A/N: So here is another chapter. It is really long just like all the other ones. I'm posting this one so that I can start in on my assignment for my class with a calm mind. I didn't want to leave you all with that miniature cliffhanger from last chapter. So I wrote this one. Enjoy it. It's one of my favorites.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

When she woke up, Brianna was disoriented and confused. She was lying in a bed, so that lead her to believe that the events of the previous night had been a dream. That the events had never happened. However, the fact that her arm was wrapped up and placed on her chest, and there was a bandage on her cheek, told her that it wasn't. The fact that she was not in her bed, but in a hospital bed told her that it wasn't a dream. The events from the night before came rushing back to her. The werewolf. The scratching. The blood. James calling her name. The black dog. James caring her in her arms. Her passing out in her arms. Then she woke up in the hospital wing. She blinked twice as her eyes adjusted to the light in the room.

"Brianna," Lily's voice called to her. Brianna's dark eyes started to focus in on Lily's red hair and then green eyes. A soft smile played on Lily's lips as she rubbed the top of Bri's head. "Madam Pomfrey," she shouted.

The Healer looked over at the red haired girl calling her name. After noticing that the Brianna was awake the nurse hurried over to the two girls. The Healer started to check the bandages on Brianna's arm and face, ensuring that the wounds were healing properly. The cool air in the room tingled against the open wound on her arm and the quickly closing one on her cheekas the Healer began to change her bandages. The white bandages were no longer white, they were red with blood. The sight made Brianna queasy. She closed her brown eyes, but the smell still got to her, causing nausea.

"These are healing well," the Healer mused as she wrapped the bandages. "There should only be minimal scaring on the face, very minimal. The most scaring will be on the arm."

"That's good," Lily said as she ran her fingers through Brianna's dark hair.

"Thank you," Brianna told Madam Pomfrey as the Healer touched her shoulder before she walked away. After a moment, Brianna looked over at Lily. "What happened?"

Lily looked up and out of the window as she twisted a strand of hair around her finger. "I wasn't there, Bri," Lily told her. "I don't really know." Lily then looked over her shoulder. "James can tell you better. I'll get him." Lily rose from the side of Brianna's bed and left the Hospital Wing.

Brianna looked over at her bandaged arm. The fresh blood was starting to seep into the bandage. Soiling the fresh white of the bandage. The night before seemed like it never happened. It seemed like it was a dream. She never thought that is would happen to her. She knew it happened. Werewolves attacked people that's how they survived. That's how they created their kind. Their kind. The scratch. Panic overwhelmed her. Did it bite her? Was she a werewolf now too? Was it -?

"Brianna," James greeted as he sat down beside her. "Are you alright?" He placed his hand over hers.

"I'm fine," she replied. "I suppose that I owe that to you."

James shrugged and gave her a sheepish smile. "Yeah, it's no problem. I just wish that I could have gotten to you before he, it, got to you. I hope that it doesn't scar too badly," he said as he placed a soft hand on her cheek.

"I want to know what happened," Brianna said in the strongest voice that she could muster.

"Of course, you do," James told her as he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "I was out on the castle looking for Peeves, I guess he knew that I was coming so he was hiding. I walked by a window and saw a werewolf on the edge of the forest, just wondering about. So I decided that I should go and check to see if anyone was out. That's when I saw you, and apparently that's when the werewolf saw you too, because he took off in your direction. I got to you first and then the werewolf. I had a plan, a bad plan, seeing as I forgot how uncoordinated you are," James said with a smirk as he ran his fingers though his hair. "Anyway, you fell. The werewolf got you and scratched you a few times. Then something came out of nowhere, and knocked it off. I'm not sure what it was, but then I got you and carried you here. "

"Last night?" Brianna questioned.

James paused, "Well, no. That was three days ago. Madam Pomfrey wanted to keep you asleep while she did a check for bites and other scratches."

"It was a dog," Brianna told him as she looked up at the ceiling.

"I beg your pardon," James chocked out. She'd seen the dog?

