Too Pretty // Remus Lupin

4

Fanaa Ilnaz sang a little song as she browsed the book titles in the Hogwarts library one evening after dinner. She had just gotten off detention with Slughorn for arguing about the true nature of Felix Felicis and to her surprise Remus Lupin had actually agreed with her, therefore joining her criticism of the round-bellied professor's notes and collectively winning the class a save from the next day's test but landing themselves in detention. Fanaa was grateful for his help, and tried to thank him during their shared detention but he didn't really respond and that left her with a bitter taste in her mouth. If there was one thing Fanaa Ilnaz absolutely hated, it was being ignored.

She finally landed on a title she found mildly interesting and took it out, retreating to a soft yet worn out couch near the massive window. As she tried to get comfortable, her eyes landed on the outside scenery as she realized that the moon, in its entirety, graced the night's canvas tonight.

Fanaa was by no means an idiot. And although she had previously admired Remus Lupin from afar and had her suspicions, it was when she got to be in the same class as him that she could finally trust her speculation.

The poor boy was a werewolf.

There were several moments when she wanted to reach out and ask him how he was doing and perhaps offer to brew wolfsbane for him, but she was too afraid that he'd only take her kindness as some sort of master plan to become top of the class due to the nature of her relationship. The more time she spent with the Marauders and Lily Evans, the more she was convinced that she'd rather be the honeyed hair boy's friend than foe. But alas, first impressions were hard to erase. And even if they weren't, her totally messed up second impression left little to doubt.

Fanaa scanned the book she was reading, not being able to build interest in the storyline; her mind was a jumble of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. She didn't understand why it was so important for her to redeem herself in Remus Lupin's eyes, but she found herself wanting to do something for him.

That's when the idea hit.

Fanaa Ilnaz abandoned the book she was reading and nearly ran out of the library, rushing to the dungeons to where the Potions classroom was and getting to work. The best kind of help was offered without having been asked for.

An excruciatingly long hour later, Fanaa was presented with another conundrum. How the hell was she supposed to get this to the werewolf? He hated her guts. She could've just asked either Sirius, James, or Peter to give it to him, but she wasn't completely sure if they knew of his secret. And so the next rational idea was to break into Gryffindor common room.

She threatened some first year to reveal the password and sauntered in as if she owned the place, glad that under the cover of the night, she'd be able to slip into the boys' dormitory and be able to escape undetected.

The mission was going pretty well. Fanaa treaded as light a feather and was even able to locate the exact dorm the marauders shared. She took a look at the beds, which were empty. That made sense. Sirius had told her about the prank they had been planning for the Slytherins in attempts to impress her friend Ruhi, and she had taken the chance to execute her master plan.

She hadn't anticipated being caught during the exit.

Remus Lupin stared open mouthed at Fanaa Ilnaz, who looked like a deer caught in headlights before him.

He narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

James grinned. "Yeah, Ilnaz, thinking of pranking us? You'll never get us, we've fool-proofed our dorm!"

"Yeah what he said!" Sirius echoed.

Fanaa seemed to register the gravity of the situation and the rather sick-looking Remus as she regained her senses. "And you take me for a fool?"