I said pointing to the shifting piece of fabric James held close.

"An invisibility cloak." James said as he put it over his shoulder. He adjusted his glasses as he took a step toward me, allowing me to see and recognize concern in them. "About what happened, I—"

His words were interrupted by a strange cluttering sound coming from behind me. It seemed impossible to me, but from one of the storage doors emerged Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. I had to take a step back as I was turned to them, suddenly overwhelmed with the situation I had unknowingly walked into. As if the feather prank wasn't enough, and invisibility cloak and magical abilities to appear out of nowhere were adding to my negative emotions. What the fuck was going on here with these guys?

"Faraday, are you alright?" Remus said coming closer to me. He had his wand pointed up at me, concern in his face. Behind him, Sirius looked the same, as he pocketed some folded parchment. He too had his wand out. "Let me clean you up."

"Put that away." I said pushing his wand to the side. "I don't want help from any one of you."

His face fell at my refusal, and it hurt to do so. I looked around, my glare landing on Peter, and his expression was almost the same as his friends. It made me feel bad, to treat them that way, but I wasn't about to cut any of them some slack. Not even if it was at the expense of not accepting his help and later having to search my brain trying to come up with a way to undo whatever made the feathers stick. It was probably a powerful Sticking charm, and I could deal with that.

"Don't be angry, this is a misunderstanding." With Sirius coming toward me as well, I was trapped in a circle made of Marauders; rouge boys surrounding what must look like a horribly mutated red bird. Sirius' laid back attitude of always, and the almost bored look on his face didn't make me feel any better. The opposite really.

"Oh, bad choice of words." I said, my teeth clenched, and my hand now grasping my wand. There was no intention on me to hex them, but the feel of the smooth and thin piece of wood gave me a bit of comfort. It didn't lessen my emotions much, yet that wasn't its purpose.

James stepped forward, again trying to be the responsible one as he always tended to be. "Let me explain."

I was having none of their explanations, I wasn't in the mood. If it hadn't been for the surprising manner in which they appeared, I would have left way before. "What's there to explain? You-" I pointed at all of them with a sway of my arm. Their eyes followed my movement, and I watched an array of different expressions that didn't make me feel any better. "-were playing one of your infamous pranks."

"It w-was meant for Snape, w-wasn't it James?" Peter squeaked in. He was the closest to me, and I saw how his arms twitched in my direction, no doubt wanting to hold on to me.

"We didn't intend for you to be in the middle of it." Remus' expression one laced with unhappiness and my guess was that he didn't like the little confrontation we were having. "We thought you wouldn't be anywhere near them."

Relieving the whole prank in my mind did not led me to believe that there was any way I would had come untouched from that situation. The Gryffindor girls had hurried to their dorm to pluck themselves as well, anyone in that hallway would have gotten feathered. Their pranks against the Slytherins, even if it was just for Severus as Peter claimed, always were up in the scale meter. There were always a large number of my housemates that got hit with their pranks, and it was the most annoying thing in the world having to include myself in that list. "It's not like it's the first time this has happened!"

"We forgot you're a Slytherin." This was said by Sirius, who opposed my tone of voice by remaining completely unperturbed. The rest of the boys, though I could see worry in their eyes, didn't look as apologetically as I in the moment wanted them to be. There was, however, after Sirius' spoke, a flash of embarrassment, as if his words were completely true. Well, it was insulting, the amount of times that they had forgotten I was a Slytherin.

"That doesn't make this situation any better!" I had enough of the conversation, and wanted nothing more than to leave. The rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor, between the Marauders and Snape, to who they claimed the prank was for, was getting on my nerves. And it didn't let me think straight. "Why should I get special treatment when you have it against my House?"

For a moment none of them seemed to have an adequate answer, as they stared at me. But then, as ever, James took hold of the situation by speaking. "You're our friend."

I stared. I motioned to my robes and the rows of feathers I had stuck on my body and my bag of school books. "Yeah, sure looks like it." With that I pushed passed James and Peter, walking back to my dorm, and leaving them behind.

The next day, I walked with Lily, Mary and Dorcas to Hogsmeade. It was as much as a treat in the beginning of the spring as it had been the month before in February.

