Rotrufin

ROTRUFIN

CHAPTER ONE-DUMPED

"Remus? Did Professor Anicks say anything about a written quiz tomorrow?" asked my best friend, James Potter peering at me over the top of the Herbology textbook he was reading.

"No," I said shaking my head. "Believe me...we would've heard about it."

"I don't believe it," joked my other best friend, Sirius Black rolling with laughter. "That's the first time he's worried about a quiz?"

James threw him a dirty look.

"Bit me," James retorted.

"I have to admit, Sirius is right," said my third best friend, Lily Evans smiling. "I've never known you to be concerned about a quiz. Or schoolwork for that matter."

James muttered something and then returned his eyes back onto the Herbology textbook.

I grinned and winked at Lily.

My name is Remus Lupin. I'm 16 years old with short, wavy, thick dark brown hair and blue eyes. The four of us were in our 6^th year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Our fifth best friend Peter Pettigrew vanished a few months ago. The Ministry of Magic is searching for him right now. It was strange. One minute he was with us for Herbology and the next moment 'Poof!' he was gone.

Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, searched all over the grounds but there was no sign of him.

At that moment, the Gryffindor common room portrait entrance opened and my best friend, Emma Gibson, entered. She grinned and came over to us.

"Hey," she said brightly. "What's going on here?"

"James is actually concerned about a quiz," Lily said smirking. Her emerald green eyes twinkled. Her shoulder length light auburn hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

Sirius' hazel blue eyes were also twinkling. He ran a hand through his short, wavy thick black hair lazily and turned to Emma.

He loved to hit on her.

"I'm concerned too," Sirius cooed leaning forward.

"About what?" Emma asked raising an eyebrow and leaning back away from him. She ended up leaning into me.

"Us babe," Sirius said. "I don't know where we are in our relationship."

Emma leaned forward, their faces inches apart.

"Really? Well I'm thinking more along the lines of..." Emma's voice trailed off in a sexy tone. She pulled out her wand, aimed it at Sirius' groin. A jet of ice blue light came from the tip.

"Aqua Ictonis!" she whispered.

"COOLING DOWN," Emma said angrily.

A patch of ice appeared on the front of Sirius' gray slacks.

He cried out and clamped his hands over his groin.

"If you keep that up I will personally fix you!" she snapped.

Still in shock and pain, Sirius fled from the common room. James was roaring with laughter. Lily was shaking her head.

Emma stuffed her wand back into her robe and crossed her legs.

James began laughing so hard he was coughing. Lily slapped him on the back.

Emma was a very pretty girl. She was the same age as we were with shoulder length light curly brown hair and honey brown eyes. Her hair had banana curls in it. She opened her robe and rested her elbows on her knee.

I actually started to have feelings toward her, but I wasn't sure how she'd take it.

"He needs to calm down," I said shaking my head. "He doesn't learn."

"No, he doesn't," Emma said sighing. "I'm hoping now he'll get the message that I don't like him that way and stop hitting on me. It's getting rather annoying."

"I'll straighten him out," I said firmly.

Emma put a hand on my arm.

"I think he's gotten the message now," she said smiling. "I can handle him just fine."

I nodded.

"Oh man," James said clearing his throat after laughing so much. "I don't think he'll be giving you anymore trouble."

Lily sighed.

"There are times when Sirius crosses the line," she said. "He needed to be taught a lesson. I mean he's harmless but he goes too far."

Emma nodded in agreement.

"Come on, James," Lily said suddenly grabbing James' hand. "I need to go to the library and check out a book."

James allowed Lily to pull him to his feet off the chair and they hurried out of the common room.

"Why on earth is Lily so eager to get James out of the common room?" I mused frowning.

"Not sure," Emma said grinning.

She linked arms with me and snuggled up against my arm.

"So," she said. "Have any idea who you're taking to the Christmas Ball?"

The Christmas Ball was next week. Already, people were talking about who to bring on dates. A bunch of them already were going as couples.

"None," I said shaking my head.

