Eleanor swung her legs over the side of the hospital bed. Madam Pomfrey came to her side, touching her arm. "This hurt?" She asked, raising a brow. "Only a slight sting." Eleanor smiled. "I really think I'm fine to go...I'll leave it in the sling." Madam Pomfrey gave a sympathetic smile. The girl had been there three days already and was no doubt growing restless. She smiled and nodded once. "Alright...but come back to see me in two days. You should be well enough to use it by then." Eleanor grinned, sliding to her feet. She grabbed her robe and placed it about her shoulders before setting off for the door. In the hall, Remus had been waiting, leaning against the opposite wall, hands in his pockets. He looked completely worn out. His eyes were tired and his skin clammy and pale. Across his face were three long scratches, deep but no longer bleeding. Eleanor stopped and stared at him. She didn't know whether to be angry, afraid, or sympathetic. He'd lied to her and tried to kill her, but she couldn't help but remember loving him. Remus's eyes looked to the stone floor as he toed at the ground nervously. "I...just wanted to make sure that you were okay." He looked up at her, maybe hoping for an answer. Maybe hoping for her to hug him and tell him everything was fine. But all she did was nod and turn on her heel, heading for the Gryffindor common room. His heart sank. Remus took a long stroll about the grounds before heading back to the Gryffindor common room. As he scrambled through the portrait hole late that night James, Sirius, Peter, Ally, and Lilly looked up at him. They had been lounging in the overstuffed armchairs by the fire waiting for him to get back. Lilly got up and walked over to him with a smile. "It's good to have you back." She took him in her arms. He gave her a rather unenthusiastic pat on the back. when she pulled away, she bit her lip as if she had something to say. But she only turned and walked back to the group, pulling him by the hand. "No." Lilly let go of his hand and turned to him as he stopped walking. He gave a kindly sort of half smile. "I think I'm just going to go up to bed." "Oh, Remus-" "Really, I'm tired." He smiled again, waved at everyone else sitting behind her, and then set out for the boys' dorm. Once he was out of sight, James sighed. "You guys really screwed things up." He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "How were we supposed to know he was there?" Lilly asked, shooting him a threatening glance. "How were we supposed to know he was a werewolf?" Ally added. "You couldn't figure it out?" Sirius asked, raising a brow. "We did. It was obvious. He'd leave once a month for a few days. Always getting sick the week of the full moon. Come back with scratches all over him-" "With no people around to get at, the poor guy got at himself." James looked distressed and angry. He probably was just angry that this had to happen to such a good guy. "And with Eleanor now ignoring him-" Sirius began. "She's scared to death!" Lilly shouted. She looked around to see if anyone was listening. They were alone. She lowered her voice anyway. "How would you feel in her place? They've been together for almost three years and he never told her, James! She finds out too late just when he's about to kill her!" Sirius glared at her. "Well, he didn't tell us either! He's afraid. All of his life he never had any friends and he doesn't want to lose these ones! The guy's been through more than you can imagine!" He pushed himself out of his chair and headed toward the stairs. "Sirius..." Ally piped up. He turned to look at her. "Tell him that he should talk to her. We'll get her to come down to breakfast tomorrow..." Sirius seemed to be considering it. He didn't say anything as he turned and walked up the stairs. "We should all get to bed." James added. In agreement, they all stood up and headed to their dorms. Eleanor awoke that morning with a start. A cold sweat formed on her brow and she breathed heavily. Sitting up and ripping open her curtains, she saw that it was still dark. Quiet snores came from the other girls. She sighed, closed the curtains and laid down again. What had she even been dreaming about? She was screaming, running toward an open door. She was trying to close it but as soon as she reached it, a werewolf jumped out, tackling her to the floor. Eleanor opened her eyes quickly as Ally and Lily sat down on either side of her. She sat up, confused. She didn't even remember falling back to sleep. "You're gonna miss breakfast, Sleepyhead." Lilly smiled. "So get up." Ally added. Eleanor yawned, stretching for a moment. "I want to sleep..." "Oh, no, you don't!" Ally warned with a laughed. "We thought you might say that...so we came prepared." Ally and Lilly both held up glasses of water. Eleanor quickly sat up and climbed out of her bed and turned back to them. "There, happy?" She turned and left the room to get washed up. An hour later and they made their way through the portrait hole, down the seven flights of stairs, and into the Entrance Hall. To their right were the doors to the Great Hall. Lilly led the way past the Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw tables to the Gryffindor table at the far wall and took a seat next to James. Eleanor paused when she saw Remus, her smile slowly fading. Ally pulled her down into a seat, giving her a pleading look. Remus didn't look at them, but instead at the food on his plate, which he didn't touch. "Good morning, ladies." Sirius forced a smile. "Morning." Said Ally, kissing him on the cheek. After a long silence, Ally elbowed Eleanor in the arm. "Morning." She said quietly, pretending to be preoccupied with her nails. It was quiet once again as everyone took to eating their breakfast slowly. Eleanor couldn't bring herself