As always, a huge thank you to my reviewer on the last chapter mmauney12, whose reviews are the only reason this story keeps getting updated. And to everyone else reading, let me know what you're thinking in the reviews! It always makes my day to get the alert that someone has taken the time to post something and it means faster, better quality chapters.

And for everyone who read the last chapter before August 11th, I went back and revised the ending of the chapter! After I posted it I realized how unhappy I was with Messalina and Remus' interaction and pretty much scrapped what I had written and re-did the whole ending. So I recommend going back and reading that last part before this one!

Previously on Above All Others: Messalina tries to kiss Remus in the Come and Go Room only for Remus to jerk away. They make up after their DADA lesson on boggarts, though their conversation leaves Messalina wondering what Remus meant when he said he would've asked her out in a different life, under different circumstances.

News of Messalina's doppelgänger boggart spread throughout the school faster than a case of dragon pox. Messalina regretted not paying closer attention to her classmates' worst fears - at least then she could've thrown it right back in their faces. She had bribed Marlene with a Polaroid of Fabian to fill her in on the details of who else in the class had gone before the boggart (Lily was adamant that people's worst fears should not be used against them even if they wanted to talk about Messalina's, but Marlene was far easier to convince when Lily was on rounds).

Aside from Jenny Connors' giant spider, there had been some Muggle thing called a clown, a grim, a dragon, and a handful of other expected creatures and beings. Lily, Marlene told her in a whisper, had seen her family dead and was quite shaken up about it. James Potter had had the same experience, two dead parents laying on the cold tile of the DADA classroom in front of half of their year. Marlene, on the other hand, had been Madame Malkin declaring her fashion designs atrocious and not fit for a troll. Marlene had laughed it off, but Messalina noticed the shine in her eyes as she had recounted her story and the way her eyes lingered on her Witch Weekly catalogue that night before dinner.

Some students, however, had avoided the boggart as though it was the plague and Vector had not pushed for them to go against it. This greatly surprised Messalina considering his typically brusque and unforgiving manner, but she supposed it made sense. Peter Pettigrew feared You-Know-Who more than anyone Messalina had ever met and it may have caused a panic if the man appeared in the middle of a DADA lesson. Had Mary been in the class, she certainly would have seen a werewolf and Messalina imagined Vector might have asked Remus to step in as the closest one to the boggart to avoid causing a full on panic. What didn't make sense was why Vector spared several Slytherins, including Snape and Graham. Vector usually could not care less about what Snape was doing, but Graham was half of Vector's favorite duo. It made no sense to Messalina why Graham wouldn't have been just as eager to show off his abilities to their professor and the question of why Graham had acted so disinterested lingered in the back of her mind.

"How can you be afraid of yourself?" A passing Ravenclaw sixth year whispered to her friend as they skirted passed Messalina's desk in the library, giving her a wider berth than was necessary. Messalina shot them a dark look and they turned bright red at having been caught gossiping so close to the subject herself. Resisting the urge to groan, Messalina turned her attention back to the textbooks piled around her.

Lily had failed to join her for their usual study session, choosing to stay behind in the Common Room to help Mary finish a Divination project she was woefully behind on. Typically, Messalina would have stayed behind to assist; however, she was trying to avoid seeing Remus until she knew what he meant by 'in a different life, under different circumstances' meant.

So far, she was nowhere near succeeding in her attempt, but after only a few days of trying she wasn't ready to give up quite yet. That and she had seen Remus freshly showered (Care of Magical Creatures had been held in a drizzling rain outside and the Marauders and Marlene had come back drenched) and in one of his softest jumpers. The sight sent her into fight or flight mode and she had gathered her things with more speed than she expected possible and fled to the peace of the library immediately. Well, relative peace considering a few whispers aside from the Ravenclaw sixth years and a couple pointed looks. Who knew you couldn't have it revealed you were your own greatest fear without people talking about it?

