This chapter's a little bit of a hiatus from the typical action. Don't worry though, the next few chapters will be solid Leo and Hermione. A full moon's coming up after all… and that masquerade. Enjoy!

She was stunning and he had been watching her all day with patience and quiet admiration, mesmerized by the way she tossed her flowing hair and the way her legs went on forever. It was hard for him to bring himself back to earth and remember why he was following her in the first place.

Remus sipped on his scotch and felt quite vulnerable. All day he had hidden behind extravagant disguises, perhaps having a little too much fun. From the postman, strolling into thebuilding that was home to Bella, Showbiz, and Stiletto magazines with a bogus flower delivery, to a waiter at the girl's favorite lunch spot (he had to Confund a few people to make that one work), he had already learned quite a lot about Nadine Clement. From her lunch receipt, he knew where she lived and whom she banked with, and how generous she was with her tips. As the flirty intern in the elevator, he knew that she used to bartend, owned two cats and never wore shoes with less than 2 ½ -inch heels if she could help it. As the flower deliveryman, he discovered that she was single and that calla lilies were her favorite. Yet, he still had nothing on who her mysterious ex-boyfriend was, and why he was passing Hermione off as his cousin in a run-down apartment building on Mabry Street.

Now, sitting across the pub from Nadine as no one other than himself, facial scars and all, he wondered if he should have perhaps tried another disguise. But for what he was trying to accomplish tonight, he had a feeling that he was better off in his own skin.

Nadine was having an inexplicably pleasant day, even if it had gotten off to a rocky start with her egg sandwich. It had also been difficult to refuse the offer of dessert from the charming waiter at the café this afternoon, but she tried not to think about it as she polished off her vodka soda. She sighed. Guess I'll just have to skip breakfast tomorrow.

She often came to this pub alone, but sometimes Liam would join her. It was a hole-in-the-wall kind of place with a cozy atmosphere and laid-back clientele, most of whom were regulars. Which was why she was surprised when she didn't immediately notice the mysterious man sitting in the corner booth.

She played with the straw in her empty glass and eyed him discreetly. He was broad-shouldered and lean, with a crop of dark brown hair. A long trench coat was draped over the seat back, and he wore a crisp white button-down that made him appear more tan than he probably was. But what really caught her attention were the several long scars that ran across his cheekbones. Interesting…

He must have felt her looking at him because he chose that moment to meet Nadine's eyes. She felt the corners of her mouth tugging upward in a coy grin, and quickly looked back down into her empty glass.

It wasn't long before she heard someone come up behind her. "Is anyone sitting here?"

"You could be, if you wanted to," she said before she could stop herself. The man grinned, scars stretching slightly. He set down his glass beside her.

"It seems a shame that someone as pretty as you should be sitting here all by yourself," he said, sitting down. She could have groaned at the line, but something about the way he said it made it sound a little less cheesy. Now that he was closer, she could see that his eyes were a vivid hazel, and they were extremely kind.

"Sometimes I need a break from people," she admitted. "It's nice to come here after a long day and unwind because the university students don't know about it, and it's out of the way of the club scene. But I don't think I've ever seen you before…?

"I just recently relocated to the area," he said. "Oh, how rude of me, I'm sorry. My name's… James. James Sirius." He held out his hand.

She took it and squeezed it gently. "Nadine Clement." His hands were slightly calloused and firm. "Pleased to meet you. So tell me, James, what brings you to this side of town?"

He signaled the barkeep to bring them another round. "Oh, this and that," he offered vaguely. "Nothing exceptionally exciting, just work."

Her eyes flitted to the long scars on his face, wondering exactly what kind of work it was that he did. Where other people may have been repulsed, however, she was intrigued. She had grown somewhat fond of the bad-boy type, and wondered if he was a part of the mob, or perhaps had acquired them in an unfortunate sporting accident. Maybe he'd come across a bear on a hiking trail, or maybe… she realized that she was staring. Maybe she was letting her imagination run away with her. "I'm… I'm sorry, I'm being terribly rude—"

His eyes were laughing and he waved her comment from the air with a hand. "It's perfectly alright, I'm used to it." The bartender chose that moment to refill both their glasses and James raised his to her in an obvious effort to diffuse Nadine's discomfort. "May you never have such scars to mar your beautiful face."

Nadine blushed despite herself and, feeling thoroughly sheepish, took a generous gulp from her drink.

James Sirius? Are you barking?

Remus could only imagine what both men would say to him if they knew he had used their names as an alias. James would pop him one on the shoulder and say it was bound to be good luck with the ladies. He imagined that somewhere, Sirius had dissolved into laughter. But he only had a second to contemplate it as an embarrassed Nadine set her glass down with squinted eyes.

"I think this was your drink," she choked with a giggle, pushing it towards him.

