It's Nice To Have A Friend

21 - What a Lie

Mallory looked around the Common Room again before walking over to Remus and Peter. "Where's James?" she asked Remus and Peter as they studied at a table.

"With Sirius," Remus replied, not looking up from his book as he wrote something down on his paper.

"Why? What's up?" Peter asked, looking away from his textbook with a sigh. He leaned back in his chair and watched Mallory.

"He was supposed to help me study," Mallory replied.

Remus looked up with a smirk. "Study."

"Do you know when they'll be back?" she queried, ignoring Remus's odd comment as she scratched the back of her neck.

"What time was he supposed to meet you?" Remus replied, his smirk was gone now.

Mallory gently took Peter's hand and pushed back his sleeve to reveal the time on his watch. "Fifteen minutes ago."

"Fifteen minutes?" Remus questioned. "I doubt he'd be late to a study date with you."

"It's not a study date," Mallory stated before chewing on her bottom lip. "I'll just study upstairs then." She started to walk away.

Remus slammed his and Peters' books shut before stepping over to Mallory. "There's something I need to tell you. I was going to have all the boys be a part of it, but I can tell you myself," he told her before gently grabbing her arm and leading her to the boys' dormitories.

Remus sat down on his bed. Peter awkwardly walked over to his own bed. "Mallard, you know how I was in the hospital wing at the same time as James?"

"Yeah," Mallory replied simply, standing over him as he spoke. Having realized how awkward the conversation was like this, Remus patted the bed for her to sit beside him.

"Mal, there's a reason my dad doesn't like me very much. I mean... He loves me and I know that, but he doesn't like who I am," Remus stated. Mallory nodded along although she had no idea what he was rambling about. "When I was four, I was bitten by a werewolf."

Mallory's jaw dropped as she stared at Remus, her eyes flickering across his face to find any hint of a lie. "Werewolves are real?"

Remus stared at her for a moment as if confused by her reaction. "Yeah. They're real. And I am one."

"Oh..." Mallory mumbled, trying to figure out how to react to this. "You don't look like one."

Peter snorted from his bed as Remus continued to stare at Mallory in confusion. "Well, it's not a full moon," Remus replied like it was obvious.

"Oh. Okay." Mallory awkwardly nodded at him.

"You're not scared of me?"

"Well, I mean... I am a little," Mallory quietly admitted. "But you're not going to have an initiation and bite me so I join your pack though, right? Not right now?"

Peter let out a snort and turned off the lights. He illuminated his wand and pulled the hood of his robe over his face. "You have been brought here today-" he started.

The lights flicked back on with a loud groan from Remus. "No. Even if I did bite you right now, it would just be a human bite," Remus informed her. "If you're into that, I can pass that information on to James."

Mallory's head whipped over to Remus with her jaw dropped. "What?" she asked, her voice coming out louder than she intended.

She never got an answer as James and Sirius walked into the dorm. Sirius was on James's back with his tie around his head. His shirt was almost fully unbuttoned, and he held his wand high in the air. James had a similar look. Both boys had wide smiles.

"I should go," Mallory mumbled as she stood up.

James's head snapped over to Mallory. He dropped Sirius off his back and tore the tie off of his head. "Merlin... Mal, I totally forgot," James stated. He pushed back the sleeve of his white shirt and looked down at the old watch he had on his wrist. He must've had it since he was young because of the dullness of the red coloring. "Here, we can get through some of the material."

"No. It's fine. You deserve to have some fun."

"Mals..." Sirius started. Mallory glanced over at him but quickly turned away before she could study his face. She started toward the door.

"Mal, I'm so sorry," James said, grabbing her arm gently. "I can-"

"Prongs, stop. You pissed her off. Just let her go," Remus said. With that, James let her go. She quickly said goodbye to Peter and Remus before rushing to her room to study the textbooks she didn't understand.