Sorry for the long wait, guys! School and softball and my social life has taken over, but I promise, I WILL NOT GIVE UP AND ABANDON THIS STORY. I have the first few chapters of the next and final story already written so when I end this story, I won't just stop writing. Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

THE TRUTH.

I ran outside and Mr. Weasley grabbed my arm as Lupin caught up to me. Bellatrix Lestrange grinned at me and, followed by two other Death Eaters, ran back into the large cornfield. Someone pushed me from behind and Harry ran towards them, through the fire.

"Harry!" I screamed and I ripped my arm out of Mr. Weasley's grip and ran after my brother. With Lupin shouting my name behind me, I ran up to the fire, but instead of letting me go through it, it attacked in the form of a snake and burnt my left cheek. I cried out in pain, waved my wand and made a path, running through it. Lupin ran after me a few seconds after. With my blood boiling with hatred, I listened carefully for Bellatrix's laugh. "HARRY!"

With my left cheek throbbing painfully, I gripped my wand tighter and stopped in the middle of the field, looking around. I heard Lupin still calling my name behind me and I began to sprint again. I heard footsteps to my right and I gasped, pointing my wand at that area, but I found that it was just Harry.

"Harry," I breathed and I ran over to him.

" I heard footsteps to my right and I gasped, pointing my wand at that area, but I found that it was just Harry.

"Harry," I breathed and I ran over to him. I grabbed his arm, but as Bellatrix began to sing, Harry ran off towards her. I followed him closely, ignoring the cries of protests from Lupin and Ginny, now calling Harry's name as well. We ran up to Bellatrix, grinning at us, her crooked teeth showing.

"DARCY!"

Lupin had come running up to us and Bellatrix threw her head back and laughed. Her eyes widened. "Is that the werewolf?" she sneered. "Do you love him? Filthy half-breed!" She spat at Lupin, but he didn't flinch.

She turned around, about to Disapparate, but I pointed my wand at her. "Stupefy!" I screamed. Ginny had caught up with us. Bellatrix fell to the ground and breathed heavily, looking up at him. I stepped forward, keeping my wand pointed at her. Her eyes moved over my face to the right of me and I turned to see two other Death Eaters getting closer. A masked one and another that I recognized – Fenir Greyback. I had seen his face on the wanted posters too much to not recognize him. Lupin, Ginny, and Harry moved closer to me, their wands pointed at the Death Eaters. My cheeks were red and hot with embarrassment, but Lupin seemed to have already forgotten about Bellatrix's outburst.

Bellatrix jumped to her feet, disappearing before my eyes and I gasped, looking around. The other Death Eaters had gone as well. I looked slowly back to the spot where Bellatrix had been seconds before and she was there again. With a quick flick of her wrist, white light shot from her wand and hit the side of my face, right on my left cheekbone. I cried out and dropped to my knees, holding my face, but before I could retaliate, she was gone, this time for good.

Harry helped me to my feet and I heard a loud popping noise. Ginny was staring at the dark smoke billowing from the ring of fire around the Burrow. She breathed in and ran quickly to her house, Harry following her. My heart thumped wildly in my chest as Lupin inspected my cheek and breathed unevenly. My feet were wet from running in the water and I could see my breath each time I breathed out.

Blood oozed from the deep slice in my cheek and Lupin tried cleaning it with a spell, but it wouldn't stop bleeding, so with his violently shaking hands, he ripped a piece of his shirt and held it against my cheek. He stuck his wand back in the waistband of his pants and held the other side of my face.

"Why did you do that?" he asked, shaking my head slightly. "Why would you go after them? You could have been killed!"

"She killed Sirius, Remus!" I replied, tears building in my eyes. I was so scared at that moment, I couldn't think straight. He wrapped an arm around me, one hand still holding the shirt fabric to my cheek and he kissed the top of my head. "She killed him! You really don't expect me to run away from that, do you?"

"That's exactly what I expected you to do!" he shouted. "I don't need you getting hurt – or even worse! Killed! What if Greyback had bitten you?"

