By the time they clattered into the dark dungeons, they were five minutes late and had a very annoyed Professor to reckon with.

"Detention Potter, Pettigrew, Black, Lupin," said Professor Bones sleekly as they each sped through the doorway one after the other. "And please refrain from being late again. I would actually like to spend my after-school hours to myself for once in a while. And no, Mr Black, that does not mean I will stop giving out detentions. Now sit down, all of you."

Remus felt his face heat up slightly as a ripple of laughter swept round the classroom, though he knew it wasn't aimed at him. Sirius, on the other hand, simply winked and muttered audibly: "Darn. Thought I had her there," before flopping casually into his usual seat with James, leaving Remus to sit behind with Peter.

Professor Bones strode to the front, long black robes flaring dramatically out behind her. Remus slid down in his seat, holding his breath as he put his bag on the floor as quietly as possible. Certainly Bones was a fairer teacher than some, but she had the temperance of a crocodile. Just as you thought you were safe around her, she would suddenly pounce.

The class was silent as Professor Bones perched on the edge of her desk, frowning down at a sheaf of parchment in her hand, seeming surprisingly mellow after receiving four late students. Remus watched Sirius lean over and mutter something to James, and the pair of them immediately doubled up in barely silent laughter.

"That's two hours for you tonight now, Messer's Black and Potter," called out Bones without even looking up. Sirius stiffened, head looking up. Remus could just picture his face of mock-outrage.

"But Professor! We didn't do anything!"

Bones looked up from over the top of her glasses and fixed him with a long, steady look. Sirius visibly shrank in his seat, mumbling inaudibly to himself. Satisfied, Bones stood up to address the class.

"Alright, listen up class. After several recent mishaps in this classroom, I have finally decided to do something about it. I have here a seating plan." She waved the parchment, dark curls falling about her shoulders as she did so. At the blank looks from a few of the students, she sighed and explained, "That means you're all going to sit where I tell you to. No arguments."

No-one could have argued even if they'd wanted to, Remus thought, looking round at all the shell-shocked faces about him. Peter was looking particularly terrified. He depended on his friends to get him through this class. Now what would he do with himself?

Remus himself had to admit he didn't look forward to sitting with the likes of Lucius Malfoy, but what could you do when Professor's like Bones told you what to do?

You jumped to it and obeyed them, that was what.

Dark mutters were starting to fill up the classroom, and someone called out: "But Professor, why?" Bones frowned, placing one hand on her hip and shooting the entire class a freezing glare. The conversation died at once.

Bones looked round at them. "Do none of you remember the time a Filbusters Firework exploded in someone's potion? Someone's idea of a joke, I'd expect. That was dangerous. And the time a potion exploded because the maker was too busy chatting with their friends to concentrate on what they put in their cauldron?"

A ringing silence was all that replied to her. Bones glared at them. "Well? Do you remember that or don't you?" There was a dull murmur of affirmative. Nodding crisply, she carried on.

"What I'm trying to say is you seem to be treating this lesson as some kind of social event. This place is for learning, not talking with your friends or playing practical jokes! I don't care what you do in other lessons, because this one is mine, and I don't need any of you getting hurt." Again, she waved the parchment. "At least this way none of you will get distracted."

Everyone stared at her. Remus felt his heart begin to thud. Merlin, who would he be put with? Stealing a glance at the people around him, he sussed out the options. Lucius Malfoy would be the worst, he supposed, but then there were any number of Slytherin's he didn't want to be anywhere near either.

Bones, taking the stunned silence as acceptance for her plan, stood up a little straighter. "Now that's covered, would you all stand along the back wall in a line, please? Thank you."

Slowly, dully, stools were scraped back as ashen faced students began to trudge wearily to the back wall. Peter was positively shaking as he walked with Remus in between the cauldrons. "I'm going to be put with someone horrible, I know it!" he whispered frantically. "What am I going to do, Remus?"

"Do shut up and take it like a man, Pete," came James's voice from behind them. "Jees, anyone would think you're being sent to the gallows the way you're going on." The extra dose of brusqueness in his voice gave him away. Remus knew without looking that James was certainly not overly-happy about being moved either.

