Chapter 25

It took Adria everything she had to not tell Remus of her knowledge of the curse he had, she had known for just over a month, and he had already transformed under the full moon for a second time during her knowledge of his curse, but he made no move to tell her.

Sirius kept up his promise to try and get Remus to tell her but he stubbornly told him no, that he couldn't lose her, and he was trying to put it off as much as he could. She would rather he would just come out and say it so there would be no secrets between them, but like always, she respected Remus' privacy and decisions, and whenever he would tell her, she would be as understanding and supportive as she could be.

Currently, Adria sat with the boys, and the girls at the Gryffindor table. She hated the fact that the girls didn't get along with the boys, Adria understood Lily's hatred for James, and Sirius seeing as they still went out of their way to make Severus' - or Snivellus as they liked to call him now - life hell. But the other girls only seemed to hate them because of Lily's hatred, and whilst she used to be like that, she thought maybe if they actually got to know each other then they'd realise just what great company they could be.

"I can't believe we only have just over a month left," Sirius groaned, "do you know how much pain it is to put up with my parents for the whole of summer?!"

"I'm sure Mrs Black- sorry, Adria would be more than happy for you to join her over summer," James smirked, earning an eyeroll from both Adria and Sirius who sat side by side.

"O,h shove off, Potter." Adria huffed, "and yes, I did just call you by your last name."

"I thought it was only Evans that done that," he scoffed, earning a glare and a scowl from Lily herself.

"I do it when you deserve it," Adria huffed, "Are you okay Remus? You look stressed?" she noticed, looking at Remus who was hovering over the table, scribbling away at something.

"Potions homework." He muttered frantically, Adria's eyes widened at his words.

"What the bloody hell do you mean, potions homework?!" she asked, looking at Sirius who just shrugged his shoulders.

Remus raised his head, setting down his quill and allowing himself to have a break as he looked at Adria with a raised eyebrow, "Ads, it's due tomorrow, did you forget?" he asked.

"Yes!" she shrieked, "I didn't know we had homework!"

"I finished it last week," Lily piped in, "it's just an essay on the most common antidote used for poisons."

"Like what Slughorn taught us last week?" Adria asked, feeling some of her worry reducing at the simplicity of the homework.

"Yes, it's really not that drastic." Lily nodded, "and if worse comes to worse, you can just copy mine."

"Wow, Lils, when did you get so rebellious?" Adria joked sarcastically.

"Took any trips to Hogsmeade, lately?" Lily shot back, tilting her head to the side, earning a smirk from Adria.

"Touché."

"Oh, we should go to Hogsmeade!" Sirius said, "that'd be fun."

"We go to Hogsmeade all the time," Adria scoffed, thinking back to last week when her stomach hurt so much from the amount of fudge flies she ate, "I don't think I could ever eat fudge flies again after last week."

"You ate fudge flies yesterday, Ads." James commented, his hand tracing the small snitch he was attempting to keep hidden.

"Yeah, you're addicted to them or something," Sirius scoffed.

"I can't help who I am!" she exclaimed, her arms flailing everywhere.

"I'm going to the library!" Remus announced frustratedly, grabbing his things and shoving them into his bag.

"Oh, I'm coming with you, I should probably start this potions essay," Adria said, grabbing her bag from under the table and rising from the bench.

"Be safe." Marlene called with a grin.

"We're only going to the library, Marls." Adria laughed, shaking her head at the girl.

"You never know what's lurking, Adria."

"Okay then." Adria nodded, bidding the rest of her friends a goodbye and joining with Remus at the door on their way to the library, "Y'know the great hall wasn't really a good place to start an essay anyway, seeing as it's always so bloody crowded.

"Yeah, you're right." Remus nodded, allowing Adria to enter the library first as they arrived, she made her way around tables and people until she found a table near the back of the library that was empty.

"That's a first," Adria joked, bringing her things out onto the table whilst Remus laughed as quietly as he could.

The two sat there doing their work until the library wasn't so busy anymore, and for the most part they got their work done, but then after a while they strayed from work and sat doing the opposite of what they were supposed to be doing.

"So, you grew up without much magic?" Adria asked quietly in disbelief, she was hearing about Remus' parents, and his life, as was he with hers, doing the complete opposite of what they should be.

"Yeah, my mums a muggle, remember I told you that?" Adria nodded silently, "well she wanted me to grow up as if I wasn't a wizard, so everything was done without magic."

"We had the exact same childhood, then," Adria chuckled, "I hated having to tidy my room, it was the worst, and we always moved around so I always had to pack, it was terrible."

"Yeah, uh, we've moved around a whole lot, too." Remus sighed, his mind somewhere else as Adria sighed, she hated seeing Remus so torn about his life and not able to reassure or comfort him, excluding Lily, he was her first friend and all she wanted was to be able to help him in any way that she could.

"Oh, why?" asked Adria, she wanted to seem as casual as she could, but her voice came out rather squeaky and her elbow missed the table when she tried to act as casual as she could, so instead, it just made her look that little bit more suspicious.

