AN: I hope all of my friends here in the States had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I probably ate WAY too much, but it was all just so delicious! Thanks to the lovely followers and favorites that continue to read. And I would be remiss to forget the amazing reviewers: Azinine, Jmw, Narcissa-Weasly, MaeSilverpaws1, serialkeller, Tellur, ultima-owner, sfjoellen, Majerus, Ari989, magitech, Fibinaci, ReadPaxJoy, Beside Moonlight, Guest, MuggleCreator, Kairan1979, Bec, and MariusDarkwolf.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise.

Harry was ready to burst open with happiness. Professor Lupin had recovered just in time for Harry's next Defense class, which meant he didn't have to worry about Snape hovering around them. Instead, Lupin taught them all about hinkypunks, rather odd looking one-legged creatures that were apparently more than a bit dangerous.

In fact, Harry was so happy about this new development that he forgot all about his startling revelation just the day before: that his mother was the woman he heard screaming. He had yet to tell anyone about this, afraid that they would continue to walk on eggshells around him. His friends had been overly cautious since his embarrassing fall during the Hufflepuff Quidditch match the previous weekend. He felt both humiliated and terrified, remembering the huge Grim that had appeared.

"Harry!" Professor Lupin called just after class ended. "Could I speak with you for a moment?"

Harry gathered up his stuff and headed toward Lupin's desk, shrugging at his friends' bewildered looks.

Lupin waited until all the students had filed out of his room before turning to Harry with a mildly worried look. "Professor Burbage told me about the match. I'm sorry I couldn't be there, but I'm glad to see that you're alright."

Harry felt a flush crawl up his neck. He hoped Professor Lupin wouldn't judge him. After all, no one else passed out from being near the dementors. "Er, thanks."

Thankfully, Lupin seemed to notice that he felt uncomfortable. "Is there any hope for your broom?"

"No," Harry replied glumly, remembering the small pieces that were still kept in a pouch in his trunk. "It flew right into the Whomping Willow."

Lupin nodded. "I'm sorry. You know, the Whomping Willow was planted the year your father and I came to Hogwarts. There was a game some of the older kids would play, where they would try to get up close and touch it. James never participated. He claimed it was stupid, but I think he just wanted to save his pride."

Harry straightened upon hearing this. He took in the information and replayed it in his mind. Any small detail he heard about his father was carefully stored away in his brain. Each little fact caused his hunger for more to grow. "Did…" Harry swallowed, "did you hear about the dementors too?"

The small lines on Lupin's face deepened as he nodded slowly. "I did. I believe they were the cause of your fall, yes?"

"Yes." Harry grimaced at the memory. "Professor, why does that keep happening to me? Why doesn't anyone else get affected like I do? Is it because I'm—"

"You're not weak, Harry," Professor Lupin interjected hastily. "Dementors bring to light your most horrific thoughts. You're all so young, most of you haven't seen such nightmares yet. But you, Harry, you've witnessed some terrible events. That is why it's different for you, why you are different."

Harry felt a petulant anger rise up in him. "But I don't want to be different," He insisted.

Lupin smiled sadly. "Yes, I'm aware. Harry, dementors are not easily controlled. They are some of the darkest creatures to walk this earth. No one can be kept completely unaffected by their presence, not even Muggles, although they can't see them. They take away not just a person's happiness, but their hope. That is what destroys most wizards: their loss of hope."

Just speaking of them caused a chill to run down Harry's spine. "When they come near me," He blurted out, unable to stop himself, "When they come near me, I can hear my mum, just before Voldemort kills her."

Lupin stiffened instantly. He moved to place a hand on Harry's shoulder, hesitated, and then continued. He gradually bent down to look directly into Harry's eyes. "Harry…" He trailed off. "I'm sorry. I…no one should have to bear the weight that is upon your shoulders." He stood and began to pack things into his briefcase.

Harry was far from done. "Professor Lupin, why did they show up to the match?"

Lupin paused. "Happiness is their sustenance. It's how they survive. With students being warned to stay away, they were getting hungry. There were so many people at the game…all laid out for them, they must've thought. They most likely couldn't resist."

Harry frowned. "Azkaban must be an awful place."

Lupin nodded slowly. "It is. Azkaban is the only prison which doesn't need its high walls. The prisoners are too mad to think of fleeing. Without access to a single cheerful thought, most go insane within a week."

"But not Sirius Black."

Lupin sighed. "But not Sirius Black. I suppose he must've found a way to escape them, though I'm not quite sure how, as his wand was snapped just before he was thrown in Azkaban. Of course, there's always wandless magic, but dementors are meant to drain a wizard's magic over time…"

"But, didn't you get rid of that dementor on the train?" Harry inquired suddenly.