"It was a black dog that pushed the werewolf off," she repeated to James. "At least that's what I saw."

"That's," James cleared his throat, interesting," he told her.

"James, did it-"

"No, it didn't bite you. You're still the same Brianna, nothing werewolf-y about you," he assured.

Madam Pomfrey returned to Brianna's bedside, giving James a stern looked. "Mr. Potter, away with you. Ms. Chase needs to rest," the Healer informed. "Away with you, Mr. Potter." Brianna started to protest, but she found herself starting to feel a little lightheaded and sleepy. She gave James a grateful smile and told him to tell Lily that she was alright. James said that he would relay her message and after rubbing the back of her hand in a friendly manner, he left. "Here, drink this," Madam Pomfrey told her, "It will keep the bad dreams away. Dreams of the attack." Brianna obeyed and gulped the potion down. She'd learned that potions were not meant to be sipped, but drank quickly so that the taste didn't get a chance to settle on the taste buds. Not long after the potion was administered to her, she felt herself falling back into a deep sleep.

"Remus, " James said as he walked into the boy's dormitory and flicked on the light. Remus burrowed under the covers on his bed and hid his face under pillow to block out the light. "I know that you're still getting over the injuries from the last full moon, but you cannot stay up here and mope." James shouted at him.

Remus had not been admitted into the Hospital Wing after the full moon. He had not inflicted nearly as much damage to himself as he usually did, the reason being self explanatory . Madam Pomfrey just prescribed him some ointment to rub on the cuts on his face and arms, and sent him on his way. She was much too preoccupied with keeping Brianna's wounds from getting infected. So Remus had been recovering in the dormitory for the past two days. However, today he was just hiding out. He had done the one thing that he had wanted so badly not to. He had hurt the person that he had always told himself he would never hurt, and he just couldn't deal with that right now. He just couldn't.

James sighed heavily and pulled the covers off his friend's body. "You need to tell her," James shouted. He knew that there was a better way to handle this, but he was just so tired of Remus' moping.

Remus sat up quickly and shot his friend a nasty glare. "Tell her? Tell her what? Hey, Bri, sorry I almost killed you. My mistake."

"Not like that, but you need to tell her," James pushed. "If she confided in you, you need to confide in her. That's how these kinds of things work."

"What kinds of things?" Remus seethed.

"Relationships. You aren't going to be able to pursue anything with her if you don't tell her. That's a secret that's too big to keep from someone," James told him. "You can't hope to have a successful relationship with her if you don't tell her this."

"Pursue a relationship with her. James, I could have killed her. Pursuing a relationship with her is the last thing that I would want to do to her."

James rolled his hazel eyes and sighed. "Fine, sit here and mope, but you need to tell her that what happened."

James left the room not wanting to have any more to do with Remus and his moping. Remus was one of his best mates, and all he wanted to do was help his friend, however if Remus didn't want to be helped then there was nothing that James or anyone could do about. Remus would come to his senses eventually and when he did he would see that James was right.

"What does Remus need to tell Brianna, James," Lily asked as he entered the common room.

"Pardon?"

"What does Remus need to tell her?"

James rocked back and forth on his heels, before offering his hand to Lily. "You should hear it from Remus," he told her. Lily reached out and took his hand as he guided them back up the stairs. "Remus, you should start by telling Lily," James said as he reentered the room, his fingers laced with Lily's. "She has the right to know too."

"NO!" Remus moaned loudly as he lay back on his bed.

"Tell me Remus," Lily pleaded as she sat down on the edge of his messy bed and placed her hand over his. "You can tell me anything."

"You'll think I'm a monster and never speak to me again," Remus said as he hung his head in shame. "You'll hate me."

"Try me," Lily commanded.

Brianna had been awake for the past half an hour. The sun was slowly setting and casting dark shadows over the grounds. The trees looked ominous, especially the ones around the Forbidden Forest. That's where the werewolf had come from. The werewolf that had attacked her. Madam Pomfrey was rushing about grabbing potions and ointments and placing them in a bag. She was speaking to herself quietly as she bustled about.

