Hola! I am going to keep this as brief as possible. There will probably be another note at the bottom. I just wanted to let everyone know who doesn't want to read a long author's note later that while this story has been taking me a long time to post, things should be moving faster since I planned out the next seven chapters already. Now I just have to find time to type them out.

That is all. Please enjoy!

Of the three, it was Remus who woke up first. He had been unconscious for two days, twice as long as he was usually was. As his vision cleared, he was shocked to see Ben sitting next to his bed reading a book.

"Ben?" He questioned. He tried to sit up but his body screamed with protest.

Ben's concerned face relaxed and he leaned back in relief, "Nice to see you awake, Remus."

"What happened?"

It wasn't that hard of a deduction to figure that something was wrong. He felt about fifteen times worse than he usually did. Some of his injuries, at least a few that he could feel, were ones that he couldn't have caused himself. And possibly most telling, Ben was there.

"Remus…"

"Don't 'Remus' me," Remus said bitingly. He felt anger and self disgust fermenting in his mind. "WHO DID I HURT!?" He demanded, hitting his fist against the bed sheets.

"You have to calm down. You're going to hurt yourself."

"Damn hurting myself! Who. Did. I. Hurt?":

Ben just stared at his distraught friend who was barely holding it together. The strain of him working his body too hard too fast was causing beads of perspiration to appear on his forehead, his skin looked pale and clammy, and his eyes were bloodshot. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he struggled to keep his rare and ferocious temper in check. It was the type of anger a person could only portray when they were trying to hide the mind numbing fear.

Unable to answer, Ben just looked to his right. Remus followed his gaze and saw the profiles of James and Ursula, both of them pale and still sleeping.

"No…." Remus said in horror. His eyes widened and he fell against his bed. "How? Why? Are they…?"

"How is a tricky story. Why is the same. What happened to them is a bit easier to explain."

And so Ben did. Elyse had told him what transpired the previous day so he just repeated the story for Remus. From Sirius telling Snape how to get into the Shack to James's and Ursula's bloody bodies being rushed to the hospital wing. With every word, Remus appeared to get paler and angrier. The hidden fury simmered just underneath the surface as he took in the story; what he had done to his friends.

"What about Sirius?" Remus demanded after Ben finished telling him of the role Sirius played.

"He's been banned from Quidditch for the rest of his life. He's also banned from Hogsmeade for the rest of the year. Until Christmas he'll be in detention every day for at least two hours and until February, he'll be on 'house arrest'. He'll only be allowed out of the Common Room to go to class or eat meals."

"And Snape?"

"Dumbledore has made him take an oath of secrecy that he will never tell anyone else or blackmail you with this information. You're secret is still safe."

Remus's eyes flickered towards the prone bodies on the beds next to him. He involuntarily flinched before asking, "What about them? Why are they still unconscious?"

Ben sighed, trying to figure out how to explain that Remus's worst nightmares and deepest, darkest fears had been realized. Remus seemed to pick up on his hesitation and slammed his hand against the bed, "Damn it, Ben! Don't try to lie to me! Just tell me what kind of monster I am!"

"You're not a monster."

"I'll be the judge of that," Remus snarled. "Just tell me what happened to them!"

"James is unconscious because his body is still recovering from the trauma. The werewolf tore off one the muscles in his leg and scratched him up real good. Because he was a stag and he was attacked by a magical being, the wound isn't healing quite as nicely as it would have in other circumstance. Right now, his body is trying to reattach the muscle but it is an extremely painful process so Madame Pomfrey gave him something to knock him out."

"And Ursula…?"

"Remus, she has a severe concussion. There was some bleeding in her brain but they got that under control fast. The thing is, Moony, you bit her."

All the air from Remus's lungs disappeared, as if even it was disgusted being inside him.

"But we think she was in her animagus form because…well…Remus, she's fine."

Remus's face froze, disbelief written was clear as day on his ragged face, "What?"

"They're chalking it up to she'd lost a lot of blood already and she was still bleeding so the lycanthropy just, bleed out of her, or something. But from what Elyse was saying, Ursula has transformed dozens of times so she was prepared to fight. This is good news."

"Good news!?" Remus asked outraged, "I don't know where your definition of good news came from, but THAT sure as hell isn't it!" he said as he furiously gestured towards the comatose pair. "Leave." He commanded.

"What?"

"Get. Out." With that, Remus turned his back towards the friend who had turned his own on him a year ago.

