A/N: OMG, this was so much faster than the last one. Hope you guys like it, and be sure to check out our tumblr!

-J

"Maybe you're just jaded from some nobody's unforgotten words. Maybe you're just faded, a little gray from every time that you've been hurt, so you're lookin' for your skin that you never did fit in. You can't hide when you're turned inside out. Love is looking for you now… Maybe you've been thirsty but the rain just ain't enough when you're this dry, so you're runnin' from the water and the fire's getting' hotter. I think you'd better find some level ground…"

-Miranda Lambert, Love is Looking For You

Ethan Young slept in the hospital wing that night after Madam Pomfrey healed his broken jaw, bloody nose, fourteen bruises (not counting the black eye), three broken ribs, concussion, and internal bleeding.

He deserved it.

Seeing Cherry that broken, that lost, was a shock indeed. Even though nobody had seen her sober since I found her with Sirius, nobody could ever recall seeing her like this. My heart swelled when I saw Sirius cradling her, though. He had gone from viciously angry to tenderly protective from just a single word from her lips and I hadn't had to do a thing.

But it was the circumstances that brought the entire Hogwarts student body to be addressed by the headmaster at breakfast. Most students had heard garbled versions of the previous night's events by the time we had gathered, so that one version had me killing Robin to get back at Cherry for sleeping with Sirius, and then trying to get Lily to hide the body in the Gryffindor common room for Cherry to find whilst Sirius put Ethan Young in a coma for raping James, who had been traumatized by my actions and was running to warn Cherry not to come to Gryffindor Tower.

At least, that's what the first years were circulating, so you can imagine what the students my age were spewing. Ella and Emily didn't even say a word to me, just stared at me for a moment and turned to gossip behind their hands, as if I couldn't guess what they were saying. Ashley and a frightened-looking Grace sat down with me moments later, and Ashley glared viciously at the pair of Camilla-followers down the table.

"Don't mind them," Ashley hissed. "You obviously didn't kill anybody. You know, her parents are coming in this afternoon, I heard… you know, for the body–"

"Gossiping about legitimate things only makes you marginally better than those two, Ashley," I said acidly. "Why don't you wait and see what happens for yourself?"

Ashley's mouth clammed shut in surprise. Timidly, Grace decided it was obviously worth asking her plaguing question.

"I just have to know," she whispered, "is Ethan Young really in a coma?"

"No, of course not," I sighed. "He's fine. Madam Pomfrey only kept him because he'd had internal bleeding and didn't want to risk it. She does the same with all internal injuries that aren't broken bones."

Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat and the Hall fell eerily silent. Hundreds of faces turned to look expectantly up at him, hardly daring to breathe. He seemed to me more tired than he had been… he somehow seemed so much older. Perhaps it was death putting life into prospective or some such philosophical crap.

Still, his face was dark and solemn. There was not a student who was not instantly impressed with the notion that this was in no way a matter to be taken lightly or laughed about.

"As you are all now aware," Dumbledore said clearly, "a tragedy occurred within these very halls last night. Before I get to that, however, it has been requested that I clear up a few details. Firstly, Mr. Ethan Young is neither dead nor in a coma. He is, Madam Pomfrey tells me, absolutely healthy. Also healthy, and furthermore unharmed, is Mr. James Potter. Neither Mr. Sirius Black nor Miss Alison Marren are about to be taken away to Azkaban. In fact, I find it necessary to stress that no murder occurred here last night of any kind.

"However, as many of you have now heard, Miss Robin Thorsen of Ravenclaw House was discovered dead in the night. Madam Pomfrey has declared her cause of death as a drug overdose, and I am only telling you all of this because there is such a prevalent rumor already circulating that she was killed by another student. Her death appears to be purely accidental, but no less tragic for that fact."

I looked over at the Gryffindor table where Cherry was staring blankly at the empty plate in front of her, shivering. She looked so small, so lost. Sirius was watching her too, and I was sure that all he wanted was to hold her. I wasn't sure why he wasn't, but we'd have a talk about that later.

"Miss Thorsen was a natural at Charms," Professor Dumbledore continued, "and Professor Flitwick said that even when she was misbehaving, it was hard not to be proud that such a talented mind had been a part of his House. She was a creative person and a loyal friend. I ask that we have a moment of silence in her memory."

That wasn't a tall order, as the Hall was already silent but for Dumbledore's voice. That moment was long and tense, and it occurred to me that Robin Thorsen was only the first.

Outside those walls, a war was going on. People had already lost parents, siblings, friends. Robin's death hadn't been war-related, but I began to wonder how many of ours would be. Lily and Marlene would fight. Ashley probably would. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter by extension. Grace and Mary likely wouldn't fight. Would Cherry? Would I?

Professor Dumbledore dismissed us to our days and I buttered my toast with a shaky hand. Remus came over to sit with me and Grace muttered that she forgot one of her books, getting up and leaving. Ashley sighed.

"You're lucky, you know," she said to me. "When you two got together, she nearly joined forces with Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. Anyway… just be careful. I know Emily has been feeding a lot of the rumors about Thorsen's death to younger students. At best, they'll be frightened, but some of the Ravenclaw third years have already expressed interest in vigilante justice. Probably Camilla West's doing."