"Ah, yes, I did." Lupin looked down in embarrassment.

"How?" Harry asked eagerly.

Lupin shifted warily. "There are certain defenses one can take against them. But it's much easier to fight off one than to fight off ten. The more dementors you face, the more magic you need."

Harry felt himself grin. "What kind of defenses? Do you think you could teach me? If you wouldn't mind, that is," He added self-consciously.

Lupin shook his head. "Of course I wouldn't mind! But Harry, you must remember, I'm not an expert on dementors, not by any means…"

Harry gazed at him earnestly. "Please, Professor Lupin. If they come again, I want to be able to fight back. I have to be able to fight back."

Lupin inhaled deeply, closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "We'll start the first Saturday of next term, no sooner."

"Thank you!" Harry exclaimed, gathering up his things. "Thank you so much, Professor Lupin. I'll work really hard, I promise." Just as he reached the door, he turned back.

"And Professor? I'm glad you're feeling better."

This was not good. Ginny Weasley couldn't have been in a worse mood. Luna was being teased by the Ravenclaw girls, and there was nothing she could do about it.

"You're absolutely sure that's who she meant by Nargles?" Ginny asked seriously. "She wasn't being her usual…erm, Luna?"

Romilda adamantly maintained her original report, gray eyes wide and grim. "I offered her my shoes, but she swore that they would be stolen."

Demelza had been more than a little skeptical of one of their newest recruits, but Ginny continued to believe that any fan of Harry Potter was a welcome member of the HHPC (though she could do without Baddock's snide remarks).

"And you concur with this conclusion, Colin?" Ginny turned her eyes on her loyal Vice President, who was one of the most trusted members of the HHPC.

Colin dipped his head. "I don't see who else it could be. Even if Luna is a little unique, she wouldn't go so far as to walk around without shoes on in the winter."

Ginny didn't know very many Ravenclaw girls, but she imagined them all as ugly girls with warts and mustaches. If their outward appearances matched their personalities, then it should be easy to spot them. Regardless, Ginny would hunt them down and make them halt. But how? She narrowed her eyes and scanned the Common Room, a dangerous plan taking form in her mind.

"Come on, please!" Ginny pleaded.

Perhaps the twins would've given in at the sight of their little sister, the girl who swore that she needed help from no one, begging at their feet. But their recent experience with one very angry Quidditch captain made them think twice about interfering.

"Sorry, ickle Gin-Gin," George apologized.

"We agreed no more singling out people for pranks." Fred shrugged helplessly.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Ginny stomped her foot in irritation. "Since when have you guys ever cared about what other people think?"

"Sister, dear, as much as we'd love to—"

"We can't!"

"Are you guys actually turning down a prank? I can't believe this," Angelina marveled from behind the pair, Alicia looking equally stunned at her side.

George puffed out his chest in pride. "Yup. See how much I've—we've matured, Ange?"

Alicia blinked a few times. "I hate to admit it, but yeah, it looks like you guys are growing up."

Fred beamed smugly. "Don't worry ladies," He said smoothly. "Those boys are gone and never coming back."

"No!" Ginny moaned desperately.

Angelina's eyes widened. "Ginny, are you alright? Have these guys been bothering you?"

"What?" George exclaimed. "If anyone's being bothered, it's us!"

"Yeah, Ginny won't stop trying to tempt us," Fred agreed.

Ginny growled. "I'm not tempting anyone. I came to you guys because I need your help. But I guess if you're so mature now, then I'll have to find some other pranksters to do the job."

Alicia glanced at her quizzically. "Why do you need their help?"

Ginny folded her arms across her chest and began to glare. "The Ravenclaws are picking on Luna, stealing her stuff and calling her names. We want it to stop. We just can't figure out how."

"Who's we?" Angelina wondered.

"Me and my…friends." Ginny's face flamed bright red. "But that's not important. I just need to make them stop, and you're the only people I could think."

Fred and George cast uneasy looks at each other. "While we're flattered that you think so highly of us—"

"We're afraid we're no longer involved in the pranking business."

"Wait," Alicia whispered softly. "Luna's being bullied, right? By her whole house?"

Ginny pursed her lips. "Just the girls, and really only the younger ones, but still."

"Well, if it's a bunch of girls, then—then it's not actually singling a particular person out, is it? It's more like…like revenge, or justice, or whatever. It would teach them not to mess with her anymore, and that's not so bad, is it?" Alicia said this all very shyly, staring down at her feet.

