Among The Stars --- Remus Lupin

•five•

Ara was sitting in Potions, listening to Professor Slughorn drone on and on about the uses of Bicorn horn, when three troublemakers stumbled into the classroom.

"Sorry we're late," they apologized, taking their seats.

Slughorn glared at them, but otherwise continued with the lesson. It's not like they were learning anything useful. Lily had told Ara that they had learned all about Bicorn horn in their second year. Ara had already read about its uses in a book.

"Where's Remus?" Ara whispered to Lily.

"I dunno, probably sick again," Lily shrugged indifferently.

"What do you mean again? When was he sick last?"

"Merlin, why do you care so much. I guess he was sick about a month ago. James said in a letter that Remus was under the weather so he couldn't come school supplies shopping with us," she raised an eyebrow suspiciously, then smirked.

"What?" Ara questioned. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh, nothing. You just seem very worried about him."

"There's nothing wrong with being worried about him," Ara snapped. "He is our friend after all."

Lily raised her hands in mock surrender, "I didn't say there was anything wrong with it."

Ara zoned out for the rest of class, deep in thought. She had already figured out that Remus was a werewolf. In fact, she was a bit disappointed in herself that she hadn't figured it out sooner. Was Remus undergoing a werewolf transition? Where? There was no way he could do it in he castle. It would cause too much noise and she couldn't imagine the alarm it would bring up in parents. Ara decided that she was just going to have to ask James, Sirius, and Peter about it.

The bell rang and everyone shuffled out of the Potions classroom. The Gryffindors had a free period before lunch, so Ara caught up with her friends and followed them down to the lake. They lounged under a tree, watching the clouds lazily drift across the sky.

Ara desperately wanted to talk to the boys, but she didn't want to bring anything up about Remus while Lily and Mary were around. Sure, Lily could've been covering for Remus when she said he was sick, but Ara happened to be pretty good at picking out lies.

"So, where's Remus? Our dear Ara was very worried about him," Lily teased.

"He woke up with a pretty bad stomach bug," James said, not missing a beat.

Ara uncovered several truths from this statement: This was a lie. Remus wasn't at the school. He was close by, but not on campus.

"Our Beauxbatons beauty was worried, huh? Interesting," Sirius spoke, stroking a fake beard.

Two more discoveries: Sirius, James, and Peter had just visited Remus this morning. Also, he was somewhere in Hogsmeade.

Mary laughed, "Come on guys, leave her alone. Look, she's red from embarrassment."

Ara wasn't red from embarrassment though, color had risen to her cheeks from thinking so hard.

"I've got to run to the library to grab a book before lunch. Anyone want to come?" Lily asked, standing up and grabbing her bag.

"I'll come. Professor McGonagall recommended a book for me," Mary said, getting up as well.

"Ara, you wanna come?" Lily offered.

Ara did want to go to the library. The other day she saw a book that caught her eye, but unfortunately she had reached the maximum on books she could check out. This was a perfect opportunity to talk to the boys, though, so she politely turned them down.