Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling?…HERE!…er…um…hmm…well, I guess not. I only own the plot, Taylor, and Jeannette (although, I'm not sure who'd want her ;) ).

"Wait," Remus whispered suddenly, flinging an arm in front of James, "do you guys hear something?"

"Yeah, kinda like a…" James trailed off at a loss.

"Elephant stumbling around in the dark?" Taylor finished from her position floating several feet above them covered in the invisibility cloak, her eyes closed firmly in pain. The boys chuckled.

"James, you go ahead and find out what it is," Remus ordered.

"Why me?" James demanded sullenly, Remus glared at him. "Fine, fine, I'll go."

"What if they're still out there?" Taylor whispered to herself in fright. Remus looked towards the sound of her voice curiously.

"Who?" Taylor didn't respond. "You're going to have to tell us eventually, you know. You agreed, after all." Suddenly the noises got closer, a lot closer.

"Look who I found, you guys! Padfoot!" James exclaimed excitedly, leading Sirius towards them.

"Were you wandering around alone?" Remus asked, a stern frown on his face. 'Honestly, of all the stupid things his friends did…'

"Don't be such a Debbie Downer, Moony, I was doing just fine until Peeves found me," Sirius responded flippantly before his voice grew more serious, "besides, it was for a good cause. The Evil Little Vulture you guys left me with (by the way, I will get you back for that) told me her friends did something horrible to…er, someone. We have to find her!" James and Remus exchanged looks.

"Huh, we just happened to find a girl horribly injured today, what a coincidence…" James said obliviously.

"Is she okay? Where is she? Wait until I get my hands on those…" Sirius looked around with his sightless eyes fruitlessly and purely out of habit. James and Remus exchanged confused looks at their friend's vehemence.

'Who was this girl,' they both wondered silently. Neither had realized yet who they'd rescued, although, Remus did have an inkling…

"I'm fine, I just need some rest," Taylor told Sirius, not without effort, and completely stunned by his reaction. For someone who had basically told her that he never wanted to 'see' her again, he sure seemed concerned for her health. It was all very confusing. 'Maybe I'm hallucinating because of the pain…' she considered briefly.

"Gwnie? You're here? Why aren't you in the Hospital Wing?" Sirius's expression was extremely concerned.

"Oh," James said to Taylor, "is your name Gwinn? I didn't know any one named Gwinn went to Hogwarts…"

"Er…no," she told him hesitantly. Sirius looked embarrassed. James and Remus exchanged yet another look. 'Had Padfoot really given a girl a nickname of all things?' They wondered with amazement. 'Who was this girl?' They continued wondering obliviously, missing the obvious. James missed what was right in front of him quite often, one prime example was when he asked if having dementors around was unpleasant. That particular question earned him a sharp look and a loss of points from the particularly strict Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher they had that year. But missing something, especially what should have been obvious, was very unusual for Moony.

"Look, we've got a lot to talk about. Personally I don't think we should do it were everyone can hear us," Remus broke in with his usual dose common sense. The boys all nodded and they set off once more. Luckily they didn't run into any more troublesome 'elephants stumbling around in the dark,' or anything more dangerous. Although, James did manage to run Sirius headlong into a suit of armor. Whether it was on purpose or not, no one was sure.

Strangely, the Common Room was mostly empty, filled only with those students concentrating on their homework, people that the Marauders couldn't really understand. Everyone else was outside enjoying the fading good weather that would eventually lead them into winter. Once the motley crew had reached the boys' room safely, everyone began to talk at once.

"You shouldn't have been wandering around alone," Remus admonished Sirius.

"Missy's friends did this to you?" James asked Taylor in disbelief.

"Are you alright? Why aren't you going to the hospital wing?" Sirius asked Taylor, "James, we should've brought her to the hospital wing! What were you thinking of all people, Moony!"

"Lupin, would you please put me down?" Taylor asked Remus who immediately set to work on putting her softly down on the nearest bed. She immediately whipped out her wand and began to heal her minor injuries. Sirius went and sat by the bed, only stumbling once, over…well they weren't sure what it was. It looked rather a lot like a pineapple. Then again, why would a pineapple be in the boys' dorm?