to touch the food. She felt like she was going to cry. Standing up, she opened a napkin and grabbed some bacon, eggs, sausage, and a roll. "I'm going for a walk." She said, turning and leaving the Great Hall. James elbowed Remus lightly. "Go." Remus looked at him. He couldn't even force a smile. "Why?" "Look...don't go weak on us now. Tell her everything we told you to. Everything you said last night." Sirius demanded, shaking his fork at him. Remus rolled his eyes. "She won't listen...she's got every right to hate me." "No, she doesn't!" Lilly pounded her hand on the table. Everyone stared at her. "You know...you have feelings too. You are human. Well, at least part. But still, that counts! She can't hate you forever and as soon as you at least let her know how you feel about all of this then she'll have time to think about it. Maybe she'll apologize and we'll all be happy again!" Just to make her shut up, Remus pounded his hands on the table and pushed himself to his feet. He turned and walked out of the Great Hall and up the stairs. She wasn't in the common room. He didn't know where to look. Running up to the boys' dorm, he pulled the Marauder's Map from the trunk at the foot of his bed. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He tapped the map lightly with his wand and almost instantly writing appeared in the spot he'd hit and travelled outward like a ripple in water. He opened it up, searching the school. "No...No...Not there." He mumbled, pouring over every inch of the map. "Ah ha." He closed the map, tapping it again. "Mischeif managed." Standing from his bed, he shoved the map into his pocket amd started off toward the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. Reaching the door, he quietly turned the knob and pushed it open, peeking his head inside. Eleanor sat on a desk, the napkin open in her lap, munching on a piece of sausage. She was ripping apart a strip of bacon and throwing into the tank of water next to her for the grindylow to eat. It kept pressing its face against the glass, it's pointy teeth bared, everytime she ate a piece herself. He stepped inside and closed the door quietly behind him. Eleanor looked up and frowned. "You followed me?" He looked up at her as he slowly walked over. "I need to talk to you." "We don't need to talk." She looked down again, ripping a piece of bacon up and tossing it into the tank. "You really shouldn't be feeding that to him." He took to watching the grindylow swim around frantically to grab the pieces. "Oh well. One less grindylow if it kills him. At least he'll die happy." "Look..." He began. But he didn't know how to finish. "I-" "Why did you lie to me?" She asked, looking at him now. "About the Shrieking Shack. Never telling me you were a monster in the first place." "I'm not a monster." He frowned. "And you know it. Just last week you told me you loved me." She laughed, wiping at her eyes like they itched. He knew she was about to cry. "Yeah, I did. Before I realized what exactly I'd be dealing with when I married you." She slid off of the desk and walked toward him, examining the cuts on his face. "You should let Pomfrey have a look at those." "You wouldn't be dealing with anything you haven't dealt with already if we got married, Nell. Only this time you'd know where I disappeared to once a month and I don't have to make anymore stupid excuses." She went to touch the cut and he gently pushed her hand away. Being this close to her was driving him nuts. He wanted the old Eleanor back. The one who would jump into his arms and kiss him and hold him. But she just crossed her arms. "You know...while I was in hospital." She looked down. "I couldn't sleep. Everytime I closed my eyes I saw you. Snarling and running at me. Those teeth...claws." "That wasn't me." He spat. She ignored him. "Then I had this nightmare. I was running for the basement door before our child could reach it to go downstairs because I had to lock you down there on full moons. But he got there first and pulled open the door to look for you. And I had to watch as you ripped him limb from limb." She broke down into tears and turned away from him. He didn't dare go to touch her. "Eleanor...I would never do that." "Oh, you wouldn't? If it wouldn't have been for that dog...you would've done it to me!" She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "Look, I'm sorry. I just..." "No, you're right." He looked down, taking a step away from her. "It's not fair that I didn't warn you. I'm dangerous. Eleanor, if I could change it for you, I would. When I came here I was so afraid to tell anyone because...well, this is exactly why. People are so prejudiced against my kind that it's impossible for us to even have a life." She wiped at her eyes again and bit hard into her lip to keep from crying again. "I love you." He continued. "I tried to keep you away from the Shack and away from me and keep you safe but-" "I didn't listen." She interrupted him. "And I'm sorry." He nodded slowly, just looking at her. His hands were now shoved in his pokets like they always were when he was nervous. When she didn't speak for a while, he cleared his throat. "I'm sorry too...for not telling you. But... I was afraid you'd do this." She smiled and nodded. Man, at that moment he wished crying were illegal. Especially when he wasn't able to do anything about it. "So, what now?" He asked. Probably a stupid question, but he needed to know. She shook her head. "I don't think I can do this. I'm sorry." She avoided his eyes at all costs. She watched the grindylow, stared at the floor, anything. He only nodded. "No, it's okay. Really." She turned on her heel and left the classroom before she completely broke down. Storming up the stairs, she locked herseld in the girls' dorm for the remainder of the day.