I had gotten every feather off my body in time to go to Potions class, and with the visit to the enchanted village, I felt great. Whatever anger I had held for the boys had evaporated away, and as I followed Lily into Honeydukes, our last stop on a shop for the day, I was beginning to consider looking for them later.

I had no intention to apologize for my anger, but I was prepared to try to get pass what happened. They were pranksters by nature, and I was of their rivaling house, those were our roles in life, and I had been a bit of an idiot for expecting anything else. When I told Lily of what happened, she claimed it was the best opportunity to declare a feud with them, however she relented once I told her that she and I couldn't go to war with four pranksters. We would be terribly outnumbered for her friends had denied any intention of joining us. Lily accepted my words, and continued to pull me around Hogsmeade.

In Honeydukes, I stayed close to Lily and her group of friends, though my eyes were beginning to wonder off to different kinds of sweets I hadn't noticed on my first visit. I was carried away reading new interesting labels of colored string candies, when I noticed Dorcas and Mary heading out the store.

"Where are they going?" I asked Lily as I went to stand next to her.

My friend didn't seem to be in the best attitude anymore, and her words were indicators enough. She gave a gloomy look toward the door. "Of to meet with their boyfriends to have wonderful dates."

I watched as she threw a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans back on its rack, as she moved to the next savoury sweet to the side. Her face didn't seem to me like it reflected any sort of enjoyment as she looked for what to shop. Resisting hard the need to smile at her almost childish action, I moved with her, my attention on her. "Lily Evans, are you jealous?"

She made a face when she turned to me, but then, as if she remembered she could be honest about everything with me, she relented with a sigh. "Only a little." Her shoulders were bent as she turned to me, speaking in a hushed tone so the throng of Hogwarts students shopping around wouldn't hear. "Last Hogsmeade visit I was so excited for my date. Little more than a month has gone by and look at me."

I did look at her; the only difference I saw was in her demeanour. She looked as brilliant and imposing as ever. It was a shame she had to feel that way, and it made me feel bad that I couldn't help her get through her break-up. But I could try. "If only Ravenclaw boy didn't turn out to be a complete idiot."

"Uric, Faraday. His name is Uric, you know that." Her eyes cringed at the mention of her ex-boyfriend, though in the rest of her face I could see traces of a smile wanting to be formed. Not much time had passed since she ended their relationship, and though she pretended to be better than all her friends knew that she was, Lily remained strong. She wasn't afraid of anything, not even mentioning Belby by name, and I felt like for her strength I owed her respect. And that meant treating her like normal, talking about subjects one would try to keep away from an injured heart, and being the best friends a person could be.

I waved her words away with a hand, my gazed set on the racks of sweets in front of me. "Let's not mention idiots that give their house a bad name. Are you choosing something or not?"

That made her laugh.

Lily kept on looking for sweets to buy as my eyes roamed over racks and barrels of all kinds of sweets, and I savoured at the thought of buying each piece I found. Since the Valentine's visit to Hogsmeade, I had enjoyed eating the candy haul Sirius had bought for me. I munched on them while doing homework or studying, and I shared it with my friends whenever we agreed to meet. All in all I had adored having the leisure of sweets stored in my dresser. It was a shame I ran off of them a couple days ago, and it was a bigger shame that I couldn't buy anymore.

After the date with Sirius, I had a hefty amount left of the bet money. However, that very week I had to pay for the Apparition class if I wanted to take then, so yet again I was penniless. I was not really sure if I was seventeen or was going to be seventeen in the year, but Lily and the guys were taking the class, and I had no intention on missing out on them. The Headmaster had wanted to wait for the next year for me to take the class, partly because of our lack knowledge about my exact day of birth and because the Ministry had promised to pay, but did no such thing. Dumbledore didn't admit to anything that I asked him, however the Daily Prophet was enough of a source to lead me to believe that the Ministry of Magic wasn't in a good position.

Little by little, attacks on muggle-born wizards and witches were becoming more frequent. At least once a week, the Prophet featured them in their back pages, going into very little detail of the events. Sometimes, only names were mention to dedicate the article to the late responses the government was giving and criticize the Minister. The Ministry seemed to be trying to scramble to its feet to keep up with the attacks, and they didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Therefore there was a delay in everything government related. Hell, the Apparition class had started a month later than it was supposed to.

