AN: Anyone else super excited about 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' being made into a movie? Granted, it's going to be a few years, but it's another movie! And the script is written by JKR! I think that's the part that's got me the most excited. As usual thanks to the many, many, many followers and favorites out there. And, of course, major thanks to the reviewers: Guest, Nebresh, becuzitswrong, enchanted nightingale, kkatowel, Narcissa-Weasly, Majerus, Guest, Fibinaci, Hofmann Claudia, ILoveGeorgeEads, Kairan1979, MaeSilverpaws1, elmoryakhan, Guest, MariusDarkwolf, Ari989, Tellur, Susan M. M, ultima-owner, magitech, Wonderbee31, and Lady Sabine of Macayhill.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise.

Friday morning, Charity woke up with a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something wasn't right. She quickly got ready and hurried to Remus' quarters. Knocking impatiently, she bounced on the balls of her feet and waited for him to open the door. She frowned when she didn't hear any movement from inside. That was odd; Remus was usually an early riser. She pursed her lips and knocked again.

When Charity still didn't hear anything, she moved towards the Defense classroom. Maybe he was already getting things organized for his classes. It didn't make much sense, but sometimes Remus had acted on strange impulses. But the classroom, as well as his office, was empty. On his desk was an envelope with her name on the front.

Charity,

I'm afraid that the illness I had a few weeks ago has returned. There is no need to worry. Professor McGonagall has already arranged substitutes for today's classes. I should return by Monday. Please inform the students that there should be no homework for them in my absence.

Thank you

Remus

Charity didn't like the formal, detached tone the letter had. It seemed so unlike Remus to be that impersonal towards her. And why would his illness disappear and reappear within a matter of weeks? She counted in her head for a moment. It had been exactly a month since he had gotten sick. Charity furrowed her brow. Surely that wasn't right? And that still didn't explain why he hadn't gotten out of bed this morning to talk to her. Maybe he was in the Hospital Wing.

Charity glanced at the clock. No time now to check. She had to get down to breakfast and warn her students.

At the Gryffindor table, the third years were awake and excited.

Parvati carefully pealed her orange and separated the wedges. "I wonder what Professor Lupin's going to show us today."

Seamus guzzled down some juice, spilling a bit on the tablecloth. "Knowing him, probably something totally wicked."

Hermione blinked blearily, trying to hide her exhaustion. "We're supposed to start hinkypunks today."

Charity chose that moment to drop in. "Well, you might have to put your lesson plans on hold. I'm afraid Professor Lupin isn't feeling very well at the moment."

Harry glanced up worriedly. "Is he alright, Professor?"

Charity chewed on her lip. "I expect he'll be fine. He told me he'd be back on Monday."

Lavender tilted her head to the side. "What's wrong with him?"

Charity looked down. "Oh, um, I wasn't informed of that. But I'm sure it's nothing serious," She told them.

"Does this mean we won't have to have class?" Ron asked hopefully.

She laughed lightly. "You'll still be going to class, Ron. I don't know who is going to be filling in for him, though. I'm pretty sure the only teachers who are free right now are Professor Longbottom and Professor Snape."

Neville groaned. "Both Gran and Snape are still angry with me after the boggart."

"They'll get over it," Dean reassured him. "Eventually."

Charity smiled. "It'll be alright, Neville. Now, enough with the talking. I'm famished!"

Ron heartily agreed, scarfing down some more bacon.

Charity had just finished up her sixth year Muggle Studies class when loud voices came from the hall. She sighed. Why was it that people never worried about interrupting her class like they did with Transfiguration, or Charms, or Potions? "You're all dismissed."

She flung open the door, only to be greeted by the sight of eight distraught Gryffindors. Charity shooed them into her office and firmly shut, locked, and silenced the door. "What's the matter? Did something happen?"

"No," Hermione sniffled.

"Yes!" Seamus declared hotly. "Snape was being a git to Hermione!"

Hermione shook her head. The girl appeared to be near tears.

"Alright, start from the beginning," Charity ordered, passing Hermione a tissue.

"It's really nothing," Hermione insisted with a hiccup. "I just got used to not hearing people call me that anymore. It's not a big deal."

Lavender gasped. "Hermione, what he said was awful!"

"Will someone please tell me what happened?" Charity implored.

Dean coughed lightly. "Snape was our substitute today. He started off by saying some foul things about Lupin—"

"—which aren't true!" Harry declared.

"—and then he wanted to know where we'd left off. Hermione told him, and then he claimed that we were too far behind, and said we need to study werewolves today."

