Disclaimer: I own none of the Harry Potter characters.

A/N: I am so very, very, very sorry it has been so long since my last chapter but I feel that taking on 15 credit hours my first semester of freshman year was a bad idea. I have had hardly any time for myself, my boyfriend, or my stories. I will try and not let this happen to me again. Things are slowing down a bit in school and so I have had a little bit of time to write this is my first chapter since school started…here goes nothing.

Chapter 10: 'You Are Being Ridiculous'

That night Remus and I had talked almost the whole time. I was sure I saw the sun begin to stream through the window as I began to drift off to sleep. I had wanted to spend my every waking moment between the previous morning until the moon rose that day. We talked about everything. He finally let me onto his childhood and told me about how his friends had become animagi to keep him company during the full moon. I had mused something about trying to learn myself and he scolded me. He said what they had done was foolish and he never wanted me to be in any form of danger. That was the last word on the matter.

He had held me so close during the night that I felt he never wanted to let me go. I knew he had to be thinking in the back of his mind about the full moon and how I would not be able to be with him for the entire night. I could only imagine what he had to go through to change and I knew it must not have been great. I wondered if that was what the sadness in his eyes was about.

I was shaken from my slumber as I heard a loud pounding at my door. I shot up in the bed and looked around slightly disoriented. Remus was now sitting up next to me, his robes very disheveled. We both blinked a few times as the pounding continued, and once I had regained a few of my wits I made to get out of the bed.

As I threw my legs over the side of the bed I felt Remus bring his arm across my chest and nuzzle my neck from behind. I sighed heavily and leaned back into him as the pounding on my door continued so loudly that I thought the hinges would fall off. "Remus," I said breathlessly in a hushed tone, "I have to get the door."

He kept his grasp on my very tight and began kissing my shoulder between words. "Whoever it is can have you once the moon is out." He pulled me closer to him and I turned to allow him access to my mouth. He was right I didn't have a lot of time with him right then and I wanted to take advantage of what ever time I did have.

"Okay," I said as he placed kisses over the exposed part of my chest, "whoever it is will have to wait." At my words he pulled me back down into the bed and positioned himself over me. He kissed me along my neck and chest with his hands feverishly moving over my body.

"You taste so sweet," he said as he continued to almost nibble in my neck.

I was overwhelmed by this passion that was being displayed by him and the insistent pounding on the door continued. I was almost in a sensory overload when I gripped his head in my hands stopping him. "Remus?" I asked not sure if it was still him at that moment. "What is going on with you? Why are you acting this way?"

He did not answer my questions but instead jumped up from the bed and went to the door with a quickened pace wrenching open the door. "Come back after sunset," he almost snarled at Crispin before flinging the door closed and turning back to me.

"Remus what has gotten into you?" I asked. My eyes were wide with disbelief. This could not be Remus Lupin, the sweet and gentle man whom I had fallen in love with.

Remus let out a long sigh and brought his hand to his brow as if he was trying to will away a head ache. "I am so sorry Iola. I have been acting like a monster." His voice was strained and almost in pain.

I lifted myself from the bed and walked toward him only to be stopped by his outstretched hand. "Remus, you are not a monster," I said trying to glimpse his eyes which were still partially covered by his hand and gazing at the floor. "Remus, if this is about what I think it is then I thought I told you never to apologize to me about that again."

He looked up at me with tears glistening in his eyes and my heart almost stopped. "I am so sorry Iola. I treated you horribly just then. It's just when it is this close to the full moon I get a little crazy sometimes," he said solemnly as a tear fell from his eye.

I choked back my own sobs as I closed the two foot gap between us wrapping my arms around his waist against his will. "Oh, Remus, you have no reason to apologize to me. I don't care how you get during the full moon. I will still love you no matter how much arse you are," I said looking up at him.

He laughed softly and held me tighter. "I was acting like an arse wasn't I?"

"A gigantic one. I don't care though. I want to spend the rest of the day with you even if you are acting like an arse through it," I said kissing his left index finger as I held his hands in mine.

He broke his hand away from mine and picked me up around the waist kissing me deeply. As I felt the floor under my feet again I began to lead him back to the bed laying back as I held onto his hand. "I don't want to do this while… I'm like this. Not now and not with you," he said still standing above me.

My face twisted with confusion at his words. "Have you done that before with someone else at a time like this? Would you do this, whatever 'this' is with someone else?" I asked bewildered.

"That is not what I meant Iola, and you know that," he said sitting next to me in the bed. "I just I don't know how long I can stay civil today."

"Well, stay civil as long as you can," I said pulling him back onto the bed with me.

As Dusk approached Remus collected his things and made his way out my door. He took my old journal with him saying that it would help him to know he had something of mine close by. After he left I sat on my bed for a few moments and thought about the fact that it had been over a month since I had met Remus and that he must have changed once before while knowing me. It was an odd thing to think and I was jogged out of thought when a knocking came at my door.

I walked the distance from the bed and flung the door open. "What do you want Cri-Corbett?" I asked startled by the person on the other side of the door.

