Chocolate Toast, Remus Lupin

An Old Friend

"AHHHHHHHHH."

"Sirius! Shut the hell up, mate!"

Avery walked out of the fireplace slowly. "What is going on in here?" Mrs. Potter asked as she walked into the living room. "Avery!" The woman ran up to the Ravenclaw and hugged her.

"Hello, Mrs. Potter."

The older of the two took Avery's face in her hands, checking her for everything. "What is that!" She pointed to a bruise on Avery's neck.

Avery blushed, "Nothing important."

Mrs. Potter, noticing the trunk, snapped at James and Sirius. "Go bring Avery's trunk to a room."

"But mum!"

"But Effie!"

"Now!" The two boys glared at Avery for a moment before grabbing her trunk. "Come to the kitchen now dear, we can talk about what happened."

Avery sat across from Mrs. Potter, it was darker out now and Avery could hear the boys stomping around upstairs.

"I was supposed to spend break in Greece with Theo and some of his friends. We went to this Easter party in town and while I was walking back to the table I, heard some things. I said I felt sick and went back to the house. I looked through his letters and I found ones between my gran and him. He caught me and then I started to leave. I broke up with him and I, I didn't know where else to go."

"I'm glad you came here. You're always welcome here Avery. You look tired though, so go up and get some sleep. Find one of the boys and they'll show you where you're staying."

Avery got up and started to leave. "Thank you, Mrs. Potter."

"Please dear, just because we haven't seen much of each other the past couple of years doesn't mean you have to call me Mrs. Potter."

"Sorry, thank you, Effie, and good night."

"Good night dear."

Avery walked towards the noise. She knocked on the door and Sirius grabbed her by her wrist, tugging her in.

"Broke up with Nott, huh?"

"Were you eavesdropping?"

"Yes."

Avery rolled her eyes, "If you must truly know, yes."

James and Sirius smiled at each other. "Does this mean that you'll start talking to the girls again? And Remus?"

Avery crossed her arms, shrinking in on herself. "The girls don't want to talk to me. And Remus kept secrets from me."

James walked closer to Avery, "Okay? Remus didn't have to tell you his secret, did you tell him all of yours?"

"And it's not true, the girls want to talk to you."

Avery shook her head, her hair fell to hide her eyes. "I didn't keep secrets that big. I thought Remus trusted me, so why didn't he tell me?"

James put his hands on her shoulders, making her look at him. "Because he was scared, Avery. You can't just go around telling people you're a werewolf and not expect them to freak out. When we found out he cut us off, he thought we were scared of him. He was worried you would hate him."

"I could never have hated him."

Sirius gave the girl a sad smile, "He didn't know that."

Not being able to hold it in Avery started to cry. "Oh my Merlin, she's crying." Sirius took a step back.

"Do you want me to get my mum?"

"No." Avery swiped away some of the tears but they just came out more. "I hate this! I lost all of my friends, I lost my boyfriend, I have no friends at all anymore so I'll be lonely for the rest of my life, I'm going to have to sleep in a classroom now, and now you two are seeing me cry!"

James slowly moved his arms so he was hugging the girl. She accepted it and shoved her face into his shoulder. Sirius looked at James, a look of horror on his face. In his years of knowing Avery, he had never seen her so vulnerable.

"It's okay Avery, everything will be alright."

"No, James, it's not. Everything in my life is going wrong! I don't know what to do anymore and can't stand it anymore!"

James didn't know what to say. He, like Sirius, had never seen Avery with her guard down so much. He continued to hug the girl, waiting for her to finish crying.

Ten minutes later Avery removed herself from James. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry, Avery. Do you want me to show you to your room?"

Avery nodded and she walked out with James. They stopped in front of a door not too far from James'. "If you need anything I'm right there, Sirius is in the room across from me."

"Thank you, I know I haven't been the nicest recently but this means a lot to me."

"Of course, just promise me something?" Avery nodded, "Talk to the girls, talk to Remus."

"They don't want to talk to me."

"Yes, they do, Avery. They're worried. The night you fought, Lily went back to the prefect dorm, expecting to find you there. Your stuff was all gone, she was worried, really worried. They miss you and they're worried about you."

"They shouldn't be. Not after what I did." Avery went into the room. "Good night, James." She closed the door, leaving the two on opposite sides.