"It was just built over the summer..."

"It looks like it was built ages ago."

"I was talking to one of the shop keeps, he says it's haunted..."

"Haunted? But it's brand new! Even if it doesn't look it."

"No, no, yeah, I heard the same thing, I heard that the locals have heard the screams of the damned!"

"The what?!"

"Several times now. Screams of the damned."

"It's a portal to hell?"

"Who lives there?"

"Nobody knows, it just popped up one day, and has protection spells on it. Nobody can get in."

"It's all boarded up. Nobody can even see in."

"It's got private property spells on it, you can't even get close."

"Screaming, you say?"

"Yup, that's what the locals said. It's super haunted."

"What if it was built for someone to die in?"

"Who would do that?"

"Dark wizards."

"So close to Dumbledore?"

"Surely the Ministry's investigated..."

The last comment really got to Remus who was otherwise enjoying listening in to the conversation of nearby fourth years at supper. At first he was terrified, realizing the house he went to was inside Hogsmeade! But then amusement took over at their speculation. Then the bit about the Ministry plummeted his heart into icy water. What if someone did summon the Ministry to investigate? Why couldn't Dumbledore have had the house built deep in the woods? Again, why a house and not just a hole in the ground?!

Remus pushed his plate away, no longer hungry, and then went up to the second floor to wait across from the entrance to Dumbledore's office. He wasn't sure how long he would be waiting and realized he'd be missing the study group but after hearing all that, he needed to talk to the headmaster. He sat down on the floor and brought his knees up, propping a book open on his lap to read while he waited.

Unfortunately before Dumbledore showed up, Peeves the Poltergeist did.

"Awww lookit the little baby cub, wanting to talk to ol' Professorhead, eh?" Peeves teased and Remus drew his knees up even more, trying to ignore him. "What's wrong. Firstie-Baby? Need a diaper change?"

"That's enough, Peeves." Professor Dumbledore came around a corner and gave the poltergeist a bit of a glare. "Go on." Peeves flipped upside down and gave a raspberry before disappearing. "Mr. Lupin, is everything all right?"

Remus had scrambled to his feet, dropping his book which he quickly picked up, feeling awkward already. "Y-yes, Professor. I-I mean, I don't know. I mean... c-can we talk? Privately?"

"Sugared oranges," he said and the gargoyle stepped aside so the two of them could stand on the revolving staircase. "Don't you have study group about now?"

Remus was a little bit surprised Dumbledore knew all about that, but only a little; it was his job to know what was going on in the castle and he supposed the fact three Gryffindors, two Hufflepuffs, two Ravenclaws, and a Slytherin got together every single night in the library would have long ago reached his ears. "I'll g-go after," he said. "Th... there isn't anything wr-wrong with the study group, is there?"

"Why would there be?" Dumbledore asked.

"I know a-a lot of people th-think the houses sh-should stay apart..."

"There's nothing wrong with house pride, my boy; and there's nothing wrong with befriending those in other houses."

"I-I'm not... f-friends... really..."

Dumbledore made a noncommittal noise as they reached the top and went down the short corridor to his door. He opened it up, allowing Remus to go in first. The phoenix gave a squawk when they came in and Dumbledore smiled, going over to stroke the bird's feathered head. "There's also nothing wrong with having friends, Mr. Lupin."

"There is when you're like me," he couldn't help retort then blushed at saying such a thing to the headmaster.

Dumbledore just glided over to his desk and sat down in his chair, motioning for Remus to sit in one of the chairs in front of it. He sat down, scuffing the toes of his shoes against the ground as he tried to sort out how to bring up what he needed to. "Your parents have always pressed upon you the need to stay hidden and secret, haven't they?" Dumbledore asked before Remus could figure out the right words.

"Of c-course, Professor... I-I have to! It's-they're n-not wrong about that!"

"No, no," the headmaster agreed. "I'm not saying they are. However... you can have friends and still keep your secret."

Remus didn't really have anything to say to that. They'd find out, even if I never told them which I wouldn't. They'd figure it out. He wasn't human and he was a bit surprised nobody had seen through his facade already. "Professor, my-my question is about-the house."

"Which house? Gryffindor?" Dumbledore asked though he clearly already knew what Remus meant.

"N-no, the one in... Hogsmeade. It is in Hogsmeade, isn't it?" he asked and Dumbledore nodded. "P-Professor, when I f-first went there I assumed it-it was out in the woods wh-where nobody could hear me. Honestly, I w-wasn't sure why it wasn't j-just a cement r-room underground. But in Hogsmeade?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said rather merrily. "Is something wrong with that?"

