Chapter Three – Sleeplessness

"Where were you?" The three other Gryffindors, with whom Remus shared his dormitory, looked up at him.

"I… well… I went for a walk. Didn't I?" He looked to Peter for confirmation, who nodded.

"Don't worry, mate," Padfoot chuckled, "we only wondered. You can go wherever you want. Frankly, I don't give a shit."

Remus smiled, "Yeah, sorry. How was detention with old Sluggie?"

"Oh, best night of my life." James replied, with an expression resembling that of someone remembering a nasty encounter with some Blast Ended Screws. Sirius merely let out a sigh of misery.

"That good?" asked Remus, trying to keep a straight face after his friends' reactions, "What did he have you doing?"

"It was terrible. He kept us the cauldrons of a particularly inept second year class. They were all incrusted with grime and sludge. Then he made us clean them all… by hand!" Sirius shuddered at the thought of manual labour and Remus could not help but let out a snort of laughter.

Sirius shot him a look of disgust. But this only worsened the fit of laughter into which Remus had descended at the looks on the faces of his peers.

As he laughed ever harder he lost his balance and came tumbling off the trunk on top of which he had perched, falling sprawled on the floor. This left all four boys in huge fits of laughter, with Remus unable to pick himself up. Instead he lay until his laughter had subsided enough for him to stand. They did not fully compose themselves for a good ten minutes.

When, finally, they had calmed down the four set about readying themselves for bed, sides still aching. Showering, changing and making last minute checks for any neglected homeworks. It was midnight when they had finished.

"I'm wrecked." Sirius was sitting cross-legged on his bed, his raven hair dripping down his back onto his sheets. Wearing only boxer shorts, Sirius' lean, muscular body glistened after his shower.

"Well, shut up, get under your sheets and sleep then. None of us want to see all of that." James gestured to Sirius' lack of clothing.

Sirius laughed and, feigning offense, made a huge show of getting off the bed, peeling back the covers and slipping beneath them.

Soon all four boys were tucked up in their enormous four-poster beds.

But Remus couldn't sleep, all he could think of was Nymphadora. Although he knew she preferred it he could not bring himself to call her by her surname. Such an androgynous name for such and obviously feminine being. He could not get her out of his head.

Countless floors below, in the warm, earthy basement that housed the Hufflepuffs, someone else lay awake.

Tonks was curled in her soft, cosy bed. All thoughts of sleep gone. The only thing occupying her head was Remus. But how, how could she be so enthralled? She had only met Remus a few days ago. She wasn't the kind of girl who obsessed over boys. She was her own person, she didn't need a boyfriend like the other girls seemed to. Tonks had never been in a relationship, and this had never bothered her before, after all she was only fourteen. But it was different now. Remus was all that she could think about. She had to have him, she had to be near to him.

"Who is it?" Tonks' fellow Hufflepuff and best friend, Emily Barrett, clambered onto the end of her bed.

"What do you mean?" Asked Tonks, genuinely bemused.

"Who is the boy you fancy?" Emily pressed, her curly brown hair bouncing excitedly, "You never fancy anyone. Tell, tell, tell, tell!"

Tonks smiled and kicked out at her giggling friend to silence her. But there was no point in lying, Emily knew her too well.

"OK. I'll tell you. But you have got to shut the hell up!" Emily nodded solemnly, the ghost of a smirk playing on her lips. "He's in seventh year…" The end of her sentence was cut off by Emily's gasp.

"Seventh year?" Emily leant forward, "Shit, Seriously?"

Tonks laughed, "Yeah but it doesn't matter. It's not as if he'd ever even look at me."

"Shut up! You are amazing, you're funny and smart and we have had this conversation so many times that I am not even going to start again. Anyway, what does he look like?"

"Well he's quite tall, thin, and pale and he's got gorgeous light brown hair. Then his eyes! Oh, he's got eyes the most beautiful shade of hazel." Tonks smiled as she remembered his face, perfect in her eyes.

"And what's his name?"

"Remus Lupin"

"The Gryffindor Prefect?" Emily was getting more and more excited by the second.

"Yes, him." Tonks looked down at her covers, embarrassed.

"Oh he is gorgeous!" Emily giggled, "And imagine the perks of dating a prefect!"

"Like what?" Tonks asked, looking up.

"Well we don't know yet, do we?" Emily nudged her friend, "But we'll find out."

Tonks smiled "And how do you propose we go about that particular mission? Do you have a line of Prefect boys waiting to go out with you?"

"Well, no, but you are going to ask Remus out aren't you? When will you next be able to 'bump into' him?"

"He said he would meet me in the library on Sunday. He's going to help me with my school work."

Emily clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out, but Tonks ignored her.

"I will not ask him out though. He's only being nice anyway. Now go back to bed and let me sleep!" Despite her harsh sounding words Tonks smiled at her friend, who reciprocated before slinking back to her own bed.

But Tonks did not sleep. Nor was she uneasy. Talking about her feelings for Remus had made them seem more real, so she lay down and enjoyed them.