"Werewolves?" Charity repeated. "Why werewolves?"

"Dunno." Dean shrugged. "Anyway, Hermione told him that we were supposed to start hinkypunks, which made him angry, and then he asked us to describe the difference between werewolves and regular wolves. Hermione knew, but he wouldn't call on her, so she just told him—"

"I shouldn't have done that," Hermione interjected softly. "I shouldn't have spoken out of turn. I did it twice!" Hermione sniffled again.

"That doesn't mean he can go around calling you names and being a right bas—"

"Ron," Charity warned.

He looked slightly abashed.

"Now, what did he say to you, Hermione?" She asked gently.

Hermione shook her head again. "It's nothing I haven't been called before, I just wasn't expecting it—"

"Hermione, what did he say?" She repeated more firmly.

Hermione remained silent.

Parvati cleared her throat. "He called her an insufferable know-it-all and took off points from Gryffindor. And then Ron stuck up for her, and Snape gave him detention."

Ron wrinkled his nose. "I have to clean the bedpans in the Hospital Wing without magic."

Charity leaned back in her chair. "Well. I'll just have to give five points each to Gryffindor, for caring for a friend. And five more points for Ron, for being brave enough to stand up when he saw something that he thought was wrong. I'll see what I can do to get rid of that detention for you. And I'll have to have a talk with Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall about what was said to you, Hermione."

The girl shook her head adamantly. "You really don't need to do that—"

"But I want to," Charity interrupted. "Did anything else happen?"

"Besides saying that Lupin didn't teach us anything, you mean? Snape assigned us two whole rolls of parchment on werewolves," Seamus lamented.

Charity grinned slightly. "I think you'll all be happy to know that Professor Lupin doesn't want you to do any homework while he's gone."

"Really?" Neville, who had been silent for most of the meeting, stared at her in surprise.

"Really." She confirmed. "Now, I just need to write some notes so that your tardiness is excused for your next classes. Seamus, Parvati, you can go ahead and go in the room. Hermione, if you wouldn't mind staying behind for a bit?"

And so, the Gryffindors left Burbage's office feeling quite a bit cheerier than before.

Percy leaned forward over his parchment, unconsciously sticking his tongue out as he tacked on yet another supporting detail. Some students liked to take it easy their seventh year, and just sit on their previous accomplishments before studying for their NEWT's. Obviously, Percy wasn't like these students, but it wasn't something he let bother him. And really, why should he? He had his family, his friends, his girlfriend…he had more than enough to keep him happy. There was no need to worry about the others.

Percy was determined to do his best, and nothing less than his best, for his final year. If that meant putting in a few extra hours each week, and receiving fewer hours of sleep in return, then so be it. He'd rather know that he'd done his best than know that he'd done well. It didn't bring the same satisfaction, really. He'd lost out on a few things lately; he hadn't even gone with Penny to Hogsmeade the week before, which made him feel slightly guilty. Still, he'd see them all at the Quidditch match tomorrow.

Oliver dropped into the seat across from his best friend without saying a word. He knew better than to interrupt Percy in the middle of a sentence. His leg bounced anxiously as he waited. Percy seemed to be drawing out the silence on purpose. Oliver gritted his teeth. It sounded like something he would do. Percy could be quite infuriating sometimes, usually without even trying. Oliver typically wouldn't even care, but this was important.

His fingers began to drum an impatient rhythm on the table. Thudum, thudum, thudum….

"Will you stop that?" Percy finally glanced up with an irritated look.

Oliver pulled his hand back into his lap, and his leg resumed bouncing. His foot was a little closer to the table this time, which meant that the whole thing shook with the force. Percy's writing started to veer off into strange directions, making him scowl. When Oliver gave one large jump with his leg, Percy accidentally drew a huge line through the rest of his essay.

"What?" Percy ground out, slamming his quill down.

Oliver found that now he had his friend's attention, he wasn't all that sure on what to say. "I…er, I…" He reached up and ran a hand through his hair.

Percy sighed in frustration and began to pick up his stuff. "I can't believe this…" He grumbled, shoving his materials into his bag. He slammed the bag onto the table and leaned back in his chair with narrowed eyes. "Care to share what's on your mind?" He practically spat out.

"It's just that…" Oliver couldn't make the words come out anymore. It was stupid, really. He'd come here with a sure clue of what he was going to say, but all the words seemed to have taken a momentary vacation. His tongue felt thick and heavy in his mouth, and he abruptly shut his jaw.