I nodded as Remus slipped his arm around my waist.

"Sirius is really worried about Cherry," Remus said softly. "She's absolutely in shock. Something tells me that Young's assault wasn't helpful."

"What did happen?" Ashley pressed. I opened my mouth to tell her off for gossiping again, but she hastily continued, "Ali, I know you're trying to protect her, but the truth being told can't do any harm at this point, and it might even good a bit of good."

I sighed. She was right, of course. Ashley would work to combat the rumors with the truth if only for my sake, and she was someone people listened to and trusted.

"Lily and James found Cherry finding her friend while they were on patrol. They took her to the hospital wing for her shock. Madam Pomfrey went to deal with the body and James, surprisingly, came to tell Sirius and me what happened. We ran to the hospital wing and met Madam Pomfrey at the door. Sirius forced his way in and the next thing I remember was the sound of fighting. Sirius said that Ethan was on top of her, ripping her clothes off her, but that she was still catatonic with shock."

Ashley snorted.

"Obviously," she said. "Even Cherry Clark has standards."

We all chuckled humorlessly and I said, "Yeah, but after Madam Pomfrey tried to get Sirius to stop trying to kill Ethan by yelling at him for a while, Cherry said Sirius's name and he dropped the fight and just held her."

"That's so sweet," Ashley cooed.

Leave it to Ashley to find the 'sweet' in attempted rape and assault.

"Anyway, that's what happened," I sighed. "Cherry's still essentially catatonic from what Lily and I have observed, Sirius didn't get detention because Dumbledore said he was, and I quote, 'chivalrously defending a fellow student', Ethan's got detention for the rest of the year, and from what I hear the only reason he wasn't expelled is that his mommy through a hissy fit and his step-dad paid off a bunch of people to put pressure on Dumbledore because he wanted to appease his wife. Same old story."

"You know," Ashley whispered, leaning in, "between the attack on Mary and Cherry's near-rape, that's a growing number of students proven to be dangerous still wandering the halls. And we all know Camilla West is a few quick hops off insane. We really need to stick together, now."

She was right, of course, and the thought was on my mind all day. All through class, I thought about Grace and Mary, the two most obvious easy targets in our year, and realized they weren't much weaker than me. Who's to say I wouldn't be next?

It made me reevaluate everything.

Remus and I sat by the fire in the empty Gryffindor common room during the last period of the day, which we both had off. His face was cuddled into my neck and I couldn't help but think about how right everything felt with him, how natural. Sirius and I had never set strict rules on anything physical, just that things would happen when I felt 'ready'. But I think somewhere in the back of our minds, we both of our minds, we knew I wouldn't feel ready with Sirius ever.

Everything was different with Remus. It wasn't that I was spending every night in his bed, or anything, but I found myself almost wanting him, wishing his hands would wander just a little bit, just to see if it felt as good as I thought it would.

But Remus had always been too much of a gentleman for his own good. At least, I was pretty sure that was why Remus had been almost frustratingly gentlemanly.

"Remus," I whispered, turning to face him. He unburied his face from my neck and pressed his forehead to mine. "You don't have to gentle with me anymore. I'm stronger than I used to be. I won't break."

He frowned a little.

"What do you mean?"

I took his hand and he moved to wrap his fingers around mine, but I surprised him by placing his hand on my breast. His eyes widened a little, and when I let go to grab his other hand, he made to release it, but I hastily pressed it back in place before putting his other hand on my other breast.

"Ali," he said huskily, clearing his throat, obviously nervous, "I don't think–"

"Am I not pretty enough?" I whispered, trying to keep the tears from welling up, thinking my worst fears were true: I wasn't good enough even for Remus, who had seemed to be so perfect.

"No," he said firmly. "Ali, love, you're gorgeous. You're absolutely perfect. It's me, Ali." He looked so pained as he whispered, "I'm a monster."

I frowned. What did that mean? Remus was the sweetest, gentlest, most caring person I had ever met. How could he be a monster? What had he done that I didn't know about?

"Just… just tell me," I managed to say finally. "It can't be as bad as all that."

I hope.

His golden eyes were rimmed with tears. I nearly shook with terror. What had he done?

He finally kissed my hands, and without looking me in the eye, he whimpered, "I want you to know that I love, Ali, and I think I've loved you since I met you and it took me a while to realize it. But you mean the world to me. You have to know that." I braced myself for the worst as he took a deep breath and continued, "I'm a werewolf."

Oh my – wait, what? Not cheating. He wasn't cheating on me. He… what?

"You haven't cheated on me?" I asked dumbly.

His eyes snapped up to meet mine and he said, "Never. I love you, Ali. You're perfect. I – I adore you."

Werewolf.

Now that the relief of not being cheated on had worn off a bit, I realized what he had actually meant by 'monster'.

Werewolf.

"H-how long have… when – when were you bitten?"

I had to wrap my brain around it. I had to process it. He hadn't cheated on me. He wasn't a criminal. He hadn't become a Death Eater. He said he loved me. I had to wrap my brain around it; I had to stomach it, because this was something forgivable, something I could work past.

