A/N: Hi there! I know it's been AGES since I've updated but I finally got a bit of muse back so I thought I'd update for anyone who is still around. Thank you all so much for the reviews, alerts, favorites...they all make my day. This chapter isn't quite as long as the last but you get a bit more background on Addie and, for once, her and Remus aren't fighting so let's all rejoice! Enjoy! 3

"Nice of you to join us," Snape remarked snidely as Addie walked into the Great Hall a few hours later. She had slept a bit longer than intended but assumed that this would go unnoticed. This became clearly false when she entered to find a group of less than twenty all seated around one table: the professors next to one another on one side and the students on the other. With so few at the table, an empty seat would be rather noticeable. Most of the students were younger but she did recognize Harry, Ron, and Hermione as all of the eyes in the room shifted to her. Of course the only empty seat was across from Snape and next to a Slytherin she wished she didn't know. The only saving grace of the seating arrangement the fact that Remus sat to Snape's right and Dumbledore to his left. Any chance of the man being able to pick a fight with her would be effectively squashed.

"I see it didn't keep you," she responded cheerfully, a forced smile on her face as she took her seat. Dark bangs fell into her eyes as she reached for the mashed potatoes.

"Why would we wait for you?" Jacob Carstairs asked with a small laugh. She turned to look at the boy to her left, smile never faltering. He was also a seventh year and they had had many classes together over the years. Though he was not completely intolerable, it was moments like this one that reminded her of just how different the two of them were. They both came from Pureblood families but had completely different attitudes about it. Though she did feel a deep sense of loyalty to her family she did not share in their pride of blood status and displeasure with those believed to be 'below' them. These were traits that Jacob had made clear he agreed with and often scorned her for not behaving the same.

"Haven't the slightest," Addie answered with a small shrug. She looked to Remus and gave him a real smile when their eyes met but dared not to keep the contact for long. She could feel Snape's obsidian eyes searching her face but she did her best to ignore it and turn her attention to the food.

The plates had been cleared and most of the younger students, along with a few of the professors, had left already. Addie had stuck around, hoping to have a chance to speak with Remus again, but neither Snape nor Jacob seem to have any plans on exiting their seats early. Thankfully, she was able to avoid conversation for most of the dinner, staying silent and listening to the conversation around her. However, this peace didn't last nearly as long as she would have preferred. It was Jacob that broke the silence with perhaps one of her least favorite topics: her family. "So, how's Evey?"

His question seemed to pique the interest of the nearby adults who had abandoned the other conversation to hear her answer, all of them — including Remus — with a look of surprise on their faces. "Just peachy," she said shortly, hoping her curtness would give him the impression that the topic should be dropped immediately; she was never quite that lucky.

"Evey?" Remus finally asked, unable to come up with who the boy might have been referring to. None of his students went by that name and the girl herself had never mentioned the name to him — not that that necessarily meant anything, he had to remind himself.

"Evey is Evelyn…my sister."

"You have a sibling?" Snape interjected, an eyebrow raised and a decidedly incredulous tone to his voice.

"Yes. Two, actually. An older brother and a younger sister." Addie answered the question but maintained a strong gaze on the goblet of pumpkin juice in her hand until the Headmaster chimed in.

"They elected not to attend Hogwarts," Dumbledore explained kindly before the next question could be asked.

"Right," she continued, nodding and scoffing lightly. 'Elected not to attend' was not the phrase she would have chosen to describe the situation but it would suffice for polite conversation. "Daniel is twenty-one now; he went to Durmstrang as a legacy, following in the footsteps of my father. Evelyn just turned fourteen this past summer and is currently attending Beauxbatons, where my mother graduated."

"How did you wind up at Hogwarts then?" A valid, albeit unexpected question from Professor Flitwick. Addie had rather forgotten he was even there.

"Well, Durmstrang is basically an all-boys school these days so I couldn't rightly go there, could I? As for Beauxbatons…well, anything that would make my mother happy would make me very unhappy so, here I am. I wrote to Dumbledore on my tenth birthday, begging him to let me in the following year. That all I wanted for my birthday was my letter to Hogwarts. The rest…"

"Is history," he finished, giving the girl a gentle smile. Remus' amber eyes flicked back and forth between the two of them, positive that there was far more to the story than either of them was willing to let on at the moment. Perhaps that was a story for another day.

"Well, is she still…?" Jacob wasn't easily deterred from his original line of questioning. He didn't finish the question but she knew exactly what he was asking.

"Underage and maintaining very little modesty?" She asked, trying to keep the bitterness from her voice. "Yes. As always."

"You're one to talk. The two of you are just alike."

"Hardly!" She protested strongly, somewhat offended at his statement. Evelyn had been bearable as a child but as she grew, so too did her attitude. Though she hadn't noticed at the time, Addie would be grateful later that all except Snape and Remus seemed to have turned their attention away from their conversation.

"Oh, please. When we were her age, we were sneaking Firewhiskey from your parents' Christmas party!"

