Unmasked

"Remyyyyy. Come onnnnnn."

Remus looked up from the novel he was reading. "Sirius you sound like and eight ear old girl whining. Please stop."

The boy stuck his nose back in his book as his companion pouted beside him.

"But Remyyyyy. I'm bored and Jamesy is goneee."

The pitch of Sirius whine made his ears physically ache. Remus generally hated interacting with anyone this early in the morning, especially Sirius- and especially Sirius when he was bored and complaining like a little child. Though his friend was nearly seventeen years old- he tended to act like he was a prepubescent girl.

"Shut up and stop calling me Remy." Remus muttered, eyes staying focused on his book. "James and Peter will be back in just a minute with the trolleys. You can just sit still and quiet until then."

Sirius crossed his arms with a huff and plopped himself down on the bench beside Remus. It didn't take long for Sirius to get antsy and start to make little popping noises with his tongue and, literally, twiddling his thumbs. Remus winced each time his friend's noises reached his ears.

Remus had already had a headache. In fact, his entire body was sore while his head throbbed. The stinging pain in his leg became apparent. He wearily scratched at the bandage under his pant leg. Remus wished he knew how he'd gotten such a large gash on his calf. But he generally never knew what- or who- injured him while he was "having a bad night" -as his friends affectionally called his disorder.

Remus wished that his friend would just shut up and let him get a moments peace. Even though his "bad night" was nearly a week ago- his body still ached as much as it did when he first woke up naked in that stupid feild. He mentally smacked himself in the head. He should have planned it more. He should have been more secure in the Potter's barn.

Like every year, Peter and Remus had stayed for a few days at the Potter's house with James and Sirius- before leaving for school. Usually the Potter's barn was enough to contain Remus- as long as no one stayed in there. The barn was far enough away from the house that anyone there could barely hear his grim and tortured howls. Remus couldn't have been happier about that- he hated when his friends saw or heard him on a bad night. He never wanted any empathy from anyone. His condition was bad enough- he didn't want others knowing how much pain he went through.

"I believe your mind to be wandering, my friend."

Sirius' voice broke Remus away from his troublesome thoughts. Remus looked over to see his friend with a thoughtful- yet cheerful- expression plastered on his face. Remus scrunched his face slightly- but his friend picked up on it and dropped the subject. Thankfully Peter and James came strolling back each with trolleys for their luggage.

"About damn time..." Remus muttered. Sirius rolled his eyes. Remus knew that his friends know to not deal with him when he was angry like this.

So Peter, James and Sirius talked obnoxiously amongst themselves as they loaded their luggage and started the walk to platfom 9 3/4. Remus just trailed behind, lost in his own thoughts.

- - - -

"Guys, get off your asses and get on the train." Peter growled at James and Sirius. Remus stood silently besides Peter- just as eager to get on the train.

James and Sirius looked up at their friends with pouts on their faces.

"Why? The train isn't like- leaving without us or anything." James muttered.

"Yes, but you know that if we don't get on soon- we'll be stuck sharing a compartment with some annoying first years or something!" Peter nearly yelled. The four friends had had a similar experience last year on the train. They had been some pretty burly first years and while the rest of them could stand their own ground- Peter (being as scrawny as he was) was generally not... treated well. Remus could understand Peter's anxiousness.

James and Sirius reluctantly stood from the bench and started arguing quietly amongst themselves. Remus figured that they were just arguing about who got the window seat or something else equally idiotic. As much as he loved his friends- they could definitely be idiots.

They finally found themselves on the Hogwarts Express, looking for a free compartment. As the train began to jerk as it pulled away from the station and Peter groaned audibly. The four boys braced themselves against the walls to stop themselves from falling over as the train jerked.

"We've searched almost the entire train. There aren't any free compartments." Remus sighed.

"See! If you two hadn't been so ridiculously lazy- we would be able to have our own!" Peter complained.

"Calm down, Peter." James said as he rolled his eyes. "We'll find a compartment with someone tiny or a girl so they don't beat you up again."

Peter snarled at his friend and crossed his arms with a slight huff.

"Here guys- this one only has one girl. Plus she looks asleep." Remus said as he looked through the glass window of the compartment door.

"Hopefully she won't beat Peter up." James chuckled. Sirius laughed loudly as Peter opened the door.

