Having the Winthrops over wasn't too bad, actually.

Mallory was okay conversation, and her parents got on with Remus' parents quite well. Stefan was actually fantastic at getting Remus' father out of his shell—Remus came downstairs to see them doing target practice on a faraway tree with dart spells, laughing hysterically. Sara, on the other hand, mellowed Remus' mother out a little—they played chess, cards, and read books in the same room, and Remus didn't notice a hint of anxiety in his mother's face at all.

Still, he missed his friends. Mallory was great and all, but she just wasn't the same. Remus felt like the world was moving quickly with his friends, what with the banter and the games—with Mallory, it felt like his world was moving too slowly. She was lovely and very kind, but she just wasn't funny.

Remus didn't blame her for that, of course, but he desperately wanted to laugh again. So, when his friends owled him a roundish, flat package, Remus nearly jumped out of his skin with excitement.

"What's that?" asked Mallory, watching him open it with glee written all over his face.

"It's a magic mirror," he said, brushing the last of the paper off of it and grinning widely. "I'm going to talk to my friends."

He stared at it for a while, waiting for the appearance of a familiar face. Then, finally, at long last, he saw a hazel eye that he recognized immediately.

"James!" he cried.

"Moony!" cried James. Remus vaguely saw Sirius' hair and Peter's eye in the corners of the mirror—they seemed to be fighting. "Is that the girl you were telling us about? Mallory?"

"Er, yes."

Mallory's eyes went wide. "How do they know? Have you talked to them recently? Owled them about me?"

"Erm… yeah, I wrote to them. Magic notebook. It's a long story. Anyway, James, this is Mallory—and Mallory, this is James, and Peter and Sirius are somewhere there, too."

"How have you been, Moony?" asked James impatiently, effectively launching into a different topic without so much as saying hello. "Have you tried on the dress robes yet? Have you decided to come to the Christmas party? How are your parents?"

"Slow down," said Remus with a laugh. "I'm okay. Things have been great, actually. Mallory and her family are lovely. I haven't tried the dress robes on yet, and I haven't decided whether I want to come to the party. I'll figure that out later."

James groaned. "It's in a week!"

"He's having a Christmas party?" whispered Mallory from behind Remus.

"Oh, erm, yes. James' family is… well, they're quite well-off, and—"

"We're filthy rich," corrected James.

"Yes, that. They're holding a party, and James wants me to come. I don't much like parties, though, so I'm holding off on that decision."

"What if you took Mallory?" asked James, and a little bit more of Sirius' hair appeared in the mirror. "That would be great! The more the merrier!"

"Are you sure you have enough food and space to accommodate another unexpected guest?"

"Please. We have enough food and space for a small army—no, scratch that: a large army. You should both come, so long as she's got dress robes!"

Remus looked over at Mallory, who was wearing a considerably more nervous expression than a few seconds earlier. "Don't push her," he said. "She doesn't have to come if she doesn't want to."

"Ah, fine. Anyway. Remus, could you take the mirror somewhere else? We need some man talk."

"That might have been the least polite possible way to boot Mallory out."

"Sorry. You understand, right, Mallory? Yeah, she gets it. We have to talk about… what do men talk about? Oh, fixing things, and… and puberty, I guess. Shoo, Mallory."

Remus sighed. "I'm sorry about that, Mallory. You don't have to go anywhere. I'm taking them to my room."

He nearly cast a Soundproofing Charm on his room when he arrived, but then remembered that he wasn't technically allowed to do that. "All right, lads," he told his friends, shutting the door firmly behind him, "talk quietly. I know my parents probably can't hear me from wherever they are, but I don't know that for sure."

"Fine," said James. "Okay, so first of all, you really need to come to the Christmas party. It's going to be a blast, and there's going to be so much food."

"I told you. I haven't decided. I need to see how I'm feeling that day, because it's only a couple of days away from the full moon."