"Ms. Chase," the Healer said as she approached her. Brianna turned to look at her. "Enclosed in this bag are seven sleeping potions. They are strong, dear, so make sure you drink them right before bed. There are only seven and they are to be used for the next seven days. Not every other day, the next seven days. They will keep the dreams of the attack at bay. Also, there are also seven vials of an ointment for the scaring. Use them twice a day, once in the morning and once at night, for the next two weeks. Half of a vial in the morning and half at night. Use these every day for the next two weeks, it will seriously decrease scaring. If you use it properly there should be very little scaring on the face. You can take the bandages off tomorrow morning. Just leave them on tonight, so that the wounds can heal a little more. If you would like I can wrap your arm tomorrow night, but it needs to air out during the day. As for your face, the wounds are closed, there is just some red and raised skin. It should lessen as you use the ointment. Any questions?" Brianna shook her head, as she tried to keep all of the information she'd just received in her head. Madam Pomfrey smiled. "Sleeping potion right before bed for the next seven days. The ointment, half a vial once in the morning and at night. Take the wrappings off in the morning. I'll wrap your arm tomorrow night, if you like," the Healer recapped. "You're free to go," she told her as she handed Brianna the bag of potions and vials of ointment.

"Thank you," Brianna said to the Healer as she stood. Brianna's balance was a bit off, seeing as she hadn't used her legs in three days. It took a few moments for her legs to adjust to her body weight. She pushed off the bed and tugged gently on her jumper to straighten it. Lily had brought her a change of clothes, a jumper and a pair of jeans. Something that only someone who cared for her would do.

"Do you need some help?" a tight voice asked her.

Brianna looked over her shoulder at the entrance of the Hospital Wing and spotted Remus Lupin. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets and he was avoiding eye contact with her. "Um, sure, that would be great. What are you doing here?" she asked as she approached him.

Without looking at her, he took the bag of medical potions and ointments from her hand, careful not to touch her, and said, "We need to talk." He could feel her brown eyes on him and he shook his head. "Not here. Follow me."

Remus started off up the stairs with Brianna following him. After his conversation with James, he realized that James was right. He had to tell her. Not because he wanted to pursue a relationship with her, but because he owned her that much. Every few steps he would stop and make sure that Brianna was still behind him. However, as soon as she got close, he would walk off again. He didn't want to be too close to her. If he was he would break down and grovel at her feet for forgiveness. Something that he didn't deserve. He couldn't even look at her without being reminded of the fact that he had attacked her. Her face of all places. Why her face? It wasn't until he had gotten to the location where he would tell her everything, did he really know where they were going. The fifth floor landing of the clock tower. This was the only place that he could think of that there were not portraits to hear his story. No students to overhear. It would be just them. Just like it needed to be.

"What do we need to talk about?" she asked as she sat down on the wooden floor and crossing her legs.

"I have to talk and you need to listen," he told her as he walked to the wrought iron railing that looked over looked the Black Lake. The moon was starting to rise over the blackened grounds. "You can't say anything until I'm finished, you have to hear the whole thing, Brianna. Promise me that," he begged.

"I promise."

Remus turned around to face her, however he still avoided looking at her. The bandages on her face and arm were too much for him. A constant reminder of what he had done, so that he could never forget. "When I was six, my father was at a pub with some friends. He had had a bit too much to drink, and was running off at the mouth. When Fenrir Greyback entered the pub. My father worked for the ministry and he was talking to one of his mates about how there had been werewolf sightings. Greyback was lurking in the shadows, probably looking for his next victim, when he heard my father say something to the effect of werewolves being creatures from hell. That they were inferior to humans without lycanthropy. That werewolves needed to be killed via whatever means, be it genocide or what have you. Greyback was less than pleased, as you can imagine. He vowed to himself to get vengeance on my father, and slipped out of the pub unseen."