"Ask a girl before it's too late," Emma said looking at me. "It's not that hard to ask you know."

I was shy and nervous, but not around her. I was totally comfortable. I really wanted to ask her.

I gave her a faint smile.

"What about you? Did you ask a guy yet?"

Emma shook her head.

"I'm thinking of asking Scott Wilson to the ball,"

Scott Wilson was the good-looking Gryffindor Quidditch team captain.

Blond hair, blue eyes, thick build...all the girls had a huge crush on him.

I nodded and lowered my eyes to my lap. I loosened my tie a bit. My robe was opened exposing the black belt around my waist and the Gryffindor gray V-necked vest with the maroon/gold piping along the collar. My Prefects badge caught the light.

"Is everything okay?" she asked concerned as she leaned close.

"Fine," I said.

Emma studied me.

EMMA.

I studied Remus' expression.

"Don't start lying," I said in a light scolding tone. "We've known each other for four years now. Spit it out."

Remus raised his incredible blue eyes to mine. Any girl would love to have him as a boyfriend. All the girls kept asking me about him. He was a handsome guy. Oddly though, the girls told me they've asked him out and he's turned them down.

"Can you promise me something?" he asked nervously.

"Sure!" I said brightly.

"If Scott says 'no', would you consider going to the ball with me?"

"Absolutely," I said grinning.

His face seemed to lighten up a great deal.

Suddenly, a thought hit me...maybe he wants to ask you to the Ball.

Remus got up and stood over by the window and stared out at the night sky. Stars twinkled merrily. A full moon peered out behind clouds.

Remus was also a werewolf. James, Sirius, Lily and I were the only ones that knew. James and Sirius changed along with Remus. James was a stag and Sirius was a black dog.

I checked my watch. It was just about midnight now.

Sure enough, Remus cried out and dropped to his hands and knees. He stared at the carpet and began changing.

At that moment, a black dog galloped into the common room thorough the portrait hole...followed by Lily.

"James is already outside," she whispered.

I nodded.

Before long, Remus was gone and all that remained was a beautiful gray wolf with amber colored eyes. His bushy tail swung back and forth. Then, he stretched out his front legs and yawned, showing us the sharp, white canines and incisors in his powerful jaws.

Sirius barked and ran over to him, playfully nipping at Remus' ear.

Remus growled warningly and Sirius charged straight for me.

"Sirius, no!" I cried as the big, black dog darted in-between my legs, causing me to lose balance. I fell backward, landing on my rear end.

I glared angrily over my shoulder at the black dogs retreating hindquarters as he sped down the hallway.

I turned my face around and was staring right into the gray wolfs face.

"Be careful okay?" I asked softly.

As if to answer, the gray wolf gently pressed his head against my chest before following the black dog.

Lily helped me up.

"Ugh," I said irritably. "Was that because I froze him earlier?"

"Probably," Lily said her lip twitching. "You know how Sirius can be childish."

I rolled my eyes.

"Let's hit the sack,"

Lily and I headed into the girls' dorm and climbed into bed.

I saw Remus in wolf form and then someone's voice saying, "Kill her!"

I saw the gray wolf charging at me with his ears pinned back, and pure evil and lust in his eyes as he charged. Another girls' voice screamed, "No!"

I screamed when the wolf's jaws parted...

I woke up screaming.

"Emma!" I heard Lily's frantic cry.

The next thing I knew, the light was turned on and she was sitting on the edge of my bed with her arms around me.

Sweat clung to my chest, neck and back making my white tank top stick to my skin.

"What happened?"

"I had the most horrible dream," I said shaking.

I proceeded to tell her.

"Oh," Lily said softly. "It's just a dream. It doesn't mean anything."

I continued to shiver.

"Try and get some sleep okay?"

She gave me a squeeze before getting up from the bed. At that moment, the black dog and gray wolf burst into the girls' dorm.

"I gather they heard your scream," Lily said affectionately.

The black dog trotted over to Lily, ignoring me completely. Lily checked to make sure the others were still asleep. Luckily they were.