He looked down at the glass in his hand and realized that she was, in fact, correct. "Well, look at that. This one's on me, then." They swapped, and she pushed her straight-sheared bangs from her startling green eyes.

He had let pass the opportunity to slip her Veritaserum, and he wasn't exactly sure why. Instead, he said, "That's a very interesting accent you've got."

Her face split into a genuine smile and he relaxed his posture, relieved that they were finally getting somewhere. "I'm originally from the States. Texas, actually. But my parents grew up here, and they wanted to send me back to London for school."

"Is that so? What is it you're studying?" he asked, pretending that he didn't already know she no longer attended a university.

She wrinkled her nose at the question. "It didn't exactly… work out, if you know what I mean. I kind of bounced around for awhile, took some time out of job hunting to learn how to bartend, and that paid the rent until I decided I wasn't satisfied with my wages having a direct correlation with the amount of cleavage I showed on any given night."

Remus grinned, trying with all his might not to admire the amount that was currently peeking from her once-unbuttoned bright pink blouse. "I can't say I know how that feels," he chuckled, looking pointedly down at his own chest and earning him a grin from Nadine. Then, he realized how he could steer the conversation. "But you must have at least met some interesting people on the job?"

She sipped her drink again and rolled her eyes. "You have absolutely no idea," she sighed dramatically. "I worked at several places, one of which was that club on the 16th floor of Hotel Savoy, where all the Turner and Boulstridge lawyers go. But my first gig was at this skeezy little place called Goose & Gilbert's on Charing Cross Road." Remus's heart jumped in his throat. Bingo. "I met some of the strangest people there. Have you heard of it?"

He cleared his throat, trying to appear casual. Goose and Gilbert's had, before it closed down last year, been a sort of novelty bar for witches and wizards. It was closest Muggle establishment to The Leaky Cauldron, and many magical folk wandered in there for a taste of the popular Muggle spirits. Due to the high amount of strange accidents that occurred there that couldn't be explained to Muggle authorities, and the amount of times its employees and patrons had to have their memories modified, the Minister had decided to 'convince' the owners that they would rather pursue their life dream of raising alpacas in Peru. "Erm… I may have heard of it."

"It's the one that recently closed down because of something with the foundation—"

"Ohhhh!" Remus interrupted, feigning a sudden recollection. He had an idea; he just hoped that it would work. "As a matter of fact, I do know that place. I knew the name sounded familiar because one of my mates, Liam, said he used to frequent there, and I couldn't fathom why..."

He knew that he had her when she squirmed uncomfortably at the sound of that name. "I'm sorry… you… you can't possibly mean Liam Alexander, can you?"

Remus took a leap of faith. How long ago might they have dated? He had to have a reason for why he didn't already know her through this Liam bloke. "That's the one! Well, it's certainly a small world, isn't it? We've lost touch in the past few years, but we used to be neighbors back in the day." There. He hoped that was vague enough.

She almost seemed at ease that Remus didn't appear to know she and Liam had dated, and he was surprised at how much that pleased him. But he wasn't here for Nadine; he had to turn his thoughts to Hermione.

"What a coincidence! Liam is… well, was… no, is my good… my, erm, friend," she finished weakly. Suddenly she found her straw very interesting.

Remus raised an eyebrow, deciding to find out how well she knew him before he revealed any more information that was potentially self-incriminating. It helped that Nadine already had several drinks in her, though. "Which is it?" he laughed. "You don't seem too sure."

"Well… we just have a bit of a rocky history, that's all," she said, taking another long sip. "But I met him when I was a server at G.G.'s. I suppose you could say he fits the demographic for that sort of place."

So, Liam Alexander was a sketchy bloke that hung around the Leaky Cauldron. That would make sense, since he was allegedly the person who had kidnapped Hermione. He certainly had to be a wizard; that much was obvious. "That's a valid point," Remus ventured, going off what he knew of how wizards behaved in the Muggle world. "Always dressed kind of funny, too…"

Nadine's eyes lit up at the subject of fashion. "Oh God, yes! Those awful steel-toed boots he always wore made me want to hurl. And that godforsaken jacket he had wasn't even real leather, it was something awful like snakeskin or something really weird, he always smelled—"

"Burnt!" Remus finished for her, blurting out one of the main characteristics of anything made of genuine dragonhide, and they shared a laugh at the expense of Liam's apparently awful fashion sense. Remus himself had never seen anything wrong with a proper dragonhide jacket, but remembering that Nadine was a fashion columnist, refrained from saying so.

"Enough about him, though," Nadine said once their laughter had subsided. "Tell me about you, James." Remus could see her long, manicured fingernails inching towards him along the bar, and suddenly the room felt very warm.

Luckily, he had already rehearsed a backstory—otherwise he would have found it very difficult to think of one with the way Nadine was looking at him.

