James, Sirius and Peter had never known Remus to pout for so long.
Every day, they tried harmless little pranks to cheer him up. One evening they turned their entire dorm navy. Everything from the curtains to the cushions was the colour of a stormy sea just before darkness was about to set.
"Blue to match your mood, Moony!" Sirius chimed with a cheeky grin.
"Blue like Ravenclaw." Remus responded with a sullen expression.
James grimaced.
Everything made him think of her. When he would open a book from the library, the scent would hit him and he would be there again, sat across her as she furrowed her eyebrows and focused on her healing potions. When he would awake in the middle of the night and look out of the window, the stars would remind him of that night up on top of the astronomy tower.
Another time, Remus walked into his dorm to find all his belongings floating while Peter giggled childishly behind him. Floating like the snowflakes she had been enchanting in the courtyard just before Christmas. He thought back to that moment. Remus had felt then that something was wrong. When did this all begin? When had things started to go downhill?
Remus knew his friends were just trying to cheer him up. He tried to put on a smile for them, but some days it was difficult, especially on days where the Gryffindors shared lessons with the Ravenclaws.
Remus heard her soft voice as she walked in, laughing and joking with her friends. He looked up and gave her a smile as she passed, but she did not look at him, despite being about a foot away.
She was ignoring him. It hurt. Remus felt the smile slide from his lips as a dull ache began to form throughout his torso, starting in his chest, and working its way down to his stomach. His stomach growled. He had lost his appetite lately. His already slender frame had become even smaller. He noticed that he had to pull his jeans up more often, and his long fingers looked even more delicate than before.
Remus just couldn't face food, not even chocolate. He constantly felt that there was a huge knot in his stomach, and that any food he dared to eat would bounce around inside, dancing from one wall of his stomach to another.
One evening, Remus lay in his bed, wrapped in his blankets.
He heard the door swing open and his best friends walk in.
"Right, that's it Remus! I'm declaring an emergency board meeting! Get up!" Sirius exclaimed, pulling the blankets off of Remus.
He sat up feeling cold and miserable, and crossed his legs.
"We've decided that enough is enough. You're too young and handsome to be moping after some girl!" James added, sitting down next to Remus.
She wasn't just some girl.
"So, we've decided on a plan." Added Peter.
Remus looked at his three best friends, who were all sat on his bed with him. Each had a devilish glint in their eye. He knew they were planning something mischievous.
"It's prank time!" Exclaimed Sirius, a grin spreading across his face.
***
The four boys started walking back towards their dorm under James's invisibility cloak. When they first joined Hogwarts, they would have all fitted under the cloak, but now, this meant that Peter and James, being the shorter two, went in front, and Sirius and Remus, being taller, went behind. Even still, the cloak only came to their knees.
They had to walk really close together, and Sirius kept accidentally stepping on the back of Peter's shoe.
They could see Peeves the poltergeist up ahead, bouncing through the corridor making a racket as he poked and prodded the paintings, waking up their inhabitants. They tried to quietly sneak past him, hoping that he wouldn't see their feet and ankles.
Peeves was too caught up causing his own mayhem, and hadn't noticed the four pairs of ankles and shoes scuffling past him, until Sirius stepped on the back of Peter's shoe once more, and it came off.
"Ow!" Exclaimed Peter, stopping to try to locate his shoe. His sudden change of pace made Sirius walk into the back of him and lose his balance. Sirius's arms flailed about, trying to find something to latch on to in order to restore his balance. He grabbed Remus, and the two boys fell on top of Peter and James.
"Ouch!
"Get off me!"
"That's my knee."
"That hurt!"
The four boys untangled themselves and got to their feet. The cloak had fallen off them and was sitting in a pile on the floor.
Remus looked up to see a bewildered Peeves.
He thought for one second that Peeves was going to remain silent, but unfortunately, that was not the case.
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves started to sing at the top of his lungs, bouncing down the corridor.
"I'M TELLING FILCH! I'M TELLING FILCH! STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" He sang as he disappeared around a corner.
"Shit." Remus mumbled under his breath.
"Well... There's only one thing for it. Run!" Said Sirius.
The four boys started to run in the direction of the Gryffindor common room. Remus was in front, he had an advantage. Being the tallest, he had the longest legs. Behind him was Sirius and James, and at the back was Peter.
"Keep up, Wormtail!" Remus exclaimed, dashing around a corner.
Minutes later, they burst through their dorm room door.
"That was a close one!" Peter exclaimed breathlessly.
The four boys laughed and chatted whilst getting changed into their pyjamas and jumping into bed.
The lights went out, but they all felt so awake, so excited, so alive.
"I wonder what would happen if you put a werewolf on the moon." James said.
Remus couldn't help but smile in the darkness.
"He would explode and die because there's no oxygen on the moon you idiot!" Sirius responded.
Peter snorted a laugh.
"I never said I wouldn't give him a space suit, I'm not that mean!" James responded, earning a loud cackle from Peter.
Remus was starting to feel happier. He was starting to feel like himself again all because of his friends. He felt so grateful to have them.
He didn't need a girl as long as he had his friends.