Ben sighed in defeat, knowing when the battle was lost. That and Madame Pomfrey was sure to be returning soon and he would rather face a Cerberus than the school nurse after he upset one of her patients.

When he returned to the common room, he found Elyse and Peter sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace with books spread around them. She was patiently explaining some concept or another to Peter, who still didn't understand. Sirius was sitting a little off to the side, working on his own homework.

"Remus is awake."

Instantly, all three of their heads snapped towards him.

"That's brilliant!" Elyse said happily. "How's he?"

Ben shook his head, "He knew something happened and then he saw Ursula and James in the beds next to him so—"

"So you played the true and loyal friend and told him everything, didn't you?" Sirius asked bitterly.

It had been that way ever since Sirius had walked into the Great Hall and saw Ben sitting with Elyse and Peter. Ever since their fight, Sirius had barely been able to sleep in the same room as Ben. They had an unspoken agreement; they didn't acknowledge each other's existence. In Sirius's mind, Ben had committed the worst of crimes and was lower than scum in his opinion. He hurt Ursula, his sister. She may have been older than him by a few minutes but Sirius still felt the brotherly protectiveness towards her.

"Sirius," Elyse chided.

"What? He conveniently wants our forgiveness right when we are down? If I didn't know better, I would think he caused this."

'No, yeh did so shut it." Elyse said bitingly before turning back to Ben. "Woot else 'appened?"

Ben shook his head and took the seat farthest away from Sirius. "James's leg is healing slower than it should. I heard Madame Pomfrey and Mrs. Potter talking and they are thinking of letting James go home to recover for a bit; see if he'll heal better. Ursula's still the same. Nothing is physically wrong with her minus the scars. She just won't wake up."

"She'll be up soon." Peter said. "James and Ursula are always okay. Right?" He added hesitantly, noting the looks exchanged by Ben and Elyse.

They got their answer on the fourth day.

It was right before dinner. Elyse, Peter, Remus, Sirius, and Ben were walking together down to the Great Hall. Sirius was sporting a fresh bruise on his jaw. The first thing Remus did when he got out of the Hospital wing was clock Sirius. Sirius had accepted the hit, knowing that he deserved it. Thankfully, Remus wasn't at his full pre-full moon strength when it happened.

Lily walked up to them, looking concerned and pale. Knowing that she had offered to spend the afternoon after classes Ursula and James, the quintet immediately went over to her.

"What?" Peter asked simply, knowing that no further explanation was needed.

"It's James. His leg got infected somehow." Lily looked flustered. Her face was flushed and worry lines were creased across her forehead. She anxiously crossed her arms and fiddled with the end of her braid. "His fever's making him delirious right now; he was muttering nonsense. Madame Pomfrey gave him some potions that should have helped but it just seemed to make it worse," Lily said tearfully.

It was horrifying. James was always this arrogant, cocky, prick who didn't give a damn about anything. Yet she watched and held his hand as he trashed about on the bed, crying out for his mother, begging her to take away 'the boiling' in his head. His mother had gone home for the night, for the first time giving into Dumbledore's demands to get some real rest, along with his father so no one was there. Lily offered what comfort she could to James as he suffered through his delusions. He was talking about 'hooves' and how he needed his fingers to get his wand. He started muttered something about wishing for a lion and the grim to help him. As time progressed, his delusions devolved more and more to the point of referring to his head as antlers and how much they hurt. It only stopped when Pomfrey got the worst of the fever under control.

It had taken almost half an hour. Then Mrs. Potter and Mr. Potter showed up, heart shattering fear etched on their faces. Lily left them alone, to stay with their son. Just before she left, she turned and saw James gasping desperately for the comfort of his parents as they rushed over to him.

"Let's go," Sirius said with determination. He was set on going to check on James. He hadn't been allowed up to the hospital wing yet but rules be damned, he was going to see his best friend if he was sick.

Lily shook her head, "They have him under quarantine now. No visitors for the next forty-eight hours."

"What about Ursula? She was next to James and if he got an infection…?" Ben questioned, worry clear on his face.

"She didn't have any signs of having anything wrong with her. She's just not woken up yet."

"Ursula'll wake up soon. She's been unconscious for five days now." Lily pointed out.

"But what if she doesn't?" Peter questioned.

Sirius glared at him so harshly the boy flinched and shuffled away from the fuming Black. "Sissy will wake up. There's no doubt. She didn't survive hell to end it like this." With that, Sirius turned on his heel and walked up to the hospital wing, completely ignoring the stipulation of his punishment and leaving behind his other friends, and sat by his sister's side the rest of the night.

