TW AND CW: light mentions of depression, crying, violence

A/n: more sadness in this chapter guys... just letting y'all know 

Remus was really concerned for Ana at this point.

She acted like she was fine.

But no one would be fine after something like that.

To make it all worse, they had their O.W.L.s and Ana was stressing herself to the max.

She and Remus were studying quietly in the Gryffindor common room until a 1st year came up to them and asked, "Why are you two stressing out so much? All the 5th years are."

"We have exams coming up," said Ana kindly, looking up from her essay.

"We do too," said the 1st year nonchalantly. "But even we don't study that much."

"These are different from the yearly ones," continued Ana, putting down her quill. "These are the exams that decide what career you're taking when you grow up. That's why everyone's so stressed out about these exams. Anyone would be."

The 1st year's eyes widened. They had short red hair that shadowed their freckled face.

"Gideon Prewett," said the 1st year. "Now I'm terrified for exams."

A/n: yeah, yeah, ik gideon's in the same year as them, but it contributes to the later storyline...

"Don't be," said Remus seriously. "It's a pain when you stress about exams. Just sit back and relax."

"Yeah," said Ana, nodding. "I stressed myself out sooooo much in 1st year. My friends had to bring me tea to calm my nerves down all the time."

Gideon nodded sympathetically. "Hey, I know what!" He jumped in excitement. "I'll bring you something, wait a second!"

He ran over to another redhead kid, who looked the same as him.

"Twins?" Remus muttered.

"I think so," Ana said quietly.

The two brothers talked for a bit, then both of them got up and walked towards Ana and Remus again.

"This is Fabian, my bother," said Gideon with a grin.

"He means his brother," said Fabian, rolling his eyes slightly. "He told me you guys were stressed. Whenever I'm stressed, I just grab a sweet to eat. Here," he said eagerly, taking a tiny bag out of his pocket. "Mum sent these over and Gideon's already eaten half, so you can have the rest."

"Really?" said Ana excitedly, sounding a bit like a hyper 5-year old. "Thank you so much!"

"No problem," said Gideon, from his brother's right side. "See you! Don't stress out!"

Remus and Ana waved, and as the brothers walked away, Remus wanted to question Ana's...

Behavior.

It was completely normal, of course, but it just seemed a little...

Off.

But before he could say anything, Ana opened the sweet bag and dumped it on the table they were using. 

The universe gave her the short end of the stick in her sweet-choosing capabilities. 

While it did have many Fizzing Whizzbees, it was also filled with...

Alihotsy fudge.

Ana turned a little pale at the simple sight of Alihotsy, but she simply picked out a Fizzing Whizzbee from the pile and unwrapped the wrapped slowly.

Remus placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "An... Are you ok?"

"Yeah!" said Ana, her enthusiasm wavering slightly. "Why? What's up?"

"I know you're not fine, Ana," said Remus gently. "Do you want to go upstairs to talk about this?"

"Talk about what?" Ana laughed. "I'm fine, Rem."

"I saw you pale when the Alihotsy dropped out of the bag, An," said Remus quietly. "You're acting like it never happened. It did happen. You're allowed to grieve, Ana. It's ok."

Ana stood up in fury. "Merlin, Remus!" she said harshly. "What is with you? Stop prying! Nothing happened that's in need of my attention!" She stormed off to the boy's dormitory.

Everyone in the common room was now staring at Remus. 

"You should talk to her," said one of the Prewett twins quietly.

"But give her some time," said the other twin gently.

Remus nodded and buried his face in between his legs, pullung his knees up to his chest.

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

After 15 minutes of no Ana coming downstairs, Remus decided to break the tension and head upstairs.

He walked up the staircase and knocked on the dormitory door gently. "Ana? Can I come in?"

A muffled yes sounded.

Remus swung open the door and saw Ana bundled up in his blankets, sitting on his bed.

She was holding something clutched tightly in her hand, and her face was stained with tears.

Remus went down to sit next to her silently. He wrapped his arms around her lightly and Ana melted into the hug, silently crying.

"We can have them place your O.W.L.s a little later, if you want," Remus said quietly.

Ana shook her head. "I wanna... I wanna get over it quickly. Get back on track."

Remus buried his head into the crook of Ana's neck. "You don't have to get back on track so quickly. You're allowed to take your time. Take your time. You'll be just fine."

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

While Ana did not skive off of her O.W.L.s, she did release a bit of her stress and give herself time to grieve.

She no longer talked about it like it never existed.

Now, Ana just chose not to talk about it.

If someone said, "Sorry for your loss," Ana would just say "Thank you" and walk away.

She was feeling much better, now that she was trying her best to balance her emotions and grieve her own way.

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

Ana's happiness did not last long.

After their O.W.L.s were all finished, Ana sat by the Great Lake with Lily, Alice, and Marlene, who had all taken off their shoes and socks and dipped their feet in the warm water.

The current tickled their toes and a light summer breeze blew their hair onto their faces.