Remus was lost for words, he really didn't know what to say, so when Adria asked quietly, "was It because you're a werewolf?" he surprised himself when he up and left in the biggest hurry.

Adria groaned as she let her head fall back, she grabbed her things as quickly as she could, making sure to get Remus' things that he had left and hurried after him as quick as she could. The hallways where fairly busy, and Adria tried her best to push herself through people so she could keep up with him, she was unsure where he was going but he was going in the direction of the Gryffindor tower, so she assumed there.

"Remus!" she called, "wait, please!" she picked up her pace, ignoring the ache in her legs and the considerable rise of her heart beat. The stairs where the worst, especially trying to squeeze her way through people rushing down them.

"Remus!" he ignored her once again as he muttered the password to enter the Gryffindor tower, and then when she stumbled in after him, he made his way to the boy's dormitory stairs in a hurry, attracting the three boys attentions on the sofa's when Adria came hurrying after him.

"Remus!" she shouted loudly, but he made no attempt to stop as she followed all the way to the third-year dormitory, where he shut the door in her face, "Remus." She whispered, sliding down the wall outside of the door.

A moment later, the three boys appeared at the end of the stairs, a knowing look on their faces at what had happened. Adria made sure to inform James and Peter that she knew of Remus' lycanthropy, and that she felt it was best not to tell him, but now she had gone and ruined that.

"Remus!" Sirius said, banging on the door which he attempted to open, pushing it with much force, but Remus had barricaded it from the inside.

"Remus please listen to me," Adria said, pushing herself up once she had caught her breath and leaning against the door, "you are my best friend, okay? And nothing would ever change that, the boys didn't tell me, they kept your secret and so will I. I've read books on werewolves, on lycanthropy, and it's the only reason that I noticed, your secret isn't at stake, no one is going to find out. I just want to be there for you, Remus, you aren't a monster, you're my best friend. Please talk to me." She didn't realise she was crying until Sirius wiped the tears from her face.

She let out a sigh when the door opened after a few minutes of nothing, to reveal Remus with tears streaming down his own face. Adria pushed herself forward as quickly as she could, throwing her arms around his neck as tightly as she could in a hug whilst his slowly found her waist, "I love you so much Remus, you'll always be my best friend."

"I'm a monster, Adria." He whispered, feeling her shake her head furiously.

"No, you're not," She sighed, "You're Remus John Lupin, the strangely tall, kind, funny, pretty, extremely smart Gryffindor, and my best friend, and their best friend and we all love you, you will never be a monster."

"Really?" he asked, moving to look at her with a look able to break her heart, she smiled as she nodded her head.

"Yes," she whispered, "Remus if you where a monster do you honestly think Dumbledore would let you into the school?"

"Well, no." Remus muttered after a few moments.

"Exactly," Adria grinned, "you are not, and will never ever be a monster, okay?" he nodded silently, and Adria once again tightened her grip around him.

"I think this should be a group hug," James said, throwing his arms around Remus and Adria whilst they laughed, Sirius joined them, his arm snaking around Adria's waist whilst he threw the other around James' shoulder, squeezing them tightly in an embrace, Peter snuck his way in between James and Remus, a wide grin on his face as the five of them stood there silently embracing as tears of happiness replaced the ones of sadness falling down Remus' face.

"We're all getting too soppy," Sirius commented, "this is all your fault, Adria."

"My fault?!" she exclaimed, "James was the one to suggest a group hug, me and Remus where perfectly happy hugging on our own!"

"Yeah, well, Remus needed a group hug!" Sirius replied, his head leaning on her shoulder as the five of them still stood cuddled together.

"No, I think you're all just secretly cuddlers," Adria smirked, "I bet you all share a bed some nights and just cuddle."

"What a great idea!" James joked, earning a laugh from Adria.

"I don't think I need any more hugs, guys." Remus muttered, making everyones arms retract, but Sirius' head still remained on Adria's shoulder, he brought his arms up to lean them on her shoulders, and moved his head to rest on top of hers.

"I'm not your arm rest, Sirius," Adria huffed, but he ignored her as he clasped his arms together.

"Y'know after the intial shock," Remus said, "I'm so bloody relieved that you know."

"So am I, Remus." Adria said, "you shouldn't feel like you need to hide anything from me, none of you do, whatever it is, I don't care how big or small I'll never judge."

"What if I told you I killed someone?" James said as he lay on his bed, tossing the snitch in his hands.

"Then I'd help you bury the body," Adria shrugged, "I'd like an explanation though."

"What if it was Snivellus?" asked Sirius.

"Well I'd be mad because obviously Lils would be upset, but I'd imagine you had a good reason to do it." She muttered.

"What if it was, um," Peter thought for a moment, "what if one of us killed one of the other?"

"What do you mean, Pete?" Remus asked, completely confused.

"Well...what if Sirius killed me?"

"Then I'd kill Sirius." Adria shrugged, "but trust me Peter, I think that is the least likely to happen out of everything we've said."

"What if I killed him by accident?" Sirius asked, pouting slightly, she attempted to look up to see him but all she could see was his hair falling near his face.

"Well, I can't really kill you if you didn't mean it." Adria said, "so you're off the hook."