"Well, you must come at some point, because you need to put the dew in Peter's shed. For the Animagus potion, remember?"

"You have the Mandrake leaves ready?"

"Yep. They're still in our mouths."

"Good." Remus sighed. "I can't believe I'm letting you do this."

"I just can't believe we're taking so long. So anyway, how is it really with Mallory? Now that she's gone, you can say whatever you want."

Remus sighed. He felt bad saying these things, especially after his friends had treated Mallory so rudely, but he needed to say them to someone. He'd kept it all cooped up for ages. "Well," he said slowly, "She's nice. She's just… not funny. I laugh with you three around, but I never laugh when Mallory's there. We talk about serious things… and sometimes we don't talk at all. It's a bit awkward."

"That's annoying, mate."

"Well, I wouldn't say it's annoying, but it's certainly not as much fun. She and her family are really understanding about me, though. They offered to leave during the full moon, and they don't ask too many questions. Dad just volunteers information, though. Both he and Mallory's dad are academics, and they love talking about curses."

"Oh."

"Yeah. We're an interesting group."

"I'm sure. Anyway, Moony, the funniest thing happened yesterday. You won't believe it. Padfoot and I…"

Remus listened to the story half-heartedly, caught in the middle between feeling left-out and feeling too tired to participate in much of anything.

The left-out feelings eventually won, and Remus found himself trying on the dress robes that James had given him. To his misfortune, they fit perfectly (of course they did; they were spelled to do so), and he had absolutely no excuse to stay home from the Christmas party.

He changed back into his oversized clothing and went downstairs, where his mother was talking to Sara in the sitting room, and asked her, "Do you mind if I go to James' house on Christmas day?"

"Why? Just to celebrate with your friends?"

"It's actually sort of a party."

He looked over at his mother, whose mouth was fashioned into a deep frown. He knew what was coming, and he resolved that he would not let his cheeks go red. "Remus, the full moon is on the twenty-ninth," she said—exactly what he had expected—and then, "Are you sure you'll feel up to a party?"

"I'm sure. I want to go. Besides, that's a whole four days off. It should be fine."

"All right, well… make sure you have a Floo available, all right? Just in case. What time is the party?"

"Six o'clock."

"Are they serving dinner?"

"I think so."

"All right. You should bring a dinner there just in case."

"Mum, I don't need to bring a dinner. I know they have food; I just don't know if it's dinner food."

"Bring a Pain-Relieving Potion and some silver and Dittany."

"I always have silver and Dittany. I don't need a Pain-Relieving Potion."

"Don't forget: to summon the Knight Bus, you need only…"

"Yes, Mum! I know!"

"And remember that…"

Sara spoke up, and Remus' mother finally went silent. "Hope," said Sara, "he's going to be fine. He's got a good head on his shoulders, and it's just a party. His friends will be there to look after him, and he doesn't seem like he particularly needs looking after, anyway."

"I know. I'm just nervous."

"I get it. Heavens knows I'm always nervous about Mallory. But sometimes you just need to let go and let them learn things on their own."

"We're in the middle of a war."

"And it looks like we will be for a very long time, so we might as well get used to it." Sara smiled at Remus. "I'm giving you permission for your mother, okay? Have fun at the party."

Remus' mother sighed, and then she finally nodded. "Have fun," she echoed.

Remus smiled to himself as he went back to his room. Sometimes he was very, very glad that the Winthrops were there.

Christmas Eve arrived, and Remus was starting to feel the full moon.

It came slowly at first, in a way that was so small that Remus couldn't tell whether it was paranoia or truly the first signs of a moon. It was just a tingling in his fingers, a prickling in his toes… and then it was a bit of nausea… and a headache. Soon, it would be full-blown exhaustion, and then, a little while later, it would be worse than the Wizard Flu.

Remus wasn't quite there yet, but he was slowly reaching the exhaustion stages. He was sore and tired, and it was getting harder to fall asleep. He took more naps than was normal—usually, the exhaustion hit around three pm every day, and he napped wherever he was.