So, I paid for my own classes, Lily gave me a loan when I came short, and I was in the middle of learning how to Apparate. I hadn't managed it yet, not like James or Sirius, or even Lily who had flicked in her destination for a second and then went back to her original position. I had hoped that Merlin's blood would help me speed the process, but as it was with everything practical, I had to learn it by myself. I did, however, know every theoretical aspect of the motion, so I had that in my favour, I guess.

"You know, I can set you up a date if you like. I have a good candidate in mind." I said tentatively, as Lily grabbed a couple boxes of chocolate frogs. My tone of voice brought her attention back to me, and she eyed me strangely as she tried to understand where I was going.

She raised her eyebrow, an amused smile parading across her face once she understood I was messing with her. "Should I even try guessing?"

"It's James." I blurred out, unable to hold it in. Lily's expression of mild disgusts was hilarious, and the fact that she figured what I intended made everything better. I had found a certain sick enjoyment in teasing Lily with the bane of her existence. Her reactions were as fun as James' were when embarrassed.

"What about me?" Someone said behind my back. Facing Lily, the face she made was priceless, and there was only one person that could invoke that look.

I turned around. My eyes met with James' instantly, and I was almost impressed that he looked away from Lily to look at me when he had her so close. As he regarded me, I did the same. I got the impression that he was nervous. I couldn't claim to be the source of that, if he really was. He was in love with Lily, and love made you nervous. But that love-nervousness toward my friend he always masked with his best arrogance, therefore I allowed myself the reward of causing it. However that didn't feel as good as I would think it should.

As James stared waiting for one of us to react, his eyes went from me to Lily, in what I could only imagine was patient awkwardness. I stared there watching him. Lily muttered under her breath, visibly perturbed by James' silent pleasant staring. I barely heard when she said she was off to pay her sweets before she walked away. I went to follow her, but stopped once I noticed James took a step after me.

"Hear me out. About yesterday," James said once he finished following Lily with his eyes as she went. His words were hesitant, as if he wasn't really sure of what he was saying, which it almost seemed out of character. He was always sure of everything, as far as I believed. "I'm sorry for what happened."

His words were so genuinely apologetically and sort of meaningful that I relented slightly embarrassed of how he had seen me the day before.

"Don't apologize, you don't have to. I overreacted. I shouldn't have gotten so angry." I told him. His face showed confusion as he was wavering if he should believe me or not. There was a mixture in his expression; I stared at it trying to understand it. But then he half smiled with a nod of his head, and everything felt like it was fine.

At that moment, Remus and Sirius arrived, and I greeted them as they parted the mass of students stuffed into Honeydukes. They weren't too happy as they joined us, annoyed frowns set on their faces.

"Alright?" James said to them, and odd comment that didn't go unnoticed by me. Obviously, he saw something in his friends that I could not.

Sirius indicated with his head to the nearest window. It didn't have anything to do with me, but there with them, my eyes went along with James' pass the glass window of the store. My stare went in between students to the outside, where on the other side I could see Severus Snape talking with a bunch of his friends. They formed a small group of sixth and seven year Slytherin boys. Among them appeared Lorcan Mulciber, and I had enough of looking instantly. When I brought my attention back to the Marauders, something was passing between the three, something I didn't really understand, but then again didn't need to be a genius to know what it meant.

It meant trouble.

"Where's Peter?" I said, moving to look behind the two arrivals. My friend was not hiding on his friend's back, nor could I see him in the vicinity. I would have preferred to deal with Peter first before the rest of the boys. No doubt, he would be thinking that I hated him, and would not be handling my supposed animosity like the others. James, Remus and Sirius didn't seemed completely at ease with me, but it didn't appear to be that bad.

Remus was the one to answer me, as he walked away to look around for sweets. "He's saving us a seat at the Broomsticks."

