So, so, so sorry that this took FOREVER to get done. It's not nearly as long as I would have liked, but it's something to hold you over. Enjoy!

XxXxX

Aly had to wait the remainder of Remus' week to see him. Sirius was a master at avoiding things, and he seemed determined to put off the event that had to take place.

Finally, Remus returned to classes as normal, and Sirius couldn't put it off any longer.

"Remus will be here after dinner," Sirius told her as he came to bring her her homework from their morning classes.

Aly spent the remainder of her day trying to prepare herself for what she needed to share with one of her best friends. When Sirius arrived after dinner, every possible thing Aly thought she might say flew out of her head. He came and sat down on her bed and took her hand.

"United front," Sirius whispered to her as Remus came strolling in.

"Hey, Aly," he greeted. He sent her a genial smile. However, when he stopped at the foot of her bed, he sent her a knowing smile. "Sirius told me you had something you wanted to tell me."

Aly nodded.

"Let me guess," he said. "You two finally got over your pigheadedness and are finally together?" His smile widened.

"Well, yes," Aly started.

"I know it," he proclaimed excitedly.

"But there's more," Aly stated dolefully.

"Oh god," Remus stated, his jaw dropping.

Aly prepared herself for the worse, but what followed was not what she anticipated.

"Are you pregnant?" Remus whispered.

"What?" Aly could've sworn she heard him incorrectly.

"Is she?" Remus asked Sirius.

Sirius shook his head quickly, but looked to Aly for confirmation.

"NO!" Aly exclaimed. She swatted Sirius as she asked "What is wrong with you?"

"Then what else is there?" Remus wondered.

Aly took a deep breathe, "This has to do with you, Remus."

"Me?" He still hadn't caught on.

"Something happened over the past week," Aly said slowly.

Remus seemed to realize for the first time that he was in the hospital wing as the color left his face. "What happened? Why are you here, Aly?"

Aly looked at Sirius. "Should we just show him?" he asked her. Aly nodded and allowed him to help expose her wounded back. Aly couldn't see Remus' reaction, but the noise he made chilled her to the bone.

He came back around her, "I, I, I, I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry, Aly." He looked at her for one moment, and then stated, "I've gotta go. I've gotta get out of here. I can't be here." He was gone before either Aly or Sirius could protest.

Sirius looked at her for the conformation he needed. "Go. Make sure he's okay," Aly stated helplessly. And, then, he too was gone.

XxXxX

"I need to leave."

"No," the nurse scolded. "You are hardly well."

"But, I need to leave."

Pomfrey sent her a very menacing stare. She fluffed Aly's pillows and tried to make small talk as she started in on her back. "So, Sirius Black?"

Aly said nothing to this.

"I've heard about him," she continued as she cut into Aly's back.

Aly remained silent.

"He spends a lot of time here."

"He feels guilty," Aly snapped. "He thinks he's responsible for all of this."

"Oh, well," the nurse continued unswayed by Aly's argument, "That's not what I got."

Aly's tone turned even more icy, "Well, that's how it is."

"He's considered very good looking by the other girls. I hope none of them get any ideas from you on how to get his attention."

Aly fumed silently. As soon as the nurse finished, she asked, "May I have some sleeping potion?"

Madame Pomfrey looked very happy about this and handed her a vile. She turned to dispose of the cleaning supplies, and Aly dumped the potion onto her mattress under her pillow.

"That's a good girl," Pomfrey said, taking the empty vile and heading to her office. She glanced at Aly, who has faking sleep, before closing her office door.

Aly waited until she heard to door click then she pulled her wand out the side table drawer. She sent a silent spell, and Fawkes appeared in a flash of flames.

Aly sent a glance towards the office door. The nurse didn't seem to hear anything. "Fawkesie, go find Remus."

The bird bent his head in acknowledgement of this request. He left with another flash.

Aly waited impatiently. She needed to make things better. She still didn't know how, but she had try something.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Fawkes returned. The bird landed on the edge of Aly's bed.

"Did you find him?" Aly whispered.

The bird flicked his head as a yes.

"Take me to him."