He hadn't used to do that at school. There had been other things to do, so he'd powered through. Here though, the days passed slowly, and Remus' eyes crossed and closed all on their own as he was sitting on the sofa, or at the table, or on the floor.

He woke up from a nap on the couch one day with all three Winthrops and both of his parents in the room. "S'ry I fell asleep," he slurred, rubbing his eyes. "What were we doing?"

"You fell asleep in the middle of a sentence," said Remus' father. "Are you sure you're all right to go to that party?"

"Yes! Yes, I'm fine. You know. It's afternoon. I always get tired then."

"Do you need to go to bed?" asked Remus' mother.

"Nope."

"All right… if you're sure."

"I'm sure. I'm fine. I only…"

Suddenly, there was a loud noise from Remus' left. He nearly jumped out of his skin, and his head whirled around, just in time to see… Mallory, who had fallen while walking into the kitchen. She'd landed in just the wrong place, hitting her head on the corner of the wall. "Ow," she said.

"Oh my goodness!" cried Sara, running toward her. "Are you all right, dear?"

Suddenly, the attention was not on Remus anymore; it was on Mallory, who was a little shaken up, but otherwise completely fine. While her mother led her back to the couch and started checking her head for injuries, Mallory smiled at Remus from behind her hand. "Run while you can," she whispered, far too quietly for anyone else to hear, and Remus smiled back and scurried upstairs to talk to his friends.

He found himself awake in the middle of the night, completely unable to sleep.

The moon was waxing, but the window in Remus' room was small and firmly covered by the bookshelf. He tried his hardest to sleep, listening to the other people in the house shifting in bed… breathing in and out, very slowly… counting sheep… but no avail reached him, and he was still awake.

Remus got out of bed and wandered downstairs. His bones were so sore, and all he wanted to do was drink some water and put some ice on his joints. Perhaps that would help him fall asleep.

Just as he was about to pour himself some water, though, he heard footsteps. Judging by the sound of them, it was Mallory.

"I'm sorry," he said as soon as she had fully descended the staircase and walked into the kitchen, yawning, curly hair askew. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's all right," she said, "just my luck. Are you getting food? I'm hungry."

"It's quite possibly the worst time of day to be hungry."

"Just my luck," she repeated with a smile. "Do you think your parents would mind if we made sandwiches?"

"No. They'll just be happy that I'm eating. It's one of the benefits of being constantly ill." Remus handed Mallory a plate and a butter knife. "Help yourself."

Ten minutes later, they were in the sitting room with sandwiches and glasses of water, and Remus had a few ice cubes wrapped in a washcloth on his head. "So," said Mallory, taking a huge bite of her sandwich, "what's keeping you up?"

"I'm not sure, honestly. Just a lot on my mind, I suppose."

"You've seemed ill."

"I'm always ill."

"Are you actually up to going to the Christmas party, or are you just telling your parents that?"

"I'm actually up to it. Physically, I mean. Emotionally, I'm not sure—my friends can be a bit of a handful, and I am a bit tired."

"Ah, I see."

"I meant to apologize earlier for their insensitivity the other day. They weren't being very kind to you when they spoke to me on the mirror."

"They were fine."

"No, they weren't. I hope they treat you better in person."

"To be quite honest, I'm thinking I'll find my own friends. Yours don't really suit my fancy."

"Fair enough. I hope I'm bearable."

Mallory shrugged. "You'll do," she said, and Remus smiled, because she had made a joke. Not an excellent one, and not really even a joke—more of a semi-sarcastic comment—but still. There was a touch of humor there, and Remus had missed humor.

Remus took another bite of his sandwich. "You haven't told me much about your other friends."

"Oh… I don't have other friends. Not at the moment."

"Really?"

"Really. I always do the wrong thing."

"You've never done anything terrible around me."

"It's only a matter of time."