"So he has been to see you," he huffed as he pushed passed me and into the room. "Did he tell you what he did? Did he tell you that he ruined my life? Did he tell you that? Did he?" he fumed almost screaming.

"Corbett you are overreacting," I said softly trying to calm him down. Surely Crispin could hear this down the hall. I hoped to Merlin that he would have the brains to stay in his room.

"I am not overreacting, Damn it!" he screamed at me and I flinched my eyes shut at his raised voice. "I want to kill him. I really do Ola," he said using the nickname for me that he had not used in years.

I opened my eyes and looked at him. He was now sitting on my bed and was weeping into his hands. "Corbett," I said rushing over to him and putting my arms around him. "Your life is not over. You are only thirty-two years old. You will meet someone else. You will meet someone better than Brenna, who quite frankly Corbett was not likable at all. That is the nicest way I can put it," I said holding his shaking shoulders.

"Where is he?" he asked with his hands still hiding his face.

"I do not know where he is. I would tell you if I did," I lied. It killed me to have to lie to my brother like that but it was in everyone's best interest. If I told him the truth it would mean that I would loose Crispin's trust and Corbett would make a huge mistake. I really did not want to do anything to change my relationship with Crispin more than I had in the past few weeks.

The shaking of his shoulders stopped as his tears subsided and I moved to sit down next to him on the bed with my arm draped over the back of his neck. "I really do want to kill him," he said simply.

I sighed heavily and rested my forehead against his head. "You are being ridiculous," I said rocking him side to side. "I love you more than anything, but you can be so utterly ridiculous sometimes. You don't want to hurt your best friend. You have known him almost your whole life and you two have hardly ever had a fight," I said giving him a slight squeeze.

"I just…I don't know if I can forgive him for this. He has never done anything like this to me before," he said clenching his fists so hard that I saw his knuckles go white.

I grabbed one of his hands and kissed the top if his still lowered head. "This is all my fault," I said causing him to lift his head and look at me with quizzical eyes. "If I hadn't said what I had to him then he would never have sought you out that night and he would not have been so vulnerable. He wouldn't have done what he did if I had not turned him down the way I did. It is my fault," I shrugged. "Hate me if you want someone to hate. I am the one who made the mistakes so you should hate me for this. I hated Brenna and so you should hate me because it is my fault that she turned your proposal down."

He scoffed at me and turned his body to face me. "That is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard in my life, Ola. It could never be your fault it is just an unfortunate series of events that caused it…to…happen," he said trailing off. "Okay, you win I guess. He didn't mean to ruin things or do what he did, but that still doesn't make it right and I am still positively livid over it but I guess I will learn to forgive him in time." My reasoning had worked on him.

"Now, next time you want to kill someone come and talk to me and I will change your mind again. When I see Crispin I will send him to talk to you so you can apologize to him," I said standing up.

He stood looming over me. "Don't do that. I don't think I am ready to see him yet. I will apologize to him in due time, but not now. It's…it's too soon." He walked across the room and began looking out the window.

"You will have to see him sometime. I will make sure that you do. I can not have my brother and his best friend angry with one another. I can not have that happen, especially when I make money with the best friend," I said hugging him from behind. "I am sorry my dear brother but I am truly exhausted. I need to sleep. I hardly slept last night and I am almost falling asleep as I speak. Come by tomorrow though and we can talk more."

"Okay, I'll let you get some rest but I want to see you again tomorrow. I am not in the best of places right now so I need someone to stay with me. I don't want to be depressed again."

"Of course you don't. I don't blame you. Get some rest and tomorrow I will take you around the Alley and we will try and find you a nice rebound girl," I said cheerfully and was slightly disappointed when he did not share in the humour of my joke.

"That isn't very funny, Ola," he said in almost disgust as he turned around to face me.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I love you Corbett," I said giving him a tight hug

"I love you too, Ola." He hugged me back and made his way to the door.

"Why are you calling me that again? You haven't done it in years," I asked as he opened the door.

"I just felt like doing it. I love that name. I don't really know why I stopped doing it," he shrugged and walked into the hall and I leaned against the door. "Get some rest, Ola."

I smiled at his words and felt my eyes begin to tear up. I had missed the Corbett I loved so much and he had not been the Corbett I remembered him to be since he began dating Brenna four years prior to my even meeting her. "You too Corbett. Have a good night." I watched him walk down the hall before I closed the door and walked back over to my bed.

I tried to sleep soundly and it seemed like sleep would not come. I hated knowing that Corbett was having such a hard time, and that Crispin was in a sort of exile, and I especially hated knowing that Remus was going through with something I could not understand and would never be able to get around. I don't know how long it was before I fell asleep but it was not a comfortable sleep and I did not enjoy feeling alone in the bed that I had shred with Remus for the past few nights.

A/N: I finally undated!!! Sorry it isn't that long but I will try and keep the story going now that I am having more free time. It may be a few days till I update again but I will try and do so as soon as I can. Reviews please?