When they had all organised themselves into a rough line against the back wall, Bones walked to the furthermost cauldron. "When I call out your names, come and sit at your new cauldron. Alright? I'll begin." Briefly she shuffled her papers, then started reading out the first set of names, walking along the rows as she did it.

"McKinnon, Finnigan, Malfoy, Black!"

"I'll miss you, James!" muttered Sirius, wiping away a fake tear as he and three other students detached themselves to sit in the front row. Bones moved down the classroom, looking down her paper as she did.

"Longbottom, Prewett, Crabbe and Pettigrew!"

Peter gave a tiny squeak as though someone had trodden on him. Eyes wide and petrified he moved forwards as though in a trance. From behind Remus, James gave a soft chuckle.

"Just me and you now, mate."

"Not for long," Remus whispered back, as Bones finished reading out another row of names, and four more people moved away from the crowd, letting them space out more.

"Potter, Evans, Mackay, Lupin!"

Remus felt his heart give a funny kind of twist inside him. He was in the same row as James. Trying to walk confidently, he moved forwards to his indicated place, and out the corner of his eye glimpsed red hair. Twisting his head round he spotted Lily, who gave him a faint smile as she sat down as well. Exhaling a sigh of relief, Remus slumped down in his new position. That could have been a lot worse.

Bones read out the last line of students ("Goyle, Parkinson, Snape, Lovegood!") then returned to her place at the front. Ignoring the disgruntled looks many of the class were giving her she smiled blithely and produced her wand. "With that out the way, we shall start the lesson." With a wave of her wand instructions appeared on the board. "Today we are going to be making the Hair Lengthening potion…"

As she started introducing the many fascinating properties of the ingredients, Remus glanced cautiously at the person seated at the cauldron beside him. Unfortunately, at the exact same time the person by him decided to sneak a look at him as well.

Their eyes met and both quickly looked away, blushing furiously. Remus had just looked long enough to take in a girl with dark blonde hair, before zooming his eyes hastily back to the front, his cheeks hot.

Ten minutes later they were all working in silence, save for the occasional grating snap as someone cut through their unicorn horn. Bones had been right about swapping their seating plan around, no-one was making a sound. It was so strange compared to the usual quiet chatter Remus was used to in Potions, but oddly peaceful. He stirred round his potion, savouring the silence, and relishing in the fact he no longer had Peter breathing down his neck, copying his every move. He could even relax like this, concentrating entirely on his work.

Raising his eyes, Remus looked around. Everyone was bent over their cauldrons, studiously ignoring their neighbours. Bracing himself, he swivelled his eyes over to the girl beside him again, wondering if he would catch her looking again.

She wasn't. She seemed totally absorbed in her potion, lips moving as though she was talking to herself, a tiny frown etched onto her brow as she carefully measured out ground up beetle eyes. Perfect. Remus could look at her without fear of her seeing him.

He had seen her somewhere before, that was certain. She must be a Gryffindor. Under the pretext of holding up a bottle of armadillo bile, Remus looked over her face. Underneath long, loose waves of honey brown hair (or dark blonde, if you looked at it that way) was a round, friendly looking face with large, expressive eyes. They were particularly wide now as she looked over at the board, muttered something to herself and carried on with the potion.

Remus looked back into his own cauldron, then back up at the board. He added the beetle eyes. Then he snuck another look at her.

She was stirring the potion now, arms working rapidly as she did so. Her eyes shone in the dull light of the dungeon, narrowed in fierce concentration. Remus shook his head slightly, reminding himself he had a potion to be done here, but somehow his eyes just kept going back over to her as though pulled by string. Who was she? He racked his mind for a name. He was sure Sirius had mentioned her before, ages ago, back in the common room. But he couldn't for the life of him remember.

He would think about it later, he decided, returning very firmly back to his potion. He would ask Sirius about it. Later. Now, he had work to do.

Still, he couldn't quite shake the image of her looking at him out of his mind.

0o0

"Yes, sir! How can I help you?"

Peter, temporarily stunned at being addressed as 'sir,' blinked at the pretty bar-tender for a moment, then carefully stuttered out a reply. "F-four butterbears, please," he squeaked, eyes glancing nervously at Remus for support.

"Certainly, sir!"

