"I had an interesting conversation with Lily yesterday."

Prewett let out a small sound, like a tire deflating, and accidentally knocked over her ink pot as she sat up straight to look at Remus. She subsequently cursed, and waved her hand irritably to magically clean up the mess. The ink dutifully collected itself back into the glass pot, and she was finally able to turn properly to her companion.

"Oh really?" she squeaked. "What did she say?"

But something else had taken his interest. "Did you just perform wordless and wandless magic?"

The question seemed to throw her off guard, and she looked at her hand blankly. "Oh. Yes – I do that sometimes."

"You do that sometimes?" he repeated faintly, shaking his head in amusement. "Can perform magic well beyond the expectation of seventh years, but can't remember the incantation to repel a boggart for more than ten seconds at a time."

She pouted. It was true she was not performing at her best – though helpful, Lupin's presence was somewhat distracting when it came to trying to focus on her schoolwork. "Hey! That isn't very supportive of you! Tutors are supposed to be supportive!"

"Tutors are supposed to get you through your exams – being supportive is optional."

She sighed heavily and let her head fall onto her textbook.

"Perhaps," she muttered thickly into her book, "I should just leave Hogwarts and start selling healing potions in a Muggle village by pretending to be a wise woman."

Lupin stifled a grin. "I think," he said gently as he ordered his flashcards again, ready for another round of testing, "that you might find Muggles don't really buy into magical healing elixirs these days."

Rose turned her head around so that she could look at him. His features were slightly blurred in the candlelight, but the goofy smile he was shooting her still managed to make her stomach churn uncomfortably. "And how do you know so much about Muggles?"

His smile faltered ever so slightly, and for a moment it seemed that he might change the subject. Then, however, he said simply, "Well, my mother is a Muggle, so I do have some first-hand experience."

She blinked, and Lupin's eyes narrowed. She could tell that he was watching her closely, to see how she would react. Truth be told, Rose wasn't entirely sure how she was going to react either. Blood purity had never really bothered her, but she was very much used to it being a taboo subject, what with the friendship group she had previously been surrounded by. She had to take a split second to really analyse how she felt before she concluded that she didn't particularly care.

"Fair enough."

She got the feeling that Lupin wasn't entirely convinced by that, but he didn't press the matter. "Anyway. Lily."

Rose felt her palms begin to sweat. "Oh, this again?"

She was aiming for nonchalance, but missed spectacularly. Remus had to restrain himself from laughing at her trembling voice.

"Mmhmm. She said that she didn't want to kiss me."

Prewett sat up straight in her chair. "She what?"

"She said she didn't want to kiss me, and that was good, because it meant she didn't find me attractive," he said again, amused. "And then, you see, she got a little flustered."

"Hmmm," said Prewett quietly. Remus was sure that he could hear the gears whirring in her head. "Well, I can imagine."

"Yes – she said it sounded a lot better when you said it."

It was almost as if he could see the moment when her heart dropped into her stomach. All the colour drained from her face, causing her freckles to stand out starkly across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. She swallowed deeply, and then said, "Remus, I –"

"Mm, which led me to wonder," he said jovially, relishing in drawing out her torment. He was slightly sorry to cut her off though – as childish as it was, his heart had skipped a beat to hear his childhood crush say his name. "– it led me to wonder what exactly it is about me that you find so unattractive?"

"I didn't!" she said so quickly that the words got a little caught on her tongue. "I mean, I don't – not that I'm saying I do think you're attractive – I just mean that I only said what Lily was trying to say out loud for her, so that she could better understand what she meant – you're an attractive person! Well –" She blushed. " – you're okay."

"…Okay…?" He was, of course, teasing her, but the adjective 'okay' had hurt a little. Then again, did he really think someone as pretty as Rose Prewett would look twice at him? "Gee, thanks, that's what every guy wants to hear."

It took her a few moments to register where she had heard those words before. Realisation dawned. "You're making fun of me, aren't you?"

"Of course not," he said smoothly, though the sparkle in his eye said otherwise. "Why would I do that?"