Remus just stared at the headmaster realizing finally why everyone called him a bit off his rocker. "There's everything wrong with that!" he burst out, unable to stop himself from having a scathing tone in his voice. "People can hear me! They have heard me! There were students discussing it at supper today, saying it was just built and already very haunted and-and wondering if anyone's gone to the Ministry since they think it's dark magic-which it is, Professor, it is, it's me and it's-they'll-it'll-" He ran out of steam and just gave a tiny wail, covering his face as he pictured the Werewolf Capture Unit storming the school.

"Are you finished?" Dumbledore asked and Remus nodded. "They haven't heard just you, Mr. Lupin. Despite what some people may say about me, I'm not entirely stupid. I've put some enchantments on the place and during the nights occasionally the townspeople will hear the same sort of screams and howls you make. It's been going on since August, and as I said-happens throughout the month and not just during the full moon."

Remus felt himself shrinking down into a tiny speck. "Oh," was all he managed to say.

"I put it in Hogsmeade because a house in the forest would be even more suspicious. Hardly anyone goes in, however sooner or later someone would hear about it or find it, and the Ministry would definitely get involved."

"Oh."

"Also I didn't want to just put you in a dark cement room underneath the Willow because that's just child abuse."

Remus's head snapped up. "Not wolf abuse."

Dumbledore gave him a rather level look. "Perhaps. However, there are times you remain a child throughout the entirely of the night. Is the house not comfortable enough?"

He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "It-is," he admitted however his mind was going to what Dumbledore had said: child abuse. It wasn't child abuse, though, since that's essentially where he stayed during all his moons at home. A pitch black cement room underground. Yes, he was human in there occasionally (and it was nightmarish and hellish and horrible) but-but it wasn't child abuse, his parents would never do anything like that.

They kept me in there even when I was a smaller child, when I was four and five, stuck me in there... did I understand...? What about the nights I stayed human during those times? Remus wondered, unable to recall any specific memory. Just a funny sort of feeling in his stomach. But it's not abuse or anything. I'm a werewolf so... it's just safety measures. It's completely different.

"Is there anything else you wish to scold me about?" Dumbledore asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

Remus went brilliantly pink at that. "I w-w-w-wasn't-I d-d-didn't-I j-just-"

"It's perfectly fine, Mr. Lupin. You had questions and I had answers which I hope have helped relax you a little bit."

He took in a deep breath, realizing the scolding line was just teasing. "What if the M-Min-Mini-Min-"

"Ministry?" he asked and Remus nodded. "That's been dealt with. They're under the impression a group of rather rowdy ghouls live there currently, along with some ghosts that wanted a place to stay. Which is one reason everyone says it's haunted. That's what the Ministry believes."

Another "Oh." and then Remus felt incredibly dumb for ever questioning Dumbledore's ability.

"Anything else?"

"N... no..."

Dumbledore clasped his hands together. "Mr. Lupin, even if you think otherwise now, I'm very glad you approached me with your concerns. All right?" Remus nodded, not really believing his words there. "All right, then. Have a good day. Enjoy your study group."

()

Once curfew hit he went to the common room and sat in a chair in one of the little nooks, reading or trying to read; his mind kept drifting to everything Dumbledore said, including-or rather, especially the line about having friends. I can't. But...

He couldn't help but look up when the three stooges made their appearance and watched with interest as some third years got into an argument with them over whether or not they were the ones to booby trap their dorm.

According to the third years when they went their dorm they found their beds short sheeted and filled with itching powder, and there was some sort of sticky goop all over the chairs, and finally bug bombs left in some of the desk drawers (which Remus didn't know what those were, however judging from the shouting it involved releasing some sort of fly-like bug when popped). Potter and Black kept insisting they had nothing to do with it and really, any Gryffindor had access to the dorms. The argument got quite loud.

Then another one of the third years got hold of Pettigrew who was trying to hide behind a couch. "I bet this one will tell us."

"L-let go of me!" Pettigrew squeaked as he was shaken rather violently.

"Oh, let go of him," one of the sixth year prefects said rather lazily.

"These three totally ruined our dorm!" said the one shaking Pettigrew.

"Yeah, they should be in trouble," added another.

"And if you don't give them trouble, we will," said yet another third year, rolling his sleeves up like he was gonna hit one of the younger students.

"We didn't do it!" Potter insisted, a dazzling smile on his face. "We were busy doing other stuff today."

"Like what?" The prefect demanded.

"Nobody saw you all day," added another student.

"We were..." Potter and Black glanced at each other.

Remus shut his book, the words coming out without him even thinking about it. "With me," he said and everyone involved swiveled to face him. "I was-was helping them with some of our essays. We holed up in-in an empty room, since they're banned from th-the library." The excuse had come easily even though he knew it wasn't a good idea to be nice to them.

