The next Thursday was a bit intimidating.

Remus sort of wanted to decline his spot in Dilley's Name-to-be-Determined Club; after all, he was already planning on being a part of the Duelling Club and tutoring students, not to mention taking three electives, visiting Hogsmeade on weekends, carrying Francine around everywhere, and having to transform every month. Remus' life, once boring and predictable, was now so eventful that Remus was feeling a little tightly-strung.

But he liked it. He loved having things to look forward to, which had been a rarity in his pre-Hogwarts life. He enjoyed being so busy that he barely had time to think about the next constantly-impending transformation. He was feeling busy, yes, but Remus felt worst when he was idle (hence why he despised the Hospital Wing so much). And, now that Remus could no longer spend his time composing long letters to Professor Questus, he wanted to stay distracted.

"Welcome!" barked Dilley, somehow sounding more like a dog than Max did. "Welcome to my… unnamed curse-breaking club, one and all! I've set up a bit of a scavenger hunt for the seven of you. Team Two solved it in thirty-seven minutes, so let's see if you can do it faster."

"How long will we be here?" asked Valencia. She was standing next to Basil, who was practically quivering with excitement.

"Didn't I just say so? As long as it takes you to solve it."

"I need to practice Quidditch," said James.

"Then you'd better hurry," said Dilley. "On your marks, get set, go!"

Nothing happened.

"What are we even looking for?" grumbled Snape.

"Where do we start?" said Evans.

"How are we supposed to do this?" asked Sirius.

"Is it confined to this room?" wondered Valencia.

"Read my lips," said Dilley. "Figure. It. Out."

The seven of them started to wander around the room, touching everything that they could, looking for something that was even slightly out-of-place. "Moony," whispered Sirius, and Remus jumped.

"Yeah?"

"Use your ultra-cool superwolf senses. You know pretty much everything when you're using them."

"Shhh!" Remus hissed. "Don't say that out loud in a room full of people!" He looked around; fortunately, no one seemed to have heard (except for James, who was standing right next to Sirius and beaming excitedly). "And what do you mean when I'm using them? I'm always using them! That's part of the curse."

"Ah, semantics. Go on, Moony. Just sniff around for a clue. How is this room different from yesterday?"

Remus rolled his eyes. He wouldn't be able to smell a bit of parchment that Dilley had placed somewhere, nor would he be able to smell any sort of spell. The idea seemed very stupid to him… to be entirely honest, he didn't think that Sirius fully understood the extent and limits of his heightened senses. He decided to play along, though, just for fun. "Nothing seems off to me, but it's too hard in a room full of people," he said.

"Need me to tell them to search elsewhere?" said James, who had abandoned antagonizing Snape in order to needle Remus.

"No, no… just… let me think." Remus turned in a slow circle as he breathed through his nose. "No, nothing. But… wait. There's something."

"Really?" said James, elated. "What is it?!"

"It's… well, I seem to be picking up on the scent of… peas."

"The vegetable?" said Sirius.

"Yes. Peas. Specifically, two pea-brained dunces who think that I can smell a scavenger hunt. I'm not omniscient, mate, and scents can only get me so far. THe whole club is about curse-breaking, isn't it? So the first clue is probably a spell. And who's to say he hid it in this room? Could be anywhere."

James laughed and shook his head. "Yeah, I didn't think you'd be able to. But I think it has to be in this room."

Basil and Valencia wandered over; they'd been looking in Dilley's bookshelf (and, fortunately, didn't seem to have heard any talk about scents and werewolves). "Why's that?" asked Basil. "Professor Dilley didn't say it had to be in this room."

James grinned self-righteously. "The other team got it in only thirty-seven minutes, remember? That's not enough time to search the whole castle."

"Speaking of which," said Valencia, checking her watch, "it's been fifteen minutes already. Anyone have any ideas?"

"Personally, I think it's got something to do with Max," said Sirius. "He's been licking his paws the whole time, hasn't he?"