Sighing, Messalina looked back to the textbooks spread out around her. If Vector didn't want to go into an in-depth review on dark creatures, she'd have to go into it herself. Remus would have to wait until she was caught up on her N.E.W.T. review. Maybe once she finally felt like she wasn't drowning in work she would have time to figure out what illnesses caused monthly disappearances like the twins had mentioned. At this rate, she wouldn't be getting there until N.E.W.T.s were over.

Grabbing The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, Messalina skimmed through the chapters on hags, zombies, and red caps, all of which Vector had covered in his brief review on dark creatures in class. Why he had skipped over werewolves, a frequently tested area on the N.E.W.T.s, Messalina had not a clue. It seemed the old man was losing it even more than she had expected. Reaching the werewolf bite section, Messalina grabbed her parchment and began jotting down notes as she read through the material.

Werewolf fangs are venomous - you must thoroughly and magically clean any bites. Mix powdered silver and dittany to prevent the victim from bleeding out.

No cure for a bite, scratches can leave victims with wolf-like tendencies.

Hunt for humans during monthly transformations and will bite/attack itself if no animals or humans are present.

In wolf-form, the werewolf loses all sense of human right and wrong.

Prior to and after the full moon, the werewolf may exhibit signs of ill health or pallor. May be irritable towards others: harsh/impatient. (PMS for werewolves?) May age prematurely - grey hair, wrinkles.

"Lina?" Messalina looked up from a passage on how werewolves lose their sense of moral judgement over time in Lupine Lawlessness: Why Lycanthropes Don't Deserve to Live to see Remus standing across from her. He was rather pale, the pallor making his faint scars more prominent. He was staring down at something on the table in front of her, his gaze unfaltering. Glancing down, Messalina noted he was locked onto the cover of the book in front of her and rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe they even have this book here - its absolute hogwash," she whispered, glancing at where the librarian was stocking shelves and still glaring at a Hufflepuff who had sneezed almost twenty minutes ago. "I thought a library was where you were supposed to learn facts, not whatever this is."

"Some people believe Picardy was right about everything in that book," Remus replied stiffly after a moment and Messalina gave him an inquisitive look. She'd expected Remus to be equally as offended by Hogwarts having such inflammatory and false information.

"The Death Eaters maybe," she joked, hoping a lighter tone might make it feel less frigid and break some of the tension.

"The Ministry." Remus' voice was hard and it surprised Messalina so much she blinked at him for a few seconds before remembering social courtesies existed.

"Did you want to sit?" Remus had begun to shake his head before she had even closed her mouth, but unluckily for him she had been so flustered by his previous statement that she had already begun to clear a spot away before speaking. She was still at a loss of how to act around him and it seemed in her determination to keep to her promise that things could and would go back to normal between them, she was coming off as overly eager as he shifted awkwardly.

"No, no that's okay," he replied hastily, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck and looking just about everywhere but at her. "I told Peter I'd help him with his Herbology essay."

Unspoken was the fact that Messalina typically helped Peter with Herbology as they were partners in the class, but they had not spoken since Peter had accused her of snogging a 'slippery snake like Pucey'. Remembering Peter's words stung more than Messalina would have liked to admit - particularly in the face of their once solid friendship. They had grown more distant during the year than she had realized, as she became friends with Remus and Peter withdrew into himself. She wondered fleetingly if there would be any repair to their friendship, but recalling the look of disgust on Peter's face when he thought she was involved with Graham Pucey was enough to push the thought away. Even if she wasn't with Graham, she wasn't sure she wanted to be friends with someone that was so judgmental of her other friends.

Turning her attention back to the matter at hand, Messalina noticed Remus was gazing out at what she considered to be the best view in the castle: the lake and the sprawling grounds around it. It was rather diminished today considering the pouring rain outside, but at the same time it was almost mesmerizing to watch the rain drops race down the bay window before disappearing from sight. He looked lost in his thoughts, a glazed over look in his eyes.