"Guys, shut up- she's asleep." Remus whispered to his friends.

They all quietly piled into the compartment and Remus sat down next to the young girl- who seemed to scrunch up her body in her sleep. Remus gazed at the young red head. Her hair was the first thing he noticed about the girl. It was an astounding color and it entranced Remus into looking at her even more. He was thankful she was asleep- or else she would probably think he was a creep. Peter was just gazing out the window aimlessly as James and Sirius whispered amongst themselves- again, Remus was thankful- this time for is friends being too self-involved to notice how he was nearly staring at the sleeping girl's face.

Her features were delicate- defined. Her facial bones stuck out slightly, Remus figured it was because she was thin. Her sleeping eyes were curtained by long, light eyelashes. Remus wished she could see her eyes- he imagined them to be incredibly deep and colorful.

Remus found it odd that he was so entranced by this girl. Usually he wasn't much attracted to girls even his own age. He wasn't like James or Sirius who used to follow girls around like little puppies. He had no desire to try to find someone- when they would just undoubtedly leave.

Remus sighed as his curiousity got the best of him.

"Who do you think she is?" He asked.

Sirius too was curious- and he moved her trunk to see the name on it.

"Ember Moretti," He read. "Sounds Italian."

Sirius shrugged and diverted his attention back to the conversation he and James had been having. He attempted to engage Remus and Peter- but they were "In their own little worlds," as James put it. It was fair to put it like that- as Remus was stuck in his thoughts of the sleeping girl next to him. What was she like? What did her voice sound like? Remus guessed it was absolutely musical- it seemed fitting for such a beautiful looking person. He needed to know. Something about the young girl made him want to know everything about her. He desperately wanted to know the color of her eyes. Remus wasn't even entirely sure why he needed to know- but he did nonetheless. He resisted the urge to just reach out and shake her- to wake her up from her seemingly peaceful slumber- but he knew he shouldn't. James and Sirius would laugh- she would probably be angry... very angry... and creeped out. Remus definitely decided against waking her.

Suddenly- the girl straightened and sat up. Remus almost jumped out of his seat- it was as if he had willed her awake- if such a thing was possible. She stretched a bit- her muscles and joints popping. She finally opened her eyes; they were violet. A beautiful violet. Remus was immediately enchanted. They seemed so deep- such a powerful and rich color that he thought he could just stare at them forever.

"Oi! You're awake." James said- just as startled as Remus. "We didn't bother you, did we?"

She simply shook her head.

"You don't talk?" Sirius asked because of her silence. The girl just looked back and the other boys- even Peter had been drawn away from his window to look at the silent girl. She hadn't quite noticed Remus yet- as he was on the same side of the compartment and she had only looked forward.

"Okay..." James mumbled and held his hand out for her to shake. "I'm James Potter."

Again- she simply stared back at him, then to his hand, and back to him- with a strange look on her face. James awkwardly retracted his arm- confidence slightly shaken. Sirius noticed and decided to try to end the awkwardness filling the air.

"I'm Sirius Black, and the mouse looking one over there is Peter." Sirius gestured towards Peter- who just raised a hand in a half-wave. Yet again- the girl simply nodded in acknowledgement.

Remus looked at the strange girl with such wonder. When he broke his eyes away from her face and looked up- he saw Sirius giving him a 'Your turn' glare. Remus' mouth went dry at eh mere thought of speaking to the puzzling girl. But he cleared his throat.

"Remus Lupin" He nearly whispered, his eyes shifting from her, to his friends and at his shoes.

Her head turned towards him swiftly- as if she didn't even notice his presence until now. After all- it's not like he had said much of anything since they got on the train- or all day for that matter. Her gaze shifted around the compartment.

"Ember Moretti" She said. She had an accent- Remus guessed it was Italian- judging by her last name.

Giant grins made their way across James and Sirius' faces when the girl spoke up. Naturally, they took her talking as a sign of potential friendship and started talking to her about anything they could come up with. Peter took this as a sign that his part in the conversation was over and went back to observing the scenery out the window. Remus swallowed hard- he worried that if he looked up at the girl- he'd become just as entranced as before. So, his shoes suddenly became interesting, as he kept his gaze on them- and not on Ember.