If a bird could scold, Aly was sure that the look the phoenix gave her would be one. However, never one to disappoint, Fawkes lifted above her, and Aly grabbed his tail.

They left in a flash. The flames were not hot against her skin, but she felt extreme pain. She had traveled like this before, but never with an exposed werewolf wound.

She landed in a dark tree filled place. She was panting slightly due to the pain.

"Aly?!" Sirius nearly jumped out his skin. Aly was glad to see that he was still trying to talk to Remus as well. "What are you--? How? Get back in bed, NOW."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm fine."

"No. Go back to bed." Sirius looked up at Fawkes, who had taken to flying in small circles around them. He didn't look as afraid of the bird as usual. "You, bird. Take her home." Fawkes landed gracefully on Aly's shoulder and seemed to question her.

"No," Aly stated. The bird let out a harsh cry, clearly not in agreement with her decision. He took off, flying in circles above them again.

"Can we stay on topic here?!"

Aly looked behind Sirius to see Remus pacing behind him. She hadn't seen him until now.

"Remus, I need to talk to you about this," she told him.

Remus came up behind Sirius, using him as a makeshift shield between himself and Aly.

"Why? Why would you want to talk to me after what happened? What's wrong with you? Did I hit you in the head?"

Aly was expecting this type of reaction. She took a step towards him, and her back seized in protest. Apparently, she really wasn't ready to move around on her own. She tried to hide her pain, but she didn't do a good enough job. Sirius moved to hold onto her. Remus waved his hand in an exaggerated hand movement. Fawkes screeched as Sirius touched Aly.

"You need to go lie down," Sirius stated.

"No," Aly said roughly. "This is more important."

"More important than you healing properly? Sirius asked.

"Yes."

"Ridiculous!" Remus exclaimed. "Utterly ridiculous!" He was pacing again. "I'm leaving. I'm going to just leave school. Go live in solitude like the rest of my kind."

"What?!" Sirius blurted.

"Shut up! Shut up, the both of you!" Aly exclaimed. She was rubbing her temples. Her head had gone fuzzy.

"Whats--" Remus started, but with a "Shh," Sirius stopped him.

"Somethings wrong," Aly stated.

"What is?" Sirius asked her.

"I don't know, but something is going on. Fawkes, take me home. You two, get back to the castle. ASAP." She turned to Fawkes but added politely, "Please."

She grabbed onto the bird and, with searing pain, was back in the hospital wing.

The nurse's office door was open, light steaming into the darkening room. Aly cursed silently. From out in the hallway, she heard, "What do you mean she's missing?!" It was her father's voice. The nurse must've gone to get him when she discovered that Aly was missing from her bed.

"I don't know, sir." Madame Pomfrey sounded terrified.

"Fawkes," Aly whispered to the bird, "Go! Quickly!"

In a burst of flames, the phoenix disappeared just milliseconds before her father came through the door.

He breathed a visible sigh of relief. "She's right here."

"But, but," the nurse sputtered.

Aly wasn't in the mood for her confusion. "What's going on?"

Dumbledore looked at her in intrigue and surprise.

Before he could answer, there was a squeak of rubber as the two boys skidded into the wing.

"What's going on?" Sirius asked, looking at Aly.

"There's been an accident," Dumbledore told them, eyeing Aly also.

"What? Where?" Aly asked, overly alert.

Dumbledore shook his head, "The dungeons." He heaved a heavy sigh before saying, "There were a lot of students in the vicinity." He nodded towards the nurse who took this as a sign to begin preparations. "They'll be here soon." He wouldn't meet Aly's eyes as he said this.

"Lily's one of them," Aly stated. It wasn't a question.

He nodded.

"Well, it's par for the course this week," she sighed slightly. Sirius sank down onto the edge of her bed.

"Should I go assist in some way, Professor?" Remus asked.

"You'll need to help with the Gryffindor head count. They're already one prefect short." He sounded weary.

Remus nodded and left.

Dumbledore looked at his daughter queerly. "How did you know something was wrong?"

"Professor," Sirius interrupted, "What can I do?"

It took Dumbledore a moment to move his gaze from Aly to him. "Stay here. Mr. Lupin will have already counted you." With that, he turned to assist Madame Pomfrey in her preparations.