"I got a table, Moony, you ready?" Peter had appeared as the pair had stared out in silence and Messalina startled at the sound of his voice, grateful Vector had not seen her let her guard down in such a crowded place. She tried not to let Peter's careful avoidance of her eyes bother her, but her stomach churned as he focused completely on Remus.

"Yeah, sorry Peter. Good luck, Lina." Remus followed Peter through the crowded tables to one at a diagonal and Messalina had to kick herself for being grateful Peter had chosen the seat facing away from her, leaving her with a good view of Remus. Not that there was any reason why she might be interested in looking up from a long passage of reading to see a friendly face. No reason at all.

Ducking her head as Remus' eyes moved in her direction, Messalina reopened the textbook and grimaced at the drawing of a beheaded werewolf in Serbia. For the level of detail, it had to be an image from someone's memory rather than a figment of imagination. Deciding there could be no worthwhile information among such filth and derogatory language, Messalina slammed the book closed again and shoved it to the side before grabbing another from her stack.

Distinguishing marks from a wolf: shorter snout, human-like eyes, tufted tail. And targets humans almost exclusively.

Often experience poverty, prejudice, and discrimination. Might cause them to further lash out/withdraw.

Classified as XXXXX when transformed - currently in the Beast Division at the Ministry but often shunted between Beast & Being. Check for classification before exam.

Hard to tell in human form. Look for: grey hair at a young age, unexplained scars, monthly disappearances, mood swings, generally weakened appearance, bite mark(s), interest in the moon/tides.

After reading passages from two hefty textbooks on why muggles believed silver could kill a werewolf, Messalina rubbed her eyes and yawned. She regretted lying awake until the wee hours of the morning contemplating names to give the twins for their defense organization, especially as the only names she had firmly placed into the 'ask for certain' area were her dorm mates. The previous week she'd had all the Marauders with Graham Pucey in the 'firmly consider' category, but now Graham was edging slowly towards 'ask for certain' and the other boys were headed towards 'maybe'. Her ability to read others' signals was apparently flawed and she wished not for the first time that the twins had actually been too busy to visit her in Hogsmeade. The thought turned her stomach, though, and filled her with such guilt that her chest ached.

Running a hand across her face with a sigh, Messalina wished Lily had accompanied her. The redhead had a natural gift to know when Messalina's thoughts had turned from the objective at hand and was quite adept at delivering a hissed reminder that they had come here to study. But Lily was in the Common Room and Messalina was too exhausted to be motivated to do much more than skim a page for 'werewolves' and write down anything that seemed relevant. She really needed to get more sleep if she expected to stay concentrated for so long.

She turned back to the last book in front of her, a hefty tome on werewolf legislation through the 1930s, and nibbled on the end of her quill as she began to read. Grimacing as she realized she had stuck an actual pheasant feather quill in her mouth and cursing Marlene for getting her semi-addicted to sugar quills, Messalina pulled a piece of the feather from her mouth. Glancing over to see if Remus noticed, her cheeks already burning red, Messalina was relieved to see he was bent over a piece of parchment. Discarding the feather piece into her bag as discretely as possible, Messalina risked one last look at Remus, telling herself it was to make sure the glazed look was gone out of his eyes.

He seemed to have had the same idea she did as she noticed him looking away quickly, as though pretending to be engrossed by something on the bookshelf behind her. Rolling her eyes, Messalina lowered her head so her hair served as a partial curtain and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. His preoccupation with the books lasted only a few seconds before he looked over at her intently as though expecting her to do something. What he thought she was going to do in the middle of the crowded library as she read through enough werewolf material to fry her brain wasn't obvious to her, but Remus was looked bothered enough that whatever it was must've been at the forefront of his mind.

