“Merlin's moldy toes!”
Alice said, looking at my guinea pig. “What did you do to that
pig?” Lily burst into laughter and showed me the incantation in my
Charms book.

“It says sus volans, not
avada kedavra!” she
giggled at the guinea pig laying limp on the desk. I raised my hand
timidly.

“Yes, miss Wagner?”
Professor Flitwick said.

“Uh – I need a new pig.”
I held up my dead guinea pig. Laughs filled the room as Professor
Flitwick bustled around his desk, looking for a new guinea pig.
Finally, he found one and I walked to the front of the class and
grabbed it with a quick “thank you.” I searched the room for
Remus, and found him staring at me sadly from the left side of the
classroom. He looked away quickly when I met his eyes.

That guy was seriously
creepy. Every time I look at him, he's always staring at me. The one
time I stayed in the same room with him for more than 45 minutes, he
started muttering about someone being a monster and staying away. If
he thinks I'm a monster, than too bad for him. I don't have to study
with him in the library every night. In fact, I am not willing to at
this point.

“Sus
volans!” I shouted. The pig
floated to the ceiling, and following the tip of my wand, slowly fell
to my desk.

“Excellent, miss Wagner!
Second time's a charm!” he giggled at his pun. Molly stared at him.

“Er
– sir, I think it's third
time's a charm,” she said. Professor Flitwick shook his head.

“No, no, it's the second
time. I've done research.” All four of us collapsed on the ground,
clutching our stomachs in laughter. When we finally recovered, we
couldn't produce the charm needed to pass the assignment.

I don't think I have ever had
a better Friday. I didn't worry at all about Remus, or any of the
Marauders, and they didn't intimidate me anymore. They weren't nearly
as cool as people thought they were.

I smiled to myself. Never
before had I been so happy, except maybe when I saw Platform 93/4 in
my first year. I had three great friends, and I used to have one. I
used to be the quiet, shy, boring one, and now I was the girl that
everyone wanted to be around.

We spent the day running from
class to class, just enjoying ourselves, not worrying about anything
but what color blueberries were (we had the strangest arguments) and
writing down homework assignments so I could work with them in the
library.

Dinner went great. I didn't
see Remus staring at me at all. My friends and I talked and laughed
and joked, and planned our weekend. Tomorrow was our first Hogsmeade
trip, and I wanted it to be the best. I mean, this is my last year at
Hogwarts, I might as well make it worthwhile, right?

After dinner, I went to the
library alone. We were going to go together, but Alice was meeting
Frank (big surprise there), Lily was doing homework (she said she was
more concentrated in the common room, which I didn't understand), and
Molly was going to a party she was invited to by some Hufflepuff
girls.

I plopped down on the seat at
the back of the library and opened my DADA book. I had just begun to
read when the door opened and Remus walked in. He looked at me sadly,
and I tried to pretend he wasn't there, but I couldn't. He was just
standing there and staring at me.

“Rachel,” he said after a
few seconds, “I know you think I'm crazy. You probably think I'm
not nearly cool enough to be one of the Marauders. You're right.
Believe it or not, the Marauders are really nice people and I would
trust them with my life.” Right after he said that, I thought I
heard a voice whisper, “You do, mate!” but it was probably just
my imagination. Remus looked around the room fiercely, but after a
few seconds, he turned back to me.

“Anyway, that's not the
point. I wanted to say I'm sorry for freaking you out the other day,
and I hope you don't think I'm some retard for the rest of the year.
I thought maybe... maybe we could be friends?” I studied his face.
He looked really sorry. I thought maybe he wasn't as much of a creep
as I thought he was. I nodded.

“Yeah! Yeah, we can be
friends if you want! You – wanna study?” I said, smiling. Remus
looked over the moon (me and ma puns). I couldn't help but smile when
Remus's eyes brightened and his lips rose at the corners until he was
smiling ear to ear.

“Thanks so much! You –
wanna study?” he said, still smiling. I nodded.

“Yeah, I've got my Charms,
Muggle Studies, and DADA books.” I said. Remus pulled out books
from him bag.

“Uh... I have Astronomy,
Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures, DADA, Transfiguration, and
Potions.” he said, stacking his books into one tall pile.

“Okay – you wanna do
Muggle Studies?” I asked, grabbing my book from the table and
setting it on my lap.

“Sure!”

“Okay, so... let's read the
first and second lessons, and then we can review. That good?”

“Yup!” And we begun to
read.

I smiled a little when I
thought of Remus's face lighting up when I told him we could be
friends. I didn't know what was up with him the other day, but now he
seemed totally normal. Even friendly.

Remus and I sat in silence
for about forty-five minutes, until we finished the first two
lessons. I looked up.

“You ready?” Remus was
already done.

“Yep! You wanna quiz me
first?” Remus shrugged.

“Sure. Um... what is one
way Muggles entertain themselves?”

“Television sets.” I
answered. Remus nodded.

“What are three book
genres?”

“Fiction, Biographies, and
Mysteries.” I said after a moment.

We kept on like that for a
while. I got all of them right, and when it was Remus's turn, he got
all of them right also. We studied for about two hours, until Madam
Pomfrey came and shooed us out. We walked through the empty corridors
together to the Gryffindor common room.

“See you tomorrow...?”
Remus said it like a question. I nodded and smiled.

“Yeah, sure! See ya!” And
we ran to our dormitories.

I ran into the corridors,
grinning like crazy until I noticed Molly and Lily whispering in
their beds.

“Watcha doing?” I said
gleefully.

“Where have you been.”
Molly said. I shrugged.

“In the library, studying
with -”

“This late?” Lily asked.
I shrugged.

“I lost track of the time
-”

“Were you by yourself?”
Molly asked.

“Well, Remus wanted to -”

“Are you telling us that
you went to the library with that freak?” Lily screeched.

“He's not really a freak,
once you get to know h-”

“Right, and The Killing
Curse is real safe, once you use it a few times!” Molly yelled. I
felt anger bubbling inside my head.

“Have you ever even spoken
to him?” I asked defiantly.

“We don't need to! All we
need to know is that he's a FREAK and you shouldn't be hanging around
with him!” Lily screamed.

“You're not my mother!” I
screamed back. “I can hang out with whoever I want to!” Lily
frowned.

“Well, we know what's best
for you!” she screamed. Other girls began to wake up and glare at
us.

“I can choose what I want
to do! And if that means losing my friends, than SO BE IT!” I
yelled and marched to my bed.

As soon as I laid down, I
realized what I had done.

I had just lost the two
friends that I had worked hard to earn.