Lily climbed into bed. The black dog jumped on her bed.

I remained sitting upright in bed. I propped my forehead up with my hand. The gray wolf jumped up onto my bed and sat on his haunches next to my knee. It studied me with those gorgeous amber colored eyes.

"I had the most horrible dream," I whispered to the wolf.

I told him what happened.

He whined and stretched out his front legs beside my legs. He rested his head on my thigh. Sighing and feeling much more relaxed I laid back and soon dozed off.

The next morning, the black dog and wolf had vanished.

It was Saturday and a casual dress day, so I pulled on a pair of indigo blue jeans, a white tank top and a red camp shirt left unbuttoned over it. My curly hair was fluffed around my shoulders.

I slipped on a pair of white sneakers and headed down to the Great Hall. Everyone loved Saturday and the fact that Dumbledore made it a casual dress day to give everyone a break from their uniforms.

Remus, Sirius, James and Lily were already sitting at the Gryffindor table helping themselves to breakfast.

I took a seat next to James.

James was in a pair of jeans and a black shirt; Sirius was in a pair of tan slacks and a burgundy shirt; Lily was dressed in a light purple pleated skirt and a white poplin shirt; Remus was wearing black slacks and a navy blue shirt that was tucked into the waistband of the slacks. He had a black belt on as well. He looked so cute.

"Morning," I said.

"Hey," James said looking at me. "What happened last night? Sirius and Remus took off for some reason."

"We heard her scream," Sirius replied between mouthfuls of egg.

"What happened?" James demanded.

I told him all about the dream.

"It's just a dream," Remus said soothingly. "I would never, ever hurt you, or anyone else."

"Dude, what if you weren't acting on your own?" Sirius said suddenly, his hand frozen halfway to his mouth with a forkful of sausage.

"What do you mean?" I asked nervously.

"I mean what if Remus' mind was controlled or something?" Sirius continued. "Like a pawn in some evil plot."

"SIRIUS!" Lily yelled. "KNOCK IT OFF! YOU'VE BEEN WATCHING TOO MANY MUGGLE MOVIES!"

"It could happen," Sirius said looking scandalized.

"Stop it," James snapped. "It was nothing more than a dream. That's it."

Remus suddenly rounded on Sirius.

"What problem do you have with Emma all of a sudden?" he demanded angrily, his blue eyes narrowing. "All of a sudden it's like you despise her or something."

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked innocently.

"Instead of cheering her up you're making her worry more," Remus continued.

"Well, she did freeze my nuts," Sirius said narrowing his eyes at me. "That's cause for anyone to dislike someone."

"Because you're RELENTLESS!" I snarled. "Stop hitting on me okay? I don't like you like that and I don't like feeling like a piece of meat!"

Sirius didn't answer and he went back to his breakfast.

"Enough okay?" Lily said. "Forget it now."

We all nodded.

Just then, Scott Wilson began walking up the aisle next to Gryffindor table.

"Hey Emma," he said winking at me. He stopped behind Remus. Immediately, I saw some sadness in Remus' expression.

"Hi," I said happily.

Lily was keeping her head low, engrossed in her breakfast; James was pretending to be interested in something across the Hall and Sirius just kept pushing his food around on his plate.

"Are you going to the Ball next week?" Scott asked giving me a big grin.

"Yeah," I said breathlessly. "You?"

"Yeah. I'm going with Lindsay Downs. I'll see you there?" Scott asked.

I felt like I was hit with a ton of bricks. I forced a cheerful smile on my face.

"Sure,"

Scott beamed and continued up the aisle.

Once he was out of ear shot, James, Lily, Sirius and Remus immediately began talking.

"He's such a fruit..."

"...Doesn't know what he's missing..."

"Lindsay's a slut,"

"He's dumb..."

I knew they were trying to cheer me up, but it wasn't working.

I let my fork drop and it clattered onto my plate. I grabbed my wool hooded cloak, wrapped it around me and leapt from my seat. I left the Hall and went out onto the grounds.