"If you had your wand, how did you get all beat up?" James asked, completely flabbergasted. "Why didn't you fight them off?"

"It's kind of hard to fight off a whole gang," Taylor replied nonchalantly while moving on to her bruised ribs.

"I find it hard to believe that you couldn't have fought off the Vultures, even if it was their whole gang," Sirius told her, inexplicably angry. James and Remus looked startled at the unexpected compliment, even if it was hidden in anger. Again they wondered who this girl could be to have provoked such a response from Sirius. The very boy who, earlier that day, hadn't even wanted to talk about Quidditch! They blamed their inability to recognize her on the fact that she was completely covered in injuries. Although, Remus was beginning to suspect…

"I never said that it was the Vultures," Taylor dropped a bombshell, not making eye contact. She began to fix her other contusions.

"Who the bloody hell did this to you!" Sirius exploded, jumping up and beginning to pace around. This didn't work very well due to the large amounts of stuff cluttering the floor.

"So it wasn't the Gryffi-Girl-Gang?" James wondered, watching Sirius trip and wave his arms wind-mill style with amusement.

"Not exactly," Taylor hesitated, "not really," she paused again, "well…they certainly didn't help matters."

"What's that supposed to mean? Either it was them or it wasn't!" Sirius exclaimed, tripping again, this time over a cauldron filled with empty Butterbeer bottles. 'Collect twenty and get a free Butterbeer, courtesy of Madame Rosmerta!' read the label's fine print. It was a campaigning technique used the year before to attract people to the newly opened The Three Broomsticks.

"You're really good at healing," Remus commented shrewdly, having been watching her heal her injuries for awhile. He was impressed at her talent, but curious and wary of how she'd gotten so good in the first place.

"Are you okay? Is she okay?" Sirius asked again, his anger deflating. As Remus began to list her many injuries, much to Taylor's embarrassment and protests, Sirius grew pale.

"Look," Taylor interrupted quickly. Her voice was getting steadier, but it was still weak, "I'm going to tell you guys what happened to me today. And I'm going to tell you what you ask, well, because I told you I would. But there are going to be some ground rules."

"Hey, we're supposed to be the ones calling the shots here!" James was annoyed at her attempted coup.

"All I want is the promise that you tell no one. I mean NO one. Not your girlfriends, not your fan club, no family members, and DEFINITELY not the teachers or headmaster. Oh, and I also want food. Can you fetch me something from the kitchens?" She added as her stomach rumbled loudly, easily audible to all the boys.

"Whoa," Remus asked, "when was the last time you ate?"

"Is this the start of the questioning?" Taylor asked quietly, making Remus look quite taken aback.

"Er…is it?" Taylor fixed him with a measuring look.

"Hmm…I guess it was lunch…yesterday," Taylor finally replied, still only looking at Remus. She still hadn't looked directly at Sirius, because, frankly, his whole attitude was confusing her. The boys, not used to missing even one meal, looked astonished.

"Some kind of diet?" James asked apprehensively. If it was, he certainly didn't want to dig himself into a hole with her, as was likely to happen when dealing with girls and their appearances. Somehow he didn't think this was a case of dieting, but what did he know?

"Not exactly," she sighed, "look, I'll tell you everything after you get me something to eat." James nodded impatiently, grabbed his invisibility cloak, opened the door, and stopped.

"Anything in particular, milady?" James asked in a faux medieval accent. Sirius sent a glare in his direction.

"Just tell them I want my usual," she closed her eyes and leaned back on the pillows. Sirius sat down on the other side of the bed and leaned against the headboard. Taylor stiffened when she looked up at him, her eyes full of hurt and pain.

Suddenly Remus was certain of her identity. He also realized that this might be his only chance to right the wrong he and his friends inflicted when they insisted on separating the two. He had never believed that it had been the right thing to do, and now that James had left, and was probably still oblivious…

"I…er, forgot my book downstairs," he told the pair as he dashed from the room, "I'm going to go get it." An awkward silence ensued upon his departure.