The five of them turned to look towards Max, who was indeed licking his front paws persistently. Remus remembered licking his paws on the full moon in order to get the last traces of blood off… he looked down at his own hands and grimaced, and then he realized that there was no reason for a dog to lick its paws in such a manner unless there was something on them.

James seemed to have the same thought. "Why is he licking his paws like that?" he asked.

"Perhaps he stepped in something," suggested Basil.

"Something food-like, probably," said James. "Moony, why don't you go over and…."

"I am not going to sniff Max's paws," snapped Remus.

Basil tilted his head, evidently confused (and for good reason). "What? Why would James ask you to sniff Max's paws?"

"Inside joke," said Remus quickly. "James and I tried to rescue a homeless puppy once and it kept sticking its paws in my face."

"Ah," said Basil. "That makes no sense, but I believe it. All right, so if Max stepped in something food-like, then perhaps he was in the Kitchens."

"Or the Great Hall."

"I still think it's in this room," said James. "Otherwise there's no reason for Team Two to have found it so quickly."

"No harm in checking," said Valencia with a shrug. "Basil and I will check the Kitchens and the Great Hall. You lot can stay here and keep searching. Where are Snape and Evans?"

"They left a while ago," said James. "They said they thought they'd have more luck searching the corridors… but I think they just wanted to ditch us."

"Right, then," said Valencia. "Well, we'll meet back up with you in about ten minutes, and then we can—"

Suddenly, a scream echoed down the corridor. "What was that?" Basil asked, startled.

Remus, with his "ultra-cool superwolf senses", had heard it plenty clear enough to identify the screamer. "Sounded like Evans," he said.

James grinned and then held up an invisible sword. "Onward, good men! It's time to rescue a damsel in distress!" he cried.

As they dashed down the corridor (Basil and Remus lagging behind because of their respective limitations), Basil leaned over to Remus and whispered, "Isn't he cool?"

It was only about five seconds before James took a wrong turn. "James," called Remus, but James didn't hear him. "James!" yelled Remus louder. No one responded.

"Got you covered," whispered Basil, and then he bellowed, "JAMES!"

James turned around (so did Valencia, with an unreadable look on her face), and yelled, "WHAT IS IT, BASIL?"

"REMUS HAS SOMETHING TO SAY!"

"OH!" James jogged back towards Remus. "WHAT IS IT?" he said.

"You can use your inside voice," said Remus, amused and also slightly in pain from all the screaming that had occurred in such close proximity. "You're going the wrong way, I think. I'm fairly certain that I heard the scream came from that direction." He pointed right. In reality, he hadn't known exactly where the scream had come from, but he knew Evans' scent, and he knew exactly where it was coming from. He also heard Snape's voice, though Basil's breathing was so loud that he couldn't quite make out what he was saying.

"Right-o, Moony," said James, winking at Remus. Remus cringed. Was it possible for James to be any more obvious?

Sure enough, the crew came across Evans and Snape not too long after—Evans was cradling her right hand with her left, and Snape was rubbing her shoulder a bit. "What happened?" demanded Sirius.

"Like you care," said Snape scornfully.

James crossed his arms. "We're all on the same team, Snivellus, in case you've forgotten. Tell us what happened so that we can solve the scavenger hunt."

Snape opened his mouth to retort, but Evans cut him off. "I stuck to the wall!" she said, clearly shaken. "I was just dragging my hand across it, and then my hand stuck… and then my shoes stuck! I couldn't move at all… oh, it was so, so scary." She looked at Snape adoringly, and Sirius and James rolled their eyes in perfect unison. "Severus saved me," she said.

"Oh, come now," said James. "We were coming to save you, too. Any one of us could have saved you if we'd been as close as Sniv had been, but we had to run all the way down the corridors."

"Idiots," grumbled Valencia. "There's no point in arguing. We've only got ten minutes left before Group Two has us beat. So… what was it, Snape? How'd you break it?"

"Just Finite Incantatem," said Snape.