"I was a small child," he said, his voice shaking. "I was about five. I don't really remember life before lycanthropy."

"That must have been horrible," I whispered, thinking back to all of the things I'd read about werewolf attacks for my advanced magical creatures essays: most small children didn't survive. "It explains your scars and such. What do you do on the full moon, then?"

He explained all about the truth of the Shrieking Shack and the Whomping Willow, how they had been put in for the purpose of making it possible for him to attend Hogwarts. I asked him to tell me about his transformations and he explained the excruciating, terrifying process and I couldn't help but hug him tightly and sob into his chest.

All of my problems looked like specks of insignificant dust by comparison, and it just wasn't fair. He was the best person I had ever known. He didn't deserve this.

"I would understand," he said slowly, "if you didn't… if you didn't want to be with me anymore…"

"No," I gasped. "Remus, I love you. The fact that you're a werewolf, that's a part of you, just another characteristic, like your sweet smile. It doesn't change anything between us."

"It should," he muttered.

"But it doesn't," I insisted, kissing him firmly.

At first, he tried to pull away, to not kiss me back, but I refused to let him, and it didn't take him long to surrender to the kiss.

It neared dinner time, and I realized what I had to do.

"I'll meet you at dinner," I whispered, kissing his cheek. "I just remembered something I've got to do."

He gave me a curious look, but I shook my head and rushed up to the seventh year girls' dormitory. I walked over to the nearly unused bed in the furthest part from Lily's, pulled out a quill, ink, and parchment from my bag, and began to hastily scribble a note:

Cherry,

I'm truly sorry for the loss of your friend. I would have told you to your face, but I wasn't sure how you'd take to that, considering everything that's gone on between us.

But I wanted you to know, I've known Sirius a long time, and I've never seen him as scared as when James explained that you were catatonic in the hospital wing. I don't know how you feel about him, but it's obvious to me that he cares about you a great deal, and a great deal more than he ever could have cared about me. I hope the pair of you can work something out.

As things stand at the moment, I miss the old Cherry a bit. Okay, a lot. You see, I've found myself in a situation where I need to discuss a sensitive topic, and not only are you the only person who could understand, but you're the only one I want to talk to.

I'm not sure the kinds of things that slime ball told you before Sirius rearranged his face, but none of them are true, and I can guess. You didn't have it coming. None of what happened yesterday was your fault. You are a beautiful, confident, vibrant person, and I have to confess that you're everything I wanted to be but was too afraid to emulate.

I'll never be you, Cherry, and losing Sirius was a painful reminder of that truth. But you're needed, and not just by me. Sirius needs you more than you could imagine.

I suppose I'm probably the last person on earth you want to talk to now (maybe behind Lily, Professor McGonagall, and, hopefully, Young), but I'd like to talk to you, when you feel up to it. Just know that if there's anything I can do for you, let me know.

Please get better.

-Ali

I folded up the parchment and placed it conspicuously on the bed, hoping she would find it and read it, not just toss it without opening it.

At dinner, I sat with Remus and watched Cherry, who was down the table a ways, staring at the long chicken leg on her plate blankly. Had she already lost weight?

She looked up at me for just a moment, and when our eyes met, I was struck by the emptiness I saw there. And what's more, her face was blank, her blonde hair fell limply around her features, and even her shoulders suggested some sort of defeat. I felt at a loss, and she turned away again before I could decide what sort of an expression might be a comfort to her, what she was looking for.

Sirius sat down across from us and sighed heavily.

"Apparently, Professor Dumbledore decided that Young was safer not serving detention with James all term, so there goes all my hard work and planning. I was going to drive him slowly out of his mind. I need a Plan B."

"I think he's probably already out of his mind," I said softly. I had a sudden, unrelated thought. "Can I borrow your lunar calendar, either of you?"

"I don't have one," Sirius said grimly. "I've got the cycles memorized."

He looked questioningly at Remus.

"She knows about the furry little problem," Remus said.

"Ah," Sirius muttered, piling chicken onto his plate. "I'll discuss with the boys, then. I think she ought to know the whole of it, but James will be hesitant."

"Not if we let him tell Lily," Remus reasoned. "He's been begging to show her."

"Good point," Sirius said with a small smirk. "To answer your question, Ali," he continued as he reached for the gravy, "the full moon's fifteen days away."

I caught him looking at Cherry and wanted to ask him about her, but decided better of it. Everything was still so fresh, and Sirius was so impulsive. He needed time for reflection.

"Tell me what?" I asked, pulling back the conversation to that point of something James might not want me to know.

"We'll tell you when I convince James it's worth you knowing," Sirius said. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad… but it's something that has to be kept very quiet, so we all have to feel it's worth the risk before telling anyone."

"Are you going to tell Cherry?" I asked before I could stop myself.

He gave me a sad sort of smile and said softly, "One step at a time, Marren. At the rate the world is working against me, I'd hazard a guess at no."

I spent the rest of the night hoping Cherry would accept my attempts to help, for her sake, for Sirius's sake, and for the sake of my admittedly fragile sense of self.