Sirius joked around with me for a couple more minutes and then fell silent when James mentioned what he had did on the train. Sirius just looked at James with apologetic eyes and took a deep breath and quickly changed to subject. I tuned out when he did. My mind started wondering from thing to thing and I dreamed about not being a werewolf. It would be so fantastic not being locked up somewhere for a whole night feeling the agony of transforming into such a deadly creature. It would be great not wondering if anyone knew your secret and worrying day in and day out what would happen if you ever did hurt someone. And if I did hurt someone I wouldn't know about it because I can't remember anything from my transformations. So if I was ever accused of killing someone I wouldn't know if I was innocent or guilty. I would never hurt anyone on purpose, though. And then my mind wondered about what Maria would think of me if she knew I was a werewolf. How would she react when she found out? Would she tell the whole school that a person she knew was a werewolf? Then what would some of my peer's parents think of me? Would they automatically take their kids out of Hogwarts? What would they do to Dumbledore? I bet your thinking that I think way too much, and sometimes I think I do to. I let my mind wonder away and can't come back to my senses until someone calls my name or taps me on the shoulder.

"Hey, Moony! What are you thinking about?" James asked shaking me. "Are you okay?"

"Oh—yeah," I said shaking my head and standing up. "I think I might head up to bed. My head is really killing me!" I left them and headed up to the Gryffindor common room and sat down in one of the chairs next to the fire. It was so warm in there and I could feel everything leave me.

Time passed slowly and I just sat there thinking about what this school year was going to be like. I watched some first years walk down the stairs and sit down in some chairs. One of them came and sat across from me and looked dreamily into the fire. I could tell that he was a Muggle born and didn't know how to act in the school so he kept his mouth shut until another first year came up to him and asked if he wanted to come over to talk. After thirty minutes of listening to the first years talk about how much they were enjoying the stay at Hogwarts they went back upstairs. When twelve o' clock came around I knew that the rest of the Marauder's were out wondering around the school grounds. I slowly drifted to sleep in the comfortable chair.

"Remus," said a voice, "what are you doing down here?"

I opened my eyes and saw Maria sitting in front of me. I yawned and sat up in the chair.

"I fell asleep," I said stretching and yawning again. "What are you doing down here?"

"Alicia started talking in her sleep again, so I just came down here and was going to see if I could go to sleep down here. I bet I can't, but it's worth a try! I'm sorry I woke you up"

"Oh—that's okay," I said with another yawn. If I would have just stopped yawning maybe she wouldn't have said that. "I usually wake up at this time anyway! Sirius snores so loud! He calls it breathing hard though, but we all know he snores!" I made her laugh! I've never made anyone laugh in my life not since I was bitten by that damm werewolf when I was younger.

"Sirius is crazy," she said laughing.

'So it starts!' I thought laughing along with her. Now she is going to say that she likes Sirius and ask me if I could set her up with him.

"Yep!" I said half smiling.

"â€but I would never go out with him!! He's really funny and everything, but I don't think I could handle him making jokes every ten seconds!"

"Yep," I said with a sigh of relief and taking a sip of water that I had brought up with me.

"I like you," she said. That sent a jolt through my body and I started choking on the water. "You okay?"

"Perfectly fine," I said coughing and rubbing my throat.

"Sorry, about that," she said.

"You need work on Potions right?" I asked. "Now would be a perfect time since we are both up!"

"Okay, I'll go get my books and everything," she said getting up and running up the stairs.

I don't know why I asked her if she wanted to work on Potions now!! I swear I was fixing to go back to sleep, but I knew that a good book would wake me up! I'm always at the end of my seat when I'm reading a book. It doesn't matter what it is about I still like reading them. Every now and then I wondered what it would be like to be put into a book. Sure, the only time I would be placed in a book is if I ever did kill let's hope not someone in my werewolf state. But at this exact moment I'm not that into looking at a book for a few hours. Maria actually told me, in person, that she liked me. I started choking again on the water and got it down again when she came back down.

"Let's lay on the floor, because I can't take bending over and looking at a book," I said sitting on the floor. She laid down beside me.

"I need help on" She said pulling out a couple of books.

"Let me quiz you first that way I can see what you need work on, because sometimes you think you need work on one thing, but you actually need work on another. I'm like that sometimes!"

I came across a question about the werewolf and decided to ask her what she thought about them.

"Give me some signs of the werewolf," I said flipping through the book.

"The snout shape, the pupils, and the tufted tail," she said scratching her chin.

"Good enough," I said thinking of another question. "What do you think of werewolvesâ€I mean when they are in their human form?"

"I don't really know any werewolves," said Maria in a confused voice.

I laughed merrily to myself; sure she didn't know any werewolves! I remember feeling so proud that my secret had obviously been kept by everyone that I had told! If she didn't know then the rest of the people at this school didn't no so it comforted me! I smiled and continued looking at the book.

"What are you laughing about?" Maria asked in a perplexed voice.

"Nothingâ€nothing at all," I said shaking my head.

"Okay," said Maria raising her eyebrows and looking at the ground. "What other questions should I be familiar with?"

"Umâ€what are the three ingredients of the Wigglebres Potion?" I asked in an upbeat tone.

"I don't remember going over that," said Maria tapping her chin and looking at the ceiling. "When did we learn that?"

"We haven't yet," I said pulling out a new book. "It's in the new book that we got, or had to get"

"Hmmm"

"Don't you look through it whenever you get it?" I asked. I always look through any book whenever I get a hold of one.

"I haven't had that much time lately," said Maria, "Yeah, I usually look through it, but not this time!"

I guess we both went to sleep after studying for at least an hour. Amazingly, I slept pretty well in the chair that I was sitting in, but I can sleep about anywhere. I woke up by James poking me, nonstop, in the side.

"What?" I moaned in protest. I'm a morning person, but staying up half a night reading a book can really take it out of you!!

"What happened?"

"Nothing," I said opening my eyes. It didn't take long for me to fully wake up.

"Really," said James crossing his arms. "Listen Moony!! I know you did something!"

"We studied! Now is that a horrible thing?" I asked getting up and walking up the stairs.

"Studied, hmmm," said James rolling his eyes and looking at Maria on the floor.