It was the following day when things began to change. Elyse was sitting with Ursula, working in her sketch book, something she hadn't done in months, drawing a sketch of Pat's face. She was just finishing his eyes when a rustling sound caught her attention.

She turned and saw Ursula's grey eyes watching her. "You're drawing." Ursula rasped out, her voice hoarse from disuse.

"Yer awake," Elyse said in shock, relief, joy, and a countless emotions she would never be able to describe.

"You don't draw a lot anymore," Ursula commented.

Elyse quickly poured a cup of water for friend. She held the cup up to Ursula's lips and tipped the cup just enough for Ursula to take small sips. "I've'nt had teh time."

"Who's it supposed to be?" Ursula questioned.

"It's Pat, me boyfriend," Elyse said as she turned the sketch book to show her. "Woot do yeh think?"

"I dunno. I've never seen the bloke."

Elyse cocked her head to the side in confusion, "I've shown yeh pictures."

Ursula shrugged slightly, wincing in pain when it pulled on her still not completely healed wounds. She resettled herself a little higher of the pillows. Elyse reached over and helped her so she was almost sitting up. Elyse went to get a second glass of water.

"How do yeh feel?"

"Killer headache. My back feels weird and everything is blurry. Where're my glasses?"

Elyse handed Ursula her glasses before going back to getting more water.

"Yeh know, yeh gave a lot o' people a right scare. Mrs. Potter's got a few more grays 'n er hair now."

Ursula's eyes lit up with tentative hope, "Mrs. Potter is here?"

Elyse nodded, incredulous that Ursula would be surprised at that. "Why wouldn't she? James's 'ere too. Mr. Potter was just 'ere actually. Went ter git something ter eat." She mentioned as she started putting her stuff away. She had taken over a nearby bed as a resting spot for all her art stuff and knowing that Pomfrey would probably ban her from visiting again if she left it out, she didn't want to risk that.

Ursula smiled, "Does that mean Uncle Alphard is here too?"

Reaching halfway for her supplies, Elyse froze and slowly turned towards Ursula, wondering if this was some twisted joke. "Ursula, woot did yeh just ask?" She had to make sure her ears weren't playing a cruel trick on her.

The bed ridden girl's smile faltered, "Isn't Uncle Alphard here? I would've thought he'd have shown up with the Potters."

Elyse rushed over to Ursula's side and grabbed her hand tightly. She leaned over her slightly and looked her dead in the eye. "Woot's teh last thing yeh remember?" Elyse asked gravely serious.

Ursula's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, "School has just started. We've been here a couple months."

"When was teh last time yeh was 'n teh hospital wing?"

"When we had Flammel's Disease," Ursula answered tentatively, unsure of why Elyse was reacting the way she was.

"How long ago was that?" Elyse demanded, tightening her grip on Ursula's hand.

Ursula shrugged, beginning to get flustered, "I don't know, about two years ago. What're you on about?"

Elyse just shook her head before quickly releasing her hand and running to Madame Pomfrey's office. Within a minute, the matron was at Ursula's bedside.

"Miss Black, you've suffered a concussion. Do you remember why you are here?"

Ursula, looking more and more panicked as time progressed shook her head, "I don't know what the bloody hell is going on! I can't remember what happened!"

"It is common to forget the trauma right after waking up. We just have a few questions for you, alright?" When Ursula nodded, Pomfrey asked, "What house are you in?"

"Gryffindor."

"How many brothers do you have?"

"Two."

"Their names?"

"Sirius and Regulus."

"Do you remember the name of your Defense Teacher?"

"Clarke."

Madame Pomfrey and Elyse shared a discreet look. Elyse nodded sadly, knowing what was happening. Ursula seemed to pick up on their realization and panic started to seize her chest.

"And the one before that?"

"Pod."

The matron raised her eyebrow at that answer. "Tell me, do you recall the names of your teammates on the Quidditch team as of this year?"

"James Potter, Frank Longbottom, Sean Wood, Elyse O'Brian, JR King, and Liam McLaggen."

After a moment of silence Ursula let her chin fall against her chest. "I'm wrong, aren't I?" She asked meekly.

Elyse nodded solemnly, "Yeah."

Pomfrey rested her hand gently on top of Ursula's, ever the comforting nurse. No matter how terrifying she could be when she deemed you to be disturbing the healing of other students, she the person you wanted at your bedside when you were ill. "Ursula," she began gently, "it only appears that your memories from about the last two years and a little before that are just a little scattered. You'll be able to remember most of it."