Basil was bouncing up and down slightly. "I think I've got it!" he squeaked. "The scavenger hunt! I think I've solved it! It's…!" Suddenly, his breathing patterns changed, his heart rate dropped, and he crumpled to the ground.

And Valencia, surprisingly, caught him.

The rest of them looked on in shock. Valencia was thin and pretty, her hair was perfectly straight, and her lips were perfectly glossed—she looked like someone who ate healthy foods and exercised often, sure, but she did not look strong enough to support the weight of a fellow student who was nearly a head taller than she was. But she had sprung forward to catch Basil with frightening dexterity, and now she was supporting his full weight with no problem at all.

"He faints in the middle of class sometimes when he's excited," Valencia said, mistaking their awe at her strength for confusion at Basil's condition. "He sits next to me in Runes, so I know the signs. He gets way too excited about Ancient Runes. I don't know why."

"But…." spluttered James. "Those were great reflexes! And you're incredibly strong! Why aren't you in Quidditch?!"

"Used to be," said Valencia with a small shrug. "Was a Beater for Ravenclaw in my third and fourth year, but I dropped out in fifth because I wanted to focus on my OWLs."

"You can't drop out of Quidditch!" said James, aghast. "Will you train me? I'm going out for Beater!"

Valencia hesitated. "Er… well, sure. I suppose one or two sessions can't hurt. I do miss Quidditch."

Basil's eyes fluttered open, and he stared up at Valencia's face in utter and complete shock. "You caught me?"

"Er, yes." Valencia was looking more awkward by the second. "Really, I didn't know everyone would be so impressed. He's not heavy or anything. Anyway... you said you'd solved it, Basil?"

"Yes!" he said. Valencia let go of him, and he stumbled, but only a little. "Look up!"

Remus looked up, and there it was—a piece of parchment, fluttering in the breeze, dangling from the ceiling by a piece of string.

"Why didn't we see that before?" Snape grumbled.

"That's why the dog was licking its paws!" breathed James. "He was trying to get the sticky stuff off! I think we're meant to climb the wall to reach the parchment!"

Two minutes later, both Sirius and James had scaled the wall (James got up first) and were holding the parchment in their hands. "It says we've solved the hunt!" said James. "Come on, come on! We have to run back!"

Everyone ran but Remus, Basil, and Snape. Snape shot Remus a suspicious look as they trailed behind the rest of Team One. "Why aren't you running with your mates?" asked Snape acidly. "Staying behind to antagonize me?"

"Remus isn't feeling great," said Basil defensively before Remus could even reply. "He's conserving his energy."

"Conserving his energy... for hexing first years?" sneered Snape. "Come on, Lupin, just leave me alone. I've not done anything to you."

"Nor have I to you," said Remus, "and I don't plan to!"

"That's a load of dragon dung. You're in on all of your friends' little pranks. Don't think I don't know."

Well, Remus had been in on some of them, yes… but not all of them. He had disapproved of many of them, and he was certain there were still more that his friends hadn't telling him about. "I'm not," he protested, but Snape held up a hand.

"I'm tired of being the object of your twisted ideas of fun. Go away and run with your friends! I want to be alone."

"Remus is ill," insisted Basil.

Fortunately, there was no more time to argue. The three of them arrived in Dilley's classroom: James was already there, and he was crossing his arms. Sirius was pouting slightly. "We lost," said James. "By a whole seven minutes. The other team found it first."

"Well, it wasn't a competition!" said Dilley. "Just an incentive!"

James rolled his eyes. "Still. I like to win. How did the other team find it first? They must have cheated."

Dilley grinned. "They just stepped out in the corridor and said Accio Parchment."

There was a stunned silence.

"You mean they didn't see Max licking his paws?" said Sirius.

"And they didn't notice the sticky stuff on the wall?" said James.

"And they didn't figure that Max was licking his paws because of the sticky stuff?" said James.

"And they didn't see the item placed above the sticky stuff?" said Basil.

"And they didn't climb the wall?" said Evans.