She didn't say anything, just picked up her satchel and whacked him in the arm with it. He laughed. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry! I was just being silly –" She put down the bag, a grumpy expression on her face. "But I did want to say, in all seriousness – thank you."

Prewett blinked, her long eyelashes kissing the tops of her cheeks as she did so. "Right. Well, you're welcome I suppose."

She shot him a faint smile, which he returned. Then her eyes drifted over his shoulder slightly. "Oh – Severus! Over here!"

Remus turned around in time to see Snape lock eyes with Prewett, motion to move forwards, and then spot her companion and glower. On seeing Remus, he in fact turned one hundred and eighty degrees and trounced off in the opposite direction, leaving Prewett looking more than a little embarrassed.

"I'm sure he's just busy," she said with forced brightness, which was fooling no one. Remus, however, simply smiled in resignation.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you," he responded blithely. His hands were still fiddling with the flashcards, but he wasn't looking at them anymore. His mind was in a more serious place. "I didn't realise you two were friends."

Prewett didn't answer immediately. She was watching the space where Severus had been, frowning. "I suppose we are. I hadn't thought about it, really… He has been very kind to me as of late."

Remus didn't say anything in response. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He knew that Lily was friends with Snape, but they were childhood friends. Perhaps, he could always ration to himself, Snape had been different then. Perhaps he had only gotten worse in the years that followed. However, if Prewett had made friends with Snape this very year, then that meant she must in some way like the person he currently was – and Remus couldn't say truthfully that he liked that person very much at all.

He said none of this. Though his stomach was telling him this was a bad sign, his heart was telling him it was nothing. "Aha! You're very privileged then."

"I suppose…" She didn't seem convinced. She was looking at the spot Snape had disappeared from worriedly, though when she realised Remus was watching her, she quickly buried her head back in her book. "So – boggarts."

"Yes!" he said firmly, getting the hint. "We've learned so far that they are designed to reflect your greatest – what?"

"Fear."

"Good! And the incantation to get rid of one is…?"

But before Rose could prove that she had managed to learn at least two things in their forty-five minute revision session, they were interrupted yet again – although this time by someone very different.

"Remus! There you are!"

The two of them looked up to see three boys hurrying towards them. Rose recognised the one with long black curls and dark grey eyes as Sirius Black; the boy at the back who she did not recognise was shorter, slightly plump, with blond hair; and at the front, with his square glasses, was none other than James Potter.

They hadn't seemed to recognise Rose yet. However, that may have been because the instant she saw them she muttered a quick expletive and ducked underneath the table, leaving Lupin to stare white-faced at his friends.

"Oh, hello," he said, in a particularly strangled voice, though he recovered quickly enough. "I didn't know you lot knew where the library was."

Sirius Black rolled his eyes – not that Rose could see this. She was too busy staring intently at the boy's shoes, which were non-regulation trainers, not daring to breathe.

"We were looking for you," said the pair of much scruffier trainers to the right, which had to belong to Potter. He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "We've finally found a spot to let off those dung bombs that we got in Hogsmeade."

"Oh – cool – right." From the sound of his voice, Lupin was trying to smile. "Sounds great!"

There was a short silence, and then Potter spoke again. "Remus, why are you acting like someone's just forced you to eat one of our dung bombs?"

"What? I'm not!"

"Yes, you are," wheedled a new voice. It must have been Black – it certainly had the clipped tones of an upper-class accent. "And it looks like you've found yourself a new friend."

The words froze Rose to the spot. She heard Lupin cough awkwardly. "What are you on about, Sirius? What friend?"

"This one."

Before Rose could even think of moving, she felt the table around her lift several feet, and she found herself face to face with Black, holding his wand lazily. His expression had been one of wry amusement – perhaps he had thought Lupin was hiding a girlfriend – but when he recognised the person in front of him, his face went white.

"Prewett?"

Usually he would have spat her name for good measure, but he was so shocked that he almost shouted it, causing Madam Pince to shush their group from somewhere behind the shelves. On hearing her name, Potter immediately squatted down to look for himself, and his eyes widened as he stared at her, readjusting his glasses for good measure.