"And the parts I don't?" Ursula asked tearfully.

"I'm sorry but they might be gone for good. We want your memories to come back naturally. We'll get your brother and friends in here to talk to you so they can help trigger memories and put them in order."

"Poppy actually encouraging visitors? World must be ending," Ursula joked lightly.

Elyse laughed despite of herself. With that one comment, she knew in her heart of hearts, Ursula would be fine.

She spent the next three hours sitting with her. They spoke of everything and nothing; their mere presence was enough.

When Ben saw Madame Pomfrey walk into the Great Hall during dinner, he instantly knew something was wrong. He stood up and met her halfway, the rest of the group following his lead.

"What's happened?" Ben asked, not giving the nurse a chance to speak.

"If you would please follow me," she motioned for all four to follow her. She led them away from the prying eyes of the student body. They walked towards the Hospital Wing. "I must warn you, the blow to the head seems to have caused some memory loss."

"What?" Sirius asked incredulously. He didn't wait for Pomfrey to answer before he went running down the hall. He crashed into the hospital wing and rushed over to the bed Ursula was currently lying in. He threw his arms around her, gently because of her injuries, but with enough force to knock the breath out of her.

"Promise you'll never do something like that again," Sirius demanded.

"I don't' really know what I did so I can't make that promise."

After sharing a brief look with Elyse, Sirius lost the silent debate and quickly explain what had happened. By the end of the story, the other four had joined them around her bed. Remus stood the farthest back, not able to deal with seeing the pain he inflicted on his closest friend. Ursula had been the first person to figure out his secret all those years ago. She was the first person outside of his family who hadn't been repulsed and disgusted by his condition. If he had just never spoken to them, if he had lived a miserable hermit like life for the last five years, if he had stopped them from becoming animagus, if he wasn't a monster—

"Remus," Ursula said sharply, jolting him out of his thoughts. "Don't you dare blame yourself. I'm fine."

He shook his head, "You aren't—"

"I feel like I could walk out of here right now. The only reason I'm not is because I'm not sure I can remember the right way to the Common Room." Ursula argued as she sat herself up and swung her legs off to the side. "Maybe I should go explore a little bit; see if anything triggers my memory."

She hid it well. Her face was relaxed and flushed a healthy blush. But Ben saw her one hand, hidden from Remus's view, tightly clenching the sheet. Her knuckles were white and her entire hand shook slightly as she held back the pain.

"No." Sirius moved in front of her. "You are staying in this bed."

"You should let her," Peter was cut off once again by Sirius's intense glare.

"Are you being purposely idiotic lately or are you just this dumb and we never noticed? Shut the hell up."

Peter looked abashed and hung his head. Ursula, wanting to get them away from her so she could drop the rouse, suggested, "Why don't you go see James? You guys know I'm fine; just check on him."

Elyse nodded and grabbed Sirius's and Peter's sleeves before yanking them towards the isolated area James was in. After one brief look at Ursula, who smiled reassuringly, Remus joined the other two.

Once Remus had his back turned, Ursula gasped in pain and let her body fall against the bed. "Bloody hell, what happened to my back?" She panted as she fought through the pain.

"That's where Moony bit you." Ben explained as he helped her roll to her side. He took the seat next to her. He was pulling his hand away when Ursula grabbed onto it

"I'm tired. Stay with me?" she asked softly, a fear of him leaving crashed over her. She felt her heart skip a beat at the thought, as if he was the second beat gone in her life.

"Forever." He promised before settling himself more comfortably in the nearby chair.

Ursula held his hand between her own and cradled it much like one would a teddy bear. With his other hand, Ben reached out and gently moved the hair away from her peaceful, sleeping face. Her heart beat thudded strongly against his hand, the beat lulling him to sleep soon after.

It was nighttime when he woke up. He sat up, trying to figure out where he was. In the dim light, a pair of silver eyes watched him. Ursula cleared her throat, "Did you sleep well?"

He laughed humorlessly, "Have you sat in these chairs lately?"

She smirked, "Nah, I got upgraded to an actual bed."

"They just like you better."

"Of course they do. It's about time you accepted that."

Ben laughed a little at their playful banter. Oh, how he had missed this. He had gone almost a whole year without this. Just the thought of it made his chest painfully constrict. He didn't know how he made it through that time.

