Remus's POV

An aching sensation of guilt spreads throughout my chest. She didn't actually do anything to them, to us, so why do they treat her like this? Why do I treat her like this? I don't understand why they choose to pick on her the most out of everyone in the school, apart from Severus but at least there's a reason behind that, he's a Slytherin and a git, but there isn't a single reason as to why they - we - chose her that I can think of.

Her words still stand in the air even though she's gone, flickering like a flame as a draft flits through the silent room. We just stand there, processing everything and staring dumbly at them, trying to figure out exactly what she could've meant.

Fate seems to have forsaken us today however as while each of our minds are swimming with a newfound anxiety, wondering what on earth she could possibly do that could harm us, Gideon and Fabian happen to come into the room at that exact time.

"What's this? What happened to Immy?" They ask, looking around at everyone in the common room.

No one dares to say anything that would directly implicate the four of us, but they each turn to look at us with quick, subtle glares before turning away. We try to look anywhere but at the twins, the fury radiating off of them in fiery waves.

"Well?"

We all remain silent and exchange nervous glances, knowing of the dangerous tricks that her brothers have pulled on people in the past as a form of revenge on behalf of the girl who couldn't harm a fly.

"Nothing happened, why do you think something happened?" Sirius asks quickly, taking a small step forwards as a form of threat towards the two of them.

So subtle and not at all suspicious.

"Aside from the fact that there's writing in the air in her handwriting, it talks about a book and a whiteboard. Who else would've written it?" They scoff like it's obvious which it sort of is when you put it that way.

Still no one dares to speak up, resulting in their faces growing as red as their hair as their anger grows.

"What did you bastards do to her?" One of them growls, demanding an answer from one of us yet still there's only silence. "When we find out you are going to pay. I promise you are going to hurt."

The other twin takes more mercy upon us and mouths run, though who knows, he could simply desire the thrill of the chase, and we scamper up the stairs into our dorm. I sit on the end of my bed and think about her, about the pain we caused, how her eyes were filled with sadness and anger.

Maybe we did go too far.

"Ugh, what's so special about a book?" Sirius scoffs. "It's just bits of paper stuck together with writing on it. There are hundreds of them in the library."

"Maybe it was something sentimental." I suggest. "She did seem pretty upset."

He just sighs dramatically and turns to face James, who's expression was unreadable and empty, with an exclamation of frustration.

"It's your fault," he seethes, "you burnt it!"

"You stole her blackboard!"

"You chucked her book into the fire!"

"You took away her ability to communicate! Maybe if you didn't do that she would've asked for it back!"

"You would've still thrown it away, even if she begged you!"

"Just stop!" Comes Peters shrill cry, cutting in between their back and forth argument that was going nowhere. "Because of both of you her brothers are out to kill us!"

The two of them fall silent and we all turn to look at him in shock. He hardly dares speak when the two of them are in the middle of an argument let alone interrupt them entirely and cause the two to fall silent.

"Peters right." I pipe in. "You both kinda brought this on yourselves."

They both shoot me identical glares before sighing in defeat and offering small apologies to each other, successfully restoring the peace for at least a short while before something new arises and they're back to fighting like siblings once again.

"Well, we've got bigger issues to worry about. There's the full moon in a week." James says carefully, casting me a nervous glance as he touches upon the the topic he knows I despise.

I look down at my feet and awkwardly scuff them against the worn wooden floorboards, my hatred for the full moons and the time leading up to it being expelled from my body in little, nervous ticks. My time during the full moon is a lot easier now than it was before, their presence and the potions they help make keep me grounded and sane as my body transforms into a hideous beast.

"Don't be nervous, we've done this all before." Sirius comforts me.

"Yep. Back in the old shrieking shack." James laughs, trying to ease the tension in the room. "Its named after you moony, you should be proud. You're infamous, a living legend."

I shoot him a hard glare and pull the curtains around my bed, shielding me from view. They both come creeping towards me, figures illuminated by the lights that cause shadows to dance on the ground, and suddenly pull the trick cloth back, leaning over me and pouting childishly.

"What's wrong Moony?" James asks. "You've been acting weird for a while."

"Just the full moon next week. Feeling a bit off." I brush off his question with the easiest answer, not wanting to admit that my guilty conscience was creeping up on me.

They simply shrug and go back to looking through the stacks of books and papers, unpacking everything from their trunks, leaving them in haphazard piles on the floor that we will be sure to trip over in the night.

"Oh, bad luck Moony, we're studying werewolves in DADA." Peter smiles sympathetically, flicking through the newest textbook he bought in Diagon Alley.

I groan loudly and bury my face in the soft pillow. "Don't remind me."

"Well, at least we'll be ahead of the class." Peter tries to think positively, making James and Sirius smiles at the thought of passing a subject without doing much work.

"Yeah. Who needs books when you're living with one?" James reaches over to mess up my hair, I shove his hand away and they laugh, chuckling weakly along with them.

We slowly get ready for bed, talking absentmindedly about random bits and pieces before trying to get to sleep. Within a matter of minutes I hear the others starting to snore, with James' occasional snorts, Sirius' long deep breaths and Peter's little snuffles.

I can't get to sleep though.

Thoughts of Imogen and what her brothers are going to do to us continuously run through my mind. I don't like how they always make fun of her, I especially don't like how I joined in at the beginning, but she's changed so much in the past few months, she's absolutely beautiful, both inside and out, and I don't want to hurt her any more.

I want to get to know her.

—

e d i t e d

H i f r i e n d s I h o p e y o u l i k e t h i s e d i t