NOTHING GIRL || Remus Lupin

-One: Truth or Dare-

"Dare you."

"No way."

"C'mon. We'll all do it."

"You say that as if it will reassure me."

"It'll be fun."

"Moony, can you hear this guy? He's basically suggesting suicide."

Remus Lupin turned away from the rain-peppered window of the small compartment aboard Hogwarts express to see his friends. Sirius and James were facing each other across the seats, caught in a less-deadly-more-minor-maiming-that-Madam-Pomfrey-could-fix-I'm-sure game of dares. In his experience, it was better not to get mixed up when this particular duo decided on another one of their 'hilarious' schemes, which was how dares usually ended for them. Peter had fallen asleep and appeared to be drooling on James' suitcase. Remus blinked at his friends.

"Sorry, I was trying my very hardest not to pay attention." He claimed honestly.

 James pretended to look wounded, while Sirius disregarded his comment in an attempt to gain an ally against what was undoubtedly another 'James Plan'. On a varying scale from oh-shit-I-know-nothing-about-this-subject-better-do-a-revision-time-table to how-can-I-set-everything-on-fire-in-the-shortest-timeframe-possible, James' plans were just about level with Wiley Coyote. Remus instantly settled into his suspicious face.

"Moony, my lycanthropic friend. It appears our dear associate and fellow Marauder has gone mad with power and now believes he is capable of impossible acts." Sirius stated solemnly "I shall have an appointment booked at St Mungo's by the end of the week."

"I'm not mad." James said, with a grin that lit up his face with excitement, giving him a startling resemblance to Belle's father from Beauty and the Beast, "I just hate not knowing things. It wont be that hard."

"It won't be that hard?" Sirius questioned incredulously, turning back to his admittedly more likely to be classed as insane friend, "Are you kidding me?"

"What are you talking about?" Remus' calm tone had no effect on the teenagers in the compartment, who appeared to have built up a resistance over the now six years he had known them. Sirius looked at him beseechingly.

"He wants to find out where Helia Blacksmith goes at night." Sirius said, and then became aware of the lack of impact with which he spoke, so added for emphasis, "Helia freaking Blacksmith"

Helia freaking Blacksmith was the school's resident mystery girl. The muggle born had shown up the first year, a child made out of porcelain. She talked to no one. She needed no one. She refused to sleep in the dormitory with everyone else but nobody knew where she went. People- curious and bored purebloods mostly- had tried to find out, and they had all.. well, I mean they showed up a couple of days later, usually with no lasting harm. 'Usually' being the key word.

It was the way she looked at you when she talked to you, though. Like there was a light that was missing behind her eyes, something human that had been lost. Remus had no doubt that Helia's mercy when it came to intruders would be non existent.

"Oh." Remus said, surprised at the lack of explosive material suggested. James looked triumphant.

"See, Moony thinks it's a good idea." he stressed, as if that were concrete evidence of his dastardly plot's fool proof-ness.

"Just to clarify." Remus interjected, "That was an 'oh, my friend is a lunatic' and not an 'oh what a smashing idea, sounds like a blast'"

"I would hope it's not the second one," Sirius muttered, "You sounded like a right toff"

Remus ignored him, "We are not stalking a possible psychopath around school just to see what they do in their downtime." He stared hard at James "Are we Prongs?"