"What the hell –"

"I can explain –" said Lupin quickly, as Rose scrambled back up to her seat and began hurriedly packing up her things. She had been in enough situations like this to know that she may need to make her escape at any moment.

"Oh, yes," hissed Black, careful not to upset the librarian again as he set the desk down on the floor. Rose took the opportunity to grab her notes and ink. "Please explain to us why exactly you're making friends with pure-blood maniac."

"I am not a maniac!" said Rose hotly, speaking for the first time since this whole ordeal had started, just at the same time that Lupin blurted out: "She's not my friend –"

Remus new as soon as the words had left his mouth that they were a mistake. He saw Prewett's expression crumble slightly, like a tire that had been deflated. Then it hardened completely.

"Right," she said quietly as she grabbed her quill and swung her back over her shoulder. The quill smoked slightly in her hand. "Silly me."

"Rose, wait, I didn't mean…"

But she was already storming out of the library, making sure to deliberately clip Sirius with her shoulder as she did so, her red her resembling fire as it blazed behind her. His three friends were still staring at him in utter bewilderment. Peter, who had been rather cleverly staying out of the whole debacle, said feebly, "Did you just call her Rose…?"

"Oh, sod off Peter," Remus snapped, causing the smaller boy to jump. His stomach churned a little in guilt – of all of his friends, Peter really hadn't been the worst, but he was the easiest target. "Thanks a lot, look what you've done!"

It was his turn to gather his things now, shoving them all rather unceremoniously into his bag in one go. The tips of James' ears flushed red.

"Well, I'm sorry that we don't want our friend hanging around with a blood purist –"

"JUST BECAUSE SHE'S A SLYTHERIN DOESN'T MEAN SHE'S A BLOOD PURIST!"

It was quite unlike Remus to shout. In fact, it may very well have been the first time any of them had witnessed it, and the boys found themselves unable to respond – Madam Pince did not have the same problem.

"NO SHOUTING IN MY LIBRARY."

Her voice was accompanied by hurried footsteps coming their way, but before she had even made it close, Remus responded savagely, "Don't worry, I'm leaving!"

It was his turn to brush past his friends towards the door. Madam Pince soon barrelled around the corner, but wasn't able to identify her culprit, as she only caught a flash of his robes as they whipped around the doorframe. She fumed for a few moments, muttering about 'the audacity' and the 'sanctity of quiet spaces', and then stomped off, sending Pettigrew, Potter and Black one last shush for good measure. When she had disappeared, James turned to his two friends with a look of barely contained fury on his face.

"What on earth was all that about?" he hissed, tugging at his friends sleeves to indicate that they should follow him out of the library, enough time having past that they could be sure they wouldn't run into Remus. "When did we suddenly start associating with people like Prewett?"

Peter shook his head quietly. "Not a clue. I've never seen him like that before. Have you, Sirius?"

James and Peter looked to their friend, but Sirius didn't respond. He was staring at nothing in particular, his mind delving deep into itself, dredging up memories long since past of a smitten Remus confessing a crush at the back of Potions class in their first year. Somehow, he thought he might have an idea of what the problem was.

"So. A Slytherin."

Remus sighed as he took a sip of his tea, that was charmed to stay at just the right drinking temperature, and buried his head deeper into his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. "Fuck off, Sirius."

Sirius, however, did not leave. Instead he approached the bench that Remus was occupying, in the back corner of the courtyard, and perched on the armrest. "And not just any Slytherin, but a Slytherin who is friends with Snivellous."

Remus rolled his eyes and hoped that the group of fifth-years who were sat on the edge of the fountain couldn't hear them from where they were stationed in the most secluded corner of the courtyard.

"I said, fuck off."

He looked very sick, Sirius thought as he eyed his friend wearily. There were deep bags under his eyes, and he was particularly pale. He did some quick maths in his head – the full moon was just under a week away. All of Remus' odd behaviour was starting to make a little more sense now.