"Ben? Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

Ursula grabbed one of Ben's hands and played with his calloused hands from years of violin playing. "I've asked McGonagall and Mr. and Mrs. Potter about where Uncle Alphard is. No one will tell me. And no one will tell me if Annabelle had her baby yet. What happened?"

Ben swallowed painfully. She didn't remember any of it. The pain and suffering he caused her could be forgotten forever, lost in the recesses of her mind never to cross her thoughts again. It was the perfect opportunity to start over. She had no knowledge of what happened after Annabelle died so he could say anything and she would believe him.

But he knew, in his own mind, that the memory would always haunt them. She could look at a picture, be holding his hand, say something about children, meet someone named Ronald, overhear a conversation; the possibilities were endless.

Yet he could save her all of that pain, all the anguish. She had already felt it once she didn't need to relieve it.

When he looked into her eyes, however, he knew what he had to do.

He told her everything. From the day his father declared a war against Voldemort to her running from him in at the Quidditch Pitch, he told her everything, sparing no detail.

She was silent for a full five minutes after he finished speaking. She had let go of his hand and had rolled onto her back so she could sit up slightly. She just stared ahead at the blank wall. It was unnerving to Ben.

His hearts were racing faster than Elyse going for the snitch. He felt sick, just waiting for her to yell at him. She was going to curse him, hate him, never speak to him again. There was no way she would be able to forgive this; it was all over. He had come all this way, figured out what was wrong with him and tried to change only to lose Ursula because of himself. He folded his hands together and clenched them together tightly; squeezing at different intervals. He mentally prepared himself to hear the dreaded words that would send him into the abyss of despair. What she said next was not what he was expecting at all.

"I remember that I had a rule that I allow friends one free chance to mess up, right?" She asked without looking at him.

Ben nodded once, unsure of what that had to do with what he just told her, "I've used mine up our first year."

"Really? I don't recall." She turned her head to the side, a small smirk at the corner of her lips. "To the best of my knowledge, you've never used one before today."

"Are you serious?"

He couldn't believe it. His body was literally numb with disbelief.

"No, that's my twin," she responded cheekily.

Ben laughed at the atrociously overused pun. Actually, it was usually Ursula who would hit Sirius for making the joke.

"In all seriousness," Ursula added, the smile falling from her face, "I allow my friends one free chance. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Hope died in his chest, his shoulders physically deflating. He shouldn't have been surprised but there was a small part of him that wished that Ursula would have forgiven him on the spot and picked up where they left off, no matter how unrealistic it was. But in his heart of hearts, he would rather be her friend instead of nothing to her.

"I understand." He said softly, seemingly resigning himself to his fate. Ursula smiled at resettled herself into her pillows before falling back asleep. Ben walked over and pulled the blanket up around her, protecting her from the cool air. "I understand for now," he said to her sleeping form. "It doesn't mean I'm going to move heaven and hell to change that. Just watch me." Ben promised her. He laid a gentle kiss on her forehead and was gone. It wasn't the end; just merely a second beginning.

First thing first, I hope you all enjoyed this and if you did, I would love to hear what you have to say. If you have nothing to say, just keep on reading these chapters. Seriously, just seeing the number of people reading each chapter is a bit of an accomplishment for me.

I wanted to address some questions/comments in reviews left for the last chapter:

Thank you to everyone who offered their thoughts/prayers/condolences for my family. Thank you.

livestrong617: We're going to see a bit more of James in the next chapter so there might be a little scene between Lily and Mr. Potter where he reveals how he knew her favorite desert. And I have to say that Ben has to be one of my favorite's too. I love the other two and Ben was actually the last one I conceptualized before writing this out. I didn't even think I would love writing him as much as I do. On a slightly connected train of thought, to answer your question, I am a tenor saxophonist (though I have played bari up to soprano sax) and I am also a clarinet player and have been for the last three years (I have to play both to perform in the pit for musicals). I have to admit that my least favorite instrument is a flute, but that is mainly just because I like the reed sound you get from clarinets, oboes, saxophones ect.

MarauderonFire: Don't worry! I have no plans at all to ever abandon this story. This is going to be finished come hell or high water. I actually haven't thought of a couple name for Ben and Ursula. I think someone once suggested Bensula or something like that. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them! P.S. I hope I got this chapter in one time before you got institutionalized. That would be really unfortunate. But, anywho, thank you for your wonderfully fantastic review!

Arina-Peachy/yruniwylio/kerreb7: I'm glad that you all have enjoyed this story so far! I hope that you liked this chapter just as much as you liked that last one.