The sixth year prefect came over, hands on his hips. "All day?"

"P-pretty much," Remus lied, looking innocently up. "Until supper, at least."

"All day doing essays?" the Prefect demanded.

Remus shrugged. "Have you seen their writing ability? I'm surprised it d-didn't take longer."

The prefect stared at Remus then back at Black and Potter who were nodding. "Then who messed up their dorm?" the prefect asked.

"I've no idea," Remus said, standing up now, tucking his book under one arm. "All I know is that those three were with-with me."

The third year holding Pettigrew dropped him and Pettigrew scurried to hide behind Black and Potter. "Next time you accuse someone, make sure it's the right someone," Black said, drawing himself up to full height.

The third years all looked quite confused and muttered amongst themselves over what really happened and Remus took this opportunity to go to his dorm and stay there for the night. Black, Potter, and Pettigrew all trailed after him and he knew they'd want to know why he helped him and the answer was he just didn't know. Like on the train, he felt bad for them even though they got into the situation themselves.

He got to the dorm and threw himself in his bed, shutting the curtains as they were coming in.

"Aren't you even gonna let us thank you?" Black asked and after a moment of absolute silence from Remus, Black gave a sigh. "Fine then, be that way."

He heard them leave and then settled back for more reading, hoping they didn't do anything stupid like give away the lie he told for them.

()

Someone broke into the house. Remus was pacing in the bedroom, hearing the group of kids laughing downstairs. 'Where's the ghosts?' one of them asked. 'Let's check upstairs!' said another. He crouched, waiting. It was the fourth years who had been talking at supper though they seemed younger now through the eyes of the wolf. They came up the stairs, laughing and joking about the portal to hell. Then they were all in the bathroom for some reason and the bathtub was full of blood. They started screaming and Remus shut the door behind him, a human now for some reason despite being a wolf a second ago. 'What are you doing here, firstie-baby?' Peeves asked, floating above the bathtub and throwing in balloons full of blood. Remus transformed on the spot and the fourth-years and Peeves all screamed. Remus pounced for Peeves first, fitting the entirety of the poltergeist in his mouth and crunching down, sending blood spurting all over the fourth years who couldn't find the door. Remus spun around, spitting out the destroyed poltergeist and then pounced, fitting one of the fourth years' heads into his mouth and-

He woke up screaming and crying and thrashing about. "No! No! Go away!" He fought against his blankets and then screamed again when light flooded into his bed revealing the bloody mess-

No. No bloody mess. No blood at all.

Remus knelt on his mattress, panting heavily, staring at the other first year boys. "No, I-s-s-sorry, sorry, I-I'm sorry-" he got out.

"He did it again!" Spinnet complained, glaring.

"Shut up!" Black snapped and Remus thought it was aimed at him but then no Black was turning to Spinnet. "If you know how to control nightmares then by all means..."

"Yeah, it's called dreamless sleep potion, you stupid Black!"

"Dreamless sleep potion can't be taken all the time." To Remus's surprise, Pettigrew was the one that came to his rescue.

"Oh and why not? How would you know?" Spinnet growled, turning on the pudgy boy who began shaking.

"I-it c-can become addictive if taken a lot," Pettigrew whimpered.

Spinnet rolled his eyes. "You don't know anything, so how do you know that?"

"Oi, leave him alone!" Potter said, stepping between Spinnet and Pettigrew.

"Are you all right?" Black asked Remus as Potter and Spinnet began arguing and Pettigrew quailed and Struthers just watched everyone with a frown.

"No-yes-I-I'm sorry, I d-d-didn't mean to wake everyone up-"

Spinnet whirled back to Remus. "You should be. Psycho." He stomped off to his bed. "Honestly, why would anyone let a lunatic like you into the school."

The worst part was Remus knew the origins of the word lunatic had to do with the moon and so it was truer than Spinnet would ever know. Lunaticus. Moon-sick. He felt like crying. Psycho, crazy, mental, all those other words wouldn't have really hurt as much as lunatic did. Moon-sick, a perfect description of me.

"Why are you even friends with him?" Black asked Struthers.

"Because he's nicer to me than you lot are," Struthers said then stalked off to his own bed.

Potter shot Remus a bit of a glare before going back to bed, and Pettigrew scurried off to his own. Black glanced back then looked at Remus once more. "Do you need anything?" he asked and Remus shook his head, still fighting off the tears. "Okay. Erm. Well. If you do..." He trailed off and then returned to his bed, giving one more pale, wrinkled-forehead glance before shutting the curtains.

