And There Were Always Two... - oc x r. lupin & oc x s. black

- 4 -

Ashley sat in the common room when Remus took the seat across from her. She looked up and wished she could disappear.

His mousy hair was in a mess, and he was wearing an old sweater. His clothes had always been shabby, she remembered that, and she never judged him for it. Her clothes weren't the best either. He was also wearing light, over-washed jeans on his crossed legs. What struck her was that he was barefoot.

"We should work on the essay."

Ashley scrunched up her nose, trying to push her reading glasses up without her hands. She closed her book, and set it aside.

"Sure."

"'Kay, I was thinking that we open with an overview: name, use, inventor, and all that," Remus rambled, uncrossing his legs and leaning forward until his elbows rested on his knees and his hands were right below his chin. "Then go on with the history of the potion, you know how it was invented and stuff. Then extended uses and side-effects, kinda like pros and cons..."

"And what about how to make it? Not instructions, per se, but ingredients. Like how to get them or how each of them makes the potion work the way it does." Ashley interjected excitedly.

"I was getting to that before you, so rudely I may add, interrupted me," he said to her, smiling a bit.

"Well, I said it first. Go on."

"Then we wrap up. The usual."

Ashley nodded, thinking it over.

"I'll go get the parchment."

"Oh, you don't need to. I brought some." Remus told her, pulling a piece out of the bag he brought with him.

For the next hour, they huddled over the coffee table between them, scribbling out their essay. Multiple drafts, all in ink. Remus had convinced Ashley to write the final because her handwriting was "much more readable" than his. Ashley had smirked at his attempt at a compliment. It was evening by the time they were finished.

As Ashley was writing her name at the top, reality finally came back to her. She was Mavis and he was Remus. She wrote Mavis's name and handed the quill over to him.

Somebody walked over to the pair. Ashley looked up to see Peter Pettigrew. He was smaller than the other Marauders, and perhaps a little plainer. On his own, he was a smart, nice-looking boy, but he was always compared to the Marauders and Ashley had often seen how the pressure got to him.

"Hiya Pete!" she said, smiling at him.

"Oh, hi," he mumbled, waving weakly.

"Peter, I'm working. Maybe later." Remus said, not even looking up as he was checking their work.

"But Padfoot said-"

"-Not now, Peter. Please."

Peter looked dejected. He turned to walk away but then stopped as if realising that he would have similar answers back at his dorm. He looked torn.

"Do we have any classes together, Pete?" Ashley asked, attempting to strike up a conversation. "I don't think I've seen you around."

"I don't think so. You're Ashley Curron, right? No, I only have classes with your sister." he answered as he fidgeted a bit with his fingers.

"This is Mavis," Remus grunted.

Ashley sighed. Mentally slapping herself. She shouldn't have said that, Remus might have figured out that she's really not Mavis, but Ashley.

"Yeah, I am Mavis," she said, with a small smile.

"Oh. Sorry."

"No problem, we get mixed up all the time."

There were a few seconds of awkward silence before Remus stood up.

"I'm done now," he said. "We can go. Nice work, Mavis."

Ashley nodded, swallowing her guilt again.

She wished she could tell him who she was. She wished she could call after him as he walked away and apologise for everything. But then he wouldn't look at her like that... like she hadn't betrayed him and broken his trust. No, he couldn't know who she was. That would ruin everything.

Ashley walked down to the kitchens to get a snack and then proceeded to an obscure hall somewhere in the upper levels of Hogwarts, knowing Mavis didn't mind if she didn't come back to her dorm tonight. She climbed up a column, her sandwich pinched between her teeth. It was hard to find finger and toe grips in the stone, but there were little chinks that had worn away in time that she used to get up to her hiding place.

Her hideaway place was a little space in between the ceiling of one story and the floor of another, with a small, circular window. The space wasn't big, about twice as long as Ashley and thrice as wide. It was a weird shape, with nooks and crannies and level changes in both the ceiling and floor. She had found places to store books and potions she had made, and there was a special place where she put her cauldron.

Ashley mainly used this place to get away from the world. She had summoned up pillows and blankets to spend the night, often spending rainy weekends reading and sipping hot chocolate in her little haven. A lot of her homework was done up here, and she liked experimenting with potions.

It was midnight as she crawled through the gap behind the column, right where the walls met the ceiling. She was getting too big for it, but that didn't matter. She could always figure out a way to magic herself in there.

She curled up by the window and stared at the scenery outside. It had been a cruel joke when she discovered that her view was of the whomping willow. Each full moon, she could watch the sick figure of Remus Lupin, stumble into the secret passage in its roots, and his friends come with him.

She could have been one of those friends, but she had ruined that chance ages ago. Instead, Ashley sat there, once a month, and let her guilt devour her. She hated herself, she hated the moon, and she hated the cruel world most of all.