Sirius seemed to pout next to Aly. "What's wrong?" she questioned.

"Why do I get to miss out on all the fun?" he muttered angrily.

"Fun?!" Aly stated. "Lily's hurt."

"And one of us should be helping." He jumped up.

"No!" Aly exclaimed. She knew she'd go crazy if she let him leave. She had no idea what had caused the explosion or if it was done exploding things. She couldn't let him leave. "Please," she said in a small voice. She didn't really think he'd listen. He was Sirius after all. However, he huffed and sat.

She laid back on the thick mattress, and to her surprise, the cool sheets felt nice on her back, as long as she didn't move too much. She closed her eyes and waited. Sirius sat, swinging his feet absentmindedly.

The doors started to swing open, and commotion filled the room. Aly could sense that Sirius wanted to jump up and help, but he remained loyally next to her. She kept her eyes closed, afraid of what she might see.

When she heard James' voice, she felt Sirius move off of the bed. She opened her eyes and saw James laying a broken looking Lily on a bed.

"This has got to be the worse week of my life," Aly muttered to herself.

Pomfrey was busy with another student so it was McGonagall who was the one who started to look over Lily. Aly sat up and watched in pain. She felt her insides hollow out. If Lily died . . . she couldn't bear to think about it. She couldn't bear to just sit there and watch either. So, she got up. With everyone running around the crowded wing, Aly managed to make it to the hallway without being noticed. She breathed a sigh of relief as she started down the hallway, but a hand closed on her arm.

"No."

Aly whipped around, holding in her pain, and glared at Remus. "Let go of me." She fought against his grip.

"The castle isn't safe yet."

"Let go!" she snarled. When he didn't she stated, "After what you did, you have no right."

"After what I did, I have every right," he said sternly, unflinching. With that he marched her back to the wing. She pouted and glowered as he sat her back in her bed. Sirius, having just then realized that she had gone missing, stopped moving and watched Remus handle her.

"I need to go," she pleaded, seeing Lily again.

"Nope," he stated sitting down next to her on the mattress so that they were side by side. "You're going to stay, and so will I." He placed his arm around her shoulders and leaned back. "Just duck your head if you don't want to watch." Aly didn't comply at first, still angry he wouldn't let her leave. Eventually, however, her head was on his chest, eyes closed tight, and curled around his side. She tried to block out the noises of the accident.

After a while, as the commotion calmed down, she felt Remus move, not from under her, but up towards something.

"Go to bed," she heard him direct. "You probably haven't had much sleep lately."

She didn't hear a response but heard him edge, "Go. I'll stay here."

Aly felt a hand smooth her hair, and peeked up at Remus. He whispered, as to not call attention to the fact that Aly was actually awake, "Sirius left to go get some sleep."

She nodded and asked, "What's going on?"

"Everything has calmed down a bit. You can't see any of the other patients. They all have their curtains closed.

At this piece of information, she uncurled herself from him. "Sorry about that," she mumbled, embarrassed.

He smiled kindly and stood. Aly bit her lip to keep herself from asking a question she still needed an answer to.

Remus sighed and instructed her, "Ask it."

Aly's eyes widened at his perceptiveness.

"Go on," he pushed.

"Are you really going to leave?" She couldn't look at him when she asked, afraid that his answer might really be a yes.

"No," he replied.

Her head shot up. "Really?"

"Yea," he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"You seem upset by this discussion."

He shrugged. Her silence following this forced him to expand.

"I should. However, you showed me that I can't be as bad of a monster as I think I am."

"Me?" Aly questioned.

"Yeah," Remus smiled at her. "When you curled into me earlier, after what I did to you, I realized that I can't be all that bad."

Aly nodded, "See." They smiled at each other, each happy with the other for different reasons.

"You should get some rest," Remus told her.

"You should too."

"I promised Sirius I'd stay," Remus told her.

"I'm a big girl, Remus. Plus, there's not too much trouble I can get into here." She smiled bitterly.

"Alright. Just don't go sneaking off again."

"I promise," Aly told him, her fingers crossed under her pillow.