There was another crash – Lupin and I both looked towards the Burrow to see that it was ignited in flames. Lupin sighed and my heart sank. We looked at each other and he lifted me in his arms, instructing me to keep pressure on my cheek. He ran as fast as he could towards the Burrow and I kept my arm wrapped around his neck. I was crying; my tears fell onto his shirt and I closed my eyes. We were near the Burrow. I could feel the hot flames on my skin and I kept whispering to him, "Don't put me down… please don't let me go…"

He didn't.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

We all returned to Hogwarts while the Ministry worked on the Burrow, fixing the house up. My wound wouldn't stop bleeding, so Lupin had some help from Madam Pomfrey to enchant a bandage to keep it from bleeding. As long as I wore the bandage, I wouldn't bleed, but the wound wouldn't heal. She suggested seeing Slughorn for an antidote, for she was running low on potions and ingredients, but Lupin, without me even having to say anything, brought me straight to Snape.

He explained what had happened and removed the bandage. Almost immediately, the wound began gushing blood and I yelped, seeing the dark red blood spill onto the floor. Lupin pressed the bandage to my face and shrugged. Snape told me firmly to sit on his desk and he began to work.

Twenty minutes later, Snape had brought out a potion and Lupin had excused himself to talk to Lupin. My heart got considerably lighter at the thought that Lupin was beginning to trust me with Snape by myself. Then that got me thinking – I hadn't apologized to Tonks.

Snape brought me back to reality. The slice on my cheek burned as he held a sopping wet rag to it, and with his other hand, he stirred a potion still brewing in his old cauldron. The pressure on my cheek increased as he pressed harder, not realizing it, and I gasped.

"Ouch!" I said loudly, jumping away from him. "That's hurt!"

Snape said nothing, but beckoned me closer again and I moved my face to his hand again. He held the rag to my burn. "Why is it that you're always hurt?" he asked me and I shrugged, looking away. "I've never had to heal so many injuries before on a single person."

I bit the inside of my cheek – the one that was burnt. Snape must have felt it, because he snapped, "Stop." I looked up and stopped biting my cheek.

I sighed as Snape pulled his rag away and I touched my cheek. Miraculously, he had slowed the bleeding. He put the rag down and pulled out a ladle, scooping some of the potion from his cauldron into a goblet. He handed it to me and I raised an eyebrow. "What is that?" I demanded.

"For your anxiety," he replied. "It'll calm your nerves after what happened the other day."

"Oh." I took the goblet from him and drank it quickly. It tasted like dirt and I closed my eyes tight and swallowed it all. "That's disgusting!"

Snape pressed the rag to my face again and with his wand in the air, he began murmuring incantations.

"Do you think Remus really loves me?" I whispered.

"Are you really asking me this?" Snape shot back coldly.

"I mean, I can't really tell with him. Sometimes it's like he loves me more than anything, and other times I just can't figure him out. Well, these past few days, he's been great to me, but we fight so much… And this is weird. You. You're always helping me instead of Remus and I'm gonna go ahead and take a wild guess here – pretty sure you don't love me."

Snape's black eyes met my green ones. "Pretty good guess." He paused, still dabbing at my cheek. "Do you want to know what I think?" His voice was quiet and I narrowed my eyes.

"Yeah. Yeah, I do, actually."

"Great, because I've been meaning to tell you for some time, now." Still fixing my cheek, he spoke. "I think you're an arrogant child. Someone who obviously doesn't know their limits. Who constantly puts their toe over the line because they think the rules don't apply to them because they're a Potter."

I stared at him, but he still didn't look at me.

"Don't you realize that you aren't just putting yourself in danger when you go after Death Eaters like Bellatrix? Don't you see what happens to you? You're putting everyone else around you in danger," he hissed. "You think that every single time you get hurt or you're in danger, someone will be there to rescue you and be able to fix up all those battle scars you get. Not everyone is like you. The danger you put yourself into is life threatening – it's worse than you realize and most people, like Lupin, are terrified. One day, he'll stop chasing you because he isn't going to put his life on the line to rescue you from near death experiences. He, like many others, isn't as brave as you."