"You're not serious," Angelina muttered in disbelief. "You cannot honestly be suggesting what I think you're suggesting. It took so long for us to convince them not to do any of that stuff, Alicia!"

"I know, I know." Alicia hugged herself. "But we never meant for them to stop pranking, or stop joking around, because then they wouldn't be themselves, right? All we wanted was for them to be smarter about it."

Angelina sighed exasperatedly. "I can't believe this. Ugh, fine, you're right," She admitted begrudgingly.

The twins began to look hopeful. "Does this mean—"

"—we can prank the Ravenclaws?"

Angelina rolled her eyes. "Only the ones that target Luna, understand? No one else."

The two whooped and dashed to the stairs. "Don't worry, Gin."

"We'll take care of this."

Ginny tilted her chin up, a happy smile on her face. "Well, now that that's taken care of, I need to go find Demelza and Colin. Thanks, you guys."

Angelina collapsed into a squashy armchair. "Why do I have a feeling I'm going to regret this?"

"Probably because you will," Alicia told her helpfully, sitting in a chair opposite her. "Besides, you have to admit, they're much more fun when they can be themselves."

Angelina groaned and let her head fall back. This was going to be a long year.

"Hello Charity," Remus greeted cheerfully.

"Oh, hi, Remus," She returned morosely.

"Are you alright?" He asked worriedly.

"Yes, of course, I'm fine."

An uncomfortable tension settled around the two as they stood in the corridor overlooking the grounds.

"Remus, are we friends?"

He blinked. That was rather sudden. "Er, yes, I suppose we are." He liked her well enough, after all, and she seemed genuine. It felt different than it had with James and Peter, but he realized that it was unfair to hold her to such standards. He was older now, and it would be hard for him to find anyone who understood him as well as the Marauders had.

"Good." She relaxed slightly. "Then…then you know that I'm always here for you, right?"

Remus felt a pinprick of anxiety. "Yes, I do," He lied smoothly. "I'm very thankful for that, Charity. And you're aware that I would do the same for you?"

"Yes, thank you." She peered at him closely.

"What?" He asked, self-conscious.

"Oh, nothing, only—it's nice to have a friend here at the castle. The two people here that are my age are Sinistra, who's almost always busy now that she's deputy headmistress, and Snape…" She trailed off and he smiled in understanding. "Anyway, it's great to have someone whom I can trust completely with all of my secrets—not that I have many, it's just reassuring."

Remus began to feel both guilt and fear. "Mmm, I can see how that might get lonely," He said, purposefully keeping his tone light.

Her eyes narrowed and she began to grind her teeth together. "Well, now we have each other to share things with."

He smiled blandly without commenting, infuriating her. She took a step forward, but he held his ground.

"Look," She began tightly. "I know you're hiding something. What I don't know is why you won't admit to me that something's wrong. Merlin, Remus, I just want to help you! Isn't that what friends are supposed to do?"

He knew his anger was a little irrational, but at that point, he didn't care. "It doesn't matter what you want to do, Charity. I know you're being generous and kind," His voice was laced with sarcasm, "but there's nothing you can do. I'm not one of your school children, I don't have simple, easy problems with clear cut solutions. But even if I did, I wouldn't ask for your help. I wouldn't have, seeing as how you seem to offer it whether it's wanted or not."

Her large blue eyes began to swim with tears as he spun around and stalked away. What was her problem? He was handling things just fine, juggling all the work he had missed with his painful, tiring transformation. He was doing just fine until she had to stick her nose in where it didn't belong. Storming past the portraits that couldn't bother to keep their rude judgments to themselves, he barked the password at the portrait outside his quarters.

Charity's eyes were stuck in his brain, perhaps permanently. The memory of her hurt and sorrow put a serious damper on his rage. She hadn't really known that there was nothing seriously wrong with him. She wasn't aware that this happened often, and that he would be fine. Oh, Merlin, what had he done?

He didn't react well to being pushed, but the only people who knew that were either dead or related to him. Charity had no clue, and he'd nearly taken her head off in his fury. But he couldn't allow her to find out! Not again, not after everything….

Countless times, he'd gotten close to people who seemed kind and open-minded, only to discover that they held the same prejudices as most of the Wizarding world. How many people had he trusted with his secret, how many had he been fooled by? Clearly, his old friends were anomalies. How could he possibly expect Charity to be the same? Liking muggles was not the same as liking werewolves.

Remus sat down on his desk chair, letting his head fall onto his hands. Even if she would've been fine with his…affliction, he'd hurt her too badly for her to forgive him now.