A Strange Friendship

Rose lingered in the library until eight that evening, then put away her parchment, with its elegant wording and neat handwriting, and headed for the common room.

As she turned off the Seventh Floor staircase into the Gryffindor corridor, she saw James standing foolishly in front of the Fat Lady's portrait, pacing back and forth in boredom.

Rose walked straight up to the portrait without looking away. "Mimbulus mimbletonia."

The Fat Lady in the portrait was dead drunk with Violet. She glanced at Rose and said drunkenly, "The password has changed. Why don't you ask the boy beside you?"

Rose had completely forgotten that the password was changing that evening, and she hadn't noticed the new one on the noticeboard. She could only stand there, hoping someone would come in or go out—she wanted even less to deal with Potter.

"She's not going in-" James grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the corridor to the side.

"Oh, young people these days!" the Fat Lady exclaimed to Violet. Then she called after them, "I won't let you in after curfew!"

"Did you hear that, Potter?" Rose said angrily. "Tell me the new password, now!"

"She threatens Sirius and me like that every time," James said indifferently. He seemed more concerned about what the Fat Lady had said first. Rose didn't catch what else he muttered, but she was sure he was contradicting her.

"If Lily finds out you 'forced' me to come and 'talk' to you, she'll hate you even more!" Rose threatened bluntly. She was furious. Who dragged someone into a meeting against their will?

James looked even more anxious. "It was Sirius—he was too embarrassed to see you alone. He wanted to apologize for what he said that day-" He ran a hand through his untidy hair, making it even messier. "So he forced me to come! Hmph—we knew you wouldn't come on your own."

Holding Rose with one hand, he walked foolishly back and forth three times in front of the Troll tapestry. A large white door appeared in the wall, and he pushed it open and went inside.

"Blimey—she's strong!" James let go of her as soon as they entered, then sat down beside Remus and flexed his wrist.

Rose stood in the doorway with her arms crossed, looking down instead of at them.

No one spoke first. The room was so quiet that only the steady breathing of the five of them could be heard.

"You argued again because of me." Remus's voice rang out in the room. Rose hadn't expected her to be the first to speak, and looked up at him in surprise.

Remus sat wearily on the sofa, his back straight and his expression calm and gentle. He looked earnestly at Rose, as if everything really were his fault alone.

"No—you shouldn't apologize." Rose shook her head. Remus Lupin hadn't done anything wrong. He had simply happened to go through all those terrible things, and had been lucky enough to make a group of very kind friends. "It's not your fault."

Rose met his eyes. They both knew what the other was talking about, and Remus smiled, looking haggard but relieved.

"You know-you-" James looked at the two of them, stammering. "When did you find out?"

"Last term." Rose lied, her expression calm, as though she were merely saying she had discovered something perfectly ordinary last year.

Sirius Black shot to his feet from the sofa. He stared at Rose in disbelief, opening his mouth several times but failing to speak. Then he seemed to remember how hard he had tried to hide it the night before, and gave an awkward laugh.

"So why were you angry last night?" he said flatly.

"Why?" Rose raised her voice. "What made you think I'd distance myself from him over this? Or did you think I'd go and tell on him?"

She mocked him mercilessly, and Sirius's expression immediately turned awkward.

The room where they talked was usually furnished to be bright and cozy. A huge, soft rug covered the center of the room, with several sofas arranged around a coffee table on it.

Now Rose and Sirius stood facing each other in the middle of the room, while James, Peter, and Remus sat on two sofas.

James tried helplessly to mediate the conflict but didn't know where to start, while Peter cautiously weighed up the situation.

Remus sighed and was just about to stand up and speak when he saw Sirius press his lips tightly together and lower his gaze. Sirius seemed to have made a decision, and his tense body suddenly relaxed.

He was just about to speak when a powerful force suddenly knocked him to the floor. With a dull thud, Sirius felt a sharp pain in the bones of his back. He grimaced in pain, his chest filling with anger.

"What's wrong with you?" Sirius roared. "Get off me! I don't fight girls!" He saw Rose sitting astride him, looking down at him, her long brown hair falling over her chest. The glaring light kept him from seeing her expression, and he only heard her say, "That's really unfortunate. You'll just have to lie there and let me beat you up-"

A fist came hurtling toward his face. The other three boys, stunned by the turn of events, immediately pounced on them. James and Peter each grabbed one of Rose's arms, while Remus tried to rescue Sirius.

In the chaos, no one knew who punched whom first. In any case, by the time it was over, all five of them had marks on their faces.

They each occupied a corner of a sofa. James and Sirius sprawled back with their limbs spread, while Remus and Peter sat quietly without speaking.

A familiar silence spread through the quiet room, broken now and then by a hiss of indrawn breath.

Rose lay back on the sofa, staring at the colored halos cast by the chandelier on the ceiling, her mind blank. Suddenly, she gave a few foolish giggles.

As if her laughter had flipped a switch, the boys began laughing too—the chaotic brawl had suddenly swept away the conflict between them, and they all felt immensely relieved.

After the laughter died down, the room fell quiet again, but now the atmosphere was utterly relaxed, peaceful, and warm, and everyone let their minds go blank.

"I'm a werewolf." Remus summoned the greatest courage he had mustered in the past twelve years to tell his friends his biggest secret, then waited in despair for their verdict.

"We've known for ages," Sirius said lazily. "It's nothing. I'm a Black, after all." His voice was full of mockery.

"It's not the same. I'm a werewolf!" Remus sat up straight and repeated it emphatically, his emotions running high.

"Relax, Remus," James said breezily, still grinning foolishly at the ceiling. "You've just got a little problem—a furry little problem. It doesn't matter."

Peter had gone a little pale at Remus's words, but seeing that his two friends had both shown their resolve, he plucked up his courage and nodded to Remus, agreeing with James.

Remus was breathing hard, his chest heaving. "You don't understand what this means! Every month I turn into a-a beast!" he said in a tone of disgust.

"Remus!" Rose didn't like him using that word to describe himself. She looked him in the eyes and said, word by word, "You know we don't care about that-"

"She's right. More than that, we all generally think you're a great idiot," James said with an air of seriousness. "There really was no need to hide it from us, was there?"

Sirius gave a derisive snort, showing his wholehearted agreement with James.

"You need to think about it some more." Remus stood up and walked toward the door. "Until then, I'd better make myself scarce-"

A blur flashed before Rose's eyes as James leaped onto Remus's back and locked an elbow around his neck. "You're not allowed to leave—the Fat Lady said she won't open the door after curfew! You can't get back in!"

Remus staggered back a few steps under his hold and had no choice but to sit back down on the sofa.

Rose yawned. Her eyelids felt as though they were weighted with lead, and she couldn't stop them from wanting to close.

"I have to go back-Lily and the others will be worried about me." Rose stood up and used "Evans" to stop James before he could speak. "See you, boys—and I suggest you all get to bed early. Staying up late during puberty will stunt your growth!"

There wasn't a boy who didn't care about his height!

After Rose disappeared through the doorway, the boys exchanged looks and, without a word, left the Room of Requirement one by one. As they lay in their big beds in the boys' dormitory, they each silently calculated how many hours they could still sleep and weighed up whether this counted as staying up late.