Who would've thought Remus Lupin was such an enigma? With his 'in different circumstances, in another life' comment, his relative disinterest in other girls and any kind of relationship, his apparent illness or otherwise unexplained absences, and the scars she knew he tried to hide. She'd come into this year thinking he was a nice, studious boy and had come out with her brain feeling scrambled. Sighing, she brushed the hair behind her ears and made a mental note to do all her serious studying in her dorm.

"Reading about loony Lupin, eh?" An all too familiar voice whispered from somewhere to her right and Messalina wondered if the stress of studying had her hallucinating. Turning her head as innocuously as she could, Messalina took note of the boy standing behind a bookshelf, his face buried in a book but his dark eyes focused on her. But she'd recognize his voice anywhere, unfortunately, after being forced to be civil with him for five years.

"Too scared to face a boggart, Snape?" She murmured, putting a hand over her mouth to keep her voice from carrying across the relatively quiet room.

"It's smart to read up on your friends." His reply ignored her taunt and Messalina rolled her eyes. He had always been able to dish out insults but he had never been able to take them.

"Like you know shit about friendship."

"I know your friends aren't what you think they are." Snape's voice was hard and he slammed the book closed to stare at her through the bookcase. It felt as though his dark eyes were boring into her soul and Messalina scoffed at him.

"I know your friends are exactly what you think they are. And no matter how much you want them to accept you, they'll never see you as more than a useful little half-blood. No matter how many curses and potions you learn or what you do, you'll be less than them. Don't pretend not to know that. Now run along, they won't accept you if they catch you with me."

"You're supposed to be good at DADA but you're a fool if you can't see what's in front of you."

"I see a boy that wishes he was born in my place and can't stand that someone could see through that purity bullshit. Blood doesn't make you special, Snape. I always thought Lily was evidence of that."

"Just keep her away from Black and Lupin. They're dangerous," Snape hissed, giving her one last look before heading deeper into the library with the book under his arm. He looked rather like a bat flapping about with his oversized robes and greasy hair. The interaction made her skin crawl and not for the first time, she thanked whoever was listening that Lily had not looked back once she decided she'd had enough of Snape.

He'd always given her the creeps and his obsession with the Dark Arts reminded her all too much of her childhood before Hogwarts. His superiority complex rivaled even her cousin Antonin's, and Messalina knew there was the potential for it to reach the levels of her mother and father if it continued to grow unchecked. She knew the disgust and disdain was mutual - especially once Lily and Snape had cut ties after O.W.L.s. They'd never spoken since, Snape had always tried to talk to Lily when she was alone, knowing Messalina would have never let him get within ten feet of the redhead.

So why was he coming up to her in the middle of the library, in plain view of plenty of students in his own house that would love nothing more than to share gossip that the strange Snape was cavorting with one of the best known blood traitors in the school? Why was he including Remus in whatever conspiracy he was talking about? And how could she be reading about 'loony Lupin' if she was explicitly and obviously reading the contents of the school's werewolf collection? What could possibly make Remus so dangerous that Snape would go out of his way to warn a sworn enemy to protect Lily from him? Remus Lupin was a kind albeit apparently strange boy, what could he possibly have to do with werewolves...

Hey Moony.

Some people believe Picardy was right about everything in that book - the Ministry.

Mary's insistence that she had seen a werewolf in Divination.

Remus' pallor, his monthly Hospital Wing visits.

Unexplained scars.

In another life, under different circumstances, I would have asked you out years ago.

The small tuft of grey hairs Marlene had noted Remus had at the end of sixth year, remarking on how mature he looked, and how he had been so flustered before giving an excuse that his father was the same way.

Remus not going to Hogsmeade the day Mary asked if there was a full moon the night before.

When Messalina ran into Remus outside the Hospital Wing in fifth year when she was running late from helping Mary fill in her star chart from the full moon and had been able to knock him down.

Vector not making Remus face the boggart.

Werewolf.