"Okay. I'll see you guys there." I said intending to turn away from them. I wasn't mad with any of them anymore, but I had made plans with Lily. She had asked me if it was possible for us to visit Hogsmeade without the boys interfering on our fun, and though she knew from the start that I wouldn't evade them for too long, she accepted my indecisive answer. She knew they were my friend. Although she didn't approve, Lily did want me to branch out socially, therefore she said she was willing to spend time with the boys, if by boys it meant Peter and Remus only. Of the other two she wanted nothing, and I respected her words. I wanted her to have a good day, and I was sure spending more than five minutes with James would end up ruining most of the chances for it. So, I was going to up to meet with Peter, turning to where Lily had gone to, and take her with me.

But when I took a step away, I couldn't move my head. I pulled a bit more, feeling my head move back with the pressure, and I realized then that someone stopped me by taking a hold of the bun in my hair. I leaned back, turning to look, though I already had an inclination as to who it was. Of course I was right, it was Sirius. He stood next to James, his arm outstretched to me, as he leisurely stood there, without any worry.

"Not so fast. You need to choose some sweets first." He let go of my hair as soon as he had my attention.

I flicked my eyes between him and James. The Quidditch Captain didn't seem as perturbed as he was earlier as he stood next to his friend, both the epitome of male youth as they stood in muggle clothing in Honeydukes. "I don't have money to buy them." I said to Sirius.

"My treat."

I looked at him, deliberately squinting my eyes dramatically as I tried to find something behind the gray color in his. He met my stare head on, breaking his normal uninterested façade with a tug of his lips. Of his intentions I knew nothing, and it wasn't the first time he had bought me anything, but his words still irked me. I crossed my arms before I spoke. "Are you trying to buy my forgiveness?"

"Will it work?" He seemed almost hesitant, as if he was tentatively treating with me. I imagined he, like James, must have thought that I was still angry.

I shrugged. "Probably."

There was triumph in his eyes, and I wondered at it. Had he been perturbed about me being mad at them? Of all the Marauders, I would think him to be the less interested in my forgiveness, even more when he didn't seem that apologetically with his prank the previous day. With his trademark smirk, he grabbed my shoulders, making me turn around in the direct direction Remus had run off to within the store. "Of you go, then."

As if to indicate even more my dismissal, he leaned to his side to say something to James, who did the same. For a moment, as I walked away, I looked back and I saw how they glanced out the window again.

Shaking myself as I went to Remus, I landed a hard stare on Lily. My intention was to get her to feel my eyes on her, and I was delighted when it worked. She was receiving her change back from the owner of the store, as she had just paid him, when she looked toward me. Over and in between the throng of people, I made hand motions toward Lily. She was waiting for her things to be packaged in front of the register, and my intention was to let her know I would be looking at sweets with Remus. She nodded at one point. From the distance, I couldn't really tell what her expression meant, so I decided to choose something fast to leave faster.

Remus was already balancing a couple of boxes and chocolate bars when I stood by his side.

I eyed the colourful candies he had been looking at, trying to decide on what I wanted. The whole Sirius paying for my sweet thing reminded me of my first visit to Honeydukes, and how he paid for all I picked that day too. I remembered how annoyed I had been for a little while when he did that, and I was surprised of myself that I had agreed to let him buy me more.

I grabbed a bag of Fudge Flies with a sigh. What would Lily say when she found out what I agreed to? She was the one that had wanted me to get Sirius to pay for my things back in the date we had, and hell he had even done it. I hadn't been too happy about it, and I had no clue if Lily would mirror my feelings this time. I wasn't too sure with how I felt, a part of me wanted to decline his offer, but the part that acted accepted. I figured he was being nice, and who was I to decline that. My confused state got Remus' attention, and he looked at me expectantly. I relented instantly. "Shouldn't Sirius find a better way to spend his inheritance money, instead on having me waste it here?"

"Is there even a better way to use it than buying sweets for a pretty girl?" Remus didn't miss a beat in answering me, and I stared up at him with a pleasantly surprised gaping face.

"I cannot think of one." I managed to say, a little embarrassed at his choice of words, but not really minding them. I gave him a smile, grateful for the compliment, and his normal attitude toward me. He was treating me tentatively, as James and Sirius had, though he had no reason. Toward him and Peter, I felt I should have been nicer, one had apologized and the other offered his help, and I was rude to both of them. Grabbing another bag of Fudge Flies, I tugged at Remus' forearm to get back his attention. "Help me find the most expensive sweets."

Remus nodded with a smirk.

. . .