"I'm sorry I tried to ditch you," Sirius said, laying down along side her and facing her in a vain effort to observe her expression. He often re-remembered his own blindness at times like these. Although he had somehow adapted to the whole thing, using his friends as guides around the castle in helping him with practical wand work for his school courses and by using dictation quills for his homework, he greatly missed seeing people. Missing his sight wasn't something his personality allowed him to completely adapt to. Sirius was the sort of person who enjoyed jumping into situations and this blindness was totally dragging him down.

"It was nothing, of course, totally understandable," Taylor insisted stiffly, turning away from him.

"What do you mean, understandable?" Sirius hadn't been expecting her answer. He had rather suspected she'd hit him, maybe even multiple times. That had been his usual experience with girls. But, knowing her, it was either that or come up with some sort of crazy scenario that made absolutely no sense to anyone but her. Sirius hoped that this scenario was one that included lacy underwear too.

"You realized who I am, didn't you? You realized that I'm a dork, a geek, someone with absolutely no friends," she told him in a self-deprecating monotone. In all actuality, she was fighting back tears. Taylor wondered why he was even sitting on the bed with her, much less in the same room. 'Maybe he feels guilty that I got beat up…' she thought, 'but why would he? He doesn't even know what happened yet.'

Sirius was stunned by her reaction to say the least: this was not the sort of scenario he had expected. He linked an arm around her waist, and pulled her gently to him. Now they were face to face again.

"No, I really don't remember you from before you found me. You know, after the Slytherins…"

"Don't talk about them," she reprimanded sharply before she could stop herself.

"THEY did this to you? Dammit, I should've known!" Sirius said angrily. "Why? Why did they do this to you?"

"I'll tell you all what happened when the others get back," she sounded unbearably tired.

"You should take a nap, or something," Sirius, who had calmed down somewhat, suggested kindly.

"If it wasn't because you realized who I am," Taylor stubbornly brought up again, ignoring his proposal, "then why?" She needed to know.

"It was stupid," Sirius told her shamefaced. She simply watched him. When she said nothing, Sirius sighed and continued. "My friends didn't think we should associate. They didn't seem to think you'd make a very trustworthy friend."

"Lily," Taylor said sadly.

"What? No. Lily didn't say anything to me after that morning, well, not about you," Sirius frowned.

"No, when we left Lily must've told them…"

"What?" Sirius asked impatiently after she trailed off.

"Well, she hates me, you know," she explained matter-of-factly.

"Why? What'd you ever do?" Sirius was apprehensive; was she an an-murderer like he had wondered upon their very first acquaintance?

"It was second year," Sirius relaxed, "and I sort-of, kinda, maybe, er…left her to the Vultures, so to speak."

"Those Vultures? How?" Sirius's question made Taylor sigh again.

"Long story, part of which I'll tell everybody after I've eaten."

"Hem-hem," came a throat clearing from the doorway. Sirius and Taylor sprung apart, Taylor gasped in pain and Sirius glared toward the doorway. "Food's here," James continued, unnerved by the evil stare that had replaced Padfoot's usual grin when looking at him…or even about six inches to his left, which was where he was actually glaring. Sirius really hadn't adapted to the whole blindness thing very well. He had relied on his sight too much before to give it up entirely, James guessed accurately for once.

Taylor eyed the food hungrily and gestured for it to be brought over to her. James and Remus, who had arrived with James, laid it all on the bed around her and Sirius (who hadn't gotten off the bed completely and had only moved farther away from the girl in it). Sirius sniffed the air much like a dog and grinned at his friends; anyone who brought him food was automatically forgiven. Taylor handed him a chicken leg which he immediately tore into. James and Remus exchanged glances for what had to be the millionth time that day. They looked away quickly at the realization. Meanwhile, Taylor was gobbling down everything she saw like she was starving. Which she was, basically.