"I – I –" Snape had insulted me. I hadn't expected him to go so far and so low.

"You're being just like your father – selfish, who thought of no one but himself. You need to learn when to stop. You keep getting hurt like this and one day, you'll end up dead and then who will be there to help you? Hasn't your brother or your blessed boyfriend taught you that –"

"Stop!" I cried, standing up to my full height of 5'6. Compared to his height, it was nothing, but I felt stronger when I was tall and standing up to him. He raised his eyebrows, an amused smirk playing on his face. "Stop it! You know that isn't true! I'm not selfish or arrogant and neither was my father! You are just blaming him and Remus because for once, you've got no one but yourself to blame! You're too proud to blame yourself for not being able to save me from danger for once!"

Snape's eyes widened as I continued, now just rambling.

"I am not selfish! I care about Harry and Remus and Ron and Hermione more than life itself! And you know what?" I jabbed a finger into his chest. "I even care about you! I know that that might come as a shock to you because no one else has positive feelings towards you, but now I'm starting to feel differently! You're cruel, mean, judgmental, and you have no reason to think those things about me or Remus! So just stop it! I don't know why you insist on taking care of me like it's your job, but I am not a child! I can fend for myself!"

"Are you sure about that?" Snape sneered, getting closer to my face, but I didn't back down. "You got hurt and since Madam Pomfrey couldn't help you, you came to me. And here I am, brewing potions for you when it isn't even my job anymore. And when Draco almost melted your arm off? Your brother brought you to me, not to the hospital wing like he should have! Don't forget in your last year when your bloody boyfriend attacked you. Don't forget who was there to save the day then!

"And it's not just the physical stuff that I deal with. No, no. How many times have you sat in my office and rambled to me and complained to me about how horrible your life is? How much you hated your life? Who was the one to make sure Umbridge didn't ban you from Hogwarts? How many times has Lupin been there to listen to you, hm? Has anyone else ever sat down with you and actually listened to your miserable life and all your problems?"

"You're only doing this on Dumbledore's orders – protecting me…" I stammered.

Snape's voice was like ice. "You think I'm Dumbledore's pet?" he snarled. "You think I can't function and think and act for myself? You think I haven't got a heart? You honestly believe that I'm that evil?"

I pursed my lips.

"I don't take care of you and save you and fix you up because Dumbledore tells me to. I don't even do it because I want it to be my job; I do it all because you make it my job."

I breathed in deeply and snapped, "Well, you don't have to protect me anymore. I'm not a child."

And then, Snape got even closer to my face and spoke in the coldest and meanest tone I had ever heard in my life. "Then stop acting like one." He wiped my face with the rag once more, showed me that there was no more blood, and he turned. Snape threw the rag to the side of the room and strode to the other side of his desk, slamming a book down and adding, without looking up at my surprised face, "That was a problem your father had. He could never seem to be able to grow up, either."

I ran out of Snape's office and slammed the wooden door shut, leaning against it. I was hurt and offended. I felt like Snape had bottled up all of that for years and just now he was admitting it all. I had no idea what I did to make him so angry, but it made me angry.

I stormed back to my quarters; Lupin still wasn't back. I collapsed on our bed and closed my eyes, wrapping myself up in the blankets. Was Snape really right about me? Was I nothing more than a troublemaker? Was I really arrogant and selfish? Just like my father? Was I really diving headfirst into danger that could get me killed?

Of course I was. Death Eaters wanted me and Harry, but there were plenty of opportunities where I could have died and I didn't. Why wasn't I already dead? I deserved to be dead. No, I thought. I couldn't think that way. I was happy. Snape couldn't ruin how happy I was. Having Lupin love me caused me to be the happiest I had been in months – possibly years.

But Snape was right. Whenever I was in trouble, he was usually the one to help me. He looked over me and I didn't want to think that he protected me because he cared. I wished it was Lupin who took care of me like Snape did. I wish Lupin was the one brewing potions and wiping my face.

I didn't want Lupin to be put in danger at all, life threatening or not. When I thought about all that I had put him through, I started to cry.