"Look mate," he said gently, attempting to change tack, "do you really think it's a good idea to be hanging out with someone like that? Everything she stands for, it's… well it's the opposite of you, isn't it?"

Remus glowered. He hadn't spoken to any of them since yesterday evening, even going so far as to sit in the freezing courtyard instead of in the hall for breakfast. It had taken Sirius a good fifteen minutes to even find him, so he didn't want to push his luck, but he was struggling to marry this Remus who was friends with Prewett with the Remus he knew so well.

"She's not like that anymore," he said sharply in retort as he flicked a few pages. "Which you would know if you'd ever bothered to try and get to know her –"

"I don't need to get to know her," Sirius replied fiercely, unable to help himself. "She was part of that whole pureblood crew and that tells you all you need to know."

"But she's changed since then, and now she's my friend!"

Sirius glared at him. "Do you really need a friend that's friends with Snivellous? Are we not enough for you?"

Sirius didn't need to elaborate for Remus to understand that by we he meant Sirius, James and Peter.

"I mean, Good Godric Remus, what if she's friends with Regulus?"

Remus hesitated slightly, allowing his thumb to slip and losing his page, which was enough to confirm Sirius' deepest fears.

"She's friends with Regulus!" He threw up his free hand in disgust. "See, this is exactly what I'm talking about."

"She was before she changed! Stop being overdramatic."

"I'm not being overdramatic. If anything, you're being underdramatic." Remus didn't say anything back, so Sirius persisted. "How long have you even known her, anyway?"

"Since the start of term." Remus looked up at his dark-haired friend for the first time, who was staring at him accusingly. "What?"

"So you've known her for a week, and now you know everything about her do you?"

"Oh, if you're going to be like that, why don't you just piss off?"

Remus knew it was a weak answer and that it had only heightened his friend's concern, but it did quieten Sirius for a while, which was a much-needed relief. The fair-haired boy looked out into the horizon, trying to enjoy the way that the late afternoon sun was reflecting off the turrets of Hogwarts, before Sirius spoke again and ruined the serenity of the moment.

"It's not just me who's worried, Remus. James thinks it's risky too –"

Remus clearly knew this already, from the way he snorted. "Oh really? Interesting, because Lily Evans is friends with Snape, just like Rose, and you lot have never ostracised her."

"Yeah, but Lily is a Gryffindor," said Sirius quickly. In his opinion, the two cases were completely separate. "Also, she would never hang out with someone like Malfoy or Dolohov."

He said the last word with particular vehemence, but Remus shook his head. "She's not friends with them anymore. And you know as well as I do, that's not why it's different for Lily. It's different for Lily because James fancies her."

Sirius had been waiting for this topic to come up, and he replied perhaps a little too fast, giving away that he had been trying to bring out this argument the whole time. "Oh, and you're not blinded by your crush on Prewett?"

Remus blinked quickly. "What – what are you talking about? Rose and I are friends, that's all…"

"Oh really?" said Sirius, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow. "So that's why you're giving her top secret, just-the-two-of-you-in-a-candlelit-room, late-night tutoring sessions then. Friendship."

"This is not a – I am not –" spluttered Remus, turning a peculiar shade of crimson. "You know that's not what this is!"

Sirius crossed his arms. "Do I?"

"Of course."

"Alright – then what is it?"

Remus frowned, subconsciously digging his hand free hand into the stone bench underneath him and ripping out the moss that was growing on it in small, tense movements. "It's… it's just friendship, alright? Just like I'm friends with Lily."

Sirius snorted. "I hope not, or James might actually kill you." The dark-haired boy glanced at Remus' fist, still clenched around the bench between them, and sighed. Nothing he said seemed to be making the situation any better. "Come on, let's go back to the Great Hall, it's freezing out here."

But Remus did not look at him. Instead, he stood abruptly and said, "I have to go to Ancient Runes now."

"Mate…"

But before Sirius could say anything else, Remus had swept with unusual speed out of the courtyard, leaving him alone on the icy bench.