'Missing three meals, honestly!' James thought to himself. He had difficulty containing his curiosity and wanted to interrogate her immediately, but surprisingly, when you thought about his usual impatience with anything not pertaining to Quidditch practice or Lily Evans, waited until she finally finished the last biscuit.

"Who are you?" James exploded, not angrily, but merely from keeping his questions bottled up for so long. Taylor sighed heavily, knowing what was sure to be coming.

"Taylor Brown," she told him. James's eyes narrowed.

"I haven't exactly heard the greatest things about you, Brown," James said venomously despite his previous decision to give her a chance and ignoring the warning look Remus was sending him.

"Lily told you what I did, didn't she?" James's mouth opened, agog.

"Only that you're not a good friend to have. That you're untrustworthy," Remus told her, curious as to the whole story.

"She has every right to feel like that," Taylor told them.

"What'd you do?" James asked. Taylor laughed.

"That's what Sirius just asked me," she explained to their stunned silence. "Look, that story is part of the larger story of how I ended up in that corridor." They watched her intently, waiting for her to continue. She suddenly realized that this interrogation was the most she'd talked in weeks. Unsurprisingly, this didn't make her feel any better. Briefly she wondered whether she should lie her way out of it. She hadn't exactly had the best experiences with revealing her past. But she knew, deep down, that lying would only bring more trouble upon her. "My mum married a muggle-born, and that's how it all started, I suppose. Her family, pureblood sadists that they are, immediately disowned her."

"Your mum's family disowned her?" Sirius asked, "Mine too." Taylor grabbed his hand, but quickly let it go when she remembered he might not approve of her once he'd heard her entire story.

"Anyway, when I was on the train to Hogwarts I made friends with several students. But when we were sorted they all went to Hufflepuff and I , surprisingly, went to Gryffindor. I needed a Gryffindor ally for all those Gryffindor activities the Hufflepuffs weren't a part of. That's where Lily came in. I abused her badly back then. I left her a lot to spend time with my Hufflepuff pals. One day, though, Lily told me she made new friends. I was mildly happy about this until I discovered who they were. The Vultures. But it wasn't until second year when Lily's new friends made her promise to never talk to me again that I hated them. It was just my luck that this was right before the Hufflepuffs abandoned me.""Why did the Hufflepuffs abandon you?" Remus asked, sensing this was an important part of her story.

"They, the Slytherins that is, found out that Mum was a blood traitor and started attacking me, my friends got in the crossfire one too many times, I guess."

"They just randomly attack you because your mum married a muggle-born? But…they don't attack all half-bloods this much, do they? What's different about you?" James asked angrily.

"I thought Hufflepuffs were supposed to be loyal…" Remus commented thoughtfully.

"They've been attacking you for years?" Sirius asked, livid.

"I never said the attacks were random," Taylor answered the first part of James's question sadly. She conveniently 'forgot' the other part because she didn't want these boys, or anyone really, to know that her mum had once been one of the famous Wellworths. She was rather ashamed that they were related.

"Oh, they attack you after you stand up to them, then?" Remus assumed, reasoning that she was a Gryffindor after all.

"No, after you guys do," she informed them sadly.

"What!" The boys cried out simultaneously in astonishment and confusion.

"Whenever you guys fight the Slytherins or prank them or whatever, they find me. Oh, don't get me wrong," she incorrectly responded to their outraged looks, "I'm glad you guys do it. Someone has to stand up to them." James and Remus sat down heavily. They all looked like she'd killed their puppy, or something equally horrendous. But when she told them this observation they seemed to snap out of their funk.

"This is all my fault," Sirius whispered, looking disgusted at himself.

"Of course it isn't," Taylor reassured him softly, taking his hand in her own.

"If the Slytherins regularly attack you," Remus interrupted, "why haven't the teachers or prefects noticed you walking around all beat up? You weren't exactly in the best shape when we found you."