As Madam Rosmerta clip-clopped her way up in the bar in search of butterbears, Sirius muttered into James's ear: "Who is she?"

"Madam Rosmerta," Remus heard James murmur back, "New bar staff, I reckon."

Sirius had his eyes fixed on Madam Rosmerta as she stretched up to find their drinks, low cut top rising to expose flat-as-a-pancake stomach. "Uh-huh," he mumbled weakly, watching as she stepped her merry way back towards them, dark hair bouncing.

And that certainly wasn't the only part of her that was bouncing, Remus noted mildly, watching as Peter joining Sirius in his staring. He curled his lip slightly and looked away, only looking back when Rosmerta had dumped their bottles on the counter and chirped out, "That'll be two galleons, please!"

"Cheers, love," said Sirius cheekily, stretching over to claim his bottle as Peter started fumbling in his pockets for the coins, "By the way, I was wondering, how old are you?"

Remus stared at Sirius, taken aback by his bluntness and the suggestive lift and drop of his eyebrows as he asked his question. The moment was ruined, however, as Peter swore loudly and dropped a dozen coins all over the floor, which immediately rolled everywhere.

James and Remus looked down in surprise, then bent down to help. Sirius remained standing, and Remus came up again just in time to hear her say, "Too old for you, that's for certain. Next!"

"Ah, bad luck Sirius," sighed James sarcastically as they all moved away, "Better luck next time you try it on with a twenty year old, eh?"

Sirius punched him in the arm. "She was not twenty! More like eighteen. Fresh out of Hogwarts, I reckon."

"Oh yeah, and that makes loads of difference doesn't it? Face it, no-one of that age is ever going to say yes to your ugly mug."

Sirius tossed his hair in a mock impression of a glamour model, fluttering his eyelashes at James. "What are you trying to say, James? Don't you…love me?" He licked his lips. James attempted to glare back, but only ended up bursting out laughing.

Peter was standing on tip-toes, ignoring the friendly exchange between the two boys. "Hey, I think there's a table over there!" He said excitedly, pointing towards a gap in the throng of students, "Quick!"

Running as fast as the milling crowds of people would let them, the four boys darted over to the table, making it there before anyone else spotted it. "Nice one, Pete," said Sirius breezily, leaning on the table. Almost a once, however, he leapt back with a load: "Urugh!"

"What's wrong?" Remus asked curiously, staring at Sirius rubbing his arms and looking completely disgusted.

"I just found out why no-one was sitting at this table," he replied, pulling a face, "Feel it!"

Puzzled, the other three boys stretched out a hand to cautiously touch the surface of the table.

Peter spoke up first. "Sticky…" he mumbled, rubbing his fingers together, frowning.

"Great!" sighed James, gingerly feeling more of the table with his palm, "Someone's spilled pumpkin juice all over it. Gits," he added idly, leaning back. Sirius started picking at his robe sleeve.

"I've got bits of dried pumpkin juice all over me. Great."

"Ah, just don't put your arms on the table," replied James, leaning back with a sigh, "No point in looking for somewhere else now."

Remus agreed with him. The place was so packed they were lucky to even have this table, and with a nod at James he unscrewed his bottle cap and took an experimental sip. He smiled. Butterbear certainly hadn't changed since the last time he had tried it, and that had been when he was eight, as a birthday treat, if he remembered rightly enough. Feeling warm and contented, Remus settled back even more into his chair, lazily listening to the conversation. From somewhere on the other side of the bar, a toddler started screaming, making half the pub glance round in annoyance.

"Merlin, I hate it when little kids start yelling like that!" James remarked, wincing as the baby's cries went up an octave, "I'm never having kids."

Sirius took a gulp of butterbear, glancing casually over his shoulder at the baby. "I'm used to it," he commented dryly, "I grew up with Regulus, remember?"

"Who?" Remus asked curiously. He had never heard of a Regulus before.

"My little brother," replied Sirius nonchalantly, "He'll be coming to Hogwarts in two years time." His voice sounded oddly strained, as though they had hit on a nerve. Clearing his throat, he continued in a voice that was slightly higher than usual. "He used to scream constantly. 'I want this! I want that!' In the end I just learned to block it out."

James shuddered, pulling a face. "Now its stories like that that makes me glad I'm an only child."