Remus closed his curtains and curled up, hugging his pillow, wishing dreamless sleep potion did work, even if it was addictive. He never liked having nightmares and they haunted them in his waking hours but just waking up the other boys made it so much worse. Maybe I could learn a spell to make my bed sound proof, he thought, eyeing the deep scarlet velvet curtains. Maybe that will work...

()

Sunday was spent pretty much in the library on his own, fixing up all his essays due and reading underneath one of the tables for extra privacy. He had lunch and supper both in the kitchens with the Fat Friar for company, and went to study group, but other than that he stayed as much on his own as possible. He also tried studying up on spells that might be able to absorb or block sounds though didn't really get too far. Everything he found involved a more... tightly closed area than a bed with loads of gaps and just fabric as 'walls'.

It wasn't until he was getting ready for bed that night that he realized he hadn't been practicing 'emptying' himself for a couple days now. So he stretched out on top of his covers and closed his eyes, trying to let all his emotions and thoughts slip right out of his head... and it didn't work. He felt bored. And anxious. And irritated, at Potter's radio blasting away.

Then someone knocked at one of the columns at the foot of his bed. His eyes snapped open and he crawled to the end, figuring it would be Black. To his surprise, it was Struthers. "Can we talk?" he asked and indicated for Remus to follow him out of the room which he reluctantly did. They went into the empty bathroom and Struthers gave Remus a small smile. "Hey. So. I know this probably sounds weird but do you... wanna hang out or something? Sometime?"

Remus blinked a few times, not sure he heard right. "Wh-what?"

"I-I didn't really want to before when I thought you were friends with them but I guess you're not, are you? It doesn't seem that way to me at least. I know Andy can be a bit rough but he's a good fellow and I was wondering if you wanted to be our friend?"

It was a logical possibility. Six Gryffindor boys, split into three and three. Struthers wouldn't be too bad. He was a Muggleborn, so less likely to figure out the whole werewolf thing. But Spinnet had a lot of magic blood and both his parents were magic so there'd be problems there, plus Spinnet was a total jerk to Remus about the nightmare thing.

"I don't-like Sp-Spinnet,: Remus said flatly.

Struthers frowned. "He's really not so bad-"

Remus folded his arms. "He c-c-called me psycho for h-having nightmares."

"He was just tired and mad," Struthers mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "At least he's not as bad as Black."

"What d-d-did Black ever do to you?" Out of all the boys in the dorm, Black seemed the nicest. Then again that might just be due to the fact he was the only one of the group still trying to reach a hand out to Remus.

Struthers looked acutely uncomfortable. "I'm not entirely sure I know what happened, but he called me something awful. I mean, he apologized about it but-Andy says the Black family is... not so good..."

"Wh-what did he call you?" Remus asked, remembering the fight on their first night of Astronomy.

"I don't know exactly. Something to do with my blood." Struthers squinted at the wall. "Mud... blood...?"

Remus gave a slight gasp and covered his mouth. "He c-c-called you that?!" Okay, maybe Black wasn't so nice.

Struthers shrugged. "I think? Andy got really angry and started fighting him and then Potter tried to stop it and Black seemed really confused, and Potter dragged Black out of the dorm, and Andy ranted a while, then Black came in looking really upset and apologized to me and told me he didn't understand the term properly, and I said it was okay but then Andy said it wasn't and insisted that Black knew, er, damn well what he meant, and got into a fist fight with Black. This was when you were sick at the beginning of September, by the way," Struthers added and Remus nodded, still shocked. "I got Andy off of Black and Potter got Black away, and then Andy and I left. He said what Black said is a really nasty term for-for Muggleborns."

"It... it is..." Remus felt absolutely sick he ever defended Black in the first place. He wanted to march to the sixth year dorm and tell that Prefect he had lied and that Black had booby-trapped the third years!

"Anyway, so I was thinking since you're not hanging out with them, you could hang out with us."

Remus looked up at Struthers and thought, If it was just you, actually, I could probably say yes. You'd have a hard time figuring out the truth. I'd feel safer with you. But not Spinnet. And not with his attitude. "I-I d-d-don't know, I-I don't like Spinnet."

Struthers shrugged and then nodded. "I understand. If you change your mind, feel free though. I'm sure Andy will be nicer to you once you're friends with him."

"Th-thanks."

Struthers left the bathroom and after a moment Remus followed. Inside the dorm Black gave Remus a smile and Remus just glowered at him, wanting to use the leg-locker curse on him. Mudblood, indeed! You-jerk! Black frowned at seeing such a ferocious glare from tiny little Remus and turned his attention back to the board game he and Potter were playing, visibly unhappy now.