Remus and Jill climbed up the creaking stairs in the shrieking shack, Madam Pomfrey behind them. Jill felt wrong. It was a strange feeling, but it made her uneasy. It was as if something bad was going to happen tonight, something terrible.

"You okay?" Remus muttered, glancing at the girl's sweat-soaked hair and worried expression. Jill shook her head slightly. She felt sick, in the way that made her stomach roil, and sick in the way that made her want to run away in fear. But Jill was a Gryffindor. She would stand strong. She would get through this. They reached the top of the stairs; stepped onto the landing.

"I don't feel right." She whispered back. "Something's wrong." She craned her neck, looking up at Remus. For the second time in a long time, she allowed slight fear to show through. She wished she had said something to Lisa and Anna before Jill had gone off to the hospital wing, but she hadn't. This sudden, irrational dread she felt was worrying. "Just in case…" Jill stuck her hand out solemnly. Despite the ridiculousness of it all, Remus did not laugh at the brown haired, brown eyed twelve-year-old in front of him. He shook the hand. Perhaps he too recognized the forbidding atmosphere encircling them like the slivers of dying sunlight peering through the cracks in the ceiling.

Madam Pomfrey watched them, a look of pity on her face. Remus walked over to his room, turning back at the last second to stare at Jill. The scratched floorboards, the tattered furniture – the house was an embodiment of the two of them and the struggles they'd faced. Jill sighed, walking to her own room, Madam Pomfrey following her. It was a strange sight, two people standing on either side of a wall, Jill thought.

In that moment, Jill realised -finally realised- Remus Lupin was her friend. Not just because they both knew what it felt like to wake up with deep gashes and know that you, yourself had done this, but because they enjoyed each other's company. How had she not recognised it? And so was Madam Pomfrey, in a way, even though she was the matron. A stab of fear shot through her, and Jill's Gryffindor facade cracked. She was worried, she was scared, and right now there was no point being noble. Jill looked up at Madam Pomfrey, and all of a sudden, lurched forwards- hugging the bemused matron fiercely. Sadness engulfed Jill, a sense of saying goodbye seemed to come over her. Tears poured down Jill's face. After a bit, Madam Pomfrey patted her on the back.

"Now, now, dear. It's all right. It's all right."

"But it's not all right!" Jill whispered, paranoia once again threatening to engulf her. "It's not all right at all!" She broke away from Madam Pomfrey, sniffling, looking down. Madam Pomfrey patted her on the shoulder in concern. There were glints of unshed tears in the matrons' eyes.

"Goodnight, Jill." She whispered, and with a final look of sadness, shut the door with a click. Then she locked it. Jill dried her eyes and sat down on the floor. The bone-deep ache, the exhaustion and the fear made her want to finish all this, forever. But while Jill might not have been feeling much like a Gryffindor at that moment, she was no Slytherin. She was no coward. She would live though this.

And then it hit her.

Jill wouldn't see the sunrise tomorrow.

Jill wouldn't see her friends again.

Jill wouldn't live through this.

Perhaps she had always known it. Perhaps she'd suspected all along. Jill thought and thought and wished she'd reconciled with Anna and thought some more. And she sat there, on a scratched wooden floor with the last bits of sunlight shining through the cracks in the walls.

"Remus?" Jill asked sometime later.

"Yeah?"

Jill hesitated.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight, too."

Remus opened his eyes. A few slivers of morning sunlight danced on his face, but that was not what had woken him.

Someone had screamed.

He jumped up, ignoring the ripping pain in his side, or the way his arms had a billion new scratches on them. Running to the door, he pounded it.

"Madam Pomfrey?! Is that you?!" He yelled, panicking. He had never heard the matron scream, not once in three years. There was a muffled sobbing. "Madam Pomfrey?!"

He pounded on the door for several minutes before the key finally turned in the lock. The door opened to reveal a red eyes, crying Madam Pomfrey. Remus gaped, speechless.

It was a few seconds before he realised she had turned away from him and was walking away. It was a few seconds more before he realised Jill wasn't there.

"Madam Pomfrey? Where is Jill?" He asked, his heart thumping. Madam Pomfrey faltered. So did Remus. His heart leapt to his throat. "Where's Jill?" he repeated. He looked to the room Jill stayed in- the door was closed, but not locked. He ran towards it, wrenching himself out of the matron's grip. Remus pushed open the door, searching. He found her.

She looked peaceful, almost as though she were asleep. She was curled up, with one arm splayed outwards. Beneath the scatterings of thick fur, he could see the scars, the deep, red lines. Jill's nose was still a snout, though her mouth was almost human. Her eyes were closed, her ears still pointed. The tail was still there, and she was covered in coarse, brown fur. It was matted with blood.

Remus Lupin stumbled back, disbelieving. No. She couldn't be. Nononono. He screamed his friend's name, tears pouring from him. Someone grabbed him around the waist, dragging him away. No! Jill couldn't be- she was only unconscious- she would wake up! She would wake up!
Madam Pomfrey nearly collapsed as Remus Lupin fainted.

Remus sat at the end of a hospital bed. James, Sirius and Peter sat next to him. At first, no one spoke.

"It's not your fault." James said.

"I could've listened to her-"

"She didn't know anything."

"I could've told her the truth-"

"And what would that have changed?"

The four sat in silence for a while longer. Remus tried not to look at the bed to his left.

"Her parents are picking up the body today. Sometime this hour." He said numbly.

No one replied.

Remus felt tired. Not the kind of tiredness that accompanied the full moon, but an emotional tiredness. It was draining.

"What are they going to tell the students?" Peter asked quietly.

"I- don't know."

"They wouldn't tell the truth. It'd be cruel to Jill's memory. If people realised they'd been classmates with a werewolf… They wouldn't say she's dead, either. Questions would be asked. The school might be shut down."

Silence.

"I think she knew." Remus said quietly. "Jill was worried all evening. Kept looking back at Madam Pomfrey and me. She knew she was getting weaker, knew it was only a matter of time. I think she knew… I think she knew she was probably going to- probably going to-"

Remus trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Everyone looked at their knees, unsure of what to say.

Guilt wrapped its arm around Remus.

The Hospital Wing doors opened. Madam Pomfrey poked her head inside.

"It's been ten minutes." She whispered softly. James, Sirius and Peter got up, each patting their friend on the shoulder solemnly.

Remus watched them leave, the doors shutting behind them. He was alone. The only friend he had in the world who knew exactly how he felt, who'd suffered the same things as he had, was now dead. After a while, he stood up on his rickety hospital-wing bed and peered through the tiny window in the wall. Two figures -Jill Thompson's parents- were making their way up to the castle, walking slowly.

"Goodbye, Jill." Said Remus sadly. "Goodbye."

A/N: No, this story was never supposed to have a happy ending. Never. I'm sorry, and I was sad writing this too, but I never envisioned a happy ending.

I might write an epilogue, and I will write an authors note explaining everything, and i might add stuff here and there later.

But I never meant this story to be happy.

Please review, and more importantly, think on this little fic. Just think about it. For a while.