Her eyes snapped up from the parchment in front of her of their own accord, fixing themselves on Remus. She snapped her quill in half, ink splattering across the table and the book in front of her before pooling on her parchment. It made an audible cracking sound in the quiet room and Remus turned instinctively in response, his eyes locking onto hers.

He had been speaking to Peter but the words seemed to die in his throat as he looked into her wide eyes. She watched as the color drained from his face, the scars and the dark circles under his eyes standing out in contrast. Messalina let out a shaky breath she hadn't realized she was holding as she loosened her grip on the broken quill long enough for it to fall onto the table in two pieces. Her hand was covered in ink and she smeared it on an unused piece of parchment, leaving a large black streak. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Peter swivel in his chair to see what Remus was so unabashedly staring at across the room. The color drained from Peter's face in a similar, almost comical manner and his mouth fell open as he gaped at her. His eyes flicked from her face to the pile of books in front of her rapidly and Messalina watched him swallow hard. Had she not felt her throat closing, she might have found the sight amusing.

Movement from beyond Remus and Peter got her attention and she noticed the librarian was on her way over as if sensing ink had dared touch one of her prized possessions. Fear of the woman's wrath was enough to kick Messalina into high gear and activate her fight or flight response.

Grabbing her bag, Messalina shoved the broken quill and her parchment in it haphazardly, grateful her hands were steady enough to close her glass bottle of ink and securely place it in her bag's pocket. Closing the book splattered with ink, Messalina stood up and collected the materials as quickly as she could. Her arms felt weak and shaky as she carried them swiftly over to the return area, dumping them unceremoniously before walking as quickly as possible out of the library without drawing further attention to herself.

Only when she was in the hallway alone was she able to catch her breath and relieve some of the strange feeling in her stomach. But even that relief did not last long as the door to the library opened again and Remus emerged, his head on a swivel as he tried to locate her. His breath was ragged and Messalina wondered if she had ever been as anxious as he looked aside from her Sorting. The tension in his shoulders dissipated somewhat when his eyes fell on her leaning against the wall, but the guarded stance was quickly thrown back on as he approached slowly.

"Lina..." His voice was cautious, but she sensed the desperation. It was the voice she would have used to try to keep Charlie from fleeing from her when she was frantic or thought he was in danger. The tone she used to use when Antonin knew something she had done wrong and was threatening to go to her parents. Fear. Everything about his approach screamed 'please, please, do not run away' and her heart went out to him. Doubtlessly, he was petrified she would turn tail and start screaming at the top of her lungs that she knew what he was. She wondered what Mary would have done in her shoes.

"Can we talk?" Her voice was steadier than she'd expected and Remus almost sagged with relief. He looked bone-tired, almost as though the bag on his shoulder was dragging him to the ground.

"Please," his voice was measured and Messalina jerked her head in the direction of the staircase. There was, after all, only one place in the whole school where you could be guaranteed privacy. And as the only two people in the school who knew what and where it was, the Come and Go Room was their best shot at being open with each other.

The walk up the stairs was tense to say the least, Messalina leading and Remus trailing behind her. Her mind was racing with the facts she'd written down earlier and she had never been so glad that the Prewetts had undone so much of the damage her parents had inflicted on her. In her parents minds, werewolves were a tool to be used and disposed of. They were something to draw on when you wanted to instill fear in your enemies or when you needed an easy source of anger to draw from. Promise them an ounce of a better life and they'd be so desperate for it you'd own them even if you had no intention to help. She remembered her father laughing about how Fenrir Greyback wanted the Dark Mark with her Uncle Armand just a few weeks before Armand had killed eighteen muggle children in the name of their Dark Lord.

The Prewetts had a different approach. Two Ministry officials who believed full-heartedly in the need for reforms to better the world for everyone. Who believed in tearing down the place and starting again to put everyone on equal footing: purebloods, Muggles, muggleborns, werewolves. Out with the old and in with the new.

