Chocolate Toast, Remus Lupin

6th Year

Avery was up before Lily on the first day of classes. She was in her uniform, browsing the library at 7 am when Remus walked into the aisle.

"You're up early."

Avery looked at the boy quickly before going back to browsing.

"Avery." Remus grabbed the girl's shoulder. She froze. "Avery."

"I need to start preparing for the year."

"At 7:30 am? Before you even have your schedule?"

"Yes."

"Did you even sleep last night?" The dark circles under Avery's eyes had grown from the night before. "Avery please, talk to me."

She pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes. "Remus, please. Just leave me be."

Remus moved his hand to her cheek. Avery moved to look at him. "Please, Avery, just talk to me."

Avery backed up and Remus' hand fell. "I'm sorry." She turned and walked to a different aisle, leaving Remus alone. The Gryfindor left the library and walked to the Gryfindor common room. Storming up to the boy's dormitory he sat on Sirius' bed and pouted as the boys got ready.

"What's got your panties in a twist?" James asked.

"Avery. Why can't she just talk to me?"

"You want the real answer or the nice one?" Sirius asked.

"She doesn't trust anyone. And let's be honest she's not gonna open up about it anytime soon." Peter said.

Remus grumbled and fell back onto the bed. "Wow, thanks, Pete."

James stood over the boy. "The truth hurts my friend."

"We made progress last year, good progress. Now, it's like we're starting from the beginning again."

"It reminds me of Sirius."

Sirius threw a shampoo bottle towards James. "I'm right here you know!"

"Yeah, I know." James' face lit up. "Maybe you can talk to her Pads! You've gone through the same things almost."

Sirius walked out of the bathroom. "I don't know. Avery doesn't like me as much as she does the rest of you."

"That's not true. She likes us all equally, except she likes Remus a little more." James said, throwing an arm around Sirius.

"Okay, I'll try talking to her today."

"That's the spirit, now let's go. I have a couple of pranks that need to be set."

"Occultare." Regulus moved his wand in a wave-like motion. The bruise on Avery's face disappeared.

Regulus had run into the girl in the library and the two decided to chat. "Thank you."

Regulus studied the Ravenclaw. "The questions are the worst. You'd think it'd be the stares but those are easy to ignore."

Avery bit her lip. "Why don't you leave like Sirius did?"

"I don't have someone like James Potter to run off to. Why don't you?"

"I wouldn't have the courage."

"I don't believe that."

Avery tried to smile but couldn't. "If you really knew me you'd believe it."

Regulus watched her. "It takes courage to stay, it takes much more courage to stay when you can leave."

Avery looked at her watch. "It's almost 30 til. Want to head to the great hall?"