"I wish I was an only child!" piped up Peter suddenly, with such venom that they all looked at him in surprise, "I have to wake up every morning to my twin brothers crying the house down. They can never shut up!" He accompanied the end of this statement with a slap of his leg, looking daggers over at the toddler. Then he looked at the rest of them, staring at him with their mouths open. "What?"

Peter turned slightly pink; his posture, which had been ram-rod straight in his moment of temper slouched back down again, and he was blinking at them with watery eyes. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Clearly deciding it was simply better not to question it, James swallowed another mouthful of butterbear, and Remus felt his eyes on him. "What about you Remus?" he asked, and at this question, Sirius and Peter looked round too, staring curiously at Remus.

"What about me?" asked Remus jokingly, though his heart was starting to speed up slightly. Sirius snorted impatiently.

"Are you an only child like Jamsie here, or are you haunted by younger siblings like me and Pete?" He looked fairly curious, and no wonder. Remus had never really opened up about his home life.

An image of Rain swam into his head. "Yeah. I mean, I do. Have a little sister, that is." Remus played with a corner of his sleeve, uncomfortably aware of them all staring intently at him. "She's ten."

"Ten? Then she's coming to Hogwarts next year, then?"

"I'm not sure…I think so…" Remus coughed, trying to look as casual as possible, but his prolonged silences were building up quite a tension over the table. The air felt uncomfortably hot, and Remus nervously pulled up his sleeve to scratch his elbow, wishing he could get away.

A second later, he realised what he had done.

"Holy shit! Where the hell did you get that scar?" James was staring down at his arm, a look of mixed awe and horror on his face, and Remus felt his stomach give a huge, electrifying jolt. Too late, he ripped back down his sleeve, but already Sirius and Remus were looking over, frowning at his arm.

Gripping his robe sleeve with violently shaking fingers, Remus felt his heart lurch in frantic, pounding bursts. The other boys were staring at him, their eyes dark and hollow, blatant curiosity blaring out of them. "Was that a scar, Remus? How did you get it, Remus? What's wrong, Remus? How come you have a scar, Remus?"

Remus felt as though he was going to be sick. He had never been so frightened in his life. "It's nothing!" he barked out, knowing full well he was acting suspiciously, yet he simply couldn't stop himself. "It's just some old scar I got when I was little. Quit making a fuss!" Next to him, Sirius's arm leant against his, trapping him against the wall, caging him in.

James shook his head, eyebrows furrowed together. "Remus, that was not some 'old scar.' It was huge!"

"James," said Sirius quietly, "Drop it."

"But there's no reason for you to get defensive, Remus! You just have a scar, and I was just wondering - "

"James!" snapped Sirius, his tone more forceful, "I said just drop it."

James fell silent, staring, perplexed, at his best friend. Sirius shook his head very slightly, and mouthed something which Remus didn't catch. He didn't care, either. All he knew was that he had to talk his way out of this situation. Now.

"When I was younger," he spoke carefully, trying to stop his voice from shaking, "I tripped over and fell on some broken glass. And I really hate the scar, so I try to hide it. It's not a big deal."

They all looked at him in silence. Remus's heart was thumping, please let them believe me, just let them believe me, please…

Sirius cleared his throat. "Okay, mate," he said, his tone unnaturally sincere and almost gentle, "You know, I used to have a horrendous scar when I was about eight, but my dear mother vanished it away. I was pretty disappointed, because I used to think scars were so cool, and…"

He was changing the subject for him, Remus realised suddenly. Now they were talking again, albeit with a little strain, and Peter was still staring, agog, at his arm, but no-one said another word on the subject. He had never tasted relief like it. And he sincerely hoped he would never have to again.

Yet he knew, with the guilty lies he was spinning in his intricate web, that there would be far too many more of incidents like these to come.

And when those incidents had happened far too many times for no-one to ever believe him any more?

Well. He just didn't want to think about it.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Hey there, everybody. I've just finished a load of exams! I'm so happy I could cry! They only lasted a week, but it still feels like a month. There's your reason for me not updating as quickly as I usually do.

But I still found time to write this! Yes! Be happy for me, people!

Love and peace to all of you, and don't forget to review!

Mooncheese xxx

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