Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers

September 3

When Remus woke the next day, sun was already filtering through the windows of the bedroom. Through sleepy eyes, he surveyed the room. James, Peter and Sirius were not there. He sat up suddenly and grabbed his watch off the nightstand. 11:14. Remus was relieved it was Friday, he didn't have class until 1:30, but it was Potions, with Bertram. 'Just end my suffering,' Remus thought to himself, melodramatically. 'Perspective,' he reminded himself. If he had so far survived nearly 12 years as an abominable beast, then two hours with an ex didn't seem so bad.

Remus tugged an over-sized jumper and lounge pants on and headed to the, hopefully deserted, common room.

He was in no such luck however. It seemed as though his entire year was sitting somewhere in the common room. A few people he recognized were playing chess in the corner, some people were even studying. Remus was jealous of those people; with any luck, Professor Slughorn would assign an essay today so Remus had a good excuse for hiding in the library all weekend. Remus was being socially suffocated.

Remus walked through the common room as quietly as he could, hoping not to garner any attention from his friends, he really just wanted to be alone for a bit. He made his tea quickly and retreated back to his bedroom.

However, Remus was not quite indiscreet enough to slip under Sirius' radar. It didn't help Remus' case,of course, that Sirius had been paying rather close attention to the foot of the stairs, waiting for Remus to come down them.

Sirius was disappointed when Remus came and left so quickly. About 15 minutes after Remus retreated back to his room, there was a soft knock on the door. "Yes?" Remus huffed. The door opened slightly to reveal Remus' knight in shining armour: Lily Evans.

"Remus," she said tenderly, then in a more judgmental tone, "this place is already a pig sty." She wasn't wrong, the boys' dormitory was already a mess. "What's going on?" Her initial tone had returned.

"I just need a break," he admitted.

"It's only the second day of classes." Lily sat on the foot of Remus' bed and looked over at the boy who was sitting up against his head board.

Remus was silent.

"And," Lily continued, "you have two weeks before, ugh, your transformation." Remus had told Lily about his furry little problem two years ago. It probably wouldn't have come up if his friends had ditched the 'Moony' nickname, and if Remus didn't feel incredibly guilty keeping secrets from his best friend.

Remus sighed in defeat, it was hard to keep anything from Lily. "Sirius and I had a huge fight, and I still have feelings for Bertram." Remus blurted quickly.

"Okay," she said mulling over the information information, "let's unpack that."

Remus nodded.

"You and Sirius argued?"

"Not really, I, it's hard to explain exactly what happened."

Lily looked at him expecting him to continue.

"We just took different stances on something, and then we both said stupid things, which really hurt. And I think we resolved it, but I don't really want to see him for a while. I really hurt his feelings."

She nodded, "I'd bet he's feeling very similarly. All morning he's been waiting for you to wake up."

"And Bertram," Remus picked his poison, and talking about Bertram was better than talking about Sirius. Lily pursed her lips like she was going to make another remark, but decided against it and Remus kept talking. "I know he was an ass last year, but he really did send that howler with good intentions."