"Oh, tonight was worse," she shuddered, "much, much, much worse. Just remember that you promised not to go to the teachers, or, or anybody." The boys looked nervous, wondering what they had agreed to. "Tonight they were testing out a new 'recruit,' or something like that. Oh, and this was after the Vultures, the girls who became Lily's friends, attacked me for calling Missy a batch of cookies." James and Remus snorted in amusement at her unusual name-calling. They weren't quite sure what to think of her yet. "Anyway, Bellatrix," Sirius started angrily at the name, "told someone something along the lines of, 'This is what you signed up for. It's do or die from this point in, cuz,'" she imitated Bellatrix's harsh, deep drawl, Sirius stiffened, "and then he crucio-ed me. That wasn't so bad, though, I don't think whoever it was's heart was in it. I mean it hurt, definitely. But it wasn't as bad as…" she trailed off, "Anyway, then Bellatrix basically said, 'That'll do, pig, that'll do,' oh, that's from a muggle move, by the way, she didn't actually say that, obviously. And then she crucio-ed me herself." Taylor shuddered at the memory, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, trying to block out the memory of the pain and her fruitless screaming.

"No," said Sirius stubbornly.

"Padfoot," Remus looked at him cautiously.

"NO!" Sirius screamed desperately.

"What? What's wrong?" Taylor asked stuffily, her eyes tearing up.

"Don't talk to me, you…you liar!"

"Sirius," James warned, "she wasn't,"

"You heard what she said about Regulus! She's obviously a spy or evil-person type thing that was put here to lie to us! I don't believe it! NOT REGULUS!"

"Who's Regulus?" Taylor asked. Sirius looked down at her confusedly. "Is he your cousin too?" Sirius's face relaxed marginally. At least he no longer looked like he was about to strangle Taylor or keep spouting on crazily about her actually being a spy. Taylor wasn't the only one who could come up with crazy scenarios, as it turned out.

"You really don't know?" Sirius asked just a little harshly. Taylor shook her head before realizing the pointlessness of that action.

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," she told him extremely seriously.

"My brother. He's my younger brother, and now he's become one of them. Are you sure you didn't hear her wrong?" Taylor's silence answered his question. Sirius looked hopeless and not just a little lost. James and Remus started towards him to comfort him, but Taylor reacted first. She reached up automatically and touched his face gently. A single tear dripped down his cheek before his face grew hard. She withdrew her hand again quickly. "He's one of them now, there's nothing we can do," he told the room, but mostly himself, harshly.

"If it makes you feel better," Taylor told him quietly, "it didn't look like he really wanted to be there." Sirius's face hardened.

"He could've left, couldn't he of. He had a choice. He didn't have to…Merlin's bloody knuckles, he CRUCIO-ED you!" He jumped up again. "I'll get that little snot, that bloody little Slytherin!" Sirius headed towards the door. James and Remus moved to block the door, unfortunately that was unnecessary as Sirius tripped over a pile of unidentifiable objects, knocking loose a sandwich that Taylor almost could've sworn she saw move. "BLOODY EYES!" Sirius yelled angrily. He hit the floor with his fists like an upset child in the midst of a tantrum. Taylor finally tore her gaze away from the, now immobile, sandwich. James and Remus walked over and helped him up.

"Er…" James said awkwardly to Taylor, "I think it's almost time for bed. Uh, do you want be to take you to the Girls' Dorms, or something?"

"Actually," Taylor said, sounding equally awkward…

"Prongs," Sirius reprimanded, sounding mature for what had to be the first time in his life, "she's just told us that the Vultures are out to get her, do you really think she's been sleeping in her dorm?" Sirius crawled over to the bed and took back his old place on it. Remus looked scandalized.

"You mean she's been sleeping in here? But, but…I haven't seen her!"

"Er…" Taylor said.

"No, of course not, don't be a moron!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Then where? This place isn't exactly stuffed full of extra dorms," Remus continued doubtfully.

"ER…actually I've found myself a nice little alcove to live in," she yawned largely, "much better than becoming Rolyat Worb, let me tell you." Her eyes closed heavily and she snuggled under the blankets. Sirius let out a loud barking laugh. Remus eyed them closely.

