Eleanor pulled Remus down the main road. They passed James and Lilly as they walked into Zonko's joke shop and Sirius as he entered the Three Broomsticks and Peter as he entered Gladrag's wizardwears. Remus ran behind her, her hand tight in his. When he realized they were passing the last shops of the village, he stopped and yanked her back. She turned to look at him, confused. "Where are you going?" Remus asked, trying to catch his breath. She grinned. "The Shrieking Shack!" He stared at her, shocked. His mind quickly searched for an excuse to stay away from it. Seeing that building once a month was enough for him. "Come on!" She attempted to pull him toward it, but he wouldn't budge. "I hear it's the most haunted house in all of Britain. I've never seen it..." "I..." He began, his mouth open slightly, his eyes seemingly desperate. "Well, it's nothing special. You're not missing out on anything." She just looked at him, an mixture of disbelief and disappointment on her face. "But..." "But nothing! I've been there a million times...and not a damn thing happened! It's not worth it. Don't worry about it." So shocked at his behaviour, she didn't really know what she was doing. Moments later, she found herself inside Honeyduke's behind Remus as he examined the walls with a fake interest. "Want anything?" He asked, not looking at her. She bit her lip. A few things looked interesting, but she found herself too angry to accept anything from him. "No, thanks...I'm fine." As he turned to look at her, she looked away, pretending to be studying the high wall of sweets before them. "Why not?" She looked him in the eye, hers were noticably confused and hurt. He sighed. "What is your problem?" He asked with false annoyance. She studied his face a moment. Something was wrong. Something was bugging her. "Why won't you go?" "I told y-" "No, Remus..." She turned to face him. "Because never in the three years that we've been together have you ever denied me anything for such a stupid reason. You would've let me find out for myself that it was stupid." He sighed, knowing she was right. He looked down and scratched nervously at the back of his head. "I think you're hiding something from me, Remus." You have no idea, he thought. He reluctantly raised his eyes to meet hers. Maybe she did... "Like what?" She seemed to think about it for a moment, her face screwed up in thought. Finally, the lines faded and her skin was smoothe as a porcelain doll's. Her eyes widened knowingly. "I think you're afraid." He gave an inward sigh of relief. She had no idea. "You can tell me, you know..." She urged. He nodded, wetting his lips with the tip of his tongue. "Alright, then...I'm terrified." She gave a hint of a smile. "What happened there that made you afraid?" He paused, thinking a moment to come up with a good story. It had to be really good. Something to keep her away from the Shack forever. He pulled up his sleeve, revealing claw marks on his forearm. They were old, but the pink scars constrasted with his pale skin and made them easily noticable. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "James, Sirius, and I went inside. Nell...there are dangerous things there. Restless, evil demons. I'm terrified that they'll hurt you. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt." His hand reached up to cup her cheek. "I love you." That definately wasn't part of the story. And that wasn't how he was planning on telling her, but he was glad it came out like that. It sounded terrifically genuine. Not that it wasn't....it was the only true thing he'd said in the past few minutes. She attempted to smile through her sympathetic and horrified expression. He almost exploded. She was even beautiful when her face was screwed up in confusion of emotions. He smiled and leaned forward, kissing her lips gently. She returned the kiss and was reluctant to open her eyes after he'd pulled away. When she did, she grinned. "I'll have a bag of Bertie Bott's."