"What should we be thinking about?" Remus' voice pulled her from her thoughts and she offered him a small smile, realizing they were in front of the empty spot on the seventh floor.

"Where would you want to be?"

"Somewhere comfortable," Remus replied after a few moments of gazing thoughtfully at the wall where Messalina knew a door would appear, regardless of its shape and size.

"Then let's go there." She grabbed Remus' hand before her confidence abandoned her, ignoring how clammy his hand was and the way he started at her touch. She led him across the threshold three times, focusing on 'I need a comfortable place to talk' and marveling at the door that appeared in front of her. It was very much like she imagined the Hufflepuff Common Room dorm entrance would be if they replaced the barrels with a door - cozy, intimate, and optimistic.

Messalina released Remus' hand, ignoring the way her hand felt empty without his. She pulled the door open to distract herself, stepping inside what was perhaps the coziest room she'd ever been in. It was small, with a roaring fireplace and two overstuffed armchairs before it. Soft candlelight accentuated the fire and created a warm glow that automatically drew Messalina in and relaxed her. She walked over to one of the chairs and collapsed, watching two logs fall onto each other and shoot embers into the air. Remus was not far behind and out of the corner of her eye Messalina could see him sink into the other chair slowly. He sighed as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders and Messalina turned to face him.

"So you know what I am." His statement left no room for questions and she nodded mutely at him, words escaping her."I always knew you'd figure it out someday."

"Remus-"

"I expected it in third year, when we looked at Dark Creatures for the first time and I heard you complain to Lily that they'd glossed over werewolves as if they weren't a heavily tested area. You were in the library for hours that weekend, leaning over tomes about how to identify werewolves in human form. Do you know what you said to Peter when you finished?" Messalina shook her head, stunned that Remus could remember something so vividly when she scarcely remembered the name of their third year DADA professor let alone a weekend study session. "You said that you wouldn't be surprised if there was a werewolf at Hogwarts with us. I thought for certain you had figured it out and were trying to tell Peter you knew what was going on. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for you to start looking at me weird or giving some indication that you knew. But you didn't, and looking back I should've known that. We weren't friends back then, just housemates, and there was no reason for you to notice anything more than the rest of the school. And I should've known when we became friends that you'd figure it all out some day and I'm sorry to have led you to believe I'm someone that I'm not."

His tone was melancholy, especially as he reached his final thoughts, and he refused to look at her. Instead, he focused on an unraveling piece of yarn from his jumper, his left hand pulling at it halfheartedly. He was expecting her to reject him, to refuse to be friends with him, to be disgusted, she realized with a start, when in actuality it felt as though all the missing pieces of their friendship had been found at long last. The Remus Lupin Puzzle had been solved.

"Remus," she said slowly, wishing their chairs were closer so she could reach out to him. "I don't know what expectations you have for when people find out, but I hope you know I could never think less of you."

"I am a monster, Lina."

"I spent the first eleven years of my life with monsters. They intend to hurt others for their own joy and happiness. They think only of themselves, use others as a means to their own ends. They could never form the relationships you have or exhibit an ounce of the bravery and kindness you have. I could never describe someone that took the time to teach my godson about dragons, tried to reassure me at the Sorting and make sure I was alright, or offered to fix my bruises and be my friend to be a monster. Might have a once a month problem, but you could never be a monster. It takes intent and purpose to be a monster, and I know you too well to consider that possible."

"If you were loose with me when I transformed," Remus began forcefully, looking up from his sweater to look Messalina squarely in the face. It was clear the conversation had taken a turn Remus had not expected as he looked genuinely shocked at her words. "I would not be able to help myself. You'd be infected or dead within seconds. There'd be no stopping me, no trying to reason with me. I would destroy your life."

"Would you be consciously making the decision?"

"What?" If it were not for the seriousness of the situation, Messalina would have fawned over how cute Remus looked with his head tilted and a deer in the headlights look on his face. Instead, she pressed on stubbornly.