"You know," said Remus, "I was terrified of doing the wrong thing around my friends, too, back at the beginning of my first year. I hadn't had any friends before, and I didn't even know how being social worked."

"You're not awkward at all, though!"

"I don't know about that," said Remus. "Anyway, I was terrified of doing all the wrong things, but guess what?"

"You didn't," said Mallory dully, as if she'd heard the speech a thousand times before.

Remus grinned. "No, that's not what I was going to say at all, actually. I did do all the wrong things. I did all the wrong things multiple times. I lied to them for a whole year, I ditched my friend Peter in the middle of a one-on-one emotional talk in the dormitory, I was scared and timid and awkward, I was annoying and stupid… and then, when they discovered that I was a werewolf, I left. I didn't even hear them out. I just went back to my house and told them a million times that I didn't want to be friends with them anymore, and then I finally returned to Hogwarts on a trial period, which annoyed them to no end. I was a terrible friend."

"You were?"

"Absolutely. But guess what? They're still my friends, because a real friend is someone who likes you anyway, even if—even when—you do all the wrong things."

There was a moment of silence as Mallory digested this. "Remus, I have something to tell you."

"Yeah?"

"I… erm. I was looking for a book in your room this morning while you were at the grocery with your dad, which was a terrible decision in hindsight, and really awful of me, but I was bored, and…"

"And?"

"I might have accidentally broken this."

Mallory pulled a few shards of glass out of her pocket, and Remus recognized a wolf's head and a paw. He started to laugh.

"Peter (check) gave that to me in first year before he knew I was a werewolf. Don't worry about it—I've always hated that thing."

"Thank goodness," said Mallory. "And I'm assuming the plant wasn't important?"

"The… the plant?"

"Yeah. Tiny potted plant on your windowsill. The window was open, and I knocked it out by accident, and… well, I heard the pot smash."

"Edward?"

Remus stood up in a flash and pulled on his shoes. He ran outdoors and looked underneath his window—sure enough, there lay Edward, separated from his smashed pot. "No, no, no," he muttered.

Edward was still all right, fortunately. Remus grabbed a mug from the cupboard and went back outdoors, not caring about the prickly plants beneath his feet or the freezing weather. He gathered some soil and placed it into the mug, and then he repotted Edward, shivering violently, while Mallory watched. "There we are," he whispered once the deed had been done. He brought the plant back indoors, ran it under the tap, and then carefully placed it on the windowsill.

"It's all right," he said, a tad breathless and still shivering. "Edward is invincible. You probably couldn't hurt him if you tried."

"Erm… Edward?"

"Well, you know the story my parents were telling the other day of my former professor who was our next-door neighbor for a year?"

"Yes."

"He left Edward, an invincible houseplant, to me in his will."

"Oh." Mallory covered her mouth, and her eyes grew wide. "I am so sorry."

"No harm done. Like I said, Edward is invincible—Dumbledore himself charmed it—and the pot held no sentimental value."

"What if it had? What if he hadn't been? I would have lost another friend."

Remus sighed. "No, Mallory, because people are more important to me than plants."

"Really?"

"Of course." Remus took one final bite of his sandwich and then put his plate in the sink. "I mean, most people. Not the Hogwarts librarian so much. She scares me."

Mallory smiled weakly, but it didn't seem her heart was in it. "Yeah. Okay."

"You've had some pretty awful friends in the past, haven't you?"

"No. I've done some pretty awful things."

"What could be so bad that people just stopped being friends with you, fully aware that you were cursed and it wasn't your fault?"

"Things can be accidental and still be your fault," said Mallory. "I'm tired. I'm going back to bed."

So Mallory left, and Remus stared out the window at the waxing moon all alone.

He liked Mallory. He did. But sometimes—just sometimes—he was very aware of the fact that talking to her was a bit draining rather than energizing, like it was whenever he talked to his friends.

No matter. People were more important to him than inanimate concepts, after all.