Percy sighed again, this time relaxing his body and letting his head fall onto the table. "Whenever you're ready," He remarked indifferently. Percy knew Oliver took a while to gather his thoughts. Something had been a little off about his friend lately. Probably for the whole year, Percy realized, feeling guilty. Maybe spending so much time on work wasn't a good idea after all…

"Have you ever," Oliver began abruptly before halting. "Have you ever done something, and then decided later that it wasn't what you thought it was going to be?"

Percy pushed up his glasses. "I think everyone has. You might have to be more specific if you're asking for advice."

Oliver's leg began bouncing again. "It's not a little thing, it's a really, really big thing. See, I just…I wanted this one thing so badly, and—and then I finally got it, right? So I should've been happy. Only, it didn't turn out like how I thought it would, and I realized that I wasn't happy at all. But…I worked really hard to get to—that thing that I wanted, and I don't want to just throw it all away. But if I'm not happy, then I shouldn't stay on—er, I shouldn't keep that thing, right?"

Percy furrowed his brow. "That's sort of a complicated question. Um, I guess…I dunno," He confessed finally. "What is this thing you're talking about?"

Oliver fidgeted in his seat. "Never mind. It's nothing."

Percy tilted his head knowingly. "Uh huh. Sure. Oliver, does this have anything to do with Puddlemere?"

Oliver's eyes widened. "What? No, why would you think that?" He laughed hollowly and ran a hand through his hair.

Percy just smiled. "Right. Well, look. You still love flying. You still love playing the game. You're still proud of being part of the Puddlemere team. So I guess you would just have to look at why it's disappointing you. Figure out if what's dragging you down is enough to ruin the whole thing for you."

Oliver nodded slowly, mulling it over in his brain.

"If you still need convincing, the match is tomorrow," Percy needlessly reminded him. "I heard that Puddlemere is going to be in the stands. Don't think about that when you're playing. Just relax, and do what you'd normally do. Have fun. Remember everything you love about Quidditch."

Oliver blinked. "I never really thought about it like that. Huh." Oliver scratched his head. "You know what, that might just work. I'll see you later Percy, I'm gonna go fly for a bit."

Percy cheerfully waved him away. "Great! Bye!" He pulled out a fresh, new roll of parchment. Finally, he could work on that essay in peace. Just because Professor Snape hardly read his essays didn't mean they couldn't be excellent pieces of work that brilliantly illustrated the incredibly complex process of—

"Hey Percy!" Lee clapped him on the back, sending his ink pot sprawling over the parchment.

Percy groaned. Time to start another draft.

Fred and George were just about ready to throw in the towel. Their friends hadn't even glanced their way in ages. The match was tomorrow, and no one wanted to play on a team that didn't get along. Yet there was nothing the pair could do. They hadn't pulled a single prank in forever. Fred swore that Peeves had started to create even more chaos to make up for it. Worst of all, Lupin wasn't even around to approach for advice.

The duo was at the end of their rope. The entire castle seemed to heave each breath with a large amount of sadness. If the twins weren't around to provide joy to its occupants, the school day was even more boring and unbearable than before. Once or twice, Fred and George had thought about just pulling a few tiny pranks, but they quickly pulled back. It was difficult to do much of anything, at this point, without looking over their shoulders and wondering if someone would disapprove.

What to do? What to say? Being mature adults was so much more tiring than they had been led to believe, and they hadn't exactly been looking forward to it. With nothing left to do, they had taken to observing the various staff members and searching for any signs of happiness. Their findings were somehow both startling and expected.

Snape was, of course, a dark, swooping bat who only smiled when someone else cried. McGonagall was stern, with a permanent downturn to her lips. George suggested this was due to wrinkles, but Fred disagreed. Longbottom was much the same way, with an added bit of sadness in her eyes. Burbage typically seemed pretty happy, but the twins had caught her staring wistfully into space more than once. Was anyone genuinely content with their lives?

The answer was a resounding no. Everywhere they turned, they found beings who were simply going through the daily motions of life, repeating the same conversations day after day. The jokes were stale, the food was plain, and the castle was, on the whole, entirely too predictable. Every Wednesday, Sinistra wore her midnight blue cloak. Flitwick put sugar in his tea only every other day. Tonks took a deep breath before entering every class she had with the seventh years.

In conclusion, being an adult sucked.

"Maybe we're going about this the wrong way," George suggested at lunch on Friday.

"What d'you mean?" Fred asked, biting into an apple.

"People get more depressed as they get older, right? Well, then that means that people that are really young must be pretty happy."

Fred nodded. "Right." He leaned forward onto his chin as his eyes lit up. "Right."

"Time to pay a visit to the first years," The two agreed.