"Did you like question 10, Moony?" asked Sirius, walking out of the entrance hall.

"Loved it," Remus said with a snort. "'Give 5 signs that identify the werewolf'. Excellent question."

"You think you managed to get 'em all right?" asked James in a mockingly concerned tone.

"Think I did," said Remus in a serious voice, as they reached the beech tree and sat under it. "One: he's sitting in my chair. Two: he's wearing my clothes. Three: his name's Remus Lupin..."

Peter didn't join in their laughter.

"I got the snout shape, the pupils of their eyes, and the tufted tail, but I couldn't think of anything else..."

"How thick are you, Wormtail?" whined James impatiently. "You run around once a month with a werewolf-"

"Keep your voice down," ushered Remus, glancing around nervously at the crowd of people around them.

"I thought the exam was a piece of cake," said Sirius nonchalantly, changing the subject. "I'd actually be surprised if I didn't get an Outstanding."

"Me too," said James, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a Golden Snitch that he kept throwing and catching, over and over again.

"Where'd you get that?" sighed Remus.

"Nicked it."

Remus pulled out a book and started reading after a while, Sirius just looked bored, James toyed with his Snitch, and Peter applauded James' catches.

"Put that away, will you?" groaned Sirius. "Before Wormtail starts peeing his pants with excitement."

"If it bothers you so much," said James with a slightly arrogant grin, stuffing the Snitch back into his pocket.

"I'm bored," sighed Sirius, putting his face in his hand.

"This'll liven you up, Pads," said James quietly. "Look..."

Sirius' head turned to see...

Snape.

"Excellent," said Sirius quietly. "Snivellus."

James and Sirius got up and walked towards Snape.

Remus and Peter stayed there, Remus still reading with a slight frown, and Peter's jaw dropped from anticipation.

"All right, Snivelly?" said James loudly.

Snape, who had been sitting on the grass nearby, had reacted super quickly. He grabbed his wand out and was about to use it before...

"Expelliarmus!" James shouted, pointing his wand at Snape.

Snape's wand flew 12 feet away and Sirius chuckled. 

"Impedimenta!" he yelled, and Snape was knocked off of his feet.

"How'd the exam go?" said James.

"His nose touched the paper, there'll be great big grease marks all over the test paper now," said Sirius viciously.

Many students were now gathering around to watch.

"You- wait-" panted Snape, still lying on the ground, glaring at James. "You just- wait-"

"Wait for what, for you to wipe your nose on us?" said Sirius nonchalantly.

Snape let out a stream of cuss-words and hexes and jinxes, but nothing happened, his wand still 12 feet away.

"Wash your mouth out," said James coolly. "Scourgify!"

Bright pink soap bubbles started foaming over Snape's mouth, making him gag.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" shrieked Lily, suddenly standing up from the edge of the lake.

"All right, Evans?" asked James, running his free hand through his messy black hair.

"What's he done to you?" said Lily sternly. 

"It's more the fact that he exists," scoffed James.

Many laughed, but Remus, still apparently intent on his book, stayed silent.

"Just leave him alone!"

"I will if you go out with me, Evans," said James arrogantly.

"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid," said Lily.

"Bad luck, Pro- OI!" yelled Sirius, but it was too late, Snape had picked up his wand and made a slash on James' cheek, splattering his robes with blood.

James swished his wand quickly and made Snape hang upside down, showing his underwear.

Lily's face twitched slightly with amusement, but she went back to her stern face almost immediately. "Put him down."

"Alright, I will," said James, dropping Snape on the ground, and before he could even get up, James yelled out, "Petrificus Totalus!"

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" shrieked Lily, pulling out her own wand.

James sighed and turned to Snape, muttering the countercurse.

"You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus," said James, watching Snape get up.

"I don't need help from filthy Mudbloods like her!" Snape spat.

"Fine," Lily said coolly. "I won't bother in the future. Maybe wash your pants next time."

"APOLOGIZE!" bellowed James, pointing his wand at Snape.

"Shut it," said Lily, rolling her eyes. "You're as bad as he is!"

"What do you mean? I would never call you a... a..."

"You mess up your hair because you think it looks cool, you walk around with showing off your Snitch, hexing everyone in sight because you think it's cool! You make me SICK!" yelled Lily indignantly.

She stormed away, and Ana, Marlene, and Alice soon ran after her to talk with her.

Remus looked up from his book. Then he turned back to his page.

He wanted to tell James and Sirius, confront them about how horrible they were being.

But...

They were the only ones who accepted him for who he was.

CRAP I HATED WRITING THAT CHAPTER I'M SO SORRY 😭😭😭

I hate that james and sirius were such bullies back in school because they're so awesome and there we go

i'm crying again 😐

hope you guys enjoyed the chapter tho :)

love you all so much and feel free to let me know if you guys have any sugesstions on what else i should add in the story or any feedback at all :)

lots of love :)

- Jui Weasley