Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I own any of the incredibly attractive characters in his world. I do however have the rights to say that my muse and I have created Ixer Kaunnick as well as many of her friends.

Author's NoteFor those who have read this before, thanks for sticking with me. I've been trying to make some necessary changes so that it fits in with the new info taken from HBP, so bear with me : )

Chapter 2

The girl at whom Remus had found himself transfixed continued to scratch away with her pen in her notebook. Occasionally she would cross out long sentences and add in notes in the margins, or scribble a small diagram or picture…she loved to decorate her writing.

Ixer Kaunnick hated the quills and ink that they were forced to use for lessons. They were terrible, always leaving inkblots all over her parchment and never ceasing to be worst on all her vital assignments. Having never been great at vanishing the spots, she found it incredibly frustrating when her carefully completed homework would burst into flames or would melt before her eyes. So for her personal accounts, her journal or her notebook where she would scribble her random thoughts and every now and then a short story, she used normal pen and paper; something that puzzled those around her to no end. Her father had introduced it to her when she was a young girl and she found that she rather liked it.

Her father was a muggle born wizard and therefore had many strange solutions to problems. Ixer still remembered when she had broken her wrist as a child and the first reaction of her father had been to wrap her wrist in a brace and gauze. Her mother had had to restrain herself from laughing since she didn't think it would be wise to damage her husband's ego. After assuring her daughter that everything would be all right she quickly and painlessly mended the broken bones and sent her off to play. That was one of the times when Ixer was glad that her mother had been brought up in a wizarding family.

Although her dear ol' dad had attended Hogwarts he still tended to fall back on his muggle upbringing. Her parents were very bright having both been in Ravenclaw, and currently her younger brother was a Ravenclaw 2nd year. Her parents had been shocked when she ended up in Gryffindor. But then again, she was always seemed to stick out.

After adding a few more lines she gathered her belongings into her bag and sat up to rub her aching elbows. She glanced again at the lanky 7th year that had been staring at her before. She didn't like to write in the common room, preferring to spend her free time either in the library or behind the curtains of her four poster in her dormitory, so he had probably never laid eyes on her.

Well, she thought, with that expression on his face I would probably think that it was pretty obvious he had never seen me before. She stretched and slung her bag over her shoulder as she made her way through the crowded common room towards the stairs for the girl's dormitory, hoping that the other 6th year girls had finished their exciting debriefing about Alice's encounter over the summer.

Upon opening the door where she and five others spent ten months out of every year, she found that they had not.

"So he actually touched you!" Asked Marie for what was probably the umpteenth time. "Paul Sperrazza actually touched you!"

"And when he heard that it was my birthday, he actually sang happy birthday to me!" squealed the curly-haired Alice Bovaird. She, tall and limber Marie and Ario (Ixer's best friend) all collapsed onto their beds with sighs.

Ixer laughed. "You all aren't still going on about that singer are you?" she asked as she set her bag down next to her trunk. "You practically stalked that man last year when you visited your aunt."

Alice giggled. "Hey, it's not my fault if the guy is incredible and he happens to live two houses down from my aunt and uncle."

"Oh come on, Ixer. You're just upset that you couldn't concentrate with us screaming, so you had to go down and join the rest of student population." Ario commented as she pulled her long blond hair up into a ponytail.

"Yeah, and get stared at by them."

"Who was staring at you?" Marie asked, pulling on her nightgown.

Ixer shrugged. "I don't know who he was. You'd think he'd never seen a girl before the way he stared at me. He looked a little peaky to me. That skinny one that hangs out with Potter and Black. I think he was a prefect a couple years ago."

"That would be Remus Lupin." Laurie said as she entered the dormitory, clutching something to her chest. "Gavin talks about that lot all the time. Looks up to them on the Quidditch field…well, looks up to Potter anyways."

"Yeah well, fine. Lupin was staring at me as though I was the first girl he'd laid eyes on in his entire life."

Ario gave her a kind of sheepish look. "You have to admit love, you don't exactly look…well, normal. The purple hair is one thing, but…"

Ixer glared at her best friend. "My eyes right?" She blinked furiously.

All the other girls nodded.

"So what if they're different!"

Ario laughed gently at this. "Honey, we're not attacking you on this we're just making a point. I'm afraid that whether it was or wasn't your fault you have purple eyes. And for someone who hasn't seen you before it's going to be a bit of a shock."

Ixer pulled out a brush and began to furiously tug at her hair. "Just because my brother had the moronic idea to try to sneak polyjuice potion into my cereal as a child, doesn't make me that abnormal."

"No one is saying that it did." Marie said. "Merely that purple eyes are not the norm. And besides, that Lupin isn't exactly normal himself. Of course, if I hung out with Potter or Black I suppose I wouldn't be nearly as innocent and common as I am now."

This comment sent all five girls into fits of giggles. "The day you are innocent and common is the day that I propose to the headmaster." Laurie gasped through fits of laughter, still clutching something tightly in her hand.

After she regained her senses, Ixer realized just what it was she was holding. "Well I suppose that Marie will never be innocent considering the fact that Laurie here fancies Gavin."

"Oh really?" she said, rounding on the shorter girl. "What makes you think that?"

Ixer pointed to her hand. "Because you still have that card he gave you while he was doing that silly little trick downstairs."

This caused a whole new fit of giggles and prompted the other girls to then ask Laurie to regale them with her feelings towards the 5th year boy.

But Ixer merely closed the curtains around her and lay back in her bed. She had her friends; there was no question about that. The other girls in her dormitory had been very accepting of her as she was. Well, that is, they had been very accepting of her story. But what else could she say? If they knew she'd be thought of as a freak and they'd probably be afraid of her, much like the rest of Hogwarts would be if they found out.

She rolled over onto her side. Hell, I scare myself sometimes, she thought as she pulled out her wand. "Lumos." Her tip of her wand illuminated the small cubicle of her bed and though she had no mirror, Ixer knew that the harsh light revealed many tired wrinkles on her young skin; many old scars.

Reaching under her pillow she pulled out a book she'd been reading for the last several nights. Her parents had given it to her on her birthday, hoping that she would find the information it held useful. So far, about all she could say it was good for was putting her to sleep. The book, titled 'Living by the Night', had so many pathetic victims quoted within its pages claiming they had "pulled their lives together" and that they "had found salvation despite their terrible circumstances."

Ixer rolled her eyes as she flipped open to her spot. If her parents thought that reading about a bunch of self-pitying, fame claiming troglodytes would bring her comfort they were wrong. She would have liked to think that she was past that stage. Yeah things were tough for her, school especially considering the homework that got laid on her every night. But she was dealing with it. So what if all her friends were enjoying a nice giggle over some guys? So what if she could never really do that?

She slammed the book shut as anger flared within her. Why had her brother been the lucky one? Why had he been spared and she had not? Why was she doomed to fear the moonlight?

Shoving the book under her bed, determined to not read another paragraph, Ixer pulled her covers up over herself; not caring if she was still fully clothed and closed her eyes, hoping that she had not managed to upset herself to a point where she wouldn't be able to enjoy what time she had left to rest.

The full moon was in two weeks