"Nope," affirmed Dilley. "They just Summoned it. Took them a while to figure out exactly what they were Summoning, but they found it."

There was another brief silence, and then James and Sirius started shouting something about how they didn't know the Summoning Charm, and how they didn't think that it would work anyway, and how Team Two had cheated….

"Now, now," said Dilley. "You may not have all known the Summoning Charm, but you've read about it—in fact, I mentioned it in class just the other day—and Valencia and Basil certainly knew it. Let this be a lesson to you that the easy solution is sometimes the right one."

"But…!" James spluttered.

"Look at it this way," said Remus softly, "it took them thirty-seven minutes to cast one spell. We figured it out the hard way and ended up taking… how long was it?"

"Forty-four," grumbled Sirius.

"See, only seven minutes longer. That's an accomplishment, isn't it?"

"That's the spirit!" barked Dilley. "Now get out of my classroom! Come back in two weeks! And don't lose that Bowtruckle, Lupin!"

Remus glanced down at Francine. He'd set her container on an empty desk, and now she was trying to push the container off the desk by ramming against the inside. "Oh, that can't be healthy," he muttered. "Thank you, Professor. I'll go get her something to eat."

Remus tried to feed Francine out of his hand again back in the dormitory, surrounded by Sirius and Peter (James was in Muggle Studies), but she wasn't taking the food. Remus let out a frustrated sort of moan and fell back on his bed.

"No need to growl, mate," said Sirius. "That's not going to help Francine like you very much."

Remus sat back up, utterly furious. "I didn't growl," he said. "I groaned. There's a difference. Huge difference." Then he looked at Peter desperately, a little bit worried now. "Did I? I didn't, right? I didn't growl."

"You didn't growl," said Peter.

"Thank you. See, Sirius? No growling."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "It was a joke. Learn to take a joke, mate, for your own sake."

"Well, it hit close to home," said Remus shortly. He lied down again and stared at the photographs decorating the top of his four-poster—there were the Marauders, laughing, arms thrown carelessly around each other like they hadn't a care in the world—there were the Marauders at a Quidditch game (well, just before one)… James was in his Quidditch gear and grinning widely—there were the Marauders at Peter's house. Every time Remus looked at these photographs, he was reminded that he was lucky—so incredibly lucky—and that no other werewolf, possibly on earth, had such good friends as he did. He couldn't lose that.

He sat up again. "Sorry, Sirius."

Sirius either did not hear him or did not deign his comment important enough for a reply. He simply cried, "Look!" Upon further inspection, Sirius was pointing at Remus' hand, which was still dangling inside the container.

Francine was finally eating from Remus' hand.

Remus sat up straighter, now at rapt attention, and stared in awe at Francine. She still looked a bit annoyed at Remus, but there was no fear in her little black beady eyes—and she was eating from his hand! Remus couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face, no matter how much he reminded himself that baring his teeth at a Bowtruckle was not the best way to earn her affection.

After Francine had finished, he removed her from the container, ever so gently, and placed her on his lap. Then he took his hand off of her… and she stayed attached to it.

"Woah," said Peter. "I think she likes you now, or something."

"Or something," snorted Sirius. "More like tolerates. Are you going to return her to Kettleburn now?"

Remus, who had spoken to Kettleburn quite recently, shook his head. He was almost afraid to speak—he didn't want to scare Francine, after all—but he summoned all his Gryffindor courage and did so anyway. "He wants me to return her after the next full moon. Says that she seems to enjoy being out and about… I don't agree, but I s'pose he knows Bowtruckles much better than I do."

Remus watched as Francine gave him a reproachful look and moved a little on his lap. Remus flinched, expecting her to run away, but she simply curled up and went to sleep.

Remus didn't move an inch for another two hours.

That night, he cast a spell around Francine to set off an alarm if she tried to escape, but he did not put her back into her container. And, to Remus' great joy, he didn't even need the spell—morning dawned, and Francine was still snoozing silently.

It was a new day, and Remus had never felt so much like a human.