"Would it be you, the Remus sitting in front of me, making the decision to go after humans? With the brain you're using to speak to me, would you decide to do that?"

"No, but Lina-"

"Then as long as I'm not around during the full moon, I'd be in less danger around you than I would be with half the boys in our year. You can try to convince me that you're a monster until you're blue in the face, but I would never believe you. I care about you far too much to let you go over something you can't control."

"Lina-"

"When did the Marauders find out?" She asked, pointedly ignoring his protests.

"Second year, but look Lina-"

"Damn they're smarter than I give them credit for," she mused. "And yet you're all still thick and thieves, running around and making enchanted maps of the school. If you were truly dangerous, Dumbledore would never allow you to be here."

"Dumbledore considered it last year," Remus replied so quietly she could hardly hear him over the sound of the crackling fireplace and she leaned closer. "Snape kept sniffing around trying to figure out what was going on with my monthly disappearances. And Sirius had had enough of his snooping and told him how to get past the Whomping Willow to get into the tunnel that leads into the Shrieking Shack, where I transform. James found out about it and got to Snape just before he entered the Shack. He went to Dumbledore after, trying to get me expelled from the school, but Dumbledore didn't and forbid Snape from saying anything. If Snape had made it through that door, he'd either be dead or like me. I'm dangerous, no matter how many nice words you have to say about who you think I am!"

"I always thought Black was capable of cruelty, but I never imagined he could do something like that to one of his friends," Messalina spat, her blood boiling. Sirius Black was an insufferable, immature manchild but she had never once dreamed he could hurt one of his friends so deeply. To put something like that on his friend's conscious without remorse evidently. To ruin Remus' already stunted life, and for what? At least it made sense why Snape had gone out of his way to try to warn Messalina to keep Lily away from Remus and Black.

"Here you are acting as though I'm the victim! I would have murdered him, Lina! One step further and I would be a murderer!" Remus got to his feet in a flurry of motion, his chest heaving as he stared down at her with wild eyes.

"Sirius Black would have been a murderer for setting it up! An unbelievably selfish prat ready to ruin your life and Snape's! It would have been on him, not you!"

"You're not listening to me. I remember everything I do when I wake up and I'll never forget smelling Snape in the air, wanting to bite and tear and taste his blood. You cannot begin to imagine what it's like to know you're capable of that."

"You said 'when I wake up', Remus," Messalina used her softest, gentlest tone as Remus sat back down in the chair and buried his head in his hands, defeat evident in his posture. She stood up, making her way over to him cautiously as though not to spook him if he sensed she was near. "That's not you in your right mind. It'd be like being under the Imperius, you can't be held accountable for your actions. And the fact that you're so upset about this proves to me that you're not a monster, whether you think so or not."

Crouching beside the armchair, Messalina put her hand on Remus' upper arm. Half expecting him to shove it off and storm away in a rage at her stubbornness, Messalina was surprised when he leaned into her touch and lifted his head from his hands. His green eyes were watery and his hands shook as he reached down and took her hand in his as though it was a lifeline keeping him tethered to the ground.

"You're a good man, Remus Lupin. And if you don't believe it just yet, know that I always will."

"You'll never be safe around me," he whispered, a mixture of longing and sorrow in his eyes. It was the very image of a man trying desperately to hold himself back and failing miserably. "Lina, you'll always be in danger."

"That's a decision for me to make, not you." Silence fell over them as Messalina shifted so she was sitting on the ground, holding Remus' hand tightly and leaning her cheek on the arm of the chair. Realizing Remus had run out of arguments for the moment, Messalina took advantage of his contemplation to bring something up she had been curious about since he'd mentioned it.

"So is the Shrieking Shack not actually haunted? Because that would've been nice to know when I was having nightmares about it in third year." Remus' chuckle and exasperated head shake made it all worth it, and as the tension dissipated, all she could think about was how she couldn't believe it was Black all the girls were after.