"Yes, but I'll have you remember that I wasn't the child who took off their dress and ran round the garden three years in a row!" He laughed at the memory and Addie struggled to keep a smile from her face as she thought back on that night. All of the adults had looked so mortified, especially her mother as she chased Evelyn through the yard and back into the house.

"You're right, that only happened once." Jacob nudged her lightly and she finally gave in and laughed, nudging him back.

"Only because you lit my dress on fire," she reminded him with a pointed look.

"What can I say? I've apparently always been a bit of a skirt-chaser." He didn't bother to hide the suggestion in his voice or gaze. Any other time she would have teased him back but after meeting Remus' eyes again and seeing his rising discomfort, Addie smiled lightly and looked back down to her hands, deciding it would probably be a better idea not to.

Jacob only stayed a few minutes more before telling her goodbye and heading back down to the Slytherin common room. When her attention turned back to the two grown men across the table, the tension between them was even more palpable now that there was even less buffer to keep them quiet.

"Do you mind, Malvae? The adults needs to talk." The utter contempt in Snape's voice sounded deeper than usual, perhaps a strange amalgamation of that he felt for Addie and Remus. Either way, she knew better than to stick around.

"Well, on that note, I'll be off." Addie stood slowly, hoping that her hesitation might be enough to signal Remus to her intent of speaking with him again. She made it halfway to the door of the Great Hall before realizing that he hadn't gotten up. She turned to look back and found the reason he had not followed: Snape was talking rather intensely with him, both men seeming quite annoyed by the interaction. After deciding to rescue Remus, she took a few steps back towards the table and called out, "Professor Lupin? Do you mind if I run by your classroom? I think I left my book in there before break…wanted to finish up that essay you assigned."

"It's locked," he began, standing from the table and walking towards her. "I'll walk you up."

"Lupin, we're not done here!" Snape was standing now, his brows knitted together in frustration, but he made no move to actually follow him.

"It can wait, Severus," Remus answered curtly, continuing to close the distance between Addie and himself. He held out a hand, gesturing for her to walk ahead of him as they approached the stairs. As they climbed the first set side by side, she could feel his hand hovering at the small of her back, as if he was trying to gain the courage to actually place his hand there. After a few more stairs, he seemed to give up on the idea and let his arm fall back to his side. Once they reached the classroom, Remus unlocked the door, held it open for her to walk in first, and shut the door again behind them. It was mostly dark except for some stray moonlight from the high windows but that was fixed with a lazy wave of Remus' hand and the candles closest to his desk lit at once.

"Bit romantic," Addie noted, her eyebrows raised slightly and a small grin on her face. She was sure it wasn't intentional but that didn't mean the seventh-year wouldn't give him any shit about it.

"Candlelight does not automatically make a situation romantic," he responded, turning to hide his own grin and walk to his desk at the front of the classroom. "Besides, you're not planning on kissing me again, are you?"

She gave a small chuckle at the question, cheeks turning ever-so-slightly pink. "No. I won't kiss you again until you ask me to. Deal?"

"Deal."

He didn't meet her gaze again until he had taken a seat behind his desk. Remus couldn't quite put a finger on it but there was something that was making him uneasy. Apart from the usual swarm of emotions that accompanied being either alone or within close proximity of the young woman, there was something extra deepening the pit in his stomach and drying his mouth. Oh! Then it hit him. It didn't take much longer for him to figure out exactly what it was: it felt far too much like the dream they had shared.

Remus easily pointed out the differences in scenarios to himself, analyzing the situation as clearly as his mind would allow: there were no students at their desks, listening to his lecture and then scurrying as quickly as possible from the room; Addie was not wearing her school uniform; he was not wearing his robes; and she was not striding so confidently up to his desk…

And yet, he was still rooted firmly in his seat, unable to keep from watching her as she walked up the aisle towards him with an odd look in her eyes. "What's going on, Addie?" he asked, only recognizing the words once they had already left his mouth and she had reached his desk.

"I just can't stop thinking about that dream — the bite — what it all means. Does this…change anything between us?" She was biting nervously at her bottom lip and for a moment too long, all he could think about was biting that lip himself.

The werewolf shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he pondered the question. He couldn't imagine how things wouldn't be different between the two of them but judging by her own discomfort, that wasn't the answer she was looking to hear. He sat forward, reaching out to touch her hand in what he hoped to be a comforting manner, but thought the better of it halfway there. Letting his hand rest a few inches away from her own, he let out a small sigh before answering her question with one of his own. "Do you want things to change?"

She shifted from one foot to the other as she contemplated the question. It had already been made abundantly clear that the type of relationship she desired with him was simply never going to happen, so what was the point in holding on to that ideal? All it had done in the past was drive a wedge between the two of them. Addie needed him now more than ever.

"I don't think so. I want…no, need us to be friends. I don't think I can handle this alone"

It was in this moment of her vulnerability that he finally allowed himself to move the last few inches and cover her hand with his own. "You won't have to, Addison. I promise you. You're not alone."