"And the lacy underwear?" Sirius asked with amusement as he absentmindedly slipped under the blankets and layed his head on the pillow. The bed that Remus had put her down on earlier just happened to be his.

"Still firmly put away," Taylor responded lazily without opening her eyes, "along with my nonexistent dancing skills." Sirius laughed again before closing his eyes too.

Just then, Lily walked in. She took in the scene slowly. James's jaw was still bruised, as was Remus's eye. Then she looked at the bed. Peacefully laying there was Sirius and her arch-nemesis. Even as she took in Brown's battered appearance, anger swelled up in a tidal wave.

"What are YOU doing here?" Lily yelled angrily. Sirius and Taylor looked up sleepily.

"If it isn't the lovely Miss Evans here to be the morality of the boys' dorms. As if she doesn't break the rules every time she comes up here. Not to mention sleeping here every night. I don't know who you think you are, but you need to get over yourself and stop yelling at her!" Sirius told her with a building anger that was impressive even from his spot lying on the bed. He now blamed Lily for unnecessarily separating the two of them. His two best mates looked at Sirius with unconcealed astonishment.

"You…you…you don't know…don't realize what," Lily spluttered, "she deserves everything she gets!" Sirius's look was murderous. Taylor just looked sad and resigned.

"Lily, she's been through more than enough. Especially today, it seems. Whatever she's done to you in the past, and she's just told us her side, believe me, it's time to forgive and forget," James told her sternly but somehow still soothingly, trying to calm down the uncontained bristling anger that was Lily Evans. When she continued to look disbelieving he grabbed her arm and led her from the room.

"She's right, I deserved it," Taylor sounded extremely depressed, "I'll just go back to the dancing pigs now," she said confusingly. Sirius looked amused at her strange comment until she moved to get up.

"No," Sirius told her firmly, pulling her back. She winced slightly in pain.

"Yeah, you probably shouldn't be moved yet," Remus ignored his previous scandal of her sleeping in Sirius's bed. Then he handed her a pair of Sirius's pajamas.

"I'll be fine," Taylor told them stubbornly even while she was changing. No one looked at each other while they all changed into pajamas. For Sirius that was no problem at all, although he still didn't look in either of their direction. But this was another of those times when he desperately wished for his sight back. Both Sirius and Taylor got back in the same bed automatically. Taylor blushed heavily, but Sirius revealed no emotion. Seeing this, Taylor made a move to leave.

"You're staying here, Brown," Sirius told her. Taylor's heart froze at the renewed use of her surname.

"I'm sorry, Sirius," she told him sadly.

"For what?" He was flummoxed.

"Your brother…" Sirius clapped a hand over her mouth.

"I don't want to talk about it," he told her sullenly.

"Mm wnml mmm fll agfls…"

"What did you say," Sirius asked, confused.

Remus watched the exchange with amusement, a smirk curling the corners of his mouth.

"Mm wnml mmm flll agfls…" Sirius removed his hand.

"What was that?"

"Can we be friends again?"

"O' course," Sirius yawned, "but only if you let me get to sleep."

"That goes double for you!" Taylor yawned too. Sirius kissed the top of her head gently without opening his eyes. He muttered something else unintelligibly. Then they both fell asleep on opposite sides of the bed.

Remus watched them. But not in a creepy stalkerish way. More of an 'I can't get a girlfriend myself because I've convinced myself that my furry little problem will cause major problems so I'm going to watch one of my best friends with the girl of his dreams, even though neither of them seem to realize it yet, using all the harmless envy I can muster' sort of way.

As soon as the duo fell asleep they seemed to naturally gravitate towards each other. Sirius's arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer in his sleep. Her hands clutched his shirt as she tucked her face into his chest. His head turned down towards hers.

Remus was quite jealous…and amused.

Author's Note: I hope you're all happy: I gave you a pleasant chapter ending. Plus, this was the longest chapter yet! :D

(Oh, and I think I have another good 20 chapters to go yet, so, there you go.)

As always, feedback would make me happy. Tell me what you think.