Chapter 7: Night of Friendship

"Back so soon?" Remus said as Sirius stormed into the dormitory with James that night. Sirius had his arm bound with a hairy black bandage, and rolled his eyes. James immediately immersed himself in a book without a word.

"Honestly, that flake wanted me to stay the night! But of course I talked her out of it—I wasn't about to stay in that dung hole one second longer than I had to."

Remus would have laughed, if he hadn't had other things on his mind.

When the four went to bed, Remus set his alarm clock for eleven-thirty, and placed it underneath his pillow. It took some effort, but eventually he managed to drift off into another uneasy sleep.

Remus woke in the middle of the night. He looked at his clock beneath his pillow, that read eleven-twenty. He turned off the alarm, owing to the fact that he was already awake, but didn't get out of bed just yet. He lay still. He heard whispers.

"You should have seen what Wormtail did to me—"

"Well, he's always been a little accident prone, you should let him off the hook a little."

"I know, but still…."

"What's Remus's problem lately?"

Remus flinched at his own name.

"I don't know—I think he's uptight about Caia."

"That's for sure! Did you hear what he said in Transfiguration?"

"I was there. But you should really give him a break, I mean, he's been through a lot lately—"

"I guess. I don't—"

"Shh! Did you hear that?"

Remus had just sat up in his bed, causing some of the bedsprings to make horrible noises.

"Okay, get some sleep."

"Night."

Remus got out of his bed, not caring if anyone heard him. He pulled on his robe, and hurried out of the dormitory.

He arrived in the third floor corridor earlier than Caia. He sat against the wall, rereading the note in his hand, wondering what to do.

Just then, he heard someone moving in the distance. Remus stood abruptly to see Caia moving toward him.

"Glad you could make it," she said quietly.

Remus swallowed. "You too."

They began to walk slowly down the corridor.

"I know you've been lying," Caia said suddenly.

Remus nodded. "You're right. I have."

"But why Remus?" She pleaded. "What could possibly be so bad?"

Remus stopped in his tracks, his mind resolute. He turned to her, slowly inhaling.

"I'm going to tell you, but you need to promise you won't tell anyone. Please, promise me now."

Caia frowned but nodded. "All right. I promise."

Remus had his hands behind his back, and was shifting his weight from foot to foot. "You remember when you saw them—James, Sirius, and Peter—in the hospital wing. I don't know what they told you, but they were there visiting me. You probably already knew that."

Caia was staring at Remus, unblinking.

"And you remember when we did boggarts earlier this year. It wasn't a crystal ball. It was the moon.

"And you know I made up stories so that I could be gone for a few days each month. And Professor Phelan didn't really need to send a note to McGonagall while we practiced Galrhema. He did that on my account. And well…I think you can work the rest of the details out."

Remus averted his gaze. Caia had her hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Remus," she whispered, but didn't move. He wanted her to fling her arms around him. He wanted her to say everything was okay. He wanted everything to be okay. But it wasn't. He could see it in her eyes.

"I'm sorry…I…" she said softly. There was a pause, where she stared into his eyes. He lowered his own. And with those last, fatal words, she scampered down the hallway in the opposite direction.

Remus stretched out his arm, in a futile attempt to stop her. But it was no use.

Numbly, he headed back into his dormitory, at first trying to be quiet and then not caring. He paced around the room, furious both at Caia and with himself. But what he was most angry about was that she hadn't left him for who he was—she had left him for what he was.

Remus didn't realize that he had tears in his eyes until he felt one run down his face. He took deep, quiet breaths, trying to calm himself, not wanting to humiliate himself in front of his friends. Remus never cried. He was always the calm and composed one. The model student. The prefect. But it was hardly any use. The pain of Caia's unintended prejudice had been so excruciating for him that he felt as though he would choke to death.

James peered out from behind his curtain. He immediately seemed to forget that he and Remus weren't speaking. He climbed out of bed and approached Remus, startled. Remus wiped them furiously away, both angry and confused. He wished James would look away.

"Moony?" James asked. But Remus stood rigid, his back to James. Finally he spoke, in an almost deadly whisper.

"I took your advice."

"You—what?" James cocked his head and stared at him.

"I TOOK YOUR ADVICE!" Remus bellowed, whirling around and acting entirely out of character. James jumped backwards and nearly fell over in shock. Sirius and Peter peered out sleepily from behind their curtains.

"Wha—what's going on?" Sirius yawned, blinking in the light. Peter held a finger to his lips and was pointing frantically at the door.

Remus, however, didn't continue to yell. On the contrary, he suddenly seemed entirely worn out. He collapsed into a chair, his forehead in his hand. He gritted his teeth painfully.

Sirius, sitting on the edge of his bed, shrugged and adjusted his arm.

"Like I always say. Can't trust Hufflepuffs," he said simply.

They began to laugh. James threw a pillow hard at Sirius, who fell backward onto his four-poster.

Sirius appeared from behind the bed and chucked a pillow at Remus. It hit him on the side of the face. Startled, he looked up and glanced at Sirius, who grinned at him. With a quick snap he had transformed into an enormous black dog, which bounded toward Remus and knocked him off his chair.

"Gahh!!!" Remus shoved a pillow in the dog's face before rolling over so Sirius flipped sideways off his chest. James leapt up from smothering Peter with a pillow to help Remus tackle Sirius.

As the four began an early morning spontaneous pillow fight, Remus realized that it didn't matter if he wasn't with Caia.

He'd have his friends forever.