Unfortunately the first years were not all that interested in hearing what the twins had to say for themselves after a certain prank earlier in the school year. A whole flock of them in the Common Room had stood and announced that they hadn't forgiven Fred and George yet. When the twins merely waved this away as though it were unimportant, one little first year, shaking like a leaf, bravely pulled himself up to his full height and looked straight into their eyes.

"G-G-Go away!" He demanded weakly.

George shrugged. "Alright, alright. We can tell when we're not wanted."

"Tough crowd," Fred muttered.

George nodded in agreement.

If they couldn't make nice with the youngest occupants of Hogwarts, then they'd have to settle for second best. It was rather unlucky that their sister was part of the second best group, but the two decided that Ginny couldn't possibly be friends with all of the Gryffindor second years. She was just…their little sister Ginny. She wasn't really all that special.

"Why hello, sister dear," George said smoothly, sliding into a seat across from the small red-haired girl.

Ginny barely even glanced at them. "You can't sit there," She informed them bossily.

"Why not?" Fred wanted to know. Since when did Ginny call the shots around here, anyway? He thought, confused.

She sighed heavily. "Because that's where Colin and Demelza are sitting," She replied, rolling her eyes.

Fred stood up from the chair and made a comical face at his seat. "So sorry, Colin. Didn't see you there. You really should've said something."

Ginny threw her quill down. "Don't be ridiculous! Besides, that's Demelza's seat," She added with a sniff.

George couldn't help but snort. "Right. Is anyone sitting over here?" He asked, humoring her.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Yes, if you must know. Bailey Ryker sits there every day and reads 'Great Speeches Throughout History.'"

Fred gave a loud groan. "Gee, Gin. Is there any spot by you that isn't already taken?" He questioned sarcastically.

She tapped her chin in thought. "Well, I suppose you could sit on the floor." She smiled at them sweetly, picked up her quill, and began writing again.

"I can't believe this," Fred murmured under his breath. Their kid sister was treating them like dogs! He was beginning to have serious doubts as to whether or not this whole thing was worth it. Nevertheless, the twins plopped down on the ground and watched her continue to scribble away. George craned his head to read the parchment, only to have her snatch it away.

"Do you mind?" She snapped. "This is private."

George held up his hands defensively. "Okay, okay, sorry."

The pair looked on in amazement as second years began to swarm around her. Colin and Demelza instantly began to hunch over the piece of parchment with Ginny, all discussing it in hushed whispers. A small, sandy-haired kid lugged a huge, well-worn book with gold lettering emblazoned on the front to a squashy chair. Next to him, on the red loveseat, sat a blonde girl, a dark haired girl, and a boy with jet black hair. In another chair sat a ginger haired boy with some sort of paper game. Each one looked upon Ginny, Colin, and (to a lesser extent) Demelza with deep respect.

"What is going on?" Fred whispered to George.

After five straight minutes of being ignored by the tiny, little second years, the twins really couldn't take it anymore.

"So what do you guys do around here?" They asked jovially.

The sandy-haired boy threw them a disparaging look. "A lot of things, I s'pose."

They nodded like they understood. "Like what?"

The blonde girl narrowed her eyes. "Just, y'know, stuff."

They nodded again. "Uh, what are you three doing?"

Demelza and Ginny ignored them, but Colin felt a stab of pity. "We're writing some rules out."

Fred's eyes lit up. "So you can break them later?"

Demelza gasped, appalled. "Of course not!"

George slouched. "Oh."

The silence dragged on for a few more minutes. The twins couldn't understand it. She was just Ginny. They had lived with her for twelve years and counting, and she had never honestly been all that interesting. During any conversation with her, she would find a way to mention Harry Potter, the Holyhead Harpies, or her imaginary friends. But it seemed that not all of her friends were imaginary; in fact, she had quite a lot of real friends.

With sinking hearts and more than a little bit of surprise, the twins realized that Ginny might not be the girl they thought she was.

Replies to anonymous reviewers:

1st Guest: Interaction between characters is insanely important to me, so I'm really glad to hear you like it. Thanks for reviewing!

Hofmann Claudia: It's a really tricky subject to tackle. I wanted to do it justice, which is why that scene was so long. Thanks for reviewing!

2nd Guest: To be honest, I have no idea. I would say quite a few though. This story is supposed to go up through fifth year, so I'll work up to at least a hundred chapters. Thanks for reviewing!

3rd Guest: Pairings are still sort of up in the air. I have some figured out, and some are still being thought about. I'll definitely think about what you said though. Thanks for reviewing!