"By the time the next full moon rolled around, my father had all but forgotten about what he had said that night at the pub. He didn't think that it would have any effect over anyone or anything. That night, out family cat ran outside. My mother was sleeping, and my father was reading the paper. When I asked him to go and fetch the cat, he told me to go and get the cat myself. I thought nothing of it. I had gone to get the cat many times. In hindsight, if my father had realized it was a full moon, I wouldn't have been allowed to go out, but he didn't and I did. I found our family cat just outside the back door. He was hissing, his back arched and his eyes wide. By the time I realized what was happening it was too late. I had been bitten.

"I remember the intense pain that I felt as teeth sunk into my skin. Breaking flesh and bones. Spilling blood on to the grass. I remember the cat hissing and yowling loudly in my ear. I remember watching my attacker run off into the woods behind our house. My father came out of the house after a few moments of the cat yowling. He found me there, writhing in pain. He didn't know what happened, so he took me into the house and lay me on the sofa. The last thing that I remember from that night was him going to get my mother, and my mother returning and then screaming.

"I woke up a few days later in St. Mungo's. The nurse that came in to check on me kept looking at me with a mix of pity and horror. She felt bad for me and yet she was scared me. I didn't understand until after the Doctor on call came in and told me what had happened. What I had feared had happened. I was bitten by a werewolf and I now had lycanthropy."

"Why are you telling me this, Remus?" Brianna asked as she pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.

"You promised," Remus said in a low voice.

"That's right, I'm sorry."

"From that day on, every full moon my parents would lock me away in the basement and I would undergo my transformation. Alone in the basement, and chained to a wall, I would claw at myself, in an attempt to escape. I never did. This happened every full moon until I was eleven and my Hogwarts letter was delivered by Professor Dumbledore. He came to tell me that I could still attend Hogwarts, that there would be special accommodations made for me. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to be a burden. I didn't want to hurt people, but Dumbledore insisted. My mother wanted me to have the full experience of growing up in the Magical Community. So I went.

" I was able to keep my secret until third year, when James, Sirius, and Peter figured me out. I would go away on the day of my transformation. I would sneak to the Whomping Willow, and there's a secret passageway underneath it to the Shrieking Shack. That's is where I should spend my transformation day, alone, until I transformed. I would chain myself to the wall, just as the sunset, take a Wolfsbane Potion, and wait. Up until third year, I suffered alone. Until my friends found out. They also found away to help me so that I wasn't alone during my transformation. Werewolves pose no real threat to animals. So that learn to become animagi, but it took them two years to be able to master the art. So by our fifth year, James could turn into a stag, Peter a rat, and Sirius a dog." He paused briefly to let the information sink in. He briefly met her brown eyes, that were now wide as she started to come to the realization of what he was saying, as quickly as he looked at her he looked away. "Do I need to continue?"

She nodded, but seeing as it was dark Remus was not able to see her, so she nodded until she found her voice. "Yes." Suddenly cold, she pulled her hands into her the sleeves of her jumper, balling them into a fist to hold her jumper sleeves there.

A pained look crossed Remus' face as he sighed. "This most recent full moon, I was not chained. I also forgot to take my Wolfsbane potion. It was a breezy night and the wind picked up a human scent." A breeze blew from behind Brianna, catching her scent and bringing it to him almost as if to prove a point. "The werewolf side of me took over, seeing as I didn't take my potion to keep my human mind dominate. I escaped pass James and Sirius, don't ask me how it's all a blur really, and I was out on the grounds. James morphed back into him human form, as Sirius attacked me and tried to hold me down. He gave James just enough time to reach you. Then I was there, and you started running. Werewolves love the chase. Of course, it wasn't much of a chase considering how uncoordinated you are. When you were down, I attacked. I clawed at your form with no care. I wanted you dead. If Sirius hadn't pushed me off of you, you would be dead."

Brianna sat with her chin on her knees, and her eyes wide with fear. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked again, her voice shaking.

"You have the right to know who you attacker was," Remus told her.

"If you had taken the potion-"

"I would not have attacked you, Brianna. I would not have even left the Shack," Remus assured her. "I would not have attacked you." The second time was much softer than the first, almost as if he were ensuring that he knew that.

"Why won't you look at me?"