"Well I've lived here most of my life. I'm adopted, actually; an only child, too." He fished through his jacket for something to tip the bartender with, mentally grasping for something interesting to say. He didn't know why it was so difficult. Usually he was rather levelheaded around women. "I travel quite a bit for my job, which is what I love best about it."

"What is it you do?"

"I work for a small software company based in Wales. I'm their senior salesman so I get to do all the legwork and go make the pitches to clients around the world."

Nadine's eyes seemed to sparkle. "That sounds fantastic," she breathed dramatically, lifting her elbow to the bar and resting her chin in her hand. "I love traveling. I don't get to do nearly enough of it. Where have you been?"

"Let's see… I've been to the States quite a bit. Colombia, Canada, Thailand…" He was just listing the first countries to come to mind. "Oh, Australia. Yes, I've been there quite a bit as well. France and Germany, of course. Hong Kong. Oh, and my favorite trip of all time was Peru. The Incan ruins are absolutely breathtaking to hike through."

Yep, he had her in the palm of his hand. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks were flushed, and Remus felt rather proud of his made-up self. What a worldly, cultured fellow he was! Perhaps he was a triathlete as well? No, that wasn't believable… perhaps he used to be a triathlete, then? Before he got in a horrible biking accident that left him with his facial scars? Brilliant!

"You hiked in the Andes as well?"

He noticed her drink was empty again. The bartender winked and took care of it.

"Alas, that was quite a while ago when I was in better shape. My triathlete days are long behind me and I doubt I could manage it again." Utterly seamless. Good one, Remus.

"Good Lord, is there anything you don't do?" Nadine giggled, not realizing that her glass seemed to have refilled itself.

"Sadly, I'm a dreadful bartender and an even worse fashion journalist," he sighed wistfully. Instead of earning him another laugh though, his comment was met with a dubious expression and knit-together eyebrows. Oh, shit. She never said she was a fashion writer.

Did I say I was a fashion writer? I must have, how else would he know? The drinks were clouding Nadine's memory, but she was so giddy and warm from the alcohol that she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Is something the matter?" he probed, looking slightly perturbed. "That was a joke, I've never actually tried—"

Nadine snorted. "No, I'm sorry. I just… things are a little fuzzy at the moment." She hiccupped and James jumped slightly, knocking his glass from the counter and straight into her lap.

She squealed at the coldness, and James frantically got to his feet. "Merlin, I'm so, so sorry, Nadine."

Merlin? What an odd expletive. She could have sworn she'd heard someone else use it before. Must be an underground thing at the moment. "Oh, bollocks… my blouse… It's okay, James, let me just run and grab some paper towels from the loo." She eased down from the barstool, steadying herself as her stilettos met the floor, and teetered down the hallway adjacent to the bar.

Some American alternative band pumped through the speakers in the bathroom, which was empty. After she had soaked up most of the spill on her blouse, she glanced in the mirror and realized that even in the dim light, the outline of her bra was clearly visible through her newly-translucent blouse. Instead of being mad, though, she found she was rather… well…

Is it hot in here, or what?

Disoriented, she unbuttoned her blouse once more and leaned into the counter, checking her reflection. She wished she hadn't left her handbag on the chair… she could do with another coat of lipstick. Suddenly, she was apprehensive about going back out there.

Why? What was it with James? She hadn't been this disarmed by a guy since Liam. It was refreshing, but at the same time, well… it was hard for her to come up with a reason to be wary of him. It wasn't the scars; those she was attracted to. And he was so charming, so mysterious. But there was something else she couldn't put her finger on. Something… carnal…

No. She was tipsy, damn it. Why was she worrying so much? Isn't that why people drink? So they can forget about the things that worry them? God, Nadine. You really just need to get laid.

She giggled at her reflection and squashed her doubts quickly, before they had a chance to fester. Squaring her shoulders and adjusting her breasts, she gave her reflection an approving grin and strode confidently back to the bar, where James was looking slightly distressed.

Before he could say anything to her, she chugged the remainder of her drink and set it down on the counter with a flourish. "What do you say we get out of here, Mr. Sirius?" She began to dig in her handbag, but a strong hand on her forearm stopped her and sent a warm jolt through her body. She looked quizzically up James, whose smile was both mischievous and reassuring at the same time.

"Oh no, Miss Clement. I couldn't possibly let you do that after I ruined your shirt. I've already taken care of it, anyway."

She returned his mischievous grin, trying not to let her face show just how giddy she actually was. "Why, Mr. Sirius, you are quite audacious." Now the alcohol was beginning to inspire her. She didn't have far upwards to lean as her lips brushed his ear. "I like it."

She could have sworn she saw his cheeks flush as he placed his long jacket over her shoulders. "Seeing as your shirt is quite…. see through," he admitted, then offered up his arm. "Shall we?"

Nadine's not becoming a main character or anything, no worries. Multiple main OC's really aren't my cup of tea.