A/N: A short one, due to the extreme schoolness I've come down with ;-) I hope it isn't too disappointing – I'm still working out some plot stuff for the next couple of scenes. Thanks so much to all of you for being so patience and so vocal in your support for this fic! It warms my heart and keeps me going, trust me. Please feel free to comment with any likes/dislikes or suggestions, I can't hear enough from you guys!

"Our guest is up and about I see!"

Adrienne hazarded her first legitimate smile of the past few days as she came down the last steps to join Ginny and Remus on the landing. "Yes, well, Ginny here insisted on giving me the tour." She bumped the teenager with her hip playfully. "A face this sweet how could I refuse?"

Ginny responded by blushing, tucking a stray bit of hair behind her ear before grinning abashedly up at Remus. "It's alright, isn't it Professor? I just sort of thought, I mean, if she's going to be staying here, somebody should tell her where everything is and introduce her around–"

"It's perfectly alright, Ginny." Remus placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder in an attempt to stymie the flow of excuses and defenses, smiling down at her softly. "In fact, I think it's a very good idea! However, your mother has been looking for you today, something about chores in the kitchen?"

Ginny's hands went up to her mouth in a gasp. "Oh! The special pudding, I promised I'd help, I completely forgot!" She looked apologetically up at Adrienne, who couldn't help smiling wider at her young companion's obvious distress. "I'm so sorry, I-I-"

"Go on then!" Adrienne prompted, shooing her away and winking. "I wouldn't ask you to risk the wrath of your mother; not at this stage in our relationship anyway."

Ginny jogged down the hallway, skidding around the corner ever so slightly in her haste. With a sigh, Adrienne felt the smile ebb away from her face, the cheeriness she had put on for the sake of her newfound companion falling away easily.

Remus watched as Adrienne pulled her shoulders back, rubbing her neck absentmindedly as she looked down the now empty corridor in thought. "Ginny's an interesting girl, isn't she?" He posited politely.

"Hm." Adrienne pulled herself out of her thoughts by her bootstraps, shaking her hair out of her face as she made another tired attempt at a smile. "Interesting. Certainly not what I was expecting."

He took a modicum of pleasure in her expressions, leaning up against the wall behind him in an attempt to encourage the same ease in her. "You seem better! I'm glad."

She crossed her arms over her chest, head falling lightly to one side as she considered her improvement. "Yeah, well…depression really isn't my thing." A smile stole across her lips, her gaze dropping to the floor. "Much as I'd like it to be sometimes." She glanced back up into his worn face, letting him back in on the conversation. With a wider, more intentional smile she clicked her tongue in sarcastic cheeriness. "I'm just too damndably optimistic, that's my problem!"

"Really? You think that's your problem?" Remus' hand went up to the bridge of his nose, squeezing tightly as Sirius came into the hallway from the first floor study just behind Adrienne. "I thought it was that you can't think without moving your lips."

Adrienne craned her head over her shoulder slowly, meeting Sirius' gaze evenly, her smile spreading like butter on hot toast. "Well, well, well – if it isn't tall, dark, and obnoxious! Crawled out of your dog house to wish me a good morning? You shouldn't have!" Her expression deadpanned. "You really shouldn't have."

"I see that you set this time aside to humiliate yourself." Sirius walked by her, his clothes brushing hers as he passed in the small hallway. "It's evening, dear."

Adrienne let him pass without comment, noting the disapproving glance Remus threw his way with an odd gratefulness festering in the pit of her stomach. When he had disappeared around the corner and into the room she surmised was the kitchen, she heaved a heartfelt sigh. "You're friend has some serious psychological problems, you do know that right?"

"All too well." Remus smiled, the edges of it worn and weary. Adrienne decided abruptly, as she decided most things, that she liked that about him. The world-weariness was oddly comforting. One got the distinct feeling that there wasn't much he hadn't heard or seen. She could be herself around him. That was good to know. "Still," Remus continued, rubbing his arm absentmindedly, "you really should meet him under better circumstances. He's a good man."

Adrienne huffed some stray hairs out of her face. "You know, you're the second person to tell me that – but I'm still not remotely convinced."