Remus chuckled darkly. "Brianna, I didn't want to be a monster. I would much rather harm myself that harm anyone. That's why I transform alone and without humans around. I never wanted to be like the monster that created me. You have to understand that. Now, I have become like him. I have attacked an innocent person. I can't look at you because those scars are a constant reminder of the fact that I am now a monster."

Brianna didn't know what to do in this situation. She'd always know that Remus had a secret, but she never thought it was something to this magnitude. She had no idea how to react to this. Her first instinct was to run. Remus had wanted her dead. However, she knew that wasn't true. The werewolf had wanted her dead. She couldn't run from Remus, he was her friend. He'd been there for her when she was in her dark place. She couldn't run from him. Her second instinct was to be upset. He'd been lying to her for seven years. She wanted to be angry with him, but she couldn't be. She couldn't be angry with Remus. Her third instinct was to just sit there and do nothing. No of those were good ideas. So she stood and brushed off the back of her jeans. Remus felt a pang in his chest as she did. She was leaving him. Walking out on him. However, she started to approach him with her hands still in her sleeves. She stopped in front of him and looked at him for a moment.

"Thank you for telling me," she told him quietly.

"That was what I owed you," he told her.

Brianna took another step towards him and tossed her arms around his neck. For a moment, Remus just stood there and looked at her. However, his hands found their way to her waist and he returned her hug. It felt like a wall had been lifted from between them. There was a different atmosphere around them. Remus had confided in her just as he had confided in him. Weather they had meant to our not, they were no each other's secret keepers, in way.

"I'm sorry," she muttered into the cool skin of his neck.

"What for?"

"For what happened to you. You didn't deserve for that to happen to you," she told him honestly.

"You didn't deserve for this to happen to you," he echoed back.

Her next action wasn't something that she had planned. In fact the thought had even passed through her mind, she wouldn't have done it. However, it seemed that her actions were no longer being sent from her brain to her muscles. They were just happening. It was very similar to an out of body experience. All she could do was watch as her lips found his. The action was far from planned, and it probably wasn't the best idea. They were both in emotional places. He had just told her he'd almost killed her. She was still taking that in. The emotions were what made her kiss him. At least that what she was telling herself. That was until he kissed her back.

Now a completely different wall had been taken down between them. That barrier that had been keeping him from admitting his feelings for her was gone. Everything was gone. And for a moment, it was like they had no secrets. No problems. For a moment, for that moment, it was just Remus and Brianna. Not Remus the Werewolf with the secret to hide. Not Brianna the twin of perfect Kendall. Just Remus Lupin and Brianna Chase. A boy who was madly in love with a girl and a girl who desperately needed someone to love her.

It was Remus that reluctantly broke their kiss and pulled gently from their embrace. "We should get going, it's late," he told her after he cleared his throat. He avoided eye contact with her by looking just over her head.

Brianna nodded and took a step back. "Yeah, I suppose it is."

Remus side stepped her and lead her into the castle corridors. In the corridors, they keep their distance, but they were close enough for their hands to brush against one another as they walked. Brianna walked with her eyes down, finding something very interesting on the ground. Remus kept his eyes up, looking at the staircases ensuring that they weren't moving. The two didn't talk. They just held a semi-awkward silence. There was no right way to approach what had just occurred. If it lead to something , then it lead to something. If it didn't, it didn't.

That was the conclusion that Remus had come to when they entered the common room. Things would happen on their own time. Remus handed her her ointment and potions. He leaned over to kiss her uninjured cheek and then stepped back and towards the boy's dormitory.

"Goodnight, Brianna," he told her as he started to ascend the staircase.

"Goodnight," she called back as she entered her dormitory. The girls in the room were asleep. Brianna quickly changed into her pajamas and then sank into her bed. She pulled a vial of the potion from her bag and downed it quickly. The brunette then settled into her bed. As the potion overcame her, she found herself thinking of her kiss with Remus. How right it had felt. How perfect it was.

It wasn't long before she was sleep, forgetting the problems of the world and just resting.